THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
Lovick
Marvin Twiggs was the fifth of six children born to the
Rev. John Wesley Twiggs and his first wife, Sarah Elizabeth Hughes
Twiggs of
Choestoe. He was born May 30, 1880
at
what was lovingly called “the Twiggs homeplace” in Choestoe, where his
grandparents Willis and Margaret England Twiggs settled about 1836.
No doubt Marvin went with his father
who was an itinerant Methodist circuit preacher. He
was only five years of age when his mother
died June 2, 1885. He and his
younger
sister, Nellie Margaret, who was not quite three when their mother
died, became
very close. The other siblings were
Edwin Paxton Twiggs (Nov 6, 1872-July 25, 1954); Nancy Elmira (Feb. 17,
1874-Dec. 26, 1953); Emma California (Feb. 9, 1876-Sept 19, 1903) and
Mary
Frances (Mar. 19, 1 879-May 3, 1952).
Rev. John Wesley Twiggs married
his second wife, Georgia Elizabeth Westmoreland from White County on
February
4, 1886. It is reported that she was a
good step-mother to Rev. John Wesley Twigg’s first six children. Georgia Twiggs had three children,
half-siblings to Marvin: Kitty who was
born and died in January, 1887; Walter Mondwell (1888-1984), a
Methodist
minister noted in last week’s column; and Erwin Eugene (1890-1977).
Marvin Twiggs graduated from Young
Harris College and later served on the Board of Trustees of that
institution. He maintained his love for
and support of the college throughout his adult life.
Prior to being admitted to the Methodist Conference
as a fully-certified minister, he taught school for several years in
Cleveland,
Georgia. His ordination as a minister
came in 1902.
For forty-eight years of his eventful
life, he was a minister in the North Georgia Conference.
He was admitted for a trial period in 1904,
ordained as a deacon in 1905, and as an elder in 1908.
To begin his trial period, his first charge
as a pastor was in the Hancock Circuit from 1904-1908.
He was pastor at Broadway Methodist
Church, Augusta, Georgia in 1910-1911.
While there, he and Miss Estelle Middlebrooks were married on
September
7, 1910. The marriage joined two strong
Methodist families for Estelle was a granddaughter of Bishop George
Foster
Pierce. Her parents were Henry Lafayette
and Claudia Snider Pierce Middlebrooks.
His charges, like those of his brother
the Rev. Walter Mondwell Twiggs listed in last week’s column, read like
a
geography of towns in Georgia; The
newly-wed couple was assigned to Harlem from 1912-1915.
Consecutive appointments and dates
included: Conyers, 1916-19; Madison,
1920-21; Cartersville, 1922: St. John
Church, Atlanta, 1923-26; Superintendent
of the Griffin District, 1927-1930;
LaGrange First Methodist, 1931-34; Dalton First Methodist,
1935-38;
Superintendent, Augusta District, 1939-1942; Gainesville First
Methodist,
1943-47; first full-time chaplain of Emory University Hospital,
1948-1952.
He retired in 1952, but immediately
became associate pastor of Druid Hills Methodist Church in Atlanta from
1952-1958. In denominational service he
was a delegate to the General Conference (national) in 1930, 1934, 1938
and
1940. He served on the Methodist Boards
of Missions and of Pensions.
An interesting news article appeared
in the “Eaton Herald” of Eaton, Colorado in the August 5, 1938 issue. Rev. L. Marvin Twiggs and his family had been
visiting his sisters, Mrs. Nancy Elmira Collins, Mrs. Mary Frances Nix
and Mrs.
Nellie Margaret Allison, and his brother Edwin P. Twiggs of the Greeley
area. He cut his visit short in order to
return to Georgia to be present at a convocation held at the University
of
Georgia on Thursday, August 11, 1938 wherein the University conferred
upon
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt an honorary doctorate of humanities
degree. At the time, Rev. Twiggs was a
member of the University’s Board of Regents and had voted for the honor
for the
president of the United States. Rev.
Twiggs was present in cap and gown at that significant convocation. Other civic assignments were on the State
Board of Corrections and Paroles, on the Georgia Citizens’ Council, and
on the
Georgia Prison Advisory Commission.
Three children were born to Rev. and
Mrs. Twiggs: Claudia Pierce
Twiggs (1915), Sara Elizabeth Twiggs (1920)
and Lovick Marvin Twiggs, Jr.
(1925-1946). Unfortunately,
Marvin, Jr. was killed in a jeep accident October 5, 1946 in
Gainesville,
Georgia. He had completed a two-year
term in the U. S. Air Corps and was in his senior year at the
University of
Georgia when his death occurred.
In a letter from the Rev. Marvin
Twiggs in “The Northeast Georgian” published in Blairsville, Georgia
May 15,
1908, this man who had gone out from Choestoe wrote from Mayfield,
Georgia of
his former mountain home: “The mountains
of North Georgia furnish a valuable source of inspiration to an
aspiring youth. Your intellectual energy
is
unsurpassable…Never be handicapped nor embarrassed about where you came
from,
but think seriously about where and how you are going.
Hard work and good common sense are two of
the most essential requisites for success.
The simple life, lived close to nature, susceptible to her
heaven-born
influences, is the life that has implanted the seed truths of eternity.”
Rev. Marvin Twiggs died January 17,
1962 in Atlanta, Georgia and was buried at Sparta, Georgia. His widow, Estelle, died five years later on
August 25, 1967. In the obituary for
this outstanding Methodist minister from the mountains, the Reverend
Doctor
William R. Cannon wrote: “He was both an
ecclesiastical statesman and a diplomat of remarkable skill. He knew how forcefully to reach an objective
and at the same time to carry the people along with him, without
offense…His
was a steady march forward toward the kingdom of God, but in that way
he never
walked alone; he carried his people with
him.”
c2004 by
Ethelene Dyer
Jones; published October 21, 2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville,
GA.
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
Updated July 14, 2018
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