Tingle Territory

See also:

The Childhood of WB Tingle, as summarized from an Oral History.

Disclaimer: The title of this site is dictated more by the seductions of alliteration than by any desire for accuracy. True, their number is not large, but Tingles live all over the USA. The territory I claim as Tingle is but a thin sliver of all territory covered by Tingles geographically and historically. I try here to cover a bit of both--the Geography and the History. For my particular line as best I can follow it started off in Virginia probably in the 1680's, moved to North Carolina, and then to Georgia where they have mostly stayed for 150 years, excepting my particular branch that moved, in the form of my Grandfather, to Ora, South Carolina.

What's Here. I have collected on this page pictures taken by myself and other family members over the years. The oldest dates to 1917 most likely. I have no pictures of Tingles before that. I have pictures though of gravestones and church yards that go from well before that. Also I have a few pictures of very Southern Houses. Pappy Tingle's shootgun shack in Woodville, Georgia, and Grandma Tingle's house, made in the 30's, that followed a different design.

What's the Interest? My imagination plays with these pictures. My father was very much of the south, the south of the Great Depression and the boll weevil, and pretty grinding poverty. Before that, back in the 1800's, the Tingles might have been more prosperous; they had property. But it petered out over the generations. Hard to imagine, but when John Tingle first came to Monroe County, from North Carolina, it is believed, in 1800 or so, Georgia was still a wild place. Buffalo roam the woods, as did deer and bear. Indians lived there too and were slowly driven out. Slaves tilled the soil. An accounting of John Tingle's property for the purposes of his will lists, as property, two human beings. Altogether, these pictures and the wisps of history attached give me a lot to imagine about what people call the United States and how it came to be what it is.

You may view larger images for all of the pictures by clicking on the link in a photo albums below. If you don't see a link run your cursor to the lower right corner of an album and a lick will pop up along with controls for the slide show. From there you can view the pictures as a sideshow, or click on the first picture in the sequence and then move forward at the speed you wish. rom this site also you may download an entire album to your hard drive. Also you can order prints of pictures if you want to have them for your own collection.

If you have pictures that I don't have of the Tingles and their places and you have the time and energy, you could mail pictures to me. I would scan them and send them back to you (I promise).You can email me.

Early Tingles

The first photo here is a picture Daniel Archibald Tingle, 1835-1917, and family. DA was married to Mary Mahala Treadwell. She was born in 1837 and died in 1909. The group picture here is thought to have been taken on the event of her death. The empty chairs signify the departed. Steven Green Tingle is also in this picture, I do believe. In all likelihood the picture was taken at the Tingle Place on Tingle Road.

Mr. Boyd Monroe Tingle of Wimberly Texas has tried to identify the persons in the Archbald Daniel photo as follows:

Archibald Daniel (1835-1917)
Vacant chair: signifying the departed Mary Mahala Tingle
William A. Tingle, son (1856-1939)
His wife, Martha Alice Wilson Tingle (1855-1922)--standing
Martha Brownlee Tingle and daughter, Mary--seated. She was the wife of James Amos Tingle (1859-1936)
Steven Green Tingle, son of AD and my Great-Grandfather
Young son of Steven Green, not named--standing
Ida Louise Tingle, daughter of AD (1864-1939)
Robert L. Smith, husband of Ida Louse--standing
Vacant Chair--signifying the departed Daniel Raymond Tingle (1867-1894) killed by a horse.
Sarah Jane Tingle Craig, daughter of AD (1870-1927)
Walter H. Craig, hushand of Sarah Jane--standing
John Arenton Tingle, son (1871-1927)
Son of John Arenton Tingle--standing
Oscar Purifoy Tingle, son (1873-1960)
Willie Maud Holder Tingle, wife of Oscar Purifoy--standing
Joseph T. Tingle (1876-1960)
Joseph's daughter--possibly Irene, Willie May, or Lucy

Tingle Road

Time or inaccuracy seem to be wiping out Tingle Road. I provide documentation here that Tingle Road was Tingle Road from north to south and not, as google maps says, Teagle Road at the north end and Gregory Road at the south and in the middle. Perhaps google maps is just plain wrong or maybe locals have changed the name of the road officially. I don't know. But the old Tingle Place, home of Archibald Daniel Tingle, father of Stephen Green "Pappy Tingle, was located on Tingle Road. I was able to find the remains of some chimneys.

Please Note: I believe google maps has screwed up. While on the map the north end of Tingle road is called Tingle Road, a search of google maps brings up a TINGLE ROAD not only in Forsyth, where the Paran Church is, but also in Jackson, where the so called Teagle road is.

Tingle Road still exists.

 

William Berner Tingle (1892-1946)

William Berner Tingle, 1892-1946, was the son of Steven Green "Pappy" Tingle, 1861-1929. WB married Berta Elizabeth Mines. The had seven children: WB Jr.; Neal; Edith; Addie; Carl; Mamie; Douglas. WB spent his early years in and around Woodville. Unable to make ends meet in Geogia, he moved with family to Ora, South Carolina in the early 30's. A tractor reared-up on him when in Georgia, as I have been told, producing chronic back pain. I was told also that he suffered bad hemmohroids In Ora he ran a mobile saw mill and farmed as necessary.

 

Bertha Mines Tingle

I don't remember a whole lot about Mrs. Tingle though I spent the better part of my first ten years living next door to her. I think by the time I got back to Ora she had pretty much had it with kids. She yelled at me frequently for running through the corn rows. I don't know why I wanted to run through them, but I did. And she didn't explain to me why I shouldn't. I do remember she was handy at killing, plucking, and frying a chicken and according to WB Jr. she was pretty handy with a switch too when he was growing up. Rumor has it that she smoked, and that if somebody showed up unexpectedly she would hide the cigarette in her big old cast iron stove. I can't image the life she had. Seven children under sometimes grueling condition. According to WB Jr. when they lived down near Indian Springs, GA, she had to walk a half a mile every day to a well to bring back water.

 

 

Children of WB and Bertha Tingle

I can't find in my limited collection many very early pictures of the Children of WB and Bertha Tingle. I don't think the camera made its way into the family until perhaps the late 40's or early 50's. Consequently most absent from the pictures are WB Jr., Edith, and Neal. But the younger children--Carl, Addie, Mamie, and Douglas--appear more frequently. I have a better sample of all as adults and in color no less.

The Tingle Children in order of their appearance:

WB Tingle, November 28, 1917- February 7, 2006
Edith Tingle, June 29, 1919
Neal Mines Tingle, September 1, 1924- February 8, 1983
Carl Lucius Tingle, August 21, 1926
Addie Elizabeth Tingle, November 20, 1928
Mamie Louise Tingle, June 25, 1932- September 30, 1995
Ralph Douglas Tingle, May 24, 1934 - July 10, 1988

 

 

Churches and Cemeteries of Tingle Territory

Here are pictures of the four churches that, to my mind, define Tingle Territory. Three are in Georgia: The Paran Baptist Church, near Blount, Georgia at the south end of Tingle Road; The Mount Vernon Baptist Church, just over the county line in Butts County near the north end of Tingle Road; the New Hope Baptist Church in Greashamville, Georgia; and finally the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Ora, South Carolina. Daniel Tingle, son of John, is said to be buried in the first; Daniel Archibald, son of Daniel in the second; Stephen Green, son of D.A. in the third; and William Berner, son of Stephen Green in the last.

 

 

Pappy Tingle's House in Woodville, GA

Steven Green "Pappy" Tingle's house was built in the early 20th Century on Peachtree Road in Woodville Georgia. The Webbs bought this house in about 1945. I first visited in the summer of 1963. I remember sitting in the heat thinking I was in the middle of nowhere. But they had a scuppernong arbor and I enjoyed them. When Carol and I visited the house in 1994 or 1995, the Webbs let us take a look around inside. The house has a corridor running right through the middle of it straight from the front door to the back. On both sides of the corridor are two big rooms. I think the high ceilings and the corridor down the middle helped to defend against the heat. In those days, the kitchen was detached from the house. But the old kitchen was long gone. I do not know who owns the house now. Mrs. Webb died a few years back and Mr. Webb, suffering a prolong illness, ended his life out back of the house.

 

 

Grandma Tingle's Place in Ora, SC

In the years before my return visit to Ora, SC in 1994, I think it was, a had this painful reoccurring dream. I would be down South in the dream; I could tell by the red dirt, and I would be on this road and I knew that just as soon as we went around the corner I would see Grandma Tingle's House. But every time I rounded that bend in the road, I didn't see the house and I would wake up. Since my visit in 1994 I have never had that dream again. These pictures were taken on different years, and at different times of year during different years and by different people. They begin to capture the many moods of Grandma Tingle's place.

 

 

The Childhood of William Berner Tingle Jr.

An Oral History as summarized from an audio tape.

Going through papers, I found ten pages I had written, maybe 15 years ago, on WB's childhood. It took some doing but I got him to speak into a cassette tape recorder and finally received perhaps 40 minutes of his talking about his childhood. He mumbled and his accent got in the way a bit, so at points I had a hard time understanding what he was saying, and the spelling especially of some names is based entirely on sound. I have no idea what the actual spellings might be.

WB mentions for example making a tea out of the "mulligan plant" that was then applied to WB Sr.s' very bad hemorrhoids. But for the life of me, I can't find any mention of something called a mulligan plant. Perhaps the spelling is incorrect. The same goes for Lingalong. WB mentions having lived near a place called Lingalong, but I can find it nowhere on any Georgia map. Possibly I have the wrong spelling, and possibly, Lingalong may have disappeared under a man made lake. At least WB seems to think that might have happened.

I transcribe a good bit directly from the audio tape. I haven't tried to clean up the grammar. I hope instead that I have managed to capture the flavor of WB's speech patterns. Over all, I am not so sure I like the way I wrote this piece. It seems a little "precious" to me at times, in the form of overly polite or faintly elegiac history. For example, I found an article from a Georgia paper from the 1920's that says Catholics in the South had to hold services in their homes back in those days because of the "high feelings" Catholicism aroused. "High feeling" I consider polite history for "rank prejudice."

But even with the formality, I think the piece gives a pretty good outline of WB's childhood and a general feeling--especially when I quote WB directly--for what it might have been like growing up in the deep South in the 20's and on into the Great Depression.

Click the Pic for Childhood of WB Tingle.

W.B. Tingle, Jr.--In His Own Voice (five minutes of audio tape).