John Thomas Perdue

PERDUE BIRTHDAY FROM A 1951 PAPER

Abstracted from the Ancestoring Through Weekly Newspaper Columns, by C.W. Stephens, Col. 22

Mr. John Thomas Perdue celebrated his 93rd birthday with a party at his daughter's home, Mrs. Leomey Windom, of Matthews, Georgia.  A host of friends and family attended.

Mr. Perdue told a story of his great-grandfather, William Perdue.  His great-grandfather came over from Ireland to settle in Ashville, North Carolina, during the first part of the seventeenth century.  Later he came to settle and make his home in Georgia, now known as Jefferson County.

He related how his ancestors had to wait three days for the water to go down so that his family could cross the Savannah River.

Mr. Perdue was born in a log cabin in Jefferson County.  In 1877 he married Miss Ruth Ann Connell and later moved to Augusta, Georgia.

He was a merchant and owned a shop in North Augusta, South Carolina and Augusta, Georgia next to the 15th Street bridge.  He ran a blacksmith shop and was employed at the Bon Air Hotel.

In 1903, his wife, Ruth Ann died and three years later he remarried and moved to Wrens, Georgia, where he lived until his second wife died.

He attributes his long life to:

"Trust in the Lord and He shall give his blessings unto you."