The Poor Farm

  This morning my cousin, Windie, and I visited the local archives.  Our plan was to do more digging on our gg grandfather, George Henderson.  I scanned the reverse deed index while she read through old newspaper editions  looking for death notices for George or his wife, Susan.  Both of us came up empty-handed.
  Before we left I skimmed through the Westmoreland family folder.  One old newspaper article caught my eye- the poor farm. The article  under the picture told how "seven helpless, friendless, old people" now had a new home at the Maury County poor farm. The new building replaced the five old frame houses which were in  poor state of repair.  The caretaker was Cliff Westmoreland, our grandfather.  The article did not mention Nellie, our grandmother, but anyone who knew the couple would say Nellie ran the place.

   I have few memories of the poor farm as a child. I have seen photos of myself and my cousins hunting Easter eggs on the lawn and of Granddad sitting in his infamous chair, but few actual memories.  I do recall one of the tenants, a mentally challenged man named Leonard. At the age of three I was quite envious of Leonard's collection of  Romper Room toys of which I had none, but Leonard always shared.

What a difference a few days can make!!

Not only a few days, but a family reunion and a family "go-to" girl can make a big difference!  I am thrilled about the things I have learned about George W. Henderson.  Even though a lot of puzzle pieces are still missing, the form is taking shape.

George was born in England in 1827. Supposedly, his family died from an epidermic, and an uncle sent him to America as an indentured servant. It took seven years of service in the Cross Bridges community to pay for his passage.

At this point, no time line for George's early life can be determined.  There was a George Henderson, age 6, who appeared on the passenger list for the Ship Montreal. It departed from London, and later  arrived in New York on September 22, 1834.  Maybe more facts will surface to shed light whether this is our George.

George appeared on the 1860 census along with  Leecy  Henderson and two males ages 19 and 17 with the last name of McClure.  In reviewing Tennessee marriages, I found George  married Leecy McClure on Sept. 23, 1858. Apparently, she died sometime after 1860, and he remarried Susan Mills (my gg-grandmother) on Oct. 16, 1864.

George served in the Confederacy. He was a prisoner of war, but  I'll save that history for another day.

Back to the 1860 census, his occupation listed was stone mason.  At the reunion I learned George worked on the rock wall at the Pinewood Mansion in Pinewood, Tennessee.  After some online research I discovered the mansion burned in 1975. Disappointed with the news, I still had hopes the rock wall remained.

Today my cousin, Windie and I rode to Hickman County to find the walls of Pinewood. No disappointment today!! For the most part the walls are still intact. As I sat atop the wall posing for a picture, I felt a connection to the past and a sense of pride in the work 
my gg-grandfather did
over 100 years ago.

Back to work

      I've played hooky long enough.  It's time to begin researching again, but I'm not certain whose bones to begin digging up. 

  The Pilkinton family reunion is scheduled for this Saturday, and I plan to be there.  It's been years since I made an appearance. Maybe I can reconnect with distance relatives to see what family history they have preserved. Hopefully, this broken headstone will be addressed at the reunion. I'm not sure how long it has been broken, but it has been awhile. G.W. Henderson is my great, great grand-pappy. His daughter married an Pilkinton. Apparently "the family" focused on the paternal side because lots of information exists about the Pilkintons. Not much is known about G.W. other than he was born in England.  

Happy birthday, Freddie Jane!

   My grandmother, Jane, turned 97 years old on May 9th. Quite an accomplishment!  If you quickly do the math, you will determine she was born in 1913. In that year Ford Motor Company introduced the assembly line, and Woodard Wilson became the 28th President. Richard Nixon, Rosa Parks and Vivien Leigh are just a few who share her birth year.

One interesting tidbit about Miss Jane is she embellished  her name. Growing up with only a first name, Jane decided to choose an additional name-Freddie; thus, she became known as Freddie Jane. After she married, her husband completed Jane's social security application for her.  He listed Freddie Jane as her full name on the form.  He didn't realize until afterwords that Freddie wasn't her real name.

Family Reunions

When I was a kid, we had two family reunions to attend every summer.  One was the Johnson reunion (my mom's side) and the other was the Pilkinton reunion (my dad's side).  The above picture represents the Pilkinton reunion in 1970. The older lady in the reddish orange dress is my grandmother, Nellie Pilkinton Westmoreland.  Her husband, Cliff,  is standing behind her. Three of her boys, Windell, Paul and Jack, their spouses and children flank each side. I'm in the pink dress.

Blink and you might miss it!

   The search for Old Flat Creek Cemetery in Bedford County, Tennessee is finally over. After two trips, a lot  of backtracking and a little help from a local, Mr. Butler, we located the cemetery behind someone's house.  It is overgrown and in need of an extreme makeover.  

  Mama found her gg grandfather, William A. Evins, as well her ggg grandfather, William M.,  in the cemetery.  Pretty exciting stuff!

  William M and Elizabeth Evins share a headstone.
On the bottom of the stone it reads:

Dearest parents thou hast left us

And thy loss we deeply feel

Tis the Lord that has bereft us

Of the ones we loved so well

   Near William M. and Elizabeth's headstone are three broken headstones propped against a clump of trees. Manerva, Martha and Wesley Evins are the names listed on the broken headstones. I am wondering if Wesley is the same Wesley Evins who owned a store in Culleoka. Another mystery to solve.

How Many Times Can a Person Die?

   One of the controversies surrounding John Robert is his actual death date.  When I first started the family research, I used Ancestry.com.  It is a great resource, but the information provided on the public member trees can vary greatly.  Every one of the public member trees containing John Robert, showed his death as March 1, 1935.  Where they got that date, I'm not sure. My guess is one person wrote the date, and everyone copied it as true.
   The date I began to use was the date his widow, Martha, listed on her application for John R.'s pension-May 16, 1873. She should know, right? I felt like sending messages to all of the public tree members rubbing my findings in their "cyberface".
   Thank goodness I didn't. About two months ago I was reviewing census records, and guess who appeared on the 1880 census-none other than John Robert. What happened?  Did Martha forget when her husband died?  Did she lie and all those public tree members were right?   Could Martha's "1873" she wrote on the application form actually be other numbers?
   Last week at the state archives, I thumbed through many books about Hickman County.  One of the books I located contained obituaries from the Hickman Pioneer.  I found two references to John Robert's death.  None of the previous death dates matched. May 16, 1882 was the date listed in the newspaper. This date supports the 1880 census.
   When I reviewed the date written by Martha on the pension application form, I tried very hard to make 1873 into 1882, but I could not. In Martha's defense, John Robert had been dead over twenty years when she filed for his pension, so maybe her memory was a little faulty.
   From this point I plan to use May 16, 1882 as his death date.  I believe this date holds more validity than the others.  Now, the next question is, where is he buried?