Life History

Notes

• The following marriage record in the Pickens County Marriage Book appears to be for George Campire (or Campmin) and Mary (Polly) West.  Two different transcriptions of the marriage license are found in the Ancestry.com library, one with each spelling.  The marriage occurred in April 1860, then Mary and George appear in the 1860 census in June, with her father George in their household.
  
  On the marriage record the clerk wrote Mary's name as Polly Rest, but the judge who performed the ceremony wrote it as Mary Rast.  Polly is the common nickname for Mary at that time.  The surname Rast may be from a previous marrige for Mary.  When they married, George was about 52 and Mary about 53.
  
  Pickens County, Georgia, Marriages
  G W Campmire and Polly Rest as written by the clerk, Mary Rast as written by the JIC (Mary Ann West)
  License issued 11 April 1860
  Marriage 13 April 1860, performed by Philip R Limmons, Judge of the Inferior Court
  Registered Pickens County, Georgia, Marriage Book, p 133
  
  In 1860, George's father-in-law George West was living in his household.
  
  1860 Federal Census, Pickens County, Georgia, 18 June, Talking Rock District, PO Talking Rock, page 931, Hse #446, Fam #376
  George Campmire 52 M Farmer $1000 Real Estate $1000 Personal  born SC [b abt 1808]
  Mary Campmire 53 F born So Carolina [b abt 1807]
  George West 83 M born So Carolina [b abt 1777]
  Marsick Hazlewood 48 M born So Carolina [b 1812]
  Jane Hazlewood 54 F born So Carolina [b abt 1806]
  Emeline Hazlewood 13 F born SC [b abt 1847]
  Sarah Hayse 25 F born SC [b abt 1835]
  
  In 1860 their post office was reported as Talking Rock.
  
  The original settlement of Talking Rock is now called Blaine, and is not on the railroad line.  The longtime settlement still known by that name is nearby, where the current town of Talking Rock developed when the railroad came through.
  
  “Several legendary accounts are given with regard to the naming of Talking Rock; one is the story of an unusual echo that was supposed to come from a nearby rock cliff; while another story tells about a rock with which some of the Cherokees played a trick on one another. The little town is situated on a creek of the same name. Being on the Old Federal Road, it was one of the eearliest settlements in this region, and some of the earliest churches and schools in Pickens were at or near the present site of the town. Talking Rock is also close to the site of the old Indian village, Sanderstown. One of the earliest cotton mills in Georgia was started at Talking Rock by William C Atherton, and flourished until the Civil War when it was destroyed by Sherman’s raiders. The Talking Rock neighborhood was settled by a number of Presbyterian families, most of whom came to Pickens County about the time of the Indian removal. It is located on the old L&N Railroad line.” Today Talking Rock is a quiet little village off the beaten path along the creek where Cherokees once farmed. Just a few quaint shops where the conversation is as interesting as the antiques and collectibles. A tiny Post Office. A couple of churches on the mountainside and cemeteries with markers telling stories of a lively past."
  --  http://pickenscountyga.com/communities/
  
  1870 Federal Census, Pickens County, Georgia, 4 August, Talking Rock District, PO Jasper, page 125, Hse/Fam #969
  Campmire, George 64 M W Farmer $100 Real Estate $100 Personal Estate born North Carolina [b abt 1806]
  Campmire, Mary 63 F W born South Carolina [b abt 1807]
  
  In 1870 their post office was reported as Jasper, the county seat of Pickens County,
  
  “The county seat of Pickens County was named for Sergeant William Jasper, an American soldier of Revolutionary War fame, who died on Georgia soil. Before the town was incorporated in 1857, it was a small Long Swamp Valley community of pioneers. Early businesses included a lumber mill, marble plant, harness and shoe shop. Geographically, the county was unsuited for large plantations of the type that made slave labor essential, and in 1860, this area contained almost no negroes. Thus, at the outbreak of the Civil War, a good many citizens of the County were opposed to Secession, and the Union flag was allowed to float from the courthouse at Jasper for some time after Georgia seceded.”
  --  http://pickenscountyga.com/communities/
  
  In 1974, George filed a claim for compensatoin for a mule taken from him during the war by a Union officer, though George was a loyal subject of the United States, and never supported the Confederate States.  He lists several neighbors and kin who supported his claim on these grounds.  One was George R Mullins, also known from other records and family history to have been a Union supporter, working with members of his family as guerilla sappers then railroad guards for the Union.
  
  The master list of these claims was published in 1876, under the title Southern Loyalists in the Civil War:  The Southern Claims Commiision."
  
  U.S. Southern Claims Commission Master Index, 1871-1880
  George W Campmire
  Pickens County, Georgia
  Claim #5875
  Report #6, 1876
  Approved
  Compiled by Gary B Milles in 1994, and reprinted by Clearfield Company in 2004
  
  In 1880, George and Mary's locality is given in the census as Town.  This is referred to in their tax rolls as Town District, and listed in standard databases under current Townships in the county.  The entry for the state of birth for Mary's mother appears to be Md, for Maryland.
  
  1880 Federal Census, Pickens County, Georgia, 10 June, Town District, Enumeration District 163, page 16, Hse #135, Fam #136
  Campmire, George W W M 73 Farmer SC Scotland SC Cannot write [b abt 1827]
  Campmire, Mary W F 74 Wife Keeping House SC MD SC [b abt 1825]

Sources

• 1. 1860 Federal Census, Pickens County, Georgia
  • 18 June, Talking Rock District, PO Talking Rock, page 931, Hse #446, Fam #376
• 2. 1870 Federal Census, Pickens County, Georgia
  • 4 August, Talking Rock District, PO Jasper, page 125, Hse/Fam #969
• 3. 1880 Federal Census, Pickens County, Georgia
  • 10 June, Town District, Enumeration District 163, page 16, Hse #135, Fam #136
• 4. Georgia, Marriage Records From Select Counties, 1828-1978
• 5. 1860 Georgia, Census Slave schedule, 1790-1890
  • Pickens County, Georgia, Town District, p 96