Talk:Georgia Marble Company

Fitzsimmons or Tate?
There appears to be disagreement over the actual founder of the Georgia Marble Company. While this article credits Henry Fitzsimmons with founding the company in 1884, several other sources I have found seem to point to Samuel Tate and his family.

Article crediting Fitzsimmons with founding Georgia Marble Company:
 * http://www.theblueridgehighlander.com/pickens_county_georgia/index.php

Articles crediting Tate with founding Georgia Marble Company:
 * http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1168
 * http://www.pickensprogress.com/archive/gravesite.htm
 * http://ngeorgia.com/ang/Pickens_County
 * http://www.visitgeorgiaonline.com/georgia_festivals.htm
 * http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/georgiamarble/history.php

Article not specifying, but with other good info:
 * http://www.pickenscountyga.com/history.htm

I am hesitant to trust the article crediting Fitzsimmons, since all of the others I have found consistently tell another story. From what I can gather, here's what went down:

Samuel Tate bought a large piece of land in modern-day Pickens County through the Georgia Land Lotteries in 1832, and by 1834 had opened an inn on the Federal Road. In 1836, Henry Fitzsimmons, an Irish stonecutter, was riding in a stagecoach. It stopped for a break near the inn, he bought some moonshine from a local and proceeded to get drunk. The stagecoach driver wouldn't let him back on, so he waited for the next one. While he was waiting, he saw marble deposits (and a business opportunity) on Tate's land. Fitzsimmons bought/leased part of the land and in 1840 started the Long Swamp Marble Company. In 1844, Fitzsimmons was killed in a brawl and Tate bought the land back, as well as Long Swamp Marble Company. In 1850, Tate opened a new quarry as Tate, Atkinson & Co.. His sons, Stephen and William, continued the business and, with the help of some investors and a complex leasing arrangement, formed the Georgia Marble Company in 1884. In 1905, Stephen's son, "Colonel Sam" Tate, became president and general manager and saw it become successful. After Colonel Sam died in 1938, the company changed hands several times, and today it is owned by Polycor, Inc.

As such, I believe it is necessary to correct this article, unless someone else can prove otherwise.

Iampenguin (talk) 07:29, 18 July 2010 (UTC)