Chambers County AlGenWeb - Photographs
Fant’s Ferry
1852-1922
Fant’s Ferry
1852-1922
Fant’s Ferry was originally known as Talbot’s Ferry. James A. Talbot (1816-1878) was granted
a license by the Chambers County Commission to establish a ferry “where the center line of
Section 29, Township 24, Range 25 crosses the Tallapoosa River” on December 20, 1852.
In the 1860 Chambers County Census, 19 year old Ephraim Fant is enumerated in the Talbot
household and was likely employed as the ferryman. Ephraim’s life was cut short only a few
years later while serving in the Confederate Army.
It is unknown exactly when Ferry ownership changed, but Ephraim Fant’s brother
James Madison Fant (1843-1904), who also served in the Confederate Army, is believed
to have been the ferryman by the mid 1870s.
Alonza Jackson “Lon” Fant (1875-1926) son of J. M. Fant, was ferryman from the mid
1890s until 1922, at which time he bought a farm two miles NW of LaFayette so that
his younger children would have better educational opportunities nearer the county
seat. This move ended 70 years of ferry operation at this site on the Tallapoosa River.
This image of Fant’s Ferry was photographed about 1904. Identifications are made from
left to right: William Laney, Lucious Fant, Joseph E. Fant, Kittora Fant Allen, Jane
Laney, Laney child, Lizzie Smith Fant, Fant boy, Mexia Fant, Fant girl, Alta Fant,
Alma Bishop Fant, Homer Fant, “Ode” Barker, next 4 unidentified, and “Lon” Fant,
ferryman.
Contributed by Don Clark April 2003 http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00014.html#0003384
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