Susan Melvina Justice (1828-1904)

Susan Melvina Justice was born on May 14, 1828 on the Justice farm. She was the 3rd daughter of Allen and Susan Justice. She grew up on the farm and was known by her middle name “Melvina”.

In 1859 when she was 31 and a year after her father’s death, she married John Flanigan who was a 63-years-old widower. They settled in the Chandler District where John was a farmer and owner of significant property.

In October of 1863 Melvina's son Allen Monso Flanigan (1863-1909) was born and five years later in the Summer of 1868 her husband John Flanigan died. Melvina inherited her husband’s farm, house and furniture. It appears that John was share-cropping his land with local Freedmen since he also left for his wife “all my part of the growing crops” and “that part of the negros' share of the crops which will become to me for provisions to farm”. John’s son William Porter Flanigan and Melvina’s brother John Gillam Justice were named executors of the will.

Melvina returned to her father’s farm with her brother John Gillam and she likely assisted her brother in his new nursery businesses. When the local Marcus Post Office was reestablished in 1872 Melvina became Postmaster

Postmaster Flanigan

The Marcus, Ga. Post Office was the one for the families in this area near the Mulberry River. Melvina’s father Allen Justice had been the post master from 1846 till his death at the end of 1858. John Moorman Venable Jr., Melvina’s brother-in-law, was appointed in June of 1859 but soon he was gone to war. In 1866 the post office was discontinued and re-established on August 19, 1872. This is the time when Susan Melvina (Justice) Flanigan was appointed Post Master. The post office almost certainly was a small fourth-class office and rural postmasters in Georgia (or anywhere in the U.S.) were not typically paid a fixed salary. Instead, their pay was based on the "commission system"—a percentage of the receipts from stamps and postal business handled at their office. It was usually considered a part-time position, often combined with running a store, farm, or other business In the year 1875 the US Post Office Department reported that the postmaster of Marcus, Georgia was S.M. Flanigan and that she received a salary commission of $13.97 (period of time for the payment it is not specified).

Melvina saw her son Allen Monso Flanigan marry Effie Randolph (1870-1945) in 1892 and the birth of her granddaughter Malvina "Millie" C Flanigan (1893- ), her grandson John Randolph Flanigan in 1894 (1894-1958) and her grandson Allen Justice Flanigan in 1896 (1896-1958).

Melvina died in 1904 and she was buried at the Justice Cemetery.