Bio/HistoryJohn Godkin "Uncle Johnnie" Clopton of Georgia

The fourth child of William Henry Harrison "Billie" Clopton and Martha Isabel "Mattie" Lancaster Clopton, John Godkin Clopton was born August 3, 1867 in Putnam County (Eatonton) Georgia. He never married. He is a direct descendant of the first William Clopton, Gentleman, and his wife, Ann (Booth) Dennett Clopton. He was known by all as Uncle Johnnie. He died April 18, 1947 and is buried in the Concord United Methodist Church Cemetery in Putnam County.

Johnnie carried the US mail on at least two RFD routes in Putnam County. I got a tremendous kick out of sitting with Uncle Johnnie in the buggy drawn by a mule. I still remember how he would bring the families along the way not only the US mail, but various items of groceries and household goods. The customers had given him the money the previous day and specified what they would like for him to bring out from town!

Once, he tried to cross the ford on swollen Crooked Creek, but obviously did not notice the depth of the water, because the buggy and mail were washed away; but he and the mule escaped.

My mother's sister, Sara Elizabeth Callaway, told me once how she came back from Eatonton in a buggy and noticed all along the way that some letters had been blown by the wind out of Johnnie's buggy. She picked them all up, she said, and gave them to Uncle Johnnie the next day.

He never learned to drive a car; so when the U. S. government ordered all carriers to drive automobiles, Uncle Johnnie had to employ a driver to take him around.

One memory of Uncle Johnnie has remained vivid all down through the years. We were walking through the dog trot of the home in which his brother and sister-in-law (William Thomas Clopton and Minnie Flora King Clopton) lived. He turned and pointed to a framed certificate on the wall and blurted out: "You will never get a diploma from high school or from a college when you go that will be worth as much as this one!" When I asked him what it was, he said proudly: "It is the certificate I received from the government when I retired from my mail-carrier route, and it pays me $100.00 per month the rest of my life!"

Henry King Stanford, Ph.D.
April 22, 1916-

MEMORIAM
"Uncle Johnnie"

I do not know how old he is; I do not know how many brothers and sisters he had; I do not know even who his Father and Mother were, or where he was born; but there is one thing we all know, and that is, HE WAS UNCLE JOHNNIE!

John G. Clopton lived such a life as to make himself known and loved by as many different people as any man that ever lived in a County, and he wore, and still wears, such a diadem because he lived the beautiful example of real service by sharing his substance and thinking of others! If all the apples and oranges and ice cream cones that he so willingly bought for little children as he casually passed them by could be turned into pansies, the road that leads from his house to his now last resting place would be lined on either side by ribbons of these lovely flowers; if all of the writing tablets and pencils and schoolbooks that he bought little children that he knew needed them could be turned into stoneblocks, they would furnish stepping stones that would form an unbroken pathway from his home to the quiet little cemetery in his beloved Concord; if the dollars that he so lavishly gave to young girls and boys that he felt deserving could be turned into marble, his body could now be resting in a mausoleum that would adorn and beautify the cemetery at Arlington; if all of the spools of thread and the dress-goods that he bought and sent to homes where he felt little children were in dire need could be turned into ribbons, there would be enough to enclose a wall around the plot of ground which marks Concord as Church property.

Why all this about this humble man? It's because he proved himself a man who "Lived by the side of the road" and was a friend to man. He loved people; he loved his county; he loved the old Songs of Zion and he loved his Church. He loved the traditions of the Old South and his heart and his eyes would often swell with pride and tears as he would recount the valiant deeds of heroes that he loved and whose memories he cherished.

Yes, Uncle Johnnie was a gentleman. He was always kind and thoughtful of others; he gave to every man the right to his own opinion tho' he was always true to his own. He was a humble man and made no pretense at show or glamor(sp) and admired the gentle virtures(sp) as he construed them in others. And now that he has gone to his Heavenly reward, we will think of him as one of God's hand men in making little children happy and in comforting and helping those spirits who now and then come to some melancholy moments. And may soft winds blow over his last resting place and may gentle rains and a mild Sun ever keep green the lonely spot that marks his untimely grave.

By his friend,
Flournoy Middlebrooks
June 16, 1947
From the Eatonton Messenger
June 19, 1947

[#674]

Contributed by :

Suellen Clopton Blanton, bblanton@fast.net
and Henry King Stanford, Ph.D.