Memories of Charlton County - by Gibson and Mays Back to Table of Contents 4. FOREWORD (VI) Madison Gibson has
often said that he would like to write a book, one telling of the people of Charlton County and their customs and traditions in the years he was a child and young man. For about a year, I enjoyed weekly conversations with him, listening to him tell of his experiences, then writing them. This booklet is the result of those conversations and fulfills Mr. Gibson's ambition to have his recollections recorded. His memories portray the character of the people of Charlton in the
early part of the twentieth century. They tell how the people lived, worked and played, and how they worshipped. The pace of life has changed, but the characteristics of the Charlton pioneers remain. Fiercely loyal to the county that claims most of the great Okefenokee Swamp, they continue in a heritage of family love, humor and honest toil that is deeply rooted in the early days of Charlton County. Madison Gibson is a native and life-long resident of the Okefenokee area.
He was born October 28, 1895 in Ware County but his family moved to a log home on a farm in Charlton County when he was a small boy. He spent his early manhood in Charlton County working in the pine forests, hauling bridge pilings out of the thickets, loading barrels of turpentine on river barges, dynamiting lightard stumps, cutting firewood, or bird hunting beneath the towering long-needled trees. We are all fortunate that he has shared his memories of the days of a more
simple life when young men worked and played with an enthusiastic spirit, and many hardy families scratched out a living near the great Okefenokee. Lois Barefoot Mays
Folkston, Georgia
January 1989 | 
