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By Josh Lanier 

My paternal ancestors migrated south to the Georgia and Alabama frontier after the Revolutionary War. They lived a hard-scrabbled life working the land, scratching out a meager existence in the red clay and yellow loam of the Appalachian Plateau and Piedmont region for generations to come. As the family grew, they began to spread out—some prospering in their endeavors while others toiled day and night just to survive. 

My third great-grandfather, William Washington Lanier, was a farmer and hatmaker born in Jasper County, Georgia. He moved his family around in search of better land to till, eventually winding up in Chambers County, Alabama. A cousin of the same age, Robert Sampson Lanier, was born in Clarke County, Georgia, and in his lifetime, became a well-known lawyer in Macon.

The sons of these two men couldn’t have come from more different worlds. 

Joseph Smith Lanier, my second great-grandfather, was born in Randolph County, Alabama, in 1847 as one of 11 children in a family of tenant farmers. Joseph and his wife, Nancy Jane, also had 11 children. My great-grandfather, Joseph Frederick Lanier, had five brothers and five sisters. The family faced hardship and heartbreak in every direction they turned, from the foothills of the Georgia and Alabama mountains to the Black Belt prairie of Monroe, Mississippi. (My grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Lanier, left Georgia after the Second World War and came to Greenville County to work in the cotton mill.) 

Sidney Clopton Lanier was born in Macon, Georgia, in 1842, the son of a lawyer. His musical genius was apparent from an early age, as he learned to play any instrument he could get his hands on. It was in his teenage years that he felt the strong pull of his literary calling, as well. He attended Oglethorpe University, where he graduated at the top of his class. When the Civil War broke out, he and his brother Clifford enlisted. The Lanier brothers were working as pilots on a blockade ship, when they were captured and sent to Point Lookout, Maryland. Sidney contracted tuberculosis from the cold, damp, disease-infested prison camp. He suffered greatly from the disease for the rest of his short life, eventually succumbing to his affliction at age 39 here in Lynn.

It was said after moving her husband from where he’d been convalescing in Asheville to the mild climate and serene setting of Polk County, that Mary Day Lanier wished she had brought Sidney here first. I can’t help but recognize that it is that same natural beauty and serenity of this area that captivated me long ago and made me feel so much at home.  

Every time I pass the little cottage where my distant relative took his last breath, and I slow down to read the roadside marker stating that Sidney Lanier, Southern Poet, died in this house. September 7, 1881, I think about our connections, both familial and literary. Sidney would have been my 3rd cousin, four times removed, but it is when I find myself pouring over his poems, prose, and letters to family and friends that I feel a deeper connection of spirit. 

The poet would be humbled to know that the Lanier Library was named in his honor, as was our very own Lake Lanier. I believe that if Sidney Lanier were alive today, he would be very proud of the town of Tryon, and happy to call its residents his neighbors and cherished friends.