Joseph C Westberry
JOSEPH C. WESTBERRY (SIMEON A.3, RABUN2, MOSES1) was born April 30, 1874 in Wayne Co, Georgia, and died July 05, 1918 in Wayne Co, Georgia. He married MARY ELIZABETH BLANTON April 25, 1903 in Wayne Co, Georgia, daughter of UNK BLANTON and CORNELIA ROBERSON. She was born July 28, 1886 in Wayne Co, Georgia, and died July 1960 in Lakeland, Florida.
Notes for JOSEPH C. WESTBERRY:
Joseph shows living with his father, Simeon Westberry, in the 1870 census. Therefore, the 1874 birth year would be incorrect.
I doubt that Emma Mosley was the mother, her being so young.
Joseph is living with Joshua Clary, husband of Cassandra Westberry, in 1900.
1910 Census, Wayne Co, Georgia.
Joseph C. Westberry, 28; Mary, 24; Owen, 6; Arabelle, 4; Burrell, 2.
1920 Census, Wayne Co, Georgia.
Mary Westberry, 33; Isabelle, 14; Birt, 11; J. T., 8; Larrie, 5; Thelma, 3-8/12; Joel, 11/12.
My grandmother is Thelma Westberry (the daughter of Joseph C. Westberry & Mary Blanton Westberry). Joseph C. Westberry was born April 30, 1874 and died on July 5, 1918. My grandmother was born October 14, 1916 and has no memory of her father. The only information she has been able to share with
me is the story of her father’s murder. He was murdered over a dispute with a neighbor about the neighbor’s dog trying to bite the older children as they walked back & forth from school. Supposedly, my great-grandfather warned the neighbor that if the dog bit one of his children, then he would kill the dog. Weeks later, the dog “went missing”. The neighbor hid in the edge of the woods while my great-grandfather was plowing his field with a mule. As my great-grandfather turned the mule around at the end of a row, the neighbor stepped from the edge of the woods and clubbed my great-grandfather to death with a fence post.
September 30, 2002.
I wanted to let you know that I talked to my grandmother this weekend and gathered a little more information.
She confirmed that her father (Joseph C.) had only one sibling. His name was Robert Lee Westberry. She did not know her grandparents and could not even tell me their names. She did however, tell me the name of Joseph’s murderer …. Newton Dukes. Supposedly, after he murdered my great-grandfather, he tried to escape arrest by leaving the county. He was arrested in Odum while trying to board a train. The sheriff at the time was also a Westberry ( I believe she said the sheriff’s name was either Maron or Marion Westberry). She told me that Newton Dukes died in prison from the flu. (Phyllis Edenfield Yawn.)
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*The State, ( Indictment No 3, returned at the November Term 1918,
Vs. ) charging the offense of Murder.
Walter Dukes. ( The defendant, Walter Dukes, waives formal arraignment,
Copy bill of Indictment, list of witnesses sworn before Grand Jury And agrees to strike from a panel of ____ Jurors and
Plead not guilty. Jas. R. Thomas,
This Dec 4th, 1918. Jno. R. Cooper, Defendants Attys,
Alvin V. Sellers, Solicitor Genl.
The following jury was impaneled and sworn to try this case, viz:
Virgil Knight, J. W. Moody, J. O. Stewart, W. R. Cooper, A. J. Manning, J. M. Todd, W. T. Grantham, J. V. Robertson, H. H. Knight, J. P. Shedd, J. F. Jacobs, J. C. Branch.
And returned the following verdict, to-wit:
We, the jury, find the defendant Walter Dukes, guilty of involuntary manslaughter, by the commission of an unlawful act. This 5th. Day of Dec. 1918.
J. P. Shedd, Foreman.
The State ) In Wayne Superior Court. Nov. Term, 1918. Murder – and
Vs. ( verdict of involuntary Manslaughter in the commission of Walter Dukes. ) an unlawful act.
Whereupon, it is considered, ordered and adjudged by the Court that you Walter Dukes, the defendant in the above stated case, be taken from the bar of this Court to the common jail of Wayne County, where you shall be safely kept until demanded by guard to be sent by the Prison Commission of the Penitentiary of the State, to whom you shall be by said jailer delivered.
And you shall then be conveyed by said guard to the Penitentiary of this State or such other place as the Prison Commission of this State may direct, and you shall then by the said Prison Commission of the Penitentiary be placed and kept at hard labor in said Penitentiary, or such other place or places, as the Prison Commission of this State may from time to time direct, for and during the full end and term of Three years, to be computed from the date of your reception at said penitentiary. And the Clerk of this Court will notify said Prison Commission of your indictment, conviction and sentence, and shall send to them a copy of this sentence.
In open Court, this Dec. 5th, 1918. J. P. Highsmith, Judge S C B C.
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(Following is the “handwritten” True Bill located in the Clerk’s Office, Wayne County.)
THE GRAND JURORS, selected, chosen and sworn, for the County of Wayne, to-wit:
1. H. W. Surrency, FOREMAN.
2. W. R. Lewis 3. J. A. McCall 4. G. L. Strickland 5. Sam B. Kelly 6. C. H. Rogers 7. J. D. Thornton 8. Asa Tyre 9. F. E. Murphy 10. W. D. Withrow 11. N. F. Priester 12. W. D. Donaldson 13. G. W. Baxter 14. J. B. Strickland 15. J. C. Hatcher 16. F. M. Tyre 17. O. L. Harris 18. D. A. Dent
In the name and behalf of the citizens of Georgia, charge and accuse Walter Dukes of the the County and State aforesaid, with the offense of Murder. For that the said Walter Dukes on the 5th day of July in the year of our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred and Eighteen in the County aforesaid did then and there unlawfully, and with force and arms, feloniously and of his malice aforethought kill and murder one Joe Westberry in the place of said State being by then and there striking him with a wooden club and thereby giving him a mortal wound from which he died.
Contrary to the laws of said State, the good order, peace and dignity thereof.
Wayne Superior Court} Special Presentment Prosecutor
Nov Term, 1918 } Alvin V. Sellers Solicitor-General
WITNESSES:
Bert Westberry
Mrs. Joe Westberry
THE STATE, VS. Walter Dukes | Murder
No. 3 True Bill.
H. W. Surrency, Foreman
Special Presentment, Prosecutor
Alvin V. Sellers Solicitor-General
(Verdict guilty involuntary manslaughter Nov. Adj. Term 1918.
Sentenced to 3 yrs.
Died during pendency – of motion for new trial.)
Notes for MARY ELIZABETH BLANTON:
*The Jesup Sentinel, Jesup, Georgia, Thursday, July 21, 1960.
Mother, Mrs. N. J. Edenfield Buried On Friday. Funeral services for Mrs. Mary Blanton Sealey, 74, were held at Memorial Gardens Cemetery, in Lakeland, Fla., Friday, July 15 at 2 p.m. She passed away suddenly at her home in Lakeland, where she has resided since leaving Wayne County in 1945. She is survived by her husband, H. S. Sealey, of Lakeland, one brother, Sidney Blanton of Jesup; three daughters, Mrs. Carl Grooms and Mrs. Joe Sutton, both of Lakeland, and Mrs. N. J. Edenfield of Jesup; two sons, Cecil and Burl Westberry, both of Jesup.
Children of JOSEPH WESTBERRY and MARY BLANTON are:
i. ARABELLE WESTBERRY, b. 1906; m. CARL GROOMS.
ii. BURL LUTHER WESTBERRY, b. April 03, 1908; d. June 27, 1994, Wayne Co, Georgia.
iii. JAMES THOMAS WESTBERRY, b. April 21, 1911, Wayne Co, Georgia; d. May 11, 1922, Wayne Co, Georgia.
iv. LARRY CECIL WESTBERRY, b. April 01, 1914, Wayne Co, Georgia; d. August 11, 1987, Wayne Co, Georgia; m. HATTIE GEORGE, March 19, 1947, Brantley Co, Georgia; b. July 30, 1906; d. October 04, 1994.
Notes for LARRY CECIL WESTBERRY: US Army, WWII. Bur. Davis Cemetery, Ludowici, Long County, Ga.
v. THELMA WESTBERRY, b. October 14, 1916, Wayne Co, Georgia.
vi. JO WESTBERRY, b. Abt. 1919; m. (1) RALPH BAXLEY; m. (2) JOE SUTTON.