Allgood of Chattooga County

DeForrest Allgood, the son of Ismel Allgood and his wife, Frances, was born on 21 May 1787 in Virginia and died 8 June 1877 in Trion, Georgia. He was married to Alice Lawson Barry (born 5 April 1797 in Spartanburg County, South Crolina, died 17 March 1883 in Trion, Chattooga County, buried in the LaFayette Cemetery, a daughter of Andrew Barry and his wife, Margaret Catherine (Moore) Barry. Issue:

I. Elvira Allgood, born 6 February 1815 in Laurens District, South Carolina.

II. Andrew Perry Allgood, born 23 November 1816 in Laurens District, South Carolina, died 8 September 1882, buried in the LaFayette Cemetery in Chattooga County. He was married to Mary Ann Marsh (born 18 November 1827, died 27 April 1920), the daughter of Spencer Stewart Marsh and his wife, Ruth (Brantley) Marsh, on 21 June 1842 in Chattooga County. They settled in a place known as Island Town, later renamed Trion. He invested in a gold mine with William Penn and Colonel W. K. Briers. In 1845 they opened a cotton mill which employed forty persons. By 1862 the prospering town was known as Trion, and was the first cotton mill in northwest Georgia, still in operation today. Tradition has it that during the War Between the States General Sherman spent the night in the Allgood house. After the war, the State of Georgia investigated Allgood's conjectured complicity with Sherman. This was due to the fact that several times during the war he had halted mill operations. Allgood's formal statement "When General Sherman passed our place in October 1864, he stayed all night with me & next morning gave me protection papers. Gen. O. O. Howard sent a large guard to the factory to protect all the property there and showed no disposition to destroy any of our property except provisions. I took extra pains to let the Union men of the county know my status or position and rendered them all the aid I could when they were in trouble & was known as a Union man. We stopped running on May 10th, 1864 & run no more, until peace."[1]

For his complicity with the Union and because of their own personal suffering and deprivation during the war, the local people periodically attacked Allgood. The family name did not set well in this area. On 24 February 1874 an attempt was made on the life of Judge Allgood by John Fant while he was in the mill. Fant was indicted by the Chattooga Grand Jury and charged with assault and intent to commit murder. In April of 1875, the mill was set afire by arsonists.

"The well known and valuable property Trion Factory situated on the Chattooga River twenty-five miles from Rome and five miles from Summerville, was completely destroyed with all its machinery last Saturday night. The factory was the joint property of Judge Allgood, living at Trion, and Mr. Spencer Marsh of Lafayette...The fire was undoubtably the work of an incendiary. It was first discovered about half past eight o'clock. As soon as discovered, someone was sent up the channel to raise the gate so that a supply of water could be had. As soon as that person returned to the burning factory, some scoundrel let the gate down, thus cutting off the water. Again someone was sent to raise the gate, and again the gate was let down. For the third time was the water gate lowered. After this third repetition of villainy, a guard was stationed at the gate, but now it was too late, and the fire fiend had wrapped its withering arms about the building and it melted away as frost before the hot rays of the sun." [2] Allgood rebuilt his mill, a two-storied structure (the lower portion built with bricks) six months later, known as Trion Manufacturing Company. After the fire, Spencer Marsh died. In 1880, the elder Allgood turned over the management of his mill to his only son, DeForest Allgood. In 1882, Allgood died.

Issue:[3]

A. Addie Marsh Allgood, born 22 December 1853 Lafayette, Georgia, died 1930.

B. DeForest "Deedy" Allgood, born 31 March 1854, died 20 January 1890 in Rome, Georgia. He was twenty-six years old when he inherited his father's cotton mill. He was married to Addie M. Holmes, a sister of Dr. J. B. S. Holmes of Rome, Georgia. However, he was murdered in 1893 by Dr. J. B. S. Holmes his brother-in-law, who was found not guilty. (The State vs. J. B. S. Holmes).

"On the evening of January 20th D. F. Allgood boarded Dan Ramsey's train at Trion bound for Rome. He was in his usual cheerful and happy mood, and if there was a shadow to mar his future, or a foreboding of his impending death, his fellow passengers could not detect it by his conduct....That night he was killed, and on Wednesday following, the body was placed on Dan Ramsey's train to be carried to Trion where thousands were waiting to see him dead, who had loved him dearly while living....Again, last Monday, Conductor Ramsey had the body on board his car for removal to Griffin...." [4]

Apparently Dr. Holmes had told the jury that he's had a quarrel with Allgood about some property and left town to go hunting. When he returned, he stop;ped off at the Armstrong Hotel for a quick drink. (Georgia Backroads) DeForest Allgood was buried in LaFayette in the family plot. However, it was later removed and reinterred in Griffin.

C. Mary Ruth Allgood, born 9 May 1862 in Chattooga County, died 19 January 1878.

D. Alice Lawson Allgood, born 24 September 1865 in Chattooga County.

E. Margaret Marsh Allgood, born 12 January 1868 in Chattooga County, died 15 July 1899 in Atlanta, married Alfred Shorter Hamilton on 10 April 1888 who assumed the operations of the Allgood mill after the death of her brother.

F. Maude Louise Brantly Allgood, born 17 February 1871 in Chattooga County.

III. Barnet Jefferson Allgood, born 5 December 1818 in Laurens District, South Carolina.

IV. Margaret Barry Allgood, born 16 November 1823 in Laurens District, South Carolina.