Okay I love the fashions it’s about 1968. Also I don’t know where we were going so fancy probably just out as people dressed then. I am surprised Mom doesn’t have her gloves on. I’m guessing since she doesn’t we weren’t going to church. To the best of my memory (you can see how small I was so take this with a grain of salt) Mom wore gloves to church during this time. Oh and I didn’t know my Dad was an MIB… shhhh… don’t tell.
One day we decided to drive over to Mike’s old stomping grounds. His family moved to Waverly, Tennessee from up north when he was in 5th grade. (Finally came to their senses left the snow). So for him it’s pretty much where he grew up. It’s not far from here and on a Sunday before football season started we drove there by back roads. Then we had lunch at the Waverly Café which is new to town since he left 33+ years ago. These are photos from the day.
So in June we closed on our house here in Tennessee and moved in. Then I promptly broke my foot, rather Molly did. Then as I was recovering Mom didn’t want to be topped so she broke her leg. Now, that brings us to September. I’m finally getting out and getting shots of our new community to do a post.
That’s our post office for our little unincorporated community. It doesn’t have drive thorugh drop-off boxes if you want something fancy like that you’ll have to drive to Loretto, TN to the south or Lawrenceburg, TN to the north. We don’t have a grocery store. The only gas station is a mile off on Rabbit Trail Road. Our population is a whopping 5,068. Below are the highlights of town (honestly almost all of town.)
Okay I’m a true GRITS (Girls Raised In The South) but apparently I’ve lost my ear for Southern accents. (Oh and yes plural they are varied from the mountain twang to the Lowlands drawl to the Louisiana who has at least 10 of their own). (more…)
A bearded Iris is my favorite flower. It has been for as long as I can remember. I think this is why. I loved it when the irises next to our driveway in Greeneville, Tennessee in were in full bloom. It was a riot of color and scents just my height. One of my fondest memories of living in town (besides having playmate just across the street) was the bloom of the irises followed by the big old lilac bush at the corner of the house. All are gone now.
When Greeneville started hosting the Iris Festival back in 1994 it was the right choice in my mind. (more…)
Let me first start by stating the obvious – IT IS COLD OUTSIDE! Yes it was -16F when I woke up. No that IS the actual TEMPERATURE you don’t wanna know the wind chill – somewhere in the -30sF. I don’t plan to go out until afternoon when we are supposed to warm up to about oF. Okay formalities taken care of I’ll start on my post now.
Due to work I didn’t go down to see the folks (mine and his) until after Christmas. It worked out just fine. Aaron and Sara came down later and stayed after us as they wanted to celebrate New Year’s with their friends here. Ahh I remember when we actually stayed up in dressy clothes and partied with others. Now just staying up is the challenge. Funny as I get older I get more like a baby routine keeps me from being grumpy.
Any way here are a few photos from the trip. Not much as I only had my phone.
Okay tomorrow and Thursday I work so hopefully I’ll get another post in the pipeline for those days – maybe about the great YWriter and a postcard from the past… or maybe swamp tour or Colonial Williamsburg… or maybe not… Until next time!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 grew up in Greene County Tennessee. The main town is Greeneville and their claim to history is being the home of Andrew Johnson the 17th President of the United States and the only impeached President until Bill Clinton. Both were aquitted at their trial, to be impeached is to be brought to trial while sitting in the office of President. Andrew went to fight for the President’s right to appoint and dismiss his cabinet at will (that’s it in a nut shell okay? much more political stuff going on) – Bill went because he’s a womanizer. Really which would you want to be known for going to trial about? LOL!
My family’s path crosses with Andrew’s several times on several branches. The biggest one was when he was governor of Tennessee he helped my 4th great grandmother Sarah Busick Bright secure her widow pension due her from her husband’s service in the Revolutionary War. That’s what brought Sarah and James Bright to Tennessee from Maryland – his Revolutionary War Land Grant for service.
Also I’ve got Andrew’s signature on several files as Vice President granting leave to Union Soldiers from Tennessee to attend funerals of family members. Don’t raise an eyebrow at that. Yes Tennessee did secede but East Tennessee where my roots are and Andrew was from – was staunchly Union. I’ve got less than 10 documented Confederates to over 100 documented Union service members in my family tree. Andrew looked after the loyalist there from the time he was military governor through his Vice Presidency and his Presidency.
Andrew settled in Greeneville when he was about 18 and opened a very successful tailor shop. He married a local girl who taught him the basic 3 Rs Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic. She supported his political bid. One interesting note was they were married by Abraham Lincoln’s second cousin. Thus the Lincoln connection went back to when Andrew was young knowing Lincoln’s cousin and father. Eliza read to Andrew as he’d sew and gave him her love of reading. His famous oratory skills were credited to his reading and hearing her read the great orators over and over.
In Greeneville the original tailor shop still stands inside a National Park building built around it to preserve it. His house across the street was always closed when I lived there but has since been restored and opened to the public. In 1851 which would have been while he was a Representative to the US Congress he built a large home that is now a National Park and is open for touring. A duplicate of it was built just up the hill from the original and is visible from the Nathaniel Greene Museum but is currently a private residence. I am curious how the layout inside was modernized.
Also a replica of Andrew’s birthplace in North Carolina was built just across from his first Greeneville house and kitty-cornered from his tailor shop. BUT DON’T be confused he wasn’t born in Greeneville he moved there. However when he returned after his tumultuous presidency the 1851 house held bitter memories of his son that had committed suicide. So he bought a farm out of town to make a home.
He’s the only President who went back to Congress in an elected position. After several failed bids he narrowly won the seat and returned as the Senator from Tennessee in January 1875. He was returning to Washington when he stopped by his daughter’s house in Elizabethton Tennessee to see her and spend the night. It was there he suffered a stroke and died.
Needless to say growing up near all these places we made many field trips here to see the President’s house and tailor shop. Other things like the museum at Tusculum College, the Nathanael Greene Museum, the Early Home of Johnson, the replica birthplace, and the statue all came long after I was gone.
So enjoy this photo post of the current Greeneville sights of Andrew Johnson. Oh and yes it is GreenEville being named for Nathaniel GreenE.
Until next time!
Mike drove most of the 13 hours to my parents. I drove the 9 hours to Montgomery Alabama from my parents. Needless to say last week doing the trip there and back plus the driving about to cemeteries and peoples homes – I spent a lot of time in the car. No matter how great the audio books are or how many channels we got on Sirius, it gets boring being the passenger or driver. I must acknowledge as a passenger I did more than my share of sleeping. Still when I got bored I picked up my camera when a passenger and at stops to share the experience with you. Here’s the photo gallery of 44 hours on the road.
Mary Louise Eklund 