Charles A Temple my other maternal great grandfather.
This is my mother’s mother’s father – Charles A Temple. He was born without a middle name so he chose A because it made his initials CAT. Given my love of cats I like that but that’s about all I’ve heard of the man I like. He dominated people getting his way. He played favorites with his children my grandmother being his favorite. He liked to put on a show and leave his wife to do the work at the store. Nothing there endeared him to me beyond an apparent fondness for the word cat.
He was a judge for part of a term. He was on a jury that determined a claim by a mining company against the Smokey National Park when the park was being established. He died of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Joseph Berry Bradford my other paternal great-grandfather
Joseph Berry Bradford, my great-grandfather. A very small picture cropped from a group shot of a man who I know little about. First I’ll have to be honest, my great-grandmother was his mistress and later his wife. The group shot is of them with their children. (more…)
Continuing on the sharing of my great-grandfathers here is my mother’s father’s father – Lavator. He didn’t use his first name which at times is given as Milo, Miles, or Milas. His sons, my grandfather and my Unkie both agreed Milas is correct, as one of their brothers was Milas and his son is Milas too. (more…)
This is another of my great-grandmothers. We each have four, two from our mother and two from our father. This is my mother’s paternal grandmother or as we liked to call her Granny Rolen. No she’s not unhappy it’s just what we called for years the Rolen mouth, turns down in a frown when resting but after some genealogy research found out it’s the MacMahan mouth. Ollie was a strong woman. She took care of her husband for years after a stroke left him an invalid. She raised her children alone getting temporary residence to send them to better schools. She lost a child to untreated asthma, doing all they could for the girl. She was living when I was young and I remember her well. She was a fun woman that loved to garden and show children how things worked. Of course when I knew her she was an old lady not the young bride she is here. This was her wedding day. For years I’d see just this photo but finally we turned up the other half with her husband Milas Lavator Rolen. Here it is uncropped and not cleaned up: (more…)
Meet one of my maternal great-grandmothers. This is Ida Alberta Rogers Temple Keener (1881-1963). We think this is about the time she married my maternal great-grandfather in 1904. She has such a pretty Gibson Girl look that is truly a Throwback.
It was the last Sunday in July again, time for Mom put on her program for the annual Hicks Family Reunion. I went down to assist. This year she was doing her grandmother’s line. That’s our claim to the Hicks family.
It all started with David C. Hicks and Sarah Dennis Hicks. They married in Cocke County, Tennessee in 1830. David met Sarah when he crossed the mountain from Virginia on his way to buy a farm and set up housekeeping in Middle Tennessee. He must have been a non-inheriting son to be moving like that. He was born 10 Apr 1804 in Albemarle County, Virginia and died 09 Oct 1850 in Cocke County, Tennessee. All I know is that his father was David James (or possibly James David) Hicks born in 1774 in Virginia. David C.’s mother was Jemima Tennal (spelling according to their marriage record also spelled Tinnell in family Bibles). They married in 1770 in Albemarle County, Virginia. It is very probably that David James’s father fought in the Revolutionary War given his age and location, but on what side we don’t know.
Sarah Dennis was born about 1812 in June in Cocke County, Tennessee and died 8 Mar 1898 in Cocke, Tennessee. Her parents came to Tennessee to live on her maternal grandfather’s land grant for service in the Revolutionary War. He was Hugh Creighton (B 1730 Ireland, D.1804 New Jersey where his son Patrick lived) and served in the Revolutionary War. He already had a farm in South Carolina so he gave (or they purchased) his land grant in Tennessee to his daughter Anne and her husband John Dennis. The name Creighton with various spellings was carried forth in the Hicks family in his honor to this day. Anne and John had at least three children one of which was the first Joel Dennis. He married Margaret Henry (which makes this line from my maternal grandfather related to the line of my maternal grandmother truly kissing cousins) and they were the parents of the Sarah Dennis that founded the Tennessee Hicks line from which I am descended ( the post about Joel Dennis from the Civil War was his son, Sarah’s brother)
Sarah and David C. had 8 children. Their youngest was David Crockett Hicks ( his father’s middle initial is C. but we don’t know what it stood for, he was however a constituent of the famous David Crockett of Alamo fame) who is my great great grandfather. Crockett was a character about whom tales are still told. He had a temper and was lazy. He was born 27 Jul 1852 Cocke, TN and died 16 Aug 1943 Sevier, TN. He married a Margaret Jane Denton (from whom I have another Revolutionary War ancestor) in about 1873. The courthouse burned in Cocke County so the exact date has been lost. She however was born 18 Jun 1854 Cocke, Tennessee and died 04 Jan 1949 Sevier, Tennessee. Here’s a photo of them and their living adult children.
Back L to R: Bon Dalls, Dibrelle Augusta, Ollie Belle, Crayton Dennis, Mark Clyde, Bessie Paralee, Crayton Dennis Front L to R: Sarah, Fred Ashberry, Margaret Henry Hicks, David Crockett Hicks, Minnesota, and Jerome. Their son Joel David Hicks died before this photo was taken.
The reunion consists of the descendants from those in the picture. In their later years Crockett and Margaret moved about living with their children as Crockett never owned land or made a homestead. Each living child (Dibrelle was killed soon after this photo but that’s a story for another post) took turns keeping crochety old Crockett and quiet Margaret. My great grandmother was Ollie Belle (b 16 Jan 1888 Cocke,TN d 25 Oct 1975 Blount,TN) and if you were being disagreeable she’d call you Crockett.
She married Milas Lavator Rolen (b 22 Jun 1880 Sevier, TN d 28 Dec 1936 Sevier, TN) on 12 May 1907 in Sevier, TN. Here they are on their wedding day.
He was a sheriff for a few years then went to the US Marshals and became a Revenuer. They had 7 children. Here they are with their family.
back row L to R Herbert, Bennie Zue, George Ann, Milas Lavator Jr., John Hollis, Sammie Sue. Front row L to R Lavator, George Ann, Ollie Belle
My grandfather was John Hollis Rolen (b. 23 Nov 1909 Sevierville, TN d. 08 Feb 1975 Sevierville, TN). He did many things in his life and some day I’ll share his security clearance form for WWII in a post that outlines many things he did some we didn’t know. However most of my mother’s life and all of mine he was an engineer for the 3M Company. Yes the post-it and Scotch Tape people. He married Johnnie Mae Temple (b 23 May 1913 Sevier, TN d. 11 Feb 2007 Sevier, TN). Here’s a photo of them just shortly after they married. They married 08 Apr 1939 in Alcoa, Blount, Tennessee.
Johnnie Mae Temple Rolen and John Hollis Rolen.
They had two children. My mom Sylvia came first then John Hollis Jr. Unfortunately Junior died of a heart defect shortly after being born. Mom made it and is still going strong. She married my dad Sidney Bright. Here they are on their wedding day.
Well they had me! That’s how I wound up being at the Dandridge Tennessee Senior Center on the last Sunday in June this year for the Hicks Reunion. Mom traced down all the descendants from Ollie Belle. She worked on it for the full year! It took three volumes. She not only got a data on everyone but also did a small personal biography of each person and a photo page. Really hard work and excellent results. Here’s my copy of all three volumes.
Turn out was good. Ollie Belle Hicks Rolen, Sarah Hicks Rolen Baxter, and Bessie Parlee Hicks Williams decendants were represented. Here’s this year’s group shot.
Descendants of David Crockett Hicks and Margret Jane Denton.
The next reunion with be year after next. That’ll give mom time to relax and work on the Williams line from Bessie Parlee Hicks.
I am at a loss as to what to say about the past few weeks. They were deeply painful in the losses we suffered. When the time is right I will write about it as I always do but for now that would be opening healing wounds. So I shall carry on with healing and with writing.
I am so behind on blogging given the list of topics I have… but the good news is that means I’m not out of ideas. The good news for you is you don’t have to see bottom of the barrel scrapings of writing I have fodder for months! Today I’ll turn to how plain dusty records that are bland in and of themselves tell a vibrant story of a very interesting man. Now on with the post…
Confederate Pvt. Joel Dennis Jr’s loyalty oath to the Union.
You know I love a good story. That’s partly why I love genealogy – the records tell stories of people long gone. Let’s take Joel Dennis Jr. born 1828 d 1896. He was your basic subsistence Appalachian farmer. His relation to me is 3rd great grand uncle, which is neither here nor there just why he’s on my list of potential Civil War vets in my family tree. He was the right age at the right time to get swept up in the war. So when I ran a list of new tree additions that met the criteria to serve he showed up. Well yesterday I found his service record and POW record. Pretty dry stuff until you read it and glean out his story. He was 5’8″ tall had a dark complexion from working in the fields, his hair was dark but I bet his blue eyes were piercing from their darker setting. He could read and write which was unique at the time in that area for those in his situation.
First off know his father was a Col in the Union Calvary and his brother was a Pvt in the Union mounted infantry. So I was surprised to find he was a Confederate (one of 7 so far in my tree and yes I’m a Southerner but come from predominately Union area of East TN) He enlisted in Cocke County Tennessee where he lived with his wife Matilda and son Robert. He signed to Capt. Lynch’s Company (Tennessee Light Artillery) as a Private. He mustered into the Confederate Army on 30 Jun 1863. On 4 Jul 1863 he was captured by the Union in Vicksburg Mississippi. His glorious career was all of 4 days.
Here you gotta know a bit of history – Vicksburg was big awful battle. The Union captured a lot men in this battle but really didn’t have the capacity to imprison them all. So given as oaths and signing them were very important back then they offered parole to their Union families to those whoo would sign a loyalty oath. Joel refused to sign. I could see an arrogant just enlisted young man refusing such a thing.
He was in the Marine Hospital in Vicksburg on 17 Jul 1863 and was granted mercy parole by Lt. Col. W. P. Davis of the 23 Indiana Volunteers (a Union regiment) without signing the oath. He must have been faking it or not very sick/injured given what he did next. Not having signed the oath Joel fought again against the Union and was captured in Memphis on 20 Jul 1863. On 3 Aug 1863 he was sent to St. Louis military brig as an “ardent Rebel who will not reform.” There he was held there until 14 Aug 1863 where he was transferred to Camp Morton in Indianapolis.
Here I go back to his home in Cocke county. Matilda died of typhoid fever in 1864 while he languished at Camp Morton. One can only guess that when word reached him his resolve was crushed. His boy was an orphan living with his mother, the wife of a Union Col. If he ever wanted his family again he’d have to go over to their side. I’m only guessing that’s what happen but seems reasonable as he requested the loyalty oath parole still available to POWs from Vicksburg. On 2 Jan 1865 he signed the oath that he had refused to sign a year and half before. I am sure he was a changed man after such a long time as a prisoner. He then returned home and took up farming again, married a Union widow, and had two daughters. He never claimed a Confederate pension.
I find it interesting in my great grandmother’s notes about the Dennis family she didn’t note he was a Reb. She did note it on others. I think it is possible she didn’t know. I could see that he returned and the family took him back never mentioning it again.
You see there is a story in the old dry service records, POW files, death certificates and such. When you put them together the life of a farmer more than 100 years ago during a turbulent time comes back. Joel, Matilda, and their son Robert were just one family of many that knew the hardship of war.
Isaac Anderson Henry? or Isaac VanHoozer? The lover of Matilda or her son? Maybe no relation at all.
People often comment how far I’ve gotten in genealogical research in the few short years I’ve been doing it. My dear departed friend Sandy, was into genealogy for decades and couldn’t build her family tree as much as I did mine in the first year. The thing is – I was standing on the shoulders of generations of genealogists in the various families. I was blessed with a family that seemed to have one history buff that was into researching the family or documenting it every generation. I just had to pull it together. Yet there are two things that lurk in the tree – walls and ghosts.
Walls are people you just can’t seem to get past. You can’t find documentation as to who their parents were, where they came from, or how they just showed up to start that branch of the family. One of my walls is Jordan Temple, my 3rd great grandfather. I have much documentation on him after he married my 3rd great grandmother, Matilda Henry, in Greene County Tennessee on the 11 Feb 1836. Then his disappears into Loudon County, Tennessee after her death. It’s as if Matilda made him a person – before and after her he didn’t exist.
Ghosts – no not the spooky ones – the people that you find hints about in your research but never quite get documentation to firm them up and put them in the tree. There’s two related to Matilda – Isaac VanHoozer and Isaac Anderson Henry. Let’s go back to those genealogists whose shoulders I stand. One has put Isaac VanHoozer as Matilda’s first husband. Others have noted him as the father of her son Isaac Anderson Henry. All seem to agree that the birth took place in Greene County, Tennessee. When I saw that I was thrilled. Not just that I grew up in Greene County go back there regularly to visit my folks thus have a chance to research this but Greene county is blessed with intact records that go back to its founding. There have been no courthouse or record fires in its history! To add to my good luck they have a genealogy library that has a great staff to assist you! I should find something right?
Wrong. I did find the VanHoozers and several Isaacs of the right age to father a child by Matilda. There was no record of Matilda marrying anyone but Jordan. So the marriage thing might just have been a polite way to establish Isaac Anderson’s parentage. Next stop was the Bastard Index. Back then if an unmarried woman had a child out of wedlock a man had to go to court with her to declare he’d be responsible for the child. I’d guess either her father, William Henry, or the father of the child, Isaac VanHoozer, would have done this. No, no record of that. Next was the Indentured Children Record, these were the sad children, usually non-declared bastards meaning no man took responsibility for them in court. They became what we’d call ward of the court. Back then they were hired out to work for room and board usually on farms. Think – Cinderella type story. Nope didn’t find him there.
I thought maybe he went with his father. Why that would be and he’d not take his father’s name I wasn’t sure. However. my bad luck trying to find this ghost continued. That section of land left Greene County to become part of another county during that time. That county has had record fires. So another dead end into ashes. **sigh**
I did get a hint in some other genealogists research that Isaac Anderson was indentured when his mother married Jordan. That would make sense as he doesn’t appear on the census in his mother’s or his Henry grandparent’s households. The other hint was he was a Confederate in the Civil War, if he was this would add to the rift as the Temples were staunch Unionist. Following up on that I did find an Isaac A H VanHoozer that was a Confederate from East Tennessee. Now if it’s him or another of the plethora of Isaac VanHoozers – I don’t know. He had the right initials and was the right age. I followed him in records hoping at some point he’d have to state his parents names. Not found it yet but did find a picture related to the search of Isaac A. H. VanHoozer – him? probably the man whose records I’d been following. If he was Matilda’s son, I don’t know. He wound up in Arkansas after the war. It seems many East Tennessee Confederates went there not being welcome in their home area any more (remember East Tennessee was Union).
That is where I currently sit. Looking at a cyanotype of a rugged man whose face speaks of a hard life and wondering if that life included being abandoned by his mother when she married a man that wouldn’t accept her non-declared bastard. Then, rejected by the community to which he never belonged due to his birth circumstances, he chose the opposite side in the war only to lose and be further ostracized. Or is this just my writer’s imagination filling in the blanks? Am I taking scraps of information and weaving them together? As it is I don’t even have proof Matilda gave birth to an Isaac Anderson Henry beyond a few notes of hobby genealogists like myself pondering this mysterious link. Like all ghosts, it’s just a glimpse of something. One that might mean something or just be my imagination running away with me.
I’ve always liked cemeteries. No, not for the macabre reasons. I them for lots of reasons.
I like them because they are peaceful and scenic. If you want a place to go and be left to your thoughts, a cemetery is the place. Honestly even in a big city it’s quiet and people leave you alone. I’m not advocating being unsafe here like going to dangerous areas alone or at night in areas not well lit. But to sit quietly and think without shouts of people playing and such. A nice cemetery is the place to go.
They are great places to learn photography due to textures, colors, distances, shapes, etc. You can learn a lot about composition of shots. You can learn about depth of field and focus. You can work on macro and distance compositions. You can gain different textures to see how it effects the shots and mood of the prints. It’s where I went to learn how to use a SLR before there was any automatic settings at all – everything was manual and I used film.
Notice how the same shot changes in mood given the exposure type.Notice how the same shot changes in mood given the exposure type.
Cemeteries are an excellent place to learn history of an area. Without a guide you can wander a cemetery looking at death dates to pick up times of hardship in a community. You can see bad winters, epidemics, and armed conflicts. You can see about when the earliest people came to the area by the dates on the oldest graves. You can know a lot about cultural influences by the monuments and methods of burial. If you know your symbols of tombs and general symbology of the predominate culture (in the old US cemeteries that’s predominately European) you can learn about the people – their hopes, dreams, fears, and loyalties.
If you are into genealogy you can learn a lot about families. Often on the tombs you’ll get marriages, children, and such. You can see how say this family merged with that one with several marriages over a century. You can also watch family names die out as a generation of only girls marry off to other names. Sometimes you can see immigration patters as places of birth or death are noted if they aren’t where the plot is located. You can find information about military service that will lead to military records and more finds.
This time of year there are many cemetery tours. Some offer tales of the spooky and some offer history, I enjoy both types. Recently Mike and I went on two of these tours that were history centered. The photos here came from those walks. I’ll be doing posts to tell what I learned on the walks but first I thought October was the perfect time share a post in the praise of cemeteries beyond a place to store the dead.
I grew up with Knoxville, Tennessee being one of the big towns. If we wanted something and we couldn’t get it in town (Greeneville, Tennessee) one of the big towns to go for it would be Knoxville. We went there to do back to school shopping. We went there for Spring clothes shopping. We went there for concerts. We went there for just released movies. It was the big town with more to offer.
In my day the place we went was West Towne Mall. Near that was a the hip cool place to get record albums (yep talkin’ vinyl here) the day they were released, Cats Records. Couldn’t get albums until a week maybe two after release in Greeneville. Just like movies you had wait for them to be out a bit to make it down the pipeline to Greeneville.
Back in my grandmother’s day the hub of action in Knoxville was downtown. Gay Street was where it happened. That’s where her daddy took her shopping and where she went shopping with my Papaw in tow.
I have a photo of them made by a street photographer on Gay Street. We think it was the mid to late 1930s when this was taken. In those days a street photographer made your picture then tried to sell it to you. Kinda like what we see at amusement parks today but then it was in busy places, like Gay Street.
Mary Louise Eklund 