The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-06-02
IN ITS OLDEN DAYS
SAVANNAH IN 1907, AS SHOWN IN
PAGES OF AN OLD ALMANAC.
TWAS FOUND BY W0RKMEN
ENGAGED IN MOVING OLD REED
RESIDENCE, ON STATE STREET.


gard-The Men Mt the Head of At
fairs-Rates of Postage Somewhat
Higher Than Now - Democratic
Aversion to KingIy Names.
A rare and curious and ancient record
| of the early history of Savannah was dis
covered by the workmen who were en-
gagged some time ago in changing the
line of the old Reed residence, on State
street. near Abercorn. 1t is an almanac,
published in Savannah, for the year 1907,
The almanac is now in the possession
of Mr.. w. r. Leaken and was shown by
him yesterday to a representative of The
Morning News. Its pages are yellow and
worn, burt the ink with which it was
printed has withstood well the ravages
of time and the print is as plain and as
clear as the day the almanac first left
the press. The old book was found hid
den away in the rafters of the building,
where 1t was placed, nobody knows why
or by whom, nearly century ago. The
cover and the title pages have disappear
ed, so that the almanac does not reveal
its authorship nor the exact source of its
publication,
But it tells all sorts of things about
the wey the city government of Savan-
nah was conducted and who were at the
head of affairs during these early days
of the history of the United States the
usual predictions of the state Of the
weather for the year and the occurrence
OF soar and lunar eclipses are given at
a good deal of length and with apparent
scientific exactnesss. Whether the pre-
dictions were all verified by the result
there are no records to disclose, but char
ity at least dictates the presumption that
the ancient prophet was not much furth-
err out of the way than his modern sue
cessor In the same line of business.
Opposite each month are paragraphs
telling what agricultural and horticu-
tural operations may be prosecuted with
success at each period, telling when to
plant and when to prune and when the
harvest may be expected In addition to
these are various accounts of contempt
raneous happenings and little pieces of
pleasant fiction. There are wise admo-
nitions as to the conduct of men and
things and some sage sayings from
which the passage of the years has TAX
en- neither truth nor wisdom. There are
almanac jokes, in which the readers of
modern publications Of this character will
recognize many an old and still familiar
favorite. Fashions in this respect do not
seem to have changed greatly during
the century.
There is table of high water at va
rious points along the Atlantic seaboard,
designed obviously for the reference and
convenience of master Mariners and
there is another table, giving the rates
OF piotage, wharfage, weighing, storage
and the like at the port of Savannah, evil
IDENTIFY intended to serve a like purpose.
There are tables of interest and dollar
tables, which undertake to translate the
English pounds, shillings and pence into
good American money.
Another table shows the coins which at
| that. time passed current in this country
and a motley array, certainly, 1t must
have been. These coins included a Jo-
hannes, which was worth $16, a doobloon,
worth s.; English and French guineas and
Spanish and French pistoles, which were
all of gold. There were silver crowns, of
English and French make, the dollars of
Spain, Sweden and Denmark, the English
shilling and the pistareen. All these were
in addition to the currency, issued from
the minis of the then infant country
known to a mildly curious world as the
United States of America.
The various executive officers of the
general government are given, with the
amounts of their salaries for the year. 1t
is noticeable that President jefferson was
then receiving but $4,000 per year, half
the amount paid President Mckinley, and
that Vice President Clinton got only 5000
a year for his services. The United
States district judge in those days was
Hon. William Stephens, who held the
terms of his court in Savannah on the
second Tuesday in February, May, Au-
gust and November
The Office of Governor OF the state
seems at the time of the publication of
the almanac to have been vacant. Hon.
George Jones was then judge of the Su-
perior Courts for the Eastern judicial dis
trict, while Thomas U. P. Charlton was
attorney general and Robert Walker So
lcitor general.
John Y Noel was then Mayor of the
city and John Cummings. William Davies
Fingal 1. Fleming, John P. Williamson,
l. W. Rodman, Benjamin Ansley Oliver
Sturgis, Christian Gogel, Edward Harden.
Samuel II. Stackhouse and John Pettibone
were aldermen.
The regulations of the postoffice depart
ment, so far as they applied to the OPP
GRAFTON of the local postoffice and the
handling of mails to and from Savannah
are given in the almanac. The rat ties on
a letter of a single page then varied from
cents, for distances not exceeding for
ty miles, to 25 cents for distances exceed
ing five hundred miles. For double let
tiers the rates were double high. The
postmaster tells when patrons of the Of
flee could expect to find it open, and when
the mails from the several points of the
compass were opened and closed. mo
credit" he naively adds, will be given
for postage" In those days Philip Box
was postmaster of Savannah.
Mr.. Leaken. who is making an inves-
tigation of this portion of the city's his
tory for the Sons of the Revolution, and
the Society of the Colonial Wars, has
collected some interesting facts from old
maps and other records of the city, from
1857 down to and through the first days
of the last century.
In 1867 Savannah was still walled
town and access was had through the
gates that stood on the three land sides
OF the city. Yamacraw was then spelled
and perhaps pronounced "Jamacraw,"
and in the old maps and manuscripts the
name of the Indian chieftain with whom
the founder of Savannah negotiated for
the property rights of the land upon
which the city was built is given as
Tamachychee.
il is interesting 10 watch with what in
tensifed hate the people of those days
regarded even names that savored OF the
kingly regime. State street was once
Prince street, President was King street,
and Broughton was Duke street. With
the success OF the American arms in the
Revolution these changes from names
that hetolxened ROYALTY and its anpurten-