Ashley Jordan Pitts was born in Dooly County, Georgia sometime in 1858. Ashley Jordan Pitts was the son of Hardy Pitts and his second wife, Elizabeth Jane Bowman.
Through the years
Ashley Jordan Pitts was one of the founding fathers and became the first postmaster of the city of Pitts, Georgia for which the city is named. The community which later became Pitts, started as a settlement in the area of the home of L. C. Peebles which is two miles east of the Alapaha River. The town of Pitts was called Kings Crossing originally. When application was made for a post office, the Postmaster General preferred a shorter name. J. A. King suggested the name Pitts, in honor of his son-in-law, Ashley J. Pitts. The name was accepted, and on the 1st of November in 1888, the post office was established with Ashley J. Pitts as postmaster. Brock Owens and Ashley J. Pitts operated the first store in the Mid 1880’s.
He had three known marriages, his first marriage was to Nancy C. King on the 28 Apr 1889 in Wilcox County, Georgia, Nancy was the daughter of J. A. King. The second marriage to Sarah M. Fitzgerald, who was born cir. October 1870, she was the daughter of Thomas J. Fitzgerald and Nancy Pate. Ashley married Sarah on the 7th of February in 1894 in Worth County, Georgia. Ashley and Sarah had two daughters, Nora B. Pitts who was born cir. November 1894 and Myrtis L. Pitts who was born cir. December 1897. I can not find a death record for Sarah but census records and marriage records suggest that she died sometime between 16 June 1900 (the date of the last census) and 10 January 1901 (the day that Ashley married Mary Elizabeth Bailey). Ashley’s second marriage was to Mary Elizabeth Bailey, the daughter of Seaborn Bailey and Bytha Walls. Mary was born the 29th of January in 1874 in Worth County, Georgia. Mary was previously married to T. J. Barry in 1892 in Dooly County, Georgia. The issue from that union was six children, with only two surviving; Effie Belle Barry born cir. 1893 and Willie Anderson Barry born cir. 1899. The 1900 Dooly County, Georgia census shows Mary living as a widow with her two daughters in her parents household.
Death
Ashley Jordan Pitts died in Coffee County, Georgia and is buried in the family cemetery namely the Pitts Cemetery in Arabi, Crisp County, Georgia. I cannot locate any death information or burial location of Sarah M. Fitzgerald Pitts, records suggest that she died between June 1900 and January 1901 or Nancy C. Pitts. After Ashley died in 1921, Mary remarried to John Passmore. Mary Elizabeth Bailey Pitts died on the 11th of Mar in 1937 and is buried next to Ashley in the Pitts Cemetery in Arabi, Crisp County, Georgia.
Will
State of Georgia, County of Coffee. I, Ashley Jordan Pitts, of said state and county, being of sound and disposing mind and memory, do make this my last will and testament, hereby revoking and annulling all others, by me heretofore made. Item 1. I desire and direct that my body be buried in a decent and Christian-like manner, suitable to my circumstances and condition in life. Item 2. I desire that all my just debts be paid without unnessary delay, by my executor hereinafter named and appointed. Item 3. I will, bequeath and devise all of my property, both real and personal, of whatever kind and wherever situated, to my beloved wife, Mary Elizabeth Pitts and my children by her, viz. Eliza Tabitha, Walter Seaborn, Samuel Ashley, Bessie Elizabeth, Benjamin Felder, and Ethel Lavurne, for their use and benefit for and during the natural life of my wife, Mary Elizabeth Pitts, or until she should remarry again, and during the minority of each said children and during the time that each child should remain single; in the event a child or children above named should marry before they reach the age of majority, then said child or children so marrying shall cease to have any uses or benefits from my said estate, until the contingencies in this item of me will have occurred. Item 4. It is my will and desire that all my property, after the payment of my just debts, be held and controlled by my executor, for the use and benefit of my said wife, during her life or widowhood, and for the use and benefit of each of my said children by my said wife, during their infancy and while unmarried. Item 5. At the death of my said wife, or at the time she should remarry again, and at the time my youngest child should reach the age of majority, it is my will and desire that all my property both real and personal, not disposed of by my executor and not used for the purposes aforesaid, be sold by my executor hereinafter named, and the proceeds of the same be divided between all my children by my second wife and by my third wife, share and share alike; and in the event of the death of any of my said children, leaving children, at the time of the division of the said estate, then such child or children shall inherit its or their father or mother’s share of my said estate. Item 6. I hereby name and appoint my friend, J. W. Nipper, of said county, an executor of this will, and I hereby expressly relieve him from making any inventory or appraisement of my estate, or from giving any bond, or making any returns to any court; and I expressly give my said executor power to sell any and all of my property and to apply the preceeds arising therefrom to the payment of my debts, and to the uses and purposes aforesaid mentioned, without any order of any court, at either public or private sale, as he deems best. Item 7. In the event J. W. Nipper, after qualifying as executor, shall depart this life, then and in that event, I appoint T. J. Pitts, of Crisp County, Ga. executor of this my will, conferring upon him the same authority and power in reference to all parts of my said estate, as are conferred therein upon J. W. Nipper, aforesaid. This the 31st day of May, 1921. Ashley J. Pitts (his signature)
