Marshall McClung
Hoot Gibbs and I recently visited another old home place back in the woods.
Gary Jones and his 5-year-old grandson Cutler Allen took us to the site of the Girdine “Gird” Conley home place, which is on the upper reaches of Jack Branch in the Bear Creek area of Graham County.
Girdine was the grandfather of Sara Conley Webster and Alice Conley Stewart. Webster shared some information about her grandfather with Gibbs. He married Hattie Carpenter, daughter of Dave Carpenter and
Elizabeth Braswell Carpenter. Girdine’s father was John Conley and his mother was Alice Scott Conley.
The Conley's lived on Jack Branch sometime between the mid 1920s and mid 1930s. In a deed, there was a mention of an orchard. You can still tell that several acres had been cleared for farming in what is now woods. Several rock piles were present where they had been carried off from crop land. A large pile of rocks that was once the chimney are also still visible. An old roadway led to where the home was.
A land records search by Gibbs shows that the Conley home place was part of a land grant. Belt and Terminal Realty Company – based in Ohio – acquired the Conley property from T.J. Hill, trustee for a deed of trust. Certain land tracts were offered for sale, including the Conley property. Belt and Terminal Realty was the high bidder at $2,000.
The U.S. Forest Service purchased the Conley property – consisting of 165.44 acres – from the Belt and Terminal Realty Company on May 8, 1939 for $496.32 – or $3 per acre.
Marshall McClung is the historical columnist for The Graham Star. He is retired from the U.S. Forest Service and can be reached via email, mcclungs@email.com.