. . . The Reconstruction of the Southern States
1865-1920
Deckner, Garvin, Madden, Meigs, Moore, Nicholas, Pucket, Reagan, Rowland, Thaden
Much of our family lived during the time of Reconstruction in the South after the War Between the States. Among the various families, there were some very interesting things which occurred.
The Scots-Irish families of Moore, Garvin, and Madden lived in the Upcountry of South Carolina. The men in the family had made a fair contribution and some, the ultimate sacrifice, during the war preceding Reconstruction even though none owned slaves. Their livelihood was in the land, and even though their carefully saved Confederate money was now only good for the wood stove, they probably survived well enough after the war since Union troops did not harass this area on a large scale. Their frustration was felt, however, in the fact that, as former Confederates, they were kept from voting in any of the elections to determine the new political leadership for their district and state.
William H. Moore, a small child during the war, later owned a mercantile store in the town of Seneca. During Reconstruction, he did quite well. He had a beautiful white house built a few blocks away from the store on the edge of town, and his three lovely daughters, Mary, Nannie, and Willie Fay, took music lessons, helped out in the store, and went to college. They later became school teachers. Like so many folks from the Upcountry, Will’s son, Luther, found his opportunity in east Texas, where he raised his family. In 1920 and at the age of 25, Nannie was caught up in a whirlwind romance with a man twenty years her senior. Their marriage ended six years later with his death.
In the neighboring state of Georgia, the Meigs, Reagan, and Pucket families found themselves in a worse situation. The Union troops were not at all easy on the folks in Georgia. They went through towns, such as Rome and Newnan, destroying bridges and railroads, thus isolating them from the rest of civilization. They burned homes and cotton bales leaving many homeless and penniless. They ransacked the farms of everything edible and any valuables that could be sold later, leaving the families to starve. Newly freed African field hands left the farms as there was no more work or food and congregated about the Union soldiers, who were garrisoned in the towns imposing Martial Law. Since newly found freedom for former slaves included exemption from the usual law enforcement, they often engaged in lawless behavior.
The Pucket family farmed around the town of Newnan and had owned a few slaves prior to the war. It is suspected that Rebecca (Pucket) Rowland was given a female slave at the time of her marriage, who became a house maid and continued to stay with the widowed Rebecca during and after the war.
Nancy Reagan and her daughter, Rachel Meigs were also widowed before the war. They lived together in Rome raising Rachel’s son, William, and her younger siblings. They stayed in Rome during the rebuilding of that town and were taken care of by Rachel’s brother James, who remained unmarried throughout his life. Both mother and daughter were deeply religious, and at Rachel’s death it was recorded that she saw Jesus and remarked how He had come too soon.
Rachel’s son, William, had moved to Newnan and found a bride shortly before the war. He was the publisher and editor of a small newspaper called The Southern Literary Companion which, no doubt, conveyed anti-Union sentiments. Reconstruction found him a veteran of the war and struggling to survive with his wife and five small children. His newspaper shop was most likely destroyed.
Meanwhile, two Germans moved to Atlanta as soon as the war was over. Frederick Deckner and his family seemed to be doing quite well in Wisconsin, but at the war’s end they packed up for Atlanta. Interestingly, his two oldest sons, William and Charles were Union veterans. Frederick must have seen the vision of opportunity like so many carpetbaggers of the day looking for cheap land on which to establish themselves and their businesses. Unfortunately this land was confiscated from the prior owners and sold cheaply. At that time the only buyers came from the northern states as the Southerners had no money. In this way, Reconstruction of the South could be facilitated with thousands of Yankees moving in.
Herman Thaden, the other German and recent immigrant, also found himself in Atlanta, and he soon hooked up with the Deckner family. Not only did he marry one of Frederick’s many daughters, Pauline, he also established himself in the community, alongside her brother, Charles, as a horticulturist. In addition to their farm acreages north of Atlanta, Herman owned greenhouses in which he grew flowers to be sold from his florist shop, and the Deckners raised vegetables, which were sold in the family's truck farming business. Both Herman and Charles belonged to the Horticulture Society and often gave speeches regarding farming and gardening.
About 1875, William Meigs moved his family up to the newly rebuilt Atlanta, where he found employment with another printer. His last child, Mattie Love, was born here. Tragically, he was killed in his mid-40s by a moving train as he was crossing the tracks on foot in the rail yard. Mattie was just four years old.
Mattie, the daughter of a Rebel soldier, grew into a lovely young woman and married Charles, the son of the well-to-do Herman Thaden and grandson of a carpetbagger. Charles worked for his father in his box factory and had four children with Mattie, the second of whom was stillborn. Like her father, Mattie’s life was sadly cut short in 1915 when she was hit by a car on a rainy night as she was walking home from a church meeting. She was only 37 years old.
For some years after the turn of the century, Herman dabbled in inventions. He patented some that were useful for farming, and he also patented certain devices to aid in vertical flight, which was still in its experimental stage. At the same time he investigated Eastern Mysticism, being unhappy with his Lutheran upbringing. He looked forward to visits from the Hindu guru, who gave speeches regarding this religion. And interestingly, just prior to the World War, he found himself under an over-zealous investigation for traitorous behavior due to alleged anti-American statements. It is suspected that nothing ever came of this investigation.
Shortly after Mattie’s death, the bereaved Charles Thaden moved to Jacksonville, Florida, taking his teenage son, also named Herman, with him. His two young daughters remained in Atlanta with relatives. Charles remarried and Herman became a night watchman. At this time, the Jacksonville fathers were making efforts in their own town’s reconstruction by inviting immigrants, who were streaming into Ellis Island, to consider making Jacksonville their new home.
By 1920, there was a sizable colony of Syrian merchants in Jacksonville operating business of all sorts. It was the young Herman Thaden’s job to walk his beat throughout the night, shining his flashlight into the store windows and rattling the front doors to make sure they were locked. Perhaps this is how he met his future wife, Angelina Nicholas, a young Syrian American girl.
Image from https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2012/02/the-civil-war-part-1-the-places/100241/.
