Ahnentafel #8 Green Lee Garner and #9 Harriet Gheesling

Green Lee Garner was born on 4 June 1850 in Washington County, Georgia, the son of William and Sarah Johnson Garner.  He lived in Washington County until about 1930 when he moved to Decatur County.   He had a twin brother Lee Roy Garner.   Green and Lee Roy were just young enough to miss the Civil War, turning 15 just as it ended.  They had several brothers who served but none who were killed, unlike many of their neighboring families.  They were the 7th and 8th children of twelve who survived to adulthood.  All the children grew up working on the farm and most became farmers themselves as adults.

On 21 January 1879, Green married Amanda Lou (Lou) Walker, 19, the daughter of Freeman Flournoy Walker and his wife Amanda Lou Hooks.  Rev Asa Duggan performed the ceremony.  Both attended - and were later buried at - Union Baptist Church near the Hancock/Washington county line.  The families were also connected in that two of Lou's brothers married Garner cousins.  They settled in Hancock County, where Green farmed and Lou ran the household.   Green and Lou had two daughters, Minnie (14 September 1880) and Lou Wixie (30 May 1883).  Lou died a month after her second daughter was born, presumably of complications from childbirth, and Lou Wixie herself died the following year, just before her first birthday. 

Green married for a second time on 18 Jan 1884, to Harriet (Hattie) Gheesling. They were married by Thomas West, a minister, in Warren County.   Hattie was born on 30 June 1852 in Warren County to Samuel Gheesling and Elizabeth Duggan.  I used to wonder how they met, until I realized that Hattie's grandfather lived next to Green's father.  Again the families were or became intermingled, in that Hattie's niece Frances Emily married Green's brother James Thomas Garner.  Hattie lived in Warren County until her marriage and the rest of her life in Hancock County.  Nothing is known about her education, but in the 1860 and 1870 censuses she is listed as attending school and in the later ones she is apparently able to read and write. 

Hattie and Green had 4 sons, all of whom appear with them in the 1900 Hancock County census.  They were Thomas Lawton (Nov 1884), William Samuel (16 Aug 1886), Henry Grady (Sep 1889) and Charles Gordon (1 Jan 1893).   All of the boys went by their middle name.  Hattie was apparently a good stepmother, since Green's daughter Minnie named her only daughter Hattie Lou, after her stepmother and mother.

The 1884-1887 Georgia tax digest shows Green owning 261 acres of land in Hancock County, worth $783, worked by 10 hands.  This is a high number of hands compared to other farms of similar size.  The value of his other property (stock, tools, furniture, etc) brought his total taxable value up to $1683.  In 1900, Green and Hattie are on the farm with the boys and Minnie.  Green was a farmer, while the children were all in school.  Hattie claimed to have had 4 children, all of whom were living. Green owned his farm.  By 1910, all of the children except Gordon had married and left home.  Minnie was in Atlanta, Lawton in California, Sam in Hancock County, and Grady in Kentucky.  They had sold the farm (or given it to Samuel) and were renting a house elsewhere in the county, while Green and Gordon worked as carpenters.

In 1912, they lost their son Lawton to disease, while he was still working out in California, leaving a wife Edna and a young daughter Marcellite.  Lawton's widow married his cousin Ivey William Garner, who raised Marcellite after Edna died a few years later.   Marcellite went on to work for the early Disney company as an illustrator and as the original voice of Minnie Mouse.

The 1920 census has the same household, with son Gordon still at home.  He has now finished college and is working as a farm demonstration agent, while Green is a farm superviser.   Green and Hattie still rent the house.

Hattie died in 1925, but I have been unable to find her death certificate, even though one should have been issued.  She was buried at Union Baptist Church, near Warthen.  Green died on14 March 1930 in Faceville, Decatur County, Georgia.  I have not found him in the 1930 census, so it is unclear whether he lived there or was just visiting his son.  Like his wives, he was buried back at Union Baptist Church in Washington County.

Green Lee and Amanda Lou had two children:

    i.  Minnie Lou Garner, 14 Sep 1880 to 15 Oct 1969.  She married Robert E. L. Carroll and taught school in DeKalb county, where they resided.
   ii.  Lou Wixie Garner, May 1883 - May 1884

Green Lee and Harriet A. had the following children:

   iii. Thomas Lawton Garner, Nov 1884 - 30 Jan 1912.  Married Edna May Michaels on 10 Oct 1908. They resided in California.
   iv.  William Samuel Garner, 16 Aug 1886 - 11 Jul 1966.  Married Mary Lou Boyer about 1906.  They lived first in Hancock County, then in Decatur County and finally in Dekalb.
   v.  Henry Grady Garner, 25 Sep 1889 - 12 Feb 1937.  According to family lore, he married several times and had no children.  He lived in Kentucky most of his adult life.
   vi.  Charles Gordon Garner, 1 Jan 1893 - 27 Nov 1955.  Married Mattie Hendricks on 10 December 1921.