Augusta Public Library Local History and Genealogy

In its inaugural issue dated March 25, 1971, Dr. Mallory Millender’s first editorial introduced the News-Review, as a “brand new newspaper” that would serve the “whole community” but would have “a particular concern for the black community.” The News-Review which became the Augusta-News Review in November of 1972, ran weekly for almost fourteen years and became a voice for Augusta’s African American citizens. At the time of its first issue, almost one year after the Augusta Riots of May 1970, it was among few African American newspapers in the CSRA.

As primary sources, historic newspapers are windows into the social, political, economic, and cultural trends affecting and shaped by local communities during a particular moment in history. They provide context to those of us studying history by giving a 360 degree view of the time period in the communities they are representing. No other primary source has that power. As one of the few Black newspapers in Augusta, the News-Review filled a vacuum in Augusta’s Black community by identifying itself as a “community paper with a predominantly Black readership” that presented the issues of the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) from a “Black perspective.”

Mallory Millender grew up in New York City but came to Augusta in the 1960s to attend Paine College. Following his undergraduate degree, Dr. Millender received a Master’s in Journalism from Columbia University in New York and a Doctorate from Clark University in the Humanities. He settled in Augusta in the early 1970s, accepting a professorship at his alma mater. As a full-time professor of French and journalism at Paine College, Dr. Millender already had a full plate when he decided to fill the media void in the Black community with a newspaper centered around advocacy and communication. Primarily communication between the white leadership who governed Augusta and their African American constituents. He was seeking transparency and a way to bridge the gap between those making decisions for the city and those affected by the decisions. On page 2 of the March 25, 1971 edition he wrote, “our goal is communication… In order to achieve this goal we plan to feature interviews with persons shaping the destiny of our community.” True to his word future issues would feature interviews with Augusta’s mayors, sheriffs, and leaders of organizations and institutions that directly impacted the citizens of Augusta.

The News-Review began publication almost a year to the day of the May 11-13, 1970 Augusta Civil Rights Riot, using the medium as a sounding board for the century-long struggle of African Americans in Augusta to achieve a quality of life on par with their white neighbors. Dr. Millender was at the rally in front of Augusta City Hall following the gruesome death of sixteen year old Charles Oatman that ultimately sparked the three days of violence. In the end, the city burned, businesses were destroyed, and six Black men were gunned down by police officers. All six men died from gunshot wounds to the back. The suspicious death of Charles Oatman while under arrest at the city jail sparked an inferno in the Black community that had been smoldering for years. Decades of oppression at the hands of white Augusta had finally come to a head. Moving forward, The News-Review positioned itself to address the inequities and injustices plaguing Augusta’s African American populace.

Following the unrest, the National Urban League (Southern Regional Office) conducted a social and economic audit as it related to the Black community of Augusta. The News-Review printed the lengthy final report in a weekly series for several months and included commentary from local Augusta leaders, professionals, business owners, clergy, and more, both Black and white, on why the violence had occurred and what solutions they recommended. The Report concluded that inequities in employment, housing, health, education, welfare, and other areas needed immediate attention and it was “imperative that city government move immediately to correct the long-standing inequities between Blacks and whites in the Augusta community.”

For its almost fifteen year run, the Augusta News-Review never deviated from its original mission to fight for the social and economic equality for Augusta’s African American citizens. The post-civil rights era of the 1970s and 1980s was a pivotal time in the United States and the News-Reviews tackled hard issues, featuring journalists such as Pulitzer Prize winning columnist E.R. Shipp and Michael Thurmond, the chief executive officer for Dekalb County and a former representative in the Georgia Assembly.

At the forefront of Augusta’s fight for civil rights in the 70s and 80s was J. Philip Waring who worked tirelessly as an advocate for the proper recognition of contributions made by African Americans to Augusta’s history. Earning a Master’s Degree in Social Work in 1947 from Columbia University in New York, Waring returned to Augusta following his retirement from the Urban League in 1977. His work with the Urban League began in 1950 and took him all over the United States, including stints in Harlem, New York and St. Louis, Missouri. Waring also worked in journalism and his articles “Going Places by Phil Waring” appeared in several Black newspapers across Georgia, including The Augusta News-Review. The column ran for fifty years and at the time of its publication was the longest running column of its kind in the state.

The top-notch reporting of the Augusta News-Review did not go unnoticed, recognized both at the national and local levels for their efforts. In 1982, Mallory Millender was awarded by the National Newspapers Publishers Association (NNPA) for an editorial he wrote on the care of his son. A few years earlier, J. Philip Waring was awarded the West Augusta Rotary Club’s annual communication’s award for his article “Blacks Who Helped Build Augusta”. In his final article, printed in 1985, Waring wrote of the awards, “These were ‘firsts’ for any Black paper in the CSRA.”

By 1985, the newspapers circulation had grow to about 10,500 subscribers but according to J. Philip Waring had always operated on a shoe string budget. Many of the paper’s contributors were volunteers and interns, including journalism students at Columbia University who Dr. Millender gave writing assignments for experience. Over the years the newspaper never missed a week of publication but often struggled to meet payroll and cover IRS withholding taxes, interest and penalties. The penalties added up, and on a few occasions Dr. Millender took out personal loans to cover the costs. In his final editorial on March 16, 1985, Dr. Millender explained the IRS debt to his readership and commented, “Barring a not necessarily desired miracle, this will be our last issue.” He went on, “After nearly 14 years of ripping and running, working day and night, I am just tired.”

Looking back, Dr. Millender mused, “We believe that we have fulfilled our mission. For 14 years, we have delivered both information and a perspective that our community otherwise would not have had. Editorially, we have provided a voice that otherwise would not have been heard. We have been honest, forthright, and uncompromising in our commitment to truth and justice for all people.”

The loss of the Augusta News-Review was a blow to the CSRA but the spirit of the newspaper lives on in another long-running African American weekly directly inspired by Dr. Millender’s newspaper. Barbara Gordon got her start working for Dr. Millender and through his mentorship and support published her own newspaper in the early 1980s. The County Courier which later evolved into the Metro Courier has been in continuous circulation since, continuing the lineage of great African American newspaper men and women in Augusta.

As you celebrate Black History Month, take a moment to peruse the issues of The Augusta-News Review in the Georgia Historic Newspapers website. The Georgia Heritage Room with permission from publisher, Dr. Mallory Millender, partnered with the Digital Library of Georgia to have the newspaper digitized in 2021. Follow the links below.

https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn88054028/

https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn88054027/

Please visit the Georgia Room to view our current exhibit, In Small Things.

Inspired by In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life, by James Deetz, this exhibit highlights the small objects of everyday life in the early twentieth century Central Savannah River Area. The excavated objects are from the Savannah River Archaeological Research Program collection, as well as from donations and loans.

Savannah River Archaeological Research Program manages approximately 2500 known archaeological and historical sites within the Savannah River Site through compliance, outreach, and research.

In Small Things is an exhibit of recognition and connection using everyday artifacts that provide an invaluable window into the past. The featured objects may be small, but they had a larger purpose in their everyday use. They improved the lives, in some way, of those who used them.

The exhibit will be on display from January – March 2026 in the Georgia Heritage Room of the Augusta-Richmond County Public Library. Our hours of operation are Monday – Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Christmas is a time for mistletoe and holly, decorations and presents, and here in Augusta tradition also demands a Christmas parade.

The earliest mention we could dig up about Christmas parades in Augusta was published in the Augusta Chronicle in 1933. The parade was commended for having many beautiful floats created by the community. The prettiest one was judged to be the float entered by the Houghton school. Based on a theme of white snowballs, the float also had a little Christmas queen, Frances Hurt.

In 1940, Santa was enlisted as choir director for the Christmas parade. He was committed to directing the crowd in the singing of “Jingle Bells” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” The newspaper helpfully published the complete lyrics to the songs so everyone could sing along.

In 1952, the paper reported that the parade would host 8 out-of-town marching bands. The parade was doubling as a band competition and these bands would join all the local bands to compete for a $100.00 first prize.

Mike Greene-Augusta Good News

Augusta hosted parades at least until the early 1950s when the tradition entered a long lull. Mrs. Tillman Casey Jr., might have been the voice of Augusta’s nostalgia for its parades when she wrote in 1961 that she wished the parade would return to give all children the opportunity to see Santa.

There was no more reporting on an Augusta Christmas parade until a newspaper notice in 1972 when the City Council announced that an annual Christmas parade would be held on Thanksgiving Day. However, it appears that the plan never came to fruition because South Augusta announced it would host a Christmas parade on November 30^th.

In 1980, the Augusta Jaycees had taken charge of the parade and started their preparations in October with a call for applications for non-professional floats. The parade marched down Augusta’s streets with its non-professional floats on December 14^th.  As always, Santa was expected to be the climax of the parade.

The 1992 20^th Annual Christmas Fantasy Parade had Santa as a headliner but mentioned other guests as well. “Santa Claus is coming to town. And so are the Hooters Girls, the Star Trek Club beauty queens and a retiring congressman.” Doug Barnard, the congressman, was doing duty as the Grand Marshall.

2005 marked the 25^th anniversary for firefighter Greg Brooks to don the suit and cap and transform into Santa for the Augusta parade. Brooks loved the role, appearing at many other venues, and doing his part to spread Christmas cheer.

In 2017, Augustans were so eager for the parade they lined up almost an hour early to watch the parade.

2021 marked a change in the traditional route of the parade. In 2020 the holiday procession had been held up by a train and the new route would avoid this problem.

Mike Adams – Augusta Good News

This year Augustans will witness another wonderful Christmas parade. Hopefully people will get their fill of bands, floats, civic groups, and other holiday spectacles, including the ever-loved Santa. People will get a warm glow on December 6^th 2025 at 1pm as this year’s parade proceeds will benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities Augusta. So turn out, cheer and wave, and have a merry time.

November 2025 is here and so is the planning for the Thanksgiving dinner. The American Farm Bureau Federation in 2024 priced the ingredients for Thanksgiving Dinner and came up with a price tag of $58.08. They priced the turkey, the stuffing, the pie, the cranberries, some peas, and the veggie tray and claimed this would feed 12 people.

Really? That’s just the backbone of the feast. Where are the other family dishes; the mac’ and cheese, the squash casserole, the green bean casserole, the mashed potatoes and gravy, and a host of family favorites?

And still the cooks of the grand feast will look at this and think “This is not enough food. Someone is going to go hungry. What else can we add to make everyone happy?”

Maybe the cooks can get some new ideas from a little cookbook published here in Augusta called the Sunday Night Supper and Five O ’Clock Tea. The booklet was published sometime at the turn of the century by the Cranford Club. The Cranford Club ran a local tea room to support two charities; the Wilhenford Children’s Hospital and The West End Free Library. The cookbook was popular enough to need a second edition printed.

The Cranford Club was formed by like minded ladies of the Hill in 1908. As well as staging weekly teas to support its charity projects, the club ran a lending library for members. It cost ten cents to check out a book and you were only allowed one book at a time. While the club was a social hub sponsoring teas, card afternoons and dances to support its charitable goals it was also very civic minded. It participated in Dime Days which was a city-wide campaign to raise money for the Children’s Hospital Association. It was also one of the first organizations to support the formation of a Red Cross chapter in 1917.

Perhaps the earliest tie to the Children’s Hospital Association was the reported $5.00 donation in The Augusta Chronicle newspaper. The Wilhenford Children’s Hospital opened in 1910 and was billed as the first children’s hospital in Georgia. Mrs. Grace Shaw Duff, a winter visitor, donated over $20,000 for the building of the hospital as a memorial to her family members. The name Wilhenford was an amalgam of her family member’s names. Duff’s donation crowned 13 years of work to create a children’s hospital in Augusta. Having made a stipulation in her bequest that the city be responsible for the upkeep of the hospital, the Cranford Club’s donations through its tea room and cookbook sales helped to achieve this.

During negotiations to obtain a Carnegie library in 1906, it was pointed out that a free library, the West End Free Library, was already operating in Augusta. The earliest reporting on the Cranford Club mentioned its reading room so it is not surprising that the club would become associated with a library effort. By November 7, 1909 half the proceeds of the Cranford Club library and tea room were used in support of the West End Free Library.

The most active years of the club appear to have been from 1908 to 1920. In 1922 the club reached out to the community for assistance with its first flower show.  From this point the club gradually changed its emphasis becoming the Cranford Garden Club. This club stayed in existence until 2000. When the club disbanded, its remaining funds were donated to the Augusta Common, Phinizy Swamp and the Augusta Botanical Club.

Looking through the cookbook, our ancestors might have graced our tables with some very different dishes. Southerners are connoisseurs of sweet tea but the edition of 1-quart rum and 2 pints sherry definitely added a kick for a suggested Ice Tea Punch.  Spanish Salad is very different from our Ambrosia being a mixture of grapefruit, oranges, pineapple, pimentos, and Spanish onion pickles mixed with mayonnaise. Need something sweet besides the pumpkin pie? Make some Sweet Sausage Candy. Thankfully, there is no sausage in the recipe.

And don’t forget the Sardine Rarebit. Pull out your chaffing dish and combine butter, salt, paprika, Tobasco sauce, cream, and cheese. Once boiling add six sardines and two beaten eggs. Intriguing but, unlikely to become a new family favorite.

While we may wrinkle our noses at some of the concoctions, the compiler has this to say about the recipe collection.  “I have collected together about seventy-five recipes from friends who have tried them and who recommend them to be good and who know what good things are.  So, if the recipes are not successful, it is not our fault.”

So, I’ll pass on the sardines and remain thankful for the traditional turkey and the friends and family who will eat it with me this Thanksgiving Day. However, I may take a second look at the Ice Tea Punch.

Ah the power of a good ghost story. It can thrill us, chill us, and even teach us about local history if we’re lucky.

My father was a master ghost story teller as far as the thrill and chill went. He took the ghost stories he had heard in his North Carolina childhood and adapted them for his Southern Maryland child and her friends by placing them in local historic venues. We worried about seeing the ghostly body forever trapped in its coffin whenever we visited Cornfield Harbor.

Daddy had to improvise.  We were short on named ghosts in Southern Maryland. Save Moll Dyer, the ghost of a famous witch – used successfully to get my brother-in-law to stay in the yard and out of the woods- there were no real ghosts to tell the story of our area.

I didn’t experience the power of the ghost story to tell history until I lived in Great Britain. Ghost walks abound. It wasn’t until I experienced the horror of the “Bloody Tower” that I had the combo of a chilling ghost story imbedded in a history lesson about Jewish life in medieval Yorkshire that I truly became a fan of the “historical” ghost story.

By good luck, Augusta has many ghost stories with historical roots. All of them cannot be recounted here.  If you want to immerse yourself in ghostly lore, pick up Scott A. Johnson’s The Mayor’s Guide: The Stately Ghosts of Augusta or Sean Joiner’s Haunted Augusta & Local Legends. Both of these are available for checkout or, since they are short reads, perfect for a quiet stay in the Georgia Room.

Heritage Academy occupies the old Houghton school, built by the insistence of John Houghton (d. February 27, 1851) a successful businessman who donated a large sum of money to erect a free school for children to be named for him. When the building was Houghton School, teachers and students say they felt a kindly presence. Houghton made his presence known through shadows and bangs.  More scary are students’ stories of being pushed down the stairs with no culprit in sight. Perhaps, Houghton was less than impressed with their school performance.

Bellevue Hall – former home of Emily Galt

Augusta boasts two ghosts named Emily. The well documented Emily Galt- who left her initials carved into a window of Augusta University’s Bellevue Hall in 1861- fell in love with a Confederate soldier who never returned. Upon hearing of his demise, Emily threw herself from a second story window to her death. She is rumored to stalk the second floor arguing with her fiancé. For more information on Emily Galt consult Bill Wells, Wells, I. (2013). Poor Emily: A Symbol of Myths and Legends at the Old Augusta Arsenal. Augusta Richmond County History., 44(1). You’ll find that Emily lived a long life instead.

Partridge Inn – ca. 1900

The Partridge Inn’s Emily was a beautiful bride set to marry a Union soldier. On the way to the ceremony he was mistaken for a traitor, shot and killed. Emily haunts the second floor of the Partridge Inn, identifiable by her flowing chestnut hair and Irish lace dress and those who claim to have seen her report they felt a wave of overwhelming sadness come over them. If you wish to see Emily, the Partridge Inn suggests a stay in autumn months.

Augusta International Raceway

Modern times can still birth a grizzly ghost story. The Augusta International Speedway hosted NASCAR Grand National Series races from 1962 to 1969. The racecourse was known for the fated Cemetery Curve. The Rosier family cemetery sat close to this curve. While the course itself was considered difficult an astonishing number of crashes took place on this stretch of the track. At the very first race thirty-two cars started with only sixteen finishers.  Rumor and whispers blamed the demise of six of the seven top racers at this event on some malevolent force at the track. The track was prepared to take more lives besides those of car racing’s up and coming stars. Skydiver Theresa Morgan perished on the track, despite her main and reserve chutes being correctly deployed. Once closed, the raceway came a magnet for clandestine bicycle races reportedly causing injuries and deaths. Those who walk the course swear they can feel death there, most especially at Cemetery Curve. It appears the long dead Rosiers are determined to keep the peace of their cemetery undisturbed.

Like Emily Galt and John Houghton, Grandison Harris was a living breathing citizen of Augusta. Enslaved by the Medical College of Georgia until the end of the Civil War, the college educated Grandison in reading, writing and anatomy so that he could prepare cadavers for study. One of the results of this work was that Grandison was forced to become a Resurrection man, digging up bodies under cover of darkness to procure them for study at the Medical College.

While most of Augusta’s stories are rightly termed myths, Grandison Harris’ activities were corroborated during a renovation of the Old Medical College building in 1989. Beneath the floor were found hundreds of bones neatly labeled for study and whole bodies in whiskey-filled vats proof enough of Harris’ unusual trade. Thanks to its use, the Old Medical College is rumored to be the most haunted in Augusta.

Each of these stories has truth in some of its details. It was possible in 1851 to amass enough wealth in Augusta to endow a school. A young Emily Galt lived with her family in the quartermaster’s house at Bellevue Hall. Young ladies liked to hold their weddings at the fashionable Partridge Inn. A local race course was the site of many injuries and some deaths. A man worked as a grave-robber for a medical school. Stories starting with facts can grow to become the area’s legends.

Unfortunately, the HQ library can’t offer up any ghost stories of its own even though it sits on the site of the old Hollingsworth Candy Company. Though the building can give off an occasional unexplained bump or groan, this is not a sign of the spectral noises of a long shut down factory. A shame actually. Wouldn’t it be nice to ask the ghosts for the lost recipes of Hollingsworth’s chocolates?

You may find a time when doing your research, that you will want access to a primary source held by an archives or special collection. But what exactly do you need? Is it in author X’s collection or Business Y’s collection? Do you want Box 100 or folder 3?

A finding aid is a description which tells users about the collection, whether a folder or many hundreds of boxes, to determine whether it contains materials which should be examined for the research question and how it can be located.

Image by Chris Stermitz from Pixabay

The Georgia Room staff have spent many hours creating finding aids to describe and document the Georgia Room’s holdings. We had posted these descriptions under our “About the Georgia Heritage Room” web page, but these pages, while informative, were difficult to use. Only the titles of the collections could be searched, not the contents of the collections.

The Georgia Public Library Service was able to provide us the tool to make text search a reality. Our access to Archives Space allows us to provide the discovery tools to make our finding aids searchable to users by keyword, subjects, and names to locate material. Once relevant material is found a location, be it box or folder, is available,

Additionally, users can search all Georgia Public Libraries that have participated in this initiative. Right now this includes 17 locations in the system, but over time more institutions will take advantage of this opportunity adding to the materials available for research..

So have fun discovering this resource. You can access it from the Georgia Room Tab with the heading “Georgia Room Archives and Special Collections Finding Aids” or through this link https://aspace-gpls.galileo.usg.edu/  and browse Repositories to locate our collections.

Did you wish you could conduct your genealogy on another platform other than Ancestry Library Edition?

Did you wish you could have access from your home, 24 hours a day?

 Did you know you have free access to MyHeritage Library Edition through our library?

Available in 42 languages, MyHeritage is one of the world’s largest and most internationally diverse genealogy databases. With billions of historical records from 70+ countries, you can trace your lineage, uncover historical photographs and learn about your ancestors from the comfort of your home — or on the go! Start your journey into your past today.

You have access to:

• Decades of U.S. and U.K. census data
• Over 8 billion family tree records from researchers around the world
• Over 816 million U.S. public records
• Hundreds of millions of Nordic and European records
• Over 600 million photos including historical and gravestone images
• Over 200 million American immigration records, passenger lists, and naturalizations
• Various legal and personal documents including citizenship records, guides, government records and wills
• Exclusive databases and licensed content with over 100 million new records added monthly

To begin using MyHeritage, visit the library website https://arcpls.org/ and find the tab for the Georgia Heritage Room than scroll down to MyHeritage.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact The Georgia Heritage Room at 706-826-1511 or genealogy@arcpls.org.

The Georgia Room is lucky enough to have a copy of Augusta, one of the American Guide Series, a project implemented by The Federal Writers’ Project, part of the Works Progress Administration, which was formed during the Depression, with the intention of providing work to writers and artists. The American Guide Series of which the Augusta volume is a part intended to “preserve records, impressions and, stories, both of the past and of the present, and to bring to residents and visitors a complete picture of the country in all its aspects.”

The Federal Writers Program set up shop in Augusta on November 16, 1935. Spending a year sifting through books and archives and interviewing hundred of people, the book was finally released in 1938 under the sponsorship of City Council of Augusta. The book was very successful in portraying Augusta present and past. It even put in a series of walking tours so that users could find points of interest throughout the city.

This image is used courtesy of the Augusta Museum of History

The last section of the book “Tales of Augusta” contains stories of people and landmarks unique to Augusta. Amid stories of the Haunted Pillar, Big Steve, and Richard Henry Wilde was a brief sketch entitled “An Aide to Santa Claus”. The piece mentioned a sixty-year history of the Zinn Toy Shop but, focused more on the shop’s destruction in the flood of 1908 and the subsequent efforts of the community to rebuild the little shop.

For some reason, the curiosity of this writer was piqued.  Could more be said about the women at the heart of the story? While it was not as rare as we like to believe for women to work outside the home in this period, it was still unusual for a woman to be openly acknowledged as a proprietor of a business. What more could be found out about Mrs. Zinn and Miss Sarah Zinn?

Mrs. Rosella Zinn nee Leon was the originator of the Zinn Toy Shop. On April 30, 1839 she married John W.H. Zinn. The marriage appears to have been very prosperous. John W. Zinn, listed as a baker in the 1850 census, claimed real estate at a value of $3,500 and according to the 1850 slave schedule was the owner of 6 enslaved persons. For whatever reason, in 1857 Rosella Zinn, with two other ladies, was almost granted an act of relief [a divorce] from her husband. It passed through the legislature only to be thwarted by  Governor Joseph E. Brown as he refused to sign it. Public opinion in Augusta was in Rosella’s favor. The Augusta Chronicle, castigated the governor’s shortcomings, used the failed bill as an example of his incompetence. “… that hybrid between a preacher and party tool can justify Gov. Brown for vetoing the bill allowing Mrs. Zinn the small pittance which she could make free from the debts of her drunken and runaway husband.” Apparently, John Zinn remained away for the rest of Rosella’s lifetime.

Rosella managed to retain some assets from the failed marriage. In the 1860 census, she claimed real estate totaling $5000 and a personal estate of $1300. According to the slave schedule, she owned 1 enslaved person, age 35.

The couple had 5 children, Sarah (1841), Henry (1844), Mary E.(1847), Georgianna, who died when she was 3 (1859), and Julia B. (1850).

It is not possible to estimate the financial effects of the Civil War on the Zinn family, but they had their share of personal suffering. The Roster of Confederate Soldiers states that Henry L. Zinn enlisted as a private on March 2. 1862, was wounded at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863 and died from wounds 1864. Hopefully Henry died surrounded by his loved ones given the length of time between his wounds and his death.

Regardless of her personal suffering, Rosella Zinn focused on building a business to provide a living for herself and her family. The 1870 census shows Mrs. Zinn with $6000 in real estate and $500 in her personal estate. By 1872 she was listed in the city directory with her profession being noted as toys and confectionary with the business entered under Confectioners and Fruit.

Augusta Chronicle 9/27/1908

It was around this time that the Zinns became noted for their sugar animals. An Augusta Chronicle account recalled the sugar toys from the early days of the shop, “the candy toys Mrs. Zinn made – candy men and women and dogs and horses and chickens.  When one got tired of playing with them, one could eat them.”  Later it was suggested that a stipulation be put on the rebuilding of the toy shop after the 1908 flood. An account given on September 14, 1908 stated, “It is a condition that Miss Sarah gets those moulds what turns out sugar candy men and soldiers and animals and horses and cows and make ‘em all, and sell ‘em for a penny too.”

But what exactly did Rosella Zinn do to make her shop into “Santa’s Depot”.  For Christmas the shop became full of everything on a child’s wish list. In 1872 her wares included “ Tin, China and Mechanical Toys, Pianos, Magic Lanterns, Drums, Wagons Carriages, Chairs, Dressed Wax Dolls, India Rubber dolls, Games, Tables, Stoves, Work Boxes, Table Croquet, Christmas Tree Ornaments, Candies and a large lot of Fireworks which she will sell very reasonable.” Rosella traveled North to bring her holiday loot down to Augusta. But she didn’t rely on Christmas alone to bring shoppers to the store.  She would carry items necessary for making costumes for the annual masquerade ball. Spring brought a good supply of baseballs. July brought Magic Mockingbirds and a lot of wheelbarrows in all different sizes.

1908 baseball retrieved from the Digital Public Library of America <https://gusn.us/176737>

But Christmas was her specialty, though later ads such as this one from 1876 were less loaded with detail. “Mrs. Zinn has returned from the principle depots of Santa Claus in all the large cities and Centennial Exhibition for the benefit of her little friends and children. 139 Broad Street is filled to overflow with gifts and Santa Claus goods. Everybody is welcomed and invited to call.”

Rosella could be relied on to contribute to many charitable causes and to donate prizes for charity functions. But her business and civic spirit was stilled on August 11, 1881. Her mortuary notice published in January 8, 1882, was replete with praise for a life well lived. Having all the worthy virtues one could ascribe to a lady. It was noted that her perseverance enabled her to leave an inheritance to her daughters. Most important to ‘A Friend’ was not Mrs. Zinn’s financial achievements, but “a spotless name, the “richest treasure mortal times afford”

Sarah Jane Zinn, Mary Elizabeth Gordon, and Julia Bryan Heath were the main inheritors from there mother’s estate. A sign that Sarah had participated in the running of the toy store and functioned as her mother’s right hand was the bequest of $2000 to belong to her absolutely and to be given to her before the division between the three sisters. To keep the daughters’ inheritance “free from husbands and fathers”, the lawyer H. Clay Foster was named executor of the will. It seems that the bulk of the estate was held in a trust, however a note found in Minutes U 1891-1892 Richmond County states that H. Clay Foster qualified but did not execute Rosella’s will. Affairs remained in this shape until H. Clay Foster died on August 27, 1890. The estate continued to be plagued by shoddy administration. A second executor, Marcellus P. Foster, brother of H. Clay, was named the will’s executor in 1892. At the time of his death on June 18, 1897, “M.P. Foster had in his hands certain land and property claimed to be the estate of {Rizella] C. Zinn unadministered.” Foster’s wife Pauline was granted executorship of Rosella Zinn’s will in October 1897. Her efforts to settle the estate would continue until 1904 when the property contained in the estate was sold before the court house door on the first Tuesday in June 1904 “the following described property for partition and distribution”. Finally finished, Pauline applied for letters of dismission which was duly published in the newspaper on November 14, 1904.

The Georgia Tax Digests show what all the wrangling did to Sarah’s inheritance. In the 1891 volume, Sarah’s taxable assets are listed as $600 in property 500 in merch. of every kind. The Zinn estate is valued at $6000 in property $500 in stocks and bonds. Thereafter the estate dwindles away.  By 1906, Sarah is possessed of $50 merch. of any kind. The toy store hung on, but just barely.

The 1908 flood, one of Augusta’s worst, destroyed the toy shop and most of its contents. This should have been the end of Zinn’s Toy Shop.

But fate hadn’t reckoned with the city of Augusta, Georgia. For all that had been lost, nostalgia demanded the toy shop be rebuilt. A committee of determined ladies, headed by Caroline Black, Mary Lois Sibley Eve, Allie Eve Cabaniss, Elizabeth Rountree, and Ellen Hickman masterminded a fundraiser wherein donations could not total more than 25 cents. The quarters poured in from Augusta. The drive drew contributions from farther away, from small towns in Georgia and South Carolina to former customers from Arkansas and Texas and four anonymous donors from New York City who recalled “the dear lady from whom we all bought toys and lollypops.”

from The Augusta Chronicle 11/10/1883

What more can be known about this “dear lady” beyond her name, birth and death dates and legal troubles. According to newspaper articles, Miss Zinn, in spite of her condition in life, had a passion for philanthropy and took an interest the in education of poor boys “using every penny she could spare”. She had the guardianship of her nephew Arthur Gordon, who continued to work in the shop with her. She appears to have taught school for two or three years and had a reputation as a patient teacher. One writer remembers Miss Zinn with “her black curls down her face’. The same writer had more intense memories about Sarah’s wares; “her ‘lasses candy, her ginger cake doll babies and horses, and oh, every so many good things for the little ones to eat as well as toys to play with.”

Sarah used her skills at stamping and pinking to generate extra income. Stamping involves pressing a heated tool or dye onto a dampened fabric to create an indented design or pattern, similar to how leather is stamped. Pinking creates small, decorative holes or perforations in the fabric, often using a tool similar to an awl. These skills were advertised along with her toys. She also had a reputation as a “toy doctor” repairing broken toys.

This doll is an example of the toys one might find in the Zinn Toy Shop retrieved from the Digital Public Library of America <https://gusn.us/103677>

In spite of the generosity of Augusta, which had bristled at criticisms of favoritism, and the esteem in which Sarah Zinn was held by the town, plans for a new Zinn Toy Shop ran up against one unsurmountable obstacle. Sarah J. Zinn died on October 22, 1908. The paper diagnosed her. “Miss Zinn received internal injuries which together with shock caused by the flood and grief of having to give up her dear little home, no doubt hastened her death.”

What to do now with the generous fund which had topped $400.  The committee reported that some funds had gone to nursing Miss Zinn in the hospital, the rest would be applied to her funeral, a decent burial and a modest marker for her resting place. It was reported that the funeral, held at the First Baptist Church, attended by Sarah’s sister Mrs. Julia Heath of Birmingham, and a niece and a cousin, both of Augusta, and Arthur Gordon, was filled to capacity. The choir had rendered Sarah’s favorite hymn “Safe in the Arms of Jesus”. She is buried in Magnolia Cemetery and the location of her grave can be provided by Augusta’s Graveside Project

And what of the little toy store? It was sold of course. What little stock was left fetched $106.83 “and the proceeds will be held intact to take care of Arthur Gordon,”

Perhaps a sad tale. By 1938 Miss Sarah was rated a legend of Augusta, rediscovered each time someone picked the up Augusta, The American Guide Series.  Through this, Sarah J. Zinn, toy shop proprietor lives in memory for over one-hundred years.

This blog post attempted to relay, not just Sarah Zinn’s story, but to show the importance of the items we preserve in the Georgia room and the stories they can tell even now in our electronic 21^st century. Even if it takes a curious writer to bring them to life.

You’re invited to visit the Georgia Heritage Room from now until the end of September to view a special exhibit curated by Harriet Dick Speer, granddaughter of Harriet Adelaide Dick Speer. Harriet’s exhibit tells the story of her grandmother, who was born in 1873 in Meadville, Pennsylvania. In 1898, Harriet Adelaide Dick Speer embarked on a trip around the world with her father, Samuel Bernard Dick, a widower, and her cousin, Leila Laughlin. On these travels she collected textiles, art and artifacts, as well as memories that would impact her granddaughter and namesake, Harriet Dick Speer, born in 1954.

She eventually settled in Augusta with her husband, Joseph McKnight Speer, and their three sons around 1912. An important aspect of Mrs. Speer was her dedication to gardening. At Goshen, where she and her husband build a Dutch Colonial house, she created sunken gardens with formal layouts, cultivated large drifts of daffodils in fields, wisteria supported by a long pergola on the south side of the house, and other species, such as mountain laurel, that she realized would thrive, even in Augusta, due to the slightly higher elevation of their property. Their garden was featured in the 1933 book, A Garden History of Georgia.

The carefully curated exhibit tells the story of Harriet Adelaide Dick Speer through the artifacts most precious to her in her lifetime, as well as those collected during her world travels. Her granddaughter, Harriet Speer, an accomplished artist, includes several of her paintings, inspired by her grandmother’s gardens and home at Goshen.

The Georgia Room is located on the third floor of the Headquarters Library at 823 Telfair Street. Hours are Monday – Friday, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.