George Orkney Waits was born in Rockmart, GA in 1867. He began his career in the lumber industry as a young boy; working at a variety of jobs in several different saw milling operations owned by Mr. B. P. O’Neal of Macon, GA. Through devotion to his work and as a quick learner, George mastered the art of lumbering quite well and rose through the ranks to a top management position, at an early age. He married Harriet Pamellia McIntosh of Dadeville, Alabama and they first lived in Cordele, Georgia where George was manager of one of Mr. O’Neals’s mills.

In 1904, he was given the opportunity to join Mr. James D. Henderson as a business partner and manager of the Henderson Lumber Company in Sanford, Alabama. George had great people skills and was a good manager and excellent businessman. George and Harriet built a beautiful home in nearby Andalusia Alabama and lived there until 1920.

In 1914 the mill closed and the partners purchased an operating mill in Caryville, FL, which became known as the Henderson-Waits Lumber Company. George managed the Caryville operation and Mr. Henderson started a new mill, Fox Lumber Company in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Harriet’s health began to fail so George was very hesitant to move his wife from Andalusia to the low moist banks on the Choctawhatchee River around Caryville because of the mosquito infestation and the fear of malaria.

In 1919, George Waits decided to build the Waits Mansion in Bonifay, FL. He purchased the site from Mr. and Mrs. M.E. Johnson in March of 1919 and began construction of the Waits Mansion. The architect was Mr. Ausfeldt from Montgomery, Alabama and the builder was Mr. Williams Wahley, a relative of the Tison Family in Bonifay. Most of the building materials, including the heart cypress siding, the framing and the oak flooring came from the Caryville mill. Mr. Ausfeldt also designed and built a similar home for Sidney Waits, George’s second son in Andalusia.

Harriet Waits died in 1920 before the home in Bonifay was completed. Soon after her death, George moved to Bonifay, but lived in the mansion for only a short period. Henerson-Waits bought a major interest in a much larger operation in Bagdad, Florida and sold the Caryville mill to Brown Florida Lumber Company in Nashville, Tennessee.

At this time, George moved to Bagdad and ran the Bagdad Lumber Company until his death in 1927. Mr. Henderson’s Fox Lumber Company had not been very successful over the years so he took over the management of the Bagdad operation after George’s death. Mr. Henderson died in 1937, having lived and died in the same beautiful home that his partner, George Waits, had lived and died in ten years earlier. When the Bagdad Lumber Company closed, the mill had been in continuous operation for 108 years. The Brown Florida Lumber Company had been unsuccessful with the Caryville mill and it had to be repossessed by Henderson-Waits. Because most of the timber had been cut, the mill closed and Glover O. Waits, the youngest of the three Waits boys, liquidated the assets.

James Crosby Waits, the oldest son, owned Warsaw Lumber Company in Warsaw, Georgia with partner J.D. Henderson. Jim Waits managed the mill for a number of years, but in 1936 the mill was partially destroyed by fire. There was not enough standing timber left to make rebuilding the mill feasible, so the equipment was sold. Jim and his wife, Maude Shaver Waits, decided to buy the Waits Mansion, which had been built by his father. They purchased the mansion from Henderson-Waits Lumber Company in 1937 and had it completely restored. Maude had many beautiful azaleas, camellias as well as other plans and shrubs in Warsaw that she loved and moved to the Mansion in Bonifay. Jim Waits started family and also began a cattle ranching operation on land that he owned in Holmes and Washington counties. Among his other business interest was a partnership in McGee Oil Company, a local retail and wholesale gas and oil distributorship. Jim and Maude Waits had many friends in the northwest Florida-south Alabama area and were very active in community affairs. They were especially involved in the program of the Bonifay Baptist Church and showed a keen interest in the local county school system. Jim was Chairman of the local county draft board during the World War II years and pioneered the organization of the first Boy Scouts of America troop in Holmes County. Jim was an outstanding public speaker and was frequently invited to speak to various groups and organization. James C. Waits died in 1948. Before his death, Jim had divided the mansion into apartments. This allowed Maude Waits to continue living in the Mansion and not be alone.

Jim and Maude Waits did not have any children. In 1931, Maude’s two-year-old nephew, Edward F. Shaver, Jr., came to live with them after the death of his mother. Edward Shaver was known as “Sonny Waits” until he entered the Academy. Edward Shaver graduated from Staunton Military Academy in Stauton, Virginia. Edward then entered college and graduated from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida in February of 1951.

The Korean War was just getting underway so Edward enlisted in the United States Air Force. After five years of active duty, which included 40 combat missions and an assignment as a flight instructor at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas, Edward was released from active duty and almost immediately entered the Tulane University School of Medicine.

In 1956, Maude Waits died and Edward continued to rent the apartments in the Mansion. Upon his graduation from Tulane, he decided to go into surgical specialty that would require him to live in a larger metropolitan area. So his only alternative was to sell the Mansion.

Edward (known as Sonny in Bonifay) sold the house to long-time friends Robert and Margaret Hall. around 1958. Robert and Margaret Hall and their two children, Dena and Robert, lived in the house for several years. Later they sold the Mansion and the ownership of the Mansion changed several times. The Mansion sat dormant for about fifteen years.

In February, 2005, Frank Barone, a resident of Holmes County, purchased the 10,000 sq. ft Mansion and is renovating the Waits Mansion to host weddings elegant horse-drawn carriage rides, ,special events and lodging accommodations for guests. . The resident Innkeeper Jyl Eickmann oversees the day to day operations and bookings for the Mansion.

(Information provided by Edward F. Shaver Jr. MD Year 2005)