FOR THE FIRST TIME. Chapter 4

 FOR THE FIRST TIME.  

Chapter 4

This week I present another chapter in a long line of “firsts.”  Of course, “firsts” are never absolute because there was no one who was everywhere all of the time to verify, chronicle and document that it was truly for the first time.

While his father, Chief William McIntosh, visited his cousin, Gov. George M. Troup in Laurens County, his son, Chili McIntosh, (left) attended schools in Laurens County.  When the Creeks removed to the Oklahoma Territory, McIntosh became prominent in state affairs in the territory and is often given credit for establishing the first school system in Oklahoma.  During the Civil War when the Creeks allied with the Confederate government, Chilli McIntosh served as a colonel in the Confederate cavalry.   

Barney Hester, a former East Laurens High School athlete,  ranks 7th on the  all time list of coaching victories in Georgia with  Hester is first in Georgia in private school wins with  He was second among all coaches in Georgia between 1990 and 2009 with 216.

Jonathan Sawyer, (left) the founder, first merchant, and first postmaster of Dublin, Georgia, was named in 1818 as a director of the Bank of Darien, the largest bank in the United States south of Philadelphia. 

As a captain, Joseph Logue, was the first officer in the U.S. Navy to oversee the use of DDT to control mosquitos in combat zones in World War II.    After being captured by the Japanese, Logue was named to command the prisoners held in Bilbub Prisoner of War Camp.   After he commanded the U.S. Naval Hospital in Dublin, Logue was promoted to Vice-Admiral.

Lt. Charles P. Ragan, of Laurens County, was sne of the first naval advisors sent to Vietnam in 1963. Lt. Ragan served in Vietnam from April 12, 1963 to April 9, 1964 as an adviser to the Vietnamese Navy's 22nd River Assault Group.  President Lyndon Johnson awarded the Bronze Star to Ragan for outstanding courage, leadership, and professional skill in the face of hostile fire during 13 combat operations against the Viet Cong. 

Dr. Reece C. Coleman, Jr. was named the Valedictorian of the 1932 Senior Class of the University of Georgia.  Dr. Coleman was one of trio of physicians to develop the world’s first  color camera to film the interior of a living human body.

In 1911, E.D. White, of Laurens County, and Herschel White, of Screven County, became the first brothers to concurrently serve in the Georgia Legislature. 

Henry C. Fuqua moved to what would become Laurens County in the early 1800s.  While the land across the river was officially the property of the Creek Indians, Fuqua was known to have ventured across the Oconee River to farm the rich bottom lands on the other side.  During his successful career as a planter, Fuqua is given credit for being the first farmer to  use cotton seed as fertilizer. 

Mrs. J.E. Perry was declared to be the first woman in America, perhaps in the world to accomplish a rather mundane feat.  In 1927, Mrs. Perry was said to have been the first woman to have her hair done while flying in an airplane.

Dublin’s Captain William Brooks Rice,  (left) the premier planter in East Central Georgia was chosen and organizing founder of the Georgia Farm Bureau Advisory Bureau in 1920.

Earl Weaver, (left) a World Champion manager and Hall of Fame inductee,  was the player-manager for the Dublin Orioles in 1958. Weaver ranks 26th among the winningest managers,   6th in winning percentage,  and first in most wins per season with 94.6.     Weaver managed the Orioles in three world series, 1969, 1971, and 1979.

Howard Brown, while serving in the U.S. Navy, witnessed the first explosion of a hydrogen  bomb at Eniwetok Island on November 1, 1952 during Operation Ivy.  Brown was later commended for saving many lives during a typhoon.

Selina Burch, a native of Dubin, was one of the first female presidents of a Telephone Workers of America local union in the United States.

Col. Lewis Cleveland Pope served as the first captain of the first National Guard Company in the National Guard in the Southeastern United States.  The company, organized as Co. A, 121st Georgia Infantry Regiment, fought in World War under the regimental command  of Col. Pope, who died during the war.

Judge Peyton Wade, a Dublin attorney and a judge of the Court of Appeals from 1914-1919, was chosen as the Chief Judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals in 1916 and served until his death in 1919.  In 1885, Wade was awarded a place as a Universit of Georgia Junior Speaker for graduation exercises that year. Wade was the editor of the student-run newspaper. In 1886, as a senior, Wade was elected by his classmates as Senior Poet and Senior Class Orator.  He was also a member of the first Board of Editors of The Pandora student yearbook (the first collegiate yearbook in the Deep South (171).  His poem, “Alma Mater,” was a featured and popular poem in that first edition in 1886.  He was a member of the Phi Kappa literary society. Brother Wade became a member of the Kappa Deuteron chapter of Phi Gamma Delta   by 1885.