One of the most distinguished residents in Kennesaw history was Judge Gaspard Theodore Carrie, who served as postmaster, Justice of the Peace, owned an early Kennesaw hotel, and was the patriarch of one of the most prominent families in Kennesaw history. G. T.’s father, Joseph Theodore Carrie, was born in France in 1773. Fleeing religious persecution, he moved to the United States before 1798. Carrie worked in Augusta and South Carolina and married Mary Eubanks in 1818. Their oldest daughter, Caroline, was born later that year, and their second child, Gaspard, was born on January 1, 1820. The Carries would have at least five more children. Though born in the Carolinas, Gaspard was raised in Augusta, Georgia. He attended a Catholic school and worked at a newspaper.
In the 1830s and 1840s, Penfield, Georgia, was becoming an important city. In 1833, a group of Baptists established Mercer University in the city. Sometime between 1835 and 1840, Carrie moved to Penfield and began work for two temperance newspapers, the Christian Index and the Temperance Banner. In Penfield, Carrie became close friends with his boss, a veteran of the War of 1812 named Benjamin Brantly. In 1843, Carrie married Lucy Blodgett in Augusta, and they would have five children. In that same year, Carrie’s brother-in-law enters the story.
William Tappan Thompson was an Ohio native but moved to Georgia in 1834. Three years after moving to our state, Thompson married Caroline Carrie, the oldest sibling of Gaspard. The following year, Thompson began publishing stories he wrote in his own newspaper, the Augusta Mirror. His best-known book, Major Jones’ Courtship, was published in 1843.
Written as a series of letters by a fictitious Major Joseph Jones, the book contains a family called the Stallings, which include the matriarch and three daughters: Mary, Caroline, and Keziah. The Stallings family was based on the Carrie family, and Mary Stallings is the object of Major Jones’ affection. Another member of the Stallings family is Tom, based on Gaspard. The Carries were not the only real-life individuals to inspire William Tappan Thompson. He also included a fictional version of J. Edgar Thompson, the Chief Engineer of the Georgia Railroad who (according to legend) gave Atlanta its name.
When Major Jones’ Courtship was first published, the Augusta Chronicle praised it as “The Prize Book of the Season” and compared it to the works of Charles Dickens. The book is remembered today for using “atrocious grammar and southern dialect.” It is believed that the book inspired Mark Twain, and Major Jones’ Courtship and Huckleberry Finn contain similar scenes set at a circus. In this small way, the early life of Gaspard Carrie helped influence one of America’s favorite authors.
On April 9, 1851, Lucy Blodgett Carrie passed away, leaving Gaspard a widower. In 1852, Carrie married Jane Harris. Carrie remained active in the temperance movement but began to look for ways to settle elsewhere. Both he and Benjamin Brantly listed their houses for sale in October 1854. Carrie’s house in Penfield had “six good rooms with a brick basement and six fire places, a good kitchen and smoke house and other out buildings, being both pleasantly situated and convenient to the Schools.” While Brantly moved to what is now Bartow County, Carrie settled in Big Shanty, today known as Kennesaw.
In 1859, the Western & Atlantic Railroad began planning for a new eating establishment in Big Shanty. They purchased land from Lemuel Kendrick and Carrie for the new building on the east side of the railroad tracks. Managed first by John W. Lewis and then by Kendrick, at the time of the Great Locomotive Chase it was run by George Lacy. As such, it is often referred to as the Lacy Hotel.
The 1860 census provides valuable insight into Carrie’s life. He was living with his wife, six kids, and a twenty-four-year-old enslaved woman. Carrie’s real estate was valued at $1000, and his personal property at $2500. His occupation was listed as a merchant. During the Civil War, Carrie served as a Private in the 7th Regiment of the Georgia Infantry. It is not known where he served. The only other known detail about his life during this time is that he gave $5 in 1862 to support sick soldiers in Atlanta.
In 1864, Big Shanty was burned to the ground as part of the Atlanta Campaign, and this event must have greatly impacted the Carries. Carrie likely played a large part in the efforts to rebuild the community, and from 1865 to 1868, he served as postmaster. In 1868, he was a delegate to the Democratic State Convention in Atlanta.
A plat map from 1867 for Lemuel Kendrick, who owned much of what is now Downtown Kennesaw, shows that Carrie owned land on the east side of the railroad tracks near today’s Depot Park. Around 1870, he built a house on that land where he would live for the rest of his life. That house is now the home of Frozen Cow Creamery. As Carrie’s sons became prominent community members, they too built houses near the depot. John T. Carrie built his house next door to his father’s home around 1883, and Benjamin Carrie’s house was built in 1890. They are today Lazy Labrador Coffee House and part of Depot Park, respectively.
In 1870, a hotel was built in Big Shanty to replace the one destroyed during the Civil War. According to A. L. Harris, who provided testimony on the hotel to a joint committee of the state legislature in 1872, the building “was a two-story house of wood containing ten rooms, plastered, and painted inside and out, with necessary outbuildings.” Carrie was the proprietor for the first two years of its operation, when it was referred to by the Atlanta Constitution as “a No. 1 eating establishment.” In 1876, the Marietta Journal called him the “Dom Pedro” of Kennesaw. By this time, Carrie had been made a Justice of the Peace. He would be known as Judge Carrie for the rest of his life. By 1879, Judge Carrie was operating the hotel again. In that year, the Marietta Journal said that “when you come to Big Shanty and want something to eat, call of Judge Carrie, at his hotel, and you will not be disappointed.” Two years later, the North Georgia Citizen called it “the best railroad eating house in all the land.” The January 8, 1881, edition of the Sunny South, citedCarrie’s hotel as proof that Southerners do not fry all of their food.
Residents of Big Shanty’s African American community purchased land for a church from Carrie in 1880. Still on the same site 140 years later, the church is today named Sardis Missionary Baptist Church. In 1881, Carrie gave the land for the Kennesaw Methodist Church on Cherokee Street, today home of Apotheos Roastery. Carrie’s sons also began to enter commerce, and Benjamin H. Carrie had his own business by 1883. Like his father, B. H. Carrie became a judge and officiated many Kennesaw weddings. The 1880s also saw great change in our community, as we were incorporated as the Kennesaw in 1887. Around that time, it cost $7 to stay at Carrie’s hotel for a week, and $25 for a month. Despite the establishment’s success, it was torn down in 1893. At the same time, the current Kennesaw Depot was built, and the building it replaced was purchased by Judge Carrie and moved away from the railroad tracks.
In 1891, a group of citizens (including Carrie) got together and decided to open a new school in Kennesaw. Originally called the Kennesaw Home School, it would later become Kennesaw Elementary School.
G. T. Carrie celebrated his 82nd birthday on January 1, 1902. The Marietta Journal mentioned eight days later he was “still in the enjoyment of good health, with mental faculties unimpaired… he is one of nature’s nobleman and enjoys the confidence and esteem of the people.” He was also believed to be one of the oldest former printers in the state, having worked for the Temperance Banner before he moved to Kennesaw. Sadly, Judge Gaspard T. Carrie passed away unexpectedly on February 5, 1902. The Atlanta Journal said, “he was always generous towards all charities, and every [sic] ready to encourage and aid movements to public benefit to the little village of Kennesaw, where so many years of his life were spent.” He was laid to rest in the Kennesaw City Cemetery.
The son of an immigrant, Judge Gaspard Theodore Carrie had moved to our community when it was just a small railroad stop. Over the next half a century, he played an important role in laying the foundation for the city we know and love today.
The text above by Andrew J. Bramlett combines two articles published in Around Kennesaw magazine in September and October 2022.