SOURCE: George M. Forrester, 1984-1985, and Forrester estate, 1992

SIZE: 2 linear feet

SHELVING UNITS: 4 Manuscript boxes 1 Newspaper folder 1 Oversize folder 1 Artifacts box

13 Photograph folders

1 Oversize photograph

PROCESSING: RAA, March 1986, August 1992

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

George Malone Forrester (11 October 1897 - 18 March 1991) was the son of Joel Robert Forrester, Jr. and Mary Merrell Callaway Forrester. He was born in Albany, Georgia, moved with his family to Mississippi in 1910, and came to Troup County about 1917, where he was employed for some forty years as an agent for the Standard Oil Company. He married Margaret Bodman (1895-1932) and second, Elizabeth Combs (1905-1989). His only child, Janet Merrel Forrester (Mrs. Warren Welsh), was born in 1923.

Mr. Forrester was a charter member and honorary trustee of the Troup County Historical Society. He was a long-time member of the LaGrange Rotary Club, serving in various offices, including president. He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce and a founder of the Chattahoochee-Flint Area Planning and Development Commission.

SOURCE NOTE

Soon after Troup County Archives opened in 1984, Mr. Forrester donated Rotary Club and Planning Commission records and miscellaneous items on Troup County history. Following Mr. Forrester's death the administrators of his estate donated genealogical records and additional photographs.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

Mr. Forrester's papers provide insight into the civic and business atmosphere of LaGrange and Troup County during the 1960s when the area's economy was beginning to emerge from dependence on the textile industry. LaGrange Rotary Club records include membership rosters, notes on programs and committee work, biographical information on noted Rotarians, and club publications. Material from Chattahoochee- Flint Area Planning and Development Commission documents Forrester's contributions to industrial growth and diversification. It includes annual reports, pamphlets on LaGrange and Troup County, and information on West Point Dam, civil defense, and zoning. Clippings from LaGrange Daily News' nostalgia series feature photographs and anecdotes from early twentieth century Troup County. Miscellaneous historical notes collected by Mr. Forrester include information on Georgia Indian trails, brief accounts of floods and freezing of the Chattahoochee River and references to the Georgia State Guards, 1941-1945, in which Forrester served.

The collection contains extensive genealogical data on the Forrester and Callaway families of southwest Georgia. Most of Mr. Forrester's information was collected through correspondence with relatives or through membership in family organizations. In addition to genealogy and family matters, letters are frequently laced with political commentary, especially concerning growth of the Republican party in Georgia in the 1960s and 1970s.

Photographs are mostly family portraits but the collection also includes the Georgia State Guard on parade, c. 1944, Truline Mill, 1926, and the Chattahoochee River frozen in 1940. A inventory of photographs is included in the container list.

CONTAINER LIST

Box 1 LaGrange Rotary Club, c.1950-1984

Folder 1 Officers and Committees, 1965-1980

2 Proposed Members, 1968-1980

3 Correspondence, 1968-1980

4 Programs

5 Memorabilia

6 Newsletter

7 West Point Rotary Club

Official Directory, 1950-1951, LaGrange Rotary Club

Service Is My Business, Rotary International, 1961

Rotary International, 1975

Box 2 Chattahoochee-Flint Area Planning and Development Commission

Folder 1 Annual Reports, 1967-1975

2 Correspondence, 1953-1977

3 Management Records

4 Zoning

5 Civil Defense

6 West Point Dam

7 Clippings

8 Pamphlets

Box 3 Genealogical Records

Folder 1 Asbury

2-4 Callaway

5-6 The Callaway Family Through The Years, compiler unkown

7 Isaac Callaway chart, Thomas Callaway chart

8 Callaway Family Association, 1976-1983

9-10 "Kingdom of Callaway" - Callaway County Missouri

11-13 Callaway clippings

Items separated

OP 1 Callaway Family Tree by Louise Spence, n.d.

Callaway Family Tree prepared for Fuler E. Callaway, n.d.

Print of Flag of the Kingdom of Callaway (2 copies)

Artifacts Winston Churchill Memorial, Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri (copper coin)

Kingdom of Callaway Memorial (7 aluminum coins) Mid-Missouri Regional Energy Raid Medal, 1979 (5 aluminum coins)

Box 4 Genealogical Records

Folder 1 Davis

2 Forrester

3 House Of Forrester by Wallace R. Forrester, 1966

4 Forrester family reunions, 1953-1973

5 Forrester clippings

6 Malone

7 Newsom

8 Redmon

9 Thornton

11-13 Correspondence, 1957-1986

14 Clippings - Troup County history

15 Miscellaneous historical notes

16 Georgia State Guard, 1941-1945

17 Memorabilia

Photographs

ph 1-2 Merrel Price Calloway, n.d.

3-4 unidentified

5 Irvin Barret Calloway, 1881-1971, n.d.

6 Malone, Emily, Susan Calloway, n.d.

7 Malone Calloway, 80th birthday celebration at office, n.d.

8 Bo Callaway, ca. 1965

9 Georgia State Guard, Dress Parade, John Wilcox, Doctor O'Neal, and Joe White included, ca. 1943

10 Georgia State Guard, Dress Parade, ca. 1943

11-14 Truline Mill, Roanoke, Alabama

11 Cutting tables, 1928

12 Truline Mill, 1926

13 Employees, 1927. Includes Molly Manley, Frank Weathers, Dora Pittman, and Fanily Boyd

14 Employees, 1927

15 Chattahoochee River, frozen over, January 1940. Two views from 8th street bridge, West Point, Georgia.

16 Coat of Arms, Calloway, n.d.

17 Callaway County, Missouri, courthouse, ca. 1970s

18-22 Memorial to Captain James Callaway, ca. 1970s, showing inscription

23-34 Rotary Club social functions, 1967-1969

35 Mrs. J.R. Forrester and daughter, Martha Collier Forrester, c.1890

36-36a J.R. Forrester, c.1890

37 ubidentified young man, c.1890

38 Furlow McKinnie, c.1870

39 H.J. and Carrie Jordan Callaway and family, c.1888

40 unidentified youg woman, c.1910

41-42 Martha Forrester Parker, c.1915

43-46 Betsy Forrester Graham, c.1900

47-47a Forrester house, Albany, GA, c.1900

47b Martha Gilbert Collier Forrester, c.1900

48 Pearl Forrester Hyde, c.1930

49-50 grave of Pearl Forrester Hyde, Oakview Cemetery, Albany, GA

51 Knott Road, Troup County, GA, near home of Forrest Johnson, 1989

52 house at 207 Broad St., Lagrange, before it was moved to Country Club Rd.

53 Nurses home, Greenwood, MS, where Mrs. J.R. Forrester was house mother

54 Mittie Belle Jones Combs, c.1880

55 Mary Frances Wells Davis, c.1860

56 V-?- Tigner Thrasher on her 90th birthday, 21 June 1972

57 Jimmy Whitaker, Sr.(?), c.1945

58 Jimmy Whitaker, Sr., c.1940

59 Eva Bedenbaugh Callaway, c.1940

60 George Forrester at fish camp, 1946

61 Nell Jenny, Papa, John, Frank standing in front of Nell's house at Pasadena, CA, c.1950

62 Elizabeth Forester, Irene Whitaker, c.1950

63 Robert Combs, Sandra Combs, June 1943

64 Combs family reunion, c.1940

65 Curtis Leon Combs and unknown, c.1945

66 Ridley Whitaker, n.d.

67 George and Elizabeth Forrester, 9 October 1981

68 Martha Forrester Parker and George Forrester, 11 October 1981

69-78 snapshots - George Forrester visit to Greenwood, MS, 1981

79 George Forrester, Jennifer Swingen, Anna Swingen, April 1989

80 Rachel Welsh, 8 June 1989

81 Anna Swingen - age 6, 1989

82-83 Anna Swingen, 1988

84 Rebekah Ann Hess, 21 June 1989

85 Rebekah Ann Hess, Marcia Denora Hess, Sara Elizabeth Hess, 1989

86 Rachel Welsh, George Forrester, 1989

87 Sara Hess, Rachel Welsh, 1989

88 Sara Elizabeth Hess, 1989

89 Jennifer and Stanley Swingen, 2 August 1981

90 Marcia Welsh, Roger Welsh, Jennifer Welsh, Mrs. J.R. Forrester, Janet Forrester Welsh, Marilyn Welsh, Greenwood, MS, 1957

91 Roger Welsh, Janet F. Welsh, Merrel P. Johnson, Marilyn Welsh, Marcia Welsh, Mrs. J.R. Forrester, Parker Johnson, Martha F. Parker, Merrel Johnson, Jack Johnson, III, Greenwood, MS, 1957

92-93 George M. Forrester, 1952

94 Elizabeth Combs Forrester, 1952

95 Joellyn and Joel William Forrester, Jr., c.1959

96 Marcia Welsh Hess, husband and daughters, c.1975

97 George Forrester family, c.1975

Negatives 1 Mary Ann Irvin-Walton Callaway

2 Henry Irvin Callaway

3 Carrie Jordan

4 Isiah Tucker Irvin, Sr.

TRACINGS

Asbury family

Callaway family

Chattohoochee-Flint Area Planning and Development Commission

Davis family

Forrester family

Georgia State Guard, 1941-1945

Malone family

Newsome family

Redmon family

Republican Party - Georgia, 1960s-1970s

Rotary Club, LaGrange

Thornton family

Troup County history, 1900-1920