TOMLINSON Genealogy

DOWN IN ECHOLS COUNTY
by John and Gwen Dixon

Down in Echols County, where I was born and raised;
Down in Echols County, back in my younger days.
That's where my memory wanders and takes me back in time,
Down in Echols County, just across the Florida-Georgia line.

My daddy and my mama raised a family;
Nine head of us younguns and the second girl was me.
I remember growing up in the South Georgia pines,
Down in Echols County, just across the Florida-Georgia line.

My daddy split cross-ties and chipped boxes for turpentine,
He never made much money, but we all turned out just fine.
With a good Christian raisin', Mama made us toe the line,
Down in Echols County, just across the Florida-Georgia line.

Now, I'm a million miles away from the way that I was raised,
But still my mind goes wandering back to my childhood days;
To my friends and all my family that I left so far behind,
Down in Echols County, just across the Florida-Georgia line.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Forever grateful .... Sister, Rachel Mavis Tomlinson Mims

"My First Remembered Home"

John Tomlinson Home (c. 1880-c?) - This is the house that John Tomlinson, my g-grandfather built to replace the old log house that was believed to have been built by his grandfather, William Tomlinson. The old log house became outbuildings, and were still standing in the 1950s. It is not known if this house is still standing, since access to the property, which was sold in the 1960s, has been denied.
This is an example of a typical country home in Echols County. They started small and as the family grew (this one housed 3 generations of large families), another section was added on.
In this particular house there were six bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, back screened porch on the right, long side porch on the left, and three fireplaces. The water well was in the yard on the left side, with the out buildings, horse stall, corncrib, etc., beyond that.
As I grew up here, the jug of milk would be lowered into the well to keep it cool. Watermelons were also chilled this way. Ice was wraped in burlap sacking and buried in the smokehouse in the summertime. There was a smoke house, cane-grinder, sugar kettle for making syrup, and an outdoor privy (outhouse to us natives). These privies were either one or two-seaters, and always contained the previous edition of the Sears catalog - minus the index pages.
This farm also had two tenant houses and a tobacco barn. In this area of Georgia, there was a lot of clay. This was used, not only to chink between the logs of the tobacco barn, but also made wonderful teasets for this little girl.
We had a pump organ, and when my mother would play on a Sunday afternoon, our porch would be filled with neighbors, both black and white who would join in the hymn singing.