From Fields to Mills………

William Myers Nix–Born in 1871 in South Carolina. Son of Elijah and Nancy Nix.

William married Mary Elizabeth Chapman Sept 3, 1898 in Greenville, SC.

By the 1900 census William and family are living in Habersham County, GA along with his father Elijah.

Like many sons of the day, William chooses industry over agriculture. The farmers are coming in  out of the fields and into the southern cotton mills of the day. This is the life William lived although his family had lived off the land for generations. There is a general trend at this time of many young families doing exactly has William did. Money and lands had been lost in the war, the labor intensive crop required lots of land which many families were not able to hold on to. Thus the trend began in the south as families moved from the fields to the mills.

In the 1910 Census William has moved his family to Jackson County, GA. There they work in the cotton mill at Jefferson.

In the 1920’s William has yet again moved his family to Barnett Shoals, Oconee County GA. Here he and his sons work in the Star Thread Mill. (this is the mill below my house that I have researched)

There are a few mentions of the William’s sons in the social section of the newspaper regarding Barnett Shoals. Most notably, those of the boys being in the mill Boy Scout Troop.

The Star Thread Mill entered it’s decline in the late 1920’s and in the 1930 Census there is hardly a soul left here in Barnett Shoals. Wm has again packed up and moved back to Jackson County , GA where they again work at the Jefferson Mills. Here my Grandmother, Ada meets her future husband, C.W. Johnson and they marry in 1931.

By 1935 William has moved on to Rockdale County. His oldest son William R. had moved there to work in the cotton mills in the 1920’s. He is in his late 60’s by now and living with one of his sons, Grover who works in the mill there.

In 1956 William dies and is buried in the Eastview Cemetery in Conyers, GA. Lizzie (Mary Elizabeth) died the year before in 1955 and is buried there as well.

William and family are typical of what I have found of the southern mill worker especially those in the 1910-1930 era.  They moved around a lot. Workers went from one mill to another looking for work. If one mill was dying off , the workers packed up and moved to the next one. There were plenty in this area to choose from and since the housing was provided by the mill for the workers, there was no real estate to consider. Just pack up your family and household goods and on the the next one. Many times one mill paid higher wages or had more work. Mill owners often used the ice cream socials, annual picnics, and other outside work entertainment in the mill villages to keep workers.

William’s life is a fascinating glimpse into that of the typical mill worker.

William and Lizzie (Mary Elizabeth) Nix –my great grandparents.