Taylor Atkinson
NOTES:
Taylor Atkinson, son of Nicholas Faulkner Atkinson and
Elizabeth Abernathy, husband of Annie Jenkins and Georgia Ann Hulsey.
There is some confusion over the names of Taylor's wives.
Some sources give the wife the name of Annie Jenkins Husley, but that
is incorrect.
Taylor married Annie Jenkins in Bartow County on October
1, 1905. However, there is a daughter, Evie Mae Atkinson, who was
born in Cherokee County on Jan 10, 1903 to Georgia Ann Hulsey. Her
Social Security application lists her father as Taylor Atkinson.
According to Nat Abernathy, Taylor is buried in a section
of several graves located near Annie Mae Atkinson, Fannie and Luther
White, and Nicholas and Betsey Atkinson. He died 35 years before his
wife and others were buried beside him. Other Atkinsons in the cemetery
are spelled as Atkerson and Adkinson. A relative of Taylor gave the
exact location to Wayne Abernathy.
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Taylor Atkinson with Mae Atkinson,
Jerry Howell and Annie Maude Turner. |
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Taylor Atkinson from newspaper story |
Taylor T. Atkinson
Weekly Tribune News (Cartersville, Georgia) April
24, 1952
Funeral Services held at White for T.T. Atkinson
Taylor T. Atkinson, 81, pioneer resident of White, Georgia, died suddenly
Sunday at 3 a.m. at his home.
Mr. Atkinson was a farmer and member of the Baptist Church.
He was born in 1871 in Bartow County, son of the Late Nicholas Atkinson
and Betsey Abernathy Atkinson.
Survivors include: the wife, the former Annie Mae Jenkins; two daughters,
Mrs. W. H. Lee and Mrs. J.R. Atkinson of Dalton; two sisters, Mrs.
Fannie White, of Cartersville, and Mrs. Rosie McGhee, of Tifton; nine
grandchildren and one great granddaughter.
Funeral services were held Monday at 2:30 p.m. at Macedonia Baptist
Church with the Rev. Raymond Banks officiating. Interment was in the
Macedonia Cemetery.
NOTES:
The obituary mistakenly lists him as Taylor Atkins. Taylor Atkinson
does not have a tombstone at the Macedonia Cemetery.
Daughter Nannie Mae Atkinson is the wife of James Atkinson.
Newspaper Story: Bartow Herald (Cartersville, Georgia)
March 31, 1938
Catfish King of Etowah is Fiddler and Trapper
Bartow’s Most Unique Man Makes Living From Nature
A friend we have long admired and one whom we always
enjoy leading out on a conversation is Mr. Taylor Atkinson, the cunning
Hiawatha of the high bluffs of Macedonia, the trapper of the tamaracks
near Stamp Creek Bridge, the Tarzan huntsman, the catfish king of
the Etowah.
We saw him just the other day at the court house while the Graham
Jackson negro musicians were whooping it up with their variety program
and swing music. Uncle Taylor was the happiest looking man we ever
saw and had the merriest twinkle in his dark brown eyes as they beamed
from between the brim of his hat and his heavy growth of wiry, iron-grey
whiskers. He had caught the spirit of the music and the players and
was unconsciously patting his foot as he occupied one of the broad
slabs above the court house steps.
It occurred to us that he too must be a musician or a dancer to be
so completely carried away. In reply to our question as to what instrument
he said, “Before I got my hand cut to pieces in a cotton gin
I was a real fiddler and a banjo picker, and I can still cut a few
steps to tunes like that.”
After the musical program, we plied him with queries about hunting,
fishing and trapping. “What,” we asked, “do you
bait a steel trap with to catch a fox?” “Nothing at all,”
was the quick reply. “But it took me 12 months to learn how
foxes have trails they travel, and if you are smarter’n him
you can trap him without bait.”
TRAPPING
“Tell us more,” we suggested, “about trailing and
outwitting foxes.” “Well,” replied Uncle Taylor,
“here in the past few months, the foxes they took a notion they
wanted me out of the chicken business, but I thinned them out to the
tune of ten, nine of them red, one grey. Nine were males, and one
was the largest fox I ever saw, and had white hair at the top of his
back. You never catch a fat one, and they weight about ten to twelve
pounds. When a mammy fox is feedin’ her young she will catch
as many as a dozen of your chickens in a day. They are bad after ducks,
too, ‘cause a duck is so clumsy and can be catched quick. A
fox in a steel trap will fight you and bite quicker than a dog. I
don’t trap ‘em just for their skins, but because they
want me to raise chickens for them to drag off. A grey fox isn’t
bad after chickens, and he is a farmer’s friend. He catches
moles and rats and other pests on the farm. A good sized red fox fur
will bring around $4.00.”
“What,” we asked, “do you trap besides b’rer
fox?” “Oh, a few muskrats, weasels, possums, mink coons,
and groundhogs,” was his ready reply. We begged for more information
on the groundhogs. “you have to find where the little fellers
den and then you can catch ‘em with or without baitin’
your trap, provided you know your business. They are about the size
of a coon and make fine pets; but they are much better for eatin’.
The meat tastes just like fresh pork. You ask Sheriff Gaddis. He come
along one day nearly started from raidin’ stills and I give
him a square meal and the most of it was groundhog meat. A groundhog
will eat up your corn too, and you can’t raise beans around
close to their den.”
MOST VALUABLE
“Tell me about the most valuable fur you ever caught,”
was our next suggestion. “I caught one otter durin’ my
time and should have got about $20.00 for his hide, but they didn’t
give me justice on it. Since then I learnt to grade my own furs and
skins. I have made a livin’ and a good one too, trappin’
through the fall and winter. But that was when I could get about better
than now. I have one steel trap this over 50 years old.”
We then switched to fishing. “Uncle Taylor,” we queried,
“How is it that you know these river fish and their habits so
well that you can pull them out in bunches when others fail?”
“It’s like trainin’ a dog; you have to know more
than he does to put it over,” was his answer. And then he talked
on: “Livin’ out there like I do, it sharpens your wits,
and the hard it is to land a fish or wild animal, the better you are
prepared for the next one. I enjoy matchin’ my skill against
their’n just like you love to watch or play a game of ball.”
And this further convinces us that you can still learn something worthwhile
from everybody, and especially from a fellow who has fun making a
good living where we would perhaps starve.
NOTES: In the newspaper, there is a photo of Taylor Atkinson taken
outside the courthouse.
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Old Macedonia Cemetery, Bartow County, Georgia
