The Whittington Family only lived in the land that is part of Bent Tree for a little over a decade. Where did they go after they left?
Woman (unknown), Laura Whittington, Howard Whittington, Emily Josephine and Gladys (photo taken in 1902) – 8 years before they moved to our area.
What happened to the Whittingtons after they left our area? Howard and his wife Laura moved around quite a bit within the state of Georgia before finally settling in Paulding County, Georgia (where he was born and his father lived). Their daughter Emily Josephine moved away to North Carolina after marrying Glee Brock Thompson in her early 20’s. She and her husband later moved back to Georgia as well. Their other daughter Gladys married as soldier named Charles Edwin Thomas Jr. and eventually settled in Bexar, County Texas. Pictured below is the only known full family photo available.
Laura Whittington died young at the age of fifty-eight in 1932. Howard lived into his early eighties and died in 1959. Ten years after her father died, Emily erected a memorial in Oak Hill Cemetery in Griffin, Georgia in honor of their great military service.
Military Service Memorial
The engraving reads “In Memory of Thaddeus Whittington, Soldier of The Revolutionary War, and father of Dr. William Whittington, his son. Howard Horton Whittington, soldier of the Confederacy and father of Charles Howard Whittington, his son in law, Major General Edwin Thomas USAF World Wars I & II, his son Lieut. Charles Edwin Thomas Jr., graduate West Point Military Academy, class of 1941, and served in USAF World War II. …Lost in Flight May 1942. Erected in 1969 by a granddaughter Emily Josephine Whittington and her husband Glee Brock Thompson.
Emily was proud of her family’s extensive military service. Her great, great, great grandfather Thaddius served in the Revolutionary War. Her grandfather served in the Confederate Army as a part of Scogins Battery in 1862. Her father was the Consul to Cuba and an IRS agent for a time. Emily’s husband Glee served in the Navy during World War I. And her sister Gladys had married a soldier that ended up serving in the military for 37 years and was awarded the Legion of Merit.
The most interesting thing about her husband Charles Edwin Thomas Jr. was that he was the main reason that Warner Robins Air Force Base got its name. Before there was Warner Robins, Lt. Col Thomas was the first commander of the new air depot in Wellston, Georgia. Wellston was a small town of about 60 people. When he approached the town and asked them to change their name to Warner Robins after his friend and mentor, they agreed. On September 1st, 1942, he got his wish and Wellston became Warner Robins.
Major General Edwin Thomas, Jr.
Gladys and General Thomas had two sons. Sadly, one died in combat as a military pilot in 1942. When Gladys passed away in 1982, her only two remaining relatives were her son Robert and her sister. Emily followed not long after in 1985.
Emily and Gladys in 1902.
Robert, the last remaining son of the Whittington daughters died in 2012. He never married and had no children.
Robert William Thomas
Not long ago I made a day trip to Oak Hill Cemetery in Griffin, Georgia where the Whittington family plot occupies the oldest section of the county’s massive cemetery area.
Within the plot are the tombstones of the most of the Whittingtons from the 18th Century forward. One of the memorial stones is a giant granite bible that is opened to two passages - one from Matthew and the other from 1 John. The inscription can be seen in the photo below.
Granite Bible
A poignant epitaph is written upon Emily’s grave:
I was born in Georgia
on a cold and frosty morn
And Georgia soil is cradling me
‘Til that new day shall dawn.
Emily’s Epitaph
I took the time to reach down and to touch the tombstones of the Whittington Family, paying my respects and muttering some quiet words of remembrance. They left their mark upon everywhere they went, from the start of our nation, through its great terrible conflicts, to the legacy of their land that is now within Bent Tree: the site of the mansion, the Dude Ranch, CCC Camp 1449 and our sixth hole fairway - to the lingering memories of lifetime Pickens County resident Lillie Mae Pendley.
Commentaires