Taken from Polk County Persons and Things by Charles K. Henderson, 1897.
Deacon Raleigh Whitehead.
This brother had a very patriarchal appearance. He was of a stalwart frame and wore a long black beard, beginning when I met him to be tinged with gray. He would have made a fine model to picture Moses by. The Whiteheads are from Virginia, and Brother Raleigh never tired, as no Virginian does, of tolling the praises of the fatherland. He loved Georgia but never forgot Virginia.
He and his son, John, one of the noblest and bravest boys, did battle on the sacred soil of Virginia. They stood side by side in the ranks and in the trenches, the son often taking the place of the father, until the close of the war. They were unusually devoted to each other.
Deacon Whitehead lived eight miles away, on the Rome road, and was a successful planter. He delighted in abundance. He married the second time in Georgia, and this table showed what an enterprising mistress was at the head of his domestic affairs.
The mind of Deacon Whitehead was of Calvinistic type set in a Puritan mold. Theological questions were constantly in his thoughts. He loved the church and was devoted to his Savior. He frequently spoke in meetings and was very fond of meeting my congregations at my various appointments in Polk and Floyd Counties. He always gave me support and comfort, and the brethren welcomed him with delight.
As a disciplinarian in the discharge of the deacon’s office, he was unflinching. At the time when Morrison killed Chisholm his nerve was tried in the church conference, and there was quailing. He feared Christ only.
None have ever surpassed in Polk the trio of whom I now write.
When shall we see their like again? I have been disconsolate ever since their death. The generations rise up and call them blessed.