James Constantine Lake was the youngest son of Richard and Elizabeth Lanning Lake.[1] He was born December 22, 1795, in South Carolina.[2]
Lake married Mary Elizabeth Lovell on November 30, 1846 when he was 51 and she was 22.[3] Their first child, James Constantine Lake, Jr., was born November 7, 1847, just a few weeks shy of their first anniversary.
In April 1849, Lake purchased the William S. Simmons plantation from Carter Sparks. Lake was 53 at the time he acquired the property.
In August of 1849, Lake’s older brother Joseph came for a visit. Joseph was accompanied by his son, Thomas Harden Lake, who was on summer break from the University of Alabama having recently completed his freshman year. During the visit, Joseph became suddenly ill after breakfast one morning and died.[4] He is buried in Round Hill Cemetery, a short distance from Lake’s home.[5]
In 1850, Lake hosted the previous owner of the property, David Vann. In May of 1850, Vann had traveled along the east coast to obtain books and hire teachers for the Cherokee Seminary school. He passed through Cave Spring on his way home. How Lake and Vann knew each other is not known, but Vann is referenced as “living temporarily at the Lake House, Cave Spring.”[6]
In 1851, Lake’s second son, Joseph Harden Lake (presumably named after Lake’s deceased brother) was born.
The Lake family history[7] refers to Lake as a merchant, planter and owner of a general store. These business activities allowed him to accumulate a substantial amount of property. The 1852 tax digest shows Lake as the owner of 280 acres in Floyd County valued at $6,000.[8]
On April 28, 1853, Lake was appointed to the executive committee of the board of trustees of the Cherokee Wesleyan Institute in Cave Spring.[9]
Lake and his wife welcomed their third child, Elizabeth Pryor Lake, in September of 1853. Their fourth child, William Richard Lake, was born in April of 1855.
In 1856, Lake was appointed as a commissioner of the “Deaf & Dumb Asylum.”[10]
The following year would bring two major changes to the Lake family. Lake’s youngest child, Mary, was born in February of 1857. Less than three months later, on May 1, 1857, his wife died.[11]
Over the next few years, Lake continued to be involved with the school for the deaf. A letter dated December 4, 1859, indicates Lake was serving as a member of the board of trustees for the “Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb” in Cave Spring.[12]
The following month, in January of 1860, Lake married Caroline H. Chapman.[13]
Later that year, in September of 1860, Lake was appointed to the Cave Spring district committee of the Constitutional Union Party.[14] The Constitutional Union Party had been formed in 1859 by former Whigs and members of the Know-Nothing Party. They sought to uphold the U.S. Constitution and support the union while avoiding the issue of slavery. The party’s nominee for U.S. President in 1860 was John Bell. Bell won 39 electoral votes but lost the election to Abraham Lincoln.[15]
On April 12, 1861, the Civil War began.
Lake’s activities during the first two years of the Civil War are not known. By the spring of 1863, however, his health was failing. In his will dated May 7 of that year, he described himself as being old and infirm of body, but of sound mind and memory. He noted he would soon be moving to another state of existence and that it was right, proper and respectful to his family and himself that he should make arrangements for the disposition of his estate. In his will, Lake included several provisions:
Lake specified he wanted to be buried “in a decent and Christian-like manner suitable to my circumstances and condition in life.”
He instructed that all of his debts should be paid as soon as possible.
Lake wished for his estate to be kept together and the proceeds of the farm be used to support his wife and children until the youngest was of age. Any excess profits were to be invested as his executors felt would be in the best interest of the children. Lake further specified that if his wife was unmarried at the time the youngest came of age, she was “not to be disturbed in the peaceable possession of the house and farm for and during the time of her natural life and widowhood.” The estate was described as consisting of:
land lots 797, 798, 859, 860, 869 and 870, which he identified as the 'old Vann place' where the buildings in which Lake resided were situated;
land lots 652 and 936;
“Thirteen negroes namely Fred, Rufus, Henry, George, Washington. All men. Jenny, a woman and her three children, Alice, Peter and Georgia. Adaline, a woman, and her two children Hattie and Jasper. Jane, a house girl.”;
Horses, cattle, hogs and sheep;
Household and kitchen furniture and farming utensils; and
Confederate States bonds.
In the event his wife died before his youngest child came of age, Lake indicated he wanted the estate sold and the proceeds evenly divided amongst his children. In the event his wife remarried, Lake directed the estate be sold and the proceeds divided equally between his wife and the children.
Lake authorized his executors to make any changes needed as pertained to his slaves, including selling any or all of them.
When his sons reached the age of majority, Lake wanted them to receive an amount of money the executor deemed proper as long as it did not exceed the amount they would get if the entire estate were liquidated and divided. He also specified that his daughters should be given money, but he wanted their funds to be placed in a trust “for their use, free from the control of their husband.”
Lake stated it was his “special desire that my brother-in-law James M. Walker shall have nothing to do with the management of my estate in any way whatsoever for reasons perhaps best known to myself.” James M. Walker was the husband of Margaret A.O. Lovell, the sister of Lake’s first wife, Mary Elizabeth Lovell Lake.[16]
Lake appointed his wife, Caroline H. Lake as executrix and Seaborn J. Johnson as executor of his last will and testament.
The will was witnessed by John M. Carroll, Fielding Hight and W.P. Pledger.[17]
Lake died in July 1863. The exact cause of death and burial location are unknown. Newspaper notices to debtors and creditors list his wife, Caroline Lake, as the executrix of his estate.[18]
The following year, in October of 1864, after the fall of Atlanta, Cave Spring was the headquarters of the Confederate Army of Tennessee.[19] General John Bell Hood was headquartered in Cave Spring.[20] General Beauregard and Major General Joe Wheeler were also in the area.[21]
At this time, Lake’s widow and his children were still living in the house. The Lake family history includes an account from Mary Sheldon Lake, Lake’s granddaughter, in which she recounts a story she heard from her mother Elizabeth Pryor Lake and her Uncle Joseph. According to Mary Sheldon Lake, William T. Sherman's army passed through Cave Spring and Sherman had his headquarters in her grandfather's home. She said her Uncle Constantine, who would have been 16 at the time Sherman’s troops were in the area, was taken prisoner.[22]
While there are multiple sources that place Sherman in and near Cave Spring at this time, there are no other known sources that place him specifically in the Lake home. Sherman had his headquarters in Rome for a time.[23] There is an account of him taking a silver thimble from a house between Cave Spring and Cedartown.[24] The book Cave Spring and Van’s Valley makes reference to the stained glass windows in the Episcopal Church being broken out by Sherman’s troops. The stained glass windows were significant because they had been donated to the church by General Francis Bartow, a famous Confederate general who was killed at the First Battle of Manassas.[25]
Edatha Frances Simmons, a Cave Spring resident and the niece of William S. Simmons[26], maintained a diary during the war. An entry dated November 15, 1864 reads: “A great evil has befallen our little town. Sherman marched the greater part of his army through here a few weeks ago and the vile vandals destroyed nearly everything in the country. I do not believe they will come again. They have evacuated Rome and I hear they are leaving Georgia.”[27]
The Civil War ended in April of 1865. At some point during the war or shortly thereafter, Lake’s children from his first marriage were taken to Mobile, Alabama.
In November of 1866, Thomas Harden Lake, the nephew of James Lake, petitioned the court in Mobile County, on behalf of his five cousins. T.H. Lake said the children resided with him and had an interest in $500 which he had in his possession as well as James Lake’s estate in Floyd County, Georgia, which T.H. Lake valued at $12,500. T.H. Lake requested that he be appointed guardian of the children and the estate. The two oldest, James Constantine Lake, Jr. and Joseph Harden Lake, filed a letter in support of the request as both were over the age of 14. Judge George Bond granted the request.[28]
The following month, on December 4, 1866, T.H. Lake bought his uncle’s property at public auction for $2,000. The home was described in the estate notices and advertisements as a “large and commodious brick dwelling with plenty of rooms and fireplaces” with all other necessary outbuildings. The homestead is listed as consisting of land lots 797, 798, 859, 860, 869 and 870. The estate sale also included three wood lots (652, 936 and 650) with Joseph Ford listed as the administrator of the sale.[29]
Joseph Ford would later marry Lake’s widow. The date of the marriage is unknown, but census records show they were married by 1870.[30] Ford died two years later in a train accident. According to the newspaper account titled “Horrible Accident Yesterday – An Old Gentleman Crushed to Death,” the three o’clock Selma train was backing out of the Rome depot with about a dozen passengers when the caboose and four or five cars were shoved off the track and overturned. Ford had been sitting in one of the cars talking to a Mr. King when the accident occurred. Ford was thrown through the door, under the car and crushed to death instantly. King later recounted that he heard Ford scream as he fell out and that he heard him gasp painfully once, but was dead by the time he reached him. Ford’s body was described in gruesome detail in the article: “It was found that he was cut almost in two across the stomach and fearfully gashed about the head; a terribly mangled wreck.” Ford was 70 years of age.[31] Caroline H. Chapman Lake Ford passed away in 1882.[32]
[1] FamilySearch Family Tree, "James Constantine Lake (PID: KJPH-NRX)," accessed May 9, 2025, https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/KJPH-NRX.
[2] Lake, Devereux, 1876-. A Personal Narrative of Some Branches of the Lake Family in America with Particular Reference to the Antecedents and Descendants of Richard Lake, Georgia Pioneer. [Lorain, O.] :Priv. pub. [The Lorain printing company], 1937. Page 210.
[3] FamilySearch links to a marriage record with a date of 1836. However, the record is on the same page with 1846 marriages. Elizabeth would only have been 12 in 1836, so it seems the record was erroneous. The Lake Family history indicates Lake and Lowell were married in 1846.
[4] Lake, page 169.
[5] Find a Grave. "Joseph Lake (1794–1849) – Find a Grave Memorial." Accessed May 10, 2025. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17723833/joseph-lake.
[6] A History of Rome and Floyd County by George MacGruder Battey Jr., p. 213
[7] Lake, page 212.
[8] Ancestry.com. Georgia, U.S., Property Tax Digests, 1793-1892 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.Original data:Georgia Tax Digests [1890]. 140 volumes. Morrow, Georgia: Georgia Archives. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1729/records/2963129?tid=89203807
[9] Southern Recorder, May 24, 1853, Image 2
[10] Temperance Crusader, January 26, 1856, Image 3
[11] FamilySearch Family Tree, "Mary Elizabeth Lovell (PID: KJWC-DJF)," accessed May 10, 2025, https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/KJWC-DJF.
[12] Ancestry.com. Georgia, U.S., Civil War Correspondence, 1847-1865 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors.
Original data:Governor's Incoming Correspondence, Civil War— Governor Joseph E. Brown of Georgia. Morrow, Georgia: Georgia State Archives. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1730/records/51351
[13] FamilySearch Family Tree, "Caroline H. Chapman (PID: LY1D-SGR)," accessed May 10, 2025, https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/LY1D-SGR.
[14] The Rome Weekly Courier, September 21, 1860, Image 2
[15] The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Constitutional Union Party". Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Apr. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Constitutional-Union-Party. Accessed 10 May 2025.
[16] FamilySearch Family Tree, "Richard M. Walker (PID: MJ1C-Y9Y)," accessed May 10, 2025, https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/MJ1C-Y9Y.
[17] "Ancestry.com - Georgia, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1742." 1992 https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/8635/images/005764789_00245?indiv=try&h&db. Accessed 10 May 2025.
[18] The Rome Weekly Courier, August 07, 1863, Image 2
[19] Georgia's Rome Office of Tourism. Cave Spring - Civil War History. Accessed May 10, 2025. https://romegeorgia.org/civil-war/history/cave-spring/.
[20] Jones, Charles C. Jr. The History of Georgia. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1883. Accessed May 10, 2025. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924079575357&seq=188.
[21] “From Dallas we marched to Coosaville, ten miles south-west of Rome, via Van Wert, Cedartown, and Cave Spring. At the latter place Major-General Wheeler, with a portion of his command, joined me from Tennessee. We arrived at Coosaville on the 10th.” The invasion of Tennessee.1 by J. B. Hood, General, C. S. A. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper//text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2001.05.0046%3Achapter%3D9.64
[22] Lake, p. 210
[23] Georgia's Rome Office of Tourism. "Civil War History in Northwest Georgia." Accessed May 10, 2025. https://romegeorgia.org/civil-war/history/.
[24] Sherman was reported to have passed through Polk County along Cave Spring Road. Title: Polk County, before 1925. Home of Marcus H. Bunn (he probably built it). Caption: House burned in 1925. General Sherman came here- he took silver thimble. Cave Spring Road.--from field notes. https://vault.georgiaarchives.org/digital/collection/vg2/id/11206/rec/22
[25] Cave Spring and Van’s Valley by James Coffee Harris, p. 23. Bartow’s mother lived in Cave Spring and ran a private school in her residence, known as Woodstock, on Perry Farm Road.
[26] Edatha Frances Simmons Conner is the daughter of Richard Shelton Simmons, brother of William S. Simmons. https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/MJSD-J78
[27] “The Diary of Edatha Frances Simmons of Cave Spring, Georgia During the War Between the States”, Sara Hightower Library, Rome, GA, Special Collection
[28] Georgia. Court of Ordinary (Floyd County). Wills, Vol. B, 1862–1870. Georgia, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1742–1992. Ancestry.com. Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/8635/images/005764789_00245. Accessed 10 May 2025.
[29] The Rome Weekly Courier, November 23, 1866, Image 4
[30] "United States, Census, 1870", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MC39-CVM : Sat Jan 18 23:29:29 UTC 2025), Entry for Joseph Ford and Caroline H Ford, 1870.
[31] The Telegraph and Messenger, March 14, 1872, Image 2
[32] FamilySearch Family Tree, "Caroline H. Chapman (PID: LY1D-SGR)," accessed May 10, 2025, https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/LY1D-SGR.