William Garner House in Lilburn, Georgia

Back of the house

According to Carl Tiegreen, current owner of this historic home in Lilburn, "I have spoken with two elderly descendants of the original family who lived here and they confirmed the history of the house. Both grew up in a home next to our house where the Wesley Ridge subdivision now stands and gave me many stories of visiting their grandmother here so long ago.

"Let me tell you what I have gathered from different sources: Their family tells that the property was acquired in a land lottery in the early-mid 1800's by William Garner who was from South Carolina. Several Garner relatives also moved to Gwinnett or were already here. He had an early house near Garner Creek (originally Hawk Creek) before moving up the hill to where he built the present house about 1841. Of course, this house has been added on to over the years and looks little like it did even 50 years ago. The kitchen was added around 1885, as before then kitchens were considered fire hazards and built behind and seperate from the home.

"The home and 500 original acres were passed down from William Garner to his son William "Newt" Garner. In an early census you can see that this area was called Garner District and William Garner is listed as "landlord." In other words he rented land out to tenent farmers. William's son Newt fought in the Civil War and had a daughter in 1885 named Commie Garner who lived in the home nearly her whole life. She lived just a couple of months shy of 100. She had married a Thomas Wesley and by her death the property had been whittled down to 50 acres. At this point most of that remaining land was sold to make Wesley Ridge (named after Commie Garner Wesley and her husband).

"Commie's grandson Billy Moore (one who I consulted about the history) bought the home after her death in 1985 and he was the one who added the garage and some other features that the house now displays. He and his wife lived here until 1996 when it was finally sold to different family - 150 years of staying in the Garner family and descendants!

"Most of these Garners are buried in the area:

William Garner and wife Martha Lanier at Camp Creek Primitive Baptist Church.
William Newt Garner and Mary Minor at Camp Creek Primitive Baptist Church.
Commie Garner Wesley and Thomas Wesley at Corinth Cemetery across from Walmart
on Rockbridge."