The following is a copy of the remarks made by Aubrey R. Morris at the historic Utoy Church Cemetery  at  Atlanta, Ga.  These remarks were made at  11AM on  3 Oct l998 at the grave sites for William Gilbert  &  Isham Hendon.  This effort was brought about by the Piedmont Chapter, Georgia Society,  Sons of the American Revolution.  The copy of these remarks was made available by Alice Hughes who attended the dedication and furnished some of the information.

It's no accident that many of the offspring of the HENDONS, especially during the family's first two hundred years in America, can logically be called the "Give 'em Hell Hendons".

The Hendons had their American origin in the early 1700's. The family's progenitor, Josias Hendon,  born in England, came to America as an indentured servant, his new home being in the Gunpowder River area, Eleventh District, Baltimore County, Maryland. Josias Hendon, after completing his indenture, about 1722,  married  Hannah Robinson, daughter of William and Elizabeth Robinson. Thus began our Hendon Family, some offspring of which are present here today, either alive or in spirit.

The first Hendon family migration southward from Baltimore County was to the Cape Fear area of North Carolina.But, for sure, the Hendons definitely have never been gun shy.

They're documented as having fought in every war, from the Colonial, pre-revolution era, through the Revolutionary period, to the present. Their fighting prowess has even been demonstrated in numerous skirmishes with the Indians during the family's early days in Georgia. These occurred at Olive's Fort, a neighorhood stockade/blockhouse built by a branch of the Hendon Family and located on Cloud's Creek. Along with my wife, three grandchildren and several Hendon kinfolk , I visited the site just two weeks ago. It's only about a two hour drive from this spot, between Crawford & Comer, over in a part of original Wilkes, now Oglethorpe County.

The first trek to Cloud's Creek in Northeast Georgia, by several entire households within the Hendon Family, was over 215 years ago. It was an adventureous menage, male and female, young and old. It included horses, cows, pigs, wagons, carts and all of the personal belongings. It came from Wake,  Bladen, Anson and surrounding North Carolina Counties, and occurred about the year 1780. And that one group of adventurous Georgia-bound  pioneers, following a long-standing family custom, included at least a dozen Isham Hendons, young and old. On that list were several Revolutionary as well as pre-revolutionary soldiers. One such Isham Hendon, for example, had been listed as Lieutenant in Field Returns of the Regiment of Militia for Wake County, North Carolina, at General Musters in 1772 & 1773.

In today's fast-developing technology, family members from far and near, including one of my recently-discovered  Hendon cousins,  Mrs. Alice Hughes, of Walnut Grove, have been busy, through the magic of the computer world, turning abstract names into well-documented, living history. It's great to see Alice here today. She tells me she's headed to a Hendon Family reunion over in Alabama, also underway this weekend.

In closing, I'd like to mention to my fellow compatriots of the Piedmont Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, to other SAR and DAR members and officials, and to my Hendon cousins and other guests present, two historic figures---a man and a woman.

They, like the Hendon we honor here today, had their names etched in Atlanta and Georgia history.

If you came here this morning by way of Hartsfield International Airport, you may not be aware that it gets its name from the late, great, longtime Atlanta mayor, William Berry Hartsfield, 1890-1971.  Mr.  Hartsfield's Hendon connection goes back several generations, from the Hartsfields to Karenhappuck  Hendon,  whose first marriage was to Anthony Olive...the man who built the previously-mentioned  Olive's Fort.

However, "Happy" Hendon Olive, who died in 1847, at the ripe old age of 87, must have provided the  "happy" disposition often exhibited by her descendant,  Mayor Hartsfield. I once literally "felt" the  Mayor's legendary temper. One Monday morning "Wild Bill", as I called him, without warning, threw a paper weight at me, after I, then a young reporter on The Atlanta Journal, asked what he considered an "unfriendly" question. The flying paper weight brushed my right arm. Hartsfield then began smiling broadly, hugged me, and invited me to have a Coca Cola with him---fresh out of the private cooler supplied to Hartsfield by his friend and confidant, Robert Woodruff, President of Coca-Cola.

The other "historic Hendon", who comes to mind, was a female member of the family. Not like Hartsfield, a big salesman, out front---always in the limelight, pushing Atlanta. But a power, nonetheless, behind the scene. I speak, here, of Martha L.(Mattie) Hendon, 1848-1893, daughter of Major James Walton Hendon, of Clarke County, Georgia. Mattie's father, at age 40, commanded the  Clarke County Rifles, Company L, 3rd Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Army of  Northern Virgina, during the Civil War. Mattie Hendon married Dr. George Washington Durham, and became the mother of Georgia Durham.

Georgia Durham, with her mother's fiery Hendon personality---her rigid disposition and  knack for having her way, was a daily mentor, the driving force behind her controversial husband, Thomas Edward (Tom) Watson, United States Senator, lawyer-publisher, and Populist.

Unlike these individuals, the exploits of the ISHAM HENDON, being memorialized today here at Utoy Cemetery, and the good deeds of his devoted wife, Sarah (Salley Murray) Hendon, the first person buried here, are virtually unknown. (This Isham and Sally were married in Oglethorpe Co, Ga on Aug 5, 1803).

Most of the remarkable accomplishments, the crowning glories, even the notorious reputations of the high and mighty, as well as the exploits of every-day people,  go largely unheralded, whether in history books, in newspapers, on radio or television, or on monument's memorials.

So, I leave you with just this thought, as I close. Quoting one verse from the great English poet,  Thomas Grey, in his  "elegy Written in a County Church Yard":

    "Full many a gem of purest ray serene
      The dark unfathom'd caves of ovean bear;
       Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
        And waste its sweetness in desert air."