Spivey Family – Wilkinson County, Georgia

I cobbled together this brief outline of my grandparents, James Franklin and Maggie Holton Spivey, in 2006 and have recently made a couple of minor changes.

by Bobill Weaver, aka Bo Weaver and Bill Weaver

James and Maggie Holton Spivey
Updated October 12, 2020
Updated October 17, 2006

James Franklin Spivey (1866 – Feb 22, 1918)
Maggie Safronia Holton (Jan 9, 1876 – Feb 14, 1918)

Very little is known about the lives and characters of James F. and Maggie Holton Spivey. According to the 1880 census records, James Franklin. Spivey was 14 years old and living with his parents, Gideon and Sarah Hightower Linder Spivey and 3 brothers in Laurens County, Georgia. That places his year of birth at 1866; the most likely place of birth was Laurens County, Georgia. One brother, William (believed to be William Linder, child of Sarah Linder from  a previous marriage), was the oldest at 18  and the youngest, Hightower, was 4 years old. The 1880 census records also show that Maggie Safronia Holton was 4 years old and living with her parents, John T. and Missouri Worthy Holton in Laurens County. That places the year of her birth at 1876, and like James F. Spivey, she was probably born in Laurens County. The census also lists a brother, Thomas Worthy who was 5 and a sister, Sarah (believed to be Sallie) who was 2 years, old living in the household.

According to Laurens County records, James F. Spivey and Maggie Holton were married February 13, 1894. The next thing I found about the couple is from the from the 1910 census records which show James F. and Maggie Holton Spivey were living in Wilkinson County with 6 children. It is almost certain that they  lived in the low-lying region referred to as the flats, within a few miles of the Oconee River in one direction and Toomsboro in the other – near what is now State Highway 57. That highway passes through Toomsboro between Wrightsville (Johnson County) and Macon. They may have lived very near the Oochee Creek Road which is a connector between Highway 57 and the Old Balls Ferry Road. Both of these intersections are not far from the site of the old ferry, which carried passengers between Wilkinson and Johnston counties. The census records list the occupation of James F. as a farmer. He and family members likely tended a few acres with mules and raised some corn, peas, peanuts, and sugar cane for family consumption and probably had a few acres of cotton as a money crop. The family would also have had some chickens a few hogs, and perhaps a milk cow. The children attended the nearby one-room Union School, and at  least one of the children completed seven years of school. That was my mother, Sallie Spivey Weaver. James F. would have hauled his cotton to Toomsboro for ginning. He and Maggie would have bought necessities for the farm and household in Toomsboro, probably on Saturdays, and they may have done business in the Murray Hall Merchandise Store shown at right.

Maggie Spivey died February 14, 1918 and was buried in the Ebenezer Baptist Church cemetery near Toomsboro, Georgia. Some of the children said she died from complications stemming from the birth of Reginald a week earlier and others said she died from the flu.  At the burial ceremony, James F. was purported to say, “I’ll be right there beside her within a week.” He died on February 22 and is buried beside Maggie, but the exact location of their graves has been lost. They left nine children, in all, ranging in ages from 22 to less that three weeks old. That was Unlce Reginald. At least five of the children were still living at home. None of the children survive and it seems that the children have passed along only a precious few memories of their parents. In fact, most members of the last several generatons know more about their maternal grand mother Missouri Worthy Holton and her son, Thomas Worthy Holton, than about their grand parents. That may be understandable, given that those two outlived James F. and Maggie and helped raise some of their children. Including my mother, Sallie Spivey Weaver and Uncle D. Spivey, the father of Sue Spivey Lord (Lord Sue on facebook) and Rick Spivey.