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^'.0*    \. .....  ^, 


.0^      oM' 


Ifi.*.  "V. 


««•'*« 

.  *    .-  /J-51X, 


HISTORY  OF 


m^ftmater  Halkg 


BY    W  .     B  .     LENOIR 


SWEETWATER,       TENNESSEE 


'  <l)  ■■/ 


PRESBYTERIAN  COMMITTEE  OF  PUBLICATION,   Publishers, 

Richmond,  Va.,  1916. 

Copyright,    1916,    by   W.    B.    Lenoir. 


Richmond    Press,    Inc.,    Printers. 


m  ?7  1917 


r7 


©ebication 


To  the  natives  of  this  valley  and  their 
descendants,  wherever  found;  to  the  ad- 
mirers of  strength  and  loveliness  of  char- 
acter, to  the  lovers  of  the  beautiful  in  na- 
ture, to  those  who  delight  in  fertility  of 
soil  and  seek  healthfulness  of  clime,  this 
book  is  respectfully  dedicated. 


preface 


In  this  book  can  be  found  sermons  and  songs,  humor 
and  pathos,  history  and  philosophy,  geology  and  ge- 
nealogy, and  a  great  fund  of  information.  If  you  do 
not  find  these,  do  not  blame  me.  It  is  your  deficiency, 
not  mine. 

Yours  egotistically, 

W.  B.  Lenoir. 


EXPLANATORY  NOTES 

In  setting  forth  the  genealogical  tables  in  this  work  to  attain 
clearness  and  prevent  puzzling  the  mind  of  the  readers.  I  have  used 
the    following    method: 

One,  Two,  Three,  etc.,  placed  in  front  of  names  are  children  of  ai 
least  one  common  parent. 

1,  2,  3,  etc.,  are  children  of  One,  Two,  Three,  etc. 

(1),  (2),  (3),  etc.,  are  children  of  1,  2,  3,  etc. 

a,  b,  c  are  children  of  (1),  (2),  (3),  etc. 

(a),   (b),   (c),  etc.,  are    children  of  a.    of  a,  b,  c.  etc. 

Abbreviations  used  are: 
b   for   born, 
m  for  married, 
d   for  died. 


FOREWORD 


My  purpose  as  given  in  the  Stveetwater  TelepJione,  a 
weekly  paper  published  at  Sweetwater,  Tenn.,  was  set 
forth  in  what  follows: 

I  contemplate  writing  a  history  of  the  early  settle- 
ment of  Sweetwater  Valley,  at  least  that  part  of  it  which 
includes  the  location  of  the  town  of  Sweetwater  and  as 
much  adjacent  territory  up  and  down  the  valley  as  far 
as  I  am  able.  My  intention,  also,  is  to  take  in  as  much 
of  the  country  east  of  Sweetwater  Ridge  and  west  of 
Black  Oak  Ridge  as  was  embraced  formerly  in  the  first 
civil  district  of  Monroe  County.  This  history,  if  it  can 
be  dignified. by  that  name,  will  contain  sketches  of  the 
people  of  this  section  of  the  long  ago,  whether  they  per- 
manently remained  here  or  removed  to  other  parts  of 
the  country;  and  give  genealogical  table  of  the  princi- 
pal families;  of  the  condition  of  the  valley  at  the  first 
settlement;  then  when  the  railroad  was  built,  graded 
and  finished.  We  wdll  try  to  trace  the  gradual  growth 
of  the  town,  and  tell  of  the  people  wherever  coming  from 
who  helped  to  make  it  what  it  is.  We,  who  live  in  this 
da3%  are  much  indebted  to  George  Washington  and  the 
founders  of  this  republic  for  many  of  the  blessings  we 
enjoy;  but  we  who  live  here  or  have  lived  here,  owe 
a  far  greater  debt  to  those  who  dug  and  built,  toiled  and 
legislated  for  us  in  this  our  own  valley.  Those  of  the 
present  generation  who  find  improvements  and  re- 
sources ready  made  to  hand  often  fail  to  think  what  is 
due  to  those  who  occupied  and  acted  before  us.  This 
is  to  us  an  unearned  and  unpaid  for  increment.  The  peo- 
ple of  this  valley  before  the  war  did  not  incur  bonded 
indebtedness  for  their  descendants  to  pay.  It  is  well 
that  they  did  not  then,  for  after  the  losses  during  the 
Civil  War,  their  condition  would  have  been  indeed  de- 
plorable. Considering  what  they  had  to  do  aforetime 
they  could  have  well  been  excused  for  bonding  the  coun- 
ty, but  such  was  not  the  policy  pursued. 

When  the  Hiwassee,  the  district  in  which  we  live,  was 
surveyed  and  sold  in  quarter  sections,  there  were  no 
Indians  to  fight  and  the  country  was  not  a  lawdess  one, 


6  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

but  roads  were  to  be  made,  schoolhouses  and  churches 
to  be  built  and  at  the  same  time  the  settlers  had  to  pre- 
pare for  themselves  homes  and  get  the  land  in  a  state 
fit  for  cultivation.  Then  the  inhabitants  of  this  valley 
not  only  raised  what  they  ate  and  drank,  except  coffee, 
water  and  salt,  but  also  made  their  own  wearing  ap- 
parel and  produced  the  material  for  the  garments  and 
made  their  own  wagons  and  farm  implements.  A  black- 
smith or  a  shoemaker  was  as  valuable  an  asset  in  the 
community  as  a  school  teacher  or  a  doctor.  Thus  neigh- 
bors were  in  a  great  measure  dependent  one  upon  the 
other;  they  swapped  work  and  materials  when  money 
was  not  plentiful.  This  begot  a  feeling  of  common 
brotherhood  and  helpfulness,  that  nowadays  is  almost 
impossible  to  exist  in  our  state  of  society. 

Wlien  the  East  Tennessee  and  Georgia  Railway 
depot  (now  the  Southern)  was  located  on  the  lot  of  land 
where  the  present  depot  now  stands,  within  the  radius 
of  a  half  mile  there  lived  Daniel  Heiskell,  John  Ram- 
sey, the  Axleys,  John  Fine,  Charles  Owen,  Henry  Mayes 
and  the  Biggs,  and  within  a  mile  or  about  that  distance 
Josiah  K.  Johnson,  Robert  Snead,  John  Fryar,  John 
Bowman,  I.  T.  Lenoir,  Sterling  Neil,  John  and  Charles 
Lotspeich.  These  were  all  farmers  and  got  their  mail 
at  "Facility,"  postoffice  at  Reagan's,  and  Philadel- 
phia. Some  of  those  mentioned  above  had  considerable 
families;  all  of  them,  however  they  might  differ  about 
religion  and  politics,  were  high-toned,  honorable,  public- 
spirited  men — acted  in  concert  and  formed  an  almost 
ideal  nucleus  for  a  to^m.  Some  of  those  living  farther 
away  in  the  valley  and  across  the  ridges  in  the  opposite 
valleys  had  almost,  if  not  quite,  as  much  to  do  with  the 
upbuilding  of  the  towai  as  those  mentioned. 

The  plan  of  these  citizens  in  town-making  was  not  to 
lay  off  a  number  of  lots,  exploit  and  advertise  the  place, 
get  up  an  excursion,  knock  off  to  the  highest  bidder, 
for  speculative  purposes,  but  to  get  such  people  to  come 
and  live  here  as  would  become  honorable  and  useful 
citizens  and  whom  they  could  associate  with  on  terms 
of  perfect  equality. 

In  getting  up  data  for  this  work,  I  have  spent  much 
time  at  Madisonville  examining  the  public  records.    The 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATEB  VA1.LEY  7 

only  office  in  which  I  found  them  at  all  satisfactory  was 
that  of  register  of  deeds.  Many  of  the  records  in  the 
clerk  and  master's,  the  circuit  court  and  the  county 
court  clerk's  offices  are  missing  or  destroyed.  The  old 
court-house  was  burned  in  1864,  therefore  the  loss  of 
the  records  is  not  due  to  ineft'iciency  in  past  or  present 
officers  holding  those  places,  but  partly  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  court-house  and  partly  to  the  fact  that  no 
vault  or  proper  places  had  been  prepared  for  their  safe- 
keeping. The  vaults  we  now  have  in  the  new  court- 
house at  Madisonville  are  much  too  small  and  will  soon 
be  filled  up. 

Even  the  marriage  records  in  the  county  court  clerk's 
office  are  far  from  complete. 

It  is  not  until  quite  recently  that  it  has  been  made 
obligatory  by  the  State  laws  to  keep  a  record  of  births, 
which  has  been  the  practice  for  a  thousand  years  in 
England.  TTius,  the  children  of  many  prominent  people 
could  not  prove  by  the  public  records  their  title  to  much 
valuable  property  were  it  to  be  disputed,  unless  by 
parole  evidence.  For  these  reasons  the  gathering  of 
data  for  what  I  wish  to  do  through  sources  open  to  the 
public,  is  a  matter  of  much  difficulty.  I  shall  have  to 
rely  in  a  great  measure  on  the  assistance  of  those  who 
personally  know  or  have  private  sources  of  information 
about  the  subject  and  people  of  whom  I  wish  to  be  in- 
formed. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  now,  but  may  be  later  on,  to  bring 
records  nearer  to  the  present  than  1867.  From  that  time 
on  to  the  present  is  much  plainer  sailing  and  can  be 
done  by  any  painstaking  individual.  Any  facts  not  re- 
corded in  public  offices  or  newspapers  can  easily  be  ob- 
tained from  private  individuals. 

There  were  also  very  few  even  weekly  newspapers 
published  in  this  section  in  olden  times  and  those  did 
not  deal  much  in  personalities,  or  rather  personals. 
Their  columns  were  devoted  mostly  to  news  to  be  found 
on  the  first  page  of  the  newspapers  published  to-day 
and  to  the  discussion  of  public  men  and  measures.  Now 
we  .  can  take  the  daily  Knoxville  and  Chattanooga 
papers,  with  the  assistance  of  the  weekly  papers  pub- 
lished in  places  between,  and  compile  the  history  of  the 
community  for  any  period  desired. 


History  of  Sweetwater  Valley 


ABOUT  HISTORY— WHO  SHOULD  ATTEMPT  TO 

WRITE  IT. 

One  makes  a  statement.  It  is  either  true  or  false; 
or  it  may  contain  elements  of  both  truth  and  error. 
Owing  to  the  fallibility  of  human  memory,  the  tempta- 
tion to  distort  for  interest  or  effect,  the  want  of  proper 
information,  the  lack  of  time  for  investigation,  mis- 
statements of  one  kind  or  another  are  nearly  always 
found  in  a  lengthy  article. 

If  real  persons  are  written  about  and  what  is  pub- 
lished purports  to  be  facts,  we  call  it  history  or 
biography.  If  the  people  or  narratives  are  imaginary 
we  call  it  fiction.  If  animals  other  than  men  are  told 
about,  it  is  usually  termed  natural  history.  If  inanimate 
things  treated  of,  it  is  physics. 

To  be  a  satisfactory  historian,  one  should  have  a  dis- 
criminating, impartial  mind,  be  a  patient  investigator, 
able  to  sift  the  false  from  the  true,  having  good  powers 
of  observation,  should  not  be  swayed  by  malice  or  led 
to  too  much  adulation  by  friendship  or  admiration. 

In  addition  to  this  he  should  have  such  a  command 
of  language  as  to  make  his  meaning  clear,  using  con- 
cise sentences  composed  of  simple  words,  able  to  be  un- 
derstood by  people  of  average  intelligence.  No  sentence 
should  be  ambiguous  or  susceptible  of  two  meanings; 
but  each  should  be  written  so  that  the  sense  cannot  be 
changed  by  punctuation.  If  pains  are  taken  by  a  good 
writer,  this  can  be  done. 

Unfortunately  the  English  language  abounds  in  words 
of  the  same  sound  which  when  spelled  differently  have 
different  meanings.  This  is  why  the  phonetic  system 
cannot  be  adopted  for  many  years  (if  at  all)  in  a  his- 
tory or  scientific  treatise.  Also  when  a  word  is  used 
in  a  restricted  sense,  explanation  is  sometimes  neces- 
sary. 

The  word  *Svater"  in  common  language  may  mean 
any  one  of  several  things,  fresh,  salt,  pure,  impure,  et 


10  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

cetera.  To  the  chemist  or  druggist,  water  means  a 
liquid  formed  from  hydrogen  and  oxygen  gases  com- 
bined in  certain  proportions  and  expressed  in  chemical 
language,  H..0.  It  can  exist  in  three  forms,  solid,  liquid 
and  gaseous.  In  the  open  air  at  sea  level  at  a  tempera- 
ture of  32  degrees  (Fahrenheit)  and  below,  it  is  a  solid 
(ice  or  snow),  above  32  degrees  and  up  to  212,  it  is  a 
liquid  (water),  above  212  and  up  to  an  exceeding  high 
temperature,  it  is  a  gas  (steam).  Pure  water,  when 
taken  into  the  stomach,  quenches  thirst  and  is  health- 
ful, when  taken  into  the  lungs  in  sufficient  quantities, 
destroys  life.  These  facts  are  known  to  humanity  in 
general,  the  knowledge  of  which  is  necessary  to  the 
preservation  and  comfort  of  the  human  race,  therefore 
this  is  the  most  useful  and  highest  form  of  knowledge. 
It  has  also  the  advantage  of  being  able  to  be  verified 
by  the  individual  observer.  The  study  of  physics  is 
more  exact  than  that  of  history.  Each  individual  drop 
of  water  under  like  circumstances  acted,  acts  and  will 
act  the  same  manner  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever. 
Not  so  the  individual  people  of  even  a  limited  section 
of  country,  although  they  may  be  of  the  same  race  and 
living  under  the  same  government  and  subject  to  the 
same  human  laws.  When  taken  as  a  mass,  however, 
we  can  formulate  a  general  rule  of  conduct. 

"We  assert  as  a  fact  that  the  East  Tennessee  moun- 
taineer resists  oppression  and  is  quick  to  resent  an  in- 
sult; still  this  is  not  true  of  every  individual,  but  only 
of  the  large  majority.  Any  doubter  can  experiment  and 
see  what  happens. 

So  much  about  how  a  history  should  be  written.  I 
have  been  asked  more  than  once  what  good  is  there 
in  delving  into  the  past  of  this  section  and  attempting 
to  place  the  result  before  the  public.  The  question  is 
pertinent.  Everyone  should  have  a  good  reason  for  his 
actions.  If  what  is  written  becomes  a  part  of  the  record 
of  the  country  in  which  he  lives  and  is  untrue,  it  helps 
to  perpetuate  error,  which  is  undesirable.  The  Barbara 
Frietchie  incident  has  been  embalmed  in  story  and  song 
to  such  an  extent  that,  though  proved  a  hundred  times 
to  have  no  foundation  in  fact,  is  usually  believed  and 
accepted  as  history. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  H 

Even  mere  annals  or  the  relation  of  dry  facts  have 
their  uses.  For  instance,  two  persons,  William  Brow- 
der  and  Thornton  C.  Goddard,  residing  within  a  mile  of 
each  other,  reached  almost  the  century  mark  in  age. 
Several  things  could  and  ought  to  be  inferred  there- 
from ;  that  the  section  they  lived  in  was  healthful ;  that 
there  was  much  of  clean  living  and  thinking  in  the  in- 
dividuals themselves,  to  say  nothing  of  clean  eating  and 
drinking;  that  their  parents  before  them  gifted  them 
with  good  constitutions,  sound  minds  in  sound  bodies. 
What  does  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gains  a  million  dollars 
and  fails  to  transmit  to  his  children  the  mental  and 
physical  capacity  to  use  and  enjoy  in  a  proper  manner 
the  wealth  he  leaves  them! 

We,  as  people,  are  anxious  to  get  the  pedigree  of 
the  donkey,  and  trace  his  ancestry  back  to  the  Anda- 
lusian  mountains,  to  know  that  our  horses  have  their 
origin  in  the  desert  of  Arabia,  our  cows  came  from  Jer- 
sey, that  our  breed  of  chickens  came  from  the  Isle  of 
Minorca  or  from  Cochin,  China,  our  ducks  from  Pekin, 
our  hogs  from  Berkshire,  and  our  hound  dogs  from 
Virginia  or  Pennsylvania.  This  is  all  right  and  proper 
and  no  objection  is  registered.  But  there  are  some  who 
seem  to  think  their  own  people  and  the  acts  of  long  ago 
are  of  no  importance.  Such  an  one  usually  miscalls 
himself  a  self-made  man.  He  acknowledges  no  indebted- 
ness to  the  past.  He  is  of  himself,  by  himself  and  for 
himself.  Such  an  one  is  not  likely  to  maj^e  sacrifices 
for  the  community  in  which  he  lives;  he  will  not  rush 
into  the  breach  to  save  his  country ;  if  he  sheds  his  blood 
it  will  be  by  proxy. 

I  know  there  are  those,  because  of  inherited  wealth 
and  family  prestige,  wdio  consider  themselves  better 
than  others  and  think  that  they  are  exempt  from  toil 
and  trouble  and  ought  to  be  granted  special  privileges. 
This  spirit  is  to  be  deplored  wherever  found.  I  am 
glad  to  say  there  has  been  and  is  little  of  this  in  our 
valley.  The  very  opposite  should  be  the  case.  If  one's 
ancestors  took  a  prominent  place  in  school,  society, 
church  or  State,  it  is  his  duty  to  maintain  its  traditions 
and  not  have  it  said  the  family  died  with  his  mother  or 
father. 


12  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Sentiment  plays  and  ought  to  play  an  important  part 
in  our  lives.  It  is  well  that  such  pieces  as  mentioned 
below  belong  to  the  mental  make-up  of  the  average 
school-boy : 

*' Breathes  there  a  man  with  soul  so  dead." — Scott. 

"Oh,  say,  can  you  see  in  the  dawn's  early  light?" — 
•Key. 

"This  lovely  land,  this  glorious  liberty,  these  benign 
institutions,  the  dear  purchase  of  our  fathers." — Web- 
ster. 

"An  exile  from  home  pleasure  dazzles  in  vain." — 
Payne. 

They  have  been  said  and  sung  to  admiring  audiences 
b}^  every  school-boy.  He  cons  them  over  day  by  day. 
These,  in  connection  with  the  deeds  of  the  good  and 
great  taught  in  history,  help  to  make  him  a  patriot  and 
self-respecting  citizen.  If  sentiment  is  lacking  in  a 
man's  composition,  he  may  think  himself  rich  with  ac- 
quired wealth,  but  he  is  really  poor.  He  misses  the  best 
things  in  life. 


^& 


PREFATORY  REFLECTIONS. 

When  a  magazine  writer  perpetrates  a  particularly 
unreasonable  story,  clear  beyond  the  realms  of  possi- 
bility, he  remarks  nonchalantly  (to  use  a  popular  expres- 
sion in  vogue  in  our  periodicals):  "This  illustrates 
how  stranger  is  truth  than  fiction ; ' '  that  is  to  say,  more 
wonderful,  marvelous  and  startling.  Wonder  is  the 
child  of  ignorance  and  superstition.  Also  the  things 
we  see  happen  daily  and  hourly  we  take  little  notice 
of;  they  occasion  no  surprise.  We  stare  at  the  aviator 
who  rises  in  his  spiral  flight ;  we  accept  as  common- 
place the  soaring  of  the  bird,  though  the  latter  is  far 
more  wonderful.  We  are  pleased  to  see  the  order  of 
things  reversed,  the  man  to  ascend  triumphantly  into 
the  empyrean  and  the  whirring  bird  to  tumble  at  the 
shot  of  the  expert.  The  commonplace  does  not  attract 
us.  We  care  not  to  see  a  man  walk  on  his  feet  however 
gracefully  he  may  carry  himself,  but  we  applaud  when 
ho  stands  on  his  head  on  the  trapeze  bar  and  kicks 
his  heels  in  the  air.  We  have  heard  so  much  of  the 
serj)ent  charming  the  ancient  Eve  in  the  garden  of  Para- 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  13 

dise,  ''the  cause  of  oiir  woe  and  the  loss  of  Eden,"  that 
we  cheerfully  spend  a  dime  in  the  side  show  to  see  the 
modern  Eve  charm  the  serpent.  We  feel  that  evens 
things  up.  Then  we  part  with  fifty  cents  in  the  big 
show  to  observe  how  the  fierce  monarch  of  the  forest 
cowers  under  the  lash  of  the  animal  trainer.  He  may 
be  as  gentle  as  a  kitten  but  he  roars  as  if  he  could  eat 
up  a  whole  menagerie.  He  knows  his  business :  no  roar, 
no  meat.  If  the  public  but  knew  the  facts  in  the  case, 
minus  would  be  the  blood-curdling  thrills  so  dear  to  the 
feminine  heart,  and  the  ''barker"  at  the  entrance  would 
be  hunting  another  job. 

The  man  was  not  far  wrong  who  said : 

"This  world  is  but  a  fleeting  show  (traveling  circus) 
For  man's  illusion  given." 

And  while  the  clown  in  the  ring  is  convulsing  our 
country  cousins  his  child  may  be  dying  in  the  dressing- 
room.  The  cop  on  the  corner  says,  "Move  on";  we 
can't  stop. 

But  if  I  thought  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  resort 
to  the  bizarre,  to  palm  off  fiction  for  truth,  to  give  an 
undue  value  to  small  things  or  to  belittle  the  great  to 
make  an  interesting  and  instructive  history  of  our  valley 
and  its  people,  I  would  be  far  from  attempting  to  write 
it.  Mistakes  will  necessarily  be  made,  but  they  will 
not  be  intentional  and  ever^^  pains  and  means  within 
my  power  will  be  taken  to  avoid  them.  Statements 
merel^^  probable  will  be  given  as  such. 

What  truth  is,  what  life  is,  have  never  been  satis- 
factorily answered  by  philosophers  and  chemists. 

There  are  hundreds  of  definitions  but  they  are  all 
mostly  juggling  with  words.  It  is  folly  for  us  to  attempt 
it.  For  our  own  purposes,  which  we  premise  is  purely 
arbitrary,  we  shall  divide  the  kinds  of  truth  as  follows : 

1.  Axiomatic. — Such  as  "A  straight  line  is  the 
shortest  distance  between  two  points."  Not  susceptible 
of  proof  but  acknowledged. 

2.  Mathematical.— ^'Certsim  properties  of  the  right 
angle  triangle."     These  you  can  prove  by  experiment. 

3.  Moral. — Philanthropy  or  love  as  a  ruling  power 
for  the  world  is  preferable  to  hatred.  One  is  construc- 
tive, the  other  is  destructive. 


14  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

4.  Historical. — Dependent  upon  the  accuracy  of  the 
written  and  spoken  testimony  of  observers  and  the 
works  of  man  extant. 

5.  Financial  (mathematical  also) — If  a  section  raises, 
gets  and  keeps  within  its  borders  more  of  w^ealth  than 
it  exports,  then  it  will  eventually  become  rich.  The 
problem  of  political  economy  is  to  exchange  the  perish- 
able that  you  cannot  use  for  the  more  or  less  imperish-; 
able.    Simple  enough  in  stating  but  not  easy  in  practice. 

As  to  rules  of  evidence,  about  which  hundreds  of 
volumes  have  been  written,  time  and  space  are  the  prin- 
cipal factors:  that  is  to  say,  that  no  two  bodies  can 
occupy  the  same  space  at  the  same  time,  nor  can  any- 
body be  in  two  separate  places  at  the  same  time. 

If  John  Smith  committed  an  act,  then  the  remainder 
of  the  world  is  absolved  from  that  particular  action.. 

If  John  Jones  was  in  Sweetwater  when  a  man  was 
hit  by  a  baseball  bat  in  Philadelphia,  then  it  naturally 
follows  that  John  Jones  was  not  the  hitter. 

Furthermore,  for  the  doing  of  any  act,  whether  termed 
good  or  bad,  there  must  be  present  motive,  opportmiity 
and  ability.  This  applies  to  other  animals  as  well  as 
men.  These  things  are  A-B-C's  to  the  legal  fraternity 
and  to  a  great  many  others;  how^ever,  a  statement  of 
the  same  stripped  of  legal  verbiage  may  not  be  inapt. 

These  state  some  of  the  general  plans  of  the  history, 
the  specifications  will  come  later. 

THE   TESTIMONY  OF   THE  ROCKS  IN  SWEET- 
WATER VALLEY. 

In  speaking  of  a  valley,  writers  usually  mean  the 
surface  drained  by  some  particular  stream  and  its  tribu- 
taries. Sweetwater  Creek  takes  its  rise  partly  from 
some  large  springs  on  the  east  side  of  Sweetwater 
Ridge,  the  waters  from  which  run  westward  through  a 
low  gap  in  the  ridge,  joining  with  other  streams  in  the 
valley,  which  have  their  sources  near  Reagan's.  Below 
Philadel])liia,  two  miles,  the  creek  breaks  through  the 
Black  Oak  Ridge,  and  empties  into  the  Tennessee  River 
on  the  west  side  of  the  ridge. 

Our  use  of  the  term,  *' Sweetwater  Valley,"  includes 
the    territory    between    Sweetwater    and    Black    Oak 


HISTOKY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  15 

Ridges  from  the  summit  or  divide  of  the  waters  run- 
ning southwest  to  Mouse  Creek  and  those  running  north- 
east, forming  Sweetwater  Creek,  to  where  those  ridges 
strike  Tennessee  River  near  Loudon.  The  divide  is 
about  midway  between  Reagan's  Station  and  Niota. 
The  valley  proper  is  about  eighteen  miles  long  and  a 
scant  two  miles  in  width.  The  stations  and  towns  in- 
cluded in  the  valley  are  Reagan's,  Sweetwater,  Phila- 
delphia and  Loudon.  The  name  "Summit"  was  given 
to  the  point  on  the  old  East  Tennessee  and  Georgia 
Railroad  as  being  the  highest  on  that  railway  between 
Knoxville,  Tenn.,  and  Dalton,  Ga. 

"Day  unto  day  uttereth  speech  and  night  unto  night 
showeth  knowledge."  The  firmament,  the  stars  have 
not  human  language  but  to  the  reverent  listener  they 
sing  together  as  at  creation's  dawn,  flashing  their 
vibrant  message  of  light  through  the  ether,  repeating 
o'er  and  o'er  the  story  of  their  birth  to  the  uttermost 
confines  of  space. 

There  is  not  a  rock,  tree  or  flower  that  has  not  a  tale 
of  its  own  to  tell.  Observe  them,  read  them!  What 
they  have  to  say  far  surpasses  in  interest  the  novel  or 
the  yellow  journalism  of  the  day;  for  their  story  is  a 
true  one.  The  testimony  of  the  rocks,  when  rightly 
read,  is  unmistakable.  There  is  no  misprint,  no  typo- 
graphical error.  You  can  lie  about  a  rock,  but  it  never 
lies  about  itself.  It  tells  you  plainly  of  what  it  is  com- 
posed and  how  it  was  formed,  whether  by  fire,  water  or 
air,  whether  its  origin  was  igneous  (volcanic)  or  sedi- 
mentary or  a  combination  of  the  two.  The  imprint  of 
the  shell  upon  the  limestone  informs  jon  what  animals 
lived  in  the  deeps  at  that  period.  Break  it,  powder  it 
even,  like  the  shattered  rose  vase,  it  will  speak  to  your 
senses  still  of  what  it  once  held. 

The  geology  of  the  surface  of  Sweetwater  Valley  is 
not  complex.  The  stratifications  dip  at  no  great  angle 
from  the  horizontal.  They  have  been  subjected  to  but 
few  folds  or  "faults."  They  are  almost  entirely  sedi- 
mentary, formed  by  water,  and  are  not  extremely  varied 
in  their  character.  In  common  language  (we  try  not  to 
use  chemical  and  geological  terms  unless  absolutely 
necessary)  it  is  a  limestone  region.  The  formation  is 
neither  very  hard  nor  very  soft.     It  is,  however,  hard 


16  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

enough  to  prevent  the  streams  from  wearing  away  deep 
channels,  as  is  notably  the  case  with  some  of  the  rivers 
in  the  State  of  Kentucky  and  in  some  instances  in  the 
middle  basin  of  Tennessee,  and  yet  not  of  sufficient 
hardness  to  prevent  the  gradual  weathering  of  the 
strata.  These  thus  become  part  of  the  soil,  enriching 
it  and  furnishing  food  for  plant  life.  For  this  reason 
also  we  have  no  sharp,  conical  peaks  as  in  shale  regions, 
but  the  hills  present  to  the  eye  a  beautifully  rounded 
contour.  Nor  are  the  ridges  of  great  altitude  above  the 
intervening  valleys.  Massive  and  majestic  mountain 
chains,  like  the  IJnaka  or  Blue  Ridge,  are  formed  of 
more  durable  material,  such  as  the  granites,  the  shales 
and  the  sandstones,  which  are  far  more  slowly  deroded 
by  the  action  of  air  and  water. 

Although  many  thousands  of  compounds  are  known 
to  chemists  and  an  almost  infinite  number  possible,  they 
reduce  on  analysis  to  a  small  group  of  substances  which 
are  called  ''elements,"  merely  meaning  by  this  term,  the 
simplest  form  to  which  any  compound  can  be  reduced. 

There  are  now  (1913)  known  to  chemists  eighty  ele- 
ments. Sixteen  of  these  have  been  discovered  in  the  last 
forty  years.  Several  of  the  late  discoveries  belong  to 
the  radium  group,  with  which,  however  interesting  they 
may  be,  we  have  nothing  to  do. 

The  elements  differ  widely  in  their  abundance  and  in 
their  distribution  in  nature.  In  speaking  of  the  geologi- 
cal formation  of  Sweetwater  Valley  we  have  to  deal 
with  a  few  only  of  these  elements.  The  metals  found 
in  the  rocks  in  our  valley  with  their  chemical  symbols 
in  brackets  are  given  below: 

Aluminum  (Al),  Carbon  (C),  Calcium  (Ca),  Iron 
(Fe),  Magnesium  (Mg),  Manganese  (Mn),  Phosphorus 
(P),  Potassium  (K),  Silicon  (Si),  Sodium  (Na)  and 
Sulphur  (S). 

Gases:  Oxygen  (0),  Nitrogen  (N),  Hydrogen  (H) 
and  Chlorine  (CI). 

Aluminum — The  most  abundant  of  all  metals.  One 
of  the  constituents  of  our  red  clay  and  an  essential  con- 
stituent of  all  important  rocks  except  sandstones  and 
limestones.     It  occurs  only  in  oxidized  compounds. 

Calcium — Next  to  aluminum  the  most  abundant  metal 
in  Sweetwater  Valley.    Our  limestone  is  a  calcium  car- 


HISTOKY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  17 

bonate.    Our  marble  is  a  crystallized  calcium  carbonate. 

Carbon — The  characteristic  element  of  organic  mat- 
ier;  trees,  plants,  flesh,  etc.  Diamond  is  crystallized 
carbon ;  anthracite  coal  also  nearly  pure  carbon. 

Iron — Occurs  as  an  oxide  in  the  valley  and  ridges; 
also  is  found  in  small  quantities  as  a  sulphide.  Brown 
iron  ore  on  Black  Oak  Ridge  north  of  Sweetwater;  red 
fossiliferous  ore  (hematite)  in  many  places  in  the 
vallej^    Much  has  been  mined  and  shipped. 

Manganese  found  in  nodules ;  also  in  combination  with 
the  oxide  of  iron  and  gives  to  the  latter  its  bluish  cast. 
Valuable  as  an  alloy  in  the  making  of  steel. 

Magnesium — Best  known  to  our  fathers  and  mothers 
as  common  epsom  salts,  which  is  magnesium  sulphate. 
This  salt  is  very  soluble  and  is,  therefore,  found  in 
many  mineral  waters.  The  carbonate  forms  part  of 
magnesia n  limestone,  which  is  fairly  abundant  in  our 
valley.  It  is  commonly  called  dolomite,  which  is  some- 
times tinted  pink  or  brown,  and  is  unlike  the  blue  lime- 
stone. Limestone  containing  a  large  percentage  of  mag- 
nesium is  not  suitable  for  being  burned  into  the  lime  of 
commerce. 

Phosphorus — Important  constituent  of  many  plants 
and  also  in  combination  with  oxygen  and  lime  forms  the 
greater  part  of  the  bones  of  animals.  Found  in  the 
limestones  in  our  valley  in  small  quantities.  However, 
there  are  no  great  beds  of  phosporites  in  our  valley  as 
in  middle  Tennessee.  When  cereals  requiring  a  large 
amount  of  phosphorus  are  cultivated  from  year  to  year 
on  the  same  land,  the  phosphorus  should  be  supplied 
in  some  shape  to  the  soil.  Phosphorus  oxidizes  with 
a  light.  Notice  faint  light  from  rotting  wood  in  damp 
weather. 

We  have  said  already  that  the  prevailing  metals  in 
the  rocks  of  the  valley  were  Aluminum  (Al),  Calcium 
(Ca),  Carbon  (C),  Iron  (Fe),  Magnesium  (Mg),  Man- 
ganese (Mn),  Phosphorus  (P),  Potassium  (K),  Silicon 
(Si),  Sodium  (Na)  and  Sulphur  (S). 

We  have  discussed  these  in  a  brief  manner  above  with 
the  exception  of  the  last  four.  We  have  yet  to  speak  of 
the  gaseous  elements.  Oxygen  (0),  Hydrogen  (H)  and 
Chlorine  (CI).     These  are  not  liquid  at  ordinary  tern- 


18  HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

perature,  but  all  of  tlie  gases  may  be  liquefied  by  intense 
cold  and  pressure. 

Potassium — Found  mostly  in  the  igneous  rocks; 
though  in  small  cpantities  in  the  sedimentary  rocks  of 
our  valley.  It  is  a  constituent  of  most  terrestrial 
v/aters.  It  is  found  in  the  ash  of  woods,  especiallyr 
hickory  ash,  also  a  constituent  of  many  plants. 

Silicon — Next  to  ox^^gen  the  most  abundant  of  all  the 
elements  on  the  earth,  yet  in  our  own  vallej^  it  is  far 
exceeded  in  quantity  by  calcium.  It  exists  in  all  well, 
river  and  spring  waters.  It  is  readily  taken  up  by 
plants  and  gives  to  the  stem  of  not  a  few  of  them  their 
■strength  and  resisting  power.  Quartz  is  a  silicon 
•dioxide.  It  crystallizes  hexagonally.  Almost  every  one 
lias  seen  these  semi-transparent  crystals,  though  not 
plentiful  here.  They  are  often  colored  by  various  sub- 
stances. Quartz  or  sand  when  fused  with  sodium  or 
potassium  forms  the  glass  of  commerce.  It  is  easily 
manufactured  into  various  forms.  The  fact  that  it  re- 
sists all  acids,  except  h^'^drofluoric,  a  rare  acid,  makes 
it  almost  a  necessity  in  our  daily  life.  Quartz  in  some 
localities  forms  great  boulders  and  cliffs ;  found  in  our 
valley  only  in  small  quantities. 

Sodium — Is  a  constituent  of  all  oceans  and  closed 
lakes,  usually  as  a  solution  of  common  salt,  chloride  of 
sodium,  invaluable  to  humanity  as  an  antiseptic.  It 
exists  in  small  quantities  in  rain  water  and  the  air,  de- 
creasing rapidly  in  proportion  as  we  recede  from  the 
oceans.  Very  little  sodium  in  any  form  is  found  in 
Sweetwater  Valley  rocks. 

Sulphur — Sulphides  and  sulphates  are  not  common  in 
our  valley.  Sulphuret  of  iron  (pyrite)  in  small  particles 
is  found  imbedded  in  our  limestone.  This  is  in  color 
a  bright  yellow  of  cubical  crystallization  and  is  some- 
times mistaken  for  gold,  therefore  occasionally  called 
"fool's  gold."  This  is  plentiful  in  copper  regions,  being 
a  portion  of  most  copper  ores.  Sulphate  of  lime  is  the 
gypsum  of  commerce,  very  little  of  which  is  found  here. 
It  is  soft  and  easily  ground. 

Barium — Little  in  our  valley,  though  in  valleys  eas-t 
and  west  of  us  it  is  abundant ;  there  found  in  the  form 
of  a  sulphate,  barytes  (Ba  So  4).  Large  quantities  have 
been  shipped  from  the  different  railway  shipping  points 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  19 

in  our  valley.  It  is  principally  valuable  in  the  manu- 
facture of  paints. 

We  have  now  discussed  briefly  the  important  mineral 
elements  of  our  valley  soil,  we  will  say  something  of  the 
gaseous  elements.  They  are  found  surrounding  the 
earth.  Not  knowing  the  composition  of  the  atmosphere 
we  would  be  ignorant  of  one  of  the  principal  sources  of 
plant  and  animal  life.  Where  there  is  no  atmosphere 
there  can  be  no  life  such  as  we  know  here.  For  this 
reason  astronomers  believe  that  the  moon  is  perfectly 
sterile.  Our  atmosphere  is  not  a  chemical  compound 
but  a  mechanical  mixture. 

The  principal  constituents  are  three  gases  given  be- 
low: 

Chemical  Percentage  Pei-centage 

symbol.  by  weight.  by  volume 

Oxygen    0  23.024  20.941 

Nitrogen     N  75.539  78.122 

Argon    Ar  1.437  .937 


100.000  100.000 

The  last,  argon,  is  an  inert  gas  not  found  in  com- 
bination with  any  other  element.  The  reason  for  giving 
it  is  that  its  one  and  a  half  per  cent,  weight  is  far  greater 
than  any  other  element  in  the  air  with  the  exception  of 
0.  and  N.  given  in  table ;  otherwise  it  need  not  be  taken 
into  account.  The  atmosphere,  roughly  speaking,  is 
four-fifths  nitrogen  and  one-fifth  oxygen,  mechanically 
mixed  but  chemically  separate,  ready  to  seize  upon  any- 
thing that  either  comes  in  contact  with  for  which  it  has 
an  affinity. 

As  oxygen  is  heavier  than  nitrogen  it  would  naturally 
be  supposed  that  in  the  higher  altitudes  the  percen- 
tage of  oxygen  would  be  less,  however,  numerous  chem- 
ical analyses  have  shown  the  contrary  to  be  the  case; 
that  the  air  in  mountainous  regions  is  richer  in  oxygen 
than  those  nearer  the  sea  level.  In  addition  to  the  ele- 
ments spoken  of  above  the  air  contains  in  variable 
quantities  the  vapor  of  water,  carbon  dioxide,  ammonia, 
sulphur,  organic  matter  and  other  suspended  solids  and 
also  innumerable  animalculae  or  microbes.  But  it  is 
these  very  constituents,  or  the  absence  of  them,  infinitely 
minor  in  weight  and  volume,  that  make  a  region  desir- 


20  HISTORY  OP  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

able  or  possible  to  live  in.  A  miasmatic  exudation  from 
a  swamp  might  bring  disease  and  death  to  numerous 
near-by  people  though  neither  in  weight  nor  volume 
it  composes  one  ten  millionth  of  the  atmosphere  in 
that  locality.  Local  conditions  in  a  great  measure  deter- 
mine the  proportion  of  these  minor  constituents. 
Wherever  animals  breathe  and  fire  burns  oxygen  is  with- 
drawn from  the  air  and  locked  up  in  compounds. 
Wherever  plants  and  trees  grow  oxygen  is  given  out  and 
carbon  absorbed.  Near  iron  furnaces  and  manufactories 
where  a  vast  amount  of  coal  is  consumed  there  is  a 
greater  proportion  of  carbon  dioxide  in  the  atmosphere ; 
near  copper  refining  furnaces  more  sulphur ;  near  oceans 
and  large  bodies  of  water  more  aqueous  vapor 
and  chlorine.  Volcanoes  erupt  many  gases,  some  of 
them  deadly,  sometimes  destroying  plant  and  animal 
life  near  them.  Oxygen  is  far  the  most  abundant 
element  in  nature,  constituting  one-fifth  of  the  atmos- 
phere, nearly  seven-eighths  of  the  waters,  from  45  to 
53  per  cent,  of  all  important  rocks,  being  almost  one- 
half  of  terrestrial  matter.  The  ''corroding  tooth  of 
time"  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  oxygen  combining 
with  other  elements.  In  fact,  gold,  silver  and  copper 
are  about  the  only  metals  of  importance  found  in  the 
free  State.  That  is  one  reason  probably  why  they  were 
used  as  coins  or  standards  of  value  long  before  chemis- 
try or  even  alchemy  or  processes  of  extracting  metals 
from  oxides  and  sulphurets  were  known. 

WHERE    HUMANITY    COULD    MORE    HAPPILY 

LIVE. 

Many  writers  have  conceded  that  the  ideal  places  for 
humanity  to  live,  in  especial  the  white  race,  would  be 
in  the  United  States,  somewhere  between  30  and  40  de- 
grees north  latitude ;  in  a  valley  whose  average  elevation 
was  not  less  than  six  hundred  nor  more  than  two  thous- 
and feet  above  the  sea  level ;  whose  surrounding  ridges 
abound  in  timber  and  ores;  whose  elevation  above  the 
valley  is  high  enough  to  afford  a  convenient  water  sup- 
ply but  not  so  high  as  to  make  transportation  over  them 
difficult;  with  a  rainfall  of  not  less  than  fifty  inches  nor 
more  than  (Mghty  during  the  year,  distributed  somewhat 
equally  in  the  seasons ;  with  enough  incline  in  the  valley 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  21 

to  make  good  drainage,  give  the  streams  free  course  and 
also  furnish  water  for  power  and  other  purposes ;  with 
an  average  temperature  of  from  sixty  to  seventy  degrees 
Fahrenheit,  and  where  there  are  not  too  sudden  and 
extreme  variations  between  seasons  as  in  some  parts  of 
the  Northwest;  a  valley  where  the  thermometer  rarely 
rises  above  90°  Fahrenheit  or  falls  below  10° ;  these  ad- 
vantages, experience  proves,  makes  a  healthful  climate 
and  a  valley  capable  of  supporting  a  numerous  and  pros- 
perous people.  There  are  more  places  in  East  Tennes- 
see that  answer  these  conditions  than  any  other  section 
of  country  with  which  I  am  acquainted.  No  one 
of  them  is  more  ideal,  in  my  opinion,  than  Sweetwater 
Valley.  Different  elevations,  temperatures,  waters  and 
soils  may  suit  different  individuals  but  we  are  speaking 
of  what  would  suit  the  average  white  man.  We  recog- 
nize the  fact  that  there  is  no  great  stream  running 
through  our  valley,  there  are  no  coal  beds,  no  immense 
bodies  of  ores,  and  for  these  reasons  small  likelihood  of 
there  being  in  the  near  future  any  great  city  in  our  bor- 
ders ;  however,  most  of  us  are  not  crazy  on  the  subject  of 
increase  in  population.  We  fail  to  see  why  people  can- 
not get  as  much  out  of  life  in  a  town  of  20,000  inhabi- 
tants as  one  of  200,000.  We  are  not  obliged  to  have' 
millionaires  in  our  midst  to  be  happy.  Needless  to  say 
we  have  none.  If  congestion  of  wealth  and  ]jopulation 
is  necessary  to  our  happiness  it  is  still  possible  to  live 
in  New  York  or  London  and  China.  The  Chinese  claim 
that  their  country  is  not  yet  full  of  people.  There  is 
no  doubt  though  that  Sweetwater  Valley  is  capable  of 
supporting  several  times  the  population  it  now  has  and 
at  the  same  time  exporting  a  large  amount  of  products. 
Congestion  is  not  likel}^  to  occur  for  years  to  come.  Yet 
at  the  same  time  there  should  be  no  fear  but  that  we 
will  not  receive  our  proportion  of  .people  seeking  new 
locations.  Thousands  of  people,  and  ones  who  will  make 
splendid  citizens,  too,  are  on  the  hunt  for  such  places 
as  our  valley  affords. 

THE   EARLIEST   INHABITANTS   OF   OUR  VALLEY. 

It  is  generally  agreed  by  archaeologists  and  the  delvers 
into    antiquities    that    what    are    termed     the     mound 


22  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

builders  are  the  most  ancient  inhabitants.  They  are  so 
called  because  of  their  custom  of  erecting  mounds  in 
which  to  bury  their  dead.  In  supposed  populous  com- 
munities some  of  these  mounds  were  very  large,  being 
sometimes  as  much  as  fifty  to  seventy-five  feet  higher 
than  the  surrounding  territory.  There  used  to  be 
various  mounds  in  Sweetwater  Valley,  none  of  them  as 
far  as  I  know  were  very  large.  There  used  to  be  a 
mound  in  the  field  of  Mrs.  Love,  a  short  distance  north 
of  the  old  Sv>'eetwater  Cemetery,  and  one  in  the  field  on 
the  east  side  of  the  railroad,  perhaps  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  from  the  one  mentioned  above.  For  a  long 
time  the  soil  upon  them  was  very  unproductive,  and  it 
could  be  easily  seen  exactly  where  they  were  located. 
Now  they  have  been  so  plowed  down,  fertilized  and  cul- 
tivated that  to  ascertain  their  exact  location  is  a  matter 
of  some  difficulty.  These  mounds,  so  far  as  I  know, 
were  never  dug  into  and  the  findings  made  a  matter  of 
record.  They  are,  however,  supposed  to  contain  what 
was  found  in  the  mounds  in  this  valley  and  in  the  valley 
of  the  little  Tennessee  River  that  have  been  examined 
and  their  contents  preserved  and  classified.  The  United 
States  government  and  various  universities  and  his- 
torical societies  have  carried  on  a  series  of  explorations 
for  a  number  of  years.  The  results  of  different  ones 
differ  in  many  points.  However,  there  are  other  points 
in  which  most  agree ;  That  the  American  Indian  did  not 
erect  these  mounds.  If  any  tribe  did  it,  it  was  the 
Cherokees.  If  they  did  build  mounds  it  was  for  defense 
and  not  for  burial  purposes.  Their  burial  customs  are 
different. 

The  skeletons  and  stone  sepulchres  show  that  the! 
mound-builders  were  rather  small  people,  and  hardly  so 
large  as  the  American  Indians  who  inhabited  this  sec- 
tion. They  belonged  to  the  stone  age.  There  is  no  evi- 
dence of  their  having  used  any  metallic  weapons  or  in- 
struments. They  were  sun  worshippers,  as  shown  by 
the  position  of  the  stone  and  slate  sepulchres.  In  this 
they  show  their  kinship  to  the  Aztecs  of  Mexico.  There 
are  no  remains  here  of  temples,  roads,  aqueducts  or 
prominent  residences.  It  is  doubtful  if  they  ever  used 
wood  for  building.  There  is  no  mark  of  sharp  instru- 
ments in  any  of  the  oldest  trees. 


HISTOEY  OF   SAVEETWATER  VALLEY  23 

According  to  Thurston's  Antiquities  in  some  mounds, 
however,  have  been  found  bottles,  spoons  and  cooking 
utensils  of  various  characters,  mostly  earthenware. 
There  are  no  inscriptions  on  these  which  have  been  de- 
ciphered, and  it  is  presumed  they  had  no  written  lan- 
guage. 

Their  arrowpoints  are  simdar  to  those  plowed  up  m 
the  Roman  Campagna,  which  far  antedate  any  period  of 
Roman  history. 

So  far  there  is  no  agreement  of  exactly  when  they 
inhabited  this  country,  when  they  were  driven  away  or 
destroyed,  what  was  their  color,  race  or  nation.  From 
my  reading  I  infer  that  they  were  rather  a  small,  war- 
like people,  as  shown  by  the  weapons;  were  more  civi- 
lized than  the  American  Indians,  l3ut  not  so  much  so  as 
the  Aztecs  or  the  Arizona  Cliff  Dwellers;  that  they  in- 
habited the  bounds  of  the  Hiwassee  district  in  far 
greater  numbers  or  for  a  longer  period  than  did  the 
Indian  tribes;  that  the  American  Indians  have  no  re- 
liable account  even  by  tradition  of  what  sort  of  people 
they  were. 

When  the  mound  builders  disappeared,  were  de- 
stro3^ed  or  were  assimilated  is  a  matter  of  conjecture; 
probably  more  than  five  hundred  years  ago.  For  when 
Ponce  de  Leon  landed  in  Florida  in  1512  the  Seminoles, 
a  tribe  of  Indians,  occupied  that  country  and  must  have 
done  so  for  many  years.  Later  on  in  1540  when  De  Soto, 
the  discoverer  of  the  Mississippi,  started  his  wonderful 
invasion  he  found  the  Seminoles  in  Florida,  and  march- 
ing northwestward  he  encountered  the  Cherokees  in 
what  is  now  North  Georgia.  He  wintered  in  Nacoochee 
Valley  at  the  head  of  the  Chattahooche  River  at  the  foot 
of  Yonah,  a  peak  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  Exactly  what  route 
he  pursued  from  there  to  the  Chickasaw  Bluffs  on  the 
Mississippi  River  is  uncertain.  There  are  traditions  of 
his  passing  through  a  part  of  western  North  Carolina. 
In  Cherokee  county  in  the  Valley  River  Valley  are  the 
remains  of  old  diggings  and  rude  furnaces  for  the  re- 
duction of  ores,  known  as  the  De  Soto  mines.  This  was 
certainly  not  done  by  the  Cherokee  Indians,  who  held 
possession  of  that  section,  as  they  neither  had  the  energy 
nor  the  appliances  for  such  work ;  nor  was  it  done  by  the 


24  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

English  white  settlers  since  their  occupation.  There  is 
one  of  two  things  probable;  either  part  of  De  Soto's 
invading  army,  tiring  of  the  hardships  of  the  campaign, 
deserted  and  did  this  mining,  and  afterwards  were 
killed  or  amalgamated  with  the  tribe  and  lost  to  history 
like  the  colony  of  Sir  Walter  Ealeigh  on  Roanoke 
Island;  or  that  the  whole  force  of  that  commander^ 
crossed  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains  at  the  Yonah  Gap  at 
the  head  of  the  Hiwassee  River  in  Towns  county,  Geor- 
gia, and  thence  marched  down  that  river  to  the  junction 
of  the  Hiwassee  and  Valley  Rivers.  Six  miles  above 
there  is  the  site  of  the  so-called  "De  Soto  mines.'* 
There  are  not  many  streams  in  that  section  which  have, 
not  produced  gold  in  paying  quantities,  nearly  all  got 
by  placer  mining.  De  Soto's  object  was  evidently  to 
gain  fame  and  riches  by  repeating  the  conquest  of 
Pizarro  in  Peru  and  Cortez  in  Mexico. 

How  strange  this  lure  and  thirst  for  gold  in  all  people 
and  nations  from  the  earliest  "syllable  of  recorded 
time"  down  to  the  present!  Most  of  the  explorations, 
discoveries,  inventions  and  the  greater  number  of  wars 
and  crimes  have  been  attributed  to  it.  "The  love  of 
money,"  we  are  told,  "is  the  root  of  all  evil."  If  we 
can  credit  historians,  man's  main  effort  through  the 
ages  has  been  to  get  and  keep  gold,  "hard  to  get  and 
harder  to  hold. ' '  Nothing  has  ever  induced  him  to  part 
with  it  save  the  charms  of  woman — Anthony  flinging 
the  world  away  for  the  love  of  Cleopatra. 

When  Croesus,  the  Lydian  tyrant,  showed  Solon,  the 
Athenian,  the  greatest  hoard  of  gold  then  in  existence, 
taken,  it  is  said,  from  the  sands  of  the  River  Pactolus, 
and  asked  him,  "Ought  I  not  to  be  happy?"  Solon  re- 
plied: "I  call  no  man  happy  while  living."  How  true 
it  was  in  Croesus'  case :  The  barbarian  afterward  over- 
came him  and  made  him  swallow  his  own  molten  gold. 
"You  always  wanted  gold,  now  take  this."  Or  as 
Herodotus  gives  it  he  was  captured  by  Cyrus  and  sub- 
jected to  torture  and  the  greatest  indignities. 

No  great  hoard  of  gold,  no  matter  where  placed  or 
how  carefully  guarded,  has  ever  been  safe  from  the 
robber,  the  vandal  and  the  pirate,  and  those  who  rob  are 
often  robbed  in  turn.  What  becomes  of  all  the  gold 
taken  from  the  earth  too  is  a  mystery!     Millions  upon 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  25 

millions  are  buried  in  the  depths  of  the  ocean,  as  in 
the  Titanic  disaster.  Great  sums  are  in  the  teeth  of 
people  dead  and  living,  but  that  has  not  been  the  case 
for  long.  Dentistry  is  comparatively  a  recent  art.  It 
must  be  that  misers  have  hidden  away  innumerable 
treasures  which  have  never  been  discovered.  The 
greatest  search  for  gold  in  history,  undoubtedly  on  our 
own  continent,  taking  into  consideration  the  number  en- 
gaged, was  the  ill-starred  expedition  of  De  Soto.  'Twas 
nothing  to  him  to  be  the  discoverer  of  the  Father  of 
Waters,  naught  cared  he  for  the  mighty  forests,  of  the 
East,  the  immense,  fertile  plains  of  the  West ;  'twas  gold 
and  gold  only  that  he  wanted.  He  and  his  followers 
preferred  that  their  bones  bleach  in  the  unknown  wilder- 
ness rather  than  to  return  to  Hispania  with  their 
galleons  unladen  with  "barbaric  pearls  and  gold."  The 
Jamestown  colonists  found  "fool's  gold,"  iron  pyrites 
and  took  it  to  England.  The  Carolina  colonists  spent 
their  first  efforts  in  search  for  gold.  These  finally  found 
something  far  more  precious:  "Liberty"  and  home. 
There  was  a  rush  to  California  for  search  for  the 
precious  metal.  It  so  happens  that  the  products  now 
from  that  State  in  one  year  even,  exclusive  of  gold,  are 
worth  more  than  all  the  gold  ever  taken  out  of  it. 
Alaska's  gold  is  but  a  drop  in  the  bucket  to  the  iron, 
coal,  the  copper  and  the  furs  of  the  animals  in  her  bor- 
der; but  little  was  said  of  anything  but  gold  until  the 
other  resources  were  about  all  gobbled  up  by  a  favored 
few. 

In  1896  we  had  what  some  called  the  "silver  craze." 
Wrong,  all  wrong.  It  was  just  the  old  time  greed  for 
gold.  It  was  this  struggle:  The  men  who  had  silver 
wanted  gold  for  it,  and  those  who  had  gold  were  de^ 
termined  to  keep  what  they  had.  Gold  won,  as  it  nearly 
always  does  one  way  or  another.  Every  intelligent  per- 
son acknowledges  that,  except  as  a  medium  of  exchange, 
it  is  far  less  useful  to  humanity  than  iron,  tin  or  copper 
and  it  is  not  near  so  indestructible  as  most  people 
imagine.  It  is  easily  abraded  on  account  of  its  softness. 
There  are  numerous  natural  solvents  of  gold,  as  sho^vn 
by  its  wide  distribution  by  deposition  and  the  finding 
of  it  in  a  great  variety  of  rocks  and  soils.  Some  sup- 
pose aqua  regia  the  only  solvent  for  gold.    By  no  means 


26  HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

true.  Even  so  mild  a  solvent  as  ten  per  cent,  solution 
of  sodium  carbonate  is  capable  of  dissolving  it,  though 
but  slowly.  But  people  love  gold  on  earth  below, 
wiiether  wisely  or  foolishly  seems  to  matter  not;  and 
it  is  the  opinion  of  many  writers  and  speakers  that  we 
will  love  it  in  heaven  above.  If  not,  why  is  so  much 
stress  laid  on  the  golden  streets  and  the  golden  crowns 
the  elect  are  to  receive,  as  if  it  were  impossible  to  attain 
perfect  bliss  in  the  New  Jerusalem  without  the  sight  of 
the  yellow  metal?  Exactly  what  use  the  disembodied 
or  re-embodied  spirits  would  have  for  a  crown  (for 
whom  would  they  govern  there?),  or  why  it  should  in- 
crease their  happiness  to  walk  on  the  streets  of  gold  is 
not  explained. 

However,  we  return  to  the  expedition  of  De  Soto.  If 
he  came  in  his  march  to  where  Murphy,  N.  C,  is  now, 
two  routes  to  Alabama  and  Mississippi,  which  territories 
he  is  known  to  have  traversed,  were  feasible:  one  down 
the  Hiwassee  River  and  the  Tennessee  Valley  to  Ala- 
bama ;  the  other  to  strike  the  little  Tennessee  by  way  of 
some  of  its  tributaries,  thence  down  it  to  Chilhowee  Gap. 
From  there  on  to  Alabama,  Mississippi  and  the  Chick- 
asaw Bluffs  the  march  would  not  present  very  great 
topographical  difficulties. 

THE    CHEROKEES. 

From  the  time  of  De  Soto  to  1700  we  have  no  history 
of  the  Cherokees.  Ramsey's  Annals,  page  78,  says: 
*' Early  French  explorers  aver  that  the  Shawnees,  a 
powerfully  and  unusually  intelligent  tribe  of  Indians 
(in  1700),  occupied  the  comitry  from  the  Tennessee 
River  in  west  Tennessee  to  the  Cumberland  Mountains. 
They  were  driven  out  by  the  Cherokees  or  Creeks,  pos- 
sibly both,  and  went  north  and  were  incorporated  with 
the  Six  Nations. 

"When  the  pioneers  settled  in  Southwest  Virginia  and 
the  coterminous  part  of  North  Carolina,  those  sections 
liad  ceased  to  be,  probably  never  had  been,  the  settled 
residence  of  the  modern  aboriginal  tribes.  It  was  used 
as  the  common  hunting  ground  of  the  Shawnees,  Chero- 
kees and  other  Southern  Indians.  East  and  north  of 
the  Tennessee  to  the  Ohio  there  was  not  a  single  Indian 


HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  27 

hut.  The  Choctaws,  Chickasaws  and  Cherokees,  how- 
ever, of  the  South,  used  to  engage  in  war  with  the  Miami 
confederacy  of  the  North.  In  their  excursions  they  no 
doubt  had  certain  trails  which  they  were  accustomed  to 
travel. ' ' 

The  Uchees  were  a  small  tribe  which  once  occupied  the 
country  near  the  mouth  of  the  Hiwassee  River.  Their 
warriors  were  exterminated  in  a  desperate  battle  with 
the  Cherokees.  This  took  place  at  ''old  fields"  in  Rhea 
county  sometime  between  1750-1775.  The  remainder  of 
the  tribe  were  incorporated  with  the  Cherokees. 
*'Chera"  in  their  language  means  fire.  Chera-tage,  men 
possessed  of  divine  fire — of  great  courage.  They  were 
formidable  alike  for  their  numbers  and  their  passion 
for  war.  When  asked  to  make  peace  with  the  Tus- 
caroras,  their  reply  was :  "We  cannot  live  without  war. 
If  we  make  peace  with  the  Tuscaroras  we  must  find 
some  other  tribe  to  war  with.    It  is  our  occupation." 

According  to  Adair,  in  1735  the  Cherokees  had  sixty- 
four  towns  and  could  collect  six  thousand  warriors.  This 
included  all  the  men  not  too  old  or  too  young  to  fight, 
which  would  probably  be  one-fourth  of  the  population. 
In  15'50  there  were  not  so  many,  they  having  been 
decimated  by  wars  with  the  Creeks. 

(Ramsey,  p.  89) :  ''Little  of  the  history  of  the  Chero- 
kees can  be  ascertained  from  their  traditions.  These  ex- 
tend little  farther  back  than  the  early  days  of  0-ka-na- 
sto-to,  their  chief,  who  visited  George  II.  of  England. 
He  was  practically  their  king.  His  seat  of  government 
was  E-cho-ta  (more  properly  E-tsawty)  on  the  Tellico 
River,  which  afterwards  became  the  property  of  John 
McGhee. 

FORT   LOUDON". 

After  the  visit  of  Okanastoto,  Hugh  Waddell,  as  com- 
missioner for  North  Carolina,  negotiated  a  treaty  with 
the  Cherokees.  In  pursuance  with  that  treaty.  Governor 
Glenn  erected  a  line  of  forts,  the  easternmost  of  which 
was  Fort  Loudon  at  the  highest  point  of  navigation  on 
the  south  bank  of  Tennessee  River,  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Tellico,  and  on  the  east  bank  of  this  river. 

This  fort  was  erected,  Ramsay  says,  in  1756;  Hay- 


28  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

wood  gives  the  date  at  1757.  Tlie  fort  surrendered  after 
a  long  siege  on  August  7,  1760,  being  besieged  by  the 
united  forces  of  the  Cherokee  nation.  The  English  were 
to  be  allowed  to  march  to  the  white  settlements  un- 
molested. The  marching  consisted  of  men,  women  and 
children,  amounting  to  about  three  hundred.  They  were 
treacherously  assaulted  and  massacred  about  daylight  on 
the  morning  of  the  10th  of  August.  They  had  marched 
about  twenty  miles  up  the  Tellico  River,  which  would 
bring  them  not  far  from  the  site  of  the  terminus  of  the 
Athens  and  Tellico  Railway,  now  a  part  of  the  Louis- 
ville and  Nashville  system.  There  were  only  three  or 
four  survivors.  One  of  them  escaped  to  the  town  of 
Chota. 

THE  TOWN  OF  REFUGE. 

''Every  Indian  tribe,"  says  Adair,  ''had  a  town  or 
house  of  refuge,  which  is  a  sure  asylum  to  protect  a  man- 
slayer  or  an  unfortunate  captive  if  he  can  once  enter 
it.  Among  the  Cherokees  Chota,  about  five  miles  above 
Fort  Loudon,  was  their  city  of  refuge.  Thus  passed 
Fort  Loudon,  the  first  place  in  the  bounds  of  what  is  now 
Monroe  county,  that  was  inhabited  by  the  whites.^  Tlie 
story  has  been  told  by  numerous  writers.  Romance  and 
truth  have  become  so  entangled  that  it  is  a  matter  of  ex- 
treme difficulty  to  separate  them.  Wliat  happened  to 
those  pioneers  or  early  settlers  forms  one  of  the  most 
interesting  and  pathetic  stories  in  the  annals  of  that 
time. 

After  the  fall  of  Fort  Loudon  the  next  we  hear 
(historically)  of  the  Cherokees  was  in  1769.  They  invad- 
ed the  country  of  the  Chicasaws  beyond  (west  of)  the 
Cumberland  Mountains.  They  had  what  was  called  a 
bloody  conflict.  Not  much  is  known  of  the  battle  except 
that  the  Cherokees  w^ere  defeated  and  retired  to  their 
own  country.  The  Chickasaws  were  content  with  their 
victory  and  did  not  follow  it  up.  "This  defeat  of  the 
Cherokees,"  Ramsey  remarks,  "probably  saved  the 
Watauga  settlement."  Since  the  extinction  of  the  gar- 
rison at  Fort  Loudon  they  had  shown  evidence  of  inten- 
tion of  attacking  it. 

A  treaty  was  concluded  at  Fort  (Patrick)  Henry  on 
the  Holston  (Hogehogee)  River  near  Long  Island,  July 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  29 

20,  1777,  between  the  commissioners  of  the  State  of 
North  Carolina  and  the  Overhill  Indians.  By  this  treaty 
the  Indians  conveyed  the  upper  Holston  from  the  moun- 
tains and  the  Nolichucky  River  to  the  Virginia  line.  It 
is  not  necessary  to  go  into  details  which,  anyhow  as  to 
exact  territory,  are  somewhat  vague.  I  refer  to  it  more 
than  any  other  reason  as  showing  who  the  signers  were 
to  the  instrument. 

Those  on  the  part  of  North  Carolina  were  Waightstill, 
Avery,  William  Sharp,  Robert  Lanier  and  Joseph  Win- 
ston. The  Indian  signers  were  Oconostota,  of  Chota; 
Rayetawah  (Old  Tassel),  of  Toquoe;  Savannech 
(Raven),  of  Chota;  Quillanuwah,  of  Toquoe;  Octossetch, 
of  Hiwassee ;  Attusah  (Northward  Warrior),  of  Mouth  of 
Tellico ;  Ooskuah  or  Abram,  of  Chilhowee ;  Rollowah,  of 
Tellico  River;  Toostook,  of  Tellico;  Amoyah  (Pigeon), 
of  Notchey  Creek;  Oostosseteh  (Man  Killer),  of  Hiwas- 
see; Tellehaeveh  (Chestnut),  of  Tellico;  Que-lee-kah,  of 
Hiwassee;  Annakehujah,  of  Tuskeega;  Suahtukah,  of 
Citico;  Atta-kulla-kulla  (Little  Carpenter),  of  Notchey 
Creek;  Okoo  Neekah  (White  Owl),  of  Notchey  Creek; 
Kata  Quilla  (Pot  Cloy),  of  Chilhowee;  Tuskasah  (Ter- 
rapin), of  Chiles  Toosch;  Sumie  Waugh  (Big  Island). 
The  Indians  made  their  marks.  The  witnesses  were 
Jacob  Womack,  James  Robins,  John  Reed,  Isaac  Bled- 
soe, Price  Martin,  John  Kearns.  Joseph  Vann  was  in- 
terpreter. 

INDIAN    NAMES    OF    MOUNTAINS    AND    RIVERS. 

Thus  we  see  from  the  location  or  dwelling  place  of  the 
principal  men  who  signed  this  treaty  tliat  there  were  no 
Indian  towns  west  of  Notchey  Creek.  Ramsey  aptly  re- 
marks the  Indian  proper  names  and  the  appellation  of 
the  creeks  and  rivers  were  euphonious.  The  names  of 
the  mountain  ranges  were  smooth  and  musical,  such  as 
Alleghanee.  T'enasee,  Chilhowee,  Unaka,  Chattanooga, 
Dumplin,  Sandy  Mush,  Calf  Killer,  High  Tower,  Hangin' 
Dog,  Beaver  Dam,  and  even  Sweetwater  would  grate 
harshly  upon  the  ears  of  those  who  sang  their  war  songs 
upon  the  banks  of  the  Allejoy,  Oustanallee,  Etowah  and 
Euphassee. 

The  Tennessee  River  was  so  named  from  the  Little 


30  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Tennessee  River.  By  Tennessee  River  is  meant  that 
river  from  the  Unaka  Mountains  and  probably  east- 
ward to  the  Tuckaseega  and  westward  from  its  junction 
with  the  Holston  clear  to  the  mouth  on  the  Ohio  River. 
That  is  what  the  Tenasee  River  of  the  treaties  means. 
The  French  called  it  Riviere  des  Cheraquis  or  Cos- 
quinambeaux ;  the  aborigines  named  it  Kallamuchee. 
From  Little  Tennessee  to  French  Broad,  Agiqua  (Racing 
River);  Clinch,  Pellissippi;  Little  River  in  Blount 
county,  Canot ;  Hiwassee,  Euphassee.  Right  here  I  think 
it  proper  to  say  that  there  is  absolutely  no  foundation 
for  the  spelling  or  pronunciation  Hi-a-was-see.  The 
mistake  must  have  arisen  from  confounding  the  word 
Hiwassee  (more  properly  Euphassee)  with  the  Hiawatha 
of  Longfellow''^  poem.  The  district  was  spelled  Hiwas- 
see in  the  old  survej^s,  the  river  the  same,  the  college 
always  too.  Dr.  J.  H.  Brunner,  former  president  of 
Hiwassee  College,  agrees  that  this  is  the  correct  spelling. 
I  would  not  feel  called  upon  to  mention  this  attempted 
change  in  spelling,  and  also  of  pronunciation,  had  it  not 
received  the  sanction  of  so  high  an  authority  as  an  ex- 
president  of  the  United  States.  I  am  glad  to  say,  how- 
ever, that  his  suggested  changes  in  that  line  have  not 
always  met  with  eminent  success;  and  I  hope  much  that 
for  the  sake  of  preserving  the  real  Cherokee  names  we 
have  (I  wish  there  were  more),  that  this  attempted 
change  will  also  prove  a  failure.  The  Cumberland  River 
was  the  Warioto,  French  name  Chauvanon.  We  still 
have  left  the  Indian  names  Lousatchie,  Hatchee,  Se- 
quachee,  Ocoee,  Conasauga,  Chestua,  Tellico  (Psallico), 
Watauga  and  others.  Watauga  (properly,  Waugh- 
taugah)  signifies  many  island's,  the  river  of  islands.  Hay- 
wood says  in  his  History  of  Tennessee  that  the  Holston, 
from  its  confluence  with  the  Tennessee  at  what  is  now 
Lenoir  City  upward  to  the  French  Broad,  was  known 
as  Watauga  to  the  Cherokees.  Until  1889  it  was  Big 
Tennessee  from  the  junction  of  the  Holston  and  Little 
Tennessee  to  its  mouth.  By  an  act  of  the  General  As- 
sembly, approved  April  6,  1889,  it  was  enacted  as  fol- 
lows: ''That  the  Tennessee  extend  from  its  junction 
with  the  Ohio  River  at  Paclucah,  Ky.,  past  the  Clinch 
and  French  Broad  Rivers  to  the  junction  of  the  north 
fork  of  the  Holston  River  with  the  Llolston  at  Kings- 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  31 

port  in  Sullivan  county,  Tenn.,  all  usages  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding. ' ' 

It  is  greatl}^  surprising  that  the  Cherokee  Indians, 
whose  language  was  so  musical,  attempted  so  little  in 
the  way  of  song  and  had  no  musical  instruments  at  all, 
unless  the  tom-tom  and  the  rattle  can  be  called  so.  Their 
chants  and  war  songs  were  far  from  pleasing  to  the 
ear  of  the  pioneer  even  though  he  did  not  happen  to  be 
tied  to  a  stake  during  the  ceremonial.  Little  of  the 
Cherokee  music  so  called  has  been  preserved,  and  in  an 
artistic  sense  is  no  loss.  One  hymn  called  '^Lamenta- 
tion," found  in  some  of  the  old  hymn  books  published 
in  East  Tennessee,  is  said  to  be  an  Indian  air  adapted 
to  some  English  words. 

Francis  S.  Mitchell,  Athens,  Ga.,  in  Confederate 
Veteran  of  July,  1916 : 

The  aborigines  lived  so  near  the  heart  of  nature  that 
they  learned  her  secrets  and  were  unconscious  poets. 
Their  language,  abounding  in  vowels,  was  soft  and  musi- 
cal. Every  proper  noun  had  a  meaning  that  was  sig- 
nificant and  often  wonderfully  poetic,  as  Cohuttan 
(Frog  Mountain),  Tallulah  (Terrible),  Toccoa  (Beau- 
tiful), Amicalolah  (Tumbling  Water),  Hiwassee  (Pretty 
Fawn),  Okefinokee  (Quivering  Earth),  and  Chattahoo- 
chee (Rocky  River),  Nacoochee  (Evening  Star).  Neither 
the  Creeks  nor  the  Cherokees  had  a  written  language, 
and  their  history  is  a  matter  of  tradition.  The  Creek 
language  bore  a  resemblance  to  classic  Greek.  Their 
legends— wild,  romantic,  often  tragic — are  still  full  of 
interest  for  their  pale-faced  successors. 

Extract  from  M.  V.  Moore,  in  March  Harper,  1889: 

RFVERS  OF  TENNESSEE. 

Tennessee !  How  were  her  rivers  in  the  olden  Indian 

tongue '? 
What  syllabic  rhythm  had  they  ere  the  white  man's 

changes  rung? 
Wascibia    and    Shewanee — thus    the    Cumberland    was 

known. 
With  Obed,  Caney,  Obe,  Sulphur,  Harpeth,  New    and 

Stone. 


32  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Holston  once  was  Hogeeliogee ;  and  from  the  mouth  of 

French  Broad  down  (which  was  then  the  Taquas- 

tah)   Cootchla  on  to  Chota-town, 
This  an  Indian  refuge  city  of  an  ancient,  wide  renown, 

where  there  empties  into  Tennesa,  this  the  Little 

Tennessee ; 
Then  began  great  Kalamuckee  (Chalaqua  in  Cherokee), 
Once  Hiwasse  was  Euphasa,  with  its  brawling  Chestoee, 
Estinaula,  "where  they  rested,"  and  Amoah  or  Ocoee. 
Through  Chilhowee  comes  the  Little,  once  the  red  man's 

swift  Canoee — 
Where  the  wingless  Pigeon  flutters,  once  the  Aguqua 

they  knew, 
Where  Unaka  sent,  his  daughter  Salacao  is  Tellico ; 
Where  was  once  the  Nalachuckee,  simply  Chucky  now 

we  know. 
Thundering  through  the  AUeghanies  with  the  Doe  is 

yet  Watauga; 
Out  and  in  with  Georgia  pranking,  straight  to  gulf  goes 

Connesauga ; 
Out  but  never  more  returning,  '' stream  of  death"  is 

Chicamauga. 
By  these  w^aters  fought  the  Shawnee,  TJchee,  Choctaw, 

Cherokee — 
Dead  and  vanquished  are  these  warriors,  but  the  music 

of  the  rivers, 
And  the  sw^eet  syllabic  rhythm  of  its  names  shall  live 

forever. 

The  following  article  will  illustrate  how,  sometimes, 
history  which  is  not  history  is  accepted  as  history.  It  is 
taken  from  the  Sweetwater  Telephone: 

^'SOITEE  WOITEE." 

By  W.  B.  Lenoir. 

''Which  I  rise  to  explain"  that  things  do  sometimes 
turn  out  peculiar.  In  a  very  readable  article  in  the 
Southern  Field  as  reproduced  in  the  Sweetwater  Tele- 
phone of  February  12, 1913,  occurs  this  paragraph : 

''The  name  Sweetwater  came  about  in  an  unusual  way. 
The  Cherokee  Indians,  who  formerly  occupied  the  sec- 
tion, called  the  creek  and  valley  'soitee  woitee,'  which 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  33 

means  in  the  Cherokee  language  'happy  lionies. '  But 
when  the  early  settlers  came  they  heard  the  Indians  pro- 
nouncing the  name,  and,  getting  the  pronunciation  only 
half  correct,  they  referred  to  the  section  as  Sweetwater, 
which  is  merely  what  'soitee  woitee'  sounds  to  them." 

It  may  really  not  matter  how  a  town  or  a  valley  may 
have  gotten  its  name;  and  although  the  name  Sweet- 
water is  not  uncommon  for  branches,  creeks  and  towns 
yet  people  are  usually  curious  to  know  why  it  is  called 
so.  They  want  some  sort  of  an  explanation;  and  if  an 
explanation  is  not  ready  to  hand  one  nmst  be  invented. 
Often  the  more  unreasonable  the  explanation,  the  greater 
the  credence  given  it.  Repetition,  too,  gives  it  more  and 
more  a  semblance  to  truth.  Usually  I  would  let  such 
paragraphs  as  the  above  go  uncontradicted,  as  no  real 
harm  could  come  of  it.  My  main  reason  for  writing  this 
is  that  I  feel  myself  partly  responsible  for  having 
started  the  yarn.  I  am  aware  that  fiction,  fairy  tales, 
fables  and  legends  have  their  proper  place  in  literature, 
and  they  often  entertain  and  sometimes  instruct.  Santa 
Klaus  and  St.  Valentine  are  patron  saints  and  national 
institutions  wdth  us  whether  they  ever  had  existence  or 
not.  Sometimes,  too,  a  man  writes  an  article,  w^hich  is 
accepted  as  truth,  when  at  the  time  of  its  w^riting  noth- 
ing was  further  from  his  desire  than  to  have  it  so  ac- 
cepted.   This  brings  me  to  my  confession,  so  to  speak. 

Something  like  a  decade  ago,  the  late  Mr.  D.  L.  Smith, 
the  then  proprietor  of  the  Sweetwater  Telephone,  o\\  onC' 
of  its  anniversaries,  possibly  the  tenth,  with  commen- 
dable zeal  got  out  a  special  edition  or  magazine  exploit- 
ing Sweetwater  and  Sweetwater  Valley.  He  requested 
me  some  time  previous  to  its  publication  to  write  a  paper 
on  the  legends  of  the  Cherokee  Indians.  I  told  him  I 
didn't  know,  couldn't  find  out  any.  If  'twas  to  indite 
a  sonnet  to  beauty's  brown  mouth  or  rosebud  eyes,  I 
could  sing  my  little  song  with  more  confidence.  1  then 
thought  no  more  of  the  matter.  I  left  town  to  visit  a 
friend.  Whilst  on  that  visit  I  got  another  letter  from 
Mr.  Smith  insisting  that  I  send  in  my  communication 
about  legends  of  Sweetwater  Valley  Cherokees.  Not 
wishing  to  disappoint  Mr.  Smith  I  consulted  a  friend  who 
was  versed  in  Indian  lore  and  asked  him  what  was  to 
be  done  in  the  case.    ^'The  Cherokees,"  said  he,  "have 


-^4  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

few  if  any  traditions  or  legends  and  never  occupietT 
Sweetwater  Valley  so  far  as  is  known"  (see  Ramsey's 
Annals,  page  87),  but  that  lie  would  help  nie  invent  a 
legend.  I  agreed  to  this  ])rovided  we  evolved  a  legend 
that  would  not  be  taken  at  all  as  history.  How  would 
this  do!  he  remarked.  Have  John  Howard  Payne  on 
his  trip  from  Virginia  to  Georgia  travel  through  Sweet- 
water Valley,  stop  there  and  be  entertained  by  a  hos- 
])itable  and  highly  intelligent  chief  and  draw  a  fancy 
sketch  of  the  beauty  and  fertility  of  the  counti-y  as  it  ap- 
])eared  then ;  nan-ate  that  he  was  also  so  mucli  taken 
Avith  the  happiness  of  the  Indian  liome  that  it  inspired 
him  to  write  tlK>  words  and  music  of  the  song  of  ''Home, 
Sweet  Home";  naming  it  "Swatee  Watee,"  which  in 
the  Cherokee  vernacular  meant  "happy  home."  As  a 
matter  of  fact  neither  of  us  knew  of  such  words  in  the 
Cherokee  language,  and  if  there  were  such  words  had 
not  the  remotest  idea  what  they  meant.  There  could  be  no 
equivalent  in  any  Indian  language  to  our  word  ''home," 
with  its  hallowed  associations  and  civilized  eml)ellish- 
ments.  "What  is  Home  Without  a  Mother?"  when 
translated  into  the  Indian's  idea  would  be,  "What  is  a 
(smoky)  tepee  without  a  squaw  (maybe  two  or  three 
squaws)  to  fetcli  and  carry  and  dig  and  cook  and  bear 
warriors  to  scal]i  the  enemy?"  An  Indian  squaw  was 
no  better  than  a  beast  of  burden,  to  be  thrown  aside  when 
she  became  useless.  As  the  article  referred  to  was 
signed  by  myself,  the  responsi])ility  for  the  statements 
rested  on  me.  On  the  one  hand  I  was  guyed  for  attempt- 
ing to  "palm  oif  any  such  silly  stuff  on  an  unsuspecting 
])ublic,"  and  on  the  other  hand,  which  was  worse,  have 
the  statements  taken  as  true  and  come  to  me  for  con- 
firmation. I  was  sometimes  tempted  to  stick  to  what  I 
said  and  let  them  believe  the  lie  and  go  their  way;  but 
here  I  am  confessing  my  sins  like  a  little  man,  as  I 
should  do,  and  promising  to  refrain  from  doing 
the  like  again.  But — John  Howard  Payne,  (),  John 
Howard  Payne!  I  almost  wish  that  Home,  Sweet  Home, 
had  not  evolved  from  your  fertile  brain.  Ramsey  says 
in  his  Annals  that  Sweetwater  had  no  Indian  name,  and, 
if  it  did,  it  ])ore  no  resemblance  to  its  present  one. 


A  CHAPTER  ON  RACES. 

There*  are  recognized  at  least  four  races  of  men.  Once 
geograpliically  and  more  accurately  than  now  they  could 
have  been  named  from  the  locations  they  occupied  as  the 
European,  the  Asiatic,  the  African,  the  American;  or 
according  to  characteristics  the  Caucasian,  the  Mon- 
golian, the  negro,  the  Indian;  in  relation  to  color,  the 
white  man,  the  yellow,  the  black  and  the  red.  Adopting 
either  the  biblical  or  evolutionary  origin  of  man,  it  is 
equally  uncertain  where  the  cradle  of  the  human  race 
was.  It  is  generally  given  as  the  highlands  of  Asia. 
This  is,  however,  more  speculation  than  actual  history. 
There  are  individuals  and  even  nations  that  are  diffi- 
cult to  be  classed  under  any  one  of  these  heads  and  may 
resemble  several  of  them.  The  most  plausible  explana- 
tion is  that  they  are  an  admixture.  In  the  early  dawn  of 
history,  sacred  and  profane,  the  races  Avere  not  so  much 
inclined  to  amalgamate,  but  kept  more  distinct.  Yet 
even  the  divine  command  could  not  keep  the  Hebrews 
apart  from  others.  It  is  scarcely  conceivable  that  the 
ten  "lost"  tribes  of  Israel  were  lost  sight  of  except  as 
being  mingled  with  other  nations  of  the  globe.  In  the 
contest  of  races  the  strongest  or,  if  you  insist  on  the 
word,  the  '^ fittest"  survives;  mental  and  physical  capa- 
city and  environment  make  men  and  nations.  A  Ken- 
tuckian  might  use  the  phrase  ** blood  will  tell." 

In  the  scheme. of  humanity  or  nations  only  two  of 
these  races,  the  white  and  the  yellow,  need  to  be  taken 
into  consideration  in  the  future  as  determining  the 
destiny  of  the  world.  They  already  occupy  or  control 
much  the  greater  part  of  it.  The  white  men  own  by  far 
the  most  territory,  but  have  not  a  very  large  preponder- 
ance in  number.  Judging  the  future  by  the  past  it  is 
more  than  probable  at  some  time  the  whole  habitable 
globe  will  be  controlled  by  one  race,  and  we  think  that 
will  be  the  white  man. 

The  black  and  the  red  men  have  been  nomadic  in  their 
nature.  They  have  not  the  same  attachment  to  home  and 
country  as  the  wdiite.  man.  Wlien  an  Anglo-Saxon  gets 
hold  of  a  piece  of  land  he  ei-ects  his  castle,  and  there  he 


36  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

stays  until  driven  olt'  by  a  more  powerful  foe  or  is  dis- 
possessed by  legal  process  by  the  sheriff.  The  white  man 
lias  the  inventive  power,  he  progresses.  The  yellow  has 
only  imitation,  he  is  conservative.  The  white  man  has 
always  held  in  slavery  the  black  man,  either  by  chains 
or  commercially.  The  black  man  is  no  fighter.  He 
doesn't  know  how  to  fight.  The  Indian  lacks  numbers,  in- 
dustry and  persistence.  It  is  impossible  either  to  enslave 
liim  or  impart  to  him  successfully  the  civilization  and 
habits  of  the  white  man.  Wlien  once  he  loses  against  the 
white  man  the  places  that  knew  him  once  know  him  no 
more  forever.  In  one  hundred  years  from  now  the  small 
boy  wall  give  his  dime  to  see  a  pure  blooded  Indian  in  a 
side  show.  The  "barker"  will  say:  "Ladies  and  gen- 
tlemen and  children,  buy  your  tickets  here  and  step  right 
in  and  behold  one  of  the  few  pure  living  descendants 
of  the  pow^erful  red  man,  who  once  held  undisputed  sway 
over  our  mighty  continent.  He  was  finally  overcome  by 
superior  arms  and  numbers  and  such  was  his  pride  of 
race  that  he  preferred  extinction  to  becoming  the  serf 
or  underling  of  his  hated  conqueror.  Don't  neglect  this 
wonderful  opportunity ;  for  it  ma}^  be  many,  many  moons 
before  you  have  a  chance  to  view  his  like  again ! ' ' 

The  words  of  Pope  have  l)ecome  so  familiar  that  car- 
toonists sometimes  name  the  Indian  "Lo. " 

"Lo,  the  poor  Indian!  whose  untutored  mind 

Sees  God  in  the  clouds,  or  hears  Him  in  the  wind, 

His  soul  proud  science  never  taught  to  stray 

Far  as  the  solar  walk  or  milky  way ; 

Yet  simple  nature  to  his  hope  has  given 

Behind  the  cloud-topp'd  hill  an  humble  heaveii; 

Some  safer  world  in  depths  of  woods  embraced. 

Some  happier  island  in  the  watery  waste. 

Where  slaves  once  more  their  native  land  behold. 

No  fiends  torment,  no  Christians  thirst  for  gold. 

To  be  content's  his  natural  desire, 

He  asks  no  angel's  wing,  no  seraph's  fire, 

But  thinks  admitted  to  yon  equal  sky 

His  faitlrful  dog  shall  l)ear  him  company." 

"There  is  no  good  Indian  but  a  dead  one,"  said  Kit 
('arson,  and  it  used  to  be  such  a  favorite  phrase  out 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATEK  VALLEY  o7 

West  as  to  become  wearisome.  Here  you  have  the  two 
views  entirely  opposite,  the  poet  who  knew  the  Indian 
from  hearsay  and  the  soklier  and  scout  who  thought  he 
knew  all  about  him  from  experience.  However,  Car- 
son's experience  Avas  more  with  the  Sioux,  Comanche 
and  Apache  than  with  the  Cherokee.  The  fact  remains 
that  an  Indian  is  Indian,  a  negro  a  negro  and  the  white 
man  a  white  man,  and  the  two  hundred  years  they  have 
lived  under  the  same  government  have  not  changed  them. 

The  Hon.  John  B.  Brownlow  in  an  issue  of  the  Knox- 
ville  DaUy  Journal  in  speaking  of  how  history  is  some- 
times made,  or  how  error  or  a  lie  may  become  an  ac- 
cepted fact  among  a  people,  sa^^s: 

''A  lie  w^ill  beget  permanent  belief  by  constant  itera- 
tion and  reiteration.  Constant  dripping  wdll  wear  a 
stone,  and  the  muddier  the  water  the  faster  the  wear. 
We  all  believe  a  great  many  things  which  we  know  are 
not  true.  The  thing  most  widely  known  about  George 
Washington  is  that  he  cut  down  his  father's  cherry  tree 
with  'his  little  hatchet,'  and  then  expressed  his  inability 
to  lie.  No  fact  in  the  history  of  Washington  has  wider 
or  deeper  prevalence.  We  all  know  now  that  it  is  not 
true — but  what  is  the  use  to  'argufy'?  About  the  only 
thing  that  the  best  read  people  in  the  world  know  about 
William  Tell  is  that  he  shot  an  apple  off  his  little  son's 
head.  That  never  occurred — but  Avhy  'argufy'  about 
it?  *  *  *  Lee  did  not  surrender  to  Grant  under  an 
apple  tree  at  Appomattox,  but  what  is  the  use  of  taking 
issue  with  every  old  woman  and  school  child  in  the  land 
who  says  he  did!" 

It  is  just  as  popular  an  error  that  the  Indians  were 
cruelly  treated  when  it  was  thought  best  to  cause  their 
removal  across  the  Mississippi;  but  more  of  this  here- 
after. 

TREATIES  WITH  THE  CHEROKEES. 

Cessions    o  th'j  State  of  North  Carolina  and  the  U.  S.  Government. 

In  May,  1783,  the  General  Assembly  of  North  Caro- 
lina opened  an  office  for  the  sale  of  w^estern  lands  for 
the  purpose  of  paying  the  arrears  due  officers  and  sol- 
diers on  that  part  of  the  continental  line  which  was 
raised  in  North  Carolina  and  for  the  purpose  of  extin- 


38  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

guishing  part  of  the  national  debt  acquired  in  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Bevolutionar}^  War.  Without  previous  con- 
sultation with  the  Indians  they  enlarged  the  boundaries 
as  follows :  ' '  Beginning  at  the  point  on  the  line  be- 
tween Virginia  and  North  Carolina  due  north  from  the 
mouth  of  Cloud's  Creek;  thence  west  to  the  Mississippi 
Eiver;  thence  down  said  river  to  the  line  of  35  degrees 
of  north  latitude ;  thence  east  to  the  Appalachian  Moun- 
tain chain ;  thence  with  the  same  to  the  ridge  that  divides 
the  waters  of  the  Nolichucky  and  French  Broad  Rivers ; 
thence  wdtli  that  ridge  to  Brown's  line  (Acts  of  North 
Carolina,  1778) ;  thence  with  Brown's  line  to  the  be- 
ginning. ' ' 

This  was  going  farther  than  the  General  Assembly 
had  a  right  to  do  and  was  almost  certain  to  involve  the 
State  and  settlers  in  bloody  and  expensive  wars  with  the 
Cherokees  and  other  Indian  tribes.  However,  before 
much  of  the  territory  mentioned  had  been  taken  up  under 
this  act,  the  Legislature  saw  the  unwisdom  of  it,  and  for 
this  and  other  reasons  they  ceded  their  claim  to  this 
and  other  territory  to  the  United  States  with  certain  con- 
ditions attached.  This  was  in  the  year  1784.  Congress, 
however,  refused  to  accept  the  cession,  and  the  act  was 
afterward  repealed. 

Then  John  Sevier  and  others  claiming  that  the  State 
of  North  Carolina  had  parted  title  to  the  land  so  ceded 
to  the  United  States,  organized  the  State  of  Franklin, 
and  held  a  session  of  the  Legislature  in  Greenville  in 
1785. 

They  elected  United  States  senators,  ]^assed  acts  and 
attempted  to  exercise  all  the  powers  of  a  State.  ' '  Thus, ' ' 
saj's  Ramsey,  ''in  the  beginning  of  1786  Avas  presented 
the  spectacle  of  two  empires  exercised  at  one  time  over 
the  same  people  and  territorj^" 

Then  arose  that  wonderful  series  of  events  in  which 
John  Sevier  was  leader  for  the  State  of  Franklin,  and 
Jonathan  Tipton  was  leader  for  the  State  of  North  Caro- 
lina, which  came  near  involving  the  factions  in  the  throes 
of  civil  war.  The  Congress  of  the  United  States,  after 
much  wrangling,  however,  did  not  recognize  the  sena- 
tors and  representatives  from  Franklin  as  belonging  to 
a  State  and  they  were  refused  admission.    For  this,  more 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  39 

than  any  other  reason,  the  State  of  Franklin,  by  legis- 
lative enactment  on  Marcli  1,  1788,  ceased  to  exist. 

From  tlien  until  1796,  when  Tennessee  was  admitted 
to  the  Union,  the  State  of  North  Carolina  exercised  un- 
disputed authority  over  her  boundaries. 

The  history  of  those  times,  with  Sevier  and  Tipton  as 
central  figures,  forms  chapters  of  more  thrilling  in- 
terest than  the  happenings  of  almost  any  State  in  the 
Union — far  more  so  than  bull  moose  hunting  in  Maine, 
witch  burning  in  Massachusetts,  or  tales  of  mining  in 
Dead  Man's  Gulch,  and  stage  robbing  in  Wyoming  and 
Nevada.  It  is  a  favorite  theme  witli  writers  and  his- 
torians; but  however  charming  narrative  could  be  made 
it  is  not  within  our  province  to  write  of  them  except  the 
bare  mention  as  leading  up  to  other  events  in  our  im- 
mediate section. 

WHY   FKOM   WHITE   IMAX  's  VIEWPOINT    NECESSARY  TO   REMOVE 
THE   CHEROKEE. 

In  1735,  Ramsey  says,  the  Cherokees  had  sixty-four 
towns  and  six  thousand  warriors.  These  towns  were 
scattered  over  North  Georgia,  Western  North  Carolina 
and  a  part  of  Eastern  Tennessee.  In  1750  there  were 
not  so  many,  having  meanwhile  been  decimated  by  wars, 
the  Overhill  Towns  with  the  Northern  Indians  and  the 
Lower  Towns  with  the  Creeks. 

In  1755  the  authorities  of  South  Carolina  divided  the 
whole  Cherokee  country  into  six  hunting  districts  :  Over- 
hill  Towns,  Valley  Towns,  Joree  Towns,  Keowa  Towns, 
Out  Towns  and  Lower  Towns ;  in  all  thirty-eight  towns. 
They  gave  the  Overhill  Towns  as  Great  Tellico,  Chatu- 
gee,  Tenasee,  Chote,  Toc(ua,  Sittiquo  and  Tallassee. 

Bertram's  Travels  (1773-1778)  gives  the  Overhill 
Towns  on  the  Tanassee  or  Cherokee  River  as  Nuasha, 
Tallase,  Chelowe,  Sette,  Chote,  Jaco,^T'ahassee,  Tamable, 
T'uskeege,  Sunne  Waugh,  Nilacjua.  Now  in  the  treaty  of 
Waightstill  Averv  and  others,  commissioners  on  the  part 
of  North  Carolina  at  Fort  Henry  on  July  20,  1777,  with 
the  Overhill  Indians  (heretofore  discussed)  the  towns 
given  as  the  abiding  place  of  the  head  men  are :  Chota, 
Toquo,  Hiwassee,  Mouth  of  Ti^llico,  Chilhowee,  ;Notchee 
Cre<4',  Tuskeega,  Citico,  Chiles  Tooch. 


40  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

The  term  "Overhill"  means  the  towns  west  of  the 
Great  Smokies  and  situated  between  the  (Little)  Ten- 
nessee and  Hiwassee  Rivers.  Tlie  white  men  approach- 
ing the  section  mentioned  from  the  east,  the  country 
then  occupied  by  the  whites,  would  naturally  term  the 
towns  on  the  west  of  the  Smoky  or  Unaka  Mountain 
the  Overhill  Towns. 

The  word  "town"  as  applicable  to  Indian  settlements 
was  not  open  to  the  objection  given  in  the  song  of 
' '  Yankee  Doodle ' ' : 

"Yankee   Doodle   went   to   town;   he   wore   his    striped 

trousers, 
He  said  he  couldn't  see  the  town  for  so  many  houses." 

An  Indian  town  was  a  collection  of  tepees  usually 
located  near  a  considerable  water  course ;  near  the  tepees 
were  patches  cleared  from  the  cane  brake,  on  which  the 
squaws  cultivated  corn  for  bread  and  hominy.  This 
with  the  game  killed  by  the  bucks  furnished  sufficient 
subsistence  for  those  residing  there.  The  tepees  were 
made  of  skins  of  wild  animals  supported  by  poles.  They 
were  of  conical  shape  and  had  an  opening  at  the  top 
for  the  escape  of  the  smoke,  and  were  of  such  light 
character  as  to  Ije  readily  carried  away  by  the  squaws 
in  case  of  emergency.  The  buck  scorned  anything  so 
degrading  as  manual  labor.  "  Fighting  and  hunting  were 
his  onl}^  occupations.  The  head  men  of  these  towns 
were  elective.  Only  those  who  had  performed  some  ex- 
ploit in  war  or  the  chase  had  any  voice  in  the  selection. 
From  the  statements  of  historians  and  from  the  signa- 
ture of  the  head  men  of  the  Overhill  Cherokees  to  the 
different  treaties  it  is  almost  certain  that  in  the  bounds 
of  what  is  now  known  as  the  Hiwassee  purchase  or  dis- 
trict, embracing  most  of  Monroe  county  and  a  part  of 
Ijoudon  and  Roane  counties,  all  of  Meigs  and  McMinn 
and  a  part  of  Polk  county,  the  Cherokees  really  occupied 
about  one  thousand  square  miles  only  of  this  territory, 
to-wit:  Bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Little  Tennessee 
River;  on  the  west  by  the  Notchey  Creek  knobs;  on  the 
south  by  the  Hiwassee  River;  on  the  east  by  the  Great 
Smoky  Mountains.  The  Indian  population  within  this 
bouiuhirv  it  is  likelv  did  not  exceed  five  thousand  in  num- 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER   VALLEY  41 

ber.  Thus  counting  five  to  a  family  would  have  given 
each  family  in  the  Overhills  Towns  a  square  mile  if 
divided  and  not  held  in  common.  In  the  Calhoun  treatv 
of  March,  1819,  Article  2  reads  thus:  "The  United 
States  agreed  to  pay,  according  to  the  treaty  of  July  8, 
1817,  for  valuable  improvements  on  land  in  the  country 
ceded  by  the  Cherokees  and  allow  a  reservation  of  six 
hundred  and  forty  acres  to  the  head  of  each  family  (not 
enrolled  for  removal  to  Arkansas)  who  elects  to  become 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States." 

In  addition  to  this,  a  portion  of  Article  1  contains  this 
proviso:  *'A11  the  islands  of  the  Chestatee  and  the 
Tennessee  and  Hiwassee  Rivers  (except  Jolly  Island  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Hiwassee  River)  belong  to  the  Chero- 
kee Nation."  This  left  the  Cherokee  Nation  to  keep  or 
dispose  of  these  islands  as  they  saw  fit.  In  relation  to 
one  of  these  islands  in  Little  Tennessee  River  not  far 
above  the  site  of  Old  Fort  Loudon  the  late  Henry  Brad- 
ley related  to  me  this  anecdote.  Mr.  Bradley  was  for 
years  an  employe  of  Colonel  Charles  M.  McGhee,  son  of 
John  McGhee,  of  whom  the  story  is  told.  An  Indian  chief 
(name  not  remembered)  owned  or  claimed  an  island  in 
the  river,  the  bank  of  which  was  owned  by  McGliee.  Mc- 
Ghee had  a  very  fine  rifle  of  rare  make  which  the  Indian 
was  anxious  to  buy,  but  McGhee  was  unwilling  to  part 
with.  On  one  occasion  the  Indian  visited  McGhee  and 
after  hanging  around  for  a  while  he  remarked:  ''Big 
Chief  had  a  dream.  McGhee :  "I  hope  it  was  a  pleasant 
one ;  what  did  the  Big  Chief  dream  ? ' '  Big  Chief  dreamed 
White  Chief  give  Indian  his  fine  gun."  "Oh,  that's  it, 
is  it  f  Well,  if  Big  Chief  was  told  by  the  spirit  in  a  dream 
that  he  is  to  have  the  'fine  gun'  he  must  not  be  dis- 
appointed" (taking  it  down  from  the  rack  and  handing 
it  to  him).     The  Indian  left  in  great  glee. 

Not  a  great  while  afterward  they  met,  and  after  the 
customary  greeting,  McGhee  said :  ' '  How  did  you  like 
your  gun?"  "Great  gun,  kill  anything."  McGhee, 
"White  Chief  had  a  dream,  too."  Indian,  "Uh,  huh! 
What  ? ' '  McGhee, '  White  man  dream  Indian  chief  made 
him  a  deed  to  the  island  over  there."  Indian,  "Here, 
take  gun  ])ack ! ' '  McGhee  shook  his  head,  ' '  Can 't  do  it ; 
Indian  dreamed  it  away  from  liini,  no  good  to  him  any 
more."     After  some  minutes  of  gloomy  reflection  the 


42  HISTORY   OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Indian  replied:  "Big  Chief  make  you  a  deed  to  it,  but 
Indian  no  dream  against  white  man  no  more." 

Tlius  in  wliat  is  iiow  Sweetwater  Valley  from  1817 
back  for  four  hundred  years  or  more  we  have  the  spec- 
tacle of  a  section  without  inhabitants,  with  no  roads  and 
not  a  trail  through  it.  It  was  even  nameless,  not  for- 
evermore,  but  for  a  long  period. 

With  the  exception  of  a  mound  here  and  there  to  show 
a  once  human  occupation  and  tlieir  passing  away,  it  was 
just  as  the  geologic  laws  and  time  and  weather  left  it. 
The  Cherokees  came  not  tlirough  it  when  they  went  to 
tight  their  Northern  enemies,  nor  when  they  surprised 
and  exterminated  the  Euchees  at  the  mouth  of  Hiwassee 
River;  the  trail  to  the  Chicasaws  and  Creeks  was  not 
near  it.  So  far  as  humanity  was  concerned  it  was  a 
deserted  country  without  a  history  or  a  name ;  nameless 
also  the  streams  and  ridges.  It  was  given  over  to  the 
deer,  panther,  the  wild  cat,  turkey,  plieasant,  the  swan, 
the  duck  and  other  smaller  birds  and  animals.  Wlien 
the  white  man  took  possession  in  1820  he  found  it  almost 
as  nature  made  it — Adamless,  Eveless  and  with  no  apple 
to  tempt  save  the  sour  wild  crab.  On  the  ridges  the 
chestnut,  poplar,  tlie  red,  black  and  white  oak  predomi- 
nated, in  the  valley  grew  abundantly  the  sycamore, 
hickory,  the  gums,  the  elm,  the  willow  and  water  oak. 
The  creek  flowed  tranquilly  through  the  valley  on  its 
clear  winding  way  to  the  Tennessee  River,  spreading  out 
into  ponds  and  marshes,  the  home  of  the  mallard,  the 
coot  and  the  crane.  However  desirable  a  counti-y  it 
might  be  to  the  white  man  it  was  not  such  as  tlie  Indian, 
tliat  child  of  nature,  loved.  It  had  no  great  wide  reaches 
to  gladden  the  eye,  no  stream  large  enough  to  easily  and 
safely  carry  his  birch  bark  canoe.  To  him  it  was  merely 
a  preserve  or  breeding  gi-ound  for  game.  "Wlien  it  got 
too  plentiful  here  it  went  to  the  Tellico  and  Tcimessee 
where  the  Indian  lived. 

So  the  Cherokees  traded  this  country  foi-  land  be- 
yond the  Mississiy)])i  "unsight,  unseen"  and  "no  rue 
back"  as  the  horse  swappers  say.  As  it  turned  out  it  was 
a  good  trade  for  both.  True  it  must  be  admitted  that 
the  white  man  had  a  slight  advantage  in  knowing  that 
the  trade  was  going  to  be  made  and  what  the  terms  were 
to  be.    The  Indian  in  bis  childlike  simplicity  left  the  de- 


HISTORY   OF   SW]:ET\VATER  VALLEY  4,> 

tails  to  "tlu'  party  of  sec-oiul  i)ai-t,"  and  Retuiii  J.  Meigs, 
backed  by  tlie  United  States  government,  was  prin- 
(•il)ally  the  jiarty  of  tlie  second  part,  and  he  was  no 
amateur  when  it  came  to  a  land  deal.  Be  it  known,  how- 
(^ver,  that  if  you  have  any  extra  tears  to  shed  over  the 
sorrows  of  humanity,  the  Indian  does  not  desire  nor  need 
them.  Save  your  sobs  for  the  heroes  and  heroines  of  the 
dime  novel,  or  exploited  heathens  of  the  ''rubber  trust 
on  the  Congo,  or  the  down-trodden  Moros  of  Mindanao. 
Don't  acknowledge  there  is  much  to  weep  over  in  home 
conditions ;  it  is  too  trying  on  the  nervous  system.  Leave 
it  to  the  politicians  to  "point  with  pride"  and  "view 
with  alarm":  it's  their  ])rincipal  stock  in  trade. 

ENCROACHMENT  OF  WHITES  ON   CHEROKEE   NEUTRAL  GROUND. 

As  early  as  August,  1790,  President  Washington  in  a 
message  to  Congress  brought  up  the  subject  of  the  en- 
croachment of  white  settlers  on  Cherokee  neutral  ground. 
(See  "Messages  of  Presidents,"  compih'd  by  J.  D.  Rich- 
ardson.) 

It  was  alleged  that  there  were  five  hundred  families 
settled  and  were  occupying  ])laces  that  they  had  no  legal 
right  to. 

Negotiations  moved  more  slowly  in  those  days,  and  it 
was  not  till  1798  that  a  new  treaty  was  made  with  the 
Cherokees  and  the  southern  line  of  occupation  for  white 
settlers  w^as  established,  to-wit : 

' '  Commencing  at  Wild  Cat  Rock  near  the  Tellico  Block 
House;  thence  down  the  northeast  margin  of  the  (Little) 
Tennessee  River,  not  including  islands,  to  a  point  one 
mile  above  the  junction  of  that  river  with  the  Clinch; 
thence  at  a  right  angle  (northwardly)  to  Hawkin's  line 
leading  to  the  Clinch  River ;  thence  with  that  line  to  the 
Clinch  River;  thence  up  Clinch  to  Emery;  thence  up 
Emery  to  Cumberland  Mountain  (Wallen's  Ridge); 
thence  northeast  to  Campbell's  line." 

In  1803  President  Jefferson  urged  the  removal  of  the 
Indian  tribes  beyond  the  Mississippi.  Congress  ap- 
proved and  in  1804  appropriated  $15,000.00  for  the  pur- 
pose of  negotiations,  and  commissioners  were  appointed 
to  look  into  the  matter. 

By  a  treaty  concluded  ( )ctol)er  27,  1805,  and  proclaimed 


44  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

June  10,  1806,  Return  J.  Meigs  and  Dan.  Shields  being 
commissioners  for  the  United  States,  the  Cherokees 
ceded : 

(1)  The  section  of  land  at  southwest  point,  extending 
to  Kingston  and  the  respective  ferries  of  the  two  rivers 
and  the  first  island  in  the  Tennessee  River  above  the 
mouth  of  the  Clinch.  (2)  The  Cherokees  consent  to  the 
free  and  unmolested  use  by  tlie  United  States  of  a  mail 
road  from  the  Tellico  to  the  Tombigbee  River  in  the 
territory  of  Alabama.  This  road  was  made  and  was 
called  the  Federal  road.  That  part  through  what  was 
afterward  the  Hiwassee  district  began  at  Nile's  Ferry, 
passed  by  Ho  (Torbett's)  by  what  is  now  Nona- 
burg  and  continuing,  crossing  the  Hiwassee  River  not  a 
great  ways  from  the  mouth  of  the  Ocoee.  (3)  The  con- 
sideration paid  for  these  concessions  was  $1,609.00. 

THE  HIWASSEE  PURCHASE. 

Below  we  condense  some  of  the  material  provisions  of 
the  Hiwassee  Purchase  or  treat}^  with  the  Cherokees  in 
]  819.  To  give  in  full  would  require  too  much  space,  and 
would  not  likely  prove  interesting  to  the  general  reader. 
Several  of  the  articles  as  will  be  seen  by  the  numbers 
given  are  not  mentioned.  Some  of  them  are  lengthy 
and  relate  minute  particulars  for  the  removal  of  the  In- 
dians in  flat  boats;  what  guns,  ammunition,  provisions, 
blankets,  etc.,  are  to  be  furnislied  them  for  their  start 
in  the  new  territory. 

Treatv  concluded  February  27,  1819.  Proclaimed 
March  io,  1819.  Held  at  AVashington,  D.  C,  between 
John  C.  Calhoun,  secretary  of  war,  and  the  chief  heads- 
men of  the  Cherokee  Nation. 

TEEMS  OF  TREATY. 

(Art.  1.)  The  Cherokee  Nation  cedes  to  the  United 
States  all  of  their  lands  lying  north  and  east  of  the  fol- 
lowing line :  Beginning  on  the  Tennessee  River  at  a 
point  where  Madison  county  in  the  territory  of  Alabama 
joins  the  same ;  thence  along  the  channel  of  said  river  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Hiwassee ;  thence  along  the  main  chan- 
nel of  the  last  said  river  to  the  first  hill  that  closes  on 
this  river  about  two  miles  above    Hiwassee    old    town; 


HISTORY  or   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  45 

I  hence  along  the  ridge  that  divides  the  Hiwassee  and 
the  Tellico  Bivers  to  tlie  Tennessee  at  Takissee; 
thence  along  the  main  cliannel  to  the  junction  of  the 
Gowee  and  Nanteyalee  (Nantog  Yulee — Nantahala)  ; 
thence  with  the  ridge  in  the  forks  of  the  said  river  to  the 
top  of  the  Blue  Ridge ;  thence  along  the  Blue  Ridge  to  the 
Unicoy  Turnpike  I'oad ;  thence  a  straight  line  to  the 
nearest  main  source  of  the  Chestatee ;  thence  along  the 
main  channel  to  the  Chattahooche ;  and  thence  to  the 
Creek  boundary ;  it  being  understood  that  all  the  islands 
of  the  Chestatee  and  (those)  in  the  Tennessee  and  Hi- 
wassee Rivers  (except  Jolly  Island  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Hiwassee),  which  constitute  a  portion  of  the  boundary, 
are  the  iDroperty  of  the  Cherokee  Nation, 

United  States  right  of  way,  according  to  the  treaty 
of  1805,  not  affected;  twelve  miles  square  on  the  Ten- 
nessee River  near  the  Alabama  line  to  be  sold  by  the 
United  States  and  the  proceeds  to  be  invested,  the  in- 
terest to  constitute  a  school  fund  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Cherokee  Nation  east  of  the  Mississippi  River. 

(Art.  2.)  The  United  States  agrees  to  pay  according 
to  treaty,  July  8,  1817,  for  valuable  improvements  on 
land  within  the  country  ceded  by  the  Cherokees,  and 
allow  a  reservation  of  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  to 
the  head  of  each  family  (not  enrolled  for  removal  to 
Arkansas)  who  elects  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States. 

(Art.  5.)  Leases  made  under  the  treaty  of  1817,  of 
land  in  Cherokee  country  are  void.  All  white  people  in- 
truding upon  lands  reserved  by  the  Cherokees  shall  be 
removed  bv  the  United  States  under  the  act  of  March  30, 
1802. 

(Art.  7.)  The  United  States  shall  prevent  intrusion 
on  the  ceded  lands  prior  to  January  1,  1820. 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  LAND  TITLES  IN  SWEETWATER 

VALLEY. 

It  is  a  far  cry  from  our  time  to  that  of  Charles  II.  of 
England.  We  would  naturally  think  that  he  Avould  have 
had  little  to  do  witli  us  liei-e  in  Sweetwater  Valley,  yet 
the  title  to  every  acre  of  land  in  this  section  can  be  traced 
back  to  the  grant  given  by  that  king  to  Edward,  Earl  of 


46  IIISTORV   OF   SWEETWATEU  VALLEY 

Clarendon,  and  six  other  nobles  on  the  24-tli  day  of 
March,  1663.  Those  were  merry  times  in  Merry  Eng- 
land, and  Charles,  the  Merry  Monarch,  was  the  merriest 
of  them  all.  The  people  had  become  tired  of  long  faces, 
long  parliaments  and  long  prayers.  During  the  Crom- 
well i  an  period  places  of  amnsement  and  theatres  were 
closed.  No  musical  instruments  were  allowed  in  the 
churches,  and  even  the  exhibition  of  Raphael's  Madonna 
would  have  been  considered  a  species  of  idolatry.  If  a 
man  smiled  it  was  as  if  he  mocked  himself  for  Ijeing  so 
festive.  Such  hymns  as  "I  Would  Not  Live  Alway" 
were,  if  not  popular,  most  in  vogue.  Small  wonder  that 
when  Oliver  Cromwell  passed  from  the  stage  of  action 
and  Charlie  from  over  the  water  appeared  upon  the 
scene,  the  pendulum  of  human  emotions  swung  far  in 
the  opposite  direction,  and  the  parquet,  the  boxes  and 
galleries  all  applauded.  The  people  were  all  weary  of 
tears,  tragedy  and  solenm  asservations. 

Charles,  as  principal  actor,  discounted  in  merriment 
the  celebrated  performances  of 

''Old  King  Cole,  that  merry  old  soul, 

A  merry  old  soul  was  he ; 
He  called  for  his  pipe  and  he  called  for  his  bowl, 

xVnd  he  called  for  his  fiddlers  three." 

The  populace  in  imitation  of  Charles,  set  out  to  have 
a  rip-roaring,  hilarious  good  time  and  proceeded  to  paint 
the  town  of  London  a  vivid  red.  It  w^as  a  Fourth  of  July 
and  Christmas  celebration  all  rolled  into  one. 

'Twas  in  this  era  of  good  feeling  that  Charles,  between 
drinks,  which  we  are  told  were  never  very  far  apart, 
gave  the  grants  spoken  of  to  the  overlords  of  Carolina, 
so  named  in  honor  of  Carolus  (Charles).  This  was  likely 
accomplished  in  a  space  of  time  that  the  governors  of  the 
two  Carolinas  would  occupy  in  discussing  what  beverage 
should  next  be  consumed. 

Oh,  no!  There  was  nothing  small  about  Charlie.  He 
was  all  obliging.  To  satisfy  his  courtiers  and  keep  his 
head  on  his  shoulders  he  would  have  given  them  the  moon 
with  equal  good  humor.  Tliis  grant  covered  that  part 
of  Noi-th  America  included  between  the  parallels  of  31 
and  .16  degr(M»s  north  latitude,  and  stretched  from  the 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  47 

Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Oceans.  Just  think  of  it,  a  domain 
three  thousand  miles  long  and  three  hundred  miles  wide, 
tlie  finest  land  in  the  world  and  the  inhabitants  thereof ! 
It  embraced  in  its  extent  the  greater  part  of  the  South- 
ern States  south  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky  east  of  the 
Mississippi  River,  a  part  of  Arkansas,  Oklahoma,  Texas, 
New  Mexico,  Arizona  and  California.  In  the  game  of 
giving  Charles  has  Carnegie  and  Rockefeller  bluffed  to 
a  standstill;  their  combined  benefactions  of  half  a  bil- 
lion dollars  or  so  look  like  thirty  cents  beside  his.  But 
he  minded,  not.  If  he  owned  the  territory  he  wanted  to 
shift  the  responsibility  from  his  shoulders ;  for  he  possi- 
bly knew  that  there  were  savage  beasts  and  still  more 
savage  men  and  the  French  and  the  S]ianish,  too,  to 
fight.  He  was  no  fighter  as  his  ancestors  were.  He  pre- 
ferred to  feed  his  clucks  in  the  ponds  of  Windsor  Park, 
drink  the  effervescing  wines  of  France  and  Italy  and 
dance  to  the  lascivious  music  of  the  lute.  To  use  an 
advertising  phrase,  w^ith  him  "ladies'  society  was  a 
specialty."  If  he  did  not  own  the  land,  then  the  grim 
humor  of  the  situation  was  like  that  of  the  father  with 
no  assets  at  all  that  left  to  his  beloved  son  a  million  dol- 
lars— ' '  to  get. ' ' 

The  Earl  of  Rochester  once  said  that  Charles  II. 

"Never  said  a  foolish  thing. 
And  never  did  a  wise  one." 

"VVe  are  inclined  to  differ.  This  proved  a  wise  act. 
However,  if  he  had  known  that  North  Carolina  and  Ten- 
nessee w^ould  turn  out  prohibition  States  he  might  have 
balked.  For  his  warmest  friends  and  bitterest  enemies 
would  scarcely  claim  Charles  as  a  "State-wider."  I 
wish  to  remark  here  that  we  will  get  to  Sweetwater  Val- 
ley after  a  while.  If  we  do  not  arrive  on  schedule  time 
remember  that  there  were  no  roads  and  very  few  trails 
in  the  old  days  I  next  will  write  about. 

When  I  wrote  the  above  about  the  origin  of  land  titles 
in  Sweetwater  Valley  I  did  not  have  access  to  a  copy 
of  the  charter  of  Charles  II.  There  is  now  before  me 
a  book  entitled  as  follows  : 


48  HISTORY  OF  SWEET VSiATEE  VALLEY 

LAWS 

of  the 

STATE  OF  TENNESSEE, 

including  those  of 

NORTH  CAROLINA, 
NOW    IN    FORCE   IN    THIS   STATE, 

from  the  year 

1715  TO  THE  YEAE  1820,  INCLUSIVE. 


BY  EDWARD  SCOTT, 

one  of  the  judges  of  the  circuit  courts  of  law  and  equity. 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES. 

Vol.  I. 


KNOXVlLLE,  TENN. 

Printed  by 

HEISKELL   &   BROWN. 


1821. 

As  to  Charles'  fondness  for  the  bowl  and  amusements, 
his  lack  of  attention  to  details,  his  carelessness  as  to 
what  he  signed  or  did  not  sign,  provided  it  did  not  trench 
on  his  own  personal  privileges,  his  being  guided  by  his 
favorites,  male  and  female,  the  statements  written  are 
absolutely  true  and  are  not  to  be  added  to  or  subtracted 
from.  That  there  was  any  carelessness  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  charter  on  the  part  of  the  grantees  or  in  the 
protection  of  their  own  interests  is  not  true.  For  the 
charter  was  a  wonderfully  comprehensive  instrument. 
So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  perceive,  besides  paying  the 
small  rent  exacted,  they  were  almost  independent  of  the 
British  crown.  The  overlords  mentioned  could  make 
laws  for  the  government  of  the  colonists,  pardon  or 
punish  as  they  saw  fit.  There  was,  however,  a  provision 
that  the  freemen  should  give  their  assent  to  those  laws; 
but  in  tlie  referendum  who  should  call  the  elections  and 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  49 

how  tlie  ballots  should  be  counted  was  not  stated.  We 
insert  some  of  the  provisions  of  the  charter  which  are 
not  the  exact  words  of  the  charter,  unless  the  wording 
as  given  are  marked  as  ciuotations.  This  charter  is 
ver}^  long  and  occupies  ten  pages  of  this  volume;  The 
second  charter  granted  by  King  Charles  II.  to  .the  pro- 
prietors of  North  Carolina  was  dated  March  24th  in  the 
fifteenth  year  of  our  reign  (1665).  The  proprietors 
are  Edward,  Earl  of  Clarendon,  High  Chancellor  ^of  Eng- 
land; George,  Duke  of  Albemarle,  master  of  horse;  Wil- 
liam, Earl  Craven,  Counsellor  John  Lord  Berkely,  Coun- 
sellor Anthony  Lord  Ashly,  Sir  George  Cartereti  Knight 
and  Baronet ;  Sir  John  Colleton,  Sir  William  Berkely. 
King  Charles  grants  to  them  all  that  territory  called 
Carolina,  ''Situate  lying  and  being  in  our  dominions  of 
America;  extending  from  the  end  of  the  island  called 
Luke  Island,  which  lieth  in  the  Southern  Virginia  Seas 
and  within  36  degrees  north  latitude;  and  to  the  west 
as  far  as  to  the  south  seas  and  so  respectively  as  far 
as  the  river  Mathias,  which  borders  upon  the  coast  of 
Florida  and  within  31  degrees  of  northern  latitude ;  and 
so  west  in  a  direct  line  as  far  as  the  south  sea  as  afore- 
said. " 

This  territory,  I  take  it  to  mean,  was  to  extend  from 
ocean  to  ocean.  The  land  having  been  explored  only  a 
few  hundred  miles  to  the  westward,  the  immense  extent 
of  the  territory  was  not  known.  The  instrument  par- 
ticularly cites  that  it  conveyed  all  soils,  lands,  fields, 
woods,  mountains,  lakes,  rivers,  all  whales  and  fish  in  the 
ba3\s,  the  seas  upon  the  coast,  all  veins,  mines  and  quar- 
ries discovered  or  not  discovered,  all  golds,  silver,  gems, 
precious  stones,  metals  or  any  other  thing  found  or  to 
be  found  within  the  province,  territory  or  islets  in  the 
limits  aforesaid.  They  had  power  to  grant  religious 
liberty  and  had  ample  rights,  jurisdiction,  privileges, 
prerogatives,  royalties,  liberties,  immunities  of  anj^  kind 
whatsoever,  and  these  privileges  and  rights  were  to  ex- 
tend to  their  heirs  and  assigns  forever.  The  considera- 
tion for  this  grant  was  the  fourth  part  of  all  golds  and 
silver  ore  found  within  its  boundaries,  and  the  yearly 
rent  of  tAvelity  marks.  They  had  full  power  and  authority 
to  erect,  constitute  and  make  several  counties,  baronies 
and  colonies,  also  to  make  and  enact  under  their  seals 


50  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

and  to  publish  any  laws  and  constitutions  whatsoever 
either  ap])eitaining-  to  the  public  state  of  the  whole 
l)roviitC4'  or  any  particular  county  of  or  within  the  same 
or  to  tiie  private  utility  of  particular  persons  by  and  with 
the  adyiice  and  assent  of  the  free  men  of  said  province  or 
territory  or  of  tlie  county  for  which  said  law  or  constitu- 
tion shaii  be  made;  and  the  said  grantees  have  power 
to  remit,  release,  pardon  and  abolish  whether  before 
judgment  or  after  all  crimes  and  offenses  whatsoever 
against  that  law. 

They  aiso  had  power  to  collect  import  duties,  except 
that  certain  articles  such  as  English  tools,  silks,  raisins, 
almond  oil  and  olives  were  to  be  admitted  free  of  duty. 
They  also  had  power  to  confer  titles  and  honors  ex- 
cept curtains  ones,  such  as  dukedoms,  earls  and  baronets, 
which  were  exclusively  the  right  of  the  crown.  They  had 
power  to  designate  ports  of  entry,  stating  wdiere  vessels 
should  enter  and  trade  under  such  I'egulations  as  were 
prescribed.  They  were  given  power  also  to  convey  ab- 
solutely by  deed  in  fee  simple  any  tract  or  privilege  to 
the  coloiusts  which  had  been  conveyed  to  them  by  King 
diaries  except  legislative  and  judicial  functions.  This 
charter  had  many  other  provisions  conveying  certain 
powers  and  privileges,  making  them,  not  the  governors 
only,  but  the  absolute  owners  of  the  vast  domain.  It  is 
needless  to  state  again  that  this  territory  included  wdiat 
is  now  the  State  of  Tennessee,  but  this  State  would  not 
form  a  tenth  of  tliis  u'rant. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES. 

REV.  JAMES  AXLEY. 

Tliere  lie  in  Comity  Line  Cemetery,  two  and  a  half 
miles  from  Sweetwater  near  the  Athens  road,  the  re- 
mains of  the  Rev.  James  Axley  and  his  w^ife,  Cynthia 
Axley.  On  his  tombstone  is  inscribed:  **Rev.  James 
Axley  died  February  23, 1837,  aged  sixty  years.  He  was 
])residing-  elder  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  for 
thirty  years." 

On  that  of  his  wife,  ''Cynthia,  wife  of  Rev.  James 
Axley,  died  September  31,  1882,  aged  eighty- two  years," 

Rev.  R.  N.  Price,  in  Vol.  II,  Holston  Methodism,  gives 
a  sjaiopsis  of  his  life. 

That  he  was  presiding  elder  for  thirty  years  is  clearly 
a  mistake.  He  was,  according  to  church  records, 
preacher  for  only  thirty-three  years;  circuit  rider  for 
seven,  presiding  elder  for  ten  and  located  for  sixteen 
years.  By  located  is  meant  that  he  was  not  under  the 
order  of  the  bishop  and  though  still  licensed  to  preach, 
was  entitled  only  to  such  pay  as  the  churches  that  invited 
him  in  any  locality  chose  to  give  him.  Preaching  or  not 
was  entirely  voluntary. 

Born  in  Cumberland  county,  Virginia;  father  and 
mother,  James  and  Lemuanna  Axley.  They  moved  to 
Kentucky  about  1799.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
admitted  to  the  Western  Conference  in  1804  and  located 
in  1822.  His  charges  were :  1804,  Red  River,  in  Cum- 
berland district,  a  colleague  of  Miles  Harper ;  1805,  Hock- 
hocking,  Ohio  district;  1806,  French  Broad;  1807, 
Opelousas,  Louisiana ;  1808,  Powell's  Valley;  1809,  Hol- 
ston; 1810,  Elk;  1811,  presiding  elder  of  Wabash  dis- 
trict ;  1812,  he  Avas  appointed  presiding  elder  of  Holston 
district  and  remained  in  charge  of  it  four  years ;  he  was 
two  years  in  charge  of  the  Green  River  district,  and  three 
vears  presiding  elder  of  the  French  Broad  district  (1818- 
1821). 

James  Axley  had  two  brothers  and  two  sisters,  his 
brothers  were  Pleasant  and  Robert.  James  and  Pleasant 
wei^e  converted  near  Salem,  Ky.,  where  they  lived  in  1802. 
Pleasant  was  a  local  preacher  for  many  years,  but  did 


J  2  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

not  attain  anything  like  the  celebrity  of  his  brother 
James. 

There  are  wealth-made,  school-made,  God-made,  and 
self-made  men.  George  Washington,  fortunately  for  our 
republic,  was  all  of  these.  Heredity,  environment,  phy- 
sical capacity,  mental  and  moral  attainments  made  him 
easily  the  foremost  citizen  of  America.  It  is  related 
that  Axley  had  no  school  training  and  no  advantages  in 
his  youth.  His  father  was  a  strange  man  in  his  habits 
and  manner  of  life.  He  was  greatl)'  devoted  to  hunting 
wild  game  and  searching  for  minerals;  he  spent  the 
greater  part  of  his  time  this  way  and  remained  at  home 
but  little.  The  burden  of  the  family  support  was  upon 
the  mother  and  older  children.  James  Axley,  the  son, 
was  also  fond  of  hunting  in  his  youth.  He  became  power- 
ful in  frame,  alert  and  observing  of  the  habits  of  animals. 
It  thus  became  much  easier  for  him  to  learn  men  and 
the  customs  of  polite  societ}^  and  correct  the  deficiencies 
of  early  life.  From  a  hunter  of  wild  animals  he  became 
a  hunter  of  men. 

As  is  often  the  case,  especially  with  those  who  lack 
l^revious  training  the  first  efforts  of  Axley  were  consid- 
ered very  unpromising,  so  much  so  that  he  was  refused  a 
license  to  preach,  and  when  one  of  his  j)reacher  friends 
advised  him  his  efforts  would  meet  with  failure  and  it 
would  be  useless  for  him  to  try  further,  he  is  said  to  have 
replied  that  if  he  couldn't  be  a  preacher  with  God's  \ie\i> 
he  could  make  a  first  class  exhorter.  As  R.  N.  Price 
says:  "He  was  called  of  God  to  preach;  he  felt  it,  he 
knew  it,  and  nothing  ever  deterred  him  from  obeying 
the  call. "  Demosthenes  was  told  he  could  never  make  an 
orator,  Jenny  Lind  that  she  would  not  be  a  success  in 
opera,  and  the  prophecies  of  Lincoln's  career  were  even 
more  adverse.  These  things  show  what  a  poor  prophet 
the  average  man  is  when  he  attempts  to  predict  what 
others  may  make  of  themselves. 

Here  is  Dr.  McAnally's  estimate  of  Axley  later  in  life: 
''I  have  listened  to  popular  orators  among  our  states- 
men, to  distinguished  pleaders  at  tlie  bar,  to  the 
preachers  who  were  foUow^ed  and  heard  by  enraptured 
thousands,  but  the  superior  of  James  Axley  in  all  that 
ccmstitutes  genuine  oratory  and  true  eloquence  I  have 
not  heard." 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  53 

"His  height  was  near  six  feet,  muscular  frame,  large 
bones,  but  little  surplus  flesh,  chest  broad  and  full 
features  strongly  marked,  large  mouth  and  nose,  heavy, 
projecting,  shaggy  eyebrows,  high  and  well  turned  fore- 
head, dark  gray  eyes,  remarkably  keen,  large  head  and 
hair  worn  short.  His  dress  was  plain  and  made  of  home- 
spun material.  In  the  pulpit  he  stood  erect  and  nearly 
still,  gesticulating  but  little,  only  turning  from  side  to 
side  that  he  might  see  his  auditors.  If  the  weather  was 
warm  it  was  common  with  him,  after  opening  the  ser- 
vice and  singing  and  prayer,  deliberately  to  take  off  his 
coat  and  hang  it  on  the  pulpit."  Few  men  perhaps  ever 
had  a  finer  voice  and  never  yet  have  I  met  with  one  who 
could  control  it  better.  So  completely  was  it  under  his 
command  that  the  manner  in  which  something  was  said 
often  aifected  the  hearer  more  than  the  thing  itself.  He 
was  a  natural  orator  after  the  best  models — those  which 
nature  forms." 

James  Axley  came  into  the  ministry  at  a  propitious 
time  for  men  of  his  type.  He  was  a  born  fighter  polemi- 
cally." Those  days  required  both  moral  and  physical 
courage.  Since  1775  there  had  been  a  long  war  with  the 
British  and  many  with  the  various  tribes  of  Indians.  Be- 
tween the  I'ed  and  white  men  tliere  was  little  other  than 
animosity,  it  had  been  an  eye  for  an  eye,  scalp  for  scalp, 
and  life  for  life.  The  pioneers  of  that  day  had  been 
compelled  not  only  to  keep  rifles  in  their  homes,  but  to 
take  their  arms  witli  them  to  their  fields,  their  meetings 
in  the  forest  and  to  tlieir  rude  log  churches,  for  fear  of 
an  attack  from  their  cunning  and  treacherous  foes.  They 
were  liable  at  any  moment  to  be  called  from  the  worship 
of  the  Prince  of  Peace  to  bloody  combat.  Bloodshed  and 
retaliation  were  tlie  order  of  the  day.  War  and  especially 
that  kind  of  war  where  personal  and  race  hatred  is  added 
to  national  conflict,  has  a  most  demoralizing  effect  on 
humanity.  If  the  doctrine  of  returning  good  for  evil,  or 
turning  the  other  cheek  when  one  is  smitten,  had  any 
place  in  the  breast  of  the  men  of  that  day  its  application 
was  among  white  men  and  did  not  apply  to  the  red.  They 
held  that  their  own  preservation  and  that  of  their  wives 
and  ciiildren  reciuired  no  mild  measures  but  almost  a 
policy  of  extermination.  Treaties  of  peace  availed  little ; 
tlie  primeval  instincts  were  much  in  evidence.     Conse- 


54  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

ciueiitly  religion  and  tlie  churches  languished.  The  peo- 
ple did  not  fully  appreciate  the  educated  ministry  of  the 
Presbyterians ;  there  were  too  few  of  them  to  go  round 
and  there  was  more  or  less  prejudice  against  written  ser- 
mons. Few  of  the  pioneers  adhered  to  the  church 
of  England.  They  had  declared  and  gained  their  civil 
independence  and  they  wished  entire  religious  independ- 
ence. They  wanted  no  written  prayers  and  sacerdotal 
robes;  life  was  entirely  too  serious  for  elaborate  cere- 
monies. 

Some  authors  in  speaking  of  that  period  from  1780  to 
1800  have  attributed  the  wave  of  xltheism  and  Deism 
(Infidelity)  that  swept  over  the  country  to  the  French 
revolutionary  ideas  and  the  writings  of  Voltaire  and 
to  Thomas  Paine 's  "Age  of  Reason."  In  western  North 
Carolina,  East  Tennessee  and  eastern  Kentucky  we  are 
inclined  to  think  their  influence  was  over  estimated.  The 
pioneers  had  not  forgotten  the  parts  the  French  had 
taken  in  the  Indian  wars  and  massacres  and  the  prejudice 
had  not  been  fully  removed  even  by  the  fact  thf^t  La- 
fayette played  so  important  part  in  the  war  of  the  Revo- 
lution against  the  British.  They  had  little  time  and  less 
opportunity  for  extensive  reading.  I  can  not  believe 
that  the  books  of  Voltaire  and  Paine  had  a  large  circula- 
tion in  our  mountain  comitry.  Besides  the  "Age  of 
Reason"  was  written  for  scholastic  minds  like  Adams 
and  Jefferson  (who  though  violent  political  enemies 
were  at  one  in  their  notions  of  religion)  and  not  tor  me 
mountaineer.  In  the  beginning*  of  the  Nineteenth  cen- 
tury the  New  England  ideas  of  Unitarianism  had  not 
taken  any  firm  hold  in  our  mountain  country.  The  de- 
cadence of  religion  might  have  been  more  apparent  than 
real  or  the  preaching  later  on  could  not  have  been  at- 
tended with  such  remarkable  results.  Fire  cannot  burst 
into  flame  without  the  proper  fuel  to  feed  upon.  The 
])eople  of  France  were  ripe  for  the  Revolution  when  it 
came. 

The  early  settlers  of  that  period  and  section  were  not 
engaged  in  speculations  about  fine  spun  theories;  the^' 
needed  something  virile  and  exciting  to  arouse  them, 
such  as  sermons  hot  with  hell  fire  and  eternal  punish- 
ment; "Except  ye  repent  ye  shall  all  likewise  perish." 

Then  arose  such  men  as  Cartwright,  Axley,  Ijorenzo 


HISTOEY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  .-)."> 

Dow,  McKeiidree,  Creed  Fulton,  Granade  and  Jesse 
Cumiingliam,  and  the  celebrated  revival  of  1800,  as  it 
Avas  called,  commenced.  It  continued  unabated  for  eight 
or  ten  years  and  with  some  vigor  for  ten  or  more  years 
longer.  The  zealous,  emotional,  often  uneducated 
preachers  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  term,  had  their 
day.  Their  hearers  would  stand  no  sham  or  hypocrisy; 
they  desired  sincerity  and  earnestness;  they  cared  not 
whether  the  preacher  or  exhorter,  as  the  case  might  be, 
said  sepul-chre  or  se-pul-chre,  Geth-sem-a-ne  or  Geth-se- 
mane,  so  the  thought  was  there.  The  intention  of  the 
listeners  was  to  flee  from  the  w^rath  to  come. 

During  this  revival  came  the  days  of  the  camp  meet- 
ings. At  their  inception  some  accessible  place  was  se- 
lected, preferably"  near  some  large  flowing  spring  ca- 
pable of  furnishing  plenty  of  water  for  men  and  beasts. 
If  not  already  done  a  place  was  cleared  and  a  stand  was 
erected  for  the  preachers.  It  was  important  that  the  lo- 
cation should  be  suitable  one  for  stretching  their  tents. 
To  hear  the  sermons  the  people  stood  up  or  sat  on  chairs 
and  logs  or  sometimes  climbed  the  trees  near  by.  The 
inhabitants  came  from  far  and  near  bringing  ^vith  them 
their  tents  and  provisions.  When  the  weather  permit- 
ted many  slept  out  in  the  open  air.  These  meetings  were 
usually  held  in  the  fall,  the  pleasantest  season  of  the 
year.  Hospitality  w^as  unbounded  for  the  visitors  from 
a  distance  and  hundreds  and  sometimes  thousands  were 
fed  in  one  day.  Great  preparations  were  made  for  the 
entertainment  of  all  comers.  Tliese  meetings  were 
looked  forward  to  for  months  beforehand.  They  an- 
nually, sometimes  semi-annually,  were  a  source  of  much 
religious  and  social  en,io>^nent.  Influences  were  brought 
to  bear  and  friendships  formed  which  lasted  for  a  life- 
time, and  were  profitable  for  the  Here  and  Hereafter. 
The  services  sometimes  continued  night  and  day  for 
weeks  as  long  as  the  interest  lasted  or  the  preachers  and 
exhorters  could  bear  the  mental  and  physical  strain. 
AVlien  a  place  of  meeting  became  popular  and  numerous- 
ly attended,  a  shed  was  built  for  protection  against  the 
weather,  and  it  was  seated  with  slabs,  the  sawed  or 
hewed  sides  turned  up  and  the  legs  Avere  driven  into  two 
holes  bored  angling,  thus  making  a  firm  but  not  a  very 
comfortable  seat,  as  there  were  no  backs  to  lean  against. 


56  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Around  the  slied  were  built  also  camps  for  eating  and 
sleeping  in.  The  sleeping  berths  were  arranged  in  tiers 
one  above  another  so  as  to  accommodate  a  greater  num- 
ber. The  camp  grounds  best  known  in  this  section  were 
the  Methodist  at  Pond  Spring,  three  miles  west  of  Sweet- 
water, and  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian,  three  and  one- 
half  miles  north  of  Sweetwater. 

Some  very  curious  phenomena  attended  tlie  early 
camp  meetings.  Different  persons  explained  them  dif- 
ferently. By  some  they  were  attributed  wholly  to  su- 
]iernatui'al  causes,  by  others  to  material  or  natural 
causes,  still  others  ]:>artly  to  both.  Whatever  may  have 
been  the  true  explanation  the  facts  themselves  were  un- 
deniable. Tliese  happenings  extended  over  quite  a  wide 
territory;  ]mrts  of  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  North 
Carolina  and  Georgia. 

Dr.  Price,  ^'Holston  Methodism,"  Vol.  I,  page  340-1-2 
quotes  a  Presbyterian  divine.  Rev.  James  Gallaher,  as 
saying:  'The  awful  solemnity  which  now  arrested  the 
public  mind  was  accompanied  with  bodily  affections  as 
notable  and  singular  as  those  of  Saul  on  his  way  to  Da- 
mascus. Stout,  stubborn  sinners,  bold,  brazen-fronted 
blasphemers  were  literally  cut  down  by  the  'sword  of 
the  Spirit,'  under  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  men  would 
drop  to  the  ground  as  suddenly  as  if  they  had  been  smit- 
ten by  liglitning.  Among  these  were  many  men  in  the 
prime  of  life — strong  business  men,  men  whom  no  hu- 
man being  ever  thought  of  charging  with  enthusiasm. 

''Holston  Methodism,"  Vol.  TI,  has  this  from  the  pen 
of  Lorenzo  Dow:  ''I  have  seen  Presbyterians,  Quakers, 
Baptists,  Church  of  England  people  and  Independents 
exercised  with  the  jerks,  gentleman  and  lady,  l)lack  and 
white,  the  aged  and  the  young,  rich  and  poor  witliout 
exception,  from  which  I  infer  as  it  can  not  be  accounted 
for  on  national  principles  and  carries  such  marks  of  in- 
voluntary motion,  that  it  is  no  trifling  matter, 

"On  the  20th  (August,  1803),  I  passed  a  meeting  house 
where  I  observed  tliat  the  undergrowth  had  been  cut 
down  for  a  camp  meeting  and  from  fifty  to  one  hundred 
saplings  left  brenst  high,  which  to  me  appeared  so  Slov- 
enish that  I  could  not  but  ask  jny  guide  the  cause,  who 
observed  that  they  were  topped  so  high  and  left  for  ]ieo- 
ple  to  jerk  1>y.    This  so  excited  my  attention  that  I  went 


HISTOKY   OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  57 

over  tlio  ground  to  view  it  and  found  that  the  people  liad 
laid  hold  of  the  stumps  and  jerked  so  violently  that  they 
had  kicked  up  the  earth  as  a  horse  stamping  at  flies."' 

Let  us  mount  a  motor  car,  speed  along  the  streets  of 
the  populous  city  and  approach  the  grand  cathedral. 
As  we  draw  near  its  twin  towers  rise  into  the  sky  line. 
The  building  planned  by  the  mind  of  some  Christopher 
Wren,  though  immense  in  its  proportions,  is  intensely 
pleasing  to  the  beholder  even  to  the  smallest  detail.  The 
architect  makes  the  whole  world  tributary  to  liim.  The 
solid  granite  of  the  foundations  is  hewed  from  the  Ap- 
palachian hills,  the  pure  marble  of  tlie  facade  is  from 
the  quarries  of  Vermont,  the  heroic  statues,  the  gar- 
goyles and  the  figures  which  adorn  the  niches  and  cor- 
ixlces  have  been  chiseled  from  stone  transported  from 
Italy.  "We  enter  the  arched  portals  between  the  towers. 
We  are  struck  by  the  grandeur  and  beauty  of  the  in- 
terior, the  lofty  galleries  are  supported  by  colunnis  of 
onyx  and  porphyry  from  Mexico;  the  dome  is  frescoed 
by  great  European  artists;  the  stained  windows  are  of 
glass  manufactured  from  crystal  quartz  of  the  Rockies 
and  colored  with  the  blue  of  the  sky,  the  gorgeous  hues 
of  the  sunset,  the  purple  from  the  hills  of  Arizona,  the 
green  of  the  mountain  cedars,  the  variegated  blooms 
of  the  garden  flowers;  the  chancel  is  formed  of  costly 
woods  from  the  isles  of  the  sea;  the  magnificent  organ 
is  replendent  with  the  gold  of  Alaska;  tlie  winds  of 
heaven  are  made  captive  to  the  will  of  man,  they  breathe 
the  soft  notes  of  the  flute,  the  plaintive  strains  of  the 
viola,  or  give  forth  tlie  hoarse  roar  of  the  tempest;  the 
trained  harmonies  of  the  white  robed  choir  float  enchant- 
ingly  down  from  the  gallery  through  the  incense  laden 
atmosphere;  the  surpliced  minister  chants  the  lesson 
of  the  day  in  resonant  tones ;  everything  that  wealth  can 
purchase  or  cultivated  taste  suggest  is  there ;  every  art 
of  man  has  there  some  representative  production;  the 
least  image  in  the  niche  and  the  great  paintings  in  the 
dome  all  impress  you ;  every  sense  is  held  and  concpiered 
by  the  surroundings ;  you  swell  with  pride  of  race ;  you 
exclaim,  "How  wonderful,  how  complex  is  man  ;  in  move- 
ment how  graceful ;  in  conception  how  like  an  angel ;  in 
creative  powers  how  like  a  god ! " 

Yet,  how  utterly  false  this  all  is;  how  prone  we  are 


58  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

to  be  puffed  up  wdth  our  own  self  conceit  and  how  eas- 
ily we  can  deceive  ourselves !  We  build  a  temple  to  the 
Almighty  but  shut  out  God's  sunshine,  and  light  a  faint 
taper  of  our  own  upon  the  altars.  We  listen  with  de- 
light to  the  paid  singers  and  disregard  the  music  of  the 
spheres.  We  sit  in  our  ten  thousand  dollar  pew  and  hear 
the  doctrines  of  the  meek  and  lowly  Jesus  discoursed  in 
words  that  cost  us  a  dollar  a  minute.  Under  such  cir- 
cumstances how  dare  the  speaker  offend  the  pew  hold- 
ers? 

After  all,  what  have  we  mortals  to  take  so  much  pride 
in  ?  We  know  no  more  of  the  mystery  of  life,  what  it  is, 
than  w^hen  Adam  delved  and  Eve  span.  We  come  not 
here  of  our  own  will  and  seldom  go  of  our  own  will.  A 
germ,  a  breath  of  gas,  a  drop  of  hj^drocyanic  acid  and 
man  becomes,  as  far  as  this  world  is  concerned,  less  than 
a  worm,  merely  a  clod  of  dirt. 

Scientists  tell  us  that  there  are  creatures  so  small  that 
ten  thousand  of  them  can  dance  on  the  point  of  a  nee- 
dle and  have  plenty  of  room  to  spare.  A  man  can  de- 
stroy ten  millions  of  them  at  a  bloAv,  but  he  can  no  more 
create  the  least  one  of  them  than  he  can  make  a  woi'ld. 
Yet  these  animalculae  bear  no  more  infinitesimal  relation 
to  the  earth  than  our  planet  does  to  the  illimitable  uni- 
serve.  AVell  might  the  psalmist  say:  ''When  we  con- 
sider the  (suns)  the  moon  and  stars,  the  work  of  Thy 
fingers,  what  is  man  that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him,  or 
the  son  of  man  that  Thou  visitest  him?" 

When  Axley  preached  in  his  time  it  was  often  in  the 
open.  He  was  fanned  by  the  invigorating  breezes,  shaded 
by  magnificent  forest  trees,  in  hearing  of  the  murmur 
of  waters,  in  sight  of  the  shining  sun  and  the  blue  arch 
of  heaven  above.  There  were  no  works  of  man  surround- 
ing to  hypnotize  the  senses  and  divorce  the  attention  of 
the  audience  from  the  Father  and  Creator. 

He  (Axley),  Avanted  no  luxuries  and  therefore  feared 
no  withdrawal  of  salary.  He  hesitated  not  to  attack 
what  he  considered  the  evils  and  vices  of  the  day. 

The  preaching  of  those  pioneers  of  the  Methodist 
church  in  effect,  though  astonishing,  is  by  no  means 
without  parallel.  We  arc  told  that  aforetime,  "In  those 
days  came  John  the  Baptist  preaching  in  the  wilder- 
ness."    He  was  a  man  plain  in  raiment  and  food  but 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  59 

multitudes  flocked  to  him.  He  had  a  message  to  deliver. 
In  the  eleventh  century  a  comparatively  insigniticant 
hermit  priest  came  forth  from  his  cave  in  the  mountains 
and  by  the  zeal  and  frenzy  of  his  discourses  stirred  up 
all  Christendom.  He  started  a  series  of  crusades  which 
cost  millions  of  lives  and  almost  bankrupted  every  king- 
dom in  Europe,  His  cry  was,  ''Down  with  the  Infidel. 
Rescue  the  tomb  of  the  Saviour  from  dominion  of  the 
Mohammedans."  Yet  this  was  merely  a  sentiment  and 
not  inculcated  by  any  tenet  of  the  Christian  faith.  Ax- 
ley's  message,  in  conjunction  with  the  salvation  of  sin- 
ners, was  against  Masonry,  Slavery,  Whisky,  Tobacco 
and  the  Fashions.  He  had  a  discourse  which  he  reserved 
for  important  occasions.  Dr.  Price  calls  it  his  sermon 
on  the  "abominations."  The  text  he  sometimes  used  was 
"Let  us  cleanse  ourselves  from  all  filthiness  of  the  flesh 
and  spirit,  perfecting  holiness  in  the  fear  of  God."  Yet 
he  could  on  occasion  denounce  the  evils  as  he  considered 
them  spoken  of  above,  regardless  of  text. 

It  may  appear  strange  to  us  now  that  a  minister  should 
attempt  to  start  a  crusade  against  Masonry  or  any  be- 
nevolent organization.  Brotherhoods  are  as  thick  now 
as  leaves  in  Valhambrosa,  (No  matter  where  that  is  and 
however  thick  the  leaves  may  be  there.)  A  man  who  does 
not  belong  at  this  day  to  some  society  or  brotherhood 
is  as  lonesome  as  Robinson  Crusoe  on  the  island  before 
Friday  came,  Ou'e  person  can  call  another  brother  with 
perfect  freedom.  If  he  is  not  your  brother  in  church 
or  society  or  federation,  he  more  than  likely  may  belong 
or  has  belonged  to  your  political  party.  In  Axley's  day, 
]iarticularly  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  there  was  much 
prejudice  against  the  Masonic  order,  A  man  named  Mor- 
gan, who  was  or  had  been  a  member  of  the  fraternity 
wrote  a  book  purporting  to  expose  the  secrets  of  Free 
Masonry.  Quite  a  while  afterward  he  disappeared  and 
if  any  one  knew  when  or  how,  it  was  never  made  public. 
The  Masons  were  charged  with  being  responsible  for 
his  disappearance,  Tlie  country  was  wrought  up.  Wni. 
Wirt,  who  had  become  famous  as  prosecuting  attorney 
in  the  case  of  the  United  States  against  Aaron  Burr 
for  treason,  was  the  nominee  of  the  Anti-Masonic  party 
at  a  convention  held  in  Baltimore  in  1831,  Mr.  Wirt  was 
a  finished  orator  and  a  very  distinguished  man.    He  is 


f 


60  HISTOEY  OF   SWEETWATEli  VALLEY 

noted  as  the  autlior  of  a  life  of  Patrick  Henry.  If  he 
had  been  really  great  he  would  not  have  allowed  his 
name  to  be  used  in  such  a  connection,  for  what  could  he 
have  accomplished  even  if  he  had  been  elected?  How- 
ever he  was  ignominiously  defeated.  The  opposition 
soon  died  away. 

Not  so  with  Axley.  He  quoted:  "For  every  one  that 
doeth  evil  hateth  the  light,  neither  cometh  to  the  light 
lest  his  deeds  should  be  reproved."  With  him  secrecy 
was  the  synonym  of  darkness  and  publication  of  light. 
If  there  is  any  good  in  it  why  not  give  the  world  the 
benefit  of  it?  Why  hide  3^our  light  under  a  bushel?  Let 
everything  be  done  in  the  open;  do  away  with  your  se- 
cret signs  and  symbols;  abolish  your  dark,  mysterious 
meetings!  He  (Axley)  did  not  know  that  there  is  no 
true  Mason  that  is  ndit  an  earnest  seeker  after  Light. 
He  was  probably  unaware  that  in  the  time  of  the  Em- 
peror Nero  the  Christians  had  a  symbol  by  which  one 
believing  brother  made  himself  known  to  another.  A 
fish  was  drawn  with  a  staff  or  switch  upon  dust  or  sand. 
If  the  explanation  was  known  to  the  observer  it  was  sig- 
nificant, otherwise  it  was  meaningless.  It  is  related  that 
the  Emperor  never  discovered  the  true  explanation  even 
by  torture.  His  persecutions  and  that  of  others  forced 
the  Christians  for  purpose  of  worship  and  burial  to 
build  the  catacombs  beneath  the  city  Rome.  Even  to 
tliis  day  they  are  considered  among  tlie  wonders  of  the 
world. 

He  (Axley),  had  not  the  slightest  conception  that  Ma- 
sonry reaches  back  far  beyond  the  dawn  of  written  his- 
tor}'.  It  was  hoary  with  antiquity  when  the  ]3yramids 
rose  to  their  dizzy  heights  from  the  sands  of  ancient 
Egypt;  before  the  spliynx  smiled  and  Thebes  flourished 
on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  it  was ;  Moses  learned  in  all  the 
arts  of  the  Egyptians  was  a  Mason ;  so  Zerubabel,  Solo- 
mon, Hiram  of  Tyre,  the  wi,se  men,  the  Magi,  who  saw 
the  Star  in  the  East;  Jesus  was  a  priest  after  th(^  or- 
der of  Melchisedek,  a  degree  of  Masonry  conferred  upon 
Him  by  the  Mahatmas  of  India ;  Richard  I  belonged  to 
the  order,  Saladin,  AVashington,  James  K.  Polk;  thous- 
ands of  worthies  could  be  mentioned  but  without  nam- 
ing further  one  might  say  it  was  rather  a  respectable 
and  ancient  fraternity.     The  beautv  and  i-'lorv  of  Ma- 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  61 

soni'Y  is  that  it  is  world-wido.  Any  male  of  lawful  ai>,"e, 
with  a  belief  in  a  supreme  Being,  and  of  good  moral 
character  and  f I'ee  born  can  be  made  a  Mason ;  provided 
he  obtains  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  members  of  the 
lodge  to  which  he  has  been  recommended  for  admission. 

It  differs  radically  from  Christianity  in  this  respect 
that  it  is  not  reformatory.  A  man  ought  to  be  above  re- 
proach before  he  is  made  a  Mason.  Most  of  the  tenets 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity  can  be  known  and  read  of  the 
world.  There  is  not  near  so  much  secrecy  as  is  supposed. 
If  one  reads  the  Masonic  Text  Book  of  Tennessv^e  care- 
fully and  thoughtfully  he  can  know  more  of  the  princi- 
ples of  Masonry  than  some  members  of  the  order  know. 
This  can  be  bought  through  any  reliable  book  store,  if 
you  are  desirous  of  information. 

Dr.  Price  relates:  *'Axley  cherished  an  inveterate 
hatred  to  slavery,  and  often  preached  against  it.  Wliile 
on  the  Opelousas  circuit  in  1807  in  Louisiana  his  tirades 
against  slavery  brought  on  him  not  only  the  censure  of 
the  church  but  of  tlie  community,  the  most  of  whom 
were  slaveholders.  He  took  the  extreme  ground  that 
no  slaveholder  could  be  saved  in  Heaven  or  was  a  proper 
person  for  admission  into  the  church.  His  views  pre- 
sented from  the  pulpit  made  him  so  unpopular  that  he 
found  it  difficult  to  obtain  food  or  shelter.  But  he  con- 
tinued inexorable  till  relieved  of  his  charge  by  the  pre- 
siding elder,  who  found  him  in  rags  and  well-nigh  fam- 
ished from  hunger." 

On  the  subject  of  slavery  he  was  in  agreement  with  the 
early  bishoiis  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Episcopal 
church.  Then  it  had  few  apologists  and  no  real  defend- 
ers. The  mountain  people  were  not  usually  slave  owners. 
John  Allison  in  ''Dropped  Stitches  in  Tennesse  History** 
says  that  the  first  abolition  paper  in  the  United  States 
was  started  at  Jonesboro,  Tenn.,  by  Elihu  Embree.  It 
required  no  particular  exhibition  of  nerve  to  do  so.  Even 
long  before  this  there  had  been  various  manumissions  of 
slaves  and  at  that  time  within  the  bounds  of  the  Hol- 
ston  Conference  if  the  majority  were  not  abolitionists 
they  doubted  the  moral  right  of  one  human  being  to  hold 
another  in  enforced  servitude.  Yet  in  East  Tennessee 
during  Axley's  day  the  people  were  not  so  highly 
wrought  u])  over  the  (jucstion  of  slavery  until  after  the 


62  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

secession  of  the  Southern  from  their  Northern  brethren 
of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Episcopal  church  and  the 
setting-  up  of  a  separate  church  government  in  1844,  This 
happened  some  time  after  the  death  of  Axley.  Had  he 
lived  what  action  he  would  have  taken  is  conjectural. 

From  that  time  on  the  Southern  Methodists,  if  they 
did  not  contend  for  the  absolute  right  of  slavery  accord- 
ing to  the  Bible,  held  that  emancipation  and  making 
the  negro  citizens  at  home  or  emancipation  and  coloniza- 
tion abroad  would  be  equally  impracticable.  The  ques- 
tion was  as  bitterly  fought  in  church  as  in  politics  and 
helped  greatly  to  precipitate  the  Civil  War. 

In  Axley 's  times  the  people  were  not  so  fully  agreed 
as  to  the  evils  of  alcoholic  drinks.  It  was  not  commonly 
considered  disreputable  as  now  to  make  or  sell  whiskey 
.or  brandy.  There  was  no  internal  revenue  tax  on  the 
manufacture  or  sale  of  intoxicants.  Fruits  which  would 
otherwise  be  a  total  loss  could  be  made  into  brandy  and 
thus  be  a  matter  of  considerable  profit.  Twenty-five 
or  thirty  cents  a  gallon  or  even  less  was  considered  a 
fair  price  for  what  was  called  ^'good"  whiskey  or  bran- 
dy. Most  people  kept  it  and  it  was  not  uncommon  to  pass 
the  bottle  around.  They  had  it  on  hands  presumably  for 
sickness,  as  most  of  it  was  kept  until  it  was  of  some 
age,  what  was  drank  then  w^ould  now  be  termed  a  su- 
perior article.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  surprise  that  indis- 
position requiring  stimulants  were  not  at  all  uncom- 
mon. A  doctor  who  would  not  prescribe  whiskey  for 
ailments  (with  or  without  roots  and  herbs)  was  either 
a  crank  or  did  not  understand  the  nature  of  symptoms ; 
so  they  took  it  anyhow.  Axley  in  private  and  public 
talked  and  preached  against  stilling,  drinking  and  the 
traffic  in  drink  in  terms  that  raised  a  blister.  I  have 
lieard  the  Rev.  James  Sewell,  who  was  well  acquainted 
with  Axley,  tell  how  one  of  his  neighbors,  who  had  be- 
come very  angry  with  him  for  some  remarks  he  had 
made  in  the  pulpit  about  drinking,  went  to  his  house 
early  one  morning  for  the  purpose  of  giving  him  a  ''gen- 
teel thrashing,"  unless  he  took  back  what  he  had  said. 
After  he  had  stated  his  business  Axley  quietly  remarked 
that  when  he  called  at  the  gate  he  was  about  to  have 
family  prayers  and  as  that  was  something  he  never  put 
off  or  neglected,  he  would  be  very  much  pleased  if  he 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  63 

would  join  them,  and  afterwards  if  nothing  else  would 
do,  he  would  try  his  best  to  accommodate  him.  He  ac- 
cepted the  invitation.  Axley  prayed  (not  as  the  preacher 
Bob  Taylor  used  to  tell  about  when  a  bully  threatened 
him,  mentioning  how  many  fights  he  had  had  and  al- 
ways been  victorious)  but  it  was  equally  etfective.  He 
.offered  up  a  fervent  petition  for  the  salvation  of  the 
young  man  and  that  he  would  see  the  error  of  his  ways. 
When  the  prayer  was  over  he  thanked  Axley,  shook  hands 
Avitli  him  and  went  away  without  saying  anything  fur- 
ther of  the  whipping  he  w^as  going  to  give  him. 

Axley  was  largely  instrumental  in  changing  public 
sentiment  in  regard  to  stilling  and  dram  drinking  in  the 
Sweetwater  community.  He  was  especially  severe  on 
the  women  following  the  fashions,  decking  themselves 
out  with  jewelry,  fine  clothes,  frills  and  furbelows.  He 
read  frequently  the  3rd  chapter  of  Isaiah  commencing 
at  the  16th  verse.  He  denounced  the  wearers  of  ''round 
tires"  as  he  termed  the  hoop  skirts  Avorn  at  that  time. 
The  reasons  he  gave  for  this  action  I  have  not  learned. 

One  of  his  illustrations  (the  sense  not  the  language 
is  given)  was:  Sometimes  you  farmers  go  out  to  the 
woods  hunting  for  a  good  hickory  tree  to  make  a  maul 
stick  out  of.  After  a  while  you  spy  one  you  think  is 
well  suited  to  your  purpose.  It  is  nice  and  trim  and 
straight,  the  foliage  is  green  and  beautiful  and  it  has 
every  appearance  of  being  sound,  you  therefore  cut  it 
down  and  when  you  come  to  examine  it  more  carefully 
you  find  it  is  rotten  at  the  heart;  so  many  women  are 
symmetrical  and  enticing  but  are  useless  in  the  fam- 
ily circle  and  unfit  material  for  the  church. 

At  other  times  he  compared  them  with  the  blue  jay 
that  carries  all  he  has  on  the  back,  but  of  no  value  ex- 
cept for  the  plumage  and  the  top  knot  on  the  head. 

Notwithstanding  all  this  it  appears  that  his  admoni- 
tions were  little  heeded  b}^  the  ladies.  They  considered 
it  none  of  his  business.  No  man  is  looked  up  to  by  them 
as  the  arbiter  of  fashion. 

He  failed  not  on  occasion  to  express  his  opinion  on 
the  use  of  tobacco,  snuffing,  smoking  and  chewing;  but 
chewing  was  his  particular  aversion.  Judge  H.  L.  White 
in  Holston  Methodism,  Vol.  II,  is  quoted  to  have  said: 
"I  confess  that   father  Axlev  brought   me   to  a   sense 


64  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

of  my  evil  deeds — at  least  a  portion  of  them — more  ef- 
fectually than  any  preacher  I  ever  heard. ' '  Going  on  he 
further  quotes  him  in  an  exhortation  as  mentioning  sev- 
eral things  that  he  was  not  going  to  talk  about  and  then 
remarked.  ''The  thing  I  was  going  to  talk  about  was 
chewing  tobacco.  Now  I  do  hope  than  when  any  gentle- 
man comes  to  church  who  can't  keep  from  using  tobacco 
during  the  hours  of  worship  he  will  just  take  his  hat 
and  use  it  for  a  spit  box.  You  all  know  we  are  Metho- 
dists. You  all  know  that  it  is  our  custom  to  kneel  when 
we  pray.  Now"  any  gentleman  can  see  in  a  moment  how 
exceedingly  inconvenient  it  must  be  for  a  well-dressed 
Methodist  lady  to  be  compelled  to  kneel  down  in  a  pud- 
dle of  tobacco  spittle.  Judge  White  says  further  that 
during  Axley's  exhortation,  "I  was  chewing  and  spitting 
my  large  quid  with  uncommon  rapidity  and  looking  at 
the  preacher  to  catch  every  word  and  gesture.  When 
at  last  he  pounced  upon  tobacco,  behold,  there  I  had  a 
great  puddle  of  ambeor.  I  quietly  slipped  the  quid  out 
of  nw  mouth  and  dashed  it  as  far  as  I  could  under  the 
seats,  resolved  never  again  to  be  found  chewing  tobacco 
in  a  Methodist  church." 

Axley  preached  much  after  ''location"  and  much  in- 
creased his  former  reputation.  He  was  of  such  inde- 
pendent character  as  to  be  restive  under  the  order  of 
the  bishop. 

Although  very  much  has  been  written  of  his  quaint 
sayings  and  doings  not  much  is  now  known  of  his  early 
history  and  that  of  his  family.  It  is  proper  here  to  give 
what  one  of  the  descendants  says  is  the  true  history. 

A  grandson  of  Rev.  Jas.  Axley  says  that  the  history 
be  told  of  himself  as  folloM^s :  "Axley,  a  Scotchman,  and 
his  wife  and  son  named  James,  a  boy  of  twelve  years  of 
age  took  passage  in  a  sailing  vessel  to  come  to  the  United 
States  in  the  year  1777.  They  had  a  rough  and  boister- 
ous voyage.  Before  r<5aching  their  destination,  Axley 
and  his  wife  both  took  sick  and  died  and  their  bodies 
Avere  consigned  to  the  sea.  At  the  end  of  the  voyage 
at  some  port  of  entry  on  the  James  River  or  Chesapeake 
Bay  the  boy,  James,  was  bound  out  or  sold  to  one  Judge 
Stevens  to  help  pay  for  passage.  Thus  he  was  born  in 
Scotland,  place  not  known,  and  not  in  Cumberland  Coun- 
ty,   Va.      Judge    Stevens    observing    that    he    was    a 


HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  65 

bright  boy  educated  him  with  the  intention  of  maldng 
him  a  lawyer  and  making  him  a  partner  with  himself. 
As  has  been  seen  however  circumstances  and  Axley's 
will  determined  otherwise.  If  there  is  any  relationship 
between  the  Tennessee  and  Virginia  Axleys  it  is  not 
known  what  it  is."  Whatever  may  have  been  his  early 
history,  that  he  was  uneducated  is  negatived  by  the  re- 
port of  his  sermons  and  exhortations  by  the  Hon.  Hugh 
Lawson  White  and  various  others. 

Something  original  and  unique  stirs  the  public  pulse 
and  brings  out  a  crowd.  He  may  have  at  times  used 
slang  and  uncouth  sayings  for  this  purpose.  Once  he 
got  the  people  together  it  is  agreed  on  all  hands  that 
none  knew  better  than  he  how  to  hold  them. 

Shakespeare  has  Hamlet  say  in  his  soliloquy:  "To  be 
or  not  to  be  that  is  the  question,"  paraphrasing;  to  stay 
here  or  go  yonder,  or  as  Ty  Cobb  would  put  it,  '*  re- 
main on  the  base  or  try  for  a  home  run."  This  same 
Danish  gentleman  on  reflection  concluded  "to  bear  the 
ills  he  had  than  fly  to  others  he  knew  not  of."  He  also 
advised  Ophelia,  his  former  sweetheart,  against  love 
and  marriage.  Trust  not  mankind.  "We  are  arrant 
knaves  all  of  us."  I  am  myself  a  deep  dyed  villain  and 
guilty  of  crimes  mispeakable.  ' '  Get  thee  to  a  nunnery. ' ' 
Axley  maybe  knew  what  awful  trouble  this  same  Ham- 
let caused  by  his  advice.  Anyhow  he  faced  a  dilemma 
of  ''to  be  married  or  not  to  be  married."  Whether  to 
take  the  advice  of  John  Wesley  and  Francis  Asbury,  the 
founder  and  the  bishop  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  and  remain 
a  bachelor  or  to  marry  and  settle  down.  T'o  marry  and 
rear  a  family  on  $60  a  year,  the  then  maximum  sal- 
ary of  a  circuit  rider,  was  entirely  out  of  the  question. 
Even  could  he  reach  the  high  office  of  a  bishop  the  sal- 
ary of  Bishop  Asbury  in  those  times  was  $80  a  year 
only.  Besides  that  he  endured  innumerable  hardships. 
He  traveled  great  distances  almost  wholly  on  horseback 
and  sometimes  in  inclement  weather  in  the  mountains  he 
was  compelled  to  spend  the  night  in  a  hollow  log  and 
let  his  horse  crop  the  wild  grass  for  a  living. 

It  is  not  at  all  surprising  to  us  that  Axley  preferred 
marriage  and  a  fine  body  of  Sweetwater  Valley  land 
to  a  precarious  support  as  a  circuit  rider  even  with  a 
good  chance  of  being  elected  a  bishop.    He  was  located 


66  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

by  the  Holston  Conference  in  the  year  1821.  From  the 
best  information  at  hand  at  present  he  must  have  pur- 
chased the  tracts  from  Matthew  Nelson,  Treasurer  of 
East  Tennessee  and  the  then  agent  of  the  State  and 
obtained  the  grants  directly  from  the  State.  The  tracts 
he  owned  were  the  northwest  quarter  of  section  1,  Town- 
ship 3,  Range  1,  east,  and  the  south  half  of  the  S.  E. 
quarter  of  section  2,  T.  3,  R.  1  E.  He  built  a  house  on 
the  latter,  near  a  large  spring  by  the  side  of  the  Mad- 
isonville  road  one-half  mile  southeast  from  the  South- 
ern Railway  depot  in  the  town  of  Sweetwater.  It  is 
needless  to  state  at  that  time  the  town  and  railroad  were 
not  in  existence  or  scarcely  thought  of.  He  must  have 
married  and  settled  there  in  the  early  twenties  soon 
sfter  the  Hiwassee  purchase  from  the  Cherokee  Indians. 
The  house  he  built  is  still  standing  though  almost  a  cen- 
tury old.  It  is  diagonally  across  the  road  from  the  J. 
C.  Waren  (old  Ramsey)  residence.  It  is  one  of  the  old 
landmarks  of  the  valley.  There  is  growing  at  this  house 
an  Isabella  grape  vine  which  still  (1914)  bears  grapes 
and  which  was  planted  as  a  slip  by  Axley  previous  to 
his  death  in  1837 ;  thus  making  it  more  than  seventy- 
five  years  old.  At  the  head  of  the  spring  not  far  from 
the  house  is  a  giant  oak  tiee  likely  as  much  as  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  old.  The  two  tracts  of  land  men- 
tioned Were  purchased  in  1859  by  Col.  John  Ramsey  for 
the  sum  of  $7,000. 

He  (Axley),  married  C;\mthia  Earnest  one  of  a  fam- 
ily of  ten  brothers  and  seventeen  gisters.  Oh:  there 
were  patriarchs  and  matriarchs  in  those  days!  The 
Earnests  were  Greene  County  people.  Cynthia  was  a 
sister  of  Mary  Ann  Earnest  who  married  John  Lot- 
speich,  Sr.,  one  of  the  original  white  settlers  of  Sweet- 
water Valley.  They  resided  in  the  brick  near  the 
Athens  road  one  and  a  half  miles  southwest  of  Sweet- 
water. C^Tithia  was  considerable  younger  than  Mary 
Ann ;  the  latter  was  born  in  1789  and  the  former  in  1800. 
The  one. died  in  1878  and  the  other  in  1882.  They  are 
both  buried  in  County  Line  Cemetery. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Axley  reared  a  large  family.  Numerous 
grandchildren  and  great  grandchildren  of  theirs  are  now 
living. 

In  the  marriage  license  book  of  Monroe  County  in 


HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAULrEY  67 

the  County  Court  Clerk's  office  this  record  is  found: 
License  issued  to  Samuel  Blair  and  Cynthia  Axley.  Cere- 
mony performed  July  30,  1844.  James  Sewell,  Minister 
of  the  Gospel,  M.  E.  Church.  I  am  told  the  marriage 
did  not  turn  out  happily.  They  did  not  live  together 
many  years. 

I  make  no  apology  for  thus  giving  at  some  length  the 
history  of  Rev.  James  Axley.  He  was  not  only  one  of 
the  early  settlers  but  a  very  remarkable  man.  He  was 
by  far  the  most  prominent  preacher  of  the  M.  E.  Church 
residing  in  the  valley.  He  was  brave  and  outspoken 
and  feared  not  to  condemn  what  he  thought  wrong  or 
commend  the  right  and  added  to  that  an  unblemished 
character.  He  would  have  been  a  man  in  any  age  and 
any  country. 

The  children  of  the  Rev.  James  Axley  and  Cynthia 
Axley  were : 

One.    James,  b.  Sept.  8,  1825.     d.  • 

Two.    Samuel  Douthard,  b.  1827.    d.  1903. 

Three.    Elijah,  b.  d.  ■ — 

Four.     Marilla,  b.  d.  

Five.     Betsy,  b.  d.  

Six.    Jemima,  b.  d.  

Seven.    Matilda,  b.  d. ■ 

One.  James  Axlev,  married,  first,  Mary  McKenzie 
Dec.  11,  1856. 

Their  children  were: 

1.  James  Thomas,  b.  Oct.  4, 1857.  He  is  a  railway  con- 
ductor Ogclen,  Utah. 

2.  John  McKenzie,  b.  D<^c.  31,  1858.  Broker  in  Kan- 
sas City,  Mo. 

James  Axley  married,  second,  Martha  Ann  Smith  of 
McMinn  Co.,  daughter  John  Pickens  Smith  of  South 
Carolina,  on  August  7,  1860.  She  was  born  Aug.  12, 
1832,  and  died  Apr. ,  1892.    Their  children  were : 

1.  Mary  Alice,  b.  May  23,  1861.  She  married  George 
Reynolds  of  McMinn  Co.  They  reside  at  Canyon  City, 
Texas. 

2.  William  Wesley,  b.  Sept.  23,  1862,  at  the  old  Axley 
place  three  miles  west  of  Madisonville,  Tenn.    He  mar- 


68  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

ried  Sarah  F.  N  orris,  of  Lutherville,  Ga.,  Dec.  19,  1895. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  a  Baptist  minister.  They  lived 
first  in  Sweetwater  for  several  years  and  then  moved 
to  Chattanooga,  where  they  now  reside.  He  is  a  travel- 
ing man.    Their  children  are : 

Robert  Chapman  (named  Chapman  from  grand- 
mother), born  Feb.  14,  1897;  Martha  Francis,  b.  Aug. 
31,  1898 ;  and  William  Wesley,  Sept.  20,  1901. 

3.  Charles  Davis,  b.  Nov.  1,  1864.  d.  Oct.  5,  1885,  at 
Troupe,  Tex. 

4.  Samuel  Wiley,  b.  Sept.  1,  1866.  d.  Mar.  10,  1911. 
Kansas  City,  Mo. 

5.  Ella,  b.  Dec.  4, 1868.  Married  Oscar  Hunt,  of  Mon- 
roe County,  Tenn.,  Sept.  6,  1894.  They  reside  at  Carson 
City,  Texas. 

6.  Ida,  b.  June  6,  1870.  Married  S.  P.  Tolleson  in 
1900.    He  died  in  1902  at  Amarillo,  Texas. 

Two.  Samuel  Douthard  Axley  married  Eliza  Jane 
Dean  Jan.  31,  1860.  She  was  born  in  July,  1836,  and  is 
still  living  (1916).  He  went  to  California  in  1849  and 
returned  in  1857  or  1858  and  located  on  Bat  Creek,  in 
Monroe  Countj^,  where  he  lived  on  his  farm  until  he  died 
in  1903.  Their  oldest  child  died  in  infancy.  Their  other 
children  were : 

2.  James,  b.  Sept.  14,  1862.  Married  Susan  Eliza 
Johnson  Mar.  3, 1886.  She  was  born  in  May  1866.  Was 
the  daughter  of  Jacob  Kimberland  Johnson  and  Susan 
Swaggerty.  He  came  to  Philadelphia,  Tenn,,  in  1886, 
and  moved  from  there  to  the  James  Axley  farni  three 
miles  west  of  Madisonville  in  1898.  He  was  elected  Trus- 
tee of  Monroe  County  in  1900  and  re-elected  twice.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Tennessee,  as 
representative  of  Monroe  County,  elected  in  1914.  He 
lives  in  Madisonville,  The  children  of  James  and  Susan 
Axley  are : 

(1)  Walter  Brunner,  b,  Jan.  17,  1887.  Married  Lois 
Kimbrough  Nov.  1909.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Jos. 
Kimbrough.  They  have  two  children :  Nannie  Peck,  b. 
Mar,  3,  1911,  and  James,  b,  Nov,  16,  1913. 

(2)  Jacob  Johnson,  b.  Feb.  16,  1890.  Post-office, 
Dairy,  Oregon. 


HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  69 

4.  Fred,  son  of  Sam.  Douthard  Axley,  born  Nov.  9, 
1865.  Died  Nov.  17,  1914.  He  was  a  farmer  on  Fork 
Creek.  He  married  Malissa  Johnson,  daughter  of 
Frank  J.,  and  granddaughter  of  Louis  Johnson.  She 
was  born  Mar.  13,  1870.  They  w^ere  married  Sept.  5, 
1889.     Their  children  are : 

(1)  Zehna,  b.  Aug.,  1890.  Married  Horace  King,  of 
Sweetwater  Oct.  27,  1911.  Thev  have  one  child,  Lucille, 
b.  Aug.  18,  1912. 

(2)  Beulah,  b.  Oct.  17,  1892. 

(3)  Hazel,  b.  Jan.  29,  1899. 

(4)  Flora,  b.  Apr.  6,  1901. 

(5)  Blanchard,  b.  Feb.  5,  1905. 

3.  Nevada,  b.  July  16,  1864.  She  married  C.  P.  A. 
Woolridge  on  Oct.  7,  1891.  He  is  a  farmer  and  they 
live  near  Madisonville.    Their  children  are : 

(1)  Birge  Littleton,  b.  Sept.  8,  1892. 

(2)  Edna  Bond,  b.  Feb.  12,  1894. 

(3)  Ealph,  b.  Feb.  11,  1896. 

(4)  Ivy  Modena,  b.  June  16,  1898. 

5.  Arch  Bacome,  b.  Married  Samantha  Hull 

on  July  16,  1896.  Their  children  are:  Antel  Lee  (about 
18),  Walter,  James  Douthard,  Tennie  May,  Sarah, 
Blanche,  Jay  Hugh,  Artie  Lou,  Gertrude  Belle,  and  in- 
fant b.  June,  1916. 

6.  Tennessee,  b.  1872.  Married  Douthard  Green, 
who  is  a  farmer  on  Bat  Creek,  Monroe  County.  They 
have  two  children:  Francis  Irene,  b.  Feb.,  1905,  and 
Garland,  b.  1907. 

7.  Philander,  b.  Apr.  22,  1873.  Married  Hattie  Kel- 
ler Nov.  14,  1900,  who  was  born  Nov.  5,  1880.  Their 
children  are :  Delia  Irene,  b,  Nov.  9,  1902 ;  Vola  Eulalie, 
b.  Feb.  22,  1905 ;  Nellie  Maude,  b.  Mar.  9,  1907 ;  Ruby 
Alta,  b.  Jan.  11, 1909 ;  Georgia  Lois,  b.  Feb.  8, 1911 ;  Vas- 
tine  Sticklev,  b.  Jan.  27,  1913,  and  Raymond  Philander, 
b.  Apr.  2,  1915. 

8.  T'ressie,  b.  1875.  Married  J.  Henry  Brakebill,  Mar. 
23,  1897.  Eight  children,  three  of  whom  are  dead.  The 
living  are :   Robert,  Alonzo,  Stella,  Willis  and  Clyde. 


70  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

9.  Artie  Lou,  ninth  child  of  Samuel  Douthard  Axley, 
b.  1880.  Married  Austin  Brakebill,  Dec.  7,  1899.  Four 
children:  Mabel  (sixteen),  Mary  Axley,  John  Douthard 
and  Milburn  (eleven). 

Harriet  Jeannette  Axley,  daughter  of  Elijah  and  Mar- 
tha Jane  Axley  was  born  Aug.  10,  1870.  She  mar- 
ried Wm.  Haun  at  Rome,  Ga.,  on  May  9,  1887.  He  is 
the  son  of  Abraham  Haun  of  Monroe  County,  a  Baptist 
minister.  He  (Wm.  H.),  came  to  Sweetwater  Dec.  17, 
1912,  and  has  been  Marshal  of  the  city  for  three  years. 

Their  living  children  are : 

1.  Oscar  C,  b.  Feb.  11,  1888. 

2.  Ella  F.,  b.  Oct.  26,  1890. 

3.  Davie  Ann,  b.  March  7,  1893. 

4.  Ethel  J.,  b.  June  15,  1895. 

5.  Elijah  C,  b.  March  27,  1900. 

6.  Cora  Lee,  b.  Sept.  16,  1903. 

7.  Erskin  R.,  b.  Nov.  29,  1906. 

Bessie,  daughter  E.  Axley,  married  Chas.  Rickett, 
Dec.  19,  1898. 

Mack,  son,  E.  Axley,  married  and  lives  at  Chattanooga. 

Charles,  son,  E.  Axley,  married  Kittie  Moser  Dec.  14, 
1899.     One  child,  Eva,  "b.  1904. 

Ernest,  son,  E.  Axley,  married  Ellen  Frost. 

Four.  Marilla,  daughter  of  Rev.  James  Axley,  mar- 
ried Jesse  Fouche,  Feb.  24,  1842.  They  had  two  chil- 
dren :  Jesse  and  Matilda.  Matilda  married Har- 
old and  they  had  two  children :  Margaret,  who  married 
Heneger,  and  Jesse,  who  is  unmarried. 

Five.  Betsy,  daughter  Rev.  James  Axley,  married 
Josiah  McGuire,  Mar.  4,  1850.  They  moved  to  Iowa, 
near  Des  Moines.  One  son,  Carl  McGuire,  married  Mary 
Wilmot.    They  are  bo'th  physicians. 

Six.  Jemima,  married  Wm.  A.  Flemings,  Feb,  20, 
1860.  They  went  to  Weatherford,  Texas,  and  then  to 
Oklahoma. 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  71 

Seven.  Matilda,  young-est  child  Rev.  Jas.  Axley,  mar- 
ried Wm.  Bryan,  May  24,  1840,  Tliey  went  to  Grainger 
County,  Tenn. 

Three.  Elijah,  third  son  of  Rev.  James  Axley,  mar- 
ried Martha  J  ane  Forshee  Dec.  23,  1858.  Their  children 
are:  (1)  Bascom,  who  married  Angelina  Kinser.  They 
live  on  Dancing  Branch,  Monroe  County,  and  have  con- 
siderable family. 

(2)  Cynthia  Ella,  b.  Feb.  24,  1864.  Married  George 
H.  Foland,  who  was  b.  Jan.  19,  1862.  Died  in  Sweet- 
water Apr.  15,  1909.     Their  children: 

(1)  Mollie  b.  Ang.  1,  1885.  Married  Ed.  Colquitt,  of 
Sweetwater.  Four  children:  Willie,  b.  Dec.  21,  1907; 
Gracie,  b.  Aug.  3,  1909 ;  George,  b.  Mav  6,  1911 ;  Edgar, 
b.  May  5,  1914. 

(2)  Gracie,  second  child  George  Foland,  b.  Jan.  31, 
1887.    Married  Garfield  Stephens,  Oct.  4,  1909. 

(3)  Henry,  b.  Aug.  29,  1888.    Died  Nov.  21,  1913. 

(4)  Harvey,  b.  Sept.  26, 1890.  Married  Jella  Queen,  of 
Sweetwater,  Sept.,  1911.  One  child,  Katherine,  b.  Sept. 
25, 1913. 

(5)  Asburv,  b.  Jan.  9,  1893.  Married  Bessie  Blanton 
May  31,  1908.  One  child :  James  Franklin,  b.  Apr.  22, 
1915.     Live  in  Sweetwater. 

(6)  Martha,  b.  Mar.  7,  1896.  Married  Fred  Sevmour 
Feb.  7,  1915. 

(7)  Hobert,  b.  Aug.  24, 1897.  Married  Gertrude  Aiken 
June  27,  1915.  She  was  born  Jan.  2,  1898.  Live  in 
Chattanooga. 

(8)  Marv,  b.  May  22,  1899. 

(9)  Prudie,  b.  Feb.  5,  1901. 

(10)  Willard,  b.  July  22,  1903. 

(11)  Elijah  Eugene,  b.  May  30,  1906.     Died  infant. 

Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Elijah  Axley,  married  William 
Lambert  Jan.  30,  1896,  who  is  a  guard  at  Brushy  Moun- 
tain. 

Mattie,  daughter  of  Elijah  Axley,  married  Lafayette 
Hudgens.  They  moved  to  Iowa  where  he  was  at  one 
time  a  member  of  the  Legislature. 


72  histoky  of  sweetwater  valley 

William  Browder. 

The  following  sketch  was  written  for  the  Monroe  Dem- 
ocrat and  published  in  that  paper  of  date  July  9,  1890. 
The  facts  given  were  obtained  from  Mr.  Browder  himself 
shortly  before  his  death.  He  died  in  Meigs  County  on 
Sunday,  June  29,  1890.  He  had  been  living  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  at  County  Line  in  McMinn  County  but  had 
gone  on  a  visit  to  his  son  William  in  Meigs. 

''Wm.  Browder  was  born  on  February  10,  1792,  in 
Chatham  County,  North  Carolina,  about  twelve  miles 
from  Hillsboro  and  twenty-two  miles  from  Raleigh.  He 
was  therefore  at  the  time  of  his  death  98  years,  4  months 
and  19  days  old. 

About  the  year  1800,  two  brothers,  John  and  Darius 
Browder,  moved  from  North  Carolina  to  the  Browder 
place  between  Lenoirs  and  Loudon.  Darius  Browder 
was  the  father  of  William,  who  was  then  about  8  years 
of  age.  At  that  time  Knoxville  was  a  mere  village,  hav- 
ing about  seven  or  eight  stores.  The  county  around  Le- 
noirs was  a  wilderness.  Bear,  deer,  turkeys,  wild-cats 
and  game  were  plentiful. 

Wm.  Browder  enlisted  in  the  war  of  1812. .  He  served 
under  Brigadier  General  White.  This  brigade  camped 
for  a  long  time  at  the  famous  Lookout  Mountain  await- 
ing orders  and  supplies.  The  war  closed  before  the 
brigade  saw  much  active  service. 

At  the  time  of  the  encampment  at  Lookout,  no  white 
man  lived  there,  as  it  was  before  the  purchase  of  the  land 
and  the  removal  of  the  Cherokees  to  the  Indian  Nation. 
Jack  Ross  was  then  the  Cherokee  chief  and  resided  in 
that  section.  Hence  the  site  near  the  city,  now  Chatta- 
nooga, was  first  known  as  Ross'  Landing. 

Darius  Browder,  the  father  of  William,  died  in  1812. 

In  1814,  William  Browder  was  married  to  Elizabeth 
Lackey,  of  Roane  County.  He  afterward  moved  to  what 
is  known  as  the  Hugh  Goddard  place  and  in  one  winter 
cleared  eleven  acres  of  land.  He  subsequently  moved  to 
the  Hagler  farm  on  Paint  Rock,  where  he  resided  until 
1835.  He  then  came  to  Pond  Creek  Valley,  to  the  place 
now  o^vned  by  his  son,  James  M.  Browder.  He  lived 
there  until  1862,  when  he  went  to  Georgia,  returning  to 
this  section  after  the  war  was  over.    Since  then  he  has 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  73 

lived  principally  with  his  son,  David  Browder,  and  since 
his  (David's)  decease,  with  his  widow. 

William  Browder  was  a  man  vigorous  in  mind  and 
body,  of  great  industry  and  sterling  integrity. 

It  would  naturally  follow  that  endowed  with  these 
qualities  his  life  was  eminently  useful  and  successful. 
The  history  of  his  life  would  be  the  history  of  the  sec- 
tion in  which  he  lived. 

When  he  came  to  Tennessee,  John  Sevier  the  first 
Governor  of  our  state  was  still  governor.  The  Cherokee 
Indians  occupied  our  section  and  warred,  roamed  and 
hunted  amid  the  virgin  forests  scarcely  touched  by  the 
axe  of  the  white  man.  He  had  seen  the  Indian  go  from 
their  hunting  grounds ;  the  wheat  and  corn  take  the  place 
of  the  forest ;  school-houses,  churches,  railroads  and  all 
the  concomitants  of  civilization  rise  where  erstwhile 
roamed  the  bear  and  deer. 

He  has  seen  a  great  number  of  his  descendants  grow 
to  be  good  and  useful  men  and  occupy  prominent  posi- 
tions in  the  country.  He  can  count  his  descendants  in 
various  parts  of  the  Union.  There  are  few,  if  any  of 
them  who  do  not  reflect  credit  upon  the  name.  Many  of 
his  children  and  grandchildren  have  passed  before  him 
to  the  other  shore.  They  will  be  there  to  welcome  his 
coming  at  the  Golden  Gates. 

He,  more  than  most  men,  because  of  such  a  long  and 
useful  life,  has  seen  the  abundant  harvests  of  his  good 
works  while  still  alive.  Whatever  was  for  good  and  for 
the  upbuilding  of  society  he  has  been  foremost  in,  and 
has  spent  his  time  and  money  for  its  success. 

One  of  his  last  works  was  the  Browder  Memorial 
Church,  for  the  building  of  which  he  furnished  the  prin- 
cipal part  of  the  money. 

He  was  an  ardent  man  and  took  an  active  part  in  busi- 
ness, in  politics  and  church  matters.  In  politics  he  was 
a  democrat. 

When  President  Cleveland  visited  Atlanta,  Mr.  Brow- 
der went  down  saying  that  he  wished  to  shake  hands 
with  another  Democratic  President  before  he  died. 

When  voting  day  came  around,  he  was  always  to  be 
found  at  the  polls.  He  thought  it  as  much  a  duty  to  vote 
as  to  go  to  church. 

He  was  a  zealous  Methodist  and  contributed  greatly 


74  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

to  the  success  of  that  societj'  in  this  section  of  the  coun- 
try. He  always  went  to  preaching  and  there  is  hardly 
a  man,  woman  or  child  in  a  circuit  of  ten  miles  who  has 
not  heard  Brother  Bxowder  lead  in  prayer.  He  sup- 
ported his  church  with  time  and  means.  He  believed 
that  each  church  should  meet  promptly  its  obligations, 
pecuniary  as  well  as  religious,  and  he  labored  to  that 
end. 

In  all  the  relations  of  life,  as  farmer,  neighbor,  cit- 
izen, church  member  and  as  father  of  a  numerous  fam- 
ily, he  has  been  everything  that  could  be  desired.  Few 
men  in  any  country  have  been  loved,  revered  and  re- 
spected as  he  was.  He  has  indeed  been  a  good  and  faith- 
ful servant  and  has  gone  to  his  rew^arcl. " 

Children  of  William  and  Elizabeth  Browder:  Mary- 
line,  oldest  child,  married  James  Stone.  Their  children 
were  Malinda  and  Elizabeth.  Malinda  married  Wm. 
Murray  of  Pond  Creek  Valley,  in  the  fall  of  1850.  They 
moved  to  Missouri  and  reared  a  large  farmily.  Eliz- 
abeth was  married  to  Estel  Low^e  in  the  fall  of  1851. 
There  w^ere  six  of  the  Lowe  children,  5  boys  and  1  girl. 
James  now  living  in  Knoxville;  David,  dead;  '' Billy '^ 
lives  in  Texas;  Samuel  and  Lee  both  dead;  Josephine 
died  at  the  age  of  8  years. 

Elizabeth  Stone  Lowe  died  in  1863  or  1864. 

William,  third  child  and  second  son  of  William  and 
E.  B.,  b.  in  1822.  He  married  Sarah  Deatherage  in  1848. 
She  died  at  Harriman  in  1911,  aged  90  years.  Tliey  lived 
in  Sweetwater  Valley  many  years,  part  of  the  time  at 
County  Line  the  D.  A.,  now  C.  0.  Browder  place.  They 
went  from  there  to  near  Nashville.  They  came  probably 
in  the  early  80 's  to  Meigs  County,  where  he  died  in 
1906.    They  had  no  family. 

Darius,  son  of  William  and  E.  B.,  was  b. . 

He  moved  to  Bradley  County,  where  he  died  in  1892. 

John  Jefferson  (oldest  son  of  W.  and  E.  B.),  b.  Nov. 
9,  1818 ;  d.  July  14,  1903. 

James  Madison  (son  of  W.  and  E.  B.),  b.  October  16, 
1824;  d.  September  10,  1902. 

Nancv  Jane  Crump  (daughter  of  W.  and  E.  B.),  b. 
May  1?;  1839;  d.  April  25,  1872. 

(She  married  J.  H.  Pickel  w^hom  see.) 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  75 

David  A.,  youngest  son  of  W.  and  E.  B.,  b.  March  2, 
1835 ;  d.  April  6,  1883. 

John  Jefferson  Browder 

Was  born  near  Lenoir  City,  Tenn.,  on  November  9, 
1818.  He  was  married  to  Elizabeth  J.  Lotspeich,  De- 
cember 12, 1844.  (See  Lotspeich.)  She  was  born  March 
7,  1825.  He  was  a  farmer.  They  first  resided  in  Pond 
Creek  Valley  and  then  afterwards  moved  to  the  Brickel 
place,  a  short  time  previous  to  the  Civil  War.  He  died 
there  on  July  14,  1903,  and  there  his  widow  still  re- 
sides.    Their  children  were: 

(One)  Elizabeth  A.  Browder,  b.  October  10,  1845. 

(Two)  Mary  F.,  b.  August  24,  1847.  Married  Wm. 
Cleveland.     (See  his  history.) 

(Third)  Amanda  J.,  b.  April  12,  1849.  Married  A.  J. 
Dickev. 

(Fourth)  William  L.,  b.  N'ovember  29,  1850;  d.  July 
7,  1878. 

(Fifth)  Sarah  A.,  b.  August  13,  1862;  d.  September  4, 
1867. 

(Sixth)  John  W.,  b.  April  1,  1854;  d.  April  18,  1890. 

(Seventh)   Chas.  D.,  b.  January  27,  1856. 

(Eighth)  Nancy  E.,  b.  February  19,  1858;  d.  March 
27    188'^ 

'(Ninth)  Alice,  b.  March  11,  1866. 

(Tenth)   Samuel  L.,  b.  September  10,  1868. 

(Eleventh)  Charles  D.  married  Nettie  Adldns  Novem- 
ber 7,  1888.  (See  Adkins.)  He  is  a  farmer.  Justice  of 
the  Peace.  He  resides  near  his  mother.  The  family  of 
C.  D.  and  Nettie  Browder  are : 

Mildred,  b.  August  14,  1889. 

Ernest,  b.  December  9,  1890.  He  resides  at  Port  Gib- 
son, Miss. 

Eli,  b.  May  27,  1894.  Student  at  Emory  and  Henry 
College. 

Margaret,  b.  August  29,  1897. 

Amanda  J.  Browder. 

Amanda  was  the  third  child  of  Jno.  Jefferson  and 
Elizabeth  L.  Browder.  She  married  Andrew  J.  Dickey, 
son  of  D.  H.  Dickey,  of  Pond  Creek  Valley,  on  April  16, 


76  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

1872.  He  was  born  January  17,  1846.  They  resided  in 
Pond  Creek  Valley  until  August,  1889,  when  they  moved 
to  the  town  of  Sweetwater.  Their  children  are  five  in 
number : 

(1)  Hugh  Browder,  b.  March  6,  1873. 

(2)  Corry  Rebecca,  b.  March  26.  1875. 

(3)  David  Wesley,  b.  January  11,  1877. 
(4    Lela,  b.  August  1,  1880. 

(5)  Cecil,  b.  December  24,  1885. 

Corry  Rebecca  married  John  Brown,  son  of  Hon,  J.  K. 
Brown,  and  Sarah  E.  Brown,  October  29,  1895.  He 
(Jno.)  was  born  in  Meigs  County,  Tenn.,  on  November 
24,  1869.  His  father  came  to  Sweetwater  in  1882.  He 
is  cashier  of  the  Sweetwater  Trust  and  Savings  Bank. 
Their  children  are: 

(1)  Grace  Rebecca  Brown,  b.  October  8,  1896. 

(2)  Irene  Elizabeth  Brown,  b.  August  25,  1898. 

(3)  Leta  Jane  Brown,  b.  January  2,  1901. 

(4)  Gladys  Brown,  b.  October  3,  1903. 

D.  W.  Dickey  was  married  to  Mabel,  daughter  of 
W.  L.  and  M.  E.  Clark  on  January  17,  1907.  She  was 
born  January  18,  1875;  died  August  1,  1908.  Of  this 
marriage  there  was  one  child,  Mabel  C.  Dickey,  born  Au- 
gust 1,  1908.  He  married  (2)  Miss  Clarine  Lee,  daugh- 
ter of  Wm.  Thomas,  and  Margaret  Rhinehart  Lee,  of 
Waynesville,  N.  C,  February  18,  1914.  Mr.  Dickey  has 
been  depot  and  express  agent  for  the  Southern  R.  R.  Co., 
from  1902,  up  to  the  present  time  (1916). 

Hugh  Browder  was  married  to  Miss  Buna  Bowling  of 
Coal  Creek,  Tenn.,  June  20,  1912.  He  is  a  grocer  and 
produce  merchant  in  Sweetwater. 

Cecil  married  Major  J.  G.  Engleman  at  Sweetwater 
on  May  31,  1911.  He  was  educated  at  Virginia  Military 
Institute,  graduating  there  in  Elect.  Eng.  1908.  He 
was  teacher  of  mathematics  and  modern  language  and 
assistant  commandant  at  T.  M.  I.  from  1908-1915.  He 
was  born  in  Lexington,  Va.,  on  August  26,  1886.  His 
postoffice  is  now  (1915),  Lexington,  Va. 


history  of  sweetwater  valley  77 

Lela  Dickey 

Was  the  second  daughter  of  Andrew  J.  and  Amanda 
B.  Dickey.  She  was  married  to  Henry  Lee  Cecil,  Oc- 
tober 25,  1905.  He  was  born  in  Pulaski,  Va.,  on  March 
8th,  1865.  He  is  secretary  and  treasurer  of  Taylor- 
Christian  Hat  Co.,  Bristol,  Tenn.  Tlieir  children  are 
three  in  number : 

1.  Elizabeth  Eloise,  b.  September  18,  1906. 

2.  Juanita  Blanche,  b.  November  20,  1910. 

3.  Henry  Lee,  Jr.,  b.  October  24,  1912. 

Alice,  the  sixth  daughter  of  J.  J.  and  E.  L.  B.,  was 
married  to  Dr.  Joseph  Albert  Hardin  on  April  16, 1900. 
He  was  born  in  Meigs  County  on  December  10,  1866.  He 
was  the  son  of and Hardin.  He  re- 
ceived the  degree  of  M.  D.  at  Vanderbilt  University  in 
1883.    He  was  a  partner  of  Dr.  D.  N.  Browder  from  1894 

to  1899.    Partner  of  Dr. McClain  from  1899  to 

1905.  He  is  now  (1915)  a  practising  physician  in  Sweet- 
water.   He  has  had  no  partner  since  1905. 

James  Madison  Browder 

Was  born  in  Meigs  County,  October  16,  1824.  He 
moved  with  his  father  to  Roane  County,  then  to  the  old 
Browder  homestead  and  lived  there  in  Pond  Creek  Val- 
ley. He  bought  this  place  in  1868  and  lived  there  until 
1893. 

He  married  Letitia  Laird  Patterson  of  Meigs  County, 
November  29,  1849.  She  was  born  June  20,  1829,  and 
died  at  Sweetwater  July  4,  1879,  and  was  buried  at  Mt. 
Zion,  Meigs  County. 

James  M.  Browder  was  a  farmer.  Served  in  the  Con- 
federate army  as  a  conscripting  officer  and  refugeed  to 
Georgia  in  1863.  After  remaining  there  one  year  he  re- 
turned home  to  his  family.  He  moved  to  Sweetwater, 
December  12,  1893.  He  was  a  member  of  the  M.  E. 
Church,  South. 

He  died  at  Sweetwater,  September  10,  1902,  of  pneu- 
monia, and  was  buried  at  County  Line  Cemetery. 

The  children  of  his  first  wife  were : 

1.  Mary,  b.  August  8,  1851;  d.  February  7,  1888. 

2.  David  Newton,  b.  Julv  31, 1853 ;  d.  February  5, 1902. 

3.  Elizabeth,  b.  November  20,  1855. 


78  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

4.  Ellen,  b.  March  22,  1858. 

5.  James  Patterson,  b.  November  4,  1860.    Postoffice, 
Chattanooga,  Tenn. 

6.  John  Jetferson,  b.  October  15,  1863. 

7.  Horace  Lackey,  b.  May  17,  1868. 

8.  Lucv  Pickens,  b.  June  16,  1871 ;  d.  January  3,  1914. 

9.  Robert,  b.  July  27,  1874;  d.  April  16,  1908. 

1.  Mary  Browder  married  J.  L.  Suddath  of  Harriman, 
Tenn.,  on  October  25, 1887.    Their  children  were : 

(1)  Jennie,    b.    August,  1880.    Postoffice,  Harriman, 
Tenn. 

(2)  Carrie,  b. ,  1882.    Postoffice,  Murfreesboro, 

Tenn. 

(3)  Frank,  b.  October  25,  1884.    Emory  &  Henry,  Va. 

(4)  George,  b.  September  5,  1887.    ,  Texas. 


2.  David  Newton  studied  medicine  at  the  Electic  Col- 
lege, Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  got  his  diploma  in  1881.  He 
married  Emma  Byrd,  daughter  of  Thomas  Byrd,  of 
Roane  County,  on  September  1,  1881,  when  he  moved  to 
Sweetwater. 

He  and  Dr.  J.  A.  Hardin  were  partners  during  the 
years  1894-1899.  After  acquiring  a  lucrative  practice 
he  attended  lectures  and  took  a  course  of  hospital  prac- 
tice in  New  York  City.  He  died  February  5,  1902,  and 
was  interred  in  West  View  Cemetery. 

Emma  Byrd,  his  wife  was  born  July  9,  1857,  near 
Paint  Rock  Ferry,  Roane  County.  She  resides  in  Sweet- 
water.   Their  children  are : 

(1)  Byrd,  a  daughter,  born  October  28,  1882.  She 
was  musically  educated  at  the  Conservatory  in  Boston. 
Her  profession  was  music  teacher.  She  married  0.  K. 
Jones  on  January  3,  1914.  Their  child  ;  John  M.,  Jr., 
b.  December  11,  1914. 

(2)  Thomas,  b.  October,  1885. 


3.  Elizabeth  Browder    married    James    N.    Heiskell. 
(SeeHeiskells.) 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  79 

4.  Ellen  married  A.  A.  Green,  formerly  of  Kingston, 
Tenn.,  now  of  Boyd,  Texas,  on  October  30,  1879.  He  is 
a  merchant. 


3.  James  Patterson  Browder  was  a  druggist  at  Phila- 
delphia, Tenn.,  from  1887  to  1892  when  he  moved  to 
Harriman.  He  married  Maude  Critchell,  October  2, 
1895.  He  has  been  in  the  employment  of  the  Standard 
Oil  Co.,  since  1892.  His  present  residence  is  Chatta- 
nooga, Tenn.     His  children  are  : 

(1)  Byron,  b.  Jan.,  1899. 

(2)  and  (3)  James  and  Elise,  twins. 
(4)  Dorothy,  b.  June  1,  1908. 


6.  John  Jefferson  Browder  married  Bettie  Taylor,  of 
Morristown,  Tenn.,  on  November  25,  1889.  They  moved 
to  Washington  in  September,  1902,  where  he  engaged  in 
farming.  Present  postoffice  is  Oakdale.  Their  children 
are :  Svdney,  Anna,  Laura,  Van,  Robert,  Newton,  John, 
Kyle,  Elbert. 


7.  Horace  Lackey  Browder  married  Huldah  Cleve- 
land, daughter  of  Eli  Cleveland  on  June  14,  1910.  She 
was  born  in  Sweetwater  Valley,  June  7,  1884.  One  child, 
Susan  Laird,  was  born  October  27,  1911.  Horace  L.  B. 
is  now  postmaster  at  Sweetwater,  since  1913. 


8.  Lucy  Browder  married  W.  K.  Horton,  a  merchant 
in  Sweetwater,  on  October  12,  1899.  They  moved  to 
Waynesville,  N.  C,  in  April,  1909.  Afterwards  they 
moved  to  Harriman,  Tenn.  She  died  there.  Their  chil- 
dren are: 

Helen,  b.  January  21,  1901. 

W.  K.,  b.  May  17,  1903. 

Lucy  Browder,  b.  June  29,  1906. 

***** 

James  Madison  Browder   was   married    (second!)    to 


80  HISTOBY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Elizabeth  Armstrong,    daughter    of and   Jane 

Armstrong  of  McMinn  County,  Tenn.,  on  December  14, 
1890.  She  was  born  September  16,  1858,  and  died  at 
Sweetwater,  April  17,  1909.    Their  children  were : 

(1)  Samuel  P.,  b.  July  8,  1882;  d.  November  1,  1883. 

(2)  Clyde,  b.  , .    Married  May  Rodgers, 

of  Chattanooga,  in  1907.  They  went  to  Nashville  in 
1909.  Residence,  1403  Des  Monbreun  Street.  Employee 
of  the  Standard  Oil  Co.    Their  children  arer- 

Mary,  b.  July,  1908. 
Robert,  b.  July,  1910. 

(3)  Zelma  Lee,  b.  September  21,  1888.  Married  W. 
Roy  Plott,  now  of  Statesville,  N.  C,  on  April  22,  1914. 
They  have  one  child,  Elizabeth,  b.  March  13,  1915. 

David  A.  Browder. 

David  A.,  son  of  Wm.  Browder,  was  born  in  Roane 
Count}^,  March  2,  1835.  He  moved  to  Pond  Creek  about 
1840  or  1841.  Married  Rachel  Dickey,  October  12,  1858, 
the  Rev.  Mack  Lillard,  officiating.  Rachel  Dickey  was 
born  April  17,  1837.  David  A.  Browder  was  a  farmer. 
He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
Tennessee,  November,  1877,  for  McMinn  County.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  South.  He  moved 
to  the  Rowan  (Brett)  place,  at  County  Line,  in  1866,  and 
died  there  April  6,  1883,  and  is  buried  at  County  Line 
Cemetery.     He  died  of  pneumonia.     His  children  are: 

(1)  William  D.,  b.  July,  1859. 

(2)  Elizabeth,  b.  August,  1861. 

(3)  D.  H.,  b.  September  29,  1863.  Commission  mer- 
chant. New  Orleans,  La. 

(4)  Frank  E.,  b.  May  21,  1867.  Manager  milling  com- 
pany, Mankato,  Minn. 

(5)  Chas.  0.,  b.  December,  1870. 

(6)  Hubert,  b.  October,  1878.  Commission  merchant, 
El  Paso,  Texas. 


William  D.,  married  Adda  Lou  Peak,  of  Meigs  County, 
October  5,  1887,  who  was  born  March  18,  1866.  He  is 
a  farmer  and  live  stock  dealer.     They   both   belong   to 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  81 

the  Soutliern  Methodist  Church.    Moved  to  Sweetwater 
in  1901.    Their  children  are : 

(1)  Boy,  d.  in  infancv. 

(2)  Hattie  May,  b.  1895. 


(5)  Chas.  0.,  was  married  to  Georgia  Duncan,  of  At- 
lanta, Ga.,  June  16,  1906.  She  was  born  at  Hayesville, 
N.  C,  August  1,  1869.  Her  father  was  J.  W.  Duncan,  a 
physician.  Her  mother  was  Mary  Curtis.  Their  chil- 
dren are : 

David  Duncan,  b.  May  29,  1907. 

Chas.  0.,  b.  September  23,  1909. 

Eli  Sandersox  Adkins 

Was  born  in  Massachusetts,  January  6,  1824;  d.  Feb- 
ruary 20,  1889.  His  father  was  Henry  Adkins,  and  his 
mother  was  Lucinda  Grace  Adkins,  who  was  born  No- 
vember 6,  1792 ;  d.  Nov.  23,  1869,  at  Philadelphia,  Tenn. 

E.  S.  Adkins  came  to  Talbot  Count}^,  Ga.,  when  a 
young  man.  He  was  twice  married,  first  to  Miss  Har- 
ris, of  Talbot  Countv.  They  had  three  daughters: 
Mary  Ann,  b,  July  19",  1849;  m.  E.  W.  Cozatt  in  1866. 
They  had  three  children :  Minnie,  b.  1878 ;  Rose,  b.  1880 ; 
Lee,  b.  1888. 

2.  Louisa  Jane,  b.  October  2,  1850;  m.  Joe  M.  Jones 
in  1869.    He  died  in  1870,  leaving  one  daughter,  Josie. 

Louisa  married  (second)  M.  C.  Duncan  in  1875.  Their 
children  were :  William,  b.  1875 ;  Walter,  b.  1877 ;  Worth, 
b.  1879;  Eli,  b.  1881;  Lenoir,  b.  1883;  Emma,  b.  1886; 
Ethel,  b.  1889. 

E.  S.  Adkins  married  (second)  Elizabeth  Mildred 
Childs,  of  Talbot  County,  Ga.  She  was  born  March  12, 
1841;  d.  March  7,  1874."  They  came  to  Philadelphia, 
Tenn.,  in  November,  1865.    Their  children  were : 

1.  Emma  Sophia,  b.  August  31,  1857.  Married  E.  C. 
Jones,  September  15,  1873.     (See  Jones.) 

2.  Fannie  Amelia,  b.  February  18,  1859,  in  Talbot 
County,  Ga. ;  m.  W.  G.  Lenoir.     (See  Lenoir.) 

3.  Nettie  Grav,  b.  January  5.  1861 ;  m.  C.  D.  Browder 
in  1888.     (See  Browder.) 


82  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

4.  Eli  Sandorson,  b.  April,  1863.  Married.  Wife  died 
leaving  one  daughter  who  is  married.  E.  S.  A.  is  a  mer- 
chant and  ranchman  and  lives  at  Pony,  Mont. 

5.  Annie  Mildred,  b.  April  26,  1866;  m.  W.  C.  Can- 
non in  1890.     (See  Cannon.) 

6.  Henry,  b.  January  5,  1868 ;  m.  Kate  Owen,  of  Sweet- 
water, Tenn.,  October,  1898.  Thev  have  two  daughters : 
Katherine,  b.  1900,  and  Henry  Taylor,  b.  1902.  They 
live  at  Pony,  Mont. 

7.  Charles  Childs,  b.  January  25,  1872 ;  m.  Grace  Big- 
low  in  1905.  He  died  in  1911.  They  lived  at  Livingston, 
Hont.     They  had  no  children. 

Franklin  King  Berry,  Sr. 

Was  born  near  Williamsburg,  Ky.,  March  25,  1809.  He 
married  Emily,  daughter  of  Thomas  Laughlin,  of  Phila- 
delphia, Tenn.  He  died  October  28, 1845.  He  was  buried 
in  the  old  cemetery  at  Philadelphia.  His  wife  was  born 
January  26,  1823,  and  died  October,  1884.  Mrs.  Berry's 
second  husband  was  W.  R.  Molleston,  of  Philadelphia, 
who  died  January  25,  1872,  at  age  of  63  years.  The  chil- 
dren of  F.  K.  and  Emily  Berry  were : 

One.  F.  K.  Berry.  He  was  born  at  Philadelphia,  De- 
cember 4,  1841.  He  was  a  practising  physician  and  a 
farmer.  He  married  Caroline  Cleveland,  daughter  of 
Robert  R.  Cleveland  on  April  15, 1868.  They  had  a  hand- 
some residence  not  far  from  the  Cleveland  Baptist 
Church  on  Sweetwater  Creek,  where  they  lived  during 
nearly  all  their  married  life. 

Mrs.  Berry  was  b.  February  2,  1843.  She  d.  Septem- 
ber 16,  1910.  Buried  in  West  View  Cemetery  at  Sweet- 
water. 

Children  of  Dr.  F.  K.  and  Mrs.  Caroline  Berry  are : 

1.  Frank  E.  Berry;  was  b.  January  28,  1869.  He  m. 
Julia,  daughter  of  J.  L.  Willson,  of  Pond  Creek  Valley. 
He  (Berry),  is  a  farmer  and  lives  at  Marble  Bluff  in  Lou- 
don County  on  the  Tennessee  River,  seven  miles  from 
Loudon,  his  postoffice. 

2.  Robert  S.  C.  Berry,  b.  December  30,  1870;  m.  Ber- 
tie Healan,  of  Ringgold,  Ga.,  December  9,  1897.  He  is 
a  merchant  and  resides  at  Morristown.  One  child,  Ro- 
berta, b.  June  7,  1900. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  83 

3.  Nina,  b.  October  14,  1873 ;  d.  July  27,  1897. 

4.  Emily  Ethel,  b.  November  4,  1875 ;  m.  J.  Frank  Mc- 
Guire,  December  17,  1894,  He  is  a  farmer.  They  reside 
in  Sweetwater. 

The  children  of  J.  F.  and  E.  E.  McGuire  are : 
Charles  Euclid,  b.  September  28,  1895 ;  Dorothy  Car- 
oline, b.  August  23,  1897;  Frank  Ralph,  b.  January  1, 
1900 ;  Hilda,  b.  January  7,  1903 ;  Jean  Nicholas,  b.  Feb- 
ruary 24,  1906;  Halstead,  b.  October  11,  1909;  Ethel  B., 
b.  September  16,  1912. 

5.  Luke  Danton,  b.  July  26,  1879;  m.  Julia  Stowers. 
Tlieir  address  is  Cushing,  Okla. 

Annie  Eliza,  b.  September  21,  1881;  m.  Virgil  T. 
Rausin,  June  6,  1906.  He  is  a  merchant  in  Sweetwater. 
Children  are : 

V.  T.  Rausin,  Jr.,  b.  June  13,  1907 ;  Kermit  Wendell 
Rausin,  b.  April  1,  1910;  Buford  Quentin,  b.  March  25, 
1916. 


Two.  Sidney,  b.  in  Philadelphia,  August  17,  1844. 
(See  C.  Y.  Caldwell.) 

Charles  Y.  Caldwell. 

Charles  Y.  Caldwell  was  born  in  Pike  County,  Georgia, 
February  17,  1847.  He  came  to  Sweetwater  Valley  with 
his  mother  in  1855,  wdio  came'  to  Philadelphia,  Tenn.,  in 
that  year.  He  w^as  married  to  Sidne}^  Berry,  of  Phila- 
delphia, on  November  5,  1868.  She  was  born  in  Phila- 
delphia, August  17,  1844.  He  engaged  in  farming  while 
located  there.  He  moved  to  California  in  1875  and 
moved  back  to  Tennessee  in  1876,  where  he  farmed  at 
the  old  home  place  until  1901,  when  he  went  to  Wuako- 
mis,  Okla.     Their  children  are : 

Charles  Sydney,  b.  December  20, 1872 ;  m.  Mary  Kline, 
of  Loudon,  Tenn.,  May  6, 1896,  going  to  Waukomis,  Okla., 
where  they  now  live. 

Robert  Marvin,  b.  June  7, 1878 ;  m.  Maude,  daughter  of 
J.  L.  Willson,  January  18,  1911,  going  to  Waukomis  to 
make  it  their  home. 

Fred.  Roy,  b.  April  7,  1883 ;  m.  Bertie  D.  Johnston,  of 
Oklahoma  City,  August  6,  1913.    They  live  at  Wuakomis. 


84  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Martha  Emily,  b.  in  California,  September  1,  1875; 
d.  December  18,  1876. 

Frank  Berry,  b.  August  15,  1869 ;  d.  December,  1898. 
Mary,  b.  January  15,  1871 ;  d.  December  18,  1876. 

T.  W.  Bellamy 

Was  born  in  Louisa  County,  Va.,  June  15,  1806.  He 
came  to  Sweetwater  Vallev  in  1853.  He  married  Sarah 
Griffin,  April  3,  1828.  She  was  born  June  4,  1809,  and 
died  December  27,  1887.  T.  W.  B.  died  September  4, 
1889.  Their  children  were : 
■    William,  b.  December  23,  1828 ;  d.  July  15,  1847. 

Mary  Ann,  b.  April  13,  1830;  d.  August  28,  1854. 

John  Daniel,  b.  September  20,  1831.  Lives  in  Benton, 
111. 

Newton  Walker,  b.  June  28,  1833. 

Thomas  Conner,  b.  in  Louisa  County,  Va.,  February 
16,  1835. 

He  came  to  Sweetwater  with  his  father  in  1853.  He 
was  employed  in  the  cooper  shop  of  McClung,  Dobbins 
&  Clayton.  He  was  married.  His  children  were  eleven 
in  number:  six  boys  and  five  girls.  Four  girls  died 
single.  Three  of  the  sons  are  married.  Andy,  the  old- 
est one,  is  the  father  of  eleven  children.  He  is  employed 
by  Moore  &  Co.,  barytes  manufacturers. 

Andrew  Bellamy,  son  of  T.  W.  B.,  was  born  October 
15,  1838.  In  the  Civil  War  he  enlisted  in  Colonel  Jno. 
A.  Rowan's  regiment,  67th,  C.  S.  A.,  Company  D.,  Cap- 
tain Robert  Rowan,  Priscilla  Frances,  daughter  of 
T.  W.  B.,  b.  October  28,  1840;  m.  W.  B.  Sample,  Julv  25, 
1858.  W.  B.  Sample  was  b.  August,  1833 ;  cl.  1899.  Eliz- 
abeth Melissa,  b.  April  4,  1843 ;  m.  Professor  J.  S.  Cline ; 
she  died  June  19, 1913.  Henry  Washington,  b.  December 
26,  1848.    He  is  a  Baptist  minister  of  Mendota,  Va. 

Alexander  Biggs 

Was  one  of  the  oldest  settlers  in  Sweetwater  Valley. 
He  acquired  land  in  1820  soon  after  the  Hiwassee  Dis- 
trict was  open  for  settlement.  On  his  tract  adjoining 
Mayes  and  Heiskell  near  the  large  spring  on  the  north 
side  of  the  now  town  of  Sweetwater,  he  built  a  one- 
story  brick  residence,  which  is  still  standing.     This  is 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  85 

one  of  the  oldest  brick  houses  in  the  valley.  It  was  oc- 
cupied continuously  by  the  Biggs  until  the  yeav  

when  the  farm  was  purchased  by  G.  M.  McKnight.  In- 
formation in  regard  to  the  Biggs  family  is  now  hard  to 
obtain,  as  there  are  no  li\T.ng  descendants  in  this  section; 
one  son  went  to  California  and  his  address  is  not  known 
to  the  writer. 

Alexander  Biggs;  date  of  birth,  death  and  where 
came  from,  not  known.  Isabella  Biggs  (inscription  on 
stone  in  Sweetwater  Cemetery)  was  born  January  7, 
1789 ;  died  January  12,  1877.  She  was  the  wife  of  Alex. 
Biggs.     Their  children  were  : 

Mary  Ann,  Nancy,  Alexander  Hamilton  and  J.  M. 
Mary  Ann  and  Hamilton  never  married.  Nancy  m.  Rev. 
Thos.  R.  Bradshaw,  April  2,  1861;  no  children.  Mr. 
Bradshaw  was  a  learned  Presbyterian  minister  and  was 
the  second  pastor  of  the  New  School  Presbyterian  Church 
at  Sweetwater,  Rev.  Thos.  Brown,  of  Philadelphia, 
Tenn.,  having  been  the  first.  (See  history  of  Presby- 
terian Church.) 

Solomon  Bogart 

"Was    the    son    of    Abram    and Duncan    Bogart, 

formerly  of  Washington  County.  They  moved  to  King- 
ston, Tenn.,  and  then  to  Athens,  Tenn. 

Solomon  Bogart  was  born  in  Washington  County  on 
January  4,  1800.  He  died  at  his  home  (which  was 
located  where  the  Bogart  High  School  building  now 
stands),  at  Philadelphia,  on  June  9,  1878.  His  wife  was 
Ann  Moore.  She  was  born  December  21,  1821.  She  died 
November  24,  1860. 

Solomon  Bogart  was  a  hotel  keeper,  teacher  and  land 
surveyor.  He  first  kept  hotel  at  Athens,  Tenn.,  which 
he  advertised  as  a  strictly  temperance  hotel,  meaning  by 
that,  that  he  allowed  no  one  drinking  or  carrying  whiskey 
with  them  to  put  up  at  his  hotel.  I  have  been  told  that 
he  refused  to  keep  General  Winfield  Scott  because  the 
general  carried  a  bottle,  and  on  stated  occasions  took  his 
toddy. 

Solomon  Bogart  came  to  Philadelphia,  Tenn.,  from 
Athens,  Tenn.,  in  1847.  He  was  a  leading  member  of 
the  Presbyterian  church,  which  was  located  in  the  cem- 


86  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

etery  across  the  creek  from  and  west  of  the  town  of 
Philadelphia.  He  reared  a  large  family,  eight  of  whom 
reached  years  of  maturity  and  became  highly  respected 
and  influential  citizens.     These  children  were : 

1.  Franklin,  b.  May  23,  1827;  d.  May  8,  1887. 

2.  Margaret,  b.  Julv  12,  1829 ;  d.  August  5,  1879 ;  m.  J. 
W.  Goddard.     (See  Goddard.) 

3.  Newton,  b.  October  14,  1831 ;  d.  May  26,  1889. 

4.  Columbus,  b. ,  1833 ;  d.    during   the   war    at 

Danville,  Ind.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  Civil  War,  serv- 
ing on  the  staff  of  General  Spears,  U.  S.  A. 

5.  Susan,  b.  August  21,  1836;  m.  "W.  Cannon.  (See 
Cannons.) 

6.  Elizabeth,  b.  February  8,  1839 ;  d.  July  6,  1898. 

7.  Barbara,  b.  September  19,  1840 ;  d.  July  22,  1866. 
(See  S.  Y.  B.  Williams.) 

8.  Martha,  b.  January  6,  1844.  Resides  at  Philadel- 
phia, with  her  sister,  Mrs.  W.  Cannon, 

9.  Mary  Cornelia,  b.  September  26,  1845 ;  d.  Nov.  21, 
1864. 

1.  Dr.  Franklin  Bogart  studied  medicine  and  settled 
at  Tellico  Plains,  Tenn.  On  January  21,  1857,  he  was 
married  (first)  to  Elizabeth  McEwen,  daughter  of 
George  and  Sarah  Gaines.  He  came  to  Sweetwater  soon 
after  the  town  was  started,  purchased  property  and 
practised  his  profession  until  his  death.  His  first  wife 
died  October  8,  1873.  They  are  both  buried  in  the  old 
cemetery  at  Sweetwater.    Their  children  were : 

(1)  Thomas  Cannon,  d.  in  1860  at  the  age  of  3  years. 

(2)  Walter  G.,  b.  April  13,  1858;  m.  Lorella  Magill, 
OctolDer  15, 1884.  He  studied  medicine  at  Nashville  and 
graduated  in  the  medical  department  of  the  University 
of  Tennessee.  He  is  also  a  post  graduate  of  Belle  View 
Medical  College  of  New  York.  He  practised  his  profes- 
sion in  Sweetwater  until  1888.  He  then  went  to  Chatta- 
nooga and  was  a  partner  of  Dr.  G.  C.  Magee.  He  was 
Professor  of  Diseases  of  Women  and  Obstetrics  in  the 
Medical  College  at  Chattanooga  for   twenty-one  years. 

-  He  was  founder  of  the  Highlands  Sanatarium  in  that 
city.  Lorella  Magill  was  daughter  of  Jas.  Magill  and 
Lizzie  Lowry  and  granddaughter  of  James  L.  and  sister 
of  Harrison  and  Robt.  Lowry. 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  87 

The  children  of  W.  G.  and  Lorella  Bogart  are: 
Elizabeth  G.,  m.  T.  C.  Olney  in  1910.    Franklin  Magill, 
b,  at  Sweetwater  in  March,  1888. 

(3)  John  Newton,  b.  June  2,  1862,  third  son  of  F.  and 
E.  Bogart ;  was  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Tennes- 
see and  took  the  course  in  literature  at  Johns  Hopkins 
University.  He  afterwards  took  a  similar  course  at  the 
University  of  Oxford,  England.  He  was  a  teacher  of 
English  in  the  schools  of  New  Orleans,  La.,  at  the  time 
of  his  death 

(4)  Anna,  b.  December  20,  1864;  d.  February  7,  18'93. 

(5)  William  Moore,  fourth  son  of  F.  and  E.  Bogart, 
was  born  February  27,  1867.  He  married  Keturah  M. 
Thompson,  November  10,  1892,  She  is  the  daughter  of 
Franklin  Blevins  and  Gurley  Thompson,  of  Chattanooga. 
Their  children  are  Franklin  Blevins,  b.  May  15,  1894; 
Martha  Josephine,  b.  June  7,  1898,  and  Emma  Mary,  b. 
January  7,  1901. 

W.  M.  B.  is  a  practising  physician  at  Chattanooga. 

(6)  Frank  Augustus,  b.  in  1868;  d.  at  3  years  of  age. 
Dr.  Franklin  Bogart  married  (second)  Martha   Ellen 

Cannon,  daughter  of  Robert  and  Ann  Galbraith  Cannon, 
on  October  28,  1879.    She  resides  at  Sweetwater. 

3.  New^ton,  second  son  of  Solomon  and  Ann  Bogart, 
when  a  young  man  was  employed  by  William  Lenoir  and 
Brothers  at  Lenoir's,  Tenn.,  in  the  early  fifties,  and  re- 
mained with  them  until  1870,  when  he  was  employed  by 
the  E.  T.  V.  &  G.  R.  R.  as  master  of  trains,  and,  after- 
wards as  superintendent.  He  was  a  director  anct  stock- 
holder of  the  East  Tennessee  National  Bank  of  Knox- 
ville,  Tenn.,  and  died  possessed  of  a  considerable  for- 
tune, a  part  of  which  he  left  to  Loudon  and  Monroe  coun- 
ties, the  interest  on  the  amounts  given  to  be  applied 
yearly  to  the  public  school  fund. 

John  D.  Bowman. 

The  Bowman  family,  as  the  name  implies,  came  from 
England. 

John  D.  Bow^man  was  born  in  Blount  County,  Tenn., 
March  4,  1816.  He  was  married  to  Susan  Jackson,  who 
was  born  March  5,  1820.  She  was  the  oldest  child  of 
Josiah  and  Mary  Jackson,  of  Blount  County.  They 
came  to  Sweetwater  Vallev   and    settled   near   the   big 


88  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

spring  one  and  one-half  miles  south  of  Sweetwater,  on 
the  tract  now  ow^ned  by  Kilpatrick.  They  lived  there  un- 
til October  1,  1857,  when  they  moved  to  Texas,  where  he 
purchased  land  in  Collins  County,  dying  at  Piano,  Feb- 
ruary 27,  1852.  Collins  County  was  very  sparsely  set- 
tled at  the  time  he  moved  there  as  one  of  the  pioneers — 
his  descendants  are  now  prominent  among  a  prosperous 
and  numerous  people. 

The  children  of  John  D.  and  Susan  Bowman  were: 

1.  Marv,  b.  February  2,  1839;  d.  February  25, 1875. 

2.  Julia,  b.  February  1,  1840;  d.  September  5,  1868. 

3.  Jackson,  b.  November  6,  1841. 

4.  George,  b.  April  19,  1844. 

5.  Nancy. 

6.  James,  and  Callie,  all  three  of  whom  died  when 
children,  at  the  Bowman  place  near  Sweetwater,  of  scar- 
let fever  in  the  epidemic  of  that  disease,  in  the  summer 
of  1856.  They  were  buried  in  the  old  Jackson  burying 
ground,  in  Blount  County,  on  the  Little  Tennessee  River. 

8.  Fannie,  b.  in  1852,  m.  James  Florence,  of  Piano, 
Texas ;  had  no  children. 

1.  Mary  married  Wm.  Lovelace.  Their  children  were 
Laura,  John,  William,  James,  Ella  and  George. 

2.  Julia  married  Joseph  Eussell,  of  Plana,  Texas,  and 
had  one  child,  John. 

3.  Jackson  married  Dora  Dye,  of  Piano,  whose  daugh- 
ter, Flora,  married  Edgar  Wall,  of  Tampa,  Fla.,  whose 
children  were :    Jack,  Minnie,  May  and  James  B. 

4.  George  W.,  who  married  Eliza  McFarland,  Feb- 
ruary 3,  1875,  wdio  died  January  29,  1890.  They  had  one 
son,  J.  Richard  Bowman,  who  w^as  born  April  17,  1876. 
He  was  a  lawyer  a  Piano,  Texas,  and  died  July  17,  1914. 
He  was  married  to  Edna  Dilley,  of  Palestine,  Texas,  on 
Februarv  1,  1911.    Their  children  were: 

Edna,'b.  January  22,  1879.    Died  October  20,  1885. 

Russell,  b.  July  17,  1888 ;  d.  September  11,  1910. 

The  father  of  these  children,  J.  Richard  Bow^man  en- 
dowed a  school  in  honor  of  his  mother,  Eliza,  at  Cien- 
fuegos,  Cuba. 

George  W.  Bowman  married  (second)  Mrs.  Honaker, 
of  Tampa,  Fla. 

Henry  Bowman  married .  Had  three  children. 


history  of  sweetwater  valley  89 

Rev.  Thomas  Brown 

Was  born  in  Rockbridge   County,  Virginia,  December 

27,  1800,  and  was  the  son  of  James  Brown,  who  came  to 
Blount  County,  Tenn.,  in  1803  or  1804.  When  a  young 
man  Thomas  Browoi  went  first  to  Bradley  County,  Tenn., 
locating  at  a  town  called  Columbiana,  which  place  does 
not  now  exist.  There  he  followed  his  trade  as  black- 
smith until  he  went  to  Kingston,  Tenn.  He  then  en- 
tered school  to  prepare  himself  for  the  ministry.  On 
April  10,  1834,  he  married  Jane  N".  Patton,  who  was  the 
daughter  of  David  and  Elizabeth  Patton,  of  Kingston, 
at  which  place  Jane  Patton  was  born  on  November  19, 
1817. 

Thomas  Brown  was  ordained  a  minister  of  the  Pres- 
byterian church,  September  22,  1827.  He  took  charge  of 
the  Presbyterian  churches  at  Kingston  and  Philadelphia 
in  November,  1828,  and  remained  with  them  until  1866, 
'when,  on  account  of  ill  health,  he  gave  up  the  work.  He 
preached  at  Sweetwater  Presbyterian  Church,  as  first 
pastor,  in  1859-60.  He  died  at  his  home  near  Philadel- 
phia, April  21,  1872,  and  his  wife  died  there  on  January 

28,  1897.  They  are  both  buried  at  the  Philadelphia 
cemetery. 

The  Rev.  Thomas  Brown  took  both  the  theological  and 
literary  courses  at  Maryville  College,  Maryville,  Tenn. 
The  children  of  Thomas  and  Elizabeth  Brov^m  were : 

1.  Ignatius  Cvprian,  b.  March  10,  1835;  d.  March  21, 
1900. 

2.  Marv,  b.  March  30,  1836 ;  d.  September  29,  1837. 

3.  Rowena,  b.  Julv  2,  1838;  d.  December  9,  1908.  (See 
T.  J.  Moore.) 

4.  William  Leonidas,  b.  Januarv  9,  1840. 

5.  Nancy,  b.  1843. 

6.  David  J.,  b.  March  26,  1844. 

7.  Marv  E.,  b.  January  19,  1846;  d.  August  2,  1888. 

8.  Susannah,  b.  January  13,  1847 ;  d.  April  23,  1849. 

9.  H.  Virginia. 

10.  Laura  A. 

1.  Ignatius  Cyprian  Brown  married  Ruth  Hamlet,  of 
Indiana.  He  died  at  Columbus  Junction,  Ind.  They 
had  four  children: 


90  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

(1)  Jennie,  m.  Hall.    Live  at  Columbus  Junction,  Ind. 

(2)  W.  T.,  is  a  druggist  at  that  place. 

(3)  Harry  L.,  unmarried.  A  pliarmacist  at  Denver, 
Col. 

(4)  Hadley,  unmarried.    A  physician  at  Okatee,  Okla. 
4.  William  Leonidas,  second  son  of  Thomas  and  Jane 

Patton  Brown,  was  born  at  Kingston,  Tenn.,  and  came 
with  his  father  to  Monroe  County  in  1847.  He  w^as  mar- 
ried to  Sydney  G.  Hood,  daughter  of  Parker  and  Amanda 
Torbett  Hood,  on  Februarv  9,  1875.  She  was  born  Au- 
gust 17,  1847,  and  died  October  18,  1894. 

Hon.  W.  L.  Brown  is  a  farmer  and  lives  on  his  farm, 
and  in  the  house  built  by  his  father  in  1848,  one  mile 
south  of  Philadelphia,  on  the  Fork  Creek  road.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Forty-seventh  General  Asseinbly  of 
Tennessee,  upper  house,  1891-92.  He  was  elected  jus- 
tice of  the  peace  for  the  Fourth  District  of  Monroe 
Countv  in  1875,  and  has  served  continuouslv  until  this 
time,  1916.  The  children  of  W.  L.  and  "Sydney  H. 
Brown : 

1.  Clara  Maude,  d. 

2.  Cecil,  m.  Buena  V.  West.  He  is  teacher  in  high 
school  at  Sweetwater,  Tenn. 

3.  Thomas  G.,  m.  Nettie  Walker  in  August,  1907,  in 
Jefferson  County.  He  is  superintendent  of  city  schools 
at  Calumnet,  Mich. 

4.  John  P.,  b.  1883 ;  m.  Hazel  Jones,  Morristown,  Tenn. 
He  is  a  civil  engineer. 

5.  Huldah. 

6.  Jane  Sydney. 

7.  Lois  Amanda,  b.  January  31,  1893;  d.  September 
24,  1901. 

Major  John  Calloway^. 

The  history  given  below  was  mostly  obtained  from 
Mrs.  Sarah  WiUson,  widow  of  James  Willson,  deceased, 
of  Niota,  Tenn. 

Major  John  Calloway  came  from  the  upper  Yadkin 
valley,  Wilkes  County,  N.  C,  where  Eli  and  Presley 
Cleveland  and  William  B.  Lenoir  came  from.  They 
were  all  descendants  of  King's  Mountain  heroes.  From 
the  purchases  of  land  made  by  them  in  this  country  it  is 
almost  certain  that  they  were  in  fairly  comfortable  cir- 


HISTORY  OP  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  91 

cumstances  when  they  moved  from  North  Carolina  to 
Tennessee. 

John  Calloway  moved  to  Knox  County  and  settled  on 
Beaver  Creek.    He  was  sheriff  of  that  county  at  one  time. 

"When  the  Hiwassee  District  was  surveyed  and  opened 
to  purchase  in  1820,  the  Clevelands  and  the  Calloways 
bought  numerous  tracts.  John  Calloway  w^as  the  pur- 
chaser of  the  northeast  c[uarter  of  section  18,  township 
1,  range  2,  east.     Date  of  sale  w^as  November  29,  1820. 

Eli  Cleveland  and  John  Calloway,  together,  purchased 
entry  number  365,  160  acres,  the  southwest  quarter  sec- 
tion 17,  township  1,  range  2,  east.  Eli  Cleveland  bought 
the  southwest  quarter  of  section  18,  township  1,  range  2, 
east.  The  records  of  the  Baptist  church,  then  consti- 
tuted on  Fork  Creek  in  1820,  afterwards  the  Baptist 
church  on  Sw^eetwater  Creek,  near  the  old  Eli  Cleveland 
place,  show  that  he  was  connected  with  that  church  in 
1821.  As  to  John  Calloway,  the  church  books  of  that 
church  show  that  he  joined  the  church  by  letter,  in  May, 
1827.  It  is  ])robable  that  he  did  not  move  to  the  valley 
until  about  that  time.  He  built  the  first  brick  house  that 
was  built  in  the  valley,  if  not  in  the  county.  Mrs.  Will- 
son  thinks  that  it  antedated  the  old  Meigs  residence, 
which  stood  west  of  the  old  Reagan  residence,  at  Reagan 
Station.  The  brick  house  built  by  Calloway  stood  at  or 
near  the  site  of  the  Berry  residence,  near  the  Cleveland 
Baptist  Church,  two  miles  southwest  of  Philadelphia. 

John  Calloway  was  prominent  in  church  affairs.  His 
name  was  often  mentioned  with  Snead,  Fine  and  Cleve- 
land, as  a  delegate  to  Baptist  associations  and  conven- 
tions. The  members  of  the  Calloway  family  have  rec- 
ords in  the  Baptist  church  in  Sweetwater  as  follows : 

John  Calloway,  received  by  letter  the  fourth  Saturday 
in  May,  1827. 

Sarah  Calloway,  received  by  experience  fourth  Satur- 
day in  January,  1830. 

Joseph  Calloway,  received  by  experience  fourth  Sat- 
urday in  July,  1832. 

Joseph,  liberated  for  exhortation  fourth  Saturday  in 
April,  1833. 

Joseph,  ordained  a  minister  fourth  Saturday  in  No- 
vember, 1838. 


92  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAL,LEY 

Joseph,  granted  letter  of  dismission  fourth  Saturday 
in  January,  1839. 

Nancy  Calloway  (Webb),  received  by  experience  and 
baptism  July,  1832. 

Judy  Ann  Calloway,  received  by  experience  and  bap- 
tism July,  1839. 

James  Callo"way,  received  by  experience  and  baptism 
fourth  Saturday  in  July,  1839. 

E.  Malinda  Calloway,  received  by  experience  and  bap- 
tism fourth  Saturday  in  July,  1839. 

Hugh  L.  W.  Calloway,  received  by  experience  and  bap- 
tism fourth  Saturday  in  August,  1842. 

Judy  Ann  Calloway  (Moffatt),  dismissed  by  letter, 
fourth  Saturday  in  August,  1842. 

On  the  fourth  Saturday  in  February,  1844,  there  were 
granted  letters  of  dismission  to  Louisa  Hatchett  and 
also  to  John  Calloway  and  family,  viz :  Sarah  (his  wife), 
Nancy  Webb,  Hugh  L.  W.,  Polly  (Mary)  McReynolds, 
Malinda  Walker  and  James  H.  Calloway,  also  to  colored 
persons  (his  slaves),  Abraham,  Pinckney,  Patsy  and 
Chloe. 

John  Calloway  sold  out  to  Eli  Cleveland  and  moved 
to  Harrisonville,  Cass  County,  Mo.,  in  1842,  so  Mrs. 
Willson  says.  The  family  got  their  letters  of  dismission 
from  the  church,  as  above  recited,  in  1844,  but  as  not 
infrequentl}^  happens,  they  sent  back  after  them. 

Thomas  H.  Calloway,  whose  father  was  a  brother  of 
John  C,  used  to  live  with  his  uncle  until  he,  John  C, 
went  to  Missouri.  Thos.  C.  became  a  very  wealthy  man 
and  was  afterwards  president  of  the  East  Tennessee  and 
Georgia  Railroad. 

John  Calloway  married  Sarah  Hardin,  of  South  Car- 
olina.    Their  children  were: 

One.  Marshall,  died  on  Sweetwater  Creek. 

Two.  William  Saunders. 

Three.  Hugh  L.  W. 

Four.  Joseph,  d.  near  Springfield,  Mo.,  in  1869. 

Five.  James,  d.  in  Cass  County,  Mo. 

Six.  Nancy,  lived  and  died  in  1872,  in  Cass  County, 
Mo.    Married  Webb. 

Seven.  Judy  Ann,  d.  in  Cass  County,  Mo. ;  m.  Moffatt. 

Eiglit.  Mary,  d.  in  Harrisonville,  Mo.,  August  8,  1854; 
m.  McReynolds. 


HISTOKY  OP  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  93 

Nine.  Rebacca,  d.  in  Harrisonville,  Mo.,  in  1872;  m. 
Reagan. 

Ten.  Malinda,  d.  in  Lee's  Summit,  Mo.,  in  1873;  m. 
Walker. 

One.  Marshall  Calloway  was  a  phj^sician.  He  mar- 
ried Grace  Meigs,  a  sister  of  Return  J.  Meigs.  He  died 
at  the  Calloway  place,  as  above  stated.  They  had  two 
children :  Farrar,  who  married  Julia  Castella,  and  Mar- 
shall, who  married  Caroline  Kirby.  They  lived  in  Brad- 
ley County. 

Two.  William  Saunders  Calloway  married  Sarah 
Hurst,  daughter  of  Elijah,  and  sister  of  John  and  Russell 
Hurst,  of  McMinn  County.  He  was  clerk  of  the  county 
court  of  Monroe  County  1832-36.  He  moved  to  McMinn 
County,  near  Riceville,  Tenn.,  and  resided  there  until 
his  death.  He  was  buried  in  the  family  cemetery  on  his 
farm.     They  were  the  parents  of  eleven  children: 

1.  Marshall;  2.  John;  3.  William;  4.  Thomas;  5.  El- 
vira ;  6.  Sarah ;  7.  Malinda ;  8.  Emma ;  9.  Laura ;  10.  Cor- 
nelia ;  11.  Addie.    Emma  and  Laura  were  twins. 

1.  Marshall  was  killed  in  the  Civil  War;  m.  Sarah 
Mayo,  leaving  no  children. 

2.  John,  moved  to  and  died  at  Mountain  Home,  Idaho ; 
m.  Laura  Durham,  Sparta,  Ga. 

3.  William,  m.  Ida,  daughter  of  Rev.  N.  Goforth.  Moved 
to  Mountain  Home,  Idaho. 

4.  Thomas,  d.  unmarried. 

5.  Elvira,  m.  Geo.  Hill  (October  16,  1871,  R.  Snead, 
M.  G.),  who  was  reared  at  the  Schultz  place,  near  Niota. 
His  mother  was  Elizabeth  Lane,  daughter  of  Isaac  Lane. 
They  went  to  an  Indian  reservation  in  Idaho. 

6.  Sallie,  m.  Dr.  Frank  Durham,  of  Sparta,  Ga.  She 
died  at  old  Governor  McComb's  summer  residence,  near 
Milledgeville,  Ga.  She  left  two  sons :  Calloway  and  Dr. 
Frank  Durham,  both  of  Sparta,  Ga. 

7.  Malinda,  m.  Thomas  Epperson,  who  lives  near  Rice- 
ville, Tenn.     Their  children  are:     Calloway,  m. j 

Charles,  m. ;  Sallie,  m.  Wiseman,  of  Los  Angeles, 

Cal. 

8.  Emma,  m.  Dennis  R.  Isbell,  who  lived  near  Mt.  Har- 
mony, on  December  28,  1871.    J.  B.  Kimbrough,  M.    G. 


94  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Their  children  were:  John,  m.  Josephine  Walker  in 
Utah,  and  Earnest,  who  is  a  bachelor  and  lives  at  the  old 
home  in  Monroe  County. 

9.  Laura,  m.  Henry  H.  Matlock  on  November  14, 1870. 
J.  B.  Kimbrough,  M.  Gr.  He  is  a  farmer  and  lives  nine 
miles  w^est  of  Athens,  Tenn.  Their  children  are  Mary, 
m.  Henry  Tittsworth,  of  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  who  is  a  con- 
ductor in  the  employ  of  the  Southern  Railway;  they 
have  four  children:  two  sons  and  two  daughters.  The 
second  child  of  H.  H.  and  Laura  Matlock,  Sarah,  m.  John 
Thornburgh,  a  lawyer  of  Knoxville,  Tenn.  They  have 
two  children,  a  son  and  daughter. 

10.  Cornelia  Calloway  married  W.  P.  Willson  near 
Mt.  Harmony.  He  died  at  Athens,  Tenn.,  and  was  buried 
at  the  cemetery  at  Sweetwater,  Tenn.  They  had  four 
sons,  two  of  whom,  Frank  and  Robert  are  dead.  Their 
son,  William,  married  Katie  Brown,  of  Murfreesboro, 
Tenn.  She  died.  He  lives  at  the  old  Doc  Lane  place 
between  Niota  and  Reagans.  Elbert,  son  of  Cornelia  and 
W.  P.  Willson,  married  Lucy  Smith,  of  Oak  Grove,  Knox 
County.    They  live  at  Athens,  Tenn. 

11.  Addie,  youngest  child  of  William  Saunders  and 
Sarah  Hurst  Calloway,  married  Robert  Cooke,  son  of  Dr. 
Cooke,  of  Madisonville,  Tenn.  Thiey  live  in  Los  Angeles, 
Cal.  They  have  two  children :  Henry,  who  married  a 
daughter  of  Lawrence  Henderson,  three  miles  east  of 
Madisonville,  Tenn.      They  live   in   Los   Angeles,    Cal. 

Ella,  second  child  of  Robert  Cooke,  married 

Rumsturm  in  Idaho. 

Three.  Joseph  Calloway  married  Mary  Willson,  of 
Meigs  County  (no  relative,  as  I  understand,  of  the 
James  Willson,  who  married  Sarah  McReynolds).  The 
church  history  of  Jos.  Calloway  has  already  been  given. 
His  children  were:  Mary,  who  married  a  Cunningham, 
and  James  who  married  Minerva,  a  sister  of  the  late 
Hon.  S.  J.  Martin.  There  were  two  other  children  but 
I  have  not  been  able  to  get  their  names  or  history. 

Four.  Hugh  Lawson  White  Calloway  married  Car- 
oline, daughter  of  Sam'l  McReynolds,  brother  of  David 
McReynolds,  grandfather  of  Mrs.  James  Willson.  They 
moved  to  Saline  County,  Mo.,  in  the  settling  of  that  state. 
There  were  three  children,  two  daughters  and  one  son: 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  95 

Sarah  married  in  California;  Potter  Calloway,  the  son, 
lives  in  California. 

Five.  Nancy.  Married  George  Webb  some  time 
previous  to  July,  1832,  as  she  joined  the  Baptist  church 
on  Sweetwater,  at  that  time,  as  Nancy  Webb.  Geo. 
Webb  built  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  in  Knox- 
ville,  at  the  corner  of  Prince  Street  and  Clinch  Avenue. 
He  was  buried  in  the  churchyard  there,  but  his  remains 
w^ere  removed,  with  others,  when  that  property  was  sold, 
and  the  new  church  built  at  the  corner  of  Church  Avenue 
and  Locust  Street.  Mrs.  Webb  died  in  1872,  her  husband 
many  years  previous.    They  had  three  children : 

1.  John.     Never  married. 

2.  Asenath,  m.  Thos.  Hodge.    No  children. 

3.  Sarah,  m.  Dr.  Logan  McRejaiolds,  son  of  Joseph 
McRe^aiolds,  Saline  County,  Mo.,  another  brother  of 
David  McReynolds. 

Six.  Judy  Ann  Calloway,  m.  Thos.  D.  Moffatt,  October 
18,  1838,  R.  Snead,  M.  G.  He  was  a  merchant  in  Phila- 
delphia, until  about  1842,  when  he  moved  to  Cass  County, 
Mo.  T,  D.  and  J.  A.  MotTatt  were  the  parents  of  three 
children :  Sarah,  m.  James  Woolridge,  a  lawyer  at  Har- 
risonville.  Mo.  They  left  a  son  and  daughter  who  both 
died  without  heirs. 

Seven.  Mary  Calloway,  m.  Coleman  McReynolds,  a 
young  ph3^sician  of  Meigs  County,  Tenn.  They  moved  to 
Harrisonville,  Mo.,  in  1842.  He  died  in  1852  and  she 
August  8,  1855.    Thev  were  the  parents  of  five  children : 

i.  Sarah,  b.  February  24,  1838. 

2.  John  C,  b.  1840;  d.  1865. 

3.  David  M.,  b.  Februarv  2,  1845. 

4.  Hugh,  b.  July  2,  1848;  d.  September  21,  1893. 

5.  Minta,  b.  July  2,  1848;  d.  March,  1871.  Hugh  and 
Minta  twins. 

1.  Sarah,  came  back  to  Tennessee,  to  the  Sweetwater 
Valley  home  of  elder  Robert  Snead,  on  a  visit  to  her 
aunt,  Samantha  McRepiolds,  who  had  married  Mr. 
Snead  September  17, 1852.  Mrs.  Snead  was  the  daughter 
of  Tely  Jane  and  David  McRe>Tiolds,  of  Selma,  Ala.  On 
the  12th  of  April,  1857,  Sarah  McR.,  was  married  to 
James  Willson,  of  Mouse  Creek  (Niota),  Tenn.,  and  at 
once  moved  to  that  place.  He  was  born  in  Sevier 
County,  the  son  of  James  and  Sarah  Willson.    He  was  a 


96  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

successful  business  man  and  farmer.  He  died  at  his 
residence,  near  Niota,  August  2,  1869.  Their  children 
were : 

1.  Hugh,  b.  June  30, 1858. 

2.  Robert  S.,  b.  May  6,  1860;  d.  October  10,  1907. 

3.  Ellie,  b.  May  17,  1862;  d.  June  17,  1887. 

4.  Mintie,  b.  July  5,  1864;  d.  July  23,  1887. 

5.  Sallie,  b.  May  10,  1866 ;  d.  August,  1869. 

6.  James  C,  b.  July  7,  1869;  d.  September  17,  1887. 

1.  Hugh  Willson  married  Carrie,  daughter  of  Au- 
gustus P.  and  Dorcas  Henderson  Gaines,  of  Fork  Creek 
Valley,  on  January  26,  1893.  She  was  tjorn  October  2, 
1862.  (A.  P.  Gaines  and  Dorcas  Henderson  were  mar- 
ried July  19, 1856. )  Hugh  Willson  is  a  farmer  and  owns 
the  place  formerly  owned  by  Russell  Hurst,  1  and  1-4 
miles  southwest  of  Niota.  He  was  president  of  the  East 
Tennessee  Farmers  Convention  in  1915.  The  children  of 
Hugh  and  Carrie  W.  are:  James  Gaines,  Dorcas  Hen- 
derson, Mintie  McReynolds  and  Sadie  Gaines. 

2.  Robert  Snead  Willson  married  Lillian  Boyd,  of 
Sweetwater,  November  18,  1891.  She  died  September, 
1907.  He  was  a  farmer  and  lived  1-4  mile  from  Niota. 
Their  children  were :  Sarah  Louise,  Mary  Lillian,  Ellie, 
Mintie,  Sallie  and  James  C. 

2.  John  C,  son  of  Coleman  McReynolds,  was  a  soldier 
in  the  Confederate  army,  in  Captain  Forrest  company 
of  Colonel  Bradford's  regiment  of  Tennessee  volunteers. 
He  died  at  Abingdon,  Va.,  in  March,  1867. 

3.  David  M.  McReynolds  married  Laura  Rice,  of 
Athens,  Tenn.  He  studied  theology  at  Princeton,  N.  J., 
and  was  afterwards  ordained  a  minister  at  Mt.  Har- 
mony, Monroe  County.  He  was  pastor  of  the  First  Bap- 
tist Church  in  Sweetwater  in  1883-1889.  He  then  moved 
to  Chattanooga,  and  was  pastor  of  the  Central  Baptist 
Church.  He  was  then  called  to  the  Boise,  Idaho,  Baptist 
church  where  he  was  pastor  for  several  years.      They 

-had  no  children. 

4.  Hugh  McRcATiolds  married  Martha  Rice,  daughter 
of  Wm.  Rice,  and  sister  of  Laura,  David  McReynold's 
wife.  He  studied  medicine  and  obtained  his  diploma  at 
Jefferson  Medical  College,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  He  began 
the  practice  of  medicine  at  Mouse  Creek,  but  afterwards 


HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  97 

moved  to  Chattanooga,  where  both  he  and  his  wife  died. 
They  had  no  children. 

Nine.  Rebecca,  fourth  daughter  of  John  and  Sarah 
Calloway,  was  married  to  Jesse  Ragon.  They  moved  to 
Cass  County,  Mo.,  and  they  both  died  there,  he  in  1873, 
and  she  in  1871.  They  had  four  children:  Mary,  Ma- 
lincla,  Nannie  and  Hugh. 

Ten.  Malinda,  fifth  daughter  of  Jno.  and  S.  H.  Callo- 
way, married  Jno.  F.  Walker  of  Fork  Creek.  She  joined 
the  Baptist  church  at  Sweetwater,  on  the  fourth  Satur- 
day in  July,  1839,  as  E.  Malinda  Calloway,  showing  that 
she  was  not  then  married.  She  was  granted  a  letter  of 
dismission  as  Malinda  Walker  on  the  fourth  Saturday 
in  February,  1844.  They  moved  to  Cass  County,  Mo., 
where  she  died,  leaving  three  children. 

The  Cleveland  Family. 

The  Cleveland  family  have  to  their  credit  many  il- 
lustrious names  both  in  England  and  the  United  States. 
The  most  celebrated  of  these  on  this  side  of  the  water 
was  Grover  Cleveland,  thrice  a  candidate  for  and  twice 
elected  president  of  the  United  States. 

James  Butler  Cleveland,  of  Oneonta,  N.  Y.,  published 
a  book  in  three  parts  in  1881  about  the  Cleveland  fam- 
ily. Wft  have  had  access  to  Part  I  and  from  this  we 
glean  the  following  information:  From  the  year  1200 
A.  D.  up  to  the  present  the  family  have  spelled  the  name 
in  a  variety  of  waj^s,  sometimes  the  same  individual  in 
the  family  spelling  his  name  at  different  times  in  his 
life  in  more  than  one  way.  It  is  found  spelled  ''Cliff- 
land,  Clyveland,  Cliveland,  Clieveland,  Cleaveland  and 
Cleveland ;  the  last  way  was  the  one  adopted  by  the 
members  of  the  family  who  came  to  this  state.  There 
used  also  to  be  a  "de"  before  the  name  but  that  was 
dropped  when  they  emigrated  to  this  country  as  being 
undemocratic.     Sir  Guy  de  Cleveland  was  knighted  at 

the  siege  of  Boulogne  in by  King and 

was  therefore  entitled  to  place  "de"  before  the  name 
and  to  have  a  coat  of  arms,  a  crest  and  a  motto.  (For 
description  of  crest  and  coat  of  arms  see  J.  B.  C.'s  book 
about  the  Clevelands.)  They  seem  to  have  had  rather 
more  than  their  share  of  mottoes,  claiming  two  as  belong- 


98  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

ing  to  them:  "Pro  deo  et  patrio,"  translated,  "for  God 
and  country"  sliowing  them  to  be  both  a  religious  and 
a  patriotic  family;  and  another  motto  "semel  et  sem- 
per," "once  and  always,"  meaning,  "once  a  (friend)  al- 
ways a  (friend)  "  or  the  opposite.  Both  mottoes,  I  think, 
have  been  somewhat  characteristic  of  the  family. 

For  given  names  the  Clevelands  used  Bible  names  of 
abstract  qualities  such  as  Faith,  Hope,  Perseverance, 
Justice,  Mercy — answer  to  Pra^^er,  Abigail,  Sarah,  Eph- 
raim,  Abraham,  Benjamin,  Jacob,  and  by  no  means 
were  Joseph  and  his  Gypsy  wife,  Asenath,  forgotten. 
However  I  have  not  found  in  my  reading  about  them 
that  any  of  them  were  named  either  Judas  or  Esau; 
these  they  avoided. 

The  Butler  Cleveland  book  deals  mostly  with  that 
part  of  the  Cleveland  family  descended  from  Moses 
Cleveland,  who  came  to  the  colonies  (Massachusetts)  in 
1635.  His  numerous  descendants'  are  dispersed  over 
various  states  of  our  union.  They  have  had  many  towns 
and  counties  named  for  them;  probably  had  much  to  do 
with  naming  them  themselves.  The  most  noted  of  these 
for  commercial  prosperity,  its  Euclid  Avenue  and  lo- 
cation and  the  most  notorious  as  having  been  the 
home  of  Mark  Hanna,  Rockefeller  and  Tom  Johnson  is 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  on  the  Lakes.  It  is  the  largest  city 
in  the  world  named  for  a  citizen  of  the  United  States. 

The  father  of  Benjamin  and  Robert  Cleveland  (the 
latter  part  of  their  lives  citizens  of  Wilkes  County, 
N.  C),  settled  probably  early  in  1700  in  Orange  County, 
Va.  There  on  Bull  Run  Creek  Robert  was  born.  In 
1736  he  married  Aley  Mathis  of  Kentucky.  This  is  a 
verj^  common  name  among  the  Clevelands  and  their  de- 
scendants. Robt.  C.  was  twnce  married  and  was  the 
father  of  15  or  16  children.  Jeremiah,  one  of  the  sons, 
was  the  grandfather  of  the  Marietta,  Ga.,  Clevelands. 

Wheeler  in  History  of  North  Carolina  (page  4:62),  has 
this  to  say  of  Benjamin  Cleveland:  "Colonel  Benjamin 
Cleaveland,  tlie  hero  of  King's  Mountain,  and  after 
whom  Cleaveland  County  is  called,  lived  and  died  in 
Wilkes  County."  (Cleaveland  County  was  formed  in 
1841  out  of  Rutherford  and  Lincoln  counties.)  "He  was 
a  brave  and  meritorious  officer.  A  serious  impediment 
in  his    speech    prevented   his    entering    political   life." 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAULiEY  99 

(However  he  w^as  senator  to  the  General  Assembly  from 
Wilkes  County,  N.  C,  in  1779.)  "In  1875  he  was  ap- 
pointed an  ensign  in  the  2nd  Regiment  of  troops  and 
served  at  King's  Mountain  and  at  the  Battle  of  Guilford 
Courthouse.  He  was  also  the  hero  of  a  hundred  fights 
(rith  the  tories.  He  was  the  surveyor  of  Wilkes  and 
lived  at  the  place  where  Little  Hickerson  now  (1850)  re- 
sides. Some  incidents  of  his  life,  dangers  and  daring 
conduct  are  recorded  under  Watauga  County,  their 
scene  of  action." 

Captain  Robt.  Cleaveland  was  little  less  distinguished 
than  his  brother  Benjamin.  He  was  with  his  brother 
Benjamin  in  the  majority  of  the  campaigns  mentioned. 

Presley  and  Eli  Cleveland  were  sons  of  Robert.  In 
giving  a  sketch  of  Eli  C.  we  can  not  do  better  than  to 
quote  an  obituary  of  him  written  by  Elder  Robert  Snead. 

In  that,  though  Mr.  Snead  did  not  mention  it,  he  made 
a  deed  of  gift  in  perpetuity  to  the  parcel  of  land  on  which 
the  Baptist  church  on  Sweetwater  is  situated,  and  the 
gift  of  a  cemetery  lot  for  a  public  burial,  or  more  correct- 
ly speaking,  a  neighborhood  burial  place.  But  for  our 
present  purpose  it  does  not  matter,  for  in  giving  a  his- 
tory of  the  Baptist  on  Sweetwater  a  copy  of  the  deed 
and  will  as  far  as  it  pertained  to  those  lots,  are  given 
in  this  book. 

Elder  Eli  Cleveland. 
An  obituary  written  by  Elder  Robert  Snead. 

Eli  Cleveland  was  born  in  Wilkes  County,  N.  C,  on 
October  1,  1781.  He  was  united  in  marriage  with  Polly 
Ragon  the  28th  of  December,  1803.  He  w^as  baptized 
the  third  Sabbath  in  December,  1813,  and  united  with 
Baptist  church  in  Ashe  County,  N.  C,  having  obtained 
a  hope  in  Christ  a  short  time  previous.  Soon  afterward 
he  commenced  exhorting  and  preaching  to  sinners  *'to 
flee  the  wrath  to  come." 

He  moved  with  family  to  Knox  County,  Tenn.,  in  1817. 
He  was  ordained  to  the  full  work  of  the  ministry  in  1818 
by  request  of  Beaver  Ridge  (now  Brick  Chapel)  Church. 
He  moved  to  Sweetwater  Valley  in  1821.  He  united  with 
the  church  here  (on  Sweetwater)  the  fourth  Saturday 
in  January,  1822.    He  was  chosen  moderator  soon  after ; 


100  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

which  office  he  was  eminently  qualified  to  fill  and  which 
he  retained  until  his  deatJi.  This  being  a  newly  settled 
country  he  preached  much  and  was  instrumental  in 
building  up  and  establishing  a  number  of  churches. 

For  many  years  he  has  been,  at  times,  the  subject  of 
severe  afflictions  which  kept  him  from  traveling  much; 
but  he  never  neglected  to  meet  with  his  own  church  and 
,fill  his  place  in  the  house  of  Grod,  when  his  health  per- 
mitted. We,  who  were  present  the  last  time  he  met  with 
us,  will  long  remember  the  earnest,  warm  and  faithful 
exhortation  he  gave.  Having  lived  to  a  good  old  age  he 
died  on  the  23rd  of  November,  1859,  of  disease  of  the 
heart.  He  retained  his  mind  to  the  last  and  died  trust- 
ing in  Jesus  only.  His  motto  was  "Born  a  sinner,  but 
saved  by  Grace."  (Note.  This  is  the  epitaph  on  his 
tombstone.)  The  writer  of  this  was  with  Jiim  the  even- 
ing before  and  the  morning  of  his  death.  He  spoke  of 
being  fully  conscious  that  the  time  of  his  departure  was 
at  hand.  In  his  last  conversation  he  said :  "I  shall  not 
long  be  here ;  I  have  given  up ;  I  have  no  desire  to  stay 
here  at  all ;  this  world  is  nothing  to  me.  I  am  perfectly 
resigned  to  go  at  any  time  it  is  the  will  of  God  to  take 
me.  I  have  great  reason  to  be  thankful  for  His  good- 
ness towards  me.  My  trust  is  altogether  in  Jesus,  be- 
cause I  could  not  trust  in  anything  on  earth  or  in  my- 
self. I  want  you  to  pray  for  me  that  I  may  go  easy,  for 
God  answers  the  prayers  of  His  people. 

About  thirty  minutes  after  speaking  thus  he  fell  asleep 
in  Jesus  without  a  groan  or  a  struggle. 

Presley  Cleveland  was  born  in  Wilkes  County,  N.  C, 
September  14, 1779.  He  died  in  Sweetwater  Valley,  May 
31,  1861.  He  was  married  to  Elizabeth  Johnson.  She 
was  born  February  17,  1792,  and  died  November  20, 
1854.  These  two  brothers  and  their  wives  are  buried  in 
the  (Cleveland)  Baptist  Cemetery.  For  history  of  Eli 
Cleveland  see  obituary  by  Elder  Bobt.  Snead. 

Eli  Cleveland  purchased  the  following  tracts  of  land 
in  the  Hiwassee  District  from  Matthew  Nelson,  treas- 
urer of  East  Tennessee :  northwest  quarter,  section  19, 
township  2,  range  3,  west,  on  December  2,  1820;  entry 
number  1323,  northwest  quarter,  section  20,  township 
1,  range  2,  east,  on  June  10,  1825;  grant  684,  September 
7,  1827 ;  entry  5145,  southeast  quarter,  section  13,  town- 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  101 

ship  1,  range  2,  east ;  entry  5146,  southwest  quarter,  sec- 
tion 18,  township  1,  range  2,  east;  granted  3212,  dated 
February  13,  1838.  He  bought  from  John  Calloway  en- 
try 320,  southeast  quarter  traction,  township  2,  range 
3,  west. 

The  children  of  Eli  and  Polly  Cleveland  were: 

One.  Robert  R.  He  was  born  September  15,  1808 ;  d. 
April,  1868.  He  married  Sydney  G.,  daughter  of  Mat- 
thew Nelson,  of  Philadelphia,  January  20,  1835.  She 
was  born  July  15, 1811,  and  d.  October  3, 1884.  He  was  a 
wealthy  farmer  and  merchant  of  Philadelphia,  Tenn. 
Tbey  had  one  daughter,  Clemintina,  who  married  Dr. 
Franklin  King  Berry.     (See  Berry.) 

Two.  Matilda.  She  married  John  Chesnutt,  son  of 
Henry  Chesnutt.  They  moved  to  Ooltewah,  Tenn.  Had 
no  children. 

Three.  Caroline.  She  married  Joseph  Walker,  of 
Fork  Creek  Valley  on  March  1,  1838.  They  had  no  chil- 
dren.    (See  Walker.) 

i  Four.  Jesse.  Married  Miss  Spriggs,  of  Bradley  Coun- 
ty, Tenn.,  and  lived  on  Candy's  Creek. 

Five.  Eli  Matthew,  b.  1827;  m.  Emeline,  daughter  of 
Jno.  Pennington,  September  28,  1843.  d.  1871.  They  had 
eight  children,  six  girls  and  two  boys.  They  moved  to 
Hamilton  County,  near  Ooltewah,  Tenn.,  where  he  died 
three  or  four  years  after  the  Civil  War;  aged  about  58 
years. 

Six.  Aley  Mathis,  b.  May  7,  1813 ;  d.  May  30,  1855 ;  m. 
J.  D.  Jones,  whom  see. 

Seven.  Clarissa,  b.  September  6,  1815.  Baptized 
March,  1833 ;  d.  March  11,  1880.  She  m.  Jesse  F.  Jones 
(brother  of  J.  D.  Jones),  whom  see. 

Eight.  David  H.,  b.  November  5,  1824;  d.  August  10, 
1900.  He  joined  the  Baptist  church  in  August,  1842. 
He  married  first,  his  cousin,  Elizabeth  A.  Johnson, 
daughter  of  Louis  Johnson,  July  11,  1844.  R.  Snead, 
M.  G.  She  was  b.  January  5, 1827 ;  d.  December  31, 1882. 
She  was  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church.  They  lived  on 
his  father's,  Eli  Cleveland's,  place  which  Mr.  Cleveland 
vowned  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

The  children  of  this  marriage  were : 

1.  Jesse  F.,  b.  July  11,  1845;  d.  October  27,  1846. 

2.  Mary  Katherine,  b.  January  4,  1847. 


102  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

3.  Eli,  b.  December  11,  1848. 

4.  Sydney,  A. 

5.  Louis  J.,  b.  February  17,  1853 ;  d.  October  4,  1853. 

6.  Callie,  b.  August  17,  1854. 

7.  Robert  Mathis,  b.  November  9,  1856. 

8.  Joseph  Jones,  b.  November  20,  1858. 

9.  Eliza,  May  5,  1861 ;  d.  October  1,  1862. 

10.  Aley,  b.  December  11,  1863. 

11.  Viola  Jessamine,  b.  December  15,  1865. 

12.  Benjamin,  b.  December  4,  1867. 

D.  H.  Cleveland   m.   Malinda   Sherman    (second), 
and  their  children  were: 

13.  (1)  John  Sherman. 

14.  (2)  Malinda  Neil. 

15.  (3)  Davy  Grace. 

2.  Mary  K.,  married  Seth  McKinney,  son  of  David  P. 
Walker,  January  3,  1862.  He  then  lived  at  Boiling 
Springs  in  Fork  Creek  Valley.  In  188-  they  moved  to 
Sweetwater.  Went  to  Sherman,  Texas,  in  1887.  Mrs. 
Walker  died  there  in  April,  1906.  In  a  communication 
March  14,  1916,  Miss  Faun  Yearwood,  of  Knoxville, 
gives  me  as  follows  about  the  S.  M.  and  Mary  K.  Walker 
family. 

They  were  the  parents  of  twelve  children: 

1.  Jennie  Anne. 

2.  Alice  Elizabeth. 

3.  David  Franklin  (died  in  infancy). 

4.  Eliza  Caroline. 

5.  Joseph  (died  in  infancy). 

6.  Zeb  McKinney. 

7.  Lena  Ula. 

8.  Katherine. 

9.  Robert. 

10.  Helen  (died  in  infancy). 

11.  Emmett. 

12.  Eugene  (died  in  infancy). 

1.  Jennie  A.  Walker  married  Richard  Jarnagin  Year- 
wood,  January  10,  1883.  Now  living  in  Knoxville, 
Tenn. 


niSTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  103 

Have  three  children : 

1.  Maude,  married  John   Staub   Fouche,   April 

6,  1904,  and  have  one  son,  John  S.,  Jr.  Live 
in  Chattanooga,  Tenn. 

2.  Faun,  Knoxville,  Tenn. 

3.  Richard  Horace,  U.  S.  N. 

2.  Alice  Elizabeth  Walker  married  John  B.  Montgomery, 

September  5,  1883.    Now  living  in  Knoxville,  Tenn. 
Have  one  child: 

1.  Helen  Louise,  married  Walter  B.  McLean, 
May  25,  1904,  and  have  one  daughter, 
Louise.    Live  in  Knoxville,  Tenn. 

3.  David  Franklin,  died  in  infancy. 

4.  Eliza  Caroline. 

5.  Joseph,  died  in  infancy. 

6.  Zeb  McKinney  Walker,  married  and  lives  in  Sherman, 

Texas. 

7.  Lena  Ula  Walker  married  John  Henry  Hurst,  at  Bon- 

ham,  Texas,  February  24,  1888.    Now  live  at  Long- 
view,  Texas. 

Have  five  children: 

1.  Henry  Eugene  Hurst,  unmarried,  employed 

by  Ford  Motor  Co.,  Dallas,  Texas. 

2.  John  Russell,  Longview  Texas. 

3.  Edith  Isabella,  married   Collie    Carr    Moye, 

January  1,  1912,  and   have   one   daughter, 
Edith  Earline.    Live  in  Longview,  Texas. 

4.  Lewis,  Beaumont,  Texas. 

5.  Julian  Harrison,  Longview,  Texas. 

8.  Katherine  Walker,  married  George  Blair.    Now  live 

in  Sherman,  Texas. 
Have  two  children: 

1.  Jeff. 

2.  Raymond. 

9.  Robert  Walker,  married  and  lives  in  Sherman,  Texas. 

10.  Helen  Walker,  died  in  infancy. 

11.  Emmett  Walker,  died  in  Philippine  Islands,  U,  S.  A., 

26  years. 

12.  Eugene  Walker,  died  in  infancy. 

3.  Eli,  son  of  I).  H.  Cleveland,  m.  Susan  Martin,  dau. 
Polly  Griffitts  Martin  on  November  22,  1881.  He  is  a 
farmer  owning  a  large  tract  of  land  about  half  way  be- 


104  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

tween  Sweetwater  and  Philadelphia.  He  lives  in  the  town 
of  Sweetwater,  where  he  is  interested  in  the  hardware 
business.  The  children  of  Eli  and  Susan  Martin  Cleve- 
land are: 

(1)  Annie,  b.  September  4,  1882;  m.  Edgar  Heiskell, 
whom  see. 

(2)  Hulah,  b.  June  7,  1884;  m.  Horace  Browder,  whom 
see. 

(3)  Elizabeth,  b.  April  18,  1886;  m.  Myrtland  Rollins. 
He  is  assistant  city  attorney  of  the  city  of  St.  Louis, 
Mo. 

(4)  David  Martin,  b.  October  13,  1888.  He  is  in  the 
hardware  business  at  Sweetwater. 

(5)  Martha  Waren,  b.  1890;  m.  Frank  Dykeman  Ruth. 
He  is  a  manufacturer  of  wood  veneer  at  Buchanan,  Va. 

(6)  Eunice  Eli. 

(8)   Susan  Marguerite. 

4.  Sydney  A.,  fourth  child  of  D.  H.  Cleveland,  m. 
Benj.  F.  Hudson,  son  of  Richard  Hudson.  He  is.  a 
farmer  living  in  Fork  Creek  valley.  Their  children  are : 
Eli,  David,  Jessie,  d. ;  Cleo.  m. ;  Pearl,  m.  Kimbrough, 
Ruby,  m. ;  Garnett  m. ;  Vanoy,  m.  Jessie  Simpson. 

5.  Callie,  m.  James  A.,  son  of  W.  E.  Johnson  and 
grandson  of  Louis  Johnson,  on  March  4,  1875.  He  was 
born  January  31,  1849;  d.  February  26,  1899.  He  was  a 
farmer  in  Pond  Creek  valley  and  afterwards  moved  to 
Sweetwater.  After  his  death  his  wife  and  family  moved 
to  Oaksdale,  Wash.,  March  21,  1910.    Their  children  are : 

(1)  Sydnev,  b.  September  3,  1876. 

(2)  David  Cleveland,  b.  September  30,  1878. 

(3)  Eliza  A.,  b.  June  13, 1880;  d.  May  13, 1908. 

(4)  Maud,  b.  September  13,  1883;  d.  July  12,  1912. 

(5)  William  E.,  b.  June  18, 1886 ;  d.  December  13, 1886. 

(6)  Elizabeth,  b.  May  11,  1890. 

(7)  James  A.,  b.  March  3,  1892. 

(8)  Robert  M.,  b.  November  13, 1894;  d.  June  19, 1895. 
7.  Robert  Mathis,  was  born  November  9,  1856.    Came 

to  the  town  of  Sweetwater,  first  as  a  clerk  and  then  in 
the  mercantile  business  for  himself.  He  married  Mag- 
gie Carmichael,  of  McMinn  County,  on  December  7, 1884. 
He  was  an  alderman  of  Sweetwater  for  many  years  and 
was  mayor  of  the  town  in  1890.    He  was  a  justice  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  105 

peace  of  the  first  civil  district  of  Monroe  for  sixteen 
years.  He  moved  to  Chattanooga  in  1902,  where  he  en- 
gaged in  the  retail  grocery  business  until  his  death.  His 
widow  resides  at  110  Findlay  Street,  Chattanooga.  Their 
children  were : 

Frances,  b.  December  8,  1886 ;  m.  J.  Rollins,  newspaper 
man,  June  11,  1908. 

Sammie,  b.  January  5,  1889. 

Alena,  b.  January,  1891;  m.  0.  L.  Holt,  a  manufact- 
urer, Chattanooga,  August  17,  1911. 

Robert  Mathis,  b.  November  13,  1900. 

8.  Joseph  Jones,  b.  November  20,  1858;  m.  Sallie, 
daughter  of  Hon.  W.  H.  Turley,  of  McMinn  County, 
June  28,  1882.  They  lived  in  McMinn  County.,  where  his 
first  wdf e  died.  He  went  to  Hamilton,  Texas,"  in  Septem- 
ber, 1886.  Tliere  he  married  (second)  Irene  Perry  on 
April  23,  1887.  He  is  a  school  teacher.  Their  children 
are: 

(1)  Geo.  G.,  b.  April  17, 1888 ;  m.  Fay  Reid,  Henrietta, 
Texas,  April  13,  1913.    Farmer. 

(2)  Joe  J.,  Jr.,  b.  June  9,  1890.  Assistant  cashier 
Hamilton  National  Bank,  Hamilton,  Texas. 

(3)  Charles  C,  b.  August  18,  1894.  Student  Baylor 
Medical  College,  Dallas,  Texas. 

10.  Aley,  m.  William  Jones,  son  of  Joshua  Jones,  of 
South  Carolina,  Mav  27,  1881.  Their  children  are:  (1) 
Alex.,  m.;  (2)  Rhea;  (3)  Ophelia;  (4)  Svdnev;  (5) 
Frank;  (6)  Ole;  (7)  Pearl;  (8) 

11.  Viola  Jessamine,  m.  R.  L.  Carter  July  1,  1886. 
He  was  born  January,  1859.    Children: 

(1)  Matt,  m.  Nannie  Martin,  of  Chattanooga,  April 
27,  1914.    He  is  a  bank  emplovee  there. 

(2)  Bess. 

(3)  Clifford,  in  the  produce  business  with  his  father 
at  Sweetwater. 

(4)  Bland  L.,  m.  Alan  B.  DeArmond  October,  1915.  Re- 
side at  Athens,  Tenn. 

(5)  Robert  L.,  Jr. 

(6)  Gladys. 

(7)  Fred. 

12.  Benjamin,  the  twelfth  child  of  D.  H.  and  Elizabeth 
Johnson  Cleveland,  was  born  December  4,  1867.  He 
went  to  Spokane,  Wash.,  where  he  married. 


106  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

David  H.  Cleveland  married  (second)  Malinda  Neil, 
daughter  of  John  Sherman,  of  Niota,  Tenn.  She  w^as  at 
that  time  the  widow  of  Bart  Forrest.     Their  children : 

(13)  John  Sherman,  b.  October  28,  1885;  d.  Septem- 
ber 26,  1891. 

(14)  Malinda  Neil,  b.  February  4,  1888;  m.  J.  Gid. 
Johnson  November  10,  1910.  He  is  a  farmer  and  is  also 
engaged  in  the  jewelrv  business  at  Sweetwater.  They 
have  one  child,  J.  Gid,  Jr.,  b.  Mav  17, 1913. 

(15)  Davy  Grace,  b.  August  29,  1890;  m.  G.  W.  Fallin, 
of  Fort  Worth,  Texas,  on  December  23,  1913. 

Presley  Cleveland 

"Was  born  in  Wilkes  Count}',  N.  C,  September  16, 
1779;  he  w^as  the  son  of  Captain  Robert  Cleveland  and 
the  brother  of  Eli  Cleveland.  He  died  in  Sweetwater 
Valley  May  31,  1861.  His  wife  was  Elizabeth,  the  sister 
of  Louis  Johnson.  She  was  born  February  17,  1792,  and 
died  November  30, 1854.  They  were  both  memi)ers  of  the 
Baptist  church  on  Sweetwater  and  were  buried  in  the 
cemetery  near  that  place. 

Presley  Cleveland  was  a  farmer  and  acquired  lands  as 
follows :  370  acres  from  the  State,  the  northeast  and 
northwest  quarters  of  section  24,  township  1,  range  1, 
east,  and  50  bought  of  Jno.  Pennington,  south  side  of 
southeast  quarter  sec.  13,  town.ship  1,  range  1,  east. 

The  children  of  Presley  and  Elizabeth  Cleveland  were : 

One.  Robert,  d.  August,  1854. 

Two.  Alev,  b.  October  14,  1816 ;  d.  November  3,  1824. 

Three.  William,  b.  October  11,  1820;  d.  August  22, 
1835. 

Four.  Eliza  Ann,  d.  1911. 

Five.  Larkin,  b.  1825. 

Six.  Caroline,  b.  November  25,  1827;  d.  November  10, 
1896. 

Seven.  Harvey  H.,  b.  March  18, 1830 ;  d.  September  25, 
1854. 

One.  Robert,  m.  Elizabeth  Snead,  daughter  of  Robert 
Snead,  on  June  4,  1840.  They  moved  to  Bradley  County, 
Tenn.,  where  he  died  and  was  buried.  His  widow  came 
back  to  Sweetwater  Valley  and  lived  for  some  years 
across  the  creek  from  the  Robert  Snead  residence.    She 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  107 

died  July  27,  1875,  and  was  buried  at  the  old  Sweetwater 
cemetery.  She  was  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church. 
The  chiidreu  of  Robert  and  Elizabeth  Cleveland  were : 

1.  William,  b.  April  9,  1843.  He  served  in  the  Con- 
federate army  during  the  Civil  War;  was  a  member  of 
the  Methodist  Church,  South.  He  was  a  progressive 
farmer  and  lived  on  the  Athens  road  one  and  one-half 
miles  south  of  Sweetwater.  He  died  February  10,  1902, 
and  was  buried  in  old  Sweetwater  cemetery.  He  mar- 
ried Mary  F.,  daughter  of  J.  J.  Browder,  on  June  24, 
1867.     Their  children  were: 

(1)  Addie  V.,  b.  March  6, 1868 ;  m.  Mark  L.  Harden,  Au- 
gust 16, 1892 ;  d.  January  10, 1895. 

(2)  William,  b.  August  25,  1879;  m.  Mvrtle  Lavcock 
October  5,  1904 ;  d.  October  10,  1909. 

(3)  Henry,  b.  March  8,  1882;  m.  Jennie  Burk,  of  Sher- 
man, Tex.,  December  30,  1907.  He  is  a  farmer  in  Sweet- 
water Valley. 

(4)  Ellis,  b.  November  5,  1886.  Moved  to  Olustee, 
Okla.,  where  he  now  (1916)  lives. 

(5)  Ora. 

(6)  Julia. 

2.  Presley,  second  son  of  Robert  and  Elizabeth  Snead 
Cleveland,  was  born  in  Bradley  County,  Tenn.,  January 
28,  1845.  He  married  Belle  Bryant  in'  McMinn  County 
July  4,  1867.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Ellis  and  the  sis- 
ter of  Louis  Bryant.  They  moved  to  Gentry  County, 
Mo.,  in  1877.  He  is  a  farmer.  His  address  is  Albany, 
Mo.  He  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the  Baptist  church. 
Their  children  were : 

(1)  James  H.,  b.  in  McMinn  County,  April  24,  1868. 

(2)  William,  b.  November  11,  1871;  d.  Februarv  6, 
1901. 

(3)  Mary  E.,  b.  October  15,  1874,  in  Monroe  County, 
Tenn. 

(4)  Allison  B.,  b.  February  16,  1868. 

(5)  Annie,  b.  November  1,  1880. 

(6)  Allie  v.,  b.  August  24,  1882. 

Four  of  these  children  live  in  Gentry  County,  Mo. 
(3)  Mary  E.  lives  in  Clarkston,  Wash. 

3.  Mary  E.  aunt  of  above  Mary  E.,  sister  of  Wm.  and 
Presley  Cleveland  married  Horace  F.,  son  of  Francis 
A.  Patton,  whom  see. 


108  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

4.  Robert,  third  son  of  B.  and  E.  Cleveland  was  b.  in 
1852.  He  m.  Georgetta  Martin  nee  Wallace  and  lives  at 
Blue  Spring,  Tenn. 

Four.  Eliza  Ann  m.  William  E.  Johnson.  He  was  a 
farmer  and  resided  on  Pond  Creek  just  above  old  Os- 
borne (Dyche)  farm.  They  were  the  parents  of  four 
children. 

Five.  Larkin  Cleveland,  b.  in  1825 ;  m.  Minerva  Parker. 
They  reared  a  large  family.  Seven  of  them  went  west. 
Of  their  history  little  is  known.  Nannie  m.  John  Rausin 
and  lives  in  Oregon.  Alfred  married  and  lives  in  Mis- 
souri; Cordie  and  Eliza  are  married;  names  of  husbands 
and  residences  not  known. 

Six.  Caroline,  third  daughter  of  Presley  and  Elizabeth 
Johnson  Cleveland,  married  Samuel  Jesse  Martin  Oc- 
tober 24, 1859.  He  was  the  son  of  S.  J.  and  Polly  Ragon 
Martin.  His  father  and  mother  both  died  when  he  and 
his  younger  brother,  Charles  B.  were  quite  young.  They 
were  taken  and  reared  by  their  kinsman,  Elder  Eli  Cleve- 
land. When  about  15  years  of  age  Jesse  went  to  Ham- 
ilton County,  Tenn..  and  lived  four  or  five  years  with 
John  Chesnutt,  husband  of  Matilda  Cleveland.  He  there 
learned  the  carpenter's  trade  and  returned  to  Eli  Cleve- 
land's. He  was  the  first  layman  to  be  moderator  of  the 
Baptist  church  on  Sweetwater,  and  also  the  first  la>TQan 
to  be  moderator  of  the  Sweetwater  Baptist  Association. 
He  was  a  popular  man  with  the  people  and  was  elected 
joint  representative  of  Loudon  and  Monroe  counties  to 
the  Thirty-eighth  General  Assembly  of  Tennessee,  over 
H.  A.  Chambers,  Democrat,  in  November,  1872.  His 
children  were: 

(1)  Sallie,  b.  July  15, 1861 ;  d.  May  27, 1879 ;  m.  Pryor, 
son  of  Humphrey  Schultz,  of  Niota,  Tenn.,  February  16, 
1886.    They  had  two  children. 

(2)  Carrie  Belle,  m.  Geo.  Cline,  son  of  Geo.  Cline, 
works  with  Knoxville  Traction  Co. 

(3)  Samuel,  b.  October  22,  1862;  m.  Amanda  Patton, 
of  Cumberland  County,  Tenn.,  January  21,  1892.  She 
was  the  daughter  of  John  Patton  who  lives  nine  miles 
northeast  of  Crossville,  Tenn.  Samuel  M.  is  a  farmer 
and  civil  engineer.    Their  children  are :   Jesse,  Charles, 

Luther,  Scott,  Lucille,  Beatrice,  Zirkle, ,  Mc- 

Clain  and  Winona. 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  109 

Charles  B.  Martin,  younger  brother  of  Samuel  J.  was 
educated  for  the  ministry,  mostly  by  Elder  Eli  Cleve- 
land, assisted  partially  by  the  Baptist  church  on  Sweet- 
water Creek.  When  he  was  about  21  years  old,  in  about 
1856,  he  went  to  Van  Buren  County,  Mo. 

Seven.  Harvey  H.,  fourth  son  of  Presley  and  Elizabeth 
Johnson  Cleveland,  married  Mary  Ann,  daughter  of 
John  and  Alpha  Pennington,  in  March,1854.  He  died 
about  six  months  afterwards,  September  25,  probably  of 
cholera. 

The  Cannons. 

John  Cannon  was  born  in  Caswell  County,  N.  C,  on 
March  18,  1744,  and  died  in  Grassy  Valley,  Knox  Coun- 
ty, Tenn.,  in  October,  1906.  He  was  the  son  of  William 
Cannon  who  first  lived  in  Cumberland  County,  Virginia, 
and  then  moved  to  Caswell  County,  N.  C.  The  w^ife  of 
John  Cannon  was  Ann  Whitlow,  who  was  born  in  North 
Carolina  on  November  18,  1747.  She  died  in  Knox  Coun- 
ty, Tenn.,  on  July  1,  1830.  John  Cannon  moved  from 
North  Carolina  to  Sevier  County,  Tenn.,  some  time  be- 
fore 1795,  when  he  came  to  Knox  County,  Tenn.  He  had 
three  sons,  William,  John  and  Robert,  and  one  daughter, 
Cynthia.  Cynthia  married  M.  C.  Rogers.  She  died  at 
Huntsville,  Texas,  November  24,  1855.  Robert  Cannon 
was  born  September  30, 1781,  in  Sevier  County.  He  died 
at  his  residence  in  Roane  (now  Loudon)  county,  between 
Loudon  and  Philadelphia,  on  August  21, 1854,  Ann  Gal- 
braith,  wife  of  Robert  Cannon,  was  born  July  15,  1792, 
in  Knox  County.  She  died  April  29,  1859.  They  are 
said  to  have  eloped,  when  they  married  in  1812,  and  lo- 
cated in  Roane  County  (now  Loudon),  on  what  is  known 
as  the  old  Matlock  farm  near  Lenoir  City,  Tenn.  Their 
children  were : 

1.  Evaline,  b.  August  5, 1813 ;  d.  of  yellow  fever  Hunts- 
ville, Texas,  about  1854. 

2.  John  G.,  b.  1815 ;  d.  December  21,  1827. 

■    3.  Louisa,  b.  April  16,  1819 ;  d.  at  Philadelphia,  Tenn., 
September  13,  1894. 

4.  Elizabeth  Martin,  b.  June  11,  1822;  d.  in  Indiana. 
(See  Moore.) 

5.  William,  b.  November  10,  1824;  d.  Feb.  2,  1897. 

6.  Charles,  b. ,  1826 ;  d.  June  26,  1888. 


110  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

7.  Sydney  Ann,  b.  April  19,  1830;  d.  July  21,  1854. 
(See  J.  W.  Clark.) 

8.  Martha  Ellen,  b.  April  25,  1833.  (See  Solomon 
Bogart. ) 

Of  the  above  Cannon  children  the  first  three,  Evaline, 
John  and  Louisa  were  born  at  the  Matlock  place,  near 
Lenoir  City,  and  the  others  were  born  at  the  Cannon 
place  near  Philadelphia,  Tenn. 

1.  Evaline  Cannon  married  Henderson  Yoakum,  the 
historian  of  Texas  and  a  lawyer  of  Huntsville,  Texas,  in 
1832.     Their  children  were : 

(1)  Elizabeth,  b.  at  Murfreesboro,  Tenn.,  in  1832;  m. 

Campbell,  a  lawyer  at  Huntsville,  Texas.    She 

died  at  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  leaving  one  son,  who  resides 
at  Los  Angeles. 

(2)  Martha,  d.  in  infancy. 

(3)  Mary,  married 

(4)  Annie,  d.  April,  1871,  at  Springfield,  Texas.  Un- 
married. 

(5)  Robert,  lives  at  San  Marcos,  Texas. 

(6)  Houston,  b.  1858;  married;  d.  San  Marcos,  Tex., 
about  1912. 

(7)  Henderson,  d.  in  youth. 

3.  Louisa,  third  child  of  Robert  and  Ann  Cannon,  mar- 
ried (first)  Laurence,  son  of  Mathew  Nelson,  in  1834. 
After  his  death  she  married  (second)  James  Chesnut. 
He  was  born  April  5,  1808.  He  di^d  of  cholera  July  31, 
1854.  She  married  (third)  Joseph  D.  Jones,  on  Decem- 
ber 6,  1861.     (See  J.  D.  Jones.) 

5.  William,  fifth  child  of  Robert  and  Ann  Cannon, 
married  Susan  Bogart,  daughter  of  Solomon  and  Ann 
Moore  Bogart,  on  February  28,  1856.  She  was  born  at 
Athens,  Tenn.,  October  21,  1836.    Their  children  were : 

(1)  Robert  Newton,  b.  December  28,  1856;  d.  at  Phila- 
delphia, Tenn.,  March  28,  1898.  He  was  a  grain  broker 
and  land  owner  at  Paullina,  Iowa,  for  a  number  of  years 
before  his  death. 

(2)  Frank,  b.  October  27, 1859;  d.  March  28,  1894. 

(3)  Charles  Columbus,  b.  January  28,  1862;  m.  Grace 
Jennings  at  Paullina,  Iowa,  on 18 — .  Their  chil- 
dren were  :  William,  b. d. ;  Susan,  b. 

190   ;  Margaret  Bogart,  b.  October  4,  1902 ;  Marv  Matil- 
da, b.  May  15,  1908,  and  d.— 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  111 

(4)  Willie,  b.  January  10,  1865;  d.  October  8,  1867. 

(5)  Annie  Yoakum,  b.  May  21,  1868.  (See  W.  F. 
Lenoir.) 

(6)  Mary  Louisa,  b.  June  18,  1871.  She  married 
Joseph  M.  Logan,  son  of  the  late  Judge  S.  T.  Logan,  of 
Knoxville,  Tenn.,  on  July  22,  1897.  Their  children  are : 
Maria  Louise,  born  at  the  old  Gannon  place,  Meadow- 
brook,  near  Philadelphia,  on  October  6,  1898,  and  Jose- 
phine, born  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  March  9,  1908. 

(7)  Arthur  Bogart  Cannon  married  Julia  Clark 
Tliomas  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  on  December  29, 1908.  Their 
children  were :    Elizabeth,  b.  October  25,  1909 ;  Sarah,  b. 

August  12,  1912;  d. 191   ;  and  Arthur  Bogart,  b. 

February  3,  1916. 

6.  Charles,  second  son  of  Robert  and  Ann  Galbraith 
Cannon  was  born  at  the  old  Caimon  place  near  Philadel- 
phia. He  was  married  (first)  to  Lodusky  Caroline, 
daughter  of  J.  D.  and  Aley  Cleveland  Jones,  on  Feb- 
ruary 11,  1852.  They  moved  from  Philadelphia  to  the 
Fine  place  near  Sweetwater,  in  1859.  Their  children 
were: 

(1)  Mary  Alice,  b.  January  20,  1854.  She  mar- 
ried Joseph  H.  Bean,  of  Knoxville,  on  November  26, 1890. 
He  was  born  in  Monroe  County,  September  15,  1853. 
He  learned  the  printers  trade  in  Ivnoxville ;  he  was  edi- 
tor and  proprietor  of  the  Monroe  Democrat,  a  weekly 
published  in  Sweetwater,  from  January,  1876  to  Jan- 
uary, 1890;  he  was  manager  and  proprietor  of  the  Knox- 
ville Tribune,  a  daily  paper  published  in  Knoxville,  from 
1890  to  1892.  He  is  now^  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Bean, 
Warters  and  Company,  printers,  bookbinders  and  sta- 
tioners, at  706  Gay  Street,  Knoxville  Tenn.  The  chil- 
dren of  J.  H.  and  Alice  Bean  are:  Helen  Lodusky,  b. 
May  21,  1892 ;  m.  Geo.  Rogers,  teacher,  of  Charleston, 
S.  C. ;  thev  reside  at  Charleston,  S.  C. ;  Alice,  b.  Novem- 
ber 24,  1893. 

(2)  William  C,  son  of  Charles  Caroline  Cannon,  was 
born  February  4,  1860.      He   married   Annie    Mildred, 

daughter  of  Eli  S.  Adkins,  on ,  1890.    She  was 

born  April  26,  1866.  They  have  one  daughter,  Louise, 
born  July,  189  .  William  C.  Cannon  lives  at  Philadel- 
phia in  the  old  home  of  his  grandfather,  J.  D.  Jones. 

Charles  Cannon  married  (second)  Helen   Graham,   of 


112  HISTOBY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Pond  Creek  Valley,  on  December  17,  1868.  Tlieir  chil- 
dren were : 

(1)  Martha  Bland,  who  married  David  Carter  Young 
on  December  14,  1897.  He  was  born  August  18,  1865, 
the  son  of  the  Rev.  Jas.  N.  and  Sarah  Carter  Young.  He 
attended  school  at  Roane  and  Sweetwater  colleges  and 
studied  law  while  teaching  school.  He  w^as  a  law  part- 
ner of  his  brother.  Colonel  Sam  Epps  Young,  at  Sweet- 
water, from  1888  to  1911.  He  is  at  present  practising 
law  at  Sweetwater.  He  is  also  a  farmer,  real  estate 
owner  and  dairyman.  He  is  a  member  and  elder  of  the 
Presbyterian  church  and  has  been  Sunday-school  sup- 
erintendent. Their  children  are :  David  Graham,  b.  Au- 
gust 27, 1900;  Helen  Graham,  b.  May  6, 1904;  Bland  Eliz- 
abeth, b.  December  10,  1906,  and  Sarah  Louise,  b.  July 
22,  1910. 

(2)  Sue  Graham,  second  daughter  of  Chas.  and  Helen 
Cannon,  married  S.  J.  Pickel.     (See  PickeL) 

(3)  Louise  Caroline,  third  daughter  of  Chas.  and 
Helen  Cannon,  married  Everett  Grace,  son  of  the  Rev. 
W.  C.  Grace,  former  pastor  of  the  Baptist  church  at 
Sweetwater,  He  was  born  September  9,  1873.  He  is  a 
broker  at  Birmingham,  Ala. 

(4)  Ann  Elizabeth,  fourth  daughter  of  Chas.  and 
Helen  Cannon,  married  Jno.  F.  Hargrove,  of  Fork  Creek 
valley.    He  is  a  merchant  at  Robbins,  Tenn. 

(5)  Ida  Clark,  youngest  daughter  of  Chas.  and  Helen 
Cannon,  married  A.  J.  Binzel,  trainmaster  of  the  L.  &  N. 
Railroad  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.  Tlieir  children  are  Cath- 
erine and  Alvin  John. 

David  Burton  Childress 

Was  born  in  Sullivan  County,  Tenn.,  April  14,  1831, 
the  son  of  Finley  Childress.  His  mother  was  Betsey 
Perry,  a  direct  descendant  of  Commodore  0.  H.  Perry. 
David  Burton  Childress  came  to  Athens,  Tenn.,  in  1857, 
where  he  clerked  there  for  A.  McKeldin.  He  married 
Miss  Mary  Jones  on  December  20,  1860.  She  was  an 
older  sister  of  Mrs.  James  M.  Heiskell.  She  was  born 
in  Wilmington,  N.  C,  May  11,  1841.  They  came  to 
Sweetwater  in  1865.  He  engaged  in  the  general  mer- 
cantile business  with  W.  B.  McKeldin  as  partner,  for  a 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  113 

year  or  two,  when  the  partnership  was  dissolved,  Mr. 
McKeldin  returning  to  his  former  home  at  Athens.  Mr. 
Childress  remained  in  business  until  a  short  time  before 
his  death  which  occurred  November  21,  1887.  Some  of 
the  clerks  for  D.  B.  Childress  were  Hugh  M.  McKeldin, 
Sam  Scott,  R.  E.  Magill,  Millard  Hudson  and  J.  H. 
Dicke}",  all  successful  business  men  afterward.  For 
history  of  R.  E.  Magill  see  ''Magill  Family  Record, " 
page  103,  by  Robert  Magill,  Publisher,  Richmond,  Va. 
History  of  J.  H.  Dickey  see  Goddard,  this  book. 

He  was  interred  in  the  old  Sweetwater  cemetery.  He 
first  lived  in  the  house  now  owned  by  S.  H.  Sharp.  On 
April  5,  1873,  he  bought  15  1-2  acres,  now  the  j^roperty  of 
Mrs.  J.  R.  Love,  on  the  Athens  road,  and  built  and  moved 
there.  He  was  both  mayor  and  an  alderman  of  Sweet- 
water a  number  of  times.  The  children  of  Mary  and 
D.  B.  Childress  were: 

1.  Samuella,  b,  June  14,  1862.  She  married  James  I. 
Carter  on  December  27,  1881.  He  was  born  January  11, 
1858,  the  son  of  John  G.  Carter,  of  Charleston,  Tenn. 
He  was  in  business  with  J.  H.  Patton  for  several  years, 
then  a  merchant  in  Sweetwater  in  partnership  with  his 
brother,  John  Carter,  until  about  1884,  when  he  went  to 
Chicago,  where  he  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trade. 
He  is  now  a  capitalist  in  Chattanooga,  with  a  city  resi- 
dence on  Bluff  View  and  a  summer  residence  near  the 
incline  on  Lookout  Mountain. 

The  children  of  J.  I.  and  Samuella  Carter  are : 

(1)  John  Garnett,  b.  February  9,  1883.  He  m.  Frieda 
Utermoehlen,  a  musical  composer. 

(2)  Mary  Lynn,  b.  April  7,  1885. 

(3)  Paul  Burton,  b.  February  10,  1888.  He  is  in  busi- 
ness with  his  father. 

(4)  Lucille,  b.  August  30,  1891;  m.  James  Glasscock, 
now  with  Proctor  &  Gamble,  at  Cleveland,  0. 

(5)  Doris  Inman,  b.  March  3,  1900. 

2.  Laura  Edna,  second  daughter  of  D.  B.  and  Mary 
Childress,  b.  January  18,  1868.  She  was  married  Oc- 
tober 12,  1887  to  L.  P.  Thatcher,  wholesale  grocer,  of 
Chattanooga.    He  died  in  1906.    Their  children  were : 

(1)  Burton  Craighead,  b.  1888. 

(2)  Samuel  Eugene. 

(3)  Hugh  Lynn. 


114  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

(4)  Elizabeth. 

(5)  Louis  P. 

(7)  and  (8)  Wendell  and  Laurette,  twins. 

(9)  Kenneth. 

(10)  Doug-las,  about  10  years  old.  These  are  all  liv- 
ing; the  sixth  child,  Justis  is  dead. 

3.  Hugh  Lynn,  b.  January  28,  1870;  d.  February  4, 
1898.  He  was  an  expert  telegrapher  and  fine  business 
man.  When  he  was  27  years  of  age  he  was  superintend- 
ent of  the  southern  division  of  the  Postal  Telegraph 
Company,  the  youngest  in  the  service. 

4.  Berta,  b.  September  23,  1872.  She  m.  David  Ran- 
kin, of  Chattanooga,  June  23,  1896.  She  d.  October  2, 
1897. 

5.  Nellie  Elizabeth,  b.  August  12, 1875 ;  m.  I.  N.  Steely, 
a  lawyer  of  Williamsburg,  Ky.,  on  May  21,  1908.  Chil- 
dren, three:  (1)  Hugh  Childress;  (2)  Joe  Francis;  (3) 
Oarnett  Carter. 

6.  James  Finley  (John),  b.  May  22,  1878;  m.  Lyda 
Boykin  at  Chattanooga,  on  June  17,  1903.  One  child, 
Margaret  Evelyn.     He  is  a  druggist  in  Sweetwater. 

^  7.  Annie  EHen,  youngest  child  of  D,  B.  and  Mary 
'Childress,  b.  April  2,  1884,  m.  to  Samuel  E.  Johnson,  at 
Sweetwater  on  December  27,  1905.  Four  children:  (1) 
Nellie  Elizabeth;  (2)  Samuel  G. ;  (3)  L^mn  Cannon  and 
Mary  Childress. 

James  Cooper. 

Lived  on  Mrs.  Mira  A.  Reagan's  place,  one-half  mile 
south  of  I.  T.  Lenoir's  residence,  for  probably  as  much 
as  twenty  years,  from  about  1840  to  some  time  in  the 
early  sixties.  My  information  as  to  the  family  is  some- 
what meager.  What  is  given  about  them  merely  is  as  I 
remember  it.  James  Cooper,  I  think,  was  twice  mar- 
ried. Name  of  first  wife  unknown  to  me.  The  children 
of  the  first  wife  that  I  remember  were:  Washington, 
Patsy,  Jane,  David  and  James.  He  married,  second. 
Miss  West.     Their    children    were:      Cannon,    Wesley. 

Levi,  Nick  and  Joseph  and  two  daughters, and 

,  Washington  joined  the   Confederate   army,  1 

think  Rowan's  company,  and  was  killed,  soon  after  the 
commencement  of  the  war,  in  the    Cumberland   moun- 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  115 

tains.  Patsy  married  Matthew  McGuire  on  December 
21,  1858.  Levi  married  Ellen  Hayes  December  31,  1878. 
Washington,  the  oldest  child  of  the  first  marriage  was 
born  about  1838-9.  Cannon,  the  oldest  child  of  the  sec- 
ond marriage  was  probably  born  about  1850.  Joseph 
Cooper  is  a  conductor  on  the  street  railway  at  Knoxville. 

Abram  Whitenack  Cozart 

'Was  born  near  Harrodsburg,  Kv.,  on  Februarv  11, 
1822,  and  died  at  Columbus,  Ga.,  on  February  20,*  1889. 
He  was  buried  at  Philadelphia,  Tenn.,  with  other  mem- 
bers of  his  famil}'.  He  was  first  married  to  Julia  A. 
Cakhvell  in  Monroe  County,  Ga.,  in  about  1847.  Their 
children  were : 

1.  Joseph  H,,  b.  about  1848  in  Macon,  Ga.  He  mar- 
ried February  13, 1870,  Addie,  daughter  of  George  Mont- 
gomery Cuson,  near  Philadelphia.  He  died  near  Wau- 
komis,  Okla.,  leaving  several  children,  who  reside  there. 

2.  Mattie,  who  married  (first)  the  Rev.  Joseph  Mc- 
Ghee.  They  had  one  son,  Joseph  L.  McGhee,  Pli.  D. 
(Johns  Hopkins  University),  w^ho  is  now  professor  of 
chemistry  in  the  Southwestern  University  at  George- 
town, Texas.    She  m.  (second)  B.  E.  Tallent. 

3.  Jacob  Abner,  m.  Belle  Suavely  of  Virginia.  They 
live  at  Bridgeport,  Sask.,  Canada. 

4.  David,  died  near  Philadelphia,  in  early  manhood. 
He  was  a  medical  student.  Tlie  children  of  A.  W.  and 
Julia  A.  Cozart  were,  I  think,  all  born  in  Georgia. 

Julie  A.  Cozart  died  August  16,  1854,  near  Philadel- 
phia, Tenn.,  to  which  place  A.  W.  Cozart  had  moved  a 
short  time  previous.  After  her  death  he  married  her 
sister,  Martha  G.  Caldwell,  who  was  born  September  28, 
1827.  She  died  in  Georgia  January  2,  1899,  and  was 
buried  at  Philadelphia.  Their  children,  who  were  born 
at  the  old  home  one  mile  east  of  Philadelphia,  were : 

(1)  Samuel,  who  married  Mary  Wilson.  Died  at  Col- 
orado Springs,  Col. 

(2)  Hugh  Walker,  unmarried  and  lives  at  Pocatello, 
Idaho. 

(3)  Hattie,  m.  Joseph  Gates,  Manatee,  Fla. 

(4)  John,  m.  Addie  Caldwell,  of  Knoxville.  Resides 
at  Knoxville,  Tenn. 


116  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

(5)  Linneaus,  died  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  in  early  manhood. 
Buried  in  Philadelphia. 

(6)  Abram  Whitenack,  b.  June  14,  1870;  m.  Susan, 
daughter  of  Judge  Brown,  of  Columbus,  Ga.  He  lives 
at  Columbus,  Ga.,  where  he  practices  law,  and  has  served 
as  judge  of  one  of  the  courts. 

History  says  there  was  once  a  man  whose  name  was 
Andrew  Smith  and  he  took  as  a  wife  Miss  Ellen  Seater. 
He  settled  or  temporarily  resided  in  Orkney  Isles;  for 
there  on  the  Mainland,  the  largest  of  the  group,  a  son  of 
his  and  hers  first  saw  the  light  of  day  or  possibly  more 
correctly  the  fogs  of  the  north  sea.  This  son  was  born 
on  the  20th  of  May,  1797,  at  Kirkwall.  They  searched 
diligently  for  a  name  for  him  and  finally  settled  on  John ; 
not  Ian,  but  just  plain  John  without  any  frills  to  it. 
And  why  not  John?  There  were  John  the  Baptist,  and 
John  Knox,  the  Presbyterian,  John  the  beloved  disciple, 
and  King  John  of  Magna  Charta  fame  and  a  host  of 
other  distinguished  Johns.  Anyhow  if  there  was  any- 
thing wrong  with  his  being  saddled  with  the  name  of 
John  Smith  and  being  born  in  the  Orkneys  John  was 
not  to  blame  for  it;  he  couldn't  help  it.  He  was  not 
obliged  to  stay  there  however,  and  when  he  grew  to  man- 
hood he  moved  about  as  far  away  from  there  as  he  could. 

The  Orkneys  are  among  the  bleakest  lands  in  the  hab- 
itable parts  of  the  globe.  A  frith  separates  them  from 
the  northernmost  point  of  Scotia  or  the  ''land's  end"  or 
the  ''ultima  thule"  of  the  Romans;  not  a  great  ways 
north  of  them  are  the  Shetland  Isles,  and  like  these 
islands  they  raise  barley,  ponies  and  rough  and  hardy 
breed  of  cattle.  In  the  Orkneys  there  are  nine  months 
of  winter  and  three  months  of  rather  cool  weather; 
though  in  those  three  months  of  so-called  summer  the 
sun  shines  most  of  the  time.  The  hills  and  cliffs  around 
Kirkwall  are  about  the  same  elevation  above  sea  level 
as  the  depot  at  Sweetwater.  Hoy,  west  of  Mainland 
Isle,  is  a  horneblende,  Gnessoid  islet  rising  sheer  out 
of  the  sea  to  a  height  of  more  than  1,500  feet.  On  this 
uninhabitable,  intractable  rock  the  intense  cold  pro- 
duces no  impression  and  the  storm  king  and  the  mad 
waves  of  the  north  sea  beat  in  vain.  In  summer  from 
the  towering  cliffs  of  these  islets  the  sunsets    and  the 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  117 

starry  nights  are  beyond  compare.  Formerly  before  the 
European  war  no  wealthy  Britisher's  life  was  complete 
without  a  yatching  trip  to  the  north  of  Scotland. 

Are  there  flowers  there!  We  would  think  so;  because 
the  great  Creator  in  some  way  has  rendered  beautiful 
and  attractive  the  most  barren  and  inaccessible  parts 
of  the  earth,  the  coldest  and  hottest.  The  edelweis 
blooms  amid  Alpine  snows ;  the  acacia  waves  her  yellow 
hair  in  Arabian  sands,  the  cactus  sheds  its  perfume  In 
the  rainless  tracts  of  Arizona;  gems  sparkle  in  the 
fathomless  depths  of  ocean. 

This  contention  with  the  forces  of  nature  on  such 
shores  as  the  Orkneys  has  given  to  the  Scotch  thus  ren- 
ders life  in  most  climes  easy.  What  chance  would  an 
Otaheite  islander  or  a  tropically  reared  man  have 
against  a  descendant  of  the  McGregors  or  a  Scottish 
highlander  with  equal  conditions.  For  the  Scot  it  would 
be  like  taking  candy  from  a  baby. 

What  time  John  Smith  came  to  Scotland  proper  we 
are  not  informed.  He  undoubtedly  must  have  received 
his  ministerial  education  there. 

At  the  age  of  29  he  was  married  to  Mary  Bland,  of 
Dumfries,  on  April  4,  1826.  She  was  born  July,  1808. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  Robert  Bland  and  Mary  Mc- 
Gregor. Soon  after  marriage  he  was  sent  as  a  mis- 
sionary to  China:  to  what  particular  part  is  now  not 
known.  From  the  dates  of  liis  childrens'  birth  and  where 
born  he  could  not  possibly  have  remained  very  long  in 
China.  We  give  the  history  as  furnished  us  by  Mrs. 
Bland  Clark: 

Robert  Andrew  Tomlinson,  born  at  Malacca  January 
17,  1827.  Helen  Margaret,  born  at  Malacca  September 
22,  1828.  Mary  Ann  Aldersey,  born  off  the  coast  of 
the  isle,  of  St.  Helena,  December  10,  1829.  James  Hen- 
ry, born  at  Montreal,  Canada,  November  30,  1831.  Bland 
Elizabeth  (Mrs.  Clark)  born  at  Kingston,  Canada,  Feb- 
ruar}^  6,  1834.    These  were  the  children  of  the  first  wife. 

He  married  (second)  Elizabeth  Bland,  a  sister  of  his 
first  wife  (Mary  Bland),  in  Canada  on  August  9,  1835. 
She  was  born  at  Dumfries,  Scotland,  October  30,  1800. 
Her  children  were : 

Wm.  Henry,  b.  at  Brockville,  Canada,  July  9,  1837;  d. 
in  infancv. 


118  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Jane  Isabel,  b.  at  Brockville,  on  September  30,  1838. 
Angeline  Henrietta,  b.  at  Union  Village,  N.  Y.,  February 
16,  1840.  Wm.  Henry  (2),  born  at  Troy,  September  28, 
1843,  Caroline  Emily  Hutchinson  (afterward  Mrs. 
Buell),  b.  at  Troy,  N.  Y.,  September  23,  1845. 

There  were  some  peculiar  circumstances  connected 
with  this  Smith  family.  That  having  a  famil}^  he  should 
traverse  the  oceans  to  Malacca  and  then  to  China,  re- 
turning to  Malacca  and  back  again  to  England  or  Scot- 
land and  thence  to  the  British  dominions  in  North 
America  soon  after.  He  made  the  voyage  to  British 
Isles  from  Malacca  in  1829,  as  evidenced  by  the  birth 
of  one  of  his  children  off  the  coast  of  St.  Helena.  That 
also  shows  that  he  did  not  go  direct  from  Asia  to 
Canada,  for  in  that  case  he  would  not  have  gone  from 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  by  St.  Helena,  made  historic 
as  the  prison  of  the  great  Napoleon.  This  was  at  a 
time  when  the  canal  on  the  isthmus  of  Suez  had  scarce- 
ly been  conceived.  It  was  some  voyage  then  in  a  slow 
sailing  vessel  especially  when  buffeted  by  contrary 
winds.  I  assume  also  that  John  reared  on  the  brink 
of  a  tempestuous  ocean  did  not  dread  the  waves  and  was 
never  sick  at  sea  or  he  would  not  have  spent  so  much 
of  his  time  on  ships.  Yet  with  the  best  accommodations 
then  obtairable  it  was  hard  on  the  youthful  mother  of 
three  children,  she  being  twenty-one  and  a  half  years 
old  and  the  eldest  child  less  than  three. 

He  married  two  daughters  of  Robert  Bland  and  Mary 
McGregor.  One  he  married  when  she  was  18  years  of 
age  and  the  other  (the  second  wife)  when  she  was  35 
years  old.  His  first  wife  was  also  eight  years  the 
younger  of  the  two.  Each  was  the  mother  of  five  chil- 
dren. He  was  born  in  the  land  of  the  diminutive  Shet- 
land pony,  two  of  his  children  in  the  region  of  the  mighty 
elephant;  one  on  the  high  seas,  one  in  Montreal  and 
one  in  Kingston,  Canada.  These  were  the  children  of 
the  first  wife.  The  .five  children  of  the  second  wife  w^ere 
born  as  follows :  Two  were  born  at  Brockville,  Canada, 
one  at  Union  Village,  N.  Y.,  and  two  at  Troy,  N.  Y.  To 
three  of  the  children  were  given  the  name  of  Henry: 
one  James  Henry  and  two  William  Henry,  the  first  Wil- 
liam Henry  dying  in  infancy.  We  infer  from  this  that 
either  John  or  his  wives  w^ere  very  partial  to  the  name 


niSTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  119 

of  Henry  but  did  not  care  to  perpetuate  the  name  of 
John;  he  had  had  enough  of  it.  Mrs.  Clark  says  too 
that  though  the  grandchildren  and  great  grandchildren 
are  very  numerous  that  not  one  of  them  living  bears 
the  surname  of  Smith. 

Also  when  once  his  children  left  the  place  of  their 
nativity,  which  they  usually  did  early  in  life,  none  re- 
turned to  reside,  like  Roderick  Dhu,  on  their  native 
heath  and  very  rarely  set  foot  on  it.  His  descendants 
are  -dispersed  from  Canada  to  Brazil  and  not  a  Smith 
among  them  to  perpetuate  the  name.  There  are  how- 
ever a  few  Smiths  left  in  New^  York  City,  so  the  direc- 
tory says. 

Mrs.  Helen  Margaret  Cooke. 

I  take  this  from  the  Chattanooga  Times  of  Decem- 
ber 5,  1915. 

"Kirkwall  is  a  little  place  with  about  4,000  inhab- 
itants in  the  island  county  of  Orkney.  Its  location  may 
.be  fixed  in  the  minds  of  the  reader  by  the  statement  of 
the  fact  that  it  is  between  20  and  30  miles  north  of  the 
famous  'John  0.  Groats',  the  most  northern  point  of 
Scotland.  Because  of  its  commodious  harbor,  in  which 
can  be  held  hundreds  of  vessels,  and  on  account  of  the 
fact  the  harbor  space  is  not  occupied,  it  is  used  by  the 
British  as  the  most  available  place  for  the  internment  of 
detained  United  States  ships.  This  has  given  it  a  prom- 
inence it  miglit  not  otherwise  have  obtained." 

"It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  Ivirkwall  and  its  sur- 
roundings furnish  one  of  the  most  interesting  places  in 
the  world  for  sightseeing.  History  and  tradition  com- 
bine to  trace  the  civilization  and  architecture  back  to 
the  times  of  Scandinavian  supremacy.  The  castle,  pal- 
ace and  cathedral  are  buildings  of  remarkable  interest 
and  the  scener^^  of  the  surrounding  country  is  described 
as  beautiful." 

The  springs  and  creek  which  supply  the  waters  that 
flow  through  our  town  and  by  a  thousand  devious  chan- 
nels for  thousands  of  miles  find  their  way  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico.  And  are  they  lost  there!  By  no  means. 
Warmed  by  the  suns  of  Yucatan  they  become  part  of 
the  Gulf  Stream,   the   mightiest   water   course    on    our 


120  HISTORIC  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

globe — mightier  even  than  the  Bosphorus  that  empties 
from  the  Black  Sea  into  the  Mecliterranian  and  the  form- 
er affording  ten  times  the  volume  of  the  Mississippi.  This, 
the  Gulf  Stream,  sweeps  northeasterly  in  its  irresistible 
flow  and  tempers  the  climate  of  many  lands.  It  ren- 
ders habitable  the  Orkneys  and  blesses  wherever  it  goes. 
Thus  one  part  of  the  world  gets  its  food,  its  climate,  its 
civilization  and  often  even  its  religion  from  another 
part.    "Am  I  (not)  my  brother's  Keeper?" 

"And  east  is  east  and  west  is  west  and  never,  the 
twain  shall  meet,  Till  earth  and  sky  stand  presently  at 
God's  great  judgment  seat."  A  very  pretty  jingle,  Mr. 
Kipling,  but  is  it  true!  No,  though  w^e  should  endeavor 
to  isolate  ourselves  on  an  uncharted  isle  of  the  Pacific, 
soon  or  late  some  ship  would  come  our  way  and  insist 
on  knowing  what  we  were  there  for. 

Mr.  Smith  was  educated  at  Oxford,  England;  was  a 
teacher  and  preacher  and  was  possessed  of  a  magnifi- 
cent library. 

Mrs.  Cook  was  born  in  Malacca  and  ''Little  Ellen," 
as  her  mother  called  her,  sojourned  some  months  in 
Singapore,  Asia,  traversed  two  oceans,  lived  in  Mon- 
treal, Kingston,  Brockville,  and  Bath  in  Canada,  Troy 
and  Union  Village  in  New  York,  Selma,  Ala.,  Athens, 
Cleveland  and  Sweetwater,  Tenn.,  and  Fort  Valley,  Ga., 
and  also  in  Florida.     There  she  spent  her  last  days. 

With  these  advantages  of  parentage  and  education 
and  being  associated  with  the  best  people  in  many  sec- 
tions and  being  a  bright  and  attractive  woman  one  can 
well  conceive  what  her  influence  in  life  must  have  been. 

She  came  south  to  Selma,  Ala.,  about  1850.  She  m. 
there  Professor  H.  G.  Cooke,  a  teacher  of  music  on  the 
violin  and  piano.  They  came  to  Athens,  Tenn.,  probably 
in  1853.  She  taught  there  a  private  school  till  the  fall 
of  1856.  She  taught  also  at  Cleveland,  Tenn.,  in  1857. 
At  Athens  Mrs.  Julia  B.  Love,  Mrs.  D.  B.  Childress  and 
Mrs.  S,  J.  A.  Frazier  were  among  the  number  of  her' 
pupils. 

In  1858  she  came  to  Sweetwater  and  became  the  prin- 
cipal of  the  girls'  school  in  the  Union  Institute,  now  the 
Baptist  Seminary.  She  taught  in  this  building  until  the 
schools  were  closed  on  account  of  the  occupation  of  this 
section  by  the  Federal  troops. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  121 

She  was  intensely  southern  in  feelings.  She  always 
was  very  partial  to  the  southern  people  and  the  climate 
of  the  south  and  the  majority  of  her  friends  were  in  this 
section  of  the  country.  During  the  war  she  hesitated 
not  to  express  her  opinions  and  even  her  husband,  a 
former  Massachusetts  man,  was  also  a  southern  sympa- 
thizer. She  entertained  General  John  H.  Morgan  on  one 
of  his  raids  through  this  country.  For  this  or  more 
probably  because  she  was  under  accusation  of  giving 
information  to  the  '' rebels"  through  a  secret,  then 
termed  an  ^'underground  mail  system,"  she  was  sent 
through  the  lines,  by  whose  order  I  am  not  informed. 
She  finally  reached  Fort  Valley,  Ga.,  where  the  famil)^ 
of  Sterling  Neil  "refugeed"  wdien  the  Federal  troops 
occupied  this  valley.  Stella  Neil,  now  Mrs.  J.  C.  Slap- 
py,  had  been  a  pupil  of  hers  at  Sweetwater. 

Before  the  Civil  War  she  contracted  for  lot  No.  127, 
bounded  by  High,  Morris,  Church  and  Walnut  streets, 
adjoining  the  Union  Institute  lot  126  and  built  a  resi- 
dence thereon.  The  street  between  the  two  lots  has 
since  been  closed  by  the  town  authorities. 

Some  time  after  the  war  she  returned  to  her  home  in 
Sweetwater.  She  had  a  small  building  erected  on  her 
own  lot  and  taught  a  private  school  there.  These  build- 
ings now  have  both  been  removed  or  torn  down. 

She  also  taught  a  school  in  the  lower  floor  of  the  Ma- 
sonic Hall  then  occupying  the  site  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South. 

She  moved  to  Bridgeport,  Florida, .     She 

died  there  on  May  13,  1896. 

Mrs.  Cooke  in  her  teaching  strenuously  insisted  on 
thoroughness,  industry'  and  obedience  to  rules.  Being 
such  an  indefatigable  w^orker  herself  she  could  not  tol- 
erate a  lazy  pupil.  Yet  she  was  patience  personified 
when  the  scholar  was  dull  but  really  trying  to  learn. 
She  was  a  strict  disciplinarian  and  though  firm  she  was 
always  kind  and  managed  to  gain  not  only  the  respect 
but  love  of  her  pupils.  I  have  heard  many  of  them,  most 
of  whom  are  now  passed  away,  express  a  devout  thank- 
fulness that  they  were  taught  by  Mrs.  Cooke. 

She  turned  out  many  who  were  afterward  teachers, 
both  in  the  academical  and  musical  departments.  Few 
indeed  were  there  of   her    pupils    who    were    not    well 


122  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

grounded  in  the  ''three  R's"  and  numerous  ones  were 
shining  lights  in  the  higher  branches.  She  taught  near- 
ly everything  but  domestic  science ;  this  her  girls  were 
expected  to  learn  at  home  so  far  as  they  could. 

She  was  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church  and 
owing  to  her  disposition  never  neglected  church  or 
Sunday-school  duties. 

William  did  you  mean  it?  ''Mean  what,"  said  the 
shade  of  the  immortal  Shakspear?  "what  you  said 
about  the  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them,  the  good 

is  oft  interred  with  their  bones." 

***** 

"Get  thee  to  a  sanitarium,  you  mast  fed  East  Ten- 
nesseean,  you,  I'm  not  answering  fool  question  today; 
but  this  I  will  say,  a  part  of  it  I  meant  and  a  part  I 
didn't.     Take   your   choice.     Good-bye." 

"William,  sorry  I  disturbed  you,  take  a  rest  and  a 
coca  cola  for  your  nerves." 

Now  there  may  be  those  who  may  have  minds  scepti- 
cally inclined.  They  may  refuse  to  believe  that  I  called 
his  spirit  up  at  all  from  the — the  vastly  deep — as  the 
Sw^eetwater  telephone  thitherward  is  not  in  working  or- 
der— and  if  I  did  call,  there  was  no  answer  or  if  there 
was  an  answer  it  was  not  Shakspear  but  his  ste- 
nographer that  answered.  Again  the  language  attrib- 
uted to  him  is  not  Shakspearian  and  he  had  no  knowl- 
edge that  East  Tennesseeans  fed  on  acorns  like  the 
Druids  of  old. 

But  you  can  have  it  your  own  way ;  take  it  or  leave  it ; 
I'm  agreeable.  I  am  about  to  give  you  the  contents  of  a 
paper  showing  that  the  good  Mrs.  Cooke  did  live  after 
her  and  that  her  soul  is  "marching  on"  but  not  in  the 
John  Brown  direction,  which  is  bad  for  John  B. 

The  paper  to  which  I  refer  was  compiled  and  written 
by  Miss  Miranda  E.  Yearwood  for  the  H.  M.  Cooke 
Memorial  Library  some  time  this  year  (1915).  It  is  very 
highly  interesting  and  instructive  and  almost  a  com- 
plete history  of  the  library  movement  in  the  town  of 
Sweetwater  and  surrounding  country.  That  the  town 
sorely  needed  a  library  goes  without  saying.  Read  her 
article,  ye  moneyed  men  and  women,  and  loosen  up  your 
purse  strings !  And  do  not  wait  till  you  are  worth  a 
million  to  do  it,  but  help  endow  the   library   so   that   it 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  123 

will  not  have  a  hand  to  mouth  existence  year  after  year. 

Right  here  permit  me  to  say,  whether  pertinent  or 
not,  if  any  one.  after  reading-  Miss  Yearwood's  paper, 
is  bold  enough  to  assert  that  the  women  of  the  first  civil 
district  of  Monroe  County  have  not  sufficient  intelli- 
gence and  principle  to  transact  business  and  cast  the 
ballot,  I  would  like  for  him  to  come  forth  and  exhibit 
himself. 

True  the  ladies  usually  get  what  they  want  as  it  is, 
but  not  always  when  they  want  it.  I  have  several  times 
been  told  by  some  of  them  how  I  must  vote  or  suffer 
the  penalty,  and  I  have  no  legal  boss  either. 

Some  oppose  female  suffrage  because  they  fear  that 
the  ballot  will  corrupt  the  women  without  elevating  the 
franchise.  A  point  not  well  taken.  Is  the  sunbeam  cor- 
rupted when  it  shines  on  a  heap  of  garbage! 

The  paper  of  Miss  Yearwood  follows: 

Helen  M.  Cooke  Memorial  Library. 

On  February  11,  1905,  twenty-three  i^ersons  from  the 
town  and  surrounding  country  met  in  the  Sweetwater 
Seminary  building,  then  used  by  the  "Tennessee  Mil- 
itary Institute,"  to  discuss  plans  to  establish  a  j)ublic 
library  in  the  town  of  Sweetwater. 

Mrs.  J.  Harrison  Lowry  was  chairman  of  the  meeting. 
She  stated  the  purpose  of  the  meeting  and  stressed  the 
special  need  for  a  library  in  the  town.  Miss  Bess  Love 
told  of  the  start  made,  stating  that  when  the  Misses 
Coffin  were  preparing  to  leave  Sweetwater  they  had 
given  her  mother,  Mrs.  Julia  Reagan  Love,  thirty-five 
books.  Mrs.  Love  offered  these  books  with  others  she 
would  donate  toward  a  public  library.  Many  others 
offered  from  three  to  six  books  and  numerous  magazines. 
For  the  present  Colonel  0.  C.  Hulvey  offered  a  room  in 
the  school  building,  rent  free,  for  ahome  for  the  library. 

On  voting  the  name  was  made  the  "Sweetwater  Pub- 
lic Library  Association,"  books  to  be  obtained  from 
membership  fees,  gifts,  and  by  money  earned  by  public 
entertainments,  teas,  etc. 

The  membership  (fee)  was  placed  at  $1.00  per  year, 
thus  making  a  membership  within  the  reach  of  all. 
Without  charge  any  one  can  use  the  reference  books 
or  read  in  the  library  when  open  to  the  public. 


124  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Colonel  0.  C.  Hulvey  was  made  president,  Mrs.  J.  H. 
Lowr}^,  vice-president,  and  Miss  Bess  Love,  secretary- 
treasurer.  A  committee  was  named  to  draft  By-laws 
and  a  Constitution,  one  to  solicit  memberships,  one  to  se- 
lect books.  The  books  were  to  be  judiciously  propor- 
tioned as  to  subjects  in  history,  biography,  fiction,  na- 
ture, travel,  essays,  etc. 

The  officers  of  February,  1905,  served  until  Septem- 
ber, 1907.  Then  on  February  7,  1907,  S.  T.  Jones  was 
elected  president,  Mrs.  J.  R.  Love,  vice-president,  Miss 
Nancy  Jones,  recording  secretary,  Mrs.  J.  R.  Bradley, 
corresponding  secretary,  and  Clarence  E.  Young,  treas- 
urer. 

Early  in  1908  the  room  heretofore  donated  by  Colonel 
0.  C.  Hulvey  was  needed  for  school  purposes  and  the 
books  and  furnishings  were  removed  to  a  small  build- 
ing in  the  yard  of  S.  T.  Jones,  which  we  used  rent  free. 

On  March  21,  1908,  Mrs.  Bland  E.  Clark  offered  as  a 
gift  the  small  building  and  the  ground  on  which  it  stood, 
opposite  the  Southern  Methodist  Church,  for  a  home 
for  the  library,  provided  the  name  be  changed  from 
the  Sweetwater  Library  Association,"  to  the  "Helen 
M.  Cooke  Memorial  Library,"  in  memory  of  Mrs. 
Clark's  sister,  Mrs.  Helen  Margaret  Cooke,  one  of  the 
pioneer  educators  in  this  community.  Mrs.  Ida  Clark 
Hutcheson  offered  $100.00  to  the  building  fund  provided 
Mrs.  Clark's  offer  was  accepted.  It  was  with  great 
pleasure  that  the  association  made  the  change  in  name 
by  a  unanimous  vote. 

Several  parties  made  an  effort  to  secure  a  charter  but 
each  time  failed  in  some  essential.  C.  E.  Young,  treas- 
urer, took  the  matter  in  hand  and  secured  a  char- 
ter for  the  *^ Helen  M.  Cooke  Memorial  Library"  in  Sep- 
tember, 1910.  It  was  signed  by  S.  T.  Jones,  C.  M.  Young, 
Mrs.  L.  E.  Heiskell  and  Misses  Bess  Love  and  Miranda 
E.  Yearwood. 

A  building  committee  was  appointed  composed  of 
Mrs.  Bland  E.  Clark,  C.  E.  Young,  Mrs.  S.  T.  Jones,  and 
Misses  Bess  Love,  Nancy  Jones  and  Miranda  E.  Year- 
wood.  The  building  given  by  Mrs.  Clark  was  originally 
a  small  barn  which  had  been  converted  into  a  dwelling. 
The  committee  could  not  dispose  of  this  building  to  ad- 
vantage, so  concluded  to  remodel  and  add  to  it;  which 


HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  125 

was  done.  When  completed  it  was  convenient  and  com- 
modious. A  circular  was  issued  signed  by  pupils  of 
Mrs.  Cook  now  residing  in  this  community  and  mailed 
to  all  her  former  pupils  whose  addresses  we  could  learn, 
telling  of  the  proposed  memorial  to  her  name  and  ask- 
ing for  donations  toward  the  building  fund.  Among  the 
replies  received  enclosing  check,  was  one  from  Mr.  Will 
price  (of  Chicago),  sending  $25.00  and  promising  that 
when  the  building  was  completed  he  would  donate  a 
piano  of  his  firm  (Price  and  Peeple,  Chicago)  make. 
This  he  did.  $200.00  was  subscribed  by  citizens  not  pu- 
pils of  Mrs.  Cooke  and  the  balance  to  complete  the  build- 
ing was  made  by  various  entertainments.  The  building 
w^as  completed  April,  1911,  at  a  cost  of  $1,036.70  and  all 
paid. 

The  assembly  room  is  finished  in  mission  style, 
beamed  ceiling,  hardwood  floor,  built-in  window  seats, 
stone  chimney,  tinted  walls,  green  stained  woodwork 
and  bookcases;  large  library  table  and  piano  to  corre- 
spond. Electric  light  fixtures,  rugs  and  window  shades 
also  to  correspond.  Clarence  E.  Young  denated  a  mis- 
sion clock  and  Mrs.  Clark  a  Morris  chair  for  this  room. 

Adjoining  the  main  room  is  the  kitchen,  furnished; 
sink  with  water  connections,  table  and  dumb  waiter  to 
the  second  floor.  In  the  pantry  adjoining  the  kitchen 
there  are  numerous  utensils  and  odd  dishes  in  addition 
to  three  dozen  small  plates,  three  dozen  large  plates, 
three  dozen  cups  and  saucers,  three  dozen  sauce  dishes 
with  green  band  and  the  ''Helen  M.  Cooke  Library"  in 
green.  These  dishes  were  donated  by  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Robert  N.  Penland.  Across  the  end  and  down  back 
side  of  the  building  is  a  wide  porch  lighted  by  electric 
lights.  The  stairs  (enclosed)  ascend  from  the  side  porch 
and  enter  the  main  room  on  the  second  floor  (also  hard- 
w^ood)  and  which  has  built-in  seats  and  shelves.  Adjoin- 
ing this  main  room  is  a  storeroom  and  serving  room 
with  dumb  waiter  coming  from  the  kitchen.  The  main 
room  on  the  second  floor  is  rented  by  the  United  Daugh- 
ters Confederacy  chapter  as  an  assembly  room. 

The  entire  building  with  its  contents  is  rented  (when 
desired)  for  private  or  public  entertainments  at  a  rea- 
sonable rate  and  is  an  ideal  place  for  holding  receptions, 
etc.    There  are  folding  tables  and  folding  chairs.     The 


126  HISTOBY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

library  owns  about  1,800  books  and  subscribes  for  four- 
teen magazines ;  ten  magazines  are  donated. 

The  library  is  open  to  the  public  three  hours  every 
Saturda}^  afternoon.  Different  ones  serve  as  librarian, 
donating  their  services. 

At  the  fair  in  1914  in  connection  with  the  ' '  City  Beau- 
tiful League"  the  members  of  the  library  served  lunch 
and  realized  for  the  treasury  $100.00.  We  have  no  in- 
come excepting  membership  fees  and  are  compelled  to 
resort  to  lunches,  entertainments,  etc.,  to  replenish  our 
bookshelves. 

We  make  an  order  for  new  books  four  times  a  year 
and  have  added  new  bookcases,  rugs  and  curtains  that 
were  badly  needed. 

When  the  plans  of  the  building  were  submitted  there 
was  not  enough  ground  for  the  building  contemplated, 
so  Mrs.  Clark  donated  more  ground  to  extend  to  yard 
fence  of  Mrs.  Hutcheson  and  to  extend  to  the  wire  fence 
of  her  (Mrs.  Clark's)  garden. 

1915  officers  are  Mrs.  S.  T.  Jones,  president,  Mrs.  J. 
R.  Love,  vice-president,  Clarence  E.  Young,  secretary- 
treasurer,  and  Miss  Nancy  E.  Jones,  librarian. 

Children  of  Mrs.  H.  M.  Cooke. 

Henr^^  B.  Cooke  was  born  at  Athens,  Tenn.,  May  8, 
1854.  He  married  Fannie  S.  Meir,  of  Boulder,  Col.  She 
was  born  in  Mitchell,  lud.,  November  27,  1861.  He  and 
she  both  are  members .  of  the  Baptist  church.  After 
learning  his  trade,  that  of  brick-mason  and  plasterer, 
at  Sweetwater  under  Captain  W.  L.  Clark  he  went  to 
Boulder,  Col.,  then  to  Ash  Grove,  Mo.,  then  to  Coffee- 
ville,  Kan.,  thence  to  Cedaredge,  Col.  At  the  last  named 
place  he  died  on  January  15,  1912.  Their  children  are : 
Harry  D.  Cooke,  Red  Cliff,  Col. ;  C.  M.  Cooke,  Cedar- 
edge,  Col. ;  Nellie  M.  Cooke,  Cedaredge,  Col.,  and  Mrs. 
Susan  McCormick,  Red  Cliff,  Col. 

Charles  Maynard  Cooke 

Was  born  at  Athens,  Tenn.,  July  1,  1856.  He  got 
his  'education  from  his  mother  and  the  public  schools 
of  Sweetwater.  He  studied  law  and  went  to  Fort  Smith, 
Ark.,  in  1882.    There  he  married  Sarah  B.  Luce,  daugh- 


HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  127 

ter  of  Rear  Admiral  John  Bleecker  Luce  on  June  2, 
1884.  He  has  been  city  atttorney  and  mayor  of  Fort 
Smith  and  was  assistant  United  States  district  attorney 
for  the  Western  District  of  Arkansas  in  Mr.  Cleveland's 
first  administration.  Since  1908  he  has  been  a  Christian 
Scientist.  He  moved  to  Harrison,  Ark.,  in  1912. 
The  children  of  C.  M.  Cooke  and  wife  are : 

1.  John  Bleecker,  b.  May  17,  1885.  In  United  States 
Navy  at  Mare  Island. 

2.  Charles  Maynard,  b.  December  19,  1886.    In  United 
States  Navy  at  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard,     Lieutenant    in . 
command  of  Submarine  E-2. 

3.  Helen  m.,  b.  November  8,  1888;  m.  Johnson,  Fort 
Smith,  Ark. 

4.  Cornelia  P.,  b.  July  21,  1890.  Now  at  Pennsylvania 
Hospital,  Philadelphia. 

5.  William  Forester,  b.  July  8,  1892.  4229  South  Ben- 
ton Boulevard,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

6.  Stephen  Bland,  b.  August  23,  1898.  Attending 
school  in  Philadelphia,  preparatory  to  entering  An- 
napolis Naval  Academy  to  which  he  has  an  appoint- 
ment. 

Nellie  Cooke  (McLin) 

Was  born  at  Sweetwater  May  1,  1859.  She  married 
Chas.  E.  McLin  on  January  3,  1882.  He  was  born  in 
Blount  Comity,  September  3,  1858.  Mother  and  father 
were  George  A.  and  Jane  McConnell  McLin.  C.  E. 
McLin  is  secretary  and  treasurer  of  Anchor  Duck  Mills 
at  Rome,  Ga.  Children:  Clifton,  b.  June  23,  1885;  d. 
August  7,  1901.    Helen,  b.  January  6,  1895. 

James  W.  Clark 

Was  born  in  Washington  County,  Va.,  December  23, 
1825.  He  came  to  Monroe  County,  Tenn.,  probably 
early  in  the  forties.  He  helped  to  build  some  of  the 
residences  in  and  around  Madisonville.  He  had  re- 
ceived a  common  school  education  and  was  not  afraid  of 
work.  He  and  laziness  did  not  have  a  speaking  acquaint- 
ance. 

He  first  married  Sydney  Ann,  daughter  of  Robt. 
Cannon,  who  owned  a  large  farm  on  the  stage  road  one 
and  a  half  miles  northeast  of  Philadelphia,  on  Novem- 


128  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

ber  20,  1847.  They  had  been  married  scarcely  seven 
years  when  death  came  suddenly.  The  summer  and  fall 
of  1854  there  was  a  great  scourge  of  cholera  in  this  sec- 
tion of  the  country.  It  was  very  prevalent  and  very 
fatal  in  Sweetwater  Valley.  The  people  were  panic- 
stricken  and  I  am  told  that  half  or  more  that  took  it 
died. 

Mrs.  Clark  died  of  this  disease  July  29,  1854.  She  was 
born  September  19,  1830.  Robt.  Cannon,  father  of  Mrs. 
Clark,  died  also  on  the  same  date  as  his  daughter.  Previ- 
ous to  that  time  there  had  been  no  deaths  in  the  family 
for  a  great  number  of  years. 

The  Loudon  Free  Press,  a  newspaper  then  in  the 
town  of  Loudon,  published  the  fact  that  in  August,  1853, 
E.  P.  Clark,  and  J.  W.  Clark,  and  R.  T.  Wilson  after- 
ward a  New  York  millionaire,  w^ere  each  commencing 
the  erection  of  a  new  residence  in  that  town.  Mr.  J.  W. 
Clark  never  occupied  his. 

Mrs.  S.  A.  Clark  left  an  infant  daughter,  Ida,  who  was 
born  January  20,  1853;  she  married  C.  H.  Hutcheson 
on  December  30,  1887;  she  died  at  her  residence  in 
Sweetwater,  January  28,  1915. 

Mrs.  Hutcheson  was  a  faithful  member  of  the  M.  E. 
Church,  South,  and  one  of  the  church's  strongest  sup- 
porters. She  devoted  a  great  deal  of  her  time  in  later 
years  to  the  church  and  its  various  organizations — the 
Sunday-school,  missionary  societies,  etc.  She  also  took 
great  interest  in  the  schools  of  the  town  and  in  the  H. 
M.  C.  Library  Association. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Clark  married  a  second  time,  this  time  to 
Miss  Bland  Elizabeth  Smith  at  Weston  Mills,  Catta- 
raugus County,  New  York,  at  the  residence  of  her 
brother-in-law,  H.  P.  Weston.  She  was  born  in  King- 
ston, Canada,  February  6,  1834.  In  1855  she  came  south 
with  Robt.  McEwen,  a  merchant  then  of  Athens,  Tenn., 
who  had  gone  to  New  York  to  purchase  his  stock  of 
goods.  The  trip  then  was  a  toilsome  one,  and  a  young 
lady  needed  an  escort.  Miss  Bland,  came  to  Athens  on 
a  visit  to  her  sister,  Mrs.  Helen  M.  Cooke,  who  was  prin- 
cipal at  a  school  for  females  at  that  place. 

When  Mrs.  Cooke  came  to  Sweetwater  in  1857  Miss 
Bland  came  with  her  and  here  she  met  Mr.  Clark  and  as 
stated  they  were  afterward  married. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  129 

Mr.  Clark  was  a  contractor  and  builder.  He  and  his 
brother,  W.  L.  Clark,  built  many  houses  in  Sweetwater, 
both  business  and  residence. 

He  was  a  zealous  member  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  South.  He  superintended  the  construction 
of  the  new  church  here  and  he  was  the  largest  contrib- 
utor in  money  possibly  with  one  exception,  the  Hon.  Jno. 
K.  Brown.  He  (Clark)  spared  no  time  or  means  to 
make  the  church  and  the  parsonage  adjoining  such  as 
would  be  an  honor  and  a  credit  to  the  denomination  and 
the  town.  The  church  stands  on  the  site  of  the  old  Ma- 
sonic lodge,  afterwards  Victoria  College,  under  charge 
of  the  Athens  District  Conference.  He  was  a  consid- 
erable stockholder  in  the  bank  of  Sweetwater.  The 
Sweetwater  Flour  Mill  and  the  Sweetwater  Woolen 
Mills.  He  was  one  of  the  town's  most  honored  and 
respected   citizens. 

From  the  time  Sweetwater  was  incorporated  he  was 
either  mayor  or  an  alderman,  so  long  as  he  would  con- 
sent to  accept  the  position.  He  died  at  his  residence  in 
Sweetwater  on  October  13,  1897,  and  was  interred  in 
West  View  Cemetery. 

Mrs.  B.  E.  Clark  survived  her  husband  almost  nine- 
teen years.  She  died  at  her  residence  in  Sweetwater  on 
Sunday,  July  23,  1916,  at  4:20  p.  m.  One  of  her  last 
acts  a  short  while  before  death  was  to  donate  $1,000.00 
to  build  a  Sunday-school  annex  to  the  Methodist  Church, 
South. 

Captain  W.  Leonidas  Clark 

Was  born  near  Abingdon  in  Washington  County,  Va., 
October  19,  1829.  Mr.  J.  W.  Clark  was  an  older  brother. 
He  took  the  gold  fever  and  went  to  California  in  1857. 
He  went  by  the  Panama  route  I  think.  The  tribulations 
were  not  so  great  as  in  1850  when  General  Vaughn  went 
by  that  route,  but  it  was  still  far  from  being  a  Sunday- 
school  picnic  excursion.  I  do  not  know  exactly  in  what 
part  of  California  he  sought  his  fortune,  but  I  have 
heard  him  speak  of  being  with  J.  F.  Owen  and  others. 
They  were  successful  enough  in  their  search  for  gold  to 
get  money  enough  to  get  back  on,  which  was  by  no  means 
always  the  case.  Mr.  Clark  returned  to  this  valley  in 
1860,  as  I  am  informed,  as  did    also    Mr.    Owen.      He 


130  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

(Clark),  after  his  return  to  Sweetwater  commencecl  the 
study  of  medicine  under  Dr.  M.  C.  Parker  to  learn  how 
to  cure  people  and  ameliorate  the  ills  of  humanity ;  how- 
ever, before  being  fully  equipped  for  "curing"  he  was 
called  on  in  1861  to  go  and  help  kill  the  hated  "invad- 
ers of  our  sacred  southern  soil."     He   joined    Co. 

of Regiment,  Tennessee  Vol.  Cav.,  C.  S.  A.     (I  have 

not  his  army  record  at  hand  but  it  is  in  the  archives  of 
Jno.  A.  Rowan  Camp  at  Sweetwater.)  He  came  out  of 
the  war  a  captain.  He  did  not  resume  the  study  of  med- 
icine but  was  a  mason,  plasterer  and  contractor  and 
builder.  He  wrought  at  these  with  the  same  energy  and 
determination  with  which  he  had  fought  the  "yankees" 
and  with  much  more  satisfactory  results.  He  soon  ac- 
quired a  competence. 

On  November  12,  1870,  he  married  Mrs.  Mary  E., 
widow  of  Mr.  J.  J.  Sheldon  (of  whom  a  sketch  has  been 
given  in  these  columns),  and  thereby  hangs  a  tale  if  not 
a  romance. 

He  was  both  an  operative  and  a  speculative  mason. 
He  was  W.  M.  many  times  of  Sweetwater  Lodge  No.  292, 
F.  &  A.  M.  Tlie  Grand  Lodge  formerly  held  its  sessions 
in  Nashville  in  November  instead  of  January.  Captain 
Olark  and  Mrs.  Sheldon  planned  to  get  married  just 
previous  to  the  session  of  the  Grand  Lodge  but  kept 
their  intentions  secret.  They  went  to  Nashville  on  their 
iDridal  tour.  The  captain  was  considerable  of  a  practi- 
cal joker  and  therefore  sometimes  became  the  victim  of 
one  himself.  However  he  was  always  good  humored 
r.bout  it  and  would  ''acknowledge  the  corn"  which  would 
mean  in  later  phrase  "'the  treats  are  on  me."  Some 
of  his  Masonic  brethren  in  Sweetwater  thought  he 
should  have  given  some  inkling  of  his  intentions  so  that 
they  could  have  given  him  a  good  send-off.  As  that 
pleasure  was  not  afforded  them  they  sent  a  dispatch  to 
the  chief  of  police  at  Nashville  somewhat  as  follows: 
"Arrest  W.  L.  Clark,  of  Sweetwater,  who  has  absconded 
with  another  man's  wife."  Word  was  sent.  The  ar- 
rest was  made  according  to  schedule.  But  when  the 
brethren  tried  to  explain  to  the  chief  that  it  was  all  a 
practical  joke  he  refused  to  listen  and  said  it  was  no 
joke  with  him,  that  he  was  simply  doing  his  official  duty. 
The  matter  was  becoming  serious  and  it  took  the  Grand 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  131 

Lodge  and  the  remnant  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  to 
get  his  quick  release.  As  the  Captain  laughingly  said 
when  he  got  back  home:  "I  Scotts,  bo3^s,  you  like  to 
have  got  me  in  the  jug,  sure  enough."  Which  goes  to 
show  that  practical  jokers  sometimes  go  farther  than 
they  intend  with  their  jokes  and  you  can't  always  tell 
whom  the  joke  is  on.  The  senders  of  the  telegram  might 
have  gotten  into  trouble. 

In  1878,  Captain  Clark  bought  20  acres  off  of  the 
Lenoir  farm  southwest  of  the  town.  He  built  a  resi- 
dence on  the  hill  on  the  Athens- road  where  he  resided  at 
the  time  of  his  death.  He  died  April  20,  1889.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

He  possesed  a  good  library  and  read  much.  He  con- 
versed intelligently  and  interestingly  on  a  variety  of 
subjects.  He  had  a  contempt  for  shams  and  superficial 
knowledge.  He  said  it  was  far  better  not  to  know  any- 
thing at  all  than  to  "know"  it  wrong;  for  then  you  would 
not  have  to  unlearn  w^hat  you  thought  you  knew.  En- 
tire ignorance  was  better  than  action  on  wrong  assump- 
tions, which  subjected  you  to  loss  and  ridicule. 

The  children  of  W.  L.  and  M.  E.  Clark  were: 

1.  Charles  L.,  b.  October  11,  1873. 

2.  Mabel  E.,  b.  January  18,  1875. 

3.  Frances  J.,  b.  October  14,  1879. 

1.  Charles  L.  m.  Annie  Rhea,  daughter  of  Jno.  R. 
Gaines,  of  Sweetwater  on  January  12,  1905.  She  was 
b.  September  4,  1880.  Their  children  are:  James  W., 
b.  March  31,  1906,  and  John  Craig,  b.  November  3,  1910. 
Charles  Clark  resides  at  the  W.  L.  Clark  residence  in 
Sweetwater.  He  was  educated  in  Sweetwater  and  is 
secretary  and  treasurer  of  The  American  Textile  Com- 
pany. 

_.  2.  Mabel  E.,  m.  Wesley  Dickey,  January  17,  1907. 
(For  his  history  see  Browder  family.)  She  died  August 
1,  1908.  There"  was  one  child,  Mabel,  b.  August  1,  1908. 
3.  Frances  J.,  m.  Robt.  C.  Copenhaver,  of  Abingdon, 
Va.,  May  10,  1906.  He  is  a  manufacturer  of  iron  and 
lives  at  Abingdon.  She  died  there  Nov.  16,  1908.  She 
was  buried  in  West  View  Cemetery  at  Sweetwater.  They 
had  two  children:  Robert  C,  b.  June  10,  1907,  and 
Frances  Clark,  b.  October  28,  1908. 


132  history  of  sweetwater  valley 

The  Cunnynghams. 

Tlie  above  is  the  way  the  family  have  commonly  spelled 
the  name  in  this  country.  The  English  use  "i"  instead 
of  '^y. "  I  am  inclined  to  think,  however,  without  a 
thorough  investigation,  that  the  Scotch  orthography  was 
* '  Conyngham, ' '  meaning  the  home  of  the  Con^Tigs.  The 
Scotch  word  '^hame"  means  home.  From  the  song 
"Comin'  thro'  the  Rye"  we  cjuote: 

"What's  his  name  or  where 's  his  hame 
I  dinna  care  to  tell." 

James  CunuAiigham  was  Scotch-Irish.  He  was  an 
Episcopalian.  He  lived  in  Ulster,  North  Ireland.  -  He 
married  Arabella  Good.  They  emigrated  to  this  country 
in  1769.  They  came  through  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  and  set- 
tled in  the  Shenandoah  Valley  of  Virginia.  He  died 
there  sixteen  or  seventeens  years  later.  (Holston 
Methodism,  Vol.  2.) 

Their  children  were  six  in  number:  James,  William 
(Henry),  Arabella,  Charlotte,  Magdalen,  and  the  name 
of  the  other  not  known. 

Shortly  after  the  death  of  her  husband,  Mrs.  Arabella 
Cunnyngham  moved  with  her  family  and  some  others 
to  Tennessee,  to  what  w^as  knowm  afterwards  as  "Tay- 
lor's Bend"  of  the  French  Broad  River.  The  year  is 
given  as  1786.  James  and  William  were  born  in  Ire- 
land, the  others  in  Shenandoah  Valley.  James  w^as  killed 
by  the  Cherokee  Indians.  Charlotte  married  Greorge 
Turnley  of  Botetourt  County,  Va.  Arabella  married 
John  Winton  and  they  were  the  ancestor  and  ancestress 
of  the  Roane  County  Wintons. 

William  was  born  in  Ireland  July  3,  1765  He  died  in 
Sevier  County,  February  11,  1845.  He  married  a  Miss 
Lewis,  a  daughter  of  Amos  Lewis.  He  was  converted 
under  the  preaching  of  the  Rev.  Thos.  Wilkerson  and  be- 
came a  minister  of  the  M.  E.  Church.  Their  children 
were  Jesse,  John,  Wiley,  Wilkerson,  Polly,  Betsey,  Jane 
and  Charlotte. 

€Tesse  was  born  in  Jefferson  County  on  the  French 
Broad  River  ten  miles  above  Knoxville,  October  25, 1789. 
Ilis  M.  E.  Church  history  is  as  follows:  He  was  con- 
verted in  1805 ;  admitted  to  Holston  Conference  in  1811 ; 
was   Presiding  Elder   in   1816;  located  in   1826;  read- 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  133 

mitted  in  1849  and  superannnated.  He  died  in  1857.  He 
was  married  to  Mary  Etter  on  December  16,  1819,  She 
was  born  in  Fincastle,  Va.  She  was  quite  a  noted  wo- 
man. (See  Holston  Methodism.)  She  died  at  the  resi- 
dence of  her  son-in-law,  Robert  Craven,  on  May  28,  1868. 
Mr.  Craven  lived  near  Chattanooga  on  the  side  of  Look- 
out Mountain.  They  both  were  buried  in  the  cemetery 
near  Athens,  Tenn. 

Jesse  Cunnyngham's  home  from  probably  about  1826 
till  the  time  of  his  death  was  in  Monroe  Comity  not 
far  from  the  head  of  Eastanallee  Creek.  This  was  after- 
ward known  as  the  Edwards,  now  the  W.  F.  Orr  place. 
He  w^as  a  noted  revivalist.  I  heard  a  darkey  talking 
about  his  preaching  once.  He  was  telling  some  other 
negroes:  "He  shore  is  a  skeery  preacher.  I  don't  like 
to  listen  to  him ;  he  makes  me  dream  of  the  devil  and 
the  bad  place." 

Jesse  CunnjTigham  was  one  of  the  four  commission- 
ers appointed  by  the  county  court  in  1835  to  lay  off 
Monroe  County  into  districts ;  the  other  commissioners 
being  William  Bayless,  John  Callaway,  Senior  and 
Thomas  L.  Toomy.  They  divided  the  county  into  seven- 
teen districts ;  the  number  was  afterward  increased 
to  twenty. 

Dr.  Price  in  speaking  of  Jesse  Cunnyngham  and  his 
wife  says:  "They  reared  a  large  family  of  children, 
brought  them  up  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  they  became  or- 
naments to  society  and  an  honor  to  their  parents.  The 
Rev.  W.  G.  E.  Cunnyngham,  one  of  his  sons,  came  to 
eminence.  He  was  for  a  number  of  years  missionary  to 
China  and  for  a  long  time  afterward  was  the  Sunday- 
school  secretarv  and  an  editor  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  South." 

James  R.  Cunnyngham, 

son  of  Jesse  Cunnyngham,  was  born  January  28,  1828. 
He  married  Caroline  S.  Weathers,  June  18,  1857.  He 
died  at  his  home  on  Eastanalla,  October  3,  1898.  Caroline 
S.  Cunnyngham  died  at  her  home  on  Eastanalla  Decem- 
ber 16,  1901.  Children  of  J.  R.  and  Caroline  Cunnyng- 
ham: 


134  HISTORY  OF  SWEETY/ ATER  VALLEY 

(1)  Virginia  M.,  b.  March  9,  1858.  She  married  Thos. 
Hunnycutt  January  11,  1888.  She  died  April  26,  1888. 
He  married  (second), . 

Live  in  Choctaw  nation,  Oklahoma. 

(2)  Sarah,  b.  October  27, 1859.  She  died  November  10, 
1861. 

(3)  Charles  W.,  b.  February  12,  1863.  He  married 
Catharine  Carter,  March,  1893.  He  lives  at  Sweetwater, 
R.  F.  D.  No.  1. 

(4)  Mary  C,  b.  May  6,  1865.  She  married  J.  A.  Mc- 
Campbell  April  15,  1899.  They  live  at  Knoxville,  Tenn., 
E.  F.  D.  No.  6. 

(5)  Elizabeth  C,  b.  November  22,  1867.  She  married 
C.  B.  Tansy,  January  22,  1890.  They  live  at  Chatta- 
nooga. 

The  children  of  Elizabeth  Cunnyngham  and  C.  B. 
Tansy  are : 

a  Hoyt,  b.  April  20,  1893. 

b  Nita  B.,  b.  November  8,  1895. 

(6)  Hattie,  b.  September  9,  1870.  She  married  J.  W. 
McBroom  August  14,  1912.     They  live  at  Leon,  Okla. 

(7)  Jessie,  b.  May  30,  1877.  She  married  Geo.  C.  Bout- 
well  June  18,  1905.  Mr.  Boutwell  died  February,  1913. 
Mrs.  Boutwell  lives  at  Leon,  Okla. 

We  have  no  history  of  John,  Wiley  and  Wilkerson, 
brothers  of  Jesse.  The  four  sisters  were  Polly,  Jane, 
Betsey  and  Charlotte.  They  all  married  and  settled 
in  this  section.  Polly  married  Thornton  C.  Goddard  in 
Knox  County  on  February  3,  1817.  Betsey  married 
Johnathan  Pickel,  of  Pond  Creek  Valley,  1821.  Jane 
married  William  Patton,  of  Sweetwater  Valley,  June, 
1823.  Charlotte  was  the  third  wife  of  Samuel  McSpad- 
den.  They  lived  on  Dancing  Branch  seven  miles  south 
of  Sweetwater. 

The  descendants  of  the  Cunnynghams,  wherever  you 
trace  them,  are  numerous.  Those  in  McMinn,  Monroe, 
Loudon  and  Roane  counties  are  not  exceptions  to  this 
rule.  They  are  long-lived  and  retain  their  mental  and 
physical  vigor  to  ripe  old  age. 

The  Cunnynghams. 

It  is  a  characteristic  of  the  Cunnyngham  posterity, 
wherever  they  have  lived  or  whatever  name  known  by. 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  135 

to  be  independent,  free  and  untrammeled  in  politics,  re- 
ligion and  personal  habits.  However  there  is  little  or 
nothing  of  the  puritan  in  their  make-up.  There  was 
never  any  disposition  to  persecute  others  for  opinions 
sake.  Their  attitude  to  the  outside  world  was:  '^You 
let  me  and  my  family  alone  and  what  does  not  concern 
you  and  I'll  let  you  alone."  They  do  not  insist  that 
others  shall  adopt  their  opinions  and  habits ;  which  con- 
sidering their  number  and  influence  is  a  "God's  bless- 
ing." Not  that  what  they  do  and  the  manner  in  which 
they  do  it  may  be  wrong  in  itself,  but  some  of  them  are 
idiosyncratic;  have  queer  ways  peculiar  to  themselves. 
One  of  these  descendants  I  knew  years  ago  said  to  a 
friend,  who  had  criticised  his  actions:  "I  do  and  say 
what  I  please,  when  I  please  and  where  I  please."  This 
notwithstanding  Solomon  asserted:  ''There  is  a  time 
for  all  things."  So  he  proceeded  in  summer  to  go  bare- 
foot almost  everywhere  he  went,  except  sometimes  to 
church.  This  he  did,  not  on  account  of  the  expense  of 
boots  and  shoes,  but  he  contended  that  it  was  more, 
healthful  and  saved  much  time  He  lived,  as  we  would 
now  say,  according  to  eugenics.  He  did  not  try  to  make 
others  go  barefoot  but  said  that  was  his  w^ay  and  that 
was  the  way  he  was  going  to  do  as  long  as  it  violated 
no  law  of  God  or  man.  In  simple  matters  of  taste  we 
should  not  dispute.  No  doubt  it  was  just  as  uncom- 
fortable for  him  to  wear  shoes  in  hot  weather  as  it  would 
be  for  a  tenderfoot  to  walk  over  gravels  without  them. 
As  to  church  predilections  the  Cunn^mghams  were  near- 
ly all  Methodists,  a  few  have  been  Presbyterians. 


The  Cunnynghams-Pattoks. 

We  have  already  given  the  history  of  those  branches 
of  the  Cunnyngham  family  which  intermarried  with 
Jonathan  Pickel,  T.  C.  Goddard  and  William  Patton, 
of  Sweetwater  Valley.  We  now  take  up  that  branch  of 
the  Pattons,  using  largely  as  to  remote  ancestry  infor- 
mation obtained  from  the  late  Wiley  Patton,  a  former 
resident  of  Sweetwater  but  dying  in  Texas. 

Hans  Patton,  evidently  of  German  origin,  settled  in 
what  is  now  Allegheny  County,  Pennsylvania,  betw^een 


136  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAX.LEY 

the  Allegheny  and  Monongahela  rivers  near  the  site  of 
Pittsburgh.  Fort  Duquesne,  located  in  the  forks  of 
above  rivers,  was  in  possession  of  the  French  and  Indians 
until  1738.  It  is  presumed  from  what  is  narrated  here- 
after, that  he  went  there  subsequent  to  that  time  and 
previous  to  1776.  Little  is  known  of  his  history;  when 
he  died  or  what  his  wife's  name  was.  He  was  the  father 
of  three  sons,  Robert,  Frances  and  Jacob,  and  two  daugh- 
ters, Jane  and  Phoebe. 

Robert  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier.  His  record  is 
on  file  in  the  United  States  Pension  Office,  Washington, 
D.  C.  He  was  first  a  lieutenant  and  then  a  captain  be- 
fore the  close  of  the  war.  His  son,  William  Patton,  was 
born  in  Allegheny  County,  Pa.,  April  22,  1792.  After 
that  time  "he  (Robert),"  Wiley  Patton  wrote,  ''moving 
■  from  there  (Allegheny  County,  Pa.)  to  Kentucky,  thence 
to  Knox  County,  Tennessee,  staying  a  few  years  in  each 
state,  and  died  in  Knox  County  on  the  4th  day  of  Sep- 
tember, 1815.  He  was  about  65  years  old. ' '  Tliis  would 
make  the  year  of  his  birth  1750. 

The  maiden  name  of  Robert's  wife  was  Isabella 
Fraaser.  From  the  use  of  the  "aa"  in  the  spelling  of 
the  name  I  would  take  it  that  she  was  a  Hollander.  She 
died  in  Knox  County,  October  18,  1822,  at  about  the  age 
of  59,  making  the  year  of  her  birth  1763. 

William  Patton  was  the  son  of  Robert  and  Isabella 
Patton.  If  there  were  other  children  we  are  not  in- 
formed. 

William  Patton. 

William  P.  married  Jane  Cunnyngham,  as  has  been 
stated,  in  Knox  County,  in  June,  1823.  Soon  afterward 
they  settled  in  Sweetwater  Valley  four  miles  south  of 
where  the  town  of  Sweetwater  now  is,  and  one  mile  north 
of  the  low  gap  in  Sweetwater  ridge.  He  was  a  farmer 
and  a  mechanic.  He  paid  considerable  attention  to  stock 
raising.  He  was  the  first  man  if  not  the  only  man  to 
have  a  track  in  the  valley  for  the  training  of  horses.  It 
was  on  the  quarter  section  on  which  he  resided.  It  was 
a  straight  half-mile  track  and  ran  along  near  the  pub- 
lic road.  It  was  not  inclosed  and  sometimes  young- 
bloods  in  this  section  who  wanted  to  know  who  had  the 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  137 

fastest  horse  went  there  to  find  ont.  The  amount  in- 
volved in  the  result  was  usually  small  and  no  great  at- 
tention was  attracted. 

William  Patton  did  everything  with  conscientious 
thoroughness.  To  illustrate.  He  was  a  fine  mechanic. 
During  the  Civil  War  here  in  the  south  iron  furnaces 
and  foundries  either  were  not  running,  or  if  they  were 
they  were  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  arms  and  mu- 
nitions of  war  for  the  Confederacy.  W^ood  in  many  in- 
stances had  to  take  the  place  of  iron.  At  that  time  near- 
ly every  one  wdio  farmed  at  all  raised  a  patch  of  sor- 
ghum. The  cane  was  used  for  the  manufacture  of  mo- 
lasses and  sugar,  more  largely  the  former.  When  sugar 
could  not  be  obtained  molasses  was  substituted  for  it; 
one  was  called  "long  sweetening"  the  other  "short 
sweetening."  In  serving  cotfee  or  parched  rye  water 
(postum)  it  was  sometimes  asked  which  you  preferred 
*'long  or  short  sweetening." 

Cane  mills  were  scarce  in  those  days  and  very  much 
needed.  They  were  also  considered  difficult  to  make. 
My  father,  I.  T.  Lenoir,  had  tried  several  which  had 
proved  very  unsatisfactory.  It  was  a  problem  to  find 
some  one  to  make  a  good  one.  Mr.  Patton  learning  of  it 
told  my  father  if  he  would  furnish  him  a  strong  hand 
to  turn  the  lathe  and  do  whatever  he  w^anted  him  to  do 
that  he  would  make  him  one  that  would  work.  My  father 
told  him  that  he  would  gladly  do  so  and  furnish  any  ma- 
terial that  could  be  obtained.  This  I  think  was  in  the 
summer  of  1861  or  1862.  For  a  shop  Mr.  Patton  had 
only  a  hand  lathe  under  a  shed  in  front  of  the  house 
near  the  road.     He  had  only  a  few  tools. 

True  the  machinery  you  might  say  was  simple — two 
hard  wood  rollers  with  wooden  cogs — the  rollers  placed 
upright  in  a  frame  and  attached  to  a  sweep  or  lever  so  a 
horse  could  turn  them.  The  horse  went  in  a  circle  and 
led  himself  around  after  he  was  started. 

It  was  a  very  much  mooted  question  in  the  neighbor- 
hood with  the  appliances  at  hand  whether  or  not  Mr. 
Patton  could  make  a  satisfactory  machine.  It  was  next 
in  importance  to  whether  the  ''yanks"  or  "rebs"  would 
whip  in  the  fight.  It  became  a  matter  of  neighborhood 
pride  that  he  should  be  successful.  I,  a  boy  then,  took 
great  interest  in  the  work,  went  along  with  the  hand 


138  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

and  closely  watched  its  progress.  Mr.  Patton  took  much 
pains  and  was  very  deliberate  in  his  work.  When  the 
mill  was  finished  we  hauled  it  home  with  as  much  pride 
as  if  it  had  been  the  ark  of  the  covenant.  It  worked  like 
a  charm;  I  would  have  been  sorely  disappointed  if  it 
had  not.  It  lasted  many  years  and  proved  a  blessing 
also  to  the  neighbors,  who  were  free  to  use  it.  He  was 
importuned  to  make  other  mills  but  refused;  said  that 
he  made  that  one  merely  as  a  model  to  show  what  could 
be  dotie ;  that  he  was  getting  too  old  for  such  work :  He 
w^as  then  about  70.  He  had  no  idea  then  that  his  sor- 
ghum mill  would  be  written  of  more  than  fifty  years 
afterward  or  become  historical. 

The  latter  part  of  the  war  he  resided  with  his  son,  J. 
H.  Patton,  of  Sweetwater.  He  died  there  June  28,  1864. 
He  was  buried  at  Mount  Lebanon  Cemetery.  His  re- 
mains were  removed  and  reinterred  in  the  Wiley  Pat- 
ton lot  in  the  old  Sweetwater  Cemetery. 

His  wife,  Jane  Cunnyngham  Patton,  was  born  Feb- 
ruary 9,  1798,  and  died  October  28,  1857.  Her  remains 
lie  in  the  old  Presbyterian  Cemetery  at  Philadelphia. 
They  were  both  members  of  the  Presbyterian  church. 

The  children  of  William  Patton  and  Jane  Patton  were 
eight : 

(1)  John  Elbert,  (2)  James  Harvey,  (3)  Elizabeth 
Ann,  (4)  Margaret  Jane,  (5)  Alvin,  (6)"  William  H,  (7) 
Wilev,  (8)  Thomas  Wilkerson. 

(1)  J.  E.  Patton  was  b.  July  22,  1824,  d.  February  23, 
1852.  Buried  at  cemetery  at  Philadelphia.  He  was 
never  married. 

(2)  J.  H.  Patton  was  b.  February  11,  1826;  d.  Au- 
gust 2,  1894.  He  was  married  to  Margaret  A.  McSpad- 
den,  of  New  Market.  Jefferson  County.  Tenn.  She  was 
b.  October  3,  1836.     She  d.  May  10,^1884. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1853  or  early  in  1854  he  came 
from  his  father's  farm  to  Sweetwater.  He  formed  a 
partnership  in  a  general  merchandise  business  with  his 
cousin,  John  W.  Goddard,  who  had  been  in  business  at 
Philadelphia.  Mr.  Patton  purchased  from  I.  T.  Lenoir 
a  lot  on  the  corner  of  Depot  Street  and  Wright's  Allej^ 
across  the  alley  from  the  site  now  occupied  by  Guthrie, 
Bradley  &  Jones.  In  the  old  plan  of  the  town,  gotten 
up  by  I.  T.  Lenoir  and  as  laid  off  by  him,  the  street  on 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  139 

the  west  part  of  the  depot  square  was  always  called  De- 
pot Street  and  the  street  on  the  other  side  of  the  rail- 
road opposite  was  Railroad  Street  and  it  was  always 
written  so  in  the  early  deeds  to  the  town  lots.  Since 
then  I  have  noticed  in  some  of  the  deeds  of  late  years  to 
lots  on  Depot  Street  that  street  is  called  Railroad  Street, 
and  sometimes  Main  Street.  I  note  this  fact  so  that 
hereafter  confusion  in  names  and  titles  may  be  pre- 
vented. 

In  the  fall  of  1859  Wiley  Patton,  a  brother  of  Har- 
vey, bought  out  J.  W.  Goddard  and  became  a  partner  of 
his  brother  J.  H.  The  style  of  the  firm  was  changed 
from  Goddard  and  Patton  to  J.  H.  Patton  &  Brother, 
and  this  partnership  continued  until  1880.  Mr.  Patton 
and  his  wife  first  lived  in  a  building  back  of  his  store, 
then  in  a  residence  next  to  where  Mrs.  Julia  Stilman  now 
resides,  afterward  in  the  house  where  William  Patton, 
his  son,  now  lives  (1916). 

His  business  affairs  were  various  and  he  was  emi- 
nently successful.  He  owned  a  quarter  section  of  land 
one  and  a  half  miles  west  of  Sweetwater.  He  occupied 
many  positions  of  trust.  He  w^as  elder  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church  at  Sweetwater  for  fifteen  years.  He 
was  secretary  of  the  Sweetwater  lodge  F.  &  A.  M.  for 
more  than  that  time.  It  was  an  exceedingly  rare  thing 
that  he  ever  made  a  mistake  in  his  accounts  either  in  his 
personal  business  or  in  his  offices  of  trust.  Although 
not  physically  very  strong  he  managed  to  transact  a 
great  amount  of  business.  He  w^as  always  known  as  a 
fine  collector  of  clebts  due  the  lodge,  the  church  or  him- 
self. Yet  I  have  never  known  of  his  suing  anybody  or 
having  a  law  suit  or  giving  otfense  for  asking  for  the 
payment  of  a  debt.  How  this  w^as  accomplished  I  never 
understood. 

He  was  always  one  of  the  moving  spirits  in  his 
church  and  in  all  school  affairs.  He  was  particularly 
influential  because  of  the  confidence  of  the  entire  com- 
munity in  his  good  judgment  and  correctness.  He  was 
naturally  very  conservative  and  opposed  change  unless 
he  was  thoroughly  convinced  that  the  change  would  be 
greatly  beneficial.  However  if  he  was  out  voted  or  any- 
thing was  determined  in  opposition  to  his  wishes,  he  gen- 


140  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

erally  strove  for  its  success  as  much  as  if  he  had  been 
in  favor  of  it. 

The  married  life  of  himself  and  his  wife  was  an 
ideal  one.  He  could  not  possibly  have  accomplished 
what  he  did  in  his  varied  business  affairs  had  his  wife 
been  almost  any  other  woman.  They  reared  such  a  fam- 
ily of  children  as  few  people  have  ever  been  blessed  with. 

The  children  of  J.  H.  Patton  and  Margaret  Patton 
were : 

1.  Emma,  b.  October  — ,  1860.  Married  R.  A.  Tedford 
May  12,  1897.  He  was  a  druggist  at  Maryville,  Tenn. 
He  Vlied  in  March,  1907. 

2.  Madge,  b.  June  3,  1863;  d.  June  28,  1908. 

3.  Alice,  b.  January  28,  1867. 

These  three  sisters  were  educated  mostly  by  Mrs.  H. 
M.  Cooke  at  Sw^eetwater.  Alice  was  m.  to  J.  A.  Magill 
on  January  11,  1894.  James  Alexander  Magill  was  b. 
August  20,  1865;  He  was  the  son  of  Aurelius  N.  and 
Jane  L.  Wilson  Magill.  Died  on  Lookout  Mountain  on 
July  10,  1899.  He  was  cashier  of  the  Bank  of  Sweetwater 
from  November,  1886,  till  January  5,  1897.  He  resigned 
the  office  on  account  of  ill  health.  He  organized  the 
Mascot  Knitting  Mills  at  Sweetwater.  He  was  a  re- 
markable business  man  of  his  age.  He  was  president  of 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  superintendent  of  the  Presbyterian 
Sunday-school,  and  on  May  1,  1897,  he  and  W.  G.  Bogart 
were  ordained  deacons  in  the  Presbyterian  church. 

Alice  P.  married  (second)  Rev.  Wm,  Bartlett,  of  Mary- 
ville, Tenn.  He  is  the  son  of  the  late  P.  M.  Bartlett, 
who  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  president  of  Maryville 
College.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bartlett  now  (1916)  reside  in 
Chattanooga. 

4.  William,  b.  June  29, 1872.  Educated  at  Sweetwater. 
When  a  young  man  went  to  Dalton,  Ga.,  as  an  employee 
of  the  Crown  Cotton  Mills  of  which  his  father  was  presi- 
dent. He  married  Francis  McCuthen  Bitting,  daughter 
of  John  H.  Bitting,  of  Dalton,  Ga.,  on  November  19, 1896, 
and  they  came  to  Sweetwater  in  that  same  month.  They 
live  in  the  J.  H.  Patton  house,  on  Mayes  Avenue,  the 
third  built  by  him  in  Sweetwater. 

He  is  president  of  the  Mascot  Hosiery  Mills. 

5.  James  Patton,  b.  December  28,  1874.  Educated  at 
Sweetwater  College  under  J.  L.   Bachman,   D.   D.     He 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAJLLEY  141 

married  Bessie,  second  daughter  of  J.  L.  Bacliman,  on 
January  16,  1902.  They  reside  on  Mayes  Avenue,  Sweet- 
water. He  is  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Mascot 
Hosiery  Mills.  In  1915  was  chairman  of  the  Monroe 
County  Road  Commission.  James  and  Bessie  Patton 
have  one  son,  James  Harvey,  III,  b.  February  27,  1903. 

(3)  Elizabeth  Aim  Patton  was  born  the  12th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1828.  She  married  B.  M.  Porter.  He  was  born 
in  McMinn  County,  January  14,  1831.  After  their  mar- 
riage they  resided  in  Knoxville  for  a  short  while  and 
then  in  October,  1876,  moved  to  Weatherford,  Texas. 
They  both  died  and  were  buried  there.  They  had  five 
children  (1)  Jane  Amelia,  (2)  Boyd,  (3)  Benjamin 
Franklin,  (4)  William  Harvey,  (5) '  Maggie  Elizabeth. 
Jane  Amelia  was  married  to  0.  K.  Kidwell.  Their  post- 
office  is  at  Weatherford,  Texas. 

(4)  Margaret  Jane  Patton  was  the  fourth  child  of 
William  Patton.  She  married  A.  H,  Murray.  They  re- 
sided for  many  years  in  Sweetwater  and  \dcinity.  They 
reared  a  family.  Tliey  moved  to  Ash  Grove,  Mo.,  exact 
date  not  known.     They  both  died  there. 

(5)  Alvin  Patton  died  in  infancy. 

(6)  William  H.  Patton  was  born  in  1834.  He  moved 
to  Texas  two  or  three  years  before  the  Civil  War.  He 
joined  the  Texas  Rangers  and  served  throughout  the  war 
with  them.  A  short  time  after  his  return  home  to  De- 
catur, Texas,  he  died.    He  was  never  married. 

(7)  Wiley  Patton  was  born  in  Monroe  County  on  his 
father's  farm  on  April  3,  1836.  He  clerked  for  S.  J. 
Rowan  a  part  of  the  year  1859 ;  in  the  fall  of  this  year  lie 
went  into  partnership  with  his  brother,  J.  H.  Patton.  He 
joined  the  Confederate  army  January  2,  1862.  He  sur- 
rendered at  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  and  was  paroled.  After 
his  return  from  the  war,  he  resumed  business  with  his 
brother,  J.  H.  Patton,  and  continued  as  his  partner  until 
1880.  On  November  21,  1867,  he  was  married  to  Julia  A. 
Holston.  She  was  born  November  26, 1839,  and  died  No- 
vember 6,  1880.  They  had  two  children.  Margaret  Cun- 
ningham, born  in  Sweetwater  22nd  of  December,  1868, 
and  died  in  Atlanta,  Ga.,  on  August  18,  1887. 

(2)  Ethel  May.  She  was  born  July  27, 1875,  in  Sweet- 
water. Her  residence  is  Weatherford,  Texas.  Married 
W.  H.  Arnett. 


142  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Wiley  Patton  was  married  the  second  time  to  Mrs.  Sal- 
lie  P.  M.  Taylor  on  the  1st  day  of  February,  1887.  She 
was  born  in  Williamson  County,  Tenn.,  in  1852.  He  died 
at  San  Antonio,  Texas,  in  1915. 

(8)  Thomas  Wilkerson  Patton  was  the  youngest  of 
the  children.  He  w^as  born  m  1838  or  1839.  I  went  to 
the  same  school  he  did  in  the  old  log  schoolhouse  near 
the  town  of  Sweetwater  in  1856.  There  was  so  much  ex- 
citement in  the  presidential  political  race  that  year  that 
the  scholars  in  the  school,  male  and  female,  used  to  di- 
vide off  in  their  games  according  to  politics,  the  Whigs 
against  the  Democrats.  Tom  Patton  was  the  largest 
scholar  amongst  the  Whigs  and  Eagleton  Ramsey  the 
oldest  of  the  Democrats.  There  was  much  rivalry,  but 
so  far  as  I  remember,  it  was  all  good  humored. 

Wiley  Patton  says  that  he  (Thomas)  joined  the  Con- 
federate army  and  was  either  killed  or  died  during  the 
war.  He  (Wiley  P.),  wrote  me  that  he  did  not  know  his 
(Tom  P.'s)  history.  He  was  not  with  him  during  the 
war. 

The  Cunnyngham-Pickels. 

In  the  old  family  Bible  of  Jonathan  Pickel  he  states 
that  his  parents  were  Christian  Pickel  and  Katherine 
Pickel,  formerly  Pophanberg,  and  that  they  came  from 
Germany.  Entries  are  found  showing  that:  Jonathan 
Pickel  was  born  February  5,  1790,  He  died  on  Septem- 
ber 20,  1854.  His  wife  Betsy  Cunnyngham  was  born 
March  17,  1796,  and  died  July  12,  1877.  The  date  of 
their  marriage  I  think  is  not  stated.  It  probably  oc- 
curred in  1819.  They  are  buried  in  the  cemetery  at 
County  Line.     They  were  the  parents  of  nine  children: 

One'.  Rufus  M.,  b.  July  10,  1820;  d.  April  23,  1878. 

Second.  James  Harvev,  b.  April  10,  1822 ;  d.  April  28, 
1895. 

Third.  Jno.  H.,  b.  August  2, 1824;  d. 

Fourth.  Hugh  Cunn^mgham,  b.  October  28,  1826; 
d. 

Fifth.  Jane  Cunnyngham,  b.  September  3,  1828. 

Sixth.  Jj.  Mitchell",  b.  August  30,  1830.  L.  M.  P.  m. 
Nancy  Lowry,  daughter  of  James  L.  on  Eastanallee. 
They  went  first  to  Missouri,  then  to  Boulder,  Col.   Both 


HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  143 

dead.  Children:  Robert,  Emma,  Emmett,  Carrie  and 
Jane.    Live  at  Boulder. 

Seventh.  Margaret  S.,  b.  November  23,  1832 ;  m.  H.  B. 
Pennington,  whom  see. 

Eighth.  Sara  M.,  b.  August  8,  1836. 

Ninth.  Samuel  Wilkerson,  b.  August  13,  1838. 


One.  Eufus  M.  Pickel  was  married  to  Emmeline  Lot- 
speich,  July  5,  1839.  Rev.  Ira  Falls,  officiating.  She 
was  born  February  4,  1821,  in  Green  County,  Tenn. 
They  moved  first  to  Henry  County,  Mo.  Afterwards 
they  settled  near  Ottumwa,  la. 

He  was  a  merchant  and  a  farmer.  He  was  a  member 
of  Board  of  Prisons  for  Henry  County,  Mo.  He  was 
collector  of  internal  revenue  from  1862-1867. 

In  1871  or  1872  he  moved  to  Ottumwa,  la.,  and  died 
there  April  23, 1878.  He  died  of  dropsy.  They  were  the 
parents  of  eleven  children,  only  three  of  whom  are  now 
(1913)  living.    Tliey  are: 

(1)  Hugh  Marion  Pickel,  b.  December  23,  1841.  Re- 
sides at  Des  Moines,  Iowa. 

(2)  Maria  Sophia  Pickel,  b.  July  1,  1857.  She  mar- 
ried Jacob  Pickle  on .     Their  Post-office    is 

Davenport,  Washington. 

(3)  Emma  Etter  Pickel,  b.  November  25,  1858.  She 
married  Thos.  H.  Pickel.     They  reside  at  Ottumwa,  la. 


Second.  James  Harvey  P.  was  married  to  Mary  Jane 
Crump  Browder,  daughter  of  William  and  Elizabeth 
Browder  on  September  11,  1845.  She  was  born  May  17, 
1827,  and  died  April  25,  1872. 

'■  He  was  a  farmer  and  resided  three  and  a  half  miles 
Hvest  of  Sweetwater.  He  met  with  an  accident  while 
iplowing  in  the  field.  This  accident  caused  internal  in- 
(juries  from  which  he  died  April  28,  1895.  Although  73 
years  old  at  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  very  vigorous, 
and  in  the  natural  course  of  events  he  bade  fair  to  live 
many  years.  He  possessed  in  a  large  degree  the  Cun- 
nyngham  strenuousness  of  opinion,  the  Pickel  industry 


144  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

'and  in  his  home,  the  Browder  hospitality.  He  especial- 
iy  resented  being  dictated  to.  He  was  a  zealous  worker 
in  the  Methodist  church  and  the  Masonic  Lodge.  He 
understood  music  well  and  enjoyed  conducting  singing 
at  the  church  and  camp  meeting.  He  preferred  the 
square  note  system  of  where  each  note  in  the  octave  was 
represented  by  a  different  shaped  character.  The  pitch 
/was  regulated  by  a  tuning  fork.  He  did  not  look  with 
favor  on  instrumental  music  in  church.  Being  a  man 
of  a  large  family  and  a  good  citizen  he  took  great  in- 
terest in  schools,  and  the  cause  of  education  generally. 

He  was  a  Union  man  during  the  Civil  War  and  was 
a  deputy  marshal  under  Captain  S.  P.  Evans  in  1865. 
Although  an  efficient  officer,  there  was  no  complaint 
made  that  he  used  his  office  unkindly,  or  subjected 
those  arrested  to  indignities.  In  most  cases  he  read 
the  warrant  to  the  party  and  told  him  to  report  at  Knox- 
ville.     These  were  political  not  whiskey  cases. 

The  children  of  J.  H.  and  Sarah  Pickel  were  eight  in 
number.     Their  names  were: 

1.  William  Wilkerson. 

2.  Jonathan  Asbury. 

3.  James  Mitchell. 

4.  Elizabeth  Ann. 

5.  Samuel  Jefferson. 

6.  Sarah  Jane. 

7.  Hester  Ella. 

8.  Ada  Baxter. 

1.  William  W.  was  born  September  5,  1846,  and  died 
^August  15,  1913.  He  attended  school  at  the  Union  Insti- 
tute, now  Baptist  College,  under  Professors  Ragsdale, 
Leyburn  and  MuUer. 

When  a  young  man  he  learned  the  tinner's  trade  un- 
der Matt  Carter  at  Sweetwater,  and  was  with  him  until 
Mr.  Carter's  death.  Working  at  his  trade  when  a  young 
hnan  he  got  a  fall  from  which  he  lay  unconscious  for  sev- 
eral weeks  and  it  was  thought  he  would  not  recover,  but 
a  fine  constitution  brought  him  through.  His  death  re- 
'sulted  from  a  fall  of  like  nature.  He  never  hesitated  to 
go  where  his  work  called  him  and  sometimes  took 
chances  which  he  should  not   have   taken.     He  lost   as 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  145 

few  days  from  work  in  liis  business  as  any  man  that 
ever  lived  in  Sweetwater.  The  taking  of  a  holiday  was 
^almost  unknown  to  him. 

Althoug'h  Wilkerson,  his  middle  name,  which  ran 
^through  the  Cunnjaighams,  the  Pattons,  the  Goddards 
and  the  Pickels  was  a  Methodist  name,  W.  W.  joined 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  1876  and  was  a  faithful 
hnember.  (Thos.  Wilkerson  was  a  noted  Methodist 
preacher  in  Sender  County  in  early  times.  }- 

William  Pickel  resided  all  his  life  in  the  First  Civil 
district  of  Monroe  County,  and  since  about  1870  until 
his  death  in  the  town  of  Sweetwater.  He  was  at  the 
'time  of  his  death  the  oldest  resident  of  the  First  Civil 
District,  having  lived  in  it  all  of  his  life  67  years. 
■  On  April  24, 1878,  he  was  married  to  Nancy  Ann  Cook, 
daughter  of  Adolphus  M.  Cook.  She  was  born  March 
15,  1857.  She  still  (1915)  resides  in  Sweetwater.  Their 
children  were  ten,  viz: 

(1)  Frances  Elizabeth,  b.  February  10,  1879.  She 
married  Robt.  W.  Johnston,  June  28,  1911.  He  lives  ort 
iFork  Creek.  He  is  the  son  of  Jno.  H.  and  Sarah  Gaines 
Johnston. 

(2)  Maude  Ella,  b.  October  9,  1881. 

'  (3)  James  Adolphus  Pickel,  b.  January  21,  1883.  He 
was  married  to  Miss  Annie  Reece,  October  12, 1910.  They 
have  one  son,  James  Reece  Pickel,  b. 

(4)  Chas.  Bates  Pickel,  b.  February  10,  1885. 

(5)  Dora  Pearl,  b.  February  5,  1887.  She  was  mar- 
Tied  to  Chas.  N.  Hulvey,  June  8,  1909.  Their  children 
are:  Frances  Elizabeth  (Dec.)  Chas.  Newton,  Jr.,  b. 
.  Col.  Chas.  N.  Hulvey  is  president  of  T.  M.  In- 
stitute (1915). 

(6)  William  Hugh,  b.  March  2,  1889. 

(7)  Mary  Alice,  b.  July  23, 1891,  d.  October  22, 1893, 

(8)  Robt.  Lvmi,  b.  February  28,  1894. 

(9)  Nellie  Mav,  b.  February  8,  1897. 

(10)  Nancy  Louise,  b.  August  28,  1900. 

2.  Jonathan  Asbury  Pickel,  second  son  of  J.  H.  Pickel, 
was  born  July  22,  1848 ;  d.  August  16,  1900.  He  married 
Sallie  A.  Thompson,  Mav  26,  1875,  who  was  born  in 
Franklin  County,  Va.,  April  15,  1852.  Died  June  3,  1907. 
Both  are  interred  in  Westview  cemeterv.    Thev  moved 


146  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

to  Pilot  Point,  Texas,  in  August,  1881,  and  spent  several 
years  here,  returning  to  Sweetwater,  and  lived  here  un- 
til their  death.  John,  as  he  was  usually  called,  took  a 
great  pride  in  raising  fruit,  vegetables  and  melons. 
When  he  was  a  boy  thirteen  or  fourteen  years  old,  in  try- 
ing to  protect  his  melon  patch  from  Federal  soldiers,  he 
was  shot  through  the  body  and  came  near  dying  from 
the  wound.  His  pluck  and  determination  to  get  well 
were  all  that  saved  him.  After  this  occurrence  no  one 
ever  again  tried  to  steal  his  watermelons. 

The  children  of  Jonathan  and  Sallie  Pickel  are: 

(1)  Emma  B.,  b.  November  30,  1876,  at  Sweetwater, 
Tenn.  Married  Wm.  Moser  in  November,  1899.  They 
live  in  Chattanooga,  Tenn. 

(2)  Berta  May,  b.  in  Sweetwater,  Januarv  20,  1879. 
Died  at  Pilot  Point,  Texas,  September  12,  1881. 

(3)  James  Samuel,  b.  September  25,  1882. 

(4)  Janey  Lee,  b.  at  Sweetwater,  Tenn.,  October  26, 
1886.  She  was  married  to  B.  A.  Boone,  October  26,  1911. 
Residence,  Chattanooga. 

(5)  Edith  Lillian,  b.  November  25,  1888,  at  Sweet- 
water, Tenn. 

3.  James  Mitchell  Pickel.    He  was  born  November  17, 

1850.    He  went  to  Pilot  Point,  Texas  in .     Married 

Nannie  E.  Murray  at  that  place.  May  16,  1888.  He  is  a 
merchant. 

4.  Elizabeth  Anne  was  born  January  6,  1853.  She 
married  Robert  H.  Locke,  of  Meigs  County,  September 
4,  1879.     Died  March  ,  1909. 

5.  Sarah  Jane,  b.  March  16,  1857. 

6.  Samuel  Jeiferson,  b.  April  5,  1855.  Died  February 
12,  1911.  Married  Susan,  daughter  of  Chas.  Cannon, 
.  He  was  a  merchant  at  Sweetwater.  Chil- 
dren.  Samuel  J.  b. ,  (2). 

7.  Hester  Ella  was  born  August  31,  1859.  She  mar- 
ried Hon.  Frank  P.  Dickey  December  20,  1883.      She 

died .     Dickey  was  a  farmer  in  Pond  Creek 

Valley.  He  and  his  wife  were  members  of  the  M.  E. 
Church,  South.  Dickey  married  a  second  time,  Martha 
Washington    Suddarth,    of    Harriman,     November     20, 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  147 

1907.     One  son,  Franklin  Pierce,  was  born  to  them  No- 
vember 4,  1908.     They  live  at  Harriman,  Tenn. 

8.  Ada  Baxter  was  born  November  16,  1861.  Married 
Frank  L.  Harmon  of  Germantown,  Ky.,  on  February 
21,  1883.  Their  children  are :  Ethel,  George,  May  and 
Ralph. 

John  Fine. 

From  inscriptions  on  tomb  stones  we  find  that  John 
Fine  was  born  January  1,  1781,  and  died  January  26, 
1857.  His  wife,  Nancy  was  born  November  10,  1782,  and 
died  February  18,  1859;  both  arriving  at  the  advanced 
age  of  more  than  76  years. 

It  is  very  probable  that  they  came  here  from  Cocke 
County ;  they  at  least  were  originally  from  there.  They 
came  to  this  valley  as  soon  as  the  Hiwassee  District  was 
open  for  settlement.  The  church  records  of  Baptist 
Church  on  Sweetwater,  show  that  they  both  helped  to 
organize  on  Fork  Creek  what  was  afterward  called  the 
Baptist  Church  on  Sweetwater,  on  the  first  Saturday  in 
June,  1820.  As  has  been  stated  heretofore  this  valley 
was  not  open  to  settlement  till  that  year.  The  records 
also  show  that  before  the  building  of  this  meeting  house 
the  members  met  at  the  residence  of  John  Fine  on  the 
first  Saturday  in  August,  1821.  It  was  the  house  above 
the  springs  where  the  city  waterworks  now  get  their 
supply.  He  paid  for  his  land  and  obtained  a  grant.  No. 
686,  from  the  State,  dated  September  7,  1827,  and  de- 
scribed as  being  the  southwest  quarter  of  section  34, 
township  2,  range  1,  east  of  the  basis  line.  It  corners  in 
the  road  leading  west  to  Pond  Creek  at  the  northwest 
corner  of  Mrs.  Love's  property.  It  runs  thence  south 
one-half  mile  (160  rods)  and  the  same  distance  west, 
north  and  east  to  the  beginning.  The  part  on  which  the 
old  house  now  (1914)  stands  is  owned  by  the  Charles 
Cannon  heirs.  Tlie  present  Fair  Ground  is  also  on  the 
tract. 

In  the  days  of  the  stage  line  the  Fine  house  was  a  stage 
stand  and  stopping  place.  The  stage  road  from  Phila- 
delphia to  Athens  went  by  there,  the  location  of  which 
was  never  much  changed  until  the  year  1913.  Also  the 
road  from  Madisonville  west  to  Pond  Creek  Valley  ran 
by  there,  leading    almost    straight    from    the    Ramsey 


148  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

(Waren)  lane  through  the  woods  to  the  creek  crossing 
near  the  house.  The  road  from  the  McCroskey  neigh- 
borhood on  Fork  Creek  to  the  west  took  a  turn  at  the 
Heiskell  lane,  led  by  the  house  and  thence  to  Pond 
Creek.  Thus  from  its  natural  location  and  the  good  ac- 
commodations obtained  there  by  travelers,  it  was  a  well 
known  stopping  place.  John  Fine  and  his  wife  had  been 
married  and  had  a  considerable  family,  when  they  came 
to  Sweetwater  Valley.  They  were  in  the  prime  and  vigor 
of  life,  possessed  of  property  and  intelligence  and  con- 
sequently were  an  influential  family.  I  have  not  found 
out  the  maiden  name  of  Mrs.  Fine.  Mr.  Fine  was  evi- 
dently interested  in  the  cause  of  education,  as  the  school- 
house  was  located  one-fourth  of  a  mile  south  of  his  house 
on  his  land.  This  schoolhouse  was  built  some  time  pre- 
vious to  1834;  for  early  in  that  year  Baptist  meetings 
are  recorded  to  have  been  held  in  the  Fine  schoolhouse. 
The  branch  church  here  had  authority  to  receive  mem- 
bers for  the  old  Sweetwater  church.  In  the  settlement 
of  church  difficulties  and  misunderstandings  between 
neighbors  John  Fine  was  often  called  on  to  arbitrate. 
His  fairness  and  sense  of  justice  must  have  been  gen- 
erally^ recognized.  His  name  sometimes  occurs  in  he 
Circuit  Court  records  on  the  jury  lists.  It  was  custom- 
ary in  the  forties  to  summon  men  of  the  highest  char- 
acter and  intelligence  for  that  service.  To  be  a  juryman 
was  then  a  badge  of  honor  and  it  was  not  considered 
good  citizenship  to  try  to  get  relieved  without  some 
valid  excuse. 

There  was  until  some  years  ago  a  Fine  family  burying 
ground,  in  which  thirteen  of  the  family  were  interred. 
This  was  situated  on  a  hill  north  of  the  house.  It  was 
enclosed  with  a  stone  w^all.  The  bodies  there  were  re- 
moved and  re-interred  in  West  View  Cemetery. 

The  children  of  Jno.  and  Nancy  Fine  were :  John, 
Polly,  Abraham,  Sarah,  Mahala,  Minerva,  Martha,  and 
Nancy. 

One.  John,  date  of  birth  not  known.  He  may  or  may 
not  have  l^een  the  oldest  child.  He  enlisted  in  the  Mexi- 
can war,  fought  through  it,  and  on  his  return  from  Mexi- 
co took  sick  on  board  of  a  ship  in  the  Gulf.  He  died  and 
his  body  was  consigned  to  the  waves.  This  was  probably 
in  the  vear  1847,  but  the  date  is  not  known. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  149 

Two.  Polly  was  boiii  NovMnbor  25,  180:5.  Died  Jan- 
uary 29,  1857.     (UnmarrifHl). 

Throo.  Abraham,  married  Mary  S.  PTaralsoii  July  3, 
18o8.     Thoy  movfsd  to  Missouri.     IJistorv  not  known. 

Foui-.  Sarali  was  born  Novcmbor  29,  1809.  DicA  De- 
cember 25,  1870.  She  was  married  to  Dr.  Ira  L.  Hill,  on 
April  5,  1832,  He  was  born  November  18,  1804.  He 
died  July  .31,  1843.  lie  lived  in  Sevier  County.  He  was 
a  physieiaii.     Their  ehildren  wei-(;: 

1.  Mary  M.,  I),  in  1834.  She  died  in  Brownsville,  Neb., 
in  October,  1884.  She  married  Jos.  Marshall  Owen,  Au- 
^-ust  28,  1849.     (See  history  of  Owen  family). 

2.  John  was  boi-n  in  Seviei-  County,  July  15,  1838.  He 
moved  to  Sweetwatf^r  with  his  mother  in  the  year,  1844 
— not  long  after  the.  death  of  Dr.  Hill.  She  lived  near  the 
Fine  residenee  on  the  hill  above  the  spring.  Ih'  married 
Isabelle  Hotehkiss,  d-'iughter  of  Claiborne  Hotehkiss,  on 
January  17,  1871.  They  resided  in  Loudon  County.  He 
was  a  farmer.  Isabella  Hotehkiss  was  born  in  Roane 
(now  Loudon  County)  April  1G,  1848.  She  died  Jan- 
uary 8,  1902.  John  liill  died  November  1,  1889,  in  Lou- 
don County,  and  was  bur-ied  in  the  New  Providence 
graveyard. 

They  were  th(!  parents  of  eight  ehildr-en:  Four  girls 
and  four  boys: 

(1 )  Sallie  Abbott,  age  43,  Mineral  Wells,  Texas. 

(2)  C.  H.  Hill,  age  41,  Loudon,  Tenn. 

(3)  Jno.  W.  Hill  (age  not  given).     Died  in  Texas. 

(4)  T.  W.  Hill,  age  35,  Loudon,  Tenn. 

(5)  Mary  Brazeal,  died  at  the  age  of  32,  in  London, 
Tenn. 

((>)  Ella  Smith,  age  28,  Lenoir  City. 
(7)   Sam  Hill,  age  25,  Chattanooga. 

This  information  was  gotten  from  one  of  the  family, 
I  think  C.  H.  Hill,  in  1914.  And  the  ages  given  refer  to 
that  date.  He  only  sj)eaks  of  thre(*  girls,  Sallie,  Mary 
and  Ella,  in  listing  the  names. 

3.  Oliver  Hazard  Perrv  Hill  was  f>oin  in  Sevier  Coun- 
ty July  15,  1840.  During  the  Civil  War,  in  1861,  he  en- 
listed   .    Capt.  Jno.  A.  Rowans,  do.  of  43)d  licir.,  C. 

8.  A.    He  was  wounded  at  Chickamauga,  on  September 


150  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

21,  1863.  The  lower  portion  of  one  arm  was  amputated 
and  he  was  disabled  from  further  service.  On  Novem- 
ber 7,  1867,  he  married  Mary  Carter,  daughter  of  Jno. 
Carter.  She  was  one  of  25  children,.  They  settled  near 
Lenoirs,  Tenn.  He  was  a  farmer.  He  died  March  23, 
1911.  She  died ,  (1914).  They  left  children  as  fol- 
lows : 

(1)  Sarah  Fine,  b.  December  13,  1868.  Married  Jno. 
Heffner  of  Lenoir  City . 

(2)  Ira  Lee,  b.  November  10,  1870.  Married  Kate 
Miller ,  1897. 

(3)  John  W.,  b.  October  15,  1872.  Died  October  11, 
1889. 

(4)  Ambrose  Parnell,  b.  August  15,  1874.  St.  Paul, 
Minn.,  is  his  address. 

(5)  Nancv  Lucinda,  b.  April  1,  1877.    Died  in  1878. 

(6)  Martha  E.,  b.  June  8,  1879.  Married  Geo.  O'Neal 
of  Lenoir  City,  February  20,  1891.  Their  children  are 
Levi,  Paul,  Cecil  and  Agnes. 

(7)  Marion  M.,  b.  September  17,  1883. 


1,  2  and  3  of  the  Hill  children,  Mary,  John  and  Perry, 
were  all  born  in  Sevier  County,  as  to  Ira,  the  fourth 
child,  probably  in  Sw^eetwater  Valley  in  1844.  He  went 
to  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  after  the  Civil  "War  and  died 
there,  not  many  years  since.  Not  known  to  me  whether 
he  had  a  family  or  not.  Mrs.  Hill  was  married  a  second 
time  to  Welcome  Beard,  on  December  29,  1859. 


Five.  Mahala  was  born  February  18,  1814.    She   was 

married  to  N.  G.  Walker  of  Mo. .    She  died  at 

the  Fine  residence  while  on  a  visit  there  on  Februarv 
8,  1859. 

Six.  Minerva,  b.  — .  She  married  Jabin  Snow  Tay- 
lor of  Pond  Creek  Valley,  and  brother  of  Elica  A.  Tay- 
lor on  March  9,  1848.  He  was  born  in  Grainger  County, 
Tennessee,  August  10, 1823.    He  died  February  22,  1857. 

Seven.  Martha  was  born  in  1828.  She  married  J.  C. 
Starrett  on  May  7,  1861.     She  died  February  19,  1889. 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  151 

He  was  born  in  Bradley  Comity  (date  not  given)  and 
died  September  14,  1874.     Their  children  were: 

1.  Jno  Starrett,  b.  October  27,  1864.  Married  Emma 
Boggs  September  25,  1889,  of  Lenoir  City.  No  children. 
He  was  married  a  second  time.  By  this  second  mar- 
riage there  were  three  children,  Katharine  Louis,  in 
1911,  eight  years  old;  Randall  McKnight,  in  1911,  six 
years  old ;  infant  son,  Jno.  M.,  in  1911,  three  months  old. 
Second  child  of  J.  C.  and  Martha  Starrett,  was  Flor- 
ence. She  was  born  on  October  12,  1868.  She  married 
Dr.  J.  T.  Tillery,  of  Ebenezer,  Knox  County,  on  August 
24;  1890.    They"  had  one  son,  Duncan  E.  Tillery. 

Eight.  Nancy  E.  Fine,  b.  October  15, 1836.  Died  April 
9,  1857.  From  the  time  John  Fine  came  to  this  country 
and  built  the  old  log  house  which  now  stands  at  the  loca- 
tion mentioned,  there  were  no  deaths  at  that  residence 
for  about  37  years,  although  there  was  a  large  family. 
But  from  January  to  April,  there  were  four  deaths  in 
1857,  viz:  Jno.  Fine,  January  26,  1857;  Polly,  d.  Jan- 
uary 29,  1857 ;  Jabin  Snow  Taylor,  d.  February  22,  1857 ; 
Nancy,  d.  April  9,  1857. 

The  disease  which  took  them  off  was  called  pneumonia, 
but  it  occurs  to  me,  or  rather  seems  strange,  that  a 
whole  family  should  have  pneumonia,  as  I  have  never 
heard  that  it  was  a  contagious  or  infectious  disease.  1 
believe  that  all  of  the  family  were  attacked  by  some 
other  disease  and  these  four  cases  proved  fatal.  Now 
all  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Jno.  Fine  that  were  mar- 
ried in  this  country  the  Rev.  Robt.  Snead  otficiated  at 
the  ceremony  with  the  exception  of  Martha,  who  married 
Starrett.  She  was  married  by  Hughes  W.  Taylor,  a 
brother  of  her  brother-in-law,  Jabin  Taylor.  None  of 
the  Fines  or  their  descendants  ever  belonged  to  any 
other  church,  than  the  Baptist  except  Mrs.  Starrett  who 
joined  the  Presbyterian  Church,  with  her  husband  after 
marriage. 

Austin  Fry 

Was  born  in  Monroe  County  and  died  at  Sweetwater, 
at  an  advanced  age,  in  January.  1880.  He  married 
Jane  Brandon  in  1833.  He  moved  to  McMinn  Coun- 
ty, near  Reagan  Station  .in    1839,    and   then    to    near 


152  HISTOKl"  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

the  head  of  Conesauga  Creek,  in  the  19th  civil  district. 
Not  long  after  the  Civil  War  he  came  to  Sweetwater. 
He  was  the  first  recorder  of  the  town  after  it  was  incor- 
porated. He  was  buried  in  the  old  cemetery  at  Sweet- 
water.   His  children  were : 

1.  Hugh,  b.  January  9,  1834;  d.  1895.  He  was  a  me- 
chanic and  contractor,  and  was  the  editor  and  publisher 
of  the  first  paper  published  in  Sweetwater,  called  the 
*' Sweetwater  Forerunner."  The  first  number  of  this 
paper  was  published  September  21,  1867.  He  was  mar- 
ried on  November  8,  1855.  Wife's  name  not  known  to 
me. 

2.  Sirena,  b.  1835 ;  3.  Kennedy,  b.  1839 ;  5.  Charlie,  b. 
February  29,  1844;  6.  Mary,  b.  August  6,  1846;  7.  John, 
b.  March  9,  1848.  Married  Sarah  C.  Young  on  Septem- 
ber 12,  1881;  8.  Emma,  b.  August  4,  1850;  9.  Nancy,  b. 
March  1857.  Married  —  Rose.  Address,  Spring  City, 
Tenn, 

4.  William,  b.  about  1842.  He  married  Mary  Caro- 
line Orr  on  September  2,  1869.  She  was  born  August  28, 
1848.  He  lives  at  Athens,  Tenn.  He  is  a  mechanic. 
Their  children  are:  1.  Minnie  Laura,  b.  October,  1871; 
d.  September  22,  1872 ;  2.  Marv  Etta,  b.  September  24, 
1873 ;  married  H.  A.  McCambell,  February  18,  1897 ;  3. 
Henry  Mitten,  b.  April  6,  1876 ;  d.  January  19,  1877 ;  4. 
Willie  Lee,  b.  March  27,  1878;  married  Agnes  Under- 
wood, of  Legrande,  Ala.,  in  1904;  5.  Charles  Austin,  b. 
April  23,  1880 ;  d.  Februarv  18,  1901 ;  6.  Anna  Lou,  b. 
June  25,  1882;  married  Thos.  Tidwell,  of  Dalton,  Ga., 
September  15,  1909.     Residence,  Bonifay,  Ga. 

Henry  Glaze 

Came  to  Sweetwater  Valley  in  1824  from  Washington 
County,  Tennessee.  In  crossing  the  Tennessee  River  at 
Blair's  Ferry,  the  ferry  boat  sank  and  his  household 
goods  were  lost,  together  wdth  his  family  Bible.  It  is 
therefore  difficult  to  give  exact  dates  as  to  himself  and 
wife.  His  wife's  name  was  Susan  Wilhoite.  He  settled 
near  Reagan's  Station  on  a  quarter  section  of  land.  Of 
that  and  two  hundred  and  forty  acres  more,  his  descend- 
ants still  hold  possession.    Tlie  Glazes  have  been  and  are 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  153 

excellent  citizens,  quiet  and  unassuming ;  their  names  do 
not  figure  in  courts  either  as  criminals  or  litigants. 

Henry  and  Susan  Glaze  were  the  parents  of  ten  chil- 
dren : 

One.  Anna,  Married  Wm.  Gate,  brother  of  Elijah 
Gate.    They  moved  to  Gleveland,  Tenn. 

Two.  Jefferson,  b.  May  1820 ;  d.  July  11,  1910. 

Three.  Lucinda,  married  Henry  Martin  and  moved  to 
Texas. 

Four.  Henry,  married  Miss  Martin  and  moved  to 
Texas. 

Five.  Emmaline,  married  Dr.  Grow  of  Athens,  Tenn. 

Six.  Lizzie,  married  Jos.  Neil,  the  brother  of  Wm.  and 
Sterling  Neil.  Neil's  wife  died.  He  married  again  and 
now  resides  at  Niota,  Tenn.  He  was  born  February  20, 
1828.     Their  children  were : 

1.  James  Polk,  married  Mollie  Garrison. 

2.  John,  married  Miranda  Rockwell. 

3.  Melvin,  married  Angelina  Moore. 

4.  Laura,  married  Isaac  Orr. 

5.  Sallie,  married  Noah  Lybarger. 

Seven.  William,  d.  in  infancy. 

Eight.  John,  married  Kirkpatrick  and  went  to  Gleve- 
land, Tenn. 

Nine.  Ben,  b.  November  22,  1830 ;  d.  January  4,  1902. 
Married  Lucy  Reynolds  of  Ghestua  on  August  20,  1856. 
She  was  born  September  9,  1831;  d.  January  12,  1902. 
They  had  six  children: 

1.  Marion"  J.,  h.  September  7,  1857. 

2.  Mary,  b.  August  5,  1859. 

3.  James  Henry,  b.  January  21,  1862.  Tliese  three 
live  on  the  Ben  Glaze  place  and  are  unmarried. 

Horace,  Mattie  and  Hattie  died  in  infancy. 

Ten.  Mary,  married  George  Wilson,  brother  of  Dot 
Wilson.  He  served  in  the  Confederate  army  and  died 
during  the  war. 

Jefferson,  second  child  of  Henry  Glaze,  was  married, 
iirst,  to  Miss  Duggan.    The  children  of  first  wife : 


154  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

1.  John,  L.,  b.  October  1,  1853;  d.  at  Chattanooga 
about  1905  or  1906.  He  w^as  married  to  Sarah  J.  God- 
dard,  daughter  of  ''Unc"  Hugh  Goddard,  July  11,  1878. 
Their  children  were :  Hugh,  d.  n  1896 ;  Carter,  Eugene 
and  Ben. 

2.  Julia  Miranda,  married  Homer  Thompson,  son  of 
W.  H.  Thompson.  They  had  one  child.  Homer  Thomp- 
son died  and  she  was  married  then  to  Wm.  Malone.  The 
second  wife  of  Jefferson  Glaze  was  Martha  Jackson, 
whom  he  married  October  32,  1865.  She  died  Septem- 
ber 17,  1902.    Their  children  were : 

1.  Henry,  b.  November  16,  1866.  He  went  to  Kansas 
and  was  married  there  to  June  Orr,  granddaughter  of 
Wesley  Orr. 

2.  Lura,  b.  July  17,  1870.  She  married  December  12,. 
1905,  Rev.  D.  M.  Kerr  of  Greenback,  Tenn.  There  was 
one  daughter,  born  in  1907. 

3.  Horace,  b.  Mav  28,  1872.  Married  Edith  Kratzer 
November  18,  1902."  She  was  born  August,  1880.  They 
live  on  the  farm  adjoining  James  A.  Reagan. 

4.  Grant,  b.  February  14,  1874.  He  married  Mina 
Kratzer,  who  was  born  March  7,  1882.  They  were  mar- 
ried September  28, 1904.  Have  one  son,  Carl  Dean,  born 
November  5,  1913, 

5.  Ella,  b.  September  22, 1876,  d.  June  20, 1896. 

Thornton  Goddard 

Married  Polly  Cmmyngham  in  Knox  County,  Tenn., 
on  Februarv  3,  1817.    Their  children  were: 

One.  "William,  H.,  b.  December  17,  1817. 

Two.  Hugh,  b.  Mav  13,  1819 ;  d.  April  19,  1873. 

Three.  Elizabeth  C.,  b.  April  2,  1831;.  d.  January  10, 
1855 

Four.  Jane  M.,  b.  April  3,  1823 ;  d.  August  4,  1859. 

Five.  John  William,  b.  13, 1825 ;  d.  October  5,  1896. 

Six.  Robert  Avis,  b.  Februarv  25,  1828 ;  d.  Mav  27, 
1830. 

Seven.  Marv  Ann,  b.  February  13,  1830 ;  d.  April  30, 
1901. 

Eight.  Alvin,  b.  May  13,  1832;  d.  July  23, 1854. 

Nine.  Marcus  Bearden,  b.  June  4,  1834;  d.  March, 
1910. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  155 

Ten.  Harriet  Campbell,  b.  February  9,  1839;  d.  Jan- 
uary 10,  1855. 

One.  William  H.  Goddard  moved  to  Missouri.  He 
died  at  Versailles,  Morgan  Comity,  Mo. —  His  son, 
John  J.,  lives  at  Clinton,  Henry  County,  Mo. 

Two.  Hugh  Goddard.  There  were  several  Hugh  God- 
dards.  This  son,  I  think,  first  married  Isabella  Wilson, 
date  not  known.  He  afterwards  married  the  widow 
Taylor,  formerly  Marv  Ann  Weathers,  on  August  5, 
1857. 

Three.  Elizabeth,  C,  married  W.  F.  Lenoir,  whom  see. 

Four.  Jane  M.,  married  George  McCulley  who  lived 
near  Charleston,  Tenn. 

Five.  John  W.,  married  Margaret  Bogart,  daughter 
of  Solomon  Bogart,  on  December  23, 1852.  He  was  a  sol- 
dier in  the  Mexican  war.  In  1853  he  w^as  a  partner  in  the 
mercantile  business  with  his  brother-in-law,  W.  F.  Le- 
noir, at  Philadelphia,  Tenn.  In  1854  he  moved  to  Sweet- 
water and  became  a  partner  of  J,  H.  Patton,  under  the 
firm  name  of  Patton  and  Goddard.  He  was  a  first  cousin 
of  J.  H.  Patton.  After  the  Civil  War  he  did  business 
with  A.  M.  Dobbins  as  a  partner,  under  the  firm  name 
of  J.  W.  Goddard  &  Co. 

He  died  at  Dancing  Branch,  on  a  farm  in  the  6th  Civil 
District  of  Monroe  County.  The  children  of  J.  W.  and 
Margaret  Bogart  Goddard  were : 

1.  Betty  Cornelia,  b.  October  8,  1853.    (See  Mayes). 

2._  Susan  Addie,  b.  June  4,  1857.  On  DecemlDer  25, 
1879,  she  was  married  to  Joseph  H.  Dickey,  who  was  the 
son  of  Samuel  H.  and  Sarah  Wright  Dickey,  formerly 
of  Madisonville,  Tenn.  Joseph  H.  was  born  at  Rhea 
Springs,  Tenn.,  August  12,  1855.  He  came  to  Sweet- 
water January  1, 1874.  Was  in  the  employ  of  D.  B.  Chil- 
dress for  five  years.  He  moved  to  Fort  Worth,  Texas, 
June  1,  1883,  where  he  still  resides.    Their  children  are: 

(1)  Joe  Hubert,  b.  in  Sweetwater  Vallev,  March  11, 
1882 ;  m.  Rose  M.  Hardin  of  Fort  Worth,  November  12, 
1902.    Thev  have  two  children,  J.  Hubert  and  Margaret. 

(2)  Nellie,  b.  at  Fort  Worth,  January  8,  1889.  She  is 
unmarried.  She  lives  with  her  parents  and  is  a  teacher 
of  kindergarten. 

(3)  Anna  Eva,  the  third  child  of  J.  W.  and  Margeret 


156  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Goddard,  b.  June  23,  1861.  She  married  T.  A.  Frierson, 
of  Chattanooga,  October  23,  1884.  She  died  — .  They 
were  the  parents  of  four  children  whose  names  I  do  not 
know. 

(4)  John  Newton,  son  of  J.  W.  and  Margeret  God- 
dard, b.  January  30,  1867.  He  married  Mary  Nicholson, 
of  Atlanta.  He  is  a  broker  with  offices  in  the  Equitable 
Building,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

Seven.  Mary  Ann,  daughter  of  T.  C.  and  Polly  God- 
dard, was  married  (first)  to  Solomon  L.  Stowe  of  Mc- 
Minn  Comity,  in  1840.  He  died  at  Ellijay,  Ga.  Is  buried 
there.    Tlieir  children  were : 

1.  Julia,  b.  October  26,  1847 ;  2.  Florence,  b.  1849 ;  3. 
Doss,  b.  1851 ;  4.  Frank,  b.  1853.  All  of  these  dates,  ex- 
cept Julia's,  are  approximated.  Julia  married  A.  Q. 
Orr  on  September  1, 1880.  His  first  wife  was  a  daughter 
of  Hugh  Goddard.  She  died  June  12,  1880.  Their  chil- 
dren were :  Hugh,  b.  March  1866 ;  Florence,  b.  January 
27,  1868 ;  Mav,  b.  June  10, 1870,  and  Ida,  b.  November  25, 
1872. 

A.  Q.  Orr  was  the  son  of  John  W.  Orr  who  came 
to  this  country  from  Virginia  when  a  boy.  His  father 
entered  land  at  the  head  of  Sweetwater  Creek.  The  chil- 
dren of  A.  Q.  Orr  and  Julia,  his  second  wife,  were :  Berta 
Leith,  b.  August  1,  1882;  Dawson,  b.  February  28,  1884, 
and  Irene,  b.  November  18, 1885.  A.  Q.  Orr  died  at  Chat- 
tanooga. Mrs.  Julia  Stowe  Orr  died  at  the  residence  of 
her  daughter,  Mrs.  R.  E.  McLean,  Longview,  Texas,  No- 
vember 15,  1914.  The  other  daughters,  who  are  all  mar- 
ried, reside  in  Texas.  They  are  Mrs.  H.  B.  Zigler,  Hous- 
ton, Texas.  Mrs.  F.  C.  Engall,  Cooper,  Texas;  Mrs.  A. 
J.  Robinson,  Houston,  Texas,  and  Mrs.  C.  F.  Windall, 
Long\aew,  Texas.  I  cannot  state  which  girls  married 
these  persons. 

2.  Florence  Stowe,  married  J.  W.  D.  Williams.  Whom 
see. 

3.  Doss  Stowe  married  Artie  Hutsell.  Their  children 
were  Harvey,  Doss  and  Harry. 

4.  W.  Frank  m.  Lucy  Mattox,  of  Bristol,  Tenn.  Their 
children  were :  Pauline,  Fred,  Raymond  and  Beatrice. 
Do  not  know  their  residence  or  history. 

Mary  Ann  Goddard  Stowe  was  married  (second)  to 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  157 

Arcliibald  M.  Dobbins  on  March  17,  1861.  He  was  born 
in  Knox  County,  May  30,  1831.  He  came  to  Sweetwater 
in  1856.  He  was  first  in  the  carriage  business  with 
AVm.  McClung.  Later  he  was  a  partner  of  his  brother- 
in-law,  Jno.  W.  Goddard,  in  the  mercantile  business  in 
1869.  He  moved  to  Knoxville  in  1874.  He  now  lives 
with  his  son-in-law,  C.  H.  Gardner,  who  is  a  traveling 
man  residing  at  1213  West  Landvale  St.,  Baltimore, 
Md.  The  children  of  Mary  Ann  and  A.  M.  Dobbins  were : 
1.  Lula,  m.  James  T.  Cater;  2.  Margaret,  m.  C.  T. 
McClung;  3.  Barbara,  m.  W.  H.  Lennon;  4.  Henry,  m. 
Mabel  Willy;  5.  Nina  (first),  m.  —  Fuller;  second,  m. 
G.  H.  Gardner ;  6.  Charles  Henry. 

Nine.  Marcus  Bearden  Goddard  married  Clementine 
Amanda  Hutsell  on  August  5, 1858.  She  was  born  Decem- 
ber 15,  1839,  the  fifth  child  of  Andrew  Hutsell,  b.  Jan- 
uary 2, 1805,  and  Polly  Earheart,  b.  July  14, 1814.  They 
resided  near  County  Line  and  at  Sweetwater  until  the 
year  1887,  when  they  moved  to  Steptoe,  Wash.  Their 
children  are : 

1.  Andrew  Floyd,  b.  July  15,  1859;  married  Hattie 
Finlej^  of  Meigs  County.  Their  children  were  Mary 
Cray,  b.  January,  1892 ;  Andrew,  b.  June,  1894,  and  Doro- 
thy.   Andrew  Floj^d  is  a  farmer  living  at  Rosalia,  Wash. 

2.  Hattie  Goddard  married  Finle^^  He  is  a  farmer 
and  lives  at  Rosalia,  Wash. 

3.  Mary  Ellen,  b.  October  23, 1860 ;  married  J.  W.  Ray- 
mond November,  1892.  They  have  one  son,  George,  b. 
May,  1894.  Mr.  Raymond  is  a  grain  dealer.  Address, 
Elm  Flats,  Spokane,  Wash. 

4.  Robert  Henry,  b.  April  2,  1863,  unmarried.  He  is 
Claim  Agent  for  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  and  lives 
at  Missoula,  Mont. 

5.  Grace  Ophelia,  b.  December  20,  1864,  married  John 
B.  Finley,  of  Meigs  County,  March  4,  1891.  Their  chil- 
dren are:  Rex  Goddard,  b.  December,  1891,  and  Isaac 
Raymond,  b.  March,  1894.  The}^  own  the  Finley  Islands, 
in  the  Tennessee  River,  near  Decatur,  Ala.,  which  is  their 
address. 

6.  Charles  Avis,  b.  October  1, 1866;  d.  July  26,  1890. 

7.  Hutsell  married  Miss  Mustard  in  Dayton,  Wash. 


158  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAUliEY 

They  had  two  sons,  one  of  whom,  Charles  was  killed  on 
a  railroad  and  another  born  August,  1897. 

8.  Artie  Isabella,  youngest  child  of  Marcus  and  Cle- 
mentine Goddard,  b.  April  16,  1876.  She  married  Cal  F. 
Godfrey,  capitalist,  Roseland,  111.  Their  children  are: 
Maurine  and  John ;  the  latter  born  January,  1908. 

Ten.  Harriet  Goddard,  the  youngest  child  of  Thornton 
C.  and  Polly  Goddard,  married  LaFayette  Osborne  and, 
I  think,  moved  to  Missouri. 

Few  Hall  Gregory,  M.  D. 

Was  born  in   Culpeper   County,  Va.,   October  4y  1781. 
He  came  to  Philadelphia,  Monroe  County,  Tenn.,  in  1820.  • 
He  died  August  18,  1872  in  Sweetwater   Valley    at  his 
home. 

He  married  Martha  Lynn  Reynolds,  June  1, 1841.  She 
was  the  daughter  of  James  Reynolds  of  Philadelphia. 
She  was  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church  on  Sweetwater. 
She  died  on  February  2, 1884,  in  Marion  County,  Florida, 
on  Lake  Gregorj^ 

Dr.  Gregory  enlisted  in  the  war  of  1812  from  Virginia. 
He  studied  medicine  in  Petersburg,  Va.,  Philadelphia, 
Penn.  For  30  years  he  practised  medicine  and  farmed. 
He  was  a  legislator  from  Monroe  County  in  1839.  He 
was  a  commissioned  colonel  of  the  State  militia.  He  was 
called  upon  to  act  as  Brig.  Gen.  Vol.,  in  the  Mexican  war, 
but  declined  on  account  of  his  wife's  health. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church,  South,  at 
Bat  Creek  (Hiwassee  College).  He  owned  a  large 
amount  of  land.  The  Eli  Cleveland,  Jr.,  place,  and  the 
H.  E.  Martin  place.  He  was  a  wealthy  man  for  his  day 
and  time. 

Children  of  F.  H.  and  M.  L.  Gregory  were : 

1.  Susanna  Virginia,  b.  May  13,  1842.  P.  0.  1913, 
Nashville. 

2.  Jas.  Few,  b.  January  27,  1844 ;  d.  April  30,  1897  at 
Citra,  Fla.  Married  to  Georgia  Dallas  January  19, 
1876. 

3.  Mary  Elizabeth,  b.  February  1,  1846.  Married  to 
Daniel  J.  Fogg,  January  19,  1885  at  Lake  Gregory.  P. 
O.  Belleview,  Marion  County,  Fla. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  159 

4.  William  Richard,  b.  1848.  Died  November,  1870, 
at  Ocala,  Fla, 

5.  Geo.  Washington,  b.  Januarv  12,  1851 ;  d.  February 
3,  1855. 

6.  Martha  Georgiana,  b.  January  17,  1857;  d.  in  in- 
fancy. 

7.  Ann  Eliza,  b.  October  15,  1858 ;  d.  an  infant. 

8.  Cora  Francis,  b.  January  1,  1861;  d.  December, 
1887,  at  Livyville  Fla.  She  married  Wm.  Brown  Jan- 
uary 1,  1885. 

Jas.  Few  Gregory  was  a  student  at  Hiwassee  College 
when  the  Civil  War  began  and  enlisted  from  there  in 
1861,  C.  S.  A.  Daughters  of  James  F.  G. :  Lula  Lynn,  b. 
October  26,  1876.  P.  0.  (presumably)  Citra,  Fla.; 
George  Dallas,  b.  February  21,  1878. 

Children  of  James  and  Susanna  Hilton.  Thej^  were 
married  in  1866. 

(1)  Robt.  Reynolds  H.,  b.  April  25,  1868.  Now  in  Colo- 
rado. 

(2)  Geo.  Gregory,  b.  September  18,  1870.     (Dead.) 

(3)  Wm.  Andrew  H.,  b.  June  5,  1873.  P.  0.,  Nash- 
ville. 

These  children  were  all  born  in  Sweetwater  Valley. 
Above  information  was  obtained  from  Mary  E.  Fogg, 
of  Belleview,  Marion  County,  Fla. 

Daniel  Heiskell, 

We  often  hear  mention  of  a  family  as  being  an  "old 
family."  Strictly  speaking,  if  we  are  derived  from  a 
common  ancestor  whether  we  accept  the  Biblical  or  Dar- 
winian theory,  one  family  is  just  as  old  as  another.  It 
may  sometimes  mean  one  which  has  been  for  long  years 
to  the  same  manor  born ;  oftener  I  take  it  to  mean  the  ma- 
jority of  whose  members  have  acted  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  bring  credit  to  themselves  and  to  the  country 
where  they  reside.  This  can  be  of  a  truth  said  of  the 
Heiskells.  An  interesting  and  instructive  book  could  be 
written  of  them,  but  it  is  beyond  our  space  and  province 
to  speak  at  any  length  except  of  those  who  had  their 
home  in  our  valley  or  moved  from  here  to  other  sections- 
The  historv  of  the  Heiskells  so  far  as  is  known  to  us 


160  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VA1.LEY 

reaches  back  to  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror,  the 
Norman  who  invaded  England  and  overcame  King  Har- 
old of  the  Danish  dynasty  in  the  11th  century.  After  the 
battle  of  Hastings,  which  was  fought  in  Sussex  on  the 
14th  day  of  October,  1066,  William  proceeded  to  parti- 
tion out  the  island  to  his  principal  followers,  or  reward 
them  in  other  ways  and  started  new  orders  of  dukes, 
lords,  earls,  barons,  knights,  et  cet.  Rouget  Heiskell, 
rather  a  Frenehy  kind  of  a  name  for  a  Heiskell,  was  a 
knight  under  that  monarch,  what  we  might  term  now  a 
'' soldier  of  fortune."  He  had  a  coat  of  arms  which  he 
was  entitled  to,  being  a  knight.  It  is  related  that,  dur- 
ing the  hard  fought  and  uncertain  battle  of  Hastings, 
which  raged  incessantly  from  morning  till  evening,  Wil- 
liam complained  much  of  thirst.  There  was  an  apple 
tree  loaded  with  apples  on  the  hill  of  Senlac  within  Har- 
old's, the  enemy's  lines.  Observing  this  Rouget  true  to 
the  Heiskell  motto,  ''Dread  Shame;  Love  Loyalty," 
dashed  through  the  lines  and  gathering  the  fruit  in  his 
helmet  returned  to  William  and  relieved  his  suffering. 
For  this  act  of  valor  he  was  allowed  to  add  an  apple 
tree  to  the  crest  of  the  coat  of  arms  with  the  word  ' '  f ruc- 
tus"  (Latin  for  fruit)  engraved  thereon.  It  is  a  tradi- 
tion also  that  when  William  ate  the  apples,  his  strength 
was  renewed  and  Fortune  from  that  time  on  favored  the 
Normans.  So  the  eating  of  the  fruit  of  that  difficult,  if 
not  forbidden,  tree,  did  not  prove  as  unfortunate  to  pos- 
terity as  the  event  in  the  Garden  of  Eden.  It  may  have 
been  the  tui'ning  point  in  that  decisive  battle  and  settled 
the  fate  of  the  island;  and  wliat  would  England  or  for 
that  matter  our  own  America  have  been  without  the  civil- 
izing influence  of  the  Normans. 

Some  of  Rouget  Heiskell 's  descendants  afterward 
drifted  back  across  the  channel  to  Holland.  From  Am- 
sterdam or  Rotterdam,  uncertain  which.  Christian  Heis- 
kell sailed  and  landed  on  our  own  shores  in  the  year  1700. 
He  married  Katherine  Hampton,  grand  aunt  of  Wade 
Hampton  of  South  Carolina.  He  or  some  of  liis  people 
lived  and  died  at  Hagerstown,  Maryland,  as  a  number  of 
the  Heiskells  were  buried  in  the  Lutheran  Churchyard, 
they  being  members  of  that  church.  This  Christian  Heis- 
kell was  the  father  of  five  sons,  one  of  whom  was  named 
Frederic.    This  Frederic  was  also  the  father  of  five  sons, 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  161 

George,  William,  Frederic,  Samuel  and  Daniel  and  four 
daughters.  Three  of  these  brothers,  William,  Frederic 
and  Daniel  finally  came  to  Tennessee.  The  father  Fred- 
eric moved  to  the  Shenandoah  Valley  of  Virginia,  near 
Winchester,  and  died  there. 

Of  the  Heiskells  who  came  to  this  State  and  their  de- 
scendants many  were  prominent  and  well  known  public 
characters.  Frederic,  son  of  the  Winchester  Frederic, 
was  one  of  pioneer  newspaper  men  of  our  section,  being 
editor  and  proprietor  for  years  of  the  Knoxville  Regis- 
ter, and  was  elected  to  the  upper  house  of  Tennessee 
Legislature  in  1846.  That  same  year  William  Heiskell 
was  defeated  in  Monroe  County  by  Col.  John  Ramsey 
for  a  seat  in  the  lower  house,  an  account  of  which  has 
been  given.  Frederic  Heiskell  had  distinguished  sons, 
Joseph  B.  Heiskell  and  Carrick  Heiskell.  Joseph  was  a 
member  of  the  Confederate  Congress  from  the  first  dis- 
trict of  Tennessee,  elected  in  1861.  He  was  afterward 
Attorney  General  and  Reporter  for  the  State  of  Ten- 
nessee. Carrick  is  a  distinguished  lawyer  and  a  judge 
in  Memphis,  Tenn.  He,  for  a  long  time,  has  been  promi- 
nent and  influential  there.  ''Ned,"  his  son,  was  for  a 
short  time  U.  S.  Senator  from  Arkansas. 

W"m.  Heiskell  represented  Monroe  County  in  the  Leg- 
islature and  was  prominent  in  politics.  His  son,  S.  G. 
(Samuel  Gahagan)  has  been  a  Legislator  and  several 
times  Mayor  of  Knoxville.  He  is  a  lawyer  and  one  of  the 
best  known  men  in  the  State. 

Pride  of  birth  and  inherited  wealth  when  considered 
as  a  responsibility,  and  not  as  an  asset  to  cause  you  to 
look  down  on  your  neighbors,  is  all  well  enough.  If  it  is 
expected  by  the  possessor  that  he  be  toadied  to  on  that 
account  he  invites  the  fate  of  a  haughty  spirit.  Even 
pride  is  not  objectionable  if  it  prevents  one  from  doing  a 
mean  thing;  otherwise  it  is  contemptible.  That  one's 
ancestors  were  honored  in  the  past  is  at  least  a  satisfac- 
tion to  the  descendants.  The  Coat  of  Arms  of  the  Heis- 
kell's  as  mentioned  above  may  be  described  as  a  helmet 
on  a  field  of  sable  and  argent  between  two  leopards  and 
surmounted  by  an  apple  tree  with  the  word  ''fructus," 
aove  and  underneath  the  shield  the  motto  (Norman 
French)  ''Craignez  Houte,  Aymez  Loyaute."  (Dread 
Shame,  Love  Loyalty). 


162  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Never  do  anything  to  be  ashamed  of  and  be  loyal  to 
your  king  or  government.  Daniel  Heiskell  was  as  far 
as  any  man  from  boasting  of  his  ancestry.  He  was  a 
simple  citizen  of  the  republic.  He  Vv^as  born  March  7, 
1799,  probably  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley  near  Winches- 
ter, Virginia.  Exactly  when  he  came  to  the  State  of  Ten- 
nessee is  not  known  but  likely  when  he  was  a  minor.  Much 
to  the  disappointment  of  the  members  of  the  family,  who 
chose  rather  the  learned  professions,  he  determined  to 
learn  the  tanner's  trade;  deeming  that  this  was  a  more 
certain  avenue  to  competency  than  the  learned  profes- 
sions. He  never  aspired  to  office  as  the  many  other 
Heiskells  did.  He  was,  however.  Justice  of  the  Peace  for 
a  number  of  years.  I  have  heard  it  said  that  he  did  not 
pay  strict  attention  to  the  code  always  if  he  thought  jus- 
tice pointed  in  another  direction.  For  example  he  might 
give  judgment  in  favor  of  the  holder  of  a  note,  though 
out  of  date,  if  he  was  satisfied  that  the  note  was  still  un- 
paid and  let  the  courts  above  on  appeal  correct  the  de- 
cision. 

He  married  Elizabeth  McBride  near  Greeneville, 
Tenn.,  on  March  4,  1823,  and  came  to  the  neighborhood 
of  what  is  now  Sweetwater,  as  one  of  her  daughters  has 
told  me,  when  William  M.,  the  oldest  child,  was  near  a 
year  old.  He  (William)  was  born  May  2,  1824.  This 
tract  is  the  one  on  which  Edgar  Heiskell  now  resides, 
having  been  in  the  family  now  for  ninety  years.  He  did 
not  purchase  this  land  direct  from  Matthew  Nelson, 
Treasurer  for  East  Tennessee.  He  purchased  from 
Ivobert  Shaw.  At  the  time  Mr.  Heiskell  came  to  this  sec- 
tion there  were  no  saw  mills  except  those  using  the  up 
and  down  straight  saw;  consequently  most  of  the  houses 
first  built  were  of  hewed  logs  and  in  many  instances  the 
floor  of  puncheons.  A  few  of  these  are  still  standing, 
one  on  the  rise  above  the  Sweetwater  water  works  spring 
and  another  one  and  a  half  miles  south  of  town  on  Mrs. 
Love's  farm. 

The  Heiskell  tan  yard  was  just  across  the  creek  from 
where  the  Woolen  Mill  now  stands.  Mr.  Heiskell  also 
])urchased  some  other  tracts  of  land  and  was  a  success- 
ful farmer  and  tanner  until  his  death,  which  was  on  July 
23,  1875.  He  was  interred  in  the  Heiskell  burying 
ground  near  his  residence. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  163 

As  has  been  stated  the  Heiskells  in  Maryland  belonged 
mostly  to  the  Lutheran  Church.  Daniel  Heiskell  was  an 
ardent  Cumberland  Presbyterian.  He  may  have  joined 
that  church  on  account  of  the  absence  of  Lutheran 
churches  in  our  valley  and  that  was  the  nearest  approach 
in  doctrine  to  the  Lutheran  Church.  This  is  rendered 
more  probable  from  the  fact  that  one  of  his  sons  was 
named  Luther  Melancthon,  after  the  two  great  German 
reformers. 

The  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  had  its  birth  in 
the  Cumberland  Presbytery  of  Kentucky  in  1810.  In 
1813  three  Presbyteries  resolved  themselves  into  a  synod 
and  revised  the  Westminster  Confession  and  excluded, 
as  they  claimed,  the  doctrines  of  fatalism  and  infant 
damnation.  The  passages  they  particularly  objected  to 
were:  Chap.  III.  "God  from  all  eternity  did  by  the 
most  wise  and  holy  counsel  of  His  own  will,  freely  and 
unchangeabl}^  ordain  whatsoever  comes  to  pass."  *  *  *  * 
"By  the  decree  of  God,  for  the  manifestation  of  his 
glory,  some  men  and  angels  are  predestinated  unto  ever- 
lasting life  and  others  foreordanied  to  everlasting 
death." 

"These  men  and  angels  thus  predestinated  and  fore- 
ordained are  particularly  and  unchangeably  designed; 
and  their  number  is  so  certain  and  definite  that  it  cannot 
be  increased  or  diminished." 

Rapid  Increase  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians. 

The  C.  P.  Church  increased  rapidly  in  this  section. 
There  was  a  church  of  this  order  and  a  graveyard  now 
mostly  overgrown  with  considerable  sized  trees  one  and 
a  half  miles  north  east  of  Sweetwater  at  the  corner  of  the 
Gaut,  Young  and  Heiskell  lands.  The  church  there  was 
called  Mt.  Lebanon.  In  about  1854,  after  the  location  of 
the  E.  T.  &  Ga.  R.  R.  depot  and  the  beginning  of  the  town 
it  was  moved  as  being  a  more  convenient  location  to  the 
Heiskell  land  on  a  part  of  the  lot  now  occupied  by  the 
Sweetwater  Woolen  Mill. 

Mt.  Lebanon  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  moved 
to  Sweetwater  when  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church  or,  as  our  Baptist  brethren  insist,  church  house 
(a   church   being   a   number    of   organized  baptized  be- 


164  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

lievers,  and  not  a  house)  was  moved  from  its  former  lo- 
cation 1  1-2  miles  northeast  to  the  town  on  the  Heiskell 
land,  it  thereafter  answered  several  purposes.  The 
schoolhouse  in  the  bend  of  the  creek  southwest  of  the 
town  was  too  small  to  accommodate  the  increasing  num- 
ber of  students,  being  only  about  25  by  20  feet.  The 
Cumberland  Church,  then  the  only  church  building  in 
Sweetwater  was  about  35  by  30  ft.  So  it  happened  the 
first  school  taught  in  the  town  and  the  first  I  ever  went 
to  was  in  that  building.  I  was  between  eight  and  nine 
years  old  at  the  time.  I  had  been  very  much  opposed  to 
going  to  school  because  of  what  the  school  children  I 
knew  told  me.  I  had  come  to  believe  that  school  was  a 
place  of  confinement,  punishment  and  torture,  where  the 
children  spent  the  long  sunmier  day  sighing  for  the  open 
air.  As  they  passed  me  trudging  homeward,  their  talk 
was  mostly  of  who  had  been  whipped  by  the  teacher 
and  of  who  had  unexpectedly  managed  to  escape  punish- 
ment. The}^  carried  no  books  home,  as  the  studying  they 
did  was  at  the  schoolhouse  during  the  day.  I  dreaded 
going  to  school  as  much  as  the  heretics  the  Spanish 
Inquisition.  What  I  knew  I  learned  from  my  father  by 
asking  questions.  Usually  when  I  questioned  my  mother 
she  would  say,  "Go  ask  your  Pa."  And  once  in  a  while 
he  would  say,  ' '  Maybe  3'ou  better  ask  Mr.  Cotfin  that,  if 
you  think  of  it,  next  time  you  see  him."  Therefore  I 
came  to  believe  that  if  Mr,  James  Coffin  did  not  answer 
a  question  the  answer  was  unknown  or  that  it  ought  not 
to  be  answered. 

One  summer  day  my  father  took  me  to  the  free  (Pub- 
lic) school  at  the  Cumberland  Church.  Instead  of  find- 
ing there  some  scolding  ogre,  armed  with  a  large  bunch 
of  hickory  switches  ready  for  use  as  I  expected,  we  found 
an  intellectual,  pleasant  faced  young  woman^  Miss  Mar- 
tha Stakely,  daughter  of  Wm.  M.  Stakely,  of  Madison- 
ville.  She  was  the  soul  of  goodness  and  kindness,  a 
characteristic  family  trait.  She  welcomed  us  and  I  liked 
her  at  once,  and  was  willing  to  remain  at  school.  I  have 
always  remembered  her  with  warm  feelings  of  gratitude, 
not  because  of  what  I  was  taught  by  her  from  the  blue- 
back  speller,  for  I  did  not  learn  very  much,  but  because 
of  her  unvarying  kindness  to  a  sensitive  boy.  There 
were  those  of  her  scholars  who  could  repeat  their  A-B- 


HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  165 

C's  forward  and  backward.  This  was  to  me  an  aston- 
ishing feat  but  was  not  to  my  taste.  I  did  not  see  the 
sense  in  it.  It  was  many  months  afterward  when  I  be- 
gan to  like  to  go  to  school  and  became  interested  in  my 
studies  that  I  learned  that  letters  formed  words,  words 
represented  objects  and  ideas  and  that  ideas  could  be 
translated  into  actions. 

At  that  first  school  I  used  to  watch  from  the  window, 
near  which  I  had  a  seat,  the  tan  yard  water  wheel  across 
the  creek.  It  was  an  undershot  wheel  with  cups  attached, 
which  as  the  wheel  revolved  dipped  up  the  water  and 
poured  it  into  troughs  that  conducted  the  water  into  the 
vats  in  the  tanyard.  It  was  a  never-failing  source  of 
pleasure  to  me  to  watch  the  wheel  go  round  and  see  the 
streams  of  water  sparkling  in  the  sunshine.  Miss  Mar- 
tha did  not  get  angry  with  me  for  preferring  this  to  my 
one  book. 

If  she  ever  whipped  anyone  I  do  not  recall  it.  She  had 
reasonably  good  order  without  it.  I  have  vividly  in  mind 
one  escapade.  I  was  in  company  with  several  boys  larger 
than  myself.  Of  course  I  was  the  dog  tray  of  the  crowd. 
A  pot  of  greasy  lamp  black  was  found.  It  was  suggested 
that  we  all  black  ourselves.  It  was  agreed  that  it  would 
be  a  fine  joke,  and  so  we  all  did.  I  used  the  blacking 
sparingly  at  the  start,  but  they  said  it  would  not  be  a  bit 
of  fun  miless  we  blacked  up  good  and  well.  Tliis  was 
amusing  enough  until  just  before  "books"  we  tried  to 
wash  it  off.  We  sta^^ed  long  enough  to  be  sent  for.  Then 
we  were  given  soap  and  sent  back  to  the  creek  to  stay  till 
we  were  white  again.  But  the  black  was  like  the  smile  on 
the  face  of  ''Sunny  Jim,"  it  wouldn't  come  off.  When 
I  reached  home  then  more  soap  and  water  till  I  ab- 
horred the  very  sight  of  them  and  a  black  mamma  (as  if 
I  had  not  enough  of  black)  was  told  to  go  along  to  assist 
in  my  ablutions.  Pretty  soon  she  said :  ' '  Mercy 's  sake  ! 
child,  'taint  a  bit  of  use  trying  to  git  this  black  off,  you  '11 
have  'sociate  with  niggers  all  yore  born  days."  I  jerked 
loose  from  her  and  looked  for  the  dryest  place  I  could 
find  to  meditate  in.  My  thoughts  were  far  from  cheer- 
ful; there  was  a  girl  in  the  case. 

But  the  gentle  reader  may  ask  what  has  this  story  to 
do  with  early  history  and  what  is  the  moral  of  it  ?  It  has 
not  much  to  do  with  it  and  there  is  no  moral  to  it.    It  is 


166  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

no  Aesop's  fable  but  a  digression;  and  a  digression  does 
not  have  to  have  a  moral.  All  truth  is  useful.  At  least 
I  have  been  told  so. 

As  has  been  remarked  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church  was  a  historic  building.  For  the  white  people  it 
answered  the  three  fold  purposes  of  a  day  school,  church 
and  a  Sunday  School  building.  The  Sunday  School  car- 
ried on  was  a  union,  not  a  denominational  one.  After 
the  new  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  was  built  the 
colored  people  used  the  old  one  for  the  same  purposes. 
There  were  in  the  early  days  of  the  town,  living  in  this 
section,  quite  an  array  of  Cumberland  preachers  and  ef- 
fective ones  too.  Among  others  were  Eev.  Jas.  Tate, 
Joseph  Johnston,  Jas.  Blair  and  Jas.  H.  Fryer.  During 
the  week  we  were  taught  Webster's  speller  and  reader, 
and  in  the  same  house  on  Sunday  we  heard  the  gospel  ex- 
pounded and  the  sacred  desk  pounded.  In  those  days 
the  conception  of  the  Supreme  Being  as  told  was  quite 
different  from  that  presented  now.  Instead  of  preaching 
of  love  and  gi^dng  entertaining  lectures  on  the  lands 
spoken  of  in  the  Bible,  we  were  told  in  the  vivid  terms  of 
the  torments  that  awaited  the  unrepentant  beyond  the 
grave.  The  pictures  drawn  were  truly  awful.  The  Rev. 
Blair  was  quite  an  artist  in  that  line.  But  however  soul 
harrowing  he  may  have  been  in  the  pulpit,  he  was  pleas- 
ant and  companionable  in  the  family  circle.  He  some- 
times visited  at  my  father's  and  was  always  a  welcome 
guest.  It  is  somewhat  strange  how,  in  the  boyish  mind, 
certain  words  and  phrases  are  connected  with  certain 
public  speakers  and  preachers.  I  never  saw  or  thought 
of  Mr.  Blair  without  thinking  at  the  same  time  of  fire  and 
brimstone.  The  Rev.  Thos.  Brown  reminded  me  of  the 
word  ^' Faith;"  Rev.  Geo.  Caldwell,  then  of  Athens,  of 
**Love;"  Rev.  Thos.  R.  Bradshaw  of  '^  dedicate  and  pre- 
destinate;" Rev.  Jno.  Scruggs  of  the  Greek  word  of 
*'Baptizo,"  which  he  was  prone  to  explain  meant 
"plunge  or  immerse"  and  could  not  by  any  implication 
or  indirection  in  the  remotest  degree  mean  anything  else. 
Of  most  of  these  things  my  ideas  were  of  the  vaguest  na- 
ture, except  about  the  brimstone.  This  I  found  by  ex- 
periment smelt  bad  when  cold  and  worse  when  burning.  I 
was  not  anxious  enough  for  knowledge  to  try  the  effect 
on  my  flesh.     I  connected  Mr.    Fryer    with    the    word 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  167 

' '  f reckwently "  as  he  pronounced  it.  I  became  rather 
fond  of  the  w^ord  and  adopted  it  till  my  father  told  me 
if  I  used  the  word  at  all  to  pronomice  it  "  f ree-quently. " 
I  then  concluded  not  to  use  it  at  all,  not  being  allowed  to 
pronounce  it  as  I  wished. 

We  hear  often  now  of  old  time  honesty  and  ''old  time 
religion;"  and  many  regret  the  changed  conditions  not 
only  in  church  and  state  and  ^schools,  but  even  of  the 
roads ;  for  they  say  that  in  the  last  instance  if  we  have 
pike  and  graded  roads  the  automobiles  traveling  there 
will  frighten  the  horses  and  make  them  run  away. 

It  was  also  sinful  in  the  minds  of  many  to  make  places 
of  worship  comfortable,  as  by  so  doing  you  were  listening 
to  Satan's  whispers  and  compromising  with  him.  Serv- 
ices were  twice  as  long  then  as  now  and  the  homes  not 
so  conveniently  situated.  Sunday  to  some  children  was 
made  to  appear  as  long  as  the  rest  of  the  week.  Con- 
science did  not  make  cowards  of  the  people  but  it  made 
them  tyrants.  Instrumental  music  in  the  church  they 
thought  a  snare  and  a  delusion  of  the  devil.  The  favor- 
ite airs  were  heart-rending  minors  sung  to  such  v/ords  as 
''Tw^as  on  that  dark,  that  doleful  night." 

The  place  of  torment  was  no  figTire  of  speech.  The 
lake  of  fire  and  brimstone,  the  wailing  and  gnashing  of 
teeth  of  the  lost  souls  was  made  as  realistic  as  possible, 
that  its  tortures  were  such  as  no  words  could  picture. 

As  to  the  public  school  money  in  the  forties,  East  Ten- 
nessee got  the  best  of  the  other  sections  of  the  State. 

The  disbursements  were  made  assording  to  scholastic 
population.  The  families  were  larger  in  this  section  of 
the  State  and  the  people  poorer.  Only  about  sufficient 
State  taxes  w^ere  collected  in  this  end  of  the  State  to  sup- 
port the  public  schools.  Middle  Tennessee  furnished  the 
greater  part  of  the  money  for  the  other  State  expenses. 

The  eastern  part  was  looked  down  upon  as  poverty 
stricken  and  that  it  should  ever  amount  to  anything  in 
wealth  or  resources  was  considered  a  remote  possibility, 
wdiicli  goes  to  show  how  provincial  people  were  in  those 
days,  and  how  little  was  known  of  us  in  the  other  sections 
of  the  State. 

As  for  the  roads,  they  were  built  not  for  the  purpose 
of  transportation  but  for  viewing  the  scenery  and  inci- 
dentally find  out  how  much  a  yoke  of  oxen  could  pull  up 


168  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

a  thirty  per  cent,  grade.  They  went  straight  up  the  hill 
and  directly  down  to  the  hollow;  they  descended  to  the 
depths  and  rose  to  the  heights ;  to  wind  and  twist  about 
was  an  unnecessary  waste  of  energy.  When  they  were 
muddy,  Monroe  County  mud  is  about  the  muddiest  mud 
of  which  I  have  any  knowledge  with  the  exception  of 
Texas,  whose  weather  behavior  runs  old  probs  crazy.  If 
you  happened  to  be  traveling  the  road  some  night  and 
saw  something  white  in  front  of  you,  there  was  no  oc- 
casion for  alarm;  it  was  no  ghost  but  only  the  top  of  a 
North  Carolina  covered  wagon,  the  rest  of  which  was 
down  belovr.  All  you  had  to  do  was  to  unhitch  and  leave 
your  vehicle  till  tomorrow  or  next  week  as  the  case  might 
be. 

When  you  trudged  home  from  school  you  would  likely 
be  greeted  with  the  remark  '  *  Where  in  the  world  did  you 
get  so  muddy?"  " Where f"  and  the  whole  blooming 
world  was  mud  over  3^our  boot  tops.  The  town  was  lit- 
tle different  from  the  country.  When  you  went  calling, 
after  knocking  you  were  allowed  five  minutes  to  clean 
your  feet  before  the  door  was  opened  for  your  recep- 
tion. 

In  1873  and  1874  Daniel  Heiskell,  who  had  purchased 
a  lot  for  that  purpose,  built  the  new  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Church,  where  it  now  stands,  across  the  railroad 
and  east  from  the  Southern  passenger  depot.  He  said 
he  wanted  to  build  the  church  as  a  monument  to  himself 
and,  as  he  was  amply  able  to  build  it,  he  would  ask  for  no 
outside  help,  not  even  from  the  members  of  his  own 
church.  If  they  or  others  wished  they  could  subscribe  to 
the  furnishing  of  the  church  and  help  to  pay  the  salary 
of  the  pastor.  He  wanted  to  give  the  house  and  lot  to 
the  Cumberlands  himself.  Exactly  what  the  church  cost 
no  one  knew ;  when  asked  the  question  he  replied  that  he 
did  not  know  precisely  and  if  he  did  know  would  not  care 
to  say.  Not  long  after  the  church  was  finished,  Mr.  Heis- 
kell executed  a  deed  to  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians. 
This  deed  was  misplaced,  lost  or  destroyed  by  fire.  What 
the  provisions  in  this  deed  were  I  have  never  been  able 
to  ascertain.  Dr.  R.  F.  Scruggs  was  confident  it  con- 
tained a  reversionary  clause,  i.  e.  the  property  was  to  re- 
vert to  the  heirs  unless  used  as  specified  for  the  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  church.    This  deed  was  not  placed  of 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  169 

record  on  the  Registers'  Books  of  Monroe  County,  at 
Madisonville. 

But  even  after  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church 
determined  in  their  assembly  to  unite  with  a  branch  of 
the  Presbyterians,  the  Cumberlands  here  continued  to 
use  it  and  to  claim  that  it  belonged  to  the  members  at' 
Sweetwater.  There  has  been  no  suit  entered  to  de- 
termine the  question. 

The  first  pastor  of  the  church,  if  I  remember  correctly, 
was  Rev.  Solon  McCroskey. 

Some  brief  information  about  the  older  members  of 
the  Daniel  Heiskell  family: — 

Daniel  Heiskell  was  born  near  Winchester,  Virginia, 
March  7,  1799.  He  died  at  Sweetwater  on  July  22,  1875. 
He  married  Elizabeth  McBride  near  Greeneville,  Tenn., 
March  4,  1823.  She  was  born  April  15,  1803;  she  died 
August  1,  1841. 

The  children  of  this  marriage  were: 

One.  Wm.  McBride,  b.  May  2,  1824.  Married  Vir^ 
ginia  Netherland,  December  30,  1852. 

Two.  Eliza  Adaline,  b.  Januarv  20,  1827;  d.  Julv  14, 
1906.  Married  Nathaniel  Pope  Hight,  October  9,  1851,  b. 
Januarv  20,  1827 ;  d.  Mav  17,  1889. 

Three.  Luther  Melancthon,  b.  June  8,  1829.  Married 
Ellen  Wright  Jmie  6,  1853. 

Four.  Hugh  Brown,  b.  November  20,  1831 ;  d.  Novem- 
ber 13,  1904. 

Five.  Sarah  Catherine,  b.  September  25,  1834.  She 
married  John  Patterson  February  3,  1853.  They  moved 
to  Springfield,  Mo. 

Six.  Martha  Isabella,  b.  November  13,  1836.  She  died 
in  Missouri,  April  21,  1861.  She  married  N.  W.  Haun. 
Under  the  firm  name  of  Haun  &  Stakely  he  was  one  of 
the  first  merchants  in  the  town  of  Sweetwater. 

Seven.  Betsey  (Elizabeth)  Ramsey,  b.  November  5, 
1839 ;  married  R.  F.  Scruggs  February  14,  1860. 


Daniel  Heiskell  married  the  second  time  Mary  Wallace 
Montgomerv  on  March  14,  1844.  She  was  born  January 
1,  1819,  anddied  June  4, 1888. 

Children  of  this  marriage  were  : 

1.  James  Montgomerv,  b.  Januarv  30,  1845;  d.  March 
26, 1898. 


170  HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

2.  Margaret  Caroline,  b.  August  19,  1847 ;  married  A. 
D.  Scruggs  May  1, 1867. 

3.  Dorcas  Ann,  b.  April  5,  1850;  d.  January  14,  1854. 
Most  of  those  mentioned  above  were  parents  of  large 

families.  Daniel  HeiskelPs  grandchildren  and  great- 
grandchildren are  very  numerous.  From  present  indica- 
tions, the  Heiskell  generation  like  the  cause  of  popular 
government  will  not  perish  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

William  McBride  Heiskell 

Married  Virginia  Netherland.  They  had  eleven  chil- 
dren : 

1.  Ada  Florence,  b.  November  2,  1853 ;  married  Isaac 
Johnson  July  26,  1875.  They  had  one  daughter,  Brucie 
Davis,  who  lives  in  Los  Angeles,  Cal. 

2.  Mary  Lyde,  b.  February  3,  1855;  married  S.  W. 
Flenniken,  April  24, 1878.  He  died  at  Sweetwater,  April 
1902.    She  lives  at  Sweetwater. 

3.  James  Netherland,  b.  July  20,  1856 ;  married  Eliza- 
beth Browder,  November  18,  1880.  Their  children  are: 
Mamie  Letitia ;  married  J.  W.  Scott,  September  19,  1914. 
Address,  Sylvania,  Ga. ;  John,  married  Lem  Dickey  June 
15,  1910.  Address  Dallas,  Texas;  Loyd,  married  Maggie 
Fisher,  October  27,  1900.  Address  Sweetwater ;  Samuel 
and  Emmett,  address  Olustee,  Okla.,  and  Luther,  ad- 
dress, Sweetwater. 

4.  Bettie  Pendleton,  b.  April  16,  1858.  Married  Wil- 
son Small,  December  18,  1872.  They  had  one  child,  Rob- 
ert, who  lives  at  Decatur,  Tenn. 

5.  Myrtie,  b.  February  3,  1861.  Married  Mark  God- 
dard,  December  12,  1893.  Tbey  live  at  Sweetwater  and 
have  two  children,  Willie  and  Hugh. 

6.  Ann  Lipscomb,  b.  June  29,  1862.  Married  James 
Small  September  3,  1878.  Tliey  have  three  children, 
Willie.  Henrv  and  Thomas.    Thev  live  at  Niota. 

7.  Willie,  b.  October  28,  1863 ;  d.  September  2,  1870. 

8.  Virginia  N.,  b.  January  18,  1865.  Married  Wilson 
Small  August  7,  1878.  They  had  two  sons,  Isham  and 
William,  who  live  at  Decatur. 

9.  Daniel,  b.  January  8,  1867 ;  married  Bertha  Willis, 
October  6,  1901.  Their  children  are:  Earnest,  Beulah, 
Grace,  Mack,  Anna  and  Tyler. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  171 

10.  Gate,  b.  January  9,  1869 ;  married  John  Ferguson, 
December  11,  1894.  Their  children  are:  Brucie  (who 
married  John  Thomas,  May  5,  1912),  Earl,  Charlie, 
Henry,  Horace  P.  and  Mary  Alma. 

Henry  Lee  Heiskell  and  Martha  Neil  were  married 
January  29, 1898.  They  had  one  child,  Elga,  b.  December 
9,  1898.^   They  live  at  Pilot  Point,  Texas. 

Ada  Heiskell  Johnson,  married  second,  T.  J.  Hinton, 
in  1894.  They  live  in  Knoxville.  James  N.  Heiskell, 
owns  and  lives  on  th«  farm  his  father  bought  in  1852. 

Luther  Melancthon  Heiskell. 

(The  Melancthon  is  sometimes  abbreviated  to  *Ton") 
was  born  June  8,  1829.  He  died  at  his  residence  near 
Spring  City  on  September  16,  1909.  He  married  Ellen 
Wright  of  Greenville,  Tenn.,  January  6,  1853.  She  was 
born  November  1,  1830,  and  died  January  2,  1892.  Soon 
after  their  marriage  they  moved  to  Missouri  and  from 
there  to  Rhea  County,  near  the  site  of  Spring  City,  in 
1866.  He  was  a  farmer,  being  in  a  country  where  game 
abounded,  he  w^as  very  fond  of  hunting.  Their  children 
were  seven  in  number : 

(1)  Martha  Elizabeth,  b.  May  11,  1854;  died  October 
24,  1887. 

(2)  Daniel,  b.  April  9,  1856. 

(3)  Pope,  b.  June  25,  1858;  died  September  14, 1871. 

(4)  John,  b.  March  26,  1860;  died  December  21,  1860. 
'  (5)  Emma  Ada  Bell,  b.  August  23,  1863 ;  died  Septem- 
ber 12  1894. 

(6)  Everett,  b.  March  13, 1866 ;  d.  August  28, 1867. 

(7)  Minnie. 


Martha  Elizabeth  Heiskell  was  married  to  T.  J.  Robin- 
son October  26,  1871.  To  them  four  children  were  born, 
two  boys  and  two  girls. 


Daniel  Heiskell  married  Belle  Rose.     To  them  were 
born  five  children. 


172  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAIiLEY 

Emma  Ada  Belle  Heiskell  was  married  to  Jas.  L.  Hoyl 
October,  1882.  To  them  were  born  two  children,  Ellen 
Hovl  and  Barbara  Hoyl. 


Minnie  Heiskell  was  married  to  S.  E,  Paul  December 
1,  1897.  To  them  was  born  one  child,  Ellen  Heiskell 
Paul,  b.  June  2,  1899. 

Hugh  Brown  Heiskell 

Was  born  in  Sweetwater  Valley,  Monroe  County, 
Tenn.,  November  30,  1831.  He  died  at  his  residence  in 
Rhea  County,  Tenn.,  November  13,  1904.  He  married 
Rhoda  Farmer  of  Hillsville,  Va.,  in  1856.  She  was  born 
April  7,  1841,  and  died  March  23,  1892.  He  moved  to 
Rhea  County  in  1861.  He  was  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser. 
He  was  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  fifteen  years.  Their 
children  were : 

1.  Florence,  b.  July  27,  1857;  d.  June  30,  1903;  mar- 
ried R.  M.  Robinson  of  Rhea  County  on  November  16, 
1881.  ■ 

2.  Wade,  b.  October  21,  1858;  married  Lydia  Ganett, 
of  Alton,  Mo.,  in  the  spring  of  1891. 

3.  Frank,  b.  February  21,  1860 ;  married  Lucy  Patter- 
son of  Bozeman,  Montana,  in  November  1894. 

4.  Addie,  b.  July  21,  1861. 

5.  John,  b.  September  17,  1863 ;  d.  April  17,  1915.  He 
was  twice  married;  first  to  Eva   Holloway,    of    Spring 

City,  Tenn.,  on  March  1,  1892.    After  her  death  in ■ 

he  married  Kittv  Caldwell,  of  Spring  City,  on  October 
17,  1906. 

6.  Hugh  Brown,  b.  August  11,  1865;  married  Carrie 
Wallis,  Spring  City,  on  March  7,  1900. 

7.  Catherine,  b.  February  8,  1867  ;  married  D.  C.  Kem- 
mer  February  1,  1911. 

8.  Frederick,  b.  August  20, 1869 ;  married  Annie  Smith, 
Bozeman,  Mont.,  October  18,  1911. 

9.  Nellie  May,  b.  May  2,  1871 ;  d.  August  13,  1898. 

10.  Richmond,  b.  September  2,  1873;  married  Etta 
Hart,  of  Spring  City,  on  February  20,  1907. 


history  of  sweetwater  valley  173 

Sarah  Heiskell  Patterson. 

Sarah  Catherine  Heiskell,  b.  September  5,  1834,  was 
married  March  30,  1853,  to  John  A.  Patterson,  moving 
to  Springfield,  Mo.,  the  same  year.  She  joined  the  church 
at  an  early  age  and  lived  a  faithful  Christian  life  to  the 
end  of  her  more  than  four  score  years.  To  them  were 
born  ten  children,  all  of  whom  were  living  and  present 
when  she  died  on  June  16,  1916.  Their  names  are  as 
follows : 

Bettie  Y.  Patterson,  b.  April  19,  1854. 

Addie  Isabell  Patterson,  b.  March  23,  1856. 

Virginia  Ellen  Patterson,  b.  May  13,  1858. 

Joe  Alma  Kate  Patterson,  b.  November  1,  1860. 

Daniel  Lewis  Patterson,  b.  June  11,  1864. 

Jessie  Heiskell  Patterson,  b.  December  15,  1866. 

Hattie  Amada  Patterson,  b.  August  26,  1869. 
-  John  Hugh  Rice  Patterson,  b.  July  9,  1872. 

Eva  May  Patterson,  b.  January  30,  1875. 

Edward' Tefft  Patterson,  b.  July  25,  1878. 

Bettie  Y.  Patterson,  married  W.  E.  Anderson,  1874; 
three  children,  Wm.  Y.  Anderson,  Guy  P.  Anderson  and 
Mary  Heiskell  Anderson  (all  living). 

Addie  I.  Patterson  married  Wm.  H.  .McCann,  1876 ; 
two  children,  John  E.  MeCann,  Fred  Harrison  Mc- 
Cann.  » 

Virginia  E.  Patterson  married  Hugh  M.  Cowan,  1877. 
Children,  Katherine,  Bruce  H.,  Wm.  P.,  Edna,  Aleen, 
Hugh. 

Joe  Alma  Kate  married  Emory  L.  Hoke,  1886;  two 
children,  Clifford  Hoke,  Catherine  E.  Hoke. 

Daniel  L.  Patterson  married  Allie  Murden,  1892; 
three  children,  Dwight  M.,  Louise,  Prank. 

Jessie  Heiskell  Patterson  married  Geo.  D.  Stateson, 
1891;  three  children,  Alberta,  Salome,  Ruth. 

Hattie  A.  Patterson  (single). 

John  H.  R.  Patterson  married  Elsie  Moore,  1913,  one 
child,  Edward  Moore  Patterson. 

Eva  May  Patterson  married  A.  C.  Jarrett,  1901 ;  no 
children. 

Edward  T.  Patterson  married  Marie  Lagana,  1905; 
three  children,  Virginia  Catherine,  Bernice,  Edward 
Raphael. 


174  history  of  sweetwater  valley 

Mr.  James-  Montgoiviery  Heisnell, 

Son  of  Daniel  and  Mary  Heiskell,  was  born  in  Sweet- 
water, Tenn.,  January  30,  1845.  Died  March  26,  1898. 
Interred  in  West  View  Cemetery,  Sweetwater.  He  was 
married  to  Miss  Laura  Jones  on  October  18,  1874.  Her 
father  w^as  James  Jones,  her  mother  was  Sarah  Pugh 
Jones  of  Bertie  County,  N.  C.  She  was  born  in  Memphis 
Tenn.,  October  23,  1848.  J.  M.  H.  owned  a  very  large 
farm  and  a  number  of  houses  and  lots  in  Sweetwater. 
He  was  a  Cumberland  Presbyterian.  The  children  of 
Jas.  M.  and  L.  J.  Heiskell  were: 

Harry,  b.  August  27,  1875.  Was  married  to  Norali 
Jones  on  December  18,  1901.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
Moulton  and  Sarah  Cunningham  Jones.  He  is  a  success- 
ful farmer  and  stock  raiser  and  lives  near  Sweetwater. 
The  children  of  Harry  and  Norah  H.  are :  Lucille,  King, 
Pauline,  Harry  Lee,  Hugh    Lynn    and    Annie    Laurie. 

Edgar,  b.  November  19,  1877.  He  married  Annie  Cleve- 
land, daughter  of  Eli  and  Susan  Martin  Cleveland,  Jan- 
uary 16,  1908.  He  is  a  farmer  and  resides  in  the  old 
Daniel  Heiskell  residence.  Their  children  are :  James 
Eli,  Christine  and  Edgar  Burton. 

Maiden,  b.  October  4,  1880.  She  married  D.  C.  Boykin 
June  15,  1902.  He  is  a  traveling  passenger  agent  for 
the  Southern  R.  R.  Lives  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.  They 
have  one  child,  Laura  Elizabeth. 

Margaret  C.  Heiskell  Scruggs, 

Of  Knoxville,  w^as  born  at  Sweetwater  on  August  19, 
1847.  She  was  married  to  Dr.  Abijah  Scruggs  on  May 
1,  1867,  the  Rev.  Jas.  Blair,  officiating.  Abijah  was  the 
son  of  the  Rev.  John  Scruggs  and  brother  of  Dr.  R.  F. 
Scruggs.  He  was  a  physician  and  druggist.  He  moved 
from  Knoxville  to  Niota  in  1867  and  from  there  to  Cleve- 
land, Tenn.,  in  1874.  They  resided  there  until  Septem- 
ber, 1889,  wlien  they  moved  to  Knoxville.  He  died  at 
Knoxville  April  9,  1909,  and  was  buried  at  Sweetwater 
April  11,  1909.  The  children  of  A.  D.  and  M.  H.  Scruggs 
were : 

1.  Richard  Francis,  b.  July  31,  1869 ;  d.  May,  1902. 

2.  Daniel  Heiskell,  b.  September  15,  1874;  d.  July  11, 
1909. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  175 

3.  Mary  Heiskell,  b.  in  Cleveland,  Tenn. 

4.  Bess,  b.  in  Cleveland,  Tenn. 

5.  Samuel,  b.  July  7, 1881 ;  d.  July  8, 1882. 

Richard  Francis  married  Geraldine  Jackson  of  Nash- 
ville, Tenn.,  on  January  24,  1895.  She  was  the  daughter 
of  Dr.  —  Jackson,  of  Nashville.    They  had  three  children. 

Rev.  Joseph  Janeway 

Was  born  in  Claiborne  County,  Tenn.,  June  28,  1831. 
He  moved  to  Sweetwater  Valley,  McMinn  County,  De- 
cember, 1855,  after  having  lived  three  years  in  Loudon, 
Tenn.  He  was  educated  in  the  literary  course  at  Car- 
son and  Newman  College  at  Mossy  Creek,  now  Jefferson 
City,  Tenn.  He  married  Jane  Helms  of  Claiborne  Coun- 
ty on  February  12,  1852.  She  was  a  cousin  of  John 
Helms  of  Morristown,  Tenn.  She  was  born  July  9,  1831. 
James  Janeway 's  father  was  a  minister  and  farmer.  On 
the  second  Saturday  of  July,  1859,  he  was  ordained  at 
Mt.  Harmony.  He  was  pastor  of  the  following  churches 
in  the  order  named:  Cedar  Fork,  Post  Oak,  Stockton's 
Valley;  Providence,  in  Roane  County,  Prospect,  Phila- 
delphia, Loudon;  two  churches  in  Knox  County,  Blair's 
Cross  Roads  and  Mars  Hill;  Union  (in  McMinn) ;  Good- 
field,  Decatur,  Sewell,  Mt.  Harmony,  County  Line,  Eas- 
tanalee,  Hiwassee,  New  Friendship  and  others.  His  chil- 
dren w^ere: 

William  Thomas,  b.  February  16,  1853 ;  d.  in  infancy. 

Nancy  Jane,  b.  March  8,  1854;  married  S.  K.  Moun« 
tain.    Address,  New  Tazewell,  Tenn. 

Elizabeth  Ann,  b.  April  14,  1856 ;  married  H.  M.  John- 
son, Bells,  Texas. 

Jno.  Nelson,  b.  December  10,  1859;  married  Alice 
Mitchell  of  Pennsylvania  in  1898.  They  have  four  chil- 
dren. He  is  in  the  transfer  business  at  Edmonds,  Puget 
Sound,  Wash. 

Prior  Lee,  b.  July  14,  1862 ;  married  Etta  Williams  in 
Texas.  They  have  seven  children  and  live  at  Bonita, 
Texas. 

James  Patton,  b.  October  29,  1864;  married  Josie 
Bushong.  Two  children  living,  two  dead.  They  live 
near   County  Line,  Monroe  County,  Tenn. 

Joseph  Lung,  b.  March  13, 1867.  Lives  at  the  old  Jane- 
way place. 


176  HISTOBY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Franklin  Berry,  b.  April  15,  1869,  artist,  portrait  and 
landscape  painter.     Lives  at  Knoxville,  Tenn. 

Mary  Josephine,  b,  September  30,  1871.  She  married 
Jno.  Hansard.    He  died  in  1871. 

Mr.  Janeway  ceased  ministerial  work  after  his  70th 
birthday.  He  had  read  the  Bible  through  more  than 
fifty  times.  He  was  made  a  Mason  at  Loudon,  Tenn., 
in  1861. 

Joseph  Dyche  Jones 

Was  born  in  Bedford  County,  Tennessee.  Came  to  Phila- 
delphia, Tenn.,  and  lived  there  from  the  time  of  his  mar- 
riage until  his  death.  He  was  a  cousin  of  the  Rev.  Eli 
Cleveland.  He  was  a  tanner  by  trade,  and  which  in  the 
early  settlement  of  the  valley  was  a  very  profitable  one. 
He  also  owned  a  farm.  Like  many  people  of  his  time  his 
house  was  always  open  to  his  friends  whether  on  invita- 
tion or  not. 

He  married  Aley  Mathis,  daughter  of  Eli  Cleveland, 
February  6,  1830.  She  was  born  May  7,  1813  and  died 
May  30,  1855.  He  died  in  June  1883.  They  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Baptist  Church.  The  children  by  this  mar- 
riage were : 

1.  Lodusky  Caroline,  b.  October  6,  1834;  d.  June  30, 
1862.     (See  Chas.  Cannon). 

2.  Mary  Louise,  b.  December  16,  1836.  Married  S.  Y. 
B.  Williams.     (Whom  see). 

3.  Aley  Mathis,  b.  August  8,  1840 ;  d.  March  3,  1857. 

4.  Eli  Cleveland,  b.  January  25,  1841;  d.  August  4, 
1902. 

5.  James  Chamberlain,  b.  August  26,  1844 ;  d.  October 
5,  1872. 

6.  Joseph  Morton,  b.  August  30,  1847. 

7.  Robert  Augustus,  b.  April  3,  1849;  d.  in  1903  at 
Greenfield,  Mo. 

8.  Jesse  Franklin,  b.  June  1,  1851 ;  d.  by  accident  when 
a  young  man. 

Eli  Cleveland  Jones  was  educated  at  Mossy  Creek, 
Tenn.,  now  Jefferson  City.  He  entered  the  Confederate 
army,  Co.  F.,  43rd  Tenn.  Regiment  and  was  made  cap- 
tain of  that  company  after  the  death  of  Captain  Turner. 
He  married  (first)  Emma  Adkins,  daughter  of  Eli  Ad- 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  177 

kins,  September  15,  1873,  b.  August  31,  1857.  He  was 
a  mercliant  at  Philadelphia,  Tenii.,  for  many  years,  and 
afterwards  at  Loudon,  Tenn.,  until  his  death.  His  first 
wife  died  at  Philadelphia,  August  8,  1878.  Children 
were: 

1.  Paul,  b.  June  10,  1874.    Married  Annie,  daughter  of 
Dr.  William  Harrison,  of  Loudon,  Tenn.,  on  July    31, 
1907.    He  lives  in  Colorado.    They  have  one  child,  Wm. 
Harrison,  b.  October  15,  1915. 
1    2.  Alma,  b.  May  5,  1876 ;  d.  June  14,  1903. 

Captain  E.  C.  J.  was  married  (second)  to  Sarah, 
daughter  of  Rev.  W.  M.  Kerr,  minister  of  the  M.  E. 
Church,  South,  and  formerly  of  Greene  Count}',  Tenn., 
January  25,  1882.  She  was  tjorn  January  14,  1861.  She 
resides  in  Loudon,  Tenn.     Tlieir  children  are: 

1.  Earl  C,  b.  January  19,  1883.    Lives  in  Montana. 

2.  Edna,  b.  November  15, 1884.  Married  Frank  Jones, 
son  of  Mat  Jones,  February  21,  1904.  Live  at  Loudon 
Their  children  are :  Jesse  Franklin,  b.  June  15,  1908, 
Sarah  Elizabeth,  b.  June  20,  1910. 

3.  Harriet,  b.  October  6,  1886.  She  married  Ed.,  son 
of  W.  K.  Blair,  July  31,  1913.  Two  children :  Jane,  b. 
September  5,  1914 ;  Corrv,  b.  December  18,  1915. 

4.  Ann  Mathis,  b.  Februarv  28,  1889. 

5.  William  Kerr  ("Don"),'b.  September  5, 1891.  Em- 
ployee Bank  of  Loudon,  Tenn. 

6.  Mar}^  Katherine,  b.  January  1,  1894. 

7.  Margaret  Bicknell,  b.  January  19,  1899. 

James  C.,  second  son  of  Joseph  D.  Jones,  m.  Lou, 
daughter  of  Melvin  Porter.  They  had  one  child,  Sydney 
Lenoir,  who  died  unmarried.    After  the    death   of   her 

husband,  James  Jones,  Mrs.  J.  married Mc- 

Knight  and  moved  to  Missouri  where  he  died. 

Joseph  Morton,  third  son  of  J.  D.  Jones,  married 
Louisa  J.,  daughter  of    Eli    S.    x\dkins,  November    29, 

1869.  They  moved  to  the  state  of  Washington.  They 
had  one  daughter,  Joseph,  who  married  Will,  son  of 
Philander  McCroskey.  Joseph  M.  J.  died  in  Washing- 
ton and  his  w^ife  married  again. 

Robert  Augustus,  third  son  of  J.  D.  Jones,  married 
Nannie  A.,  daughter  of  Thos.  L.  Upton,    September   8, 

1870.  She  was  b.  June  27,  1846;  d.  February  22,  1882. 
He  was  in  the  mercantile  business,    for    a    number    of 


178  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

years,  with  his  brother,  E.  C.  Jones,  at  Philadelphia, 
Tenn.     Their  children  were : 

Joseph  D.,  who  died  unmarried;  Frank  Upton  and 
Thomas,  both  married  and  live  in  Missouri,  and  Hattie 
Cleveland,  who  died  unmarried.  Frank  U.  married 
Fannie,  daughter  of  William  Johnson,  son-in-law  of  D. 
H.- Cleveland.  They  have  two  daughters,  teachers  in 
Greenfield,  Mo. 

Jesse  F.  Jones 

was  a  brother  of  J.  D.  Jones,  of  Philadelphia,  Tenn. 
He  was  born  August  9,  1808.  He  married  Clarissa, 
daughter  of  the   Rev.    Eli    Cleveland.      She   was   born 

,  1815.    She  died  March  11,  1880.    They  lived 

on  the  Philadelphia  and  Sweetwater  road  about  half 
way  between  those  places,  on  a  farm  adjoining  those  of 
F.  H.  Gregory  and  David  H.  Cleveland.  Their  children 
were: 

1.  Aley,  m.  W.  H.  H.  Bagon  January  26,  1865.  They 
moved  to  the  state  of  Washington.  Their  children  were : 
Bettie,  b.  January  22,  1866;  d.  October  23,  1885.  Dora, 
b.  April  27,  1867 ;  d.  January  21,  1891.  Sons  Charles 
and 

2.  Matthew,  m.  November  21,  1875,  Bettie  Harri- 
son, daughter  of  William  Harrison,  of  Pond  Creek  Val- 
ley. She  died  in  July,  1916.  They  had  three  sons  and 
one  daughter.  One  son  is  dead.  One  son,  Frank,  lives 
at  Loudon  and  is  postmaster.  Tlie  youngest  son,  Robert, 
and  his  father  live  in  Loudon,  Tenn. 

3.  Florence,  third  child  of  Jesse  F.  and  Aley  Jones, 
was  b.  February  19,  1859,  and  d.  June  1,  1876. 

JosiAH  K.  Johnston. 

There  is  an  old  burying  ground  where  the  Mt.  Le- 
banon Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  used  to  stand. 
It  occupies  about  two-thirds  of  an  acre,  one  and  one- 
half  miles  northeast  of  Sweetwater  on  a  corner  of  the 
farm  now  owned  by  Harry  Heiskell.  Now  it  is  almost 
entirely  grown  up  in  woods  and  undergrowth.  There 
are  many  graves  there  judging  from  the  rocks  and  foot- 
boards and  from  the  remains  of  palings  rotted  dowTi. 

The  Josiah  K.  Johnston  enclosure,  near  the  northwest 
corner  of  the  graveyard  is  a  solid  brick  wall  about  three 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VA1,LEY  179 

feet  high  and  about  30  by  13  feet  in  dimensions.  Next 
to  the  north  end  of  the  cemetery  is  a  monument  bear- 
ing the  inscription  "Nancy  P.,  wife  of  William  E.  Snead 
and  daughter  of  J.  K.  and  C.  Johnson.  Born  April  3, 
1833.  Died  December  31,  1863."  There  is  also  a  monu- 
ment near  the  centre  of  the  enclosure,  having  on  three 
sides  of  it  these  inscriptions : 

"Josiah  K.  Johnston,  born  February  10,  1805.  Died 
December  10,  1861.  Clarissa,  wife  of  Josiah  K.  John- 
ston. Born  April  23,  1811.  Died  April  9,  1864.  Sue, 
daughter  of  J.  K.  and  Clarissa  Johnston.  Born  Decem- 
ber 15,  1845.    Died  August  8,  1864." 

The  enclosure  to  the  Johnston  lot  is  the  only  one  in 
the  graveyard  which  is  well  preserved. 

Josiah  K.  Johnston  came  from  Fork  Creek  Valley  to 
the  place  on  the  Philadelphia  road,  one  and  one-half 
miles  north  of  Sweetwater,  where  the  Rufus  Gaut  fam- 
ily now  reside.  He  purchased  the  land  from  W.  M.  Hen- 
derson. He  had  a  fine  body  of  land  and,  with  slave  la- 
bor, operated  it  successfully.  He  had  a  large  family  of 
daughters  who  were  universally  popular  and,  being  of  a 
hospitable  nature,  they  entertained  lavishly.  Mr.  John- 
ston was  a  Presbyterian.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Johnston  were 
the  parents  of  six  daughters  and  no  sons.     They  were : 

One.  Nancy,  b.  April  3,  1833;  d.  December  31,  1863. 

Two.  Letitia,  b.  February  18,  1835. 

Three.  Sophronia,  b.  September  10,  1837. 

Four.  Callie,  b.  February  5,  1842. 

Five.  Josephine,  b.  February  22,  1844. 

Susan,  b.  December  15,  1845 ;  d.  August  8,  1864. 

One.  Nancy  was  married  to  William  E.  Snead.  They 
had  one  son,  William  E.,  who  resides  on  the  Madisonville 
road,  three  miles  from  Sweetwater. 

Two.  Letitia,  the  second  daughter  of  J.  K.  Johnston 
was  married  to  James  A.  Wright  on  March  13,  1855. 
James  A.  Wright  was  born  in  Wilkes  County,  N.  C,  in 
1823.  His  father,  Josiah  Wright,  came  from  England. 
His  mother,  Nancy  Reynolds  Wright  was  a  native  of 
North  Carolina.  Mr.  Wright  came  to  Monroe  County, 
Tenn.,  in  his  boyhood.  On  the  •25th  of  May,  1848,  he 
married  his  first  wife  Emma  Yoakum,  of  Philadelphia, 
Tenn.    She  died  in  1854.    They  had  one  daughter,  Mary, 


180  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

born  at  Madisonville  in  1849.  She  married  George  H. 
Holliday,  of  Atlanta,  in  1868. 

About  four  years  after  his  first  marriage  (second)  to 
Miss  L.  Johnston,  Mr.  Wright  bought  the  Bowman,  now 
the  Kilpatrick  place,  south  of  Sweetwater,  and  moved 
there.  Mrs.  Wright  says  he  was  the  first  postmaster  of 
Sweetwater.  He  was  a  merchant  in  Sweetwater,  belong- 
ing to  one  firm  or  another  from  the  beginning  of  the 
town  until  after  the  commencement  of  the  Civil  War. 

He  moved  to  Tyner's  Station  in  1862,  and  in  1867 
from  there  to  Atlanta,  Ga.,  Avhere  he  became  a  member 
of  the  firm  of  Glenn,  Wright  and  Carr,  commission  mer- 
chants. He  died  in  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  where  he  then  re- 
sided, on  November  18,  1872,  and  was  buried  there  in 
Oakland  Cemetery.  The  children  of  James  and  L. 
Wright : 

(i)  Josiah  J.,  b.  February  16,  1856;  m.  Margaret 
Maude  Horsf al  on  Januarv  6,  1897.  Tlieir  children  are : 
Harry,  b.  April  16,  1898; 'Edith,  b.  December  14,  1910; 
Richard,  b.  April  16,  1911. 

(2)  Nannie,  b.  April  11,  1858 ;  m.  George  A.  Alexander 
in  June,  1876.  Their  children  are :  Julia  G. ;  Letitia  J. ; 
James  A.,  and  Florence  Bell.  Part  (or  all)  of  them  re- 
side in  Washington,  D.  C. 

(3)  Benjamin  B.,  third  child  of  James  A.  Wright,  was 
born  April  6,  1860.  He  married  Katie  Ledwidge.  They 
live  at  Little  Rock,  Ark.  Their  children  are :  Ben.  B., 
Jr.,  b.  June  26,  1892 ;  Kathleen,  b.  October  15,  1891 ; 
Christopher  L.,  b.  February  18,  1898,  and  Edward  L., 
b.  July  16,  1903.     They  are  Roman  Catholics. 

(4)  Dicky  L.,  fourth  child  of  James  A.  Wright,  was 
born  December  12,  1867.  She  married  Eli  Richard 
Shipp  December  12,  1889. 

The  children  of  Mary  and  George  H.  Holliday,  men- 
tioned above,  Mary  being  the  child  of  J.  A.  Wright's 
first  wife  Emma  Yoakum  are:  Mabel,  who  married 
John  Moodv;  Ethel  m.  Joseph  Crenshaw,  and  George 
H.  Holliday,  Jr.,  of  Atlanta,  Ga. 

Three.  Sophronia,  third  daughter  of  Josiah  K.  John- 
ston, married  Archibald  Bacome  on  October  23,  1856. 
He  was  born  in  Sullivan  County,  Tenn.,  July  29,  1814. 
He  died  December  7,  1899,  at  his  residence,  one  mile 
south  of  Philadelphia.    He  had  lived  on  this  place  since 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  181 

his  father,  James  Bacome,  moved  there  in  1819.  Dur- 
ing his  lifetime  he  had  bought  and  sold  many  valuable 
farms.    The  children  of  A.  and  Sophronia  Bacome  are: 

1.  Callie,  b.  October  21,  1858 ;  m.  W.  C.  Milligan  Oc- 
tober 15,  1893.    Residence,  Philadelphia. 

2.  Beulah,  b.  May  12,  1865. 

3.  Clara,  m.  S.  J.  Akin,  of  Cleveland,  Tenn.,  Novem- 
ber 11,  1898.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Annapolis  and  a 
lawyer  at  Cleveland.  Their  children  are:  Caroline,  b. 
March  4,  1900;  Samniie,  dau.,  b.  October  6,  1901.  S.  J. 
Akin  died  July  31,  1901. 

Four.  Caleclonia,  m.  on  October  4,  1865,  H.  C.  Peake, 
a  druggist  of  Warsaw,  Ky.    Their  children  were : 

1.  Clara,  b.  March  14,  1867 ;  m.  J.  W.  Evans  February 
11,  1885.  They  have  three  daughters,  two  of  whom  are 
married.  Juliette,  m.  Henry  Blanton ;  Sue  m.  J,  T.  Fow- 
ler and  a  third  daughter,  who  is  a  school  girl. 

2.  Josie,  b.  May  3,  1869.  She  married  S.  D.  McDan- 
nold.  Address,  Tarrant,  Texas.  He  has  a  large  farm 
and  makes  a  specialty  of  high  grade  horses  and  cattle. 

3.  Sue,  b.  December  20,  1876;  m.  E.  F.  Earnest  Jan- 
uary 9,  1909.    Address,  Douglas,  Ariz. 

4.  Ben.  b.  September  26,  1879 ;  m.  May  7,  1910.  He 
has  been  general  manager  of  a  large  drug  house  for  a 
number  of  years.    They  have  one  son  of  4  years. 

5.  Nellie,  fifth  child  of  H.  C.  and  C.  Peake,  was  born 
January  25,  1886;  m.  E.  Wolf  June  6,  1903.  He  died 
June  20,  1904.  She  then  married  K.  W.  Goff,  postoffice, 
Douglas. 

Josephine,  fifth  daughter  of  J.  K.  and  Clarissa  John- 
ston, was  married  to  Dr.  J.  B.  Lackey  July  20,  1865. 
They  had  two  children:  James  Gilmer  and  Lizzie  J. 
The  latter  married  W.  W.  Holton,  a  son  of  Mrs.  Lack- 
ey's second  husband.  Dr.  Lackey  practised  his  profes- 
sion at  Friendsville,  Blount  County,  Tenn.  He  died  on 
March  22, 1872.  Mrs.  Lackey  married  (second)  John  W. 
Holton,  of  Sparta,  Ky.,  on  April  5,  1876.  He  was  a 
farmer  and  stock  dealer.  They  had  one  son  and  two 
daughters.  The  son  was  drowned  on  January  1,  1897, 
at  the  age  of  19  years.  One  of  the  daughters  died  at 
2  years  of  age.  The  other  daughter  married  Tilton 
Detheridge,  a  farmer  living  near  Sanders,  Ky. 

Mrs.  Josephine  Holton  is  dead. 


182  history  of  sweetwater  valley 

The  Lenoir  Family. 

Our  destiny  and  character  are  in  a  great  measure  de- 
termined by  heredity  and  environment.  No  biography 
is  complete  therefore  without  an  answer  to  the  ques- 
tions: "Wlio  were  your  ancestors,  where  and  when 
born,  whence  came  you  and  why!"  Nations,  provinces 
and  neighborhoods  have  their  own  particular  racial  in- 
stincts and  proclivities,  their  prejudices,  likes  and  dis- 
likes. Families  have  their  own  peculiar  characteristics. 
One  distinguishing  trait  of  the  Lenoir  family  is  impa- 
tience of  dictation  from  others  where  personal,  political 
or  religious  liberty  is  concerned.  If  you  make  the  mis- 
take of  telling  one  of  them  he  must  or  must  not  do  some- 
thing, which  he  thinks  should  concern  only  himself  and 
not  the  public  good,  he  thereupon  resolves  himself  into 
a  committee  of  one  to  devise  ways  and  means  to  do  or 
not  to  do  that  very  thing.  This  pertains  especially  to 
such  matters  as  amusements,  food,  drink  and  clothing,  as 
he  deems  these  are  purely  personal  matters. 

St.  Paul  said:  ''If  meat  make  my  brother  to  offend, 
I  will  eat  no  meat  while  the  world  standeth."  A  truly 
commendable  spirit,  considering  the  fact  that  he  was 
once  a  persecutor  "even  unto  strange  cities." 

I  believe  as  a  rule  the  Lenoirs  have  gone  as  far  as 
they  ought  to  relieve  their  fellow  beings  in  distress,  their 
time  and  money  being  at  the  disposal  of  their  friends; 
but  if  one  of  them  were  asked,  even  by  a  friend  or  brother 
to  refrain  from  something  on  account  of  some  whim  or 
fancy,  I  am  afraid  the  answer  would  not  be  satisfactory. 
I  have  known  few  of  them  that  would  consent  to  reg- 
ulate their  diet  according  to  the  notions  of  another. 

When  Louis  XIV  in  1685  revoked  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
the  charter  of  religious  liberty  signed  by  Henry  IV  in 
1598,  a  number  of  the  Lenoirs  left  French  soil  forever. 
This  they  did  not  so  much  because  they  were  enamored 
of  the  German,  Martin  Luther,  or  that  the  views  of  the 
gloomy  and  ascetic  Calvin  appealed  to  them,  but  because 
they  resented  the  persecutions  and  tyranny  then  prac- 
ticed by  the  Pope  of  Rome  and  Louis  XIV. 

When  George  III  imposed  a  tax  on  the  colonies  they 
became  ardent  whigs  and  revolted,  not  that  it  would 
hurt  them  to  pay  the  tax  but  because  it  was  a  violation 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  183 

of  the  Charter  granted  Carolina  by  King  Charles  II. 
Thus  the  spirit  of  Touchstone  in  ''As  You  Like  It" :  ''If 
reasons  were  as  plenty  as  blackberries,  I  give  no  man 
a  reason  on  compulsion." 

In  1861  the  Lenoirs  in  all  parts  of  the  south  wished 
to  stay  in  the  Union.  But  when  Mr.  Lincoln  issued  his 
call  for  troops  to  whip  them  in  when  and  if  they  seceded, 
they  unanimously,  with  one  accord,  to  a  man  and  to  a 
woman,  did  their  level  best  to  get  out  and  stay  out  and 
were  sorry  when  they  did  not  succeed.  Tliey  were  union 
men  of  their  own  volition  but  not  on  compulsion.  Gov- 
ernment should  not  be  founded  on  the  consent  of  those 
that  govern. 

In  France  the  name  Lenoir  is  not  an  uncommon  one. 
It  was  first  probably  written  Le  Noir,  then  anglicized 
into  Lenoir.  The  names  Xavier  and  Cholmondeley  have 
undergone  still  greater  changes;  now  written  in  this 
country  Sevier  and  Chumley.  I  have  been  told  also  that 
the  Huguenots  of  the  family  even  in  France  wrote  the 
name  "Lenoir"  to  distinguish  themselves  from  the 
Catholics,  who  wrote  it  with  a  capital  N.  The  Lenoirs 
in  France  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain  were 
farmers,  traders,  merchants,  manufacturers,  explorers, 
and  occasionally  art  collectors  and  bankers.  They  have 
never  risen  to  celebrity  as  advocates,  soldiers  or  profes- 
sional men.  Nearly  the  same  has  been  the  case  in  our 
own  country.  Farmers,  merchants  and  manufacturers 
will  include  nearly  all  of  them.  I  have  known  only  one 
lawyer  and  one  physician  of  the  name  in  Tennessee  and 
North  Carolina,  and  they  did  not  depend  on  the  practice 
of  their  profession  for  a  living.  They  have  never  been 
soldiers  for  pleasure,  pay,  plunder  or  glory.  They  have 
been  under  arms  only  when  they  were  assured  their  coun- 
try needed  their  services.  Nor  have  they  been  states- 
men, orators  or  politicians.  If  ever  one  was  a  preacher 
or  could  write  "Rev."  before  his  name  I  have  never 
heard  of  it.  They  never  had  the  gift  of  fluent  speech  nor 
were  fond  of  exhibiting  themselves  to  the  public  gaze. 
Few  of  them  were  so  fixed  in  the  belief  of  the  tenets  of 
any  one  church  organization  as  to  feel  called  to  preach. 
Some  of  them  have  represented  their  counties  and  dis- 
tricts in  the  lower  and  upper  houses  of  the  Legislature 


184  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

of  their  states,  as  the  saying^  goes,  with  credit  to  them- 
selves and  their  constituents,'  but  I  believe  that  is  about 
as  far  as  they  ever  got  or  aspired  to.  They  were  not 
adepts  at  intrigue  or  swapping  votes  on  public  meas- 
ures. 

They  have  always  taken  prosperity  and  adversity  with 
equal  complacenc}' ;  never  boasted  of  the  one  or  com- 
plained at  the  other  or  appealed  to  the  public  for  sym- 
pathy. Their  nonchalant  disposition  was  illustrated  by 
one  of  the  Lenoirs  who  was  an  explorer  in  the  deserts 
of  northern  Africa.  Early  one  morning  one  of  his  com- 
panions came  to  his  tent  in  great  excitement  and  shouted: 
"Lenoir,  the  Bedouins  are  attacking  us."  "Tell  the 
fools  to  wait;  I'm  shaving,"  was  the  answer.  But  the 
"fools"  wouldn't  wait.  His  dead  body  was  found  with 
the  razor  still  in  his  hand. 

Lenoir  is  a  favorite  name  for  the  villain  in  melodrama 
and  dime  novels.  Mrs.  Southworth  uses  it  in  "The 
Hidden  Hand. ' '  The  adjective  '  ^  noir ' '  means  black ;  and 
black  in  name,  black  by  nature  is  assumed.  Yet  they  are 
not  always  pictured  as  villains  in  the  play  but  are  some- 
times given  the  place  of  the  hero,  coming  out  with  flying 
colors. 

I  might  as  well  give  at  the  outset  the  authorities  on 
which  I  rely  for  statements  made  below: 

Wheeler's  Historj^  of  North  Carolina. 

Historic  Homes  of  North  Carolina  Part  III. 

Homer  D.  L.  Sweet's  History  of  Avery  Family  of 
tSroton.     Published  at  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

The  Unpublished  History  of  the  Lenoir  Family  by 
Miss  Laura  Norwood  of  Lenoir,  North  Carolina. 

Public  and  Family  Records  and  Letters.  Personal 
Conversations  and  Knowledge.  This  will  save  footnotes 
and  special  quotations.  Any  of  the  family  friends  desir- 
ing more  specific  and  lengthy  information  would  do  well 
to  consult  the  above  authorities. 

There  were  four  Lenoir  brothers  that  came  to  America 
after  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  by  Louis 
XIV  on  May  2,  1685.  One  of  these  four  brothers  came 
across  the  ocean  in  his  own  vessel.  He  therefore  was 
probably  a  resident  of  Nantes,  as  this  has  been  a  great 
commercial  and  shipping  point  from  the  time  of  the  Ro- 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  185 

man  occupation.  He  must  have  come  almost  directly  to 
New  York  City.  In  the  archives  of  the  Old  French 
Church  is  a  Baptismal  Record  of  which  the  following  is 
a  translation: 

"Baptism  Today,  6th  October,  1696. 

After  the  prayer  of  the  evening  has  been  baptized  in 
this  church,  Isaac,  son  of  Isaac  Lenoir  and  of  Anne,  his 
father  and  mother,  born  on  the  25th  of  last  September 
and  presented  to  his  baptism  by  Auguste  Grrassot  and 
Susanne  Hulin,  Godfather  and  Godmother,  and  baptized 
by  M.  Peiret,  Minister." 

(Signed)      I.  Lenoir. 

Susanne  Hulin. 

Peiret,  Minister. 
Auguste  Grassot. 

At  this  time  New  York  was  an  English  possession,  hav- 
ing passed  from  the  hands  of  the  Dutch  in  1674.  New 
York  City  then  included  only  the  territory  between  the 
Battery  and  Wall  Street. 

In  one  of  his  voyages  this  Lenoir's  vessel  was  lost  ''in 
a  storm,  carrying  him  to  a  seaman's  grave."  As  how- 
ever he  w^as  not  heard  from  after  his  departure  from 
New  York  this  is  mere  conjecture.  Tliis  w^as  in  the  day 
of  piracy,  and  he  may  have  been  captured  by  pirates. 
He  was,  I  understand,  the  great  grandfather  of  William 
Lenoir  who  settled  in  Wilkes  County,  N.  C. 

In  what  is  now  Caldwell  County  in  the  "Happy  Val- 
le}^ ' '  of  the  Yadkin  River,  surrounded  by  a  grove  of  mag- 
nificent hemlocks  and  oaks,  stands  the  colonial  mansion 
of  General  William  Lenoir,  spoken  of  above.  It  was 
built  by  him  after  the  Revolutionary  War  in  1785.  Near 
this  mansion  is  the  family  burying  ground  containing  the 
remains  of  many  of  the  Lenoir  family.  In  this  is  a  large 
monument  of  beautiful  marble  impressive  in  its  silent 
majesty.  It  dominates  the  landscape  and  rises  above  the 
other  monuments  of  children  and  grandchildren  as  his 
name  and  fame  is  above  theirs.  On  this  monument  is  the 
epitaph,  which  is  almost  an  epitome  of  the  history  of  his 
life.  It  is  in  a  fine  state  of  preservation,  and  reads  as 
follows : 


186  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

IiGrp  LiGs 
All  That  Is  Mortal  Of 

WiLLAM  Lenoir 
Born  Mav  8tli,   1751. 
Died  May  6th,  1839. 

"In  times  that  tried  men's  souls  he  was  a  genuine  whig. 
As  a  lieutenant  under  Rutherford  and  Williams  in  1776, 
and  as  a  captain  under  Cleveland  at  King's  Mountain 
he  proved  himself  a  brave  soldier.  Although  a  native  of 
another  state,  yet  North  Carolina  was  proud  of  him  as 
her  adopted  son.  In  her  services  he  filled  the  several  of- 
fices of  major-general  of  militia,  president  of  the  Sen- 
ate, first  president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  uni- 
versity, for  sixty  years  justice  of  the  peace  and  chair- 
man of  the  court  of  Common  Pleas.  In  all  these  high 
public  trusts  he  was  found  faithful.  In  private  life  he 
was  no  less  distinguished  as  an  affectionate  husband,  a 
kind  father  and  a  warm  hearted  friend.  The  traveler 
will  long  remember  his  hospitality  and  the  poor  bless  him 
as  a  benefactor." 

The  matter  of  the  inscription,  above  quoted,  was  left 
to  his  friends  and  associates  in  public  life.  This  is  their 
estimate  of  him — their  tribute  to  his  memory. 

In  addition  to  the  information  heretofore  given  in  re- 
gard to  William  Lenoir  we  give  these  facts:  He  was 
born  in  Brunswick  County,  Va.  He  married  Anne  Bal- 
lard, of  Halifax,  N.  C,  in  1771.  In  1775  he  moved  to 
near  where  the  site  of  Wilkesboro,  then  in  Surry  Coun- 
ty, now  stands.  In  1785  he  moved  to  his  residence  in 
Happy  Valley,  called  by  him  Fort  Defiance.  There  he 
died. 

He  served  in  the  Indian  campaigns  against  the  Chero- 
kees  under  Rutherford  in  1776.  From  his  account  of  the 
expedition  against  Ferguson  and  the  Battle  of  King's 
Mountain  I  make  the  following  excerpts : 

"Ferguson  had  daily  information  of  the  advancement  of  the  Whigs 
and  was  so  on  the  alert  that  men  on  foot  would  not  be  able  to  over- 
take him;  therefore  orders  were  given  that  as  many  as  had  or  could 
procure  horses  go  in  advance  as  mounted  infantry,  there  not  being 
a  single  dragoon  in  the  Whig  army.  Whereupon  about  six  hundred 
were  prepared  and  marched  off  about  sunrise  on  the  sixth  day  of 
October,  1780,  leaving  the  footmen,  about  1,500  in  number,  encamped 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  187 

on  Green  River  under  the  command  of  Major  Joseph  Herndon.  They, 
the  six  hundred,  marched  all  day  to  Cowpens,  where  they  were  joined 
by  Colonel  Williams  with  a  few  South  Carolina  militia.  They  started 
to  camp  but  were  ordered  forward.  They  marched  all  night  and  in 
the  morning  joined  the  forces  of  Shelby,  Sevier,  Cleaveland  and  Camp- 
bell. They  marched  in  four  columns:  Colonel  Winston  commanded 
the  right-hand  column,  Cleaveland  the  left,  and  Shelby  and  Sevier  the 
middle  columns.  As  Colonel  Campbell  had  come  the  greatest  distance, 
from  the  State  of  Virginia,  he  was  complimented  with  the  command 
of  the  whole  detachment." 

(He  then  tells  of  the  battle  and  highly  important  re- 
sults. His  own  personal  part  in  the  engagement  he  re- 
lates as  follows) : 

"I  was  captain  of  a  company  and  left  them  at  Green  River,  except 
six  of  them  who  procured  horses  and  went  with  us.  I  went  as  a  com- 
mon soldier,  and  did  not  pretend  to  take  command  of  those  that  be- 
longed to  my  company,  but  fell  in  immediately  behind  Colonel  Win- 
ston, in  front  of  the  right-hand  column,  which  enabled  me  to  give 
more  particular  account  of  the  progress  of  that  part  of  the  army  than 
any  other.  Before  the  battle  Adjutant  Jesse  Franklin  (afterward 
Governor  of  North  Carolina),  Captain  Robert  Cleaveland  and  myself 
agreed  to  stand  together  and  support  each,  other;  but  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  battle  enthusiastic  zeal  caused  us  all  to  separate.  Each 
being  anxious  to  effect  the  grand  object,  no  one  appeared  to  regard 
his  own  personal  safety.  As  to  my  own  part  from  where  we  dis- 
mounted, instead  of  going  on  to  surround,  I  advanced  the  nearest 
way  toward  the  enemy  under  a  heavy  fire,  until  I  got  within  abou«t 
thirty  paces.  *  *  *  About  that  time  I  received  a  slight  wound 
in  my  side  and  another  in  my  left  arm;  and  after  that  a  bullet  went 
through,  my  hair,  where  it  was  tied,  and  my  clothes  were  cut  in 
several  places.  From  the  account  I  have  given  of  the  battle  it  will 
be  understood  that  it  was  fought  on  our  side  by  militia  alone.  By 
that  victory  many  militia  officers  procured  swords  who  could  not 
possibly  get  any  before;  neither  was  it  possible  to  procure  a  good  sup- 
ply of  ammunition." 

The  above  was  written  not  to  give  a  history  of  the  bat- 
tle but  show  what  part  William  Lenoir,  also  the  Cleve- 
lands,  took  in  it.  Rather  than  miss  the  fight  he  sur- 
rendered his  position  as  captain  and  left  his  company  at 
Green  River  and  marched  and  fought  as  a  private  in 
the  ranks.  Thus  he  showed  that  he  appreciated  the  sac- 
rifices of  the  men  who  had  come  from  beyond  the  great 
mountains,  through  pathless  w^ilds  almost,  to  their  re- 
lief. 

Until  of  late  years  the  New  England  historians  of  the 
United  States,  notably  in  the  school  histories,  gave  little 
space  and  attached  little  importance  to  that  expedition 


188  HISTORY  OP  SWEETWATER  VAL.LEY 

and  battle.  If  they  mentioned  it  at  all  they  referred 
to  it  as  a  skirmish  in  which  a  few  backwoodsmen  under 
Campbell  and  Sevier  captured  several  companies  of 
tories  under  Ferguson.  This  Ferguson  had  been  annoy- 
ings  the  whigs  of  North  and  South  Carolina  and  the  half 
dozen  bullets  he  got  in  his  carcass  was  very  gratifjdng 
to  them.  After  disposing  of  the  expedition  in  this  sum- 
mary manner  they  would  give  several  pages  to  the  early 
life  of  General  Israel  Putnam.  Oh  there  never  w^as  such 
a  wolf  as  the  one  Putnam  slew  since  the  time  of  Romulus 
and  Remus  and  the  days  of  Red  Riding  Hood.  He  (or 
was  it  she  ? )  ravaged  the  flocks  and  herds  of  the  country 
around  and  left  a  pathway  of  blood  and  terror  in  its 
wake.  Dogs  could  do  nothing  with  it.  When  they  at- 
tacked it  they  were  torn  to  pieces.  When  closely  pushed 
by  men  it  fled  to  the  caverns  in  the  hills.  But  Putnam 
went  into  its  lair  and  killed  it  and  pulled  it  out  with  his 
naked  hands.  Then  in  the  Revolution  he  rounded  out  a 
life  of  glorious  deeds  by  galloping  his  horse  down  a  flight 
of  stone  steps.  When  the  British  who  were  in  pursuit, 
feared  to  attempt  this  feat  he  waved  to  them  with  all  the 
grace  of  ''Nolichucky  Jack"  leading  a  country  dance. 

But  it  has  happened  for  a  number  of  years  that  the 
Daughters  of  the  Revolution  have  seen  that  the  heroes 
of  King's  Mountain  have  received  due  meed  of  praise. 
Their  names  and  fame  have  not  been  suffered  to  decay. 
In  most  histories  now  written  they  are  given  ample 
though  tardy  justice. 

I  have  seen  a  little  barnyard  rooster  that  clucked  and 
strutted  and  crowed  around  all  day.  He  said  in  his 
chicken  language:  ''No  hen  ever  sat  on  the  egg  I  was 
in;  I  am  no  high  bred  incubator  chicken  either;  I  was 
just  hatched  out  in  the  sun ;  I  pecked  my  way  out  of  the 
egg  all  by  myself ;  I  was  not  raised,  I  just  came  up  m}^- 
self ;  not  a  single  chicken  ever  did  anything  for  me,  they 
were  all  against  me  in  the  whole  yard" — and  then  he  flies 
up  on  the  gatepost  and  flap,  flap,  flap,  cock-a-doodle-doo 
— "what  game  rooster  am  I!"  then  the  hens  come  run- 
ning. 

I  have  seen  men  like  this  little  rooster,  who  virtually 
if  not  actually  said:  "I  am  strictly  a  self-made  man; 
my  father  wasn't  any  account;  he  spent  his  money  in  11- 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAX,LEY  189 

quor  and  gambling;  my  mother  was  barely  respectable 
if  that;  she  took  in  washing;  they  never  gave  me  any 
clothes  or  sent  me  to  school ;  they  never  taught  me  or  left 
me  anything;  I  was  turned  out  just  like  a  woods  colt  to 
graze  in  any  pasture  I  could  find; — ^but  behold  what  I 
am  now!  I  am  owner  of  a  bank  or  a  railroad,  or  I've 
been  to  Congress,  or  a  merchant  prince  or  a  copper  king, 
and  I've  done  it  all  myself,  nobody  helped  me  the  least 
bit,  everybody  tried  to  hinder  me,  but  just  look  what  I've 
made  out  of  myself  ' ' 

''Little  Jack  Horner  sat  in  the  corner 
Eating  his  Christmas  pie ; 
He  put  in  his  thumb  and  pulled  out  a  plum 
And  said :  '  What  a  great  boy  am  I. '  " 

Some  people  admire  a  man  who  acts  and  talks  in  this 
way;  it  is  their  privilege  so  to  do.  You  rest  assured 
though  that,  however  much  others  may  admire  him,  it 
is  not  one-tenth  as  much  as  he  admires  himself. 

It  is  of  course  unfortunate  for  a  man  to  lack  early  ad- 
vantages. In, the  majority  of  instances  it  is  unnecessary, 
for  him  to  call  attention  to  the  fact.  All  honor  to  the 
man  who  rises  above  his  heredity  and  environment  and 
does  more  for  the  world  than  his  father  did  before  him. 
I  do  not  wish  to  detract  one  iota  from  the  credit  due 
him.  But  let  him  not  belittle  his  parents  in  order  to 
place  himself  upon  a  ]3edestal :  to  put  it  mildly  it  is  not 
in  good  taste. 

On  the  other  hand  that  one  should  be  puffed  up  with 
pride  or  claim  special  privileges  because  some  of  his  an- 
cestors were  rich  or  renowned  is  worse  still — even  odious. 

I  am  led  to  make  these  remarks  from  the  fact  that, 
so  far  as  I  am  aware,  the  Lenoirs  have  been  well  enough 
to  do  for  the  last  150  years  in  the  United  States  to  give 
their  children  a  good  education  and  a  start  in  life.  Few 
if  any  of  them  can  claim  that  the)'  were  not  given  a 
chance  in  the  world.  If  they  did  not  succeed  and  become 
respected  citizens  they  have  no  one  to  blame  but  them- 
selves. 

William  Lenoir  was  a  remarkable  versatile  man,  ex- 
cellently well  equipped  mentally  and  physically.  It  was 
thought  by  his  relations  that  he  could  do  anything  almost 


190  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

except  play  on  the  fiddle  and  probably  could  have  done 
that  if  he  had  tried.  If  only  he  had  known  how  much 
satisfaction  it  was  to  be  able  to  do  so  no  doubt  he  would 
have  added  that  to  his  other  accomplishments. 

He  had  a  real  genius  for  mechanics.  My  father  told 
me  that  he  (Wm.  Lenoir),  had  already  invented  a  cot- 
ton gin  and  had  been  a  little  slow  in  perfecting  it  when 
he  found  out  that  Mr.  Whitney  had  patented  something 
similar.  It  is  not  supiDosed  that  one  borrowed  from  the 
other  but  that  each  was  working  independently.  That  I 
would  have  thought  was  in  the  nature  of  a  family  legend 
but  for  one  fact :  I  have  in  my  possession  now  a  sur- 
veyor's  compass  which  was  made  by  him  at  home  with 
apparently  no  other  tools  than  a  pocket  knife,  a  ham- 
mer, a  file  and  possibly  a  chisel.  It  is  all  of  thoroughly 
seasoned  wood  except  the  tube  that  fits  on  top  of  the 
Jacob  staff,  the  needle  and  its  support,  the  cards  with 
the  degrees  marked  and  the  circular  glass  covering  of 
the  face.  The  copper  tube  and  the  needle  support  were 
once  part  of  a  copper  kettle.  The  face  is  about  six  inches 
in  diameter  and  has  two  compass  cards,  the  one  mark- 
ing the  degrees  and  the  other  the  half  degrees.  The  fig- 
ures and  lines  are  nearly  perfect  except  the  paper  of  the 
cards  is  slightly  moth  eaten.  The  circular  glass  cover- 
ing the  face  is  the  least  artistically  done  of  any  part  of  the 
compass.  It  was  evidently  not  cut  by  a  diamond  but  by 
some  steel  instrument.  The  edge  is  not  smooth  enough 
to  have  been  cut  by  a  diamond.  The  needle  was  made 
out  of  a  piece  of  steel  bearing  the  marks  of  having  been 
filed.  It  was  probably  magnetized  with  a  piece  of  mag- 
netic iron  ore.  I  have  never  tried  to  survey  with  this 
compass  myself  but  my  father  said  that  it  ran  lines  ac- 
curately. 

I  have  never  heard  why  he  made  the  compass ;  whether 
he  was  unable  to  procure  one  wiien  he  needed  it  or  mere- 
ly to  show  what  he  could  do.  Whenever  anything  is  bad- 
ly wanted,  whether  needed  or  not,  the  inventive  genius 
of  the  North  Carolina  mountaineer  rarely  fails  to  sup- 
ply it. 

^  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^ 

Tlie  Revolutionary  War  and  the  consequent  loss  of  the 
colonies  brought  about  a  radical  change    of    policy    in 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  191 

Great  Britain  in  regard  to  the  treatment  of  her  de- 
pendencies. The  idea  of  William  Pitt  (Lord  Chatham) 
began  to  prevail:  "That  money  or  taxes  should  not  be 
exacted  from  the  colonies  without  their  consent."  From 
that  time  onward  the  success  of  the  English  in  coloniz- 
ing was  remarkable,  far  beyond  that  of  any  other  nation. 
The  government  at  home  felt  a  responsibility  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  colonies.  They  were  not  to  be  exploited,  like 
the  French  and  Spanish  dependencies,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  empire.  Florida  and  Louisiana  were  made  the  foot- 
ball of  kings  and  emperors  to  be  kicked  about  at  will  and 
bought  and  sold  like  a  piece  of  property.  Well  for  the 
United  States  that  they  did  not  resist  the  change  when 
bought  by  us. 

The  difference  in  the  feeling  of  the.  soldiers  of  the  col- 
onies of  the  different  countries  can  be  seen  in  the  Eu- 
ropean War  from  this  circumstance :  While  those  from 
the  German  colonies  sing  in  camp  and  on  the  march 
''The  Watch  on  the  Rhine"  the  French  the  ''Marsel- 
laise,"  those  from  the  English  speaking  colonies  unite 
in  singing  ' '  Home,  Sweet  Home, "  or  "  It  is  a  Long,  Long 
Way  to  Tipperary."  ''God  save  the  King"  is  seldom 
heard. 


' '  A  pebble  in  the  streamlet  cast 
Has  changed  the  course  of  many  a  river. ' ' 

Here  up  comes  the  gentleman  from  Missouri  and  says, 
says  he :  "  Point  me  to  the  river ;  show  me  the  pebble ; ' ' 
or  in  legal  phrasing,  "produce  the  corpus  delicti."  Get 
out  of  my  sunshine,  Missourian,  you  are  a  nuisance ;  you 
are  obstructing  the  wheels  of  the  gilded  car  of  imagina- 
tion ;  get  thee  hence  to  your  mule  infested  bailiwick  and 
hither  return  no  more. 

If  hereafter  I  occasionally  indulge  in  the  "might  have 
beens, ' '  though  I  may  not  attempt  to  make  it  rhyme  with 
pen  or  pens,  what  harm  is  done  ?  or  if  I  choose  to  specu- 
late (letting  New  York,  Chicago  alone)  on  the  future  or 
the  past  and  call  it  speculation  and  not  a  sure  thing 
who  is  hurt?  What  a  drear^^  world  this  would  prove 
without  "ifs"  or  the  magic  enchantment  of  distant  views 


192  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

of  azure  hued  mountains.     Let  us  determine  not  to  let 
the  grammarians  abolish  the  subjunctive  mood. 


There  was  once  upon  a  time  a  vessel  called  the  *' May- 
flower." I  assume  you  have  heard  of  it.  It  crossed  the 
briny  deep  and  anchored  in  Cape  Cod  Bay.  (Tliis  is  not 
a  fish  story.)  This  ship  bore  pilgrim  fathers  and  pil- 
grim mothers,  though  little  mention  is  made  of  the  lat- 
ter in  history.  They  landed  at  or  rather  on  Plymouth 
Rock  in  December,  1620.  Some  historians  say  there  were 
just  100  of  them.  Many  of  them  did  not  survive  the 
winter  but  perished  before  the  arrival  of  spring.  They 
were  reduced  to  such  extremities  that  the  allowance  of 
food  for  each  one  was  15  grains  of  corn  per  day  or  5 
grains  for  each  person  at  a  meal.  However  some  of 
them  survived  and  being  a  prolific  people  their  descend- 
ants are  now  as  the  stars  in  nmnber — too  many  some 
have  thought. 

I  have  occasionally^  speculated  that  if  some  night  a 
large  rat  had  gnawed  his  way  into  the  corn  bin  and  eaten 
up  the  supply  or  the  Commissionary  General  had  car- 
ried it  off  in  his  coat  pocket  what  would  have  been  the 
consequence?  and  what  would  have  been  the  effect  on 
our  civilization?  We  would  then  have  no  Rockefeller, 
consequently  no  Standard  Oil  Company;  no  Boston,  no 
culture ;  no  Sweetwater,  no  Beautiful  Ladies  City  Im- 
provement Association;  where  now  the  fountain  plays 
in  front  of  my  window  making  ever  vanishing  rainbows 
in  the  summer  sunshine,  there  might  still  have  been  the 
forests  primeval.  -e-^-^/ • 

You  may  ask  what  has  the  coming  of  the  Mayflo-Wjer- 
to  do  with  Sweetwater.  This.  One  of  the  Aver^^s  or  an 
^ancestor  was  a  passenger  in  the  ship.  Then  the  line  of 
descent  comes  down  to  Waightstill  Avery  who  came  to 
North  Carolina.  His  daughter,  Elizabeth  Avery,  mar- 
ried William  Ballard  Lenoir  who  was  the  father  of  I.  T. 
Lenoir,  the  founder  of  Sweetwater.  But  for  the  last 
named  there  would  have  been  no  town  here.  He  was  a 
stockholder  in  the  E.  T.  &  Ga.  R.  R. ;  also  a  director,  a 
member  of  the  county  court,  a  former  member  of  the 
Legislature,  and  he  gave  the  seven  and  one-half  acre  plot 


HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  193 

on  which  the  depot  and  railroad  track  stand.    Then  he 
evolved  the  plan  of  the  town  and  laid  off  many  lots. 

Waightstill  Avery'. 

The  Avery  family  have  been  a  noted  one  since  the  ear- 
ly settlement  of  the  colonies.  They  have  aspired  to  and 
held  public  office.  Many  of  them  have  been  lawyers 
and  politicians.  They  have  rather  craved  than  avoided 
responsibility.  They  have  characteristics  directly  op- 
posite to  the  Lenoirs  in  this  respect.  They  like  "to  read 
their  history  in  the  nation's  eyes."  They  have  rarely 
failed  to  fill  the  positions  they  sought  with  honor  and 
credit.  They  have  settled  in  almost  every  state  in  the 
Union.  Of  those  who  came  south  Waightstill  Avery  is 
best  known  and  most  distinguished.  He  was  born  in 
Norwich,  Conn.,  in  1746  or  1747.  He  graduated  at 
Princeton  College  in  1766  and  was  tutor  there  for  a  year. 
He  studied  law  under  Littleton  Denis  in  Maryland.  He 
emigrated  to  Mecklenburg  Comity,  North  Carolina,  and 
was  licensed  to  practise  law  in  1769.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Mecklenburg  Convention  and  one  of  the  signers 
of  The  Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  Independence  on  the 
20th  of  May,  1775.  This  document  is  credited  to  Eph- 
raim  Brevard  but  some  of  the  Avery  family  think  that 
Brevard  got  valuable  assistance  from  Waightstill  Avery. 
Many  North  Carolinians,  with  pardonable  pride,  are  of 
the  opinion  that  this  paper  is  the  equal  in  terseness  and 
vigor  to  the  Declaration  written  by  Jefferson  and  passed 
by  the  Continental  Congress,  July  4,  1776.  (The  writer, 
however,  does  not  share  in  that  opinion.)  Waightstill 
Avery  wa*s  commissioned  by  Governor  Martin  together 
with  Joseph  McDowell  and  Sevier  to  treat  with  the 
Cherokee  Indians  in  the  early  part  of  1777.  They  ac- 
complished nothing.  But  on  the  20th  of  July,  1777,  at 
Long  Island  on  the  Holston  River,  Avery,  together  with 
Wm.  Sharpe,  Joseph  Winston  and  Robert  Lanier,  signed 
a  treaty  with  the  Cherokees.  The  signers  on  the  Indian 
side  (in  mark)  were  Oconostota  and  many  other  head 
men  of  the  trilje. 

He  was  the  first  attorney  general  of  the  state  in  1777. 

He  married  Mrs.  Franks,  of  Jones  County,  in  1778. 


194  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

His  law  office,  books  and  papers  were  burned  by  Lord 
Cornwallis  at  Charlotte  in  1781. 

He  moved  to  Burke  County  in  1781,  Wheeler's  History 
says  * '  for  his  health. ' ' 

Taking  into  consideration  the  depredations  of  Corn- 
wallis and  Tarleton  and  the  still  worse  outrages  of  Pat. 
Ferguson  and  his  gang  of  tories,  one  is  not  at  all  sur- 
prised at  the  unhealthfulness  of  the  climate  in  eastern 
North  Carolina  at  the  time.  We  find  this  in  Ramsey, 
page  274,  taken  from  public  records:  "At  a  court  of 
Oyer  and  Terminer  and  General  Gaol  Delivery  for  the 
counties  of  Washington  and  Sullivan,  begun  and  held 
(at  Jonesboro)  on  the  15th  of  August,  1782.  Present 
Hon.  Spruce  McCay,  Esq. —  Waigtstill  Avery,  Esq.,  was 
appouited  attornev  general  for  the  state  and  John  Sevier, 
clerk." 

He  died  in  Burke  County  in  1821,  then  the  patriarch 
of  the  North  Carolina  Bar. 

There  are  three  things  in  Tennessee  history  about 
Avhich  much  speculation  has  been  indulged  and  many  ac- 
counts have  been  written,  but  the  exact  facts  in  regard 
to  them  will  probably  never  be  known.  Those  who  could 
have  told  have  long  since  passed  awa}^ — their  lips  for- 
ever sealed.  The  occurrences  referred  to  above  are  the 
challenge  and  meeting  of  Jackson  and  Avery  near  Jones- 
boro; the  rescue  of  Sevier  by  Shelby  and  others  when 
he  was  being  tried  for  treason  at  Morganton,  N.  C,  and 
what  happened  between  Governor  Sam  Houston  and  his 
wife  shortly  after  his  marriage  that  caused  him  to  resign 
the  governorship  and  expatriate  himself  among  the  In- 
dians. The  tradition  extant  in  the  Avery  family  was 
somewhat  different  from  the  usually  accepted  version. 
My  father  told  me  that  the  real  reason  of  Jackson's  spite 
against  Avery  was  not  what  Avery  said  in  the  court- 
house. As  Avery  was  then  the  most  distinguished  mem- 
ber then  at  the  Bar  in  that  district  Jackson,  hardly  of 
age,  began  the  study  of  law  under  him.  JacksOn  had  a 
share  in  those  vices  which  were  peculiarly  distasteful 
to  the  conscience  of  the  New  Englander;  betting  on  cards 
and  horse  races,  whiskey  drinking  and  a  disposition  to 
fight  in  any  manner  whatever  for  any  fancied  insult. 
Avery  told  him  mildly  that  in  his  opinion  his  peculiar 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  195 

talents  were  not  fitted  for  a  legal  career  and  advised 
him  to  adopt  some  other  profession.  Jackson's  high 
strung  temperament  could  not  endure  this  reflection  on 
his  morality  and  intelligence  and  he  sought  an  oppor- 
tunity to  wipe  out  the  score.  It  occurred  in  the  conduct 
of  a  case  in  the  courthouse  and  accordingly  Jackson  sent 
his  challenge.  Avery  accepted  out  of  deference  to  pub- 
lic opinion.  He  had  no  animosity  against  Jackson  and 
determined  not  to  shoot  or  shoot  up  in  the  air.  Jackson 
at  the  meeting  held  his  fire  as  he  sometimes  did  after- 
ward in  his  duels  and  did  not  shoot.  Avery  also  did  not 
shoot.  After  he  saw  that  Avery  had  no  intention  of 
injuring  him,  or  even  firing  upon  him,  then  they  all, 
principals  and  seconds,  returned  and  reported  the  dif- 
ficulty as  amicably  settled. 

William  Ballard  Lenoir,  son  of  William  Lenoir  and 
father  of  I.  T.  Lenoir,  was  born  in  Wilkes  County,  N.  C, 
September  1, 1775.  In  1802  he  married  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  Waightstill  Avery.  They  settled  in  the  Happy 
Valley  of  the  Yadkin  River,  two  and  a  half  miles  below 
Fort  Defiance,  the  residence  of  General  Wm.  Lenoir. 
There  were  born  to  them  four  of  their  twelve  children, 
Isaac  Thomas  Lenoir  being  the  third.  He  was  three 
years  old  in  1810  when  his  father  came  to  Tennessee. 
In  considerable  travel  through  the  states  of  our  Union, 
I  have  known  three  valleys  which  seemed  to  excel  all 
others  in  beauty  and  grandeur.  The^^  are  rich  in  all  the 
resources  which  go  to  make  up  a  place  where  peace, 
prosperit}^  and  healthfulness  reign  supreme,  *'As  happy 
a  region  as  on  this  side  of  heaven."  They  are  the 
Nacoochee  Valley  at  the  head  of  the  Chattahoochee  River 
in  Habersham  County,  Georgia,  the  Valle}'  River  Valley 
in  Cherokee  County,  N.  C,  and  the  Happy  Valley  of  the 
Yadkin  River  in  Caldwell  County,  N.  C.  The  two  first 
mentioned  besides  being  exceedingly  fertile,  are  im- 
mensely rich  in  mineral  resources.  They  are  all  sur- 
rounded by  grand  and  lofty  mountains  and  nearby  foot- 
hills, like  steps  ascending  heavenward.  In  every  season 
and  weather  they  form  an  inspiring  and  pleasing  pros- 
pect to  the  beholder.  In  speaking  of  these  I  am  in  no 
wise  decrying  the  thousand  charms  of  our  own  valley. 
However  favored  a  spot  of  earth  this  may  be,  it  is  not 


196  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

unreasonable  to  suppose  that  there  may  be  others  that 
in  the  opinion  of  some  one  are  still  more  favored.  Of 
these  vales  spoken  of  I  would,  all  things  considered,  give 
the  palm  to  the  Happy  Valley  on  the  Yadkin.  In  this 
valley  in  1810  dwelt  William  Ballard  Lenoir.  He  was 
happily  married.  He  resided  near  many  of  his  relations 
and  in  perfect  amity  with  them.  It  would  look  as  if  he 
had  ever^^thing  to  make  life  easy  and  pleasant.  Yet 
"man  never  is  but  always  to  be  blest." 

Under  such  circumstances  as  these  he  chose  to  leave 
and  come  across  the  Blue  Eidge  and  seek  his  fortune  in 
a  comparatively  unknown  and  unsettled  country.  He 
built  at  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Tennessee  on  the  Holston 
(Hogoheechee)  River.  He  may  have  been  induced  to  do 
so  by  information  obtained  from  his  father-in-law, 
Waightstill  Avery,  who  had  previously  visited  this  coun- 
try as  one  of  the  conmiissioners  of  the  state  of  North 
Carolina  to  treat  with  the  Cherokee  Indians.  When  he 
moved  to  where  Lenoir  City  now  stands  he  was  35  years 
of  age  and  in  the  prime  of  physical  and  intellectual  vigor. 
His  mind  had  been  informed  by  education  and  travel. 
His  father  had  given  him  all  the  advantages  possible  in 
that  da}^  Also  he  came  not  empty  handed.  He  brought 
deeds  to  lands,  wagons,  horses  and  slaves.  The  negroes 
familiarly  called  him  and  his  wife  ''Marse  Billy  and 
Mis'  Betsy."  He  took  his  patrimony  into  a  far  country 
but  not  to  spend  it  in  riotous  living,  as  the  prodigal 
son,  but  to  largely  increase  it  and  to  make  it  a  blessing 
to  his  family,  his  friends  and  his  neighbors.  What  route 
they  came  from  North  Carolina  I  am  not  informed  but 
it  must  have  been  down  tlie  Wautauga,  and  thence  by 
Knoxville,  as  the  way  neither  along  the  French  Broad 
or  the  Little  Tennessee  rivers  was  then  open.  The  land 
he  acquired  in  and  around  what  is  now  Lenoir  City 
amounted  to  about  5,000  acres.  He  settled  near  the  cen- 
ter of  his  possessions  and  never  disposed  of  any  of  his 
real  estate  during  his  lifetime.  The  place  and  ppstof- 
fice  was  called  Lenoir's.  There  eight  of  his  twelve  chil- 
dren were  born. 

Isaac  Thomas  Lenoir  when  a  young  man  visited  the 
place  of  his  birth  in  North  Carolina.  He  was  Avonderful- 
ly  pleased  with  tliat  country.    He  asked  his  father  how 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  197 

he  had  ever  gotten  the  consent  of  his  mind  to  leave  such 
a  place  situated  as  he  was.  His  father's  answer  was 
that  a  considerable  portion  of  the  valley  was  filled  up 
with  his  own  relatives  and  that  when  he  went  to  church 
or  public  gatherings  he  met  mostly  his  own  kinspeople. 
Their  relations  towards  each  other  were  exceedingly  cor- 
dial and  agreeable,  almost  too  much  so  he  thought,  so  that 
they  were  liable  to  become  clannish ;  by  going  to  another 
section  he  could  have  numerous  friendships  and  at  the 
same  time  retain  flie  love  of  his  relations  in  North  Car- 
olina. His  career  in  this  country  justified  the  wisdom  of 
his  choice. 

William  Ballard  Lenoir  was  a  very  extensive  farmer. 
The  land  that  he  cultivated  consisted  of  river  bottom 
lands,  islands  and  fertile  uplands.  He  was  a  manufac- 
turer of  cotton  yarns  and  a  miller  and  his  house  was  a 
famous  stopping  place.  His  old  residence  is  still  stand- 
ing north  of  the  passenger  depot  at  Lenoir  City.  He 
was  also  a  land  surveyor  and  acquired  many  tracts  of 
land  in  McMinn,  Monroe,  Roane  and  Morgan  comities. 
He  was  one  of  the  surveyors  for  the  state  in  the  Hiwas- 
see  District.  Just  exactly  what  part  of  this  territory  he 
surveyed,  I  am  not  informed,  but  he  must  have  surveyed 
a  considerable  part  of  Range  One  east  of  the  basis  line. 
The  scheme  of  the  survey  of  the  Hiwassee  district  was 
to  take  as  a  starting  point  the  junction  of  the  Clinch  and 
Tennessee  rivers  called  southwest  point  and  run  what 
was  called  the  basis  line  directly  south  to  the  Hiwassee 
River ;  then  to  run  lines  six  miles  distant  from  each  other 
east  and  west  of  the  basis  line.  The  territory  included 
between  these  lines  was  called  a  range.  These  ranges 
were  surveyed  into  townships  six  miles  square.  These 
townships  into  sections,  thirty-six  in  number,  and  the 
sections  into  quarter  sections,  one-half  mile  square,  con- 
taining 160  acres.  For  these  lots  of  land  a  grant  could 
be  obtained  from  the  state  by  paying  the  stipulated 
price.    The  grant  would  read: 

160   acres   the  Quarter    Section   of   Section 

Number Of  Township   In  Range 

of  the  Hiwassee  District  of 

Date and  signed  by  the    Governor   and 

Secretary  of  the  state  of  Tennessee  with  the  great  seal 


198  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATEE  VALLEY 

of  the  state  attached.  The  county  was  sometimes  given 
and  sometimes  not,  but  it  was  not  necessary  to  do  so  to 
make  a  valid  grant  or  a  deed.  The  Hiwassee  District 
whose  boundary  has  heretofore  been  described  was  in  the 
counties  of  Roane,  Meigs,  McMinn  and  Monroe.  Sweet- 
water Valley  was  in  the  counties  of  McMinn,  Monroe  and 
Eoane.  The  part  that  was  in  Roane  County  is  now 
Loudon  County. 

Isaac  Thomas  Lenoir. 

It  was  the  policy  of  William  Ballard  Lenoir  when  any 
of  his  sons  or  daughters  married  not  to  have  them  set- 
tle around  him  in  the  same  neighborhood  but  to  seek 
other  fields ;  he  thought  it  better  for  them  to  do  as  he  did. 
And  even  when  they  remained  at  home  they  ought  to  have 
a  separate  business  and  a  responsibility  of  their  own. 
His  son,  Isaac  Thomas,  engaged  when  a  young  man 
in  the  mercantile  business  at  Lenoir's.  In  those  days 
there  were  no  drummers  and  no  wholesale  houses,  not 
even  in  Knoxville,  very  few  anywhere  nearer  than  Bal- 
timore, Philadelphia  and  New  York.  It  was  the  cus- 
tom then  of  the  merchants  to  take  a  trip  once  or  twice  a 
year  to  one  or  more  of  those  cities  to  purchase  their 
supplies.  The  goods  so  purchased  were  hauled  in  wa- 
gons the  greater  part  of  the  distance,  competition  then 
was  not  so  great.  Any  reasonable  business  ability  would 
insure  success.  In  1843  he  was  elected  to  the  lower 
branch  of  the"  Legislature  as  a  representative  from 
Roane  Count}^  The  county  of  Roane  was  then  very 
close  politically  between  the  Whigs  and  Democrats.  He 
Avas  elected  over  Colonel  Joel  Hembree,  by  a  majority  of 
eight  votes.    In  1845  he  was  elected   senator   from   the 

Senatorial  District  comprising  the  counties   of 

Roane,  Anderson,  Morgan  and  Campbell  over  Colonel  El- 
bert Sevier.  While  in  the  Legislature  he  helped  to  se- 
cure favorable  legislation  in  the  amendment  of  charters 
for  East  Tennessee  and  Georgia  Railroad,  which  insured 
the  construction  of  that  railroad  from  Dalton,  Ga.,  to 
Knoxville,  Tenn.  As  this  railroad  formerly  under  the 
name  of  Hiwassee  Railroad,  afterward  under  the  name 
of  E.  T.  &  Ga.  R.  R.  was  graded  in  a  great  measure  by 


HISTOEY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  199 

the  citizens  along  tlie  route,  it  was  done  in  small  sections 
and  at  different  times  from  1837  to  1850. 

And  in  some  places  notably  between  this  section  and 
Philadelphia,  the  graded  right  of  way  of  the  railroad  was 
used  as  a  road  for  vehicles  between  the  time  of  the  grad- 
ing the  road  and  equipping  it  with  ties  and  rails.  This 
was  a  fine  object  lesson  for  the  advantage  of  graded 
roads,  but  the  people  were  not  thinking  so  much  of  get- 
ting good  roads  for  their  vehicles  as  securing  a  railroad 
for  shipment  of  their  farm  products  and  many  years  had 
to  elapse  before  the  people  were  willing  to  submit  to 
the  proper  expenditure  for  good  roads. 

While  Mr.  Lenoir  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  in 
Nashville,  he  met  Miss  Mary  Caroline  Hogg,  formerly 
of  Nashville,  then  of  Rutherford  County.  They  were 
married  in  Rutherford  County  February  10,  1846.  In 
the  latter  part  of  that  year  or  early  in  1847  they  moved 
to  the  old  log  house,  which  is  still  standing,  one  and  a 
half  miles  south  of  Sweetwater.  In  1851  he  purchased 
from  his  father,  W.  B.  Lenior,  1,240  acres  of  land  in 
Sweetwater  Valley.  One  of  these  was  the  N.  W.  Quarter 
of  Section  No.  2,  in  Township  Third,  Range  one,  East, 
on  which  part  of  the  town  of  Sweetwater  is  now  located. 
When  the  railroad  was  completed  to  the  location  of 
Sweetwater  in  1852,  the  only  towns  in  this  section  of  the 
country  were  Philadelphia,  Madisonville  and  Athens. 
Madisonville  was  nine  miles  distant  or  about  that  from 
the  nearest  point  on  the  railroad.  It  was  the  county 
seat  of  the  county  and  by  far  the  most  important  place 
in  the  county;  therefore  Madisonville  and  the  country 
tributary  thereto  must  have  a  depot,  as  convenient  as 
possible. 

Great  efforts  were  made  at  different  places  from  Rea- 
gan's to  Philadelphia  to  secure  a  proper  location  for  a 
depot  and  a  town.  The  nearest  point  to  the  railroad 
from  Madisonville  would  have  been  one  and  three-fourths 
miles  on  the  railroad  southwest  of  where  Sweetwater 
now  stands,  but  that  was  in  the  center  of  the  Lenoir 
farm,  not  so  convenient  for  the  neighborhood.  It  would 
have  been  somewhat  difficult  to  secure  good  roads  there 
too.  Nor  would  the  Heiskells,  Fines,  Biggs,  Mayes,  John- 
stons, Owens,  Sneads  and  others  have  so  cheerfully  con- 


200  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

tributed  to  the  building  up  of  the  town;  and  Mr.  Lenoir 
said :  ' '  Although  a  one-man  town  might  be  a  financial  suc- 
cess to  the  one  man  on  whose  land  it  was  built,  he  much 
preferred  for  various  reasons  that  this  should  not  be 
that  kind  of  a  town." 

Upon  mature  thought  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  present  location  would  be  most  fitting,  and  most  con- 
venient for  this  neighborhood  and  the  adjacent  valleys. 
Therefore  to  make  certain  it  would  be  at  its  present  lo- 
cation, he  promised  to  give  and  did  give  the  plot  around 
the  depot. 

I  have  been  asked  many  times  within  the  last  six 
months  in  regard  to  the  exact  status  of  the  land  thus 
conveyed.  What  rights  the  town,  the  public,  had  in  said 
deeds.  That  is  a  legal  question  about  which  there  has 
not  been  any  completed  litigation  or  decision  in  the 
courts  and  the  deed  might  be  construed  in  different  ways. 
As  a  matter  of  information  to  the  public  it  might  be  well 
enough  to  give  the  description  contained  in  the  deed  and 
the  main  proviso  therein.  The  deed  is  in  Book  Q,  Page 
150,  Records  of  Monroe  County.  The  date  of  the  deed 
is  August  12th,  1858.  The  deed  is  from  I.  T.  Lenoir  to 
E.  T.  &  Ga.  R.  R.  Co.  The  description  is  as  follows: 
Commencing  at  a  point  on  the  center  of  the  line  of  E.  T. 
&  Ga.  R.  R.  at  the  center  of  the  creek,  at  the  bridge  where 
the  railroad  crosses  Sweetwater  Creek  at  the  town  of 
Sweetwater,  thence  running  at  a  right  angle  to  the  main 
track  of  said  railroad,  which  passes  the  depot,  north- 
westardly  to  a  line  200  ft.  from  said  track ;  thence  paral- 
lel with  said  last  main  line,  northeastwardly  975  feet 
more  or  less  to  the  corner  of  Morris  Street  and  Lot  No. 
27,  thence  southeastwardly  at  a  right  angle  200  feet.  To 
the  center  of  the  main  railroad  track,  thence  north 
eastwardly  145  feet  to  the  northeast  line  of  McClung's 
Alley,  thence  at  a  right  angle  with  the  railroad  100  feeti 
to  the  corner  of  Lot  No.  31  and  McClung's  Alley,  thence 
south  westardly  and  parallel  with  railroad  1,120  feet 
more  or  less  to  the  center  of  the  creek.  Thence  100  feet 
to  the  beginning,  containing  seven  and  one-half  acres 
*  *  *  The  railroad  company  shall  not  use  snaj  portion 
of  said  land  hereby  conveyed  for  any  purpose  whatever, 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAULiEY  201 

nor  erect  any  buildings  thereon,  except  such  as  shall  be 
necessary  for  the  purposes  of  said  company." 

When  this  deed  was  made,  this  square  had  growing 
on  it  many  forest  trees  and  the  farms  next  to  the  town 
were  enclosed.  A  great  many  wagons  came  from  long 
distances  to  haul  farm  products  here  and  goods  away. 
As  there  was  not  any  other  railroad  in  lower  East  Ten- 
nessee, the  wagon  trade  here  at  that  time  was  phenom- 
enal. This  was  the  shipping  point  of  several  counties 
in  West  North  Carolina.  It  was  absolutely  necessary 
that  the  trade  of  the  town  and  for  the  purposes  of  the 
railroad  that  there  should  be  a  camping  place  and  a 
hitching  place  for  wagons  and  horses  coming  from  long 
distances.  It  was  not  unusual  to  see  within  this  square 
twenty  or  thirty  wagons  at  a  time. 

A  large  depot  had  been  built  which  contained  during 
the  harvest  season  many  thousand  bushels  of  wheat  and 
other  farm  products.  Many  farmers  who  hauled  these 
products  in  also  owned  stock  in  the  road  and  had  helped 
to  build  it.  They  felt  that  they  had  a  right  to  use  their 
own  grounds  for  their  own  purpose.  These  wagons, 
oxen,  and  horse  wagons,  had  to  wait  sometimes  a  whole 
day  or  more  before  unloading  their  products  and  receiv- 
ing the  goods.  In  the  busy  seasons  there  was  a  scarcity 
of  rolling  stock  on  the  railroad  and  freight  trains,  usual- 
ly one  a  day  each  way  had  a  limit  of  twenty  cars  each 
with  an  allowance  of  16,000  pounds  per  car.  The  loco- 
motives were  small  wood  burners,  as  the  coal  fields  had 
not  then  been  tapped.  When  the  railroad  company  could 
not  furnish  sufficient  cars,  they  took  care,  so  far  as  they 
could,  of  the  wheat,  corn,  and  meat  brought  in  for  ship- 
ment. Within  any  reasonable  length  of  time  the  railroad 
company  made  no  charge  for  storage  and  no  damage  was 
exacted  for  lack  of  cars  for  shipment.  Perishable  goods 
were  rarely  ever  received  except  for  short  distances. 

At  that  time  there  was  a  large  territory  contributing 
to  the  trade  of  this  town  and  using  this  as  a  shipping 
point.  It  was  a  wonderful  convenience  to  those  coming 
here  from  a  distance  to  be  allowed  to  hitch  their  horses 
and  rest  under  the  shade  of  the  trees. 

The  town  was  small  then  and  in  its  beginnings.  Tlien 
the  town  was  not  incorporated  and  conditions  were  far 


202  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

different  from  at  present.  It  was  almost  a  nightly  scene 
to  have  the  mountaineer  campers  get  out  their  fiddles 
and  have  a  jollification  and  dance  in  the  grove.  It  fur- 
nished amusement  to  them  and  entertainment  for  the  in- 
habitants. There  was  no  grand  rush  in  those  days  nor 
haste  to  be  wealthy.  Hundreds  of  people  came  here  to 
camp  to  see  a  railroad  train  for  the  first  time  in  their 
lives.  There  was  little  misbehavior  and  rarely  such  a 
thing  as  an  arrest.  It  is  useless  to  say  that  things  are 
better  now  or  worse;  they  are  just  different,  and  will 
be  just  as  different  from  now  twenty-five  years  hence. 
However  one  cannot  help  but  regret  the  disappearance 
of  the  magnificent  forest  trees  which  were  such  an  orna- 
ment to  our  town. 

But  the  days  of  the  picturesque  and  happy  moun- 
taineer and  "Hill  Billies"  have  passed.  Should  one 
regret  it?  That  is  owing  to  whether  you  knew  them  in 
the  carefree  olden  days.  Railroads  more  or  less  change 
habits  and  customs;  and  especially  congestion  of  the 
population  makes  another  people.  What  they  once  were, 
they  are  no  longer,  except  -in  isolated  locations.  Many 
of  these  wagoners,  I  as  a  boy  knew,  and  was  fond  of. 
Before  I  visited  the  mountains  so  frequently  and  almost 
became  as  one  of  them  I  have  listened  to  their  tales  of 
adventure,  hunting,  fishing  and  the  like  with  as  vivid  an 
interest  as  I  read  wild  western  scenes  about  "Daniel 
Boone"  and  "Sneak  and  Joe."  I  longed  for  the  time 
when  I  could  have  an  Indian  pony  and  visit  these  moun- 
tains, hunt  in  them,  and  fish  for  speckled  trout  in  their 
limpid  streams.  What  cared  they  whether  the  air  around 
the  earth  was  one  mile  or  one  hundred  miles  high  or 
if  the  sun  was  ninety-five  or  ninety-five  million  miles 
away.  They  were  happy  as  long  as  turkey  and  deer 
were  plentiful  and  there  were  chestnuts  for  the  wild 
hogs. 

As  I  heard  a  candidate  for  Legislature. in  one  of  the 
mountain  counties  say  once,  "Where  was  the  log  rolling 
and  corn  shucking  that  Old  Sam  was  not  there?  Where 
was  ever  the  cow  in  a  mud  hole  or  the  hog  in  the  crack 
that  Sam  didn't  get  it  out?  Elect  me  to  the  Legislature 
and  I  will  take  the  dog  days  out  of  the  almanac  and 
make  sang  grow  plentiful  in  all  the  mountain  coves." 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  203 

To  know  the  mountaineer  thoroughly  you  must  see  him 
when  his  foot  is  on  his  native  heath.  My  heart  has  often 
heen  saddened  to  see  them  hunted  down  like  wild  beasts 
for  some  technical  crime  which  was  not  intended  to  in- 
jure their  fellowman.  I  have  fished  with  them,  traded 
and  surveyed  land  with  them  and  drank  with  them.  Did 
one  of  them  ever  treat  me  otherwise  than  as  a  friend  and 
brother?  En;phatically  no.  Did  one  of  them  ever  fail 
to  return  a  loan  which  I  had  made  him!  Not  that  I 
recollect.  Did  one  of  them  ever  refuse  to  rise  at  any 
hour  of  the  night  and  go  where  you  wished,  if  you  asked 
him?  If  so  I  do  not  remember  it.  When  I  went  to  the 
mountains  to  see  them  I  did  not  think  it  at  all  necessary 
that  I  should  wear  my  old  clothes ;  I  sometimes  wore  a 
$40.00  suit ;  but  did  I  tell  them  that  they  "ought  to  wear 
clothes  like  mine,  and  not  butternut  jeans  and  home- 
made shoes!  I  did  not.  Did  I  air  my  superior  knowl- 
edge of  college,  books  and  cities  and  tell  them  they  ought 
to  go  to  college  tool  I  did  not.  Did  I  say  to  them  that 
they  should  pipe  the  water  from  the  spring  to  the  cabin 
and  not  carry  it  in  buckets'!  By  no  means.  Did  I  tell 
them  it  was  necessary  to  their  health  to  bathe  at  least 
once  a  month!  I  am  not  going  around  giving  medical 
advice.  Did  I  say  to  their  wives  and  daughters  that 
they  ought  to  wear  corsets  and  not  dip  snuff  and  chew 
tobacco !  I  failed  to  mention  these  things.  Did  I  make 
myself  obnoxious  by  pointing  out  to  them  that  some 
other  way  of  living  was  far  better  than  theirs!  By  no 
means. 

On  the  other  hand,  sometimes  when  I  have  told  one 
good-bye  I  have  said  "John,  come  to  see  me,  but  I  do 
not  expect  I  can  give  you  anything  half  so  good  as  ven- 
ison and  wild  turkey  and  the  corn  bread  and  potatoes 
and  the  wild  sour  wood  honey  which  I  have  eaten  with 
you.  Nor  can  I  furnish  you  water  out  of  the  gourd  as 
pure  as  your  mountain  streams;  nor  brandy  near  so 
good  as  that  made  from  the  sun  kissed  native  mountain 
apple.  Nor  is  the  air  of  our  valley  quite  so  invigorat- 
ing as  that  of  your  hills.  One  thing  I  can  do  if  you  visit 
me,  I  can  show  you  as  good  a  fiddle  as  you  ever  drew  a 
bow  across.  I  have  no  bear  dogs  such  as  yours;  but  I 
think  I  have  a  dog  or  two  that  can  interest  you  in  a 


204  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAXtLEY 

fox  chase;  I  will  take  you  driving  behind  a  horse  that 
you  will  long  remember." 

Yes,  I  have  drank  with  the  mountaineer  time  and 
again,  and  I  cannot  honestly  say  that  I  am  sorry  for  it; 
the  result  was  apparently  productive  of  none  but  the 
kindest  feelings,  and  I  have  never  been  present  when 
an  altercation  resulted  therefrom.  I  have  always  felt 
safer  in  person  and  property  when  with  the  mountaineer 
than  in  any  town  I  have  ever  been  in.  When  I  have 
spent  the  night  in  their  cabins  I  have  never  put  my  pock- 
etbook  under  my  pillow,  nor  in  my  sock,  nor  in  my 
shoe;  I  have  always  hung  my  pants  on  a  chair  by  the 
fireplace,  where  they  could  steal  my  money  if  they 
wanted  to.  I  have  never  lost  a  penny.  The  difficulty 
was  to  get  them  to  charge  anything  for  my  entertain- 
ment. I  am  speaking  now  more  of  the  mountaineer  of 
the  past  than  these  of  the  present  day;  for  they  are  be- 
ginning to  learn  the  vices  of  the  town  without  their  cor- 
responding benefits. 

Do  not  understand  me  as  apologizing  for  the  evil  ef- 
fects of  what  is  called  whiskey  and  brandy  now  manu- 
factured in  the  mountains,  for  they  have  become  apt 
scholars  in  the  art  of  adulteration.  They  are  now  not 
better  products  than  those  passed  over  the  bar  in  our 
cities  to  the  confiding  customer,  however  palatable  they 
may  make  them  seem;  and  if  there  is  an  honest  or  kind- 
ly feeling  in  the  drinks  furnished  by  the  bootleggers  or 
received  through  the  express  office  at  our  railroad  sta- 
tions, I  have  not  felt  it  nor  heard  of  it. 

Exit  the  Mountaineer,  enter  the  Ladies'  City  Beauti- 
ful Leaffuo. 


•^to' 


City  Beautiful,  League. 

There  is  or  should  be  a  kinship  between  those  things 
w'hich  are  physically  and  naturally  beautiful  and  those 
which  are  morally  beautiful — vice  is  naturally  repulsive, 
goodness  attractive.  True,  crimes  are  committed  in 
palaces  and  villas  adorned  with  paintings  and  statuary, 
yet  we  do  not  expect  it  so  much  as  in  the  slums  of  our 
cities,  offensive  with  refuse  and  garbage ;  just  as  a  man 
wearing  a  silk  hat  or  a  flowered  white  vest  is  less  liable 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  205 

to  get  into  a  street  brawl  than  a  tramp  who  has  been 
riding  on  a  coal  car.  It  is  an  undeniable  fact  that  har- 
monious sound  and  beautiful  surroundings  have  more 
or  less  influence  upon  our  conduct. 

In  all  religions,  in  all  times,  amongst  the  different 
nations  the  place  of  XDunishment  in  the  hereafter  has 
always  been  described  as  dark  and  foul;  and  the  place 
of  reward  whatever  may  be  its  name,  has  been  described 
as  one  of  beauty,  life  and  light.  Therefore  anyone  or 
any  society  which  can  make  the  home,  the  streets,  or 
parks  of  the  town  more  beautiful  is  increasing  the  happi- 
ness of  humanity  as  much  as  the  individual  who  makes 
two  blades  of  grass  grow  where  one  grew  before,  and 
the  persons  who  attempt  this,  even  if  they  make  a  mis- 
take in  the  place  to  be  beautified  will  at  least  receive 
their  reward  from  the  reflex  action  upon  themselves. 

One  little  star,  however  bright  it  may  shine,  cannot 
make  a  lovely  night,  but  the  million  stars  that  scintillate 
in  the  firmament  will  thrill  us  and  elevate  us  by  their 
united  brilliancy.  The  violet  may  bloom  in  some  se- 
cluded nook  far  from  the  sight  of  humanity,  but  can 
we  even  say  then  that  its  fragrance  and  beauty  is  lost 
and  it  existed  for  no  purpose?  Let  no  one,  therefore, 
be  deterred  from  making  an  effort  because  the  whole 
world  cannot  be  made  beautiful  at  once. 

Tlie  man  of  wealth  who  gives  indiscriminately  to  every 
one  that  asks  him  may  often  make  a  mistake,  but  he 
cannot  by  any  possible  chance  fail  at  some  time  to  give 
relief  to  some  form  of  human  misery.  If  the  work  of 
the  City  Beautiful  League  proves  evanescent  and  should 
be  turned  into  the  scrap  heap  the  week  following,  some 
eye  would  be  gladdened  and  some  heart  would  be  cheered 
by  its  influence.  The  loafer  on  the  street  corner  may 
criticize,  but  has  he  ever  turned  over  his  hand  to  make 
a  single  object  around  him  more  beautiful?  We  some- 
times travel  10,000  miles  to  see  a  painting  or  a  piece 
of  statuary  which  we  never  expect  to  behold  again. 
What  good  does  that  do  us  if  we  come  to  our  own  town 
and  neglect  to  make  our  own  surroundings  more  attrac- 
tive? 

The  last  twenty  years  have  wrought  wonderful 
changes  in  the  business  conditions  and  needs  of  the  town 


206  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

of  Sweetwater.  New  railroads  have  been  built;  new 
villages  sprung  up  in  the  territory  which  was  once  in  the 
sphere  of  the  business  influence  of  this  tow^i.  The  wagon 
trade  is  nothing  like  what  it  used  to  be.  Rural  free  de- 
livery routes  have  had  their  influence  in  changing  con- 
ditions. 

In  the  plot  of  ground  around  the  depot  the  forest  trees 
wiiich  were  not  sufficiently  protected  have  almost  dis- 
appeared and  conditions  had  been  such  that  the  sur- 
roundings were  far  from  attractive  to  the  eyes  of  the 
beholder,  and  produced  a  bad  impression  on  those  pass- 
ing on  the  railroad.  Some  fifteen  years  ago  the  stock- 
holders of  the  Sweetwater  Hotel  Association  got  per- 
mission from  the  railroad  and  from  the  city  council  of 
the  town  to  enclose  the  plot  of  ground  between  the  hotel 
and  the  railroad,  sow  grass  in  the  enclosure,  so  as  to 
protect  the  forest  trees  still  there;  when  this  was  done 
it  made  the  contrast  between  that  part  of  the  square 
and  the  remainder  very  marked.  Those  who  preferred 
beauty  to  ugliness  often  commented  on  this  difference 
and  wondered  why  the  other  part  of  the  plot  was  not 
made  more  attractive.  About  three  or  four  years  ago 
the  ladies  of  Sweetwater  and  a  few  in  the  surrounding 
country  took  the  matter  up  with  the  railroad  authori- 
ties. Although  the  Southern  Railroad  Company  seemed 
not  unwilling  to  do  their  part  in  the  matter,  nothing  defi- 
nite was  determined  upon,  or  at  least  done. 

About  eighteen  months  ago  Mrs.  J.  A.  Reagan,  Miss 
Nancy  Jones,  Mrs.  W.  D.  Oilman,  Mrs.  H.  T.  Boyd  and 
other  ladies  of  the  town,  under  an  organization  known 
as  the  City  Beautiful  League,  after  much  correspon- 
dence and  personal  solicitation,  induced  Mr.  R,  E.  Simp- 
son, then  superintendent  of  this  division  of  the  Southern 
Railroad  Company,  to  do  certain  work  in  beautifying 
this  ground  on  the  west  side  of  the  depot.  This  was 
done.  The  work  was  started  about  April  1st,  according- 
to  plans  and  suggestions  furnished  by  the  ladies'  organi- 
zation. 

The  finished  work  up  to  May  1,  1915,  is  as  follows : 

The  concrete  circle  and  basin  for  a  fountain  in  front 
of  the  Scruggs'  Realty  Company's  liuilding,  an  enclosed 
park   opposite   tlie   passenger   depot,   another   enclosed 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  207 

park  also  between  the  freight  depot  and  business  houses, 
a  concrete  basin  foi"*  fountain  in  the  park  started  as 
spoken  of  some  years  ago  in  front  of  the  Hyatt  Hotel. 
South  of  this  park  is  a  hitching  circle  for  horses,  be- 
tween the  park  and  Sweetwater  Creek. 

The  railroad  has  also  leveled,  rocked  and  filled  in 
around  the  parks  and  fountains.  The  town  commis- 
sioners have  promised  in  perpetuity  to  furnish  a  reason- 
able amount  of  water  for  the  two  fountains.  The  City 
Beautiful  League  on  their  part  engaged  to  sow  in  grass 
or  plant  in  flowers  the  ground  within  the  concrete  circle 
around  the  fountain  first  mentioned  and  the  parks  be- 
tween the  tw^o  fountains  and  to  do  such  other  work  as 
to  make  these  places  attractive  as  they  can  within  their 
means  and  to  fully  equip  the  fountains  they  have  pur- 
chased, and  are  now  in  place.  They  are  tasty  but  not 
very  expensive. 

Mrs.  F.  A.  Carter  is  now  president  of  the  City  Beau- 
tiful League,  and  in  charge  of  the  improvements.  I  feel 
pretty  well  satisfied  that  after  all  the  trouble  the  ladies 
have  taken  to  get  this  work  done  that  both  their  pride 
and  inclination  will  cause  them  to  do  even  more  than 
promised;  and  the  effective  work  they  have  done  and 
caused  to  be  dono  is  strong  proof  that  sometimes  in  the 
mouth  of  the  truly  beautiful  the  tongue  is  mightier  than 
the  vote. 

I  have  heard  some  complaint  from  the  country  people 
and  those  living  at  a  distance  that  these  improvements 
are  a  diversion  from  the  original  intention  of  the  donor. 
More  than  half  a  century  ago  he  probably  did  not  fore- 
see this  condition  of  affairs  when  there  was  a  growth 
of  forest  trees  upon  the  plot;  yet  since  circumstances 
and  conditions  have  been  so  changed,  I  doubt  not,  that  if 
he  were  living  today  he  would  be  heartily  in  accord  with 
such  a  movement  as  has  been  instituted.  I  as  his  sole 
representative,  am  not  inclined  to  put  any  obstacles  in 
the  way  of  them,  but  the  opposite.  It  is  much  to  my 
comfort,  convenience,  and  pleasure  to  have  things  as 
they  are  or  rather  as  will  be  ere  long. 

I  am  anxious  to  look  out  of  my  window,  or  sit  under 
the  shade  of  the  trees  and  see  the  fountains  play;  the 
children  laugh  and  sing;  and  the  ladies  promenading 


208  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

there  and  enjoying  what  they  have  so  ardently  labored 
for. 

I.  T.  Lenoir,  Synopsis. 

Was  born  in  Wilkes  County,  N.  C,  May  16,  1807.  He 
came  with  his  father  to  Tennessee  in  1810.  After  he 
was  grown  he  merchandised  at  Lenoir's  and  helped  his 
father  with  his  business  until  1843,  when  he  was  elected 
to  the  Twentj^-fifth  General  Assembly  as  representative 
from  Roane  County.  In  1845  he  was  elected  senator 
from  the  counties  of  Morgan,  Campbell,  Anderson  and 
Roane  to  the  Twenty-sixth  General  Assembly.  He  mar- 
ried Mary  Caroline  Hogg,  then  of  Rutherford  County, 
on  February  10,  1846.  They  came  to  Sweetwater  Val- 
ley late  in  1846  or  early  in  1847.  He  was  made  a  Mason 
at  Madisonville.  He  was  a  charter  member  of  Sweet- 
water Lodge  No.  292,  F.  &  A.  M.  He  resided  up  to  1871 
in  the  log  house  built  by  Sliger  a  mile  and  one-half  south- 
west of  Sweetwater.  In  1871  he  came  to  the  town  of 
Sweetwater  and  resided  in  the  house  where  D.  S.  Brad- 
ley now  lives.  He  died  there  of  pnemnonia  on  Decem- 
ber 4,  1875.  Besides  being  the  founder  of  the  town  of 
Sweetwater  and  an  owner  of  a  large  farm  in  Sweetwater 
Valley,  he  was  a  considerable  owner  of  timber  and  coal 
lands  in  Roane,  Morgan  and  Cumberland  counties,  Tenn., 
and,  in  connection  with  his  brothers,  part  owner  of  many 
tracts  in  several  counties  of  North  Carolina  bordering 
on   Tennessee. 

The  Hogg  Family  in  North  Carolina. 

(Quoted  from  records  furnished  by  J.  T.  McGill,  Ph. 
D.,  of  Vanderbilt  University  to  W.  B.  Lenoir.) 

In  colonial  records  of  North  Carolina  it  is  said,  Vol. 
IV,  p.  8,  that  McNeal,  McAlister  and  several  other 
Scotch  gentlemen  arrived  at  the  Cape  Fear  country  with 
350  Scotch  people. 

In  Williams'  History  of  Virginia  we  find  that  in  1747 
McNeal  came  to  New  York  from  the  western  part  of 
Scotland  and  visited  the  western  part  of  Virginia  and 
Pennsylvania.  He  purchased  lands  in  North  Carolina 
near  Favetteville. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  209 

McNeal  arrived  at  Wilmington  in  1749  with  his  family 
and  500  or  600  colonists.  My  opinion  is  that  Richard 
Hogg  was  among  the  McNeal  colonists.  He  died  in  1768 
or  1769.    He  left  three  sons :  Robert,  John  and  James. 

It  may  be  that  Thomas  and  Richard  Hogg  were 
brothers.  Thomas  Hogg  (1)  in  1735  got  a  patent  for 
316  acres  in  Craven  Comity.  He  petitioned  for  a  war- 
rant for  land  in  New  Hanover  in  1749  and  in  1751  for 
land  in  Johnstone  Comity.  So  I  suppose  that  Thomas 
Hogg  (revolutionary  soldier)  was  born  before  1751. 

JoHx  Webb. 

John  Webb  was  a  delegate  from  the  iovni  of  Halifax 
to  the  Provincial  Assembly,  which  met  at  Hillsboro,  Au- 
gust 21,  1775.  He  married  Rebecca  Edwards  in  1776. 
He  died  at  Halifax  in  1781. 

Thomas  Hogg  (2)  mar.  the  widow  Webb  (this  lady 
I  suppose)  and  it  was  she  and  not  Mrs.  Ashe  (Wheeler's 
Hist.,  N.  C,  p.  186),  according  to  Dr.  Samuel  Hogg, 
who  replied  to  Colonel  Tarleton  Avhen  he  said  he  would 
be  happy  to  see  Colonel  Washington,  "If  you  had  looked 
behind  you  at  the  Battle  of  Cowpens,  Colonel  Tarleton, 
you  would  have  had  that  pleasure." 

Thomas  Hogg  (2), 

Son  of  Thomas  H.  (1),  was  one  of  four  brothers.  The 
others  were:  Richard  of  Richmond,  Va.,  lieutenant  in 
the  navy;  Captain  Samuel  H.  of  the  Revolutionary 
army,  and  Robert  Hogg.  Thomas  H.  was  1st  lieutenant 
of  tiie  first  regiment  raised  by  order  of  the  Provincial 
Assembly,  that  met  at  Hillsboro  August  21,  1775.  This 
regiment  was  under  Colonel  Moore.  Promoted  to  cap- 
taincy April  10, 1776.  Was  in  South  Carolina  latter  part 
of  1776  and  first  of  1777.  Was  with  Washington  at 
Trenton  in  July,  1777.  In  battle  of  Germantown  Octo- 
ber 4,  1777 ;  promoted  to  be  major  5th  regiment  October 
19,  1777;  wintered  at  Valley  Forge.  Joined  Lincoln 
in  1779  and  he  and  his  brother.  Captain  Sam'l  H.  were 
captured  when  Lincoln's  armv  surrendered  at  Charles- 
ton, S.  C,  on  May  12,  1780. 

Thomas  H.  lived  in  Halifax  (or  in  the  county)  1783-4, 
etc.     He  was  elected  by  the  Legislature  in  December, 


210  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAL.LEY 

1786,  one  of  the  commissioners  to  buy  tobacco  to  pay 
the  indebtedness  of  the  state. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Cincinnati.  Was 
a  member  of  the  Roj^al  White  Hart  Lodge,  F.  &  A.  M., 
at  Halifax.  The  last  meeting  he  attended  was  Septem- 
ber 14,  1787.  He  died  either  in  1789  or  1790.  He  left 
two  sons  Samuel  and  John  Baptist. 

He  received  from  the  state  of  North  Carolina  4,800 
acres  of  land  for  military  services.  This  land  was  lo- 
cated on  the  Big  Harpeth  River  in  Williamson  County, 
Tenn.  This  was  left  to  Sam'l,  John  B.  and  Elizabeth 
Hogg,  his  wife.  Before  November  1,  1805,  Elizabeth  H. 
married  Wm.  Killingsworth.  February  12,  1825,  Eliz- 
abeth Fisher,  of  Gribson  County,  Tenn.,  conveyed  to  her 
stepson,  Samuel  Hogg,  all  her  remaining  interest  in 
these  lands. 

Dr.  Samuel  Hogg 

Was  born  at  Halifax,  N.  C,  April  18,  1783.  His  father 
was  Thomas  Hogg;  his  mother  was  Rebecca  Edwards, 

widow  of = Webb.    His  mother  died.    His  father 

then  married  Elizabeth  His  father  died  be- 
fore 1790.  Samuel  was  educated  at  high  school  in  Cas- 
well County.  Probably  had  an  uncle  Samuel,  living  in 
Granville  County  who  was  his  guardian.  This  may 
have  been  Captain  Samuel  Hogg  of  1st  Va.  Regt.  (War 
of  Revolution).  For  a  short  time  had  charge  of  school 
for  boys.  Studied  medicine  under  Dr.  Hare,  whether  of 
Granville,  N.  C,  or  Dr.  Hare,  professor  in  Jefferson 
Medical  College,  University  of  Pennsylvania,  is  uncer- 
tain. He  came  to  Tennessee;  first  to  Gallatin,  where 
he  remained  a  few  months,  and  then  settled  in  Lebanon. 
He  married  April  1,  1806,  Polly  Talbot,  of  Naslmlle, 
Tenn.,  a  member  of  one  of  that  city's  oldest  families. 

He  was  one  of  the  commissioners  appointed  by  the 
General  Assembly  in  1807  for  the  regulation  of  the  town 
of  Lebanon.  He  was  surgeon  to  the  troops  that  descend- 
ed the  Mississippi  to  Natchez  in  1813,  and  was  in  the 
campaign  against  the  Creek  nation.  Went  with  the 
troops  to  New  Orleans  in  the  winter  of  1814,  and  was 
present  at  the  battle  of  January  8,  1815.     ''It  is  an  in- 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  211 

teresting  incident  in  his  life,"  saj^s  Dr.  Yandell,  "that 
as  he  was  about  rising  in  the  morning  whilst  the  servant 
was  handing  him  water  to  wash,  the  first  cannon  an- 
nounced the  opening  of  the  conflict,  and  the  servant  was 
killed  by  a  cannon  ball,  which  carried  away  his  head, 
scattering  the  brains  in  the  doctor's  face.  (Dr.  Y. 's  ac- 
count is  found  in  Western  Journal  of  Medical  Surgery 
in  Library  of  Nashville.) 

Dr.  Y.  says  Dr.  H.  was  at  one  time  a  member  of  the 
Legislature.  (I  do  not  find  his  name  on  the  journal,  but 
those  of  1806,  1807  and  1813  are  missing.)  He  was  a 
member  of  Congress  1817-1819. 

While  regularly  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medicine, 
he  was  for  a  number  of  years  one  of  the  proprietors  of 
a  drug  store  under  various  firm  names,  the  last  being 
that  of  Hogg  &  Young,  in  1833,  corner  of  Hendrick  and 
Public  Square.  James  Young  mar.  H. 's  wife's  sister, 
Ruth  Rebecca  Talbot. 

Dr.  Hogg  was  a  stanch  adherent  of  Andrew  Jackson. 
He  offered  the  resolutions  on  nullification  at  a  meeting 
in  Nashville  in  1832.  He  named  one  of  his  sons  Andrew 
Jackson  (born  August  20,  1825).  He  was  a  physician  at 
the  last  illness  of  Mrs.  Andrew  Jackson.  He  removed  to 
Naslmlle  in  1828  (southeast  corner  of  Cherry  now  Com- 
merce, where  his  son,  John  W.  was  born  May  13,  1828). 
Dr.  H.  removed  to  Natchez,  Miss.,  in  1836.  In  1838  was 
an  invalid  at  Tyree  Springs.  May  have  returned  to 
Nashville. 

April  5,  1842,  bought  224  acres  of  land  on  Nashville 
road  and  Stewart's  Creek  post-office,  then  Stewarts- 
boro,  near  now  Florence  and  Smyrna.  He  died  there 
on  his  farm  May  28,  1842.  He  was  buried  with  Masonic 
honors  in  the  city  cemetery  at  Nashville.  His  monument 
is  near  that  of  Gov'ernor  William  Carroll,  but  the  inscrip- 
tion is  almost  illegible.  Dr.  Hogg's  character  and  work 
is  given  in  Dr.  Yandell 's  accomit  of  his  life.  He  joined 
the  Baptist  church  in  1838.  The  degree  of  M.  D.  was 
conferred  upon  him  by  the  University  of  Maryland  in 
1818,  and  by  Transylvania  University  some  years  later. 
He  was  appointed  one  of  the  censors  for  Middle  Tennes- 
see b}^  the  Medical  Society  of  Tennessee  on  May  3,  1830. 
He  was  elected  president  of  this  society  in  1840. 


212  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

The  will  of  Samuel  Hogg  was  dated  April  27,  1842. 
Mrs.  Polly  Hogg  was  executrix  and  ''my  good  friends 
Joseph  H.  Talbot  and  Dr.  James  Young"  were  named  as 
executors. 

Mary  (Polly)  Talbot  was  born  January  22,  1786.  She 
died  at  the  residence  of  her  son-in-law,  Hon.  Allen  A. 
Hall  in  Nashville,  on  December  13,  1860. 

She  joined  the  Baptist  church  on  Sweetwater  by 
letter  on  the  fourth  Saturday  in  May,  1851.  Granted  a 
letter  of  dismission  the  fourth  Saturday  in  February, 
1858.  There  were  nine  children  of  Samuel  and  Mary 
Hogg,  three  daughters  and  six  sons.  Mary  Caroline  was 
the  third  daughter  and  third  child. 

Mary  Caroline  Hogg  Lenoir 

Was  born  at  Lebanon,  Tenn.,  on  Januaiy  18,  1812. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Mary  Talbot  Hogg. 

Samuel  Hogg  was  born  April  18,  1783.    Died . 

Mary  Talbot  was  born  January  22,  1786,  probably  at 
Nashville.  She  married  Dr.  Samuel  Hogg  April  1, 
1806.     She  died  April  1,  1860. 

In  the  early  thirties  Dr.  Hogg  became  financially  em- 
barrassed by  security  debts  and  moved  from  Nashville 
to  Natchez,  Miss.,  to  repair  his  broken  fortunes.  Before 
many  years,  however,  he  returned  to  Tennessee,  on  ac- 
count of  his  health,  and  settled  at  Stewartsboro  in 
Rutherford  County.  He  died  there  and  was  buried  in 
the  old  cemetery  at  Nashville. 

Mrs.  Lenoir,  when  she  and  her  husband  moved  to  this 
valley,  brought  with  her  her  piano,  which  was  hauled 
from  Nashville  across  the  mountains.  Fortmiately  care 
was  taken  and  it  was  uninjured  when  it  arrived.  It  was 
one  of  the  first,  if  not  the  first  piano  ever  brought  to 
Sweetwater  Valley.  She  was  very  accommodating  about 
playing  for  others  and  it  was  ver^''  diverting  to  witness 
the  delight  of  people  who  had  never  heard  such  an  in- 
strument. This  piano  had  what  was  called  an  Aeolian 
attachment  and  was  both  a  piano  and  a  reed  organ  and 
these  two  could  be  played  together. 

Although  she  was  reared  in  Nashville  and  accustomed 
to  city  life,  and  afterwards  to  aristocratic  society  in  the 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAULiEY  213 

wealthy  town  of  Natchez,  Miss.,  she  was  immensely  pop- 
ular with  all  classes  of  people  in  Monroe  County.  She 
came  nearer  treating  everybody  with  equal  considera- 
tion, whoever  they  were  or  wherever  she  might  be, 
than  any  one  I  have  ever  known.  I  never  learned  fully 
the  value  of  popularity,  as  an  asset,  until  the  turbulent 
times  of  the  Civil  War!  She  seemed  to  be  safe  in  person 
and  property,  even  from  the  most  ruffianly  of  those 
who  knew  her. 

Her  church  history  is  as  follows :  When  a  young  wo- 
man she  was  received  by  baptism  into  the  First  Baptist 
Church  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  of  which  R.  B.  C.  Howell 
was  pastor.  On  the  fourth  Saturday  in  January,  1848, 
she  was  received  by  letter  into  the  Baptist  church  on 
Sweetwater.  On  the  first  Saturday  of  August,  1860, 
when  the  Baptist  church  at  Sweetwater  was  organized, 
she  presented  her  letter  from  the  Cleveland  Baptist 
Church  and  was  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church  in 
Sweetwater  until  the  time  of  her  death.  She  died  at 
her  then  residence,  in  Sweetwater,  on  April  11, 1877.  We 
make  this  short  extract  from  the  minutes  of  the  church : 
''She  evinced  a  deep  interest  in  the  youth  of  the  com- 
munity and  her  house  was  ever  open  for  their  enter- 
tainment when  they  desired  to  meet  for  innocent  social 
amusement  and  recreation.  The  poor  too,  found  in  her, 
an  abiding  friend — no  needy  creature  (whether  deserv- 
ing or  not)  was  ever  sent  away  from  her  door  without 
relief.  She  was  a  lady  of  easy  circumstances  and  was 
therefore  enabled  to  gratify  the  desire  of  her  heart  in 
contributing  to  the  support  of  the  church  at  home  and 
in  sending  the  Gospel  to  regions  abroad." 

On  her  tombstone  in  the  old  Sweetwater  Cemetery  is 
this  inscription :  ''Baptist  in  faith ;  all  creeds  in  charity; 
she  spent  her  life  in  giving."  The  word  "charity"  was 
here  used  in  its  broadest  sense,  meaning  that  in  her 
conduct  towards  others  she  made  little  or  no  difference 
as  to  their  denominational  faith,  and  by  "gi\'ing"  is 
also  meant,  not  only  of  money  and  means,  but  by  doing 
everything  in  her  power  for  the  happiness  of  others. 
No  trouble  was  considered  too  great  for  their  gratifica- 
tion. 

The  children  of  I.  T.  and  M.  C.  Lenoir  were :    William 


214  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Ballard  Lenoir,  born  June  16,  1847.  Samuel  Hogg  Le- 
noir, born  December  27,  1850;  died  of  scarlet  fever 
Mav  19,  1854;  buried  in  the  Lenoir  Cemetery,  Lenoir 
City. 

Something  About  the  Author. 

I  was  born  and  reared  in  poor  little  Sweetwater  Valley,  in  "God- 
forsaken" East  Tennessee.  I  did  not  have  anything  to  amuse  myself 
with  in  my  youth  except  fire-crackers,  tops,  kites,  marbles,  balls,  blow- 
guns,  bows  and  arrows,  red  wagons,  toy  cannons,  fiddles,  banjoes, 
horns,  dogs,  ponies,  guns,  hunting,  fishing,  pet  coons  and  squirrels, 
pigeons  and  other  birds  and  wild  animals.  Some  of  them  were  some- 
times ousted  or  slaughtered  for  malfeasance,  but  I  always  found  others, 
I  never  had  any  goodies  except  cake,  pie,  preserves,  candy,  custard, 
lemonade,  peaches,  apples,  strawberries,  watermelons,  muskmelons, 
canteloupes  and  peanuts.  I  never  saw  a  railroad  until  I  was  five  years 
of  age,  and  never  visited  Washington  and  New  York  until  I  was 
eleven,  and  I  never  went  to  Europe  at  all.  I  never  took  a  joy^-ride 
in  an  automobile  or  sailed  the  air  in  an  aeroplane,  and  never  got  to 
go  to  the  movies.  My  father  used  to  read  to  me  about  Moses  and  the 
Hebrew  children;  General  Zach  Taylor  at  Buena  Vista;  Milton  about 
the  war  in  heaven;  Virgil  about  Aeneas  and  Dido;  Cowper  about  John 
Gilpin's  ride,  and  also  parts  of  some  plays  of  Shakespeare.  I  liked 
Macbeth,  Julius  Caesar  and  the  Tempest,  but  I  did  not  take  to  Ham- 
let, Othello  and  King  Lear,  although  this  last  was  my  mother's 
favorite  Shakespearian  play.  I  never  got  to  read  fairy  tales  and  wild 
Western  scenes  until  I  was  ten,  nor  Robinson  Crusoe  till  eleven,  nor 
Cobb  and  E.  D.  E.  N.  Southworth  until  twelve,  nor  Scott  until  I  was 
thirteen. 

When  sixteen  I  wanted  to  join  the  rebels.  My  father  thought  I 
would  make  a  better  plowman  than  a  warrior,  so  in  the  summer  of 
1863  he  put  me  to  plowing  in  a  stumpy  new  ground  near  the  Fine 
schoolhouse.  There  was  an  epidemic  of  smallpox  that  summer  in 
the  town  and  the  schoolhouse  was  used  as  a  hospital  for  the  g'irls 
and  ladies  of  the  town  who  took  the  disease.  When  plowing  grew 
wearisome  I  would  talk  to  the  convalescing  patients. 

Mr.  Guggenkutzenscheitpkeheimer,  late  of  Germany,  then  of  th6 
Federal  army,  got  the  benefit  of  part  of  my  summer's  work.  I  soon 
became  very  fond  of  him.  I  was  much  touched  with  the  kind  and 
cultured  method  of  his  appropriations.  I  so  »much  admired,  too,  the 
nobility  of  soul  that  caused  him  to  travel  three  thousand  miles  across 
the  Atlantic  to  fight  for  the  "old  flag"  and  save  our  distracted  coun- 
try from  dissolution.  How  unselfish  of  him,  also,  in  times  of  peace 
on  Sunday  afternoons  to  repair  to  the  hilltops  of  our  great  cities  and 
do  his  very  best  to  "make  Milwaukee  famous"! 

My  father,  to  post  me  politically,  used  to  take  me  to  hear  such 
speakers  as  T.  A.  R.  Nelson,  Haynes,  Maynard,  Temple,  Brownlow, 
Bailey  Peyton,  Harris,  Johnson,  Hatton,  Ben  Hill,  Zeb  Vance,  Bill 
Polk  and  John  Hopkins,  and  he  expected  me  to  tell  him  what  I  thought 
of  the  speeches  and  why. 

I  was  taken  by  my  mother  to  hear  preachers  of  all  denominations, 
but  sometimes,  for  fear  I  should  be  led  away  by  any  false  doctrines, 
she  would  exhort  me  to  particularly  read  the  sixth  chapter  of  Romans 
and  about  Philip  and  the  eunuch  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 


HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAUjEY  215 

One  sad  mistake  my  parents  made  in  my  bringing  up  was  that, 
when  I  attempted  versification,  they  encouraged  ratlier  than  dis- 
couraged me.  You  may  possibly,  but  not  probably,  imagine  my  pride 
when,  at  the  age  of  nine  years,  three  months  and  two  weeks,  I  be- 
came the  author  of  these  lines: 

"I  had  a  little  dog  not  as  big  as  a  hog, 

The  only  name  he  had  was  'pup'; 
He  rold  over  and  chast  his  tail, 

Also  laid  down  and  then  jumpt  up." 

This  is  the  unexpurgated  edition.  It  was  very  much  expurgated 
after  my  mother  was  through  with  it.  However,  I  stuck  to  my  original 
version.  No  poet  worthy  of  the  nam  e  will  change  his  loveliest  creations 
when  criticised  by  any  one,  however  respected.  Afterward  in  my 
callow  youth  when  I  fell  in  love  I  used  to  write  rhymes  to  the  loved 
ones.  It  was  always  a  mystery  to  me  that  while  they  liked  my  poetry 
fairly  well  they  never  loved  the  poet.  But  for  this  fatal  error  I 
might  have  married  and  lived  happily  ever  afterward. 

My  school  teachers  were  J.  J.  Sheldon,  G.  L..  Leyburn,  Oscar  W. 
Muller,  Mrs.  Cooke,  Alfred  W.  Wilson  and  the  professors  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia. 

These  prepared  me  for  writing  about  the  inhabitants  of  Sweet- 
water Valley.  Had  I  been  so  fortunate  as  to  get  an  education  out  of 
the  spelling  book  and  dictionary  by  a  pine  knot  fire  I  might  have 
written  histories  of  such  worthies  as  Chester  Arthur,  Dick  Croker 
and  Mark  Hanna.  But  I  will  leave  them  for  others  and  write  pf 
the  people  I  know  most  about. 

With  all  my  faults  in  a  varied  career  I  cannot  truly  say  that  I 
have  a  great  many  regrets.  I  do  not  regret  that  I  spent  time  and 
money  to  hear  such  violinists  as  Ole  Bull,  Camille  Urso  and  Musin; 
such  singers  as  Neilson,  Gerster,  Kellogg,  Campanini  and  Carey; 
such  actors  and  actresses  as  Booth,  Barrett,  Salvini,  Forest,  Jeffer- 
son, Bernhardt,  Davenport  and  Maude  Adams;  such  orchestras  as 
Thomas  and  Damrosh's;  such  bands  as  the  Seventh  Regiment,  Mexi- 
can, Gilmore's  and  Sousa's;  nor  do  I  regret  th.e  money  I  spent  in 
travel. 

I  do  regret  that  I  ever  gambled  in  any  way,  spent  money  for 
whiskey,  or  subscribed  to  party  campaign  funds  and  did  not  take 
more  pains  to  find  out  and  relieve  the  sufferings  of  humanity.  Nor 
do  I  regret  what  I  have  spent  in  hospitality  or  for  the  pleasure 
of  my  friends. 

I  am  proud  of  the  fact  that  since  I  grew  up  I  have  never  spoken 
a  harsh  word  nor  done  an  unkind  act  to  a  child  in  my  life. 

As  TO  Slaves  in  Sweetwater  Valley. 

A  history  of  this  section  would  not  be  complete  with- 
out some  reference  to  the  status  of  the  slaves  from  1820 
to  the  time  of  their  emancipation. 

Nearly  all  the  well-to-do  farmers  owning  as  much  as 
a  quarter  or  two-quafter  sections  of  land  also  owned 
some  slaves.  They  were  not  dependent  entirely  on  slaves 
for  their  labor,  for  most  of  them  supplemented  their 


216  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

work  with  hired  wiiite  labor.  Very  few  of  them  had 
overseers,  therefore  the  condition  of  slaves  were  better 
and  more  endurable  than  those  of  the  cotton  and  sugar 
planters,  owned  in  large  numbers  farther  south.  The 
owners  themselves  were  more  personally  interested  in 
the  welfare  of  their  slaves.  The  slaves  had  more  privi- 
leges and  were  better  satisfied  than  those  of  the  cotton 
and  sugar  belts.  The  majority  of  the  slave  owners,  un- 
less in  extra  busy  seasons,  gave  their  negroes  a  half 
holiday  on  each  Saturday,  and  most  of  the  negro  fam- 
ilies had  their  own  patches  planted  in  melons  or  what- 
ever they  desired,  to  be  sold  by  them  for  their  own  bene- 
fit, and  they  were  encouraged  to  work  them  on  half  Sat- 
urcla^^s  and  other  odd  times.  The  negroes  spent  the 
money  thus  obtained  mostly  on  "Sunday"  clothes — they 
were  very  fond  of  dressing  up,  going  to  church  and  vis- 
iting on  Sunday.  They  were  often  allowed  to  take  young 
horses,  which  were  not  at  work  during  the  week,  and 
ride  them  during  Sunday.  This  privilege  was  given  to 
those  who  were  more  familiar  with  the  care  of  young 
stock.  Sometimes,  also,  they  were  permitted  to  take  the 
work  horses  in  a  two-horse  wagon  and  visit  or  go  to 
church.  It  was  a  custom  among  the  owners  of  the 
slaves,  which  was  almost  universally  observed,  to  give 
the  darkies  a  full  week's  holiday  from  Christmas  to 
New  Year's  Day,  they  having  to  do  during  that  period 
only  such  work  as  was  absolutely  necessary.  This  week 
they  spent  mostly  in  music,  in  visiting  and  in  dancing. 
The  dancing  consisted  of  reels,  danced  singly  and  in 
couples,  cake-walks,  with  an  occasional  square  dance — 
this  latter  imitated  from  the  whites.  It  was  considered 
quite  a  feat  for  a  darkey  to  get  up  a  new  step  for  a  reel, 
and  the  one  doing  so  was  as  proud  of  it  as  if  he  had  in- 
vented a  flying  machine.  Tlie  musical  instruments  used 
in  their  dances  consisted  of  fiddles,  banjoes  and  bones. 
The  latter  accomplishment  is  not  so  simple  as  it  appears 
at  first  glance,  and  there  were  bone  artists  as  well  as 
fiddle  and  banjo  artists.  A  good  fiddler  was  a  very  noted 
and  important  character  among  the  negroes,  and  when 
he  was  skillful  enough  to  play  for  the  white  folk's  dances 
he  w^as  inordinately  proud.  The  music  executed  by  the 
negroes  was  by  ear — they  had  no  use  for  notes.    Their 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VA1,LEY  217 

range  was  only  about  two  and  one-half  octaves  and  very 
few  of  them  practised  shifts  on  the  violin.  The  fiddlers 
and  banjo  pickers  sometimes,  in  addition  to  reels, 
learned  schottisches  and  some  other  kinds  of  music  from 
hearing  the  white  folks  play  on  the  piano.  The  planta- 
tion which  had  a  good  fiddler  or  banjo  picker  on  it  was 
considered  particularly  fortunate — they  did  not  have 
to  wait  for  the  holidays  to  have  their  dances  and  walk- 
arounds.  However,  when  fiddlers  were  scarce  they  ex- 
ecuted their  dance  steps  to  the  patting  of  their  hands, 
called  "juba."  Where  there  were  as  many  as  ten  or 
twelve  negroes  on  a  plantation  hardly  a  night  passed  that 
there  was  not  some  form  of  music  and  dancing. 

The  negroes  also  had  many  weird  songs,  some  of 
which  I  could  never  figure  out  whence  they  came,  unless 
a  survival  handed  down  from  their  African  ancestry. 
The  negro  ear  seems  to  take  particularly  to  minors  and 
if  they  heard  an  air  in  the  major  key  they  often  hummed 
or  sang  it  in  the  minor.  Unless  the  negroes  were  allowed 
some  form  of  amusement  they  were  very  liable  to  be 
running  around  of  nights  and  getting  into  some  sort  of 
mischief,  and,  as  they  sometimes  observed,  get  ''to  plot- 
ting against  the  whites." 

The  negroes  were  perfect  timists,  and  in  a  strain  of 
music  it  was  rare  for  them  to  put  in  too  many  or  too  few 
bars.  Some  of  the  quips  and  turns  in  their  playing 
would  have  done  credit  to  an  artist. 


Home  Life  of  W.  B.  Lenoir,  Jr. 

My  father,  I.  T.  L.,  was  not  an  advocate  of  starting 
children  to  school  at  very  early  age.  They  had  things 
to  learn  of  as  much  importance  he  said  as  spelling  and 
arithmetic  and  far  more  interesting.  My  father  used 
to  take  me  with  him  about  the  farm  and  in  the  wood- 
lands. He  taught  me  the  names  of  the  different  wild 
flowers,  to  distinguish  the  different  kinds  of  trees  by 
their  leaves  and  bark,  and  what  uses  they  could  be  put 
to.  To  observe  and  tell  the  various  kinds  of  oak  in 
Sweetwater  Valley  was  a  liberal  education  in  itself. 
On  his  own  farm  there  were  these  and  more  kinds  of 
oak:   black,  red,  chestnut,  Spanish,  spotted,  post,  white, 


218  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

willow  and  others ;  of  course  it  was  easy  to  tell  the  pop- 
lar tree  when  once  pointed  out  or  the  walnut.  It  was 
not  so  easy  to  point  out  the  different  kinds  of  maple, — 
long  before  I  could  read  I  took  pride  in  knowing  the 
many  kinds  of  trees  in  the  valley,  and  was  very  much 
chagrinned  when  I  made  a  mistake.  He  also  told  me 
particularly  what  weeds  were  most  hurtful  to  the  crops 
and  what  was  the  best  method  to  destroy  them.  He 
taught  me  as  an  amusement  chess,  checkers  and  back- 
gammon: My  mother  and  father  both  taught  me  music 
and  I  had  a  supplemental  education  from  the  negroes  on 
the  fiddle  and  banjo.  I  used  to  own  a  dog  that  could 
with  difficulty  be  kept  out  of  the  house  when  my  mother 
was  playing  on  the  piano,  but  he  liked  lively  music  and 
did  not  take  to  the  classical  or  solemn.  I  used  to  get 
insulted  with  him  because  he  did  not  seem  to  care  for 
the  fiddle.  I  thought  he  was  exhibiting  very  poor  taste. 
However,  he  was  too  polite  to  howl  but  just  went  away. 
My  father  did  not  like  cards  or  any  game  of  chance 
and  when  I  got  the  best  of  him  after  a  few  years'  train- 
ing in  chess  and  checkers  he  rather  lost  interest  in  these 
games.  My  mother  never  played  a  game  of  any  kind, 
not  on  account  of  conscientious  scruples  but  because  she 
had  no  fondness  for  them  and  never  learned  them.  I 
am  not  making  an  argument  that  it  is  the  proper  way  to 
rear  a  boy  to  teach  him  games  and  music,  but  I  do  say 
that  I  could  have  a  better  time  at  home  as  a  usual  thing 
than  I  could  away  from  home. 

Facts  About  Hiwassee  and  East  Tennessee  and 
Ga.  K.  R. 

In  the  history  of  General  James  H.  Reagan  it  is  re- 
lated somewhat  in  detail  how,  when  he  was  a  member 
of  the  General  Assemlby  in  1836,  a  charter  of  an  incor- 
poration was  obtained  for  the  Hiwassee  Railroad  Co., 
for  constructing  a  railroad  through  the  Hiwassee  dis- 
trict to  the  Southern  boundary  of  the  state;  how  the 
construction  was  commenced  in  1837  and  how  in  1848 
the  charter  was  renewed  under  the  name  of  East  Ten- 
nessee and  Georgia  Railroad  Co.,  and  something  of  how 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  state    under    the    general 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  219 

head  of  Improvement  Acts  assisted  in  the  construction 
of  the  railroad  through  our  section. 

In  the  Senate  of  1846,  Hon.  I.  T.  Lenoir,  then  of  Roane 
County,  in  a  speech  on  the  resolution  directing  the  gov- 
ernor to  issue  the  bonds  of  the  state,  claimed  to  be  due 
the  Hiwassee  Railroad  Co.,  in  which,  among  other  things, 
he  says: 

' '  The  Hiwassee  railroad,  with  the  exception  of  about 
three  miles,  is  graded  from  Blair's  Ferry  on  the  Tennes- 
see River  to  the  Georgia  line,  within  twelve  or  fifteen 
miles  of  the  place  to  which  the  Georgia  Legislature  has 
already  made  provision  for  completing  the  Western  and 
Atlantic  Railroad.  A  splendid  bridge  has  been  built 
across  the  Hiwassee;  abutments  and  culverts  have  been 
made  at  the  crossings  of  the  creeks  and  branches,  and 
the  road  might  very  soon,  at  comparatively  small  ex- 
pense, be  completed. ' '  And  he  further  states :  ' '  Many 
of  the  goods  for  East  Tennessee  are  now  sent  by  the 
southern  route,  brought  on  the  Georgia  railroad  to  its 
terminus,  and  hauled  right  along  the  Hiwassee  railroad 
grade  in  wagons.  When  the  road  is  completed,  almost 
all  the  goods  for  East  Tennessee  will  pass  over  it;  and 
large  quantities  of  produce  will  in  return  be  sent  back 
upon  it." 

Thus,  had  the  governor  and  others  in  whom  the  au- 
thority was  vested  refused  to  issue  to  the  Hiwassee  R.  R. 
or  its  successors,  the  East  Tennessee  R.  R.,  the  bonds 
the  whole  work  done  would  likely  have  been  lost  for  want 
of  capital  to  equip  the  railroad.  There  was,  too,  consid- 
erable opposition  in  the  Legislature  and  many  parts  of 
the  state  to  further  bonding  the  state  for  this  road.  Some 
were  actuated  no  doubt  by  selfish  motives,  and  others 
for  what  they  thought  good  reasons. 

Mr.  John  Martin  in  a  letter  from  Memphis,  January 
16,  1846,  the  Hon.  I.  T.  Lenoir's  brother-in-law,  advised 
him  to  oppose  the  further  issuance  of  state  bonds  of  Hi- 
wassee R.  R.,  among  other  things  he  (Martin)  said: 

"In  the  first  place  the  expenditure  that  it  will  require 
to  fuiish  can  be  much  better  appropriated  by  improving 
the  river,  the  improvement  of  the  river  will  be  a  much 
better  improvement  for  all  of  East  Tennessee  than  the 
road.     You  can  take  this  argument  in  all  its  leanings 


220  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALiiEY 

and  see  if  it  is  not  correct ;  say  that  the  river  was  navi- 
gable from  Chattanooga  to  Knoxville  for  steam  boats, 
the  imports  could  be  carried  up  the  river  much  cheaper 
than  on  the  road ;  while  the  river  to  take  off  the  produce 
would  be  infinitely  cheaper.  It  is  clear  that  the  river  is 
tributary  to  the  whole  of  East  Tennessee,  while  the  road 
would  be  partial  in  its  benefits.  The  annual  saving  by 
the  river  instead  of  road  transportation  would  be  a  great 
saving  and  consequently  enrich  the  country.  This  is  my 
candid  view  if  the  road  could  be  completed  for  nothing, 
and  the  improvement  of  the  river  would  cost  $500,000. 
It  would  be  economy  in  the  east  end  of  the  state  to  im- 
prove the  river  and  abandon  the  road." 

The  Athens  Post  at  the  time  of  its  first  publication, 
September  30,  1848,  was  the  only  paper  so  far  as  I  am 
aware  published  between  Knoxville  and  Chattanooga. 
From  its  columns,  many  of  whose  numbers  were  pre- 
served by  I.  T.  Lenoir  for  a  number  of  years,  we  glean 
the  following: 

January  5,  1849. — Proceedings  of  stockholders  E.  T. 
G.  B.  R. :  P.  S.  Heiskell,  chairman ;  Jno.  L.  Hunt,  secre- 
tary. The  stockholders  went  into  an  election  of  direc- 
tors for  the  year  1849,  when  the  following  gentlemen 
were  elected,  viz:  Kjiox — Thos.  C.  Lyons,  C.  AVallace. 
Monroe — I.  T.  Lenoir,  Jno.  Stanfield.  McMinn — T.  Nix- 
on Vandyke,  A.  D.  Keyes,  W.  F.  Keith,  R.  C.  Morris. 
Bradley — Wm.  Grant. 

At  that  meeting  a  contract  with  Duff  Green  was  en- 
tered into  to  build  a  railroad  from  Dalton  to  Knoxville. 

The  state  directors  appointed  by  the  Governor  for 
East  Tennessee  and  Georgia  R.  R.  for  the  year  1849 
are:  Jno.  C.  Gaut,  S.  A.  Smith,  J.  C.  Carlock,  Jno. 
Hughes,  Wm.  Heiskell,  J.  G.  M.  Ramsey,  S.  B.  Boyd, 
Jos.  Jackson,  Jno.  Jarnagin. 

*  *  *  Persons  along  the  line  of  railroad  are  notified 
by  A.  D.  Keyes,  president,  to  remove  obstructions  from 
right  of  way.   *  *  *  * 

From  ''Dalton  Eagle"  June  12th.  Account  of  ground 
broken  at  the  Southern  Terminal  of  E.  T.  &  G.  R.  R.  and 
ceremonies  on  that  occasion. 

Communication  from  A.  D.  Keyes  of  August  23rd. 
R.  R.  has  succeeded  in  closing  a  contract  with  Messrs. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  221 

Bailey  &.  Co.,  of  England,  for  8,000  tons  of  best  quality 
Welsh  iron  improved  pattern  of  the  T  rail  to  weigh 
about  57  pounds  per  lineal  yard.  Have  also  made  ar- 
rangements for  chairs  and  spikes,  locomotives,  passenger 
cars  and  other  necessary  appendages  for  furnishing  and 
putting  the  road  in  operation  at  an  early  date  to  the 
Tennessee  River. 

September  27,  1850. — News  has  been  received  from 
England  that  the  first  thousand  tons  of  iron  rails  for 
this  road  were  shipped  on  the  17th  of  August  and  that 
two  thousand  more  were  manufactured  and  ready  for 
shipment. 

On  October  25th.  Acts  of  Georgia  and  Tennessee  leg- 
islatures published  authorizing  East  Tennessee  and  W. 
&  A.  R.  R.  to  complete  lines  to  junction  and  granting 
certain  other  privileges. 

Call  on  the  stockholders  for  $12.50  a  share  of  all  un- 
paid stock  November  22,  1850. 

January,  1851. — Meeting  called  for  January.  R.  C. 
Jackson,  secretary  and  treasurer.  Notice  signed  by  A. 
D.  Keyes  in  the  Post  May  2nd,  in  which  he  says:  ''I 
have  received  a  requisition  dated  April  24th  signed  by 
Messrs.  Lyon  Crozier  and  Wm.  Lenoir  directors,  requir- 
ing me  to  convene  the  board  of  directors  E.  T.  &  G.  R.  R. 
Co.  the  third  Monday  of  May  for  a  purpose  of  review- 
ing action  of  the  board  in  establishing  shops  for  repair- 
ing engines,  etc.,  meeting  so  called  May  19th. 

May  23rd. — At  the  said  meeting  of  the  directors  at 
Athens,  the  permanent  machine  shops  were  located  at 
Athens. 

lyins  says  referring  to  this:  "McMinn  has  borne  the 
brunt  and  burden  of  the  contest  (meaning  a  fight  for  the 
railroad)  from  first  to  last.  Her  citizens  have  suffered 
more  and  bled  freer  and  there  is  no  cause  for  any  preju- 
dice  a'-''ainst  us.'' 

Nov?  7th.— Call  on  E.  T.  &  G.  R.  R.  stockholders 
$12.50  on  each  share  of  stock  by  E.  D.  Ke^^es,  president. 

From  Athens  Post  for  the  vear  1852,  March  26th. 
Call  by  Thos.  H.  Calloway,  president  E.  T.  &  G.  R.  R 
$5.00  per  share  for  stock. 

From  the  best  information  obtainable  it  is  probable 
that  the  track  laving  of  the  E.  T.  &   G.   R.   R.   reached 


222  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Sweetwater  about  April  1,  1852.  A  place  for  the  ''Y" 
to  be  used  as  a  turn-table  had  already  been  graded.  It 
occupied  the  place  about  where  the  circle  of  the  north- 
east fountain  now  stands. 

Tlie  depot  also  was  under  course  of  construction  in 
anticipation  of  the  arrival  of  the  railroad.  This  build- 
ing as  I  remember  it  was  about  40x100  feet  or  more.  This 
was  considered  a  good  sized  depot  for  a  place  which 
was  then  only  a  dot  on  the  map.  Philadelphia  had  been 
a  town  then  a  number  of  years,  Loudon  was  then  known 
by  the  name  of  Blair's  Ferry. 

Mr.  W.  P.  Jones,  of  Pond  Creek  Valley  thinks  that  the 
laying  of  the  track  to  Loudon  proceeded  at  about  the 
rate  of  1-4  mile  per  day;  that  being  the  case  the  track 
laying  must  have  reached  the  river  near  Blair's  Ferry 
the  latter  part  of  May. 

I  find  in  the  Athens  Post  of  August  10,  1852,  the  fol- 
lowing schedule : 

Up  Train  P.  M. 

Leave  Dalton  at 2 :30 

Varnell's    2 :57 

Red  Clay    3:15 

Blue  Spring 3 :42 

Cleveland 3:54 

Charleston   4 :30 

Riceville    4 :51 

Athens    5 :15 

Mouse  Creek  5 :35 

Sweetwater    5 :57 

Philadelphia    6 :15 

Arrive  at  Loudon 6 :35 

Down  Train  A.  M. 

Leave  Loudon 4 :00 

Philadelphia    4:21 

Sweetwater 4:59 

Mouse  Creek  5 :03 

Athens    5 :21 

Riceville    5 :45 

Charleston    6 :06 

Cleveland   6:42 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  223 

Blue  Spring 6 :54 

Red  Clay    3:15 

Varnell's    8 :03 

Arrive  at  Dalton  8 :30 

Thomas  H.  Calloway,  president.  (July  23,  1852.) 
The  railroad  depot  at  Philadelphia  was  larger  than 
the  depot  at  Sweetwater  and  was  built  about  the  same 
time  as  the  depot  at  Sweetwater.  The  depot  at  Sweet- 
water was  burned  hj  General  Wheeler  during  the  raid 
in  1864  on  account  of  Federal  supplies  being  contained 
in  it. 

The  Loudon  depot  was  first  built  at  the  riverside,  a 
steep  grade  running  down  at  the  river  from  the  railroad. 
The  depot  at  the  present  location  was  not  built  until  after 
the  railroad  bridge  was  finished  at  Loudon. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  note  the  following  tables  taken 
from  the  Loudon  Free  Press  Saturday,  January  15, 
1853: 

"We  have  been  kindly  furnished  by  Mr.  Pritchard, 
chief  engineer,  with  the  following  table  of  elevations  of 
various  points  upon  the  line  of  the  E.  T.  &  G.  R.  R.  above 
the  level  of  the  sea : 

Dalton,  Ga 771  Ft. 

Varnell's   828  " 

Tennessee  Line     837  " 

Cleveland    778  ' ' 

Charleston    718  ' ' 

Low  water,  Hiwassee  River 684  ' ' 

Athens   993  " 

Mouse  Creek  Summit 1,023  " 

Sweetwater     '. 920  ' ' 

Philadelphia     871  ' ' 

Loudon    814  ' ' 

Low  Waters  of  the  Tennessee  River 738  ' ' 

Lenoirs    786  ' ' 

Summit  of  Knox  and  Roane  Line 882  '^ 

Turkey  Creek   809  * ' 

Water  of  Do 778  * ' 

Stones    834  " 

HeiskelPs    898  '' 


224  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAL,LEY 

McClellan's  Summit    972  ** 

AVater  of  Second  Creek 870  '* 

Knoxville 898'' 

The  Fiest  Plan  of  the  Town  of  Sweetwateb 

Was  laid  off  by  I.  T.  Lenoir  entirely  on  his  own  land. 
This  was  a  part  of  the  northeast  quarter  of  section  2, 
township  3,  range  1,  east  of  the  basis  line.  The  land 
that  was  included  was  as  follows : 

Commencing  at  a  point  in  the  centre  of  the  E.  T.  & 
Ga.  Railroad  track  perpendicularly  above  the  north  bank 
of  Sweetwater  Creek;  thence  down  the  creek  along  the 
bank  to  Daniel  Heiskell's  line;  thence  north  with  Heis- 
kell's  line  to  the  naiddle  of  the  Fork  Creek  Road;  thence 
along  Biggs'  and  Mayes'  line  crossing  the  railroad  west 
to  the  Pond  Creek  Road;  thence  southeastwardly  with 
that  road  to  Monroe  and  High  streets  and  the  Athens 
Road;  thence  with  the  east  side  of  that  road  190  feet 

to  a  point  on  the  south  side  of street;  thence 

in  a  direction  parallel  to  Monroe  Street  southeasterly 
to  Depot  Street  and  the  railroad  lot;  thence  with  that 
plot  southwestwardly  to  corner  of  the  same ;  then  at  a 
right  angle  with  the  line  of  railroad  plot  southeasterly  to 
the  centre  of  the  creek  directly  under  the  middle  of  the 
railroad  track ;  thence  to  the  point  of  beginning. 

The  Plan  of  the  Steeets. 

The  streets  in  the  first  plan  of  the  town  ran  parallel 
and  at  right  angles  to  the  general  direction  of  the  rail- 
way tract  through  the  railroad  plot,  except  Monroe 
Street.  This  last  named  street  starting  at  the  creek  next 
to  the  bridge  and  Heiskell's  line  ran  directly  west  to  the 
railroad  track,  thence  in  a  southwesterly  direction  the 
same  as  the  other  streets  in  the  plan  of  the  town.  It 
w^as  66  feet  wide.  Most  of  the  other  streets  were  from 
30  to  33  feet  wide.  The  street  on  the  east  side  of  the 
railroad  was  called  Railroad  Street.  That  on  the  depot 
side  of  the  railroad  was  named  Depot  Street.  The  next 
street  west,  running  parallel  with  the  railroad,  was  Oak 
Street,  then  High  east  of  the  Female  College.  Com- 
mencing at  Monroe  Street  and  going  northeast  the  first 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  225 

street  is  Wright,  then  Wahmt,  then  Morris  running  by 
the  Trust  and  Savings  Bank. 

In  this  first  plan  of  the  town  of  Sweetwater  I.  T.  Le^ 
noir  laid  off  65  lots.  Those  fronting  on  Depot  Street 
were  intended  and  sold  for  business  houses.  The  num- 
bering of  the  lots  was  commenced  on  the  corner  of  Oak 
and  Morris.  Number  one  was  the  lot  now  occupied  by 
the  J.  A.  Miller  residence  and  the  numbers  ran  south- 
westerly along  Oak  Street  to  twelve  inclusive.  Then 
from  fifteen  across  from  the  Beard  residence  and  going 
to  twenty-eight  northwardly  along  Depot  Street  to  the 
post-office  lot  inclusive. 

The  number  of  the  lots  in  the  Lenoir  tract  were  about 
equal  on  each  side  of  the  railroad. 

The  first  recorded  sale  of  anv  lot  is  that  to  N.  W.  Haun 
and  William  Stakely  on  the  14th  of  May,  1852.  The 
number  of  the  lot  was  18  and  was  the  location  now  oc- 
cupied by  the  Sweetwater  Pharmacy,  the  Ledbetter  Store 
and  the  Cunningham  Jewelry  Store.  It  was  80  feet  front 
on  Depot  Street,  sometimes  incorrectly  called  Main 
Street.  The  next  sale  was  on  September  30,  1852,  to 
AYilson  Parker  of  lots  Nos.  11,  12,  15  and  16.  These  lots 
were  located  between  the  Sweetwater  Hotel  lot  and  the 
Sweetwater  Creek,  two  of  them  fronting  on  Depot 
Street. 

In  about  1854  J.  C.  Vaughn  purchased  the  property 
now  occupied  by  the  Hyatt  Hotel  and  built  a  hotel  and 
storehouse,  and  he  resided  there  with  his  family  until 
about  the  time  of  the  Federal  occupation  of  this  country 
in  1863.  The  majority  of  these  lots  owned  by  I.  T.  Le- 
noir were  sold  previous  to  1860,  though  in  many  in- 
stances deeds  were  not  made  for  several  3^ears  later  on. 
He  took  great  pains  to  sell  only  to  those  persons  whom 
he  knew  to  be  responsible  business  men  and  good  cit- 
izens, and  some  were  sold  with  the  proviso  that  no  whis- 
key or  intoxicants  were  to  be  sold  on  them. 

From  the  country  around  came  the  Pattons,  Rowans, 
Taylors,  Robert  and  Bates  Carter,  the  former  of  whom 
afterwards  went  to  Texas.  From  Madisonville  came 
S.  Y.  B.  Williams,  William  McClimg,  Robert  and  Ander- 
son Humphrey,  the  Clarks  and  James  A.  Wright,  the 
last  named  beins:   in   business   with   James    A.    Coffin. 


226  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

From  Philadelphia  came  John  W.  Goddard,  Frank  Bo- 
gart  and  Charles  Cannon.  Gr.  G.  Stillmann  and  J.  J.  Shel- 
don came  here  f iom  New  York,  and  resided  at  this  place 
to  the  time  of  their  deaths.  Thus  the  town  of  Sweet- 
water not  only  became  noted  on  account  of  its  location, 
but  for  the  high  class  of  its  citizens.  Names  here  men- 
tioned are  such  as  I  recall  to  my  mind  at  present — otherg 
moved  here  who  made  equally  as  good  citizens. 

Walter  Franklin  Lenoir, 

Son  of  William  Ballard  and  Elizabeth  Avery  Lenoir, 
of  Lenoirs,  Tenn.,  was  born  November  21,  1816.  He 
died  September  1,  1878.  He  first  married  Elizabeth 
Campbell  Goddard,  daughter  of  T.  C.  Goddard  of  Coun- 
ty Line,  Monroe  County,  on  November  16,  1841.  She 
w^as  born  April  2,  1821.     She  died  January  10,  1855. 

When  a  young  man  he  entered  into  the  mercantile 
business  with  his  brother,  I.  T.  Lenoir,  at  Lenoirs.  About 
the  time  of  his  first  marriage  he  came  to  Philadelphia, 
Tenn.,  and  purchased  land  there.  In  1853  and  1854,  ac- 
cording to  advertisements  in  the  Loudon  Free  Press,  he 
was  in  the  mercantile  business  at  Philadelphia,  in  part- 
nership with  his  brother-in-law,  John  W.  Goddard.  He 
also  owned  and  operated  one  of  the  few  saw  mills  on 
Sweetwater  Creek.  He  owned  a  large  body  of  pine  land 
east  of  Philadelphia  from  which  he  manufactured  lum- 
ber. He  built  the  brick  residence  in  the  grove  just  east 
of  Philadelphia  in  1853. 

The  children  of  W.  F.  and  Elizabeth  Goddard  Lenoir 
were: 

1.  Julia  Ann  Campbell,  b.  September  6,  1842;  d.  May 
22,  1848. 

2.  Walter  Thomas,  b.  August  8,  1845. 

3.  William  Goddard,  b.  August  23,  1847 ;  d.  March  21, 
1915. 

4.  Thornton  Pickens,  b.  July  23,  1851. 

Walter  Thomas  Lenoir  married  Loua  Edwards,  of 
Little  Rock,  Ark.  She  was  born  September  30,  1851,  the 
daughter  of  Richard  and  Susan  Hilder  Edwards.  W.  T. 
Lenoir  was  a  student  at  Hiwassee  College  when  the  Civil 
War  began.  He  left  school  when  under  16  years  of  age, 
and  joined  the  Confederate  army.     He  was  a  member 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAX,LEY  227 

Co.  F,  43rd  Regt.  Tennessee  volunteer  infantry,  un- 
der the  command  of  Colonel  Gillespie.  He  was  in  the 
siege  of  Vicksburg  and  was  captured  and  paroled  there. 
He  was  soon  exchanged  and  served  during  the  remainder 
of  the  war  as  a  scout  and  as  a  member  of  the  reorganized 
43rd  Tennessee  Regiment.  He  was  with  the  Confeder- 
ate forces  when  Colonel  Frank  Wolford,  commanding  a 
brigade  of  Federal  cavalry,  was  defeated  on  the  morn- 
ing of  October  20,  1863,  in  what  is  known  as  the  Battle 
of  Philadelphia.  Colonel  Wolford  was  making  his  head- 
quarters at  the  residence  of  W.  F.  Lenoir,  father  of  W. 
T.  Lenoir,  at  the  time  of  the  battle.  W.  T.  Lenoir  influ- 
enced the  commander  of  the  Confederate  battery  to  so  fire 
the  guns,  which  were  located  on  a  hill  about  600  yards 
distant,  as  not  to  do  injury  to  the  house  or  hurt  any  of 
the  family.  It  was  not  a  common  experience  in  war  for  a 
man  to  be  engaged  in  a  real  battle  around  his  father's 
house.  (For  a  more  extended  account  of  this  engage- 
ment see  another  part  of  this  book.)  W.  T.  L.  was  with 
General  Vaughn  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley  campaign, 
and  previously  with  him  in  upper  east  Tennessee.  He 
surrendered  and  was  paroled  at  Kingston,  Ga.,  on  May 
12,  1865. 

He  located  at  Humboldt  in  the  western  part  of  the 
state  in  1868,  where  he  operated  a  hotel  in  the  town,  and 
a  farm  nearby.  He  was  mayor  of  Humboldt  in  1882.  In 
1886  he  bought  his  grandfather's,  T.  C.  Goddard's  farm, 
in  McMinn  County  near  Reagan's  Station.  He  moved 
his  family  there  in  1887.  While  living  in  McMinn  he 
was  a  member  of  the  county  court  from  1888  to  1890, 
when  he  moved  to  Sweetw^ater.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Monroe  County  Court  1893-1911.  He  was  mayor  of 
Sweetwater  in  1915. 

The  children  of  W.  T.  and  Loua  E.  Lenoir  were : 

(1)  Frank,  b.  at  Humboldt,  Tenn.,  July  12,  1874.  He 
married  Annie  Powell,  of  Atlanta,  Ga.,  June  7,  1906.  He 
is  a  manufacturer  of  tin  and  iron  wares  at  Houston, 
Tex.  Their  children  are :  Louise  and  Frank,  b.  in  1907 
and  1912. 

(2)  Caroline,  b.  in  Humboldt,  Tenn.,  July  4,  1876.  She 
was  married  to  Clarence,  son  of  John  S.  and  Theresa 
Young,  on  January  22,  1905..    He  is  cashier  of  the  Bank 


228  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

of  Sweetwater,  Tenn.  They  reside  near  Sweetwater. 
Their  children  are :  Lenoir,  b.  June  5,  1906 ;  Katherine, 
b.  March  1,  1908;  Clarence  E.,  Jr.,  b.  November  22, 
1909 ;  Loua  Theresa,  b.  March  5,  1913. 

(3)  Hattie,  youngest  daughter  of  W.  T.  and  Loua  E. 
Lenoir,  b.  September  5,  1879. 

(4)  Richard,  their  youngest  son,  b.  August  14,  1881. 
He  married  Idelle  May  Waldrop,  of  Jonesboro,  Ga.,  on 
April  10,  1916.     Tliey  live  in  Sweetwater. 

William  Goddard  Lenoir,  second  son  of  W.  F.  and 
Elizabeth  G.  Lenoir  attended,  in  1865,  1866  and  1867, 
school  at  the  Dancing  Branch  Academy  six  miles  south 
of  Sweetwater.  This  school  was  under  the  charge  of 
Prof.  A.  W.  Wilson,  afterward  an  M.  A.  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Virginia  at  Charlottesville.  Afterwards  he  was 
three  years  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  from  October, 
1867  to  July,  1870.  He  graduated  there  in  several 
schools.  In  this  university  was  developed  that  inde- 
pendence of  thought  and  action  which  stood  him  in  good 
stead  throughout  his  life  and  contributed  greatly  to  his 
success.  After  completing  his  education  he  taught  school 
for  two  or  three  years  at  Johnson  City,  Tenn. 

On  October  14,  1871,  he  was  married  (first)  to  Alice 
Osborne,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Evaline  Lackey  Os- 
borne, of  Pond  Creek  Valley.  She  was  born  October  8, 
1852,  and  died  at  Johnson  City  on  June  20,  1874.  She 
is  buried  at  Stekee  Cemetery  near  Loudon.  There  were 
two  children,  the  youngest,  a  son,  dying  in  infancy  in 
1874.  Their  daughter  Lucy,  born  July  15,  1872,  married 
R.  H.  Kizer,  of  Philadelphia.  He  was  born  in  Blount 
County,  Tenn.,  in  1858.  They  have  three  children:  Le- 
noir, b.  May  1, 1897 ;  Alice,  b.  August  16, 1904,  and  John, 
b.  February  13,  1913. 

On  September  5,  1876,  W.  G.  L.  was  married  (second) 
to  Fannie  Amelia,  daughter  of  Eli  and  Elizabeth  Childs 
Adkins.  They  resided  principally  at  the  old  Lenoir 
homestead  until  1884,  when  they  moved  to  the  Adkin 
residence  near  the  spring  in  Philadelphia.  They  resided 
there  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  March,  1915. 

He  was  a  large  jeal  estate  owner  both  in  the  country 
and  in  town,  especially  iu  Knoxville,  and  had  a  keen  ap- 
preciation of  their  values.    He  was  a  dairyman  and  an 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  229 

extensive  raiser  of  Register  Jersey  cattle.  He  was  a  jus- 
tice of  the  peace  and  an  influential  member  of  the  Lou- 
don County  Court  from  1884  to  1912.  He  was  a  firm 
advocate  and  supporter  of  good  schools  and  good  roads. 
He  always  contended  that  they  were  worth  more  than 
they  cost  though  they  might  not  be  economically  carried 
on  or  constructed. 

He  was  a  joint  representative  from  Knox  and  Loudon 
counties  in  the  Fifty-sixth  General  Assembly,  elected  on 
the  Fusion  ticket.  He  was  an  ardent  prohiljitionist  and 
voted  and  worked  for  all  measures  for  the  suppression 
of  the  whiskey  traffic  while  he  was  a  member  of  the  Leg- 
islature. He  was  a  great  friend  of  the  colored  race, 
especially  of  the  old  Lenoir  darkies.  His  hospitality  to 
guests  and  visitors  was  recognized  and  remarked  upon 
wherever  he  was  known. 

The  children  of  W.  G.  and  Fannie  A.  Lenoir  were : 

(1)  Israel  Pickens,  b.  September  14,  1877.  He  mar- 
ried Gate  Willson  (her  mother  was  a  Gate)  on  November 
14,  1901.  They  reside  in  Phoenix,  Ariz.  Their  children 
are :  Marv  Francis,  b.  October  7,  1902,  and  Avery  Thorn- 
ton, b.  October  7,  1903. 

(2)  Emma  Elizabeth,  b.  November  26,  1879.  Mar- 
ried Robert  Lee  Minis  on  November  2, 1898.  They  live  in 
Philadelphia.  They  have  one  child,  Robert  L.,  b.  April 
22,  1900. 

(3)  Walter  Avery,  b.  November  13,  1883.  Married 
Alice  Comer,  of  Comer,  Ga.,  October  23,  1909.  She  was 
born  August  17,  1890.  Four  children  have  been  born 
to  them:   William  Alexander,  b.  April  18,  1911;   Avery 

Comer,  b.  July  15,  1913;  d. ;  Avery  Fulcher,  b. 

September  14,  1914 ;  d. ;  and  Francis  Elizabeth, 

b.  June  29,  1916.  W.  A.  Lenoir  is  a  planter  and  resides 
at  Comer,  Ga. 

(4)  Kate  Lothrop,  b.  September  26,  1885.  She  was 
married  to  Edward  Young,  of  Mitchell  County,  N.  C, 
on  May  25,  1908.  He  died  on  September  9,  1909.  He 
left  one  child,  Edward,  born  June  7,  1909. 

(5)  Eli  Adkins,  b.  August  8,  1888.  He  married  Eva 
Marler,  of  Lebanon,  Tenn.,  on  June  5,  1911.  She  was 
born  at  Murfreesboro,    Tenn.,    on    September    3,    1890. 


230  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

They  have  t^vo  children :   E.  A.  Lenoir,  Jr.,  b.  April   3, 
1913,  and  Barbara  Francis,  b.  Mav  26,  1915. 

(6)  William  Goddard,  b.  December  2,  1890.  Lives  at 
Philadelphia,  Tenn. 

(7)  Charles  Henrv,  b.  September  26,  1892;  d.  Novem- 
ber 14,  1896. 

(8)  Thomas  Penland,  b.  February  16,  1895;  d.  Jan- 
uary 17,  1901. 

Thornton  Pickens  Lenoir,  fourth  child  of  "VV.  F.  and 
Elizabeth  Goddard  Lenoir,  attended  Emory  and  Henry 
College,  where  he  graduated  in  1874.  In  September  of 
that  year  he  went  to  Goliad,  Texas,  where  he  took  up 
the  study  of  law.  Owing  to  a  breakdown  in  health  he 
gave  up  law  and  went  into  the  cattle  business  at  Refugio, 
Texas,  where  he  was  married  in  187 —  to  Lua  McCamp- 
bell.  Their  children  were :  Thornton,  who  died  in  child- 
hood, and  Elizabeth,  wdio  married  and  died  a  few  years 
afterwards  leaving  one  child,  a  daughter.  T.  P.  Lenoir 
lives  at  Victoria,  Tex. 

W.  F.  Lenoir  married  (second)  Harriette  Elizabeth 
Osborne,  the  daughter  of  John  and  Elizabeth  Cathey  Os- 
borne (both  formerly  of  Haywood  County,  N.  C),  at 
Germantown,  Tenn.,  on  July  7,  1858.  She  was  born  at 
Asheville,  N.  C,  on  December  11,  1830.  Died  May  21, 
1907,  at  her  residence  at  Philadelphia,  Tenn.  This  mar- 
riage was  a  remarkably  happy  one.  Mrs.  Hattie  Lenoir, 
besides  being  a  cultivated  and  accomplished  woman,  was 
one  who  drew  many  friends  to  her  by  the  sincerity  of  her 
hospitality  in  a  home  from  which  no  one  w^as  ever  turned 
away  without  a  gracious  reception,  and  help,  if 
in  distress.  She  was  a  devoted  member  of  the  Pres- 
byterian church  while  he  w^as  a  zealous  member  of 
the  Methodist  Church,  South ;  yet  on  that  account  there 
was  never  a  jar  or  misunderstanding.  Their  house  was 
ever  a  home  for  the  ministers  of  both  denominations. 
The  Methodist  church  and  parsonage  at  Philadelphia 
are  monuments  to  his  zeal  and  liberality.  They  had  a 
beautiful  home  in  a  beautiful  situation  and  lived  a  beau- 
tiful life.  I  know  of  no  word  that  fitly  expresses  their 
relationship  and  conduct. 

Her  end  was  as  serene  as  her  life.  She  died  while 
asleep  without  pain  or  struggle. 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  231 

Tlie  children  of  W.  F.  and  Harriette  0.  Lenoir  were : 
Frank,  Rose  Summey,  Henry  and  Earnest.  These  all 
died  in  childhood,  except  Henry  L.,  who  was  born  Decem- 
ber 6, 1863.  He  married  Annie  Yoakum,  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam Cannon,  May  23, 1888.  They  reside  at  the  old  Lenoir 
homestead  one-fourth  of  a  mile  east  of  Philadelphia, 
Tenn.  Their  children  are :  Annie  Lee,  b.  May  21,  1889 ; 
William  Cannon,  b.  April  25,  1891;  Frank  Osborne,  b. 
September  23,  1894;  Susan  Bogart,  b.  September  29, 
1898,  and  Robert  Henry,  b.  January  2,  1902. 

The  Lillard  Family\ 

William  Lillard  was  a  colonel  in  the  Revolutionary 
War.  His  son  William  was  born  August  14,  1798.  He 
died  in  Sweetwater  Valley  December  18,  1844.  Louise, 
his  sister,  and  daughter  of  Col.  Lillard,  married  Ben- 
jamin Routh  August  23,  1838,  William  Lillard,  second, 
who  lived  near  Philadelphia,  in  Sweetwater  Valley,  mar- 
ried Nancy  Routh,  who  was  born  August  28,  1807.  She 
died  at  her  residence  near  Philadelphia,  July  27,  1899. 
The  children  of  William  and  Nancy  Lillard  were : 

1.  Andrew  Jackson,  b.  on  Island  Creek,  Februarv  20, 
1829. 

2.  Washington,  dead. 

3.  Louisa  Jane,  m.  Joseph  Ragon,  October  15,  1851. 

4.  Caroline,  b.  1835.    Lives  at  Philadelphia,  Tenn. 

5.  Murrell,  b.  1837. 

6.  Julia,  m.  Rilev  Burns.  Died  near  Philadelphia  in 
1915. 

7.  Joseph  B.,  b.  1843. 

Andrew  Jackson  Lillard  went  to  California  in  1858. 
He  went  to  the  Indian  Diggings  and  also  to  Brush  Creek. 
He  dug  gold  most  of  the  time  he  was  in  California  un- 
til he  returned  to  Tennessee  in  1865. 

He  married  Samantha  Taliaferro  in  1867.  She  was 
the  daughter  of  John  Taliaferro.  They  moved  to  Fork 
Creek  Valley.  She  died  June  6,  1915,  at  the  age  of  67. 
He  is  a  farmer.    Their  children  are : 

John,  married  in  Colorado.  Has  four  children.  Lives 
in  Farmington,  N.  M. 

Murrell,  lives  in  Atlanta  and  is  in  the  employ  of 
Rhodes  &  Co. 


232  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Nannie,  m.  Prof.  W.  T.  Russell,  Carson  &  Newman 
College,  Jefferson  City,  Tenn.  Mrs.  Russell  died  about 
1905  leaving  two  children. 

Mollie,  m.  C.  E.  Harris,  of  Dandridge,  Tenn. 

Etta  Lee,  m.  A.  L.  Burem,  of  Hawkins  County.  Ad- 
dress Burem,  Tenn. 

Murrell  Lillard,  son  of  William  Lillard,  joined  the 
Confederate  army  and  was  afterwards  captured  at  Pied- 
mont, Va.,  and  was  taken  to  Camp  Morton,  Ind.,  where 
he  died  a  prisoner  of  fever. 

Joseph  Lillard,  youngest  son  of  William  Lillard,  w^as 
a  private  in  Co.  D  11th  Regt.  Tenn.  Cav.,  U.  S.  A.,  dur- 
ing the  Civil  War,  serving  twenty  months.  He  is  a 
farmer  and  lives  one  mile  from  Philadelphia.  He  mar- 
ried Maggie  J.  Harrison,  of  Pond  Creek  Valley,  on 
March  31,  1885.    Their  children  are: 

William  F.,  b.  August  2,  1886. 

Minnie  L.,  b.  April  17,  1890. 

Hattie  E.,  b.  November  8,  1892. 

Joseph  Murrell,  b.  July  24,  1896. 

John  Lotspeich 

Was  born  in  Greene  County,  Tenn.,  November  9,  1762. 
He  moved  to  Sweetwater  about  1820.  He  married  Mary 
Ann  Earnest  of  Greene  County,  on  February  18,  1806. 
She  died  January  27,  1878  or  1879.  She  was  born  De- 
cember 23, 1789.  Mr.  Lotspeich  was  a  farmer  and  built  a 
brick  house  and  settled  on  the  southwest  and  south- 
east quarters  of  section  3  and  the  northwest  and  north- 
east quarters  of  section  4,  township  3  and  range  1,  east. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Methodist  church.  He  died  at 
his  residence  on  April  19,  1825.  He  and  his  wife  are 
both  buried  at  County  Line  Cemetery.  Their  children 
were : 

1.  Ralph,  b.  September  6,  1807. 

2.  Henry  L.,  b.  Februarv  10,  1810. 

3.  Samuel  T.,  b.  March  5,  1812 ;  d.  April  2,  1847.  6. 
Christopher  Marion,  b.  OctolDer  15, 1815.  10.  Amanda,  b. 
Sept.  29,  1827. 

4.  Felix,  was  born  in  Greene  County,  Tenn.,  and  mar- 
ried Eliza,  a  daughter  of  William  Neal.  They  were 
members  of  the  Methodist   church;   he   was   a   farmer. 


HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  233 

They  moved  to  Green  (aftenvards  Henry)  County,  Mo. 

5.  Maiy  Ann  Lotspeicli  was  born  in  Greene  County, 
Tenn.  She  married  Wm.  Robertson,  who  was  born  on 
Pond  Creek,  in  Monroe  County,  Tenn.  They  moved  to 
Green  County,  Mo.,  wiiere  he  died. 

6.  Christopher  Marion  Lotspeich  married  Susan 
Shearl,  who  died  about  1873-4.  He  was  a  farmer  and  set- 
tled near  Ottumwa,  Iowa.  He  was  drowned  in  the  Iowa 
River  May  26,  1852.  Their  children  were :  Nannie,  Hen- 
ry and  Julia. 

7.  Emmeline  Lotspeich  married  Rufus  Pickel.  (See 
Pickels.) 

8.  John  W.  Lotspeich  married  Nancy  Ann  Baker  on 
December  7,  1856.  She  was  born  December  26,  1857. 
Died  March  13, 1874,  and  was  buried  at  Sweetwater  Cem- 
etery. He  was  a  farmer.  They  moved  to  Weatherford, 
Texas.  He  died  at  Abilene,  Tex.,  March  4,  1894.  Their 
children  are : 

Mollie,  b.  December  19,  1857 ;  m.  R.  W.  Ellis. 
Florence,  b.  April,  1859;  m.  Benton. 
Addie,  b.  April,  1861;  m.  L.  Dempsev;  d.  Marshall, 
Tex.,  in  1911. 

Carrie,  b.  April,  1866.  Married  Chas.  Waters.  She 
is  a  ranchwoman  near  Abilene,  Texas. 

9.  Elizabeth  J.  married  J.  J.  Browder  (whom  see). 

10.  Amanda  Lotspeich  married  Francis  Y.  Jameson 
on  April  29,  1854.    They  moved  to  Gentry  Comity,  Mo. 

11.  Chas.  W.  Lotspeich  was  born  at  the  Lotspeich  resi- 
dence, near  Sweetwater.  He  married  Mary  Smith, 
daughter  of  Bryant  Smith,  of  Meigs  County,  in  Novem- 
ber, 1871.  She  was  born  May  24,  1847,  and  died  July, 
1877.  Interred  in  Sweetwater  Cemetery.  He  was  a 
farmer.  In  1883  he  moved  to  Texas,  and  in  1886  he  lo- 
cated in  Jones  County,  where  he  died,  and  was  buried 
near  Hawley,  October  4,  1907.    Their  children  were : 

(1)  Brvant,  b.  1872,  in  Sweetwater  Vallev.  Address 
Hawley,  Tex.,  R.  F.  D.  No.  1. 

(2)  Thomas  J.,  b.  in  Sweetwater  Valley  July  17,  1875. 
Lives  at  Hawley,  Tex. 

(3&4)  Died  in  infancy  and  were  buried  at  Sweet- 
water, Tenn. 


234  HiSTORi"  or  Sweetwater  valley 

Henry  Mayes. 

Birds  sing  and  flowers  bloom  and  shed  their  fragrance 
on  the  summer  air.  This  is  but  natural;  it  is  expected; 
as  Josh  Billings  would  say  it  is  their  business.  There  are 
people,  now  and  then,  so  constituted  that  they  have  no 
desire  or  appetite  to  do  wrong  or  take  any  pleasure  in 
straying  into  forbidden  paths.  Their  instincts  point  as 
sensitively  to  right  and  justice  as  the  needle  to  the  mag- 
netic pole.  If  they  veer  from  the  straight  path  at  all 
it  is  but  a  circumstance  of  the  moment  and  not  to  be  reck- 
oned in  the  great  trend  of  life.  Kindness,  liberality  and 
hospitality  are  as  much  a  part  of  their  nature  as  for  the 
flowers  to  bloom  or  the  birds  to  sing.  Of  such  a  char- 
acter was  Henry  Mayes.  He  traveled  along  the  even 
tenor  of  his  way  without  attracting  any  great  attention. 
He  did  nothing  startling.  The  only  thing  he  could  have 
done  startling  was  to  have  gone  very  wrong.  Tliough  a 
man  of  ability  and  deservedly  popular,  particularly  with 
the  young  people  of  the  neighborhood,  he  would  never 
consent  to  take  the  lead  or  aspire  to  any  office.  You  al- 
ways knew  where  to  place  him  even  if  he  would  not  al- 
low himself  to  be  pushed  to  the  front.  He  was  always 
ready  to  assist  in  every  good  work  and  work  for  the  bet- 
tering of  the  town  and  community.  To  be  honest  and 
truthful  came  to  him  as  natural  as  to  breathe  the  breath 
of  life.  A  man  of  that  kind  w^ould  not  hold  his  own  fi- 
nancially in  the  fierce  business  competition  of  today. 
That  is  one  change  that  we  can  not  help  but  regret.  The 
ideals  and  ethics  of  business  are  different.  Many  things 
have  changed  for  the  better  but  not  that. 

Henry  Mayes  had  as  few  faults  as  any  man  in  the 
valley  and  his  virtues  were  by  no  means  all  negative. 
Yet  if  any  man  had  called  him  good  to  his  face  he  would 
have  been  much  astonished.  ''Why  callest  thou  me 
good!"  he  would  have  thought.  For  never  in  public  or 
private  life  or  when  he  took  the  journey  to  the  Great 
Beyond  did  he  for  a  single  instant  pose  for  effect.  Some 
might  have  regretted  that  he  said  nothing  of  seeing  an- 
gels or  hearing  music  as  he  passed  through  the  portals 
of  death. 

Mr.  Mayes  died  as  he  had  lived,  simply.  He  who  has 
lived  theatricallv  often  dies  so. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  235 

Henry  Mayes'  death  was  calm  and  peaceful.  There 
was  no  posing.  It  was  merely  the  last  incident  of  a  well 
spent  life.  Every  thing  he  ever  did  was  done  quietly 
and  in  order. 

I  have  thus  emphasized  his  distinguishing  characteris- 
tic, the  disinclination  to  be  the  central  figure,  because  he 
did  more  to  make  Sweetwater  the  town  it  is  than  any 
man  who  ever  lived  in  it  except  one,  and  that  one  was 
his  most  particular  friend  and  with  him  in  business  mat- 
ters he  always  consulted.  .^  . ' ,  /  •/  ,  7^5  •  ^ ^,;^->-  '-^  i*^  '^■'' '  '-'^  ^ 

Henry  Mayes  was  maj-^ried  to  Nancy'f<Maginnis  at 
Thorn  Hill,  near  ^e^i's  Station,  Grainger  County, 
Tenn.,  April,  1837."'  As  he  was  born  at  Bean's  Station 
on  April  15,  1817,  he  was  just  20  years  old.  They  soon 
thereafter  moved  to  Sweetwater  Valley  and  settled  on 
the  southwest  quarter  of  section  35,  township  2,  range  1, 
east.  He  afterwards  acquired  from  the  Chancery  Court 
of  Grainger  County  two  other  tracts  of  160  acres  each, 
the  southeast  and  northwest  quarters  of  section  34  of 
the  same  range  and  township.  He  built  a  two-story 
frame  house,  then  rather  scarce  in  this  part  of  the  val- 
ley. They  were  usually  either  log  or  brick,  mostly  log. 
The  reason  for  this  was  that  at  that  time  steam  engines 
were  very  expensive  and  in  this  immediate  section  and 
Sweetwater  Creek  did  not  have  sufficient  fall  in  its 
course  to  furnish  water  power  for  sawmills.  This  house 
was  near  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  residence  of  J.  H, 
McCaslin  in  the  town  of  Sweetwater.  The  stage  road 
ran  directly  by  the  house  and  this  was  a  popular  and 
convenient  feeding  and  stopping  place.  The  stage  driv- 
ers were  well  known  characters.  They  had  regular  sched- 
ules and  ran  pretty  well  on  time.  When  the  bugle 
sounded  for  the  stopping  places  those  in  the  neighbor- 
hood would  collect  to  hear  the  news  and  see  if  there  were 
any  distinguished  passengers  on  board.  Eube  Crabtree 
and  Andy  Davis  were  popular  drivers. 

The  nearest  neighbors  of  Mayes  were  Owen,  Biggs, 
Heiskell,  Ramsey,  Fine,  Bunch,  Henderson,  Snead  and 
Fryer.  The  tract  on  which  he  lived  joined  Owen,  Biggs, 
Lenoir,  Fine,  and  on  the  west  another  Mayes  tract.  At 
that  time  the  site  of  the  town  of  Sweetwater  was  timber 
lands  and  virgin  soil. 


236  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Tims  Henry  Mayes  being  married  to  a  lovely,  attrac- 
tive and  domestic  woman,  living  at  an  ideal  situation, 
surrounded  by  agreeable  neighbors  the  future  seemed  ex- 
ceptionally bright;  he  was  blessed  according  to  his  de- 
serts. 

True,  church  and  school  privileges  were  not  all  that 
could  be  desired.  The  school-house  was  a  small  log  af- 
fair one-half  mile  southwest  in  the  bend  of  the  creek,  and 
there  was  teaching  only  from  three  to  four  months  in 
the  year.  The  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church,  named 
Mt.  Lebanon,  of  which  Mr.  Mayes  and  his  wife  were 
members,  was  located  one  mile  to  the  northeast.  This 
as  has  alreadj^  been  related  was  afterward  moved  to  the 
town.     The  children  of  this  union  were: 

Letitia,  born  in  1838,  and  died  in  infancy. 

James  H.,  born  1840;  died  at  Atlanta,  Gra.,  1867. 

Mary  Louise,  born  1843 ;  died  at  Sweetwater  1859. 

Noble  I.,  born  May  6,  1845.  Now  living  in  Chatta- 
nooga. 

E.  Virginia,  born  1854  and  died  at  Knoxville  on  Octo- 
ber 10,  1910. 

Mrs.  Nancy  Mayes  died  at  Sweetwater  1857  and  was 
buried  at  Mt.  Lebanon. 

The  Mayes  place  was  a  lovely  one  to  visit  even  in 
those  early  times.  They  had  enough  slaves  to  do  the 
house  and  farm  work  and  it  was  a  rare  thing  that  they 
sat  down  to  a  meal  without  some  one  present  other  than 
the  members  of  the  family.  Those  were  times  when  peo- 
ple felt  free  to  go  to  see  each  other  garbed  as  they  hap- 
pened to  be  at  the  time,  whether  in  store  or  home-made 
clothes  did  not  matter.  The  fashions  remained  much 
the  same  from  year  to  year  till  the  coming  of  the  rail- 
road. 

The  Mayes  family  were  fond  of  music  and  innocent 
amusements.  Mrs.  Mayes  herself  played  the  old  time 
music  on  the  fiddle.  She  did  not  play  often  but  only  for 
particular  friends,  as  some  of  the  ''unco  guid"  thought 
it  not  exactly  in  form.  Dancing  too  was  frowned  upon 
as  now  but  was  not  considered  one  of  the- unpardonable 
sins. 

The  family  were  looked  upon  as  a  particularly  fortu- 
nate and  happy  one.    Ignorance  of  sanitation  by  one  who 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  237 

should  have  known  better  was  the  cause  of  much  trouble. 
Sometimes  an  unforeseen  circumstance,  call  it  luck,  fate, 
Providence  or  what  you  will,  can  materially  change  the 
whole  outlook  of  a  family. 

Dr.  M.  C.  Parker,  about  the  time  of  the  first  settle- 
ment of  Sweetwater,  built  him  an  office  and  started  in 
the  practice  of  medicine.  He  might  have  known  the  com- 
mon practice  then  recommended  hj  the  old  practition- 
ers but  that  would  be  thought  antiquated  now. 

He  became  afflicted  with  tuberculosis,  which  afterward 
proved  fatal.  He  was  boarding  before  and  during  his 
sickness  with  the  Mayes  family.  They  waited  on  him 
with  great  care  throughout  his  illness. 

Thus  was  sown  the  germs  of  the  disease  and  was  the 
cause  of  much  sickness  and  some  fatalities.  It  was  not 
a  well  established  fact  at  the  time  that  this  disease  was 
communicable.  Instead  of  living  and  sleeping  in  the 
open  air  as  much  as  possible  and  leaving  the  windows 
of  the  sick  room  open  it  was  thought  best  for  the  patient 
to  be  confined  in  a  close  room  and  so  as  to  prevent  tak- 
ing further  cold, — thus  causing  him  to  breathe  over  and 
over  again  the  same  vitiated  atmosphere.  This  hastened 
his  disease  and  made  it  much  more  dangerous  for  any 
one  waiting  on  the  tuberculosis  patient. 

The  practice  here  when  I  was  a  boy  was  as  far  wrong  in  case  of 
fevers  as  in  tuberculosis.  Wh.en  I  was  six  or  seven  years  old  there 
was  an  epidemic  of  scarlet  fever  in  the  Valley.  Several  of  the  Bow- 
mans,  our  nearest  neighbors,  died  of  it.  I  took  it.  My  father  was 
absent  from  home  in  the  mountains  of  North  Carolina.  My  mother 
sent  for  Dr.  Parker.  He  promptly  proceeded  to  bleed  me  freely.  He 
prescribed  the  most  nauseating  compounds  for  me  to  take;  he  left 
particular  instructions  that  I  should  have  very  little  water  to  drink, 
and  under  no  circumstances  cold  applications.  Owing  to  my  violent 
rebellion  against  such  methods  the  instructions  were  not  strictly  car- 
ried out. 

My  longing  for  my  father  to  return,  the  intolerable  thirst  from 
bleeding  and  high  fever  is  a  fearsome  thing  for  me  to  contemplate 
even  to  this  day.  I  grew  rapidly  worse.  The  third  or  fourth  day  my 
father  got  back.  I  was  truly  happy.  In  about  three  minutes  I  had 
plenty  of  cold  water  to  drink  and  a  pitcherful  or  two  was  poured  on 
my  head.  Had  he  been  delayed  many  more  hours  "little  Willie" 
would  not  be  here  now  trying  to  write  the  history  of  Sweetwater 
Valley  people.  I  resolved  there  and  then  I  would  never  allow  any  one 
to  suffer  as  I  had  those  three  or  fou  r  days  if  I  could  prevent  it.  It 
seemed  to  me  greatly  worse  than  natural  thirst.  I  have  told  this 
to  show  what  unnecessary  tortures  ignorance  can  inflict  on  humanity. 
The  doctor  did  only  what  the  books  he  happened  to  have  told  him 
to  do.     My  mother,  whose   father  was  a  physician,   did   not  dare   to 


238  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

disobey  instructions.  She  had  a  reverence  for  tradition.  He  (her 
father)  bled  his  patients  sometimes  and  charged  five  dollars  for  it  too. 

This  was  the  price  for  that  service  ( ?)  during  the  thirties  in 
Nashville. 

A  friend  of  mine  once  told  me  that  a  man  told  him  that  Dr.  W. 
G.  E.  Cunningham,  a  former  missionary  to  China  and  well  known 
educator  and  editor  of  Sunday-school  literature,  is  reported  to  have 
said  that  the  manner  of  employing  physicians  in  China  was  radically 
different  from  what  it  is  in  this  country.  There  the  doctor  is  hired 
and  paid  to  keep  you  well  and  see  that  your  household  does  not  dis- 
obey the  laws  of  health.  If  you  get  sick  he  is  obligated  to  give 
you  his  medical  services  free  of  charge  and,  in  addition  to  this,  to 
pay  you  a  reasonable  sum  for  loss  of  time  during  the  illness.  Thus 
the  M.  D.  resolved  himself  into  a  medical  aid,  sick  benefit,  acci- 
dent insurance  and  benevolent  society  and  sanitary  commission  all 
in  one.  This  custom,  if  adopted  here,  would  revolutionize  the  method 
of  procedure  in  the  United  States.  This  statement  of  Dr.  Cunning- 
ham, if  he  made  such,  might  have  been  true  of  the  Mandarins  and 
the  higher  class  Chinese,  but  that  it  is  generally  a  fact,  applying  to 
the  common  millions,  there  is  much  reason  to  doubt.  Dr.  Hattie 
Love,  a  medical  missionary  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
at  Soochow,  makes  no  mention  of  such  a  state  of  affairs  in  her  letters 
home. 

I  am  not  able  to  qualify  as  an  expert  on  Chinese  customs,  yet  I 
have  seen  enough  of  them  in  my  travels  in  this  country  to  form  and 
express  an  opinion.  I  was  an  honorary  member  of  the  order  of  the 
Sons  of  Confucius  at  college;  I  have  looked  on  in  the  Rue  Royal  at 
New  Orleans,  where  a  great  many  Chinamen  were  playing  "keno" 
(this  is  a  game  somewhat  similar  to  baseball;  the  one  gambols  on  the 
green  and  the  other  gambles  on  the  "green";  one  is  sward  and  the 
other  cloth).  I  have  in  my  possession  a  receipt,  written  in  the 
Chinese  characters,  for  clothes  washed  in  Chicago;  I  have  seen  the 
"yellow  perils"  shoveling  sand  off  the  railroad  track  in  the  deserts 
of  Nevada;  I  passed  the  time  of  day  with  a  "Chink"  at  Portland,. 
Oregon  (I  asked  him  what  time  it  was  and  he  passed  on  without 
a  word) ;  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  I  walked  along  several  of  the 
streets  of  Chinatown  in  San  Francisco  and  I  saw  enough  in  the  day- 
time from  the  outside  to  know  that  I  did  not  wish  to  visit  their 
opium  dens  and  sinks  of  iniquity  at  night;  I  left  that  for  the  "slum- 
mers"  and  the  philanthropists.  From  the  knowledge  obtained  as 
above,  I  am  positive  that  the  Chinese  resident  here  is  not  controlled 
by  any  medical  director,  and  that  there  is  nothing  sanitary  about 
him  from  his  queue  to  the  soles  of  his  wooden  shoes;  whatever  may 
be  his  condition  in  his  own  Celestial  Kingdom,  or,  as  they  call  it  now, 
republic. 

There  is  no  profession,  the  members  of  which  have  half  the  temp- 
tations and  opportunities  to  deceive  and  fake  as  the  medical.  The 
physician  thrives  on  the  ills  of  humanity;  it  is  money  in  his  pocket 
for  people  to  stay  sick.  When  he  prevents  epidemics  and  diseases 
he  is  taking  the  bread  out  of  his  own  and  his  children's  mouths.  He 
is  the  depositary,  too,  of  more  people's  secrets  than  any  one  except  a 
Roman  Catholic  priest.  Thus  a  physician  is  usually  the  best  and  most 
unselfish  or  the  very  worst  of  men.  His  opportunities  for  good  and 
evil  are  incalculable.  In  my  experience  I  could  point  to  many  in- 
stances both  ways,  but  to  much  more  in  the  way  of  good.  It  is  rare 
that  he  abuses  his  professional  knowledge  or  intentionally  lengthens 
illness  to  obtain  a  fee.     When  he  varies  from  the  truth  it  is  when 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  239 

he  thinks  it  is  for  the  good  of  the  patient.  I  believe  this  is  the  rule 
and  not  the  exception.  "Skin  for  skin,  yea,  all  that  a  man  has  will  be 
given  for  his  life."  Many  a  man  since  Job's  time  has  cursed  the  day 
on  which  he  was  born  on  account  of  bodily  afflictions.  Then  it  is  not 
hard  for  the  designing  to  make  capital  out  of  his  circumstances.  I 
thus  apparently  digress  to  pay  a  deserved  tribute  to  the  medical  fra- 
ternity, as  some  things  I  have  said  heretofore  might  be  taken  as  a 
reflection  upon  them.  I  do  this  also  more  cheerfully  for  the  addi- 
tional reason  that  among  the  most  reputable  physicians  medical 
ethics  does  not  allow  one  of  them  to  say  anything  about  himself  in 
public  print,  except  in  the  medical  journals,  which  are  not  read  by 
the  general  public.  In  these  days  of  advertisement,  when  so  many 
blow  their  own  trumpets  or  hire  it  done,  this  is  an  anomalous  posi- 
tion, however  fortunate  it  may  be  for  the  patent  medicine  vender. 

Destructiox  of  New  Mayes  Residence  by  Fike. 

In  the  destruction  of  the  new  Mayes  residence  by  fire,  I  think  in 
about  the  year  1870,  the  family  records  were  partially  destroyed;  there- 
fore, it  is  difficult  now,  in  some  instances,  to  arrive  at  the  exact  dates 
of  births,  deaths  and  marriages.  Under  the  circumstances  we  can 
only  approximate.  We  have  to  rely  on  our  own  memory  and  that  of 
.the  living  members  of  the  family.  The  Athens  Post  for  many  years 
was  the  nearest  newspaper  published  anywhere  in  this  section  of  the 
country.  Then,  too,  the  personal  happenings  and  neighborhood  affairs 
were  not  considered  important  enough  for  publication.  In  the  early 
days  I  doubt  if  the  passing  through  of  President  Polk  on  the  stage 
line  would  have  been  chronicled  unless  it  had  some  political  signifi- 
cance. From  the  year  1875  forward  should  be  easy  sailing  to  write 
the  history  of  our  Valley,  provided  one  have  access  to  the  daily  and 
weekly  papers. 

In  say  about  1856  there  had  scarcely  been  a  death  in 
the  Owen,  Biggs  or  Mayes  families.  The  Mayes  house 
was  up  on  the  top  of  the  hill ;  the  Biggs  at  the  foot  of  the 
hill  near  the  large  spring  and  north  of  The  Mascot  Ho- 
siery Mills.  The  brick  is  a  very  old  house  and  is  still 
standing.  The  meadow  land  near  was  practically  a 
swamp  overgrown  with  calamus,  watercress  and  bushes. 
The  overflow  of  the  creek  also  was  much  more  than  at 
present,  there  being  many  more  obstructions  in  the  bed 
of  the  stream.  The  Owen  residence  was  in  a  low  place 
near  a  large  green  pond  and  not  far  from  the  bank  of 
the  creek.  From  the  situation  it  would  appear  that  the 
site  of  the  Mayes  house  was  the  most  healthful  of  the 
three.    Aftei  results  did  not  prove  this  to  be  so. 

Mayes  Family  in  1856. 

In  1856  the  family  consisted  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mayes, 
a  son,  James  H.,  aged   16,   very  much   resembling   his 


240  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

father  in  looks  and  disposition;  a  daughter,  Mary  L., 
who  bade  fair  to  be  a  handsome  and  accomplished  wo- 
man, at  that  time  14  years  or  more  old ;  a  son  Noble  of- 
11,  and  Virginia,  an  infant  of  1  year.  They  were  a 
happy  family  and  very  much  respected  and  loved.  Mr. 
Mayes  was  a  serious  minded  man  and  rarely  ever  joked, 
but  he  was  not  one  of  the  "killjoy"  kind;  he  could  for- 
get his  own  troubles  to  try  to  give  pleasure  to  you. 

In  1857  Mrs.  Mayes  died  of  tuberculosis,  supposed  to 
have  been  acquired  waiting  on  Dr.  M.  C.  Parker  during 
his  illness.  In  1859  the  daughter  Mary  died  of  the  same 
disease. 

James  Hamilton  Mayes  was  a  railroad  man.  He  died 
at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  July  7,  1870. 

He  m.  Leila  Viola  Stoy,  of  Atlanta,  October  20,  1868. 
They  had  a  son,  James  Herbert,  who  w^as  b.  June  13, 
1870;  d.  in  Augusta,  Ga.,  in  1906.  He  m.  Ellen  Roach 
April  11,  1894.    Their  children  wre :  ^-j- 

Lelia,  b.  Mav  10,  1895;  Franc§,  b.  Februarvy,  1898; 
3ft  NXE^^fofao,  Herbert, 'b.  AprillOrl901.  ^     ^ 

Noble  Irving  Maginnis,' second  son  of  H.  and  N.  Mayes 
was  b.  at  Sweetwater  May  6,  1845;  m.  Bettie  Cornelia 
Goddard,  oldest  child  of  J.  W.  G.  (whom  see).  They  re- 
sided in  Sweetwater  for  several  years  and  then  moved 
to  Plainville,  Ga.  In  1885  they  moved  to  Chattanooga. 
Mrs.  Mayes  died  in  Chattanooga  on  November  18,  1915. 
Children  of  N.  I.  and  Bettie  C.  Maves  were : 

1.  Belle  Goddard,  b.  September  24,  1872 ;  m.  AVm.  G. 
Hartley  July  31,  1901. 

2.  Margaret  Bland,  b.  June  8,  1874.  She  is  a  D.  D.  S. 
Formerly  worked  in  Dr.  S.  B.  Cook's  office,  Chattanooga. 

3.  James  Henry,  b.  at  Chattanooga,  January  20,  1877. 
Was  killed  in  a  railroad  accident  on  December  6,  1889. 

4.  Mildred  Louise,  b.  August  25,  1889 ;  m.  Thos.  W. 
Miller,  of  Columbia,  S.  C,  on  November  12,  1913. 

The  fifth  child  of  H.  and  N.  M.  Mayes  was  E.  Virginia; 
m.  Captain  J,  P.  Edmondson  (then)  of  Blount  County, 
September  5,  1885.  He  was  b.  October  16,  1844.  Was 
sheriff  of  Blount  County  August  1872-6.  Department 
TJ.  S.  revenue  collector  1880-5.  Postmaster  at  Marvville 
1890-4.  Moved  to  Knoxville  1901.  Residence,  1319  High- 
land Avenue.    His  wife  E.  V.  E.  d.  at  residence  October 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAliLEY  241 

10,  1910;  buried  old  Gray  Cemetery.     One  child  Irene 
d.  January  5,  1914;  aged  16  years  and  5  months. 

Henry  Mayes'  Second  Marriage. 

Mr.  Mayes'  second  wife  was  Mrs.  Ada  Treadway.  They 
w^ere  married  at  Athens,  Tenn.,  April  6,  1860.  She  was 
the  daughter  of  Peter  Eeagan,  a  half  brother  of  Greneral 
J.  H.  Reagan's  father.     (See  J.  H.  Reagan  Sketches.) 

Henry  Mayes  was  particularly  fortunate  in  both  his 
marriages.  When  he  married  Mrs.  Treadway,  he  had 
been  deprived  by  disease  of  his  first  wife  and  eldest 
daughter,  Mary,  who  had  gotten  to  be  of  an  age  when 
she  could  have  been  a  great  help  and  comfort  to  him. 
He  had  a  family  mIio  sorely  needed  a  mother  and  the 
second  Mrs.  Mayes  filled  the  place  as  well  as  any  one 
could.  True  he  had  slaves  at  the  time  who  could  do  the 
house  and  farm  work  but  even  then  there  were  rumors  of 
war  and  insurrections  that  caused  a  feeling  of  uneasi- 
ness through  the  South  as  regards  that  kind  of  property. 
John  Brown  had  already  made  his  raid  on  Harper's 
Ferry,  been  captured  by  Colonel  Lee,  been  tried,  dis- 
posed of  and  was  being  sung  about.  As  has  been  stated 
in  1860  Mr.  Mayes  married  Mrs.  Treadway.  She  was 
such  a  capable,  lovely  woman  as  rendered  the  conditions 
during  the  Civil  War  and  the  reconstruction  period 
much  more  tolerable  to  him.  He  was  a  rebel  or  southern 
sympathizer,  but  was  exceedingly  prudent  in  his  conver- 
sation and  conduct.  He  did  not  fall  out  with  others  for 
a  difference  of  opinion.  He  desired  that  the  Union  men 
should  be  protected  in  life  and  property  during  the  oc- 
cupanc}^  of  the  country  by  the  Confederate  army.  To 
keep  free  of  malice  and  passion  was  no  easy  thing  to  do 
when  this  section  was  occupied  by  first  one  and  then  an- 
other and  continually  fought  over. 

Tlie  feeling  was  sometimes  stronger  between  the  non- 
combatants  at  home  than  between  the  soldiers  in  the 
army.  The  rancor  became  so  great  in  some  sections  of 
East  Tennessee  that  it  amounted  to  a  system  of  reprisal 
and  extermination.  This  however  was  happily  not  the 
case  in  the  town  of  Sweetwater  and  the  comitry  imme- 
diately surrounding.  At  the "  breaking  out  of  the  war 
the  town  had  about  400  inhabitants.    It  remained  about 


242  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

the  same  during  the  war.  When  the  hostilities  of  ar- 
mies were  practically  over  the  troubles  of  rebels  were  by 
no  means  ended.  Then  came  the  reconstruction  period. 
Then  none  but  men  of  approved  loyalty  were  allowed 
to  vote  or  sit  on  juries.  The  administration  of  justice 
was  a  one-sided  affair.  Even  Mr.  Mayes,  whose  well- 
known  Christian  spirit  did  not  suffer  him  at  any  time 
willingly  to  give  offense  to  others,  was  harassed  by  dam- 
age suits  in  the  courts.  Nor  had  he  or  any  of  his  fam- 
ily ever  engaged  actively  in  the  rebellion.  What  partial- 
ly saved  him  from  being  broken  up  was  not  this,  but  the 
fact  that  the  plaintiffs  in  the  causes  never  had  had  any- 
thing to  be  taken  by  rebel  raiders,  and  in  many  instances 
the  cases  were  put  off  until  there  was  a  change  in  the 
complexion  of  affairs.  Tbe  real  horror  of  war  is  that 
when  the  fighting  is  done  the  evil  results  last  for  a  cen- 
tury. 

Henry  Mayes,  I  understood,  was  not  a  highly  educated 
man  but  there  was  nothing  rough  about  his  conversation 
or  manners.  He  would  not  have  attempted  to  discuss  the 
binomial  theorem,  or  solve  examples  by  logarithm  or 
compute  the  age  of  the  world  by  its  geological  forma- 
tions; but  he  never  used  such  expressions  as  "I  taken," 
''I  seen,"  ''me  and  him"  did  so  and  so,  please  "set 
down,"  though  it  is  possible  he  may  have  said  "ain't;" 
fairly  well  educated  people  do  that  sometimes. 

He  was  a  remarkably  close  observer  of  animals,  plants 
and  weather  conditions,  and  had  a  retentive  memory.  I 
recollect  distinctly  of  his  explaining  to  me  the  meaning 
of  the  passage  in  Ecclesiastes :  "The  wind  goeth  to- 
ward the  south  and  turneth  about  unto  the  north;  it 
whirleth  about  continually ;  and  the  wind  returneth  again 
according  to  his  circuit. ' '  The  explanation  was  that  the 
wind  turns  to  the  right  like  the  hands  of  a  clock  and  goes 
from  the  south  to  the  north  by  way  of  the  west  and  then 
to  the  south  by  the  east.  It  usually  travels  the  half  cir- 
cuit from  the  north  to  the  south  more  quickly  than  that 
from  the  south  to  the  north.  If  the  direction  of  the  wind 
is  from  the  west,  it  is  almost  certain  to  come  from  the 
north  before  coming  from  the  east.  He  also  called  my 
attention  to  the  fact  that  whirlwinds  and  whirlpools 
gyrate  in  the  same  manner.     Such  things  as  these,  not 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  243 

then  found  in  books,  was  what  he  frequently  told  me  and 
interested  me  much. 


Much  of  Sweetwater  on  Mayes'  Land. 

The  town  Sweetwater  is  built,  much  of  it,  on  the  Mayes 
land.  A  line  drawn  from  the  middle  of  the  Heiskell 
lane  on  the  east  side  of  town  to  the  middle  of  the  public 
road,  going  west  toward  Pond  Creek,  would  show  the 
division  line  between  the  Mayes  and  Lenoir  lands.  Hen- 
ry Mayes  died  at  Sweetwater  on  August  13,  1873. 

Mrs.  Ada  Reagan  Mayes. 

Miss  Ada  Reagan  was  born  at  Rome,  Ga.,  December 
1,  1828.  She  married  Thos.  J.  Treadway,  January  23, 
1851.  He  died  November  3,  1856.  Mrs.  Treadway  mar- 
ried Henry  Mayes  on  April  10,  1860.  She  died  at  Ashe- 
ville,  N.  C,  on  May  5,  1901. 

Cuba  Treadway  was  born  February  8,  1855.  He  was 
a  railroad  man.    He  died  August  20,  1885. 

Oscar  Reagan  Mayes  was  born  April  10,  1861.  His 
post-office  is  Hurst,  111. 

Carrie  Lee  Mayes  was  born  at  Sweetwater  on  Septem- 
ber 16,  1863.  She  married  John  H.  Weaver,  of  Ashe- 
ville,  N.  C,  November  22,  1888.  Dr.  E.  E.  "Wiley  of- 
ficiating, Mr.  Weaver,  formerly  of  Weaverville,  is  a 
prominent  merchant  of  Asheville,  N.  C.  Their  residence 
is  119  Cumberland  Avenue. 

The  children  of  Jno.  H.  and  Carrie  Lee  Weaver  are: 

1.  Eugene  Mayes  Weaver,  b.  March  22,  1891 ;  m.  Mrs. 
Lillian  Daniels  Dryser. 

(1)  By  this  marriage  one  child,  Oliver  Dryser.  He 
died  and  she  m.  E.  Mayes  W.  Children  of  this  mar- 
riage are: 

(1)  Constance  Alene,  b.  March,  1914. 

(2)  Lillian  Doris, 1916. 

2.  Henry  Cedric,  b.  November  24,  1894.  In  mailing 
department  New  York  Times. 

3.  Mary  Adalena,  b.  November  28,  1897. 

4.  Carrie  Lee,  b.  September  15,  1900. 


244  history  of  sweetwater  valley 

The  Taylors. 

Hughes  and  Betsey  Cannon  Tajdor,  liis  wife,  came 
from  Virginia  and  settled  in  Grainger  County.  They 
reared  a  family  of  twelve  children: 

H.  Woodson,  Elika  Adams,  Mrs.  Emma  Witt,  Grant, 
Mrs.  Eliza  Boatwright,  Jabin  Snow  (see  Fine),  Mrs. 
Rachel  Witt,  Mrs.  Amanda  Patton  (see  Francis  A.  Pat- 
ton),  Thomas,  Elbert  E.,  Mrs.  Edna (name  of 

husband  not  known  to  writer). 

Elika  Adams,  second  son  of  Hughes  and  Betsy  Can- 
non Taylor,  was  born  in  Grainger  County,  Tenn,,  July 
30,  1811.  He  married  Elizabeth  Mayes,  March  30,  1830, 
in  Grainger  County,  who  was  born  February  4,  1813; 
died  February  26,  1889.  Her  father  was  James  Mayes. 
Her  mother's  maiden  name  was  Jane  Howel.  Mrs.  E. 
Taylor  was  a  sister  of  Henry  Mayes,  of  Sweetwater. 

They  moved  from  Grainger  County  to  Pond  Creek 
Valley  in  the  first  civil  district  of  Monroe  County  in 
1839  or  1840.  He  resided  there  until  his  death  on  May 
10,  1903,  in  the  92nd  year  of  his  age. 

There  is  a  deed  of  record  at  Madisonville,  Book  ' '  NK, ' ' 
p.  487,  of  a  purchase  of  80  acres  of  land  from  John  Glaze 
by  E.  A.  Tajdor,  the  same  having  been  bought  by  him 
(Glaze)  of  Lindsay  Roberts.  The  date  of  the  deed  is 
January  27,  1840. 

In  September,  1842,  E.  A.  Taylor  and  wife  Elizabeth, 
were  received  by  experience  into  the  Baptist  church  on 
Pond  Creek.  This  church  was  located  about  one  mile 
south  of  the  Taylor  residence.  The  membership  of  this 
church  afterward  met  in  the  town  of  Sweetwater  and 
the  name  was  changed  to  the  "First  Baptist  Church  at 
Sweetwater. ' ' 

It  is  related  in  the  church  records  of  the  then  Pond 
Creek  Baptist  Church  that  they  were  baptized  in  Sweet- 
water Creek  near  John  Fine's.  Presumably  the  rite 
was  performed  b}''  Rev.  Robt.  Snead  as  he  was  acting  as 
pastor  of  the  church  at  the  time.  The  reason  the  bap- 
tism took  place  in  Sweetwater  Creek  was  that  there  was 
not  ''much  water"  in  Pond  Creek  especially  at  that 
time  of  the  year. 

In  March,  1845,  E.  A.  Taylor  became  clerk  and  was 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  245 

clerk  of  the  church  until  October,  1860,  when  his  son, 
William  H.  Taylor,  was  elected  church  clerk  in  his  place. 

In  June,  1854,  the  church  decided  to  huild  a  house  of 
worship  in  the  town  of  Sweetwater,  which  was  then  be- 
ginning to  be  a  place  of  some  importance,  hoping  there- 
by to  largely  increase  their  membership.  Mr.  Taylor 
was  one  of  the  active  members  in  bringing  about  this 
change.  However,  the  church  house  was  not  completed 
until  the  fall  of  1860.  The  first  record  of  meeting  in  it 
was  the  first  Saturday  in  December,  1861.  At  this  meet- 
ing Thos.  D.  and  Martha  L.  Taylor  joined  the  church 
and  Wm.  H.  Taylor  was  church  clerk. 

In  the  year  1861  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  El- 
der Hughes  Taylor,  of  Beach  Spring  in  Grainger  Coun- 
ty, w^as  pastor ;  his  brother,  E.  A.  Taylor,  was  a  deacon. 
Wm.  H.  Taylor  was  church  clerk  and  Elizabeth,  Wood- 
son, Thos.  b.,  Martha  L.,  and  Minerva  Taylor,  were 
members  of  the  church.  There  joined  the  church  after- 
ward of  the  Taylors — James  H.,  Mrs.  Emily  S.,  Zach- 
ary,  Eliza,  Sarah,  Elizabeth  and  William. 

E.  A.  Taylor  as  a  clerk  kept  the  books  of  the  church 
neatly,  correctly  and  in  good  diction.  The  same  was  the 
case  of  two  sons  who  afterward  were  also  clerks,  viz: 
Wm.  H.  and  James  H. 

E.  A.  Taylor  was  an  educated  man  in  this  sense,  that 
education  consists  more  in  the  ability  to  appl}"  what  you 
know  to  the  duties  and  circumstances  of  life  than  the 
amount  of  knowledge  acquired.  Wlien  he  (E.  A.  Tay- 
lor) knew  anything,  he  knew  it  as  well  as  anybody  could 
know  it.  He  could  converse  on  the  Bible  as  interesting- 
ly as  any  one  I  have  ever  known.  He  w^as  an  authority 
on  Baptist  doctrine.  He  was  also  one  of  the  most  pro- 
gressive farmers  in  all  this  section  of  country.  Being  a 
reader  and  having  a  receptive  mind  he  could  not  help 
but  be  versed  in  the  political  history  of  the  nation.  He 
was  a  fluent  talker  and  was  never  at  a  loss  for  a  word. 
He  was  always  enthusiastic  in  the  advocacy  of  what  he 
believed.  He  w^as  always  anxious  for  others  to  believe 
as  he  did.  Usually  one  who  wears  himself  out  in  the 
reformation  or  service  of  others  does  not  attain  to  old 
age.    He  is  a  notable  exception  to  this  rule. 

In  the  presidential  election  of  1896  he  came  to  Sweet- 


246  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

water  three  and  one-half  miles  to  vote.  He  remarked  at 
the  polls  that  the  first  ballot  he  ever  cast  was  for  Wil- 
liam Henry  Harrison  and  that  he  took  great  pleasure  in 
casting  the  last  ballot  he  ever  expected  to  cast  for  Wm. 
J.  Bryan.  He  was  then  more  than  86  years  of  age.  I 
told  him  I  hoped  that  he  would  live  to  cast  a  ballot  for 
Mr.  Bryan  again.  This  he  did  and  when  he  came  to  the 
polls  in  1900  I  reminded  him  of  what  he  said  four  years 
previous.  But  he  did  not  live  to  vote  for  Bryan  the 
third  time. 

He  was  a  teetotaller  by  practice  and  none  of  his  five 
sons  ever  drank  at  all  except  one  and  he  very  rarely. 
Yet  I  do  not  think  I  ever  heard  him  discuss  the  question 
of  prohibition.  Hov/ever  he  preferred  charges  against 
one  of  the  members  of  his  church  for  being  intoxicated. 
The  member  was  excluded  and  his  quotation  of  the  pas- 
sage ''Eat,  drink  and  be  merry  for  tomorrow  ye  die" 
did  not  save  him.  The  church  did  not  interpret  the 
Scripture  as  the  offending  brother  interpreted  it. 

The  children  of  E.  A.  and  Elizabeth  Taylor  were : 

One.  James  Hughes,  born  March  21,  1831;  died  in 
the  summer  of  1876. 

Two.  Woodson,  born  September  22,  1833 ;  died  March 
— ,  1912. 

Three.  William  Henry,  born  February  4,  1836;  died 
June  26,  1914. 

Four.  Thomas  Daniel,  born  September  29,  1838;  died 
October  6,  1902. 

Five.  Martha  Louisa,  born  April  6,  1841. 

Six.  Mary  Elizabeth,  born  February  4,  1844. 

Seven.  Zachary ,   born   November   14,   1849 ; 

died  August  9,  1914. 

Eight.  Eliza,  born  December  28,  1859. 

Two.  Woodson  Taylor  m.  Emily  Palmer,  then  of 
Sweetwater  May  8,  1867.  Rev.  Snead  Minister.  She 
was  a  younger  sister  of  Mrs.  W.  L.  Clark  and  was  born 
in  New  York. 

Woodson  T.  was  a  farmer.  He  went  to  Grainger  Coun- 
ty on  Holston  River  soon  after  marriage.  His  wife  died 
October,  1915.     Their  children  were: 

Mrs.  Mary  Sheldon  (dead),    of    Kentucky;    William 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  247 

Elika,  Frank  Palmer,  Geo.  Elbert,  Elizabeth  Cleveland, 
and  Ernest.  A  daughter,  the  youngest,  died  in  infancy. 
Mary  married  a  distant  relative,  Claude  Taylor.  The 
T'ayior  home  is  at  Jefferson  City,  where  Frank  and  Eliz- 
abeth still  live. 

One.  James  Hughes  Taylor  was  first  married  to  Sa- 
rah Warren  of  Iowa,  who  died  leaving  two  children,  Mrs. 
Lizzie  McAmis,  of  Ash  Grove,  Mo.,  and  William  H.,  of 
Columbus,  Miss.  His  second  wife  was  Mary  Minnis,  of 
Madisonville,  Tenn.  Died  at  Elika  Taylor's  home  Sep- 
tember 12,  1915.  Left  two  children :  Mrs.  Fannie  Aren- 
dall  and  John  Quincy,  both  of  Atlanta,  Ga. 

William  Henry  Taylor  came  to  Sweetwater  and  went 
into  the  mercantile  business  with  Joseph  Boyd,  brother 
of  Mrs.  J.  C.  Vaughn  in  a  part  of  the  old  hotel  building 

in  1854  or  1855.    He  married   F Adelia   Brad- 

shaw  of  Towns  Comity,  Ga.,  on  July  5,  1859,  A.  H.  Bark- 
ley,  minister.  After  the  Civil  War  he  did  business  in 
Atlanta,  Ga,,  as  a  commission  merchant.  He  came  back 
to  Tennessee.     He  was  a  farmer  in  Grainger  County. 

He  went  to  Paris,  T'ex^is,  in  the  year He  died 

in  Paris,  Texas,  and  was  interred  there.  She  was  a 
Methodist.  She  was  a  sister  of  Lieutenant  Nicholas 
Bradshaw  who  married  Miss  Sallie  Brown,  daughter  of 
Judge  Geo.  Brown  of  Madisonville. 

The  children  of  Wm.  H.  and  F.  A.  Taylor  were : 

Frank,  Charles,  Robert,  Bettie,  Flora,  Edward,  Pearl, 
Libby,  Hugh,  Henry  and  Lucy.  Bettie  married  John  J. 
Browder,  son  of  J.  M.  Browder  (whom  see). 

Martha  Louisa  married  Hugh  C.  McCammon,  of  Boul- 
der, Cpl.,  on  April  21, 1874.  He  was  born  in  Knox  Coun- 
ty. After  moving  to  Colorado  he  was  a  miner  and 
farmer  and  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  at  one  time. 
He  died  at  Boulder.    Their  children  were : 

Blanche,  who  married  Setli  M.  Thomas,  of  Boulder, 
and  Anna,  who  married  Horace  Griffin  of  that  place. 
Their  son,  Hugh,  lives  at  Black  Hawk,  Col.  Their  third 
daughter  was  named  Olive. 

Mary  Elizabeth  was  b.  February  4,  1844;  m.  Sam  M. 
Thomas  on  February  18,  1869.  He  was  the  son  of 
of  Kentucky,  and  was  a   brother  of   Mrs. 


248  HISTOfiY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAUL,EY 

Sterling  Neil.  They  moved  first  to  Trenton,  Tenn.,  then 
to  Collins  County,  Texas,  filially  to  San  Saba  County. 
Post-office,  Brownwood,  Texas.  There  are  two  children 
now  (1915)  living:  Welin,  post-office,  Denver,  Col.,  and 
Gardner. 

Eight.  Eliza  iii.  AVill  Thomas,  son  of  John  L.  Thomas, 
December  10,  1890.  He  (W.  T.)  was  b.  in  McMinn  Coun- 
ty, March,  1866;  d.  December  3,  1915.  He  was  a  very 
zealous  and  efficient  member  of  the  First  Baptist  Church, 
Sweetwater,  and  was  a  noted  teacher  in  the  Sunday- 
school.  He  and  his  wife  resided  during  married  life  at 
the  old  E.  A.  Taylor  place.  He  farmed  the  land  as  in- 
telligently and  industriously  as  his  father-in-law.  Chil- 
dren five  in  number :  Harold,  b.  January  12,  1893 ;  Jen- 
nie Valeria,  b.  September  10,  1894,  d.  September  3,  1897 ; 
Blanche  Elizabeth,  b.  December  21,  1896;  Ruby  and  Ruth 
were  twins,  b.  August  3,  1898. 

Mrs.  Eliza  Brewster 

Was  the  daughter  of  James  and  Jane  Howel  Mayes, 
of  Grainger  County,  Tenn.  She  w^as  born  April  8,  1838. 
She  was  a  sister  of  Henry  Mayes  and  of  Mrs.  E.  A.  Tay- 
lor. She  married  John  Brewster  from  her  home  Octo- 
ber 15,  1857. 

He  was  b.  in  Virginia,  February  7,  1828.  He  was  a 
stock  trader.  He  was  supposed  to  have  been  lost  in  a 
steamboat  disaster  on  the  Mississippi  River.  She  moved 
to  Sweetwater  from  Grainger  County  early  in  1867. 
Their  children  were : 

(1)  Ora  was  born  in  Grainger  County,  November  15, 
1858.  She  was  a  noted  piano  player  and  music  teacher. 
She  taught  at  Thomasville  and  at  Shelby,  N.  C.  She  had 
the  gift  of  absolute  pitch.  She  could  tell  instantly  what 
note  was  struck  on  any  instrument.  On  a  piano  that 
she  was  accustomed  to  and  in  good  tune  she  could  tell  by 
ear  and  name  each  note  without  seeing  the  piano  as  many 
as  eight  notes  struck  simultaneously,  whether  chords  or 
dischords.  She  was  an  accomplished  sight  reader  of 
music  and  also  could  reproduce  any  short  piece  of  music 
that  she  heard  if  allowed  to  go  to  the  piano  at  once,  but 
nothing  like  the  lengthy  productions   Blind  Tom  could. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VA1,L.EY  249 

She  played  for  Blind  Tom  once  at  a  performance.  In 
playing  the  piece  after  her  probably  as  much  as  five 
minutes  long  she  said  that  he  made  a  good  many  changes 
especially  in  the  cadenzas  but  that  some  of  them  might 
have  been  just  as  good  as  the  author's  idea.  The  tempo 
of  the  piece  as  played  by  Blind  Tom  was  slightly  more 
rapid  than  Miss  Brewster's.  I  have  heard  him  I  think 
as  many  as  four  times  and  he  was  more  successful  in 
reproducing  Miss  Brewster's  piece  than  that  of  any 
other. 

At  Shelby,  N.  C,  while  teaching  there  Miss  B.  got 
acquainted  with  Charles  C,  Blanton  and  they  were  mar- 
ried in  Sweetwater  July  15,  1885.  She  died  in  Atlanta, 
January  17,  1890.    He  is  a  resident  of  Shelby,  N.  C. 

(2)  Mary  Brewster  was  born  in  Grainger  County, 
Tenn.,  May  14,  1861.  Slie  died  in  Sweetwater,  February 
7,  1873. 

(3)  Valeria  (Vallie)  was  b.  in  Grainger  County,  July 
31, 1865.  She  married  A.  R.  Melendy,  D.  D.  S.  of  the  firm 
of  Cook  &  Melendy,  June  30,  1884.  Parents  of  one  son, 
Melville  B.  Melendy,  who  was  born  in  Sweetwater,  Au- 
gust 21,  1886.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Melendy  moved  to  Knox- 
ville.     She  died  there  November  16,  1910. 

M.  B.  Melendy  married  Miss  Eleanor  Darcy,  of  New 
York  City. 
Mrs.  Brewster  resides  in  Shelby,  N.  C. 

The  Manis  Family. 

The  information  below  was  gotten  from  James  Har- 
vey Manis  in  Sweetwater,  in  1912.  He  had  no  records 
with  him  and  the  information  is  from  his  memory: 

Ephraim  Manis,  father  of  John,  Harvey  and  George 
and  those  given,  came  from.  Hawkins  County  to  this  sec- 
tion about  1819.  He  died  at  the  age  of  87  years.  His 
children  were : 

William,  b.  1822.  AVent  to  California  in  1849.  Lives 
in  Oregon. 

John,  b.  1824.    Married Randolph. 

Sarah  Ann,  b.  1826.    Married Cooper. 

George,  b.  1832.  Lives  at  Gudger.  Married.  Has 
large  family.  Served  as  a  soldier  in  the  Confederate 
army. 


250  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

James  Harvey,  b.  January  15,  1836. 

Esther,  b.  1838.  Married  John  Pryor.  Lives  in  Mc- 
Minn  County,  Tenn. 

Joseph,  b.'l840;  d.  1909. 

James  Harvey  Manis  married  Lucinda  Randolph  Feb- 
ruary 15,  1867.  He  had  served  through  the  war  in  the 
Confederate  army.  He  was  a  farmer.  Their  children 
were:  Isham  G.  Harris,  b.  December,  1867.  Lives  in 
Oklahoma;  Bettie  and  Callie  died  young;  Dosia  mar- 
ried Alex   McAmis,   lives  in   McMinn ;   Sallie,   married 

Tallent ;  Mary,  married Duncan,  lives 

in  Oklahoma;  Mattie,  married  McCosh,  lives 

in  Oklahoma;  Joe,  lives  in  the  first  district  of  McMinn 
County;  Annie,  dead;  Harriette,  married  Connor  and 
lives  in  Oklahoma;  James  Harvey,  died  in  youth. 

The  Martins. 

John  Martin  was  born  June  29,  1779 ;  d.  November  29, 
1841.  His  son,  Hugh  E.,  was  born  February  25,  1809, 
and  died  January  3,  1857.  He  married  Mary  Griffitts 
of  Blount  County,  a  sister  of  Mrs.  John  Ramsey.  Mary 
Griffitts  was  born  April  17,  1819,  and  died  February  28, 
1907.    They  are  both  buried  at  Philadelphia. 

Hugh  E.  Martin  owned  a  large  farm  about  midway  be- 
tween Philadelphia  and  Sweetwater.  Their  children 
were : 

1 .  William  Edward,  who  died  at  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  in 
1863. 

2.  James  G.,  d,  near  Chattanooga  in  1913.  He  was 
a  soldier  in  the  Confederate  army  during  the  Civil  War. 
He  married  Mary  McPherson  of  Meigs  County.  Their 
children  were:  Annie,  Jennie  and  Margaret,  who  died 
in  early  life;  Hugh,  lives  at  Evansville,  Tenn.,  m.  Mc- 
Pherson. They  have  nine  sons.  Joe,  Jack  and  Bertie 
(Mrs.  Johnson)  live  in  Chattanooga;  Georgia,  lives  at 
Tasso,  Tenn.,  where  he  is  agent  for  the  Southern  Rail- 
way Company,,  and  is  a  merchant.  He  married  Maude 
Woods,  of  Concord,  Tenn.  They  have  thre6  children, 
Elizabeth,  George  C.,  Jr.,  and  Catherine. 

3.  Margaret,  daughter  of  Hugh  E. ;  m.  Thomas  Har- 
ris, who  was  a  carpenter  and  farmer.  Their  children 
were:    William  Ramsey,  d;  Mary  Elizabeth,  d;  Hugh 


HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  251 

Alexander  and  Charles  M.,  who  live  in  Chattanooga, 
Tenn. 

4.  Elizabeth,  b.  September  12,  1851;  m.  Dr.  Thomas 
Arrants,  of  Decatur,  Tenn.,  on  August  29,  1876.  Their 
children  were:  Artie,  b.  1879.  W.  H.,  b.  November  18, 
1881.  He  took  a  literary  course  at  the  University  of 
Tennessee  and  a  medical  course  at  the  University  of 
Nashville.  He  married  Hulah  Cowan,  of  Covington, 
Tex.  He  is  a  practising  physician  at  Sweetwater,  Tenn. 
Sam.  H.,  third  child  of  lElizabeth  Arrants,  b.  October  18, 
1884 ;  is  a  farmer  in  Meigs  County,  Lizzie  Crate,  fourth 
child  of  Elizabeth  Arrants,  b.  February  24,  1888. 

5.  Susan,  fifth  child  of  Hugh  E.  Martin ;  m.  Eli  Cleve- 
land.   See  Clevelands. 

6.  Harle,  d.  about  1908.    Unmarried. 

7.  George,  b.  December  3,  1853 ;  m.  Mary  Davis.  Ad- 
dress, 1313  Indiana  Avenue,  Spokane,  Wash. 

8.  Hugh,  died  in  early  manhood. 

Thomas  J.  Moore 

Was  born  at  Kingston,  Tenn.,  January  9,  1824,  the  son 
of  John  Moore  and  Susan  Moore.  (This  Susan  Moore 
was  the  sister  of  Ann  Moore  who  married  Solomon  Bo- 
gart,  whom  see.)  Thomas  J.  Moore,  married  (first) 
Elizabeth  Martin  Cannon,  b,  June  11,  1822,  daughter  of 
Robert  and  Ann  Galbraith  Cannon,  of  Philadelphia, 
Tenn.,  in  about  1846.  He  moved  to  that  place  when  a 
young  man.  After  the  completion  of  the  East  Tennes- 
see and  Georgia  Railroad  he  was  agent  there  for  that 
company  for  a  number  of  years.  After  that  he  worked 
in  the  general  offices  of  railroad  company  at  Knoxville 
almost  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  In  1871  he  moved  to 
Sweetwater,  where  he  purchased  a  part  of  the  Chas. 
Cannon  farm,  just  southwest  of  the  town.  He  died  there 
on  March  2,  1875,  and  was  buried  at  Philadelphia.  The 
children  of  T.  J.  and  Elizabeth  C.  Moore  were: 

Octavia,  b.  November  8,  1847 ;  d.  July  8,  1886,  and  was 
buried  at  Philadelphia. 

Ann,  b.  June  20,  1850. 

Robert  Cannon,  b.  November  24,  1853.  Unmarried. 
Lives  at  Sweetwater,  Tenn. 

J.  Charles,  b.  May  5,  1856. 


252  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Ann  Moore  married  George  McKnight  at  Sweetwater 
on  November  16,  1885.  He  was  born  June  12, 1844.  He 
was  depot  agent  at  Sweetwater  for  a  great  number  of 
years  for  the  Southern  Railway  and  its  predecessors. 
He  afterwards  bought  the  Biggs  farm  near  there.  In 
May,  1905,  he  purchased  a  farm  three  miles  west  of 
Charleston,  Tenn.,  and  moved  there.  He  sold  this  place 
in  August,  1912,  and  moved  to  Cleveland,  Tenn.,  where 
he  now  lives.     Their  children  were: 

George  M.,  b.  August  21,  1886;  d.  January  15,  1915. 

Robert  Cannon,  b.  August  19,  1888.  He  is  a  phar- 
macist living  at  Los  Angeles,  Cal. 

J.  Charles  Moore,  married  Sarah  Bachman,  daughter 
of  Nathan  and  Sarah  Cunningham  Bachman,  on  June 
15,  1893,  the  Rev.  Nathan  Bachman,  officiating.  Charles 
Moore  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church.  He  is  a 
certified  public  accountant  and  auditor.  The  children 
of  Charles  and  Sarah  Moore  are: 

Charles  Bachman,  b.  April  5,  1894;  Nathan  Thomas, 
b.  May  31, 1896;  Laurence,  b.  August  6,  1902,  and  Robert 
Cannon,  b.  October  25,  1907. 

J.  Charles  Moore  lives  at  Knoxville,  Tenn. 

Thomas  J.  Moore,  married  (second)  Rowena  Brown, 
the  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Thos.  Brown,  of  Philadelphia, 
Tenn.     Thomas  Brown,  M.  G.     Their  children  were: 

Susan,  b.  March  31,  1869,  at  Philadelphia,  Tenn. 

Thomas  J.,  b.  October  21, 1874,  at  Sweetwater,  Tenn. 

Susan  Moore  was  married  to  J.  B.  Sizer  at  Sweet- 
water March  8,  1888.  He  was  born  at  Newark,  N.  J., 
on  April  12,  1861.  He  is  a  lawyer  and  first  practised  in 
Sweetwater.  In  the  year  of  1890  he  moved  to  Chatta- 
nooga and  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Pritchard  & 
Sizer.  After  the  death  of  Mr.  Robert  Pritchard  he  be- 
came a  partner  of  Mr.  Chambliss.  He  has  a  very  lucra- 
tive practice.  The  children  of  J.  B.  and  Susan  Sizer 
are: 

Margaret  Moore,  b.  Januarv  8,  1889;  Rowena  Brown, 
b.  June  1,  1891 ;  Hilda  Wade,  b.  October  13,  1893 ;  Mary 
Helen,  b.  October  12,  1896;  James  Burnett,  b.  March  9, 
1899 ;  Octavia,  b.  June  26,  1901,  and  Anthony  DeSosieur, 
b.  March  10,  1909. 

Margaret   Moore    Sizer   was   married   to   Alexander 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  253 

Chambliss,  of  Chattanooga,  on  January  5,  1910.    He  is  a 
lawyer.    They  reside  at  Chattanooga. 

Thomas  J.,  youngest  son  of  Thomas  J.  and  Rowena 
Moore,  was  born  October  21,  1874.  On  July  10,  1912,  he 
married  Helen  Swalm,  of  Colorado  Springs,  Col.  She 
died  at  Chattanooga  January  6,  1915.  He  is  a  manu- 
facturer in  Chattanooga. 

Hoist.  Matthew  Nelson. 

The  following  was  taken  from  a  sketch  of  his  life  in 
possession  of  Mr.  M.  M.  Nelson,  of  Knoxville,  Tenn.  It 
was  written  by  his  grandmother,  the  wife  of  Matthew 
Nelson.  She  was,  if  I  mistake  not,  a  sister  of  Robt.  Can- 
non of  Roane  County,  who  lived  the  latter  part  of  his 
life  near  Philadelphia  on  what  is  still  known  as  the  Can- 
non place.  She  was  born  April  19,  1784,  and  died  April 
26,  1862.  She  and  her  husband  were  both  buried  in  the 
Presbyterian  cemetery  near  Philadelphia.  The  sketch 
referred  to  is  so  well  written  that  it  is  copied  almost 
entire. 

Matthew  Nelson,  Sr.,  was  born  iii  Rockbridge  County,  Virginia, 
October  17,  1778.  His  father  migrated  to  (what  was  afterward)  this 
State  whilst  it  was  a  territory  and  was  a  sharer,  first,  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary War  and  then  in  the  Indian  war.  (Note — He  was  too  young 
to  have  fought  in  the  Revolution,  but  remembered  it  as  a  spectator.) 
He  was  the  oldest  of  a  family  of  eight  children  and  was  taught  the 
rudiments  of  learning  by  an  old  maiden  aunt,  who  had  become  much, 
attached  to  him  on  account  of  his  aptness  to  learn.  Slates  being 
scarce  in  those  hard  times,  she  procured  a  piece  of  slate-stone  and 
with  a  pencil  of  the  same  material  she  set  copies  for  him.  She  used 
to  say  to  her  sister  in  her  good  old  Scotch-Irish  dialect:  "Matthew 
is  a  fine  boy  and  shows  signs  of  talents."  He  never  was  at  school 
but  three  months,  yet  notwithstanding  his  disadvantages  he  had  so 
far  advanced  as  to  be  employed  to  teach  a  small  school  at  the  age 
of  seventeen  years.  About  the  year  1799  or  1800  he  went  to  Kingston, 
where  he  worked  at  his  trade  (that  of  carpenter),  and  resided  in 
Roane  County  until  his  marriage  (to  Miss  Martha  Cannon)  on  the 
20th  of  August,  1803.  Shortly  afterward  they  settled  in  Kingston, 
where,  by  his  honest  labors  and  moral  habits,  he  gained  the  confi- 
dence of  all  who  knew  him. 

In  1813  he  was  elected  representative  (to  the  General  Assembly) 
from  Roane  County.  During  the  session  he  was  made  treasurer  of 
East  Tennessee.  He  then  moved  to  Knoxville.  He  entered  upon  the 
duties  of  his  office  January  13,  1814.  These  duties  he  discharged 
with  scrupulous  care  and  fidelity  for  fourteen  years.  About  1816 
he  went  into  partnership  in  the  mercantile  line  with  the  late  worthy 
James  Campbell,  of  Knoxville.  At  the  close  of  the  term  of  partner- 
ship, he  continued  the  business  alone  for  a  number  of  years.     During 


254  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VA1.LEY 

his  term  of  oflfice  as  treasurer,  the  public  lands  in  the  Hiwassee  Dis- 
trict were  subjected  to  sale,  and  the  treasurer  was  required  to  super- 
intend the  sale.  For  this  service  the  law  allowed  him  two  per  cent 
commission  on  the  gross  proceeds  of  the  sale,  and  all  the  emoluments 
and  perquisites  of  his  office  instead  of  a  stated  salary.  The  land  sales 
were  large,  and  in  one  year  his  commission  amounted  to  six  or  seven 
thousand  dollars.  He  believed  that  the  Legislature  contemplated  no 
such  large  compensation  to  the  treasurer,  and  acting  upon  this  con- 
viction he  paid  over  to  the  treasury  all  but  fifteen  hundred  dollars, 
which  he  reserved  to  himself  as  an  honest  compensation. 

Honesty  in  theory  is  no  rarity  among  men;  but  we  see  here  the 
man  that  acted  it  out  in  practice  in  its  length  thereof  and  in  its 
breadth  thereof. 

On  the  25th  of  December,  1828,  he  left  Knoxville  with  his  family 
and  arrived  at  Philadelphia  on  the  1st  of  December,  1829,  ,and  settled 
on  his  farm  to  spend  the  remainder  of  his  days  in  peace  and  quiet- 
ness, but  his  public  course  was  not  finished.  He  was  shortly  made 
justice  of  the  peace,  giving  satisfaction  to  all  parties  in  all  cases  of 
law.  His  motto  was  law  and  justice.  In  1844  he  was  elected  treasurer 
of  the  State  of  Tennessee.  He  went  to  Nashville  with  the  deter- 
mination to  know  nothing  among  them  but  truth  and  honesty.  During 
his  residence  in  Nashville  the  Lord  wrought  a  good  and  gracious 
work  in  his  soul,  and  on  the  11th  of  March,  1845,  he  joined  the 
Second  Presbyterian  church  of  that  city,  which  was  under  the  pastoral 
care  of  Dr.  Lapsley. 

On  the  5th  of  November,  1845,  he  was  voted  out  of  office,  and 
gave  it  up  with  as  much  ease  as  David  laid  aside  Saul's  armor,  be- 
lieving it  to  be  a  bar  to  his  spiritual  interest. 

On  April  2,  1846,  he  left  Nashville,  and,  on  the  7th,  arrived  at  his 
residence  in  Philadelphia.  He  was  invited  by  his  friends  to  resume 
his  seat  as  justice  of  the  peace,  which  had  been  vacant  for  two  years. 
He  held  this  office  from  that  time  until  his  death,  which  occurred 
on  December  1,  1852. 

Domestic  Habits. 

He  never  was  an  early  riser;  generally  lay  until  called  up  by 
the  breakfast  bell.  Owing,  I  suppose,  to  his  having  both  legs  broken 
when  young  and  which  remained  painful  at  times  all  his  life.  His 
temper  was  rather  rough  of  a  morning,  but  a  cup  of  coffee  generally 
brought  on  a  sweet  calm.  He  paid  but  little  attention  to  what  he 
ate.  He  seldom  could  tell  an  hour  after  meal  what  he  had  eaten.  He 
was  rather  slovenly  in  his  dress.  Candor  and  punctuality  marked  his 
way.  His  family  generally  knew  where  he  was  and  what  he  was 
about.  He  never  aspired  after  a  great  name,  but  if  honesty  and 
sound  piety  make  a  part  of  great  men  he  had  a  large  share  of  the 
best  kind  of  wisdom.  The  path  of  the  just  is  as  a  shining  light  "that 
shines  more  and  more  until  the  perfect  day."  For  the  last  few  years 
of  his  life  his  Bible  and  family  altar  were  to  him  as  the  precious 
dews  of  heaven.  He  never  neglected  these  until  worn  out  by  age 
and  affliction.  His  last  illness  was  long  and  painful,  but  he  bore  his 
suffering  with  Job-like  patience. 

His  long  and  useful  life  closed  on  the  1st  of  December,  1852. 
"Mark  the  perfect  man  and  behold  the  upright,  for  the  end  of  that 
man  is  peace." 

From  this  sketch,  which  I  believe  is  truthful,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  Hon.  Matthew  Nelson  was  a  very  remark- 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALIjEY  255 

able  and  exceptional  man.  He  was  a  warm  personal  and 
political  friend. of  my  father,  I.  T.  Lenoir.  They  both 
were  wliigs.  I.  T.  Lenoir  was  a  member  from  Roane 
County  in  the  twenty-fourth  and  twenty-fifth  General 
Assemblies  of  the  state.  Mr.  Nelson  was  a  representa- 
tive from  the  same  comity  in  1813.  Mr.  Lenoir  was  an 
ardent  and  influential  supporter  of  Mr.  Nelson  for  state 
treasurer  and  was  among  the  first  to  suggest  his  mak- 
ing the  race.  He  had  a  very  high  opinion  of  Mr.  Nel- 
son's ability  and  integrity.  He  made  as  good  a  treasurer 
as  the  state  ever  had.  Mrs.  Nelson's  saying  ''that  he 
was  voted  out  of  office"  (treasurer)  merely  means  that 
the  complexion  of  the  Legislature  had  changed  from 
whig  in  1843  to  democratic  in  1845.  Aaron  V.  Brown, 
Democrat,  had  also  beaten  Foster,  whig,  for  governor. 
Therefore  Nelson  failed  of  re-election  as  treasurer.  He 
had  been  as  accurate  in  his  accounts  as  state  treasurer 
as  he  had  been  for  the  sale  of  lands  in  East  Tennessee, 
and  as  well  prepared  to  settle  and  vacate.  Li  conduct- 
ing the  land  sales  in  East  Tennessee  he  could  have  made 
himself  immensely  wealthy,  not  only  by  collecting  the 
fees  allowed  him,  but  agreeing  with  the  purchasers  to 
turn  over  to  him  the  lands  so  bought  for  stipulated  sums, 
erecting  a  man  of  straw  as  a  go-between,  practically 
thus  purchasing  the  lands  he  desired  from  himself  at 
his  own  price.  Our  modern  financiers  of  the  Guggen- 
heimer  type  would  not  have  asked  for  a  better  chance. 
But  he  came  out  of  it  all  rather  a  poor  man  and  bought 
not  as  much  probably  as  he  would  otherwise  have  done. 

It  has  been  related  under  the  caption  of  General  James 
H.  Reagan,  that  he  was  one  of  the  first  in  this  section 
to  grant  a  right  of  way  to  the  E.  T.  &  G.  R.  R.  Co.,  when 
after  a  description  according  to  grant,  he  adds:  ''The 
land  upon  which  I  now  reside  and  on  which  the  town  of 
Philadelphia  is  located." 

Taking  his  career  as  an  example  it  may  well  be  doubted 
whether  ideal  "honesty  is  the  best  policy"  to  pursue  to 
accumulate  wealth  or  for  a  successful  financial  career. 
Mr.  Nelson  had  almost  unlimited  opportunities  inside 
the  law  to  become  rich  but  he  failed  to  take  advantage 
of  them.  No  doubt  resisting  temptation  to  do  what  he 
considered  would  be  wrong  gave  him  greater  satisfac- 


256  HISTOBY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

tion  than  to  be  able  to  draw  a  valid  check  for  many  thous- 
ands acquired  dishonestly  or  in  ways  to  which  suspicion 
might  attach.  His  policy  of  ''letting  his  family  know 
where  he  was  and  what  he  was  about"  no  doubt  in  his 
case  was  a  peacemaker  and  a  worry-saver ;  but  adopted 
by  the  average  husband  would  be  about  as  likely  to  cause 
trouble  as  to  prevent  it.  Would  it  not  be  better  some- 
times to  use  a  little  diplomacy  in  the  matter! 

Mrs.  Nelson's  tribute  to  the  beneficent  influence  of  a 
cup  of  coffee  upon  the  feeli-ngs  and  temper  of  her  hus- 
band would  have  been  quite  a  blow  to  the  postum  busi- 
ness had  there  been  any  such  at  the  time.  But  how  the 
coffee  men  would  have  relished  it !  And  pray  why  should 
not  the  cotfee  berry  boiled  in  water  produce  as  healthful 
and  palatable  a  beverage  as  the  rye  and  wheat  berry? 

It  will  be  interesting  to  note  that  the  old  house  which 
Mr.  Nelson  built  and  resided  in  till  his  death  is  still 
standing.  Its  location  is  across  the  branch  from  W.  C. 
Cannon's  residence. 

The  children  of  Matthew  and  Martha  Nelson  were : 

1.  Lawrence,  married  Louisa  Cannon  (see  Cannon). 
He  died' 

2.  Caroline,  married  John  O.  Cannon.  John  0.  C,  Jr., 
their  son,  was  reared  by  Matthew  Nelson. 

3.  Sydney  C,  married  Robert  Cleveland  (see  Cleve- 
lands). 

4.  Eliza,  married  Dr.  Blackburn,  of  New  Market.  One 
son,  David  B.,  who  went  to  Oregon. 

5.  Matthew,  married McGaughey,  of  Athens, 

Tenn.  He  is  dead.  She  is  still  (1916)  living  in  Knox- 
ville.  One  son,  Matthew  N.,  merchant  and  accountant, 
Knoxville,  Tenn. 

6.  John  D.  'He  must  have  been  something  of  a  hu- 
morist. He  obtained  a  license  at  Madisonville,  Tenn., 
on  the  1st  of  February,  1839,  to  marry  Polly  Maddy, 
They  did  not  marry  and  he  made  the  return:  "No  prop- 
erty found  in  my  comity,  J.  D.  Nelson,  sheriff."  How- 
ever, next  time  he  had  better  luck.  On  the  20th  of  Au- 
gust, 1844,  he  obtained  a  license  to  marry  Sarah  D.  Talia- 
ferro.   They  were  duly  married  and  moved  to  Texas. 

7.  William  Cannon,  was  born  at  Knox\dlle,  Tenn.,  Sep- 
tember 16,  1821.    He  married  Caroline  Jones,  born  May 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  257 

26,  1826,  daughter  of  Hardy  Jones.  He  was  a  farmer 
and  also  conducted  a  tanyard.  He  lived  in  or  near  Phila- 
delphia most  of  his  life.  He  died  at  Greeneville,  Tenn. 
Their  children  were : 

1.  Martha,  b.  November  24,  1843.  Married  Harris 
Tipton,  of  Morganton,  Tenn.,  on  September  29, 1867.  He 
was  the  son  of  John  B.  Tipton  and  Louisiana  Tipton. 
Their  children  were:  Sydney,  John  B.  (dead),  Hope, 
Nelson,  Lawrence  and  Bessie. 

2.  Sydnev  Caroline,  b.  Mav  29,  1846 ;  d.  July  21,  1861. 

3.  David,  b.  June  2,  1848.  Died  in  the  west  about  1912. 
He  married  Ida  Shrader,  of  Loudon,  Tenn.,  who  died 
in  the  west  a  short  time  before  her  husband.  David  Nel- 
son was  a  lawyer  and  was  a  member  of  the  Forty-sixth 
General  Assembly,  sixth  senatorial  district.  He  had  an 
only  daughter  who  is  dead. 

4.  Bettie  Nelson,  b.  July  4,  1856.  Married  Charles 
Howard,  of  Greeneville,  Tenn.,  on'  October  17,  1882. 
Lives   at  Ocmulgee,  Okla. 

5.  John,  b.  June  29,  1858.  Died  in  Oklahoma  about 
1905. 

6.  Annie,  b.  April  6,  1860.  She  married  (first)  Cicero 
Haynes,  September  30,  1883.  They  had  one  daughter, 
Bessie  Roe,  married  Howard.  Mrs.  Haynes  married 
(second)  Dr.  C.  Stearns,     Two  children,  both  dead. 

8.  David,  the  youngest  child  of  Matthew  Nelson  died 
while  his  father  was  state  treasurer. 

Sterling  Neil. 

The  parents  of  Sterling  Neil  came  from  Virginia  to 
this  country.  Sterling  Neil  was  born  in  McMinn  County 
on  November  14,  1823.  He  married  Miss  Sallie  Thomas, 
of  Thompkinsville,  Ky.  She  was  born  in  West  Tennes- 
see. Her  parents  were  Samuel  and  Sallie  Thomas.  She 
died  in  1880  at  Fort  Valley,  Ga. 

Sterling  Neil  moved  from  McMinn  County  to  his  farm 
on  the  Athens  road,  one  and  one-half  miles  from  Sweet- 
water, in  1849.  They  moved  to  Fort  Valley,  Ga.,  in 
1863.  He  left  his  farm  in  Sweetwater  Valley  in  charge 
of  his  father-in-law  when  he  went  south  on  account  of 
the  Federal  occupation.  Owing  to  the  absence  of  the 
real  owner,  the  farm  and  house  suffered  more  from  dep- 


258  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

redation  than  it  otherwise  would.  At  Fort  Valley  he 
was  a  farmer  and  banker.  He  and  his  wife  were  both 
members  of  the  Christian  church.    Their  children  were : 

1.  Stella,  b.  August  11,  1852. 

2.  John  R.,  b.  March,  1855.    Lives  at  Fort  Valley,  Ga. 

3.  Mary,  b.  December  13,  1858. 

4.  Alice,  b.  December  24,  1861 ;  d,  at  Athens,  Tenn. 

5.  Sam  Thomas,  b.  February  6,  1864;  m.  Stella  Harris. 
He  died  in  January,  1869. 

1.  Stella  married  J.  C.  Slappev,  who  was  born  Decem- 
ber 10,  1842,  on  December  14,  1859.  Tliey  live  at  Fort 
Valley,  Ga.    Their  children  are : 

(1)  George  A.  Slappey,  b.  April  27,  1871.  He  m.  Fan- 
nie Harris  in  1891,  who  lived  only  a  year.  Eight  years 
later  he  married  Clara  Visscher.  They  live  at  Fort  Val- 
ley, Ga. 

(2)  Beulah,  b.  December  22,  1872;  m.  W.  H.  Harris 
May  16,  1894.    Address,  Fort  Vallev,  Ga. 

(3)  Alice,  b.  October  17,  1874;  m.  W.  C.  Black,  Novem- 
ber 29,  1893.    Address,  Tampa,  Fla. 

(4)  Neil,  b.  September  18,  1876.  Lives  at  Fort  Val- 
ley, Ga. 

(5)  Rubv,  b.  January  3, 1879 ;  m.  H.  L.  Harris,  January 
10,  1898;  d.  Sparta,  Ga.,  February  1,  1914. 

(6)  Sterling,  b.  Januarv  4, 1881 ;  m.  Elmer  Green,  June 
14,  1904.    Address,  Fort'Valley,  Ga. 

(7)  Maude,  b.  October  27,  1888;  m.  R.  C.  Suder,  April 
9,  1913.    Address,  Macon,  Ga. 

(8)  Gladys,  b.  January  23,  1895. 

2.  Mary,  second  child  of  Sterling  and  Sallie  Neil,  was 
born  near  Sweetwater.  She  married  Will  C.  Wester,  of 
Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  December  16,  1879.  He  was  born 
on  Half-  Moon  Island,  Tenn.,  November  27,  1854.  He  is 
a  fire  insurance  man.  They  have  one  child,  Earl  Neil 
Wester,  who  married  Lucille  Gerstle. 

Charles  Owen. 

A  cosmopolitan  population  makes  a  prosperous  section 
and  community,  when  there  are  not  more  *' undesirable 
citizens"  as  immigrants  than  can  be  readily  assimilated. 
Tlie  lessons  of  history,  if  I  read  them  aright,  inform  us 
that,  without  the  infusion  of  new  blood  into  a  nation,  it 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  259 

degenerates  and  finally  gives  place  to,  or  is  overcome 
by,  some  other  that  is  stronger  or  more  aggressive.  Our 
own  section  of  country  was  peopled  by  those  differing 
in  customs  and,  in  a  measure,  religion  and  descended 
from  varied  national  ancestry.  Those  settling  in  our 
valley,  so  far  as  the  states  were  concerned,  came  from 
Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  North  Carolina  and  a  few  from 
each  of  the  states  of  Maryland,  Kentucky  and  South 
Carolina.  As  regards  remoter  ancestry  we  have  the 
German  Lotspeich,  Pickel,  Patton,  Fry  and  Fryer;  the 
English  Cannon,  Cleveland,  Johnston,  Mayes,  Nelson 
and  Yearw^ood;  the  Scotch  Gregory,  Neil,  Ramsey  and 
Wallis;  the  French  Bogart,  Berry,  Fine,  Goddard,  Ju- 
lian, Lenoir  and  Rowan;  the  Irish  Moore,  Ragon,  Rea- 
gan, Sligo  and  Scruggs;  the  "Welch  Jones  and  Owen; 
the  Norman-Dutch  Heiskell,  the  Scotch-Irish  McGuire. 

Most  of  the  families  did  not  come  to  this  valley  direct 
from  the  mother  countries,  but  had  undergone  a  process 
of  fusion  in  other  states  before  settling  here.  To  this 
no  doubt  is  attributed  the  absence  of  friction  between 
citizens  and  neighbors.  It  has  rarely  happened  that 
there  has  been  a  feud  perpetuated  in  our  immediate  sec- 
tion. No  Jews,  Russians  or  Italians  at  first  came  to  our 
vallev.  You  find  in  the  records  no  names  of  people  end- 
ing in  '4o,"  ^'ini,"  ''ani,"  ''off,"  or  "sky."  There 
were  no  ''steins"  or  "bergs"  or  "schmidts"  but  how- 
ever there  were  a  few  plain  Smiths. 

Those  early  settlers  had  no  use  for  people  who  di- 
vided the  world  into  just  two  classes:  those  of  their 
own  tribe  and  kindred  and  the  others,  the  Gentiles,  whom 
they  thought  the  Lord  did  not  consider  his  children  and 
who  were  of  the  opinion  that  Moses  was  greater  than 
Jesus  Christ.  They,  the  pioneers,  had  just  as  little  use 
for  those  who  took  orders  from  any  foreign  potentate 
temporal  or  spiritual.  They  were  all  Protestants  in  re- 
ligion and  mostly  belonged  to  one  of  three  churches: 
Baptist,  Methodist  or  Presb^^terian.  By  Presbyterian 
we  mean  any  branch  of  that  great  body. 

Thus  the  elements  (the  inhabitants)  were  so  mingled 
as  to  make  a  palatable  state  of  affairs.  Like  the  French- 
man's drink,  which  he  named  a  "dim  contradiction, "  it 
contained  various  ingredients : 


260  HISTORY  OP  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

''A  little  lemon  to  make  it  sour, 
A  little  sugar  to  make  it  sweet, 
A  little  ( i)  liquor  to  make  it  strong, 
A  little  water  to  make  it  weak. ' ' 

The  difference  there  was  in  manners,  religion,  political 
opinions  and  customs  served  only  to  make  social  condi- 
tions more  pleasant  and  agreeable. 

Owen  Owen. 

Owen  Owen,  of  Northampton  County ;,  Penn.,  was  the 
great  grandfather  of  Charles  Owen,  of  Sweetwater  Val- 
ley. Owen  Owen  had  a  son,  David  Owen,  who  was  born 
March  13,  1713.  His  will  is  of  record  at  Easton  Penn- 
s^dvania.  His  wife,  Sarah,  was  born  March  1,  1724. 
They  were  parents  of  ten  children.  Joseph  Owen  was  the 
fifth  son.  He  married  Susan  B.  Hartsell  July  24,  1771. 
They  had  seven  children  of  whom  Charles  Owen,  who 
came  to  Sweetwater  Valley,  was  the  second. 

Jesse  Owen,  brother  of  Charles  Owen  above,  had  a 
daughter,  Sarah  Wallace,  born  January  20,  1831.  She 
married  Samuel  F.  Hurt,  of  Abingdon,  Va.,  on  April 
12,  1859.  Her  daughter,  Eosa  Lee,  born  December  23, 
1868,  married  James  W.  Bell,  of  Abingdon,  Va.,  April 
14,  1892.  He  is  president  of  the  First  National  Bank 
of  Abingdon,  Va. 

The  eldest  daughter  of  David  Owen,  was  named 
Rachel,  who  married  Samuel  Bachman.  It  was  thought 
she  was  the  first  of  the  Ow^ens  to  move  South.  Samuel 
Bachman  settled  in  upper  East  Tennessee. 

Joseph  Owen  came  to  Tennessee  between  1793  and 
1795,  These  facts  about  Charles  Owen's  ancestry  were 
obtained  from  Mrs.  James  W.  Bell,  of  Abingdon,  Va. 

Charles  Owen  was  born  in  Allegheny  County,  Penn., 
on  December  29,  1793.  He  died  at  his  residence  near 
Sweetwater  on  September  6,  1873. 

Louisa  Berrv,  his  wife,  was  born  in  Sullivan  County, 
Tenn.,  on  March  22,  1798.  She  died  January  8,  1867. 
They  both  were  buried  in  the  old  cemetery  on  the  hill 
west  of  the  town  of  Philadelphia,  where  the  old  Presby- 
terian church  once  stood. 

They  wel-e  married  in  Sullivan  County  on  May  7,  1818. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  261 

The  exact  date  they  came  to  Sweetwater  Valley  is  not 
known  to  me.  The  records  both  at  Athens  and  Madison- 
ville  show  that  he  was  a  purchaser  and  made  sales  of 
lands  as  early  as  1827.  At  Madisonville  in  Book  "A," 
page  93,  is  found  this  conveyance:  ''Chas.  Matlock  to 
Charles  Owen  100  acres,  part  of  tract,  the  northwest 
quarter  of  section  35,  township  2,  range  1,  east.  The 
residence  he  built  on  this  tract  is  a  brick  house  at  the 
fork  of  the  Pond  Creek  and  Philadelphia  roads,  and 
south  of  the  Tennessee  Military  Institute.  This  last 
named  building  is  also  on  the  Ciwen  tract.  This  date 
(1827),  without  going  back  any  further  makes  Charles 
Owen  one  of  the  pioneer  settlers. 

The  following  record  is  found  in  the  state  archives  at 
Nashville,  Tenn. 

"In  conformity  to  an  act  passed  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
State  of  Tennessee  at  Nashville,  3rd  December,  1835,  entitled  an  Act 
to  provide  for  the  laying  off  the  several  counties  in  this  State  into 
districts  of  convenient  size,  w^ithin  vi^hich  constables  and  justices  of 
the  peace  shall  be  elected;  and  for  other  purposes,  and  also  in  con- 
formity with  a  resolution  appointing  commissioners  for  the  several 
counties,  we,  William  Bayless,  John  Callaway,  Sr.,  Thomas  L.  Toomy 
and  Jesse  Cunningham,  four  of  the  commissioners  appointed  for 
Monroe  County  by  said  resolution,  met  at  Madisonville,  January  16, 
ISoo,  and  after  being  sworn,  as  said  act  directs,  by  Joseph  Marshall, 
one  of  the  acting  justices  of  the  peace  for  said  county,  proceeded  to 
lay  off  said  county  into  districts  as  directed  by  said  act,  beg  leave 
to  report  seventeen  districts  in  accordance  with  the  sixth  section  of 
said  act." 

(Boundaries  of  the  First  Civil  District.) 

"No.  1  District.  Beginning  at  the  northwest  corner  of  Monroe 
County,  thence  running  with  the  line  of  Monroe  and  Roane  Counties, 
to  include  Thomas  Vernon,  Esq.;  th.ence  a  direct  course  to  Dr.  Gregory's 
mill  on  Sweetwater  Creek;  thence  to  Morganton  road,  leading  by  the 
farm  of  William  Dillard;  thence  with  the  road  leading  from  Dillard's 
to  Gregory's  Gap  till  you  come  within  about  two  hundred  yards  of 
the  Boiling  Spring;  thence  a  direct  course  to  the  county  line  between 
Monroe  and  McMinn  Counties,  passing  between  the  dwelling  house  of 
E.  Moore  and  James  Axley,  and  between  John  Lotspeich  and  Wil- 
liam Neil;  thence  with  the  county  line  to  the  corner  of  Monroe  County 
the  beginning  of  the  First  District.    Election  Ground,  Charles  Owens." 

He  was  an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  church  at  Sweet- 
water when  it  was  built.  He  was  a  farmer  but  was 
known  more  as  a  money  loaner  and  broker  (called  ''note 
shaver"  in  those  days)  than  as  a  farmer.  He  was  con- 
sidered a  good  financier. 

It  was  well  known  that  he  was  an  anti-slavery  man 
and  thought  it  wrong  to  own  slaves.     The  work  on  the 


262  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

farm  was  done  by  himself  and  family  and  sometimes  with 
the  aid  of  white  hired  help.  Although  his  farm  was  not 
a  very  fertile  one  for  this  valley,  he  reared  in  comfort 
and  educated  one  of  the  largest  families  in  the  section. 
Who  his  descendants  were  and  what  became  of  them 
we  will  give  some  account  later  on. 

Politically  previous  to  the  Civil  War  Charles  Owen 
was  a  Democrat.  One  might  have  expected  that  from 
his  views  on  the  slavery  question  he  would  have  allied 
himself  with  the  whigs;  for  Henry  Clay  through  the 
greater  part  of  his  political  career  was  a  gradual  emanci- 
pationist. There  was  then  no  Republican  party  in  the 
South. 

He  was  a  man  of  probity  and  strong  character.  What- 
ever views  he  held  political  or  religious  he  had  no  hesita- 
tion in  expressing  them.  He  was  a  Union  man  during 
the  Civil  War. 

Chaeles  and  Louisa  Owen 

were  the  parents  of  fourteen  children  as  follows : 

1.  Sarah  White  Owen  was  born  August  2,  1819.  She 
married  Hugh  Lawson  White  Patton,  December  12, 1837. 
They  moved  to  Gentry  County,  Mo.  While  they  were 
on  a  visit  here  he  died  on  November  29,  1852.  Charles 
O.  Patton,  of  Albany,  Mo.,  is  a  son  of  theirs. 

2.  James  White  Owen  was  born  January  22,  1822.  He 
married  Ann  Amelia  I\jrkpatrick,  October  4, 1842.  They 
had  a  daughter,  Margaret,  who  was  born  near  Sweet- 
water, August  14,  1846.  She  married  Charles  Cunnyng- 
ham,  then  of  McMinn  County,  Tenn.,  but  now  of  Albany, 
Mo.,  on  May  9,  1867.  They  have  a  large  family  of  chil- 
dren and  grandchildren. 

Some  time  after  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  J.  W.  Owen 
married  Mary  Jane  Patton  on  June  4,  1856.  They  re- 
sided in  Gentry  County,  Mo.  He  was  county  treasurer 
of  that  county  four  years  and  postmaster  at  Albany, 
Mo.,  for  four  years.  He  died  in  Dewey  County,  Okla- 
homa, July  15,  1906.  There  were  four  children  of  this 
second  marriage,  and  each  one  of  them  has  a  Charles 
Owen  in  the  family.  Charles  Owen,  a  son,  resides  at  In- 
dependence, Okla. 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  263 

3.  Susanna  Owen  w^as  born  January  10,  1824,  and  died 
July  6,  1839. 

4.  Joseph  Marshall  Owen  was  born  in  Sweetwater 
Valley,  September  1,  1825.  He  married  Mary  M.  Hill, 
granddaughter  of  John  Fine,  on  August  28, 1849.  There 
was  one  son,  Charles  LaFayette,  who  resides  at  Inde- 
pendence, Neb.,  on  a  Mexican  war  claim  given  his  father 
by  Charles  Owen,  the  grandfather.  J.  M.  Owen  died  in 
Gentry  County,  Mo.,  in  1851. 

Charles  L.  Owen  is  the  father  of  six  children. 

Mary  M.  Hill  Owen  was  born  in  1834.  She  died  in 
Brownsville,  Neb.,  in  October,  1884.  In  1856  she  was 
married  a  second  time.  Wm.  H.  Lorance,  who  was  born 
in  Monroe  County,  Tenn.,  became  her  husband.  To  this 
union  were  born  twelve  children,  six  sons  and  three 
daughters  of  wiiom  are  still  living  (1914). 

6.  Charles  Lilburn  Owen  was  born  July  5,  1829.  He 
married  Mary  Patton,  daughter  of  Francis  A.  Patton 
and  sister  of  Horace  Patton  and  a  half  sister  of  Frank, 
James  and  Ann  Patton  whose  mother  was  Amanda  Tay- 
lor Patton.  This  Frank  Patton,  the  father  of  Mary 
Patton,  resided  near  County  Line  where  C.  D.  Browder 
now  lives.  I  do  not  know  the  maiden  name  of  Frank 
Patton 's  first  wife,  but  his  last  wife,  Amanda  Taylor, 
was  a  sister  of  the  late  E.  A.  Taylor.  C.  L.  Owen  and  wife 
went  to  Gentry  County,  Mo.,  where  so  many  sought 
homes  from  this  valley.  They  have  a  son,  Charles,  who, 
resides  there. 

7.  Louisa  Owen  was  born  April  6,  1831.  She  died  May 
13,  1908.  She  married  Horace  H.  Morris  on  November 
18,  1852.  He  died  February  14,  1909.^  They  resided, 
during  their  married  life,  one  mile  east  of  Reagan's  Sta- 
tion in  McMinn  County. 

They  reared  a  family  of  eight  children,  four  sons  and 
four  daughters. 

Children  of  H.  H.  and  Louisa  Morris: 

Josephine,  m.  J.  L.  Lowe.     She  is  dead. 

Hattie  Florence  married  James  Forrest  Yearwood, 
September  11,  1879.  She  was  born  September  13,  1857. 
She  resides  at  419  Chicamauga  Avenue,  Lincoln  Park, 
Knoxville,  Tenn. 


264  HISTORY  OP  SWEET WATEB  VALLEY 

Charles  A.,  married  Janie  Dillingham,  of  Travis  Coun- 
ty, Texas.    He  lives  in  Austin. 

Nannie  Louise  married  Joseph  Bogle.  They  live  in 
Chattanooga. 

Walter  L.  married  Elizabeth  Forrest  of  Niota.  Re- 
side in  Austin,  Texas. 

Edward  married  Dora  Blanton.    Live  at  Soddy,  Tenn. 

Owen  married  Victoria  Shell.  They  live  in  Knoxville. 
V  8.  Jesse  Franklin  Owen  was  born  April  4,  1833,  and 
died  November  7,  1895.  He  married  Sarah  P,  Taylor 
on  November  25,  1861.  When  a  young  man  he  went  with 
W.  L.  Clark  and  others  to  California  during  the  excite- 
ment about  gold  in  that  state.  He  returned  previous  to 
the  Civil  War.  Li  the  conflict  between  the  states  he  took 
the  Union  side  and  came  out  of  the  war  a  lieutenant. 

He  was  elected  as  representative  from  Monroe  County 
to  the  Thirty-sixth  General  Assembly  of  the  state  of 
Tennessee.  He  was  voted  for  and  elected  partly  by  the 
Democrats  as  a  compromise  candidate.  He  had  an- 
nounced himself  as  being  opposed  to  the  wholesale  dis- 
franchisement of  ''rebels"  and  their  sympathizers, 
which  state  of  affairs  existed  from  the  close  of  the  war 
up  to  the  state  election  in  that  year,  1869.  He  was  known 
as  a  Senter  Republican  as  opposed  the  more  radical  whig 
of  the  party,  which  had  up  to  that  time  had  control 
of  affairs  in  the  state.  He  was  postmaster  at  Sweet- 
water under  Grant,  during  his  last  administration,  and 
also  under  Hayes  and  Harrison,  occupying  that  office 
in  all  twelve  years. 

As  one  would  naturally  expect  he  was  a  Presbyterian. 
He  was  a  member  of  Lodge  No.  292,  F.  and  A.  M.,  and 
Chapter  No.  57. 

Tlie  children  of  J.  F.  and  S.  P.  Owen  were  seven  in 
number:  Jessie  E.,  Fred  Winton,  Fred,  Ross,  Kate, 
Charles  and  Hugh.  Only  three  of  the  children  are  now 
living:  Ross,  Kate  and  Hugh.  Kate,  in  October,  1898, 
married  Henry  Adkins,  formerly  of  Philadelphia,  Tenn., 
but  now  of  Pony,  Mont.  Ross  married  Anne  Scruggs, 
daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  R.  F.  Scruggs.  Charles  married 
a  short  time  previous  to  his  death. 

The  first  two  children  "Jessie  E,"  and  ''Fred  Win- 


^      HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  265 

ton,"  died  in  infancy.     ''Fred  was  not  born  until  after 
the  death  of  ''Fred  Winton." 

9.  Harriet  Owen  was  born  February  9,  1835.  She  mar- 
ried George  L.  Beavers,  then  living  at  Sweetwater,  on 
March  5,  1857.  They  went  to  Louisville,  Texas.  He  was 
a  farmer.  They  both  resided  at  Louisville  till  their 
death.    He  died  October  5,  she  September  21,  1910. 

Their  children  were  five  in  number:  William  H., 
Fronie,  George  H.,  Charles  F.  and  Ruth  E.  These  are 
all  living,  are  married  and  all  have  families  and  consti- 
tute quite  a  colony  of  themselves,  having  its  origin  in 
Sweetwater. 

10.  Solomon  Hartsell  Owen  was  born  February  21, 
1837 ;  he  died  October  23,  1861. 

11.  Wm.  Francis.    Born  and  died  October  1,  1838. 

12.  Susan  Adeline,  was  born  October  11,  1839.  Her 
post-office  is  Maryville,  Tenn. 

13.  Emily  Caroline  Owen  was  born  February  20,  1842. 
She  died  March  30,  1874.  She  married  William  Jordan 
Clayton  June  14,  1860.  He  was  born  in  Knox  County, 
August  31,  1835.  He  lives  in  Knoxville.  Their  children 
were  six  in  number,  three  boys  and  three  girls.  They 
are  now  all  married  and  have  families.  Their  places  of 
residence  are  scattered  from  Tennessee  to  Texas.  Their 
names  are :  Louise  Elizabeth  Butler,  Houston,  Texas ; 
Jessie  May  Richard,  Knoxville,  Tenn.;  Wm.  Graham 
Clayton,  Knoxville,  Tenn. ;  Robt.  Owen  Clayton,  Birm- 
ingham, Ala. ;  Frank  Crawford  Clayton,  Jackson,  Tenn. ; 
Helen  Adaline  McNutt,  Knoxville,  Tenn. 

14.  Mary  Haseltine  Owen  was  born  November  11, 1843. 
She  married  John  C.  Winton  of  Loudon  County,  April 
15,  1875.  He  died  on  February  21,  1901.  Mrs.'^Winton 
now  resides  with  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Alice  Winton  Hen- 
sley,  who  married  B.  F.  Hensley,  a  florist  of  Knights- 
town,  Ind. 

Charles  Owen's  Characteristics. 

Success  to  the  individual  consists  largely  in  getting 
what  you  want  when  you  want  it  and  in  getting  rid  of 
what  you  do  not  want.  This  is  not  a  Websterian  but  a 
chimney  corner  definition,  but  it  is  sufficient  for  our 
purpose.     This  has  reference  to  a  man's  subjective  at- 


266  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

titude  towards  his  own  achievements.  The  end  striven 
for  may  be  worthy  or  unworthy.  There  is  also  an  ob- 
jective point  of  view :  the  light  in  which  others  regard 
what  you  have  done.  Most  people  who  think  they  know 
you  well  and  often  others  too,  can  tell  precisely  where 
you  failed  of  achieving  success;  or  how  your  success 
would  have  been  much  greater  had  you  followed  a  certain 
line  of  conduct,  which  they  advised  or  could  have  laid 
down  for  you  had  you  consulted  them.  Like  the  bed  of 
Procrustes  they  have  an  invariable  standard  to  fit  you 
to,  and  lop  you  off  if  you  prove  too  long  and  stretch  you 
to  the  proper  length  if  too  short.  This  tendency  of  hu- 
manity is  expressed  in  the  wise  saw  of  the  mountaineer : 
''Measuring  my  corn  with  your  half  bushel." 

What  Charles  Owen's  ideal  was  I  have  no  satisfactory 
means  of  knowing.  I  think  he  never  spoke  to  me  more 
than  a  dozen  words  in  his  life  and  he  was  loath  to  ex- 
press himself  in  public  assemblages. 

When  I  was  a  boy  I  attributed  his  not  noticing  me  to 
his  disapproval  of  a  youth  who  played  checkers,  ball  and 
the  fiddle  and  ran  about  the  country  hunting  with  a  dog, 
a  pony  and  a  gun,  I  think  now  he  was  scarcely  aware 
of  my  habits  and  that  this  was  merely  indifference.  How- 
ever this  might  have  been,  I  was  careful  not  to  cross  his 
line  in  my  hunts  and  w^hen  Brer'  rabbit  got  on  the  Owen 
land  he  was  as  safe  from  me  as  if  he  had  fled  to  another 
county.  But  I  cared  little  for  this  since  I  could  go  to 
any  other  place  I  wished.  There  were  no  wire  fences 
in  the  valley  then  to  tear  my  clothes  or  bar  my  way.  I 
was  not  told  at  home  nor  by  Mr.  Owen  not  to  go  on  his 
territory,  but  I  much  preferred  to  take  no  chances  of  a 
rebuff  with  a  man  who  usually  ignored  me,  neither 
smiled,  sang  nor  looked  pleasant  even  at  church.  There 
was  an  added  reason  to  this ;  there  was  a  green  pond  of 
considerable  size  in  one  corner  of  the  yard  at  Mr.  Owen's, 
on  w^hose  margin  grew  a  large  weeping  willow  tree  with 
long  drooping  branches.  In  the  depths  of  the  pond  lived 
a  colony  of  water  moccasins,  that  on  sunny  days  lazily 
stretched  themselves  out  on  the  rocks  with  which  the 
pond  was  lined.  These  things  gave  the  landscape  a 
dreary  appearance  and  taken  together  had  a  depressing 
effect  on  the  spirits.    I  did  not  have  to  be  warned  to  stay 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  267 

away  from  them.  I  always  treated  Mr.  Owen  with 
marked  respect,  for  besides  being  a  little  afraid  of  him, 
it  had  been  time  and  again  impressed  upon  me  by  my 
mother  and  father,  with  methods  more  effective  than 
Scripture  quotations,  that  I  should  have  a  special  regard 
for  the  feelings  of  old  people  and  under  no  circum- 
stances whatever  misbehave  at  church  or  in  the  school- 
room, and  that  if  I  must  cut  any  extra  shines  to  do  so  at 
home.  I  was  rarely,  if  ever,  a  visitor  at  the  Owen  resi- 
dence, during  his  lifetime.  In  referring  to  myself  in 
these  notes,  it  is  not  to  inject  into  them  the  personal 
equation,  but  merely  to  show  that  if  I  have  given  or  shall 
give  more  space  to  him  and  his  people  than  most  others, 
it  is  not  due  to  any  extra  partiality  to  him  or  what  he 
stood  for,  but  to  record  essential  facts  such  as  go  to 
the  making  up  of  a  truthful  and  instructive  history. 

Gilbert  Parker  in  one  of  his  books  relates  that,  during 
the  war  between  the  British  and  the  Boers  in  South 
Africa,  there  was  a  soldier  from  New  Zealand  in  one 
of  the  regiments.  He  was  a  very  fine  one  and  never 
shirked  a  duty.  He  always  carried  a  set  of  chessmen 
with  him.  In  a  fierce  charge  up  a  steep  hill  (kopje), 
from  which  the  Boers  were  driven,  he  was  mortally 
wounded.  He  was  not  found  mitil  after  his  death.  He 
had  adopted  this  means  of  sending  a  message  to  his  com- 
rades :  He  had  taken  from  his  set  of  chessmen  a  pawn 
(a  piece  the  most  numerous  and  of  least  value  in  the 
game)  and  placed  it  on  a  stone  at  his  head.  This  was  to 
tell  them  that  he  considered  himself  only  an  insignificant 
private  in  the  game  of  war  and  that  it  was  inevitable  that 
many  should  meet  such  a  fate  and  he  w^as  contented  to 
be  one  of  the  number.    Just  this. 

It  would  not  have  suited  Charles  Owen  to  have  been 
so  small  a  factor  in  affairs ;  he  was  too  positive  a  char- 
acter;  but  he  would  have  fought  just  as  hard  as  the  New 
Zealander.  He  pursued  methods  of  his  own  and  resented 
dictation  from  others. 

When  he  wished  to  be  emphatic  in  his  language,  his 
preface  or  by-word  was  ' '  I  say, ' '  which  if  unnecessary  is 
at  least  more  scriptural  than  some  in  too  common  use. 
If  he  had  been  writing  instead  of  Francis  Scott  Key,  who 
wrote  the  words: 


268  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

"0!   say  can  you  see  in  the  dawn's  early  light. 
What  so  proudly  we  hailed  at  twilight's  last  gleaming?" 

He  would  probably  have  said: 

' '  I  say,  I  can  see  in  this  broad  land  of  ours, 
By  Faith  the  Presbyterian  Banner  still  waving."   . 

He  was  the  ancestor  of  a  score  who  were  named  for 
him.  He  lived  to  see  many  of  his  children  and  grand- 
children grow  up  to  be  useful  and  honored  citizens.  In 
most  instances  his  nmnerous  descendants,  wherever  dis- 
persed about  the  west,  south  and  southwest,  have  been  in- 
grained with  Presbyterianism.  When  the  question  was 
asked:  ''What  church  did  he  or  she  belong  to,"  the  al- 
most invariable  answer  was  ''The  Presb^^terian"  (writ- 
ten with  a  capital  P). 

If  success  consists  in  perpetuating  the  family  name 
and  Presbyterian  principles  then,  measured  by  that 
standard,  Charles  Owen  was  an  eminently  successful  man 
and  I  have  no  doubt  these  were  facts  highly  gratifying 
to  him. 

If  half  the  Presbyterians  had  been  like  the  Owens  and 
as  devoted  to  their  principles,  there  would,  in  a  few 
generations,  be  room  for  no  denominations  other  than 
the  Presbyterian.  For,  from  Cromwell  down  they  have 
been  fighters  and  you  find  them  marching  solidly  toward 
the  enemy  when  according  to  the  doctrine  of  chances,  you 
would  expect  to  see  them  facing  the  other  way.  But  in 
the  lexicon  of  the  Presbyterians  there  is  no  such  word  as 
"chance." 

As  a  matter  of  convenience  I  append  a  few  facts  about 
Gentry  County,  Mo.,  Vfiere  so  many  of  the  Owens  and 
others  from  this  immediate  section  have  made  their 
homes.  It  is  situated  in  the  northwest  part  of  the  state 
about  100  miles  north  of  Kansas  City.  It  is  in  a  rich 
agricultural  country.  It  contains  490  square  miles  to 
our  county's  673.  The  population  by  the  census  of  1900 
and  1910  were,  respectively,  20,554  and  16,820,  to  Mon- 
roe's 18,595  and  20,716.  So  the  last  census  does  not  make 
a  favorable  showing  for  Gentry  county  as  compared  with 
our  own. 

Albany,  the  county  site  of  Gentry  County,  contains 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  269 

about  the  same  number  of  inhabitants  as  Sweetwater 
and  is  about  the  same  elevation  above  the  sea  level. 

In  the  presidential  election  of  1912,  Gentry  county 
voted  4,060  and  Monroe  2,336.  Wilson  carried  Gentry 
County  by  1,000  votes.  It  appears  they  pay  more  atten- 
tion to  politics  there  than  we  do.  Evidently  a  much 
larger  proportion  of  the  voters  went  to  the  polls. 

Irby  Orr 

Was  born  September  9,  1821;  d.  in  Sweetwater,  April 
10,  1904.  He  came  from  the  head  of  Sweetwater  Creek 
to  Sweetwater  about  the  time  the  E.  T.  &  Ga.  R.  R.  de- 
pot w^as  built.  He  was  among  the  first  settlers  of  the 
town.  He  was  married  (first)  to  Nancy  Ann  Weathers 
on  December  4,  1840.  She  was  born  March  18,  1825. 
She  died  June  24,  1862.    Their  children  were : 

1.  Sarah  Jane,  b.  March  16,  1844;  m.  James  G.  Fork- 
ner,  December  1,  1866.  Tliev  moved  to  Oklahoma  about 
1892,  where  she  died  in  1912. 

2.  Julia  Ann,  March  14,  1846;  m.  James  F.  Nichols, 
June  16,  1864,  and  moved  to  Decatur,  Ala.,  where  he 
died. 

.  3.  Mary  Caroline,  b.  August  28,  1848 ;  m.  William  Fry 
on  September  2,  1869.     (See  Fry.) 

4.  John  Willson,  b.  September  8,  1850;  m.  Mollie  E. 
Young,  August  28,  1875.  They  went  to  Texas  and  from 
there  to  Arkansas.  They  had  five  children,  names  not 
known. 

5.  Samuel  Rowan,  b.  October  30,  1852;  (first)  m.  Miss 
Rogers,  of  Decatur,  Ala.  She  died  April  11,  1902.  He 
died  in  Nashville  and  was  buried  at  the  Sweetwater  Cem- 
etery. They  had  three  children:  Walter,  Samuel  and 
Irma.  He  married  (second)  Miss  Smith.  Two  chil- 
dren. 

6.  William,  b.  September  22,  1854.  Went  to  Texas 
in  1892 ;  married  there.    History  not  known. 

7.  James,  b.  December  3,  1856;  d.  January  28,  1890. 
He  was  a  stock  trader.    Unmarried. 

8.  Robert  Jackson,  b.  March  7,  1859 ;  m.  Nannie  Eddy 
of  Meigs  County.  She  died  and  he  afterwards  married 
Ella  Pratt.  He  was  a  locomotive  engineer  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  L.  &  N.  Railroad  in  Birmingham,  Ala. 


270  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

9.  Nancy  Lenoir,  b.  July  13,  1861;  d.  June  24,  1862. 
Irby  Orr  was  married   (second)   to  Mrs.  Chaney  S. 

Barrett  on  March  10,  1863.  She  was  formerly  Chaney 
Nichols,  of  Pittsylvania  County,  Va.  Her  parents  were 
John  and  Elizabeth  Shelton  Nichols.  Their  children 
were : 

10.  Charles  W.,  b.  May  10,  1868;  m.  Miss  Love.  They 
had  one  child,  b.  May  14,  1903. 

11.  Lillian,  b.  March  2,  1874;  m.  Reece  Lowry  June, 
1907.  He  is  an  insurance  agent  living  in  Chattanooga, 
Tenn. 

Francis  A.  Patton 

Was  born  in  North  Carolina.  He  came  to  Monroe 
County,  Tenn.  He  married  a  Miss  Rose.  They  had  two 
children,  Horace  and  Mary.  Mary  m.  Charles  L.  Owen 
(whom  see).  Horace  joined  the  Confederate  army  and 
was  captured  at  Vicksburg.  After  the  war  was  over 
he  married  Mary  E.  Cleveland  on  December  28,  1865. 
Jos.  Janeway,  minister.  Mary  was  the  daughter  of 
Robt.  and  Elizabeth  Cleveland  and  a  sister  of  Wm. 
Cleveland.  Their  subsequent  history  is  not  known  to  the 
writer. 

After  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  Francis  A.  Patton 
married  Amanda  A.  Taylor,  sister  of  E.  A.  Taylor  in 
the  latter  part  of  1841.  He  died  at  his  residence  where 
C.  D.  Browder  now  lives,  in  1845.  Their  children  were : 
Frank  T.  He  was  born  in  1842.  He  was  in  the  Civil 
War  and  was  captured  at  Vicksburg.  Soon  after  the 
Civil  War  he  went  to  Georgia  and  afterwards  to  the 
southern  part  of  Missouri.  He  was  elected  to  the  Legis- 
lature from  one  of  the  counties  there.  He  died  on  Sep- 
tember 13,  1901. 

Anne  E.,  b.  January  12,  1844;  d.  March  18,  1890.  Mar- 
ried T.  E.  Snead  (whom  see). 

James  F.,  born  in  the  latter  part  of  1846.  Married 
Callie  Ferguson,  formerly  of  Monroei  County,  Tenn., 
in  1868.  Thev  reside  at  Alva,  Okla.  Their  children 
are:  Mary  F.,  Elizabeth  A.,  Will  E.,  Preston  C,  Sal- 
lie  A.,  Carrie  E.,  Amy  L.,  Horace  F.  and  Ora  J.  All 
married  except  the  two  youngest,  Horace  and  Ora.  Ho- 
race is  a  minister  in  Rhode  Island.  Was  educated  at 
theological  seminary  in  Boston,  Mass. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  271 

Francis  A.  Patton  died  in  1845.  Mrs.  Amanda  Pat- 
ton  was  married  (second)  to  Thomas  L.  Brickell  on 
January  3,  1850.  They  had  one  daughter,  Ennna,  born 
the  latter  part  of  1850,  who  married  Joseph  Traylor  in 
1870.    She  is  dead.    He  lives  in  White  County,  Ark. 

Stephen  Parshley 

Was  born  March  11,  1811,  in  Middletown,  Conn.  He 
came  to  Lenoir's,  Tenn.,  in  1832,  where  he  was  employed 
for  some  years  in  the  cotton  factory.  Moved  to  Phila- 
delphia, Tenn.,  in  1845.  Married  Martha  Stewart 
Brock,  in  1839,  in  Stockton  valley.  She  was  born  in 
Virginia,  September  25,  1816.  Died  at  Philadelphia, 
November  18,  1882,  and  was  buried  there.  Stephen 
Parshley,  in  the  latter  years  of  his  life,  was  a  stock 
trader.  He  was  a  Methodist.  Died  at  Philadelphia  in 
jFebruary,  1851.  Interred  in  Stekee  Cemetery,  near 
Loudon.     His  children  were: 

Sarah,  b.  Jmie  27,  1840.     Married  Harvey  Porter. 

E.  Sophia,  b.  June  22,  1846.  Married  Thomas  H. 
Grieb,  of  Joplin,  Mo. 

Mary  Virginia,  b.  January  23,  1849.  Married  Milton 
Bayless,  of  Chestua,  McMinn  County,  who  was  a  farmer. 
She  died  near  Gudger,  Tenn.,  March  27,  1914.  He  died 
there  in  1915. 

Stephen,  b.  June  4,  1851.  He  went  to  Ashland,  Kan., 
about  1880,  and  was  a  lawyer  and  prosecuting  attorney 
while  there.  He  went  from  Kansas  to  Park  City,  Utah, 
and  from  there  to  Lawton,  Okla.,  where  he  was  married 
to  Mrs.  Kate  Whitney.  He  afterwards  moved  to  Den- 
ver, Col.,  where  he  now  (1916)  lives. 

Washington  LaFayette  Price 

Was  the  son  of  Addison  and  Julia  Loughlin  Price. 
He  was  born  at  Philadelphia,  Tenn.,  on  December  8, 
1830.  He  died  there  on  May  28,  1890,  and  was  buried 
at  the  old  cemetery.  His  wife,  Mary  Jane,  was  the 
daughter  of  John  and  Mary  Holston.  John  Holston  was 
born  November  29,  1800.  Mary  Jane  Holston  Price  was 
born  June  5,  1834,  and  died  at  Johnson  City  at  the  home 


272  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

of  her  granddaughter,  Mrs.  Kate  Burbage,  on  January 
11,  1913.  She  was  buried  at  Stekee  Cemetery  near  Lou- 
don, Tenn. 

W.  L.  Price  was  express  agent  at  Loudon  during  the 
Civil  War  and  was  also  postmaster  until  he  came  to 
Sweetwater  in  1864  and  engaged  in  the  general  mercan- 
tile business.  He  was  a  member  of  Sweetwater  Lodge 
No.  292  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  also  of  Chapter  No.  57  R.  A.  M. 
He  lived  at  Sweetwater  until  1872  when  he  sold  out  his 
business  there  and  moved  to  California.  Later  he  re- 
turned to  Tennessee  and  made  Ivnoxville  his  home  for 
many  years. 

The  children  of  W.  L.  and  M.  J,  Price  were  three,  one 
daughter,  Mary  Julia,  was  born  at  Loudon  July  16,  1854. 
Died  there  February  16,  1859. 

William  B.,  his  oldest  son,  was  born  at  Loudon  De- 
cember 3,  1859.  He  took  up  the  study  of  music  under 
Mrs.  H.  M.  Cooke,  at  Sweetwater,  and  also  under  his 
father,  both  of  whom  had  a  thorough  understanding  of 
music.  William  B.  was  organist  at  the  Episcopal  church 
at  Cleveland,  Tenn.,  and  afterwards  organist  in  Chi- 
cago. He  is  now  president  of  the  Price-Teeple  Piano 
Compan}^  of  Chicago,  111.  Their  business  is  the  manu- 
facture of  pianos  and  player  pianos.  '  Mr.  Price  pre- 
sented a  fine  piano  to  the  H.  M.  Cooke  Memorial  Li- 
brary Association  at  Sweetwater,  Tenn.  William  B. 
Price  has  been  twice  married.  He  married,  first,  Lucie 
A.  Smith,  of  Rogersville,  Tenn.,  and  second  Natalie 
Whitted,  of  Chicago,  111. 

Albert  F.  Price,  son  of  first  marriage,  was  born  in 
Knoxville,  Tenn.,  on  January  9,  1883.  He  is  general 
wholesale  representative,  of  the  Price-Teeple  Company. 

Kate,  daughter  of  the  first  marriage,  was  born  in 
Knoxville,  August  11,  1884.  She  married  Henry  J. 
Burbage.  He  resides  at  Johnson  City,  Tenn.,  where  he 
is  engaged  in  the  wholesale  produce  business. 

Charles,  the  second  son  of  W.  L.  and  M.  J.  Price,  was 
born  at  Sweetwater  on  September  27,  1868.  Unmarried. 
He  is  the  eastern  representative  of  the  Price-Teeple 
Piano  Co. 

The  ancestors  of  W.  L.  and  Mary  J.  Price  were  among 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  275 

the  early  settlers  of  America  and  fought  under  "Wash- 
ington in  the  Revolutionary  War. 

William  Penningtoit 

Was  born  in  Ashe  County,  N.  C,  December  13,  1777 ;  d. 
in  Sweetwater  Valley,  April  22,  1838.  His  wife,  Eliz- 
abeth Eller,  was  born  in  North  Carolina  in  October, 
1776;  d.  December  7,  1844.  He  moved  to  Sweetwater 
Valley  and  settled  on  the  Jesse  Martin  (Presley  Cleve- 
land) place.  He  sold  his  interest  there  to  Presley 
Cleveland  and  moved  to  what  was  afterwards  the  Riley 
Burns  farm  and  there  reared  his  family.  They  had  one 
son, 

John  Pennington,  who  was  born  in  Ashe  County,  N. 
C,  October  27,  1801.  He  came  with  his  father,  first  to 
Knox  County,  and  then  to  Sweetwater  Valley  in  1820. 
He  married  Alpha  Davis,  of  Somerset,  Ken.  She  was 
born  in  1802  and  died  in  1872.  She  was  buried  at  Cleve- 
land Cemetery.  The  children  of  John  and  Alpha  Pen- 
nington were: 

One.  Lucinda  Elizabeth,  b.  July  4,  1823;  d.  December 
9,  1828. 

Two.  Hiram  B.,  b.  1825;  m.  Margaret  Pickel,  daughter 
of  Jonathan  Pickel,  in  1848.  He  died  in  Gentry  County, 
Mo.  (at  the  age  of  58),  where  they  had  previously  moved. 
Their  children  were: 

1.  C'Big")  John,  lives  at  Salem,  Ore.  He  is  now 
(1916)  61  years  of  age. 

2.  Alpha,  m. Easterly.    Lives  in  Missouri. 

J  3.  Eliza,  m. Robinson.  Lives  in  Gentry  Coun- 
ty, Mo. 

'  Three.  Emeline,  b.  1827 ;  m.  Eli  Mathew,  son  of  Eli 
Cleveland  (whom  see). 

Four.  William  Jasper,  b.  April  10,  1829;  d.  October, 
1852.    Baptized  July,  1851.    Unmarried. 

Five.  John  Calloway,  b.  July  31,  1831.  His  father, 
John  Pennington  and  John  Calloway,  who  lived  near 
Cleveland  church,  w^ere  cousins.  He  was  baptized  Oc- 
tober, 1856.  He  married  Esther  Caroline  Bryant,  March 
20,  1855.  She  was  the  daughter  of  A.  P.  Bryant,  of 
McMinn  County,  Tenn.  She  was  born  January  9,  1836 ; 
d.  June  4,  1905.     Their  children  were: 


274  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

1.  Addie  Frances,  b.  December  25,  1855 ;  d.  May,  1905. 
She  married  S,  S.  Caldwell  of  Alabama.  They  moved 
to  Dodd,  Famiin  County,  Texas.  They  were  the  par- 
ents of  seven  children,  six  boys  and  one  daughter.  They 
mostly  live  in  the  section  of  Texas  named  above. 

2.  Alpha  Ann,  second  daughter  of  John  Calloway  Pen- 
nington, was  born  October  4,  1857 ;  m.  James  Richeson 
of  Pond  Creek  Valley  in  1884.  Tliey  moved  to  Fannin 
County,  Texas,  in  1888.  They  are  the  parents  of  six 
children,  four  daughters  and  two  sons.  Bertie  and  Ger- 
tie were  twins  and  were  born  in  Pond  Creek  Valley  in 
1886.  They  were  married  in  Texas.  The  other  chil- 
dren, except  the  youngest  daughter,  are  also  married 
and  several  of  them  have  families. 

3.  Aley,  b.  JPebruary,  1860;  d.  June,  1913;  m.  James 
A.  Cook,  brother  of  Dr.  S.  B.  Cook,  late  of  Chattanooga. 
She  died  in  1877.  Tliey  resided  on  Paint  Rock  Creek. 
Their  childreil  wer6: 

(1)  Leila,  now  (1916)  33  or  34  years  of  age;  m.  B.  F. 
Kyle,  of  Anniston,  Ala. 

(2)  John,  now  (1916),  aged  30. 

(3)'  May,  married.     Resides  at  Anniston,  Ala. 
(4)  Charles  Bates,  b.  1888  or  1889.    Lives  at  Anniston, 
Ala. 

4.  Marv,  daughter  of  John  Calloway  Pennington,  b. 
October,  1862 ;  d.  1882.     Unmarried. 

5.  Emma,  b.  February  22,  1865;  d,  1890;  m.  Robert 
Pardue,  brother  of  Rev.  H.  Clay  Pardue,  in  1884.  Their 
children  are  John,  b.  1885,  and  William,  b.  1887. 

6.  John  Brvant,  b.  June  7,  1868;  m.  Margaret,  sister 
of  W.  Y.  Wilson,  on  March  29,  1891.  He  was  elected 
county  court  clerk  of  Monroe  County  in  August,  1910, 
and  re-elected  in  1914.  Children  are :  Carl,  b.  January. 
19,  1894;  Janie  Esther,  b.  October,  1896;  Callie,  b.  Feb- 
ruary 9,  1898 ;  Nannie,  b.  March  13,  1901 ;  Eliza,  b.  Jan- 
uary 29,  1904;  Margaret,  b.  April  21,  1906. 

7.  William  Horace,  seventh  child  of  John  Calloway 
Pennington,  b.  July  2,  1870.  Married  Zada  Lloyd  in 
Springfield,  Mo.  AVas  killed  October  16,  1915,  in  Inter- 
urban  I^ailroad  accident.  Four  children,  one  boy  and 
three  girls  were  born  to  them. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAL.LEY  275 

8.  Charles  Edward,  eighth  child  of  John  Calloway 
Pennington,  b.  October  2,  1872.  Married  Belle  Pope,  a 
niece  of  James  Pope,  who  was  county  court  clerk  of 
Uoane  County  for  thirty  years.  Charles  Pennington  is 
a  R.  F.  D.  carrier.  Their  children  are :  James  Clifford, 
b.  April  15,  1894;  Essie,  b.  February,  1896;  Annie  Belle, 
b.  1898;  John,  b.  1901;  Lizzie,  b.  1903;  Mattie  Lee,  b. 
1904;  Emma,  b.  1907;  Charles,  b.  1911. 

Sixth.  Mary  Ann,  sixth  child  of  Jno.  and  Alpha  Pen- 
nington, b.  November  10,  1833;  d.  1913;  m.  Harvey  H. 
Cleveland  (whom  see). 

Seven.  Francis  Marion,  seventh  child  of  John  and  Alpha 
Davis  Pennington,  was  born  in  1836.  Baptized  May, 
1860;  m.  Virginia,  daughter  of  Dan  Lowry,  of  McMinn 
County,  Tenn.  He  died  at  Athens,  Tenn.,  at  the  age  of 
52.     Their  children  are: 

1.  John  B.    Lives  in  Chattanooga,  Tenn. 

2.  William,  killed  in  a  street  car  wreck  in  Chatta- 
nooga, on  October  18,  1909. 

3.  Susie,  m.  Frank  Page.  Both  dead.  Three  children : 
Mabel,  Buell  and  Annie. 

4.  Callie,  m.  Wm.  Cass,  his  second  wife.  Children: 
Carl,  23;  Fred,  19;  Claude,  13. 

5.  Maggie,  m.  Bedow.  They  had  one  daughter,  Fan- 
nie, who  m.  IVIills  of  Chattanooga. 

1.  John  B.  m.  Corda  Coltharp,  daughter  of  Ham. 
Coltharp.     She  d.  1908.     Six  children: 

(1)  John  T'edford,  m.  Nellie  Roberts.  Two  children. 
Live  at  East  Chattanooga. 

(2)  Ola  Virginia,  unmarried. 

(3)  Myrtle,  m.  McGloffin. 

(4)  "Willie,  b.  1897. 

(5)  Hubert,  b.  1911. 

6.  Francis  M.,  son  of  F.  M.  P. ;  b.  February  20,  1883. 
Unmarried.  His  address  is  535  Dodson  Avenue,  Chat- 
tanooga. 

Eight.  Robert  Snead  Pennington,  b.  1840;  d.  unmar- 
ried. 

Nine.  Lodusky  Caroline,  b.  1842.  Baptized  September, 
1855;  m.  Louis  Bryant,  son  A.  D.  Bryant,  who  went  to 
Gentry  County,  Mo.    Mrs.  B.  is  living;  Mr.  B.  is  dead. 


276  history  of  sweetwater  valley 

Col.  John  Ramsey. 

If  a  man  bore  the  name  of  Ramsey,  was  a  Presbyter- 
ian, revered  his  Maker,  loved  his  country,  stood  by  his 
section,  was  true  to  his  party,  was  steadfast  and  im- 
movable in  every  principle  he  advocated,  was  clannish 
to  a  degree  and  would  never  desert  his  people  till  ihe 
last  sad  act  in  the  drama  of  life,  was  fearless  in  de- 
meanor, keen  of  eye,  long,  lank  and  lean  of  form,  would 
it  take  a  Sherlock  Holmes  to  figure  out  where  he  sprung 
from!  One  would  not  have  to  decipher  cryptograms 
and  make  microscopical  examinations  to  ascertain.  Any 
intelligent  schoolboy  could  tell  you.  That  his  ancestors 
at  some  time  dwelt  in  the  highlands  of  Scotland  would 
be  self-evident. 

The  Ramsey  form  was  built  for  speed  and  endurance 
and  not  for  grace.  They  leaped  from  crag  to  crag  as 
they  chased  the  wild  deer  over  the  brow  of  Ben  Nevis; 
they  waded  the  firths  as  they  followed  the  trails  in  the 
fastnesses ;  they  collected  their  clan  as  the  torches  flashed 
their  code  signals  from  mountain  top  to  mountain  top. 
They  marched  over  the  peaks  to  the  music  of  the  bag- 
pipe or  the  shrill  notes  of  the  pibroch.  With  a  Moray 
(Murray)  or  McGregor,  claymore  in  hand,  they  made 
fierce  forays  into  the  lowlands.  Many  were  the  head 
of  cattle  they  captured  and  drove  northward  to  supple- 
ment their  scant  supply  of  ** razor  backs"  on  the  Gram- 
pian Hills.  Yet  in  ^'ye  olden  times"  they  did  not  al- 
ways have  things  their  own  way;  notably  when  Cullo- 
den  "reeked  with  the  blood  of  the  brave."  They  were 
unconquerable,  however,  on  their  native  heath. 

How  they  would  have  laughed  at  the  build  of  a  Dutch 
Stuyvesant,  five  feet  high  and  four  feet  broad;  or  was 
it  four  feet  high  and  five  feet  broad?  What  a  contempt 
those  mountaineers  would  have  had  for  the  stein  and 
the  long  stemmed  pipe.  Wlien  they  drank  strong  drmk 
at  all  it  was  usquebaugh  unmixed  even  with  the  water 
of  their  own  pure  momitain  rills. 

When  clan  met  clan  then  came  the  tug  of  war, 
When  Dutch  met  Dutch  then  came  the  lager  beer. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  277 

In  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  there  lived'  a 
wealthy  planter  by  the  name  of  Stovall  in  Bedford 
County,  Va.  He  owned  much  land  and  slaves  and  a 
large  stock  of  family  pride ;  in  other  words  he  was  what 
might  be  termed  an  aristocrat.  He  had  a  beautiful 
daughter  who  was  born  on  January  8,  1757. 

He  had  in  his  employ  an  overseer  named  McBride. 
McBride  died  while  in  his  service  and  he  (Stovall), 
charged  his  family  in  spite  of  the  difference  in  station 
and  circumstances  always  to  treat  the  McBrides  v;itli 
kindness  and  consideration  in  their  bereavement.  Over- 
seer McBride  had  a  son  not  a  great  deal  older  than 
Elizabeth  Stovall.  She  fell  in  love  with  and  married 
him  contrary  to  her  parents'  wishes.  Although  Mr.  Sto- 
vall had  exhorted  his  children  to  treat  the  McBrides 
kindly,  he  considered  that  this  was  kindness  run  mad. 
He  sent  word  to  his  daughter  that  he  never  more  wished 
to  see  her,  her  husband  or  his  kinspeople  and  that  he 
would  forgive  her  in  case  she  stayed  away  and  never 
called  on  him  or  his  for  anything  in  the  future.  Tims 
Elizabeth  Stovall  early  realized  how  sharper  than  a  ser- 
pent's  tooth  it  is  to  have  a  thankless  father.  Soon  after 
the  marriage  with  McBride  the  Revolutionary  Wa  r 
came  on  and  McBride  joined  the  Virginia  troops  and 
came  out  of  the  war  with  the  rank  of  colonel.  Yet  that 
made  no  difference  and  her  parents  were  no  more  recon- 
ciled to  her  than  before.  McBride  died  not  long  after 
the  war  was  over  and  she  not  a  great  while  a  widow  mar- 
ried Major  Jno.  Ramsey  who  was  also  a  Revolutionary 
soldier.  They  moved  to  Iredell  County,  N.  C,  where 
John  Ramsey,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  May 
5, 1797.  While  he  was  yet  an  infant  John  Ramsey  senior 
moved  to  Greene  County,  Tenn.,  where  he  died.  John 
Ramsey,  Jr.,  came  to  Sweetwater  Valley  somewhere 
about  the  year  1820  when  the  Hiwassee  District  had  been 
surveyed  and  the  different  tracts  were  for  sale  by  the 
state.  He  made  arrangements  to  purchase  what  was 
known  as  the  Bunch  tract,  being  the  northwest  quarter 
of  section  35,  township  2,  range  1,  east  of  the  Basis  Line. 
On  a  part  of  this  tract  now  stands  the  T.  M.  I.  College 
and  the  surrounding  buildings.  He  however  gave  this 
up  or  disposed  of  it  and  finally  settled,  where  J.  C.  War- 


278  HISTORY  OP  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

en  and  wife,  daughter  of  John  Ramsey,  now  (1914)  re- 
side, one-half  mile  south,  of  Sweetwater. 

Colonel  John  Ramsey's  mother  resided  with  her  son 
many  of  the  last  years  of  her  life.    She  died  on  October 

4,  1854,  reaching-  the  advanced  age  of  nearly  98  years. 
She  is  said  to  have  retained  her  mental  and  physical 
faculties  to  the  last  in  a  remarkable  degree.  She  was 
known  for  years  in  the  neighborhood  on  account  of  ad- 
vanced age  as  '^ Granny"  Ramsey. 

Col.  John  Ramsey  in  the  Legislature. 

They  say  it  was  a  great  race  for  the  Legislature  in 
Monroe  Count}^,  betw^een  Colonel  John  Ramsey  and  Wil- 
liam Heiskell.  The  political  state  of  the  nation  and  also 
the  state  of  Tennessee  and  the  personality  of  the  con- 
testants made  it  so.  At  that  time  in  1847,  James  K. 
Polk,  of  Tennessee,  was  president  of  the  United  States. 
He  had  been  elected  by  a  narrow  margin  over  Henry 
Clay  on  account  of  the  latter 's  oppositions  to  the  Mex- 
ican "War.    At  that  time  also  Aaron  V.  Brown  and  Neil 

5.  Brown  were  opposing  candidates  on  the  Democratic 
and  whig  tickets.  Tlie  parties  in  Tennessee  were  on  a 
balance  and  it  was  impossible  to  say  beforehand  which 
should  be  successful,  and  the  complexion  of  the  Legisla- 
ture whether  whig  or  democratic  was  just  as  hard  to 
predetermine  as  the  aggregate  vote  of  all  the  counties. 
Each  seat  in  the  General  Assembl}^  both  in  the  lower 
and  upper  house  was  hotly  contested. 

Col.  John  Ramsey  was  the  democratic  candidate  from 
Monroe  County  for  the  Legislature;  William  Heiskell 
was  the  whig  candidate.  Besides  the  personalities  of 
the  candidates  themselves,  various  issues  made  the 
canvass  exciting.  On  the  one  hand  it  was  charged  that 
William  Heiskell  was  an  aristocrat.  That  he  had  to 
have  a  negro  valet  to  help  him  dress  himself.  That  he 
was  too  proud  to  w^ear  the  ordinary  jeans  clothes  woven 
by  the  people  of  the  county;  that  he  wore  store  clothes 
and  otherwise  conducted  himself  as  an  aristocrat.  It  is 
true  that  he  took  his  toddy  and  was  fond  of  music  and 
played  the  fiddle  in  Old.  Virginia  style.  On  the  other 
hand  it  was  charged  among  the  common  people  that 
Colonel  Ramsey  was  somewhat  effected  by  the  prohibi- 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  279 

tioiiist  ideas  of  Lorenzo  Dow,  who  had  made  a  canvass 
through  this  country.  Furthermore  it  is  charged  against 
Colonel  John  Ramsey  that  he  was  not  at  all  in  sympathy 
with  the  southern  ideas  of  the  institution  of  slavery  and 
did  not  believe  in  its  moral  right.  Ramsey  was  in  favor 
of  the  Mexican  War  and  acquisition  of  territory  result- 
ing therefrom.    Heiskell  was  opposed  to  this. 

But  the  result  of  the  canvass  really  turned  on  this, 
whether  what  was  termed  as  the  "one  gallus  copperas 
breeches  Democrat"  or  the  rich  man  should  elect  their 
representative  to  the  county.  As  nearly  always  happens 
in  such  instances,  what  might  be  termed  as  the  common 
people  were  in  the  majority,  and  Colonel  John  Ramsey 
was  triumphantly  elected. 

Although  William  Heiskell  was  defeated  by  Colonel 
John  Ramsey  for  the  Legislature,  yet  his  brother,  F.  S. 
Heiskell  was  elected  senator  from  Knox  County.  This 
gave  the  majority  to  the  whigs,  the  upper  house  of  the 
Legislature  being  composed  of  thirteen  whigs  and  twelve 
Democrats.  The  house  was  almost  equally  as  close.  In 
the  year  1847  John  Bell,  who  was  then  a  member  of  the 
Legislature,  was  elected  United  States  senator,  receiv- 
ing 51  out  of  90  votes  on  joint  ballot.  John  Bell  was 
afterwards  a  whig  candidate  for  the  President  of  the 
United  States  in  the  year  1860.  Tliat  was  when  Lincoln 
was  elected. 

In  the  governor's  race  in  1847,  Neil  S.  Brown,  the  whig 
candidate,  defeated  Aaron  V.  Brown,  who  was  elected 
governor  two  years  before.  This  was  one  of  the  last 
successes  that  the  whigs  ever  had  in  the  state  of  Tennes- 
see. The  Legislature  of  1847  was  composed  mostly  of 
farmers  and  young  men.  John  Bell  and  John  Ramsey 
were  the  oldest  members  of  the  house,  each  being,  ac- 
cording to  the  published  roster,  60  years  of  age.  Before 
Ramsey  went  to  the  Legislature  the  charter  of  the  Hi- 
wassee  Railroad  from  Dalton  to  lOioxville  had  been 
abandoned  and  given  place  to  the  charter  of  the  E.  T. 
&  Ga.  Railroad.  Colonel  John  Ramsey  had  always  been 
in  favor  of  internal  improvements  and  was  a  friend  to 
the  railroad.  He  did  what  he  could  in  expediting  the 
building  of  the  railroad.    From  that  time  on  there  was 


280  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAULiEY 

little  doubt  that  the  railroad  would  be  built,  and  before 
many  years  it  was  finished. 

We  will  hereafter  give  something  of  the  history  of 
when  the  railroad  was  graded  through  Sweetwater  Val- 
ley and  how  this  was  accomplished.  The  railroad  was 
built  partly  by  help  of  the  state,  lending  its  aid  by  bond 
issues,  which  constituted  first  mortgage  on  the  roadbed, 
and  by  the  citizens  along  the  line  of  the  railroad  sub- 
scribing money  and  doing  work  on  the  grading,  for  which 
they  received  stock  of  the  E.  T.  &  Ga.  Railroad.  The 
railroad  from  Dalton  to  Knoxville  was  built  entirely 
without  the  aid  of  foreign  or  out-of-state  capital. 

Colonel  John  Ramsey  was  by  no  means  a  highly 
educated  man  nor  a  man  of  extraordinary  ability,  but 
few  men  in  the  county  have  had  more  to  do  with  its  suc- 
cess and  prosperity  than  he.  This  was  owing  to  his  hon- 
esty and  integrity  and  his  rare  common  sense,  and  men 
of  all  parties  and  religions  recognized  the  existence  in 
him  of  these  sterling  qualities. 

This  shows  that  a  man  has  neither  to  be  rich  nor  great 
nor  highly  educated  nor  have  extravagant  opportunities 
to  have  great  influence  in  a  community.  I  know  of  no 
man  among  early  settlers  whose  example  could  be  imi- 
tated with  more  profit  by  the  rising  generation. 

William  Griffitts,  of  Blount  County,  Tenn.,  was  born 
in  Virginia,  July  13,  1781.  His  wife  was  born  Septem- 
ber 26,  1779.  Siie  died  at  Unitia,  Blount  County,  Tenn. 
These  were  the  parents  of  Susanna  Griffitts  Ramsey, 
wife  of  Colonel  John  Ramsey.  She  was  born  at  Unitia, 
Blount  County,  Tenn.,  February  12,  1802.  She  mar- 
ried Jno.  Ramsey,  February  28,  1822.  She  died  at  the 
Ramsey  residence  January  6,  1881.  Jno.  Ramsey  died 
April  28,  1872.  (For  further  history  see  Presbyterian 
church.)     The  children  of  Jno.  and  S.  G.  Ramsey  were: 

One.  Mary,  born  October  19,  1828.  Died  March  7, 
1863.  On  April  8,  1856,  she  married  Frank  Rowan  and 
lived  on  Fork  Creek,  near  Christianburg  Church.  They 
had  one  daughter,  Bettie,  who  was  born  February  23, 
1863.  She  married  Jno.  Moon,  of  Hamilton  County,  No- 
vember 29,  1905.  They  now  (1915)  reside  at  the  old 
Ramsey  residence.  (1916)  He  looks  after  large  estate 
of  Mrs.  Waren. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  281 

Two.  William  Griffitts  R.,  born  March  29,  1835;  d. 
February  22,  1850. 

Three.  Elizabeth  Emmeline  R.,  born  March  25,  1837; 
d.  October  19,  1862.  Two  and  Three  never  married, 
buried  in  the  Philadelphia  Cemetery. 

Four.  John  Eagieton  R.,  born  September  27,  1839; 
married  Martha  E.  Smith  of  Jonesboro,  November    6, 

1866.    He  served  in  the  Confederate  army  in  Co. 

Regt.,  Tenn.  Vol.,  C.  S.  A.  He  moved  to  Bridgeport, 
Wise  County,  Texas.  The  children  of  J.  E.  and  Martha 
E.  were  11  in  number.  Six  of  whom  now  (1913)  living 
and  none  married.    They  are: 

James,  Charles,  George,  Mary,  Katie,  Alice. 

Four.  Martha  R.,  daughter  of  J.  and  S.  Ramsev,  born 
July  17,  1842. 

Captain  Jacob  Cathey  Waeen. 

His  mother  was  Mary  Cathey,  daughter  of  George 
Cathey,  of  Ha^^wood  County,  N.  C.  She  was  married 
twice,  first  to  Sherwood  Osborne,  one  of  eleven  brothers 
in  Haywood  County.  They  had  no  sisters.  Sherwood, 
Thomas  and  Joseph,  came  to  East  Tennessee.  Sher- 
wood Osborne  died  leaving  several  children,  one  of  whom 
was,  afterwards,  Captain  Toin  Osborne,  of  the  Confed- 
erate army.  Mrs.  Osborne  married,  a  second  time,  to 
Jacob  Waren,  who  came  from  Virginia  in  1788,  locating 
in  Roane  County,  what  is  now  Loudon.  Jacob  Cathey 
Waren,  her  son,  was  born  in  Roane  County,  December 
25,  1842.  On  July  27,  1861,  he  enlisted  in  Captain  John 
A.  Rowan's  company,  afterwards  known  as  Co.  G,  Ash- 
by 's  2nd  Tenn.  Cav.,  Ashby's  brig.  Hume's  Dis.,  Wheel- 
er's army  corps.  Army  of  Tennessee  (Confederate). 

In  the  archives  of  the  General  John  C.  Vaughn,  Chap- 
ter No.  1244,  U.  D.  C,  is  a  history  of  his  career  as  a 
Confederate  soldier,  prepared  by  Mrs.  Myra  Love  Ijow- 
ry.     It  is  too  lengthy  for  us  to  reproduce  in  this  work. 

A  great  part  of  the  time  during  the  war  he  served  as 
an  independent  scout  under  General  Jo.  Wheeler. 

Soon  after  the  war  he  came  to  Sweetwater  and  com- 
menced business.  He  married  Martha  E.  Ramsey  on 
December  10,  1873. 


282  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

He  was  for  two  terms,  sheriff  of  Monroe  County,  and 
in  1882  was  elected  trustee  of  the  county.  In  1902  he 
was  elected  to  the  Fifty-sixth  General  Assembly  as  the 
representative  from  Monroe  County.  When  he  was 
elected  to  the  Legislature  he  was  living  in  the  old  Ram- 
sey residence,  where  Colonel  John  Ramsey  lived  when 
he  was  elected  to  the  Twenty-seventh  General  Assem- 
bly. Captain  Waren  was  a  very  fine  business  man.  He 
owned  several  large  farms,  besides  the  one  on  which  he 
lived,  and  much  property  in  the  town  of  Sweetwater. 
He  died  suddenly  of  heart  failure,  near  his  home,  on 
May  11,  1915,  and  was  interred  in  Westview  Cemetery, 
His  wife,  Martha  E.,  is  the  beneficiary  and  executrix  un- 
der his  will. 

Reynolds  Allen  Ramsey 

Was  born  in  Knox  County,  Tenn.,  near  the  present  site 
of  Concord,  November  13,  1799.  He  first  lived  at  Ross' 
Landing.  In  1840  moved  to  Catoosa  County,  Ga.  He 
married  (first)  Anne  Campbell  Roane,  who  died  in  a 
short  time,  leaving  one  child,  Mary  Roane  Ramsey.  She 
married  James  A,  Corry.  She  died  leaving  two  sons, 
Allen  Corry  and  Robert  Corry. 

James  Corry  married  (second)  about  1861  Carrie, 
daughter  of  John  Y.  and  Leah  Lenoir  Smith.  They  had 
one  child,  Thomas  Avery.  He  was  born  February  22, 
1862.  He  was  educated  mostly  at  Sweetw^ater.  By  pro- 
fession he  is  a  civil  engineer.  He  married  Laura  Mont- 
gomery of  Roane  County,  Tenn.  They  moved  to  the 
city  of  Mexico.  He  was  chief  engineer  of  railroad  run- 
ning from  the  city  of  Mexico  to  Vera  Cruz  for  a  number 
of  years.    About  1911  he  went  to  Arequipa,  Peru,  where 

he  is  chief  engineer,  constructing  the  — railroad. 

They  have  two  daughters,  Margaret,  born and 

Elizabeth  born  

Reynolds  A.  Ramsey  married  (second)  Louisa  Car- 
oline Lenoir.  She  was  born  in  Wilkes  County,  N.  C,  in 
1805,  the  second  child  of  Wm.  B.  Lenoir.  She  died  in 
Catoosa  County,  Ga.,  August  11,  1841.  Their  children 
were: 

William  Lenoir,  b.  April  — ,  1829;  d.  at  Knoxville 
1896. 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  283 

Samuel  A.,  b,  September  — ,  1830 ;  d.  June,  1839. 

Waightstill  Avery,  b.  January,  1832;  d.  at  Lenoir's, 
Tenn.,  August,  1866. 

Elizabeth  Fleming,  b.  October,  1883.  Married  N.  A. 
Patterson,  then  of  Kingston,  Tenn.  Her  daughter,  Mrs. 
Cora  A.  Hardin,  lives  at  Olvistee,  Okla. 

Thomas  Isaac,  b.  October,  1835.  Living  in  San  An- 
tonio, Texas.  Married  Amelia  Boyd  about  1870.  They 
were  the  parents  of  seven  children,  five  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing. One  son,  Reynolds  A.,  lives  at  Waycross,  Ga.  J. 
G.  M.  married  June  Burdett  1913.  One  daughter  of  T. 
I.  Ramsey  Lenoir,  married  a  missionary  and  lives  in 
Africa. 

The  seventh  child  of  R.  A.  and  Louisa  Ramsey  was 
Julia  Ann  Campbell,  born  December,  1839.  She  died  at 
Austin,  Texas,  in  1915.  Married  Gideon  B.  Caldwell,  in 
Monroe  County,  Tenn.,  January  19,  1863.  They  were 
the  parents  of  six  children,  most  of  whom  are  married 
and  are  living  in  Texas.  Their  names  are :  Allen  R., 
Catherine  C,  Louisa  L.,  Mary  Lizzie,  James  Harvey  and 
Addle  Ellen. 

Colonel  Ramsey  married  (third)  Mrs.  Ann  B.  McGhee, 
nee  McLin,  of  Maryville,  Tenn.,  in  February,  1845.  She 
was  born  February  3,  1814;  d.  February  15,  1882.  He 
died  at  Dalton,  Ga.,  June  23,  1884.  Both  are  buried  in 
the  old  Sweetwater  cemetery.  They  came  to  Pond 
Creek  Valley,  near  Sweetwater,  in  1858.  They  belonged 
to  the  Presbyterian  church  at  Sweetwater,  in  which 
church  he  was  a  ruling  elder.  Their  only  child,  Emmett 
Alexander,  was  born  December,  1849,  died  in  1898.  He 
married  Miss  Lena  Wilhoite,  of  Shelbyville,  Tenn.,  in 
1894.  He  was  a  Presbyterian  minister  of  fine  attain- 
ments and  was  a  pastor  of  a  church  in  Memphis,  Tenn., 
at  the  time  of  his  death  in  January,  1898. 

William  Rutherford 

Was  born  in  Grayson  County,  Va.,  on  April  11,  1797, 
and  came  to  Sweetwater  Valley,  first  living  near  Reagan 
Station  until  1864.  During  the  remainder  of  the  war 
he  lived  at  the  old  Bowman  (Benson)  place.  He  died 
on  June  25,  1870,  and  was  buried  at  County  Line  Cem- 
etery.   He  married  Celia  Hale,  who  was  born  in  Gray- 


284  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAIiLEY 

son  County,  Va.  She  moved  to  Kaufman  County,  Texas, 
in  1877,  and  died  there  and  was  buried  at  College  Mound, 
Texas.    Their  children  were: 

1.  Rufus. 

2.  John  F. 

3.  George,  b.  September  28,  1848.  Died  January  5, 
1883.  Married  Mary  Miles  in  Chattanooga.  Died  in 
Texas. 

4.  James.  Post-office,  Cartersville,  Ga.  Married 
Miss  Oliver. 

5.  Cynthia,  b.  October  11,  1822.  Married  Phillip  Cole. 
Lives  in  Texas. 

6.  Elizabeth.    Dead. 

7.  Parmelia  Jane,  b.  February  11,  1827;  d.  June  19, 
1855.    Married  Jake  "Williams.    Dead. 

8.  Samuel,  b.  May  1,  1825.  Died  in  Missouri.  Mar- 
ried Mick  Ann  Richardson. 

9.  Julia,  b.  April  29,  1828.  Married  Jake  Patton,  and 
lives  at  Miami,  Texas. 

10.  Felan  Louis,  b.  February  1,  1830.  Married  in  Mis- 
rouri.     Dead. 

11.  Rosamond  Caroline,  b.  December  2,  1834.  Dead. 
Married  Wm.  McCaslin. 

12.  Margaret,  b.  April  9,  1839.  Married  John  Bil- 
lingsly. 

Rufus  Rutherford 

Was  born  in  McMinn  County,  Tenn.,  March  8,  1832. 
Married  Elizabeth  Fender,  May  18,  1855.  She  was  born 
June  15,  1831,  in  Roane  County,  Tenn.  Died  January 
27,  1905,  and  was  interred  at  Bell  Springs,  Texas. 

Rufus  Rutherford  lived  for  five  years,  in  the  old  I.  T. 
Lenoir  residence,  until  he  moved  to  Texas,  in  1877.  He 
was  a  farmer  and  was  a  member  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church.  Served  in  the  Confederate  army, 
until  the  close  of  the  war,  as  a  member  of  Captain  W. 
L.  Clark's  company,  2nd  Tennessee  Calvary.  He  is  now 
a  farmer  and  banker  at  Hillsboro,  Texas.  His  children 
are: 

Mrs.  Maggie  Kyle,  Hillsboro,  Texas. 

William  H.,  Rockwood,  Texas. 

Mrs.  Cynthia  Parks,  Hillsboro,  Texas. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  285 

Mrs.  Mary  Parks,  Hillsboro,  Texas. 
Mrs.  Julia  McClure,  Hillsboro,  Texas. 
Mrs.  Celia  Whitlock,  Lockney,  Texas. 
Rufus  W.,  Claude,  Texas. 
Mrs.  Bettie  McCarty,  Hillsboro,  Texas. 

John  F.  Rutherford 

Was  the  son  of  Wm.  Rutherford,  and  was  born  in 
Sweetwater  Valley,  October  30,  1837.  Married  Malinda 
J.  Williams,  daughter  of  John  Williams,  September  16, 
1873,  by  the  Rev.  G.  W.  Butler.  She  was  born  March 
7,  1856.  John  F.  Rutherford  was  a  farmer.  He  served 
in  the  Confederate  army  as  a  private  in  Co.  B,  5th  Reg. 
Vol.,  Tenn.  Cav.,  from  1862  to  1865.  He  moved  from 
Sweetwater  Valley  to  Jalapa,  Tenn.  They  had  eight 
children,  six  of  whom  are  living : 

1.  Inez,  b.  1875.    Lives  in  Texas. 

2.  Clifton,  b.  1878.    Was  a  ranchman  in  Idaho.     Now 
lives  at  Tellico,  Tenn. 

3.  King.     Dead. 

4.  Daisy.    Dead.    Married  John  Tate. 

5.  Key,  b.  1883.    Lives  in  Idaho. 

6.  Rankin,  b.  1888.    Lives  in  Idaho. 

7.  Creed,  b.  1895.    Lives  in  Idaho. 

8.  Fred.,  b.  1898.    Lives  in  Idaho. 

S.  J.  Rowan 

Was  a  brother  of  Jno.  A,  Rowan  who  lived  on  Fork 
Creek,  and  who  was  a  colonel  in  the  C.  S.  A.,  during  the 
Civil  War.  He  married  Jane  Carter,  a  sister  of  Robert 
Carter  and  F.  B.  Carter.  They  lived  in  Sweetwater 
some  time  during  the  Civil  War.  He  (Rowan)  owned 
a  large  farm  at  County  Line,  on  the  Athens  road.  In 
June,  1857,  for  the  consideration  of  $13,000,  he  conveyed 
his  holdings  there  to  J.  M.  Brett,  formerly  of  Georgia. 
He  moved  to  Sweetwater  and  engaged  in  the  mercantile 
business.  He  was  postmaster  during  Buchanan's  ad- 
ministration. Some  time  in  1868  he  moved  to  Waco, 
Texas.  At  a  session  of  the  Presbyterian  church  at 
Sweetwater,  March  22,  1869,  Samuel  J.  and  Jane  Rowan, 


286  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAJLLEY 

his  wife,  were  granted  a  letter  to  join  the  Presbyterian 
church  at  Waco.  Their  children  were:  Miranda,  Car- 
ter and  Crockett  Rowan.     Miranda  married  Dr.  

Parshall.  They  were  the  parents  of  several  children, 
names  and  number  not  known.  Some  of  them  live  in 
Hillsboro,  Texas.  One  of  them  married  Burt  Barnett, 
who  lives  on  Lamar  Street,  Fort  Worth,  Texas.  He  is 
a  wealthy  cotton  broker.  Mr.  Rufus  Rutherford,  of 
Hillsboro,  Texas,  says  that  now,  1916,  Carter  and  Crock- 
ett are  both  dead;  that  Crockett  married  and  reared  a 
family,  but  that  he  did  not  know  their  address  or  history. 

Mr,  and  ]VIrs.  J.  T.  Rowland. 

Mr.  J.  T.  Rowland  came  from  Georgia.  He  married 
Miss  Louisa  Keith,  a  sister  of  Judge  Charles  Keith, 
who  resigned  his  position  after  being  judge  for  thirty- 
four  years.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rowland  purchased  land  in 
Sweetwater  Valley  from  William  Wallis  on  the  10th 
of  September,  1855.  This  was  a  part  of  the  northwest 
quarter  of  section  15,  township  3,  range  1,  east.  Con- 
sideration, $3,000.  This  land  lay  between  the  Browder 
and  Yearwood  places.  They  lived  at  this  place  until 
some  time  during  the  Civil  War,  when  they  moved  away. 
Rowland  died,  and  in  1865  Mrs.  Rowland  with  her  two 
sons  moved  back  to  the  farm.  She  soon  sold  out,  how- 
ever, and  moved  away.  She  was  a  brilliant  and  gifted 
woman  and  not  only  was  a  contributor  to  the  magazines 
but  was  also  a  musical  composer.  She  gave  my  mother 
one  of  her  compositions  in  reply  to,  "I  have  just  been 
learning  a  lesson  of  life,"  which  was  thought  to  have 
been  better  than  the  other.  Her  two  children  were: 
John  T.,  an  accomplished  musician,  who  died  when  a 
young  man,  and  Charles  K.,  now  a  broker  and  real  es- 
tate dealer  of  Atlanta,  Ga. 

General  James  H.  Reagan. 

Some  sixty-five  years  ago  Reagan's  station  consisted 
of  a  very  large  pond,  having  an  area  of  5  or  6  acres, 
a  flourishing  apple  orchard  or  two,  the  Reagan  boys, 
the  big  house,  the  negro  cabins,  various  brier  patches, 
the  store,  the  United  States  Post-office,  the  E.  T.  &  Ga. 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  287 

Railroad  Depot  and  water  tank  and  the  cribs  and  barn. 
These  resources  are  intended  to  be  mentioned  in  the  or- 
der of  their  relative  importance  in  the  boyish  mind.  The 
pond,  placed  there  by  a  beneficent  Providence,  who  seem- 
ingly watches  over  the  safety  of  good  and  bad  boys 
alike,  could  be  and  was  used  for  the  threefold  purpose 
of  swimming  in,  fishing  in  and  rowing  and  sailing  boats 
over.  The  apple  orchards  were  both  food  and  drink. 
Their  products  were  a  source  of  ever  recurring  enjoy- 
ment from  their  first  bloom  in  April  through  the  red 
June,  the  mellow  fall,  the  rough  winter  and  until  the 
return  of  spring  again.  What  would  a  home  be  without 
a  swimming  hole,  red  June  apples  and  sweet  cider?  And 
echo  answers:  "Notliin'  doin'. "  And  what  would  be 
the  use  of  such  things  without  boys  to  revel  in  them 
and  satiate  their  appetites?  The  ^'big  house"  was 
to  eat  in  and  sleep  in ;  otherwise  of  no  special  impor- 
tance. Tlie  negro  cabin  was  a  mecca  when  at  night  some 
noted  negro  fiddler  or  banjo  picker  was  playing  for  a 
dance.  Life  in  those  bo3^hood  days  w^ould  not  have  been 
wholly  satisfactory  without  brier  patches.  The  black- 
berries were  watched  with  interest  through  all  their 
stages  of  developments,  green,  red  and  black.  When  the 
berries  had  come  and  gone  the  brier  thickets  became  the 
favorite  warren  and  home  of  the  rabbit;  then  ''ho"  for 
the  chase  of  the  nimble  cotton  tail.  The  store  was  the 
source  of  supply  of  candy,  tops,  balls  and  marbles. 
These  were  very  much  a  part  of  boyish  equipment,  far 
more  important  then  than  anything  that  came  through 
the  post-office  which  frequently  occupied  a  portion  of 
country  store.  Few  articles  at  that  time  came  by  par- 
cels post.  The  railroad  depot  was  a  very  flimsy  affair 
and  the  water  tank,  capable  of  containing  only  about  2,- 
500  gallons,  was  filled  by  a  chain  pump  from  a  spring. 
The  barns  were  useful  as  places  to  play  in  on  rainy 
days. 

On  Sunday  our  privileges  were  somewhat  abridged. 
After  reading  a  chapter  in  the  Bible  and  hearing  it  ex- 
plained we  w^ere  allowed  quietly  to  go  out  to  play  with 
a  few  parting  injunctions ;  not  to  go  in  swimming,  not  to 
hunt  rabbits  and  not  to  get  into  a  fuss  or  fight  with  the 
neighbor  boys.  No,  we  wont  go  in  swimming  in  the 
pond,  we'll  just  wade  round  the  shallow  places  near  the 


288  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

bank  unless  some  one  pushes  us  into  deep  water  and 
then  w^e'll  have  to  swim;  no,  we  won't  hunt  rabbits  or 
indudge  in  any  unseemly  merriment  on  Sunday;  but 
sometimes  we  can't  slip  off  from  the  dogs  and  they  will 
follow  us  and  we  hate  to  rock  them  back  home;  we 
mustn't  be  cruel  to  animals,  for  once  there  was  a  boy 
in  the  second  reader  and  he  was  bad;  he  used  to  stick 
pins  in  flies  instead  of  swattin'  'em  and  throw  stones  at 
dogs  and  when  he  grew  up  to  be  a  man  he  got  to  be  a 
monopolist  and  had  to  appear  before  the  Congressional 
Committee  or  something  just  as  dreadful  happened  to 
him;  no,  we  won't  impose  on  the  neighbor  boys;  but 
they  mustn't  muddy  our  swimming  hole,  they  mustn't 
climb  our  apple  trees,  they  m.ustn't  run  our  rabbits  or 
''sic"  their  dogs  on  our  dogs  and  they  mustn't  call  us 
names  or  irritate  us  any  way;  we  are  peaceable  but  we 
can't  bear  to  be  irritated — and — we  are  not  bound  to  tel] 
everything  that  takes  place. 

Old  folks  have  such  queer  ideas  about  what  they  want 
boys  to  learn  and  spend  their  time  on.  Who  was  Pub- 
lius  Virgilius  Naso,  and  why  didn't  he  write  in  plain 
English?  Nix  on  that  stuff  about  the  Trojan  horse  as 
big  as  a  mountain  (instar  montis).  Wliat  difference 
does  it  make  if  Queen  Dido  did  stand  on  the  beach  in 
the  moonlight  and  wave  with  her  willow  wand  for  her 
recreant  lover  to  come  again  to  Carthage?  He  never 
came,  did  he?  And  what  if  Tityrus,  at  ease  under  the 
shade  of  a  beech  tree,  did  elect  during  the  summer  day 
to  pipe  his  paeans  to  the  charms  of  the  beautiful  Amaryl- 
lis; did  that  make  his  corn  grow  any  better?  That  was 
his  business.  What  Johnnie  wants  to  know  is:  ''Why 
spend  five  days  out  of  seven  in  acquiring  this  informa- 
tion, when  the  fish  are  fairly  itching  to  bite  and  the  call 
of  the  wild  is  sounding  in  his  ears  and  especially  when 
his  high  school  nine  is  straining  every  nerve  to  win  the 
pennant  in  the  B.  U.  M.  Baseball  League?"  Up,  com- 
rades, and  at  them!  Progress  is  here;  get  out  of  the 
way  or  you  will  get  run  over  by  the  automobile!  Lin- 
coln struck  the  shackles  from  the  slaves  but  Ty  Cobb 
still  holds  the  batting  record! 

,  But  now  the  pond,  mentioned  in  the  outset  of  this 
article,  is  about  dried  up,  the  apple  trees  have  died  of 
old  age;  the  war  rendered  the  negro  cabins  useless  and 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  289 

they  were  torn  down;  few  now  living  know  that  there 
ever  was  a  store  there  and  that  S.  Y.  B.  Williams  clerked 
in  it;  there  is  not  a  stick  or  stone  remaining  to  show 
where  the  barn  stood;  even  the  depot  and  water  tank 
are  gone  and  have  never  been  rebuilt ;  ' '  Facility, ' '  the 
post-office,  has  long  since  been  abolished  by  the  gov- 
ernment and  absorbed  by  Sweetwater  and  Dan.  Scruggs 
of  Route  No.  2  is  now  ''it;"  most  of  those  living  there 
in  the  fifties  have  passed  to  the  great  beyond.  The 
old  residence,  though  somewhat  dilapidated,  is  yet 
standing;  some  magnificent  old  oak  in  a  grove  near  the 
railway,  still  lend  a  majestic  attraction  to  the  scene. 

I  am  happy  to  state  that  the  girl,  who  used  to  play 
the  piano  for  us  and  give  us  pies  and  cakes  between 
times,  is  a  much  loved  and  respected  grandmother  in 
the  town  of  Sweetwater. 

One  of  the  Reagan  family  is  now  living  at  the  station. 
He  was  called  ''James"  by  his  mother,  "Avery'.' by  his 
father,  '^Jeems"  by  the  darkeys,  "Jim"  by  the  neigh- 
bors, "Legs"  by  his  intimates,  Reagan  by  his  college- 
mates,  is  called  Major  by  the  road  men,  Judge  by  the 
lawyers  and  his  former  associates  in  the  county  court„ 

He  married  about  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  (1889). 
He  is  still  married,  but  with  this  difference :  For  many 
years  of  their  married  life  Mrs.  Lizzie  Reagan  was 
known  as  the  wife  of  Judge  James  Avery  Reagan ;  J.  A. 
Reagan,  Esq.,  is  now  known  in  several  states  of  the 
union,  as  the  husband  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Buchanan  Rea- 
gan and  I  have  not  heard  of  his  objecting  to  it.  The 
writer  of  this  often  revisits  these  scenes  of  his  boyhood 
days  in  imagination,  and  sometimes  in  person.  He  still 
remains  to  bear  testimony  to  the  fact  that  in  the  times 
before  the  war  at  Reagan's,  when  two  or  three  or  more 
of  us  were  gathered  together,  there  would  be  enough 
ideas  in  our  midst  to  cause  somethin'  to  be  doin'  in 
pretty  short  order. 

James  Hayes  Reagan  was  born  February  12,  1800. 
I  am  unable  to  sa^-  now  exactly  where.  In  1822  or  1823 
he  started  to  go  west.  However  on  his  way  he  chanced 
to  stop  at  the  house  of  the  Rev.  Irby  Holt,  who  then 
lived  about  one-half  mile  west  of  where  Reagan's  Sta- 
tion now  is.  This  determined  his  future  life.  He  went 
into  the  mercantile  business  with  Mr.  Holt.     Tlie  near- 


290  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

est  stores  then  were  at  Athens,  Madisonville  and  Phila- 
delphia. Before  many  years  a  United  States  post-office 
was  needed,  as  there  were  none  nearer  than  the  places 
mentioned;  and  it  was  petitioned  for  and  obtained.  In 
the  rapid  settling  up  of  the  new  country  there  was  need 
for  everything  in  the  way  of  household  goods  and  sales 
were  easily  made  at  good  profit. 

He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Rev.  Irby  Holt,  on 
April  22,  1824. 

General  Reagan  was  an  all-round  business  man;  he 
prospered  as  a  merchant,  a  farmer  and  a  banker  and 
became  one  of  the  wealthiest  men  in  East  Tennessee  in 
his  day.  He  was  also  popular  with  the  people  and  was 
considerable  of  a  politician.  He  was  a  strong  Jackson 
and  Polk  man.  He  was  known  as  an  uncompromising 
Democrat.  In  1836  he  was  elected  as  senator  from  the 
counties  of  McMinn  and  Monroe  to  represent  these  coun- 
ties in  the  General  Assembly  of  the  state.  In  the  His- 
tory of  Tennessee  by  Garrett  and  Goodpasture  on  page 
257,  section  463,  under  the  head  of  "First  Railroad  Con- 
struction ' '  we  find  this :  ' '  Through  the  influence  of  Sen- 
ator James  H.  Reagan,  afterward  a  distinguished  cit- 
izen of  Texas,  the  Legislature  granted  a  charter  of  in- 
corporation to  the    Hiwassee    Railroad    Company,    in 

1836,  for  the  purpose  of  constructing  a  railroad  through 
the  Hiwassee  District  to  the  southern  boundary  of  the 
state.     The  road  was  surveyed  and   ground   broken   in 

1837,  being  the  first  work  ever  done  on  a  railroad  in  this 
state.  In  1848  the  charter  was  renewed  and  the  name  of 
the  corporation  changed  to  the  East  Tennessee  and 
Georgia  Railroad  Company.  The  road  was  not  com- 
pleted (to  Kjioxville)  until  1856." 

This  is  all  perfectly  correct  history,  except  that  John 
H.  Reagan,  postmaster  general,  C.  S.  A.,  Governor  of 
Texas  and  U.  S.  Senator  from  that  state  was  not  the 
Reagan  spoken  of  and  was  never  a  member  of  the  Ten- 
nessee Legislature  but  a  cousin  of  his,  James  H.  Reagan, 
w^ho  was  a  citizen  of  McMinn  County  for  more  than 
forty  years  and  who  again  in  1853  represented  Monroe 
and  McMinn  in  the  Legislature. 

Major  W.  B.  L.  Reagan,  son  of  J.  H.  Reagan,  is  re- 
sponsible for  thei  following  statement:     "Father  was 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  291 

a  brigadier  general  of  militia.  When  the  Mexican  War 
came  up  he  was  making  every  arrangement  in  his  busi- 
ness to  go  to  Mexico.  General  Caswell  of  Knox  also 
wanted  to  go,  and  then  governor  of  the  state  (Aaron  V. 
Brown)  had  them  to  "cast  lots"  for  it.  Caswell  ''drew 
the  long  straw,"  much  to  father's  disappointment." 

G.  and  G.'s  History  of  Tennessee  says:  "Upon  the 
requisition  of  the  War  Department,  on  the  26th  of  May, 
1847,  Governor  Brown  called  for  three  regiments  of 
volunteers,  numbering  in  all  2,800  men.  In  answer  to 
this  call,  30,000  volunteers  promptly  tendered  their 
services.  So  eager  were  they  all  for  services  that  it 
became  necessary  to  adopt  some  mode  of  selection.  Ac- 
cordingly the  governoi-f  directed  the  four  major  gen- 
erals of  the  state  to  decide  by  ballot,  according  to  rules 
laid  down,  the  companies  to  be  received  from  their  re- 
spective divisions." 

This  shows  how  the  men  were  selected  but  not  how 
the  commanders  were  chosen.  What  sort  of  hocus  po- 
cus  was  resorted  to  determine  this  I  have  not  been  able 
to  find  out.  As  General  Reagan  was  totally  ignorant  of, 
and  averse  to.  all  forms  of  gambling  perhaps  he  did 
not  get  a  square  deal.  Wliat  would  have  been  his  future 
career  had  he  gone  to  Mexico  can  be  only  a  matter  of 
conjecture.  No  doubt  it  w^ould  have  made  a  great  dif- 
ference in  his  after  life.  The  battle  of  Beuna  Vista,  and 
not  such  a  great  battle  after  all,  made  two  presidents, 
Zachary  Taylor,  President  of  U.  S.  A.,  and  Jefferson 
Davis,  his  son-in-law.  President  of  the  C.  S.  A. 

Aaron  V.,  Brown,  a  very  eloquent  and  powerful  man 
on  the  stump,  was  governor.  He  was  afterwards  post- 
master general  under  President  Buchanan.  He  was  de- 
feated in  his  next  race  for  governor  by  Neill  S.  Brown. 
His  defeat  is  not  unlikely  due  the  fact  that  so  many 
got  mad  at  him  because  they  wanted  to  fight  and  did 
not  get  to  fight.  We  have  now  so  much  advanced  in 
civilization  that  those  whose  voices  are  loudest  for  war 
with  Mexico  now,  will  be  the  "most  afraid"  of  bullets 
when  the  war  is  really  upon  us. 


292  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

General  J.  H.  Eeagan's  Railroad  Record. 

In  these  days  of  railway  construction  and  immense 
fortunes  it  is  a  comparatively  simple  matter  to  build 
a  railroad,  when  once  a  proper  charter  is  obtained  from 
the  state.  Not  so  in  those  days.  A  standard  oil  mag- 
nate can  run  his  cars  into  the  sounding  deep,  as  Flagler 
did  along  the  Florida  keys,  easier  than  the  people  of 
Georgia  and  Tennessee  then  could  through  the  moun- 
tains. They  can  do  now  with  money  and  scientific  ap- 
pliances what  was  not  even  dreamed  of  in  the  ''Arabian 
Nights. ' '  When  General  Reagan  had  gotten  the  charter 
from  the  Tennessee  Legislature  his  work  had  not  fairly 
begun.  Money  at  that  time  could  not  be  borrowed  in 
New  York  for  the  purpose.  If  the  railroad  was  built 
at  all,  it  must  be  done  by  the  people  along  the  line  in  the 
Hiwassee  and  Ocoee  Districts.  Many  of  these  had 
not  as  yet  finished  paying  for  the  tracts  of  land  which 
they  had  purchased  from  the  state.  In  many  instances 
work  was  done  and  material  furnished  and  stock  in  the 
railroad  was   taken  in  payment  therefor. 

Thus  the  very  men  who  used  the  railroad  as  a  com- 
mon carrier  were  the  ones  who  owned  the  stock  in  it. 

W.  B.  L.  Reagan  (son  of  James  H.)  says:  ''The  con- 
trolling officers  of  the  road  induced  General  Reagan  to 
take  charge  of  the  work  of  building  the  road  as  super- 
intendent and  to  use  his  own  discretion  in  all  matters. 
He  w^as  very  successful.  Wlien  he  got  it  finished  to 
near  Cleveland,  he  applied  to  the  company  to  release 
him,  as  his  owti  business  matters  were  suffering  serious- 
ly for  want  of  attention.  They  endeavored  to  get  him 
to  continue  as  general  superintendent,  but  he  declined. 
They  then  offered  him  the  position  as  president.  He 
told  them  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  assume 
the  responsibility  as  his  own  private  business  would 
need  all  his  time.  He'  was  made  a  life  director  and 
served  as  such  faithfully  with  much  profit  to  the  com- 
pany. 

"He  loaned  tho  companv  (The  Hiwassee  Railroad 
Co.,  and  its  successor  the  E.  T.  &  Ga.  R.  R.  Co.)  $150- 
.000." 

Previous  to  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  from 
1831  to  1854  the  General  Assembly  of  the  state  passed 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  293 

various  acts,  coming  under  the  general  head  of  Inter- 
nal Improvement  Acts,  to  assist  the  construction  of 
railroads.  The  one  pro\'ing  most  effective  was  that 
of  1852.  "Under  this  act  (History  of  Tenn.,  G.  &  G.) 
when  any  railroad  company  with  bona  fide  subscrip- 
tion to  grade,  bridge  and  prepare  the  whole  extent  of 
its  main  line  for  iron  rails,  had  prepared  a  certain 
extent  of  its  roadbed,  it  was  entitled  to  receive  $8,000 
(per  mile)  of  the  6  per  cent,  bonds  of  the  state,  to  be 
used  in  ironing  and  equipping  the  road.  These  bonds 
were  to  have  the  force  and  etfect  of  a  first  lien  or  mort- 
gage on  the  road,  its  franchises  and  equipments.  Un- 
der this  act  and  its  subsequent  amendments,  about  $14,- 
000,000  of  bonds  were  issued,  prior  to  the  Civil  War, 
making  the  total  issue  to  railroads  up  to  this  time  about 
15  millions." 

One  of  the  first  deeds  to  right  of  wav  in  Monroe 
County  to  E.  T.  &  Ga.  R.  R.  Co.  was  from  Matthew  Nel- 
son of  Philadelphia,  at  one  time  treasurer  of  the  State. 
For  the  consideration  of  9  shares  of  the  capital  stock 
of  the  E.  T.  &  Ga.  R.  R.  Co.  he  conveys,  to-wit:  ''The 
right  of  way  through  his  lands  in  Monroe  County,  Tenn., 
where  said  road  is  now  located,  to  include  such  width 
as  is  necessary  for  the  working  and  proper  construction 
of  said  road;  said  land  being  the  southeast  quarter 
of  section  5,  township  1,  range  2,  Hiwassee  District,  it 
being  the  land  upon  which  he  now  resides  and  upon 
Avhich  the  town  of  Philadelphia  is  located."  (Still  lo- 
cated on  that  tract  in  1914.)  The  date  of  the  deed  is 
November  22,  1850.  The  witnesses  to  Nelson's  signa- 
ture are  D.  H.  Jones,  I.  T.  Lenoir  and  John  Stanfield. 

I  think  at  that  time  (1850)  the  road  was  graded 
through  the  greater  part  of  Sweetwater  Valley;  for  the 
reason  that  the  right  of  way  grade  was  used  in  some 
places  as  a  public  road  between  the  neighborhood  where 
Sweetwater  now  is  and  Philadelphia.  Mr.  J.  A.  Reagan 
is  authority  for  the  statement  that  construction  reached 
the  location  of  Mouse  Creek  (Niota)  early  in  February, 
1852.  Not  a  great  while  thereafter  cars  were  running 
to  Sweetwater.  Here  a  "Y"  or  a  turn  switch  was  made 
among  the  timber  close  to  where  the  new  Scruggs  brick 
building  is  being  erected.  For  some  time  this  place  be- 
came the  terminus  of  the  road.     However  in  about  six 


294  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

months  the  railroad  was  constructed  to  Loudon,  where 
it  hung  up  for  nearly  two  years  awaiting  the  completion 
of  the  bridge  across  the  Tennessee  River.  Loudon  was 
on  a. boom  and  predictions  were  frequent  that  it  would 
be  many,  many  3^ears  before  trains  would  be  running  to 
Knoxville,  if  they  ever  were. 

In  considering  the  location  of  the  railroad,  the  ques- 
tion is  sometimes  asked  by  the  more  observant;  why 
the  road  went  up  the  hill  (Sweetwater  ridge)  at  Athens 
just  to  get  to  come  down  again.  The  question  is  easily 
answered.  When  the  railroad  was  being  built  Athens 
(as  its  name  might  imply)  was  by  far  the  most  impor- 
tant town  in  lower  East  Tennessee,  more  so  than  even 
Chattanooga.  There  was  a  bank  there  of  which  Gen- 
eral Reagan  was  president.  The  sentiments  of  the 
town  could  not  be  disregarded.  The  railroad  must 
come  to  them  if  it  did  have  to  climb  a  ridge  to  do  so. 
I  am  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  one  reason  of  Gen- 
eral Reagan's  resignation  as  superintendent  of  con- 
struction was  that  he  knew  that  question  of  location 
would  come  up  and  being  a  politician  and  also  a  large 
creditor  of  the  company,  he  did  not  wish  it  even  sus- 
pected that  he  used  his  official  position  to  determine 
the  location.  Few  of  late  years  would  hesitate  to  use 
official  influence  for  private  gain.  However  the  way 
is  not  so  smooth  and  easy  as  it  was  a  few  years  since. 


Second  Marriage. 

On  September  3,  1835,  General  Reagan  married  his 
second  wife,  Myra  Ann  Lenoir.  She  was  magnificently 
endowed  mentally  and  morally  and  had  received  all  the 
advantages  of  education  which  our  southern  country 
could  bestow.  She  was  the  daughter  of  William  Ballard 
Lenoir  of  Roane  County.  She  was  eminently  fitted  to 
be  the  wife  of  such  a  man.  She  had  the  noble  and  beau- 
tiful impulses  of  the  woman,  combined  with  the  sound 
sense  and  logical  acumen  of  the  sterner  sex.  When  Gen- 
eral Reagan  was  absent  attending  to  his  varied  busi- 
ness affairs  there  was  no  fear  in  his  mind  that  those  at 
home  and  on  the  farm  would  not  be  looked  after.  From 
the  time  of  their  marriage  till  1861  everything  of  theirs 


HISTORY  OF   SWEETWATER  VALLEY  295 

prospered.  The  sky  of  life  was  cloudless ;  there  were  no 
gloomy  da^^s. 

The  situation  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  briefly 
told  was  this:  They  had  2,000  acres  of  land  in  Sweet- 
water Valley,  a  considerable  portion  of  this  in  a  high 
state  of  cultivation,  and  in  as  healthful  a  location  as  in 
this  or  any  other  country;  there  were  $75,000  still  due 
him  from  the  East  Tennessee  &  Ga.  Railroad  Company, 
and  equally  that  much  from  individuals,  which  hereto- 
fore he  had  never  had  a  lawsuit  to  collect  any  of;  he 
was  president  of  a  bank  and  owned  large  stock  there- 
in; he  was  deservedly  popular  and  could  have  gotten 
almost  any  office  he  desired;  they  had  a  family  of  chil- 
dren of  which  any  parents  ought  to  have  been  proud; 
also  he  had  forty  or  more  negroes  who  were  well  fed 
and  clothed,  not  overworked  and  apparently  satisfied 
with  their  lot;  thus  from  a  southerner's  point  of  view 
the  condition  was  ideal. 

But  what  startling  and  almost  unbelievable  changes 
can  ''man's  inhumanity  to  man"  bring  about! 

The  poets  sometimes  write  beautifully  of  war,  ex- 
pressing sentiments  such  as: 

''Oh  if  there  be,  on  this  earthly  sphere, 
A  boon,  an  offering  heaven  holds  dear, 
'Tis  the  last  libration  liberty  draws 
From  the  heart  that  bleeds  and  breaks 
in  her  cause." 

But  had  the  war  of  1861-5  anything  to  do  with  liberty! 
Lincoln  solemnly  affirmed,  time  and  again,  that  he  was 
not  fighting  to  free  the  negroes.  It  might  have  been 
then  to  free  us  from  the  toil  and  trouble  of  taking  care 
of  the  negroes.  The  white  folks  did  not  wish  to  be  lib- 
erated; however,  as  Kipling  says:  "That  is.  another 
story. ' ' 

Some  of  the  things  that  happened  to  General  Reagan 
and  family  were :  $75,000  due  from  the  E.  T.  &  Ga.  R. 
R.  Co.  that  were  paid  in  bonds  of  the  Confederate  States 
of  America,  forced  upon  General  Reagan  by  the  com- 
pany, became  worthless.  This  debt  could,  have  been 
collected  after  the  war  but  the  heirs  refused  to  take 
any  steps  in  that  direction.     The  debts  due  from  indi- 


296  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

viduals  were  nearly  all  lost  through  inability  or  unwill- 
ingness to  pay.  The  negroes  instead  of  being  prop- 
erty became  our  masters  at  the  ballot  box. 

But  we  will  let  Mrs.  Reagan  tell  her  own  story  (which 
explains  itself)  in  letters  written  at  the  time.  Being  a 
careful,  prudent  woman  the  picture  was  underdrawn 
rather  than  overdrawn.  The  letter  that  follows  was  not 
in  any  envelope  but  the  two  sheets  were  folded  in  the 
old  fashioned  way.  Thus  only  three  pages  could  be  used 
in  the  body  of  the  lettter  and  the  other  was  outside  with 
the  address  upon  it.  The  letter  was  sealed  with  a  wafer 
and  a  seal.  The  seal  had  a  rough  surface  with  no  mono- 
gram upon  it.  Reagan's  was  at  the  time  of  the  writing 
of  the  letter  in  the  rebel  lines  while  Memphis  was  held 
by  the  Federal  forces.  The  address  was:  Mrs.  Eliza 
M.  Martin,  Memphis,  Tenn.  There  was  no  postage 
stamp  on  the  letter  nor  were  there  any  marks  to  show 
methods  of  transportation  or  date  of  delivery.  There 
must  have  been  an  ''underground  mail"  system.  This 
was  called  so  because  carried  on  without  the  knowledge 
of  the  military.  Any  one  caught  carrying  these  letters 
was  in  danger  of  being  executed  as  a  spy. 

McMinn  County,  E.  Tenn.. 

Oct.  28,  —'63. 
Dear  Sister  Eliza: 

It  has  been  a  long  time  since  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  a  letter 
from  you,  or  had  the  chance  of  writing  to  you.  Dr.  Green,  a  resident 
of  your  place  (Memphis),  who  is  in  Cheatham's  Division,  told  me  to- 
day that  he  would  send  a  letter  for  me.  I  will  try  to  give  you  a  few 
items,  though  surrounding  circumstances  are  not  favorable  for  writing 
anything  like  a  connected  letter.  Cheatham's  Division  are  camped 
here  and  it  would  be  hard  to  imagine  the  annoyance  and  confusion. 
East  Tennessee  is  thronged  with  soldiers  now,  both  Federal  and  Con- 
federate, and  Sweetwater  Valley  seems  destined  to  experience  the 
horrors  of  war.  Several  skirmishes  have  occurred  between  here  and 
Loudon — more  about  Philadelphia  than  any  other  place.  Yesterday 
week  the  Rebels  surprised  Wolford's  brigade,  which  were  encamped 
around  W.  F.  L.'s  (Lenoir's)  house,  completely  routing  them  and 
taking  some  four  or  five  hundred  prisoners,  some  sixty  vehicles,  tents 
and  everything  they  had  there.  There  were  not  a  great  many  casual- 
ties. Since  that  there  have  been  some  cannonading  and  picket  fight- 
ing. Since  that  troops  of  infantry  have  come  in  and  appearances  in- 
dicate that  there  will  be  heavy  fighting,  or  retreating  by  one  side  or 
the  other.  Two  large  armies  cannot  long  subsist  here  with  communi- 
cations cut  off.  This  Valley  begins  to  show  the  footprints  of  the 
armies.  We  have  had  both  to  camp  here.  The  Federals  injured  us 
in  one  stay — taking  all  of  our  hay,  fodder  and  oats — wasting  prob- 
ably four  times  as  much  as  they  consumed,  as  it  was  a  wet  time. 
Much  fencing  and  some  other  things  were  burned  and  a  great  deal 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  297 

of  corn  -wasted,  fields  turned  out  and  so  forth — too  tedious  to  men- 
tion— hogs,  sheep,  turkeys  and  chickens  killed — some  hogs  shot  that 
died  afterward.  Since  the  Yankees  came  we  have  been  closely  at 
home  and  know  certainly  but  little  that  is  transpiring  among  our 
friends.  When  we  hear  anything,  we  do  not  know  how  much  of  it  is 
true.  *  *  *  It  is  distressing  times  here  and  I  am  afraid  it  will 
still  be  worse.  What  is  to  become  of  us  our  heavenly  Father  only 
knows.  Soldiers,  bushrangers  and  robbers!  Everything  in  confusion 
and  tending  to  disorganization!  We  hope  our  enemies  will  not  re- 
main much  longer,  but  we  cannot  tell  what  the  future  will  reveal. 
(Here  follows  news  of  the  relatives  not  of  general  interest.)  *  *  * 
Catherine's  (widow  of  A.  S.  Lenoir)  folks  were  well  a  short  time 
since.  Robbers  (bushwhackers)  took  $1,000  from  her  and  such  things 
as  they  wanted  out  of  the  house.  Frank  Welcker's  (son-in-law  of 
General  Reagan  by  deceased  wife)  house  was  robbed  of  everything, 
even  to  the  bed  that  Mrs.  Welcker  was  lying  on  and  the  furniture 
hauled  away.  W.  F.  L.'s  (Lenoir's)  house  was  visited;  guns,  blankets 
and  clothing  taken.  (Done  by  bushwhackers  claiming  to  be  Unionists.) 
Many  others  have  suffered  in  the  same  way.  *  *  *  Many  Southern 
men  have  left  home.  Some  have  returned;  others  are  waiting  for 
things  to  become  more  settled.  Many  Union  men  leave  home  when 
the  Rebels  are  in  the  ascendant,  and  so  they  have  it  in  turn.  *  *  * 
Mr.  Reagan's  health  is  bad;  worse  for  the  last  year  than  before. 
*  *  *  Lenoir  and  James  (her  sons)  have  been  at  home  for  a  few 
days.    They  were  in  the  fight  at  Philadelphia. 

James  left  home  when  Loudon  was  evacuated  (by  Rebels).  I 
have  heard  from  Julia  (afterward  Mrs.  Love),  we  are  all  here  but 
her.  She  is  well  but  anxious  to  come  home.  Cousin  Thomas  Lenoir 
(of  Haywood  County,  N.  C.)  thinks  she  had  better  remain  there  until 
the  Yankees  are  driven  out  of  East  Tennessee.  We  have  been  talking 
of  sending  for  her,  thinking  she  would  rather  be  at  home  and  suffer 
with  the  balance  of  us.  *  *  *  ^  good  many  negro  men  and  some 
women  have  gone  to  the  Yankees;  some  four  or  five  of  ours.  It!  is 
getting  bedtime  and  I  do  not  expect  to  have  a  chance  of  writing  in 
the  morning,  as  it  keeps  me  busy  to  talk  to  and  wait  upon  the  s:olr 
diers.  If  we  never  meet  again  in  this  world  may  we  meet  in  a  bet- 
ter. 

Affectionately  your  sister, 

M.  A.  R, 

29th,  9  A.  M.  The  Yankees  have  evacuated  Loudon  and  the  division 
is  under  marching  orders.  Will  fold  this  ready  for  sending.  May 
heaven's  choicest  blessings  rest  on  you  and  yours. 

M.  A.  R.   (M.  A.  Reagan). 

In  continuation  of  these  sketches  about  the  Reagan 
family  I  can  not  see  how  I  can  do  bf'tter  than  to  give 
the  contents  of  another  letter  from  Mrs.  Reagan  to  her 
sister,  Mrs.  Martin,  of  Memphis,  Tenn.  The  former  let- 
ter was  dated  October  28,  1863. 

This  was  shortly  after  the  battle  of  Philadelphia.  At 
that  time  all  the  family  were  at  home  except  her  daugh- 
ter, Julia,  afterward  Mrs.  Love,  who  was  in  North  Car- 


298  HISTOKiT  OV  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

olina.  Lenoir  and  James  A.  were  soldiers  in  the  rebel 
army.  Tliey  shortly  afterward  went  with  Longstreet 
to  the  siege  of  Knoxville.  John,  then  a  boy  of  15,  re- 
mained at  home  with  his  father  and  mother.  Lenoir 
and  James  were  w^ith  Vaughn  in  the  upper  East  Tennes- 
see campaign  and  also  in  Early's  campaign  in  the  Shen- 
andoah Valley.  Lenoir  Reagan  was  wounded  near  Win- 
chester, Va.,  on  July  24,  1864,  and  for  many  weeks  lay 
at  the  point  of  death  a  prisoner  of  war.  On  July  25, 
General  Reagan  was  arrested  at  home  and  taken  to 
Knoxville.  All  East  Tennessee  was  then  in  possession 
of  the  Federal  forces.  We  will  now  let  Mrs.  Reagan 
tell  to  her  sister,  Mrs.  Martin,  some  things  that  hap- 
pened : 

At  Home,  Dec.  5th,  1864. 
Dear  Sister  E.: 

*  *  *  You  will  probably  have  heard  before  this  of  the  death 
of  Mr.  Reagan.  He  died  in  Knoxville  on  the  morning  of  the  15th  of 
October.  He  was  taken  there  the  25th  of  July  as  a  hostage  for  a  man 
of  this  county,  who  was  carried  Soutli  last  fall.  He  (Mr.  Reagan) 
was  taken  there  (to  Knoxville)  on  the  25th  of  July.  The  last  that 
man's  friends  heard  of  him,  he  was  sick  in  a  hospital  last  winteri, 
and  it  is  believed  that  he  died,  and  it  is  also  thought  that  he  was  held 
as  a  prisoner  of  war  as  he  told  the  men  that  arrested  him  that  he 
was  a  Federal  soldier.  It  is  said  that  he  joined  a  company  but  had 
never  been  mustered  into  service.  His  father's  and  his  father-in-law's 
families  were  all  acquaintances  and  friends  of  Mr.  Reagan's,  and  his 
wife  petitioned  that  he  be  permitted  to  come  home  on  parole;  but  the 
Provo  Marshal  at  A.  (Athens)  thought  he  had  not  been  sufficiently 
punished  for  opinion's  sake  (they  could  make  no  charge  against  him) 
and  would  not  fully  endorse  it.  After  a  new  Provo  was  appointed, 
another  petition  was  gotten  up  and  signed  and  sent  up  a  few  days 
before  Mr.  Reagan's  death,  which  procured  an  order  for  his  release, 
and  he  was  to  have  been  sent  home  on  Sunday,  the  16th.  Instead  of 
his  coming  home  to  enjoy  the  comforts  of  his  own  fireside,  his  life- 
less remains  were  sent — to  rest  a  few  hours  in  his  once  loved  home 
and  then  to  rest  beside  our  departed  son's  body  till  the  morning  of 
the  resurrection.  Mr.  Reagan  had  been  a  great  sufferer  for  years  and 
could  not  bear  confinement.  I  made  his  condition  known  to  the  au- 
thorities soon  after  his  arrest,  and  my  belief  that  he  could  not  sur- 
vive a  prison  life.  I  entreated  them  if  they  could  not  permit  him  to  come 
home,  to  let  him  have  the  liberty  of  the  town  and  board  at  a  private 
house.  His  many  friends  seemed  willing  and  anxious  to  do  anything 
they  could  for  his  release,  but  it  seems  they  could  not  effect  it  in  time. 
He  is  done  with  the  troubles  of  this  world,  and  I  have  an  assuring 
hope  that  he  has  gone  where  troubles  and  sorrows  will  never  be 
permitted  to  enter.  *  *  *  j  jj}^  ^q^  ggg  j^jjjj  during  his  imprison- 
ment. He  would  not  agree  for  me  to  go  up,  as  I  would  be  allowed 
to  see  him  but  a  few  minutes  at  a  time  in  the  presence  of  a  guard, 
and  he  did  not  wish  to  see  me  subjected  to  the  treatment  I  might 
have  to  receive,  and  I  was  not  apprised  of  his  last  illness  in  time  to 
go.     He  was  taken  to  the  hospital  four  days  before  his  death.     The 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  299 

disease  was  said  to  be  jaundice,  which  his  appearance  indicated.  A 
kind  friend  procured  a  metalic  burial  case  and  suitable  clothing,  and 
another  friend  accompanied  the  remains  home. 

Excerpts  from  letters  from  Mrs,  Reagan  to  Mrs.  Mar- 
tin, her  sister,  heretofore  given,  graphically  and  con- 
cisely describe  some  of  the  events  in  our  valley  in  the 
sixties.  From  these  we  can  form  some  idea  of  the  hor- 
rors of  war.  What  happened  to  the  Reagan  family 
could  be  truthfully  written  of  numerous  others  in  our 
section.  Yet  here  we  did  not  get  the  worst  of  it.  There 
were  few  if  any  houses  burned  and  outrages  committed 
by  the  regular  troops  on  either  side,  as  was  the  case 
in  Georgia  in  Sherman's  March  to  Sea  or  in  the  Shenan- 
doah Valley  and  Manassas  plains  of  Virginia.  The 
mere  recital  of  the  dead  and  wounded  in  battle  shows 
but  a  small  fraction  of  the  evils  of  war — Its  resultants 
are  debts,  demoralization,  disease,  famine  and  an  en- 
during crop  of  personal  feuds  and  national  hatreds. 

One  hundred  years  ago  a  war  lord  was  a  captive 
in  the  isle  of  Elba.  As  a  person  he  was  supposed  to  be 
eliminated  from  the  list  of  European  monarchs.  Yet  one 
year  later  he  was  the  central  figure  in  a  war  of  nations 
in  Belgium,  now  the  theatre  of  a  conflict  beside  which, 
the  loss  of  life  and  property  at  Waterloo  will  appear 
insignificant.  No  time  now  for  '' beauty  and  chivalry" 
to  gather  in  Belgium's  capital;  for  the  happening  there 
will  be  of  lightning  like  rapidity.  The  gatherings  there 
will  be  all  warlike.  The  pity  of  it  is  that  that  little  na- 
tion had  nothing  to  do  with  bringing  on  the  conflict  and 
not  one  of  her  inhabitants  wanted  to  fight.  Whatever 
the  result,  she  will  be  ground  to  powder  between  the 
upper  and  nether  millstones.  Wliat  to  her  is  the  ' '  pomp 
and  circumstance  of  glorious  war!"  Wliat  a  spectacle 
to  the  heathen  of  ten  million  trained  soldiers  of  Chris- 
tian nations,  preaching  the  Gospel  of  Peace,  using  all 
their  ingenuity  and  energies  in  destroying  each  other! 

As  a  writer  has  said :  ''It  is  the  twilight  of  the  gods. " 
Our  human  understanding  can  but  faintly  illumine  the 
clouds  of  providential  gloom  that  now  lower  on  the 
European  horizon.  Napoleon  had  his  Waterloo  and  St. 
Helena;  William,  the  "war  lord,"  today  the  most  force- 
ful  (1915)  personality  on  the  face  of  the  globe,    may 


300  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

have  his  inglorious  defeats  and  his  rock  bound   island 
captivity. 


The  following  beautiful  tribute  is  taken  from  an 
obituary  written  for  the  Nashville  Christian  Advocate 
by  L.  L.  H.  Carlock,  D.  D. : 

"Departed  this  life,  at  the  residence  of  her  son-in-law,  Colonel 
James  R.  Love,  near  Sweetwater,  Tenn.,  on  March  8,  1879,  Mrs,  Mira 
A.  Reagan,  in  the  69th  year  of  her  age.     *     *     * 

She  had  been  a  member  of  the  Church  from  early  life,  at  which 
time  she  made  a  profession  of  religion  and  joined  the  M.  E.  Church, 
South.     *     *     * 

Her  character  was  perfect  in  its  proportions;  not  rugged  nor  erratic, 
but  harmonious,  symmetrical  and  unobtrusive;  yielding  its  fruit  not 
by  paroxysms,  but  regularly  and  constantly;  moulded  not  after  Wes- 
ley or  Fletcher  or  Watson,  but  after  the  pattern  shown  her  "in  the 
mount,"  where  she  had  communed  with  Him  and  grown  into  His  like- 
ness. For  her  a  personal,  present  Saviour  was  the  only  one  who  could 
solve  the  enigma  of  life — the  Sun  of  righteousness,  the  only  infallible 
standard  by  which  to  set  your  timepieces  for  eternity.     *     *     * 

Her  religious  life  was  convincing;  not  demonstrative,  but  demon- 
strating." 


William  Ballard  Lenoir  Reagaist. 

He  was  the  oldest  son  of  General  James  H.  and  Mira 
A.  Reagan.  He  was  born  in  Sweetwater  Vallev,  Mc- 
Minn  County,  Tenn.,  May  31,  1838;  died  at  Terrell, 
Texas,  September  1,  1913. 

When  a  boy  he  received  such  education  as  the  public 
schools  afforded  at  the  time  and  also  went  a  year  to 
Prof.  Aldehoff's  private  school  at  Kingston,  Tenn. 
When  quite  a  youth  he  went  into  a  branch  bank  of  the 
state  at  Athens,  as  assistant  cashier  to  David  Cleage, 
who  was  cashier,  and  his  father  the  president.  He  re- 
mained in  that  position  until  the  beginning  of  the  Civil 
War,  executing  his  duties  with  exactness  and  fidelity. 

He  first  went  into  the  w^ar  as  a  member  of  the  cornet 
band  of  Colonel  J.  C.  Vaughn's  3rd  Tennessee  regiment, 
of  which  G.  R.  Knabe,  afterward  of  Knoxville,  was  the 
leader.  However,  he  did  not  remain  long  a  member  of 
the  band  as  he  wished  to  be  in  the  thick  of  the  fight.  He 
served  first  in  Colonel  Vaughn's  regiment  in  Virginia, 
and  afterward  served  as  first  lieutenant  and  adjutant  in 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  301 

Colonel  John  R.  Neil's  Sixteenth  battalion,  Tennessee 
cavalry,  Rucker's  legion,  Pegram's  brigade,  under  Gen- 
eral Bragg  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  He  was  under 
General  Forest  in  the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  and  after- 
ward served  in  General  Vaughn's  mounted  infantry 
brigade  in  the  valley  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  cam- 
paigns and  was  in  the  battles  in  which  his  command  was 
engaged  up  to  the  time  he  w^as  wounded  near  Winches- 
ter, Va.,  July  24,  1864,  where  he  lost  his  leg.  Soon  after 
that  date  he  was  captured  and  sent  to  prison,  where  he 
remained  until  June,  1865. 

The  General  J.  C.  Vaughn,  Chapter  No.  1224  of  the 
United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy,  at  Sweetwater, 
conferred  upon  him  a  cross  of  honor  in  January,  1910. 
Lenoir  Reagan  had  a  very  minute  and  accurate  recollec- 
tion of  the  events  of  the  Civil  War  in  which  he  was  en- 
gaged, and  was  fond  of  talking  of  them.  He  related 
reminiscences  in  a  very  interesting  manner.  It  was  never 
his  intention  to  exploit  himself  and  his  own  part  came  in 
frequently,  only  by  implication.  In  one  of  his  stories 
he  said:  "Once  I  was  with  the  rear  guard  in  coming 
from  Kentucky,  near  Point  Burnside.  The  Cumberland 
river  was  at  flood  tide  and  the  army  was  slow  in  cross- 
ing. A  mile  or  so  from  the  river,  being  very  weary  and 
having  lost  much  sleep,  I  lay  down  in  a  cabin  and  told 
an  old  dark}^  to  wake  me  up  when,  all  the  rebel  soldiers 
had  passed.  Several  hours  afterward  the  old  negro 
shook  me  and  said:  'Boss,  your  men  are  all  gone.  If 
you  don't  mind,  the  Yankees  w^ill  git  you.'  I  got  on  my 
horse  and  galloped  to  the  river.  The  last  boat  had  got- 
ten some  distance  from  the  shore.  I  hailed  them  and 
told  them  to  come  back  and  take  me  over.  The  officer 
in  command  said  it  was  impossible  to  do  so,  that  they 
would  be  captured,  and  ordered  the  men  to  proceed. 
Some  of  the  soldiers  on  the  boat,  knowing  my  voice,  dis- 
regarded the  orders  of  the  officer  and  forced  those  row- 
ing the  boat  to  come  back  and  take  me  aboard,  and  all 
got  over  to  safety." 

This  is  told  to  show  the  regard  and  esteem  in  which 
he  was  held  by  his  comrades,  who  saved  him  from  cap- 
ture even  at  the  risk  of  being  shot  for  disobedience  of 
orders. 

The  late  Judge  J.  M.  King,  of  Knoxville,  was  one  of 


302  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

his  comrades  in  prison  at  Fort  Delaware.  After  his 
return  from  prison,  Mr.  Reagan  engaged  in  farming  at 
the  old  farm  on  which  he  was  born.  He  remained  there 
until  a  few  years  ago,  when  he  moved  to  Texas.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  J.  E.  B.  Stuart  Camp,  No.  45,  U.  C.  V., 
at  Terrell,  Texas.  Members  of  this  camp  helped  to  care 
for  him  and  relieve  his  sufferings  in  his  last  illness. 

Fort  Delaware  was  on  an  island  in  the  northern  part 
of  Delaware  Bay,  a  few  miles  out  from  Delaware  City. 
It  was  used  during  the  Civil  War  mostly  as  a  prison  for 
captured  officers  of  the  Confederate  army.  The  pris- 
oners were  allowed  to  receive  boxes  and  money  from 
friends  inside  of  the  Federal  lines.  They  were  also  al- 
lowed to  write  and  receive  a  certain  number  of  letters  of 
prescribed  length  and  contents.  A  prisoner  could  Avrite 
a  letter  to  friends  every  two  weeks  on  one  side  of  a  sheet 
furnished  by  the  prison  quartermaster.  This  sheet  was 
not  so  large  as  the  common  letter  paper  but  larger  than 
the  ordinary  note.  Of  course  all  letters  were  strictly 
censored  and  contraband  information  and  recondite 
meanings  were  looked  for.  If  they  contained  any  objec- 
tionable matter  they  were  never  delivered  or  sent. 
Cipher  of  any  kind  was  not  allowed  and  only  such  ab- 
breviations the  meaning  of  which  was  plain;  as  **&"  for 
''and,"  "tho"  for  ''though,"  "reed."  for  "received." 
Reagan  wrote  a  very  plain,  neat  hand  not  smaller  than 
the  ordinary  business  scrip.  With  this  explanation  I 
append  in  full  one  of  his  letters.  This  letter  dated  at 
Fort  Delaware  May  14,  1865,  was  post-marked  at  Del- 
aware City,  May  16,  thus  giving  time  for  censoring,  and 
arrived  at  Memphis,  Tenn.,  on  the  22nd. 

Fort  Delaware,  Div.  25, 

May  14,  1865. 
Miss  Bettie  Martin, 
Memphis,  Tenn. 

My  Dear  Cousin: 

Yours  of  the  6th  instant  came  to  hand  yesterday  evening.  It  was 
surely  a  welcome  visitor  and  one  that  I  had  been  daily  expecting. 
Now  that  you  have  recovered  from  your  fever  I  am  glad  I  had  not 
heard  of  the  attack  before,  for  I  would  have  suffered  from  constant 
and  painful  anxiety,  without  the  power  to  help  ward  off  th.e  blows 
of  merciless  enemy,  or  even  being  cognizant  of  the  progress  of  the 
struggle.  I  hope  you  have  fully  recovered  your  health  and  spirits, 
though  to  do  the  latter  will  certainly  require  an  extraordinary  effort — 
that  is,  I  feel  it  an  almost  impossibility  for  those  with  feelings  sym- 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  303 

pathetic  with  my  own  to  enjoy  their  wonted  cheerfulness  and  hope. 
As  to  us  prisoners  being  offered  our  release  on  the  terms  granted 
General  Lee  and  army,  is  something  we  had  not  the  least  cause  to 
expect.  I  do  not  suppose,  my  dear  cousin,  there  is  one  among  us 
who  intends  to  live  in  the  States,  but  what  entertains  very  little  hope 
of  getting  his  release  on  terms  less  than  what  we  are  made  to  under- 
stand will  at  some  time  be  offered  us— that  of  taking  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  government  we  propose  to  live  under.  Some  few 
are  even  fearful  that  those  terms  will  not  be  granted.  Others,  by 
special  application,  are  leaving  daily.  As  much  as  I  desire  to  be  re- 
leased, and  knowing  that  so  long  as  I  remain  here  I  can  be  of  service 
to  no  one,,  an  increasing  injury  to  my  health,  and  a  source  of  uneasi- 
ness to  my  best  friends,  I  will  never  do  anything  to  escape  these  evils 
that  I  consider  in  the  least  dishonorable.  I  will  bide  my  time,  trust- 
ing soon  to  be  released.  Give  my  love  to  all,  and  please  write  at 
once. 

Affectionately  your  cousin, 

L.  REAGAN. 

When  the  Confederates  under  General  Early  evac- 
uated Winchester,  W.  Va.,  Reagan  was  unable  to  be 
moved;  consequently  he  was  captured  by  the  Federals. 
Later  on  he  was  transferred  to  the  old  Capitol  Prison 
at  Washington,  D.  C.  In  November,  1864,  he  was  taken 
to  Fort  Delaware,  from  which  place  the  above  letter  was 
w^ritten.  The  journey  now  by  rail  would  be  only  a  mat- 
ter of  hours ;  then  it  occupied  perhaps  a  week  or  more. 
It  was  made  with  a  number  of  other  prisoners  on  a 
prison  ship.  The  route  was  down  the  Potomac  River 
to  the  Chesapeake  Bay;  thence  down  that  bay  by  Fort- 
ress Monroe  through  Hampton  Roads  to  the  Atlantic; 
thence  up  the  coast  of  Virginia  to  the  mouth  of  Dela- 
ware Bay;  thence  north  up  the  bay  to  the  fort,  making 
a  journey  of  many  hundreds  of  miles.  The  weather  at 
the  time  was  very  bleak  and  stormy.  The  sufferings 
of  the  wounded  prisoners  were  terrible.  Reagan  had 
undergone  a  double  amputation  at  Winchester  and  was 
from  loss  of  blood  in  a  very  weakened  condition.  He 
was  exposed  to  the  cold  winds  on  the  upper  deck  with- 
out sufficient  clothing.  The  officer  in  charge  of  the  pris- 
oners was  asked  to  allow  him  to  be  moved  to  a  more 
comfortable  place  or  to  furnish  covering  for  him.  His 
refusal  was  very  brutal  and  positive.  A  companion,  who 
was  almost  unknown  to  Reagan,  then  took  off  his  own 
coat  and  spread  it  over  him,  thereby  as  he  (Reagan) 
thinks  saving  his  life.  Owing  to  this  kindly  act  he  him- 
self took  pneumonia  which   terminated   fatally.      So   it 


304  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

often  happens  that  war  and  suffering  bring  out  the 
best  as  well  as  the  worst  qualities  in  humanity.  Con- 
ditions were  not  much  improved  on  arrival  at  the  prison. 
One  might  think  from  reading  some  of  the  prisoners' 
letters  that  the  stay  there  was  rather  pleasant  than 
otherwise  and  that  they  were  in  no  hurry  to  get  away; 
but  that  was  far  from  being  the  case.  No  criticism  of 
guards  or  officers  was  allowed  in  any  correspondence. 
Complaints  of  bad  treatment  to  occasional  inspectors 
only  intensified  the  rigors  of  their  prison  life.  The  food 
furnished  by  the  government  often  did  not  reach  them. 
It  was  "grafted"  and  sold.  Money  and  boxes  sent 
prisoners  by  friends  were  partially  or  wholly  appro- 
priated. They  had  no  remedy.  Fort  Delaware  from 
accounts  of  those  who  were  there  was  one  of  the  worst 
of  the  Federal  prisons.  The  guards  were  short  term 
men  or  foreigners  who  could  scarcely  speak  English  so 
as  to  be  understood,  and  thought  they  would  be  com- 
mended for  cruel  treatment  of  prisoners. 

Reagan  did  not  have  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  but 
was  finally  released  on  parole. 

I  have  written  the  above  not  with  the  purpose  of  mak- 
ing any  comparison  between  Fort  Delaware  and  Ander- 
sonville  and  Libby.  Conditions  in  the  last  may  have 
been,  and  probably  were,  just  as  bad,  as  in  the  northern 
prisons,  barring  the  severity  of  the  w^inters  in  the  north- 
ern climate.  What  I  wish  to  emphasize  as  strongly  as 
possible  is  that  prison  life  under  the  most  favorable  con- 
ditions either  in  war  or  peace  is  horrible  to  any  human 
being  whether  inflicted  by  an  enemy  or  b^^  a  jury  of 
peers.  As  cruelty  exasperated  the  prisoners  during  the 
Civil  AYar,  so  will  undue  severity  make  the  inmates  of 
our  state  penitentiaries  the  greater  enemies  to  society. 
Deprivation  of  liberty  and  the  companionship  of  our 
fellowmen  are  terrible  punishments  in  themselves. 

The  Ancestors  of  General  James  H.  Reagan. 

The  information  below  given  about  the  Reagan  family 
up  to  General  James  H.  Reagan  was  obtained  from  W. 
M.  Sweeney  of  126  Franklin  Street,  Astoria,  Long  Is- 
land, N.  Y.,  who  has  gone  to  great  trouble  and  expense 
to  trace  the  genealogy  of  the  different  branches  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  305 

Reagan  family.  His  investigations  have  been  very 
painstaking  and  thorough.  Out  of  the  material,  which 
he  has  allowed  me  to  use,  I  give  these  facts. 

The  0 'Regans  were  an  ancient  Catholic  family  in 
Ireland  and  about  the  year  1729  a  number  of  them  emi- 
grated to  Pennsylvania.  It  seems  that  after  coming  to 
this  country  that  they  dropped  the  0  in  their  name  and 
spelled  the  last  part  in  a  variety  of  ways. 

According  to  the  first  Federal  census  of  the  state  of 
Pennsylvania  of  1790,  there  were  seven  heads  of  fam- 
ilies of  the  name  living  in  the  state,  viz :  James  Reagin, 
Weldin  Reagan,  Reason  Reagan,  Stephen  Regan,  John 
Regan,  George  Ragon  and  Phillip  Ragin.  I  also  have 
the  military  record  of  two  Revolutionary  soldiers  from 
Pennsylvania,  who  served  in  the  2nd  Pennsylvania  regi- 
ment. They  are  James  Reagan  and  Michael  Reagan. 
James  was  killed  October  4,  1777,  at  the  Battle  of  Ger- 
mantown.  They  were  both  engaged  in  the  Battle  of 
Brandy  wine,  where  Senator  Reagan's  great  grandfather 
was  wounded.  They  were  both  probably  his  relatives. 
This  is  taken  from  a  letter  of  W.  M.  Sweeney  to  W.  B. 
Lenoir  dated  November  15,  1915.  In  the  same  letter 
he  gives  these  additional  facts : 

I  have  just  returned  from  a  trip  to  Guilford  County, 
N.  C,  where  I  made  an  examination  of  the  records  of 
that  county  to  find  traces  of  the  Reagans,  and  thinking 
that  the  result  of  my  investigations  might  interest  you 
I  write  to  inform  you  of  the  result. 

Under  date  of  March  22,  1772,  I  find  a  deed  from  John 
Reagan  and  Mary,  his  wife,  conveying  200  acres  of  land 
on  the  south  side  of  the  Dan  River,  to  John  and  Samuel 
Henderson  for  a  consideration  of  £150.  (Deed  Book 
1,  page  96.) 

I  also  find  a  marriage  bond  dated  March  28,  1776, 
signed  by  Thomas  Cook  and  John  Reagan,  in  which 
Thomas  Cook  agrees  to  marry  Elizabeth  Reagan  (daugh- 
ter of  John  and  Mary  Reagan?).  This  Thomas  Cook, 
who  served  in  the  Revolution  as  captain  of  the  Independ- 
ent Company,  Light  Horse,  North  Carolina  Militia,  in 
Continental  service,  was  a  brother  of  Nancy  Cook,  who 
married  James  Reagan,  Sr.,  who  died  near  Knoxville, 
Tenn.,  in  1827.  I  think  it  is  most  likely  that  James  Rea- 
gan, Sr.,  was  a  son  of  John  and  Mary  Reagan. 


306  HISTORY.  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

A  Deed  dated  May  22,  1782,  from  John  Reagan  to 
Francis  Cook  (the  father  of  Captain  Thomas  Cook),  con- 
veying ''156  acres  of  land,  part  of  a  tract  of  640  acres 
of  land  granted  to  the  said  John  Reagan  December  16, 
1778."     (Deed  Book  2,  page  200.) 

A  grant  (No.  835)  of  land  from  the  state  of  North 
Carolina  to  James  Reagan,  dated  October  14,  1783,  con- 
veying 179  acres  of  land.     (Deed  Book  1,  page  116.) 

Another  Grant  (No.  833)  of  land  from  the  state  of 
North  Carolina  to  James  Reagan,  dated  October  14, 
1783,  conveving  150  acres  of  land.  (Deed  Book  1,  page 
116.)- 

A  deed  dated  January  1,  1783,  from  Samuel  Parks 
to  James  Reagan,  conveying  120  acres  of  land,  consid- 
eration, £120. 

A  deed  dated  September  12,  1785,  from  William  Wil- 
son to  James  Reagan  conveying  400  acres  of  land,  con- 
sideration, £100.     (Deed  Book  4,  page  30.) 

As  the  names  of  John  and  James  Reagan  are  found 
in  the  first  Federal  census  of  the  state  of  North  Car- 
olina, 1790,  it  shows  with  the  deeds  that  they  were  both 
residents  of  Guilford  County  from  1772  to  1790,  at 
least. 

I  do  not  find  any  record  of  John  as  a  resident  of  Guil- 
ford County  prior  to  1772  nor  of  James  prior  to  1770, 
when  his  son,  John  (who  died  in  East  Tennessee  in 
1857),  was  born  there.    Mr.  Sweeney  adds: 

I  wrote  to  Senator  Reagan  some  years  ago  and  his  re- 
ply was  as  follows : 

"My  greatgrandfather,  Timothy  Reagan,  was  a  native  of  Ireland, 
but  came  to  this  country  before  the  American  Revolution;  lived  in 
Pennsylvania,  was  a  soldier  of  the  Pennsylvania  Line  in  the  War  of 
the  Revolution,  and  was  dangerously  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Brandy- 
wine.  He  subsequently  moved  to  that  part  of  North  Carolina  which 
was  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  and  is  now  East  Tennessee. 
He  helped  to  build  Lawson's  Fort,  the  first  fort  built  in  what  is 
now  Sevier  County,  but  which  was  then  occupied  by  the  Cherokee 
Indians.  The  name  of  my  grandfather  was  Richard  Reagan.  He 
and  the  wife  of  Major  James  Porter  were  the  first  two  white  children 
born  in  the  territory  of  what  is  now  Sevier  County,  Tennessee,  and 
they  were  born  on  the  same  day,  but  I  do  not  know  the  date.  My 
father,  Timothy  R.  Reagan,  was  born  in  the  same  county,  in  1797. 
I  was  born  in  the  same  county,  1818. 

"My  greatgrandfather  had  a  numerous  family,  mostly  sons,  and 
their  descendants  are  scattered  through  the  Southern  and  Western 
States,  and  are  very  numerous,  though  I  know  but  little  of  them. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  307 

"I  knew  General  James  Reagan,  of  East  Tennessee,  and  we  called 
each  other  cousin,  and,  while  we  understood  that  we  were  of  the  same 
family,  we  did  not-  know  the  precise  relationship  between  us. 

"Very  respectfully, 

"JOHN    H.   REAGAN." 

"Mr.  W.  M.  Sweeny, 
"Astoria,  N.  Y." 

From  a  letter  from  Joseph  Reagan  (a  grandson  of 
James  Reagan,  Sr.),  to  William  M.  Sweeney,  of  Astoria, 
Long  Island,  N.  Y.,  we  make  the  following  extracts: 

"Conyers,  Ga.,  April  8,  1895. 
"My  Dear  Nephew: 

"My  grandfather  (James  Reagan)  I  never  saw,  but  have  heard  that 
he  was  a  man  of  fine  and  discriminate  judgment.  He  accumulated' 
quite  a  good  fortune  in  the  way  of  land  and  negroes.  I  can  recollect 
that  when  I  was  a  boy  ten  or  eleven  years  old  he  sent  for  all  his  chil- 
dren to  come  to  see  him.  Some  of  them  were  living  in  Georgia.  My 
father  (James  R.)  was  one  of  them,  and  one  brother,  Charles  Reagan, 
and  one  sister  went.  They  rode  horseback  from  Georgia  over  the 
mountains  of  North  Carolina  and  Georgia  into  Tennessee,  two  or  three 
hundred  miles.  He  divided  out  his  negro  property  among  all  his  chil- 
dren; I  recollect  my  father  brought  home  one  of  the  largest  horses 
I  thought  I  ever  saw  and  two  likely  negroes  as  his  part.  My  grand- 
father kept  enough  to  live  comfortably  on,  but  in  less  than  a  year 
afterward  he  died.  In  the  year  1837  I  made  a  trip  into  Tennessee, 
above  Knoxville,  near  where  he  had  lived.  Uncle  John  Reagan,  my 
father's  oldest  brother,  lived  there.  I  saw  the  old  family  Bible,  in 
which  I  saw  the  record  that  grandfather  had  married  three  times 
and  had  fifteen  children.  Some  of  them  I  have  never  seen.  One  of 
them,  Peter,  came  to  Georgia  and  settled  in  upper  Georgia  at  Rome. 
The  youngest,  William,  went  to  Texas,  and  died  there  some  years  ago. 
Brother  Thomas  was  well  acquainted  with  him.  He  left  a  large  family. 
My  grandmother  was  named  Cook.  Grandfather  married  her  (his 
second  wife)   in  North  Carolina  before  he  moved  to  Tennessee. 

"When  she  died  my  father  and  his  brother,  Charles,  and  his  sister. 
Fiances,  were  grown  and  they  came  to  Georgia. 

"My  grandfather  Morrison  (his  mother's  father)  was  named 
Joseph  Higginbotham  Morrison.  You  see,  quite  a  long  name.  It  is 
said  that  there  were  as  many  letters  in  his  name  as  in  the  alphabet, 
and  so  there  were." 

James  Raggon  made  a  mil  of  date  July  23,  1821. 
The  subscribing  witnesses  were  John  Rigney  and  John 
Calloway.  He  died  sometime  late  in  the  year  1827.  The 
will  was  admitted  to  probate  in  the  Knox  County  Court 
in  July,  1828.  John,  Peter  and  William  Reagan,  were 
the  three  executors  to  the  will — ''The  undernamed,  ten 
of  my  children"  were  mentioned  as  devisees  in  the 
will:    John,  May,  Ann,  James,  Charles,  Franky,  Peter, 


308  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Eaehel,  Rebekah  and  William,  and  one  nephew,  Havern 
Baggon  to  whom  he  bequeathed  a  42-acre  tract  of  land. 
After  disposing  of  a  few  items  of  personal  property, 
he  directs  that  the  balance  of  the  realty  and  personalty 
be  sold  and  the  proceeds  divided  equally  among  the  ten 
children;  from  the  parts  of  certain  ones  were  to  be  de- 
ducted specified  sums  which  he  had  charged  to  them. 
From  Peter 's  part  was  to  be  taken  the  sum  of  $370.  As 
this  will  was  made  in  1821,  the  father  likely  gave  this 
in  money  or  its  equivalent  when  he  went  to  Sweetwater 
Valley.  Peter  came  here  and  married  Miss  Cunnyng- 
ham. 

It  appears  from  this  will  and  from  precious  gifts  to 
children  mentioned  by  James  Reagan,  of  Con^^ers,  Ga., 
that  James  Raggon  of  Guilford  County,  was  an  eminent- 
ly'' successful  business  man.  "Who  the  other  five  of  the 
fifteen  children  set  down  in  the  John  Reagan  Bible  and 
whether  living  or  not  at  the  w^riting  of  the  will  is  not 
known. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  AN  OBITUARY  OF  JOHN  REAGAN,  PUBLISHED 
IN  KNOX  COUNTY. 

"Died  on  Jan.  25,  1857,  at  the  residence  of  his  son-in-law,  Mr. 
Thomas  McMilland,  Knox  County,  Tennessee,  Mr.  John  Reagan  in 
his  87th  year.  The  deceased  was  horn  in  Rocliingham  County,  North. 
Carolina  (then  Guilford)  May  24,  1770.  He  emigrated  and  lived  in 
South  Carolina  and  afterwards  to  Kentucky  and  later  to  Knox  County, 
Tenn.,  where  he  resided  since  1910." 

(Note: — Thus  any  one  of  three  states,  North  Carolina,  Georgia  or 
Kentucky  might  have  been  the  birthplace  of  James  Hays  Reagan, 
his  son.) 

The  obituary  continues:  "In  his  extreme  old  age,  though  nearly 
blind,  he  retained  in  a  remarkable  degree,  his  vivacity,  his  cheerful- 
ness and  his  quaint  humor.  Age  never  chilled  the  ardor  of  his  friend- 
ship; infirmity  never  impaired  the  exercise  of  his  good  nature  and 
cordial  feelings;  debility  never  blunted  the  keen  edge  of  his  wit.  He 
was  without  avarice,  envy,  ostentation  or  malice.  He  never  had  an 
enemy;  never  owed  anybody  anything  but  good  will.  Interment  was 
at  Lebanon  churchyard,  where  repose  the  remains  of  a  former  wife 
whom  he  has  survived  thirty-four  years." 

Reagan  Genealogical  Table. 

A  John  Reagan  came  from  Pennsylvania  and  settled 
in  Guilford  County,  N.  C.    His  wife's  name  was  Mary. 

One  son,  James,  b. ;  d.  in  1827.     James  m.  three 

times:    (first)  Miss  Hays;  (second)  Nancy,  daughter  of 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  309 

Francis  and  Betty  Cook;  (third)  unknown.  Children 
of  James  R.,  whose  names  are  known  are : 

1.  John,  by  first  wife ;  2.  James ;  3.  Charles ;  4.  Frances 
(m.  Narreniore) ;  5.  Peter;  6.  William,  Rebekah  by 
second  wife;  Mav  (m.  Whitter),  Ann  (m.  Hamlin), 
Rachel  (m.  McCall). 

1.  John  had  a  son  (1)  James  Hays  and  (2)  a  daughter 
Sarah,  who  married  Thomas  McMillan,  of  Knox  County, 
Tenn. 

5.  Peter  m.  Nancy,  daughter  of  Jesse  Cunnyngham 
of  Monroe  County.  He  went  to  Rome,  Ga.,  where  he 
died.    Children  were  Carrie  and  Addie.     (See  Mayes.) 

7.  Rebekah  m.  Wm.  Burns,  a  merchant  of  Athens, 
Tenn. 

2.  James,  son  of  James  and  Nancy  R. 

James,  b.  Guilford  County,  N.  C,  July  2,  1780;  d.  Pike 
County,  Ga.,  December  27,  1855;  m.  in  Elbert  County, 
Ga.,  January  8,  1805,  Mary  Dandridge  Morrison,  daugh- 
ter of  Joseph  Higginbotham  Morrison  and  Francis  Hig- 
ginbotham.     Mary  D.    Morrison    was    b.    in    Virginia, 

,  1784;  d.  in  Elbert  County,  Ga.,  September  8, 

1839.     Children  of  James  and  Mary  D.  M.  Reagan: 

William  Morrison,  b.  January  10,  1806;  d.  February 
25   1858 

John,*b.  January  28,  1808;  d.  June  22,  1862. 

Martha,  b.  Mav  31,  1810;  d.  Julv  28,  1828. 

Nancv  A.,  b.  Mav  15,  1813;  d.  August  6,  1872. 

Charles,  b.  Mav  13,  1815;  d.  October  8,  1874. 

Joseph,  b.  March  29,  1817 ;  d.  February  28,  1904. 

James,  b.  Julv  26,  1819 ;  d.  September  5,  1896. 

•  Francis  W.  Reagan,  b.  August  21,  1821;  d.  May  25, 
1865;  m.  December  14,  1845,  Sarah  C.  Refo.  Child, 
Eugenia  Octavia,  b.  October  17,  1846 ;  m.  September  30, 
'1867,  Thomas  W.  Sweenev.  Children :  Thomas  Francis, 
/b.  Julv  14,  1868;  William  Montgomery,  b.  August  29, 
;1871.  ' 

.  Mary  Dandridge,  b.  October  8,  1823;  d.  January  22, 
1902. 

Sarah  Elizabeth,  b.  August  6,  1825 ;  d.  October  30, 
1854. 

•  Thomas  Jefferson,  b.  March  21,  1828 ;  d.  May  9,  1887. 


310  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Mrs.  J.  U.  Love. 

;  Mrs.  Julia  Reagan  Love,  the  second  child  of  J.  H. 
;and  Mira  Reagan,  was  born  September  4,  1843.  She 
went  to  school  to  Mrs.  H.  M.  Cooke  at  Athens,  Tenn., 
'also  to  Asheville,  N.  C. 

On  November  18,  1868,  m.  Colonel  James  B.  Love.  He 
was  born  in  Jackson  County,  N.  C,  August  19,  1832. 
Died  at  his  residence  near  Sweetwater,  Tenn,,  on  No- 
vember 10,  1885.  His  father  was  John  Bell  Love  and 
his  mother,  Margaret  Coman  Love.  They  lived  three 
itniles  from  Webster,  N.  C. 

James  R.  Love  took  the  B.  A.  degree  at  Emory  and 
Henry  College  1858.  He  then  studied  law  under  Col- 
onel Nicholas  Woodfin  at  Asheville,  N.  C.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  w^ar  he  enlisted  in  the  16th  North  Carolina, 
(C.  S.  A.)  Regiment.  He  was  elected  lieutenant-colonel 
in  the  69th  North  Carolina  Regiment,  which  was  or- 
ganized in  September,  1862,  and  he  was  made  colonel 
of  the  regiment  before  the  close  of  the  Civil  War.  Not 
long  after  which  he  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of 
the  North  Carolina  Legislature.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  North  Carolina  Constitutional  Convention  and  in 
1873  was  elected  to  the  state  senate.  After  marriage  he 
lived  in  Webster,  N.  C,  where  he  practised  law.  He 
moved  to  Tennessee  in  November,  1876,  having  pur- 
chased part  of  the  I.  T.  Lenoir  farm.  In  1884  he  was 
elected  representative  from  Monroe  County  to  the  Forty- 
fourth  General  Assembly,  of  which  he  was  a  member 
when  he  died.  He  was  a  member  of  the  M.  E.  C,  South. 
The  children  of  James  R.  and  Julia  Love  were: 

1.  Son,  d.  infancy. 

2.  Mira  Lenoir,  b.  June  19,  1872.  Educated  at  Cen- 
tenary College,  Cleveland,  Tenn.,  and  graduate  of  Ashe- 
ville (N.  C.)  Female  College.  On  May  8,  1902,  she  mar- 
ried J.  W.  Lowry,  son  of  J.  H.  and  Mary  Caroline 
Lowry,  of  Sweetwater,  Tenn.  Her  children  are :  Joseph 
Walker,  Jr.,  b.  August  27,  1903;  Julia  Love,  b.  May  8, 
1906;  James  Robert  Love,  b.  November  16,  1907. 

3.  Margaret  Bell,  b.  August  4, 1874,  at  Webster,  N.  C. ; 
d.  January,  1885. 

4.  Julia 'Burgwdn,  b.  March  30,  1876,  at  Webster,  N.  C. 
Was  educated  at  Price's  School,  Nashville,  Tenn.     She 


HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  311 

was  married  November,  1894  to  Frank  B.  St.  John,  of 
Johnson  City,  Tenn.,  who  was  born  June  16,  1870.  His 
father  was  George  W.  St.  John,  of  Virginia.  His  mother 
was  Martha  Blair,  of  Loudon  County,  Tenn.  George  W. 
St.  J.  settled  near  Watauga,  Tenn.  Frank  B.  St.  J.  is 
engaged  in  real  estate  business.  Their  children  are : 
Frank  Love,  b.  November  11,  1895.  Louise  Avery,  b. 
July  5,  1893.    Julia  Love,  b.  December  18,  1910. 

5.  James  Reagan  Love,  b.  September  3,  1877.  Farmer, 
Sweetwater. 

6.  Elizabeth  Avery,  b.  September  3,  1879.  Educated 
at  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College,  Lynchburg,  Va. 
Teacher,  Sweetwater  and  Madisonville,  Tenn. ;  Jalapa, 
Mexico;  Edmonds,  Wash.  Went  to  Soochow,  China, 
September,  1914,  where  she  teaches  in  Laura  Hagwood 
School. 

7.  Robert  John,  b.  September  19,  1881.  Graduate  of 
the  University  of  Tennessee.  Profession,  civil  engineer. 
Worked  in  the  state  of  Sonora,  Mex.,  in  Peru,  for  the 
Southern  Railway  in  Mississippi,  Georgia  and  North 
Carolina.  For  the  past  three  years  has  been  doing  en- 
gineering on  county  roads  of  Monroe  and  Loudon  coun- 
ties. He  married  Lillian  Dee  Worrell,  on  July  3,  1915. 
Her  father  is  Charles  B.  Worrell,  of  Clayton,  Ind.  One 
child,  Robert  John  Love,  Jr.,  born  at  Madisonville, 
Tenn.,  on  September  5,  1916. 

8.  Hattie  Frank,  b.  February  6,  1884.  Graduate  of 
Randolph-Macon  AYoman's  College,  Lynchburg,  Va., 
and  of  Woman's  Medical  College,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Was  interne  at  Worchester  Memorial  Hospital,  Wor- 
chester,  Mass.,  and  studied  at  Scarritt  Bible  and  Train- 
ing School,  Kansas  City,  Mo.  Went  to  Soochow,  China, 
in  September,  1913,  as  medical  missionary.  She  is  dean 
of  the  medical  school  at  Soochow,  and  practises  in  Mary 
Black  Hospital. 


James  Avery  Reagan,  third  child  of  J.  H.  and  Mira 
Reagan,  was  born  at  the  old  Reagan  homestead,  at  which 
Callahan  now  (1914)  lives,  on  January  7,  1846.  Went 
to  school  to  Prof.  Aldehoff  on  Lookout  Mountain  in  1861 
and  1862.  In  August  1863  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in 
Co.  B  (Captain  Maston),    16th   battalion    Confederate 


312  HISTOfiY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAULEY 

cavalry,  Lieutenant  Jno.  R.  Neal,  commander,  and 
served  continuously  and  principally  in  Tennessee,  also 
in  Virginia,  Maryland,  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  un- 
til the  surrender  at  Washington,  Ga.,  in  1865.  He  was 
fortunate  enough  to  be  paid  there  before  the  surrender 
$28.25  dollars  in  silver  out  of  the  Confederate  treasury. 
From  1865-7  he  was  a  student  at  Dinwiddie's  School  at 
Greenwood,  Va.  He  was  a  student  at  the  University 
of  Virginia  four  vears  1867-71.  Took  there  the  degrees 
C.  E.,  M.  E.  andB.  S. 

Worked  under  Major  Ruhl  in  the  location  of  the  Cin- 
cinnati Southern  Railway. 

Was  resident  engineer  in  construction  on  the  section 
near  Robbins,  Tenn.,  including  the  tunnel. 

Worked  for  the  Union  Pacific  in  Wyoming  one  or  two 
years. 

Was  the  engineer  in  charge  of  location  and  superin- 
tendent of  construction  northern  end  of  the  Mexican 
National  Railroad  for  several  years.  He  was  superin- 
tendent of  the  Lenoir  Manufacturing  Co.,  Lenoir's 
Tenn.,  after  the  death  of  W.  A.  Lenoir  until  the  sale  of 
the  property  to  Brice,  Sanford  and  others. 

He  was  married  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Buchanan,  of 
Abingdon,  Va.,  on  June  25,  1889,  They  came  to  Rea- 
gan's Station  in  the  fall  of  1891,  where  he  owned  a  large 
farm.  Miss  Elizabeth  Buchanan  was  born  July  12, 
1867.  He  was  a  member  of  the  McMinn  County  Court 
for  fourteen  years,  and  was  chairman  of  that  body  four 
terms.  Was  chairman  of  the  Road  Commission  of  that 
county  for  several  years.  He  was  engineer  of  road  lo- 
cation and  construction,  for  Loudon  County  1911-1915, 
inclusive. 

Mrs.  J.  A.  Reagan  was  a  daughter  of  Prof.  John  L. 
Buchanan  and  a  granddaughter  of  president  E.  E.  Wiley 
of  Emory  and  Henry  College,  Virginia.  Prof.  Buch- 
anan has  been  teacher  of  languages  at  Emory  and  Henry 
and  Vanderbilt  University;  president  at  Agricultural 
and  Mechanical  College,  Blacksburg,  Va.,  and  president 
of  the  University  of  Arkansas  at  Fayetteville.  Mrs.  Rea- 
gan, coming  from  intellectual  ancestry  on  both  sides, 
preserves  the  reputation  of  her  people  for  accomplish- 
ments and  popularity.  She  has  been  quite  in  demand  as  a 
speaker  on  selected  subjects  at  farmers  conventions  and 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  313 

meetings.  She  has  been  a  demonstrator  on  certain  lines 
of  home  improvement  work.  She  and  her  neighbor,  Mrs. 
C.  O.  Browder,  have  acquired  almost  a  national  reputa- 
tion as  original  dialogue  and  dialect  entertainers. 

The  children  of  J.  A.  and  E,  B.  Reagan  are :  Frank, 
b.  May  31,  1890;  Julia,  b.  Julv  25,  1892;  Margaret,  b. 
October  24,  1894;  d.  April  11,  1896;  Elizabeth  Avery,  b. 
March  13,  1897 ;  Myra,  b.  November  27,  1898,  and  James 
Avery,  b.  September  24,  1907. 

4.  John  Martin,  fourth  child  of  J.  H.  and  Mira  Rea- 
gan, b.  February  20,  1848 ;  d.  July  17,  1870.  He  was  the 
second  person  and  the  first  adult  buried  at  the  old  Sweet- 
water cemetery.  He  attended  school  at  the  University 
of  Virginia,  for  three  years,  in  the  academic  depart- 
ment. He  was  pursuing  a  law  course  at  Lebanon,  Tenn., 
when  disease  overtook  him.  I  have  heard  that  tuber- 
culosis, which  was  fatal  to  him,  was  brought  on  in 
this  way:  one  very  cold  night  there  was  a  fire  in  Le- 
sbanon  and  he  became  overheated  in  his  efforts  to  help 
I)ut  it  out.  By  accident  a  bucket  of  water  was  poured 
upon  him.  This  brought  on  sickness  which  termnnated 
in  tuberculosis.  This  soon  resulted  fatally.  He  died 
at  the  old  Reagan  residence.  He  was  a  fine  student.  He 
was  courteous,  handsome,  unselfish  and  manly,  and 
.therefore  was  immensely  popular.  There  never  was  a 
young  man  passed  away  in  Sweetwater  Valley  whose 
death  was  more  regretted  by  his  neighbors  and  school- 
mates. 

Frank  Reagan,  the  fifth  child  of  J.  H.  and  ]\lira  Rea- 
gan, b.  July  15,  1851 ;  d.  November  30,  1862. 


Richard  Francis  Scruggs 

Was  born  at  Warrensburg,  Tenn.,  February  1,  1834. 
He  died  of  pneumonia  at  his  residence  in  Sweetwater 
on  December  28,  1903. 

He  was  the  son  of  Rev.  John  Scruggs  and  Theresa 
Newell  Carter  Scruggs,  They  were  the  parents  of  four- 
teen children,  of  whom  R.  F.  was  the th.  Elder  Jno. 

S.  was  the  second  son  of  Richard  and  Eliza  McMahon 
Scruggs.  He  was  born  in  Grayson  County,  Va.,  March 
14,  1797.    He  was  a  graduate  of   Tusculum   College   in 


314  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Greene  Countv  which  was  founded  by  Samuel  Doakin 
1794. 

J.  and  T.  N.  C.  Scruggs  were  married  on  September 
7,  1824.  She  was  the  third  daughter  of  Francis  Jack- 
son and  Esther  Crockett  Carter  and  was  a  first  cousin 
of  the  celebrated  Davy  Crockett.  She  was  born  near 
Newport  in  Cocke  County,  October  8,  1806.  F.  J.  C.  and 
E.  C.  were  miarried  on  February  16,  17 — .  F.  J.  C.  was 
the  son  of  John  Carter,  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Haw- 
kins County.  He  established  a  store  which  was  con- 
ducted under  the  firm  name  of  Carter  and  Parker.  They 
were  robbed  by  a  band  of  Cherokee  Indians.  When  the 
Henderson  treaty  was  made  with  the  Cherokees  C,  and 
P.  demanded  compensation.  The  lands  of  Carter's  Val- 
ley from  Cloud  Creek  to  Chimney  Top  Mountain  were 
granted  them,  on  the  payment  of  a  small  sum  of  money. 
This  was  advanced  by  Robert  Lucas,  who  thus  became 
a  partner  of  Carter  and  Parker.  This  firm  leased  their 
lands  to  settlers  much  after  the  manner  of  the  patrons 
in  the  early  history  of  New  York. 

In  1771  J.  C.  settled  one-half  mile  north  of  Elizabeth- 
ton,  Tenn.  He  was  a  member  of  two  constitutional  con- 
ventions of  North  Carolina.  His  son,  Landon  Carter, 
was  prominent  in  the  Tennessee  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion of  1796.  His  grandson  was  the  chairman  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1834.  His  great  grandson, 
also  named  Wm.  Bates  Carter  was  an  active  participant 
of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1870.  All  these 
men  represented  the  same  constituency  and  the  last 
named  Wm.  Bates  Carter  was  a  Democrat  chosen  in  a 
strong  Republican  district.  James  Robertson,  Landon 
Carter  and  others  laid  the  foundation  of  the  Watauga 
settlement  which  was  first  mainly  in  Carter  Countv. 

After  the  death  of  F.  J.  C.  in  1857,  his  wife  E.  C.  C, 
went  tp  Monroe  County  to  reside  with  her  daughter, 
Theresa  N.  Scruggs,  whose  husband  John  S.  had  pur- 
chased a  large  body  of  land  on  Chestua  Creek  in  Monroe 
County  and  had  moved  there  in  1833.  She  died  July 
9,  1870,  and  was  buried  in  the  churchyard  of  the  church 
house  erected  on  the  farm  of  J.  S.  Here  lie  also  J.  S., 
who  died  November  11, 1867,  his  wife  T.  N.  S.,  d.  Novem- 
ber 9,  1888,  and  also  seven  of  his  children  and  many  of 
his  grandchildren.    J.  S.  was  a  preacher,  farmer,  stock- 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  315 

raiser  and  slave  owner.  For  many  years  he  was  pastor 
of  the  Chestua,  Mt.  Harmony  and  Madisonville  Bap- 
tist churches.    He  made  no  charge  for  his  services. 

R.  F.  Scruggs,  after  completing  his  academical  educa- 
tion at  Mossy  Creek,  now  Carson  and  Newman  College, 
became  a  physician.  He  obtained  his  medical  diploma 
from  Jefferson  Medical  College  at  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
He  commenced  the  practice  of  medicine  in  Sweetwater 
in  the  year  1855.  He  occupied  the  office  made  vacant 
by  the  death  of  Dr.  Parker,  who  was  the  first  physician 
coming  to  Sweetwater.  On  the  14th  of  February,  1860, 
he  married  Elizabeth  Ramsey  Heiskell.  He  erected  the 
residence  on  Oak  Street  now  occupied  by  Mrs.  Scruggs. 

He  built  up  a  very  large  practice  for  a  young  phy- 
sician, previous  to  the  Civil  War. 

Soon  after  the  war  ended  he  became  a  partner  with 
his  brother-in-law,  N.  P.  Hight,  in  the  mercantile  and 
produce  business.  N.  P.  Hight  was  the  husband  of  Ad- 
die  Heiskell. 

Tliis  firm  also  acquired  numerous  holdings  and  lots 
in  the  town  of  Sweetwater.  They  erected  the  brick 
buildings  at  the  corner  of  Monroe  and  Depot  streets 
and  the  brick  hotel  opposite,  now  the  Hotel  Hyatt,  and 
various  houses  for  rent  in  different  parts  of  the  town. 

Dr.  Scruggs  was  an  extensive  druggist  as  well  as  phy- 
sician and  sold  drugs  in  the  store  now  occupied  by  the 
Sweetwater  Pharmacy. 

He  was  most  of  the  time  during  his  business  career 
treasurer  of  the  Sweetwater  Masonic  Lodge  No.  292, 
from  the  obtainment  of  its  charter  till  his  death. 

He  was  also  administrator  of  several  large  estates 
and  was  noted  for  his  good  judgment  in  business  and 
the  strict  honesty  and  accuracy  of  his  accounts. 

Notwithstanding  the  multiplicity  of  his  business  re- 
lations, when  not  necessarily  occupied  he  was  a  genial 
and  interesting  companion  and  conversationalist.  His 
information  w^as  accurate  and  varied  and  was  by  no 
means  confined  to  his  profession.  He  found  time  in 
some  way  to  read  many  books,  managed  to  get  at  and 
understand  the  main  points  in  them.  Anything  that 
touched  humanity  even  outside  of  his  own  profession, 
met  with  his  intelligent  and  considerate  attention.  He 
was  consulted  by  more  people  about  more  different  sub- 


316  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VATJ.EY 

jects  than  any  man  in  town  and  his  advice  was  rarely 
disregarded. 

His  knowledge  of  locations  and  people  in  this  section 
and  their  history  was  little  less  than  phenomenal. 

The  children  of  R.  F.  and  E.  R.  Scruggs  were: 

One.  Martha,  b.  October  21,  1861 ;  d.  in  infancy. 

Tw^o.  Frank  Heiskell,  b.  September  5,  1862;  d.  July 
8,  1895. 

Three.  John  Frederick,  b.  May  6,  1865. 

Four.  Daniel  Pope,  b.  June  19,  1867. 

Five.  Arthur  Bruce,  b.  September  24,  1869. 

Six.  Susan  Newman,  b.  September  13,  1871 ;  d.  Novem- 
ber 6,  1890. 

Seven.  Joseph. 

Eight.  Katherine,  b.  August  27,  1876. 

Nine.  Annie  Nelson,  b.  January  2,  1878. 

Ten.  Richard  Abijah,  b.  March  10,  1884. 

Five.  Arthur  Bruce,  the  fourth  son  of  R.  F.  and 
married  to  Annie  C,  daughter  of  William  and  Margaret 
Edwards  Lowry.  He  was  a  bookseller  and  stationer  in 
Sweetwater.  He  was  also  editor  and  proprietor  of  the 
Sweetwater  News,  which  began  its  publication  in  the 
year  1886.  In  1891  he  bought  of  W.  B.  Lenoir  the  Mon- 
roe Democrat  and  published  his  paper  under  the  name 
of  The  Democrat-News  until  his  death  in  the  year  1895. 

The  children  of  Frank  and  Margaret  Scruggs  were : 

Margaret,  b.  May,  1890;  Elizabeth,  b.  January  25, 
1893 ;  Frank  H.,  b.  December  3,  1894. 

Three.  John  Frederick,  the  second  son  of  R.  F.  and 
R.  R.  S.,  was  married  to  Maggie  May  Williams,  daugh- 
ter of  J.  B.  and  M.  T.  Williams  on  June  3,  1891.  Their 
r^hildren  are :  John  Henry,  b.  January  25,  1893 ;  Rich- 
ard F.,  b.  June  11,  1895 ;  Wm.  Thomas,  b.  September  28, 
1903. 

Four.  Daniel  Pope,  third  son  of  R.  F.  and  E.  R.  S.  was 
married  to  Eva  Dulaney  Rogers  on  November  13,  1887. 
She  was  born  at  Blountville,  Tenn.,  July  7,  1867.  He  is 
the  carrier  on  rural  route  No.  2.     Tlieir  children  are: 

1.  Edgar  Browne,  b.  August  25,  1888 ;  d. 

2.  Richard  Francis,  b.  February  7,  1890 ;  d. 

3.  Ellen  Marie,  b.  November  1,*  1891. 

4.  Louis  Eugene,  b.  January  12,  1894. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALIjEY  317 

5.  Lela,  b.  August  27,  1895 ;  d. 


6.  Bertha  Barrow,  b.  February  19,  1897. 

7.  Hugh  Rogers,  b.  April  15,  1899 ;  d. 


8  and  9.  Robert  Maynard,  James  Jefferson,  b.  August 

2,  1901;  d. 

Five.  Arthur  Bruce,  the  fourth  son  of  of  R.  F.    and 

E.  R.  S.  married  Belle,  daughter  of  David  and  Laurena 
Heabler,  on  November  25,  1890.  She  was  born  in  West 
Lodi,  0.,  on  April  10,  1871.  His  business  is  that  of 
stock  trader  and  joint  administrator  with  his  brother,  J. 

F.  S.,  in  his  father's  estate.  The  children  of  A.  B.  and 
B.  Scruggs  are :  Edith,  b.  February  6,  1893 ;  Joe  Heab- 
ler, b.  February  24,  1895 ;  Mabel,  b."  November  19,  1896 ; 
d.  November  29,  1900;  Earnest  Carleton,  b.  Januarv  5, 
1901;  David  Richard,  b.  March  29,   1906. 

Eight.  Katherine  was  born  August  27,  1876.  She  mar- 
ried Henry  Hardey,  of  Tulsa,  Ind.  Ter.,  on  August  27, 
1902.  He  was  born  in  Knob  Noster,  Mo.,  July  17,  1878. 
Went  to  Tulsa,  Ind.  Ter.  in  1895.  Clerked  in  a  store 
there  seven  years.  Met  there  Katherine  Scruggs  whom 
he  married.  They  moved  to  Rocky  Ford,  Col.,  in  Au- 
gust, 1904,  where  they  now  reside.  He  is  a  merchant. 
Their  children  are:  Gordon  Stakelv,  born  August  12, 
1903 ;  Henry  Francis,  born  September  13,  1906. 

Nine.  Annie  Nelson  Scruggs  was  born  January  2, 
1888.  She  married  Ross  Owen,  son  of  J.  F.  Owen.  He 
was  born  February  3,  1869.  He  is  an  R.  F.  D.  mail  car- 
rier from  Erie,  Tenn. 

James  J.  Sheldon. 

I  have  several  times  spoken  of  the  cosmopolitan  pop- 
ulation of  Sweetwater.  Of  course  to  make  a  town  where 
there  is  no  town,  the  people  have  to  come  from  some- 
where. But  in  a  mere  commercial  town  like  Sweetwater 
was  in  the  beginning,  neither  a  manufacturing  or  a  min- 
ing town,  depending  wholly  for  its  support  on  the  agri- 
cultural products  around,  the  population  was  more 
varied  than  usual. 

In  the  early  settlement  of  the  place,  there  came  from 
New  York,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  J.  Sheldon,  Miss  Emily 
Palmer,  Mr.  H.  G.  Cooke,  Mrs.  Helen  M.  Cooke,  Miss 


318  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAIJ:.EY 

Bland  E.  Smith,  and  from  Massachusetts  Mr.  George 
G.  Stillman. 

They  soon  became  identified  with  our  people  and 
showed  a  wonderful  adaptability.  They  had  a  much 
greater  influence  upon  our  community  endeavoring  to 
be  one  of  us,  than  if  they  had  made  themselves  con- 
spicuous in  criticising  our  institutions  or  customs. 

First  of  these  to  come  here  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James 
J.  Sheldon.  He  was  born  in  Dutchess  County,  New 
York,  July  4,  1829.  He  married  Miss  Mary  E.  Palmer 
in  1855.  She  was  born  August  24,  1834,  in  Columbia 
County,  New  York.  They  came  to  Sweetwater  soon 
after  their  marriage,  probably  for  the  reason  that  they 
were  related  to  Mr.  Spencer  of  Fork  Creek. 

They  taught  school  in  1856,  in  the  old  school  house 
near  the  bend  of  the  creek  called  the  Fine  School-house. 
He  was  a  successful  teacher  and  a  versatile  man.  He 
was  a  fine  scribe,  as  the  expression  went  in  those  days, 
which  was  considered  of  prime  importance.  Also  be- 
ing a  good  musician  and  fond  of  music,  he  taught  the 
school  children  to  sing  together  various  simple  songs. 
Up  to  the  time  of  his  coming  to  this  country  the  note 
books  used  in  the  singing  in  the  churches  were  printed 
in  what  is  called  the  square  note  system,  each  note  of 
the  tonic  scale  was  of  a  different  shape,  which  made  it 
somewhat  easier  for  beginners  to  learn  simple  music. 

He  introduced  and  taught  what  was  called  in  contra- 
distinction to  the  other,  the  round  note  system,  which 
had  before  been  used  for  instruments  and  the  pitch  de- 
pended wholly  upon  the  position  of  the  note. 

*' Mason's  Harp  and  Carmina  Sacra"  were  two  of 
the  books  used  by  him  and  taught  in  the  neighborhood. 
All  the  farm  houses  around  were  glad  to  have  the  young 
and  sometimes  the  old  people  too,  to  meet  and  take  part 
in  these  singings. 

The  song  book  published  at  Madisonville,  name  not 
now  remembered,  square  note  system,  was  soon  discard- 
ed. After  teaching  several  years,  he  discontinued  on 
account  of  his  health.  He  was  employed  in  several 
stores  in  Sweetwater,  mostly  as  an  accountant  and  book- 
keeper. The  credit  system  was  in  vogue  in  those  days 
and  needed  a  careful  accountant. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church  and  was  clerk 


HISTOBY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAX.LEY  319 

at  the  time  of  his  death.  In  the  year  1857  he  purchased 
a  lot  from  I.  T.  Lenoir  on  Oak  Street.  He  died  in  Sweet- 
water, at  his  residence  January  18,  1868.  He  was  buried 
at  the  Daniel  Heiskell  Cemetery. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sheldon  had  one  daughter,  who  was 
born  January  20, '1856,  died  December  28,  1868. 

CHRisTiAisr  Shell. 

He  was  a  contemporary  of  General  James  H.  Reagan 
and  lived  on  an  adjoining  place.  From  the  information 
at  hand  his  children  were  as  follows : 

1.  Emmaline,  m. Phillips ;  second  to 

Floyd. 

2.  Paris  Montgomery.    Lives  in  Knox  Countv,  Tenn. 

3.  J.  Will. 

4.  Sarah  Landonia.  Married  James  Gibbs,  U.  S.  mail 
agent  on  the  Southern  Railway.  Their  children,  two 
sons,  John  and  Ludlow,  and  a  daughter,  Tola,  who  mar- 
ried    Houk,  son  of  ]j.  C.  Houk. 

5.  Ella.     Unmarried. 

6.  James  R.  Married  Mary  J.  Thomas,  February  13, 
1879.  Died  about  1913.  They  were  the  parents  of  twelve 
children.     He  was  a  promoter. 

7.  Lou  Emma.  Married  Captain  John  Anderson,  of 
Pond  Creek  Valley. 

8.  Victoria.  Married  Owen  Morris,  son  of  H.  H.  Mor- 
ris. 

George  G,  Stillman. 

It  is  a  tradition  in  the  Stillman  family  that  in  the 
early  settlement  of  Massachusetts,  there  came  three 
brothers.  It  was  supposed  they  fled  from  England  on  ac- 
count of  political  or  religious  persecutions,  and  prob- 
ably for  fear  of  other  persecution  even  after  coming  to 
this  country  they  failed  or  refused  to  tell  their  name  or 
history.  Therefore  they  were  nick-named  Stillman  or 
(Stillmen).  This  name  clung  to  them  so  that  it  was 
adopted  as  a  surname.  One  of  them  was  William  C. 
who  was  the  father  of  George  G.  about  whom  this  sketch 
is  written. 


320  HISTORY  OF  SWEET WATEB  VALLEY 

George  G.  was  born  February  9,  1828,  in  North  Egre- 
mont,  Berkshire  County,  Massachusetts.  He  married 
Cynthia  B.  Bobbins  April  8,  1852,  at  Thomas  Stilhnan's. 
Ella,  their  daughter  was  born  March  9,  1853.  Mrs. 
Stillman  died  soon  afterward.  Ella,  is  now  a  teacher 
in  Massachusetts.  Mr.  Stillman  came  South  shortly  be- 
fore the  Civil  War,  he  visited  Mr.  James  J.  Sheldon.  He 
decided  to  remain  here.  He  was  an  accurate  and  natural 
bookkeeper.  His  great  knowledge  of  Masonry  com- 
mended him  to  the  brethren. 

In  1861  he  was  a  member  of  Prof.  Wagstaff's  Sweet- 
water Brass  Band.  The  other  members  were  A.  M. 
Dobbins,  Wiley  Patton,  Carter    and    Crockett    Rowan, 

Monfi,  William  McClung,  S.  McKinney  Walker 

and  W.  C.  Browning.     It  was  considered  a  fine  band 
for  that  day  and  time. 

Some  time  in  May  in  the  year  1861  this  band  was  em- 
ployed to  go  to  Hawkins  County,  Tenn.,  to  a  secession 
rally.  Mr.  Stillman  was  with  them.  The  band  took  sup- 
per with  Mr.  A.  Buckner,  a  brother-in-law  of  Mrs.  Still- 
man, who  was  then  Miss  Julia  Craft.  They  became  ac- 
quainted. They  were  married  about  three  months  after- 
wards, on  the  27th  of  August,  1861. 

Mr.  Stillman  was  a  conscientious  Baptist.  He  was 
thoroughly  posted  in  many  degrees  of  Masonry,  includ- 
ing the  Knight  Templars.  True  to  his  name  he  was  a 
very  prudent  man  in  his  conduct  during  the  Civil  War 
and  though  a  Union  man,  he  endeavored  to  protect  the 
Southern  sympathizers,  after  the  Federal  occupation 
during  the  Civil  War,  He  purchased  the  property  where 
Mrs.  Stillman  now  lives,  across  the  street  from  the 
telephone  building.  He  resided  there  until  the  time  of 
his  death,  which  occurred  on  July  29,  1872. 

I  take  the  following  from  the  preamble  and  resolu- 
tions adopted  at  the  August  meeting  of  Lodge  292,  F. 
and  A.  M. : 

******  ''Some  years  previous  to  the  war  our 
brother  G.  G.  Stillman  came  among  us  a  stranger.  He 
did  not  long  remain  so.  His  native  worth  and  intelli- 
gence were  soon  kno^vn  and  appreciated  and  caused  him 
to  be  recognized  as  a  friend  and  a  brother.  He  was  a 
pleasant  and  agreeable  companion,  kind  and  affection- 
ate in  his  family,  a  true  friend,  a  good  and  useful  cit- 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  321 

izen,  a  devoted  Christian.  He  was  also  a  bright  and  hon- 
ored member  of  the  fraternity. "    ****** 

These  and  many  other  things  were  truly  said  by  the 
committee,  not  in  a  perfunctory  way  but  because  they 
believed  them.  The  committee  w^ere  W.  B.  Lenoir,- W. 
W.  Morrison,  and  A.  M.  Dobbins. 

Julia  H.  Craft  Stillman  was  born  at  the  old  homestead 
in  Sullivan  County  on  October  7,  1840.    Her  father  was 

Her  grandparents  on  her  father's  side  were 

Thomas.  A.  Craft  and  Mary  Aeuff  Craft.  Her  great 
grandfather  was  Timothy  Acuff.  He  was  a  Revolu- 
tionary soldier  and  acquired  land  from  the  United 
States  government  on  account  of  his  services.  He  was 
a  slave  owner. 

The  mother  of  Mrs.  Stillman  was  formerly  Mary  A. 
Wilson.  She  was  a  sister  of  Anna  Wilson,  who  was  the 
mother  of  the  late  John  M.  Jones,  Sweetwater,  Tenn. 
Mrs.  Stillman  is  a  noted  Sunday-school  and  church 
worker,  w^itli  the  vigor  of  her  intellect  (now  1915)  un- 
dimmed. 

George  Row^an  Stillman  (named  for  Samuel  J.  Rowan) 

son  of  G.  G.  and  Julia  Stillman  was  born  May  17,  1863. 

'He  is  a  trusted  employee  of  the  First  National    Bank 

of  Chattanooga,  with  which  he  has  been  for  the  past 

twenty-nine  3^ears. 

He  married  Cora  Stallis  of  Missouri,  in  October,  1885. 

Rev.  Robert  Snead 

Was  born  in  Rockbridge  County,  Va.,  April  20,  1801. 
He  came  to  Sweetwater  Valley  in  1824.  He  married 
Frances  Henley  soon  afterwards.  His  first  recorded 
purchase  of  land  was  from  William  Dillard  in  May, 
1831.  The  deed  is  for  eighty  acres,  east  half  of  the 
northeast  quarter,  section  36,  tow^nship  2,  range  1,  east. 
He  afterwards  acquired  other  tracts  and  at  the  time 
of  his  death  owned  a  very  large  farm  on  the  public  road 
between  Philadelphia  and  Sweetwater.  This  farm  was 
divided  and  sold  in  1915.  Mr.  Snead  was  one  of  the  most 
versatile  men  in  this  section  of  the  country;  whatever 
he  was  called  on  to  do  he  always  rose  to  the  occasion. 
He  was  a  brick-mason,  farmer,  minister  of  the  Gospel, 


322  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

railroad  director  and  capitalist.  He  was  chairman  of 
the  committee  appointed  for  the  construction  of  the 
Cleveland  Baptist  Church,  and  his  knowledge  of  build- 
ing is  shown  hj  that  church  edifice.  In  the  old  Sweet- 
water cemetery  in  the  grave  of  John  Reagan  is  a  brick 
vault  which  was  erected  by  Mr.  Snead,  purely  as  a  mat 
ter  of  accommodation  and  because  no  one  else  under- 
stood how  to  do  it.  This  is  the  only  one  constructed  in 
that  cemetery.  During  the  time  he  was  minister  he  of- 
ficiated at  the  marriage  ceremony  of  more  people  than 
any  other  minister  in  the  valley  or  county.  He  was  a 
fine  presiding  officer  and  was  moderator  during  the 
active  term  of  his  life  of  a  great  many  associations. 
Whenever  he  was  in  a  Baptist  association  he  was  near- 
ly always  called  upon  to  perform  that  duty.  In  his  ser- 
mons he  was  more  logical  than  eloquent ;  he  appealed  to 
the  reason  more  than  the  emotions.  He  and  his  wife 
Frances  joined  the  Baptist  church  of  Sweetwater,  some- 
times called  the  Cleveland  church,  on  the  fourth  Sat- 
urday in  July,  1826.  He  was  clerk  of  that  church  dur- 
ing the  years  1831  and  1832.  He  was  ordained  by  that 
church  to  preach  the  Gospel  on  the  fourth  Saturday  of 
February,  1833.  He  was  considered  an  authority,  in  the 
Sweetwater  association  on  Baptist  doctrine  and  par- 
liamentary ruling.  He  probably  had  more  influence  with 
the  churches  of  Sweetwater  Association  than  any  one 
belonging  to  it.  He,  like  Elder  Eli  Cleveland,  never 
charged  or  accepted  anything  for  his  pastoral  services; 
not  on  account  of  any  conscientious  scruples  in  the  mat- 
ter, but  because  he  thought  they  could  use  the  money 
more  judiciously  in  other  ways. 

He  was  one  of  the  best  and  most  successful  farmers 
in  our  valley.  In  a  field  across  the  railway  from  his 
residence  in  1857,  he  raised  more  than  forty-one  bush- 
els of  wheat  to  the  acre ;  this  he  did  without  the  use  of 
any  fertilizer  except  such  as  came  from  his  own  barn- 
yard. 

He  served  two  terms  as  director  of  the  East  Tennes- 
see and  Greorgia  Railroad. 

He  moved  to  Knoxville  from  his  farm,  in  November, 
1874,  where  he  resided  until  his  death  on  March  29, 
1878,  and  was  buried  in  old  Sweetwater  cemetery. 

During  the  Civil  War  he  was  considered  a  Union  man 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  323 

but  was  opposed  to  any  discussion  of  it,  or  prayers  for 
either  combatant  in  church  meetings,  and  rarely  could 
he  be  induced  to  express  an  opinion  about  the  war  in 
private  conversation.  This  is  l3y  no  means  strange,  as 
he  had  two  sons  in  the  Confederate  army  and  one  in  the 
Federal. 

The  children  of  his  first  marriage  were  as  follows : 

1.  Martha  A.,  born  August  22,  1825.    Died  1906. 

2.  William  E.,  born  December  11,  1827.    Died  August 
28   1875 

'3.  Elizabeth,  born Died  July,  1875. 

4.  Virginia  A.,  born  July  17,  1834.    Died 


5.  Mary  L.,  born  February  23,  1839.     Died  

6.  Lilburn,  born  March  22,  1841.     Died  

7.  Thomas  E.,  born  October  26,  1843. 

Martha  A.,  married  Jacob  Kimbrough  in  1846  and 
died  at  Mesquite,  Texas.  J.  C.  Kimbrough  was  a  tal- 
ented member  of  the  Baptist  church;  he  was  a  farmer 
and  lived  near  Madisonville,  Tenn.  Their  children  were 
Robert,  Jacob  and  Spencer,  the  two  latter  dying  in  ear- 
ly manhood.  Robert  moved  to  Mesquite,  Texas,  when 
a  young  man.  He  died  in  1906  at  about  45  years  of  age. 
In  business  he  was  quite  successful;  was  a  merchant,  a 
president  of  two  banks  and  had  large  land  holdings. 

William  E.  Snead  was  married  to  Nancy  Prater  John- 
ston, daughter  of  Josiah  K.  Johnston.  He  joined  the 
Confederate  army  soon  after  commencement  of  hostil- 
ities. He  held  the  rank  of  major  in  the  43rd  Tennessee 
volunteer  infantry,  serving  through  the  entire  war 
period.  After  the  war  he  was  accountant  and  salesman 
for  the  firm  of  Hight  and  Scruggs  until  incapacitated  by 
disease.  He  had  one  son,  William  Prater  Snead,  who 
was  born  December  31,  1852,  and  resides  on  Fork  Creek. 

3.  Elizabeth  married  Robert  Cleveland  on  June  4, 
1840.    For  her  family  history  (see  Presley  Cleveland). 

Virginia  A.  married  Richard  Jarnagin,  September  29, 
1852.  They  settled  at  Clinton,  Anderson  County,  Tenn. 
She  died  there  and  was  buried  at  that  place.  Their 
children  were: 

(1)  Minnie,  married Coward. 

(2)  Richard. 

(3)  W.  J.,  who  lives  at  Coal  Creek,  Tenn. 

4.  Mary  L.,  married  A.  S.  Worrell,  December  14,  1859, 


324  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

who  was  a  Baptist  minister.     She  died  in  Minneapolis, 
Minn.,  1903.    Their  children  were : 

(1)  Martha. 

(2)  Marv. 

(3)  Albert. 

Two  daughters  are  married :  married  names  and  post- 
offices  not  known. 

6.  Lilburn,  enlisted  in  the  Federal  army  at  the  age  of 
20.  He  was  captain  of  Co. , regiment,  Ten- 
nessee volunteer  infantry.  He  was  called  the  ''boy  cap- 
tain." He  died  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  of  wounds  received 
at  the  Battle  of  Shiloh. 

7.  Thomas  E.  served  in  the  Confederate  armv  from 
August,  1861  to  April  23,  1863,  in  Co.  G, —  regi- 
ment Tennessee  volunteers. 

He  married  Anne  E.  Patton,  daughter  of  Francis  A. 
and  Amanda  A.  Patton  on  August  27,  1863.  His  wife, 
Anne  Patton  was  born  January  16,  1844,  in  Monroe 
County,  Tenn.  For  fifteen  years  or  more  after  he  mar- 
ried Thomas  E.  Snead  was  a  farmer  in  Monroe  County, 
going  west  after  that  and  living  in  Texas,  Indian  Ter- 
ritory, Missouri  and  Washington.  In  the  year  1898  he 
settled  at  Hinsdale,  Mont.,  which  is  now  (1915)  his  pres- 
ent residence.     Their  children  are : 

Robert  Snead,  born  December  20,  1864. 

Fannie  A.  McLean,  born 16,  1867.    Post-office, 

Kerman,  Cal. 

Dick  T.,  born  December  31,  1869.  Post-office,  Hins- 
dale, Mont. 

Minta  L.  Wilson,  born  August  10,  1874. 

Charles  H.,  born  Julv  19,  1871. 

Addie  E.,  born  Aprir20,  1877. 

Thomas,  born  September  6,  1879.  Post-office,  Hins- 
dale, Mont. 

Fannie  A.,  married  Edwin  McLean  in  1894. 

Dick  T.,  married  Annie  M.  Riley  in  1904. 

Minta  L.,  married  Frank  Wilson  in  1891.  Post-office, 
Placerville,  Cal. 

Charles  H.,  married  Ida  Mooney  in  1892.  Post-office, 
Colfax,  Wash. 

Addie  E.,  married  Edward  Kelso  in  1896.  Post-office, 
Albion,  Wash. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  325 

Thomas  B.,  married  Nettie  Ballke  in  1906.    Post-office, 
Hinsdale,  Mont. 


Robert  Snead's  second  wife  was  Samantha  Ann  Mc- 
Reynolds,  to  whom  he  was  married  on  the  17th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1852.  She  was  born  in  Tazewell,  Tenn.,  April 
28,  1815,  She  died  at  Sweetwater,  Tenn.,  January  12, 
1897,  and  was  buried  in  the  old  Sweetwater  cemetery. 
They  resided  at  the  Snead  farm,  near  Sweetwater,  after 
their  marriage,  until  they  moved  to  Knoxville,  in  1874. 
They  had  one  daughter,  Laura  F.,  born  December  20, 
1857,  who  married  Sam  Epps  Young,  a  Knoxville  law- 
3^er,  September  5,  1878.    Tlieir  children  are: 

1.  Stella,  who  married  Henry  T.  Boyd  of  Sweetwater, 
on  June  10,  1903.  Their  children  are  Sam  Young  Boyd 
and  Frances  Boyd. 

2.  Robert  Snead,  born  He  was  educated 

at  the  University  of  Tennessee  and  afterwards  studied 
law  under  his  father.  Colonel  S.  E.  Young.    He  located 

in  Knoxville  in  He  married  Lillian,  daughter 

of  Hon.  H.  B.  Lindsay,  on  October  14,  1908.    Their  chil- 
dren are:   Elizabeth,  Robert  and  Lindsay. 

3.  Frances.. 

4.  Anna. 

5.  Sam  Epps.     Lawyer  in  Knoxville,  Tenn. 


Colonel  Sam  Epps  Young 

Was  born  near  Clinton,  Tenn.,  the  son  of  the  Rev.  J. 
H.  Young,  a  Methodist  minister,  and  a  nephew  of  Judge 
D.  K.  Young,  an  eminent  lawyer  and  jurist,  of  Ander- 
son County.  He  attended  the*  University  of  Tennessee, 
and  graduated  there  in  1878.  He  was  captain  of  Co.  B 
in  the  military  department  there  the  year  of  his  gradua- 
tion.    He  studied  law  under  at  ; He 

was  admitted  to  the  bar  in and  began  the  prac- 
tice of  law  at  Knoxville.  He  came  to  Sweetwater  in 
1880  and  opened  an  office  here.  However,  in  the  earlier 
part  of  his  career,  a  large  part  of  his  practice  was  in 
the  mountain  counties  of  Morgan,  Scott,  Fentress  and 
Cumberland.     There  he  made  quite  a  reputation  as  a 


326  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

jury  lawyer,  which,  before  a  great  while  extended  to 
the  counties  around  where  he  resided.  He  was  not  only 
a  successful  jury  lawyer  but  I  heard  Judge  T.  M.  Mc- 
Connell  say  he  was  one  of  the  best  chancery  lawyers  that 
practised  before  his  bar.  He  cultivated  most  successful- 
ly a  large  farm  of  more  than  1,000  acres.  Notwithstand- 
ing his  extensive  law  practice  in  other  counties  he  found 
time  to  operate  it.  It  was  while  on  his  way  to  his  farm 
June  22,  1914,  that  he  collapsed,  while  in  his  buggy, 
from  heart  failure. 

While  a  man  of  a  most  social  disposition,  he  never 
sought  office  though  he  was  often  spoken  of  as  a  can- 
didate for  various  positions.  Though  a  strong  party 
man  he  rarely  attended  political  meetings  or  conven- 
tions. He  was  a  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  South, 
and  when  not  absent  in  the  practice  of  his  profession, 
nearly  always  attended  Sunday-school  and  often  made 
interesting  talks,  which  he  had  the  ability  to  do  with- 
out extensive  preparation.  Some  of  the  best  speeches 
I  have  heard  him  mate  were  when  he  was  called  upon 
unexpectedly  to  him.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Sweet- 
water Masonic  Lodge.  He  was  always  prominent  in 
whatever  body  or  assembly  he  attended. 

General  John  Crawford  Vaughn, 

In  the  estimation  of  most  persons  who  know  his  his- 
tory, it  might  well  be  said  that  he  was  Sweetwater's 
most  distinguished  citizen.  His  varied  career,  his  chiv- 
alry, commanding  presence,  and  magnetic  personality 
would  make  him  the  hero  of  the  novelist  as  well  as  a 
favorite  character  of  the  historian. 

A  painting  of  him  hangs  in  the  H.  M.  Cooke  Memorial 
Library. 

He  was  in  turn  captain  in  the  Mexican  War,  gold 
seeker  in  California,  high  sheriff  of  Monroe  County. 
Hotel  man,  brigadier  general  in  the  C.  S.  A.,  broker  in 
New  York,  speaker  of  the  Senate  in  Tennessee  and  ex- 
tensive planter  in  Georgia. 

He  was  the  son  of  James  Vaughn  and  Mary  Jane 
Crawford  Vaughn.  He  was  born  at  Madisonville,  Feb- 
ruary 24,  1824.    He  married  Nancy  Ann  Boyd  in  1847 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  327 

at  Mt.  Vernon,  Tenn.  She  died  in  New  York  City,  No- 
vember 13,  1869. 

Mr.  Ross  Young-,  who  was  a  soldier  in  the  Mexican 
War,  also  a  Confederate  soldier  in  the  Civil  War,  says 
that  Jno.  C.  Vaughn  was  captain  of  Co.  C,  5th  Reg.  of 
Tennessee  volunteer  infantry  in  the  Mexican  War,  com- 
manded by  Colonel  McClellan.  Ross  Young  was  a  pri- 
vate in  Co.  F  and  volunteered  from  Maryville,  Blount 
County,  Tenn. 

In  a  letter  written  from  San  Juan,  dated  February 
12,  1848,  to  E.  E.  Griffith,  Esq.,  and  published  in  the 
Madisonville  Democrat  of  April  15,  1909,  we  make  the 
following  extracts : 

"I  will  write  you  a  letter  this  morning.  I  got  up  this  morning  with 
the  sun,  had  my  breakfast  and  put  on  a  light  colored  shirt.  Then  I 
read  several  chapters  in  the  Bible,  which  I  do  nearly  every  day.  Then 
I  seated  myself  by  the  side  of  a  long  dining  table  which  Santa  Anna 
used  before  the  Yankees  entered  Vera  Cruz  and  drove  him  from  this 
place.  Lieut.  Brown  and  I  use  it  to  write  on  during  the  day  and  at 
night  we  use  it  to  sleep  on,  and  I  think  it  a  great  thing  in  the  sleep- 
ing line. 

*  *  *  *  s^Q  are  all  far  from  home  and  all  that  is  dear  to  us, 
but  there  is  not  the  same  number  of  men  in  Mexico  that  enjoy  them- 
selves better  than  the  gallant  company  from  Monroe  does.  We  all 
love  each  other.  We  can  think  of  home  but  that  is  all.  We  live  in 
hope  of  seeing  you  all  again,  but  we  may  not.  There  may  not  be 
one-fourth  of  us  live  to  see  Tennessee  again.  To  look  around  at 
Companies  that  came  here  one  hundred  strong  and  now  number  only 
forty  and  none  killed  in  battle,  and  some  that  number  only  twenty- 
five  when,  six  months  ago,  they  numbered  one  hundred  twenty-five; 
this  is  enough  to  make  us  all  doubtful  of  our  lives.  We  wish  the 
prayers  of  our  friends  at  home."  (I  have  not  the  date  at  hand  to 
know  when  the  company  returned  to  Monroe  County.) 

Being  of  an  adventurous  disposition  in  1850  he  went  to 
California  by  the  New  York  and  Panama  route.  A  let- 
ter from  J.  C.  Vaughn  and  E.  C.  Harris  from  Panama 
City  June  4,  1850,  which  appeared  in  the  Athens  Post 
July  19,  1850,  contains  some  very  interesting  data;  the 
more  so  on  account  of  the  completion  of  the  isthmus 
canal  and  the  exposition  celebrating  the  event  in  San 
Francisco,  Cal. 

Some  time  since  a  letter  appeared  in  The  Sweetwater 
Telephone  from  Tyler  Heiskell  to  his  father,  William 
Heiskell,  recounting  the  dangers  and  expense  of  a  trip 
across  the  plains  to  California.  From  what  these  re- 
ports say  there  seems  to  have  been  little  choice  as  to 


328  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

the  two  routes.  Greater  personal  danger  from  Indians 
by  the  plains  route,  and  far  greater  danger  from  di- 
sease by  the  Panama  route.  We  deem  the  extracts  be- 
low very  interesting: 

"We  left  Chagres,  on  the  24th  of  May  in  canoes  for  Cruces  up  the 
Chagres  river,  a  distance  of  80  miles.  These  canoes  being  large  enough 
to  accommodate  from  5  to  10  passengers,  owned  and  made  by  the 
natives  generally  for  which  we  paid  $13.00  each  (finding  ourselves). 
The  first  night  at  10  o'clock  P.  M.  we  hauled  up  for  the  night  where 
we  found  something  similar  to  a  shack  of  an  American  camping 
ground,  only  about  one-third  as  large,  which  was  covered  with  canvas 
In  place  of  boards,  where  we  found  something  in  the  way  of  refresh- 
ments. 

A  cup  of  coffee  for  .05c,  a  small  piece  of  bread  for  .10c.  and  a  small 
apple  pie  for  three  dimes;  and  we  were  also  accommodated  with 
berths  upon,  the  ground  for  two  dimes;  each  furnishing  his  own 
blanket.  We  engaged  passage  to  Cruces,  though  from  the  fact  that 
our  yawls  or  canoes  could  not  navigate  further  than  Gorgono,  on  ac- 
count of  shallow  water,  we  were  compelled  to  stop  at  the  last  named 
place.  We  arrived  at  Gorgono  on  the  25th.  of  May,  where  we  found 
about  four  hundred  small  ranches  scattered  about  in  every  direction, 
inhabited  by  Spaniards  and  Natives,  with  one  American  house  whose 
sign  was  the  Panama  Railroad  Hotel,  where  a  meal  could  be  had  for 
an  Isthmus  Dollar  (eight  dimes)  and  lodging  on  the  floor  for  five 
dimes,  finding  your  own  blankets;  we  tarried  here  for  one  night  only. 
On  the  27th,  we  hired  Natives  to  pack  our  baggage  across  for  $8.00 
per  hundred  on  mules  and  their  own  backs,  a  distance  called  by  in- 
habitants twenty-five  miles.  After  two  days  we  arrived  at  the  great 
city  of  Panama,  situated  on  the  coast  of  the  Pacific  on  a  small  point 
of  land  which  extends  far  out  into  Panama  Bay,  distinguished  prin- 
cipally for  being  a  great  port  of  entrance,  for  being  surrounded  by 
a  huge  stone  wall,  for  its  numerous  number  of  Catholic  Cathedrals, 
whose  tall  spires  loom  up  to  the  clouds  in  really  majestic  splendor,  for 
its  mixed  population  of  Spanish  and  Native  (Negro),  for  the  uni- 
versal want  of  energy  amongst  its  ignorant  and  stupid  inhabitants, 
and  distinguished  generally  for  being  one  of  the  most  completely  worn 
out  and  decayed  cities  this  side  of  Hindoostan. 

Though  Monte  and  Faro  banks  flourish  h.ere  while  almost  every 
thing  else  is  held  in  low  repute  except  commercial  operations,  which 
is  a  source  of  grand  speculation  here,  and  in  confirmation  of  this  we 
will  give  you  an  instance;  on  our  arrival  here  we  found  that  tickets 
on  steamers  could  not  be  haa  for  less  thaij  $400.00  in  the  steerage, 
and  from  six  to  nine  hundred  dollars  in  the  cabin  to  San  Francisco, 
while  the  same  tickets  were  purchased  in  New  York  from  two  to 
four  hundred  dollars  each,  and  held,  offered,  and  sold  here  on  specula- 
tion, at  those  advances,  governed  entirely  by  the  number  of  emigrants 
here,  waiting  transportation  to  the  much  sought  'El  Dorado.' 

Those  prices  are  eagerly  given  here,  while  the  number  and  names  of 
the  steamers  now  plying  between  this  place  and  San  Francisco  are 
as  follows:  The  California,  Oregon,  Panama,  Tennessee,  Carolina, 
Unicorn,  Gold  Hunter,  Sarah  Sands,  Isthmus  and  Columbus,  'making 
in  all  ten,  which  leave  this  port  universally  crowded,  even  at  those 
extravagant  prices,  and  there  are  soon  expected  here  via  Cape  Horn, 
to  go  on  the  same  route,  the  steamers  New  Orleans,  New  World, 
Northerner,  West  Point,  William  G.  Pease,  Republic  and   Duncan  C. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  329 

Pell,  which  will  complete  the  entire  number  of  seventeen  steamships.' 
In  discussing  the  case  of  going  from  East  Tennessee  to  San  Francisco 
without  experiencing  any  delays  which  can  seldom  be  avoided,  the 
cheapest  possible  taking  sail  vessel  would  be  $350.00  and  to  take 
steamer  from  New  Orleans  to  San  Francisco  it  would  cost  $365.00  on 
deck  and  in  the  cabin  $750.00,  never  less,  and  a  chance  for  it  to  be 
higher. 

Taking  these  statements  as  correct,  all  who  are  thinking  of  the 
perilous  adventure  can  now  make  up  their  minds  as  to  the  amount 
they  would  feel  safe  in  leaving  home  with,  knowing  at  the  same  time 
that  if  it  should  fall  short  that  it  would  be  where  they  would  be 
surrounded  by  the  mongrel  population  of  the  whole  earth.  This  is 
the  amount,  to  say  nothing  of  the  expenses  up  the  Sacramento  river 
to  Sacramento  City,  a  distance  of  125  miles  and  then  some  80  miles 
by  land  out  into  the  diggings.     *     *     *     * 

Without  a  through  ticket  a  person  stands  no  chance  for  a  passage 
aboard  a  steamer  from  this  port,  as  they  are  always  filled  to  a  dis- 
agreeable number  by  persons  owning  through  tickets  or  those  who 
have  the  funds  to  pay  a  heavy  advance  on  second-handed  tickets,  and 
we  have  seen  them  sold  during  our  stay  here  second-handed  for  from 
six  to  eleven  hundred  dollars,  and  while  on  this  subject  we  would 
remark,  that  the  shaving  and  swindling  system  is  carried  on  here  to 
scientific  perfection,  at  the  expense  of  the  poor  emigrants  from  the 
states,  and  the  great  wheel  is  turned,  not  by  foreigners,  but  by  Ameri- 
can citizens. 

This  city  numbers  a  population  of  about  ten  th.ousand,  inclusive, 
within  and  without  the  walls,  with  at  present  a  transient  population 
of  about  three  thousand,  principally  emigrants.  The  major  portion 
of  its  inhabitants  are  Spaniards,  one-third  we  suppose  are  natives, 
as  black  as  the  ace  of  spades,  though  all  speak  universally  the  Spanish 
language,  which  language  we  are  in  a  fair  way  to  learn  'Pocotiempo.' 

This  city  is  surrounded  by  the  most  sublime  and  majestic  natural 
scenery  upon  which  the  eye  of  curiosity  ever  rested,  almost  entirely 
surrounded  by  Panama  Bay,  completely  decorated  with  little  island 
mountains,  whose  beautifully  green  peaked  tops  pierce  the  sullen  and 
heavy  clouds,  which  almost  constantly  enshroud  them  at  this  season; 
while  the  approach  by  land  is  similarly  adorned  with  here  and  there, 
small  round  capped  summits,  intervening  occasionally  beautiful  nar- 
row and  level  valleys,  which  appear  to  groan  under  the  abundance  of 
the  rich  tropical  fruits  of  the  forest,  which  are  to  be  seen  and  ob- 
tained at  all  seasons,  from  th,e  luscious  Isthmus  peach  through  the  in- 
numerable varieties  of  tropical  fruits  down  to  the  delicious  pineap- 
ple, which,  in  some  degree,  perfume  the  air  with  their  rich  fragrance. 

*  *  *  *  ;\v'e  cannot  conclude  without  giving  a  few  brief  state- 
ments relative  to  the  incidents  connected  with  our  two  days'  travel 
across  the  Isthmus.  From  Gorgono  to  this  place  we  were  never 
out  of  sight  at  one  time  of  the  vast  continued  train  of  mules  and 
natives  packing  baggage  to  and  from  this  city,  during  which  time  we 
very  frequently  met  with  numbers  of  American  ladies  dressed  en- 
tirely in  gentlemen's  attire  and  universally  riding  astride,  which  odd 
custom  they  are  compelled  to  adopt  in  order  to  travel  at  all,  except 
they  walk,  as  there  is  no  such  thing  here  as  a  vehicle  of  any  sort, 
and  during  our  travel  across  and  the  eight  days  we  have  been  here, 
amongst  all  the  travelling  we  have  seen  but  bare  one  side  saddle. 

We  arrived  at  this  city  on  the  2Sth  of  May,  where  we  have  remained 
for  some  eight  days,  awaiting  the  published  day  for  the  sailing  of 
the  ship  Cacholot,  aboard  of  which  we  have  engaged  our  passage  to 
San   Francisco.     We   have  purchased   our   tickets  for  which   we  paid 


330  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

$150.00  each  in  the  steerage  and  she  positively  sails  tomorrow,  the 
5th  of  this  inst.,  which  port  she  promises  to  make  in  thirty-five  or 
forty  days. 

Here  we  saw  numerous  'East  Tennesseeans,  wh,o  all  meet  like  en- 
deared relatives  and  amongst  the  many  we  have  had  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  with,  and  listening  to  a  very  able  sermon  delivered  by  one 
Mr.  Horn,  from  Knoxville,  who  has  formerly  resided  in  Athens,  E. 
Tenn.' 

In  the  Athens  Post  of  Dec.  20th,  1850,  we  find  this  editorial  refer- 
ence: 'we  received  last  week  the  Polynesian  of  Sat.,  July  20th,  printed 
at  Honolulu,  a  town  on  one  of  the  Sandwich  Islands.  It  was  sent  by 
Mr.  E.  C.  Harris,  who  belonged  to  the  company  that  started  to  Cali- 
fornia from  this  country  some  time  since.  The  ship  on  which  they 
embarked  at  Panama  (June  5th),  put  into  Honolulu  on  account  of 
stress  of  weather  and  was  expected  to  set  sail  again  in  a  few  days." 

It  would  seem  they  must  have  been  disappointed  in 
reaching  San  Francisco  at  the  expected  time — thirty- 
five  or  forty  days.  For  sailing  from  Panama  on  June 
5th,  they  were  still  at  Honolulu  on  July  20th.  If  I  am 
not  mistaken  it  is  about  2,800  miles  from  Honolulu  to 
San  Francisco.  What  time  General  Vaughn  reached 
San  Francisco  and  how  long  he  remained  in  California 
I  have  not  the  information  at  hand,  however  think  he 
did  not  succeed  in  obtaining  very  much  gold,  or  was 
not  among  the  lucky  prospectors. 

In  the  files  of  the  Athens  Post  in  my  possession  I  do 
not  find  any  other  letters  from  either  Harris  or  Vaughn, 
but  I  lack  considerably  in  having  the  papers  for  the  year 
1850-1.  In  about  1854,  General  Vaughn  built  a  hotel  in 
Sweetwater  in  which  was  a  store-house  on  the  site  now 
occupied  by  the  Hyatt  Hotel.  William  H.  Taylor  and 
Joseph  Boyd,  brother-in-law  of  General  Vaughn,  were 
of  the  first  that  did  business  in  that  store-house. 
I  think  others  too  at  different  times  sold  goods  there. 
General  Vaughn  was  elected  sheriff  in  1859.  I  do  not 
remember  whether  this  was  his  first  or  second  term. 

When  the  Civil  War  came  up  he  raised  the  first  com- 
pany in  Monroe  County,  of  which  he  became  captain, 
that  with  other  companies  formed  the  first  regiment 
raised  in  Tennessee  for  the  Southern  Confederacy.  He 
was  elected  colonel  of  this  regiment.  Although  this  was 
the  first  regiment  raised  in  the  state,  it  was  the  third 
mustered  in  by  the  Confederacy  at  Lynchburg,  Va. 
Owing  to  a  railroad  accident  between  Knoxville  and 
L^mchburg  they  were  delayed  and  two  other  regiments, 
I  think  Turney's  and  Hatton's,  got  ahead  of  them.   Thus 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  331 

Vaughn's  regiment  instead  of  being  the  first  as  it  should 
have  been  became  the  3rd  Tennessee  Regiment,  Vobm- 
teer  Infantr3^ 

Colonel  Vaughn's  command  captured  the  first  pieces 
of  artillery  taken  in  the  war  at  the  bridge  in  Romney, 
Va.,  June,  1861.  He  was  engaged  in  numerous  battles 
in  many  parts  of  the  Confederacy  during  the  Civil  War 
from  the  first  Battle  of  Manassas  until  the  end  in  1865 
when  he  w^as  promoted  to  the  rank  of  brigadier  general. 

General  Vaughn  was  in  command  of  the  cavalry  es- 
corting President  Davis  to  Washington,  Ga.,  and  was 
the  last  organized  body  of  cavalry  of  the  C.  S.  A.  to 
surrender. 

A  part  of  the  treasure  belonging  to  the  Confederacy 
was  divided  among  his  soldiers.  Daughters  of  the  Con- 
federacy here  at  Sweetwater  have  considerable  of  Gen- 
eral Vaughn's  war  history.  It  is  very  voluminous.  I 
give  the  following  from  a  letter  by  Mrs.  Lua  Nixon,  now 
deceased  of  733  Peachtree  Street,  Atlanta,  Ga.,  dated 
July  9,  1913.  Mrs.  General  Jno.  C.  Vaughn,  her 
father-in-law%  James  C.  Vaughn  and  three  daughters, 
Margaret,  Lua  and  Mary,  were  arrested  (at  their  home 
in  Sweetwater)  June,  1864,  by  order  of  General  Sher- 
man. The  original  order  is  in  possession  of  Mrs.  Nixon 
and  reads  as  follows : 

"Headquarters  Military  division  of  the  Mississippi,  Nashville,  Tenn., 
July  27th,  1854.  Special  order  No.  91.  It  appearing  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  the  Maj.  Gen.  commanding  that  the  following  named  persons 
are  implicated  in  corresponding  with  the  enemy  beyond  our  lines,  it 
is  hereby  ordered  that  they  be  sent  to  Jeffersonville,  Ind.,  there  to 
remain  in  the  care  of  the  Provost  Marshal  under  Military  surveillance 
during  the  continuance  of  the  present  war,  the  quarter  master  de- 
partment will  furnish  the  transportation  necessary  to  carry  out  this 
order.  By  order  of  Maj.  Gen.  Sherman.  M.  Rochester,  assistant  ad- 
jutant general." 

The  same  day  the  family  of  Judge  T.  Nixon  VanDyke 
were  arrested  and  joined  General  Vaughn's  family. 
They  were  taken  to  Nashville  in  a  box  car,  the  prison- 
ers Mrs.  Vaughn  and  Mrs.  VanDyke,  and  the  seven  chil- 
dren were  confined  in  one  small  room  for  days  await- 
ing their  orders.  During  the  time  of  their  confinement 
every  effort  was  being  put  forth  by  influential  Union 
friends  and  friends  in    the    North,    through    Governor 


332  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Johnson  (then  military  governor)  of  Tennessee  and 
President  Lincoln  to  have  the  order  changed.  Judge 
VanDyke's  family  were  allowed  to  give  bond  and  they 
were  released  but  the  original  order  was  carried  out 
as  to  Genei^al  Vaughn's  family.  Several  months  later 
General  Vaughn  sent  scouts  to  arrest  the  family  of  a 
Federal  general  in  Kentucky  and  held  them  as  hostages 
till  arrangements  were  made  for  exchange.  Every- 
where the  family  were  held  as  prisoners  in  Louisville, 
Cincinnati  and  Baltimore,  they  found  friends  and  s^nn- 
pathizers  with  the  Confederacy  who  gave  them  aid  and 
alleviated  the  condition  of  their  confinement.  Later  the 
family  were  confined  in  Fortress  Monroe  awaiting  ex- 
change. President  Davis  made  every  arrangement  that 
General  Vaughn's  family  be  received  and  cared  for  by 
the  exchange  commissioners  Major  Ould,  and  Captain 
Hatch,  and  also  in  Richmond  mitil  joined  by  General 
Vaughn. 

After  the  Civil  War  General  Vaughn,  following  the 
example  of  the  Inmans  and  R.  T.  Wilson,  formerly  of 
Loudon,  and  many  other  East  Tennesseans  moved  to 
New  York  City  to  go  into  business.  Some  of  the  East 
Tennesseans  who  went  there  were  eminently  success- 
ful, and  became  very  wealthy ;  but  General  Vaughn  was 
more  fitted  for  w^ork  in  the  open  with  the  musket  and  the 
sword,  than  to  contend  for  commercial  supremacy 
among  the  trained  business  men  of  Wall  Street ;  he  knew 
nothing  of  their  methods. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  his  wife  in  1869,  he  returned 
to  Tennessee.  Being  very  popular  he  engaged  in  pol- 
itics. He  received  the  democratic  nomination  for  sen- 
ator in  1871  from  the  Seventh  Senatorial  District :  com- 
prising the  counties  of  Meigs,  McMinn,  Polk  and  Mon- 
roe. He  was  elected  by  a  large  majority  and  became 
senator  from  this  district  in  the  Thirty-seventh  General 
Assembly  of  the  state,  which  began  its  session  in  Nash- 
ville, October  1,  1871.  Although  he  had  never  been  leg- 
islator before  he  was  elected  speaker  of  the  senate.  He 
probably  could  have  gotten  almost  any  office  he  sought 
in  the  political  field  but  about  this  time  he  was  married 
a  second  time  to  Miss  Florence  Jones,  of  Thomasville, 
Ga.,  and  settled  there.  He  preferred  the  quiet  of  a  plan- 
ter's life  to  the  scramble  for  office. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALiLEY  333 

As  a  military  commander  his  bravery  was  unques- 
tioned, lie  was  almost  too  fearless.  He  preferred  to  lead 
rather  than  direct.  He  considered  it  was  his  business 
to  fight  the  enemy  wherever  he  met  them.  General  For- 
rest's  motto  was  "To  get  there  first  with  the  most  men.'* 
General  Vaughn  did  not  seem  to  regard  numbers;  he 
rarely  waited  to  see  whether  he  or  the  enemy  were  the 
more  numerous  and  the  way  he  found  out  whether  he 
could  whip  them  or  not  was  to  fight. 

In  the  various  offices  and  positions  he  held  he  was' 
actuated  by  a  high  sense  of  duty  and  love  of  his  country 
and  his  fellowman.  Of  him  it  might  be  said  slightly 
changing  the  phraseology  of  a  Confederate  comman- 
der, ''he  seen  his  duty  and  he  done  his  damndest." 
He,  himself,  was  modest  and  would  have  been  far  from 
saying  anything  of  the  kind.  He  was  intensely  reverent 
in  his  turn  of  mind  as  shown  by  his  letters  from  Mexico 
and  during  the  Civil  War, 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church,  but  toward  the  last  of  his  life  he  belonged  to 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  He  was  one  of 
the  few  born  leaders  of  men.  He  never  had  the  slight- 
est trouble  in  arresting  a  criminal,  or  being  obeyed  by 
those  under  him. 

Before  he  returned  from  the  Civil  War  many  rough 
characters  who  wanted  to  make  themselves  conspicuous 
made  their  threats  of  what  they  would  do  if  he  ever  came 
in  their  neighborhoods.  After  he  returned,  he  having 
heard  of  these  threats,  seemed  to  take  pleasure  in  meet- 
ing these  very  fellows  alone,  and  probably  unarmed. 
He  was  never  insulted  and  the  very  ones  who  had  threat- 
ened him  -were  the  first  ones  to  welcome  him.  They 
probably  voted  for  him  when  he  ran  for  office. 

These  Jacksonian  qualities  of  the  eagle  eye  and  daunt- 
less personality  overawed  them.  They  forgot  he  was 
the  man  they  had  started  out  to  humiliate.  The  chil- 
dren of  General  and  Nancy  Vaughn  were: 

Margaret,  b.  1848.  Died  in  1873.  Married  Timothy 
Gibson,  of  Athens,  Tenn.,  at  Thomasville,  Ga.,  Septem- 
ber, 1866.  They  then  lived  four  3^ears  in  Bainbridge, 
Ga.,  coming  back  to  Athens,  Tenn.,  in  1871.  He  was 
born  in  Gerard  County,  Ky.,  April  30,  1834.  Was  one 
of  a  familv  of  fifteen  children,  he  being    the    seventh. 


334  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

His  father,  the  Rev.  Elias  Gibson,  came  to  Columbus, 
on  the  Hiwassee  River  in  1844.  Margaret  and  Timothy 
Gibson  had  one  child,  Mary  Lua,  who  was  born  at  Bain- 
bridge,  Ga.,  on  December  5,  1867.  She  married  the  Hon. 
W.  B.  Miller,  at  Athens,  Tenn.,  who  is  a  noted  lawyer 
of  Chattanooga,  residing  on  Lookout  Mountain.  They 
are  the  parents  of  four  children,  two  living  and  two 
dead;  the  living  (1916)  are  Burkett  Miller,  practising 
law^  in  Chattanooga,  and  Vaughn  Miller,  studying  law 
at  Harvard  College. 

The  second  daughter  of  General  Vaughn  was  Lua, 
who  married  W.  M.  Nixon,  formerly  of  Ohio.  They  re- 
sided in  Athens,  Tenn.,  until  1895,  when  they  moved  to 
Atlanta,  Ga.  He  is  president  of  the  Atlanta  Woolen 
Mills.  Their  son,  Vaughn,  was  born  September  14,  1878. 
Mrs.  Nixon  died  December  23,  1914. 

Mary  Vaughn  was  born  March  6,  1855.  She  married 
Frank  B.  McElwee  of  McMinn  County.  He  was  born 
in  Meigs  County  on  March  12,  1844.  He  was  the  son 
of  Thomas  B.  McElwee.  He  was  a  manufacturer  of 
cotton  yarns.  He  resides  (1915)  in  California — post- 
office,  Stockton.  Mrs.  McElwee  died  at  Athens,  Tenn., 
on  July  30,  1891.    Their  children  were : 

1.  Lua,  born  February  16,  1878. 

2.  Florence,  b.  March  31,  1879.    Died  March  5,  1903. 

3.  Mattie,  b.  October  16,  1880;  d.  February  5,  1904. 

4.  Marv,  b.  August  25,  1885. 

5.  Frank,  b.  Ap^ril  4,  1882. 

6.  Vaughn,  b.  October  6,  1883.  He  is  a  civil  engineer 
at  Los  Angeles,  and  is  unmarried. 

7.  Thomas,  b.  June  19,  1888.  Married  Martha  Mar- 
tinke,  at  Los  Angeles  January,  1915. 

1.  Lua  McElwee  married  Charles  D.  Chandler,  of 
Rockford,  Tenn.,  December  28,  1898,  now  (1915)  a  mer- 
chant at  Mar>^alle.  One  daughter,  Margaret  McElwee 
Chandler,  b.  January  30,  1901. 

3.  Mattie  McElwee  married  John  L.  Anderson  Jan- 
uarv,  1898.     Their  children  are: 

Mildred  M.,  b.  March,  1899. 

Larnard,  b.  November,  1900. 

Thomas,  b.  May,  1903. 

5.  Frank  McElwee  is  in  the  real  estate  business  at  San 
Diego,  Cal. 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  335 

4  Mary  McElwee  married  C.  P.  Griggs,  of  Stockton, 
CaL,  on  October  20,  1906.  He  died  March  6,  1913.  She 
lives  at  Manteca,  Cal.  Tlieyhad  one  daughter,  Mamie, 
b.  July  12,  1907. 

General  Vaughn's  second  wife  was  Florence  Jones,  ot 
Thomasville,  Ga.,  whom  he  married  in  1871.  One  daugh- 
ter, Mrs.  E.  A.  Armand.  Mrs.  Florence  Vaughn  died 
at  Savannah,  Ga.,  in  1890. 

General  Vaughn  died  on  plantation  near  Thomasville, 
Ga.,  on  ,  187 — . 


Thomas  L.  Uptox. 

Three  brothers,  William  A..  Thomas  L.,  and  Joseph 
Upton,  came  from  Blount  to  Monroe  County.  William 
A.  settled  on  Four  Mile  Branch,  Dr.  Joseph  Upton  in 
Madisonville,  and  Thomas  L.  in  Sweetwater  Valley. 
The  latter  resided  in  the  old  Sliger  house  wdiere  I.  T. 
Lenoir  afterwards  lived.  He  moved  from  there  to  what 
was  afterwards  know^n  as  the  Upton  place  on  Pond 
Creek,  one  mile  from  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
camp  ground. 

On  the  24th  of  February,  1854,  he  conveyed  to  I.  T. 
Lenoir,  for  the  consideration  of  $2,000,  the  northwest 
quarter  of  section  11,  township  3,  range  1,  east,  to  which 
deed  Jno.  C.  Vaughn  and  N.  W.  Haun  were  the  subscrib- 
ing witnesses.  Thomas  Upton's  wife  w^as  Anne  Year- 
out.    Their  children  were: 

1.  Bettie ;  2.  Thomas  L. ;  3.  William  A.,  and  4.  N^ncy. 

Bettie  married  James  Blair,  who  was  a  physician  in 
Sweetwater  in  the  first  beginning  of  the  town.  They 
had  several  children,  number  not  known  to  me,  but  the 
oldest  one  was  named  Annie,  and  youuger  than  she  were 
tw^in  girls,  one  named  Inez.  About  the  beginning  of  the 
Civil  War  he  moved  to  Corsicana,  and  then  to  Hender- 
son, Rusk  County,  Texas. 

William  A.  married  Mrs.  Ballard  of  Pond  Creek,  who 
was  the  daughter  of  Reps  Jones.  Some  time  in  the 
eighties  she  came  to  Sweetwater  and  he  went  to 
Texas.  For  some  time  she  was  proprietress  of  the  Up- 
ton Inn,  now  the  Hyatt  Hotel.  Their  children  were: 
Byrd,  Thomas,  William  and  Mamie. 


336  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Nancy  Upton,  fourth  child  of  Thomas  L.  and  Anna 
Upton,  married  Robert,  son  of  J.  D.  Jones  (whom  see). 

David  Caldwell  married  Yearout.     He  was 

a  farmer  and  lived  on  a  farm  adjoining  Thomas  Upton. 
They  had  one  daughter,  Bettie,  who  married  Charles 
H.  Jones,  son  of  Reps  Jones.  Helen  Graliam,  whose 
mother  was  also  a  Yearout,  resided  with  Mr.  Caldwell. 
She  married  Charles  Cannon  of  Sweetwater  ^wliom  see). 

Hon.  Joseph  Walker. 

He  was  the  third  son  and  sixth  child  of  Joseph  and 
Mary  Howard  Walker,  who  were  married  in  1797.  Jos- 
eph Walker,  Sr.,  moved  to  this  county  perhaps  in  the  late 
twenties  and  settled  in  Fork  Creek  Valley,  the  old  home- 
stead being  on  the  west  side  of  the  creek  in  the  meadow 
between  what  is  now  the  Vineyard  farm  and  the  old 
Kile  place.  Here  they  reared  a  large  family,  one  of  their 
children  dying  in  childhood.     The  children  were: 

1.  Elizabeth  Caroline,  m.  Nicholas  Vineyard. 

2.  Caswell  Lincoln,  moved  to  Georgia. 

3.  David  Perkins,  was  a  farmer  living  in  Fork  Creek 
Valley. 

4.  Nancy,  m.  James  Harvey  Johnston.  They  lived 
on  a  farm,  now  the  Howard  place,  three  miles  southeast 
of  Sweetwater. 

5.  Sarah,  m.  Cunningham. 

6.  Joseph,  b,  in  Grainger  County,  September  10,  1813. 

7.  Nicholas  Grant. 

8.  John  Horn,  d.  on  the  plains  en  route  to  California, 
August  22,  1849. 

9.  Stirling  Creed,  d.  when  a  child. 

10.  Mary  Anna,  m.  Colonel  John  A.  Rowan. 

The  family  largely  settled  about  the  father's  home 
and  at  one  time  the  sons  and  sons-in-law  owned  con- 
tiguous farms  from  Christiansburg  church  to  the  Davy 
Walker  farm  near  Glenloch. 

Joseph,  the  sixth  child  of  Mary  and  Joseph  Walker, 
Sr.,  was  three  times  married. 

First  to  Caroline  Cleveland,  daughter  of  Rev.  Eli 
Cleveland  on  March  1,  1838,  Robert  Snead,  M.  G.  She 
died  August  28,  1840. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  337 

Second,  he  married  on  July  22,  1845,  Elizabeth  Jane 
Prater,  R.  Snead,  M.  G.  She  died  on  January  14,  1846. 
Third,  he  married  Lodusky  Jones,  the  sister  of  Joseph 
D.  and  Jesse  Jones,  on  FelDruary  2,  1848,  the  Rev.  R. 
Snead  again  officiating.  Her  death  oc<?urred  on  Sep- 
tember 25,  1875. 

Mr.  Walker  was  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church  and 
of  the  F.  A.  Masons.  Like  a  great  many  of  the  old  line 
whigs  he  was  a  Union  man  and  opposed  to  secession 
until  the  state  voted  to  secede  and  then  he  cast  his  lot 
with  the  state.  In  August,  1861,  he  was  elected  repre- 
sentative from  Monroe  County  to  the  General  Assem- 
bly, and  was  a  member  of  Governor  Harris '  Legislature 
at  the  time  it  left  Nashville,  because  of  the  occupation 
of  that  part  of  the  state  by  Federal  troops.  Mr.  Walker 
was  noted  in  his  community  for  the  generous  help  to 
young  men  starting  for  themselves  in  life.  A  few 
years  ago  when  Squire  William  Sample  died,  in 
tribute  to  his  memor}'',  his  son  wrote  how  his  father's 
early  start  in  life  had  been  due  to  Mr.  Walker's  help, 
in  tools,  farming  implements  and  opportunities  secured 
by  the  latter 's  aid. 

Joseph  Walker  left  four  daughters,  all  children  of  his 
last  wife.     These  daughters  have  all  been  teachers. 

(1)  Mary  Caroline,  m.  J.  Harrison  Lowry  August  16, 
1871.  They  lived  at  the  old  homestead  on  Fork  Creek 
until  1882  when  they  came  to  Sweetwater.  He  has  been 
a  merchant,  traveling  man  and  recorder  of  Sweetwater 
in  turn.  He  is  a  Presbyterian  and  she  a  Baptist.  Mrs. 
Lowry  has  been  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools  of  Sweet- 
water since  1895  and  still  is  in  1916.  J.  Harrison  Lowry 
died  on  September  25,  1916.     Their  children  are: 

Carl  Jones,  b.  January  29,  1875;  m.  Helen  Gardner, 
of  Charleston,  S.  C,  October  1,  1905.  They  have  one 
son,  Carl  J.,  Jr.,  b.  September  5,  1907.  Carl  J.,  Sr.,  is 
now  (1916)  an  accountant  in  the  railway  office  at  Hat- 
tiesburg,  Miss. 

Cleveland  Morton,  b.  October  31,  1881 ;  m.  Schiller 
Ferguson  in  1908.  He  is  a  railway  clerk  at  Hattiesburg, 
Miss. 

Helen,  is  a  music  teacher. 

Emmett  Ramsey,  b.  April  11,  1885,  is  a  railway  clerk 


338  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALiLEY 

at  Meridian,  Miss.     He  married  Pearl  Ten,  of  Mobile, 
Miss.,  on  January  29,  1913. 

(2)  Elizabeth  Jane,  second  daughter  of  Joseph  and 
Lodusky  Walker,  was  born  on  Fork  Creek.  She  taught 
in  country,  near  Philadelphia,  until  she  went  to  Chi- 
cago in  1882.  She  graduated  in  Colonel  Francis  A. 
Parker's  Cook  County  Normal.  She  then  taught  twenty- 
four  years  in  the  public  schools  of  Chicago,  where  she 
now  (1916)  lives. 

(3)  Emma  Alice,  was  born  in  Fork  Creek  Valley.  She 
was  teacher  at  Dallas,  Texas,  from  1882  until  June  1, 
1904,  when  she  married  Colonel  Joseph  F.  Swords.  He 
resides  at  Dallas. 

(4)  Laura  Eugenia,  b.  on  Fork  Creek.  She  moved  to 
Dallas,  Texas,  where  she  taught  some  years  in  the  city 
schools.  She  is  now  (1916),  and  has  been  for  ten  years, 
Sunday-school  visitor  and  pastor's  assistant  in  the  First 
Baptist  Church  of  Dallas,  of  which  the  Rev.  George 
Truett  is  pastor. 


S.  Y.  B.  Williams. 

Information  not  known  to  the  writer  was  obtained 
mostly  from  Taylor  Williams  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn. 

Subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Madisonville,  Tenn., 
March  30,  1830.  His  father  was  William  Williams  of 
Madisonville,  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  that  toAvn.  His 
mother  was  Polly  Cline,  a  cousin  of  Jacob  Cline  who 
lived  near  Loudon,  Tenn. 

When  but  a  boy  he  went  to  Reagans  and  clerked  for 
J.  A.  and  C.  W.  Coffin. 

When  Sweetwater  began  to  be  a  town,  J:his  store  was 
moved  here,  and  he  became  a  partner  of  J.  A.  Coffin.  At 
different  times  he  was  in  partnership  with  J.  A.  Wright, 
A.  C.  Humphreys,  W.  H.  Taylor. 

During  the  Civil  War  he  purchased  from  James  A. 
Wright  a  farm  one  and  a  half  miles  from  Sweetwater, 
now  the  Kilpatrick  farm,  which  he  afterwards  sold  to 
Isaac  Benson.  During  the  latter  part  of  the  Civil  War 
he  acted  as  agent  for  the  East  Tennessee  and  Georgia 
Railroad  at  Sweetwater. 

After  the  Civil  War  he  went  to  Knoxville  and   was 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VA1.LEY  339 

chief  clerk  of  the  East  Tennessee  and  Georgia  Railroad; 
after  the  consolidation  of  this  road  with  the  East  Ten- 
nessee and  Virginia  Railroad,  he  was  sent  to  Bristol  in 
the  same  capacity.  Later  he  was  made  general  agent, 
which  place  he  filled  for  nearly  twenty  years.  After 
he  left  Bristol  and  the  railroad  employment  he  went  to 
Chattanooga  and  engaged  in  wholesale  and  retail  coal 
business ;  this  he  carried  on  there  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  January  19,  1908.  He  was  buried  in  Forest 
Hill  Cemetery. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church  and  a  Ma- 
son. He  was  universally  popular  and  was  a  fine  busi- 
ness man.  He  did  much  in  the  early  days  to  build  up 
the  trade  of  Sweetwater.  He  was  a  liberal  giver  to  all 
benevolent  purposes. 

He  was  twice  married,  first  to  Mary  L.  Jones,  daugh- 
ter of  J.  D,  Jones,  of  Philadelphia,  on  October  30,  1856. 
She  lived  only  a  few  years.  They  had  one  son,  Charles 
Williams,  who  died  when  a  young  man. 

His  second  wife  was  Barbara  Bogart,  daughter  of 
Solomon  Bogart,  also  of  Philadelphia.  They  were  mar- 
ried in  February,  1860.  She  died  July  22,  1866,  at  the 
age  of  29  years  and  9  months.  She  was  the  mother  of 
three  children  who  all  died  in  infancy. 


J.  W.  D.  Williams 

Was  born  at  Madisonville,  January  9,  1841.  His  father 
was  William  Williams.  His  mother  was  Sarah  Steele 
of  Madisonville.  He  was  therefore  a  half  brother  to 
S.  Y.  B.  Williams.  He  went  to  Sweetwater  at  the  close 
of  the  Civil  War,  entered  the  produce  business  with 
William  Calfee. 

He  married  Florence  Stowe,  granddaughter  of  Thorn- 
ton C.  Goddard.  He  moved  to  Knoxville  afterwards 
and  was  in  the  railroad  business.  He  died  in  Chatta- 
nooga December,  1910.  Their  li\dng  children  are:  Lil- 
lian (Mrs.  Albert  Welcker),  St.  Elmo;  McChesney  Wil- 
liams, Chattanooga ;  James,  also  Chattanooga,  and  Ruby. 


340  history  of  sweetwater  valley 

The  Yearwoods. 

There  are  families  some  members  of  which  from  gen- 
eration to  generation  are  leading  and  distinguished  men 
renowned  alike  in  war  and  peace ;  who  tower  above  the 
great  majority  of  their  fellow  citizens  through  long 
periods.  Such  were  the  Lees  of  Virginia,  the  Harrisons 
of  Virginia,  Illinois  and  Indiana,  and  the  Adams  of 
Massachusetts.  There  are  certain  individuals  of  fam- 
ilies that  stand  alone  or  who  are  distinguished  far  above 
any  of  the  name,  whose  parentage  gave  no  promise  of 
renown  and  whose  name  in  a  measure  died  with  them. 
Of  such  were  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Patrick  Henry. 

There,  are  others  called  in  England  the  great  middle 
class.  They  are  well  educated,  industrious,  thrifty  and 
hospitable.  They  are  law  abiding  citizens,  well  enough 
to  do  to  practise  the  amenities  and  courtesies  of  civil- 
ized life,  brave  and  patriotic  enough  to  answer  to  the 
call  of  their  country  when  menaced  by  foes  foreign  or 
domestic.  These  have  been  the  backbone  and  bulwarks 
of  our  states  and  nation.  They  may  not  furnish  presi- 
dents and  governors  in  times  of  peace,  nor  generals  in 
war  times,  but  in  war  they  are  the  men  behind  the  guns 
and  in  peace  stand  for  law  and  order,  morality  and  edu- 
cation. Such  a  family  have  been  the  Yearwoods.  Some 
of  them  came  here  in  colonial  times.  It  is  but  natural 
that  long  residence  and  ancestral  traditions  should  in- 
tensify a  love  for  home  and  country.  The  native,  other 
things  being  equal,  is  more  patriotic  and  has  a  greater 
desire  for  the  prosperity  of  his  state  than  a  late  arrival 
from  tha.  fatherland  whether  it  is  Italy,  Germany  or 
Russia.  Being  educated  here  he  better  understands  the 
genius  of  our  government.  The  colonists  mostly  came 
from  England,  they  of  course  spoke  the  English  lan- 
guage and  their  customs  and  laws  were  taken  therefrom. 
Therefore  an  English  immigrant  actuated  by  a  love  of 
freedom  was  almost  one  of  us  before  he  arrived  here. 
For  these  reasons  we  feel  it  not  inapt  to  speak  of  the 
ancestors  of  the  Yearwoods  that  came  to  Sweetwater 
Valley. 

Wm.  Yearwood,  whom  we  call  the  first,  that  is  the  first 
who  settled  in  this  country  of  the  Yearwood  family, 
came  from  England.    Tlie  approximate  date  even  is  not 


HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  341 

known  but  likely  somewhere  from  1730  to  1740  and  made 
his  home  in  Charleston,  S.  C.  He  there  reared  a  fam- 
ily. He  lived  to  be  90  years  of  age.  This  was  remark- 
able as  at  that  time  Charleston  and  the  country  round 
were  very  much  subject  to  yellow  and  miasmatic  fevers 
which  often  proved  fatal. 

He  was  an  extremely  expert  fencing  master  and 
taught  the  youth  of  his  city  that  art.  To  know  how  to 
use  the  sword  was  part  of  a  liberal  education.  It  was 
a  day  when  an  insult  was  wiped  out  with  blood  on  the 
field  of  honor.  To  fight  a  duel  was  not  contrary  to  law 
and  many  a  one  was  fought  with  swords  as  weapons. 

When  the  Revolutionary  began  Wm.  Yearwood,  the 
I,  was  likely  of  too  advanced  an  age  to  stand  hard- 
ships of  a  campaign,  or  from  his  profession  he  would 
have  become  a  soldier.  No  mention  is  made  of  his  en- 
listing. 

However  his  son,  Wm.  Yearwood,  whom  for  con- 
venience we  will  call  the  II,  was  a  member  of  Captain 
Wm.  Alexander's  company  and  served  under  Gen- 
eral Wm.  Sumpter  during  the  Revolutionary  War.  He 
w^as  wounded  in  the  arm  at  the  Battle  of  Ramsours  Mill 
Pond  and  Mrs.  Ramsour  cut  the  bullet  out  with  her 
husband's  razor.  He  was  the  ancestor  of  Wm.  Year- 
wood  w^ho  lived  in  Sweetwater  Valley. 

Wm.  Yearwood,  III. 

This  Wm.  Yearwood  was  born  in  Charleston,  S.  C, 
on  January  8,  1780.  He  had  three  brothers  and  two 
sisters.  He  was  educated  and  grew  to  manhood  in 
Charleston.  He  volunteered  in  the  war  of  1812.  He 
was  in  Captain  Sublett's  company  in  a  regiment  led  by 
Colonel  Wm.  Henderson  and  served  under  General 
Jackson.  He  was  in  service  all  through  the  war  and 
when  it  ended  was  honorably  discharged.  At  the  age 
of  25  he  married  at  Charleston.  His  wife  lived  only 
a  few  years,  dying  in  1818.  One  son,  Elijah,  was 
born  April  13,  1807.  Not  a  great  while  after  her 
death  he  married  Martha  Neely  on  January  24,  1809. 
She  was  born  October  24,  1789.  She  was  the  daughter 
of  John  and  Martha  Dickson  Neely.  He  (Neely)  was 
1st  lieutenant  under  General  Nathaniel  Greene    in   the 


342  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAULEY 

Revolutionary  War.  He  was  wounded  at  the  Battle 
of  Eutaw  Springs  and  was  lamed  for  life.  Wm,  Year- 
w^ood  soon  after  his  second  marriage  moved  to  Bun- 
combe County,  N.  C,  remaining  there  for  a  few  years. 
From  there  he  went  to  Dutch  Bottoms  on  the  French 
Broad  River  in  Cocke  County,  Tenn.  In  1814  he 
bought  a  farm  in  Rutherford  County,  Tenn.,  near 
Murfreesboro.  He  engaged  in  general  farming  and  the 
raising  of  thoroughbred  horses.  In  1824  he  sold  out  in 
Rutherford  County  and  came  to  Sweetwater  Valley,  con- 
tracted or  bought  part  of  what  has  been  known  for  a 
number  of  years  as  the  Robt.  Snead  farm  and  moved 
his  family  there.  About  1836  he  bought  the  J.  H.  Pickel 
farm  (now  known  as  that)  where  he  resided  for  several 
years.  He  sold  again  and  purchased  a  farm  in  McMinn 
County,  near  Reagan's.  He  lived  there  until  the  tinie 
of  his  death  which  occurred  August  5,  1865,  at  the  age 
of  85  years  and  seven  months.  His  wife  Martha  Neely 
Yearwood  died  on  February  14,  1867,  aged  78  years  and 
4  months.  They  were  both  buried  in  Netherland  Cem- 
etery near  Mount  Harmony  Church  in  McMinn  County. 

It  is  said  that  in  the  war  of  1812  he  belonged  to  Cap- 
tain Sublett's  company  in  a  regiment  led  by  Colonel 
Wm.  Henderson  under  command  of  Greneral  Jackson. 
If  so  he  must  have  volunteered  from  either  Buncombe 
County,  N.  C,  or  Cocke  County,  Tenn.,  because  he  was 
not  in  South  Carolina,  if  the  dates  given  heretofore  are 
right  and  he  did  not  return  there.  Wm.  Yearwood  was 
in  the  Seminole  War,  volunteering  with  his  son,  Thomas 
in  1835,  in  Captain  Thomas  Prigmore's  company; 
regimental  officer  Colonel  McClelland,  under  General 
Newton  Cannon.  He  was  sociable,  hospitable,  fond  of 
amusements,  fiddling  and  dancing.  He  taught  all  of  his 
children  both  girls  and  boys,  who  showed  any  talent 
that  way,  to  play  the  fiddle. 

Changing  an  old  rhyme  somewhat  it  might  be  said 
of  him: 

He  shot  the  musket,  he  swung  the  sword 

Fiddler  and  fighter  through, 
Champion  of  lady,  hater  of  lord 

Dancer  and  farmer  too, 

Being  quite  versatile  in  his  accomplishments. 


HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  343 

Wm.  Yearwood,  III,  and  Martha  Neeley  Yearwood, 
second  wife,  had  seven  children:  four  sons  and  three 
daughters. 

Child  of  first  wife  was  Elijah  Yearwood,  born  April 
13,  1807,  Charleston,  S.  C.  He  married  one  Prudence 
Morrow  and  went  to  Arkansas. 

Children  of  second  wife: 

Thomas  Yearwood,  born  April  2,  1810,  in  Buncombe 
County,  N.  C. ;  Nancy  Neeley  Yearwood,  July  24,  1814, 
in  Rutherford  County,  Tenn. ;  William  Yearwood,  born 
December  24,  1816,  in  Rutherford  County,  Tenn.;  Ho- 
race Burton  Yearwood,  born  March  3,  1820,  in  Ruther- 
ford County,  Tenn. ;  Sarah  Dickson  Yearwood,  born  May 
26,  1823,  in  Rutherford  County,  Tenn. ;  James  Morrow 
Yearwood,  born  February  5,  1825,  died  January  12, 
1863,  in  Monroe  County,  Tenn. ;  Martha  Jane  Yearwood, 
born  July  24,  1829,  in  Monroe  County,  Tenn. 

Colonel  Horace  Burton  Yearwood 

Was  born  at  Murfreeslioro,  Rutherford  County,  Tenn., 
March  13,  1820.  He  died  at  his  residence  near  County 
Line  two  and  one-half  miles  southwest  of  Sweetwater, 
on  June  17,  1897.  He  was  buried  in  old  Sweetwater 
cemetery.  He  married  Elizabeth  Esther  Scruggs, 
daughter  of  Elder  John  Scruggs,  September  30,  1847, 
Robert  Snead,  M.  G.,  officiating.  She  died  October  25, 
1905.  He  was  a  member  of  Co.  "H"  (Captain  Jno.  D. 
Lowry)  2nd  Reg.  Tenn.  Vol.  Inf.  in  the  Mexican  War, 
joining  in  1845.    He  was  colonel  in  the  state  militia. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War  he  was  quarter- 
master with  the  rank  of  colonel  in  C.  S.  A.  under  Gen- 
eral Beauregard  and  stationed  at  Augusta,  Ga.  He  was 
a  charter  member  of  Sweetwater  Lodge,  No.  292,  F.  & 
A.  M.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church  at 
County  Line.  He  was  president  of  the  Fair  Associa- 
tion which  held  its  meetings  at  Madisonville  for  a  num- 
ber of  years.  He  was  the  president  and  moving  spirit 
in  the  Sweetwater  Fair  Association,  whose  grounds  and 
track  were  one  mile  west  of  Sweetwater.  Being  an  au- 
thority on  all  kinds  of  stock,  especially  horses,  he  was 
in  great  demand  at  all  the  fairs  in  East  Tennessee,  and 


344  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAUjEY 

also  for  the  reasons  that  he  was  fair  and  impartial  in 
his  decisions.  He  wrote  frequently  for  the  Sweetwater 
papers  a  series  of  articles  which  he  called  ''Horse 
Talk."  He  was  a  farmer.  He  with  his  brother  Wil- 
liam, purchased  school  land  in  1845.  H.  B.  obtained  the 
grant  from  the  state  No.  4836  of  date  April  19,  1855, 
signed  by  Governor  Andrew  Johnson.  At  different 
times  he  bought  small  parcels  to  add  to  it  from  F.  A. 
Patton,  J.  J.  Browder  and  S.  J.  Rowan.  He  was  the 
first  man  on  this  line  of  road  to  place  windows  in  his 
barn,  saying  that  horses  needed  light  as  well  as  food 
and  other  attentions.  Some  who  laughed  at  him  after- 
ward followed  his  example. 

He  was  genial,  jovial  and  popular  and  was  always  a 
welcome  visitor  to  the  town.  He  was  tall  and  of  impos- 
ing presence  and  showed  to  a  great  advantage  on  horse- 
back, being  a  natural  born  horseman.  He  was  therefore 
solicited  and  led  many  processions  both  masonic  and 
political  and  was  always  equal  to  the  occasion. 

The  information  contained  in  these  sketches  not  per- 
sonally known  to  the  w^riter  was  obtained  from  Miss 
Miranda  E.  and  Daniel  Bone  Yearwood,  to  whom  ac- 
knowledgment is  hereby  made. 

His  children  were : 

1.  William  Cerro  Gordo,  b.  July  12,  1848.  Unmarried 
and  lives  at  Sweetwater. 

2.  John  Scruggs,  b.  January  12,  1850;  d.  August  1, 
1903,  at  Riceville,  Tenn. 

3.  Richard  J.,  b.  August  8,  1853. 

4.  Lavinia  Ida,  b.  June  12,  1856;  d.  December  10, 
1890. 

5.  Horace  Burton,  b.  January  12,  1860.  Railway  con- 
ductor in  Mexico  for  fifteen  years.  Now  lives  at  San 
Antonio,  Texas. 

6.  Daniel  Boone,  b.  March  3,  1862.  Farmer  living  at 
Riceville,  Tenn. 

7.  James  Bennie,  b.  October  2,  1863.  Was  drowned 
June  9,  1873. 

8.  Francis  Carter,  b.  October  27,  1864.  Telegrapher 
in  the  employ  of  railroad  company  for  twenty-nine  years 
(1916).     Lives  at  Sweetwater,  Tenn. 

9.  Charli(s  b.  December  27,  1867;  d.  January,  1868. 

10.  Hugh,  b.  December  19,  1868;  d.  August  21,  1889. 


HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAliLEY  345 

John  Scruggs  Yearwood  was  first  a  railroad  employee 
and  then  editor  of  the  Monroe  Democrat  and  was  post- 
master at  Sweetwater  under  Cleveland's  first  adminis- 
tration. He  was  married  to  Mary  Belle  Fitzgerald, 
daughter  of  the  Eev.  J.  B.  Fitzgerald,  at  FuUen's  Sta- 
tion (now  Chncky  City,  Tenn.),  December  27,  1876. 
Their  children  are : 

Pearl,  b.  December  30,  1877;  d.  January  1,  1878. 

Ida  Zoe,  b.  at  Euchee,  Tenn.,  April  7, 1879.  Lives  with 
Boone  Yearwood. 

Sadie  Ethel,  b.  at  Euchee,  Tenn.,  March  15,  1881;  d. 
February  4,  1889. 

James  Horace,  b.  at  Sweetwater,  June  3,  1885.  Lives 
at  Knoxville,  Tenn. 

Ella  Hortense,  b.  Sweetwater,  June  2,  1885.  Lives  at 
Knoxville. 

Mack  Fitzgerald,  b.  Sweetwater,  May  26,  1887.  Re- 
sides in  Knoxville. 

Hugh  Gaines,  b.  Oaksdale,  Wash.    Lives  at  Knoxville. 

Mrs.  J.  S.  Yearwood  was  born  at  Waynesville,  N.  C, 
August  8,  1853.  She  died  at  Sweetwater,  January  4, 
1904. 

Richard  Jarnagin  Yearwood  married  Jennie  Walker, 
January  10,  1883.    (See  D.  H.  Cleveland.) 

Francis  Carter  Yearwood  married  Mattie  Moulton, 
February  10,  1891.  She  was  born  November  7,  1867, 
in  Meigs  County,  the  daughter  of  Jno.  P.  Moulton,  who 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Confederate  army.  Her  mother's 
name  was  Brady.  Their  children  were:  Esther,  d.  in 
infancy;  Francis  C,  Jr.,  b.  November  1,  1896.  Student 
at  Carson  and  Newman  College,  Jefferson  City,  Tenn. 

Wm.  Yearwood,  IV    (Mexican  War  Veteran). 

In  1845  he  and  his  brother  H.  B.,  purchased  a  farm 
near  County  Line  in  Monroe  County.  Soon  after  when 
the  call  for  volunteers  for  the  Mexican  War  came,  he 
with  his  brothers,  Thomas  and  H.  B.,  enlisted  in  Co. 
H  2nd  Reg.  Tenn.  Vol.  Inf.  The  officers  of  the  com- 
pany were:  John  D.  Lowry,  captain;  Wm.  Yearwood, 
1st  lieutenant;  John  Willson,  second  lieutenant;  and 
James  Forrest,  third  lieutenant.  They  were  ordered  to 
assemble  at  Memphis,  Tenn.,  and  there  in  June,  1846, 


346  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

they  were  sworn  into  service.  The  officers  of  the  Sec- 
ond Regiment  were:  J.  E.  Thomas,  colonel;  R.  D.  Al- 
lison, lieutentant-colonel ;  Richard  Waterhouse,  major. 
From  Memphis  they  took  steamers  to  New  Orleans,  La., 
and  embarked  in  ships  and  arrived  on  the  Brazos  River 
early  in  July,  1846.  He  participated  in  the  capture  of 
Monterey,  Mex.,  in  the  following  August.  After  the  cap- 
itulation of  Monterey  there  followed  a  four  months' 
armistice.  The  second  regiment  was  placed  under  the 
command  of  General  Scott.  They  marched  to  Tampico 
and  from  there  sailed  for  Vera  Cruz,  where  they  landed 
in  December.  The  siege  guns  opened  fire  on  the  city 
which  continued  for  several  days.  To  the  second  regi- 
ment was  assigned  the  task  of  assaulting  the  barricade 
which  defended  the  Maderine  Bridge.  It  was  taken. 
After  a  siege  of  seven  days  the  city  surrendered,  the 
castle  of  San  Juan  Ulloa  on  the  29th  of  December.  After 
the  conquest  of  Vera  Cruz  Greneral  Scott  soon  began  his 
triumphant  march  to  the  city  of  Mexico.  At  the  assault 
of  Cerro  Gordo  on  April  18,  1847,  the  second  regiment 
was  left  on  the  line.  The  assault  was  very  vigorous. 
Tlie  second  regiment  became  entangled  in  the  chapparal 
in  front  of  the  Mexican  fortifications  and  suffered  ter- 
ribly— their  loss  being  seventy-one.  Here  while  in  com- 
mand of  his  company  Lieutenant  Wm.  Yearwood  fell 
mortally  wounded  in  the  shoulder  and  side.  He  lived 
for  six  days,  dying  on  April  24.  After  the  expiration  of 
his  term  of  enlistment  his  brother,  Thomas  Yearwood, 
brought  his  body  home  to  McMinn  County  and  the  re- 
mains were  interred  in  the  cemetery  at  Athens. 

Thomas  Yearwood 

Was  born  in  Buncombe  County,  N.  C,  April  2,  1810. 
Died  May  24,  1889,  at  his  farm  two  and  one-half  miles 
southeast  of  Sweetwater,  buried  in  old  Sweetwater 
Cemetery.  He  lived  with  his  father,  Wm.  Yearwood, 
until  the  Seminole  War.  He  volunteered  with  "his  father 
in  that  war.  He  was  in  the  1st  Tenn.  Reg.  under  Colonel 
McClelland. 

He  volunteered  again  in  the  Mexican  War,  in  1846, 
joining  with  his  brothers,  Wm.  and  H.  B.  Yearwood, 
Co.  H  2nd  Tenn.  Reg.  Vol.  Inf.     They  rendezvoused  in 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  347 

Kjioxville.  Went  from  Knoxvill^'  to  Memphis  on  the 
steamboats  ''Knoxville"  and  "Harry  Hill."  Then  they 
went  to  New  Orleans  from  Memphis.  At  New  Orleans 
they  embarked  on  the  ships  Sevia,  Virginia  and  Endora 
for  the  Brazos  River.  He  w^as  at  the  capture  of  Mon- 
terey, Mexico.,  in  August.  The  climate  and  water  were 
unhealthful  and  many  got  sick  and  died,  even  more 
than  were  killed  Ij^y  the  bullets  of  the  Mexicans.  Thomas 
Yearw^ood,  though  suffering  and  weakened  from  dysen- 
tery, refused  sick  leave  and  was  with  General  Scott 
and  participated  in  all  the  engagements  of  the  company. 
He  returned  after  his  period  of  enlistment  expired 
bringing  home  the  body  of  his  brother,  William,  who 
was  killed  at  Cerro  Gordo.  On  September  8,  1835,  he 
was  married  to  Lavenia  Walker  Scruggs,  daughter  of 
Rev.  John  Scruggs,  on  Chestua. 

In  1854  he  purchased  the  farm  two  and  one-half  miles 
southeast  of  Sweetwater  now  owned  by  his  sons,  T.  A. 
and  R.  S.  Yearwood,  w^here  he  resided  at  the  time  of 
his  death,  May  24,  1889.  His  wife  was  born  February 
3,  1832,  and  died  August  4,  1899.  They  are  both  buried 
in  old  Sweetwater  Cemetery. 

Thomas  Yearwood  was  an  honest,  fearless,  outspoken 
man.  He  hated  all  shams  and  hypocrisy.  He  was  an 
ardent  whig  and  w^as  a  Union  man  during  the  war  and 
not  afraid  to  aver  it  even  during  Confederate  occupa- 
tion. He  said  he  could  not  stultify  himself  by  holding 
against  the  flag  under  which  he  had  fought  through  two 
wars.  Besides  being  a  farmer  he  was  a  contractor  and 
builder.  He  is  said  to  have  built  one  of  the  first  if  not 
the  first  house  in  the  town.  It  was  the  house  used  as 
his  office  and  shop  by  Dr.  M.  C.  Parker.  It  stood  near 
where  the  Hyatt  Hotel  now  stands.  It  is  now  part 
of  the  old  building  standing  on  the  west  side  of  the  hotel 
lot.  There  is  some  conflict  of  opinion  as  to  the  first 
house  built  in  the  town,  as  several  were  commenced 
nearly  at  the  same  time,  when  it  was  found  where  the 
depot  was  to  be  located.  I  am  inclined  to  the  one  ex- 
pressed above. 

Thomas  Yearwood  w^as  a  slave  owner  and  a  successful 
farmer  and  a  good  neighbor.  He  was  always  considered 
impulsive  and  eccentric.  He  possessed  little  of  what 
is  known  as  ''policy."     He  did  not  hesitate  to  speak 


348  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

his  mind  on  any  and  all  occasions,  and  did  not  mince 
matters.  He  never  pretended  to  be  what  he  was  not. 
No  one  ever  accused  him  of  being  a  hypocrite.  Is  it  not 
better  to  err  on  the  side  of  too  plain  speaking  than  to 
lack  boldness  to  tell  the  truth? 
The  children  of  Thomas  and  Lavinia  Yearwood  were : 

1.  James  Forrest,  b.  June  16,  1854;  m.  Harriette  Flor- 
ence, daughter  of  H.  H.  Morris  of  McMinn  County,  Sep- 
tember 11,  1879.  He  died  at  Butler,  Bates  County,  Mo., 
January  12,  1887,  and  was  buried  there,  as  also  were 
his  son  Paul  and  daughter  Inez,  both  of  whom  died  at 
early  age.     His  widow  resides  at  Knoxville,  Tenn. 

2.  Martha  Theresa,  b.  July  11,  1857.  She  married 
John  Scott  Young  of  Monroe  County,  on  December  17, 
1876.  He  was  a  druggist  in  Sweetwater.  She  lives  in 
Sweetwater.  Their  children  were:  Clarence  E.  (See 
W.  T.  Lenoir.)     Earl,  b.  August  9,  1880. 

3.  John  Francis,  b.  October  30,  1859.  Married  Ella 
Coffee,  daughter  of  Colonel  Coffee  of  Georgetown,  Feb- 
ruary 4,  1892. 

4.  William  Frederick,  b.  March  27,  1862.  Lives  at 
Sweetwater. 

5.  Thomas  Abijah,  b.  August  2,  1865.     Farmer. 

6.  Miranda  Elizabeth,  b.  January  26,  1868. 

7.  Robert  Snead,  b.  December  23,  1870.    Farmer. 

8.  Lora  May,  b.  June  30,  1875 ;  d.  at  Sweetwater,  June 
4,  1900. 

The  other  children  of  Wm.  Yearwood,  III,  and  Nancy 
Neeley  Yearwood  were : 

Nancy  Neeley  Yearwood  (second)  married  Robert  L. 
Johnson,  June  12,  1838. 

Sarah  D.  Yearwood  married  Frank  A.  Holt,  October 
26,  1845. 

James  M.  Yearwood  married  twice,  first  to  Susan  Low- 
ry,  November  20,  1853,  and  second  to  Carnelia  Nether- 
land,  to  whom  one  son  was  born.  He  lived  near  Cleve- 
land, Tenn. 

Martha  Jane  Yearwood  married  S.  B.  Haines.  Two 
children:    Sam  Y.  and  . 

Henry  Bradley 

Was  born  on  Ball  Play   Creek,   Monroe    County,   Feb- 
ruary 8,  1827.    He,  while  a  young  man,  was  in  the  em- 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  349 

ploy  of  C.  M.  McGliee,  who  owned  what  was  afterward 
the  Calloway  farm  on  Little  Tennessee  River.  He  mar- 
ried Margaret  Williams  on  January  26,  1859.  (C.  M. 
McGhee,  J.  P.)  She  was  born  March  29,  1834.  He  was 
a  farmer.  He  came  to  Sweetwater  in  1865.  He  first 
lived  on  the  lot  afterward  the  electric  light  property; 
then  on  lot  No.  58  back  of  the  C.  P.  church.  After  that 
he  bought  fifty  acres  of  land  from  W.  B.  Lenoir  and 
moved  to  the  I.  T.  Lenoir  residence.  He  died  there  on 
March  14,  1897.  His  wife  died  June  6,  1909.  Their 
children  were:  1.  Nannie,  d.  in  infancy;  2.  Matt,  b.  Oc- 
tober 11,  1862,  d.  July  29,  1900;  3.  Andrew  K,  d.  June 
17,  1908;  4.  D.  S.;  5."  Sarah,  September  29,  1872;  6. 
Luke;  7.  John. 

3.  Andrew,  married  Amanda  Jane  Heabler,  January 
11,  1892.  She  was  born  December  13,  1867.  Their  chil- 
dren were:  (1)  Henry,  electrician  in  the  navy;  (2)  Lo- 
rena  Margaret,  b.  August  31,  1894.  She  is  a  trained 
nurse  in  Atlanta;  (3)  Carrie,  b.  December  14,  1896,  is 
a  graduate  of  Clinton,  S.  C.  High  School;  (5)  Frank 
Russell,  b.  February  14,  1906,  died  in  infancy;  (4)  Hugh 
Carleton,  b.  August  25,  1904. 

4.  D.  S.  married  Myrtle  Kratzer,  June  19,  1909.  He  is 
a  farmer.  Their  children  are  Robert,  William  and  Sa- 
rah Rose. 

5.  Sarah,  married  W.  T.  McGuire,  of  Jellico,  Tenn., 
June  16,  1893.    He  d.  March,  1904. 

6.  Luke,  married  Rose  Ewry,  of  Lafayette,  Ind.  They 
live  in  Houston,  Texas.  Their  children  are  Elizabeth, 
Walter  and  Jane. 

7.  John,  b.  June  12,  1873 ;  married  Beulah  Sue,  daugh- 
ter of  Gideon  B.  and  Elizabeth  Johnson,  on  December 
16,  1903.  He  is  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Guthrie,  Brad- 
ley and  Jones,  Sweetwater,  Tenn.  He  is  a  Democrat,  a 
Mason  and  a  Presbyterian,  They  have  one  child,  Mar- 
garet Elizabeth. 

Matt  Carter 

Was  born  in  Greenville,  S.  C.  on  December  15,  1829. 
He  came  to  Jonesboro,  Tenn.,  when  a  young  man  and 
there  married  Mary  Emma  Brown  (Rev.  David  Sul- 
lins,  M.  G.).    She  was  a  school  teacher  and  the  daughter 


350  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

of  Captain  Enoch  Brown  of  Jonesboro.  (Bishop  E.  E. 
Hoss  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  South,  attended  the  first 
school  she  taught.)  They  moved  to  Cleveland,  Tenn., 
in  1857.  He  there  joined  the  M.  E.  Church,  South,  in 
1859.  They  moved  to  Sweetwater  in  the  spring  of  1865. 
He  was  first  a  manufacturer  of  tinware  and  was,  for 
years  before  his  death,  a  produce  merchant.  He  was 
made  a  Master  Mason  in  Sweetwater  Lodge  No.  292,  on 
April  17,  1867. 

In  old  Sweetwater  cemetery  are  monuments  bearing 
these  inscriptions:  "In  memory  of  my  dear  husband, 
Matt  Carter,  born  in  Greenville,  S.  C,  December  15, 
1829.  Died  April  28,  1885.  'The  Noblest  Work  of 
God,  an  Honest  Man.' 

In  memory  of  our  dear  mother,  Mary  Brown  Carter, 
born  at  Jonesboro,  Tenn.,  October  17,  1831.  Died  May 
29,  1906.  'Life  is  Richer,  Heaven  is  Sweeter  Because 
of  Mother." 

The  children  of  Matt  and  Mary  Brown  Carter  were: 

1.  Edgar  V.,  b. He  graduated  at   Emory 

and  Henr}^  College,  Va.,  where  he  obtained  the  orator's 
medal.  After  graduation  there  he  studied  law.  He  mar- 
ried Kate,  the  daughter  of  A.  C.  Robeson,  of  Athens, 
Tenn.  He  went  to  Atlanta,  Ga.,  where  he  began  the 
practice  of  law  as  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Mynatt  and 
Howell.  He  is  now  of  the  firm  of  E.  V.  Carter  and 
sons,  who  are  one  of  the  leading  ones  of  the  city.  Of- 
fice in  the  Atlanta  National  Bank  Building.  Residence, 
141  Lee  Street,  West  End.     The  children  of  E.  V.  and 

Kate  Carter    are:     Robeson,  b.  ;  E.  V.  Jr.,  b. 

;  Frank,  b. ;  Katherine  May,  b. 

2.  Robert  LaFayette,  married  Viola  Cleveland.  (See 
Clevelands. ) 

3.  Andrew  P.,  married  (first)  Pauline  Gray,  of  At- 
lanta, Ga.  One  child,  A.  P.  Jr.  He  married  .(second) 
Eva  Wintersmith,  of  Louisville,  Ky.  One  child,  Rich- 
ard. 

4.  Walter  Bland,  married  Pearl  Linch,  of  Atlanta, 
Ga.  Their  children  are :  Afton  W.,  Walter  and  Pearl 
Corrie. 

5.  Fred.  A.,  b.  October  14,  1870.  He  was  educated  at 
Sweetwater  College.  He  married  (first)  Josephine 
King,  daughter  of  A.  S.  and  Laura  J.  King,  of  Atlanta, 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  351 

Ga.,  on  November  14,  1895.  She  died  May  27,  1903. 
Their  children  are : 

Josephine,  b,  at  Atlanta,  June  16,  1897.  Student  at 
Martha  Washington  College,  Va. ;  Mary  Craig,  b.  April 
3,  1899. 

F.  A.  Carter  was  in  the  employ  of  the  Sweetwater 
Woolen  Mills  as  boold^eeper  and  then  as  secretary  and 
treasurer.  He  is  now  president  of  the  American  Tex- 
tile Woolen  Company.  He  married  (second)  Belle, 
daughter  of  the  late  John  M.  Jones,  on  June  14,  1905. 
She  is  president  of  the  City  Beautiful  League  and  choir 
leader  of  the  Methodist  Church,  South,  and  Mr.  Carter 
is  superintendant  of  the  Sunday-school,  the  largest  and 
most  progressive  in  Sweetwater  with  an  average  at- 
tendance of  about  375  for  the  year  1916.  The  church 
is  now  building  a  Sunday-school  annex. 

6.  May,  the  youngest  child  of  Matt  and  Mary  Carter, 
was  born  June  30,  1872.  Was  educated  at  Centenary 
College,  Cleveland,  Tenn.,  and  Price's  College,  Nash- 
ville, Tenn.  She  married  Frank  Y.  Jackson.  He  joined 
the  Holston  Conference,  M.  E.  C,  South,  in  1890.  He  is 
a  noted  revivalist.  He  is  now  (1916)  in  charge  of 
Marion,  Va.  church.  The  children  of  Mary  and  Frank 
Y.  Jackson  are :  Mary,  Frank  Y.,  Margaret  and  Mans- 
field. 

Mary  Isabella  Magill  Montgomery. 

The  following  sketch  is  taken  by  permission  of  R.  E. 
Magill,  of  Richmond,  Va.,  from  the  "Magill  Family 
Record"  book: 

Mary  Isabella  Magill  (daughter  of  Nathaniel  and 
Jane  Rankin  Magill),  born  April  20,  1829;  died  March 
10,  1906,  at  the  home  of  her  sister,  Penelope,  Mrs.  J.  R. 
Russell;  buried  at  Madisonville.  Married  to  James 
Harvey  Montgomery,  at  the  home  of  her  father,  Octo- 
ber 19,  1849.  (J.  H.  Montgomery,  born  February  7, 
1825.  Died  at  their  home,  in  Sweetwater,  Tenn.,  May 
26,  1888;  buried  on  Fork  Creek.) 

Tlie  subject  of  this  sketch  was  a  woman  loved  by 
everybody  who  knew  her;  of  a  bright,  sunny,  cheerful, 
self-sacrificing,  loving  disposition,  she  scattered  sun- 
shine wherever  she  went.    Ever  ready  to  lend  a  helping 


352  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

hand.  ''None  knew  her  but  to  love  her."  Their  first 
home  was  in  Fork  Creek  Valley,  near  Glenloch,  Tenn. 
Her  husband  was  a  tanner.  Selling  out  his  business, 
after  a  number  of  years,  they  moved  to  Sweetwater. 
In  1866  they  went  to  California  and  lived  about  eight 
years  at  San  Jose,  and  followed  the  dairy  Dusiness.  Re- 
turning to  Sweetwater  they  kept  a  private  boarding 
house  and  also  a  meat  market.  After  the  death  of  her 
husband,  she  went  to  live  at  the  home  of  her  sister,  Mrs. 
J.  R.  Russell,  near  Madisonville.  Always  ready  to  go 
to  the  bedside  of  the  sick  with  her  help  and  cheering 
words,  everybody  was  always  and  everywhere  glad  to 
welcome  ''Aunt  Mary."  Her  very  presence  was  a  bless- 
ing, and  her  exalted  Christian  character  will  always  be 
remembered  as  a  high  ideal  by  all  who  were  privileged 
to  know  her." 

(I  endorse  unreservedly  all  the  statements  made  as 
to  the  beauty  and  goodness  of  her  character.  I  boarded 
with  her  for  seven  years  and  rented  her  house  for  an  ad- 
ditional seven.  I  knew  her  for  more  than  fortv  years. 
W.  B.  L.) 

The  Misses  Coffin. 

In  the  fall  of  1872  there  came  to  Sweetwater  five  sis- 
ters, none  of  them  then  married.  The  eldest  of  them 
was  30  years  of  age  and  the  youngest  about  16.  They 
had  lost  one  brother  in  1862  of  fever  taken  at  Manassas 
during  the  Civil  War.  They  had  also  lost  both  father 
and  mother,  the  latter  about  a  year  previous.  They  had 
a  lovely  home  in  the  country.  They  had  numerous  rela- 
tives and  a  host  of  friends.  Their  father  previous  to 
his  decease  had  advised  them  however  not  to  attempt  to 
live  in  the  old  home  but  to  select  some  town  on  the  rail- 
road in  which  to  reside.  They  had  been  left  with  ample 
means  and  had  a  wealthy  brother-in-law  in  New  York, 
and  the  whole  country  was  before  them  to  choose.  They 
were  importuned  by  their  friends  in  various  towns  and 
cities  to  select  or  build  a  home  in  their  midst,  and  the 
advantages  of  each  location  were  placed  before  them 
and  many  inducements  were  offered.  It  may  have  been 
for  sentimental  reasons,  as  they  had  all  been  born  and 
reared  in  Monroe  County,  that  they  chose  Sweetwater 


HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  355 

for  their  home;  this  too  when  our  town  lacked  the  ad- 
vantages it  could  offer  now.  I  think  they  never  re- 
gretted their  choice.  The  citizens  of  the  town  were 
more  than  delighted  to  have  them. 

Tlieir  ancestors  on  their  father's  side  came  from 
Massachusetts  and  had  the  New  England  culture  and  at- 
tainments and  the  New  England  conscience.  On  the 
mother's  side  came  wealth,  southern  geniality  and  hos- 
pitality. The  young  ladies  were  so  everything  that  was 
admirable  and  lovely  that  it  has  been  said  more  than 
once  that  to  have  known  the  family,  that  alone  would 
have  made  one's  life  worth  living.  The  majority  of  the 
people  here  were  convinced  that  what  any  one  of  them 
did  was  the  right  and  iiroper  thing  to  do.  No  one  was 
jealous  of  their  almost  unbounded  influence.  They  gave 
with  such  cheerful  and  ungrudging  hand  that  the  receiv- 
ers never  felt  the  obligation  weigh  upon  them.  Not- 
withstanding they  were  sisters  and  were  rarely  sep- 
arated from  each  other  for  long  at  a  time,  they  were 
yet  unlike  and  differed  from  each  other  "as  one  star 
differeth  from  another  in  glory."  The  eldest  sister  had 
an  intimate  knowledge  of  most  business  transactions 
and  values  and  yet  was  a  womanly  woman.  Before  her 
father's  death  for  some  years  she  had  been  his  main 
stay  in  business  and  was  amply  able  to  have  charge  of  a 
large  estate:  In  the  early  days  of  the  corporation  of 
Sweetwater  they  paid  one-third  of  the  municipal  taxes. 
It  would  have  been  very  easy  for  them  to  have  become 
tax  dodgers,  as  a  large  part  of  their  wealth  consisted  of 
notes,  stocks  and  bonds,  but  that  was  not  their  way  of 
doing  business.  They  received  from  the  taxes  paid,  as 
far  as  they  were  concerned,  little  benefit.  The  corpora- 
tion imperfectly  macadamized  the  street  in  front  of 
their  lot  for  seventy-five  feet;  yet  a  corrupted  voter 
who  sold  his  vote  for  a  few  drinks  or  a  dollar  had  more 
to  say  as  to  who  should  be  mayor  and  aldermen  of  the 
town  than  the3^  One  would  have  expected  they  would 
have  been  advocates  of  female  suffrage,  but  Miss  Sue 
Coffin  always  contended  that  woman's  influence  would 
not  be  best  exercised  that  way. 

It  has  already  been  told,  in  the  account  of  the  build- 
ing of  the  new  Presbyterian  church  and  parsonage,  that 
they  contributed  about  half.     Miss  Sue  said  that  they 


354  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

would  not  mind  building  the  church  themselves  but 
thought  that  would  be  very  impolitic.  What  people 
strive  for  and  sacrifice  for  they  take  more  interest  in 
than  what  comes  to  them  easy,  and  nothing  is  truer  than 
this.  Nor  did  she  want  to  build  a  very  expensive  church 
for  the  purpose  of  outshining  other  denominations  in  a 
spirit  of  rivalry.  Nor  should  thej^  build  such  a  church 
as  would  strain  the  resources  of  the  members  to  keep 
up,  and  starve  the  pastor,  to  keep  up  a  show  for  the  pub- 
lic. They  were  great  church  workers  and  they  all,  ex- 
cept the  youngest,  were  teachers  in  the  Sunday-school. 

Through  their  influence  with  their  brother-in-law, 
John  H.  Imnan,  a  passenger  depot  was  built  here,  which 
was  very  sadly  needed. 

The  Coffins  had  an  abiding  faith  in  their  church,  their 
town,  their  friends  and  kinfolks.  Their  effort  was  al- 
ways to  help  and  build  up  not  to  tear  down.  Whatso- 
ever was  deserving  received  their  earnest  and  loyal 
support. 

One  J.  L.  Bachman,  formerly  a  soldier  in  the  C.  S.  A., 
married  Miss  Fannie  Rogan,  a  relative  of  theirs.  He 
was  then  comparatively  unknown  to  fortune  and  to 
fame.  The  trustees  of  the  Union  Institute  were  looking 
for  a  competent  teacher.  Owing  to  the  Coffin  influence, 
as  much  as  anything  else,  the  position  was  given  to  him. 
They  did  not  then  know  much  about  him  but  knew  in- 
timately his  wife,  and  that  was  enough  for  them.  When 
he  once  came  to  Sweetwater  from  Hawkins  County,  the 
citizens  here  would  not  let  him  go.  He  is  here  yet  and 
has  been  since  1874,  nearly  forty-two  years.  We  are  not 
going  to  write  his  history;  for  that  would  take  a  book 
in  itself — to  tell  of  the  thousands  of  young  men  he  has 
taught,  the  hundreds  of  couples  he  has  united  in  bonds 
of  matrimony,  the  tens  of  thousands  to  whom  he  has 
preached,  the  sick  he  has  visited,  the  numerous  funeral 
services  at  which  he  has  been  speaker  and  comforter, 
the  addresses  he  has  delivered  on  social  occasions,  to 
give  his  masonic  history,  to  mention  his  home  life — 
these  and  many  other  things  future  historians  will  de- 
light to  relate,  but  I  shall  not  undertake  it.  Even  were 
his  coming  to  this  section  within  the  limit  (1820-1865) 
I  have  set  for  myself,  I  would  dislike  to  make  so  many 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALiiEY  355 

of  the  dead,  about  whom  I  have  written,  appear  small  by 
comparison. 

Nor  shall  I  give  a  history  of  the  Coffins  more  than 
as  follows: 

James  A.  Coffin,  son  of  Charles  Coffin,  D.  D.,  b.  No- 
vember 5,  1806;  d.  September  27,  1871.  His  wife  was 
Margaret  Martin,  b.  January  29,  1812;  d.  March  14, 
1865.     Children  were: 

Hugh  M.,  b.  August  7,  1840;  d.  December  5,  1861. 

Sue  E.,  b.  December  1,  1842;  d.  September  11,  1890. 

Sarah,  b.  January  8,  1846;  d.  January  16,  1899. 

''    Margaret,  b.  ;  m.  John  H.  Inman  June  8, 

1870;  d. 

Nancv,  b.  September  1,  1850;  d.  June  5,  1879. 
Mary  Ella,  b.  June  17,  1853 ;  d.  December  14,  1898. 
Julia  Ayer,  b. ;  m.  James  W.  Harle,  Octo- 
ber 23,  1878. 

The  Misses  Coffin  built  and  lived  in  the  house  where 
S.  T.  Jones  now  resides. 

The  Baptist  Church  on  Sweetwater. 

A  Baptist  church  is  an  association  of  baptized  believ- 
ers organized  for  the  salvation  of  sinners,  the  good  of 
the  community  and  its  members  and  for  the  spread  of 
its  own  peculiar  beliefs.  Denominationally  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  ''The  Baptist  Church."  Each  church  is 
an  entire,  separate,  independent  and  sovereign  democ- 
racy. Each  member,  male  or  female,  has  equal  rights 
and  there  are  no  special  privileges.  One  has  just  as 
much  power  (not  influence)  as  another.  Even  the  pas- 
tor or  elder  in  charge  of  a  church  has  no  voice  in  the 
affairs  of  that  church,  except  advisory,  unless  he  be  a 
member.  The  only  officers  of  the  church  are  the  mod- 
erator, the  deacons  and  the  clerk.  These  officers  are 
elected  and  hold  their  office  until  their  successors  are 
elected  and  in  case  of  the  deacons  ordained;  the  mod- 
erator and  clerk  require  no  special  setting  apart.  The 
moderator's  duty  is  to  preside  at  the  meetings,  the 
clerks  to  record  the  proceedings  of  the  business  meet- 
ings, the  deacons'  to  attend  to  the  financial  affairs  of 
the  church  under  instructions  of  the  members.  They 
have  of  themselves  no  authority  to    bind    the    church. 


356  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

They  are  trustees  of  the  church  property  which  is  in 
their  names.  The  number  of  deacons  is  usually  three 
or  more.  Baptistically  speaking  the  place  where  the 
members  meet,  if  it  belongs  to  them,  is  the  church  house, 
if  it  does  not  it  is  their  meeting  house  or  meeting  place. 
The  old  Baptists  never  called  any  building  ' '  a  church. ' ' 
An  elder  in  the  Baptist  church  is  an  ordained  minister 
or  a  member  licensed  to  preach  the  word. 

These  prefatory  remarks,  I  think,  are  necessary  for 
the  proper  imderstanding  of  the  subject  I  am  to  discuss, 
viz:  the  Baptist  Church  on  Sweetwater  (Creek)  between 
the  towns  of  Sweetwater  and  Philadelphia,  called  in  the 
records  of  that  church,  the  Sweetwater  church  and  some- 
times known  as  the  Cleveland  Baptist  Church.  I  make 
no  apology  for  writing  of  it.  Not  to  give  some  account 
of  that  church  in  a  history  of  the  valley,  which  I  am  at- 
tempting to  write,  would  be  something  like  enacting  the 
play  of  Hamlet  with  the  character  of  Hamlet  left  out. 
It  was  the  earliest  church  organized  by  people  of  this 
valley  of  which  I  have  any  knowledge;  the  number  and 
prominence  of  its  membership  makes  it  historically 
speaking  far  the  most  remarkable  church  in  the  valley 
of  any  denomination  whatever.  1  think  it  proper  to 
state  that  no  one  has  requested  me  to  write  this  nor  do 
I  know  that  any  one  expects  me  to.  What  I  say  is  en- 
tirely voluntary  and  without  consultation  with  any  of 
the  members. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THIS  CHURCH.     BELIEF  SET  FORTH. 

On  the  first  Saturday  in  June,  1820,  a  number  of  persons  met  at 
the  house  of  Dan'l  Duggan  on  Fork  Creek  and  a  church  was  consti- 
tuted with  the  following  Declaration  of  Principles.  (We  give  these  in 
full  as  they  are  short,  clear  and  concise  and  so  that  it  can  be  known 
what  that  church  believed.) 

We  believe: 

1.  That  the  scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  are  the  in- 
fallible word  of  God  and  the  only  rule  of  Faith,  and  Practice. 

2.  There  is  only  one  true  God  and  in  the  Godhead  or  Divine  Essence 
there  are  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost  equal  in  Power  and  Glory. 

3.  That  by  nature  we  are  fallen  and  depraved  creatures  and  it 
is  not  in  man's  powe^  to  recover  (of)  himself  from  the  fallen  state 
he  is  in  of  his  own  free  will  and  ability. 

4.  That  Salvation,  Regeneration,  Justification  and  Sanctification 
are  by  the  Life,  Death,  Resurrection,  Ascension  and  Intercession  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

5.  That  the  saints  will  finally  presevere  through  Grace  to  Glory. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  357 

6.  That  Baptism  by  Immersion  is  the  only  mode  warranted  by  script- 
ure and  true  believers  are  the  only  proper  subjects  to  receive  the  same. 

7.  That  the  salvation  and  joys  of  the  righteous  will  be  everlasting 
and  the  punishment  and  torment  of  the  wicked  eternal. 

8.  That  it  is  our  duty  to  be  tender  and  affectionate  to  each  other 
and  in  all  things  to  try  to  promote  the  happiness  of  the  children  of 
God  and  in  all  things  to  set  forth  the  declarative  glory  of  God. 

9.  We  believe  in  the  Resurrection  of  the  dead  and  the  general  judg- 
ment by  Jesus  Christ. 

10.  That  no  minister  has  a  right  to  the  administration  of  the  ordi- 
nances only  such  as  are  regularly  baptized,  called  and  come  under 
the  imposition  of  hands  by  a  Presbytery. 

11.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  all  church  members  to  attend  our  church 
meeting,  especially  male  members,  and  to  admonish  and  deal  with 
each  other  for  the  neglect  of  the  same. 

12.  That  a  Reception  or  Exclusion  of  church  members  ought  to  be 
by  a  unanimous  voice  of  the  church  or  the  members  present. 

Those  who  signed  the  foregoing  articles  at  that  meeting  were: 

Male  members:  Dan'l  Duggan,  Samuel  Jameson,  John  Fine,  Robert 
Gregory,  John  Dillard,  William  Y.  Arthur,  Jeremiah  Selvege  and  Moses 
McSpadden;  Female  members:  Eunice  Duggan,  Rebecca  Jameson, 
Nancy  Fine,  Sally  Dillard,  Mary  Carter,  Mary  Selvege,  Joanna  Mc- 
Spadden and  Elizabeth  Taylor;  8  male  and  9  female  members. 

Elders  present  at  the  signing  of  the  Constitution  were:  Geo.  Snider 
and  Obed  Patty. 

Geo.  Snider  wa-s  Moderator  and  Moses  McSpadden  was  elected  Clerk. 

RULES  OF  DECORUM. 

13  rules  of  decorum  (parliamentary  proceedings)  were  adopted. 
These  were  mostly  such  as  might  govern  any  deliberative  body  with 
the  exception  that  it  was  made  the  duty  of  the  Moderator  to  open 
the  door  of  the  church  for  the  reception  of  new  members  at  every 
business  session  of  the  church,  (By  session  is  meant  the  members  of 
the  church  present  sitting  as  a  committee  of  the  whole.)  A  person 
could  become  a  member  of  the  church  in  two  ways:  By  letter  from 
another  Baptist  church  or  by  profession  of  faith  and  baptism.  There 
were  three  ways  of  getting  out  of  the  Baptist  church:  By  Death, 
Exclusion  or  by  Letter.  Even  when  a  letter  of  Dismission  was  granted 
the  church  claimed  jurisdiction  over  the  conduct  of  the  member  "un- 
til joined  to  one  of  like  faith  and  order." 

No  business  relative  to  the  finances  of  this  church  was  transacted  in 
the  early  days,  whatever  may  be  the  custom  there  now,  except  on 
Saturday.  Not  even  a  collection  was  taken  up  on  Sunday.  The  finan- 
cial affairs  were  looked  after  by  the  Deacons. 

No  person  can  have  any  conception  of  the  polity  of  a  Baptist  church 
until  he  grasps  the  idea  that,  as  stated,  each  is  an  independent  sov- 
ereignty. There  is  no  appeal  from  its  action  to  any  Association  or 
higher  earthly  power.    It  is  complete  in  itself. 

A  Baptist  clnirch  in  relation  to  the  conduct  of  its 
members  toward  each  other  might  well  adopt  the  motto : 
*' Liberty,  equality  and  fraternity,"  for  as  heretofore 
stated  it  is  a  pure  democracy.  By  this  phrase  is  not 
meant  the  "liberte,  egalite  and  fraternite"  of  the  French 


358  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Revolution,  for  that  took  no  account  of  God  or  the 
Church.  For  this  reason  it  was  foredoomed  to  failure. 
It  is  not  possible  to  change  the  customs,  habits  and  re- 
ligious thought  of  a  people  of  a  sudden  b}^  legislative 
enactment  or  legal  process.  This  is  the  slow  work  of 
centuries.  It  has  been  said  divers  times  (by  whom  first 
said  I  know  not  nor  does  it  matter)  "that  if  there  were 
no  God  it  would  be  necessary  to  promulgate  a  belief  in 
one, ' '  a  belief  in  the  existence  of  the  Supreme  Being  and 
a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments  being  es- 
sential to  the  well  being  and  good  order  of  society  and 
that  there  should  be  a  means  of  communication,  revela- 
tion or  otherwise,  between  the  creature  and  the  Creator. 
True  the  heavens  show  forth  the  power  and  glory  of 
God,  but  you  might  gaze  upon  them  for  a  thousand  years 
and  you  would  deduce  therefrom  no  precept  like  the 
golden  rule :  "Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do 
to  ^'ou,  do  ye  even  so  them. ' '  This  when  translated  and 
personified  into  action  by  the  parliaments  of  the  na- 
tions would  become  true  "liberty,  equality  and  fra- 
ternity. No  war,  no  prisons,  no  poverty.  The  good  and 
great  in  increasing  numbers  are  bending  their  efforts 
in  that  direction.  It  has  been  the  dream  of  poets 
through  the  ages,  a  dream  perhaps  not  to  have  a  per- 
fect realization  but  none  the  less  beautiful  and  enchant- 
ing one.  It  shines  transcendant,  the  triple  star  of  hope, 
on  the  night  gloom  of  a  tear  dimmed  and  misery  cursed 
world.  Blot  out  this  aspiration  and  the  inhabitants  of 
earth  would  be  ruled  by  a  multiplicity  of  tyrannies. 

As  stated  in  a  former  article  some  time  since  this 
church  called  Bethel  was  organized  at  Dan'l.  Dug- 
gans  on  Fork  Creek  on  the  first  Saturday  in  June,  1820. 
Occupation  of  land  in  the  Hiwassee  District  was  not  per- 
mitted until  this  year  and  therefore  the  country  was 
thinly  populated.  This  shows  the  zeal  which  inspired 
the  early  settlers  for  their  church  and  its  work. 

The  Meetings  Where  First  Held. 

The  meetings  were  held  at  D.  Duggan's  until  and  in- 
cluding the  first  Saturday  in  August,  1821.  It  was  then 
decided  for  the  convenience  of  scattered  membership  to 
hold  two  meetings  of  the  church  in  each  month,  one  on 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  359 

Fork  Creek  on  the  second  Saturday  and  one  on  Sweet- 
water on  the  fourth  Saturday  in  each  month.  Accord- 
ingly on  the  fourth  Saturday  following  (August,  1821), 
a  meeting  w^as  held  at  Jno.  Fine's.  He  lived  in  a  log 
house  which  is  still  standing  on  the  hill  above  the  double 
spring  at  the  southwest  boundary  of  Sweetwater  corpo- 
ration line  where  the  water  works  pumping  station  now 
is.  At  this  meeting  there  were  several  accessions  to  the 
church.  At  the  same  meeting  a  committee  was  appoint- 
ed to  meet  at  Thomas  Wilson's  on  August  31  to  pur- 
chase land  on  which  to  build  a  meeting  house  and  report 
at  next  meeting.  James  Sewell  was  moderator  and 
Sam'l.  Jameson,  clerk.  It  can  be  seen  from  this  that 
when  anything  needed  to  be  done  these  people  did  not  let 
any  grass  grow  under  their  feet. 

The  Fork  Creek  branch  of  the  church  were  not  far 
behind.  At  a  meeting  at  Joseph  McSpadden's  on  the 
second  Saturday  in  October  Robert  Gregory,  Wm.  Ar- 
thur and  John  Dillard  were  made  trustees  to  purchase 
a  site  near  McSpadden's  for  the  erection  of  a  church 
house  and  a  school-house. 

The  Parent  of  Other  Churches. 

This  church  has  been  the  parent  of  other  churches. 
We  know  of  no  more  satisfactory  way  of  showing  this 
than  by  giving  some  excerpts  from  the  records  of  the 
church. 

"Fourth  Saturday  in  Feb.,  1S22.  Trustees  reported  that  they  had 
purchased  two  acres  of  land  from  Mr.  Hugh  Boyd  agreeable  to  orders 
at  January  meeting  and  had  a  bond  for  title  for  the  same,  which  was 
received  by  the  church.  Ordered  next  meeting  to  be  held  at  Mr. 
Boyd's."  (Probably  not  a  member  of  the  church  or  he  would  have 
been  called  "Brother.") 

"Stage  Stand  on  Sweetwater  4th  Saturday  in  June,  1822.  A  propo- 
sition having  been  made  by  Bro.  Jameson  for  the  part  of  Bethel 
church  that  lies  on  Sweetwater  to  become  a  separate  constituted  body, 
it  is  therefore  agreed  and  ordered  that  Brother  Sewell  and  Fine  be 
appointed  delegates  to  attend  upon  the  brethxen  at  the  next  meeting 
on  Fork  Creek  to  let  them  know  our  intention  and  select  those  ac- 
quiescing in  such  a  measure  to  attend  with  us  on  that  business  the 
next  meeting  at  Bro.  Cleveland's." 

"Church  meeting  at  E.  Cleveland's  4th  Saturday  in  Sept.,  1822. 
Ordered  that  the  church  formerly  called  Bethel  be  hereafter  perma- 
nently established  on  Sweetwater  and  be  known  in  future  as  Sweet- 
water church." 

"Cleveland's   4th   Saturday   in   October,    1822.     Decided   to   build   a 


360  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAUjEY 

church  near  his  (Cleveland's)  house.  He  promised  a  donation  of 
land  for  building  site  and  also  land  for  a  grave  yard.  Committee  ap- 
pointed to  attend  to  the  business. 

"Fourth  Saturday,  April,  1834.  Church  requests  ministerial  breth- 
ren to  hold  a  meeting  at  school  house  near  Bro.  Fine's  on  the  second 
Saturday  in  each  month." 

"4th  Saturday,  April,  1835.  Members  joining  the  church  at  the 
school  house  near  Bro.  Fine's  have  the  privilege  to  "hold  membership 
in  the  church  on  Pond  Creek  or  wherever  they  may  select." 

"4th  Saturday  in  January,  1846.  The  church  took  into  considera- 
tion the  building  of  a  brick  meeting  house  and  then  drew  subscrip- 
tion paper  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  subscribers  to  accomplish  the 
same  and  made  Bro.  D,  Ragon  our  Trustee  for  the  cash  subscrip- 
tion to  collect  and  pay  over  the  same.  Also  to  Bro.  R.  Snead  appointed 
to  collect  the  trade  part  of  our  subscription.  Brethren  D.  Ragon,  R. 
Snead  and  John  Pennington  made  Trustees  to  superintend  and  carry 
on  the  work,  to  make  all  contracts  and  to  value  all  labor  that  may  be 
done,  and  (do)  all  things  that  may  attain  to  the  building  of  the  same." 

On  February  27,  1847,  Eli  Cleveland  conveyed  to  the 
united  Baptist  church  on  Sweetwater  the  tract  of  land 
as  follows:  ''Beginning  at  the  railroad  near  Cleve- 
land and  son's  fence  and  running  with  said  fence 
around  to  the  ford  of  the  creek,  thence  up  said  creek 
to  the  foot  log,  thence  with  the  lot  to  the  corner  bars, 
thence  straight  to  the  railroad,  thence  with  said  road  to 
the  beginning,  containing  five  acres  more  or  less.  To 
be  used  for  the  following  purposes :  The  lot  at  the  meet- 
ing house  to  be  extended  so  as  to  include  said  meeting 
house  to  be  kept  forever  as  a  place  for  the  worship  of 
God,  the  balance  of  said  piece  of  land  to  remain  for- 
ever uninclosed  for  passways,  the  hitching  of  horse, 
etc.  Second :  Lot  including  the  graveyard  with  as  much 
more  land  adjoining  the  same  as  may  be  necessary  for 
burying  the  dead.  The  said  church  or  no  other  per- 
son or  persons  to  have  the  right  or  privilege  of  selling, 
transferring  or  conveying  the  said  pieces  of  land  for 
any  purpose  than  the  ones  above  mentioned." 

He  also  confirmed  this  deed  by  his  will  in  the  follow- 
ing words  bequeathing  to  his  real  estate  ex- 
cept ' '  The  part  I  gave  to  the  United  Baptist  Church  of 
Christ  so  long  as  they  should  wish  to  meet  for  the  wor- 
ship of  God ;  but  if  they  should  fail  to  meet  for  that  pur- 
pose it  is  no  longer  theirs  and  in  that  case  to  belong 
to  my  son.  I  except  also  a  piece  of  land  for  a  public 
burying  ground  whereat  is  now  to  be  enlarged  from  time 
to  time  as  it  may  be  used  for  this  purpose,  so  as  to  be 
confined  to  the  bend  of  the  creek  and  to  the  railroad." 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  361 

This  is  quoted  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  extra- 
ordinary foresight  of  giving  and  having  given  the 
amount  of  land  so  donated  for  church  and  cemetery  and 
protecting  the  interests  of  the  church  and  the  public.  It 
was  also  a  new  departure  to  have  the  church  house  and 
hur^'ing  ground  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant  from 
each  other  and  not  in  close  proximity,  as  was  customary 
in  those  days.  There  is  much  ground  subject  to  be  used 
for  a  cemetery  yet  remaining  at  this  date  (1911). 

The  word  ''railroad"  in  the  above  deed  and  will  is 
liable  to  be  misleading.  At  the  time  (1847)  the  right 
of  way  had  been  graded  in  preparation  for  receiving  the 
ties  and  iron,  but  they  had  not  been  laid  down.  Part  of 
the  grade  on  right  of  way  was  used  as  a  public  road. 
The  iron  on  the  right  of  way  was  not  laid  until  1852. 

I  have  not  yet  found  out  where  Mr.  Boyd  lived  or 
what  was  done  with  the  land  for  which  bond  for  title 
was  given.  I  would  also  like  some  information  as  to 
where  the  frame  church  was  built  on  the  Cleveland 
land.  I  do  not  know  as  yet  where  the  ''stage  stand," 
referred  to  in  the  minutes  of  the  church  was.  The  pub- 
lic road,  so  far  I  am  aware  from  Philadelphia  to  Rea- 
gan is  the  same  (in  1911)  almost  as  in  the  days  of 
the  old  stage  route  before  the  completion  of  the  East 
Tennessee  &  Georgia  Railroad. 

The  location  of  the  Fine  school-house  spoken  of 
was  in  the  bend  of  the  creek  about  one-fourth  mile  west 
of  Sweetwater  Cemetery.  The  building  was  a  one-story 
log  house  about  35  by  20  feet.  It  was  used  not  only 
for  school  purposes  but  for  preaching  and  sometimes 
for  justice's  trials.  The  cleared  land  around  was  some- 
times used  too  for  "musters"  i.  e.,  militia  drill,  which 
were  in  the  early  settling  of  the  country  obligatory. 

The  Baptist  Church  in  Sweetwater — Its  Legislation" 
AND  Executive  Actions. 

As  a  Baptist  church  has  no  book  of  rules  or  constitu- 
tion, one  must  look  to  what  it  does  in  its  business  meet- 
ings to  form  an  idea  of  how  its  members  interpret  cer- 
tain passages  of  scripture;  to  find  out  what  they  con- 
sider mandator}^  or  prohibitive  or  what  is  merely  ad- 
visory ;  what  one  must  do  or  refrain  from  doing  or  what 


362  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

is  only  suggested  as  best  to  do  under  certain  circum- 
stances. No  church  or  sect  would  likely' claim  that  St. 
Paul's  ban  on  marriage  was  susceptible  of  a  w^orld-wide 
application  or  that  under  any  and  all  circumstances  w^o- 
man  should  always  keep  silent  in  public.  Nor  should 
the  special  treatment  or  medical  advice  of  St.  Paul  to 
Timothy,  "Take  a  little  wdne  for  the  stomach's  sake," 
be  used  by  all  persons  indiscriminately.  What  was 
Timothy's  special  disorder,  how  much  is  "a  little"  and 
what  proportion  of  alcohol  did  the  wine  contain?  None 
but  the  Friends,  I  believe,  take  literally  the  passage 
counselling  no  resistance  to  assault  or  oppression,  but 
when  smitten  on  one  cheek  offer  the  other  also.  Few 
sects  but  take  the  words  'Ho  wash  one  another's  feet" 
as  anything  but  advisory  or  as  exhortation  to  practice 
humility  rather  than  exalt  one's  self  among  the 
brethren. 

In  the  early  days  this  church  took  more  account  of  the 
daily  business  life  than  is  customary  now.  When  any 
one  made  a  complaint  to  the  church  on  a  business  day 
meeting  that  he  had  been  cheated  or  defrauded  by  a 
member  of  the  church,  it  was  usual,  if  the  charge  was 
not  frivolous,  to  appoint  a  committee  of  several  mem- 
bers, known  for  their  fairness  and  impartiality,  to  in- 
vestigate the  matter  and  make  a  report.  Dishonesty  in 
trade  was  considered  as  grave  an  offense  as  lying,  steal- 
ing or  drunkenness  or  unfaithfulness  to  the  marriage 
vows.  They  held  that  cheating  was  rarely  accomplished 
save  by  lying  and  misrepresentation.  This  committee 
heard  both  sides  and  made  their  recommendation  to  the 
church.  If  the  charge  was  sustained,  the  offender  was 
required  to  make  restitution,  and,  if  he  refused  or  failed 
to  do  so  and  proved  obstinate,  non-fellowship  or  exclus- 
ion was  declared.  (See  minutes  of  second  Saturday  of 
May,  1822.)  The  difference  between 'non-fellowship  and 
exclusion,  as  I  understand  it,  as  practised  by  this  church 
was  that,  in  case  of  the  former,  repentance  and  restitu- 
tion usually  restored  one  to  membership;  in  the  latter 
case  the  readministration  of  the  ordinance  of  baptism, 
just  as  if  he  had  never  before  joined  the  church,  was 
necessary  to  full  membership.  In  the  days  of  Huss  or 
Martin  Luther  they  would  have  been  called  Anabaptists. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  363 

CHURCH    ACTION    ON    SEVERAL    QUESTIONS    COMING    BEFORE 

THEM. 

"4tlL  Saturday  of  May,  1823. — A  question  arose  as  to  the  saints' 
washing  of  feet.  After  some  debate  on  the  subject  it  was  conceived 
to  be  a  duty  (by  some)  held  out  by  the  example  of  the  Saviour's  fol- 
lowers to  pursue  (see  John,  Chap  XIII.)  to  be  kept  up  at  every  sac- 
ramental  occasion." 

"A  further  question  arose  in  the  church  whether  it  would  be  out  of 
order  or  whether  or  not  it  was  outside  of  duty  to  open  a  door  for 
experience  at  any  other  time  or  place  beside  th.e  regular  meeting." 
Both  questions  were  laid  over. 

"4th  Saturday  in  June,  1823. — Subject  of  Saints'  Foot  Washing  taken 
up.  Agreed  to  attend  to  that  ordinance  the  following  Sunday  after 
jdivine  service."  (The  writers  information  is  that  it  was  afterward 
discontinued  as  not  being  at  any  time  an  essential  part  of  the  church 
service.) 

"4th  Saturday,  July,  1823. — After  debate  decided  to  be  improper  to 
open  the  door  of  the  church  except  at  regular  meetings."  (Suppos- 
edly for  the  reason  that  it  required  a  unanimous  vote  for  admission 
and  then  no  complaint  could  be  filed  when  done  at  regular  meetings.) 

"4th  Saturday,  May,  1831. — A  complaint  was  made  to  the  church 
of  a  sister  who  had  been  communing  with  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
terians. She  refused  to  apologize  to  the  church  or  acknowledge  tha*. 
she  had  committed  an  error.     Non-fellowship  was  declared." 

"4th  Saturday  in  January,  1832. — Resolved,  That  any  male  mem- 
ber failing  to  attend  two  meetings  in  succession  shall  be  required  to 
give  a  reason  for  his  absence,  unless  the  cause  be  known  by  some 
brother  present."  Resolved — "That  any  member  drinking  ardent 
spirits  until  the  effect  is  perceptible  shall  be  treated  with  as  drunk." 

Eli   Cleveland,   Moderator. 
R.  Snead,  Clerk. 

4th  Saturday  in  May,  1835. — Resolved — "Whereas  there  are  diffi- 
culties and  disputings  about  missionary  societies,  associations,  etc., 
much  to  the  hurt  of  Zion,  we  the  church  at  Sweetwater  propose  to  our 
sister  churches,  within  the  bounds  of  Sweetwater  Association,  to  meet 
with  us  in  associate  body  at  Chestua  meeting  house,  on  Tuesday  be- 
fore the  4th  Saturday  in  July  next,  for  the  purpose  of  consulting  the 
best  means  to  unite  and  bring  about  a  union  among  the  churches  and 
brethren  of  the  association  and  to  consult  and  unite  upon  the  best 
plan,  according  to  the  word  of  God,  for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel; 
churches  to  send  letters  and  delegates.  Brethren  Cleveland,  Snead 
and  Taliaferro  were  appointed  delegates  to  the  meetings.  Thus  this 
church  aligned  itself  with  the  Missionary  Baptists  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  those  who  opposing  Foreign  Missions  and  the  payment  of 
Pastors  were  sometimes  termed  "Hard  Shell"  Baptists.  My  informa- 
tion is  that  at  the  association  held  at  Chestua  a  majority  of  the 
churches  declared  themselves  in  favor  of  both  Home  and  Foreign  Mis- 
sions. All  the  delegates  sent  by  the  church  on  Sweetwater  were  in 
favor  of  Missions.  However  as  Pastors  both  brethren  Cleveland  and 
Snead  refused  pay  for  their  services,  not  because  th.ey  thought  it 
wrong  to  pay  preachers,  but,  as  they  were  well  off  financially  with- 
out the  salary,  the  church  they  thought  could  more  profitably  apply 
the  money  to  other  uses. 

A  number  of  the  brethren  at  different  times  were  "unfellowshipped" 
for  the  offenses  of  "non  attendance,"  "swearing,"  "drunkenness," 
"fighting,"  more  for  non-attendance  on  church  meetings  than  for  any 
other  offense;   a  few  for  gambling.     One  brother  in  February,  1855, 


364  HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

was  non-fellowshipped   for   "betting  on   a   shooting  matcli"   although 
that  was  not  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Tennessee. 

The  recorded  cases  of  gambling  in  the  Bible  are  not  numerous. 
Samson  (Judges,  Chaps.  XIV.  and  XV.)  bet  with  his  friends  "thirty 
linen  garments  and  thirty  changes  of  raiment."  He  thought  he  was 
betting  on  a  "sure  thing"  and,  as  frequently  happens,  lost.  He  did 
not  have  the  wherewith  to  pay.  The  way  he  got  the  means  to  liqui- 
date his  "debt  of  honor"  was  anything  but  creditable.  Samson  was 
not  a  good  loser.  He  spoke  disrespectfully  of  his  wife  and  left  her 
with  her  parents.  They  soon  got  rid  of  her.  The  train  of  conse- 
quences were  woeful  all  the  way  through.  The  Romans  were  great 
gamblers.     They  even  cast  lots  for  raiment  of  the  Saviour. 


Some  Church  Statistics. 

From  the  inception  of  this  church  in  1820  up  to  and 
including  the  year  1872  there  were  more  than  700  per- 
sons became  members.  The  high  water  mark  of  mem- 
bership was  reached  in  1869,  when  the  number  of  mem- 
bers became  289.  The  average  of  number  would  be  from 
159  to  160  according  to  church  reports  sent  to  the  dif- 
ferent associations.  It  would  require  too  much  space 
to  give  all  those  who  have  been  members  of  this  church. 

I  would  suggest  however,  if  it  is  not  already  done, 
that  the  clerk  of  the  church  or  some  one  compile  an 
alphabetical  list,  giving  the  names  of  those  who  have 
been  members,  the  date  of  admission,  when  died  or 
dismissed, — a  simple  church  history,  so  that  such  in- 
formation could  be  obtained  without  having  to  search 
through  the  whole  of  the  church  records.  We  give  be- 
low some  of  the  patronymics  or  surnames  of  the  member- 
ship with  the  number  in  brackets,  where  there  are  sev- 
eral of  the  same  name,  for  the  first  fifty  years  of  this 
church  or  a  little  more  than  half  of  its  existence. 

Adams,  Alexander,  Allen,  Arthur,  Allison,  Barnes, 
Brewer,  Beaty,  Burns,  Bodkins,  Brown,  Boyd,  Bowman, 
Byrum  (7),  Burch,  Brazeale,  Berry,  Bryant,  Cleveland 
(20),  Callaway  (10),  Carter  (8),  Chesnutt  (4),  Cooper, 
Cannon,  Davis  (3),  Duggan,  Dillard  (3),  Edwards  (6), 
Esman,  Fine  (3),  Fry,  Fryer,  Ferguson,  Franklin,  Grum- 
mett,  Grady,  Grisom,  Harrison,  Hathaway,  Harris, 
Hatchett,  Hudson,  Hyde,  Hill  (3),  Hood  (2),  Hagen, 
Humble,  Harless  (6),  Hight,  Houstaign,  Haskins,  Kelly, 
Kyle,  Isbell,  Jameson,  Johnson  (18),  Jones  (22),  Kell, 
Lilard  (5),  Latham,  Lord  (3),  Laws  (12),  Lewis,  Mrs. 
M.  C.  Lenoir,  Mary  Hogg,  Leonard,  Jackson  (7),    Mc- 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  365 

Spadden,  McGuffey,  McFalls,  McMinii,  McGuire,  Moon, 
Martin  (9),  McNabb,  Maberry,  Miller  (9),  Moore,  Mont- 
gomery, Moffett,  May,  Nichols,  Nelson,  Pilaris,  Purdy 
(5)  Philpot,  Pennington  (10),  Potter  (6),  Ragon 
(13),  Ruth  (14),  Reed,  Re^aiolds,  Plemmons,  Stephens 
(6),  Snead  (5),  Selvage  "(5),  Shelton,  Stone,  Scott, 
Snow,  Stansbury,  Turner,  Taliaferro,  Taylor,  Tewell, 
Van,  Wallens  (3),  Watkins  (3),  Walker  (5),  Wilson 
(7),  Winters,  Yoakum  (5),  Young.  Of  these  700 
members  about  15  were  colored.  Of  these  there  were 
both  put  together  only  thirty-four  non-fellowships  and 
exclusions,  in  the  first  fifty  years  the  church  had  an 
existence.  Most  of  these  were  for  the  charges  of 
drunkenness,  profanity,  fighting,  dishonesty,  gambling, 
non-attendance  and  communing  with  other  sects  or 
"societies."  This  would  be,  rating  the  average  mem- 
bership at  150,  less  than  one-half  of  one  per  cent,  of 
exclusions  per  year. 

During  the  time  specified  1820-1872  the  moderators 
elected  by  the  church  have  been  0.  Patty,  James  Sewell, 
Eli  Cleveland,  Robt.  Snead  and  S.  J.  Martin;  the  pas- 
tors, E.  Cleveland,  R.  Snead,  I.  B.  Kimbrough,  J.  P. 
Kefauver,  D.  M.  Breaker;  the  clerks,  Moses  McSpad- 
den,  Samuel  Jameson,  Wm.  Johnson,  John  Pennington, 
Norris  C.  Hood,  R.  Snead,  Wm.  Lillard,  W.  E.  Johnson, 
W.  E.  Jordan,  F.  K.  Berry;  the  deacons,  Saml.  Jame- 
son, John  Fine,  R.  Snead,  W  H.  Montgomery,  D.  Ragon, 
Nelson  Miller,  Jesse  F.  Jones,  F.  M.  Pennington,  W.  E. 
Johnson  and  Jos.  Ragon. 

Political  Discussions  in  Church  an  Injury  to  It. 

One  reason  for  the  great  prosperity  and  increase  in 
membership  of  this  church  from  1865  to  1870  was  that 
no  member  was  permitted  to  discuss  the  war  or  political 
parties  inside  of  the  church  house  during  the  Civil 
War  or  directly  thereafter.  This  made  it  possible  for 
all  who  attended  church  to  meet  on  terms  of  amity  and 
equality.  During  the  sixties  various  Baptist  churches 
in  East  Tennessee  were  rent  and  torn  asunder  so  that 
it  took  years  to  recover. 

Members  were  sometimes  excluded  merely  for  the 
part  they  took  in  the  w^ar.    The  discussion  of  state   and 


366  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAJJLEY 

national  questions,  which  divide  political  parties,  from 
the  pulpit  or  in  church  meetings,  nearly  always  is  an 
injury  to  the  church  and  rarely  makes  the  political  par- 
ties an^^  better.  In  this  particular  church  during  the 
Civil  War  they  prayed  in  public  neither  for  the  success 
of  the  armies  of  the  Union  or  the  Southern  Confederacy 
whatever  they  may  have  done  in  private.  True  they 
prayed  that  the  war  should  end  and  brother  cease  to 
shed  the  blood  of  brother. 

There  were  members  of  this  church  who  had  sons  on 
different  sides  of  the  struggle  and  it  was  generally  un- 
derstood, and  the  rule  was  observed,  that  the  right  and 
wrong  of  the  war,  slavery  or  secession  were  not  to  be 
discussed  in  and  around  the  church.  Hence  when  the 
troops  disbanded  and  came  home  there  was  little  to 
apologize  for  or  take  back  and  all  met  on  a  friendly 
footing. 

)  The  greatest  number  of  accessions  to  this  church  in 
one  year  was  in  1866  under  the  pastorate  of  Elder  I.  B. 
Kimbrough.  So  far  as  I  am  aware,  no  one  knew  on 
which  side  he  stood  during  the  Civil  War.  When  asked 
the  question  he  would  reply  that  he  was  a  preacher  of 
the  Gospel  and  not  a  politician  or  fighter.  Yet  he  was 
a  fearless  man,  none  more  so. 

One  Sunday  he  had  an  appointment,  not  at  Sweet- 
water Church  but  a  considerable  distance  from  there. 
Some  of  the  tough  element  in  the  neighborhood  had 
threatened  him.  On  that  Sunday  he  arose  in  the  pulpit 
and  coolly  remarked :  ' '  I  am  told  on  good  authority  that 
I  am  not  going  to  be  allowed  to  preach  here  today.  I  have 
had  many  appointments  in  the  years  that  I  have  been 
preaching  and  have  always  filled  them.  By  the  help  of 
God  and  these  (here  he  placed  a  couple  of  six  shooters 
on  the  pulpit  before  him)  I  expect  to  fill  this  one,  you 
can  listen  or  not  just  as  you  see  fit."  He  was  not  in- 
terrupted during  the  sermon  nor  afterward. 

He  was  pastor  of  the  church  on  Sweetwater  during 
the  year  1866.  On  the  last  days  of  October  that  year 
there  was  a  protracted  meeting  and  a  great  revival. 
There  were  sixty-seven  accessions  to  the  church,  fifty- 
six  of  them  by  experience  and  baptism.  Some  of  those 
joining  had  fought  on  different  sides  during  the  Civil 
War,  and  some  of  them  were  approaching  middle  age. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  367 

It  was  told  in  the  country  around  that  there  was  to  be 
such  a  baptising  as  had  never  been  known  in  this  sec- 
tion before.  A  great  concourse  of  people  gathered 
there;  they  came  from  up  and  down  the  valley,  from 
Pond  Creek,  Piney  and  the  Flatwoods. 

The  day  turned  out  to  be  very  raw  and  chilly.  Many 
doubters  confidently  asserted  that  few  would  have  the 
nerve  to  be  immersed  under  the  circumstances.  But 
all  were  there  to  a  man  and  to  a  woman.  Not  one  of 
the  fifty-six  held  back  or  failed  to  stand  the  trying  or- 
deal. The  rite  was  performed  in  the  creek  not  far  from 
the  church,  when  old  soldiers  who  had  fought  each  other 
valiantly  in  battle  joined  hands  and  marched  into  the 
water  singing  "Blest  be  the  tie  that  binds  our  hearts 
in  Christian  love. ' '  To  me  the  ceremony  was  exceeding- 
ly impressive.  Yet  some  were  inclined  to  be  sorry  for 
them  or  sneer,  "Poor  thing,  she  will  catch  her  death 
of  cold,  look  how  she  shivers."  ''How  foolish  to  risk 
their  health  in  such  a  manner,  thinking  God  w^ill  take 
care  of  them."  "I'll  bet  that  old  fellow  don't  like  a 
rebel  any  better  than  he  did  before."  "Tliere's  one 
they  ought  to  hold  under  till  he  blubbers,  'taint  the  first 
time  he's  been  dipped."  These  were  mostly  asides  on 
the  outskirts  of  the  crowd  and  not  really  intended  to 
interrupt  the  proceedings;  yet  I  thought  from  how 
many  points  the  same  can  be  looked  at.  Take  an  ex- 
ample : 

Jumbo  was  the  largest  elephant  ever  in  capitivity. 
Notwithstanding  his  size  (he  was  about  twelve  feet  tall 
at  his  shoulders) ;  he  was  docile  and  affectionate  in  dis- 
position. He  and  the  baby  elephant  were  almost  con- 
stant companions  and  Jumbo  felt  himself  responsible 
for  his  welfare  and  safety.  On  one  occasion  a  train  of 
Barnum  &  Bailey's  circus  was  wrecked.  Jumbo  owing 
to  his  great  strength  soon  extricated  himself  from  the 
wreckage  and  could  have  got  safely  away.  Just  then  he 
heard  the  trumpeting  of  the  baby  elephant  which  was 
almost  paralyzed  by  fright.  He  turned,  caught  and 
threw  the  baby  elephant  from  the  track  but  was  himself 
somehow  caught  in  the  debris  and  crippled  so  he  had  to 
be  killed.  This  was  what  an  elephant  did.  The  owners 
had  the  skin  stuffed  and  placed  on  a  wheeled  platform. 
On  the  circus  tour  in  the  grand   entry   Jumbo   looking 


368  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

quite  lifelike  was  drawn  around  the  ring  by  four 
elephants  making  stately  strides  while  the  band  played 
the  funeral  march  of  Chopin.  The  baby  elephant  whose 
life  he  had  saved  toddled  along  behind.  This  made  some 
laugh,  as  that  is  what  they  went  there  for,  but  most  of 
the  15,000  people  present  appreciated  the  solemnity  of 
the  scene.  As  for  myself  I  would  have  not  have  com- 
plained if  that  had  been  all  I  saw  for  the  price  of  ad- 
mission. 

The  Sweetwater  church  for  many  years  owned  a  lot 
in  Philadelphia,  donated  to  them  by  Robt.  Cleveland. 
On  Saturday  before  the  fourth  Sunday  in  June, 
1872,  the  Sweetwater  church  relinquished  its  title  to 
the  church  in  Philadelphia.  Previous  to  this  on  Sat- 
urday before  the  fourth  Sunday  in  May  of  that  year 
.letters  of  dismission  were  granted  the  following  mem- 
bers in  order  to  constitute  a  church  at  Philadelphia: 

J.  J.  and  Tabitha  Swanner,  H.  H.  Porter,  Anderson 
and  Phoebe  Burns,  Lavenia  and  Sanford  Burns,  C.  F. 
and  Mary  Thompson,  Cornelia  Porter,  B.  F.  Stansbury, 
Elizabeth  Edwards,  D.  D.,  and  Susan  Kelly,  Joseph 
Purdy,  D.  E.  and  Elizabeth  Kelly,  Lilah  and  Josephine 
Miller. 

So  the  church  on  Sweetwater  is  remarkable  both  on 
account  of  its  own  membership,  and  as  being  the  mother 
of  several  other  prosperous  churches. 


The  Baptist  Church  on  Pond  Creek  and  Its  Succes- 
sor, THE  First  Baptist  Church  at  Sweetwater. 

On  the  20th  of  November,  1824,  there  met  at  John 
Howell's  in  McMinn  County,  the  following  brethren  and 
sisters:  John  and  Millie  Hancock,  Thomas  and  Rufus 
Walden,  James  McClure,  Barclay  McClure,  Wm.  F. 
Briant,  Wm.  Jones,  Jane  Jones.  They  proceeded  to 
organize  a  Baptist  church  and  enunciated  a  declaration 
of  faith  and  rules  of  decorum,  not  essentially  diiferent 
from  the  Baptist  Church  on  Sweetwater.  Wm.  F.  Bri- 
ant  was    elected   clerk. 

Some  time  afterward  a  small  church  and  a  shed  for 
camp  meeting  purposes  was  built  near  where  J.  N. 
Heiskell  now  lives  on  Pond  Creek;  I  do  not  know  the 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  369 

date  of  erection  of  either  but  it  must  have  been  some 
time  in  the  later  twenties. 

The  church  was  reasonably  prosperous.  In  October, 
1827,  it  had  fifty-seven  members. 

Samuel  Jamieson  was.  clerk  from  1827  to  1830.  Wm. 
F.  Briant  w^as  clerk  to  March,  1833.  William  Harral- 
son  from  1833  to  1838.  James  A.  Small  from  1838  to 
1842,  and  then  Thomas  Dean  until  March,  1845.  E.  A. 
Taylor  until  1860.  Elder  William  Jones  was  pastor 
from  1831  to  1833.  Elder  R.  H.  Taliaferro  from  1833 
until  March,  1841,  when  Elder  Robert  Snead  was  elected 
pastor.     He  was  pastor  until  1857. 

This  church  was  missionary  in  faith.  It  was  recorded 
in  the  minutes  that  on  the  first  Saturday  in  January, 
1837,  Wm.  F.  Briant  and  eight  others,  had  left  Pond 
Creek  church,  they  say,  ''on  account  of  the  Missionary 
Bible  Society  and  contributions  to  foreign  missions"; 
therefore  the  church  considered  them  "not  of  us"  and 
their  names  were  erased  from  the  church  book. 

On  the  first  Saturday  in  December,  1844,  some  half 
dozen  members  were  excluded  for  joining,  w^hat  they 
denominated,  the  Christian  Church,  often  termed  the 
Campbellites.  For  these  causes,  and  the  unsuitability  of 
the  church  building  and  the  inconvenience  to  the  mem- 
bers to  attend  at  that  place  on  the  first  Saturday  in 
June,  1854,  it  was  decided  to  endeavor  to  build  a  house 
of  worship  at  the  town  of  Sweetw^ater.  In  July,  1854, 
the  church  appointed  brethren  R.  Snead,  John  Fine,  Ma- 
jor Wallis,  J.  S.  Taylor  and  E.  A.  Ta3dor,  to  control  the 
fund  for  the  building  of  the  meeting  house  there.  From 
that  time  until  January,  1857,  there  was  little  business 
transacted  at  the  Pond  Creek  Church  and  few  members 
received.  This  was  the  last  meeting  at  the  Pond  Creek 
church  house. 

The  First  Baptist  Church  at  Sweetwater. 

I.  T.  Lenoir  promised  to  donate  a  lot  at  the  corner 
of  the  Athens  road  and  Monroe  Street  for  the  location 
of  a  Baptist  church  to  be  the  successor  of  the  Pond 
Creek  Baptist  Church.  Taking  him  at  his  word  the  com- 
mittee appointed  by  Pond  Creek  Baptist  Church  pro- 
ceeded to  procure  funds  and  erect  a  building  thereon. 


370  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAIiLEY 

Tliis  building  was  not  ready  for  occupation  or  holding 
meetings  until  August,  1860.  At  that  time  Mary  Car- 
oline Lenoir,  Esther  E.  Yearwood,  Elizabeth  Cleveland, 
Elizabeth  Bailey,  James  J.  and  Mary  E.  Sheldon,  were 
received  by  letter,  and  W.  B.  Lenoir  by  experience. 

On  the  first  Saturday  in  December,  1860  there  joined 
the  church  by  experience  and  baptism :  John  A.  Rowan, 
Tliomas  D.  Taylor,  Isaac  and  James  Murray,  Martha 
L.  and  Mary  E.  Taylor,  Nancy  Fine,  Mary  Rowan,  John 
H.  and  Caroline  Johnson,  and  by  enrollment  Mrs.  Mary 
Rowan.  W.  H.  Taylor  was  appointed  clerk,  and  Elder 
Robert  Snead  w^as  moderator.  These  continued  in  their 
offices  during  1861  and  1862.  The  first  pastor  of  the 
church  elected  in  January,  1861,  was  H.  W.  Taylor,  of 
Deep  Spring,  Grainger  County,  Tenn. 

In  August,  1861,  there  were  received  by  letter,  Elder 
W.  A.  Nelson  and  sister,  M.  M.  Nelson. 

The  last  church  meeting  held  during  the  Civil  War, 
was  in  August,  1862.  From  that  until  the  summer  of 
1865  the  church  was  occupied  and  used  by  the  soldiers 
of  one  army  or  the  other.  Union  or  Confederate,  for  hos- 
pital and  other  purposes,  so  that  church  meetings  could 
not  be  held.  The  first  recorded  church  meeting  after 
that  was  in  August,  1865,  when  W.  A.  Nelson  was  mod- 
erator and  E.  A.  Taylor,  church  clerk.  Federal  troops 
again  occupied  the  church  in  latter  part  of  1865.  There 
is  no  recorded  meeting  until  the  first  Saturday  in  July, 
1866.  Then  J.  J.  Sheldon  was  elected  clerk  and  R. 
Snead,  moderator.  J.  J.  Sheldon  continued  in  office 
and  acted  as  clerk  on  the  first  Saturdav  in  January, 
1868.    He  died  on  January  18,  1868. 

Up  to  the  first  Saturday  in  April,  1868,  Elder  R. 
Snead  usually  preached  for  the  church  although  not  a 
regular  pastor;  then  brother  J.  F.  Kefauver  was  called 
to  the  pastorate,  and  was  pastor  until  May,  1870.  The 
pastors  of  the  church,  from  that  time  until  1889  were 
as  follows:  J.  B.  Lee,  1870— February,  1873;  C.  L. 
Bowling,  August,  1875 — July,  1876 ;  T.  A.  Higdon,  July, 
1876— June,  1877;  J.  L.  Lloyd,  December,  1877— Decem- 
ber, 1878;  W.  C.  Grace,  April,  1879— December,  1882; 
D.  M.  McReynolds,  November,  1883— April,  1889. 

The  following  were  clerks  from  the  death  of  J.  J. 
Sheldon  :    E.  A.  Taylor,  January,  1868 — January,  1876 ; 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  371 

W.  B.  Lenoir,  February,  1876— April,  1881;  John  N. 
Janeway,  November,  1881 — July,  1887 ;  Thomas  M.  Sam- 
ple, October,  1887— September,  1888;  W.  Morriss,  Oc- 
tober, 1888— April,  1889. 

After  the  death  of  I.  T.  Lenoir,  in  December,  1875. 
it  was  discussed  by  the  deacons  of  the  church  and 
others,  whether  he  had  made  a  deed  to  the  lot  occupied 
by  the  Baptist  church,  to  the  deacons  of  the  church  and 
their  successors,  and  if  such  deed  had  been  recorded, 
if  such  deed  was  in  existence.  There  was  no  record  of 
such  deed  and  if  it  had  been  made  it  was  not  to  be  found. 
It  w^as  especially  important  as  there  was  some  talk  of 
building  a  parsonage  on  the  lot  and  they  wished  a  clear 
title  to  it  for  church  purposes.  Tlierefore  in  the  year 
W.  B.  Lenoir,  the  heir-at-law  of  I.  T.  Lenoir,  con- 
veyed to  the  deacons  of  the  church  and  their  successors 
the  lot  which  the  members  of  the  Baptist  church  claimed 
they  were  entitled  to,  specifying  in  the  deed  that  it 
should  not  be  sold  and  should  be  used  only  for  church 
purposes.  As  the  membership  of  this  church  was  small 
and  few  of  them  were  in  an^'thing  but  moderate  circum- 
stances when  it  w^as  decided  to  build  the  parsonage,  sub- 
scriptions were  solicited  by  E.  A.  Taylor  and  others,  to 
help  us  to  build  the  parsonage.  The  subscriptions  were 
liberal  and  came  in  from  various  sources  and  places. 
Among  other  subscriptions  w^ere  $39.25  from  the  Baptist 
church  at  Madisonville,  $35.00  from  the  First  Baptist 
Church  at  Knoxville,  $30.45  from  the  East  Tennessee 
Baptist  Association  and  $5.00  from  the  Brownsville 
Church  in  West  Tennessee.  Thus  a  very  neat  and  com- 
modious parsonage  was  built  at  a  cost  of  about  $900. 
This  building  was  commenced  on  the  23rd  of  August, 
1880;  the  house  was  occupied  the  22nd  day  of  January, 
1881,  probably  by  the  Rev.  W.  C.  Grace,  who  was  pas- 
tor of  the  church  at  that  time. 

In the  church  decided  that  they  would  build  a 

new  church  building  as  the  old  one  w^as  not  convenient 
or  commodious.  They  wished  to  sell  the  old  property 
for  what  they  could  get  for  it  but  they  were  debarred 
from  doing  so  by  the  provisions  of  the  deed  from  W.  B. 
Lenoir.  The  committee  from  the  church  solicited  him 
to  make  a  deed  to  the  church  without  any  reservation. 
He  was  loath  to  do  so  fearing  that  the  same  thing  might 


372  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAULiEY 

happen  as  happened  in  the  case  of  the  Baptist  Sem- 
inary; that  they  might  lose  the  new  church  property  by 
mortgages  or  mechanic's  liens.  But  after  much  so- 
licitation and  promises,  on  the  part  of  the  church  peo- 
ple that  they  would  not  attempt  to  build  a  church  to 
cost  more  than  they  had  valid  subscriptions  for  and 

they  could  pay  for,  he  consented.     Therefore  on  

he  conveyed  to trustees  the  old  church 


and  parsonage  property  by  warranty  deed.  This  helped 
considerably  in  the  building  of  the  new  church  which 
is  a  credit  to  the  membership  and  an  ornament  to  the 
town.  This  is  the  most  expensive  and  modern  in  its 
appointments  of  any  church  building  in  Sweetwater. 

Methodist  Episcopal.  Church,  South, 

Was  the  second  church  of  any  denomination  built  in 
Sweetwater.  On  the  15th'  of  June,  1858,  I.  T.  Lenoir 
conveyed  to  the  stewards  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  the  following  described  property;  Be- 
ginning at  the  corner  of  Monroe  and  High  streets, 
thence   westwardly   witli    Monroe    Street    250   feet    to 

Street,  thence  at  a    right    angle    to    Monroe 

Street  to  Henry  Mayes'  line,  thence  eastwardly  with 
Wright  Street  to  High  Street,  thence  with  High.  Street 
180  feet  to  the  beginning,  containing  about  one  acre. 
The  consideration  expressed  was  $100  dollars.  This 
was  never  paid  but  was  merely  named  that  the  church 
might  have  a  clear  deed  to  the  property.  There  was  no 
alley  there  then  as  there  is  now,  and  the  location  was 
considered  ample  for  the  building  of  both  church  and 
parsonage. 

The  first  pastor  in  charge  was  the  Rev.  Kelly.  In 
1861  the  Rev.  J.  W.  Bowman  was  P.  C.  In  1862  James 
Atkin  was  P.  E.,  and  again  in  1866.  J.  H.  Brunner,  P. 
E.  in  1867-69;  R.  M.  Hickey  1868-69;  C.  Long  1869-73. 

In  the  year ,  owing  to  the  growing  need  of  the 

church,  it  was  decided  to  sell  the  old  church  building 
and  site  and  erect  a  new  l)uilding  on  some  other  loca- 
tion. Half  of  the  original  lot  conveyed  by  I.  T.  Lenoir, 
to  the  stewards  of  the  church  had  already  been  sold 
to  help  pay  for  repairs  to  church  damaged  during  the 
Civil  War  and  purchase  a  parsonage  for  the  church. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  373 

A  lot  for  parsonage  was  bought,  located  just  across  the 
street  from  the  Methodist  church.  This  was  afterwards 
sold,  along  with  the  church  lot  and  building  as  part  of  a 
building  fund  for  a  new  church.  As  the  church  had  ac- 
quired a  title  to  the  Victoria  College,  formerly  the  Ma- 
sonic Lodge  building,  it  was  determined  to  build  a 
church  there.  J.  W.  Clark  was  chairman  of  the  build- 
ing committee.  He  spent  much  of  his  time  and  money 
in  the  erection  and  construction  of  the  same.  He  and 
J.  K.  Brown  were  the  largest  contributors.  I  have  no 
schedule  showing  who  were  the  subscribers  to  the  build- 
ing fund,  but  I  am  satisfied  the  above  statement  is  true. 
The  new  church  building  was  completed  in  the  year 
1892  and  the  parsonage  a  little  later.  I  have  not  access 
to  the  reports  of  the  building  committee,  therefore  do 
not  wish  to  make  an  estimate  of  its  cost,  i)ut  it  was  con- 
sidered the  most  costly  church  building  and  parsonage, 
up  to  that  time,  in  the  town.  It  would  take  up  too  much 
space  to  give  the  late  history  and  statistics  of  this  or 
any  other  church  in  Sweetwater. 

The  PEESBYTERiAisr  Church  at  Sweetwater. 

On  the  12tli  of  January,  1861,  I.  T.  Lenoir  conveyed 
to  J.  H.  Patton  and  F.  Bogart,  trustees  for  the  Presby- 
terian church,  a  lot  in  the  town  of  Sweetwater,  opposite 
to  where  the  Eagle  Flouring  Mill  now  stands  and  on 
a  part  of  which  is  now  a  planing  mill,  near  the  Mad- 
isonville  road :  fronting  on  Walnut  Street  190  feet  and 
running  back  110  feet  to  an  alley,  thence  with  that  al- 
ley to  the  street  on  the  Heiskell  line,  thence  with  that 
street  to  Walnut.  This  is  not  the  deed  description  but 
merely  for  purposes  of  identification.  It  was  the  inten- 
tion of  I.  T.  Lenoir  to  donate  the  lot  with  the  provision 
that  it  was  to  be  used  for  church  purposes.  However, 
the  elders  and  members  of  the  church  thought  better 
to  pay  for  the  lot,  so  that  if  they  wanted  to  sell  it,  at 
any  time,  and  locate  the  church  elsewhere,  they  could 
do  so. 

Tliis  church  was  built  by  the  new  school  branch  of 
the  Presbyterian  church,  and  the  people  building  it  were 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  church  at  Philadelphia, 
Tenn.     The  largest    contributors    were    John    Ramsey, 


374  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Charles  Owen,  Alex.  Biggs  and  William  Patton.  The 
building  was  commenced  in  1857  and  it  was  finished  in 
the  latter  part  of  1858  or  the  early  part  of  1859.  This 
church  was  used  by  the  Union  Sunday-school  until  1872, 
at  which  time  the  Methodist  and  Baptist  churches  es- 
tablished Sunday-schools  of  their  own.  From  the  time 
the  Union  Sunday-school  began  its  meetings  in  the 
Presbyterian  church  John  Ramsey  was  superintendent, 
to  the  time  of  his  death  in  1872. 

The  first  pastor  after  the  church  was  organized  was 
the  Rev.  Thomas  Brown,  of  Philadelphia,  Tenn.  The 
elders  were  Jno.  Ramsey  and  Charles  Owen.  The  Rev. 
Thomas  BroA\m  was  pastor  from  its  organization  to  some 
time  in  1860  w^hen  the  Rev.  Thomas  Bradshaw  succeeded 
him.  During  1863  and  1864  the  Rev.  Wm.  Brown,  of 
Cleveland,  Tenn.,  preached  for  the  church.  These  data 
were  gotten  from  Mrs.  Martha  Waren. 

If  there  are  any  session  books  extant  as  to  the  early 
organization  of  the  church,  I  have  not  discovered  where 
they  were.  From  October,  1866  to  the  present,  1916,  the 
history  of  the  church  is  clearly  set  forth  in  the  minutes 
of  the  session. 

Up  to  October,  1866,  there  were  two  separate  congre- 
gations in  Sweetwater  and  the  surrounding  country, 
the  old  and  the  new  school.  The  old  school  had  held 
their  meetings  in  the  old  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church.  At  that  date  the  members  of  the  new  school, 
and  some-  members  of  the  old  school  church,  met  as  a 
congregation,  and  took  a  vote  as  to  whether  they  should 
join  the  old  school  or  new  school  branch  of  the  church. 
They  decided  to  unite  and  join  the  new  school.  Of  this 
meei^ing  George  A.  Caldwell  was  moderator  and  the 
elders  were  James  Montgomery,  Jno.  Ramsey,  E.  E. 
Johnston  and  R.  A.  Ramsey,  who  was  elected  clerk  of  the 
meeting. 

At  a  congregational  meeting  of  the  church  on  March 
17,  1867,  Jno.  Ramsey,  formerly  an  elder  in  the  new 
school  church,  and  R.  A.  Ramsey,  formerly  an  elder  in 
the  old  school,  were  unanimously  elected  elders.  James 
Montgomery  asked  to  be  excused  on  account  of  age  and 
infirmity.  J.  H.  Patton,  S.  Y.  B.  Williams,  W.  L.  Ram- 
sey and  Frank  Bogart  were  elected  elders.    From  that 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  375 

time  for  twenty  years  J.  H.  Patton  was  clerk  of  the  ses- 
sion. 

The  Rev.  W.  W.  Morrison  from  March,  1867  until  No- 
vember, 1872,  preached  twice  a  month  for  the  chnrch. 
The  Rev.  James  Wallace  was  pastor  from  November, 
1872,  until  May,  1889.  From  that  time  to  January,  1891, 
there  was  no  regular  supply.  On  the  last  date  the  Rev. 
E.  C.  Trimble  began  to  preach  for  the  church.  He,  with 
his  family,  took  possession  of  the  parsonage,  next  to 
the  new  church  on  the  12th  of  February,  1891.  He  left 
Sweetwater  on  October  3,  1892.  The  Rev.  J.  L.  Bach- 
man  then  supplied  the  pulpit  for  six  months,  and  he  was 
continued  as  supply  until  he  was  elected  pastor.  This 
position  he  has  held  up  to  the  present,  1916. 

The  New  Presbyterian  Church. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1885  the  building  of  a  new"  Pres- 
byterian church  began  to  be  agitated.  The  principal 
reasons  for  the  building  of  the  new"  church  were  that  the 
majority  of  the  members  in  town  lived  on  the  w^est  side 
of  the  railroad  and  owing  to  the  number  of  trains  on 
the  railroad  it  was  inconvenient  to  get  to  it  and  danger- 
ous for  children,  and  that  the  church  was  antiquated 
and  uncomfortable  and  not  suited  to  the  growing  mem- 
bership. Therefore  on  February  22,  1886,  at  the  session 
of  the  church,  the  board  of  deacons  w^ere  directed  to 
canvass  the  congregation  to  ascertain  w^hat  sum  could 
be  obtained  for  that  purpose.  In  May,  1886,  the  deacons 
reported  that  a  sufficient  amount  had  been  subscribed 
for  the  building  of  the  church,  to  cost  $6,000  or  more. 
In  June,  1886,  an  executive  committee,  consisting  of 
Jno.  M.  Jones,  chairman,  J.  H.  Patton,  James  A.  Wal- 
lace, F.  Bogart  and  A.  R.  Melendy  were  appointed.  They 
were  to  select  a  location  and  superintend  the  building 
of  the  church.  A  lot  was  purchased  from  Mrs.  Ada 
Mayes,  and  dirt  was  broken  on  the  present  site  in  July, 
1887.  Bina  Young  was  the  contractor  for  the  building 
of  the  church.  In  the  church  minutes,  page  191,  we  find 
the  following:  June  2,  1888.  The  executive  commit- 
tee appointed  June  16,  1887,  to  sell  the  old  church  house 
and  build  a  new  one,  having  performed  that  duty,  called 
for  a  congregational  meeting  on  this    day,    Avhich   was 


376  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAUxEY 

held  in  the  new  church  house  at  8  o'clock  at  night,  ac- 
cording to  pre\dous  arrangements  and  notice,  at  which 
time  the  following  programme  was  observed: 

1.  Long  metre  Doxology,  "Praise  God  from  whom  all  blessings 
flow." 

2.  Invocation,  by  the  pastor,  Rev.  James  A.  Wallace. 

3.  Treasurer's  Report.     Jno.  M.  Jones. 

4.  Tender  of  the  church  to  congregation,  with  deed  and  keys,  by  A. 
R,  Melendy. 

5.  Reception  of  the  church,  for  congregation,  by  Elder  J.  F.  Owen. 

6.  Reply  of  congregation  to  committee,  by  Rev.  J.  L.  Bachman. 
Reading  Scriptures,  Rev.  Dugald  Munroe. 

Prayer,  Rev.  T.  H.  McCallie. 

Singing  100th  Psalm  by  the  congregation. 

Opening  and  First  Sermon  by  Rev.  J.  A,  Wallace,  from  Text  1 
Timothy  3:5,  "The  Church  of  God." 

Prayer,  Rev.  Geo.  F.  Robertson, 

Singing  by  choir  and  congregation,  Hymn  567,  "Dear  Shepherd  of 
chy  people  hear." 

Benediction,  by  Rev.  James  A.  Wallace,  Pastor. 

June  3,  Sabbath,  10:30  o'clock  A.  M. 

Anthem,  by  choir. 

Invocation,  Rev.  T.  H.  McCallie,  D.  D. 

Singing  137th  Psalm,  2nd  part,  "I  love  thy  kingdom  Lord." 

Reading  Scripture,  Rev.  J.  L.  Bachman. 

Prayer,  Rev.  Dugald  Munroe. 

Hymn,  119,  "All  hail  the  power  of  Jesus'  name." 

Dedicatory  Sermon,  Rev.  T.  H.  McCallie,  from  Text  Matthew,  6:10, 
"Thy  Kingdom  come." 

Dedicatory  Hymn,  number  568,  "Here  in  Thy  name,  eternal  God." 

Benediction  by  the  Rev.   T.   H.  McCallie. 

At  a  session  of  the  elders  at  the  Bank  of  Sweetwater, 
John  M.  Jones,  chairman  of  the  building  committee, 
made  a  final  report  of  subscriptions  collected,  the  sum- 
mary of  which  is  as  follows:  Subscriptions  paid,  $6,- 
167.85.  Amount  paid  Bina  Young,  contractor,  for  bare 
church  building,  $5,138.50.  Cost  of  lot,  purchased  from 
Mrs.  Ada  Mayes,  grading,  pavement,  furnace  and  some 
other  expenses,  $1,029.35. 

This  does  not  include  the  cost  of  fresco  decorations 
and  other  expenses  inside  the  church.  The  whole  cost 
of  the  church  was  about  $8,000.00.  Of  this  amount  the 
Misses  Coffin  and  Mr.  Jno.  H.  and  Mrs.  Inman,  nee 
Margaret  Coffin,  contributed  about  $4,000.00.  In  addi- 
tion to  this  amount  and  not  included  therein,  the  parson- 
age was  built  at  a  cost  of  $2,100.  To  the  fund  for  the 
building  of  the  parsonage  the  Misses  Coffin  were  far 
the  largest  contributors. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  377 

THE  UNION  INSTITUTE  BUILDING. 

The  public  schoolhouse,  one-half  mile  southwest  of  Sweetwater 
Depot,  has  been  several  times  referred  to  in  this  history.  In  that 
only  summer  schools  could  be  taught  wittL  comfort,  and  then  the 
larger  students  had  to  study  out  of  doors.  Public  schools  were  all 
mixed  schools,  namely,  for  both  males  and  females,  and  tkere  seemed 
to  be  a  public  sentiment  here  during  the  fifties  a  growing  against 
them.  A  new  building  for  a  schoolhouse,  therefore,  became  a  neces- 
sity. 

In  1857  various  citizens  of  Sweetwater  and  surrounding  country 
met  and  decided  to  build  a  schoolhouse  at  or  near  the  town.  A 
stock  company  was  formed,  with  twenty  dollars  for  each  share,  upon 
which  shares  each  stockholder  was  entitled  to  vote  in  the  election 
of  trustees  according  to  the  number  of  shares  he  held.  On  the  14th 
of  October,  1857,  E.  A.  Taylor,  I.  T.  Lenoir  and  S.  J.  Rowan  were 
elected  trustees.  They  purchased  lot  No.  126  in  the  town  of  Sweet- 
water and  erected  a  school  building  thereon,  costing  about  $1,500.00. 
Lot  126  was  bounded  by  High,  Walnut,  Church  and  Wright  Streets. 

The  lower  story  of  the  building  was  used  as  a  school  for  males 
and  the  upper  for  females.  Mrs.  H.  M.  Cooke  was  employed  by  the 
trustees  to  teach  the  females,  and  Professor  Gabriel  Ragsdale  the 
males.  Ho  was  not  a  moral  suasionist,  but  believed  in  a  liberal  appli- 
cation of  the  rod.     This  was  in  1858-59. 

George  Lacon  Leybtjrn 

Was  born  May  21,  1839,  in  old  Laconia,  in  the  extreme  southern  part 
of  Greece;  hence  the  name  Lacon.  His  father,  a  distinguished  Pres- 
byterian minister,  was  missionary  to  Greece  at  the  time.  He  took 
the  degree  of  A.  B.  at  Washington  College,  afterward  Washington  and 
Lee  University,  Lexington,  Va.,  in  the  class  of  1858.  Though  only 
nineteen  years  of  age  he  was  first  honor  man  in  his  class.  He  was 
especially  proficient  in  Greek.  He  was  the  first  college  graduate  to 
teach  in  the  First  Civil  District  of  Monroe  County.  He  taught  at  the 
Union  Institute  in  the  years  1859-60.  He  then  resigned,  contrary  to  the 
wishes  and  solicitations  of  the  trustees,  to  take  a  theological  course. 
Before  completing  his  ministerial  education  he  joined  the  Confederate 
army.  He  was  first  lieutenant  of  Company  A,  Thirty-fourth  Virginia 
Infantry,  Wise's  Brigade.  He  served  four  years.  After  the  war  he 
was  pastor  of  Presbyterian  churches  as  follows:  Winchester,  Va., 
1867-75;  missionary  to  Greece  three  years;  his  father  died  there  in 
August,  1875;  pastor  Lexington,  Mo.,  1878-88;  Booneville,  Mo.,  1889-96; 
Newbern,  N.  C,  1896-1900;  four  years  Superintendent  of  Home  Missions 
for  Synod  of  Missouri;  pastor  Lexington,  N.  C,  1904-08;  in  Novem- 
ber, 1908,  after  an  operation  for  appendicitis  resigned  pastorate  and 
went  to  California.  Father  of  four  children,  all  married;  one  daugh- 
ter and  three  sons. 

The  next  teacher  of  males  in  Union  Institute  was  Oscar  W.  Muller. 
He  was  born  in  Prussia  on  September  9,  1834.  He  came  to  this  coun- 
try in  1846.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Hiwassee  College  in  the  class  of 
1859.  He  taught  in  Union  Institute,  1860-61.  He  then  enlisted  in 
Confederate  States  army  as  first  sergeant  in  Company  C  (Captain  W.  L. 
Clark'sj  Second  Regiment,  Tennessee  Cavalry.  He  married  Miss 
Eliza  A.  Clark  on  July  27,  1869.  Like  the  true  Prussian  he  was  a 
great  believer  in  efficiency.  He  is  a  farmer  and  surveyor  and  resides 
near  Hiwassee  College  (1916),  He  was  the  last  male  teacher  in  the 
Union  Institute  until  the  close  of  the  Civil  War. 


378  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

Th,e  next  teacher  was  John  W.  Robertson,  formerly  of  Meigs  County. 
He  was  also  a  student  of  Hiwassee  College  and  a  college  mate  of 
W.  T.  Lenoir.  He  served  in  the  Confederate  army.  He  taught  in 
the  Union  Institute  in  1866-G7.  He  moved  to  Texas  in  1867,  obtaining 
his  demit  from  Sweetwater  Lodge,  No.  292,  F.  and  A.  M.,  on  August 
27th  in  that  year.  He  became  quite  a  prominent  lawyer  in  that 
State. 

Following  J.  W.  Robertson  was  Rev.  W.  H.  Crawford.  He  was 
born  near  Limestone,  in  Greene  County,  on  March  4,  1822.  He  was 
educated  at  Doak — now  Tusculum — College  in  Greene  County.  He  was 
ordained  a  minister  in  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  church  by  East 
Tennessee  Presbytery.  He  affiliated  with  Sweetwater  Masonic  Lodge 
in  December,  1870.  He  was  teacher  and  was  pastor  of  the  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  church,  at  the  same  time,  is  my  remembrance.  He 
went  from  here  to  Kingston.  He  had  a  family.  Hon.  W.  L.  Welcker, 
of  Knoxville,  married  a  daughter  of  his. 

Following  Rev.  W.  H.  Crawford,  Professor  R.  H.  Ramsay  became 
the  teacher.  He  came  from  Milledgeville,  Ga.,  or  somewhere  near  there 
to  Madisonville,  Tenn.,  in  186.5.  He  taught  there  as  principal  in 
Bolivar  Academy  for  several  years.  He  was  a  very  brilliant  man 
and  made  quite  a  reputation  as  an  educator.  I  never  knew  a  man 
who  was  more  conversant  with  the  best  books  in  English  literature. 
In  mental  aberration  or  melancholia,  due  to  drink,  h.e  threw  himself 
from  the  county  bridge  over  the  Tennessee  River  at  Chattanooga.  He 
was  dead  when  reached.  He  was  buried  at  Sweetwater.  This  was 
in  the  fall  of  1890.  He  was  on  his  way  to  Mississippi  to  take  charge 
of  a  school.     He  had  taught  there  the  year  previous. 

In  November,  1871,  the  stockh,olders  met  and  decided  to  sell  the 
property,  to  be  used  for  school  purposes.     As  matters  were,  it  was 
the  understanding  that  the  building  was  to  be  used  for  school  pur- 
poses;   legally  it  was  owned  by  a  stock  company,  and  could  be  used 
for   any    purpose.      It   was    agreed    that    the    first    thirteen    who    sub- 
scribed fifty  dollars  each  should  be  directors  of  the  institution.      They 
were:      J.  W.  Clark,  T.  G.  Boyd,  Isaac  Benson,  W.   B.  Lenoir,  James 
M.    Browder,    Thomas   Yearwood,    Matt   Carter,   R.   F.    Scruggs,    N.    I. 
Mayes,   J.   E.   Ramsey   and   J.    H.   Patton.      In   order   that   th.is  whole 
amount,  $650.00,  should  be  used  for  the  fitting  up  and  repairing  the 
building  and   not  go   into  the  pockets   of  stockholders   of   the   Union 
Institute,   the   following   stock   was   donated    to   the   new   directorate 
T.  Yearwood,  4  shares;  T.  G.  Boyd,  2;  F.  Bogart,  3;   Charles  Owen,  2 
D.  Heiskell,  16;   R.  Snead,  5;   H.  B.  Yearwood,  4;   J.  W.  Goddard,  6 
Mrs.  M.  A.  Reagan,  15;  I.  T.  Lenoir,  35. 

From  the  fall  of  1874  till  the  summer  of  1884,  J.  L.  Bachman. 
D.  D.,  taught  in  the  Union  Institute.  Then  a  charter  was  obtained 
for  Sweetwater  College.  It  was  decided  to  build  a  larger  school- 
house  elsewhere,  to  sell  the  Union  Institute  building  and  lot  and  apply 
the  proceeds  to  Sweetwater  College.  This  was  located  in  the  north- 
west part  of  the  town.  The  sale  was  at  auction  to  the  highest  bidder 
on  the  2nd  of  October,  1885,  and  W.  B.  Lenoir  became  th.e  purchaser. 

Soon  afterward  Dr.  S.  B.  Cook  bought  a  half  interest  in  the  prop- 
erty, and  he  and  W.  B.  Lenoir  fitted  out  the  lower  story  as  a  theatre, 
auditorium  and  music  room.  In  1886  Dr.  Cook  sold  his  interest  to 
W.  B.  Lenoir,  who  made  extensive  improvements  on  the  grounds  and 
building. 

'On  December  26,  1887,  W.  B.  Lenoir  conveyed  this  property  to 
W.  H.  H.  Ragon,  John  S.  Young  and  nine  others  of  Monroe  County, 
and  J.  F.  Christian,  of  Meigs  Company,  J.  P.  Parker,  of  James  County; 
C.   C.   Samuel,   of  Bradley   County,   as   trustees,   the   property   "to   be 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  379 

used  for  females  of  the  white  race  under  control  of  the  Baptist  de- 
nomination of  the  State  of  Tennessee. 

The  building  on  lot  126  was  used  from  1886  till  ISas  by  these  trus- 
tees and  their  successors  for  the  purposes  expressed  in  the  deed.  In 
the  meantime  during  these  years,  '86-98,  the  trustees  solicited  and 
obtained  large  subscriptions,  amounting  to  $12,000  to  $15,000.  They 
built  a  large  addition  to  the  old  building,  and  in  this  a  school  wats 
run  for  females  under  charge  of  J.  H.  Richardson  and  wife.  They 
also  purchased  the  lot  127  in  the  plan  of  the  town  of  Sweetwater,  and 
got  permission  from  the  board  of  mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  cor- 
poration to  close  up  the  street  between. 

On  the  30th  of  September,  1898,  W.  C.  Grace,  president;  D.  L. 
Smith,  secretary;  R.  F.  Scruggs,  treasurer;  James  May,  W.  H.  Smith, 
T.  R.  Wagner,  Joseph  Janeway  and  E.  A.  Taylor,  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  Baptist  Seminary,  conveyed  to  the  Trustees  of  Sweet- 
water College,  consisting  of  F.  A.  Carter,  D.  C.  Young,  John  L.  Brown, 
D.  L.  Smith,  A.  B.  Scruggs,  Harry  Heiskell,  G.  A.  McLin  and  others 
mentioned  (Reg.  Bk.,  No.  5,  pp.  57-60),  conveying  hb  Trusteesi, 
"not  otherwise,"  lots  Nos.  126  and  127:  Beginning  at  the  corner  of 
Wright  and  Church  Streets,  thence  with  Church  Street  to  Morris 
Street;  thence  with  Morris  to  High  Street;  thence  with  High  to 
Wright  Street;  thence  with  Wright  Street  to  beginning.  The  reasons 
given  in  the  deed  mentioned  for  sale  of  the  property  are  as  follows: 

"Whereas,  we,  the  Trustees  of  Sweetwater  Seminary,  in  an  honest 
endeavor  to  build  good  buildings  for  said  Sweetwater  Seminary  and 
attach  good  grounds  to  the  same  and  to  run  and  establish  a  good 
school  in  the  same  and  the  purposes  of  the  people  who  have  sub- 
scribed and  paid  same  to  us  and  for  the  Baptist  denomination;  and, 
whereas,  the  Seminary  has  become  involved  in  a  debt  of  about  twenty 
thousand  dollars  and  said  Baptist  denomination  and  the  people  of 
the  country  have  failed  to  pay  said  debt,  and  the  Trustees  have  had 
to  borrow  the  money  and  pay  off  many  of  these  debts;  and,  whereas, 
some  eight  or  nine  thousand  dollars  of  said  indebtedness  is  still  due 
and  owing,  and  some  of  us  Trustees  are  personally  involved  for  same 
and  have  now  an  offer  of  ten  thousand  dollars  for  the  building  and 
grounds,  which  comes  from  the  Trustees  of  Sweetwater  College  for 
the  purpose  of  still  using  the  building  and  ground  for  school  pur- 
poses, we  have,  therefore,  accepted  said  offer  of  ten  thousand  dollars 
rather  than  force  said  Seminary  and  grounds  to  sale,  in  order  to 
retain  it  to  the  town,  community  and  people  for  educational  pur- 
poses; therefore,"  then  follows  description,  etc. 

From  1898  until  1902  school  was  taught  there  by  J.  L.  Bachman, 
D.  D.,  and  others.     It  was  taught  in  the  name  of  Sweetwater  College. 

From  1902  to  and  including  part  of  1909,  Colonel  0.  C.  Hulvey  ran 
a  military  school  in  the  building.  It  was  called  the  Tennessee  Mili- 
tary Institute  (T.  M.  I.).  In  that  year,  1909,  a  very  large  building 
was  erected  one  mile  north  of  Sweetwater  Depot.  Colonal  O.  C.  Hulvey 
moved  to  this  and  continued  his  school  under  the  name  of  Tennessee 
Military  Institute. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  F.  Rowland  ran  a  female  school  in  the  Union 
Institute.  Mr.  Rowland  died  in  1910,  and  it  was  run  two  more  years 
under  the  charge  of  Mrs.  E.  M.  Rowland. 

Then  from  1913-1916  school  for  females  was  taught  in  the  building, 
with  W.  S.  Woodward  as  principal.  This  school  was  under  charge 
of  Carson  and  Newman  College  of  Jefferson  City,  Tenn. 

A  public  high  school  is  now  (1916)  taught  in  the  Union  Institute, 
which  is  under  the  charge  of  Professor  R.  M.  Ivins. 


380  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALiLEY 

Sweetwater  Lodge  292,  F.  and  A.  M. 

On  November  3,  1860,  a  dispensation  was  granted  by 
the  Grand  Lodge  of  Tennessee,  to  constitute  a  lodge  at 
Sweetwater  to  the  following  named  brethren,  mostly  if 
not  entirely  members  of  the  Tellico  Lodge  No.  80: 

William  B.  Sample,  S.  Y.  B.  Williams,  James  A. 
Wright,  J.  C.  Starrett,  A.  A.  Humphreys,  J.  A.  Rowan, 
H.  B.  Yearwood,  R.  F.  Scruggs,  I.  T.  Lenoir,  William 
H.  Taylor. 

The  said  brethren  were  constituted  into  a  regular 
lodge.  No.  292  F.  &  A.  M.  The  proceedings  of  this  lodge 
are  not  known  until  the  date  given  below  for  the  reasons 
hereafter  stated.  At  a  meeting  of  the  lodge  on  Decem- 
ber 25,  1863,  it  was  recited  as  follows:  ''Upon  examina- 
tion it  was  found  that  the  record  book,  ledger  and  pa- 
pers containing  lodge  matter  were  all  gone.  *  *  *  The 
hall  having  been  broken  open  by  Federal  soldiers." 
W.  H.  Taylor  was  W.  M.  at  this  meeting.  The  lodge 
met  in  the  second-story  of  the  Taylor  building,  then  oc- 
cupied by  S.  Y.  B.  Williams,  afterwards  the  J.  E.  Wil- 
liams building.  At  an  election  of  officers  held  the  fol- 
lowing were  named :  W.  B.  Sample,  W.  M. ;  J.  M.  Sam- 
ple, S.  W. ;  F.  B.  Carter,  J.  W. ;  S.  Y.  B.  Williams,  treas- 
urer; S.  P.  Haynes,  tyler;  J.  H.  Patton,  secretary. 

"  These  officers  served  until  December  22,  1865.  The 
succeeding  officers  and  their  years  of  service  are  as 
follows : 

1869— W.  L.  Clark,  W.  M.;  N.  P.  Eight,  S.  W.;  T.  G. 
Bo3^d,  J.  W. ;  R.  F.  Scruggs,  treasurer;  J.  H.  Patton, 
secretary;  J.  W.  Goddard,  tyler. 

1870— W.  L.  Clark,  W.  M.';  N.  P.  Hight,  S.  W.;  T.  G. 
Boyd,  J.  W. ;  R.  F.  Scruggs,  treasurer;  J.  H.  Patton, 
secretary;  A.  M.  Dobbins,  tyler. 

1871— W.  L.  Clark,  W.  M.;  L.  Forkner,  S.  W.;  N.  L 
Mayes,  J.  W. ;  R.  F.  Scruggs,  treasurer;  J.  H.  Patton, 
secretary;  A.  M.  Dobbins,  tvler. 

1872— T.  G.  Boyd,  W.  M.";  J.  H.  Pickel,  S.  W.;  H.  L. 
Fry,  J.  W. ;  R.  F.  Scruggs,  treasurer;  J.  H.  Patton,  sec- 
retarv;  A.  H.  Murray,  tvler. 

1873— W.  L.  Clark,  W.  M. ;  A.  A.  Humphreys,  S.  W. ; 
W.  B.  Lenoir,  J.  W. ;  R.  F.  Scruggs,  treasurer;  J.  H. 
Patton,  secretary;  A.  M.  Dobbins,  tyler. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  381 

1874— N.  P.  Higlit,  W.  M. ;  A.  A.  Humphreys,  S.  W. ; 
Jo.  W.  Robertson,  J.  W. ;  B.  F.  Scruggs,  treasurer;  J. 
H.  Patton,  secretary;  A.  M.  Dobbins,  tyler. 

1876— W.  L.  Clark,  W.  M. ;  A.  A.  Humphreys,  S.  W. ; 
Jo.  W.  Robertson,  J.  W. ;  B.  F.  Scruggs,  treasurer;  J. 
H.  Patton,  secretary;  C.  Cannon,  tyler. 

1877— J.  H.  Pickel,  W.  M. ;  J.  W.  Robertson,  S.  W. ; 
J.  H.  Montgomery,  J.  W. ;  R.  F.  Scruggs,  treasurer;  J. 
H.  Patton,  secretary;  C.  Cannon,  tyler. 

1878— W.  B.  Sample,  W.  M. ;  "W.  L.  Clark,  S.  W. ;  W. 
B.  Lenoir,  J.  W. ;  R.  F.  Scruggs,  treasurer;  J.  H.  Pat- 
ton, secretary;  C.  Cannon,  tyler. 

1879— J.  L.  McKinney,  W.  M.;  W.  L.  Clark,  S.  W.; 
W.  B.  Lenoir,  J.  W. ;  R.  F.  Scruggs,  treasurer;  J.  H. 
Patton,  secretary;  C.  Cannon,  tyler. 

1880— J.  W.  Robertson,  W.  M. ;  S.  B.  Cook,  S.  W. ;  W. 
B.  Lenoir,  J.  W. ;  R.  F.  Scruggs,  treasurer ;  J.  H.  Pat- 
ton, secretary;  C.  Cannon,  tyler. 

1881— J.  W.  Robertson,  W.  M. ;  J.  L.  Bachman,  S.  W. ; 
W.  B.  Lenoir,  J.  W. ;  R.  F.  Scruggs,  treasurer ;  J.  H.  Pat- 
ton, secretary;  C.  Cannon,  tjlev. 

1882— Jo.  W.  Robertson,  W.  M.;  J.  L.  Bachman,  S. 
W. ;  W.  N.  Lybarger,  J.  W. ;  R.  F.  Scruggs,  treasurer ; 
F.  Bogart,  secretary;  C.  Cannon,  tyler. 

1883— Jo.  W.  Robertson,  W.  M. ;  W.  B.  Lenoir,  S.  W. ; 
J.  L.  Bachman,  J.  W. ;  R.  F.  Scruggs,  treasurer ;  F.  Bo- 
gart, secretary;  C.  Cannon,  tyler. 

1884— W.  L.  Clark,  W.  M. ;  J.  L.  Bachman,  S.  W. ;  J. 
H.  Montgomery,  J.  W. ;  R.  F.  Scruggs,  treasurer ;  Gr.  F. 
Hicks,  secretary;  D.  W.  Butt,  tyler. 

1885— S.  B.  Cook,  W.  M. ;  J.  S.  Young,  S.  W. ;  J.  L 
Carter,  J.  W. ;  B.  F.  Scruggs,  treasurer;  G.  F.  Hicks, 
secretary;  C.  Cannon,  tyler. 

1886— S.  B.  Cook,  W.'M.;  G.  F.  Hicks,  S.  W.;  Jno.  B. 
Carter,  J.  W. ;  R,  F.  Scruggs,  treasurer ;  R.  W.  Brown, 
secretary;  C.  Cannon,  tyler. 

After  the  close  of  the  war  from  1865,  until  1875,  the 
lodge  prospered  exceedingly,  and  there  were  many  ad- 
ditions to  the  membership.  One  reason  for  this  was 
that  it  was  conceded  and  believed  that  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity had  helped  very  much  to  mitigate  the  horrors  of 
the  Civil  War.  Favors  were  shown  to  brethren  on  the 
different  sides.  Federal  and  Confederate,  and  treatment 


382  HISTOBY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

given  which  would  not  have  been  extended  to  other  than 
Masons. 

In  July,  1868,  the  lodge  decided  to  build  a  new  hall 
instead  of  meeting  in  rented  property.  As  a  building 
conunittee  there  were  appointed:  R.  F.  Scruggs,  I.  T. 
Lenoir,  J.  H.  Pickel,  J.  H.  Patton  and  W.  L.  Clark.  Be- 
sides the  money  in  the  treasury  the  members  contrib- 
uted very  liberally  to  the  building  of  the  new  hall.  A 
lot  was  purchased  where  the  M.  E.  Church,  South,  and 
parsonage  now  stand,  and  a  hall  was  erected  at  a  cost 
of  more  than  $5,000. 

The  first  meeting  held  in  the  new  hall  was  on  Fri- 
day, November  19,  1869.  Tlie  lower  part  of  the  build- 
ing was  used  as  a  school  room.  It  was  first  rented  to 
Mrs.  Helen  M.  Cooke  in  1870. 

In  the  year  1873  some  of  the  brethren,  especially  those 
in  the  country,  became  dissatisfied  with  the  location  of 
the  hall.  There  was  no  convenient  hitching  place  for 
their  horses  nearer  than  the  public  square  around  the 
depot.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  report  what  could 
be  done  about  a  new  and  better  location  for  a  hall.  In 
November,  1873,  the  committee  reported  that  a  third 
story  on  M.  Carter's  building,  could  be  added  at  a  cost 
of  about  $2,500;  they  therefore  decided  to  sell  the  old 
property  and  accept  Mr.  Carter's  offer. 

On  November  28,  1873,  the  lodge  passed  a  resolution 
to  sell  to  the  Methodists  for  $5,500,  and  donate  $2,000, 
for  purpose  of  establishing  a  female  school  of  high' 
grade.  This  amount  of  $3,500  was  subscribed  mostly 
by  the  citizens  of  Sweetwater  and  country  around,  and 
to  which  fund  many,  not  Methodists,  subscribed  liberally. 
Therefore  in  pursuance  of  this  resolution  of  the  lodge, 
on  February  2,  1874,  a  deed  was  made  to  certain  trus- 
tees for  a  female  high  school,  to  be  under  the  charge  of 
the  Athens  District  Conference. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Masonic  Lodge  in  their  new 
hall  over  the  Carter  building  was  on  May  14,  1875.  A 
deed  to  the  hall  in  the  third  story  of  the  building  was 
made  by  Mat  Carter  to  Lodge  292  F.  &  A.  M.  on  Sep- 
tember 1,  1876.  The  Masons  still  (1916)  hold  their  meet- 
ing there. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  lodge  April  14,  1871,  by  a  unani- 
mous vote  the  lodge  subscribed  to  the    Masonic    Homo 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  383 

Mission  School  $1,000.  This  sum  was  to  be  paid  in  an- 
nual installments  of  $100  each,  the  first  installment  to 
be  due  in  November,  1873. 

From  the  names  of  those  present  at  masonic  meetings 
after  the  reorganization  of  the  lodge  we  find  that  the 
following  besides  tlie  charter  members  belonged  to 
Lodge  292  previous  to  1864,  as  they  were  mentioned 
afterw^ard  as  being  present  at  lodge  meetings  and  are 
not  afterward  among  the  affiliates  or  afterward  made 
master  Masons: 

S.  B.  Haines,  J.  M.  Sample,  F.  B.  Carter,  D.  P.  Fork- 
ner,  Thomas  Forkner,  M.  T.  Stanfield,  John  Forkner, 
W.  A.  Nelson,  W.  L.  Clark,  J.  H.  Patton,  Thomas  Up- 
ton, W.  H.  Cooke,  Jno.  W.  Lotspeich,  W.  L.  Price,  J. 
G.  Parshall,  J.  H.  Taylor  and  Charles  Cannon. 

List  of  affiliates  and  those  made  master  Masons  up 
to  1886 :  T.  C.  Bellamy,  26  May  '65 ;  T.  G.  Boyd,  22  June 
'66',  Frank  Bogart,  6  August  '65;  T.  J.  Ballard,  12  Au- 
gust '65,  died  12  July  '69 ;  L.  F.  Briant,  25  September 
'65;  D.  A.  Browder,  22  September  '65,  died  6  April  '83; 
W.  L.  Ballard,  9  March  '69 ;  T.  L.  Bro^vn,  20  August  '69 ; 

M.  K.  Benson, -;  J.  L.  Ballard,  ;  J.  E. 

Bilderback,  25  September  '65 ;  T.  K.  Bradshaw,  23  June 
'65 ;  J.  M.  Browder,  23  November  '65 ;  J.  S.  Burnett,  20 
October  '66;  J.  A.  Bilderback,  11  February  '80;  J.  P. 
Brown,  aff.  (80)  8  July  '70;  N.  C.  Carter,  26  Jan- 
uary '66;  dem.  10  March  '76;  Mat  Carter,  17  April 
'67,^  died  28  April  '85 ;  J.  A.  Crowder,  26  August  '67 ; 
W.  J.  Clayton,  26  June  '79 ;  M.  B.  Caldwell,  3  February 
'71;  Wm.  Cannon,  24  November  '65;  Robt.  Carter,  aff. 
(80)  22  March  '67;  W.  H.  Cooke,  dem.  to  No.  134 
25  April  '69;  W.  H.  Crawford  aff.  December  '70;  L.  L. 
Calloway,  aff.  10  September  '75;  A.  G.  Garden,  dem.  7 
January  '76 ;  A.  M.  Dobbins,  28  July  '65 ;  A.  S.  Dickey, 
;  H.  P.  Dickey,  20  October  '66,  buried  bv  Ma- 
sons 28  July  '70;  A.  J.  Dickey,  22  September  '69;''S.  B. 
Cook,  aff.  19  January  '78;  J.  L.  Bachman,  26  February 
'80;  L.  W.  Brown,  21  May  '80;  D.  W.  Butt,  28  April 
'82;  J.  I.  Carter,  9  May  '84;  G.  M.  Cline,  aff.  21  August 
'85 ;  R.  W.  Brown  and  J.  B.  Carter  on  27  November  '85 ; 
W.  M.  Edwards,  20  October  '66 ;  Lawrence  Forkner,  27 
April  '65,  buried  1  September  '81;  Wm.  Foote,  28  Oc- 
tober '65,  exp.  December  '68;  H.  L.  Fry,  10  November 


384  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

'68;  Wm.  Foster,  28  October  '65;  Thomas  A.  Forkner, 

25  July  '85;  J.  G.  Forkner, ;   M.   B.    Goddard 

aff.  (Athens)  25  May  '66;  J.  W.  Goddard  aff.  (Loudon), 
24  August  '66;  W.  W.  Grubb,  aff.  11  October  '72;  W.  C. 
Grace  aff.  (115),  29  August  '79;  Wm.  Harrison,  8  De- 
cember '66;  N.  P.  Hight  aff.  (Mo.),  23  November  '66; 
A.  A.  Humphreys,  reaff.  22  March  '72 ;  E.  T.  Hale,  aff. 
30  January  '74;  dem.  12  October  '77;  Hicks  G.  F.  aff. 
20  January  '80;  John  H.  Johnston,  23  June  '65;  Jos. 
Janeway,  aff.  (Loudon)  23  February  '66;  J.  Harvey 
Johnston,  28  September  '66;  E.  C.  Jones,  23  February 
'66;  Eli  C.  Jones,  13  May  '70;  John  M.  Jones,  aff.  4  De- 
cember '81;  J.  F.  Key,  25  May,  '66;  W.  T.  Lenoir,  25 
September  '68;  J.  D.  Low,  25  SeiDtember  65;  W.  T.  Le- 
noir, 30  June  '71;  Noah  Lybarger,  2  May  '79;  dem.  3 
February  '82;  S.  J.  Martin,  1  November  '65;  Martin  G. 
W.,  7  November  '65,  died  6  March  '70;  W.  G.  McKen- 

zie, dem.  4  Julv  '73 ;  A.  H.  Murrav,  4  September 

'65, ;  N.  I.  Mayes,  9  September'  '68, ; 

Jas.  McGuire, ;  0.  W.  Muller, ;  J.  H. 

Montgomery,  3  November  '66^  ;  J.  L.  Mclvin- 

ney,  aff.  6  September  '78;  A.  R.  Melendy,  28  Februarv 

'85, ;  J.   F.    Owen,   aff.    (204),  "27   April    '66, 

;  J.  C.  Pennington,  28  Julv  '65;  B.  M.  Porter, 

22  June  '66,  dem.  30  June  '71 ;  Wiley  Patton,  27  April 

'67, ;  J.  H.  Pickel,  5  Mav  '68, ;  W.  W. 

Pickel,  26  June  '69, ;  W.  L.  Price, dem. 

23  February  '72;    J.    E.    Roberts,    25    September    '65, 

;  J.  Crockett  Rowan,  2  March  '67,  dem.  27  August 

'67 ;  John  W.  Robertson,  30  July  '67,  dem.  27  August 

'67 ;  J.  H.  Rowan,  ;  F.  M.  Rowan,  

Josiah  K.  Rowan,  27  August  '67,  dem.  11  June  '70 ;  Jos- 
eph W.  Robertson,  23  Februarv  '72 ;  A.  C.  Small,  28  Julv 

'65,  ;  T.  H.  Small,  4"^  November  '65,  ; 

G.  G.  Stillman, ,  died  29  July  '72 ;  J.  N.  Stamp- 
er,   27    October   '65, ;    James    Sample,    27 

August  '67, dem.  2  December  '70;  J.  C.  Starrett, 

■ ;  A.  J.  Stradlev,  aff.  (484)   12  Februarv    '86; 

J.  H.  Tavlor,  ';  N.  G.  Vinevard,  1  July    '65, 

;  W.  A.  Upton,  25  October  '67,  dem.    11    Feb- 
ruary '81,  he  died  in  Texas;  S.  E.  Young  (392)  aff.  11 

February  '81,  ;  Jno.    S.    Young,    6    June    '84, 

;  J.  L.  Willson,  12  August  '65;  W.  P.  Willson, 


HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAUjEY  385 

;  A.  W.  Ward,  27  July  '69,  ;    S.    H. 

Willson,  May  '65,  ;  C.  I.  Wright,  8  September 

'65, ;  S.  M.  Walker,  10  January  70, ; 

C.  B.  Woodward,  February   73,  dem.  7  January   '76. 

Sweetmater  Chapter  R.  A.  M.,  No.  57. 

Of  date  tlie  first  day  of  January,  1866,  John  Frizzell, 
G.  H.  P.  of  Tennessee,  granted  to  the  following  com- 
panions: John  F.  Slover,  Eichard  C.  Jackson,  A.  D. 
Rhea,  S.  B.  Haines,  W.  A.  Nelson,  William  Gr.  Horton, 
I.  N.  Clark,  J.  B.  Pickens,  H.  M.  Rice,  I.  C.  Qrant  and 
R.  L.  Scott,  a  dispensation  empowering  them  to  open 
and  hold  a  chapter  of  Royal  Arch  Masons  in  the  town 
of  Sweetwater,  Tenn.,  to  he  called  Sweetwater  Chapter 
No.  57. 

In  pursuance  of  said  dispensation  on  January  22, 
1866,  John  F.  Slover,  H.  P.,  mth  the  other  proper  of- 
ficers, opened  and  held  a  chapter  in  their  hall  at  Sweet- 
water.    G.  G.  Stillman  was  made  secretary. 

Appended  to  the  by-laws  of  this  chapter,  published  by 
the  Forerunner  office  at  Sweetwater,  Tenn.,  in  1868,  the 
names  of  the  officers  and  members  of  this  chapter  follow 
W.  H.  Cooke,  H.  P. ;  N.  P.  Hight,  K. ;  F.  Bogart,  S. 
T.  G.  Boyd,  C.  H. ;  W.  L.  Clark,  P.  S. ;  Charles  Cannon 
R.  A.  C. ;  R.  F.  Scruggs,  Treas. ;  J.  H.  Patton,  sec'y. 
E.  F.  Sharp,  G.  M.,  3rd  V. ;  W.  L.  Price,  2nd  V. ;  I.  *T 
Lenoir,  1st  V. ;  J.  W.  Goddard,  Sent. ;  G.  G.  Stillman 
R.  A.  M. ;  C.  H.  Matthewson,  R.  A.  M. ;  A.  D.  Rhea,  R 
A.  M. ;  Morgan  Bryan,  R.  A.  M. ;  T.  J.  Ballard,  R.  A.  M. 
T.  N.  Epperson,  R.  A.  M. ;  Wm.  P.  McKamey,  R.  A.  M. 
Sam'l.  Reese,  R.  A.  M.;  I.  B.  Kimbrough,  R.  A.  M.;  H 
J.  Foote,  R.  A.  M. ;  Frank  Felts,  R.  A.  M. ;  W.  C.  Peak 
R.  A.  M. ;  J.  J.  Harrison,  R.  A.  M. ;  E.  C.  Jones,  R.  A.  M. 
Wm.  Osborn,  R.  A.  M. ;  J.  C.  Starrett,  R.  A.  M. ;  0.  C 
Carter,  R.  A.  M. ;  Jas.  P.  Galyon,  R.  A.  M. ;  W.  N.  B 
Jones,  R.  A.  M. 

This  chapter  prospered  for  some  years  and  greatly 
assisted  financially  the  Sweetwater  Lodge  No.  292,  F. 
&  A.  M.  to  erect  the  two  buildings  they  constructed,  the 
hall  on  the  hill  and  the  third  story  of  the  Carter  build- 
ing. It  was  the  understanding  with  the  chapter  and  the 
Master  Mason's  Lodge  that  the  chapter  should  hold  its 


386  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAULEY 

meetings  in  the  hall  and  own  their  proportionate  part 
of  the  buildings,  although  not  so  expressed  in  the  deed. 
With  the  formation  of  new  chapters  their  territory 
was  much  reduced  and  it  was  hard  to  secure  a  quorum 
for  the  transaction  of  business.  In  1887  the  Grand 
Chapter  of  the  state  of  Teimessee  revoked  their  char- 
ter, since  which  time  there  has  been  no  chapter  in  Sweet- 
water. 

The  Newspapers  of  Sweetwater. 

The  first  paper  published  in  Sweetwater  was  "The 
Sweetwater  Forerunner."  Volume  1  No.  1  was  dated 
September  1,  1867.  It  was  a  four-page  paper  about  half 
the  size  of  the  usual  weekly.  Editor  and  proprietor, 
H.  L.  Fry,  Subscription  price  was  $2  per  year.  We 
find  this  among  the  editorials  in  the  first  paper. 

"Last  Qight  was  a  terrible  night. — The  storm  raged  all  night,  and 
Is  not  over  with.  Saturday,  September  21,  1867,  will  be,  in  all  time 
to  come  a  memorable  day  in  the  history  of  Sweetwater.  Amid  the 
flashing  of  lightning  and  muttering  and  bellowing  of  thunder  the 
greatest  event  that  has  ever  transpired  within  her  limits  is  taking 
place;  the  first  newspaper  ever  printed  in  Sweetwater  is  being  pub- 
lished. Long  may  the  day  be  remembered  and  may  it  be  pointed  to 
with  just  pride  as  the  commencement  of  a  new  epoch  in  the  history 
of  the  village." 

There  were  also  poets  in  those  days.  Note  these  lines 
in  that  issue  from  J.  A.  H. : 

A  WARNING. 

"Old    bachelors    arise,    away. 

Shake  off  the  fleas  and  dust. 
If  you  on  earth  expect  to  stay. 

In  woman  put  your  trust. 
A  married  man  is  right  in  town 

With  a  pocket  full  of  rocks, 
A  wife  to  fix  his  clothes  up  brown 

And  darn  his  ragged  socks." 

Advertisements  in  the  issue  were: 

Hight  &  Scruggs,  General  Merchandise  and  Produce;  N.  I.  Mayes, 
D.  S.;  Stock  &  Roberts,  Commission  Merchants,  Cartersville,  Ga.; 
Glenn,  Wright  &  Carr,  Commission  Merchants,  Atlanta. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  387 

The  Forerunner  was  enlarged  in  May,  1868,  and  was 
published  by  Fry  and  Fisher.  From  December  17, 
1868,  to  March,  1869,  Charles  M.  Fisher  w^as  sole  pro- 
prietor. He  was  from  Richmond,  Va.,  and  was  appar- 
ently finely  educated  and  very  versatile.  He  was  the 
best  all  round  newspaper  man,  the  fijiest  flute  player 
and  the  most  accomplished  "  boozefighter "  that  ever 
lived  in  the  town. 

He  never  wrote  out  his  editorials ;  he  just  set  them 
up  and  rarely  looked  them  over.  They  were  absolute- 
ly correct  in  spelling  and  grammar  and  were  well  ex- 
pressed. He  was  a  fluent  writer  although  he  did  not 
write  at  all. 

I  heard  that  after  he  left  Sweetwater  he  became  a 
derelict  and  a  tramp  printer.  He  was  such  an  enter- 
taining companion  and  so  fine  a  musician  that  drinks 
were  easy  for  him  to  procure. 

In  March,  1869,  C.  B.  Woodward  bought  out  the  pa- 
per and  became  its  editor  and  proprietor.  On  Sep- 
tember 1,  1869,  he  changed  its  name  from  "Forerun- 
ner" to  "The  Sweetwater  Enterprise."  He  ran  this 
paper  until  the  early  part  of  1876,  when  Joe  Ivins  took 
charge  and  conducted  it  until  after  the  November  elec- 
tion. The  paper  was  then  suspended.  Hight  and 
Scruggs  acquired  a  title  to  the  outfit.  In  December, 
1876,  J.  H.  Bean  of  Knoxville  bought  the  paper  and 
press  from  them  and  published  the  paper  on  January 
1,  1877,  under  the  name  of  "The  Monroe  Democrat." 
He  was  editor  and  proprietor  until  the  1st  of  January, 
1880,  when  he  sold  out  to  D.  B.  Grace. 

He  kindly  furnishes  the  following  information: 

"David  B.  Grace  went  from  Birmingham,  Ala.,  in  1880,  to  pay  a 
visit  to  his  father,  F.  M.  Grace,  who  was  professor  of  English  in 
Hiwassee  College.  Finding  that  J.  H.  Bean  was  desirous  of  selling 
the  Monroe  Democrat  he  bought  him  out  and  ran  the  paper  for  four 
years,  returning  to  Birmingham  in  1884.  During  the  four  years  Mr. 
Grace  ran  the  paper  it  never  missed  an  issue.  On  one  occasion  the 
supply  of  paper  ordered  failed  to  arrive,  and  on  Wednesday  afternoon 
Mr.  Grace  went  down  to  Athens  on  the  train  and  bought  five  hun- 
dred sheets  of  paper  from  Mr.  (Sam.  P.)  Ivins,  of  the  Athens  Post, 
and  brought  it  with  him  on  the  train  to  Sweetwater.  Thus  the  Demo- 
crat came  out  in  time  Thursday  morning.  While  Mr.  Grace  pub- 
lished the  Democrat  there  was  no  other  paper  in  Monroe  County. 
The  Democrat  printed  the  legal  notices  and  these,  together  with 
the  liberal  patronage  of  the  Sweetwater  merchants  and  those  of 
Knoxville,  gave  the  paper  a  good  advertising  patronage.     Mr.  Grace 


388  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

was  at  the  time  a  young  man  without  experience,  but  he  was  ably 
assisted  by  his  father,  Dr.  Brunner,  Mr.  W.  B.  Lenoir,  Dr.  Bachman 
and  others."  (Note:  The  assistance  I  gave  him  was  to  drop  in  his 
sanctum,  read  his  exchanges  and  talk-  to  him  about  the  Sweetwater 
girls.— W.  B.  L.) 

"In  1S84  Grace  sold  the  Democrat  and  returned  to  Birmingham. 
There  he  assisted  in  founding  the  Evening  Chronicle,  and  afterward 
served  as  editorial  writer  on  the  News,  which  had  been  merged  with 
the  Chronicle.  He  also  acted  as  assistant  editor  on  the  Age-Herald. 
He  is  now  engaged  in  general  literary  work." 

After  Mr.  Grace  disposed  of  the  Democrat  J.  S.  Year- 
wood  became  the  editor  and  proprietor.  (See  H.  B.  Y.) 
He  ran  the  paper  till  W.  B.  Lenoir  purchased  from  him 
in  March,  1889.  W.  B.  L.  ran  the  paper  till  the  fall  of 
1891  when  he  was  bought  out  by  F,  H.  Sruggs  of  the 
News.  The  Monroe  Democrat,  as  its  name  would  indi- 
cate, was  always  a  democratic  paper. 

The  Sweetwater  News 

Began  to  be  published  by  F.  H.  Scruggs  as  editor  and 
proprietor  in  1886.  He"  published  it  under  that  name 
until  the  fall  of  1891.  After  F.  H.  S.  purchased  the 
Monroe  Democrat  from  W.  B.  Lenoir  he  ran  the  merged 
papers  under  the  name  of  the  Democrat-News  till  his 
death  which  occurred  on  July  8,  1895.  This  paper  was 
then  suspended  and  the  printing  presses  and  the  type 
sold  to  Mr.  Martin  of  the  Loudon  Record. 

Not  long  after  the  suspension  of  the  Democrat-News 
J.  M.  Kirkland  ran  a  small  paper  for  several  months 
which  he  called  the  ''Ruby  Wave."  He  then  enlarged 
it  and  changed  the  name  to  Sweetw^ater  Courier.  This 
paper  he  conducted  for  about  two  years. 

The  Sweetwater  Telephone. 

The  latter  part  of  1895  D.  L.  Smith  and  others  formed 
a  stock  companv  and  on  January  1, 1896,  commenced  the 
publication  of  The  Sweetwater  Telephone.  D.  L.  Smith 
was  editor  of  this  paper  until  September  1,  1907.  Then 
at  a  reorganization  of  the  stock  company  D.  L.  Smith 
became  president  and  James  M.  Pardue,  editor  and 
manager.    D.  L.  Smith  died  November  19,  1912. 

J.  M.  Pardue  has  had  a  controlling  interest  in  this 
paper  for  six  years  up  to  present  (1916). 


history  of  sweetwater  valley  389 

Legislators  in  the  General  Assembly  of  Tennessee, 
Residents  of  Sweetwater  Valley. 

Sweehvater  Valley  has  had  its  share  of  lawmakers  in 
the  General  Assembly,  and  they  have  all  been  farmers 
except  three — one  of  these  three  was  a  farmer  when  he 
Was  elected. 

Those  representatives  living  in  the  valley  when  elected 
were:  General  James  H.  Eeagan,  senator  Twenty-first 
General  Assembly,  Monroe  and  McMinn,  and  also  in  the 
Thirtieth  General  Assembly,  the  first  to  hold  its  meet- 
ings in  the  state  capitol.  Reagan's  history  is  given  else- 
where in  this  book. 

Hon.  Few  Hall  Gregory  was  a  representative  in  the 
Twenty-third  General  Assembly,  elected  in  1839.  See 
Gregory  elsewhere  in  this  book. 

Colonel  Jno.  Ramsey  was  elected  representative  from 
Monroe  to  the  Twent}^- seventh  General  Assembly.  His 
opponent  was  Wm.  Heiskell.  An  account  of  this  race 
and  his  history  is  given  in  this  book. 

Hon.  George  W.  Gaines,  formerly  of  the  fourteenth 
civil  district  of  Monroe  County,  was  living  with  his  son- 
in-law,  Dr.  F.  Bogart  of  Sweetwater,  when  elected  to  the 
Legislature  in  1865.  This  legislature  has  no  regular 
number  and  is  known  as  the  "Bro^mlow  Legislature.'* 
In  his  race  he  received  the  Democratic  vote  of  the  coun- 
ty. He  was  a  Union  man  during  the  war  but  opposed 
the  disfranchising  legislation  and  other  violent  meas- 
ures passed  by  that  assembly. 

Hon.  Jesse  F.  Owen  was  elected  in  1869  to  represent 
Monroe  County  in  the  Thirty-sixth  General  Assembly. 
For  further  history  see  Owen  in  this  book. 

General  J.  C.  Vaughn  was  a  senator  from  the  seventh 
senatorial  district  to  the  Thirty-seventh  General  As- 
sembly. He  was  speaker  of  that  body.  His  history  is 
given  in  this  book. 

Hon.  S.  J.  Martin  was  representative  from  Monroe 
and  Loudon  counties  in  the  Thirty-eighth  General  As- 
sembly.   For  history  see  Presley  Cleveland  family. 

Hon.  William  Cannon  was  elected  to  the  Fortieth 
General  Assembly  as  the  representative  from  Monroe 
and  Loudon  counties. 

Hon.  W.  B.  Sample  was  a  representative  of  Monroe 
and  Loudon  counties  in  the  Fortv-first  General  Assem- 


390  HISTOEY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

bly,  although  he  did  not  reside  in  the  first  civil  district 
of  Monroe  County  nor  in  Sweetwater  Valley,  but  close 
to  the  line  between  first  and  second  districts,  and  his 
post-office  was  at  Sweetwater.  His  team  of  oxen  and 
his  corn-cob  pipe  were  frequently  seen  in  our  town.  On 
election  day  in  November,  1878,  a  large  crowd  smoking 
cob  pipes  went  in  a  body  to  the  polls  and  voted  for  Sam- 
ple.   He  was  called  the  farmer's  candidate. 

Hon.  J.  R.  Love  was  representative  from  Monroe 
County  in  the  Forty-fourth  General  Assembly,  elected 
in  November,  1884.  Died  during  his  incumbency.  For 
sketch  of  him  see  Reagan  family. 

Hon.  D.  R.  Nelson  was  a  member  of  the  Forty-sixth 
General  Assembly  as  a  senator  of  the  sixth  district. 
(See  Nelson.) 

Hon.  "W.  L.  Brown  was  senator  from  the  sixth  sen- 
atorial district  in  the  Forty-seventh  General  Assembly. 
History  in  this  book. 

W.  N.  Hoge  was  a  representative  from  McMinn  Coun- 
ty to  the  Forty-eighth  General  Assembly.  At  the  time 
of  his  election  he  resided  near  Reagan  Station.  Previ- 
ous to  his  election  he  occupied  several  important  county 
offices. 

W.  G.  Lenoir  was  a  joint  representative  for  Knox 
and  Loudon  counties  in  the  General  Assembly.  He  was 
elected  in  November,  1910,  as  a  fusionist.  He  was  a 
zealous  prohibitionist  and  was  a  prominent  factor  in 
state-wide  legislation  whde  he  was  a  member. 

Hon.  James  M.  Pardue  was  representative  from  Mon- 
roe to  the  Forty-ninth  General  Assembly.  He  is  the 
present  (1916)  senator  from  the  district  comprised  of 
Knox,  Blount,  Monroe  and  Polk  counties.  He  is  a  law- 
yer by  profession  and  now  (1916)  editor  of  the  Sweet- 
water Telephone.  He  was  born  in  Loudon  County  and 
came  to  Sweetwater  twenty  years  ago. 

Hon.  J.  C.  Waren  was  a  member  of  the  Fifty-sixth 
General  Assembly  as  the  representative  from  Monroe 
County.  For  further  history  see  Colonel  Jno.  Ramsey 
in  this  book.  ! 

Hon.  James  May  was  senator  from  the  6th  district  in 
the  Fifty-fifth  General  Assembly.  He  was  born  in  Knox 
County  on  October  10,  1863.  He  came  to  Sweetwater  in 
November,  1896.     He  embarked  in  the  hardware  busi- 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  391 

ness  in  which  he  remained  eighteen  years.  He  was 
mayor  of  Sweetwater  for  eight  years.  He  was  married 
to  Prudie  C.  Howard  of  Fork  Creek  on  December  21, 
1887.  He  was  prison  commissioner  for  East  Tennessee, 
under  Governor  Hooper,  1912-14.  He  had  charge  of 
the  penitentiary  farm  near  Nashville  which  he  ran  suc- 
cessfully, clearing  $55,000  over  and  above  expenses  dur- 
ing his  incumbency.  His  children  are  Ethel,  Beulah  and 
Earl.  Earl  is  a  member  of  the  firm  of  James  May  & 
Son  at  Sw^eetwater. 

Some  TRANSACTioisrs  in  Horses  in  1863. 

In  the  last  years  of  the  Civil  War  East  Kentucky, 
East  Tennessee,  Western  North  Carolina  and  North 
Georgia  were  infested  with  various  bands  of  horse 
thieves,  robbers  and  bushwhackers.  Sometimes  several 
of  these  bands  acted  in  connnon  after  the  John  A.  Mur- 
rell  style.  Others  chose  a  leader  and  acted  independ- 
ently. Often  they  claimed  to  affiliate  with  one  or  the 
other  side  in  the  civil  contest.  The  union  bushwhackers 
claimed  that  they  did  not  rob  and  kill  Union  men  and 
the  Rebel  bushwhackers  that  they  did  not  rob  and  mur- 
der Southern  sympathizers.  As  notable  examples'  we 
might  mention  Tinker  Dave  Beattie  and  Champ  Fer- 
guson in  the  Cumberlands  and  Goldman  Bryson  and 
Lyons  in  the  Smokies.  I  presume  if  w^e  ever  have  a 
war  with  a  foreign  country  we  will  likely  have  American 
and  hyphenated-American  bushwhackers. 

In  the  sections  mentioned  in  1863  and  1864  no  man's 
life  or  property  was  safe.  If  a  soldier  deserted  from 
either  army  he  usually  stole  a  horse  as  an  additional 
means  of  safety  in  getting  away  and  also  to  secure  a  val- 
uable piece  of  property. 

In  this  section  horse  stealing  was  very  common  in 
1863.  In  May  of  that  year  my  father,  I.  T.  Lenoir,  had 
a  fine  horse  stolen  from  a  barn  near  his  home  located 
about  one  and  a  half  miles  south  of  Sweetw^ater.  It  was 
stolen  b}^  a  deserter  from  the  10th  Confederate,  Colonel 
Goode's  Cav.,  Regt.  of  conscripts.  My  father  got  on 
his  track  and  followed  him  to  the  Sand  Mountains  of 
Alabama  now  the  richest,  then  the  poorest  section  of  the 
state.  He  failed  to  find  his  own  horse  but  his  expedition 
was  not  fruitless.    One  day  in  following  a  supposed  clue 


392  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

he  came  across  a  rough  looking  sand-mountaineer  who 
was  riding  a  fine  roane  mare.  He  engaged  him  in  con- 
versation and  on  close  inspection  he  was  confident  that 
he  had  seen  the  animal  he  was  riding  hitched  in  Sweet- 
water several  times  and  was  convinced  that  she  had 
been  stolen.  He  told  the  fellow  he  had  come  after  that 
horse  and  to  throw  down  his  rifle  and  dismount.  This 
he  at  first  refused  to  do,  but  my  father  reasoned  with 
him  in  such  a  way  that  he  finally  did  as  requested.  He 
then  ordered  him  to  walk  back  the  way  he  came  and 
not  to  turn  round  or  look  back.  When  he  had  gotten 
some  distance  off,  father  himself  lost  no  time  in  return- 
ing, fearing  he  might  be  pursued.  The  mare,  as  it  turned 
out,  belonged  to  Mr.  Robert  Wright  of  Fork  Creek  Val- 
ley. It  would  have  been  a  fine  joke  on  father  if  he  had 
not  succeeded  in  finding  the  owner. 

After  the  sand  mountain  episode,  we  took  precautions 
to  prevent  the  horses  from  being  stolen.  Our  barn  had 
some  stables  which  could  only  be  reached  through  a 
passage  which  was  closed  at  each  end  by  a  gate.  The 
gate  at  one  end  was  padlocked  and  the  one  at  the  other 
end,  least  used,  was  fastened  by  a  large  wood  screw 
through  the  slat  into  the  latch;  thus  the  gate  could  not 
be  opened  without  taking  out  the  screw.  We  did  not 
think  a  thief  would  catch  on  to  the  scheme  without  wak- 
ing the  negro  or  myself  up.  We  slept  in  the  barn  loft 
as  additional  protection  against  thieves.  But  ''the  best 
laid  plans  of  mice  and  men  gang  aft  agley." 

On  Sunday  the  5th  of  Jul}^,  1863,  I  persuaded  one  of 
the  neighbor  boys  to  go  with  me  to  Craighead  Lake  in 
the  Bat  Creek  knobs  for  a  swim.  The  lake  then  was 
considerably  larger  than  now.  We  did  not  particularly 
need  to  go  in  bathing,  but  we  had  heard  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Bradshaw  preach  for  an  hour  and  a  half  in  the  morn- 
ing and  we  thought  we  were  entitled  to  an  afternoon  off. 
For  fear  of  embarrassing  complications  we  thought  best 
not  to  consult  our  parents  about  the  trip.  We  remained 
in  the  water  considerable  time  trying  to  outswim  the 
mellow  bugs,  with  which  the  surface  of  the  lake  abound- 
ed. This  made  me  sleep  sounder"  in  the  barn  loft 
than  usual  that  night.  So  when  the  thief  came  Sunday 
night,  as  he  told  me  afterwards  about  11  o'clock,  I  did 
not  wake  and  neither  did  the  darkey  that  was  with  me. 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  393 

In  the  morning  the  gate  was  wide  open  and  a  horse  was 
gone.  The  thief,  in  trying  to  get  the  horse  out,  had 
started  to  cut  the  latch  in  two.  He  found  that  would 
take  too  long.  He  accidentally  discovered  how  the  latch 
was  fastened  and  unloosed  the  screw  with  his  knife, 
which  happened  to  be  a  strong  one. 

The  horse  stolen  was  one  easily  described  and  identi- 
fied. He  was  a  large  rawbonecl  bay  horse,  about  sixteen 
and  a  half  hands  high  and  had  a  very  large  head  and 
had  a  couple  of  large  warts  on  his  jaws.  A  blind  bridle 
was  missing  but  he  got  no  saddle.  He  stole  a  saddle 
in  Dancing  Branch  neighborhood.  We  heard  of  that 
on  Monday.  We  found  out  on  Tuesday  that  a  man  Car- 
ter had  left  the  6th  Georgia,  Hart's  Regiment  -svithout 
a  furlough  and  that  he  had  volunteered  from  Towns 
County,  Ga.  Mr.  W.  H.  Taylor,  son  of  E.  A.  Tay- 
lor, and  a  former  merchant  in  Sweetwater,  had  married 
a  Miss  Bradshaw  of  Towns  County,  Ga.  Her  mother 
still  lived  there  and  Mr.  Taylor  was  acquainted  in  that 
section.  He  told  my  father  he  would  go  with  me  to  get 
the  horse  and,  if  possible,  the  man  that  stole  him.  I  was 
anxious  to  go  as  I  was  much  chagrinned  at  my  father's 
saying  ironically  what  a  fine  guard  I  was.  So  we  made 
our  arrangements  to  start  from  Sweetwater  next  morn- 
ing, Wednesday. 

To  show  how  thoughtful  my  father  was  I  remember 
a  little  circumstance.  He  knew  that  it  gave  me  a  bad 
headache  not  to  have  coffee  for  breakfast  as  I  had  al- 
ways been  used  to  it.  He  suggested  that  I  get  my 
mother  to  put  me  up  some  coffee  to  take  along.  This 
was  not  to  be  given  out  where  we  stopped,  but  if  I  got 
the  headache  for  lack  of  it,  the  grounds  were  to  be 
drank  from  a  cup  mixed  with  cold  water  from  some 
spring  by  the  roadside.  On  trying  the  experiment  when 
the  headache  came  on,  I  found  it  worked  like  a  charm. 
Coffee  in  the  Confederacy  owing  to  the  blockade  of 
the  ports  in  1863  was  exceedingly  scarce  and  high  in 
price  when  it  could  be  obtained  at  all.  As  a  substitute 
parched  rye  and  wheat  were  used.  It  tasted  all  right 
like  postum  but  did  not  have  any  kick  to  it  like  real  cof- 
fee. 

But  to  resume  my  narrative :  We,  Taylor  and  myself, 
left  Sweetwater  in  the  morning.    He  rode  a  good  horse 


394  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

of  father's;  I  rode  a  horse  rather  on  the  pony 
order,  which  I  had  purchased  from  a  Texas  ranger.  His 
name  was  Craig.  He  wanted  to  sell  the  horse  to  me 
because  his  ankle  had  been  rope  scorched  and  he  was 
temporarily  disabled.  I  paid  for  him  $100.00  in  Con- 
federate money.  One  was  about  as  unsafe  possession 
as  the  other.  I  was  rather  proud  of  my  trade,  as  that 
was  the  first  horse  I  had  ever  bought. 

The  result  proved  that  he  was  a  very  hardy  animal 
but  rather  a  tiresome  saddler.  We,  W.  H.  Taylor  and 
myself,  stayed  at  Austin  Fry's  the  first  night.  He  then 
lived  on  Conasuaga  Creek  three  miles  this  side  of  the 
toll  gate  on  the  road  from  Madisonville  to  Murphy,  N. 
C.  He  was  an  old  acquaintance  of  my  father  and  used 
to  reside  near  Reagan's  Station.  There  at  Fry's  we 
heard  nothing  of  the  man  and  the  stolen  horse  but  on 
reaching  the  toll  gate  at  the  foot  of  Unaka  Mountain 
we  were  told  that  our  man  had  passed  through  the  gate 
there.  This  was  encouraging  and  we  determined  to 
push  rapidly  on.  There  were  only  two  routes  he  could 
take,  either  up  the  Hiwassee  River  tow^ards  Murphy  or 
the  one  to  Ducktown  going  south  and  crossing  the  Hi- 
wassee River  at  Taylor's  Ferry  near  where  Apalachia 
now  is.  We  concluded  to  risk  the  Murphy  route  as  we 
thought  Carter  had  gone  that  way  with  the  stolen  horse. 
We  did  this  though  we  had  been  told  by  Mr.  Fry  that 
that  route  was  very  dangerous.  He  said:  **I  would  not 
undertake  what  you  two  are  trying  to  do  for  my  hat  full 
of  gold.  Tlie  country  east  of  the  mountains  towards 
Murphy  is  full  of  bushwhackers  who  do  not  hesitate  to 
commit  any  sort  of  depredation."  Mr.  Fry  some  weeks 
before  had  been  shot  in  the  shoulder  from  ambush  and 
narrowly  escaped  with  his  life.  He  was  at  the  time  w^e 
stopped  with  him  carrying  his  arm  in  a  sling  in  conse- 
quence of  his  wound.  Goldman  Bryson's  notorious  gang 
were  then  in  process  of  formation.  From  the  toll  gate 
for  twelve  miles  we  saw  no  one,  though  that  is  no  evi- 
dence that  w^e  were  not  ourselves  seen,  till  we  reached 
the  Beaver  Dam  country  on  the  Hiwassee  River  ten 
miles  from  Murphy ;  there  we  passed  a  man  mth  Federal 
blue  pants  on  driving  two  calves  hitched  to  the  front 
wheels  of  a  wagon.  Two  or  three  miles  further  on  we 
met  a  man  carrying  a  fiddle  and  a  bow  in  a  sack.    He 


HISTORY  OF  SWrEETWATER  VALLEY  395 

*  was  about  the  only  man  we  saw  that  day  who  looked 
cheerful  and  did  not  eye  us  with  suspicion.  I  supposed 
he  thought  that  no  one  would  be  mean  and  heartless 
enough  to  hurt  a  good  tiddler  however  steeped  in  crime 
he  might  be.  Not  far  from  Hanging  Dog  Creek  we  saw 
Jim  Eeddieks,  so  Taylor  said  his  name  was,  plowing 
corn  in  a  field.  We  questioned  none  of  them.  We  did 
not  care  about  advertising  our  business. 

We  stopped  at  Murphy  where  we  arrived  about  the 
middle  of  the  day,  and  got  our  dinner  at  S.  W.  David- 
son's. He  kept  hotel  in  an  old  frame  building,  now  torn 
down,  which  occupied  the  lot  under  the  large  elms  and 
aspens  opposite  the  site  of  the  new  Regal  Hotel.  At  this 
town  we  made  some  inquiries  but  found  out  nothing  of 
consequence.  We  were  there  about  an  hour  and  a  half. 
We  had  come  twenty-five  miles  and  still  had  twenty-nine 
to  go  if  we  reached  Mrs.  Bradshaw's,  Mr.  Taylor's 
mother-in-law.  She  lived  four  miles  east  of  Hiwassee, 
Towns  County,  Ga.  When  dark  came  upon  us  we  were 
ten  or  twelve  miles  from  our  destination,  but  we  thought 
it  better  to  arrive  in  that  neighborhood  at  night  so  that 
no  one  could  have  any  idea  who  we  were  or  what  our 
business  was.  We  did  not  want  it  known  there  were 
any  strangers  there.  It  must  have  been  nearly  mid- 
night when  we  arrived  at  Mrs.  Bradshaw's.  Her  son 
was  away  in  the  army  and  Mrs.  Bradshaw  being  natural- 
ly excited  at  any  one  coming  at  that  time  of  night  and 
a  visit  from  him  was  entirely  unexpected  that  Taylor 
could  hardly  convince  her  that  he  was  her  son-in-law. 
When  he  knocked,  "Who's  there?"  she  asked.  ''Billy 
Taylor."  "What  Taylor?"  "Delia  Bradshaw's  hus- 
band." She  finally  became  convinced  of  his  identity 
and  let  us  in  and  told  us  where  we  could  get  feed  for  our 
horses.  We  had  traveled  fifty-four  or  fifty-five  miles 
that  day  and  I  was  so  thoroughly  weary  that  it  seems 
to  me  I  was  asleep  before  I  hardly  got  my  clothes  off. 
Wlien  I  had  slept  for  about  ten  minutes,  as  I  thought, 
Taylor  awakened  me  out  of  the  shortest  night's  sleep 
in  my  experience.  He  said  it  was  near  sunrise  and  we 
must  be  up  and  doing.  After  considerable  inquiry  in 
the  neighborhood  we  found  that  Carter's  wife  had  lived 
not  very  far  from  Mrs.  Bradshaw's  but  had  left  some- 
time previous  for  parts  unknown.     They  told  us  how- 


396  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

ever  that  Mrs.  Carter's  father  lived  in  Ducktown  and 
that  his  name  was  Borong.  So  about  10  a.  m.  we  left  for 
that  place  to  find  out  what  we  could  there.  That  night 
we  stayed  at  a  Mr.  Martin's  about  six  miles  southeast 
of  Murphy.  Next  morning  bright  and  early  we  were  on 
our  way.  We  had  traveled  for  about  an  hour  and  were 
a  short  distance  from  the  bridge  over  the  Notla  and  we 
came  to  the  forks  of  the  road,  when  Taylor  remarked 
"Lets  get  off  our  horses  and  have  a  consultation."  I 
noticed  that  he  had  been  unusually  silent  and  serious  for 
the  last  mile  or  two  of  our  journey  and  looked  as  if  in 
a  deep  study.  When  we  dismounted  he  did  not  say  any- 
thing for  some  time;  then  he  said:  "I  believe  Mr.  Fry 
was  right  and  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  say  to  you  that  we 
ought  not  to  risk  our  lives  for  the  sake  of  a  horse  that 
may  be  stolen  again  and  may  soon  be  impressed  for  the 
service  of  one  army  or  the  other.  I  think  we  had  bet- 
ter return  by  way  of  Murphy  and  let  the  horse  go." 
**From  what  Mr.  Fry  said,"  I  answered,  ''will  it  not  be 
as  dangerous  to  return  that  way  as  to  go  on."  ''Well 
I'm  going  back,"  he  said,  "what  are  you  going  to  do?" 
and  he  turned  his  horse's  head  in  the  direction  of  Mur- 
phy. "I'm  going  to  get  that  horse,"  I  replied,  "that's 
what  I  came  for.  I  'm  not  going  back  home  and  have  Pa 
saying  I  should  have  prevented  the  horse  from  being 
stolen  and  when  he  sent  me  after  him  I  did  not  make 
the  proper  effort  to  get  him.  I  do  not  suppose  I  could 
take  the  horse  and  man  back  by  myself  but  I'm  going  to 
get  that  horse  or  know  the  reason  why  I  can't."  I  rather 
thought  he  was  bluffing  and  I  concluded  to  put  up  one 
myself.  Still  there  was  no  decision.  After  some  little 
time  he  offered  as  a  compromise  that  he  would  go  to 
Ducktown  with  me  and  if  we  found  out  nothing  there 
we  would  return  home  by  the  most  feasible  route.  I 
agreed.  We  had  not  gone  far  till  he  remarked:  "The 
fact  is  I  could  not  go  back  and  face  your  mother  and 
father  if  I  had  deserted  you  and  anything  happened  to 
you."  That  was  the  way  I  had  him  sized  up  but  I  did 
not  think  it  policy  to  tell  him  so  then.  We  then  wended 
our  way  to  Ducktown,  a  long,  long,  lonesome  road  and 
one  of  the  most  hilly  I've  ever  traveled.  There  is  not  I 
believe  a  hundred  yards  at  one  place  of  level  road,  or 
was  not  at  that  time,  between  Notla  Bridge  and  Duck- 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  397 

town.  (Why  the  name  Ducktown  I've  often  w^ondered, 
for  I  have  never  seen  a  duck  there,  wild  or  tame.) 

When  we  reached  Ducktown  we  found  Mr.  Borong 
was  engaged  in  roasting  copper  ore  so  as  to  form  it  into 
mattes.  This  was  the  crude  form  in  which  the  cop- 
per was  hauled  to  Cleveland,'  Tenn.  The  copper  mined 
at  Ducktown  then  was  mostly  used  by  the  Confederacy. 
Mr.  Taylor  asked  Mr.  Borong  if  he  had  seen  his  son- 
in-law  or  if  he  had  passed  through.  He  said  he 
had  two  or  three  days  previously  and  told  when  asked 
what  kind  of  a  horse  Carter  was  riding.  He  further  in- 
formed us  that  his  daughter  was  up  in  Fannin  County, 
Ga.,  near  Morganton  and  he  thought  his  son-in-law  had 
gone  to  where  she  was.  Mr.  Taylor  then  informed  him 
that  Carter  was  riding  a  horse  that  was  stolen  in  Sweet- 
water Valley  but  we  did  not  know  how  he  got  it  but  if 
he  came  by  the  horse  honestly  he  would  be  protected. 
Mr.  Borong  said  that  his  son-in-law  had  told  him  that 
he  was  absent  from  his  regiment  on  furlough  and  that 
he  had  swapped  for  the  horse.  He  said  that  he  had  no 
desire  to  shield  his  son-in-law  if  he  was  a  thief.  We 
thought  he  w^as  honest  and  meant  w^hat  he  said  but  still 
we  preferred  not  to  take  any  chances  and  lost  no  time 
in  getting  to  Morganton,  which  place  we  reached  about 
sundown.  We  put  up  at  the  hotel.  Taylor  left  the  ho- 
tel soon  to  hunt  up  the  sheriff  of  the  county.  He  made 
arrangements  with  him  to  get  a  deputy  or  two  and  hunt 
up  our  man  and  horse.  He  kept  this  secret  from  me  and 
they  did  not  start  on  the  expedition  until  after  I  had 
gone  to  sleep.  As  the  slang  phrase  goes  "he  put  one 
over  me. ' ' 

He  woke  me  up  very  early  in  the  next  morning  (Sun- 
day) and  said  we  were  ready  to  start  home.  ''What, 
without  the  man  and  horse?"  I  asked.  ''No,  we  got 
them."  I  was  in  no  good  humor  about  his  leaving  me 
behind  the  night  l)efore  but  consoled  myself  that  I  had 
got  a  good  night's  rest,  and  that  my  horse  was  fresh. 

Taylor  got  no  more  than  two  or  three  hours  rest  at 
most.  He  had  also  thought  best  to  hire  a  horse  for  the 
night  and  let  the  one  he  had  been  riding  get  a  good  feed 
and  rest  so  that  we  would  be  ready  for  any  contingen- 
cies. 

Taylor  told  me  how  they  had  captured    Carter.      He 


398  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

would,  the}^  thouglit,  likely  be  in  the  woods  or  on  the 
watch  in  the  day  time  and  the  best  chance  to  get  him 
would  be  at  night.  Taylor,  the  sheriff  and  one  deputy, 
I  think,  found  out  that  Carter  was  suspected  to  be  with 
his  wife  about  five  miles  from  Morganton  towards  Noon- 
tootla  Creek.  Tliey  reached  the  cabin  he  was  in  about 
midnight.  They  surrounded  the  house  and  knocked  at 
the  door  and  the  sheriff,  when  Carter's  wife  answered, 
told  her  he  wanted  to  see  her  husband.  She  denied  his 
being  there.  The  sheriff  said :  "I  know  that  is  not  so ; 
I  know  he  is  in  there.  You  better  tell  him  to  come  out 
or  let  us  in."  He  finally  after  much  parley  came  out 
and  surrendered.  But  there  was  no  horse  in  the  stable 
or  near  the  house.  When  asked  what  he  had  done  with 
him  he  denied  having  had  any  such  horse.  Taylor  said 
that  partly  by  threats  and  partly  through  his  wife 's  per- 
suasion they  got  Carter  to  take  them  about  a  half  mile 
from  the  house  out  in  the  woods  to  where  the  horse  was 
tied.  However  they  found  no  saddle  and  Carter  had  to 
ride  bareback.  Taylor  and  his  party  reached  Morgan- 
ton  about  2  in  the  morning.  The  sheriff  took  charge  of 
the  prisoner  and  let  Taylor  sleep  awhile.  Before  sun 
up  we  were  on  our  way  back  with  the  captured  man  and 
horse,  and  truly  glad  that  we  had  come  out  right  so  far. 
One  of  the  sheriff's  deputies  escorted  us  for  four  or  five 
miles  on  our  return  as  we  did  not  know  what  Carter's 
friends  might  attempt  to  do.  We  did  not  intend  to  give 
them  any  time  to  "mobilize."  The  officer  untied  him 
and  turned  him  over  to  us  and  we  hurried  on  our  way. 
We  wanted  to  get  out  of  Georgia  into  Tennessee  in  short 
order  and  we  were  not  going  to  be  bothered  leading  the 
horse  he  was  riding  and  we  warned  him  not  to  try  to 
escape.  We  knew  the  bringing  him  out  of  Georgia  into 
Tennessee  was  entirely  illegal  both  from  a  civil  and  a 
military  point  of  view.  We  had  no  order  from  Colonel 
Hart  or  any  commanding  officer  to  arrest  him  as  a  de- 
serter and  we  had  no  warrant  for  his  arrest  from  any 
civil  authorities  in  either  Tennessee  or  Georgia.  We 
had  no  requisition  from  Governor  Harris  of  Tennessee 
to  the  governor  of  Georgia.  We  did  not  know  even 
where  Governor  Harris  was  and  the  governor  of  Georgia 
was  at  Milledgeville.  There  were  no  telephone,  tele- 
graph  or  railroad  lines  nearer  than  the   E.   T.   &   Ga., 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  399 

now  the  Southern  Railwaj^  How  much  it  cost  to  get 
him  out  of  Fannin  County  I  do  not  now  remember.  I 
expect  though  as  much  as  the  horse  was  worth.  We  had 
plenty  of  money  along  and  even  some  money  besides  Con- 
federate. We  knew  though  that  Carter  was  in  no  shape 
to  appeal  either  to  the  civil  or  military  authorities.  On 
more  than  one  account  however  we  were  anxious  to  get 
out  of  Georgia  as  soon  as  possible. 

After  we  traveled  eight  or  ten  miles  Carter  asked  us 
by  what  route  we  intended  going  back.  Taylor  told  him 
we  thought  of  crossing  at  Taylor's  Ferry  and  thence  by 
the  toll  gate  to  Sweetwater  the  way  he  came.  At  this 
he  was  very  much  pleased,  entirely  too  much  so  we 
thought.  It  would  have  been  best  for  him  to  have  dis- 
sembled and  looked  pained.  After  discussing  the  mat- 
ter in  a  low  tone,  so  that  he  could  not  hear,  we  fully  de- 
termined to  come  back  by  Ducktown,  down  Ocoee,  by 
Benton  and  Athens.  When  we  came  to  the  Taylor's 
Ferry  road  and  we  took  the  other  route  he  called  our 
attention  to  the  fact  that  we  were  taking  the  wrong  road. 
When  we  told  him  we  had  changed  our  minds  and  were 
not  going  that  way  he  seemed  very  much  disappointed 
and  tried  to  get  us  to  take  the  Ta^dor's  Ferry  route. 
This  strengthened  us  in  our  determination  to  do  the  op- 
posite. So  we  came  down  the  Ocoee  River  for  many 
miles.  We  saw  nobody  for  nearly  a  half  day's  travel. 
About  the  only  thing  that  attracted  our  attention  except 
the  scenery,  and  we  were  not  thinking  of  that,  was  a 
gray  rebel  roundabout  coat  lying  on  a  rock  beside  the 
road.  The  rapid  river  was  on  one  side  of  us  and  a  steep 
mountain  on  the  other.  We  paused  not  to  investigate 
but  wondered  whether  some  poor  fellow  had  met  his  fate 
and  been  thrown  into  the  river.  We  were  then,  if  I  mis- 
take not,  in  the  Frog  Mountain  region,  where  even  now 
after  fifty  years  have  passed,  accidents  sometimes  hap- 
pen to  travelers,  especially  deputy  revenue  collec- 
tors. That  night  (Sunday)  we  stayed  at  Captain  Han- 
na's,  six  miles  east  of  Benton  in  Polk  County.  We  asked 
Captain  Hanna  if  he  could  get  any  one  to  guard  our 
prisoner  while  we  slept.  He  said  that  he  owned  a  boy 
that  was  half  nigger  and  half  Indian, — nigger  enough 
to  obey  orders  and  Indian  enough  to  be  watchful  and 
not  afraid  of  anything  and  was  trusty.     When  we  told 


400  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

the  half-breed  that  we  would  pay  him  well  if  he  did  not 
let  the  man  escape,  he  put  his  hand  on  his  gun  and 
smiled  significantly  and  seemed  much  pleased  with  his 
job.  We  ate  dinner  at  Mrs.  Matthews  near  Athens  the 
next  day,  it  being  Monday,  July  13,  1863.  Mr.  Taylor 
that  afternoon  turned  off  at  Reagan's  to  go  to  his  fath- 
er's on  Pond  Creek.  As  we  had  gotten  to  be  very  good 
friends  in  our  two  days'  acquaintance  I  was  satisfied 
that  m}^  companion  would  come  quietly,  however,  re- 
luctantly, with  me  to  my  father's.  This  he  did.  My 
father,  I.  T.  Lenoir,  then  lived  one  and  a  half  miles 
south  of  Sweetwater.  Tlie  horse  and  I  were  glad  to  get 
home  and  mother  was  delighted  to  see  me  but  I  do  not 
think  she  surmised  that  I  had  been  absent  on  anything 
but  a  rather  w^earisome  momitain  trip.  Father  and  a 
rebel  soldier  by  the  name  of  James  Wilson  from  Owen 
County,  Ky.,  relieved  me  of  Carter  and  turned  him  over 
to  the  Confederate  authorities  at  Sweetwater.  I  heard 
afterward  that  he  was  sent  to  Richmond  to  be  punished 
as  a  deserter. 

When  I  told  my  father  what  risks  we  ran  on  the  trip 
did  he  embrace  me  and  say  I  was  a  young  hero?  Noth- 
ing of  the  kind;  but  he  did  say  that  I  was  very,  very 
foolish  when  I  learned  the  existing  conditions  not  to 
turn  back — horse  or  no  horse.  I  considered  this  unkind, 
as  that  was  the  nearest  I  ever  came  to  doing  the  Casa- 
blanca act — except  his  was  a  ship  and  mine  was  a  horse. 
I  up  and  told  my  father  that  we  brought  back  our  own 
horse  and  not  somebody  else's  like  he  did  from  Alabama 
and  remarked  more  forcibly  than  grammatically  that 
"If  another  horse  gets  stole  it  can  just  stay  stole  so  far 
as  I  am  concerned."  I  was  just  16  then  and  this  was  my 
declaration  of  Independence  on  July  13  instead  of  the 
4th. 

Now  in  the  six  days  we  were  absent  I  estimate  that 
we  traveled  264  miles  over  rough  roads,  up  and  down 
mountains,  fording  many  rivers  and  creeks  which  any 
serious  rise  would  have  rendered  impassable.  But  the 
weather  was  fine  and  the  five  nights  we  spent  away 
from  home  we  were  fortujiate  in  having  good  stopping 
places.  My  horse  was  small  but  I  did  not  myself  then 
weigh  more  than  115  pounds,  and  I  was  accustomed  to 
riding.    We  were  in  the  saddle  at  least  thirteen  hours 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  401 

a  day.  We  could  get  no  corn  for  our  horses  but  had  to 
depend  for  feed  on  sheaf  oats  and  new  hay.  The  latter 
part  of  our  journey  we  were  also  encumbered  with  a 
prisoner. 

And  all  this  ''much  ado"  was  about  a  warty  horse 
which  one  of  Sherman's  bummers  not  long  afterward 
''confiscated"  and  probably  after  he  had  ridden  him  as 
far  as  he  could  force  him  to  go,  left  him  to  die  by  the 
roadside. 

Carter  did  not  strike  me  as  being  a  bad  man  but  was 
rather  the  victim  of  circumstances.  He  was  about  27 
or  28  years  of  age  he  said  when  he  joined  the  army  and 
had  been  married  several  years.  He  was  very  ignorant 
and  unlettered.  His  volunteering  as  w^ell  as  I  could  un- 
derstand came  about  in  this  wise.  The  secession  ladies 
of  Hiwassee,  Ga.,  and  the  countrj^  around  made  a  flag, 
baked  a  big  dinner,  advertised  a  rally,  got  a  politician 
to  make  a  speech:  "That  the  Yankees  wanted  to  take 
our  property,  free  our  negroes,  violate  state  rights  and 
force  us  into  submission."  They  waved  the  stars  and 
bars,  the  fifer  played  Dixie,  the  drummer  rattled  the 
snare  drum.  ' '  Fall  in  line,  boys,  we  wont  be  gone  more 
than  three  or  four  months,  and  come  back  covered  with 
glory.  Wlioopee!  Hurrah!"  Now  the  fellow  had  no 
property,  had  never  seen  a  half  dozen  black  folks  in  his 
life,  knew  nothing  of  state  rights  and  secession.  But 
he  thought  it  would  be  great  to  ride  a  horse,  wear  a  uni- 
form, lie  around  the  camp  fire,  like  he  used  to  do  coon 
hunting,  and  crack  jokes  with  the  boys.  And  what  a 
good  thing  it  would  be  not  to  have  to  plow,  in  a  rocky, 
stumpy  new  ground  and  still  have  his  family  taken  care 
of.  just  a  picnic  all  the  time !  Then  he  soon  found  out 
what  war  was.  He  heard  from  home  that  his  wife  was 
sick  and  his  children  were  hungry.  He  asked  for  a  fur- 
lough. Men  were  too  scarce  and  he  was  refused.  He 
stole  a  horse  between  suns  and  went  anyhow.  He  got 
caught.  He  was  returned  to  his  connnand.  He  was 
probably  tried  by  court  martial  for  desertion.  He  was 
sentenced.  A  squad  was  ordered  to  take  him  to  Rich- 
mond and  report  back  in  half  an  houi\  Thus  ended  the 
chapter  for  him.  Tlie  pity  of  it  was  he  did  not  realize 
what  it  was  all  about.  "What  the  difference?"  you 
might  say.     "He  was  nothing  but  a  Georgia  cracker; 


402  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

just  'poor  white  trash'."  True;  j^et  he  was  a  human 
being;  there  were  wife  and  children;  they  loved  him, 
needed  him. 

But  most  of  the  persons  mentioned  above  have  long 
since  passed  aw^a}^  Taylor  died  in  Paris,  Texas,  a  year 
and  a  half  ago.  Were  it  pertinent  to  this  history  it 
might  be  interesting  to  note  the  changes  commercial  and 
physical  a  half  century  has  wrought  in  the  regions  we 
traversed  on  our  trip;  how  the  rivers  and  creeks  we 
forded  are  now  spanned  by  steel  bridges ;  how  their  wa- 
ters once  crj'stal  have  been  discolored  by  wood  and 
chemical  acids ;  how  the  fish  have  been  killed  off  by  tan 
bark  ooze  and  sawdust ;  how  most  of  the  mountains  have 
been  denuded  of  their  magnificent  forest  trees ;  how  the 
whole  country  has  been  crisscrossed  by  telephone  and 
telegraph  wires;  how  the  whistle  of  the  locomotive 
breaks  the  once  quiet  and  stillness  of  the  valleys  and 
mountains;  how  the  waterfall  of  the  streams  has  been 
utilized  to  furnish  light  and  power  to  distant  cities; 
especially  how  the  talc,  marble,  gold,  iron,  manganese 
and  copper  have  added  mitold  millions  to  the  wealth  of 
the  nation,  in  so  much  that  the  production  of  the  Duck- 
town  region  alone  for  the  last  fifty  years  would  be  equal 
to  the  assessed  valuation  of  all  the  property  in  the  city 
of  Knoxville;  how  the  log  cabin  has  given  place  to  the 
pretentious  colonial  dwelling;  how  summer  residences 
and  hotels  dot  the  landscapes;  but  to  do  this  would  re- 
quire a  book. 

And  here 's  the  conclusion  of  the  matter : 

The  icy  rills  in  leafy  vales. 

That  once  did  quench  the  thirst  of  deer, 
The  tourist  there  stale  jokes  retails 

And  in  their  waters  cools  his  beer; 
And  where  the  huntsman,  gun  and  dogs, 

Did  chase  fierce  bruin  to  his  lair. 
The  two-step  girl  in  summer  togs 

Hunts  down  the  tired  millionaire. 

A  War  Episode. 

From  a  paper  prepared  by  Mrs.  M.  T.  Williams,  en- 
titled "Reminiscences  of  the  Bushwhackers,"  J.  C. 
Vaughn,  Chapter  U.  D.  C,  by  permission,  we  make  the 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAULEY  403 

following  extracts:  Mrs.  Williams  relates  that  shortly 
after  the  Battle  of  Philadelphia,  in  October,  1863,  she 
and  her  husband  and  children  were  spending  a  quiet 
evening  at  home,  not  expecting  any  unusual  happening, 
but,  she  says:  ''On  glancing  up  we  saw  a  company  of 
bushwhackers  approaching  us,  who  however  passed  di- 
agonally by  us  going  toward  the  Tellico  River.  We 
sat  and  watched  them  pass  out  of  sight.  My  husband 
left  immedia,tely,  as  I  supposed,  to  go  to  the  woods  to 
look  after  his  stock,  as  the  only  way  we  could  keep  stock 
to  work  the  land  was  to  hide  it  in  the  woods.  But  in- 
stead of  going  there  he  went  to  Colonel  C.  M.  McGhee's. 
(Here  Mr.  Williams  takes  up  the  story.)  "From  Col- 
onel McGhee  I  secured  one  of  his  fleetest  (race)  horses. 
I  went  (post  haste)  to  Sweetwater  to  notify  General 
Vaughn,  who  was  there  reorganizing  his  regiment,  which 
had  not  been  exchanged  after  the  Battle  of  Vicksburg. 
General  Vaughn,  after  getting  the  information,  at  once 
took  command  of  a  company  or  small  squadron  of  cav- 
alry, of  the  8th  Tennessee,  connnanded  by  Captain  Mc- 
Gentis  containing  also  a  few  soldiers  from  different  com- 
mands, who  chanced  to  be  on  hand,  and  started  late  in 
the  evening  in  pursuit  of  the  bushwhackers.  I  had  just 
got  to  Sweetwater  off  of  Wlieeler  's  raid  and  volunteered 
to  go  along.  I  took  supper  at  Madisonville  with  Bob 
Houston  who  went  with  us.  We  rode  to  near  Coco  Creek 
that  night  where  the  command  rested  until  near  morn- 
ing. Meantime  I  had  scouted  the  comitry  and  found 
that  the  bushw^hackers  had  struck  the  old  turnpike  road 
at  Coco  Creek  and  gone  on  in  the  direction  of  North  Car- 
olina. Dressed  as  a  Yankee  soldier  I  acted  as  scout  and 
went  on  in  advance  of  General  Vaughan  and  the  com- 
mand to  locate  the  crowd.  We  overtook  them  at  Evans' 
Mill  on  Beaver  Dam  Creek,  in  Cherokee  County,  N.  C. 
When  I  rode  into  them  I  turned  back  and  notified  Gen- 
eral Vaughn,  when  he  notified  Captain  McGentis  to 
charge  them  at  once.  We  killed  two  and  captured  seven- 
teen, including  Lieutenant  Conley,  a  Yankee  officer  with 
Bryson.  We  lost  one  man  killed,  I  chased  Bryson  some 
distance  but  he,  being  better  mounted  than  I,  got  away 
from  me  in  the  mountains.  Captain  Jim  Taylor,  with 
a  squad  of  Indians,  trailed  him  across  the  mountains  a 
few  days  afterwards,  perhaps  the  next  day,  and  killed 


404  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

him  on  Coco  Creek,  near  where  he  lived.  However  that 
did  not  break  up  the  bushwhackers  in  Monroe  County. 

THE   TOWN   OF  PHILADELPHIA. 

I  have  access  to  a  map  owned  by  W.  C.  Cannon,  of  Philadelphia, 
which  purports  to  be  a  certified  copy  of  the  original  map  of  Phila- 
delphia, which  William  Knox  had  laid  off  in  1822  or  prior  thereto. 
This  map  was  copied  from  one  drawn  by  Robert  Wear.  The  num- 
bers of  the  lots  ran  from  1  to  70,  commencing  at  the  northwest  corner 
of  the  town  in  the  bend  of  the  cresk  number  one  and  ending  in  num- 
ber seventy  on  the  west  side  of  what  is  known  as  the  Bacome  Branch. 
The  map  shows  the  purchasers  of  lots  up  to  April,  1822,  at  which  time 
about  twenty-five  lots  had  been  sold.  James  Price  was  the  purchaser 
of  lot  number  one,  and  Joseph  Price,  the  brother  of  James  Price,  pur- 
chased lot  number  two.  Most  of  the  names  mentioned  as  purchasers 
of  lots  are  unfamiliar  to  the  present  generation.  Few  of  their  descen- 
dants are  now  living  in  this  section.  Jacob  Pearson  purchased  lots 
numbers  ten  and  eleven,  opposite  to  where  the  mill  now  stands.  Jacob 
Pearson  built  the  brick  house  which  stands  west  of  the  spring,  where 
Mrs.  W.  G.  Lenoir  now  (1916)  lives.  Lot  No.  39,  now  owned  by  Robert 
Mims,  formerly  the  home  of  Robert  Cleveland,  was  bought  by  John 
Grigsby.  Lot  No.  58  was  the  one  on  which  Matthew  Nelson,  former 
treasurer  of  the  State,  built  the  log  house  in  which  he  lived  and 
which  is  still  standing.  Lot  No.  18,  where  the  Presbyterian  church 
now  stands,  was  purchased  by  Amos  Chesnut.  Lots  Nos.  19,  20  and 
21  were  purchased  by  Richard  Hill,  John  Haskins  and  Hiram  Lambert, 
respectively.  Lot  No.  28,  where  Dr.  Ben  Franklin  once  lived  and 
now  owned  by  John  Thompson,  was  purchased  by  Jonas  Israel.  Lots 
Nos.  45,  46  and  47  constitute  the  public  square  of  the  town. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  of  U.  S.  A.  at  Phila- 
delphia 

Was  organized  in  1820  by  the  Rev.  William  Eagleton 
and  first  had  a  temporary  place  of  worship  in  the  town. 
The  tirst  building  was  a  brick  which  was  erected  about 
1829  in  the  cemetery  north  of  the  creek  and  town.  This 
building  was  destroyed  by  fire  during  the  Civil  War. 
The  present  building  was  erected  during  1872  and  was 
dedicated  on  September  22,  of  that  year.  The  church 
at  Philadelphia  was  called  the  Mt.  Zion  Church.  Dur- 
ing its  early  days  Revs.  William  Eagleton,  Abel  Pear- 
son and  Hilary  Patrick  were  its  ministerial  supplies. 
In  1828  the  Rev.  Thomas  Brown  became  its  pastor  and 
remained  in  charge  until  1872.  The  Rev.  Thomas  Rob- 
erts served  the  church  in  the  years  of  1872  and  1873. 
The  Rev.  C.  E.  Tedford  was  pastor  from  June,  1874,  un- 
til June,  1877 ;  the  Rev.  Donald  McDonald  1877  to  1883, 
inclusive;  the  Rev.  Joseph  Clements  1884  to  1886  and 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  405 

the  Revs.  J.  H.  McConnell,  James  McDonald  and  P.  M. 
Bartlett  were  temporaiy  supplies  until  1892  wlieri  the 
Rev.  J,  B.  Creswell  took  charge  in  May  of  that  year 
and  remains  the  pastor  until  this  time  (1916). 

The  following  persons  have  served  as  elders: 

In  1827,  Moses  Renshaw,  James  Patton,  Stephen  Low,  Robert  Shaw, 
James  Martin,  Thomas  Craighead,  Jacob  Pearson,  John  Ramsey,  Cum- 
mings  McCoy. 

In  1833,  James  Taylor  and  Stephen  Dillard. 

In  1843,  James  Harrison,  M.  D.,  William  Rodgers,  M.  D.;  in  1850, 
Thomas  McCauley;  in  1851,  David  F.  Jamieson;  in  1854,  A.  W.  Cozart; 
in  1857,  Solomon  Bogart;  in  1877,  W.  L.  Brown;  in  1885,  George  C. 
Ruggles;  in  1891,  Samuel  J.  Sparks. 

Clerks  of  the  Session:  In  1827,  Cummings  McCoy;  in  1829,  John 
Ramsey;  in  1843,  William  Rodgers;  in  1846,  Dr.  James  F.  Harrison; 
in  1857,  Solomon  Bogart;  in  1877,  W.  L.  Brown. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  PHILADELPHIA. 

As  this  was  the .  only  important  engagement  fought  within  the 
bounds  of  Sweetwater  Valley  during  the  Civil  War,  it  would  be  perti- 
nent and  interesting  to  relate  some  of  the  occurrences  which  led  up  to 
it,  before  giving  the  reports  of  the  commanders  on  each  side,  which  I 
hereto  append. 

The  latter  part  of  August,  1863,  General  Burnside  with  a  large  force 
of  cavalry  and  mounted  infantry,  having  crossed  the  Cumberland  Moun- 
tains, struck  the  railroad  at  Lenoir's  Station,  now  Lenoir  City.  The 
Confederate  forces  did  not  attempt  to  resist  their  approach.  They  had 
previously  prepared  the  Loudon  Railroad  bridge  for  destruction  by  dis- 
tributing inflammable  material  on  it,  and  on  they  set  fire 

to  it  and  burned  it  to  prevent  pursuit.  The  object  of  the  Confederates 
was  to  concentrate  somewhere  about  Chattanooga  and  to  defeat  Rose- 
crans  in  his  flank  movement  on  that  place.  So,  after  the  battle  of 
Chickamauga,  on  the  19th  and  20th  of  September,  1863,  cavalry  was 
sent  towards  Knoxville  by  the  Confederates  to  drive  the  Federals  out 
of  the  country  and  prepare  the  way  for  Longstreet's  forces  to  come 
afterwards.  In  the  Confederate  official  reports  there  seems  to  be 
some  confusion  as  to  who  was  th,e  senior  oflJcer  in  the  Second  Cavalry 
Brigade,  Colonel  G.  G.  Dibrell  and  J.  J.  Morrison  both  signing  them- 
selves as  commanding  officers.  It  seems  that  the  Second  Cavalry 
Brigade  was  divided  into  two  parts  and  approached  Philadelphia, 
where  Wolford's  Brigade  of  Cavalry  was  encamped,  by  different  routes. 
Colonel  Morrison  came  through  Bradley  County,  passing  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Georgetown,  where  they  encamped  for  a  couple  of  weeks. 
They  crossed  the  Hiwassee  River,  partly  by  fording  and  partly  by 
ferrying,  between  Charleston  and  the  Tennessee  River,  and,  as  Colonel 
Morrison  in  his  reports  relates,  traveled  very  rapidly  through  Meigs 
and  Roane  Counties  to  get  between  Loudon  and  Philadelphia  to  cut 
off  Wolford's  forces  from  their  base  at  Loudon.  The  forces  under  his 
command,  though  not  so  stated  by  him  in  his  official  report,  were  the 
Sixteenth  Battalion  and  the  Sixth  and  First  Georgia  Cavalry,  com- 
manded by  Colonel  Morrison.  Scouts  were  sent  ahead  by  him  to  ascer- 
tain, if  possible,  the  location  of  the  Federal  pickets,  the  whereabouts  and 
number  of  the  Federal  troops  and  their  contemplated  movements.  For 
this  duty  Private  J.  A.  Reagan  and  five  others  from  Neil's  Battalion 


406  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

were  sent  with  instructions  not  to  spare  their  horses  and  to  report  as 
soon  as  possible.  They  returned  and  made  a  clear  and  satisfactory- 
report.  Colonel  Morrison's  command  succeeded  in  concealing  their 
movement  and  struck  the  railroad  at  th.e  old  Cannon  residence,  one 
and  one-half  miles  northeast  of  Philadelphia. 

Colonel  G.  G.  Dibrell,  with  the  Fourth  Tennessee  Cavalry,  with  some 
parts  of  the  Third,  Thirty-first  and  Fifty-ninth  Tennessee  Regiments 
acting  as  mounted  infantry,  approached  by  way  of  Charleston,  Athens 
and  Sweetwater.  The  engagement  was  fough.t  on  the  morning  of 
October  20th.  There  were  some  pickets  stationed  near  the  Cleveland 
church.  A  small  party  of  Confederates,  in  order  to  make  a  complete 
surprise,  attempted  to  get  behind  them  by  the  road  which  crosses  the 
railroad  near  the  old  Lillard  place,  between  the  Cleveland  church 
and  Philadelphia,  but  these  pickets  happened  to  see  them  and  made 
their  escape  to  Philadelphia.  They  reported  to  General  Wolford  that 
the  Confederates  were  coming  from  Sweetwater.  When  the  Con- 
federates found  out  that  the  pickets  had  not  been  captured  they  came 
on  as  rapidly  as  possible.  About  this  time  the  Federals  became  aware 
that  a  force  of  the  enemy  were  approaching  from  the  direction  of 
Loudon.  They  made  a  charge  on  Morrison's  command  with  the  in- 
tention of  breaking  through  and  escaping  to  Loudon,  where  the  in- 
fantry was  encamped.  For  the  space  of  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes 
there  was  a  very  hotly  contested  engagement,  and  although  Colonel 
Morrison's  command  was  forced  back  for  a  short  distance,  they  suc- 
ceeded in  blocking  the  exit  of  the  Federals  towards  Loudon.  About 
that  time  they  were  attacked  by  the  forces  under  Colonel  Dibrell 
from  the  Sweetwater  side.  Those  of  Wolford's  command  that  were 
not  taken  prisoners  crossed  Sweetwater  Creek  at  and  below  the  town 
of  Philadelphia,  making  a  disorderly  retreat,  each  man  for  himself, 
going  around  to  the  north  of  Morrison's  command,  most  of  them 
finally  reaching  Loudon. 

The  forces  reported  as  being  under  command  of  Colonel  Wolford 
were  the  First,  Eleventh  and  Twelfth  Kentucky  Cavalry  and  the 
Forty-fifth  Ohio  (mounted)  Infantry.  A  rather  amusing  circum- 
stance of  how  tables  can  be  turned  is  well  illustrated  by  the  following 
incident:  Private  Henry  Sawtell,  of  Neil's  Battalion,  while  on  a 
scout  near  the  Thomas  Osborne  place,  ran  upon  a  foraging  party  of 
Federal  soldiers.  He  was  captured  and  taken  to  Philadelphia  and 
placed  under  guard.  When  the  Confederate  forces  reached  Philadel- 
phia they  found  that  he  had  taken  several  of  his  guards  prisoners 
and  was  on   guard   over  them. 

The  results  of  the  battle  may  be  seen  by  the  official  reports  of  the 
battle,  by  each  side,  appended.  The  Federal  forces  undoubtedly  lost 
all  of  their  baggage,  wagons  and  cannon — as  to  the  number  of  pris- 
oners taken  there  is  some  discrepancy. 

Data  on  the  Battle  at  Philadelphia,  Tenn.,  Fkom  Official  Records 

OF    THE    WaK    of    the    REBELLION. 

Official  Records  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  Armies,  Series  1,  Vol. 

21,  Part.  1. 

Report  of  Major-General  A.  E.  Burnside  to  Major-General  Grant: 

General : 

On  the  20th  instant.  Colonel  Wolford's  Cavalry  Brigade,  at  Phila- 
delphia, was  surprised  by  the  enemy's  cavalry  and  driven  back  to 
Loudon,  with  the  loss  of  six  mountain  howitzers  and  a  considerable 


HISTOKY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAUjEY  407 

number  of  men.  Colonel  Wolford  reports  his  loss  at  100.  The  enemy 
has  been  driven  back  again  beyond  Philadelphia,  and  are  said  to 
be  concentrating  at  Sweetwater  a  heavy  force  of  infantry,  cavalry  and 
artillery.  The  reports  of  the  number  of  the  enemy  are  indefinite,  ex- 
cept as  to  the  presence  there  of  Stevenson's  Division  of  Infantry  and 
of  some  3,000  or  4,000  cavalry.  I  have  re-enforced  the  garrison  of 
Loudon  and  shall  leave  for  there  at  once;  from  there  I  will  endeavor 
to  telegraph  you  more  definitely.  We  have  had  a  good  deal  of  rain. 
Trains  late,  and  I  fear  much  of  our  supplies  will  be  very  badly  de- 
layed by  high  water  and  bad  roads.  It  is  reported  from  several 
sources  that  a  considerable  force  under  Joe  Johnston  has  left  Bragg's 
army. 

A.  E.  BURNSIDE,  Major-General. 

Report  of  Colonel  Frank  Wolford,  First  Kentucky  Cavalry,  com- 
manding cavalry  brigade: 

Loudon,  Oct.  20th,  1863. 

About  ten  o'clock  this  morning  I  got  information  that  about  1,500 
Rebels  had  attacked  my  wagon  train,  six  miles  from  camp.  I  sent 
Colonel  Adams  with  the  First  and  Eleventh  Kentucky  Cavalry,  who 
got  in  tb.e  rear  of  the  enemy  and  were  cut  off  by  some  3,000  Rebels. 
I  soon  after  got  information  that  a  large  body  of  Rebels  were  coming 
up  from  Sweetwater.  I  then  mustered  up  the  rest  of  my  men,  amount- 
ing to  about  700,  and  attacked  them  and  drove  them  back  several  times. 
After  driving,  they  re-enforced,  attacking  us  from  every  side.  Our 
artillery  fired  their  last  round.  I  rallied  my  men  and  charged  through, 
saving  most  of  men  and  several  prisoners.  We  had  several  killed 
and  several  taken  prisoners.  I  am  confident  we  killed  more  of  them, 
and  took  more  prisoners  than  they  did  of  us.  We  have  lost  some 
of  our  v/agons  and  baggage  and  some  of  our  artillery — perhaps  all 
of  it.  The  enemy  are  in  large  force,  both,  infantry  and  artillery,  with 
several  heavy  pieces  of  the  latter. 

WOLFORD,  Colonel. 
To  Gen.  Burnside. 

Return  of  casualties  in  the  Union  forces  engaged  at  Philadelphia, 
Tenn.,  October  20th,  1863: 

Killed:   1  officer  and  6  enlisted  men. 
Wounded:    1  officer  and  24  enlisted  men. 
Captured  or  Missing:   7  officers  and  440  enlisted  men.     Total,  479. 

Report  of  Colonel  George  G.  Dibrell,  Eighth  Tennessee  (Confed- 
erate), commanding  cavalry  brigade: 

Headquarters  Second  Cavalry  Brigade, 

Philadelphia,  October  20,  1863,  5  P.  M. 
Dear  Sir: 

The  colonel  commanding  instructs  me  to  say  that  he  engaged  the 
enemy  in  front  of  this  place  at  8  o'clock  to-day.  After  a  sharp 
artillery  duel  of  an  hour  or  more  the  guns  of  Colonel  Morrison's 
Brigade  were  heard  in  the  enemy's  rear.  Colonel  Dibrell  immediately 
charged  into  the  town.  The  enemy  was  completely  routed.  We  cap- 
tured all  his  wagons,  ambulances,  tents,  cooking  utensils,  all  his 
artillery,  about  400  prisoners  and  at  least  that  many  small  arms.  The 
colonel  cannot  speak  too  highly  of  his  officers  and  men.     The  rout 


408  HISTOBY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

is  not  yet  over;   prisoners,  horses  and  mules  are  hourly  coining  in. 
Our  loss  is  nothing. 

By  order  of  Colonel  G.  G.  Dibrell,  commanding  Second  Cavalry 
Brigade. 

DIXON  A.  ALLISON, 
Acting  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 
To  Major-General  Stevenson. 

Report  of  J.  J.  Morrison,  First  Georgia  Cavalry,  commanding 
cavalry  brigade: 

Headquarters  Second  Cavalry  Brigade, 

Lenoir's  House,  Philadelphia,  Tenn.,  October  20th,  1863. 

General: 

I  have  the  honor  to  state  that,  agreeable  to  your  instructions,  I 
succeeded  in  getting  between  Philadelphia  and  Loudon,  after  making 
a  march  of  fifty  miles  in  fifteen  hours.  Found  the  enemy  (Colonel 
Wolford's  Brigade)  in  line  of  battle.  Sent  one  regiment  to  Loudon 
to  make  demonstration  to  prevent  Colonel  Wolford's  force  being  aug- 
mented by  forces  from  Loudon.  I  attacked  him  at  once  with  the  re- 
mainder of  my  forces,  numbering  1,200.  After  a  very  severe  fight, 
with  twice  my  number  pitted  against  me,  supported  by  six  pieces  of 
artillery,  I  succeeded  in  completely  routing  him,  capturing  all  of  his 
artillery  (six  pieces),  entire  wagon  train,  with,  many  fire-arms  and 
ammunition.  Captured  400  prisoners.  My  loss  will  foot  up  10  killed, 
68  wounded  and  70  missing.  The  whole  command  acted  very  gal- 
lantly.    I  will  report  at  full  at  earliest  opportunity. 

I  am,  general,  your  obedient  servant, 

J.  J.  MORRISON, 
Colonel,   Commanding   Second   Cavalry  Brigade. 

P.  S.:  Colonel  Wolford  fell  back  in  great  confusion  upon  four 
regiments  of  infantry  at  Loudon.  Night  prevents  me  from  pursuing 
him. 

A  REMINISCENCE   OF  COLONEL  FRANK  WOLFORD. 

Some  time  in  September,  1863,  Wolford's  Brigade  of  Cavalry 
camped  at  Sweetwater.  The  space  between  the  hotel  and  the  big 
springs  was  then  woodland,  and  was  a  favorite  camping  place  for 
soldiers  of  both  armies.  A  day  or  two  after  Colonel  Wolford's  com- 
mand came  I  went  to  the  town  of  Sweetwater  to  look  around.  I 
asked  some  of  the  soldiers  questions  and  displayed,  as  the  soldiers 
thought,  quite  too  much  curiosity.  So  they  proceeded  to  arrest  me 
and  took  me  before  the  Provost  Marshal.  He  asked  me  what  I  was 
doing  and  why  I  came  inside  the  lines.  I  told  him  I  came  on  business 
and  wished  to  see  Colonel  Wolford.  He  questioned  me  as  to  my  sym- 
pathies in  regard  to  the  war.  When  I  told  him  I  was  a  Southern 
sympathizer  he  told  me  I  would  have  to  take  the  oath  to  support  the 
United  States  government.  I  answered  him  I  preferred  not  to  do  so. 
He  said  if  I  did  not  he  would  give  me  a  nice  little  trip  up  to  Camp 
Chase.  I  respectfully  informed  him  that  I  did  not  see  what  good 
that  would  do  as  I  was  a  non-combatant,  and  asked  if  I  could  see 
the  commanding  officer.  I  was  detained  some  little  time  after  that, 
when  for  some  reason,  Colonel  Wolford  came  into  the  Provost's  office. 
He  may  have  heard  that  a  spy  had  been  arrested  in  camp.     I  ex- 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  409 

plained  to  Colonel  Wolford  that  some  of  the  command  were  encamped 
on  my  father's  land,  tliat  the  soldiers  being  near  the  corn  fields  were 
taking  corn.  If  this  was  according  to  his  orders  I  would  like  to  get 
something  for  it.  He  then  told  me  he  would  have  the  commissary 
issue  me  a  voucher  for  everything  his  soldiers  took.  I  then  told  him 
my  father  was  away  from  home  and  that  my  mother  would  like  to 
have  a  few  soldiers  to  guard  our  premises,  and  would  prefer  to  have 
some  Kentuckians.  He  replied  that  he  would  do  so  and  "such  as 
would  give  protection."  I  told  him  also  that  I  would  like  to  have 
a  pass  so  that  I  could  go  in  and  out  of  the  lines  at  any  time  so  I 
could  attend  to  whatever  was  needing  looking  after.  He  gave  me  the 
pass  and  at  the  same  time  he  said  to  the  Provost  Marshal:  "Captain, 
we  are  not  making  war  on  boys."  This  produced  quite  a  change  in 
his  manner  toward  me. 

According  to  promise,  he  sent  four  guards,  I  think  of  the  First 
Kentucky  Cavalry,  who  were  quite  polite  and  attentive.  While  they 
stayed  at  our  place  they  feasted  on  turkey,  pies,  cake  and  wine.  They 
were  relieved  from  other  duties  while  on  guard  at  our  home,  and 
when  the  command  was  ordered  away,  as  I  remember,  in  about  ten 
days'   time,  they  expressed  very  many  regrets. 

I  thought  Colonel  Wolford  was  a  grand  old  man  if  he  was  sur- 
prised and  did  get  whipped  at  Philadelphia.  When  the  soldiers  got 
corn  and  other  supplies  for  the  brigade,  he  gave  me,  in  my  father's 
name,  vouchers,  omitting  the  words  "on  proof  of  loyalty."  This,  too, 
when  my  father  at  that  time  was  a  refugee  in  Georgia.  These  were 
the  only  vouchers  that  were  ever  paid  my  father,  I.  T.  Lenoir,  or 
myself  by  the  United  States  government.  What  a  contrast  was  Wol- 
ford's  conduct  to  that  of  Return  J.  Meigs,  Claim  Commissioner!  One 
would  expect  of  him,  as  his  mother  lived  for  a  while  in  this  Valley, 
and  he  was  personally  known  to  my  father,  that  he  would  treat  him 
with  some  measure  of  justice,  but  the  claims  for  wood  and  ties,  got 
for  the  use  of  the  railroad  taken  over  by  th.e  United  States  govern- 
ment, and  for  hay,  corn  and  wheat,  attested  by  vouchers  and  sworn 
to  by  reliable  witnesses,  filing  with  the  same  the  oath  of  amnesty 
which  I.  T.  Lenoir  took  at  Loudon  in  1864,  after  he  returned  home 
from  Georgia,  were  disallowed  by  him  and  were  refused  reconsidera- 
tion. 

Loudon. 

Wlien  I  contemplated  writing  the  history  of  the  early- 
settlers  of  Sweetwater  Valley  it  was  my  intention  to 
take  in  that  part  of  it  which  was  formerly  a  part  of 
Roane  County,  but  time  and  space  and  the  difficulty -of 
access  to  the  records  at  Kingston  prevented  me  from 
so  doing.  The  task  set  for  myself  w^as  greater  than  I 
thought.  But  as  I  have  almost  two  years  issue  of  the 
Loudon  Free  Press,  which  commenced  publication  on 
November  20,  1852,  I  feel  that  I  ought  to  publish  some 
excerpts  from  the  same,  the  facts  contained  in  which 
might  otherwise  not  be  preserved.  Even  previous  to 
the  publication  of  the    Loudon    Free  Press    there    ap- 


410  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY 

peared  in  th^  Athens  Post  of  November  7,  1851,  an  ad- 
vertisement of  James  H.  Johnston,  stating  that  on 
Thursday,  the  27th  day  of  November,  1851,  there  would 
be  a  sale  of  200  town  lots  at  Blairsport  or  Blairs  Ferry 
(afterwards  Loudon)  at  public  auction.  I  presume  the 
sale  took  place.  It  was  not  stated  what  particular  lands 
were  to  be  sold.  This  sale  was  very  widely  advertised 
in  papers  from  Richmond,  Va.,  to  Augusta,  Ga.  How 
many  lots  were  sold  or  what  prices  they  brought  I  have 
not  found  out.  This  was  the  first  example  of  systematic 
*' booming"  that  I  know  of  occurring  in  this  part  of  East 
Tennessee.  So  the  laying  out  of  towns  on  paper,  and 
the  selling  at  auction,  as  in  the  late  eighties  and  early 
nineties,  was  really  nothing  new  to  Loudon  people. 

The  editors  and  proprietors  of  the  Loudon  Free 
Press  were  Jno.  W.  and  Samuel  B.  O'Brien.  It  was 
excellently  printed  on  good  linen  paper  and  well  edited. 
It  contained  many  well  written  articles  and  various  im- 
portant advertisements  of  railroad  and  large  business 
enterprises.  Not  only  those  in  Loudon  but  many  from 
cities  of  Tennessee  and  large  cities  in  the  east.  Among 
other  things  there  was  a  half  column  advertisement  of 
the  Saturday  Evening  Post.  There  were  also  the  fol- 
lowing advertisements : 

Orme,  Wilson  &  Co.,  Merchants.  This  Wilson  was 
R.  T.  Wilson,  afterwards  so  well  known  as  a  banker  in 
New  York.  Lenoir  &  Goddard,  merchants  in  Philadel- 
phia, Teim.  Notice  May  13,  1853,  of  Wm.  and  W.  A. 
Lenoir,  executors  of  Wm.  B.  Lenoir,  deceased.  Adver- 
tisement of  the  firm  of  William,  W.  A.,  B.  B.,  and  I.  P. 
Lenoir,  cotton  factors,  millers,  farmers  and  merchants 
at  Lenoir's.  On  November  20,  1854,  were  also  the  law 
card's  of  Hopkins  &  Stephens,  Welcker  &  Key,  of  Chat- 
tanooga, Tenn.,  Gahagan  &  Wright  of  Madisonville, 
William  G.  McAdoo,  Thos.  C.  Lyon,  Maynard  &  Vaughn 
of  Knoxville,  and  N.  A.  Patterson  of  Kingston. 

Track  laying  of  the  E.  T.  &  Ga.  R.  R.  reached  Blair's 
Ferry,  afterwards  Loudon,  in  May  or  June,  1852.  This 
made  Loudon  the  terminus  of  the  railroad  until  1856, 
on  account  of  the  difficulty  at  that  time,  of  bridging  the 
Tennessee  River.  This  caused  Loudon  to  be  very  much 
''boomed."  The  optimistic  claimed  that  it  would  be- 
come a  rival  of  Knoxville  as  it  was  exceedingly  uncer- 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VALLEY  411 

tain  when  the  railroad  would  be  completed,  and  as  Lou- 
don had  railroad  transportation  to  the  south  which 
Knoxville  did  not. 

In  the  issue  of  the  Free  Press  of  August  26,  1853,  not- 
ing the  town  improvements  it  mentioned  those  who  were 
about  to  complete  buildings  and  residences,  as  follows: 
R.  T.  Wilson,  E.  P.  Clark,  James  W.  Clark,  W.  R.  Hur- 
ley, H.  Ingalls,  W.  B.  Mclnturf,  Joseph  Rowan  and  L. 
A.  Markum.  The  New  School  Presbyterian  Church,  the 
Episcopal  Church,  the  parsonage  were  completed  and 
the  work  on  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  had  been 
commenced. 

Some  time  in  the  year  1853,  date  not  at  hand,  Loudon 
was  incorporated,  for  the  issue  of  the  Free  Press  for 
jJanuary  11,  1854,  stated  that  an  election  had  been 
held,  and  that  the  following  were  elected:  W.  T.  Low, 
mayor;  H.  Bogart,  recorder;  B.  F.  Davis,  treasurer;  R. 
T.  Wilson,  H.  Ingalls,  J.  H.  Leuty,  and  J.  W.  O'Brien, 
aldermen,  Thomas  Russell  was  unanimously  elected 
city  constable. 

Under  the  heading:  Facts  about  the  Miwassee  and 
East  Temiessee  and  Georgia  Railroad,  there  is  given, 
in  this  book,  a  schedule  of  trains  between  Loudon  and 
Dalton,  Ga.,  published  in  the  Athens  Post  of  August  10, 
1852,  which  recites  that  the  ''down  train"  leaves  at  4 
a.  m.  and  the  "up  train"  arrives  at  6:35  p.  m.,  making 
a  round  trip  daily.  In  the  Loudon  Free  Press  of  March 
14,  1854,  the  time  of  departure  from  Loudon  for  Dalton 
was  5 :45  a.  m.  and  the  time  of  arrival  from  Dalton  was 
3 :09  p.  m. 

The  elevation  of  Loudon  as  given  to  the  Free  Press 
by  Mr.  Pritchard,  chief  engineer  of  the  E.  T.  &  G.  R.  R., 
is  814  feet  above  the  sea  level. 

Comparative  population  of  Loudon  and  Sweetwater 
on  the  dates  given  below,  taken  from  the  United  States 
census : 

Loudon.  Sweetwater. 

1860.     1,292  not  given 

1870.     1,357  1,609 

1880.       832  1,335 

1890.       942  879 

1900.       875  1,716 

1910.       995  1,850 


412  HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VATJiEY 

In  the  Free  Press  of  July  25,  1854  is  an  editorial, 
"Come  Back,"  pleading  with  those,  who  had  fled  from 
the  cholera  to  return,  as  the  panic  had  subsided,  that  the 
disease  which  was  afflicting  the  people  was  not  Asiatic 
cholera  but  w^as  malignant  cholera  morbus.  It  says  that 
there  are  a  thousand  and  one  silly  reports  circulating 
through  the  country.  "To  set  these  rumors  aside  we 
will  state  that  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Strange  there 
has  not  been  a  case  since  last  Wednesday.  Mr.  Strange 
was  attacked  Tuesday  night,  he  was  relieved  of  cholera, 
and  died  on  Friday  of  typhoid  fever."  The  editorial 
goes  on: 

"The  weather  continues  warm  but  the  atmosphere  is  quite  lively 
and  a  gentle  breeze  is  constantly  playing  through  our  office.  So  come 
back,  ye  fugitive  inhabitants  of  Loudon!  And,  oh,  ye  Iron  Horse! 
why  standest  thou  quaking  in  the  distance?  We  little  thought  that 
your  iron  nerve  would  quail  at  the  sight  of  five  or  six  cases  of  cholera. 
Oh,  ye  hotelkeepers,  return!  The  danger  is  now  past  and  you  can 
all  come  back  swearing  that  you  were  not  scared.  Since  the  9th  inst. 
we  have  had  the  following  deaths  in  town,  with  cholera  symptoms: 
N.  D.  Sutton,  taken  on  Saturday  about  one  o'clock,  died  Sunday  about 
three  o'clock;  Mr.  Taylor,  a  blacksmith,  died  on  Saturday  after  a  short 
Illness;  Harvey  Erskine,  colored,  taken  on  Sunday  night,  died  after 
an  illness  of  twelve  hours;  W.  P.  Truitt,  taken  on  Sunday  morning, 
died  on  Tuesday  at  three  o'clock." 

Editorial  a  week  later  says: 

"Since  our  last  we  have  had  but  one  death  by  cholera  in  Loudon, 
Mrs.  Dialtha  Donohoe.  One  at  Philadelphia,  Mrs.  J.  W.  Clark;  one 
near  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Gilbreath.  *  *  *  We  verily  believe  there 
is  less  apprehension  relative  to  cholera  felt  in  Loudon  than  there  is 
In  any  point  in  fifty  or  a  hundred  miles  of  this  place." 

•  . 

In  the  Athens  Post  of  September  29,  1854,  there  is  a 
comparative  table  of  the  rainfall  in  July,  August  and 
September,  1853  and  1854;  for  Nashville  and  vicinity: 


1853. 

1854. 

July 

7  inches 

1 1-2  inches 

Aug. 

6  inches 

1-2   " 

Sept. 

61-3  " 

1-4   ** 

Total  191-3  ''  21-4 


HISTORY  OF  SWEETWATER  VAIXEY  413 

A  difference  of  more  than  17  inches  in  Nashville.  It 
is  probable  the  difference  might  have  been  equally  as 
great  in  this  section.  This  drouth  may  account  for  the 
terrible  devastation  of  the  cholera  in  the  year  of  1854. 

Afterthoughts. 

I  hope  this  book  will  be  criticised;  for  a  work  of  this 
kind  which  is  not  will  attract  little  attention ;  but  I  trust 
that  the  criticisms  will  be  made  with  some  degree  of 
fairness,  just  as  I  have  tried  to  treat  with  fairness  those 
I  have  written  about. 

I  will,  no  doubt,  be  blamed  for  mistakes  I  did  not 
make  and  for  many  that  I  did  make.  I  have  endeavored 
to  give  the  old  settlers  and  their  descendants,  wherever 
they  are  found,  with  as  great  accuracy  as  I  was  able. 
Some,  though  not  a  large  proportion,  have  failed  to  an- 
swer the  letters  addressed  to  them.  Quite  a  few  letters 
have  been  returned  unclaimed,  as  those  not  living  where 
written  to  at  last  address,  or  passed  beyond  the  reach 
of  the  U.  S.  mail. 

I  will  be  criticised  for  writing  about  some  people  I  did 
give  sketches  of  and  because  I  failed  to  write  of  others 
I  should  have  written  about.  Possibl}^  I  did  not  have 
sufficient  accurate  information  to  justify.  I  have  not 
tried  to  give  a  history  of  families  who  came  to  this  sec- 
tion later  than  1865,  That  is  more  than  a  half  century 
ago.  Even  of  those  who  came  previous  to  that  time, 
and  did  not  stay  long  enough  to  leave  their  impress  upon 
the  country  and  were  merely  transients,  it  would  hard- 
ly be  expected  I  should  treat. 

I  will,  doubtless,  be  blamed  for  not  dwelling  more  at 
length  on  the  material  resources  and  manufactures  of 
our  section.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  previous 
to  1865  there  were  no  mills  of  any  kind,  except  a  few 
small  custom  mills,  and  not  a  bank  within  the  bounds 
of  Sweetwater  Valley  until  a  much  later  date.  The 
check  and  deposit  habit  had  not  been  acquired. 

The  old  settlers  of  the  valley  were  thrifty  people  but 
I  have  laid  much  greater  stress  on  character  than  ac- 
cumulated land  and  dollars. 

What  constitutes  a  community  as  well  as  a  state  has 
been  fitly  answered  as  follows: 


414  HISTOBY  OF  SWEETWATER  VATJiEY 

"What  constitutes  a  State? 

Not  high  raised  battlements  or  labored  mound, 
Thick  wall  or  moated  gate; 

Not  cities  proud  with  spires  and  turrets  crowned, 
Not  bays  and  broad-armed  ports, 

Where,  laughing  at  the  storm,  rich  navies  ride; 
Not  starred  and  spangled  courts. 

Where  low-browed  Baseness  wafts  perfume  to  Pride; 
No,  men,  high-minded  men — 

Men  who  their  duties  know. 
But  know  their  rights  and  knowing  dare  maintain; 

Prevent  the  long-armed  blow. 
And  crush  the  tyrant  while  th,ey  rend  the  chain; 

These  constitute  a  State." 

If  I  have  not  missed  my  estimation  gravely,  of  such 
were  those  of  our  valley  and  with  more  excellent  char- 
acteristics added  thereto. 

I  close  this  work  with  quite  a  feeling  of  relief.  It  has 
been  much  more  troublesome,  far  more  expensive  and 
taken  much  longer  time  than  I  anticipated,  even  after 
the  families  whom  I  was  investigating  rendered  me  all 
the  assistance  in  their  power.  Some  had  kept  no  rec- 
ords and  many  had  had  their  records  destroyed  by  war, 
flood  and  fire.  It  is  also  with  a  feeling  of  some  sad- 
ness that  I  finish  the  compilation  of  the  work.  It  ha^ 
brought  me  in  personal  touch,  and  also  into  correspond- 
ence w^ith  many  friends  of  my  youth  who  I  had  almost 
forgotten  or  only  faintly  remembered;  and  in  corre- 
spondence with  them  they  brought  to  mind  many  cir- 
cumstances which  but  for  that  I  would  never  have 
thought   of  again. 

The  publication  of  this  book  about  the  old  families 
may  cause  some  who  are  dear  friends  or  relatives  to 
get  into  correspondence  with  each  other  and  bring  to 
their  knowledge  those  who  are  far  separated. 

I  can  not  write  finis  to  this  book  without  making  some 
acknowledgment  to  some  who  especially  assisted  me; 
most  of  these  have  been  laides,  who,  as  is  usual,  take 
more  interest  in  personal  history  than  men.  I  thank 
especially  for  assistance,  Mrs.  J.  N.  Heiskell,  Miss  Ran 
Yearwood,  Mrs.  Sarah  Willson,  of  Niota,  Tenn.,  Mr.  W. 
P.  Jones  of  Pond  Creek,  Mrs.  Robert  Stickley  of  Mem- 
phis, and  Mrs,  Julia  R.  Love,  and  the  record  clerks  of 
Monroe  County  at  Madisonville,  Tenn.,  and  Hon.  W.  L. 
Brown  of  Philadelphia. 

"With  tliis  I  make  my  bow  to  the  public  as  an  author. 


H    15      89  vg 


ADDENDA 

p.  78  line  4  from  bottom  add  O.  King-  Jones  Jr.  b.  March  20 
1917. 

P.  110  line  11  from  bottom  add.  Shed.  March  10,  1917. 

P.  Ill  After  paragraph  about  (7)  Arthur  B.  Cannon  add  (8) 
William  Harry,  b.  Feb.  13,  1877;  now  (1917)  U,  S.  Post  Master 
at  Goodwin,  Idaho. 

P.  116  insert  as  Heading-  John  Smith,  after  line  6. 

P.  140  line  12  add  She  (E.  P.  T.)  died  Aug-.  8  1911. 

P.  176  5th  line  elimints  "  "he  d.  in  1871"  and  read  She 
d.  in  1908. 

P.  176  8th  line  add  He  died  June  16,  1913 


ERRATA 

P.  224  in  3rd  line  from  heading-  "Plan  of  Streets''  for  tract" 
read  track. 

P.  316  18th  line  eliminate  "Five.  Arthur  Bruce,  fourth  son  of" 
read  Two.  P'^rank  Heiskell,  first  son  of  R.  F.  and  E.  R.  Scrug-g-s 

On  pag-e316  read  children  of  Frank  H.  and  Anne  Scrug-g-s  in- 
stead of  "Frank  and  Marg-aret  Scrug-g-s. 

P.  3I7  3rd  line.  Eliminate  d—  Add  He  is   now  clerk  in  a  store 

P.  347  line  14  read  1853  for  1835. 

On  last  p.  for  "who"  read  whom  I  had  forgotten. 

On  last  page  read  ladies  for  "laides" — 


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