Today, February 4, 2014, is the 128th anniversary of the birth of my grandmother, Georgia Dargan Frierson.  The photo at the right was taken on Christmas day in 1937 when she was 51 years old.  She was born in Stateburg, South Carolina, the fourth oldest of the ten daughters of Theodosia Green Williamson Dargan and John Julius Dargan.  She married John Lawrence Frierson (9/4/1883 – 1/30/1963) in 1911 and they had two children, John Lawrence Frierson, Jr., and George Dargan Frierson.  She was both a performer and teacher of music all her life, starting in her early teenage years as a performing member of the Chiquola Club with her father and four of her sisters.  The Chiquola Club  was the creation of her father, John Julius Dargan, and its purpose was to tour South Carolina,  he teaching and lecturing its citizens about the state’s proud history, all the while entertaining the audiences with music performed by the Dargan daughters.  Here’s a description from the biography of J.J. Dargan by  Henry F. Cauthen:

“The sight was one which drew attention on the trains and in the little hotels of the time:  a small, dignified man leading five young women, animated and attractive.  The gentleman was none other than John Julius Dargan and the young women, five of his daughters.

“The time could have been any day in the period from 1899 to 1903, and the little company could be seen arriving at one of any number of South Carolina towns in the eastern area of the state, but not exclusively in that section.  In the evening they would appear in the opera house, the court house, the school auditorium or some other available hall for what was billed as an “entertainment”, but which was an event of a much more serious purpose in the heart of Colonel Dargan.  The evenings were, however, entertaining, as dozens of newspaper accounts testified. … Many accounts referred to the performing daughters as ‘Colonel Dargan’s charming and talented daughters’ .  These were no extravagant statements;  the daughters were indeed attractive and were trained, as well as talented musicians.  They played a variety of instruments and sang.  And their presence represented the practical showmanship which had popped into the creative mind of their father.  Such a venture should have a name and the colonel called it the program of the Chiquola Club”.

Georgia played both the piano and violin and also sang with her sisters when they were on tour.  By 1905, J.J. Dargan had opened the General Sumter Memorial Academy in Stateburg, S.C., and my grandmother was the music teacher of violin and piano, a career she would continue for most of her life in both public schools and for private students.  Also, her 50-or-so-year position as the organist at the Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Stateburg surely can’t be beaten!  The photo to the right was contributed by my cousin Lil Frierson Wetmore and shows our grandmother around age 12 years with her violin.

Also shown is a photo of an even younger Georgia Dargan, maybe around 7 or 8 years old?