BULLOCH COUNTY, GA - HISTORY Mineola Community
1825-1987, pg.90

Dates of birth/death from gravestone -- LaVonta Sue Caldwell

From Valdosta Daily Times, June 3, 1993 by Dean Poling, Times Staff Writer:

"Most folks think of Highway 41 North as the road to Hahira from Valdosta. But also along Lowndes County's
stretch of the highway rests the small community of Mineola. Some folks don't even realize Mineola is even
on the road; nonetheless, this community has a rich tradition following most South Georgia towns and
communities.

Years after the Seminole and Cherokee Indians left the South Georgia/North Florida area, a fellow by the name
of Remer Young bought a good bit of land in the northwestern section of Lowndes County. He started a
plantation which covered most of what is now Mineola. In the mid 1830s, Isaiah H. Tillman was a Hawkinsville
storeowner. He bought some of Young's land and lived with one of the Youngs for a spell -- at least until
his own house was finished. During that time, Tillman fell for Matthew Young's daughter, Arminta. Tillman
married her and together they moved into his new house on his parcel of land.

Meanwhile, more families were moving onto land close to the Young plantation. The Howell, Kendall, Barfield, Dampier, Hodges, Scruggs, and Copeland families were among these early settlers. By 1888, the Georgia Southern and Florida Railroad took an interest in the area and built a rail line though the community. As in most towns' cases, a post office and a depot soon followed. Considering the good fortune of getting a railroad, John Young and J. T. Roberts built a sawmill along the tracks near the depot named the Mineola Station. In keeping with that name, the two men named their sawmill Mineola Mill Company.

By the late 1890s, the Coleman family built a turpentine still near the depot. Farmers shipped their goods to Valdosta by train. The railroad made life a little easier for the farmers. Before the train, they'd have to haul their crops eight miles to Valdosta by wagon. The coming of Highway 41 spelled the end for the trains as most farmers took their produce to Valdosta by truck. In the 1940s, train stops were discontinued."