| Biography* | | The following article about the Henry Brazell house appears to be from a Hogansville, GA publication, possibly a paper called the Herald: Stroll Through the "Promised Land" by Pam Smrekar "Just look around this place that man was a genius in his inventiveness. Look at the homemade siding he made from old coca-cola type tin signs. You can see the logo names still coming through the paint--and over here, these are shingles made from old oil drums." These words of pride were spoken by Bob Boyd, present owner of the old Brazell-Trimble house in Hogansville and recently retired from Bo-Max Manufacturing Co. He and his wife Patti spoke of Hugh Brazell former occupant of their home in a recent walking tour around the vast premises. Even the lids were used as decorator shingles over here--and the drums were cut apart and flattened here, Bob Boyd said going on. I'm using these poured forms as a walkway. The man was a collector. He collected shiny rocks and bits of fool's gold and then poured them into a form and used them as edging around the buildings. These are cobblestone pieces of pavement he retrieved somewhere downtown and I incorporated them into my driveway. And outback is Hugh Brazell's name as the inscriber and the sunken hand prints and name of his niece, Lina E. Jones 1928 carved into the cement. When I redid the patio outback, I incorporated it into the pattern. We've tried to redo the house as authentically as we possibly could, said Boyd. "Mrs. Jones asked me to return the hand print block, but it seems like it's part of the place and dates our house," added Mrs. Boyd. Her daughter was thrilled when she saw it built into the patio. And when the elderly Mrs. Jones came visiting last year, she looked at the place and said, "Now I can die in peace." Mrs. Boyd said she knew how she felt. "We sold our 100 acre antebellum farm stead last year and I made myself sick worrying how the new owners would take care of it." The old original smoke house is now my office. And outback is the little one-car garage which held the Trimble's first car, a Paige, purchased in 1914 or 15. "But as you can see, our old Cadillac doesn't quite fit unto the parking slot," added Mr. Boyd laughing. Hugh Brazell or Uncle Hubie as Mrs. Jones referred to him on several visits to the Boyd's present home, was well known as a collector of relics. There used to be several old gristmills decorating the place, but now only two remain. In his time, many who could not foresee the value of his treasure, might have thought the man odd. But his obsession with collecting has made Hogansville's oldest home really unique with its dated treasures. We call our new place "the promised land". I just couldn't call it the "Home Place" like the Brazell's did. I tried, but I just couldn't--it wouldn't have been mine. For the Boyd's who bought the house in October, 1978, it truly has become the Promised Land. After over two years of renovation, the place is almost as it was with the addition of the modern conveniences. According to a 1960 news story in the Herald, the home was originally built 113 years ago by Judge Benjamin H. Bigham of LaGrange. He and his wife, Mary Jane Harris Bigham, lived in the house until 1876 when they moved back to LaGrange. Judge Bigham was a former Hogansville businessman, State Legislator and Judge of the Superior Court for 11 years. On January 19, 1875, the home was sold to William E. Glanton, civil war veteran and businessman. His family lived in the home several years before they moved to Rome, Ga. Next, Lane and "Makers of Harness", a firm operated by Hiram Brewer Lane and Robert C. Russell bought the home. Mr. and Mrs. Russell lived in the home until Mr. Russell's death in 1897. Henry D. Brazell and his wife, the former, Permelia Florence Culpepper bought the home in 1898 and the Brazell's and their descendants occupied the house for 79 years. It was Henry Brazell who tore down the original small front porch and enlarged it across the spread of the whole house. Handcut palings decorated the porch railings. The Boyd's have since had these heart pine decorator pieces stripped and moved to the enlarged back porch. It was during this same period of remodeling that the Brazell's added a room, and a back porch. The unique decorated gable overlooking the 94-inch front center window was also added by the Brazell's. The Boyd's refer to the design of the house as definitely Southern Country but the gable gives it just a touch of victorian. Brazell was a leading farmer in the area. And Boyd estimates that the 12 and one half acre homestead sitting on Brazell Street, named for the family, once was over 200 acres. Mrs. Grover C. Jones of Macon, daughter of Lina Brazell Trimble writes: "on the 'Home Place' many things were grown. There was an orchard out back of the garage with apple, pear, and peach trees--also, I remember a plum tree. Back of and around the barn different crops were always growing. My grandfather was a great farmer. Cotton, corn, wheat, alfalfa, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, watermelon, tomatoes, etc. And there was a pasture for the cattle in the lower section on a small branch." The original Home Place included about 15 to 20 Negro houses all the way on the left and back of Brazell Street to the top of the hill. Later when the present property holders on the street bought land, these were torn down. Many of the foundations still stand, however, Boyd adds. Just after WWI to around 1952, Hugh Brazell, son of Henry Brazell and Uncle to Mrs. Jones, operated a nursery on the property. He grew and sold shrubbery, he kept his supplies in back of the garage in the workshop decorated with tin coca-cola signs. The Boyd's are using these refurbished buildings to refinish some of their antique pieces and store supplies. The Home Place was deeded to both Hugh and Mrs. W.A. Lina Brazell Trimble, but Hugh lived most of his life in a fine log cabin across the street from the Home Place. The home is still owned by Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Jones was born in the Home Place by accident while her mother, Lina Trimble, was visiting her mother, Mrs. Henry Brazell. She had planned to stop for a short visit, and ended staying much longer after the unexpected birth of the baby. Another story Mrs. Jones tells about her farmer grandfather is how he used to bathe. The original well of the house is still under the house. Before the porch was enclosed to make another room, grandfather used to come in from the fields and stand on the side of the porch. The children would pull up buckets of water from the well and pour them over his head--(Perhaps if authenticated, this might have been one of the first showers invented in Hogansville.) Clifford L. Smith's History of Troup County talks about several Trimbles in Hogansville's development. He mentions a fertilizer company, a school teacher, a brick company and a large quarry. He said that in its heyday Hogansville was one of the best cotton producers in western Georgia and that it also had a substantial railroad shipping business. Boyd connects the brick company and the Hasting Seed and Feed Company with the Brazell-Trimble family. The house still contains the "pit" or rootcellar under the front porch where the garden vegetables and canning were kept. In fact, Boyd says, the only thing new about the house is the security lock on the door. Everything else has been stripped and polished and looks as much like the old house as possible. When we first bought the house, "Nobody in their right mind would have wanted it. It was all falling apart and run down. When Bob asked me to go look at it, I said you have to be crazy. But I did, and I fell in love with it at first sight. In fact it had the exact same floor plan as our Greek Revival farmhouse in Tennessee." It has taken J. H. Rice and son contractors and a lot of our own elbow grease (nearly 2 1/2 years) to get it in shape. Almost every board was salvageable, they only had to replace one rotten board in the whole house. There wasn't a nail in the original foundation. The house was put together with wooden pegs. Even the shutters are original. Outside there is another added feature that wasn't there though--a large swimming pool including slide to entertain the Boyd's four grandchildren, aged 13 to 20. And if any of the Boyd's love of their "Promised Land" rubs off, someday maybe one of these children will be writing their grandchildren about how their grandparents turned the Home Place into their families own Promised Land. |