THROUGH MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of Union County, Georgia
Their Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
Jewel Marion Dyer
Union County Farmer Extraordinary
(May 25, 1890 – September 3, 1974)
Jewel Marion Dyer was born May 25, 1890 on a farm in the Choestoe District of Union County, Georgia, the tenth of fifteen children born to Bluford Elisha “Bud” Dyer and Sarah Evaline Souther Dyer.
He learned good farming practices from his father. His ancestry went back through James Marion Dyer, grandfather, and Bluford Elisha Dyer, Jr. great grandfather, who was already settled on a farm in Choestoe when Union County was formed in 1832.
When Jewel Marion Dyer married October 8, 1916 to Fannie Azie Collins (born March 7, 1895) and they established their own farm, he employed the same good practices of crop rotation and soil conservation that he had learned from his father, ever seeking to improve upon procedures and to work hard to pay for more land to add to his acreage.
Syrup Maker. Marion Dyer was known as an expert sorghum syrup maker. This farm trade, which he learned from his father before him, took six or more weeks of hard labor in late September and October every year. He made his own acreage of blue ribbon cane into syrup and made “for the public,” or the community at large. First using mule power to grind the cane to extract the juice, he later powered the mill with a gasoline engine, then used electricity as rural electrification became available when power lines were run after Nottely Dam was built. The average number of gallons he made yearly was 3,000. His sons, Eugene and Bluford, both learned all the techniques of sorghum-syrup making, and each of them as adults operated their own syrup mills, following high standards for turning out quality syrup as their father had done.
Corn Crop. Marion Dyer was the first farmer in Union County to be in the “100 bushels per acre” Corn Club, having pushed his bottom land along the Nottely River in Choestoe to yield a hundred or more bushels per acre. There was a certificate showing the year this milestone was achieved, but that paper has been lost. As I recall, it was in the latter part of the 1930’s decade. The family was so proud of this achievement by our father.
Public Work. When grading for Neel Gap Highway (US 129) began in the 1920’s, Marion Dyer got a job, hired out his team of mules and used a drag pan to help grade for the road. The highway opened in 1925.
Pork Production and Cured Hams. He became an expert in curing pork. He grew hogs and butchered several each winter. He had his own special formula for a combination of salt/sugar cure for hams. He had regular customers that came from as far away as Gainesville and Atlanta to purchase the specially cured meat. Several hung in the smokehouse awaiting delivery to those who had ordered the hams in advance of the curing process.
Innovations. He sought progressive ways to enhance his farm. Long before electricity came to Choestoe, Marion Dyer had a carbide tank installed and pipes run from it to the house that was outfitted to burn gas (generated from the carbide). We had lovely gas lamp fixtures in each room of the house and on porches as well as a gas-heated iron to iron clothes and a gas- burning stove for cooking. We still kept the Home Comfort wood stove in the kitchen, but having the gas stove provided two means of cooking, an especial convenience during the time my mother and we daughters cooked for the many “hands” that worked at the syrup mill in the fall.
Truck Farming. Marion Dyer was one of the first farmers in Choestoe to begin practices of “truck farming.” He planted acres of beans to be picked and hauled to the Farmers’ Market in Atlanta as a money crop. He experimented with other truck crops, setting out acres of cabbage or collards, or planting patches of purple-hulled peas and sweet corn, all for sale either locally for those who wanted to purchase fresh vegetables to can at the “Experiment Station” cannery or to home-can for winter use.
Planting by the Signs. A practice he learned from his father was “planting by the signs.” He had a Farmer’s Almanac and paid special attention to the signs, and also to natural weather predictors at which he was adept. Whether this was scientific farming or instinctive farming, one thing I know for sure: his beans and other truck crops were the most-bearing in the community and could be counted upon to supply needs of his own family and others; and all had been planted by his knowledge “of the signs.”
Abilities in Many Areas. Farmers in his day were adept in many areas, not only in doing all the work of planting, cultivating and harvesting crops, but all the jobs that had to be done. Jewel Marion Dyer was such a farmer, multi-talented in several areas. He was a good carpenter and built with precision many of the buildings on the farm, including an addition to the farm house. He was an excellent blacksmith, and had his own blacksmith shop to keep his own tools sharp and in order, but he performed blacksmithing tasks for other farmers in the community. He was the “community barber,” having his own clippers and barber scissors, and Saturday afternoons and/or rainy days set aside to cut hair of many who came for his barbering skills. As a child, I loved to unobtrusively be near where he was cutting hair (on the porch in the summertime in a room of the house when the weather turned cold). I enjoyed overhearing the conversations (many of which were about the state of the county, state or nation and politics or topics from the Bible).
Conservation and Progressive Farming. When Union County set up a soil conservation district and had its first county agent, Marion Dyer participated faithfully in programs of conservation and farm improvement. He served on various committees and was an advocate of advanced methods of crop rotation and maximum yield. In public service, he also served the county as a tax assessor for a period of time. During World War II, with his older son Eugene serving in the war, help on the farm was more limited. Yet his yields were stepped up for the war effort, and patriotism was constantly practiced, even during rationing and shortages of gasoline and other necessities.
Family. Jewel Marion Dyer’s wife, Azie, died February 14, 1945. Her death left a vacancy in the home. Their oldest daughter, Louise, was already married and had a family of her own at the time of her mother’s death. Ethelene, the second daughter, 14 at the time, began managing the home, cooking for the syrup-making employees, and looking after 11-year old Bluford. Later, on March 8, 1950, Marion Dyer married, second, to Winnie Mae Manley Shelton. She had a son, Loyd Shelton. Marion and Winnie Mae had twins, Brenda and Linda, son Troy, and daughters Gail and Janice. Winnie Mae died November 16, 1956, and Marion reared his second family to be responsible citizens.
His Legacy. Jewel Marion Dyer died September 3, 1974. He was known as an outstanding, innovative farmer. He had a generous spirit and was a hard worker. He exercised Christian principles in all of his dealings with others and was exemplary in his ability to face hardships in life. He adapted to many changes. He advanced from a two-mule farm to mechanized farming. He was noted for his syrup-making, his 100+-bushels per acre corn crops, his ample truck crops, and his all-around handy-man abilities. He lived from the days when he went by covered wagon with loads of farm produce from his father’s farm and his own first farm over the old Logan Turnpike, across Tesnatee Gap and on to Gainesville, to the days when he hauled his crops to the Atlanta Farmers’ Market by truck. He was a farmer by birth and by choice. He learned farming by his father’s example but he also learned it through his own study and application of more modern farming methods. During his lifetime he saw farming evolve from primitive to modern, and he was a vital part of that evolution.
© 2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones;
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Addendum
“I can remember the [100 Bushel Corn Club] award - although we didn't go to any banquet or anything to receive it. I think it came in the mail, a certificate. I wish we had framed it, but we didn't. It got lost in time. I think though, it was in the 1930s. I can remember Daddy instructing us not to “thin out” the corn, to leave it very thick. He applied the special fertilizers the county agent (Mr. Bailey?) instructed him to use. Surely enough, that thick corn made good; and forever after, we left our corn thick; did not thin it out.” - Ethelene Jones
Corn Club
Marion Dyer was the first farmer in Union County to be in the “100 Bushel Corn Club.” Union County was the first county in Georgia to produce a 100 bushel per acre corn crop in this program. (Union County still holds the record corn crop in Georgia for non-irrigated corn.) The project began in Georgia in the 1930s. The purpose was to recognize farmers who used modern production techniques, chemical fertilizers and improved corn varieties. This was at a time when the average corn yield nation wide was 27 bushels per acre. This program continued into at least the 1940s. Many Union Countians became members of the “Corn Club” over the years. - Editor
Ethelene Dyer Jones is a retired educator, freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at e-mail edj0513@alltel.net; phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA 31061-2411.