  Compiled by one of his descendants, Mrs. B. M. Davidson, Stone Castle Chapter D.A.R., Dawson Ga. Away back in the misty past, Isaac Horne, of Scotland, crossed the Atlantic and settled in Edgecomb County, North Carolina, on the Tar River. Isaac Horne's name figures in the early history of North Carolina. He was one of the first commissioners appointed to establish the boundary lines between the counties of the States. He was a wealthy planter, but the greater portion of his property was destroyed by the Tories. He was killed at "Gates defeat." Isaac Horne had three sons: William, Henry, Joab. This story is of the youngest son, Joab, a gallant Revolutionary soldier under General Francis Marion. Joab Horne met and wooed an English girl, Nancy Ricks. They encountered parental objections to their marriage on account of their youth, sixteen and fourteen, respectively, but love won and so the union was consumated. Their parents never forgave them, and refused to aid them in any way. We can hardly imagine what hardships they endured; but with his beautiful young wife to encourage him he was determined to surmount all difficulties. Hearing of the rich lands of Georgia, they decided to emigrate. Joab had one mule, and he procured a "hogshead" through which he ran a piece of scantling to serve as an axle, to this axle shafts were attached; his mule was hitched to this wonderful contrivance, their clothes put inside the rolling hogshead, and thus the journey to Georgia was begun. God had blessed their union with the gift of a little child, but the exposure resulting from this mode of travel was more than the little one could with-stand. A little grave by the road side marked the first mile stone of real sorrow in their lives. Finally, they reached their destination in Burke County, Georgia, on the Ogeechee River, and began their new life in a new country. This country was almost a wilderness at that time. The first preparation for a home was a bush arbor, with a real Georgia bed-stead, and fresh straw for a mattress; but it was not long before they had as comfortable a home as could be found in those days. Trading seemed to be one of Joab's characteristics. He had two hats, a "Sunday" and an "every day hat," the Sunday hat he traded for a wash-pot. Nancy, his wife, would trade her jewelry, which she had brought from her girl-hood home, for household necessities. Six children blessed their union, four girls and two boys. Later they moved to Pulaski County, near Hawkinsville, Ga. The evening of their life was spent in prosperity, a sure reward for such endurance, labor and love. Nancy (Ricks) Horne died at the age of sixty-three, on their plantation in Pulaski County. Joab moved, with his son Eli, who married Sarah Anderson of Hawkinsville, to west Florida, on the Yellow River; there he lived to the ripe old age of eighty-seven. Many a night would he sit by the fire-side and entertain his children and friends by relating experiences of other days. He could truly say, with Columbus: "For the years will give back what the years with-held, and the balance swing level in the end." Joab Horne is buried in Stewart cemetery, on Yellow River, west Florida. The following is a copy of the epitaph on his tomb: "In Memory of Joab Horne |
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