User talk:Dbutz

Last night I thought I would find Topsawyer's Rock, check it out on Google Earth, then share it with my FW reading group. It turns out that it may not exist!

Googling Topsawyer's Rock brings one to Dublin, Georgia, alright, but then you can't find anything about such a rock formation. So today I called city hall. A lovely lady who answered and who has lived in Dublin all her life, Nan Carroll Scarboro, had never heard of such a place, but she directed me to a someone who would know. Scott Thompson is a local attorney and passionate historian of the area. He has written several books and articles on the subject. He knew the FW reference and its likely connection to Jonathan Sawyer, founder of Dublin. He too had never heard of such a place. The Oconee in the immediate vicinity has no rocks of note; sandbars are more common. There are some rocks in the river 5 miles north of the city. Perhaps they were once named; perhaps Joyce saw such a reference, but it now seems to me questionable.

Mr Thompson added two more bits of history:

1. Jonathan Sawyer was from Westminster, Massachusetts. He was not a Dublin, Ireland exile.

2. Old Isaac was a slave who belonged to local prominent politician George Troupe (d. 1856), who sparred with John Quincy Adams and ran for president himself. Old Isaac was said to be the last surviving slave of George Washington. Coincidence? Probably.