Mary Ida Britt

Mary Ida Britt was my great, great grandmother on my maternal grandmother's side.

She was born on October 8, 1854 in Decatur, Georgia to Margaret Emily Dunbar and William Gregg Britt.

She married Addison Milton Wier on November 9, 1870.

They had 6 children:

Mamie Wier
William Swansea Wier
Addison Milton Wier, Jr.
Robert Lee Wier
Katie Wier
Ernest Wilkinson Wier

She died on January 6, 1933 in DeKalb, Georgia.
Source: State of Georgia. Indexes of Vita Records for Georgia: Deaths, 1919-1998. Georgia, USA: Georgia Health Department, Office of Vital Records, 1998. Certificate: 617.

She is buried __________________.

Census 1860: Mary Ida Britt, 6, Pike, Georgia. Lived with father William G Britt, 32, and mother Margaret E Britt, 25, brother Cassius M Britt, 7. Farmer: owned $4100 in real estate and had $13900 in personal value. : 1860; County: Pike, Georgia. Roll: M653_134; Page: 55; Image: 56.

Slave Census 1860: 19 slaves: 9 men-[30,23 (2), 15, 22, 11, 8, 7, 3], 10 women [26, 24, 12, 8 (2), 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 months]. Number of slave houses: 4. Source: 1860 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2004. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Eighth Census of the United States, 1860. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1860. M653, 1,438 rolls. Page 21, (number on right 110), Pike County, GA, taken July 5th, 1860.

Census 1870:

Census 1880:

Census 1900: Addison Wier, October 1847; Mary Wier, October 1854; Milton Wier, son, August 1882; Katie, daughter, August 1885; Robert Wier, son, July 1889; Earnest Wier, son, September 1894.
Source: Decatur, DeKalb, Georgia. Roll: T623_192; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 13.

Census 1910: Addison M Wier, head; Mary Wier, 55, wife, Ernest, son, 14, Hugh Wier, grandson, 4.
Source: Decatur, DeKalb, Georgia. Roll: T624_184; Page 21A; Enumeration District: 20; Image 751.

Census 1920: Addison M Wier, head, 72, writer/news writer. Mary I Wier, 65. Hugh Bean, grandson, 17. Ernest W Wier, 25, son. Ala P Wier, 24, daughter-in-law.

Source: DeKalb, GA. Roll: T625_249; Page 13A; Enumeration District: 13; Image: 151.

Britt genealogy--Wm S. Wier

"Buddy" Wier and "Sissy" Britt--He was a son of Swansea Wier, who was the youngest son of Thomas Wier and Mary Withrow. "Sissy" Britt's line is traced on Page 4 in this Sketch Book.

"Buddy Wier went agadding after Appomattox while "Sissy" Britt was growing to marrying age. By trade he was a Printer, and became a noted writer under the by-line "Sarge Plunkett."

A study of pictures tells you that Sissy was an ante-bellum "Aristocrat" and Buddy was a "Hillbillie," to whom neckties (and other conventionalities) were an abomination. This Mother of mine, Sissy Britt, told me, from her own folk-ken, the stories Uncle Remus told, before Joe Harris put them in print--she had heard them from her own Black Mammy. So, these two are presented to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren as somebodies to be cherished.-- Wm S. Wier.

Mary Ida Britt Obit

The Atlanta ConstitutionSaturday, January 7, 1933Sarge Plunkett’s Widow Dies HereMrs. Wier Was Inspiration for Many of Husband’s Famous StoriesMrs. Mary Ida Wier, widely known over the south through the stories written of her by her husband, whose pen name was “Sarge Plunkett,” died Friday afternoon at her residence at 104 Adair street, Decatur, where she had resided for 52 years. She was 78, and had been ill with influenza for three weeks.Mrs. Wier, the former Mary Ida Britt, of Pike county, Georgia, was married to the late A.M. Wier, for more than 25 years a noted humorist and writer for The Constitution in the days when “Bill Arp,” Joel Chandler Harris, Frank L. Stanton and Henry Grady wrote daily articles.Many were the stories written by Mr. Wier about his wife, though all of his articles and sketches of life during the War Between the States purported to be of “Sarge Plunkett” and his wife, “Lucy.” They were written in the first person and contained all the dry humor that which made Bill Arp famous, the human interest of a poem by Stanton, and the touch of genius which Joel Chandler Harris gave to his “Uncle Remus” stories.Born in Pike CountyBoth Mr. and Mrs. Wier were born in Pike county, and were married shortly after the Civil War, in which “Sarge Plunkett” conceived the idea for his sketches of battles and famous marches. She was devoutly religious and had been a member of the Oakhurst Presbyterian church almost since its foundation. Her many-sided character furnished the material for a multitude of short sketches by her husband.One particularly humorous piece in which she played the leading part was “Scary Lucy,” a story of the war. In it “Sarge Plunkett” tells how his wife, then living near Jonesboro, went one afternoon to carry corn to the mill near by to be ground into meal. Upon her return she found that a battle was in progress all around her home, and the house itself was directly between the northern and the southern armies. “Scary Lucy” was indeed frightened, but to let to mere armies interfere with her job of getting the meal home in time for supper was far from her mind. She simply ignored the ferocious fighting men, and walked across the line of fire to her cabin. The men of the Blue and Gray were taken by surprise, but their gallantry was not lacking. They quit firing and both armies rested while “Scary Lucy” carried her meal home and prepared the repast for her people.Provided Much MaterialThis tale and others showing her character were great material for her husband. Mr. Wier worked as foreman of the weekly division of The Constitution for many years. He was “discovered” by Henry Grady, it was said, when his ability to find “human interest” stories became known. “Sarge” was the author not only of newspaper stories, but of countless poems, each dryly humorous, and of a widely read book, “Old Times in Georgia,” which appeared first in The Constitution and later in book form.Mrs. Wier was highly interested in her noted husband’s works and encouraged and aided him in every possible way. As “Lucy” she became almost as widely known as “Sarge.” Mr. Wier, who died ten years ago, never signed a single article with his own name, preferring to remain merely the chronicler of the doings of “Sarge” and “Lucy,” good old-fashioned Georgia people, as he called them.Funeral services for Mrs. Wier will be held Sunday afternoon at 2 o’clock at the Oakhurst Presbyterian church, in which she was a leading member. The Rev. C.H. Pritchard will officiate, and interment will be in Hollywood cemetery. A.R. Turner is in charge.Surviving are three sons, the Rev. W.S. Wier, a teacher in Joe Brown Junior High school, and A.M. and Robert L. Wier, of Birmingham, Ala.; two daughters, Miss Mamie Wier, of Decatur, and Mrs. D.P. Blake, of Concord, and a brother, W.H. Britt, of Sparta. Twenty-three grand-children and nine great-grand-children also survive.[Transcribed 20 May 2008 Lynn Cunningham]

http://genforum.genealogy.com/wier/messages/318.html

Addison Milton Wier ("Sarge Plunkett")

Cited in Highbrows, Hillbillies & Hellfire: Public Entertainment in Atlanta, 1880-1930 By Steve Goodson. University of Georgia Press, 2002. Pgs 142-143.

William A. Sinclair, Aftermath of Slavery: A Study of the Condition and Environment of the American Negro. Ayer Publishing, 1968. pg 262.

Lucian Lamar Knight, Reminiscences of Famous Georgians: Embracing Episodes and Incidents in the the great men of the state : vol. I ..., Franklin-Turner, 1908, pg 508.

"Sarge Plunkett" Atlanta Constitution, June 27, 1890

There is in The Constitution office an old tin dipper which has seen good service. Yesterday our own Sarge Plunkett sat down and composed the following impromptu ode to it:

Covered with dust,

Eaten by rust,

Neglected old dipper! Forsaken by all!

No more to kiss

The lips of a mass;

Worn and worthless you hang on the wall.

Sweet are the thoughts that well in my heart

While I think of the scenes in which you took part,

But sadly bereft I feel when I think

How neglected by those you once gave drink!

'Tis a lesson of life

Which cuts like a knife--

That all things of earth but serve out their time.

Remembered by few,

Neglected like you--

Is the fate of a man who passes his prime.

Atlanta Constitution, June 27, 1890

Addison Milton Wier's Obituary

The Atlanta Constitution
April 2, 1922

“Sarge Plunkett,” Georgia Author, At Rest Forever

“Sarge Plunkett” is dead.

A.M. Wier, widely known throughout the south as “Sarge Plunkett,” a nom de plume used by him in writings published in many papers, died at his residence in Decatur after an illness of several months. He is survived by his widow and two sons, William S. and Julius Wier.

Funeral services will be conducted at 2:15 o’clock Sunday afternoon in ths chapel of A.S. Turner, Decatur, the Rev. D.P. McGeachy, pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Decatur, officiating. Interment will be made in Decatur cemetery.

Born in Pike County.

Mr. Wier was born in Pike county, Georgia, in November, 1845. His early life, like that of many another boy, was void of educational possibilities in the days just prior to the outbreak of the great war between the states. His education, however, was limited, and only by dint of hard efforts and determination to acquire knowledge did he build the foundation for the later series of writings which, under the pen name of “Sarge Plunkett,” were known and read throughout the state and in many adjoining states.

At the beginning of the civil war he volunteered his services to the confederate cause and fought under the banner of General Longstreet.

When the war ended, he settled down to a quiet life of farming, but later, while employed as a printer on The Constitution, and article which he had written attracted notice of editors, and it was then that he was “found.” For more than twenty years hardly a man, woman or child in Georgia did not know of “Sarge Plunkett,” or of his contribution to Georgia’s literature.

Pathos and Philosophy.

There was a certain pathos of expression in his writings, coupled with a philosophical knowledge of human things and nature which bespoke a character deeply in accord with nature and the love of all things beautiful.

During the course of his journalistic career, there appeared in book form a publication from the pen of “Sarge Plunkett,” called “Old Times in Georgia.”

His latter years had been spent in solitude, and at the little home on Adair avenue, in Decatur, just beyond the Oakland station, he maintained a small farm, while to a certain extent he entered public affairs by holding the office of justice of the peace for a number of years. His death came Friday night.

[Transcribed 20 May 2008 Lynn Cunningham]

Addison Milton Wier's Confederate Service Record

Muster Roll of Company D, 2nd Battalion
Georgia Volunteer Infantry
Army of Tennessee
C. S. A.
Spalding County, Georgia
“Spalding Greys”

Wier, Addison Mark* (Sarge Plunkett) - Private May 1, 1862
Wounded at Chancellorsville, Va. May 1, 1863. Admitted to Chimborazo Hospital #2, at Richmond, Va. May 3, 1863. Transferred to Macon, Ga. hospital in 1863; to Atlanta, Ga. May 25, 1863. Wounded at Gettysburg, Pa. July 2, 1863. Admitted to Ocmulgee Hospital at Macon, Ga. Sept. 26, 1864 and furloughed there from Oct. 19, 1964. En route to his command he was injured in a railroad wreck near Barnesville, Ga., which crippled him for life. Born in Pike County, Ga. Oct. 12, 1847. Died at Decatur, Georgia Mar. 31, 1922.

*Mark or Milton?

From Lillian Henderson’s “Roster of the Confederate Soldiers of Georgia 1861-1865" (Vol VI)

Wier, Addison M. Old Times in Georgia
Good Times and Bad Times by "Sarge" Old Man
Plunkett (A. M. Wier). Atlanta: Constitution Publishing
Co., 1889. 126 pp.
Wier served in the 2nd Independent Georgia Infantry Battalion. This unit was assembled at
Norfolk, Virginia in April 1861. It served in North Carolina, then returned to Virginia during the Seven Days' Battles and fought at Malvern Cliff under Gen. J. G. Walker. Transferred to A. R. Wright's Brigade, the battalion was active in the campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia from Fredericksburg to Appomattox. It reported 2 killed and 26 wounded at Chancellorsville and lost more than forty-five percent of the 173 engaged at Gettysburg. Only 8 officers and 74 men were left to surrender in April 1865.
URL: http://www.gettysburg.edu/library/information/foml/newsletters/March_2004.pdf