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S3.50    The  Copy 


Rutherford  County 
Historical  Society 

PUBLICATION    N0.10 


ia4z 


Winter  1978 


MURFREESBORO.  TENNESSEE  3^130 


JU^^^^un^^^^^ 


Rutherford  County  Historical  Society 
Publication  No.  10 

THE  COVER 

Piiblication  No.  10  has  a  dravdng  of  Whitehall,  home  of  F.  E. 
Henderson  in  IC64.  vfhen  she  v/rote  her  diary. 

The  sketch  is  by  James  C.  Matheny,  a  member  of  the  Rutherford 
County  Historical  Society.  Whitehall  was  built  about  I84O  by  Albert 
Gallatin  Henderson,  During  the  Civil  V/ar,  Federal  soldiers  left  the 
marks  of  their  bayonets  on  one  of  the  back  doorp  of  the  old  home. 
After  the  v;ar  the  house  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  George  McDonald 
family,  and  they  lived  there  until  I963, 

In  1965  the  old  house  was  burned  by  vandals.  All  that  remains 
is  the  maple  trees  to  mark  the  site  of  this  old  house  on  U.S.  70S  at 
the  intersection  vdth  J,  S,  Young  Road.  "Wade,"  a  small  railroad 
substation,  v;as  on  this  farm. 

The  Rutherford  County  Historical  Society  publishes  two  publi- 
cations each  year  in  January  and  July.  These  publications  are  not 
copyrighted,  because  it  is  our  belief  that  the  history  of  Rutherford 
County  belongs  to  everyone.  The  society  would  appreciate  anyone 
using  articles  or  material  from  o;ir  publications  to  give  credit  to 
the  society  and  authors. 

The  Rutherford  County  Historical  Society  has  tried  to  present 
articles  on  all  parts  of  the  county  and  its  people.  Anyone  having 


an  article  for  the  publication  is  requested  to  contact  Ernest  Johns 
in  Sinyrna  or  during  one  of  our  meetings  at  the  Police  Building  in 
Murfreesboro  at  7:30  p.m.  on  the  third  Monday  of  each  month. 

Thanks  to  Rutherford  County  Judge  Ben  Hall  McFarlin  and  Mrs.  Donna 
Newlon  for  their  assistance  in  publishing  this  book. 

Murfreesboro,  Tennessee 
1977 


RUTHERFORD  COUNTY  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 
PUBLICATION  NO.  10 

Published  by  the 
RUTHERFORD  COUNTY  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


OFFICERS 


President Dr.  Homer  Pittard 

Vice-President Mr.  W.  H.  Westbrook 

Recording  Secretary Miss  Louise  Cawthon 

Corresponding  Secretary  and  Treasurer Mrs.  Dorothy  Matheny 

Publication  Secretary Mr.  Walter  K.  Hoover 

Directors Miss  Mary  Hall 

Mr.  Robert  Ra gland 
Mr.  William  Walkup 

Publication  No.  10  (Limited  Edition-350  copies)  is  distributed  to 
members  of  the  Society.  The  annual  membership  dues  is  $5.00  (Family- $7. 00) 
v;hich  includes  the  regular  publications  and  the  monthly  NEWSLETTER  to  all 
members.  Additional  copies  of  Publication  No.  10  may  be  obtained  at 
$3.50  per  copy. 

All  correspondence  concerning  additional  copies,  contributions  to 
future  issues,  and  membership  should  be  addressed  to: 

Rutherford  County  Historical  Society 

Box  906 

Murfreesboro,  Tennessee  37130 


RUTHERFORD  COUNTY  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


PUBLICATION  NO.  10 


FOREWORD 

The  founding  fathers  and  mothers  of  the  Rutherford  County  Historical 
Society  were  motivated  by  one  overriding  desire:   to  create  among  Ruther- 
ford Countians  an  interest  in  the  heritage  of  their  community.  Of  course 
there  were  important  subsidiary  reasons,  the  social  factor  not  being  the 
least.  Many  people  in  the  community  have  been  brought  together  vdth  his- 
torical common  interest  being  the  vehicle.  It  should  be  said  that  the 
profit  motive  has  been  one  of  the  least  of  the  motivators.  However,  the 
Society  has  experienced  remarkable  solvency  during  its  existence.  One  of 
the  most  recent  projects,  the  reprinting  of  Henderson's  Storjr  of_   Murfrees- 
boro.  is  a  case  in  point.  Publication  costs  v;ere  $4»25  per  unit  in  ad- 
dition to  the  inevitable  exigencies  of  sales  tax.  The  marketing  price  was 
and  is  $5,00  per  copy.  Despite  this,  the  magnanimity  of  Jesse  C.  Beasley, 
Jr,,  enabled  the  Society  to  distribute  the  rare  volume  with  a  minimal 
mark-up  and,  thus,  to  show  a  handsome  profit.  As  a  result,  revenue  has 
been  generated  from  this  and  other  ventures  to  finance  additional  projects 
and  to  inprove  the  semi-annual  publications. 

The  series  of  features  that  appear  in  this  the  tenth  publication 
place  historical  subjects  of  community  interest  in  a  permanent  binding 
for  enjoyment  now  and  in  the  future.  Not  enough  can  be  said  for  the  ef- 
forts of  dedicated  Ernie  Johns  in  collecting  and  preparing  for  publication 
the  materials  that  appear  here  and  in  those  of  the  past.  The  Society  owes 
him  a  deep  debt  of  gratitude. 


;-<'V 


FOR  SALE 

THE  FOLLOWING  PUBLICATIONS  ARE  FOR  SALE  BY  THE  RUTHERFORD  COUNTY  HISTORICAL 
SOCIETY,  Box  905,  Murfreesboro,  Tennessee,  37130; 

Publication  #  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  and  8:  Out  of  Print, 

Publication  #  6;  Link  Community;  History  of  LaVergne;  Fellov/ship  Community; 
and  the  Sanders  Family.  $3.00  +  $.50  postage 

Publication  //  1%     Hopewell  Church,  1816-1883;  Stones  River  Presbyterian 
Church;  Cripple  Creek  Presbyterian  Church;  Early  Militia  Order, 
Petition  by  Cornelius  Sanders  for  Rev,  War  Pension, 

$3,00  -»-  $,50  postage 

Publication  i^  9:  History  of  Dilton,  $3,50  -i-  $,50  postage 

\UQ   Rutherford  Census;  With  index,  $5.00  ■(-  $,50  postage 

Deed  Abstracts  of  Rutherford  County,  1803-1810.  Names  of  land  owners  and 

other  genealogical  information  from  early  deeds,  $10.00  ■»-  $.50  postage 

Griffith;  A  beautifully  illustrated  bi-centennial  publication, 
"■—"—--^  $2.00  +  $,50  postage 

The  St^  of  M'lrfreerjboro.  A  reprint  of  C,  C.  Henderson,  History  of  the 
town  and  county,  hardbound  with  an  index.    $5,00  -»-  $.50  postage 

Rutherford  County  Medallion;  Approximately  the  size  of  a  silver  dollar 

\d.th  Rutherford  County  courthouse  pictured  on  one  side  and  the  center 
of  Tennessee  marker  on  the  back,  $2,00+  $.50  postage 

Commemorative  Plates; 

Plate  #  2:  Pictures  old  Tennessee  College  in  Murfreesboro 

$5,00  -^  $,100  postage 
Plate  #  3;  Pictures  the  Rutherford  County  Courthouse  about  1900, 
before  it  was  remodeled.        $6.00  +  $1.00  postage 

AVAILABLE  FROM  \miim  WALKUP,  202  RIDLEY  ST.,  SMYRNA,  TENNESSEE,  37167: 

Map  of  Rutherford  County  showing  roads,  streams,  and  land  owners,  dated  1878. 

$3.50  4-  $.50  postage 

Cemetery  Records  published  jointly  with  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution: 
Vol,  1 :  Northwest  portion  of  county  including  Percy  Priest  Lake  area 

and  parts  of  V/ilson  and  Davidson  Counties,  256  cemeteries  with 
index  and  maps.  $10.00  +  $.50  postage 

Vol,  2:  Eastern  portion  of  Rutherford  Co.  and  the  western  part  of 
Cannon  Co,,  24.I  cemeteries  vdth  index  and  maps, 

$10,00  t-  $,50  postage 
Vol,  3;  Southwestern  portion  of  Rutherford  County,  193  cemeteries, 
index  and  maps.  $10,00  +  $.50  postage 


QUERIES 

Prepared  by  Mrs,  Do  Co  Daniel,  Jr, 

IMPORTANT;   Publication  6f  queries  in  this  column  is  free  to  all 
members  as  space  permits »  Each  query  must  appear  on  a  full  sheet 
of  paper  which  must  be  dated  and  include  member's  name  and  address o 
please  type  if  possible.  Queries  should  give  as  much  pertinent 
data  as  possible,  ioe^  approximate/actual  dates  of  birth,  marriage, 
death,  etc.  Queries  must  refer  to  RUTHERFORD  COUNTY,  TEKMESSEE 
FA1»IILIE3  and  immediate  connections.  Address  all  correspondence 
relating  to  queries  to  the  Society,  P.O.  Box  906,  Murfreesboro, 
Tennessee"  37I3O 

No.  1  WILLmiS:  Trying  to  piece  together  the  V.'ILLIAMS  families  of 
Rutherford  Co,  Anyone  having  any  V/ILLIAMS  information  please 
correspond o  Particularly  interested  in  descendants  of  David 
MILLU'JS,   Revolutionary  War  Pension  records  states  b,  ?7  fey 
175^  Orange  Coo,  N.C.  moved  to  Rutherford  Co,  CA  1799 »  VJill: 
dated  July  1833/proved  I7  November  I834  lists  children: 
Elener,  Ann,  Thomas,  Ifery,  Cecily,  John,  Joseph,  Ralf,  William 
and  Elizabeth!  Executors:  Sons,  Thomas  and  John.  Believe 
Joceph  WILLLIIS  mentioned  by  Goodspeed  in  Bedford  Co.,  TN  vas 
David's  sono  Ilrs.  D.  C.  Daniel,  Jr.,  2103  Foxdale,  Mui^freesboro, 
TN_3 71:^0  or  Jlrs.  Elvis_  Rushing; ,_6'o^  N.  Spring  Street, 
hiirf reesboro ,  "TI'J  37130 

■No,  2  EOV/EN;  Need  information  concerning  ancestors  of  Absalom  EOWEN 

(possibly  BOIE,  BOWIN)  in  I83O  Rutherford  Co.  Census.  Mrs.  J.D. 
■'"icClanahan,  El  Patio  Motel,  Spur  Texas  79370 « 

No.  3  PAISEY:  Would  like  to  exchange  information  on  RAI-BEY  of 

Rutherford  Co  and  Wilson  Co.,  TN  William  RAI-iSEY,  Revolutionary 
from  Mecklenburg  Co.,  N.C.  (Capt.  Chas.  Polk's  Co,  of  Lighthorse) 
to  TN  CA  1800,  in  I82O  Rutherford  Co.  Census,  d,  CA  I82U,  buried 
',;here?  m.  M-ariah  Boyd,  children:  James,  b.  CA  1768  m,  (1)  Isabella 
Hall  (2)  Martha  Hall,  her  sister  (3)  Jane  Ray;  William,  Jr, 
bo  CA  1780  m.  Polly  Overall,  his  descendants  in  Gibson  Co,,  TI^I 
area;  Robert  b.  CA  1788;  John  b,  I793,  d.  after  I855  Franklin 
Co,,  ALA  m.  Margaret  Johnston  in  TN  where',  served  in  I8l2  Vfar 
from  Wilson  Co,  TN  (Mrs.  Dillard  is  descended  from  John);  David; 
I!:ariah;  Ann;  Polly  are  other  children  of  William  RAMSEY,  James 
and  John  RAMiSEY  were  in  Alabama  in  1830,  Their  descendants 
live  in  Franklin  Co.,  AIA.  Mrs.  Hazel  Ramsey  Dillard,  ISl^i 
Ridge  Drive,  Sheffield,  AIA  35&bO. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


■■Of_Ft_J._  Henderson.  186^ 

by  Jim  and  Betty  Matheny  1 

Peter  Jennings;  RevolutlonaiTr  Soldier 
'-^      by  Eugene  Sloan  36 

v/  Henderson  King  Yoakum 

by  Eugene  Sloan  46 

Auggie  McPeak's  Grist  Mill 

by  Pauline  M.  Dillon  59 

^Methodist  axid_  Iturfreesboro  in  the  Mid- Nineteenth 
"^        CentuTY 

by  Jerry  H.  Brookshire  61 

i/  Lilliam,  Robert_.and  Nathaniel  Overall; 
PioneerLSettlers  at  the  Bluff 

by  Lula  Virginia  Ramsey  McGee  78 

Index  89 

Rutherford  County  Historical  Society  Membership 


THE 


DIARY 


OF 


F.  E.  HENDERSON 


I864. 


IirrRODDCTIOH 

On  January  1,  1864  a  pocket  diary  x:ao   preoented  to  F.  E.  Henderson  by 
her  father.   Hot  nuch  is  knOTjn  about  F.  E,  Henderson.   She  tjas  the  doi'shtor  of 
Albert  Gallatin  nendcroon,  a  cotton  broker,  and  Elizabeth  Love  Henderson  and 
va3   one  of  eight  children.  Most  of  the  days  were  spent  at  her  much  loved  homo, 
"l/hitehall",  one  of  the  stateliest  and  best  furnished  homes  on  the  Nachvillc- 
Uurfreesboro  Turnpike.   F.  E.  Henderson  was  the  great  aunt  of  Mrs,  Virginia 
VJoodfln,  an  active  and  loved  member  of  the  Rutherford  County  Historical  Society. 
It  is  by  her  generosity  that  this  diary  is  being  published. 

The  pages  of  the  diary  are  yellowed  and  show  the  one  hundred  plus  years, 
but  the  reading  divulges  even  more  compassion  and  love  by  this  young  lady  for 
her  family  and  fellow  man.   The  contents  of  the  diary  cover  a  scope  from  sewing, 
ironing,  etc,  ,  to  helping  soldiers  from  both  the  South  and  the  North.   Realizing 
the  fact  that  conething  «ill  be  lost  for  the  reader  by  not  having  the  opportunity 
to  feel,  hold,  and  decipher  the  actual  daily  entries,  we  are  printing  two  samples. 
The  first,  August  9,  1864,  was  written  in  ink  with  great  flair  and  the  style 
indicative  of  the  era.   It  suggests  a  quill  or  old  type  pen  with  split  point. 
The  second,  December  31,  1864,  was  done  in  pencil  and  let  the  person  use  one 
single  stroke  and  almost  make  the  entries  appear  to  be  two  different  handwritings. 

After  spending  many,  many  hours  with  this  diary  and  a  magnifying  glass, 
F,  E.  Henderson  became  very  much  a  part  of  our  lives,  as  though  we  lived  each 
day  of  1864  with  her,  Ue  feel  that  it  will  be  as  meaningful  to  all  who  read  it. 

Betty  and  Jim  Matheny 


1864.  DIARY  of  F.  E.  HENDERSON 
Aunt  of  Mrs.  Virginia  Woodfin 

Transcribed  by  Betty  and  Jim  Matheny 

Presented  to:  F.  E.  Henderson 

By:   Her  Father,  Albert  Gallatin  Henderson 

Friday.  January  1.  1864.   Very  cold.  I  don't  think  I  ever  saw  such  cold 
weather, 

Saturday.  January  2nd   One  gown.  Many  men  to  see  for  cold  yet.  Many  men 
to  see  for  cold  yet.  One  pair  stockings,  one  apron. 

Sunday.  January  3rd   Snowing  today.  I  think  it  has  turned  warmer. 

Monday.  January  4-th   Raining.  The  rain  is  melting  the  snow.  Esq.  Johns 
came  over  and  brought  a  note  to  me  from  Tommie.  I  sent  her  comb  to  her. 

Tuesday.  January  5th   Snowing  again.  Grandma  is  sick.  She  was  taken  with 
a  pain  in  her  side-suffered  much. 

Wednesday.  January  6th   Still  cold.  Have  not  seen  a  lady  until  today. 
Aunt  Nansie  Smith  came.  Grandma  has  got  better, 

Thursday.  January  7th   Snowing  again  today.  Buddy  is  setting  his  trap  to 
see  if  he  can't  catch  some  little  snow  birds.  Squire  Wade  was  married. 

Friday.  January  8th   Esq.  Bridges  came  over  to  see  Pa  on  business.  First 
time  I  ever  saw  him. 

Saturday.  January  9th   Pretty  day.  Snow  on  the  ground.  Mr.  Jack  Ward  came 
over  in  the  evening. 


Simday.  January  10th   Pa  went  to  Mr.  Tuck  Davis,  also  Mr.  Bryant.   Uncle 
John  went  to  Mr.  Harlen  Gilly.  Harlen  has  the  measles.  Dick  Wade  came  to 
see  Pa. 

Monday.  January  11th   Pa  went  to  Nashville,  also  Uncle  John.  Did  not  go 
back  to  school,  Coramenced  to  make  Ma  a  dress.  Uncle  John  got  us  a  guard, 
Mr.  Haver field.  John  Thomas  came, 

Tuesday.  January  12th   Mrs.  Warford  sent  after  her  things  that  Pa  got  her 
in  Nashville.  1-tr.  Hagar  got  a  load  of  cotton, 

V/ednesday.  January  13th   1-trs,  Ward  came  over.  Told  us  she  heard  Jimmie 
was  a  prisoner.  Sister  went  home  with  her,  came  back  in  the  evening,  and 
I  went  home  v/ith  the  girls. 

Thursday.  January  lAth   Cloudy  and  cool.  Stayed  at  Mrs.  Wards  until 
everybody  came  home.  The  girls  came  home  with  me  but  went  back.  Miss  Addie 
Sikes  and  Aunt  Nansie  Smith  to  sew. 

Friday.  January  15th  Cousin  Frank  Atkinson  was  here  today.  Buddy  went 
home  with  him.  Cousin  John  Thomas  left  today.  Mr.  Haverfield  has  left. 
Snow  still  on  the  ground, 

Saturday.  January  16th   Went  to  Mr.  J.  J.  Ward.  Had  quite  a  nice  time  with 
those  girls  playing  Old  Maid  with  cards.  Commenced  to  crosia  some  for  a 
skirt. 

Svmday.  January  17th   Raining  all  day.  Ma  and  Pa  went  to  Mr.  Walden.  Heard 
Mr.  Donagon  was  dead  of  Nashville. 

^bnday.  January  18th   Pa  went  to  Mr.  George  House.  Mr.  Peoples,  Mrs.  Peoples, 
Mss  Mattie  People,  Miss  Kate  McMurray  came  to  go  to  Nashville  with  Pa. 


Tuesday.  January  19th  Mrs.  Peoples  came  over  to  see  if  the  girls  wanted 
to  go  to  Nashville.  They  went  dovm  to  the  station  and  waited  until  after 
dark.  >frs.  Uilson  and  Capt.  W  came. 

Wednesday.  Jamjary_20th   Pa  went  to  Nashville.  Mrs.  Peoples  and  the 
girls  left.  Isabelle  Ward  and  Vie  cane.  Mrs.  Johns  and  Mi-.. Johns  came. 
Fannie  ;irrote  to  me.  Cannonading  at  Franlclin. 

Thursday.  January  21 nt   Mr.  Ward  came  over.  Cannonading  in  the  direction 
of  Nashville.  Pa  returned  from  Nashville.  Alley  went  home  with  Jimmie. 

Friday^  JamjarY_22nd   Ma  went  to  Mr.  J.  J.  Ward's—took  Sister  and  the 
baby.  Isabella  came  home  with  her.  Nearly  finished  my  dress.  Col.  An- 
derson here  today, 

Saturday.  January  23rd   V/ent  to  Mr.  VJards.  Isabella  and  I  went  to  Mr. 
Bryan.  Stayed  all  night  with  Isabella.  l-Irs.  Vardell  was  here.  Mrs.  Ben 
Ward  was  here, 

Sunday.  January  2Z.th   Came  home,  found  the  house  full  of  men  as  usual. 

Monday.  January  25th   Did  not  go  back  to  school.  Mr.  George  House  was 
here,  Mrs,  Beet  Ward  was  here. 

Tuesday.  January  26th   Pa  went  to  Nashville  also  Mr.  Prater.  Mrs.  Hut son 
and  her  sister  here  today.  Sister  went  to  Mr.  Ward  to  stay  all  night. 

V/ednesday.  January  27th   Sister  came  back.  Beth  and  Mr.  Ward  came  with 
her.  Stayed  all  day.  Mr.  Prater  and  Pa  got  home  from  Nashville. 

Thursday.  January  28th   I'trs.  Vanderford,  Nat  Nelson,  Miss  Tea  Allen,  Mrs. 
Davis,  Mss  Mollie  Johns,  1-frs.  Johns,  f'tiss  Kate  Jobe,  Miss  Ann  Jobe,  Sam 
Maththis  buying  goods. 


Friday.  January  29th  Mrs.  Standavar,  Mr,  Col.  Mannon,  Mr.  Captain  Wilson 
were  here  yesterday.  Mandy,  Mary,  Ward,  Fannie,  Seward,  Mrs.  Ben  Ward  were 
here.  Sister  went  to  Mrs.  Donaway's. 

Saturday.  January  30th   Miss  Sallie  White  was  here.  The  Federals  are  going 
to  leave  the  Stockade  and  go  front  to  Chattanooga.  Mrs.  Ward  and  Josephene 
were  here. 

Sunday.  JanuarT^llst   Raining  a  little.  Mrs.  Ben  Ward  was  over.  Mr. 
Bryan  and  Pa  v;ent  to  Lavergne,  Miss  Tea  Allen,  Mrs.  Davis  were  here. 

Monday.  February  1,  I864.   Sister  and  I  went  to  school.  Mrs.  Blackmoore 
had  many  new  scholars  since  I  was  there.  Mrs.  Blackmoore  employed  an 
assistant,  Mr.  McClain.  I  got  home  sick  the  first  day. 

Tuesday.  February  2nd   Pa  has  gone  to  Nashville.  Miss  Sallie  Edwards  and 
Mass  Jobe  came  to  see  Mia  and  came  to  trade.  Miss  Addle  sent  me  my  head  dress. 

Wednesday..  February  3rd   Pa  has  returned  from  Nashville.  Vxs.   Ridley  and 
Mrs.  Thurston  went  to  Nashville.  Tommie  Johns  and  Leroy  stayed  all  night 
\-d.th  us. 

Thursday,  February  ./^th   Cousin  Dick  Henderson  got  here  from  the  Southern 
Army.  Says  the  Rebels  have  got  possession  of  Knoxville.  Heard  from  brother. 
Is  well-- he  is  Lieutenant, 

Friday.  February  5th   Cousin  Tom  Atkinson  came  after  us  to  go  home.  IVhen 
we  were  coming,  ny  horse  tried  to  run  away.  Cloudy,  turning  very  cold. 

Saturday.  February  6th   Went  to  Mrs,  Best  Ward  to  get  Mandy' s  Algebra. 
V/rote  my  composition.  Raining  this  morning. 


Sunday.  February  7th  Cousin  Dick,  Sister,  Buddy,  and  my  self  went  to 
Cousin  Frank  Atkinson's  to  see  Cousin  Sue.  She  seemed  very  glad  to  see  us. 
V/ent  to  Mrs.  Donaway. 

Ifenday.  February  8th   V/ent  to  school.  Mrs.  Blackmoore  was  sick.  Went 
to  see  Tomnie  Johns  and  Lucy.  Saw  R-uf"  Johns. 

Tuesday,  February  9th   Mr.  McClain  taught.  Commenced  studying  Algebra. 
Mrs,  Blackmoore  not  much  better, 

Wednesday.  February  10th   A  case  of  Small  Pox  at  Mr,  Mitchell's.  Very 
much  frightened, 

Thursday.  February  11th   No  school.  Uncle  John  and  Buddy  came  after  us. 
Stopped  to  see  Isabella,  Saw  a  conpany  of  Negro  soldiers. 

Friday.  February  12th   Cousin  Dick  and  Uncle  John  went  bird  hunting.  Sister 
and  I  v/ent  over  to  I^.  Ward's.  Isabella  and  Victoria  came  to  spend  the 
night, 

Saturday,  February  13th   Mrs.  Ward  came  over.  The  girls  went  hone.  VJent 
bird  hunting  again.  Cousin  Dick,  Uncle  John,  Mr.  Hickman  Weekley  here, 
Mr,  Bryant. 

Sunday.  February  Hth   Cloudy  and  cool.  Ma  and  Uncle  John  went  to  Mrs. 
Best  Ward,  Alice  and  Bessie  have  the  measles, 

Monday.  February  15th   Turning  cold,  but  rained,  Mrs.  Vaughn  and  1-lr. 
Vaughn  v;ere  here,  Dick  VJade  here. 

Tuesday,  February  I6th   Very  cold.  No  one  here  but  Miss  Sallie  White  and 
Mdss  Johnson, 


Wednesday.  Febrxxary  17th   Very  cold.  Pa  and  Cousin  Dick  went  to  Nashville. 
Cousin  Tom  and  Sue  went  after  Mandy  Ward  to  come  and  stay  all  night  with  us, 

Thursday.  February  18th   Cold,  yet  beautiful  day.  Sister  and  myself  walked 
with  Mandy  home.  All  quiet  when  we  left,  but  very  soon  we  heard  that  they 
were  conscripting  negroes,  and  all  of  ours  ran  away. 

Friday.  February  19th   Many  men  to  see  Pa,  but  he  did  not  come  home  as  we 
expected. 

Saturday.  February  20th   Spent  the  night  at  Mr.  Ward's. 

Simday.  February  21st   Cousin  Dick  came  over.  Isabella  and  Vic  came  home 
with  us.  Cousin  Dick  and  Ma  went  to  Mr,  Marlin's,  Uncle  John  came.  Walked 
home  with  Isabella. 

Monday.  February  22nd   Miss  Bettie  Pratt  to  see  us.  Pa  went  to  Mr,  George 
W.  Smith,  Carried  sister  and  I  as  far  as  Mr.  Sikes — had  a  pleasant  visit, 
Mr.  Cook  and  Will  Wade  here, 

Tuesday,  February  23rd   Pa  and  Mr,  Cook  went  to  Nashville.  Heard  Rebel 
Morgan  attacked  Gallatin.  Mr.  White  came  to  guard  us. 

Wednesday,  February  2Ath   Cousin  Tom  and  I  went  to  Mr.  Alden's.  Went  to 
Mrs,  Donaway  to  get  her  to  knit  my   rebel.  Walked  over  to  Mr.  Ward.  He  was 
better,  I  think, 

Thursday.  February  25th   Mrs.  J.  J,  Ward  came  over  to  get  Uncle  John  to 
go  with  her  to  Lavergne  to  see  Col,  Smith  about  her  negroes  they  pressed. 
Mr,  Sikes  came. 


Friday.  February  26th   Mrs.  Huggins  and  Mrs.  Hall  came.  Miss  Lois  Jobe  and 
Miss  Mollie  Carter  came.  Mrs,  Lieutenant  Hoke  and  Sergeant  Stansel  came  to 
get  a  bed  to  take  to  camp. 

Saturday.  February  27th   Sister  went  to  Mrs.  Ward  to  see  the  girls.  Stayed 
all  night.  I  went  to  Mr.. Ward's  to  get  some  of  the  girls  to  stay  all  night 
with  me,  but  could  not  stay.  They  came  to  see  us. 

Sunday.  February  28th   I  went  to  Mrs.  Ward  to  see  how  the  girls  were.  Drought 
sister  home.  Ma  and  Pa  went  to  Mr,  Sikes. 

Monday.  February  29th   Raining, 

Tuesday.  March  1 st  1 86^   Rain,  hail  and  snow.  Made  Ida  a  apron  and  Eugene 
a  pair  of  drawers. 

Wednesday.  March  2nd   Mr.  Bryant  came  over.  He  and  Pa  went  to  Nashville, 
Cousin  Dick  and  sister  went  over  to  Mr.  Ward  to  get  the  girls  to  stay  all 
night,  Isabella  came, 

Thursday.  March  3rd   Big  frost.  Cousin  Dick  was  sick  last  night.   Isabella 
went  home.  Pa  got  home — brought  my  braid, 

Friday.  March  4-th   Mrs,  Ward  and  Victoria  came.  Vic  brought  sister's  crosia 
braid.  Gave  her  the  braid  to  make  mine, 

Saturday.  March  5th   Warm  day,  A  Yankee  came  to  hear  us  play.  He  paid 
us  five  cants  apiece.  He  was  drimk. 

Sunday.  March  6th   Cousin  Tom,  sister,  and  myself  went  to  Mr.  Waldens. 
Lost  my  knife,  but  found  it  again.  Miss  Strand. 


Monday.  March  7th   Stayed  all  night  with  Mr.  Chip.  Serance  and  sister  are 
playing  smart  now.  I  went  home  with  Miss  Seranah  Highton.  Pa  came  after  me 
in  the  evening, 

Tuesday.  March  8th  Miss  Bettie  Pratt  and  Mss  Hoke  came  over— stayed  until 
after  dinner.  We  all  walked  over  to  Mr.  Ward's.  Mrs.  Hoke  wanted  a  Confed- 
erate bonnet. 

Wednesday.  March  9th   Mj-s.  Hord  and  Mrs.  House  v;anted  to  buy  cotton  seed. 
Sister,  Cousin  Dick,  and  myself  walked  to  Cousin  Mat, 

Thursday.  March  10th   Commenced  to  make  me  a  dress.  Sister  finished  her 
dress.  Went  to  Mr,  Ward's  and  got  Vic  to  stay  all  night  with  us. 

Friday.  March  11th   Finished  my  dress.  Pa  and  Ma  went  to  Mr.  Davis'.  We 
did  not  go  home  until  evening.  Sister  and  I  went  and  stayed  all  night. 

Saturday.  I4arch  12th   Mrs,  Davis  and  Miss  Tea  Allen  came  to  Mr.  Ward's— 
stayed  all  day.  In  the  evening  Ma  and  Pa  came  after  us. 

Sunday,  March  13th   Sister,  Pa,  and  myself  spent  the  day  at  Col.  Anderson's. 
Saw  painting  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Anderson  that  Mr.  Macy  painted. 

Monday.  March  Uth  Went  to  school.  Mrs,  Marlin  and  Mrs,  Hoke  came.  Uncle 
John  and  Cousin  Dick  went  to  Murfreesboro, 

Tuesday.  March  15th   Pa  and  Cousin  Dick  went  to  Nashville.  Ma  sent  Ida 
and  Ann  over  to  l^trs.  Ward's  to  get  Isabella  to  stay  all  night. 

Wednesday.  March  I6th   Pa  and  Cousin  Dick  came  from  Nashville.  Got  a  letter 
from  Aunt  Mat— all's  well. 

Thursday.  March  17th   Pretty  day.  Turning  cool,  Mrs.  Ward  came. 


Friday.  March  18th   Pretty  day.  Miss  May  and  Mrs,  Thomas  came.  Came  after 
us  very  late. 

Saturday.  March  19th   Cousin  Dick,  Ma,  and  Ida  went  to  Mr.  Ualdens.  Sister 
and  myself  went  and  spent  the  night.  Saw  Mrs.  Owens. 

Sunday.  March  20th   Came  home-sister  and  myself.  Cousin  Dick  and  Uncle 

John  and  I  and  V  W  Mandy  V/ard  all  went  to  church  over  the  river.  Grandma  came. 

Monday.  March  21st   Went  to  school. 

Tuesday.  I^farch  22nd   Cool  today.  Bad  rainy  weather. 

Wednesday.  March  23rd   Isabella  and  Victoria  V/ard  came.  Esq.  Sikes  and 
Miss  Addie  came. 

Thursday.  March  24.th   Grandma  and  Ida  spent  the  day  at  Mrs.  Marlin's. 
Mrs.  Ward  and  I'frs.  House  came, 

Friday.  March  25th   Raining.  Esq.  Sikes  and  Miss  Addie  came — took  Allie 
home  with  her.  Pa  came  after  us  in  the  buggy. 

Saturday.  March  26th   Went  to  Mr.  Ward's.  Vic  cajne  home  with  us  and  stayed 
all  night. 

Sunday.  March  27th   Went  to  Mr.  Marlin's.  Finishing  writing  my  composition. 
Miss  Bettie  Pratt  spent  the  night  with  us. 

Monday.  March  28th   Went  to  school  as  usual.  Miss  Lucy  Donohue  and  Jimmie 
came  to  stay  all  night  in  order  to  go  to  Nashville  the  next  morning. 

Tuesday.  March  29th   Pa  went  to  Nashville.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bryant  came  to  go 
to  Nashville.  Mrs,  Ward  came  over.  Charley  quite  sick.  Miss  Serena  stayed 
with  Ma, 


10 


Wednesday.  March  30th   Pa  came  home  from  Nashville.  Jim  Creach's  baby  died. 


Thursday.  March  31st   Mrs.  Creach's  baby  was  buried.  I  attended  the  burial. 
Sprinkling  rain  in  the  evening, 

Friday.  April  1.  1864.   Raining  all  day.  Uncle  John  came  after  us.  Mrs. 
Vaughn  came  to  our  house. 

Satvirday.  April  2nd   Mrs.  Best  Ward,  Mary,  Sister  Jarrel,  and  Mrs.  Rolston 
were  here, 

Sunday.  April  3rd   Isabella  and  Vic,  sister  and  myself,  and  Cousin  Tom 
went  to  Mr, .Walden's. 

Monday.  April  /th   I  was  sick — did  not  go  to  school.  Mrs.  Best  Ward  came. 
Good  deal  of  rain  and  hail. 

Tuesday.  April_5th   Pa  went  to  Nashville.  Mr.  Davis  came. 

Vfcdnesday,.  April_6th   Beautiful  day.  Very  much  like  Spring.  Pa  came 
from  Nashville. 

Thursday.  April  7th   Mr.  Sikes  and  Miss  Addie  came.  Grandma  came.  I  ^ 
crociaed  a  net  for  Ida, 

Friday.  April.  8th   Rained.  Charley  and  Katy  sick. 

Saturday,  j^pril  9th   Sister  and  I  stewed  some  molasses.  I  and  V  came, 
Mandy,  Mary  had  quite  a  nice  time  pulling  candy,  I  went  home  with  I, 
Stayed  all  night, 

Sunday.  April  10th   Came  home.  I  and  V  came.  I  stayed  at  home  all  day. 


11 

Monday.  April  11th   Going  to  school.  Grandma  went  to  Mrs,  Ward's.  Monday 
evening  Mrs,  Marlln  came. 

Tuesday.  April  12th   Pa  went  to  Nashville.  Mrs.  Farmer  and  Mrs.  Hooker  came. 
Sqiiire  Wade  and  Mr,  Bryant  came. 

Wednesday.  April  13th   No  one  came  to  our  house.  Mrs.  Ridley  went  to  Nash- 
ville. Pa  returned  from  Nashville.  I  took  the  song,  Lilly  Dale. 

Thursday.  April  14.th   Grandma  went  to  Mrs.  Best  Ward's  and  spent  the  night. 

Friday.  April  15th   Grandma  came  home.  I  returned  from  school.  Mrs.  Jack 
Ward  came  and  spent  the  day. 

Saturday.  April  I6th   Pretty  day.  Grandma,  sister,  and  myself  went  to 
Mr,  Marlin's. 

Sunday.  April  17th   Mrs,  Vanderford  came,  Mrs,  Ward,  Isabella,  and  Vic 
came.  Raining,  We  went  to  Sq,  Johns'  and  spent  the  night. 

Monday.  April  18th   Pa  and  Mr.  Ward  went  to  Nashville.  Miss  Serana  stayed 
with  Ma  tonight, 

Tuesday.  April  19th   Miss  Serana  went  home,  Ida  went  home  with  her.  Mary 
and  Eliza  House  came  from  Nashville  with  Pa, 

Wednesday.  April  20th   Warm — very  pretty  day.  Sister,  Lucy  Johns,  and  my- 
self went  to  Mrs,  Allen's, 

Thursday.  April  21st   I'lrs,  Blackmore  went  to  Nashville,  Tommy  Johns  and 
I  taught  school.  Ma,  Pa,  and  Buddy  came  after  us.  Isabella  and  Mrs.  Ward 
here, 

Friday.  April  22nd   Went  to  Mr,  Ward's  to  get  Isabella  to  help  me  make  a 
dress.  Did  not  finish  it,  Fannie  Seward  came  here. 


12 

Saturday,  April  23rd   I  am  sick  today.  Went  to  Mrs.  Donoway'so  Stopped 
at  Mr.  Walden's. 

Sunday.  April  24.th   Raining.  In  the  afternoon  Uncle  John,  sister,  and  my- 
self walked  over  to  Mr,  Ward's.  Ifeny  Ward,  Bettie  Jarrel,  and  Bettie  Ward 
were  there. 

Monday.  April  2$th   Went  to  school.  Miss  Serana  came  down  and  finished 
our  dresses. 

Tuesday.  April  26th  Isabella  came  and  stayed  all  night  with  Ma.  Beautiful 
day. 

Wednesday.  April  27th   Raining.  Isabella  went  home.  Took  Katie  with  her 
to  stay  all  night, 

Thursday,  April  28th  V/ent  home  with  Tommie.  Walked  down  on  the  river  bank 
where  Ruffus  Johns  was  fishing.  He  was  going  to  bring  to  carry  us  home,  but 
Uncle  J  came, 

Friday.  April  29th   The  day  of  oiir  picnic  has  come  at  last.  I  never  enjoyed 
myself  more  in  my  life.  Had  quite  a  nice  ride  back.  Tommie  came  home  with.  me. 

Saturday.  April  30th   Raining  all  day.  Miss  Serana  went  home.  Mrs.  Ward 
and  Mary  came.  I  had  a  severe  headache. 

Sunday.  May  1.  1864.  Sick  again.  Many  and  Isabella  Ward  came,  Tommie  went 
home.  Isabella  stayed  all  night  with  me.  Pa  and  Ma  went  to  Col.  Anderson's. 

Monday.  May  2nd   It  is  cool  this  morning.  Sister  did  not  go  to  school.  She 
went  home  with  Isabella.  Vic  came  home  with  her. 

Tuesday.  May  3rd   Beautiful  day.  Pa  went  to  Nashville. 


13 

Wednesday^.  May  /^th   Pa  brought  me  a  nice  pair  of  cloth  garters  and  a  muslin 
dress. 

Thursday.  I-lay  5th   Mrs.  Vanderford,  Miss  Leda,  Addie  Sikes,  Miss  Bass, 
Mandy,  and  Mary  came.  Sister  and  I  went  home  with  them  and  spent  the  night. 

Friday.  Ifey.  6th   Aunt  Nancy  Smith,  Miss  Mary  Donoway,  Miss  Bettie  Pratt, 
Mrs.  Jack  V/ard,  Vic,  Mrs.  Rooker,  and  Mrs.  Spy  Ward  came.  Sister  sick. 

Saturday ^_ May,. 7th   Pa  and  sister  went  to  Nashville.  Miss  Bettie  Pratt  sent 
me  two  little  pigeons.  Miss  Kate  Jobe  came  and  spent  the  day. 

Sunday.  May  8th   Pretty  day.  Mr.  Ward,  Isabella,  and  Vic  Ward  came  and  spent 
the  evening.  We  all  walked  over  to  the  old  fort. 

Mionday.  May  9th   Sister  and  I  did  not  go  to  school.  Miss  Tea  Allen  commenced 
teaching  school.  Alley,  Ida,  and  Eugene  went  to  school.  Mrs.  Vanderford 
brought  Car lie  hat  home.  Mandy  and  Mary  here. 

Tuesday.  May  10th   Raining  all  day.  The  children  did  not  go  to  school. 
Charlie  is  sick. 

Wednesday.  May  11th   Cloudy  and  raining.  The  children  did  not  go  to  school. 
Mrs,  Best  Ward. 

Thursday.  Miay  12th   Pretty  day.  Mrs.  Coleman  here. 

Friday.  May  13th   Beautiful  day.  Mrs.  Ward,  Bessie,  Mrs.  Ward,  and  Victoria 
came.  Sister  went  and  stayed  all  night  with  Vic. 

Saturday.  May  Hth   Pa  and  I  went  to  Nashville.  Saw  lie,   and  Mrs.  Sheperd 
and  Willie  Grigg.  Received  a  letter  from  brother. 


u 

Siirday.  I^y.lSth  Pretty  day.  Sister  and  myself  went  to  Fir-s.  Ward's.  I  am 
very  sorry  to  say  that  Eugene  is  a  bad  boy,  and  that  when  he  goes  to  school, 
he  idles  away  his  time.  He  is  called  a  bad  and  lazy  boy. 

Monday,  Fay  I6th   Went  to  school.  Raining  in  the  evening. 

Tuesday..  May  17th   Raining  again. 

Wednesday._.Mayi1 8th   Itrs.  Best  Ward  came  over  to  see  Ma  and  Grandma. 

Thur sday:,_May;_1 9th   Pretty  day™very  v;arm.  Brother  a  prisoner.  Went  dovm 
on  the  cars,  threw  a  note  off. 

Friday.  May  20th   Beautiful  day — very'  warm.  Came  home  from  school — heard 
Brother  was  a  prisoner. 

Saturday., MayiSI r,t .  Very  pretty  day.  Mrs.  Blackmore  came  and  left  Ibllie 
Thurston.  Her  and  she  v;ent  to  Walden's.  Ma  went  to  Mrs.  J.  Ward's,  Ida 
and  Charley. 

Sunday,.  May  ..22nd   Pa  returned  from  Nashville.  Did  not  get  to  see  Brother 
but  a  fev;  minutes.  He  v.'as  well.  Sister  and  I  v/ent  to  Mrs.  Sikes'. 

Monday,  May  23rd   Went  to  school.  Mrs.  Blackm.ore  sick.  Toramie  and  I  taught 
school. 

Tuesday.  May..2/,.th   Mrs.  Blackmore  still  sick.  Toramie  and  I  still  teaching. 
Raining,  thundering.  Tonmiie  and  I  went  over  to  get  Mir.  Bell  to  get  him  to 
teach,  but  he  '.rould  not. 

Wednesday, . .t'nyi.25th   Mrs.  Thurston  and  lies.   Ridley  went  to  Tommie,  Mrs. 
Blaclcmore  right  sick.  Raining  in  the  evening.  I  came  hom.e  from  school. 


15 

Thursday t. .^^ay  26th   Sister  came  home.  Lucy  and  Mr.  Johns  came  home  with 
her.  We  all  walked  over  to  Miss  Tea  Allen's  school  house. 

Friday.  May  27th   Mr.  Sikes  came.  Ma  and  Pa  went  to  lAr,   Sikes'.  I  expect 
to  go  home  with  Lucy  and  stay  all  night.  Walked  down  to  the  sulphur  springs. 

Saturday.  MayiJSth   Still  at  Esq.  Squire  John's.  Enjoyed  nyself  very  much 
indeed.  Mr,  Johns,  Tommie,  Lucy,  and  myself  took  a  ride  down  the  pike. 
Came  back  and  went  to  the  sulphur  springs. 

Sunday.  Viay   29th   Miss  Mollie  Johns  sick.  I  went  to  church — heard  a  very 
interesting  sermon,  l^fr.  Johns  and  Tommie  and  Lucy  came  home  with  me. 

Monday.  Viay   30th   Beautiful  day.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Vaughn  came  and  spent  the 
day.  I  tucked  some  sleeves  for  sister.  Did  not  go  back  to  school. 

Tuesday.  Ma;^Jl3t   Very  cold  this  morning.  Some  appearances  of  rain.  I 
wish  I  could  see  Tommie,  I  feel  quite  lonesome.  This  is  the  last  day  of  May. 

Wednesday.  June  1st   Beautiful  day.  Helped  Ma  to  make  her  dress. 

Thm-sday.  June  2nd   Mr,  Hickman  Weakley  came  here.  Ma,  sister,  Charlie,  and 
Eugene  went  visiting.  Raining  very  hard.  Ma  and  the  children  could  not  get 
home,  Vic  and  Isabella  stayed  all  night. 

Friday.  June  3rd   They  have  gone  home,  and  I  am  so  onesome.  I  wish  I  could 
see  Tommie,  my  dear  school  mate.  Mr.  Garret  was  here  from  Nashville.  Ma 
and  the  children  came  home. 

Saturday.  June  4.th   Cloudy,  I  think  it  will  rain.  Ann  and  Mary  went  to  the 
Yanks. 


16 


Sunday.  June  $th   In  the  evening  Cousin  Dick,  sister.  Uncle  John,  and  my- 
self went  to  Sqxiire  John^'  and  ^f^.  Johns,  Miss  1-bllie,  and  Toininie  went  down 
to  the  Spring. 

Monday^  June  6th   I  went  to  school.  Rained  in  the  evening. 

Tuesday.  June__7th   Aunt  Nancie  Smith  came,  Mr.  Weekley  and  Gather  went  to 
Nashville.  Raining  in  the  evening. 

Wednesday.  June  8th   Raining  in  the  evening.  Pa  returned  from  Nashville. 

Thursday.  June  9th   Mss  Tea  Allen  sick.  The  children  did  not  go  to  school. 
Mr.  J,  J.  Ward  also  Frances  Seward.  Raining  in  the  evening. 

Friday.  June  10th   Sick  yet,  I  came  home  from  school.  Aunt  Nancie  came 
here.  Rained  very  hard, 

S aturday ,_. Jun e^  1 1  th   Pa  went  to  Nashville.  Cousin  Dick,  Mia,  and  I  went 

to  Mr.  Sikesl.   Cousin  Dick  went  to  Murfreesboro.  I  stopped  at  Mrs.  Donoway 

to  give  1-lary  my   dress  to  make, 

Sunday,  June  12th   Meda  Davis  and  Mr,  Davis  came.  Uncle  John,  Meda, 
sister,  and  myself  went  to  Mrs.  V/ard's.  Grandma  went  to  Jack  Ward. 

Monday.  June  13th   Beautiful  day.  Mrs.  Ward  and  Mandy  came.  Mass  Tea  Allen 
sick  yet.  Eugene  sick  yet.  Tommie  is  sick, 

Tuesday.  June  Hth   Pretty  day.  No  lady  came.  Very  warm.  Tommie  is  sick  yet. 

Wednesday.  June  1!;th  Beautiful  day.  Mrs.  J.  Ward  here.  The  Yankees 
searched  Mr.  Ewing  Jones  and  Mrs.  Ridley's  house  for  arms — found  none. 
I  went  to  see  Tom. 


17 


Thursday.  June  I6th   Miss  Luda  Sikes  and  Miss  Bass  here.  Tommie  is  better. 

Friday.  June  17th   We  had  compaxiy  at  school  to  hear  us  read  our  coinpositions. 
Sister  and  I  came  home  from  school.  Eugene  is  sick. 

Saturday.  June  18th   Made  me  a  dress. 

Sunday.  June  19th   Went  to  Mr,  Ward's.  Looking  for  Tommie. 

Monday.  June  ?Oth   Went  to  school.  Took  a  piece  of  music  called  Prize 
Banner  Polka.  Tommie  is  sick,  and  I  am  distressed. 

Tuesday.  June  21st   She  is  yet.  I  wrote  her  a  letter. 

Wednesday.  June  22nd   Sister  and  myself  went  to  Squire  Johns'  to  see  Tommie. 
We  all  went  down  to  the  sulphur  springs. 

Thursday.  June  23rd   Pretty  day. 

Friday.  June  24.th   We  had  a  great  deal  of  company  to  hear  us  read  our  com- 
positions. Miss  l^bllie  Johns  and  Mister  Ruff  us  Jolins  came. 

Saturday.  June  25;th   Grandma  at  Mr.  Ward's.  I  made  me  a  dress. 

Sunday.  Jtme  26th   Uncle  John  went  to  Mr.  Ward's.  He  is  very  sick  with  the 
bilious  fever. 

Monday.  June  27th   Went  to  school.  Rode  from  hom,e,  went  to  Mr.  Walden,  and 
to  Mrs.  Donav/ay  to  get  my  dress. 

Tuesday.  June  28th   Went  to  school.  Pretty  day. 

Wednesday.  June  29th   Raining.   Last  day  of  school. 


18 


Thursday.  June  30th   Pa  and  Miss  Eugenia  A  went  to  Nashville.  Grandma  uent 
to  Mr.  Ward's.  He  is  a  little  worse.  Pretty  day. 

Friday.  July  1 .  1 864-   Beautiful  day.  Uncle  John  went  to  the  picnic.  Sister 
and  I  did  not  go.  Pa  and  Cousin  Dick  returned  from  Nashville. 

Saturday,  July  2nd   Delightful  weather. 

Sunday.  July  3rd   Raining.  I'fe,  Cousin  Dick,  Sister,  and  Buddy  went  to  Mr. 
V/ard '  s . 

Monday.  July  4-th   Cloudy. 

Tuesday.  July  5th   Pretty  day.  Esq.  Sikes  and  Guard  came.  Grandma  went  to 
Mr.  Ward's.  Pa,  Kate,  and  myself  went  to  Squire  Sikes', 

Wednesday,  July  6th   Mrs.  Jarrel  and  Sister  came.  Mrs.  J.  J.  'Ward  came. 

Thursday.  July  7th   Raining.  Grandma  came  home.  Vars.   B.  Ward  came. 

Friday.  July  8th   Raining.  Cousin  Dick  went  to  Mr.  Luck  Davis'  to  see 
Miss  Drucia  Davis.  I  wish  I  could  see  Tom,  my   husband.  I  am  so  lonesome 
this  evening.  Tom  came  to  see  me. 

Saturday,  July  9th   Cousin  Dick  went  after  Miss  Drucia  to  go  to  the  picnic. 
I  cried  all  day  because  I  could  not  go.  Beautiful  day.  I  wish  I  was  in 
Heaven.  Miss  Mollie  and  Tom  came  Saturday  evening.  Had  a  very  nice  time. 
Tom  and  I  did  not  go  to  sleep  until  U   o'clock. 

Sunday.  July  10th   Uncle  John  came,  and  I  went  home  with  him. 

Monday.  July  11th   Sister  and  I  busy  at  work  on  her  body.  Got  it  done. 
Mrs.  Ward,  l^s.   Farmer,  and  Mrs.  Blackmore  came.  I  wish  to  the  Lord  I  could 
see  Tom,  my  first  my  lasting  only  and  my  all,  with  the  exception  of  Izonia. 


19 


Tuesday.  July  12th   Made  my  body. 

Wednesday.  July  13th   14ade  me  an  under  dress  and  tucked  it. 

Thursday.  July  l^th   Commenced  me  a  body. 

Friday.  July  15th   Pa  and  Squire  Wade  came  from  Nashville. 

Saturday.  July  I6th   Miss  Blackmore  came  over.  Sister  and  myself  went. 
Mass  Pattie  Burton  and  Miss  Ellie  Winter  came  from  Lebanon. 

Sunday.  July  17th   Took  a  ride  in  the  morning  and  also  in  the  evening  and 
came  home.  Got  home  about  dusk. 

Monday.  July  18th  Grandma,  sister,  and  Ma  have  gone  to  Mr.  Sikes.  I  v;rote 
a  letter  to  Cousin  Lou  Beasley. 

Tuesday.  July  19th  V&   went  to  Mr.  Sikes'. 

Wednesday.  July  20th  Pa  and  Sister  went  to  Nashville.  Sent  Brother  a  box 
of  provisions.  Sister  stayed  all  night  at  Mr.  Read's.  Mrs.  Judge  Ridley's 
house  burned. 

Thursday.  July  21 st   Sister  dined  at  14r.  Jeff  French's.  Started  home. 

Friday.  July  22nd   Pretty  day.  Grandma  and  Uncle  John  started  up  the 
country.  Hear  Esq.  Jobes  house  was  burned. 

Saturday,  July  23rd  I  went  to  Mr.  Sikes' — stayed  until  after  dinner.  Miss 
Addie  and  I  iient  to  l-hirfreesboro.  I  went  to  Mrs.  Elliott's — saw  Miss  Jimrnie 
and  Mrs.  Will  Elliott. 


20 


Sunday.  July  24.th   Uncle  John  and  I  went  to  Church.  Went  froi?.  there  to 
Squire  Johns!.  Tommie  not  there.  Saw  Mrs.  Dlackmore,  Mrs.  Ridley,  and  Mrs. 
Brantwell.   Lucy  came  home  with  us. 

Monday.  July  25th  14a  and  Pa  went  to  Col  Anderson.  Spent  the  day.  Some 
ladies  called  to  see  Cousin  Dick. 

Tuesday.  July  26th  Made  me  a  dress  to  have  my  photograph  taken  in.  Pretty, 
warm  day.  Oh!  Hov;  I  could  hug  Tom  if  he  was  here.  That  letter  from  Tom — how 
I  long  to  see  it. 

Wednesday.  July  27th   Pa  and  I  went  to  Nashville.  Went  to  Mr.  Jeff  French 
and  spent  the  night.  Enjoyed  myself  exceedingly  v;ell.  Had  my  photograph 
taken. 

Thursday.  July  28th   Mrs.  French  and  I  ^/ent  to  Dr.  Reed's.  Saw  his  lady — 
very  much  pleased  l.^dth  her.  Carae  home  from  Nashville. 

Friday.  July  29th   Sister  and  Lucy  v;ent  to  Squire  Johns'.   Uncle  John 
v;ent  to  a  picnic  on  Surges  Creek. 

Saturday.  July  30th  Mrs.  Ward  and  Mandy  came  and  stayed  until  after  dinner. 
Uncle  John  and  I  had  a  frolic  throwing  water  on  each  other.   Uncle  John  and  I 
went  over  to  Mr.  Ward's.  He  is  better. 

Sunday.  July  31st   Rainy,  bad  day.  No  company  at  all.  Had  fish  for  dinner. 

Monday.  August  1.  186^   Mrs.  Ridley  came.  I  went  up  to  Mr.  Walden's  after 
Miss  Pattie  Bur  low.   '//hen  I  got  back,  Sister  had  arrived  from  Squire  Johns'. 
Looks  very  much  like  rain. 


Tuesday.  Auf-ust  2nd   Pretty  day,  very  warm.  Firs.  J.  J.  Ward  canie  over. 
Sister  went  home  with  her.   Isabella  came  home  with  her.   I  went  to  Col  A. 

Wednesday.  August  3rd   Isabella  went  home.  Pa  went  to  Nashville.  Rained 
very  hard  about  dinner.  I  scolloped  some  cuffs. 

Thursday.  August  ^th   Pretty  day,  very  warm.   Pa  returned  from  Nashville, 
Received  letters  from  Aunt  I-lat  and  Brother. 

Friday.  August  $th  Col.  Anderson  went  down  to  our  house  to  get  the  papers 
and  letters.  Brought  me  my  photograph.  Tommy,  Lucy,  and  3cott  Winter  came 
dovm  to  see  me. 

Saturday.  August  6th   Warm,  pretty  day.  Yesterday  Mrs.  Vanderford  and  I 
went  to  Mr.  3ikes~saw  Delia  and  Louise  Watkins.  Pa  and  Uncle  John  went  to 
town. 

Sunday.  August  7th   Mss  Eugenia  and  Col.  A  and  myself  went  to  Mr.  lord's. 

I'b.  and  Sister  went  to  Mr.  Wards.  Saw  Mandy  and  Kary,  the  two  Rebel  Commanders. 

Monday.  August  8th   Kiss  Eugenia  commenced  Mrs.  A  a  dress.  Fa  came  for  me. 
Sister  at  Mr.  Sikes.  Miss  Addie  went  to  Dr.  Richardson. 

Tuesday.  August  9th   Made  one  sleeve  of  Mrs.  a.   dress.  I  learned  a  new  piece 
of  music,  "Grand  Russian  March".  Pretty,  warm  day. 

Wednesday.  August  10th   Pa  went  to  Nashville  with  Squire  Wade.  K-r.  Ilite 
came  over  and  told  us  that  Miss  Lottie  White  shot  a  negro.  She  went  on  the 
train  this  evening,  Isabella  stayed  all  night. 


22 


Thursday.  Au.g:ust  11th   T  made  a  starch  bag  for  I.  She  gave  me  a  black 
ring.  Mrs.  J.  Ward  came  over  and  Judge  Tinsley  came.  Commenced  me  a  clove. 
Pa  came  from  Nashville. 

Friday.  August  12th   Col.  A.  came  down.  Mr.  Bryant  came  over.  Ma  and  I 
went  to  see  Mrs.  Dlackmore— she  is  very  sick.   Went  to  Esq.  Johns'.   Tom 
came  home  with  me. 

Saturday.  August  13th   Uncle  John,  Tommie,  and  myself  went  over  to  Mit,  Ward's. 
Sister  came  home  from  Mr.  Sikes.  Pa  went  to  Murfreesboro.  Somebody  stole 
I4andy  W,  horse.  Bod. 

Sunday.  August  Kth   Raining  nearly  all  day.  We  all  took  a  ride  and  got  some 
peaches.  Tommie  went  home.  Vic  and  Ifr.  Ward  and  Charley  came. 

Monday.  August  15th   Mrs.  Ward  came.  Rained.  Mrs.  Farmer  and  Mir.  James' 
little  daughter  came.   Uncle  John  moved  to  his  house.  Nearly  finished  Uncle 
J's  pants. 

Tuesday.  August  16th   Mrs.  Vaughn  and  Mr,  Vaughn  came,  some  men  froii:  Nash- 
ville came,  I-lrs,  Vanderford  and  Eugene  came,  and  Uncle  John  and  Grandma  came. 
It  rained, 

Wednesday.  August  17th  I  made  a  pillow  slip  for  Uncle  John.  Raining  yet. 
Pa  and  Mr,  Kible  went  to  Nashville. 

Thursday,  August  18th  Mr.  King  here,  Mr.  Vanderford,  Sister,  Cousin  Tom, 
Uncle  J,  and  myself  went  over  to  Bachelor's  Rest  to  see  the  house.  Went  to 
the  cave.  We  got  some  peaches.  Pa  returned  from  N.  Got  a  letter  from  Brother. 

Friday.  August  19th  Miss  Fannie  Sev/ards,  Miss  Farmer  came.  Col.  ilnderson 
came  after  Mrs.  Vanderford.  Very  lonesome  after  she  left.  Ma,  Pa,  and  Ida 
went  to  Jim  Basken's,  Cousin  Narcissy  came. 


23 


Saturday.  August  20th  Jimiiiie  Jones  and  Granville  Ridley  came.  Buddy  and 
Eugene  went  home  with  Granville  and  got  some  pears.  Pa  and  Sister  went  to 
Murf reesboro . 

Sunday.  ^Au^st  21  st  Raining  yet.  Sister  and  nyself  bought  a  watermelon. 
I  wrote  a  letter  to  Brother. 

MondaYjt._ Au^ s t_ 22nd   Very  cool  for  August.  Pa  and  Mr.  Charley  Alley  spent 
the  day  at  Dick  V/ade's.  Mr.  Coleman  and  Mr.  Ward  came.  I  finished  my 
underbody.  Wrote  a  letter  to  Aunt  Mat, 

Tuesday,  Aupust  23rd   1-lrs,  Johnson  and  Mr,  Sikes  here.  Several  men  here. 
Grandma  went  to  Mr.  Marlin's,  Cousin  Dick  and  I  went  to  Mr.  Sikes.  I  made 
a  body  to  vsy  dress » 

Wednesday.  August  22^th   Pa  went  to  Nashville.  Pretty  day. 

.Thursday,  August  25th   Jimmle  W.  arrived  at  Johnson's.  Cousin  Dick,  Sister, 
and  nyself  went  to  ^b?.  Ward's.  Went  to  see  John.  Miss  Kate  Hicks,  Miss  Ellen 
Hicks,  and  Vic  stayed  all  night.  Pa  got  back  from  N.  Pa  received  a  letter 
from  Brother, 

Friday.  August  26th   The  ladies  went  to  Mr.  Furgerson.  Mrs.  Ward,  Mandy,  and 
Isabella  went  to  Murf reesboro.  Pretty  day.  Somebody  tried  to  get  in  the 
house  tonight.  Uncle  John  stayed  all  night  with  us. 

Saturday.  August  27th   Great  many  men.  Col.  Anderson,  Miss  Eugenia  A.  and 
Eugene  came.  Miss  Eugenia  married.  Uncle  John  stayed  with  us  again  tonight. 

Sunday.  August  28th   Magnificent  day.  Miss  Eugenia  and  inyself  wrote  a  letter 
to  Willie,  V/e  all  went  to  the  sulphur  springs.  Had  a  delightful  ride  on 
horseback.  I-lr.  Ward  here. 


2^ 

Monday.  August  29th   Finished  Kate's  dress.  Pretty  day,  little  cool.  Pa, 
Miss  Eugenia,  Sister,  and  myself  took  a  ride.  Col.  Anderson  came,  brought 
Eugene  Vanderford  with  him. 

Tuesday.  August  30th   Mr.  Sikes  and  MLss  Addie  came  before  breakfast.  Mr. 
Huggins  and  Allie  Ridley  came. 

Wednesday.  August  31st   Pa  and  Uncle  John  went  to  Nashville.  Wheeler,  the 
Rebel,  came  in  with  8,000  men.  Pa  saw  Tommie  Black  and  a  little  fellow 
called  Saterfield. 

Thursday.  September  1 .  1 SGU       Pa  came  home.  Did  not  see  any  more  rebels. 
They  have  gone  doim  towards  Nashville; 

Friday.  September  2nd  Cloudy.  Miss  Eugenia  went  home.  Ma  went  home  with 
her  and  stayed  nearly  all  day.  Granville  Ridley,  Allen  Gooch,  and  John  Espy 
joined  the  Rebels.  Hurrah  for  them! 

Saturday.  September  3rd   Saw  some  Yankees  and  in  a  short  time,  some  Rebels. 
Then  I  saw  some  more  Y.  They  were  very  much  excited.  Wanted  to  knov;  if  there 
had  been  any  grey-backs  here.  They  formed  in  line  of  battle  in  front  of  the 
house.  They  went  on  to  Jefferson.  Gen'l  Steadman  and  his  staff  dined  at 
Squire  Johns'.  They  came  back  about  sundown.  Said  that  they  had  driven 
Wheeler  out  of  the  state. 

Sunday.  September  /4th   Gen'l  Steadman  and  staff  suppered  here.  I  played  on 
the  piano  for  them.  Sunday,  all  quiet. 

Monday.  September  gth   Beautiful  weather.  Rain  before  dinner  very  much 
unexpected.  Grandiria  moved  over  to  King  house. 

Tuesday.  September  6th   Pretty  day.  No  one  to  see  us.  Evening  gathered 
some  cucumbers  for  pickles. 


25 

Wednesday.  Septeinber  7th   Mrs.  Anbross  Bass  and  I-1iss  Eliza  Dass  car.e  and 
stayed  until  after  dinner.  I  rained  very  hard,  thundered  and  lightning. 
A  tree  v/as  struck  very  near  the  house. 

Thursday,  Septeinber  8th   Cloudy,  cut  Ida  out  a  dress,  nearly  finished  it. 
Cut  out  Buddy  two  shirts.  Johnny  came  over  in  his  cart.   I  played  for 
some  Yanks. 

Friday.  September  9th  Via.   finished  Ida's  dress.  I'x.   V/ard  and  Vic  carae. 
Stayed  until  nearly  dinner.  Meda  Davis  and  Miss  Kate  Hicks  came.  Vx. 
Huggins  and  Allie  came.  The  wagon  started  to  N  with  a  bale  of  nev;  cotton. 

Saturday.  September  10th   Cousin  Dick' and  Pa  went  to  Nashville.  Big 
Caroline  went  to  Murfreesboro.  Got  a  letter  from  Brother.  He  sent  Pa  a 
very  nice  ring. 

Sunday.  September  11th   Ifrs.  Hord  came.  Col.  A  sent  a  letter  dovm  here 
from  Leakward  Anderson  stating  that  Aunt  Mat  and  family  had  gone  to  Craw- 
fordsville.  V/e  all  went  over  to  see  Grandma. 

I-fonday.  September  12th  Vxs,   Slkes,  Mss  Luda,  Miss  Addie,  Jeannie  J., 
and  Jessie  J.  came.  Commenced  to  make  Ma  a  dress.  Uncle  John  came  over. 

Tuesday.  September  13th   Expected  to  go  with  Pa  to  Murfreesboro,  but  when  I 
got  to  Mr.  S.  Miss  Addie  was  sick  and  would  not  go.  Mrs.  B  came  to  car 
house.  Sister  went  with  her  to  Mr.  Walden's  to  spend  the  night.  Mi's.  V 
came  over  to  Vx,   S.  I  came  home. 

Wednesday.  September  Hth   Pa  and  Cousin  Dick  went  to  Nashville.  Miss  M^ary 
and  Martha  Donav/ay  came.  Col.  Anderson  and  several  men  came.  Cousin  Tom 
and  myself  went  to  Mr.  Walden's  after  sister.  Pa  and  Cousin  Dick  and  Mr. 
Herman  Weekley  here,  just  returned  from  Huntsville,  Alabama. 


26 

Thursday.  September  15th   Governor  Johnson  has  called  out  the  militia  of 
Tennessee — from  18  to  4-5.  Kiiss  Eugenia  and  Col,  A  came.  Vxs.   Sikes  and  N'lss 
Addie  and  Dr.  Black  came  and  told  us  lirs.   Watkins  will  take  us  to  board  to 
go  to  school  to  Miss  Sallie  Nelson. 

Friday.  September  I6th   Miss  Tea  Allen,  Mrs.  Davis,  Mrs.  Ward,  Miss  Mary, 
and  Martha  Donaway  came.  Sister  and  myself  went  over  to  see  Grandma.  Mrs. 
Best  Ward,  Mr,  Ward,  and  Vic  came.  The  latter  stayed  all  night.  I  wrote  a 
letter  to  Brother. 

Saturday.  September  17th   I  went  to  Murfreesboro  with  Miss  Addie.  Got 
several  little  things.  I  stayed  all  night  with  Miss  Addie. 

Sunday.  September  18th   Uncle  John  and  Ida  came  after  me.  Pa,  Mr.  Watkins, 
Grandma,  Sister,  and  myself  went  over  to  Mr«oWard. 

Monday.  September  19th   Uncle  John  brought  Sister  and  myself  over  to  Mrs. 
Watkins'.  Went  down  to  the  school  room.  Miss  Sallie  Nelson  is  the  teacher. 

Tuesday.  September  20th   Knew  all  my  lessons.   I  am  studying  history  of 
France.  Spell  and  define  Arithmetic.  Beautiful  day! 

Wednesday.  September  21st   tollie  Watkins  came  to  school.  Cloudy.   I  passed 
under  and  over  a  natural  bridge  yesterday  evening. 

Thursday.  September  22nd   Cloudy.  Went  to  school  as  usual.  Knew  all  my 
lessons  well. 

Friday.  September  23rd   Rained  very  hard  in  the  night  and  some  rain  about 
12  o'clock. 

Saturday.  September  24.th   We  all  quilted  right  smart.  Mj.  Watkins  went  to 
Dr.  Black.  He  was  better.  I  looked  for  Pa. 


27 


Sunday.  September  25th.   Dobb  went  home.  I  wrote  a  letter  to  Ma.  I  spent 
the  morning  writing  to  Brother  and  Tom.  Got  my  lessons  in  the  evening. 

Ktonday.  September  26th   Beautiful  day.  Two  new  scholars,  Sallie  Patent 
and  Mary  Eliza  House, 

Tuesday.  September  27th   Cloudy.  Coming  home  from  school  it  rained,  and  we 
all  got  ringing  wet, 

Wednesday.  September  28th   Pretty  day.  Pa  came  to  Dr.  Black's,  and  I 
came  down  to  Mrs.  Watkins'  with  him.  He  brought  us  some  clothes. 

Thursday.  September  29th   Pretty  day.  I  am  very  well  satisfied  up  here. 
I  wish  I  could  see  Tominy, 

Friday.  September  30th   Cloudy.  Looks  very  much  like  rain.  It  rained 
very  hard  in  the  night. 

Saturday.  October  1.  1864.   Cloudy  again  this  morning.  I  hope  it  won't 
rain.  It  has  rained. 

Sunday.  October  2nd   Pretty  day.  Delia,  Mary  Eliza  House,  and  myself  went 
to  Mrs.  Rucker.  Miss  Sue  came  down  to  see  Mollie  Wilkinson. 

Monday.  October  3rd   Rained  when  we  rode  home  from  school. 

Tuesday.  October  4-th   Rained  all  day.  We  rode  to  and  from  school.  Aunt 
Nancie  Smith  stayed  all  night  at  our  house. 

Wednesday.  October  5th   Cloudy  day, 

Thursday.  October  6th   Pretty  day, 

Friday.  October  7th   Delightful  day. 


Saturday.  October  8th   Most  delightful  day. 

Sinday.  October  9th   Mrs.  Watkins,  Delia,  and  Mary  Eliza  House  vent  tn  churrh 
at  Mr.  Michelle.  They  saw  Miss  Mollie  Pubbs. 

Monday.  October  10th   All  went  to  school.  Most  pretty  day. 

Tuesday.  October  11th   Very  pretty  day. 

VJednesday.  October  12th   Pretty  day.   Brother  is  sick  in  prison.   Ter  V.'-idp. 

Thursday.  October  13th   Pretty  day.  Heard  Grandma  was  dead. 

Friday.  October  14.th   Pretty  day.  Pa.  came  after  Sister  and  myself  to  j^o 
home.  Mary  Eliza  went  home. 

Saturday.  October  1 5th   Pa  and  Cousin  Jo  Irby  went  to  Nashville.   I.'ncle 
Pleasant  and  Uncle  John  went  to  Murfreesboro, 

Sunday.  October  I6th   Uncle  Pleasant  and  Uncle  Johnny  went  to  Fellowship 
to  church.  Great  many  men  at  our  house. 

Monday.  October  17th   Uncle  John  brought  Sister  and  myself  to  V.rz.   Wntkins. 
Mary  Eliza  had  come. 

Tuesday.  October  18th   Went  to  school.   I  got  a  bad  cold. 

Wednesday.  October  19th   Cold  yet.  Mass  Nannie  Black  and  Miss  Sullie  Nelnon 
stayed  all  night. 

Thursday.  October  20th   Sister  and  Delia  came  home.   Sister  cut  her  dress 
body.  Miss  Sallie  walked  home  with  us. 

Friday,  October  21st   Pretty  day.  'Willie  and  Sammy  Butch  knocked  the 
girls  some  hickory  nuts. 


29 


Saturday.  October  22nd   I  cut  out  my  dress  body.   Hemmed  Sister's  d'^ess 
skirt.   She  made  my  dress  body.   I  sent  a  note  to  Ma  by  Dobb. 

Sunday.  October  23rd   I  got  my  lesson  wrote  off  the  definition.  V/rote  n 
letter  describing  my  visit  south. 

Monday,  October  24.th   Went  to  school.  Callie  Pajton  had  come  back. 

Tuesday.  October  2$th   Pretty  day.  Knew  all  my  lessons.  Sewed  my  dress 
on  the  body  and  the  sleeves  in. 

Wednesday.  October  26th   Rained.  Mrs.  Watkins  sent  the  carriage  after  us. 

Thursday.  October  27th   Rained  all  night.  Mary  House  would  not  sleep  with 
me.  Delia  and  myself  came  home.  I  called  Jane  and  they  would  not  let  her 
come  with  me. 

Friday.  October  28th   Pretty  morning.  Mary  Eliza  House  went  hom.e. 

Saturday.  October  29th   Cloudy  and  cool.  Pa  came  to  bring  our  clothes.  We 
finished  our  calico  dresses. 

Sunday.  October  30th   Pretty  day.  Mrs.  Watkins,  Louise,  and  Sister  went  to 
Mrs.  Rucker's — spent  the  evening.   Louise  and  Sister  stayed  all  night. 

Monday.  October  31st   Pretty  day.  Mary  Eliza  House  came  back  from  home. 

Tuesday.  November  1.  1864-   Beautiful  day! 

Wednesday.  November  2nd   Rained  very  hard. 

Thursday.  November  3rd   Raining.   We  did  not  go  to  school.   I  cut  my  delain 
dress  out  and  made  the  body. 

Friday.  November  /i^th   Raining.  Miss  Mollie  sick. 


30 


Saturday.  November  5th   Pretty  day.  Very  cool.  Miss  Sue  spent  the  night. 
Miss  Nannie  Black  and  Miss  Sallie  Nelson  came.  Received  a  letter  from  Brother. 

Sunday.  November  6th   Pretty  day.  Miss  Mary  £,  House  and  Miss  Delia  Watkins 
went  up  to  Mrs,  Rucker's  to  spend  the  night.  Miss  Sue  sent  for  me  to  come. 
We  saw  a  rebel, 

Monday.  November  7th   Rained  all  day.  We  came  home  and  went  to  school  in 
the  carriage,  . 

Tuesday.  November  8th   Rained  all  day, 

Wednesday.  November  9th   Raining  all  day,  I  am  perfectly  sick  of  rainy 
weather , 

Thursday.  November  10th   Beautiful  day,  I  am  very  glad  it  has  quit  raining, 
for  I  ajn  expecting  to  go  home, 

Friday.  November  11th   Beautiful  day,  Mary  £,  House'  Brother  came  and  we  all 
went  to  Mrs.  Watkins  in  a  few  minutes.  Pa  came  after  dinner.  We  were  off 
for  home.  We  stopped  in  town  and  got  two  silk  handerchiefs  for  Sister  and 
nyself  and  two  con^josition  books, 

Saturday.  November  12th   Pretty  day,  I  cut  my  calico  body  out  and  fitted  it. 
Mrs,  Blackmore  died  at  eleven  o'clock  Saturday  night. 

Sunday.  November  13th   Beautiful  day.  Uncle  John,  Sister,  and  myself 
started  to  see  Mrs,  Blackmore  and  met  Tonmie  and  Mrs,  John.  John's  cousins, 
Addie  and  Nelly,  came  to  our  house, 

Monday.  November  Hth   Uncle  John,  Ma,  Sister,  and  nyself  went  to  the  funeral. 
Mrs.  Nevals  stayed  at  our  house  while  we  were  gone.  Cousin  Sue  and  Lucy  came 
to  our  house. 


31 


TuesdaYj_  Noveinber  1 5th   Raining,  Uncle  John  brought  us  back  to  school. 
We  stopped  in  Murfreesboro  at  Mrs.  Elliott's — saw  Miss  Lilly  Brown. 

Wednesday „  Noveimber _1 6th   Raining. 

'Thursday,,  NoveTiber.  17th   Rained  all  day.  I  cut  out  my  under  dress  and 
Eade  it. 

Friday;,  November  _1 8th   Rained  all  day,  I  cut  out  my  blue  dress  and  run 

up  the  skirt,  hemmed  it,  put  the  trimming  around  the  skirt,  and  made  the  sleevcf 

Saturda.y\t_ November  1 9.th   Rained  all  dayo  I  sewed  on  my  dress. 

Sunday,_November_20th   Rained  all  day.  The  river  is  rising.  It  is  nearly 
even  vd.th  the  Mill  Dam, 

Monday_,_ November  21  sjt   Went  to  school.  It  snowed  very  hard. 

TugsdaY,,_ November_22nd   Very  cold.  Snow  on  the  ground. 

Wednesday .__  Nov  ember  23rd   Very  cold.  Sister  and  I  came  home  from  school  to 
take  a  music  lesson.  Mary  E.  House  is  having  her  teeth  fixed. 

Thursday.,.  November_ 2/i.th   Dr.  Walsh  has  not  finished  her  teeth. 

Friday,  November  2 gth   Pleasant.  I'irs.  V/atkins  went  to  town.  Mary  House 
went  home.  I  am  looking  for  the  rebels. 

Saturday...  November _26th   Raining  all  day.  Finished  my  calico  dress.  I 
washed  my  silk  handkerchief.   Little  Sue  came  to  see  us.  Dobb  went  home. 

Sunday.  November  27th   Raining  nearly  all  day.  Miss  Sue  came.   I  was  kept 
busy  getting  my  lessons  and  writing  my  letter. 


32 


Mo nd a V .  No v ernb er  2 8 th   Cloudy.  I  took  a  piece  of  music  called  "General 
Stonewall  Jackcon".  Mary  Eliza  did  not  come  back.  Miss  l-follie  went  to  Dr. 
Black's  to  spend  the  night.  Heard  good  nev/s  for  all  rebels.  Got  two  letters 
from  Brother,  Pa  uent   to  Nashville. 

Tuesday.,  Noveraber  29th  Cloudy.  The  rebels  are  coming.  Vlss  Kollie  came 
home.  Dr.  Black  started  to  I4irfreesboro,  but  the  pickets  told  hira  that  he 
could  not  bring  out  anything. 

Wednesday ._Nov ember  .30th   I'^ary  Eliza  came.  Very  warm  today — did  not  wear 
my  shawl  to  school.  Cannonading  very  distinct.  Received  a  letter  from  Ma, 
I  am  going  home  in  two  weeks. 

Thursday.,  December  1 .  1 864  Beautiful  day.  Heard  some  cannonading.  Very 
warm  for  the  season.  Pa  is  coming  after  us  tomorrow, 

Friday,.  December  2nd   Raining.  Pa  came  after  us.  Met  Judge  Tinsley.  He 
and  Pa  had  a  long  talk.  17e  came  by  Mr,  Sikes'  and  stopped.  Brought  Charley's 
sack  Kdss  Addie  braided  for  him, . 

Saturday.,  Decem-ber  3rd   Very  cold.  Uncle  John  went  after  Grandma.  Judge 
Tinsley  and  lady  to  see  us.  Some  men  here,  not  as  many  as  usual.  Rebels 
came  here  in  the  night. 

Sunday,  December  /.th   Nice  day.  Some  rebels  spying  around  the  block  house, 
iimong  the  squad  was  Dr.  Ridley,  The  Yankees  shot  at  him,  but  did  not  hurt  him. 

Monday.  December  $th   Pretty  day.  The  Federals  evacuated  the  block  house. 
Rebels  everyv;hcre.  They  burned  the  bridges  and  block  house.  Miss  Addie 
came  and  brought  Annie  with  her. 


33 


Tuesday.  Pecember_6th   Beautiful  day.  General  Forrest  came  up  from  Nashville. 

Wednesday^_  December_7th   Pa  and  Sister  went  to  Esq.  Sikes'  to  hear  the 
news.  MTo  Vanderford  went  home. 

Thursday,.,  December, 8th   Very  cold.  Uncle  Charley  went  to  camps,  but  came 
back  and  spent  the  night.  Enjoyed  myself  finely. 

Friday ._._DeGnmber^_9th   Cold.   Uncle  Charley  WEnt  to  camp,  but  came  back  .Jith 
General  Forrest  and  spent  the  night.  I  had  the  honor  of  mending  his  pants. 

Saturday.._Dec ember  lOth   Sleeting.  Very  cold.  Went  to  camps. 

Sunday  .„.  Dec  ember  _  l.l.th   Uncle  Charley  spent  the  night  with  us. 

Monday v^ December, 12th   Snow  on  the  ground.  Uncle  Charley  took  dinner  with  us. 

Tuesday., Deceraber^l 3th   Cloudy — very  cold.   Uncle  Charley  and  Capt.  Painter. 
My  l6th  birthday.  Was  presented  a  ring  from  Ma. 

V/ednesday .„ December  1  Ath   Very  cold.  Uncle  Charley  spent  the  night. 

Thursday.  December  15th   Warm,  Uncle  Charley  went  to  camps.   Thomas 
attacked  Hood.  Great  many  Yankees  killed.  Fear  Rebels. 

Friday,^  December  I6th   Warm,   Uncle  Charley  and  Major  Strains  came  for  his 
last  time.  Hood  retreated. 

Saturday ._December  17th   Raining  all  day. 

Sunday,.  December  18th   Raining  all  day.  Cousin  Dick  and  I  went  to  Mr.  Ward's. 

Monday ,..„December  19th   Raining  all  day.  Yankees  ventured  out  to  work  on 
the  railroad. 


3^ 


Tuesday.  December  20th   Very  cold  indeed,  I-k  and  I  are  working  en  r;y  dress. 
Rained  and  hailed.  All  the  rebels  gone. 

V/ednesday.  December  21  st   Snowing.  Pa  and  I  went  to  Mrs.  V/atkins'  after  my 
trunk.  A  good  many  federals  here  today  and  dined. 

Thursday,  December  22nd   Very  cold  ineeed.  Ma  and  I  were  working  on  n.y  dress, 

Friday.  December  23rd   Pa  and  Cousin  Dick  went  to  Nashville.  Squire  Johns 
and  Vjr.   King  here.  Sewing  on  my  dress.  Getting  ready  for  Christm^as. 
Quite  cold. 

Saturday.  December  2Z.th  Pa  and  Cousin  Dick  returned  from  Nashville  v/ith 
Christmas  goodies.  I  made  a  pound  cake  and  was  kept  quite  busy  preparing 
for  Christmas,  We  had  a  nice  eggnog. 

Sunday.  December  25th  Christmas  Day.  Ida  and  Buddy  were  invited  to  Vx. 
Suggs  to  a  Christmas  Tree,  I  went  to  Mr,  Johns'  and  Lucy,  Isabella,  Vic, 
and  Miss  Lanny  Burrus  came, 

Monday, _Dec ember_ 26th   Cloudy.  Buddy  and  Ida  were  Invited  up  to  Vx.   Griggs 
to  a  Christmas  Tree,  I  went  to  see  Tominie.  Got  home  late.   Uncle  John, 
Sister,  and  myself  went  to  Mr,  Wade's  to  a  party,  my  first  attempt  at  dancing. 

Tuesday,,  December  27th   Still  cloudy,  Ida  came  home.  Mrs,  Ward  here. 
Cousin  Dick  went  to  see  Mass  Drucia  Davis.  Ida  came  home  from  Vx.   Griggs'. 
Lucy  came  home  with  her,  Mrs,  V/ard  here. 

Wgdnesday.._.  December  28th   Beautiful  day,  I  sewed  on  my  bonnet.   Emma  Walsh, 
Nelly  Wade,  Willie,  and  Tom  Wade  came.  Also  Miss' Settle  Wade. and  Cousin 
Addie  Vaughn  spent  the, night, 

Thursday^.  December  29th   Cousin  Addie,  All  of  them  left.  Watt  Wade  here. 
Made  Jane  clean  up  the  parlor,   Mir.  Wade  and  Cousin  Jo  Irby  here. 


35 


Friday,  Decerriber  30th   Kiss  Bettie  McLaughlin  came  to  go  to  Nashville  with 
Pa.  Raining  a  little.  Grandma  came  home  from  Mr,  Ward's.  Mr.  Vhrd  shingled 
Ida's  and  Kate's  hair. 

Saturday.  December_31 st   The  whole  face  of  the  earth  covered  with  snow. 
It  is  shoe  mouth  deep,  I  finished  my  bonnet. 


36 


PETER  JEmnilGS 
by  Eugene  Sloan 

Tira  hundred  ycaro  ago,  a  bitter  test  of  loyalty  of  the  men  of  the 
Continental  Arry  tras  cjqpGricnccd — the  "Winter  of  Docpair"  at  Valley 
Forge,  Pcnncylvania . 

Follo\d.ng  the  defeat  at  Germantown,  the  army  of  about  10,000 
moved  into  the  little  valley  among  the  hills  of  the  Schuylkill  River, 
27  miles  northwest  of  Philadelphia.  With  little  food  and  hardly 
enough  clothing  to  protect  themselves  against  the  rigors  of  one  of 
the  worst  vrinters  in  colonial  history,  the  arny  morale  deteriorated. 

On  DGCcnbor  23,  1777,  General  George  VJashington  wrote:  "We  have 
this  day  no  less  than  2,873  men  in  can^j  unfit  for  duty  because  they 
are  barefooted  and  othervdse  naked." 

But  in  that  brave  body  of  men  who  endured  the  harshness  of  that 
winter  were  two  men  v;ho  were  to  later  make  their  homes  in  Rutherford 
County.  One  of  them  v;as  Peter  Jennings — a  black  man — and  the  other, 
Elijah  Caith. 

Smith,  at  age  77,  v;as  to  appear  in  the  Rutherford  County  Coiirt  ■ 
in  September,  1832  to  support  the  claim  of  Jennings,  age  80,  for  a 
Revolutionary  War  pension. 

Jennings  was  a  notable  character  in  his  day.  According  to  a  story 
appearing  in  the  ^'turfreesboro  News  Banner.  November  22,  1900,  the  first 
house  erected  on  the  comer  of  Vine  and  Church  Street,  a  one-story 
frame  building,  vias  occupied  by  "a  free  Negro,  named  Peter  Jennings,  as 
a  baker."  This  was  during  the  time  Murfreesboro  was  the  capital  of 
Tennessee. 


37 


Henry  G.  Wray,  former  ai»chlvist  for  the  Rutherford  County  Historical 
Society,  along  with  Ernest  King  Johns  did  considerable  research  in  con- 
nection \srith  the  study  of  Revolutionary  War  soldiers  v;ho  came  to  Ruther- 
ford County  after  the  v/ar.  Mrs.  Edna  Fry   has  followed  up  this  work 
by  studying  the  official  records  in  Washington,  D.C.  Among  her  findings 
is  the  affadavit  of  Peter  Jennings  of  August  23,  1832: 

State  of  Tennessee 
Rutherford  Coimty 
August  term  1832 

On  this  23rd  day  of  August  1832  personally  appeared  before  Henry 
Trott,  V.  D.  Cov/an,  and  James  C.  Mitchell  Esquires,  Justices  of  the 
Court  of  Pleas  and  Qxiarters  Session  for  the  county  and  state  aforesaid, 
now  sitting  in  open  coxirt,  Peter  Jennings,  a  man  of  colour,  a  resident 
of  the  tov/n  of  Murfreesboro  in  the  County  and  State  aforesaid,  aged 
eighty  years,  four  months,  and  twenty-one  days,  who  being  first  duly 
sworn,  according  to  law,  doth  on  his  oath,  make  the  following  declar- 
ation, in  order  to  obtain  the  benefit  of  the  provision  made  by  the  Act 
of  Congress  passed  June  7,  1832.  That  he  enlisted  in  the  array  of  the 
United  States,  according  to  the  best  of  his  recollection  in  the  year 
1776  with  Corporal  Edenton  and  when  he  entered  the  service  he  belonged 
to  the  5th  Regiment  of  Artillery  of  Blacks  in  the  Continental  line, 
under  the  following  named  officers;  He  belonged  to  Capt.  Vener  Angel's 
Company  in  which  a  man  by  the  name  of  Hawley,  whose  given  name  he  does 
not  now  remember,  was  first  Lieutenant,  and  man  whose  name  v;as  Ray, 
second  Lieutenant,  his  given  name  not  remembered.  The  regiment  was 
commanded  by  Col.  Edward  (Oney),  and  a  man  whose  name  was  Halsey,  was 
first  Major,  and  he  thinks  his  given  name  was  Joseph.  Who  his  second 
Major  was,  he  does  not  remember.  He  thinks  his  regiment  joined  General 
Washington's  amy  at  West  Point  and,  after  remaining  there  a  few  days, 


38 


Torched  to  Saratoga,  vhere  they  rcnnincd  a  considerable  length  of  time. 
At  tho  cr.nis  tiro  they  ucre  cncanpcd  at  Saratoga,  thinks  that  Gen.  Dick- 
con  or  Dickcnccn  xno   encamped  \rith  a  division  of  Virginia  militia,  and 
he  thinl:3  ha  rcmcnbers  Colonels  Canipbell  and  Forguson  v/ere  there  in  the 
Virginia  nilitia,  Aftor  rcnaining  at  Saratoga  several  weeks,  he  thinks 
Ms  regiment  v-as  divided  and  part  of  it  attached  to  the  troops  under 
the  ccrrrand  of  Gen.  Greene,  a  part  of  it  to  the  troops  under  the  comnand 
of  Gen.  Gates,  a  part  of  it  probably  to  the  troops  under  Gen.  (Cadwallader) , 
and  a  part  of  it  Gen.  V/ashington  retained  \dth  the  troops  under  his 
immediate  ccrj::and.  He  remained  with  troops  under  Gen.  Washington's 
inmediats  ccrmand,  and  he  thinks  the  regiment  to  v/hich  he  was  attached 
v;as  corsnndcd  by  Col.  Clifford,  to  whose  regiment  a  I'la j .  Talbot  belonged, 
but  he  docs  not  remember  whether  he  was  first  or  second  major.  He  does  not 
remember  the  number  of  Col.  Clifford's  regiment,  nor  does  he  remember 
the  Colonel's  given  name,  nor  the  given  name  of  Ik j .  Talbot.  He  thinks 
James  Starling  ^.-as  at  this  time  his  Captain,  and  that  his  Lieutenant's 
name  j-.'as  Dlccmfield,  but  his  given  name  is  not  x^eiaciaoered .  Shortly  after 
this  division  i.'as  made  of  the  black  regiment,  he  thinks  the  battle  of 
Trenton  took  place,  and  he  well  remembers  he  was  in  that  engagement.  He 
has  a  distinct  recollection  that  on  the  night  of  the  25th  of  December 
after  he  entered  the  service  as  a  regular  soldier,  which  would  be  Decem- 
ber, 1776,  if  it  was  that  year  he  enlisted,  and  he  thinks  it  was  Gen. 
V/ashingtcn  who  crossed  hJ.s  troops  over  the  Delavnre  about  nine  miles 
above  Trentcn  and  marched  upon  the  enemy  and  attacked  them  by  surprise. 
A  part  of  the  /jnerican  forces,  he  thinks,  were  commanded  by  Generals 
Ewing  and  Cad^.'allader,  the  foi^mer  of  v;hom  belonged  to  the  Virginia  troops. 
The  forces  under  their  command  he  thinks  v;ere  to  cross  the  Delaware 
higher  up  than  the  point  at  v/hich  declarent  crossed  with  General  V/ashington, 
and  were  to  attack  the  left  wing  of  the  enemy,  but  he  well  remembers  he 


39 


did  not  croG3  over,  vihich  he  thinlco  vras  ouing  to  the  ice,  for  it  was  vd.th 
extreme  difficulty  that  Gen.  V.'achington  got  his  troops  over  on  accoiint 
of  the  ice  and  the  cxtrcne  cold  v;cathor.  Cn  account  of  Generals  Ewing  and 
Cadv;allader  failing  to  cross  the  river  as  hzd   been  previously  arranged,  we 
uere  corbelled  to  cake  the  attack  \;lth  such  forces  alone  as  crossed  over 
i-'ith  Gon.  IJachington.  The  cnezr;.!  co  little  c;:pecting  an  attack  from  us, 
•jcre  thrcv.'n  into  great  confusion,  and  \j3  obtained  a  coraplete  victory  over 
them,  killing  many  of  them  and  taking  ccvcral  hundred  prisoners,  v;ho  wore 
principally  Hessians.  V/e  also  took  a  largo  amoimt  of  milit^rj-  stores,  a 
number  of  pieces  of  cannon,  and  a  great  many  small  arms.  He  thinks  the 
greater  portion  of  the  cneny's  forces  were  killed  or  taken  pri'soner.  He 
thinks  there  xras  a  Colonel  commanding  in  the  Hessian  troops  k' lied,  but 
he  does  not  remember  his  name.  There  v;ere  but  few  on  the  side  of  the 
Americans  killed  and  not  many  wounded;  amongst  the  wounded  ho  thinks 
there  was  a  Captain  ifeshington,  remembered  from  his  being  of  the  same 
name  as  his  General  VJashington.  After  this  engagement  he  steles  he 
marched  back  across  the  Delaware  \fith.   the  prisoners  and  captu-  ed  stores. 
The  prisoners,  he  thinks,  were  conducted  to  Philadelphia.  In  a  few  days, 
however,  he  returned  v/ith  Gen.  Washington  to  Trenton.  They  h?d  not  been 
long  in  pocsecsion  of  Trenton  when  the  British  forces  collected  and 
marched  tovrard  Trenton  for  the  purpose  of  giving  battle;  in  feet,  they 
had  actually  commenced  firing  on  the  American  troops  in  the  evening  and 
considerable  cannonading  took  place  between  the  two  armies.  'Hhe   firing 
from  our  artillery  somewhat  checked  their  advance  upon  us,  and  night 
coming  on,  they  halted  on  the  opposite  side  of  a  creek  from  us  and 
ceased  firing.  It  was  supposed  that  they  intended  making  a  general 
attack  upon  us  the  next  morning.  We  were  ordered  to  light  fires  along 
our  lines  in  our  front  for  the  purpose,  as  declarent  afterward  discovered, 
of  deceiving  the  enemy.  However,  instead  of  remaining  at  the  fires,  we 


AO 


were  inarched  off  with  all  possible  expedition  toward  Princeton,  where  some 
regiments  of  the  British  troops  were  quartered.  We  reached  there  very- 
early  the  next  morning  and  made  a  vigorous  attack  upon  them.  Declarent 
has  a  perfect  recollection  of  an  occurance  which  took  place  during  this 
engagement  v/hich  will  never  be  effaced  from  his  memory.  A  part  of  our 
troops  were  driven  back  by  the  British  and  were  thrown  into  much  confu- 
sion. Gen,  Washington,  perceiving  it,  seized  a  standard  and  rushed  in 
front  of  our  troops  and  dashed  several  paces  ahead  toward  the  enemy, 
exclaiming  "Cone  on  boys,"  or  some  such  expression.  His  example  had 
the  desired  effect  of  rallying  our  troops,  and  they  followed  the  com- 
mander v/ith  renev/ed  ardour.  While  Gen.  Washington  was  betv/een  the  two 
armies,  at  least  one  round  was  fired  on  each  side,  and  he  remained  un- 
touched. Soon  after  this  occurrence  the  British  troops  gave  way  and 
retreated  into  some  public  bioildings.  VJo  pursued  them  and  kept  up  such 
a  play  of  artillery  upon  them,  that  all  those  who  had  taken  refuge  were 
compelled  to  surrender  to  us.  In  this  engagement  the  British  were  com- 
pletely routed  and  defeated.  Many  of  them  were  killed  and  wovmded  and 
a  great  number  taken  prisoner.  The  loss  on  the  American  side,  he  thinks, 
was  inconsiderable.  He  remembers  that  General  Mucerj  who  he  believes 
belonged  to  the  Virginia  troops  was  severely  wounded  in  this  engagement, 
and  thinks  he  died  shortly  of  his  wounds. 

After  the  battle  at  Princeton,  we  marched  to  Morristown  and  took 
up  vrinter  quarters.   There  we  remained  until  some  time  in  the  spring. 
From  Morristovm,  he  marched  to  Middlebrook;  from  there  to  Peek's-Kill 
where  some  fortifications  were  erected.  From  this  point  he  marched  toward 
the  Delav;are  River;  and  the  army  was  occupied  for  several  weeks  in  ad- 
vancing and  receding,  marching  and  counterimrching,  sometimes  toward 
Philadelphia  and  then  toward  the  Delaware.  This  lasted  for  several 
weeks  until  the  battle  finally  ensued  at  Brandywine.  This  engagement 


^1 


coicnenced  early  in  the  morning,  the  attack  being  brought  on  by  the 
British  who  ucre  under  the  command  of  Gen.  Cornwallis.  They  crossed  the 
creek  about  a  mile  above  our  forces  and  made  an  attack  upon  our  rear. 
V/e  were  about  the  same  time  attacked  in  front  by  a  British  General 
v/hose  name  is  now  not  remembered.  The  American  troops  were  compelled 
to  retreat  v/ith  great  loss.  He  thinlcs  they  retreated  towards  Chester, 
and  v/ore  purcucd  a  considerable  distance  by  the  enerqy.  He  v/ell  remem- 
bers seeing  Gen.  Lafayette  in  this  engagement  and  seeing  him  receive  a 
i/ound,  v.'hich  he  thinks  \.'as  in  his  right  leg.  He  also  remembers  that 
there  was  another  American  General  wounded,  but  he  has  forgotten  his 
name.  He  thirds  Gen.  Lincoln  was  in  the  battle.  T\io   or  three  weeks 
after  the  battle  of  Brandywine,  Gen,  Washington,  having  received  a 
considercble  reinforcement  from  Virginia,  marched  on  Germantovm  and 
made  an  attack  upon  the  British  stationed  there.  The  attack  was  made 
early  in  the  norning,  and,  from  the  sudden  and  unejqpected  character, 
the  British  forces  were  throvm  into  great  disorder.  It  being  a  cloudy 
foggy  morning,  it  was  difficult  for  our  troops  to  keep  in  regular  order, 
which  caused  considerable  confusion  amongst  us.  Taking  advantage  of  this, 
the  encry  rallied  from  the  confusion  into  v;hich  they  had  at  first  been 
throvm  and  drove  back  our  troops.  V/e  v;ere,  at  length,  compelled  to  re- 
treat \ath  great  loss.  In  this  engagement  an  American  General — Nash — 
v.-as  Icilled.  After  recovering  from  the  defeat,  we  marched  to  a  place 
called  l.Tiite  Ilash,  v/here  we  remained  sometime  in  expection  of  an  attack 
from  the  British,  t;ho  had  taken  a  position  not  far  distant  from  us. 
They,  however,  withdrew  vdthout  malting  an  attack,  and  we  v;ere  marched  to 
Valley  Forge,  i:here  we  took  up  winter  qxjarters. 


^ 


Declarent  was  at  the  battle  of  Yorkto;m.  '.-/hen  he  reached  there, 
Lafayette  had  been  engaged  in  some  severe  fighting  with  the  enemy. 
The  principal  fighting,  however,  after  we  reached  the  place  v;as  v;ith 
the  artillery,  with  an  almost  constant  cannonading  kept  up.   He  well 
remembers  the  position  of  the.  French  fleet  on  the  occasion,  which  had 
taken  a  stand  in  the  Potomac  River  to  prevent  Cornvrallis  from  being 
reinforced  by  the  British  troops  under  the  command  of  Gen.  Henry  Clinton. 
He  remembers  that  about  two  days  before  the  surrender,  fourteen  of  the 
British  soldiers  deserted  and  came  into  the  American  encampment  and 
surrendered  themselves,  and  that  from  them,  we  received  a  good  bit  of 
information  about  the  affairs  in  the  enemy's  camp.  The  surrender,  he  thinks, 
was  on  the  18th  of  October,  1781.  He  has  a  most  perfect  recollection  of 
uhe  circiimstances  v;hich  occured  when  Cornwallis  surrended  up  his  sword, 
for  he  was  present  and  saw  this  transaction.  Cornwallis  offe  ed  his 
sword  to  Gen.  V/ashington,  who  stepped  back  and  declined  taking  it. 
General  Lincoln,  who  he  thinks  had  been  previously  agreed  should  receive 
it,  stepped  forvrard  and  accepted  it  from  him.  Declarent  remained  at 
lorktovm  several  weeks  after  the  surrender.  He  thinks  he  marched  to 
Winchester,  Virginia  with  the  British  prisoners,  and  that  Cornwallis 
was  in  company.  After  he  retiu-ned  to  Yorktown  from  Winchester,  he 
remained  there  five  or  six  days,  at  the  end  of  which  time,  he  was  dis- 
charged from  the  service.  He  received  a  writien  discharge  from  Capt. 
Edgar,  by  whom  his  company  had  been  commanded  for  some  time.  His  former 
captain  had  been  compelled  to  retire  from  the  service  on  account  of  bad 
health,  v.'hen  Captain  Edgar  succeeded  to  the  command.  He  lost  his  dis- 
charge a  few  years  after  the  war  was  over,  he  thinks,  on  the  eastern 
part  of  the  Bahama  Islands,  where  he  was  shipwi^ecked  while  on  a  voyage 
in  a  merchantman  bound  from  New  York  to  Teneriff  on  a  trading  expedition. 


43 


It  is  impossible  for  declarent  to  remember  every  place  through  which 
he  marched  during  a  service  of  five  or  six  years,  or  to  detail  all  the 
occurrences  id.th  which  he  met  during  that  time  and  in  which  he  acted  a 
part.  He  can  only  pretend  to  state  important  transactions  and  occurrences 
to  which  his  attention  was  particularly  directed  by  some  peculiar  cir- 
ciunstance  upon  vfhich  the  mind  vrauld  then  fasten,  so  as  not  to  let  escape 
the  recollection  of  the  event. 

Declarent  enlisted  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  where  he  at  that 
time  resided.  He  was  born  at  Pequanock,  three  miles  east  of  Fairfield, 
Connecticut. 

He  has  never  received  a  pension  for  his  services,  and  he  hereby 
relinquishes  every  claim  whatever  to  a  pension  or  annuity  except  the 
present,  and  he  declares  his  name  is  not  on  the  pension  roll  of  the 
agency  of  any  state. 

Sworn  to  subscribed  this  day  and  year  aforesaid. 
J.  R.  Laughlin,  Clerk  His  X  mark  (Peter  Jennings) 

And  the  said  court  do  hereby  declare  their  opinion  that  the  above 
named  applicant  vras  a  revolutionary  soldier,  and  had  served  as  he  states. 

H.  Trott,  J.  C.  Mitchell,  V.  D.  Cowan 

I,  John  R.  Laughlin,  Clerk  of  the  Court  of  Pleas  and  Quarter  Sessions 
of  Rutherford  County,  Tennessee,  do  hereby  certify  that  the  foregoing 
contains  the  original  preceedings  of  the  said  coiirt,  in  the  matter  of 
the  application  of  Peter  Jennings  for  a  pension. 

In  testimony  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my   hand  and  seal  of  office, 
this  23rd  day  of  August  1832. 

John  R.  Laughlin,  Clerk 


u^ 


The  attesting  affidavits  supporting  the  claim  of  Peter  Jennings,  which  was 
granted  include  the  interesting  fact  that  Jennings  was  recognized  by  Lafayette, 

State  of  Tennessee 
Rutherford  County 

On  the  eighth  day  of  September  1832,  personally  appeared  before  me, 
William  Gilliam,  as  acting  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  the  County  of  Ruth- 
erford and  State  of  Tennessee,  Elijah  Smith,  aged  seventy-seven  years 
and  twenty  days,  a  resident  of  said  Rutherford  County,  who,  having  first 
dvily  sworn  according  to  law,  doth  upon  his  oath,  say  that  he  was  a 
soldier  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  that  in  the  winter  of  1777  when  the 
American  troops  \fere  quartered  at  Valley  Forge,  he  was  an  assistant 
forage  master  under  one  Cochlerow,  and  that  he  knew  a  man  of  colour  who 
belonged  to  the  New  England  troops,  and  was  in  the  artillery. 

He  is  acquainted  \dth  Peter  Jennings,  a  man  of  colour  who  now  re- 
sides in  Rutherford  County  aforesaid,  and  he  believes  him  to  be  the  man 
he  knew  at  Valley  Forge.  He  does  not  remember  him  by  name  so  as  to 
state  him  to  be  the  same  man,  but  from  his  size  and  general  appearance, 
so  far  as  he  can  remember,  as  it  would  correspond  at  so  distant  a  period. 
He  believes  him  to  be  the  same,  and  on  frequent  conversations  with  him 
in  relation  to  facts  and  circumstances  which  occiired  then,  which  said 
Jennings  remembers,  and  which  he  is  confident  he  could  not  have  known 
had  he  not  been  there,  and  especially  from  his  narration  of  a  man  being 
hung  there,  he  is  confident  he  is  the  same  man,  whom  he  then  knew. 

Elijah  Smith 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me 

W.  M.  Gilliam,  J.  P. 

Murfreesboro,  August  13th,  1828 


K'^ 


Honorable  Richard  Rush 

Sir,  I  herewith  endorse  you  the  petition  of  Peter  Jennings,  praying 
for  his  dues  as  a  Revolutionary  soldier.  The  declaration  set  forth  by 
him  is  done  from  memory  alone,  and  which  he  relates  with  freedom  nnd 
confidence. 

The  general  opinion  here  is  that  he  served  as  a  soldier  in  the 
Revolution,  which  opinion  was  strengthened  by  his  being  recognized  by  ^ 
Gen.  LaFayette  in  Nashville  two  years  ago, 

I  believe  the  evidence  set  forth  here  combining  partly  with  the 
evidence  now  in  possession  will  be  satisfactory.  If  not,  please  say 
v;hat  other  evidence  is  necessary. 

Hoping  to  have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  from  you  soon, 

I  am  Respectfully, 
William  T,  Christy 

A  record  by  Charles  Ready  certifies  that  Jennings  died  Jan.  22,  184.2. 
The  pension  records  indicate  that  during  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life, 
he  received  a  pension  from  the  United  States  Government. 

Mike  West,  editor  of  Accent  Magazine,  a  supplement  of  the  Sunday 
Daily  News  Journal,  uncovered  a  tombstone  in  the  old  City  Cemetery  bearing 
the  name  of  Peter  Jennings,  identified  as  a  Revolutionary  War  Soldier. 
The  modest  oval  stone  is  inscribed  with  a  cross  and  was  apparently  erected 
by  one  of  the  patriotic  societies  some  years  after  Jennings  '  death. 


4.6 


Henderson  King  Youkum 
.  •     .  by  Eugene  Sloan 

There  are  tvo  marble  shafts  of  comparable  cizo  and  close  proximity 
ia  Oalcv/ood  Cemetery  in  Huntsville,  Texas,  Each  marks  the  resting  place 
of  a  prominent  Tennessee  soldier,  .politician,  and  lawyer.  There  is  no 
evidence  that  the  one  from  Lebanon  and  the  other  from  Kurfreesboro  ever 
net  in  the  "Volunteer  State".  Each^ beset  by  xmfortunate  circumstances 
in  Tennessee^  vras  to  rise  to  undying  fame  following  the  "lone  Star"  of 
Texas.  '  ~  ■ "'         ..-  _  — 

Henderson  King  Yoakum  (1810- I856),  a  West  Point  graduate,  polltican, 
and  historian,  was  a  lav/yer  and  six-year  mayor  of  Murfreesboro.  In  18-^5 
he  left  Tennessee,  by  his  ovm  admission  impoverished  by  political 
activity. 

:     In  a  single  decade  he  was  to  gain  fame  as  a  soldier,  real  estate 
entrepreneur,  lawyer,  and  Kasonic  leader  deep  in  the  heart  of  Texas. 

Samuel  Houston  (1793-1863)  practiced  law  in  Lebanon  before  being 
elected  to  Congress  in  1823  and  later  Governor  of  Tennessee.  Disillusioned 
and  dishonored,  he  went  to  live  with  his  old  friends  among  the  Indians. 
Called  to  become  the  military  leader  who  defeated  the  Mexicans,  he  was 
elevated  to  the  presidency  of  the  Republic  of  Texas  and  ]iiter  to  the 
Texas  governorship.  When  he  lay  dying  Sam  Houston  requested  that  ho  be 
"buried  beside  rqy  good  friend,  Colonel  Henderson  Yoakum".  Houston  is 
known  to  have  practiced  law  in  Rutherford  County  courts  while  maintaining 
his  office  in  Lebanon,  but  this  appearance  was  while  Henderson  Yoakum  was 
a  cadet  at  West  Point. 

Dr.  Homer  Pittard,  Rutherford  County  historian^  spent  months  in  travel 
and  correspondence  to  coinpile  a  remarkable  eto^y  of  a  man  who  is  remembered 


■47 


in  Texas  by  having  a  county  naiaed  in  hi  3  honor,  but  who  ha  a  fev;  roots 

left  in  Tennessee. 

An* abridgment  of  a  biographical  sketch  of  Henderson  King  Yoakum 

appearing  in  numerous  publications  has  been  put  into  local  perspective 

in  a  presentation  by  Dr.  Pittard,  made  at  a  Rutherford  County  Historical 

Society  meeting  in  1975. 

Texas  school  children  learn  of  Colonel  Henderson  King  Yoakum  in 

cuch  a  factual  sketch  as  this; 

Henderson  King  Yoakum,  the  Texas  historian,  oldest  son 
of  George  Yoakum,  and  his  vri.fe  Mary  Ann  Kaddy,  was  born  at 
"Yoakvm  Fort"  in  the  famous  PougII'c  Valley  section  of 
Tennessee,  September  6,  1810.  At  the  age  of  17  he  was  appointed 
to  West  Point  llilitary  Academy,  vhore  he  graduated  in  1832. 
He  married  Kiss  Eveline  Cannon,  daushter  of  Robert  Cannon, 
near  the  little  tovm  of  Philadelpliia,  Roane  County,  Tennessee 
in  1883. 

Soon  after  his  marriage,  Henderson  Yoakum  moved  to  Mur- 
freesboro,  Tennessee,  and  entered  tho  office  of  Jud£,e  l-litchell 
as  a  law  student,  soon  was  admitted  to  the  bar  and  began 
the  practice  of  his  profession  in  that  town.  He  entered  the 
military  service  again  in  1836  and  cerved  against  the  Indians 
on  the  v/estern  frontier,  as  a  captain  of  a  company  under  General 
Edmund  P.  Gaines. 

In  1838  he  commanded  another  company  in  the  Cherokee  War. 
Then  on  October  7,  1839,  he  ^/as  elected  as  a  member  of  the 
Senate  of  the  State  of  Tennessee,  He  made  a  splendid  record  in 
the  legislature,  supporting  both  Jackson  and  Polk,  and  stood 
strongly  In  favor  of  the  annexation  of  Texas. 


/8 


On  October  6,  l8/i5,  he  and  hia  family  and  relatives 
arrived  In  Huntcville,  Texas.  The  followin,'^  year  he  volunteered 
as  a  private,  but  soon  ciade  first  lieutenant,  in  the  company  of 
Captain  James  Gillespie  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  war  \d.th 
Kexicoj,  distinguishing  hirsself  in  the  Battle  of  Monterey.  After 
the  close  of  the  war,  he  returned  to  Huntsville  and  resumed  the 
practice  of  law. 

He  formed  a  close  friendship  v;ith  Peter  W,  Gray,  a  proni- 
nent  Texan,  who  encouraged  hiia  in  writing  a  comprehensive 
history  of  Texas.  In  1853  Ycalnom  established  a  home  seven 
miles  out  from  Huntsville,  called  "Shepherd's  Valley",  and  it 
1,'as  here  that  most  of  his  work  on  the  famous  history  was  done,, 
(Southern  History  Research  Marazine,  1936) 

6. 

The  Shepherd  Valley  house  was  constructed  on  lines  of  southern 
architecture,  with  a  wide  hall  through  the  center,  large  rooms  with  high 
ceilings,  and  open  fireplaces. 

A  Yoakum  is  said  to  have  been  in  the  Henry  Hudson  ex-pedition  in  the 
New  York  area  in  1611.   Certainly,  Valentine  Yoakum  appears  in  Peach 
Creek,  New  York  before  moving  to  Greenbrier  County  in  the  present  state 
of  West  Virginia.  There  he  established  Yoakum  Station  in  1771,  v;here  he 
and  his  family  (with  the  exception  of  George)  were  massacred  by  Shawnee 
Indians. 

George  killed  three  Indians  with  an  iron  skillet  and.  being  "swift 
of  foot  and  great  strength",  escaped.  At  the  age  of  25  he  married  hiargaret, 
the  daughter  of  Isaac  Vanbebber.  Among  their  children  was  George  II,  who 
moved  to  Powell's  Valley  in  Claiborne  County.  Tennessee  about  1790. 


-49 


Twenty-nine  Yoakum  families  now  live  in  Claiborne  County,  but  none  in 
Roane  County  or  in  Monroe  County,  where  Henderson  King  Yoakum's  father 
i.'aa  a  Justice-of-the-peace  between  1815-1825. 

Yoakum  attended  the  "comnon  schoolc  of  his  conraunity"  before  being 
recommended  for  West  Point  appointment  by  an  Athens,  Tennessee  Congress- 
man, James  Coffleld  Mitchell.  The  young  Philadelphia,  Tennesseean, 
Henderson  K.  Yoakum  was  duly  admitted  April,  1828  to  the  United  States 
Milita::y  Academy  at  Vest  Point  on  a  cadet  warrant. 

In  1833  he  was  graduated  21st  in  a  class  of  4.5  from  the  Academy,  He 
was  the  682nd  cadet  to  graduate  from  West  Pointy 

Soon  after  his  commissioning,  he  married  Miss  Eveline  Cannon,  daughter 
of  Robert  Cannon  in  Philadelphia,  Roane  County,  Tennessee  and  moved  to 
Murfreesboro,  In  1833  he  resigned  his  commission  in  the  array. 

Congressman  l'2.tchell  reappeared  in  Yoakum's  life  when  he  became 
his  legal  mentor  after  Yoakum  resigned  from  the  army  and  brought  his 
young  bride  to  Murfreesboro,  Mtchell  liad  become  circvdt  judge  in  the 
eleventh  district,  including  Rutherford  County,  where  he  served  from 
1830  to  1836.  There  is  no  record  of  how  the  23  year-olc',  ex-army  officer 
financed  his  studies  or  provided  livlihood  for  his  family  while  studying 
law  under  guidance  of  Judge  Mitchell. 

Two  interesting  hints  were  discovered  in  a  letter  Eveline  Yoakum 
wrote  to  her  mother.  One  of  these  leads  to  the  conjecture  that  the  Cannon 
family  was  aiding  their  daughter.  The  letter  has  the  cryptic  statement 
that,  "Henderson  started  a  French  school,  which  will  occupy  but  little  of 
his  time  and  bo  of  some  profit  to  us". 

On  July  /»,  1834-,  Yoakum  delivered  an  hour  and  a  half  address  to  the 
"young  men  of  Murfreesboro".  Fortunately,  this  discourse  has  been  preserved 


50 


by  Q  conteinporo.ry  nev/spaper,.  The  speech  was  preceded  by  reading  the 
Declcn.ratlon  of  Independenceo  In  tho  flowing  rhetoric  of  thiR  period, 
this  panegyric  13  illustrated  from  this  excerpt; 

"Our  Revolutionary  Fathern  arc  nearly  all  in  a  peaceful 
grave.  Those  illustrious  men,  \/ho  bequeathed  to  us  the  noble 
inheritance  that  we  now  en joy 5  have  nearly  all  gone  to  try 
the  realities  of  another  worldj  to  reap  the  glorious  fruits 
of  a  well  spent  life  allotted  to  the  noble  and  worthy  .... 
others  froa  their  age  it  is  plain,  that  a  few  revolving  suns 
will  carry  them  to  another  and  better  v/orld — and  when  it  shall 
please  the  GREAT  SPIRIT  so  to  do  may  they  be  able  to  report 
in  Keaven  that  all  is  well... They  see  before  them  no  halycon 
yearSp  no  sweet  moments  of  repose.  The  bird  of  Jove  v/as 
about  to  grapple  v/ith  the  Lord  of  the  Ocean,  the  invincible 
lion  of  Britian," 

Unfortuxiately,  the  Rutherford  County  court  records  of  the  1835-4.5 
era  were  destroyed,  but  there  is  evidence  in  the  Register's  records  of 
ample  practice  by  Yoakum.  These  indirect  references  reveal  speculation 
in  real  estate,  the  administration  of  estates,  and  mortgage  work. 

In  the  I84.O  census  records,  Henderson  and  his  wife  are  listed  as 
thirty  years  of  age,  having  five  daughters  under  15  years  of  age  and  one 
female  slave.  The  slave  was  apparently  obtained  from  one  William  Bryant, 
who  had  pledged  "Killy"  as  collateral  on  a  $300  note  Henderson  and  an 
associate  held  that  was  unpaid. 

The  Toakum  residence,  according  to  Dr.  Pittard's  finding,  was  located  on 
about  the  1977  site  of  the  Tennessee  Employment  Security  Office  on  the  cor- 
ner of  Vino  and  South  Spriat^   streota  in  Mur.frefc&boro. 


51 


In  1837  Yoalcura  was  elected  the  loayor  of  ^furf^eosbo^o  and  sexn^ed  for 
oix  years e  A  Democrat,  Yoakum's  political  activity  uas  not  confined  to 
local  interest.  He  xras   tho  friend  and  loyal  supporter  of  Andrew  Jackson, 
Martin  Van  Buren,  James  K.  Polk  and  Sam  Houston.  James  K.  Polk  announced 
he  would  run  for  Governor  at  a  party  given  in  hie  honor  in  Kurfreesboro  in 
1838.  President  Martin  Van  Euren  was  a  visitor  in  ^iu^freecbo^o  in  184.1. 
During  the  bitter  1839  struggle  between  the  Whigs  and  Democrats,  Yoakum 
vas  elected  to  the  Tennessee  Senate.  Among  the  bills  he  introduced  was 
one  to  abolish  the  office  of  superintendent  of  public  instruction.  He 
wag  successful  in  his  opposition  to  the  State  Aid  Act  for  i.nternal  im- 
provements. As  co-sponsor  with  James  C.  (Lean  Jiismy)  Jones  from  the 
House  of  Representatives,  he  recommended  the  use  of  convict  labor  for  the 
"lunatic  asylum".  This  predates  by  more  than  135  years  a  "pre-release 
for  labor"  plan  for  use  of  convict  labor  in  Tennessee  today. 

He  cajivassed  the  state  on  behalf  of  candidates  for  national  office 
and  debated  John  Bsll  as  a  champion  of  Fartin  Van  Buren.  He  accused  the 
Vlhig  candidate,  General  V/illiam  Henry  Harrison,  of  "selling  white  men  into 
slavery" . 

In  184.2,  when  the  General  Assembly  was  in  special  session  for  the 
purpose  of  redistricting  the  state,  Yoakum  appealed  to  James  K.  Polk, 
requesting  that,  "Rutherford  Co\inty  not  be  sacrificed  to  political  ex- 
pediency". Polk  took  the  steps  necessary  to  insure  the  success  of  Yoakum's 
plea. 

Yoakum  was  a  staunch  foe  of  alcohol,  recording  in  his  diai-y  shortly 
after  moving  to  Texas  that  "liquor  and  profanity  are  at  present  the  dis- 
tinguishing faults  of  the  great  men  of  Texas."  How  he  reconciled  this 
philosphy  as  a  member  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance  with  the  hard  drinking  of 
his  close  friend,  Sam  Houston,  is  one  of  the  perplexities  of  this  military 
man,  politician  and  religionist.  , 


52 


There  are  a  few  scattered  references  to  Yoakum  in  nicrofiltn  copies  of 
■Rutherford  County  newspapers. 

He  frequently  purchased  land  at  sheriff's  sales,  and  he  is  listed  as 
a  surety  on  a  3^100  note  for  Allan  Jarnegan. 

In  1840  he  was  an  attorney  for  the  reclamation  of  a  slave.  In  the 
same  year  he  was  named  as  an  elector  from  the  eighth  district  (Rutherford 
County)  for  the  l^rtin  Van  Buren-Richard  Johnson  presidential  ticket. 

He  was  given  the  power  of  attoi-ney  by  W.  Mo  Earthman  for  the  V/illiam 
V/ebber  estate  to  provide  for  Earthman 's  mother   He  handled  a  deed  of 
truc^  relating  to  slaves  for  Francis  S.  Manning  and  a  similar  duty  for 
Thomas  Yardly, 

A  conveyance  of  six  acres  of  land  purchased  from  John  Fletcher  for 
$35.30  is  recorded. 

One  evidence  of  closing  his  affairs  in  Murfreesboro  in  October, 
184.5  is  the  sale  of  lot  number  69  in  Murfreesboro  (possibly  his  residence) 
at  Church  and  Vine  Street  to  James  B.  Blockington  for  $1,500. 

Henry  King  Yoakum  never  lost  his  feel  for  the  military.  The  "Alamo 
fever"  struck  Murfreesboro  in  1835  with  reports  of  Davy  Crockett's 
death.  When  volunteers  were  called  to  support  the  war  for  Texas  inde- 
pendence, sixty-four  men  were  enrolled  in  the  Murfreesboro  Sentinels,  a 
cavalry  unit,  with  Yoakiun  serving  as  captain.  After  less  than  a  month, 
when  it  appeared  Texas  v/ould  be  successful,  the  Sentinels  were  mustered 
out.  However,  on  June  29,  1836,  Yoakum  enlisted  for  six  months  service 
under  Gen.  Edmund  P.  Gaines  and  served  on  the  Sabine  frontier.  Returning 
to  Murfreesboro,  ho  was  elected  mayor,  a  kind  of  hero's  award. 

In  1838  the  Cherokees  were  removed  from  East  Tennessee  and  Georgia. 
When  the  Cherokees  refused  to  move  west  from  the  Hiwassee  Purchase,  a  call 


53 

for  2,500  volxintcors  wag  made.  On  Miy  13,  1838  Yoakun  enllotcd  in  the 
First  Regiment,  Tennessee  Infantry.  Thirteen  days  later  he  was  named 
resinental  colonel.  In  that  capacity,  he  led  the  rej-jinent  into  the  heart 
of  the  Cherokee  coimtry  and  ever  after  bore  the  title,  "Colonel  Yoakum". 
He  inia   mustered  out  July  12,  1838, 

IJhat  in  Murf rcesboro  ^.-as  contemporary  vriLth  Henderson  Yoakum,  less 
than  a  decade  after  it  had  been  the  capital  of  Tennessee? 

It  trcis  a  ccTntnimity  of  about  1,000  population  with  established 
Baptist,  Presbyterian  and  Methodist  churches.  Yoakum  was  a  trustee  in 
the  Methodist  Chvirch,  established  in  1836.  Bradley  Academy  was  well 
established  and  Union  University  was  founded  in  184.1 .  William  Ledbetter 
v;as  clerk  and  caster,  l/illiam  Lillard,  sheriff  and  Charles  Ready,  post- 
caster.  The  Murfreesboro  Female  Academy  v/as  just  opening.  A  slave 
market  vras  on  the  north  side  of  the  courthouse  yard.  There  were  et 
least  three  hotels — Washington  on  the  east  side  of  the  square,  Lytles  on 
the  south,,  and  Allcan's  en  the  west. 

.Edwin  Keeble  was  editor  and  publisher  of  the  Central  Monitor,  a 
weekly  newspaper.  That  editor  Keeblo  Eatutalncd  the  legend  of  Fovurth 
Estate  conviviality  is  suggested  by  a  bulletin  in  one  edition  of  the 
Monitor  that  read: 

"The  gentleman  who  unceremoniously  took  E.  G.  Keeble' s  um- 
brella from  Colonel  Smith's  tavern  on  the  5th  inst.,  is  par- 
ticularly requested  to  call  and  pet  his  cloak  also". 

Yoakum  cade  a  hurried  trip  to  Texas  in  Juno,  18/+5  and  wrote  his  friend, 
Martin  Van  Buren,  "To  ask  how  I  like  Texas  is  to  ask  how  I  liko  the  United 
States — for  variety  of  soil,  climate,  etc.,  it  is  equally  as  prcat". 


54 


Having  decided,  on  Huntsvllle,  Texas  as  his  future  home,  Yoakum  spent 
the  period  from  June  to  October  1845  in  closing  out  his  business  interests, 
selling  his  residence  for  0l,5OO,  and  einbarkinp  on  the  journey  that  was  to 
bring  him  fame  and  fortune  in  the  Lone  Star  State.  Accompanying  him  were 
his  wife,  Eveline  Cannon  Yoakum,  daughters  Eliza,  Kartha,  I-lary,  Anne,  and 
Emily.  In  Texas  four  other  children  were  born  to  the  Yoakxim's — Houston, 
vho  married  Fannie  Dailey;  Robert  who  never  married;  George,  who  died 
while  in  service  with  the  5th  Texas  regiment  C.S.A.  in  Virginia;  and 
Henderson,  who  died  at  the  age  of  ten.  Mrs.  Yoakum  lived  until  1867. 

In  his  diary  Yoakum  records  the  stage  coach  trip  to  N^w  Orleans  and 
then  the  steamboat  journey  to  Huntsville.  On  his  arrival  he  wrote: 

"Yesterday  ve  went  house  hunting — the  house  is  old,  open, 
leaky  and  smoky.  In  addition  to  all  this,  there  has  been  a 
severe,  "northern"  winter.  Yet  we  have  some  sweet  potatoes 
and  coffee,  upon  which  we  must  nake  otirselves  as  comfortable 
as  we  can." 

Eight  years  later  he  recalled  the  circumstances  of  the  early  winter 
arrival  in  Texas  with  the  statement,  "When  I  arrived  here  eight  years 
ago,  I  had  but  a  single  dollar,  and  neither  house  nor  land  where-with-all 
to  feed  and  clothe  my  family;  and  besides  a  constitution  broken  down  in 
political  warfare".  In  the  letter  to  a  friend,  Thomas  J.  Rusl<i  he  said, 
"I  threw  down  the  glove  against  'Vhite  Whiggery.  I  followed  politics  as 
a  profession  and  practiced  it  with  the  zeal  of  a  lover  .  .  .  until  I  had 
spent  all  I  had  made  and  my  children  cried  for  bread  when  I  had  it  not  to 
give  them". 

On  December  2,  1845  he  obtained  a  license  to  pratice  law  in  Texas  and 
qxilckly  established  himself  as  a  successful  lawyer.  He  became  the  personal 


ccmr^alor  for  Cm  nciir^tcrio  lie  ectinnollccl  \rlth  Ilounton  on  c.ll  tjrpon  of 
;;'crcona.l  ani  poUtical  prcblci-a .  Jl?.   dcfcrrlc;!  Itrao  Houcton  on  en  arsault 
end  battery  trial  end  c^-lncd  a  nictrialo 

Hg  appoarcd  cnce  attain  in  uniform,  carving  fro:a  May  l6  xrntil  October  2, 
1?<,6  as  a  lioutcnant  in  the  1st  Recincnt,  Tc3:as  Movmted  Rifles,  partici- 
pating vd.th  distinotion  in  tho  tattle  of  Monterey.  He  v/as  mustered  out  a 
colonel  in  the  Texas  ydlitia,  a  rank  he  retained  xmtil  his  death. 

An  inventory  of  his  estate  in  1556-57,  a  decade  after  he  cane  im- 
poverished to  Huntsville,  -evcaled  the  cuccess  of  his  lai;  practice  and 
land  speculation.  In  addition  to  his  residence  in  Huntsville,  he  ovmed 
3,720  acres  of  land  in  Walker  Coxmty,  1,065  acres  in  Polk  County,  1,085 
acres  in  Houston  and  Cherokee  Coxmtics,  17  slaves,  and  other  personal 
property  valued  at  02,901,23. 

Certainly  tb^s  \ra3   a  remarkable  achievement  for  the  former  nayor  of 
Murfreesboro  vho  had  left  Tennessee,  "broken  in  health  and  fortvtne,  the 
victim  of  VJhite  '.-fhiggery". 

He  aided  in  establishing  the  Andrew  Fenale' Academy  in  Huntsville  and 
idth  Sam  Houston  served  as  a  member  of  the  official  board  until  the  time 
of  his  death.  He  served  on  tho  Board  of  Aldermen  in  Huntsville,  and  in 
1849  was  appointed  Attorney  General  by  the  Governor  of  Texas.  He  also 
served  as  an  active  trustee  of  Austin  College  and  became  the  High  Priest 
of  the  Texas  Masonic  Lodge. 

Perhaps  his  most  lasting  fame  came  in  the  writing  of  a  two-volume 
History  of  Texas,  From  the  First  Settlement  in  l6S5  to  its  Annexation  to 
the  United  States  in  I84.6.  Dr.  Pittard  states  that  "it  is  a  mystery  how 
Yoalcu^i  found  tir.e  to  compile  this  work,  which  the  historian,  Hubert  H. 
Dancroft,  described  as  'cno  of  the  best,  if  not  tho  best  history  of  Texnc'." 


56 


In  November,  1856  Colonel  Yoakum  accepted  an  invitation  to  deliver 
a  Masonic  address  in  Houston.  While  there  he  was  stricken  with  a  "tuber- 
cular attack"  in  the  home  of  Judge  and  lira.   P.  \1.   Gray.  On  November  29, 
at  the  age  of  4.6,  he  died.  The  body  was  carried  to  Huntsville  and  in- 
terred in  Oakwood  Cemetery.  The  moniiment  in  Oakwood  Cemetery  reads:   "In 
memory  of  the  high  appreciation  of  his  character  as  a  man,  his  usefulness 
as  a  citizen,  his  ability  as  a  lavorer,  his  fellow  citizens  have  erected 
this  m-.-nument  to  Col.  Henderson  King  Yoakum. 

loakum  County,  Texas,  of  which  Plain  is  the  county  seat,  located 
against  the  New  Mexico  border  was  named  in  honor  of  Henderson  King  Yoakum. 

When  San  Houston  was  dying  at  his  "Steamboat  House"  in  Houston, 
Texas,  July  1863,  he  requested  that  he  be  buried  beside  his  friend, 
Col.  Henderson  King  Yoakum. 


Col.  Henderson  King  Yoakum,  transplanted  Tennessean  who  became  a 
close  friend  and  legal  advisor  for  Sam  rlouston. 


Graveside  marker  for  Col.  Henderson  King  Yoakmri   in  Oakwood  Cemetery, 
Kiontsville,  Texas.  3an  Houston  is  buried  nearby. 


58 


BIBLIOGRAPPfr 

Rhea  and  McMlnn  Coiinty  Covirthousc  records 

U.S.  Military  Acndeniy  records  of  rGCorninendation  and  George  Yoakuin'vS 
letter  of  assent  for  his  son  to  sign  the  articles  of  obligation 
for  cervice,  April  22,  1823 

Letter  from  Eveline  Yoakua  to  her  nother,  Murfreesboro,  Tennessee, 
April  3,  1333,  now  in  the  University  of  Texas,  Austin 

Sims,  History  of  Ruthe .-ford  Coimty,  pp.-  SS-89 

Austin  (T3xas)  College  catalog,  1855-56,  pp.  71-73 

HandbooV  of  Texas.  Vol.  II,  p.  945 

The  Texas  banner,  (Huntsville,  Texas)  October  6,  184-9 

The  Texas  Bar  Journal,  September  22,  1970,  an  article  by  Bov;en  C.  Tatura  Jr., 
'  "A  Texas  Patriot",  pp.  219-22^ 

Oakv/ood  Cemetery  Records,  Huntsville,  Texas 

Houston  Daily  Post,  October  26,  1908,  q  letter  written  by  his  son 

Dallas  Morning  News,  August  21,  1932,  a  featiire  story  v;ritten  by 
Evelyn  M.  Carrington,  "Yoakum,  Fiery  Historian  of  Shepherd 'rj 
Valley",  p.  3  et,  seq. 

Book  C,  Probate  Minutes  of  Walker  County,  Texas,  p.  24.7,  covering  will 
eind  Inventory  of  Henderson  King  Yoakum's  property. 

Letter  from  Robert  J.  Suddar^h,  Circuit  Court  Clerk  of  Rutherford  CciLnty, 
Tennessee  January  15,  1969,  concerning  legal  practice  in  Tennessee, 
records  were  destroyed  by  Union  operations  against  the  Conf edez-acy, 
1861-65 


59 


UNCLE  AGGIE  McPEAK'S  GRIST  hCCLL 
Mrs.  Pauline  M.  Dillon 

Uncle  Aggie  McPeak's  grist  mill  was  located  in  Rutherford  County, 
16th  district,  on  a  farm  about  1/2  mile  north  of  the  Bradley's  Creek 
Baptist  Church  on  Bradley's  Creek  and  was  owned  by  P.  A.  McPeak  (Uncle 
.Iggie)  , 

It  vfas  a  two-story  wooden  building  that  partly  hovered  over  a  thick 
rock-cemented  sqiiare  v;all  or  sl;iic&-way  vd.th  gates  that  could  be  raised 
or  lowered  at  each  end  to  control  the  flow  of  the  water.  This  sluice- 
way contained  the  water  wheel  which  was  at  the  end  of  the  mill  dam. 
This  mill  dam  \!as  made  up  of  big  thick  rock-fence  type  rocks  and  covered 
horizontally  and  securely  with  long  wooden  planks.  The  top  of  the  dam 
was  mrach  higher  than  the  banks  of  the  creek  and  was  shaped  like  the 
half  of  a  house  top  that  went  sloping  downward  to  the  creek  bed.  The 
dam  formed  a  mill  pond  above  the  dam  which  reserved  the  water  for  the 
power  used  in  the  grinding. 

On  the  front  of  the  bizilding  was  a  porch.  The  patrons  came  to 
mill  on  horseback  vd.th  their  huge  sacks  of  shelled  com  behind  them  and 
would  unload  them  on  this  porch. 

Uncle  Aggie  would  then  roll  the  sacks  of  corn  into  the  mill  with 
a  two-wheeled,  steel-tire  push  wagon  or  cart,  take  out  the  toll  corn 
with  a  small  red  cedar  square  box  measure  and  pour  it  into  a  big  unused 
hog- scalding  box  with  the  other  toll  corn. 

He  would  take  the  rest  of  the  sack  of  com  and  pour  it  into  a  big 


60 


wooden  hopper  that  was  built  abovo  the  big  mill  stones  to  be  groiind 
into  Eeal.  As  tho  corn  \ras  being  groimd  or  crushed  between  these  huge 
mill  stones,  tho  meal  came  out  beneath  in  a  little  trough  onto  which 
the  patron's  sack  was  fastened.  Vflien  finished  grinding,  Uncle  Aggie, 
the  dusty  miller,  removed  the  sack  of  meal,  tied  it  securely  and  the 
patron  would  be  on  his  way.  Then  came  the  next  patron  and  so  on. 

Sometimes  the  mill  stones  needed  sharpening,  and  it  took  a  skilled 
mill  Wright  to  do  the  job.  The  one  that  came  here  was  on  old  French- 
man by  the  name  of  DeHaven  who  was  a  traveling  mill  wright.  He  came 
by  once  or  twice  a  year  and  sometimes  would  stay  a  week  while  doing 
the  job. 

Uncle  Aggie  (P.  A.  McPeak)  died  in  1912.  After  that,  his  son, 
Charlie  W,  McPeak,  probably  operated  the  mill  intermittenly  for  a  few 
years,  maybe  until  about  1918. 

Now  the  mill  is  gone,  also  the  mill  dam  and  rock-wall  sluice- 
xmy.  The  heavy  rains  with  their  high  flood  waters  gradually  washed 
them  away. 

There's  nothing  left  of  the  old  mill  but  the  two  huge  mill  stones 
\Aich  are  reserved  and  kept  in  memory  of  the  old  Ifeicle  Aggie  McPeak 
grist  mill  that  he  operated  from  1878  -  1912. 


Mrs.  Pauline  M.  Dillon 
Granddaughter 

From  Down  Memory  Lane 


61 


METHODISTS  AND  MURFREESBORO  IN  THE  MID- NINETEENTH  CENTURY 
by  Jerry  H.  Brookshire 

Murfreesboro  and  the  nation  experienced  a  critical  and  fascinating 
period  during  the  three  decades  of  the  184.0's-60*s:  the  late  antebellum 
era,  Civil  War,  and  Reconstruction.  The  conditions  during  this  period  can 
be  partially  revealed  through  studies  of  the  various  facets  of  life  at  the 
time.  This  paper  vdll  examine  one  such  aspect  —  Methodism  in  Murfreesboro  - 
with  particular  emphasis  on  membership  patterns  as  affected  by  slavery, 
Civil  War,  and  Reconstruction. 

Some  brief  introductory  comments  about  the  Methodist  organizational 
structure  may  be  in  order.  The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  had  a  quadrennial 
General  Conference.  The  church  was  divided  into  many  subgroupings ,  called 
"conferences,"  most  of  which  were  the  size  of  a  state  or  portion  of  a  state. 
Each  conference  held  a  yearly  meeting  called  the  Annual  Conference;  the 
Tennessee  Conference  usually  met  in  October.  A  conference  was  divided  into 
districts,  over  which  were  presiding  elders  (district  superintendents) . 
Then  there  was  the  local  charge  or  circuit,  consisting  of  one  or  more 
chvirches,  and  to  which  would  be  appointed  a  pastor(s).  In  the  Tennessee 
Conference,  appointments  were  usvially  changed  every  year. 

In  1844.-1845  a  major  split  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  occurred; 
the  ch\irch  throughout  most  of  the  slaveholding  states  formed  itself  into 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Chxirch,  South,  and  the  remainder  throughout  the 
nation  continued  with  the  original  name.  Slavery  was  one  significant  issue 


62 


which  brought  about  this  split,  and  directly  involved  in  this  separation 
were  several  men  closely  associated  with  Murfreesboro  Methodism. 

Methodism  in  America  had  struggled  with  the  problem  of  slavery  for 
many  decades.  The  1784.  conference  which  organized  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  for  the  newly  independent  United  States  forbade  slave  trade  or         ^ 
ownership  by  members  and  established  a  procedure  for  the  gradual  emancipation 
by  Methodist  owners.  At  first,  most  preachers  and  laymen  took  this  provision 
seriously,  but  over  the  next  three  decades  the  General  Conference  gradvially 
modified  its  anti-slavery  position  and  even  provided  some  local  options  by 
Annual  Conferences  on  the  issue.  In  the  Tennessee  Conference  there  were 
some  heated  debates,  especially  in  1819,  but  generally  by  the  1820's       ^ 
slavery  was  becoming  tolerated  for  several  reasons.  Throughout  the  south 
the  cotton  economy  was  growing  and  slavery  was  becoming  more  pervasive, 
and  particularly  in  Tennessee,  Methodists  were  evolving  from  "frontiersmen" 
to  more  settled,  more  affluent  people.  Some  preachers  in  Tennessee  were 
Harrying  into  slave-owning  families,  and  moreover,  some  of  the  most  vocal, 
anti-slavery  preachers  were  recognizing  the  change  and  were  moving  to  non- 
slave  states.^  Following  the  182A  General  Conference,  the  position  was 
that  Methodist  laymen  could  own  slaves,  but  that  slavery  was  considered  an  evil  and  an 
official  within  the  church  could  neither  buy  and  sell  slaves  nor  own  slaves 
(unless  the  law  in  his  state  prohibited  emancipation),  and  even  this 
provision  was  not  enforced. 

Two  important  secondary  sources  on  the  chiirch  separation  are  the  per- 
tinent sections  of  William  Warren  Sweet,  The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and 
the  Civil  War  (Cincinnati:  Methodist  Book  Concern  Press,  1912)  and  Emory 
Stevens  Bucke,  gen.  ed.,  The  History  of  American  Methodism.  3  vols.  (New 
York:  Abingdon  Press,  I964.). 

^oda  Lee  Kennedy,  "The  Methodist  Church  in  Tennessee,  1 800-1 82i;" 
(Thesis,  George  Peabody  College,  1929),  pp.  59-62. 


63 


Within  the  United  States  during  the  1830's  and  18^4.0' s,  abolition 
jnovements  became  significant.  Slavery  became  a  very  controversial  issue 
among  Methodists,  although  the  aboUtionists  gained  little  support  in  the 
1836  and  I84O  General  Conferences.  In  the  early  18.^0' s,  the  anti-slavery 
movement  grew  stronger,  and  the  issue  at  the  \^UU  General  Conference  pre- 
cipitated a  split  in  the  church. 

The  General  Conference  met  in  New  York  in  May  and  June  of  18/W..  All 
four  delegates  from  the  Tennessee  Conference  are  associated  with  the  Mui--  ^ 
freesboro  church.  Robert  Paine  had  been  its  first  pastor  two  decades 
earlier,  Thomas  Madden  bec&me  its  pastor  six  years  later,  and  A.  L.  P. 
Green  was  twice  the  presiding  elder  (district  superintendent)  of  the  Mur- 
freesboro  district.  John  B.  McFerrin  was  never  assigned  to  Murfreesboro, 
but  he  often  preached  there  on  special  occasions  and  was  a  close  relative 
of  later  pastors  there;  McFerrin  edited  the  Southwestern  Christian  Advocate 
located  in  Nashville  and  used  it  in  18iW.-4.5  to  print  letters  and  articles 

by  himself  and  others  which  strongly  favored  the  separation  of  the  church 

3 
and  which  criticized  northern  Methodists."^ 

The  184-4  General  Conference  experienced  a  heated  debate  which  centered 
arotmd  Bishop  James  0.  Andrews  of  Georgia,  who  through  marriage  and  inheri- 
tance became  owner  of  a  few  slaves  in  a  state  in  which  emancipation  was 
illegal.  One  motion  at  the  General  Conference  proposed  to  remove  him  as 
bishop  since  he  owned  slaves;  the  amended  version  which  passed  110  to  68 
retained  him  in  office  but  suspended  him  from  performing  any  duties  as 
bishop  while  he  continued  to  own  slaves.  All  four  Tennessee  delegates 


^Lewis  McCarroll  Piirifoy,  Negro  Slavery;  The  Moral  Ordeal  of 
Southern  Methodism.  18^4-1861  (Lake  Junaluska,  N.C.:  Association  of 
Methodist  Historical  Societies,  I966),  pp.  81-82. 


voted  vdth  the  minority,  and  Green  spoke  passionately  during  the  debate. 
The  long  debate  was  not  on  slavery  itself,  for  most  delegates  considered 
Slavery  a  sin;  that  debate,  as  well  as  an  earlier  one  at  the  Conference, 
centered  on  the  power  of  the  General  Conference  to  interfere  in  areas 
affecting  the  duties  of  bishops.  In  fact,  even  after  the  split  in  the 
church,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  included  slave-holding  states 
(border  states),  and  only  in  186-^  did  its  General  Conference  prohibit  slave 

ownership  by  members. 

At  the  18^  General  Conference,  following  the  defeat  of  the  southern 
position  on  the  Andrews  case,  McFerrin's  motion  was  passed  that  a  "Committee 
of  Nine"  devise  a  method  for  a  possible  division  of  the  church  if  Annual 
Conferences  in  slave-holding  states  chose  to  form  their  own  organization. 
Paine  chaired  the  committee  and  then  explained  and  defended  its  "Plan  of 

Separation"  in  the  resulting  debates.  The  General  Conference  accepted  it 

5 
before  adjournment.-' 

Delegates  from  the  southern  Conferences  then  continued  to  meet  for 
another  day  in  New  York  and  agreed  that  their  Annual  Conferences  should 
determine  their  positions  on  separation  and  appoint  delegates  to  a  special 
convention  in  Louisville  in  May  18^5-  The  Tennessee  Annual  Conference 
later  in  18U  strongly  supported  separation^  and  sent  to  Louisville  ten 
men.  Four  had  attended  the  18U  General  Conference  and  had  signed  the  call 
for  the  Louisville  convention;  of  the  other  six,  five  are  associated  with 
Murfreesboro  as  pastors  or  presiding  elders:  Fountain  E.  Pitts,  J.  W.  Hanner, 

^History  of  the  Organization  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
vlth  the  Journal  of  Its  First  General  Conference  (Nashville:   Publishing 
House,  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  1925),  pp.  95-96,  Ul-U^-      This 
is  a  collection  of  pertinent  documents. 

^Ibid.,  pp.  101,  passim. 
^Ibid.,  pp.  182-85. 


65 


Joshxia  Boucher,'  Robert  L.  Andrews  (its  then  presiding  elder),  and  Ambrose 
F.  Driskill  (Andrews'  successor  the  next  year).  At  Loudsville,  Paine  and 
Pitts  served  on  the  important  Committee  of  Organization  and  all  ten  voted 
with  the  overwhelming  majority  to  create  a  separate  church,  the  Methodist  -^ 
Episcopal  Church,  South. 

Slavery  and  the  relationship  of  white  and  black  members  within  the  -' 
church  was  a  crucial  concern  for  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 
Its  first  General  Conference  strongly  recommended  that  there  not  be  sep- 
arate black  congregations  (called  African  missions  or  colored  missions)  -jf 
within  districts;  rather,  blacks  and  whites  should  belong  to  the  same 
congregations  and  worship  together  even  though  there  would  be  segregation 
in  seating.  Most  supporters  of  that  arrangement  considered  it  better  spir- 
itually for  blacks  and  whites  alike  (many  clergymen  stressed  the  equality 
of  souls)  and  also  financially  (for  whites  would  have  to  support  the  "mis- 
sions")-  Despite  that  appeal,  many  churches  and  districts  did  not  follow 
that  pattern.  In  antebellum  Murfreesboro,  where  about  half  of  the  members  ^ 
of  the  Methodist  church  were  slaves,  the  worship  arrangements  for  the  blacks 
varied  throughout  the  period. 

At  times,  apparently  there  were  joint  worship  services  by  the  two 
races,  for  the  old  church  building  (constructed  in  1823  )  and  the  new  one 


Boucher  had  signed  a  vigorous  protest  following  the  1819  Annual 
Conference  for  its  refusal  to  admit  on  trial  to  the  clergy  a  slave-owner. 
John  B.  McFerrin,  History  of  Methodism  in  Tennessee.  3  vols.   (Nashville: 
Southern  Methodist  Publishing  House,  1869-73),  3:  160-161 . 

^Organization  .  .  .  M.  E.  C.  South,  pp.  239,  24.8,  262-63. 

°Piirifoy,   Negro  Slavery,   pp.    14.6-14.7. 

^History  of  Tennessee  .  .  ..Rutherford  .  «  ».  (Nashville;      Goodspeed 
Publishing  Co.,   1886),  p.   84-0. 


66 


which  replaced  it  in  184,3''''  each  had  a  gallery  for  slaves.  Even  so,  most 
services  were  separate  according  to  G.  T.  Henderson,  once  its  pastor  and  a  " 
long-time  Murfreesboro  Methodist  during  this  period.   Henderson  wrote  that 
"negroes  worshiped  in  the  ^^8233  church  every  Sunday  afternoon  at  3  o'clock, 

with  Thomas  Hartwell  as  their  preacher,"  and  in  the  18^3  building,  the  "base- 

1 2 
ment  was  used  by  the  negroes  for  general  services  and  Sunday  school  purposes." 

For  most  of  this  period,  the  whites  and  blacks  were  considered  part  of 
the  same  "congregation,"  whether  or  not  they  actually  worshiped  together. 
For  other  years,  though,  they  were  separate  congregations.  For  the  first 
time  in  the  official  chiirch  membership  records,  in  October  184.5  no  blacks  were 
listed  on  the  Murfreesboro  chiirch  rolls;  they  and  blacks  from  other  churches 
in  the  vicinity  were  in  the  "Stone's  River  African  Mission"  circuit.  Al-   ^ 
though  that  special  circuit  continued  (with  some  interruption)  until  the  war 
years,  from  184.7  iintil  1853  the  Murfreesboro  membership  records  again  included  . 
both  whites  and  blacks.  In  1853  the  pastoral  assignment  specified  a  "Murfrees- 
boro' and  col'd  mis,"  indicating  that  there  were  two  separate  congregations    ■" 
sharing  the  same  pastors.  -^  The  next  year  (1854)  the  two  races  were  separated 
into  different  charges  with  the  creation  of  the  Rutherford  colored  mission,"  " 
vrtiich  lasted  only  one  year  and  whose  preacher  was  Elisha  Carr.  For  the  next 


Carlton  C.  Sims,  ed.,  A  History  of  Rutherford  County,  ^turfreesboro, 
Tenn.:   Carlton  C.  Sims,  1947]  p.  196. 

1 2 

C.  C.  Henderson,  The  Story  of  Murfreesboro  (Murfreesboro,  Tenn.:   News- 
Banner  Publishing  Co.,  1929),  p.  131.  Sims  states  that  the  basement  was 
"sometimes  used  for  Negroes."  Ibid. 

"^There  is  no  indication  whether  T.  W.  Handle  or  his  assistant  Abraham 
Overall  had  specific  responsibility  for  the  black  congregation. 


67 


three  years  (1855/56-1857/58)  whites  and  blacks  were  listed  in  the  same  Mur- 
freesboro  congregation,  but  the  next  two  years  (1858/59  and  1859/60)  Kurfrees- 
boro  was  again  an  all-white  congregation,  and  its  blacks  were  included  in  the  - 
Stone's  River  African  Mission.  During  the  remaining  two  years  (1860/61  and 
1861/62)  before  the  va.T   interrupted,  whites  and  blacks  were  again  listed  in 
the  same  congregation  (the  1862  membership  figures  recorded  24.3  whites  and   - 

267  blacks). ^"^ 

Apparently  in  antebellum  Murfreesboro,  only  occasionally  did  the  blacks 
and  whites  worship  together  in  segregated  seatings;  the  pattern  was  separate  :4 
worship  services,  especially  by  the  1840's.  The  constant  separating  of  the 
two  congregations  during  the  two  decades  before  the  Civil  War  indicates  that 
these  were  probably  merely  organizational  or  administrative  changes  and  that 
the  races  worshiped  separately  even  when  technically  part  of  the  same  congre- 
gation (or  "station"  or  "church"). 

Preachers  assigned  to  black  congregations  were  white.    A  glimpse  into  "^ 
the  worship  services  is  fo\ind  in  a  series  of  essays  on  Elisha  Carr,  who  served 
about  half  his  ministry  in  black  missions,  including  one  year  in  Murfreesboro. 
He  disliked  what  he  considered  excessive  or  feigned  emotionalism  of  blacks 
diiring  worship;  he  also  was  reputed  once  to  have  carried  pebbles  to  throw  at 
those  who  slept  during  services.  He  believed  he  understood  the  "black  character," 


""^The  information  found  above  in  this  paragraph  is  from  the  various 
Tennessee  Annual  Conference  reports  in  the  yearly  Minutes  of  the  Annual  Con- 
ferences of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South  . . .  (Nashville:   Southern 
Methodist  Publishing  House) .   Unfortunately,  figures  on  membership  totals  may 
not  always  be  accurate,  especially  on  black  membership  when  at  times  "round 
niunbers"  seem  to  be  used.   Black  membership  in  Murfreesboro  in  the  IS^O's  and 
1850's  generally  ranged  between  130  and  180.   Since  the  Annual  Conference 
usually  met  in  October  each  year,  a  church  year  is  from  October  to  October. 
Membership  figures  are  supposedly  for  that  time  of  year;  however,  if  whites  and 
blacks  are  listed  in  the  same  congregation  then,  that  does  not  necessarily  in- 
dicate they  were  part  of  the  same  congregation  for  the  entire  preceeding  year. 

•^No  information  has  been  located  on  Thomas  Hartwel]  though  most  likely 
he,  too,  was  white. 


68 


and  he  preached  to  them  to  end  their  faults,  be  honest,  and  obey  their  mas- 
ters.   His  views  on  blacks  may  have  been  very  sirailiar  to  his  friend,  A.  P. 
L.  Green,  a  slave-owner  preacher  vrtio  believed  the  system  of  slavery  under 

good  masters  was  beneficial  to  blacks  for  he  felt  that  they  were  inherently 

17 
incompetent  to  control  themselves.    Jithin  the  black  I'lurfreesboro  congre- 
gation were  some  members  who  had  leadership  positions  and  preached  some  sermons. 
The  postwar  black  congregation  was  listed  as  having  four  Qblack^  "local 

preachers";  the  pastor,  Braxton  James,  had  been  such  a  preacher  there  while  a  ^ 

,    18 
slave . 

The  Civil  War  came  to  middle  Tennessee  and  Kurfreesboro  in  1862.   In     y 
late  February,  the  Confederate  army  abandoned  Nashville,  and  Murfreesboro  be- 
came the  temporary  headquarters  of  General  Albert  Sydney  Johnston  before  he 
moved  south  to  fight  and  die  at  Shiloh  in  April.  The  Federal  army  took  control 
of  Murfreesboro  from  the  spring  imtil  the  autumn  of  1862,  though  possession  was 
temporarily  interrupted  by  Forrest's  raid  in  July.  In  the  autumn,  General 
Brajcton  Bragg' s  Confederate  army  withdrew  from  its  campaign  in  Kentucky  to  >kir- 
freesboro  in  anticipation  of  an  attack  on  Nashville.   Instead,  the  Federal 
forces  advanced  from  Nashville  and  defeated  the  Confederates  in  the  Battle  of 
Murfreesboro  (or  Stone's  River,  December  30,  1862  to  January  2,  1863).   Bragg's 
army  was  forced  back  tov;ard  Chattanooga,  and  the  Federal  army  occupied  Murfreesboro 

""^A.  L.  P.  Green,  "The  Rev.  Elisha  Carr."  The  Home  Circle  7  (July  I860): 
28-29.  William  M.  Green,  "Pleasant  Recollections  of  Rev.  Elisha  Carr,"  The 
Home  Monthly  4  (February,  ^krch,  April,  and  M^y  1868):   88-90,  111-13, 
154-56,  219-21. 

17  " 

William  M.  Green,  Life  and  Papers  of  A.  L.  P.  Green,  ed.  T.  0.  Summers 

(Nashville:   Southern  Methodist  Publishing  House,  1877),  pp.  167-68.   Future 

research  into  slave  ownership  and  views  on  slavery  by  Murfreesboro  Methodist 

laymen  and  other  preachers  could  prove  rewarding. 

^° Minutes  of  the  Annual  Conferences  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. . . , 
(New  York:   Methodist  Episcopal  Church),  for  1866,  pp.  258-59«   From  the  records, 
it  is  not  clear  v/hether  or  not  James  was  included  in  that  number  of  "local 
preachers."  See  also  James'  obituary  in  the  same  publication,  1885,  p.  342.  y 


69 


thereafter.  The  Union  forces  built  the  massive  Fort  Rosencrans  to  protect 
its  major  supply  depot  there  and  maintained  effective  control  over  the  city 
and  its  people. 

The  Murfreesboro  Methodist  church  and  the  entire  Tennessee  Conference 
was  greatly  disrupted  by  the  war  and  enemy  occupation.   The  Annual  Conference 
of  October  1862  met  in  Cornersville,  which  was  accessible  and  not  in  Union 
•hands,  and  then  it  did  not  meet  again  until  three  years  later,  after  the  war 
was  over.  Because  of  the  confusion  and  uncertainty,  practically  no  changes  in 
pastoral  appointments  were  made  at  that  1862  conference.  Actually,  many  pul- 
pits were  not  being  filled,  for  almost  one-fifth  of  the  clergymen  of  the 

19 
Tennessee  Conference  were  serving  in  the  Confederate  army.    Many  others 

left  this  area  for  Confederate  controlled  territory  or  remained  "quietly  at 

home";  A.  L.  P.  Green  in  1869  asserted  that  Federal  troops  "arrested  and  sent 

off  to  prison  a  considerable  number  of  the  Methodist  preachers  in  Nashville 

20 
and  its  vicinity." 

In  1862  George  L.  Staley  was  reappointed  as  the  Murfreesboro  pastor,  but  - 

there  is  no  evidence  as  to  how  long  he  continued  to  serve,  since  Conference 

21 
records  were  not  kept  between  October  1862  and  October  1865.    Reappointed 

as  his  assistant  in  1862  was  E.  J.  Allen,  a  "supernumerary"  preacher  who  had 

been  the  assistant  in  Murfreesboro  since  1857  and  who  continued  to  serve  within 

the  district  as  an  assistant  pastor  in  the  postwar  period.  Allen  was  apparently 

22 
a  permanent  resident  of  Murfreesboro,   and  perhaps  he  led  the  congregation 


19 

Carter,  History  of  the  Tennessee  Conference,  pp.  14,7-51 . 

^Green,  Life  and  Papers  of  A.  L.  P.  Green,  p.  508. 

21 

*^' Information  gathered  by  >fertha  Ison,  "Traveling  Connection,  Murfreesboro 

First  Methodist,"  1:  90.  No  obituary  exists  to  shed  any  light  on  the  question. 
^^See  Minutes  .  .  .  J^.E.C.  South  for  the  appropriate  years. 


70 


during  much  of  the  war  period.  G.  T.  Henderson,  a  former  Murfreesboro  pastor 
and  by  then  a  permanent  resident  and  a  publisher  in  Murfreesboro,  served  as  a 
Chaplin  in  the  Confederate  army  until  "disabled  by  rheumatism  .  .  .  near  the 

close  of  the  war."  He  then  returned  to  the  niinistry,  and  though  it  is  not 

23 
clearly  stated,  he  may  have  led  the  local  church  toward  the  end  of  the  war. 

There  is  not,  thus,  any  solid  information  on  whether  or  not  the  Methodist 

congregation  had  an  ordained  minister  during  the  last  two  and  a  half  years 

of  the  war. 

The  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction  affected  church  attendance  and  member- 
ship, both  of  whites  and  blacks.  Ore  obvious  feature  was  that  some  members 
served  in  the  Confederate  army^  and  thus  were  not  in  l-iurfreesboro  during 
part  of  the  war.  Another  is  that  overall  white  membership  seriously  declined 
beginning  with  the  report  of  October  1861:   1859  (278),  I860  (308),  1861  (251), 
1862  (2.;3),  1863  and  186^  (no  records),  1865  (229),  1866  (215).^^  One  may 
only  speculate  as  to  the  causes  of  that  decline:   reduction  of  religious  in- 
terest, economic  disruption,  social  instability,  etc.   Other  features  involving 
membership  and  attendance  were  political  controversies,  loss  of  the  church 
building  during  much  of  the  war,  black  members  forming  their  separate  congre-  -/ 
gation(s),  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Chvirch's  attempt  to  establish  a  second, 
and  rival,  white  church  in  Murfreesboro. 

At  least  one  member  withdrew  from  the  church  in  a  very  passionate  and 
controversial  dispute  over  loyalty  to  the  Union  or  the  Confederacy.   Most  of 

^^This  portion  of  Henderson's  "obitviary"  was  written  by  him.   Ison, 
"Travelling  Connection,"  1:   27-32. 

^This  obvious  generalization  is  based  on  a  few  pertinent  biographical 
sketches,  especially  foiind  in  Goodspeed's  History  ...Rutherford..  .,  pp. 1019- 
76,  and  ibid. 

•"Minutes  .  .  .M.E.C..  South,  appropriate  years. 


71 


the  white  members  of  the  church  strongly  supported  the  Confederacy.   One  who 
did  not  was  James  M.  Tompkins,  a  prosperous  farmer  and  merchant  and  successful 
county  political  figure;  he  had  served  in  several  political  positions,  in- 
cluding one  term  (1855-57)  as  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly.   In  December 
1861  he  was  elected  a  city  alderman,  and  when  in  1-lay  1862  the  Federal  author- 
ities in  Murfreesboro  required  all  officials  to  take  a  prescribed  oath,  he  -^ 
was  one  of  the  few  who  did;  those  who  did  not  were  removed  from  office.   The 
remaining  aldermen  then  elected  him  mayor,  a  post  he  held  for  several  months 
until  the  war  conditions  ended  the  municipal  and  civil  government.   His  polit- 
ical activities  were  very  unpopular  in  Murfreesboro  in  that  chaotic  year  of 
1862;  he  even  had  two  sons  in  the  Confederate  army.   This  tension  was  re- 
flected in  the  Murfreesboro  Methodist  church,  where  he  was  a  member  and  a 
steward.   The  controversy  became  so  intense  that  he  withdrew  his  membership 
from  the  church  that  year,  and  although  he  expected  to  re-enter  the  church 
later  on,  he  finally  decided  against  that  and  in  1868  joined  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  church. 

Worship  service  was  fvu-ther  interrupted  by  the  war  as  the  congregation 
lost  control  of  its  building  in  1862.  As  with  many  other  large,  sturdy, 
brick  structures  in  Murfreesboro,  the  Methodist  church  building  vras  taken  over 
as  a  hospital,  first  by  the  Confederates  and  then  by  the  Union  which  held  it 
until  1865.  The  structure  was  severely  damaged,  and  in  1873  it  was  so  com- 
pletely remodeled  that  it  was  rededicated.  For  at  least  part  of  the  time  that 

^^James  M.  Tompkins,  "Memoirs  of  James  M.  Tompkins  ( 'V/ritten  by  Himself')" 
and  Homer  Pittard,  "Occupation  ^ilyor:   The  Honorable  J.  M.  Tompkins," 
Publications  of  the  Rutherford  County  Historical  Society  2  (Winter  '•973), 
pp.  32-36,  30-31;  Biorrraphical  Directory,  Tennessee  General  Assembly,  1796- 
1967  (Preliminary,  No.  6)  Rutherford  County  (Nashville:   Tennessee  State 
Library  and  Archives,  (19S8),  p.  57;  and  biographies  of  two  of  his  sons 
(Robert  and  Albert  G.)  in  Goodspeed's  History  .  .  .Rutherford  .  .  .,  pp.  'Ob/-  ■ 
68.  The  blurred  Tompkins  memoirs  have  dates  which  may  be  read  as  1882  and 
1888  or  1862  and  1868;  the  latter  are  obviously  correct  since  he  died  in  1870. 
Tompkins  wrote  this  memoir  for  his  children  to  explain  his  actions  to  them. 
Apparently  he  was  deeply  concerned  about  the  religious  controversy,  for  he  ends 
with  that  topic  and  he  wrote  this  memoir  only  four  months  after  he  decided  to 
join  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  church. 


72 


the  Methodists  were  vdthout  their  building,    they  used  the  still  incomplete 

27 

but  "less  damaged"  Cumberland  Presbyterian  church  for  Methodist  services. 

A  similar  problem  affected  the  black  members.  A  history  of  a  black  Methodist  - 
church  founded  after  the  Civil  War  states  that  during  that  war,  the  blacks 

worshiped  in  some  of  their  houses,  in  the  basement  of  the  Methodist  church 

28 
building,  and  finally  in  the  Primitive  Baptist  church. 

By  the  end  of  the  war  there  was  the  new  question  of  membership  of  now 
freed  black  Methodists.   Throughout  the  south,  there  was  by  the  whites  the 
general  acceptance  of  separate  black  congregations,  with  their  own  officials 
and  often  their  own  [blackj  pastors.  Most  white  Methodist  leaders  hoped  that 
these  black  congregations  would  remain  within  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South;  special  circuits  and  African  missions  were  established  or  continued.  - 
The  white  Methodist  leaders  believed  that  the  ending  of  slavery  did  not  mean 
that  they  should  end  their  concern  for  aiding  and  perhaps  controlling  the 
religious  development  of  blacks.   But  black  membership  fell  drastically, 
especially  as  individual  blacks  and  often  entire  congregations  joined  the 
(independent)  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  or  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  which  sent  "missionaries"  to  the  south  to  serve  both  whites  and 
blacks.  To  counter  or  reverse  this  loss  of  membership,  the  Methodist  Episcopal 

27 

Based  nainly  on  Goodspeed's  History.  .  .Rutherford  .  .  .,  pp.  837,  839-4-0; 

also  J.  B.  McFerrin,  History  of  Methodism  in  Tennessee,  3:   34-7  (on  his  dedicating 
the  building),  and  C.  C.  Henderson,  Story  of  Murfreesboro.  p.  131  (on  its  retiirn 
to  the  congregation  in  1865). 

^^hkttie  D.  Bracy,  "The  Development  of  the  Negro  Church  in  Rutherford 
County"  (undergraduate  paper,  Tennessee  A.  and  I.,  1944-),  p.  H.   One  of  her 
sources  is  a  now  lost  work  by  Mrs.  J.  P.  McClellan,  "History  of  Key  Memorial 
Methodist  Church,"  [n.p.,  n.d.^.   The  sequence  of  the  locations  of  worship 
is  as  given  by  Bracy,  but  one  may  wonder  if  not  the  loss  of  the  church  building 
to  the  Methodists  caused  the  black  members  to  then  worship  in  various  houses 
and  then  finally  in  the  Primitive  Baptist  church. 


73 


Church,  South,  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  merge  with  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  1866.  Then  in  general  recognition  that  most  blacks  wanted 
complete  control  of  their  own  church  organization,  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  helped  sponsor  in  1870-71  the  establishment  of  the  Colored  ^-- 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. ^"^ 

In  1865  in  the  Kurfreesboro  district  (of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South),  an  attempt  was  made  to  include  all  black  members  (200,  obviously  an 

estimate)  within  one  "African  mission"  circuit  attached  to  a  white  circuit. 

30 
This  failed,  and  from  1867  on  there  were  very  few  black  members,    some  having 

joined  the  Colored  Methodists,  the  African  Methodists,  or  the  Methodist 

31 
Episcopal  Church. 

By  the  end  of  the  war,  the  black  Methodists  in  Murfreesboro  were  no     ^ 

longer  associated  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.   The  Methodist 

32 
Episcopal  Church  sent  a  northern  missionary  to  Murfreesboro  in  1865,   but 

the  local  black  congregation  was  at  first  independent.   It  soon  became  affil- 
iated with  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  which  ordained  as  elder 
its  local  pastor,  Breixton  James.  In  October  1866,  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  held  the  founding  meeting  of  its  Tennessee  Conference  in  Murfreesboro. 

Probably  while  in  town  for  the  event,  W.  H.  Pearne  (presiding  elder  for  the 

33 
Memphis  district  and  a  missionary  to  the  south  from  a  New  York  conference) 

^Hunter  Dickinson  Parish,  The  Circuit  Rider  Dismounts;   A  Social  History 
of  Southern  Methodism.  1865-1900  (Richmond:   Dietz  Press,  1938),  pp.  163-76. 

^^Minutes  .  .  .M.E.C..  South,  appropriate  years. 

^''Sims,  Rutherford  County,  p.  189. 

^^See  footnote  42. 

33Minutes  of  .  .  .M.E.C.  for  1866  (pp.  258-59  for  the  Tennessee  Annual" 
Conference,  and  p.  89  for  Pearne,  a  missionary  from  the  V/yoming  Annual  Con- 
ference in  New  York  state) . 


74 


preached  to  that  local  black  Methodist  congregation.   He  offered  aid  to  the 

chirrch,  including  aid  to  build  a  chapel  (and  probably  to  help  pay  the  pastor  •" 

and  help  develop  a  Sunday  School).  All  but  eleven  of  the  congregation  of 

about  sixty  to  seventy  agreed  to  join  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.   The 

eleven  who  renained  as  African  Methodists  were  the  nucleus  of  the  future  ^ 

Allen's  Chapel;  the  bulk  of  the  congregation  which  joined  the  Methodist 

Episcopal  Church  later  became  Key  Memorial.  At  this  October  1866  Tennessee 

Conference,  the  local  minister,  Braxton  James,  was  "appointed"  to  the  Mur- 

freesboro  "second  charge,"  located  in  the  Nashville  Mission  District. ^^ 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  obtained  for  the  congregation  a  lot  for 

the  church  building,  and  federal  government  allowed  it  to  dismantle  the  Fort  -^ 

Rosecrans  commissary  and  rebuild  it  for  its  church,  which  was  used  until 

about  1880.^^  A  northern  Methodist  missionary  to  New  Orleans  about  this 

time  explained  and  defended  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  activities  in  the 

south,  esjiecially  because  blacks  needed  financial  support  for  church  buildings 

and  educational  programs.    By  1867,  the  Radical  Murfreesboro  newspaper, 

Freedoms  Watchman,  noted  a  flourishing  Sunday  School  at  the  "colored  congre-  ^ 

gation  of  250  students  and  24  teachers.-^'  The  church  building  was  also  used 

for  a  school,  its  teacher  being  first  a  missionary  from  the  north,  then  the   \6 

pastor,  Braxton  James,  and  later  employees  of  the  public  school  system. 

^"^Ibid.,  and  Bracy,  "Negro  Church  in  Rutherford  County,"  pp.  14-15,  30. 
In  describing  the  Pearne  visit,  her  sources  gave  the  date  as  1867;  the 
Minutes  .  .  ■  M.E.C.  indicates  1866. 

^^Bracy,  "Negro  Church  in  Rutherford  County,"  p.  15. 

3^L.  C.  Matlack,  "The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  Southern  Slates," 
Methodist  Quarterly  Review  54  (January  1872):   103-27. 

^'^November  17,  1867. 

3°Bracy,  "Negro  Church  in  Rutherford  County,"  p.  15. 


75 


The  local  church  was  active  in  other  ways  too,  for  in  1867,  a  brush  arbor  re- 
vival greatly  increased  its  membership,  apparently  both  through  new  members 
and  by  regaining  some  others  who  had  been  members  while  slaves."^ 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  also  tried  to  create  white  congregations 
in  the  south.   During  the  war,  the  Federal  government  allowed  its  pastors 
(missionaries  from  the  north)  to  take  over  some  buildings  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  in  occupied  cities,^  a  practice  which  was  stopped  - 
when  the  war  ended.  Although  one  of  Nashville's  Methodist  churches  experi- 
enced this,"*  the  Murfreesboro  Methodist  church  did  not.   Northern  mission- 
aries were  sent  to  Murfreesboro.   The  Ohio  Annual  Conference  in  October  1865 
listed  one  of  its  pastors,  Wesley  Prettyman,  as  a  missionary  to  Murfreesboro, 
but  if  he  did  actually  come  to  the  town,  he  failed  to  establish  either  a 
black  or  a  white  congregation.   In  October  1866  he  was  assigned  to  Atlanta. 
A  white  congregation  was  organized  in  Miirfreesboro  during  or  just  prior  to  the 
founding/ meeting  in  the  town  of  the  Tennessee  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  October  1866.'^^  The  pastor  of  this  "Murfreesboro  first 
charge"  for  its  initial  two  years  was  Amasa  A.  Brown,  a  missionary  from  the 

-^^Ibid.  Bracy  mentions  a  "hundred  conversions  and  two  hundred  added  to 
the  church."  This  increase  (though  not  the  base  number)  coincides  generally 
with  the  records  for  appropriate  years  in  Minutes  of  .  . .M.E.C.  which  listed 
1866  U2U   members),  1867  (500),  and  then  1868  (650  members). 

^   Street,  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  the  Civil  War,  pp.  98-99. 

^   McFerrin,  Methodism  in  Tennessee.  3:   H9-50. 

^^Minutes  of  .  .  .  M.E.C.  (Ohio  Conference  in  1865,  Tennessee  Conference 
in  1866). 

^^Freedorns  Watchman.  November  30,  1867,  states  it  was  organized  "a   ^ 
little  over  a  year  ago." 


76 


North  West  Indiana  Conference  who  moved  on  to  the  Kansas  Conference  in  1868.'^ 
The  church  had  "many  obstacles. to  contend  against. "^^  One  was  the  lack  of  a 


\ 


U(y 


church  building;  it  held  its  services  in  McFadden's  Hall.    The  most  important 
problem  was  membership.   V/hite  Methodist  Episcopal  churches  in  southern  states 

were  expected  to  serve  northern  Methodists  who  were  in  the  south  and  local 

LI 
Methodists  who  opposed  the  church  separation  two  decades  earlier.    Apparently 

there  were  few  of  either  in  Murfreesboro,^°  for  the  church  soon  died.  The 
membership  figures  were  as  follows:  in  1866  when  founded  (40  members,  3  pro- 
bationers, and  1  local  preacher),  1867  (48,  47,  and  2),  1868  (26,  1,  0), 

1869  (21,  0,  0),  and  thereafter  no  pastor  nor  membership  figures  were  given 

49 

and  no  mention  of  the  church  was  made  after  1871 . 

The  Civil  War  thus  had  a  tremendous  effect  on  the  Methodist  organization 
in  Murfreesboro.  The  Methodists  in  antebellum  years,  while  divided  into  black 


^Minutes  of  .  .-.M.E.C.  for  appropriate  years  and  annual  conferences. 
When  Brown  was  mentioned  as  the  Rutherford  County  SuperintendenL  of  Publi;; 
Schools,  he  was  described  as  a  "Negro  Methodist  Episcopal  minister"  in  Ihrtha 
McCullough  Bouldin,  "A  Decade  in  Rutherford  County,  1865-1875"  (Thesis, 
Middle  Tennessee  State  University,  1973),  p.  24.  No  source  was  given,  but  it 
seems  incorrect  considering  his  past  and  future  assignments  as  well  as  his 
Murfreesboro  pastorate  for  the  white  congregation. 

^^Freedoms  Watchman,  November  20,  1867. 

^^Ibid.  Also,  listed  were  "0"  buildings  in  the  Minutes  of  .  .  .M.E.C. 
for  the  appropriate  years. 

^  Mat lack,  "The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  Southern  States,"  p.  106. 

^  One  nay  speculate  if  Tompkins  was  a  member.  He  left  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  in  1862  and  finally  joined  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
church  in  August  1868.   It  was  the  autumn  of  1668  that  the  white  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  seemed  to  be  failing;  its  membership  was  only  half  of  the  October 
1867  figure,  and  also  its  missionary  pastor  left  for  a  northern  conference. 

^"Minutes  of  .  .  .M.E.C.  for  appropriate  years.  Freedoms  Watchman,  ".•.  ^'\ 
1867,  fully  displayed  its  bias  by  claiming  that  the  membership  was  "almost  the 
average  equal  of  any  of  our  city  churches." 


77 


and  white  congregations,  were  within  the  sane  church  (l-'iethodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South),  shared  the  same  building,  and  often  were  within  the  same  "charge" 
and  shared  the  same  pastor.   Shortly  after  the  war  there  were  at  least  four  con- 
gregations:  a  small  black  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  (future  Allen's 
Chapel),  the  larger  black  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  (future  Key  Memorial), 
the  struggling  and  soon  terminated  white  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  the 
white  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.   That  latter  congregation  ("First 
Methodist")  did  experience  some  reduction  in  its  white  membership,  which 
averaged  about  twenty  percent  lower  in  the  first  five  postwar  years  than  in 
the  five  years  preceeding  the  war,  although  by  the  next  decade  its  membership 
surpassed  its  prewar  numbers.    Though  long  lasting,  not  all  the  divisions 
within  Methodism  in  the  mid-nineteenth  century  were  pernanent.   In  1938  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  me^^ged. 
This  again  brought  I-lurfreesboro's  white  Methodists  and  most  of  its  black 
Methodists  into  the  same  denominational  structure  while  still  maintaining 
separate  congregations. 


50 

Minutes  of  .   .   .  M.E.C..  South  for  appropriate  years. 


78 

William,   Robert  and  Nathaniel  Overall,   Pioneer 
Settlers  at  the  Bluff 

Copied  from  a  handwritten  report  by:  Lula  Virginia  Ramsey  Mc'C!e(\ 
Jackson,   Tennessee,   February,   1908. 

The  Overalls  were  of  Saxon  origin.     The  first  of  whom  we  have  any 
knowledge  was  George  Overall,    who  settled  in  Thuxted,    Essexslii  I'c,    I'lngland 
during  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Eighth.     He  died  in  15  61  leaving  two  sons, 
William  and  John.     John  was  born  in  1559  and  died  at  Noi-wich  in  Kil!).     IIi> 
was  educated  at  Johns  College  but  later  went  to  Trinity  Colicgt'  wIum^'  he 
became  noted  for  his  piety  and  great  learning.     Dr.    Overall  becann'  Dean  of 
St.   Pauls  in  London  in  1601  and  at  the  Hampton  Court  Meeting  held  by  King 
James  the  First  in  1604  was  the  second  man    chosen  of  the  fifty  appointed 
by  the  King  James  to  translate  the  Bible.     As  everyone  knows  this  Js  llie 
King  James  Version  used  for  almost  three  hundred  years.     Dr.    John  Overall 
wrote  much^but  his  best  known  work  was  his  Convocation  Book.     Di-.   Ovei-all 
was  made  Bishop  of  London  in  1614  and  died  five  years  later  in  1619. 

There  are  many  Overalls  in  England  at  the  present  time;  and  all  both 
in  England  and  America,  are  descended  from  the  same  English  stock.     Many 
claim  descent  from  Bishop  Overall,   but  others  say  that  all  in  both  countries 
are  descended  from  his  elder  brother  William. 

The  Overalls  came  to  America  in  1698  settling  in  Prince  William  and 
Stafford  Counties,    Virginia.     William  Overall  of  Stafford  County,    Vii'giiiia 
had  four  sons,   Jolin,   William,   Nathaniel  and  Robert.     John  went  to 
Frederick  County,   Virginia  and  married  Sara  Jane  Froman.     Their  old 
homestead  is  now  a  railroad  station     and  post  office     called  Overall,  though 
since  the  divisions  made  of  the  old  Frederick  County,    it  is  now  in  Page 


79 

County.     The  old  place  is  still  occupied  by  one  of  the  name.    Miss  Ilarriol 
Overall. 

John  and  Sara  Jane  Overall  had  four  sons  and  throe  daughters- J olm, 
William,    Nathaniel,   Robert,    Mary,   Nancy,    and  Christina.     Of  these  seven^ 
only  John  remained  in  Virginia,   the  others  all  coming  to  TennesHcc-.     John 
married  Elizabeth  Waters^ and  they  had  three  sons; Abraham,    Isaac,    and 
Jacob.     Two  of  these,   Abraham  and  Jacob^  came  to  Tennessee  in  J 304. 
Isaac  remained  in  Virginia^  and  his  descendants  live  in  Washington, 
Philadelphia  and  Virginia. 

William  Overall  went  from  Virignia  to  the  Watauga  settJemont  in  East 

Tennessee^  and  we  find  his  name  among  those  who  signed  the  petition  for 

annexation  to  North  Carolina^  which  bore  no  date  but  was  i-eceived  in  Ualejgh 

in  1776. 
t 
When  James  Robertson  set  out  from  Watauga  for  the  Cumberland  to 

found  a  settlement  in  a  fairer  land,    he  was  accompanied  by  seven  oIIkm- 

white  men.     These  were  George  Freeland,    William  Neely,   James  llanly, 

Mark  Robertson,    Edward  Swanson,    Zachariah  White  and  William  Overall. 

They  left  Watauga  in  the  early  spring  of  1779  and  reached  the  CumbcM-land 

on  Christmas  Day.     They  made  a  crop  of  corn  that  summer  near  where 

Nashville  now  stands.     After  the  corn  was  made.   Overall,    Swanson  and 

White  were  left  to  keep  the  buffaloes  from  the  corn,    while  the  others 

returned  to  Watauga  with  Robertson  for  their  families  and  to  induce  others 

to  come  with  them  that  they  might  have  a  strong  colony  to  make  defense 

against  the  savage  foe  when  they  would  attack  their  forts.     How  fearless 

must  have  been  these  three  who  remained  in  the  wilds  alonel 


80 

They  were  not   molested  during  this  time,   but  during  the  battle  at  the 
Bluff,   White  was  killed  by  the  Indians  and  Swanson  had  an   extremely  narrow 
escape;  and  many  years  after  the  1794  Overall  was  Hlle^   bv  this  i^-'-    ■-•hr::.    '•^.•■ 
fought  against  so  long  and  bravely. 

Surely  braver  men  have  never  lived  than  these  Tennessee  pioneers. 
Gilmore  in  his  "Advance  Guard  of  Western  Civilization",    says  "Nothing 
more  heroic  is  recorded  of  these  people  than  the  migration  of  three  hundred 
and  eighty  of  their  number  from  Watauga  into  the  wilds   of  West  Tennessee 
under  the  lead  of  James  Robertson  in  the  winter  of  1780.  "      Every  name 
should  be  rescued  from  oblivion  and  placed  among  the  names  of  the  heroes 
of  our  Volunteer  State. 

They  must  have  realized  to  some  extent  that     they  were  laying  the 
foundation  stones  to  a  great    commonwealth  for  Robertson  is  said  to  have 
explained  to  Sevier  when  the  latter  was  trying  to  persuade  him  to  remain 
at  Watauga,    "We  are  the  advance  guard  of  civilization  and  our  way  is  across 
the  continent  ."    From  this  utterance,   Gilmore  must  have  obtained  the  title 
for  that  intensely  interesting  book^ "Advance  Guard  of  Western  Civilization  .  " 

Robertson  returned  to  Watauga  by  the  Kentucky  trace  as  before,   the 
journey  extending  from  November  the  first  1779  to  Christmas  Day.     They 
began  at  once  erecting  the  fort  and  ten  log  houses  at  French  Lick  as  to  have 
them  in  readiness  for  their  families.     This  was  the  beginning  of  our  fair 
Capital  City. 

The  women  and  children  were  coming  by  the  long  river  route  under 
the  leadership  of  John  Donelson  and  a  guard  of  thirty  men.     These  women 
and  children  numbered  one  hundred  and  thirty,    ready  to  share  the  dangers 
and  toils  and  brighten  the  new  homes  for  fathers  and  brothers  and  husbands. 


Their  trip  by  the  Holstoru    Tennessee  ,   Ohio  and  Cumberland  rivers  took 
four  months  and  was  attended  by  many  dangers aThirty  three  perished  by  the 
way.     This  journey  has  no  parallel  in^he  hJ..'^  ;.o  -7  o"  ca.'-    :"■■■■•■'. 

Among  the  several  hundred  returning  with  Robertson  and  his  i^ai'ty  lo 
the  Cumberland  settlement  were  William  Overall  's  two  bi'othcrs,    Nathaniel 
and  Robert  and  the  Thomas  brothers,   John  and  Joshua.     The  Thomas  and 
Overall  families  became  closely  connected  by  marriages.     William  Ovcu-all 
married  Susanna  Thomas,    sister  to  John  and  Joshua.     NathanieJ  OvimmII 
married  Annie  Thomas^  another  sisterj   and  Nancy  Overall,    sis1(.M-  of  ihc 
three  Overalls,    married  Joshua  Thomas.     There  were  two  other  Overall 
sisters'.  Mary  who  married  James  Espy,   and  Christina  who  mari-ied  a  \1r. 
Williams  and  moved  to  South  Carolina.     Within  a  few  months  after  their 
arrival  at  the  Bluff  early  in  1780,   Robert  Overall  was  killed  by  Indians. 
Joshua  Thomas  was  killed  during  the  Nickajack  expedition,    the  only  m.u^ 
killed  in  that  raid;  William  Overall  was  killed  in  1794;  and  James  i'-lspy. 
while  Sheriff  of  Sumaer  County.     These  were  the  sorrows  the  Indians 
caused  these  families.     Indeed  few  there  were,   if  any,   but  experienced  at 
some  time  a  like  tragedy.     It  is  said  that,    "from  1780  to  1794  they  killc^d 
within  seven  miles  of  Nashville  one  person  in  about  every  ten  days.  " 

Robert  Overall  was  never  married.     Overall's  Creelv,    a  beaLitifLit 
stream  in  Rutherford  County,   was  named  for  him.     William  Overall  li;itl 
l^een  a  noted  Indian  fighter  since  the  foundation  of  the  colony.     He  was  in 
the  battle  at  the  Bluff  and  many  other  encounters  with  the  Indians.     lie; 
left  a  family  of  four  sons  and  one  daughter. 


Nathaniel  Overall  died  in  1835  and  his  wife,   Annie  Thomas  Overall, 
died  in  1844.     He  was  in  the  battle  at  the  Bluff,   April  2nd  1781.  when  about 
seven  hundred  Indians  attacked  the  fort,    which  at  this  time  had  only  thirty- 
five  men  to  defend  it,   some  being  away  to  protect  other  forts.     Annie  Thomas 
was  in  the  fort  during  this  battle  and  helped  to  mould  bullets  and  otherwise 
assist  the  men  in  defense  of  their  lives.     She  delighted  in  after  years  to  tell 
her  children  and  grand  children  the  thrilling  accounts  of  those  perilous  times 
and  of  how  the  women  and  girls  so  bravely  assisted  the  men,    moulding  bullets 
even  at  times  taking  a  man's  place  at  the  port  holes. 

We  need  not  search  outside  our  own  state  annals  to  find  examples  of 
the  finest  heroism.  These  men  were  as  true  patriots  as  those  nearer  the 
coast  who  had  battled  with  another  enemy  to  gain  freedom  for  their  land. 
These  had  a  cruel  and  treacherous  enemy  to  deal  with  and  their  families 
were  in  greater  personal  danger.  Many  of  these  pioneers  had  been  Revo- 
lutionary soldiers  too,  in  North  Carolina  and  Virginia,  and  their  lands  on 
the  Cumberland  represented  the  pay  they  had  received  for  their  services. 

Nathaniel  and  Annie  Thomas  Overall  had  eight  childreni  Mary, 
Robert,  Nace,  John,   Sally,   Abraham,   Lorenzo  Dow,   and  James. 

Mary,    called  Polly,   was  born  in  1783  and  died  in  1849.     She  married 
William  Ramsey,   Jr.    in  1805  and  they  had  ten  children.     The  father  of 
William  Ramsey  was  William  Ramsey,   Sr.    a  native  of  Mecklenburg  County, 
North  Carolina  and  a  Revolutionary  soldier  and  came  to  Tennessee  just 
after  the  close  of  the  war.     William  Ramsey,   Jr.   died  in  Aug.   1833.     Their 
oldest  child  was  Eliza  who  married  Wm.   Mathes  and  reared  a  large  family. 
The  second  child  was  perhaps  Ann  who  married  John  McKee.     She  reared 


five  or  six  children.     The  third  was  Nathaniel  Jefferson  who  married  Frances 
Young  Davis  of  Davis  County,    Kentucky.    Nathaniel  Jefferson  Ramsey  was 
born  March  3,   1809  and  died  June  28,    1871.     Frances  Young  Davis  was  l^orn 
March  16,   1812  and  died  February  25,    1862.     They  reared  five  children; 
their  eldest^Polly  Ann  dying  in  infancy,    2nd  William  Baxter;  3rd  Nathaniel 
Preston;  4th  Vibella;  5th  John  Wesley;  6th  Ava  Amelia.     These  five  all 
married  and  reared  families.      The  fourth   child  was  William  Franklin  who 
married  Nancy  Knox.     They  had  ten  children:  George  W.    H.  ,    James  W.    J..  , 
David  A.  K.  ,    B.   F.  ,   Granville  J.  ,    M.S.T.,   Robert  N.  ,   Daniel  B.  ,   Sarah 
E.  ,   N.   Emilie,   Emma  J.  ,   and  G.   F.     The  fifth  child  was  Nace  Preston  who 
married  Polly  Ann  Davis  of  Davis  County,  Kentucky.     They  reared  four  sons 
and  five  daughters:    Greenville  Henderson,   Thomas  Joiner,   Robert  Newton, 
Mary  Frances,   William  Davis,   Gorilla,   Rachel  Leona,   Sophronia  and  Ira. 
The  sixth    child  was  Sarah  Lucretia  who  was  born  March  16,    1815  and  died 
June  21,   1870.     She  married  first  William  Elder  and  had  one  daughter,    Martha, 
and  two  sons,   John  Summerfield  and  James  Monroe.     These  all  died  unmar- 
ried.    The  seventh  child  was  Nancy  B.   who  was  born  May  16,   1816  and  died 
D  ec.    30,    1891.     She  married  John  C  .    Berry  and  they  had  twelve  children: 
Mary  E  lizabeth,   James  L  .  ,   Parthenia,    Martha  Jane,    Sallie  E  .    Tennie  C.  , 
Texas  A.  ,   Aurelia,    William  Robert,    Vitula  F  .  ,    Lucy  A .    and  the  12th    died 
in  infancy.     The  eighth    child  was  Blackmon  Asbury  born  Soptembcf  20,    1818 
and  died  March  25,    1891.     He  married    Eliza  Jett  and  they  had  four  sons 
and  tnree  daughters.     The   daughters   all  married  and  reared  families,   but 
the  sons  died  when  small.     The  daughters  were:     Mary  Alice,   Eliza 
Josephine  and  Susan  Ella.     The  ninth     child  was  Martha  who  married 
Daniel  Waddley.     They  had  one  daughter  Martha  who  died  young.     The 


tenth    child  was  Pauline  Jane  who  was  born  April  15,   1825  and  died  April 
22,   1884.     She  married  first  Albert  Kelly  and  had  two  sons  William  D.    and 
Albert.     She  married  second Smith,    and  third  Rev.    George  Johnston. 

The  second  child  of  Nathaniel  and  Annie  Thomas  Overall  was  Robert 
who  was  born  June  11,  1785  and  died  in  1862.  He  married  his  cousin  Mary 
Espy^and  they  had  twelve  children  . 

The  third  child  of  Nathaniel  and  Annie  Overall  was  Nace.     He  married 
Amelia  Davis  of  Davis  County,    Kentucky.     Nace  Overall  was  a  MelhodJsl 
Minister,  as  were  two  of  his  brothers.     He  had  three  sons  and  four  daughters: 
Baxter,   Lee  Ann,   Nathaniel  Webb,   Robert  A.,   Mary  Frances,    Elizabeth 
and  Vistula.   Rev.   Nace  Overall  and  three  of  his  nephews  married  sisters. 
These  were  the  daughters  of  Baxter  and  Mary  (Webb)  Davis  of  Davis  County, 
Kentucky.     James  G.   Overall,    son  of  Robert  and  Mary  (Espy)   Overall  mar- 
ried  Rachel  Webb  Davis;  Nace  Preston  Ramsey,   son  of  William  and  Polly 
(Overall)  Ramsey  married  "Polly"  Ann  Davis;  Nathaniel  Jefferson  Ramsey, 
son  of  William  and  Polly  Overall  Ramsey,  married  Frances  Young  Davis. 
Perhaps  all  were  of  the  same  type  of  womanhood  as  the  writers  grandmother, 
Fanny  Davis,   a  gentle,   lovely.  Christian,   who  lived  with  a  song     and  died 
with  shouts  of  praise  on  her  lips.     Never  having  seen  her,   yet  her  grand- 
children appreciate  her  influence,   and  will  ever  cherish  the  record  of  her 
life. 

"She  reaps  as  she  sowed 
Lo,   this  man  is  her  son.  " 

Two  of  her  sons  were  ministers  and  the  other  and  his  sisters  repeated  in 

their  lives  the  qualities  of  their  sainted  mother  and  father. 


Nathaniel  Jefferson  Ramsey  was  born  in  Rutherford  County,   Tennessee, 
March  3,   1809  and  died  in  Gibson  County,   Tenn.     June  28,    1871.     Francos 
Young  (Davis)  Ramsey  was  born  in  Davis  Co.^  Ky.   June  10,    1812  and  died  in 
Gibson  Co.^  Tenn.   Feb.    25,   1862.     They  were  married  August  15,    1828  and 
had  six  children  ;  Polly  Ann  (born  Sept.    20,    1829,    died  May  24,     18:;o), 
William  Baxter  (born  Feb.   15,   1831,    died  July  14,    1865),   Nathaniel  Preston 
(bornDec.    22,   1833,    died  Mar.    13,   1895).    Vibella  P .    (born  Aug.    27,    1838, 
died  Dec.    6,   1871) ,  John  Wesley  (born  Oct.   7,   1840,    died  Nov.   4,   1901),    Ava 
Amelia  (born  Aug.   16,   1843-yet  living  NOTE;  THIS  WAS  WRITTI':N  IN  1908). 
William  Baxter  married  Mary  Winfrey  Askew^and  they  had  two  children: 
Henry  H.   Ramsey  (now  living  at  Dawson  Springs,    Ky.  )    and  Willie  Etta  Ramsey, 
who  died  at  age  thirteen. 

Nathaniel  Preston  Ramsey  married  three  times:    first  Callie  McConnel, 
and  had  one  son,   Alney  Winfrey  (born  1862  died  1903)  ;  second  Judith  Demaris 
Waddy,    and  had  three  sons  and  three  daughters^  Robert  Waddy,   Jefferson 
(both  living  in  Memphis  Tenn.),   Eugene  Duncan  (living  at  Clinton,   Ky), 
Mary  Clark  (married  S.    H.    Mann  and  living  at  Forrest  City,   Ark.  ),   Frances 
Davis  (married  Clayton  Porter  and  living  Clinton,   Ky.  ),    and  Gertrude  Mahon 

(married living  in  Baltimore,    Md.);  third  N.   P.   Ramsey  married 

Mattie  Holmes  Waddy.     She  lives  at  Clinton,   Ky. 

Vibella  P.   Ramsey  married  Elisha  F.  Askew  and  had  three  children: 
Emma,   Ava  and  David. 

John  Wesley  Ramsey  married  Victoria  M.   Heard,   Jan.    3,   1866.     She 
was  born  June  21,   1846,   now  living  in  Bedford  Co.  ,   Tenn.  ,   at  Trenton. 
Their  children  were:    Lula   Virginia,    the  writer  of  this  sketch  (she  married 


W.    B.    McGee  of  Trenton,   Tenn.);Wm.    Walter  who    married  Jonm.'  Robbins 
of    Jackson,    Tenn.    and  now  lives  in  Racine,   Wise.  ;  Katharine  J'lwc^l  1  Ilainsc^y; 
Frances  Irene  (who  married  Herbert  N.    Davis  and  lives  at  Trenton,   Tenn.  ): 
Minnie  Lee  (who  married  Homer  S.    Lain  and  lives  at  Trenton,   Tenn.  );  Tommic 
Heard  (who  married  Edwin   E.    Russell  of  Racine,    Wise,    and  now  lives  in 
Paris,   France;  Martha  Davis  (who  married  Webb  H.    Herl)ert  and  lives  at 
Ruston,   La.  ) 

John  Wesley  Ramsey  was  a  loyal  Confederate  soldier,    sei'vin.o;  the  four 
years  of  the  war.     He  was  an  honest  upright     hristian,    beloved  by  a  1 1   who 
knew  him.     To  no  man  could  words  be  more  fitting- -"His  life  was  gentJe, 
and  the  elements  so  mixed  in  him  that  nature  miight  stand  up  and  say  1o  all 
the  world.    This  was  a  man.  " 

AvaA.   Ramsey  married  J.   W.   Phillips.     Their  children    died  yoimg 
except  two  daughters:     lone  married  J.   D.    Wrather,  ■:.-vl  Doro^     • 

Joyner. 

William  Ramsey,   Jr.   who  married  "Polly"  Overall  was  born  in 
Alecklenburg  County,   North  Carolina,   the  date  not  known  to  the  writer  and 
died  August,    1833  in  Rutherford  County,    Tennessee.     He  was  a  Methodist 
minister  and  a  very  consecrated  ":  ristian.     His  father,   William  Ramsey. 
Sr.j  was  also  a  native  of  Mecklenburg  County,    North  Carolina.     \\v  stM-ved 
three  years  in  the  Revolutionary  War  coming  to  Tennessee  just  after  the 
close  of  the  war.     The  father  of  William  Ramsey,   Sr.    whose  name  is  not 
known  to  the  writer  was  one  of  that  large  company  of  Scotch- Irish  wJio  came 
from  North  Ireland  by  way  of  Pennsylvania  to  North  Carolina  and  other 
Southern  colonies  before  the  Revolutionary  War.     His  sons  whose  names 


are  known  to  the  writer  were:    William,   Robert,   John,   David,   James  and 
daughters,  Anne,   Maria  and  Polly. 

The  fourth  child  of  Nathaniel  and  Annie  Thomas  Overall  was  John  who 
married  a  Miss  McLin.     Some  of  their  descendants  live  in  Gibson  County, 
Tenn. 

The  fifth  child  of  Nathaniel  and  Annie  Thomas  Overall  was  Sally  who 
married  John  Doak  and  moved  to  Texas.     She  was  born  September  15,   1800. 
The  sixth  child  of  Nathaniel  and  Annie  Thomas  Overall  was  Abraham 
who  married  a  Miss  White.      He  was  a  Methodist  minister  of  some  note. 
His  descendants  live  in  Rutherford  County,   Tenn. 

The  seventh  child  of  Nathaniel  and  Annie  Thomas  Overall  was  Lorenzo 
Dow,   born  July  8,   1802,   a  noted  Methodist  minister  and  one  of  the  founders 
of  McKendree  Church,   Nashville.     He  died  unmarried. 

'The  eighth  child  of  Nathaniel  and  Annie  Thomas  Overall  was  James^ 
who  married  Lucy  Butler.     Their  descendants  live  in  Tipton  County, 
Tennessee. 

Thus  we  see  that  three  of  the  sons  of  Nathaniel  and  Annie  Overall  were 
ministers,  and  if  any  of  their  descendants  have  been  a  dishonor  to  the  name, 
it  is  not  known  to  the  writer.     That  she  is  able  to  relate  so  little  of  these 
brave  noble  ancestors  and  Cumberland  pioneers,   Nathaniel  and  Annie 
Overall,   the  writer  regrets  exceedingly;  but  those  who  have  heard  those 
thrilling  accounts  of  Indian  attacks  and  slaughter  and  those  tales  of  pioneer 
life,   have  passed  away  and  left  us  no  written  accounts  of  these  things.     But 
it  is  with  pride  we  may  name  them  for  their   courage,   their  patriotism, 
their  refinement,   their  gentle  blood,   and  best  of  all,   for  those  finer 


qu-ilities  characteristic  of  the  disciples  of  the  Savior  of  men. 

Lula  Vir.iinia  ;ia::.Eey  ]'.c^>cu 

Jackson,  Tennessee 
February,  1908 

Two  books  have  been  written  on  the  Overall  Family.  The  first  by 
^:r.'^.  T.  0.  Kiger,  ^029  Sunbeam  Avenue,  Chattanooga,  Tennessee  37^11 
contains  about  $00  pages  and  sells  for  :^15.00.  In  a  letter  from  Vr, 
Eakin  Overall,  he  states  that  the  article  by  Fxs.  Virginia  Ramsey 
Kcaee  on  the  Overall  Family  contains  two  errors.   "John  Overall  Jr. 
m:.\rried  Kiiria  Christa  Froman,  not  Sara  Jane";  also,  "Eishop  Overall 
and  his  wife  had  no  children." 

The  second  book  is  by  Krs.  F.  Earl  Brltton,  133  Kingwood 
Drive,  Chattanooga,  Tennessee  37^12  and  is  on  the  family  of  William 
Jefferson  Overall.  It  contains  about  250  pages  and  costs  515.00. 
A  copy  of  this  book  is  in  the  Tennessee  Room  at  Linebaugh  Library. 


Index  for  Publication  No.  10 


89 


Aid  en 

6 

Allen 

3„4_8-1l-13 

15-16-26-69 

Alley 

23 

.'inderson 

3-8-12-20.21 

22-23-24.-25 

Andrews 

63-6^-65 

Angel 

37 

Askew 

85 

Atkinson 

2-A-5 

Bancroft 

55 

Baskens 

22 

Bass 

17-25 

Beasley 

19 

Bell 

51 

Bells 

U 

Berry 

83 

Black 

24-26-27-28 

30-32 

Blackmoore 

4_5_11-U_18 

19-20-22-30-31 

Blockington 

52 

Bl90iTifield 

38 

Boucher 

65 

Bragg 

68 

Brantwell 

20 

Bridges 

1 

Brookshire 

61 

Bro'-m 

31-75 

Bryan 

3-A 

Bryant 

2-5-7-9-11 

22-50 

Bur low 

20 

Burrus 

3-4 

Burton 

19 

Butch 

29 

Butler 

87 

Cadwallader 

38-39 

Campbell 

38 

Cannon 

A7-49-53 

Carr 

66-67-68 

Carrington 

58 

Christy 

45 

Clifford 

38 

Clinton 

42 

Cochlerow 

U 

Coleman 

13-23 

Cook 

6 

Cornwallis 

41-42 

Cowan 

37-43 

Creech 

10 

Crockett 

52 

Dailey 

54 

Davis 

2-3-4-8-10 

16-18-25-26-34 

83-84-85-86 

Dehaven 

60 

Dickenson 

38 

Dickson 

38 

Dillon 

60 

Doak 

87 

Donagon 

2 

Donaway 

4-5-6-12-13 

16-17-25-26 

Donelson 

80 

Donohue 

9 

Driskil 

65 

Earthman 

52 

Edenton 

37 

Edgar 

42 

Edwards 

4 

Elder 

83 

Elliott 

19-31 

Espy 

24-8I-84 

Ewing 

38-39 

Farmer 

11-18-22 

Fletcher 

52 

Forguson 

38 

Forrest 

33-68 

French 

19-20 

Froman 

78 

Fry 

37 

Fugerson 

23 

Gaines 

47-52 

Garret    •< 

15 

Gates 

38 

Gillespie 

48 

Gilliam 

44 

Gilmore 

80 

Gilly 

2 

Gooch 

24 

Gray 

48-56 

90 


Green 

63-64-68-69 

Greene 

38 

Grigg 

13-34 

Ha  gar 

2 

Hall 

7 

Halsey 

37 

Hanly 

79 

Hanner 

64 

Harrison 

51 

Hartwell 

66-67 

Haverfield 

2 

Hawley 

37 

Heard 

85 

Henderson 

1_4_66-70 

Herbert 

86 

Hicks 

23-25 

Hi^hton 

8 

Hite 

21 

Hoke 

8 

Hood 

33 

Hord 

8-21-25 

House 

2-8-9-1 1-27 

28-29-30-31 

Houston 

46-51-55-56 

Hudson 

48 

Huggins 

7-24-25 

Hut^on 

3 

Irby 

28-35 

Jackson 

47-51 

o^'anes 

22-68-73-74 

Jarnegan 

52 

Jarrel 

10-12-18 

Jennings 

36-37-43-44-45 

Jett 

83 

Jobe 

3-4-13-19 

Johns 

1-3-4-5-11-12 

15-16-17-20 

22-30-34-36 

Johnson 

5-23-26-52 

Johnston 

68-84 

Jones 

16-23-51 

Joyner 

86 

Keeble 

53 

Kible 

22 

Kelly 

84 

King 

22-24-34 

Knox 

83 

Lafayette 

41-42-45 

Laughlin 

43 

Ledbetter 

53 

Ullard 

53 

Lincoln 

41-42 

l-iacy 

8 

Ikdden 

63 

l-laddy 

47 

Kann 

85 

Fianning 

52 

Mannon 

4 

^;arlin 

6-8-9-11-23 

Matheny 

1 

Mathes 

82 

1-iaththis 

•5 

McClain 

4-5 

McConnel 

85 

McFerrin 

63-64 

McGee 

78-86-88 

McKee 

82 

McLaughlin 

35 

KcUn 

87 

McMurray 

2 

KcPeak 

59-60 

Michelle 

28 

Mitchell 

5-37-43-47-4^ 

Morgan 

6 

Mucer 

40 

Nash 

41 

Neely 

79 

Nelson 

3-26-28-30 

Nevals 

31 

Oney 

37 

Overall 

66-78-79-81 

82-84-86-87 

Owens 

9 

Paine 

63-65 

Painter 

33 

Patent 

27 

Pearne 

73 

Peoples 

2-3 

Peyton 

29 

Phillips 

86 

Pittard 

46-47-50-55 

Pitts 

64-65 

Polk 

47-51 

Porter 

85 

Prater 

3 

91 


Pratt 

6-8-9-13 

Prettyman 

75 

Pubbs 

28 

Ramsey 

82-83-84.-85 

86-88 

Handle 

66 

Ray 

37 

Read 

19 

Ready 

^^5-53 

Reed 

20 

Richardson 

21 

Ridley 

4_11_14_16-19 

20-23-24-32 

Robbins 

86 

Robertson 

79-80-81 

Rolston 

10 

Rooker 

11-13 

Rucker 

27-29-30 

Rush 

LA 

Russell 

86 

Saterfield 

24 

Seaward 

4 

Seward 

11-16-22 

Serance 

8 

Sheperd 

13 

Siloes 

6-7-9-10-13 

14-15-16-17-18 

19-21-22-23-24 

25-26-32-33 

Sins 

58 

Sloan 

36-46 

Smith 

1-2-6-27-36 

U-53 

Standavar 

4 

Stanley 

69 

Stansel 

7 

Starling 

38 

Steadman 

24 

Strains 

-il) 

Strand 

7 

Suduarth 

58 

Swanson 

79-80 

Talbot 

38 

Tatum 

58 

ThoKas 

2-9-33-81-82 

Thurston 

^-U 

Tinsley 

22-32 

Tompkins 

71-76 

Trott 

37-43 

Vanbebber 

/.8 

Van  Eur en 

51-52-53 

Vardell 

3 

Vaughn 

5-10-15-22-35 

Vanderford 

3-1 1-13-21-22 

24-33 

Waddley 

83 

Waddy 

85 

'.j'ade 

1-2-5-11-19 

21-23-28-34-35 

V/alden 

2-7-9-10-12 

14-17-20-25 

V/alsh 

31-35 

Ward 

1-2-3-4-5-6-7 

0-9-10-11-12 

13-U-16-17 

18-20-21-22-23 

25-26-34-35 

v/arford 

2 

Washington 

36-38-39-40 

41-42 

'Jaters 

79 

Watkins 

21-26-27-28 

29-30-31-34 

Weakley 

15 

Webber 

52 

Weekley 

5-16-25 

West 

45 

VJheeler 

24 

'iJhite 

4-5-6-21-79-80 

Wilkinson 

27 

'Williams 

81 

Wilson 

3-4 

V/inter 

19-21 

Woodfin 

1 

Wrather 

86 

V/ray 

37 

Yardly 

52 

Yoakum 

46-47-4S-49-5O 

51-52-53-54-55 

56-58 


RUTHERFORD  COUNTY  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY,  Inc. 
las  of  December  15,  1977 


MEMBERSHIP 


Mr.  &.   Mrs.  W.  D,  Adkerson 
Mrs.  H.  F.  Arnette,  Jr. 
Mrs.  M.  E.  Arnold 

Haynes  Baltimore 

Margaret  J.  Batey 

Tom  Batey 

Mrs.  R.  M.  Blair 

Miss  Margaret  Brevard 

Dr.  &  Mrs.  Fred  Brigance 

Dr.  Jerry  Brookshire 

Mrs.  J.  W.  Brown 

Mrs.  Lida  N.  Brugge 

Mrs.  Sara  Bain  Bunting 

Mrs.  Jean  Caddel 

Mr.  &  Mrs.  J.  D.  Carmack 

Colonel  Charles  R.  Cawthon 

Miss  Louise  Cawthon 

Mrs.  George  Chaney 

James  L.  Chrisman 

George  D.  Clark 

Mr.  &  Mrs.  Woodrow  Coleman 

Dr.  Robert  Corlew 

Miss  Edith  Craddock 

Mrs.  A.  W.  Cranker 

Mrs.  Martha  C.  Crutchfield 

Mrs.  Mary  Lou  Davidson 
Mrs.  Florence  Davis 
Mrs.  W.  H.  Decherd 
Andy  Duncan 

Mrs.  Moulton  Farrar,  Jr. 
Mrs.  Charles  H.  Fay 
Mildred  Felker 
Mrs.  Robert  Fletcher 


Jack  I.  Inman 
Mrs.  Dallas  Ison 

Robert  T.  Jacobs 
Ernest  King  Johns 
Mrs.  Buford  Johnson 
Mrs.  R.  H.  Johnson 
Homer  Jones 
Dr.  Robert  B.  Jones, 


III 


Dr.  &   Mrs.  Belt  Keathley 

Miss  Adeline  King 

Mr.  &  Mrs.  George  Kinnard 

Dr.  Howard  Kirksey 

Mrs.  Lawrence  Klingaman 

William  C.  Ledbetter,  Jr. 
Mrs.  Dayton  Lester 
Mrs.  Lalia  Lester 
Mr.  &  Mrs.  Gordon  Lynch 
Mrs.  Louise  G.  Lynch 

Jack  R.  Mankin 

Mrs.  Dotty  Matheny 

Edd  Matheny 

Mr.  &  Mrs.  J.  C.  Matheny 

W.  C.  McCaslin 

Mrs.  Fannie  McClanahan 

Mrs.  Mason  McCrary 

Mr.  &  Mrs.  Ben  Hall  McFarlin 

Mrs.  Elise  McKnight 

Mrs.  Evelyn  Merritt 

Miss  Luby  H.  Miles 

Miss  Clarice  Miller 

Margaret  Miller 

Donald  E.  Moser 

Eugene  R.  Mull  ins 


Miss  Alline  Gillespie 
Pollard  Gillespie 
Mrs.  Carl  E.  Goodwin 
Mrs.  Robin  Gould 
Mrs.  Judy  L.  Green 

Mrs.  C.  J.  Harrell 
Isham  A.  Harris,  Jr. 
Mrs.  B.  H.  Hibbett,  Jr. 
Mrs.  James  M.  Hobbs 
Charles  E.  Hodge,  II 
Mrs.  John  W.  Hollar 
Dr.  Ernest  Hooper 
Miss  Elizabeth  Hoover 
Walter  King  Hoover 
Mr.  &  Mrs.  Robert  Hoskins 


Mrs.  David  Naron 
Lawson  B.  Nelson 

Eakin  Overall 

Harry  M.  Patillo 

Dr.  John  A.  Patten 

Charles  C.  Pearcy 

Dean  Pearson 

Dr.  &  Mrs.  Homer  Pittard 

Mr.  &.   Mrs.  Wm.  0.  Pointer 

Bobby  Pope 

Mrs.  Estelle  Potts 

Mr.  &  Mrs.  Bob  Ragland 
Mr.  &  Mrs.  Kelley  Ray 
Mr.  &  Mrs.  Glen  N.  Rea 


Granville  Ridley 
Billy  Rogers 
Dr.  &  Mrs.  Fred  Rolater 
Mrs.  Elvis  Rushing 

Miss  Sara  Lou  Sanders 

Richmond  Sanders 

Mr.  &  Mrs.  Robert  M.  Sanders 

Dr.  &  Mrs.  Robert  S.  Sanders 

Dr.  R.  Neil  Schultz 

Mr.  &  Mrs.  John  Shacklett 

Mrs.  J.  Mahlon  Sharp 

Charles  E.  Shelby 

Mrs.  J.  A.  Sibley,  Sr. 

Don  Simmons 

Colonel  Sam  W.  Smith 

Miss  Dorothy  Smotherman 

C.  Ray  Stacy 

Colonel  &  Mrs.  E.  C.  Stewart 

Mrs.  Carl  V.  Stine 

Stones  River  Chapter  DAR 

Bob  Stubblefield 

Roy  Tarwater 

Mrs.  Wm.  II.  Thompson,  Jr. 
Thurman  Francis  Jr.  High  School 
Mrs.  Earlin  S.  Todd 

Jean  Van  Meter 

c'  L.  VanNatta 

Mr.  &   Mrs.  Joe  Van  Sickle 

Mrs.  J.  Wilbur  Vaughan 

Mr.  &.   Mrs.  Wm.  Walkup 

Bill  Walkup 

Mrs.  George  F.  Watson 

Mayor  &   Mrs.  W.  H.  Westbrooks 

Charles  \^Jharton 

Miss  Kate  Wharton 

Miss  Virginia  Wilkinson 

Mrs.  John  Woodfin 

Mrs.  Jane  Snell  Woods 

Mrs.  Selene  D.  Woodson 

Henry  G.  Wray 

F.  Craig  Youree 


N0  09'9i 

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MAR  1« 

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Arr''  ' 

HIGHSMITH  45-220 


3  3082  00527  4443 


976.857 

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v.io 


78-1155^ 


Rutherford  County  Hist.  Society 

AUTHOR  ~. 


Publications 


LIBRARY 

MIDDLE  TENNESSEE  STATE  UNIVERSITY 

MURFREESBORO,  TENNESSEE 


DATE  DUE 

lSEP  ^  7  21 

oa-  ^'^ 

i 

JUN162 

303 

lAKI    1    1 

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