The Lively Family...

One of the First Families In Sardis

Do You Know? By Kathryn B. Wilson
One of the first (if not the first) families to live at "Frog Wallow", now known as Old Sardis, was the Lively Family. The area was in the St. George Parrish, which later became part of Burke County. Abraham Lively, a Scotch Highlander, came with a group from Scotland and settled in what is now Darien, Georgia, near St. Simon's Island. These people came to Georgia wearing their kilts (woolen pleated skirts) and playing their bagpipes.  Gen. James Edward Oglethorpe, founder of the State of Georgia, gave them permission to settle there. The Indians loved to listen to the Scotch Highlanders play their bagpipes, and they would hide in the woods nearby to listen to the music that these people made.  Even before the French and Indian War or the American Revolutionary War, the Scotch Highlanders fought the Spanish, who owned Florida at this time and were trying to take Georgia lands. The war itself was called "the War of Jenkins Ear", but the battle that the Scotch Highlanders fought was called "The Battle of Bloody Marsh". This battle was fought on St. Simons Island.	The Scotch Highlanders not only fought the Spanish but they defeated them and tricked them with a decoy letter by letting a letter fall into the hands of the Spanish stating that help was coming to aid them. Actually, there was no help coming, but it scared the Spanish so much that they got on their ships and left Georgia forever.  Mr. Abraham (Abram) Lively had moved to near Savannah before this battle but took part in it anyway. Because of his bravery, he was awarded lands by the British located in what is now Burke County. The lands were where old Sardis is now. Mr. Lively's lands bordered on both sides of the old Savannah and Augusta Road. (This part of the road is also known as the Old Quaker Road.) In 1750, Mr. Abraham Lively and his wife carne to live in old Sardis. Their son, Matthew Lively, was born after they arrived.  When the Americans fought the British for their freedom in the American Revolutionary War beginning in 1776, Mr. Matthew Lively was a soldier in this war.
July 7  -  1742 This day marks the anniversary of the Battle of Bloody Marsh, which has long been credited as General James Oglethorpe's most important victory--and in fact the battle that determined that Georgia would be English rather than Spanish.
Later, a Mr. Alex (Squire) Lively, 1832-1912, fought in the War Between the States. This Mr. Lively owned and operated a store in what is now "Old Sardis". This store, according to research by this writer, was located on the spot where the late Mr. Leroy Blackburn home is located. The store was a little south and a little further off the road, However.  Mr. Squire Lively and his son, Matthew, 1857-1882, gave approximately four acres of land to a group of people to form and build a Methodist church The building was not erected until 1902, however. The church was named St. Mark's Methodist Church. It was located about one and one half miles southwest of "Old Sardis" on the Old Savannah and Augusta Road. The cemetery is still in use but the church was moved when New Sardis was built, in 1910.  A three room school house was built on Lively lands near St. Marks, named Liberty Hill school. This school was also moved into New Sardis and the school was named Sardis High School. Later, it was renamed Sardis-Girard-Alexander High School. Just recently the named was changed to SGA Elementary.  The Livelys also gave land for a school for black children, Pleasant Grove, to be built. This was a one-room building located on the old Millen Road on the first large curve after leaving Sardis towards Millen. It was on the right side of the road. The spot was to later become part of the late Mr. Bargeron estate. This school closed when Cousins Elementary was built.  Mr. Alex (Squire) Lively, both of his wives and his son, Matthew, and part of his family are buried in the Sardis Baptist cemetery.	This writer, being now in her later years, remembers an lovely old Lively home that burned in the early 1930's. It was located on the old Savannah-Augusta highway on the opposite side of the road from lands belonging to Mr. A. L. Heath, Jr. The Lively home was on lands belonging to the late Mr. Sidney Robinson when it burned.  Another Lively home was located on the old Augusta Road across from Mr. Lovett Bargeron's pasture. It was on the estate of the late Mr. Ben Bargeron, also. The other Lively Home, and the last to be occupied by Lively's, was behind old Sardis off of the Old Millen :Road on lands of the late Mr. Ira Black. Sr estate. Mr. Alex Lively and his wife Nell, were the last Lively's to live there.  This family, the Lively family, played an important role in the development of what is now Sardis, Georgia They were there at its beginning, they owned a store which also held the first office for Sardis, when mail was brought by horseback from Millhaven twice a week. The Lively family had loved ones to fight in the War of Jenkins Ear, the American Revolutionary War and the War Between the States.  Yes, this family is very much a part of the history of Sardis.  The last known Lively to live in Sardis (New Sardis) was a lovely lady, Mrs. Emily Lively Clow. She gave her talent to the town by writing historical articles for "The True Citizen". She also encouraged this writer to publish the knowledge that she has so that the East Burke County people will know the history of their area.

Oglethorpe's Highlanders Open Fire at Battle of Bloody Marsh, July 7, 1742

Illustration: Image at Bloody Marsh battle site, National Park Service

The Scots Highlanders Settle Darien      General James Edward Oglethorpe founded the new Georgia colony at Savannah on February12, 1733. He soon realized the need for military outposts to the south to protect the main settlement at Savannah. The purpose of the Georgia colony was largely military at first (as wellas philanthropic). Thus, Oglethorpe decided upon an outpost on the former site of Fort King George on the Altamaha and a more elaborate fortification on St. Simons Island, a short distance south of the Altamaha.      In October 1735, a band of Highland Scots recruited from the vicinity of Inverness, Scotland by Hugh Mackay and George Dunbar sailed from Inverness on the Prince of Wales. In early January 1736, they arrived at Savannah and, on Oglethorpe's orders, began making plans for settling at the mouth of the Altamaha.      On the 19th of January, after traveling down the inland waterway by boat, the Highlanders landed at Barnwell's Bluff on the site of Fort King George. There the Scots established the settlement they called Darien, in memory of the ill-fated expedition made by their countrymen to the Isthmus of Darien in Panama in 1697. There were 177 people in this hardy band of Scots, including women and children, and they were led by John McIntosh Mohr and Hugh Mackay.      The men were trained Highland warriors, among the world's finest fighting soldiers and      especially selected by Oglethorpe for the purpose he had in mind. The Highlanders emplaced cannon on the earthworks of Fort King George; huts were built for the soldiers and those who had brought their families. A small kirk was built for the purpose of holding divine services. The Scots had brought their own minister, Rev. John McLeod of the Isle of Skye, recently ordained by the Prebyterian congregation in Georgia.      Captain Dunbar wrote to the Georgia Trustees: "The Scots have settled at Barnwell's Bluff on the Altamaha and desire their town shall be called Darien.      On February 22, 1736, Oglethorpe made his first visit to Darien. The occasion marked the first military parade of British troops to be held in Georgia. In their honor, Oglethorpe wore the Highland habit. As they marched in review before him, the Highlanders made an impressive sight in full regalia, with claymore, side arms and targes (shields).      In the summer of 1736, Oglethorpe again visited and on this occasion he laid out the town of Darien on a high bluff overlooking the river about one mile west of the Barnwell Bluff outpost. Here, Fort Darien was to be built; a town was surveyed and town squares laid out with commons on the east and north and acreage lots to the west of Fort King George.      Late in 1739, the District of Darien was laid out, comprising an area approximating that of present-day McIntosh County. For a time, the town of Darien was called New Inverness to distinguish it from the District.

 

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