Courtships were very brief for as soon as a man or woman began to manifest interest in the opposite sex, the master busied himself to select a wife or husband and only in rare cases was the desire of the individual considered.  When the selection was made, the master read the ceremony and gave the couple a home.  He always requested, or rather demanded, that they be fruitful.  A barren woman was separated from her husband and usually sold.

Very little money was handled by these people.  The carriage drivers were more fortunate than the regular workers for they smuggled things to town when they drove the master and mistress and sold them while the family shopped or went visiting.  At rare intervals, the field hands were able to earn small sums of money in this manner.

Food was provided by the owners and all families cooked for themselves whether they were many or one.  The weekly allotments of meal, meat, etc., were supplemented through the use of vegetables which could always be obtained from the fields.  On special days chicken or beef was given and each one had a sufficient amount for his needs.  Hunting and fishing were recreations in which the slaves were not allowed to participate although they frequently went on secret excursions of this nature.  All food stuff as well as cloth for garments was produced at home.

Clay is very superstitious, still believing in most of the signs commonly believed in those days, because he has “watched them and found that they are true”.  He stated that the screeching of the owl may be stopped by placing a poker in the fire and allowing it to remain until it becomes red hot.  The owl will then leave, but death will invariably follow its visit.

The attitudes of the two races in the South regarding the war were directly opposite.  The whites beheld it as something horrible and dreaded the losses that would necessarily be theirs.  Sons and fathers had property to be considered, but they were generous in their contributions to the soldiers.  On the other hand, the slaves rejoiced as they looked forward to their freedom when the war was over.  There were, however, a few who were devoted to their masters to the extent that they fought in their stead in the Confederate Army.  Others remained at home and skillfully ran the plantation and protected the women and children until the end of the war.

When Sherman made his famous “March to Sea”, one phalanx of his army wrought its destruction between this city and Griswoldville.  A gun factory and government shoe factory were completely destroyed.  Although the citizens gave the invaders everything they thought they desired, the rest was destroyed in most instances.  They tried to ascertain the attitudes of the land owners toward his servants and when for any reason they presumed that one was cruel, their vengeance was expressed through the absolute destruction of his property.  In nearly every instance smoke houses were raided and the contents either destroyed or given away.  Barrels of syrup flowing through the yard was a common sight.