Mt Olive Records & Archives
National Register Of Historic Places - Official Listing (November 16, 2020)
Mt Olive Cemetery Master Records File
The Mt Olive Cemetery Master Records File provides Educational and Historical information on the citizens and Soldiers interred at Mt Olive Cemetery.
This is not a complete list of everyone interred at Mt Olive, however, it does represent the Society's current level of knowledge based on local, State, and National records.
We will update these Records as research efforts expand.
Society Members and visitors can access the Master Records Files with the buttons below.
Finding Your Way Around Mt Olive
The Mt Olive Site Plan below will provide you a general orientation to the Cemetery's boundaries, and road networks. The Cemetery has been divided into 8 Zones. These Zones assist the Society and visitors in locating graves and headstones.
The Mt Olive Cemetery Records Master Files identifies the location of each resident using this Zoning convention.
Society Historian, Phyllis Smith, Obtains USCT Pension Records & Regimental Books For The National Archives
From July 8 - 16, 2023, the Society Historian, Phyllis Smith, journeyed to the National Archives in Washington, D.C., to obtain and research the pension records and regimental books of Clarksville, Tennessee's U.S. Colored Troops.
Well done, Phyllis!
Historical Obituaries
The attached file provides a glimpse into our past. Here you will find a collection of obituaries from Clarksville's The Leaf Chronicle and The Nashville Globe. The Society thanks its member Mrs. Brenda Harper for her research on this project.
Historical News Articles Referencing Mt Olive Cemetery
Clarksville Weekly Chronicle July 3rd, 1880
Remembrance Of The Month
In support of our Mission Statement, each month the Society reflects on the life of a permanent resident of the Cemetery. These Biographies provide a unique insight on the lives, service and sacrifices of those interred at Mt Olive.
We hope these Biographies provide an opportunity for our community to reconnect with our Nation's history and help the Society to celebrate and honor our fellow citizens' lives.
Biographies can be found below and are published by the Society's Historian, Phyllis Smith.
Stephen and Irene Kimbrough Biography
Stephen Kimbrough was born into slavery near Allensville, Todd County, Kentucky in 1836. His master was Gaff Kimbrough and he does not seem to have married during his bondage. At 28 years old, he escaped slavery and came to Clarksville, Tennessee and joined Company D of the 16th USCT on February 16, 1864. His military record describes him as 5 feet 7 inches tall with brown complexion and eyes and black hair. Later a coworker in a deposition would describe him as a big stout man. Unsurprisingly, his pre-army occupation was as a farmer.
His military record is unremarkable except for a note that in August 1864 he was on duty at work with Captain Giffin. His medical record shows that he was treated for intermittent fever on November 24 and December 6, 1864. He was treated for pleurisy on November 30 and December 3, 1864. On November 30, 1864 he was treated for lumbago.
He was with the 16th USCT during the Battle of Nashville. The regiment was held in reserve during that battle. Depositions in Stephen’s pension records state that the 16th skirmished with Confederate Generals Forrest and Wheeler at Pulaski, Tennessee. The conditions were very bad for the soldiers. They dealt with snow, mud, and very cold temperatures. Stephen stated these conditions gave him a severe cold. These conditions probably caused the pleurisy noted in his medical record.
Stephen was mustered out of the Army on April 30, 1866 in Nashville. The Army owed him $25.49. After leaving the Army, he returned to Clarksville where on May 21, 1866 he married Arabella “Bell” Gill. They must have known each other before the war based on two things: the short time between returning to Clarksville and their marriage, and the fact that Bell was also from Allensville, Kentucky. Stephen got a job at Kellogg’s Saw Mill, and the couple settled down in Clarksville. They had two years of married life. Bell got very ill before she died, and her mother, Fanny Gill, came to Clarksville and took her back to Allensville to nurse her. Bell died on May 15, 1868. Stephen’s coworkers describe him as immediately quitting work when he heard the new so that he could go to Allensville and bury her.
Stephen continued to work at Kellogg’s Saw Mill and was working there still when he married Irene Herring on March 22, 1871. Irene had been a slave of John Kessee and had married William Steele while they both were slaves. She stated that they were married the year of the “Negro riot in Tennessee.” This would probably put her marriage in 1857. There were rumors of a slave uprising all over the South with much of it centered on the iron furnaces in this area. William Steele or Thompson (he went by both names) died during the war. He was a carpenter who was working on the railroad bridge over the Cumberland River when he fell off the bridge and drowned. They never recovered his body. Irene and William had at least one son named Nerral.
On July 21, 1869, Irene married Lewis Herring. One year and four months later, he died. This places the date of his death in November of 1870. They say that the third time is the charm. Irene states that she was introduced to Stephen by her brother-in-law, Dan Martin. Dan was also a USCT, and he and Stephen returned to Clarksville together.
Around 1874 or 1875, Stephen left Kellogg’s Saw Mill and began working for Gracey and Brother at the freight depot. He would work at the depot until his death. The 1880 census shows him living in District 12 with Irene and four children: Henry, age 8; Eddie, age 7; Bell, age 10; and Clarence, age 2. On April 27, 1885 George Stephen Kimbrough was born and the following year on March 13, 1886, their last child, Louisa was born. There is an older son, Norman, who doesn’t appear in the 1880 census. His birth year is unknown but he seems to have been old enough to go out on his own. In 1892 the family was living at 603 Franklin Street. At some point after that, he acquired two lots: one on Paradise Street where he had moved the family by 1894, and one on Taylor’s Hill in Ward 9. Currently, Taylor’s Hill has not been identified. The lot on Taylors hill had a small frame house with one room and a kitchen which they rented out. The Paradise Street house was a two-story frame house with four rooms.
Stephen joined the Odd Fellows Lodge and was a person of influence in his community. On February 23, 1891, he gave a deposition in support of Mary Watkins, wife of Given Watkins, in her quest to obtain a widow’s pension. On November 22, 1892, he gave a deposition for Barry Gupton, a well-to-do former USCT, in his quest for an invalid’s pension.
Stephen, himself, applied for a pension on May 4, 1891. For quite a number of years, he complained of chest and back pain and shortness of breath. He was treated for these complaints by R.G. Martin, a black doctor living in Clarksville. He received a pension and at his death was receiving $8 per month. On February 13, 1896, Stephen went upstairs to lie down for an hour. When they went to call him for dinner at 12 o’clock, he was dead. This was a surprise for he had been out and about the day before. The cause of death was organic heart disease. He was 61 years old. Two of his children, George and Louisa, were below the age of 16 years old when he died and received minor’s pensions of $2 per month until they achieved the age of 16. On May 5, 1896 Irene applied for a widow’s pension which when it started paid $8 per month. After her husband died, Irene worked as a laundress.
The 1900 census shows Irene, Clarence, George, and Louisa living at 32 Paradise Street. By 1910, Irene, George, and Louisa were living at 419 First Street. The census indicates that Irene owned the house free of mortgage. On February 8, 1911 George married Bessie W. Whitfield and the couple moved in with Irene and Louisa. In 1911 Irene was working as a laundress, George was a laborer with the L & N Railroad, and Louisa was working as a sick nurse. Norman was living with wife, Annie in 627 South Second Street and was working as a mail carrier.
Irene Kimbrough died on July 2, 1914 of ulcerative bowels complicated by dysentery. Her death certificate says she was born in South Side, Tennessee, and her father was Ike Kessee. She was buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery on July 4, 1914. At the time of her death, her pension had risen to $12 per month. George Kimbrough spent the last years of his life in Central State Hospital in Nashville. This hospital was an insane asylum. He died there on September 7, 1924 of myocarditis with a contributing factor of general paralysis of insane. He was buried in Clarksville but the cemetery is unknown.
Norman lost his wife Annie, exactly when is unknown, but on February 28, 1920 he married Mattie Gibson. Norman was a decon at St. John’s Baptist Church which still exists on Tiny Town Road. He was a member of numerous lodges and continued to be a letter carrier until just before his death. Six weeks before he died, he collapsed on his route. He died of chronic valvar heart disease at 2 am on February 14, 1926. He is buried in Golden Hills Cemetery.
Edward Kimbrough moved to Chicago and married a woman who was a physician. He was in Clarksville visiting Norman and was present when he died. After the funeral, Edward returned to Chicago. So far, no record on Louisa has been found past the 1910 census. This can probably be explained by marriage.
The house on Paradise Street does not exist today. Neither does Paradise Street. Valleybrook Park now occupies the area where Paradise Street once stood.
Sterling Campbell was born into enslavement in 1838 in Christian County, Kentucky. His enslaver was John P. Campbell, and his parents were Adelaide Campbell and Louis Gibson. He had one brother named Henry Gibson. In 1858, Sterling received the permission of his enslaver and the permission of Randel Boyd, the enslaver of his intended wife, to marry Nancy Boyd. Nancy was the daughter of Roe McCulluct and Eliza Boyd. The couple’s enslavers, John P. Campbell and Randel Boyd were partners in the tobacco industry and lived close to each other.
On January 21, 1864, Sterling enlisted in Company H, 16th USCT in Clarksville, Tennessee. He was 26 years old, five feet four inches tall, with black eyes and hair, and a black complexion. It is probable that at the time of his enlistment, Nancy had also escaped to freedom in Clarksville. The 16th USCT left Clarksville for Chattanooga, Tennessee in April 1864. On September 18, 1864, Sterling was treated for diarrhea. He was sick in the Regimental Hospital on October 30, 1864 but was present with his unit during the Battle of Nashville where the 16th USCT was part of the Federal Army’s reserve and participated in the march back to Chattanooga after the battle. In January/February 1865, Sterling was charged forty cents for lost Camp and Garrison Equipage. He was admitted to the Regimental Hospital on August 6, 1865 for diarrhea and was so sick that they transferred him to General Hospital Number 1 where they diagnosed him with hepatic dropsy (body swelling caused by liver disfunction). He returned to duty on September 16, 1865. Sterling was allowed to go home on furlough on November 24, 1865 and returned December 8, 1865. From January 21st to the 23rd, 1866, Sterling was treated for a headache which may mean that it was a migraine headache. He was in the hospital again with diarrhea from January 28 to February 1, 1866, and was hospitalized with dysentery from February 19 through February 22, 1866. Sterling’s military history highlights the dangers of camp life, and shows how disease killed more soldiers than bullets did in the Civil War. He was mustered out of the Army in Nashville, Tennessee on April 30, 1866. The Army owed him seventeen dollars and twenty cents at the time of his discharge.
The 1870 Montgomery County, Tennessee census is the only census that listed Sterling Campbell. The family was living in District 12 which included downtown Clarksville. He is listed as a 35-year-old laborer. Nancy, aged 30, was listed as keeping house. Sterling’s 65-year-old mother, Adelaide was living with them. Three children were listed with them. Daughter Jud was fourteen, sons Sterling, Junior and Lewis were aged 4 and 2 respectively. Two other children were added to the family later: daughter Eliza Jane was born in 1874 and the final child, George was born in 1875.
Sterling Campbell died on April 14, 1876 of heart disease. Two of his children, Jud and Eliza Jane, had predeceased him. It is not currently known where the two children are buried but Sterling was buried in Mt Olive Cemetery by Henry Roberts. In one of life’s ironies, Henry Roberts was deposed for Nancy’s Widow’s Pension application and stated his records were burned in Clarksville’s big fire of 1878. He stated he remembered burying Sterling in Sterling’s own garden. But for the discovery of his headstone, Sterling’s resting place would be unknown.
Nancy Campbell applied for a widow’s pension on April 5, 1889. At the time she applied, Nancy had three living children: Sterling Junior, Lewis, and George. All three children were eligible for a minor’s pension since they were less than sixteen years old when their father died. The minor’s pension would pay each of them $2 per month until they reached the age of sixteen. Stephen O. W. Brandon was Nancy’s pension agent. He wrote down the statements of her witnesses and guided her through the pension process, but he was not a lawyer. Nancy was granted a pension on January 22, 1895. By the time of her pension the laws were changed so that when a pension was granted, it was backdated to the original application date. Nancy received money on her pension and the children’s pension starting from 1889 which amounted to a first check of $450. Stephen O. W. Brandon lobbied Nancy to get her to agree to give him 1/3 of her first check for the work he did to help her get her pension. This was in violation of the pension laws which only allowed pension lawyers and agents to receive a maximum of $10. Nancy would not agree to this and shrewdly took her son Lewis with her when she picked up and cashed her first check. She offered Brandon the $10 he was authorized and he refused it. She added five dollars and met with another refusal. Brandon finally accepted $30. Unfortunately for him, Nancy reported the transaction. A special examiner was sent to take her statement as well as one from her son. The special examiner found more cases where Brandon required more than ten dollars in payment and recommended that Brandon be criminally prosecuted. Brandon was found guilty on four counts of violation of the Pension Act of June 27, 1890. He was sentenced on April 28, 1896 to 13 months in the Brooklyn Penitentiary for each count. Sentences were to be served concurrently.
The 1910 Montgomery County, Tennessee census listed Nancy Campbell living at 314 Kellog Street with her sister, Margaret Boyd. Nancy owned the house and no occupation was listed for her. Margaret was working as a cook for a private family. Nancy’s son Lewis was married with nine children and living next door at 312 Kellog Street. Sterling Junior was married and living at 437 Lee Street. Both Sterling Junior and Lewis were working as laborers in a tobacco factory. Sterling Campbell died on March 22, 1911 of tuberculosis. His burial place is currently unknown. Nancy Campbell died five years later on June 4, 1916 of chronic bronchitis. She was buried in Mt Olive Cemetery on June 5, 1916 by Nace Dixon’s Undertaking firm. No headstone has currently been found for her.
Bibliography
Clarksville, Tennessee City Directory (1911).
Compiled Military Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served with the United States
Colored Troops: Infantry Organizations, 14th through 19th, Civil War, Campbell, Sterling, National
Archives Building, Washington, D. C.
Montgomery County, Tennessee Census (1870, 1900, 1910).
Pension File 406492, Campbell, Sterling, Civil War, National Archives Building, Washington, D. C.
Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1958; Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee.
“The Penalty: Thirteen Months in the Brooklyn Prison for Each Offense,” Clarksville Weekly Leaf-
Chronicle, April 28, 1896.
Charity and Eddie Headspeth Biography
Charity Headspeth was born Charity Medley to Warisk Medley and Elvira Vass probably in 1872 in Christian County, Kentucky. Her origins are somewhat confusing since she seems to get younger with every census. Also her mother is variously listed as Viney Murray (1900 census), Henderson Medley (1920 census), Monie Medley (her death certificate), and Elvira Vass (Charity’s death certificate). In June 1886, Charity Medley married Joseph Headspeth in Stewart County, Tennessee.
The next record of the family is the 1900 Montgomery County, Tennessee census. Joe, aged 56, was working as a furnace Laborer and was renting 417 Lee Street which is near where Austin Peay State University is located today. Charity, aged 35, was working as a laundress. They were listed with two children Lulu, age 14, who was working as a nurse. A nurse in 1900 was a child care worker not a health care professional. Eddie, age 3, who was born in July 1896. Charity’s mother was listed as living with them.
Joe Headspeth died sometime before 1910 as did their daughter Lulu. There is no record of either of their burial places. The 1910 census listed the family renting 422 Lee Street. Charity, aged 38, was working as a Laundress. Charity’s mother is not living with them. Eddie, age 12, was attending school. The family had a new addition. Jennie, age 8, was born in 1902 and was attending school in 1910.
The family moved to 513 Kellogg Street (now named 8th Street) between 1910 and 1920. In 1920, Charity, aged 48, was working as a cook for a private family. Eddie, aged 22, was also working as a cook for a private family. Jennie, age 18, was working as a laundress. Charity’s mother, aged 87, moved back in with the family at this point.
On July 21, 1925, Charity’s mother died of a Cerebral Hemorrhage also known as a stroke. She was buried in Mt Olive Cemetery the next day by Nace Dixon’s Undertaking Firm.
By 1930, Charity had three grandchildren. All of them were Jennie’s children, and in the 1930 census they are all listed with the Headspeth surname. Charity, aged 53, and Eddie, aged 30, were both working as laborers in a tobacco factory. Jennie, aged 28, was working as a laundress. The children were Bennie Joe, aged 10, Elgie M., aged 5, and Charity M., aged 3 months. No record of marriage has currently been found for Jennie. Clues to the fathers of the children are found in the 1940 census. At this time, Charity, aged 76, is now a pensioner. Eddie, aged 43, also has no occupation listed. The census indicates she was crippled. Jennie, aged 39, was working as a cook for a private family. Bennie Joe was still listed with the Headspeth surname, but Elgia, aged 15, and Charity M., aged 10, are listed with the surname of Chilton. A new granddaughter, Bertie Will, aged 10 months, is listed with a surname of Milam. The family is well-to-do enough to have a live in cook named Lou Ella Ellis. They also have a lodger named Ben Stone.
On July 14, 1942, Eddie Headspeth died of Pulmonary Tuberculosis. She was buried in Mt Olive Cemetery two days later by Nace Dixon’s Undertaking Firm. Charity Headspeth died of Bronchial Pneumonia due to exposure on April 17, 1947. She was buried in Mt Olive four days later. Her funeral was delayed to allow out of state family members to attend.
Most of the remaining family relocated to other states. Bennie Joe and Elgie remained in Clarksville. Jennie and her daughter Charity moved to New York. No record currently has been found on Bertie Will Milam after the 1940 census.
Bibliography
Montgomery County, Tennessee Census (1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940).
Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1958; Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee.
Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002; Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee.
Major Benjamin Steele Biography
Major Benjamin Steele’s life was short but he was born into an interesting family. His father Joseph P. Steele was a barber who owned his own shop called Steele and Barker Barber Shop. Joseph was in a partnership with Joseph W. Barker. Joseph married Theresa McCoy on September 27, 1891. The 1900 Montgomery County Census listed the Steele family renting a house at 215 North Fifth Street in Clarksville, Tennessee. Joseph, aged 29, worked as a barber, Theresa, aged 25, worked as a seamstress. They had three children: Julia, aged 7, Joseph, Jr., aged 6, and David, aged 3.
The house at 215 North Fifth Street must have suited the family because 10 years later when the 1910 census was taken, they were still there. Joseph, aged 39, worked as a barber, Theresa, aged 32, was not working outside the home. Julia, aged 16 and Joseph, Jr., aged 15 were attending school. David, aged 13, was an apprentice in a meat shop. The family had grown by three children since 1900. Violet, aged 7, Lillian, aged 2, and Roy, aged 1.
On July 25, 1914 the family welcomed Major Benjamin Steele. Unfortunately, Major would only be with them four years, six months and twelve days. On February 7, 1919 Major Benjamin Steele died of pneumonia following influenza. Major was one of the statistics in what is known as the 1918 Influenza Pandemic. Shortly after Major’s death, the family would separate for a time. The 1920 Montgomery County census shows Theresa, aged 38, was not working outside the home, Julia, aged 23, worked as a teacher, David, aged 21, worked as a Post Office Clerk, Violet, aged 17, was not working outside the home, but was married to Roy Drane, 22, an iron furnace laborer. Both were living with Theresa. Daughters Wynell, aged 12, and Lillian, aged 10, and son Lawrence, aged 6, were all attending school. The family had added a daughter, Narine, aged 2, in 1918. They were now renting 152 Henry Street.
Joseph had become part of what is known as the First Great Migration (1910-1940) when large numbers of Southern African-Americans migrated to Northern cities to get away from Jim Crow Laws. The 1920 Cook County, Illinois census listed Joseph, 49, working as a barber and living with his widowed sister Mary Montgomery, aged 50, at 2515 Wabash Avenue in Chicago. Also listed are Mary’s son Noble Reed, 35, a Chief for the rail road and his wife, Eliza Reed, aged 26, who was a book keeper in a mail order house.
Eventually Theresa, David, and Lawrence join Joseph in Chicago because on January 15, 1925 Theresa dies in Chicago. The 1930 census shows Joseph, aged 60, working as a barber and Lawrence, aged 30, working as a stock exchange messenger. They are living on Michigan Avenue in Chicago as boarders of William and Margaret Adams.
David is listed in the 1930 Kane County, Illinois census as a patient in Elgin State Hospital. Elgin State Hospital was a mental hospital located in Elgin, Illinois just outside of Chicago. It opened on April 3, 1872 and is still in operation today. The 1940 Kane County, Illinois census listed David again as a patient in Elgin State Hospital. On May 6, 1940, Joseph P. Steele died in Chicago. Currently this is all the information available on the fate of Major Benjamin Steele’s family.
Bibliography
Clarksville City Directory (1911).
Cook County, Illinois Census (1920, 1930).
Cook County, Illinois Death Index, 1908-1988.
Illinois Digital Archives, History of Elgin State Hospital 1872-1972 - Elgin Area History - Illinois Digital Archives (idaillinois.org), accessed March 11, 2023.
Kent County, Illinois Census (1930, 1940).
Montgomery County, Tennessee Census (1900, 1910, 1920).
Montgomery County, Tennessee Marriage Index, 1799-1953.
Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1958; Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee.
Stark Anderson Biography
The youngest of Jim and Fannie Anderson’s children, Stark Anderson, was born in February 1880 in Tennessee. The family lived in Civil District 3 where Jim worked as a laborer. Stark moved out of the family home by the time he was twenty because the 1900 Montgomery County Census shows him living with his aunt Emily McComb at 117 ½ South First Street.
The first mention of Stark in the local newspaper was on June 20, 1899 when he was convicted for vagrancy and fined six dollars. He couldn’t pay the six dollars so he was sentenced to the rock pile. On October 30, 1900, Stark was fined six dollars for disturbing the peace. The next year on January 15, 1901, Stark was arrested for receiving stolen knives from a break in at the Kincannon Brothers Store. He was tried and acquitted on January 18, 1901. He was arrested again on October 15, 1901 after he was accused by Tiddy Mimms of hitting her with his fist. The paper did not cover the result of this charge. He ended the year as a victim. Will Overton was found guilty on December 3, 1901 of stealing 79 cents from Stark and was sentenced to two years in the penitentiary. At this time, Stark was working at Winter’s Bakery.
Stark was arrested on May 26, 1902 at an illegal crap game that occurred in the rear of Ben Hudson’s Restaurant on Strawberry Alley. Four months later on September 10, 1902 Stark was sentenced to the rock pile for twelve days for drunkenness. Either Stark took a break from crime or he got better at evading detection because his next arrest was on April 18, 1904. He graduated to a higher level of charge as well. Stark was arrested for assault and battery with intent to kill. Again, the newspaper did not record the outcome of this charge.
The next year was a quiet one for Stark. January 30, 1905, he was arrested for selling liquor on Sunday. The paper is silent on the outcome, but Stark was not mentioned again until September 24, 1906 when he was fined ten dollars for being drunk and disorderly. The only mention of him in 1909 was again as a victim. On January 5, 1909, Walter McReynolds was fined ten dollars for fighting. McReynolds struck Stark in the mouth with a piece of iron.
On March 18, 1910, Stark was working at Smith’s Restaurant and was arrested for stealing food for resale. He appears in the 1910 Montgomery County census as an inmate of the Montgomery County Jail located on Commerce Street. On August 25, 1910 Stark was tried and found not guilty of concealing stolen property in the case of stealing food for resale.
Once again Stark managed to stay out of trouble, this time for five years. His quiet streak ran out on July 19, 1915 when he was arrested with a large quantity of whisky in his possession. He was ordered to 150 days labor. The article referred to him as a bootlegger for the first time. On August 27, 1917, he was on trial for selling liquor illegally. The newspaper did not record the result.
Stark registered for the draft on September 12, 1918. The draft registration card notes that his occupation was shoe shine and his nearest relative was his brother Robert. The army never got the chance to call him up. On November 22, 1918, Stark Anderson died of cardiac valvular insufficiency. He was thirty-eight years old, and was buried in Mt Olive Cemetery the same day he died. Currently no headstone has been found for him.
Bibliography
“Are Enforcing the Vagrant Law.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. June 21, 1899.
“Burglary.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. January 15, 1901.
“Charged With Assault.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. April 18, 1904.
“Circuit Court Continues Work.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. January 18, 1901.
“City Court.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. October 3, 1900.
“City Court.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. September 24, 1906.
“City Court.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. January 5, 1909.
“Criminal Court in Session.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. August 27, 1917.
“Found Guilty of Tippling.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. August 25, 1910.
“Jumping on Cars.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. September 10, 1902.
“Jury Returns Verdict of Guilty.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. August 24, 1910.
“Lucky Catch of Thieves.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. March 18, 1910.
Montgomery County, Tennessee Census (1880, 1900, 1910).
“Officers Raid A Crap Game.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. May 26, 1902.
“Sentenced to the Penitentiary.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. December 3, 1901.
“Struck A Woman.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. October 15, 1901.
Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1958; Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee.
“Thursday, Feb. 9.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. January 30, 1905.
United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards,
1917-1918. Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls.
Registration State: Tennessee; Registration County: Montgomery, Draft Card: A.
Untitled Article. Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. July 19, 1915.
Coleman Norfleet Biography
Coleman Norfleet was born about October 1881 to Mariah Norfleet. Currently nothing is known about his father to include his name. In 1900 Coleman was 18, he lived with his mother at 348 Spring Street in Clarksville, TN. His mother worked as a cook, and he found employment as a tobacco factory laborer. According to the 1900 Montgomery County census, Coleman had a sibling who is currently unknown. Neither Coleman nor his mother could read or write. On April 23, 1900, Coleman was arrested for shooting craps and fined a total of $10.50.
Around 1908, Coleman married a woman named Cornelia and moved to L & N Street in Providence Town, Kentucky. He found work as a coal miner with the Providence Mining Company, and his wife worked as a seamstress. The 1910 census shows they shared their home with three boarders.
Providence Town suffered a disaster on Friday, November 25, 1910. An explosion occurred in Mine Number 3 belonging to the Providence Mining Company and trapped nine men below ground. The explosion was so violent that a big fan and a mining car at the top of the mine were destroyed. Miners worked all night to construct a temporary windlass that they hoped to use to get to the trapped miners. The next day, black smoke was still billowing from the shaft indicating that a fire still burned at the lower levels. Mine rescue experts arrived from Knoxville, Tennessee and Linton, Indiana. Rescuers with oxygen helmets went into the shaft on November 26 and brought up the bodies of three miners who burned to death. By 1 p.m. all the bodies were brought up out of the shaft.
At the time, this was the worst mine disaster that Kentucky had suffered. However, if the explosion had occurred 15 minutes earlier, double the number of men would have been caught in the shaft. The working day was coming to an end and the nine dead miners were waiting for the cage to be taken to the surface. Immediately after the explosion, air was pumped into the mine in the hope that some of the men had survived the explosion. The explosion was immediately followed by a flow of black damp from the mine which is a “suffocating mixture of carbon dioxide and other unbreathable gases.” An autopsy of the miners revealed that some of the men had died instantaneously and the others died from the smoke and black damp.
Coleman Norfleet was thirty years old when he died in this explosion. He and his wife Cornelia had no children. His remains were brought back to Clarksville on November 27,1910. His funeral was probably held at his mother’s house by Reverend Paul Dennis of Guthrie, Kentucky and burial was at Mt Olive Cemetery. Currently no headstone has been found for Coleman and no record of his wife or mother has been found beyond the 1910 census.
Bibliography
Howden Services Website, “There Must be Something in the Air.” Howden Articles. October 23, 2019.
https://www.howden.com/en-us/articles/mining/the-most-dangerous-gases-in-mining.
Montgomery County, Tennessee Census (1900).
“Nine Kentucky Men Killed in Coal Mine.” Evansville Press. November 26, 1910.
“Police Court on a Boom.” Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle. April 23, 1900.
“Recover Bodies of Mine Victims.” Owensboro Messenger. November 27, 1910.
“Rescue Party Finds All Dead.” Hopkinsville Kentuckian. November 29, 1910.
Untitled Article. Nashville Globe. December 2, 1910.
Webster County, Kentucky Census (1910).
Kate & Dorsey Thompson Biography
About 1875, Alford and Ann Williams were blessed with their second daughter and eighth child who was named Kate. By 1880, the family had grown to six boys and three girls. Sometime between 1880 and 1900, all the men in the family had died. Ann and her three girls were living at 9 Kessee Alley. Ann was a laundress, as was Eddie, aged 22. Kate, aged 26, was working as a cook, and Maggie, aged 28, worked as a hotel servant.
Kate married Dorsey Thompson on July 5, 1906. Dorsey was born in Louisianna in 1866 and worked as a painter. Kate was a housewife except for a brief period in 1920 when she took in washing. They lived on Kessee Alley until about 1929. In 1915, their only son George K. Thompson was born. The 1929 Clarksville City Directory listed them living at Klein’s Alley. The 1930 Montgomery County census listed their address as 32 Klein’s Alley. George was 16 years old and attending school.
On April 9, 1936, Kate and Dorsey both wrote their wills. They left everything to their son George and Annie Larkins. Both wills mentioned their home place as being lot #10 in the Williams Addition in Ward Three and directed that it could not be mortgaged or sold without the consent of Kate’s sister Maggie Gatlin who lived in Dover.
Kate died of complication from diabetes on September 24th, 1936 in Dover probably while visiting her sister. She was buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery by Nace Dixon’s company on September 27th. Dorsey lived another nine months. He died of Mitral Stenoses (a narrowing of the mitral valve opening that blocks blood flow from the left atrium of the heart to the left ventricle) resulting from chronic Nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys) on June 24th, 1937 and was buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery by Nace Dixon’s company on June 27th.
In 2020, Kate’s gravestone was discovered during a cemetery clean-up. Dorsey’s gravestone has yet to be found.
Bibliography
Clarksville, Tennessee City Directory (1911, 1922,1929),
Montgomery County, Tennessee Census (1880, 1900, 1920, 1930).
Will Books: Author: Tennessee County Court (Montgomery County); Probate Place: Montgomery, Tennessee. Will Books, Vol U, 1914-1939.
Ellen Pennilton and William Dudley Biography
Ellen Pennilton and William Dudley are a mother and son buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery. Ellen was the daughter of George Pennilton and Bettie Whithead and was born about 1868 in Robertson County, Tennessee. About 1881, Ellen entered into a relationship with Carter Dudley and together they had five children. No record of a marriage between them has been found, and Ellen never seems to have taken Dudley’s name. The relationship ended sometime between 1894 and 1900. Carter Dudley possibly died during this period but since death certificates were not regularly issued until 1916, his fate is unknown.
Ellen is listed in the 1900 Montgomery County, Tennessee census under her maiden name of Pendleton (the records list three different spellings of her name) as head of household with her three surviving children: John Dudley born in 1882, Rhen Dudley born in 1891, and William Dudley born in 1895. The family lived at 18 Commerce Street in a rented house with Ellen and eldest son, John, working as laborers in a tobacco factory.
By the 1910 census, John and Rhen are no longer members of the household. Ellen and William are now renting 348 Spring Street and are both working as sorters at the Dunlop & Hanratty Tobacco Factory on the southwest corner of Dunlop and Commerce Street. The census shows that Ellen had 10 children but only two were still living.
On March 6, 1916, William was playing pool at the Ventress Pool Room on Franklin Street near University Avenue. He got into an altercation with Marcus Carneal, a porter at the Arlington Hotel. The altercation grew heated enough that William threw a pool ball at Carneal who became enraged and attacked William with a knife. William received a wound just under the left arm and one in the throat which severed his jugular vein. He received medical attention and then was taken to his home. The next day, William died as a result of his injuries. Carneal was arrested and arraigned for murder. To date, no account of his trial has been found. William was buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery on March 9, 1916.
Ellen lived another four years and at some point, changed jobs and became a cook probably for a private family. This change in jobs was probably due to her age since working in a tobacco factory is physically taxing work. On February 24, 1920, Ellen died of general paralysis resulting from acute nephritis. Nephritis is a kidney disease. She was buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery on February 26, 1920. Currently no headstone has been found for either Ellen or William.
Blondella Dunlap Biography
Blondella Dunlap had a short life. She was the only child of Monroe and Ellen Stewart Dunlap who married on July 22, 1890. Blondella was born shortly afterwards. The record is unclear exactly when, but she was very likely born in 1891.
Her father, Monroe, was a carpenter and was quite successful because in the 1900 Montgomery County census, the family is listed as living at 110 Carpenter Street, a house they owned free of a mortgage. Ellen, her mother is listed as working as a laundress. By the 1910 census, the house was renumbered as 108 Carpenter. Today Carpenter Street is located in the Lincoln Holmes neighborhood, and 110 Carpenter is an empty lot. Ellen, by 1910, was not working outside the house. Blondella was 19 years old and also was not employed.
The next year, the family moved to 549 Ford Street. Monroe was working as a grocer, and Blondella was listed as a laundress. Ellen was keeping house. Seven years later on May 23, 1918, Blondella died from pneumonia. This was a timeframe when the United States was fighting a flu epidemic. Blondella may have been a victim since pneumonia is a common secondary condition of severe flu. She was buried three days later in Mt. Olive Cemetery by Sam Dabney.
The 1920 Census shows Monroe and Ellen still living at 549 Ford Street. They owned the house free of a mortgage. Monroe was working once again as a carpenter. Sometime between 1920 and 1925, Ellen died. Currently no record of her death and burial has been found. In 1925, Monroe made a will dividing his possessions between his siblings: Stanford Dunlap, Andrew Dunlap, Viney Harris, and Mollie Weed. He owned seven houses. He left Stanford two houses and lots on Bailey Street and a three-room house on Ford Street. Andrew inherited Monroe’s homeplace on the corner of Ford and Carpenter Street, a small two-room house on Ford Street, and Monroe’s piano. His sister, Viney, received a four-room house and lot on Ford Street. Mollie received a three-room house on Ford Street. Monroe was very particular in specifying that the property willed to his sisters should be theirs and “absolutely free from the debts, contracts or control of any husband she may now or hereafter have.”
Monroe Dunlap died on May 7, 1926 and was buried in Dunlap Cemetery. His cause of death is listed as epilepsy with arterio-sclerosis as a contributory cause.
Egbert Miller Biography
In approximately 1850, Egbert Miller entered the world. The identity of his parents is currently unknown. Egbert’s life is documented in two censuses, four newspaper articles, and a death certificate. Currently no other documents have been found that mention him.
The earliest document found was the 1880 Montgomery County Census. Egbert was living alone probably in a boarding house at Strawberry Alley and Main Street. He was working as a laborer.
Hardship struck Egbert in January of 1884 when he contracted small pox. He was a porter at Michel’s at the time and went to his mother’s in Brandontown to recover. He probably recovered with minimal scaring because on October 18, 1884, Egbert married Evy Brown who worked in a tobacco factory.
By 1891, Egbert was working as a carriage driver. According to the local paper, he was target shooting at James M. Bowling’s place when he saw Mr. Bowling’s bull dog. Egbert decided to use the dog for target practice and fired his gun at the dog. The dog ran away howling and did not return.
The local paper did an article on Egbert on March 22, 1898 focusing on his profession. He was working as a window washer for local businesses. The article describes him as an old colored man even though he was 48 years old. According to the article, Egbert had been cleaning the windows of local businesses for 15 years.
The 1900 census shows Egbert and Eva renting a house at 70 Marion Street. Egbert was working as a porter and Eva was working at one of the tobacco factory. They had been married for 15 years but had no children.
Pneumonia ended Egbert’s life on March 2, 1910. He died at his home in his own bed. Funeral services were conducted at the house of Reverend W. H. C. Stokes on Henry Street. According to his obituary in the Nashville Globe, he was buried in Mt. Olive. In 1910 death certificates did not list place of burial so the obituary is the only record of where he was buried. To date, no headstone for Egbert Miller has been found.
Eva Miller was listed as living at 915 Franklin Street in the 1911 Clarksville City Directory. At this time, she was working as a laundress. In the 1922 City Directory, she was living in the rear of 124 Tenth Avenue South. There is no occupation listed. Currently, this is the last record found on Eva Miller. When she died or where she is buried is unknown.
Babe Cross Biography
Despite his angelic name, Babe Cross was described by the local newspaper as a “notorious criminal” and by law enforcement officers as “one of the worst characters they have had to deal with for some time.”
Babe Cross was born in Tennessee to Henry Cross and his wife Lula Haskins Cross in 1873. Descriptions of him are limited to stating that he was a large man. The family probably lived near the state line and not far from Guthrie, Kentucky because he seems to have been very familiar with that area. He was also very familiar with Russellville, Kentucky because his first mention in the local newspaper is on July 4, 1893 when a pistol was found that Babe had allegedly stolen in Russellville. Babe next appears in the paper on 29 March 1894 when he is brought back from Evansville, KY where he was arrested after escaping from the Montgomery County Chain Gang. The article does not say why he was on the chain gang, but the possibility exists that it was due to the pistol that was found the previous year.
August 1895 found Babe charged with robbery. He and an accomplice held up Andrew Pollard and stole five dollars from him and beat him up. They took his money in Tennessee but beat him up in Kentucky. For this crime, Babe was sentenced to the rock pile in Guthrie for ten days. This is the only incident on record that Babe actually hurt someone.
Babe was brought up on charges of stealing a saddle on August 10, 1896 but was released due to insufficient evidence. This is the only dismissal of charges that Babe encountered. He was unlucky enough in most of his career to be caught perpetrating the crime or with the stolen items in his possession.
Along with larceny, Babe seems to have a talent for escaping. On November 9, 1896, Babe escaped from jail where he was being held on a larceny charge. Six days later, he was arrested and charged with horse theft. He was found in possession of John Meek’s horse which had been stolen from his home in South Clarksville. He also had a saddle with a Texas tree and a lap robe which authorities believed were also stolen. On December 16, 1896, Babe was convicted of horse stealing and sentenced to three years in the state penitentiary. He was delivered to the Nashville Penitentiary on March 21, 1897.
He was back in Clarksville on May 21, 1900 when he was arrested on suspicion of stealing an overcoat. He was out on the street late at night when two constables noticed he was carrying an overcoat that was much too small for him. When questioned, Babe did not give them satisfactory answers so they arrested him on suspicion. The overcoat actually belonged to Dr. Hughes. He was sentenced to three years in the penitentiary. He must have made bail or probation, because on September 6, 1900 Babe was convicted of house breaking and larceny. He was again sentenced to three years in the penitentiary. The next month the authorities attempted to transport him to the Nashville Penitentiary but on October 3, 1900, Babe had other ideas. He was handcuffed to another prisoner but somehow managed to obtain a handcuff key. When the train neared Edgefield Junction, Babe jumped from the fast-moving train. A reward of twenty-five dollars was offered for him, but Babe managed to elude law enforcement for almost a year.
The authorities caught up with him on August 13, 1901 when he was arrested in Bowling Green for horse theft. He gave a false name, Ed Cole, but they discovered his true identity. This time he was caught with two stolen horses, and when tried on September 10th, he was given 8 years for one theft and 4 years for the other. He would serve these twelve years after he completed his original Tennessee three-year term. He completed his Tennessee time and returned to Kentucky to serve his twelve-year sentence on March 15, 1904.
Babe must have been released after five years because on November 16, 1909 in Bowling Green, he was caught stealing, depending on the newspaper, either a turkey or two chickens. He was caught in the act by the farmer who owned the fowl and held for the authorities. Based on his previous felony convictions, he was sentenced to sixteen years in the penitentiary. The 1910 Kentucky census shows Babe in the Kentucky State Prison in Eddyville working as a collar maker. In April 1911, Babe wrote to the Governor of Kentucky requesting a pardon based on the excessively long sentence for the crime of stealing two frying size chickens. The request was denied due to “The character of the man does not entitle him to a pardon.”
Four years later on May 14, 1914, Babe was found in Clarksville sleeping on the seat of a wagon in front of Lassiter’s Livery Stable. The wagon was full of liquor and a loaded pistol was found on the seat beside the sleeping man.
The next month, Babe was indited for stealing a hog from Lewis Johnson but fled to Kentucky before the hearing. In 1917, Babe was sentenced to three years in the penitentiary for the theft of a horse blanket in Elkton, Kentucky. The 1920 census lists him among the prisoners at the Kentucky State Prison in Eddyville working again as a collar maker. This was his last stint in prison. He was forty-four years old.
Babe was granted parole on July 30, 1920 and went to work for W. J. Manning whose home was on Searcy Ferry Road. He was working as a butler for Mr. Manning, and Babe’s mother lived not far away. On August 12, 1920, Babe was allowed to borrow a horse and buggy to visit his mother. A pole carrying electricity had fallen and the wire was across the road a short distance above the surface of the road. Babe did not know the wire was live and was electrocuted when he grabbed it to push it out of the way.
Babe Cross was buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery by Nace Dixon on August 13, 1920. He has no head stone. A policeman once said of him “he was raised on the chain gang. Mr. Manning said he was a good house servant and a very good harness maker. A freak accident deprived Babe Cross of rewriting the narrative of his life.
Bibliography
“A $25 Reward.” Clarksville Semi-Weekly Leaf-Chronicle. October 5, 1900.
“A Couple From Montgomery.” The Tennessean. March 21, 1897.
“After Prisoners.” Clarksville Semi-Weekly Leaf-Chronicle. October 5, 1900.
“An Owner Wanted.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. November 16, 1896.
“Babe Cross.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. February 29, 1904.
“Babe Cross, Double Thief.” The Tennessean. August 18, 1901.
“Babe Cross Up To His Old Tricks.” Clarksville Semi-Weekly Leaf-Chronicle. August 16, 1901.
“Babe Cross Was Harness Maker.” Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle. August 14, 1920.
“Before a Magistrate.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. August 10, 1896.
“Caught Two Criminals.” Clarksville Daily Tobacco Leaf. March 29, 1894.
“Criminal Court.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. December 16, 1896.
“Circuit Court Grinds Away At It.” Clarksville Daily Leaf Chronicle. September 6, 1900.
“Frying Pan to Pot.” The Tennessean. March 14, 1904.
“Fugitives Wanted.” Lexington Morning Herald. October 12, 1900.
“He Had Stolen The Overcoat.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. May 22, 1900.
“He Stole A Horse.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. November 16, 1896.
“Highwaymen Captured.” Hopkinsville Kentuckian. August 2, 1895.
“Load of Liquor At Police Station.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. May 14, 1914.
“Negro Killed By Live Wire.” Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle. August 13, 1920.
“Negro Prisoner Jumps From Train.” Clarksville Semi-Weekly Leaf-Chronicle. October 5, 1900.
“No Pardon For Thief.” Louisville Courier-Journal. April 18, 1911.
“Now It Is Robbery.” Clarksville Semi-Weekly Tobacco Leaf-Chronicle. August 2, 1895.
“Other Articles Found.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. November 17, 1896.
“Served Out Term.” Hopkinsville Kentuckian. March 1, 1904.
“Sentenced.” Clarksville Semi-Weekly Leaf-Chronicle. September 10, 1901.
“Sixteen Years For Chicken Stealing.” Madisonville Hustler. September 17, 1909.
Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1958; Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee.
“To Kentucky Pen.” Nashville Banner. March 14, 1904.
Untitled Article. Clarksville Daily Tobacco Leaf. July 5, 1893.
Untitled Article. Nashville Banner. September 16, 1909.
- S. Census Bureau, “Kentucky State Penitentiary Eddyville, Kentucky 1910 & 1920 Census.”
George and Lucy Vance Biography
George Vance was born about 1843 in Tennessee probably in Montgomery County. He was born into slavery but no information has been found on either his parents or the family that enslaved him. The first record found was his listing in the 1870 Montgomery County census. This listing shows him living in District 12 which includes downtown Clarksville. All other records show that he was living on 9th Street so it is highly likely that this was his address in 1870. Also listed with him was wife Lucy and two children: Ella, age 3 and William, age 5 months. Tragically, these two children were not found in any other records so they probably were the victims of the high child and infant mortality characteristic of this time frame. George was working as a laborer. No record has been found of a marriage between George and Lucy so it is probable that they were married while they were enslaved and did not feel the need to formally marry. In 1866, Tennessee passed a law stating that former enslaved couples that were living together as man and wife were now considered legally married.
The 1880 Montgomery County census again listed the family as living in District 12 with a forty-two-year old George working as a laborer. Thirty-year old Lucy was keeping house and caring for Thomas, aged 10, Katie, age 6, and Lula, age 3.
In 1890, George was involved in a very nasty internal dispute in Fifth Ward Baptist Church. According to a Bill of Complaint filed in Clarksville’s Chancellery Court on February 16, 1891, Deacons George Vance, Charles Kessee, William Barksdale, and Henry Roberts were dissatisfied with an unspecified financial action of the church and resigned in protest on September 3, 1890. The church committee chose replacements for the four resignees and called a general church meeting to affirm the replacements and to formally designate Reverend Stokes as pastor of the church. Stokes had been preaching at the church for the last six years. At the general meeting, friends of the former deacons made a motion to reconsider the acceptance of the resignations and to reconsider Stokes as the pastor. The meeting got so contentious that it was adjourned until the next day. The full meeting of the congregation on the following day affirmed the replacement deacons and affirmed Stokes as the pastor. Vance, Kessee, Barksdale, Roberts and their adherents refused to attend church until December 27, 1890. Meanwhile in December of 1890, they filed a Bill in the Chancellery Court claiming to be trustees and deacons of the church and also claiming that the church was a corporation. They claimed Pastor Stokes had been fired and was illegally acting as pastor of the church. They had locked the church to prevent him from preaching, and the illegal deacons and the church janitor had removed the locks. They were seeking an injunction against Stokes preaching in the church or interfering with them. The injunction was granted. On February 16, 1891, the church filed a Bill of Complaint seeking to have the injunction lifted. They claimed that if the injunction stood, the church would be hopelessly divided and bankrupt. Vance and his adherents had installed another pastor, William Fluit, over the objections of the majority of the congregation. Vance and friends claimed the injunction gave them total control of the church until the lawsuit was settled. The members of the church sought to lift the injunction and have a congregational meeting vote settle the issue. They sought an injunction to prevent either side from preventing or interfering with the vote. At the time of this filing, Rev. Stokes had resigned and moved so an area of contention had been removed. This plan went forward, and while he was no longer a deacon of the church, George and his family continued to be members of Fifth Ward Baptist Church.
George became sexton of Mt. Olive Cemetery in approximately 1885, and in January 1892, the local paper wrote an article on him stating that he had found most families buried there could not pay him for digging their graves and that he could not make a living at it so he resigned. Unfortunately, according to the article, he found he could not deny the service to these families so would perform the service without pay when asked. This became a painful task when his wife Lucy died on May 26,1886, and he buried her in Mt. Olive.
In July 1894, George watched joyously as his daughter Katie was married in Fifth Ward Baptist Church to Joe Thompkins. In August 1894, George gave a deposition in Support of Delilah Burr’s application for a widow’s pension. Newly-wed Katie signed as a witness to his deposition. In October of 1894, George married his second wife, Mary Outlaw.
Although his primary residence was in Clarksville proper, George actually owned a plot of land in New Providence. It is unknown when he acquired it, but he owned it in 1877 when a map of Montgomery County complete with the names of the landowners was published. In 1896, he lost ownership of the property due to nonpayment of taxes. The newspaper announcement of the sale describes the property as bounded on the east by Leonard, on the south by a street, on the west by Gilmore and on the North by Pike.
The 1900 Montgomery County census shows him living at 228 Nineth Street working as a laborer. He owned the house but had a mortgage. He is listed with his wife, Mary and a boarder, Mollie Small. Ironically, in July of 1900 Fifth Ward Baptist Church’s lot and church building on Main Street was sold in a Mortgage Sale. George was one of the signers of the original mortgage that was foreclosed.
In 1905, George gave a deposition in support of Shelby Clark’s minor children affirming that he buried their mother in Mt. Olive Cemetery. In July of 1906, George’s son Thomas and Sam Garnett had charges dismissed in connection with the Fifth Ward Church fight of 1891. Tragedy struck the family on March 8, 1910 when Robbie May Outlaw, George’s granddaughter died. She is buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery and has a beautiful headstone. The 1910 Montgomery County census taken the next month listed George and Mary in the 9th Street house with George’s son Thomas, his wife, Anna, and their six children living with them. George’s occupation is listed as laborer in steel work.
George Vance died on April 24, 1918 of Mitral Deficiency. He died at home at 1:30 pm. His funeral was conducted at Fifth Ward Baptist Church the next day. He was buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery and no headstone for him has been found. He was survived by his son Thomas and daughter Katie. No mention is made of his wife Mary in his obituary, and no records of her death have currently been found.
Bibliography
Bill of Complaint, Clarksville Chancellery Court (February 16,1891), Montgomery County Archives, Clarksville, Tennessee.
“Burial of Paupers”, Daily Tobacco Leaf Chronicle, January 18, 1892.
Clarksville City Directory (1911).
“Colored Nuptials”, Daily Tobacco Leaf Chronicle, July 26, 1894.
“Death of Old Colored Man”, Leaf Chronicle, April 25, 1918.
“Garnett and Vance Acquitted”, Leaf Chronicle, July 27, 1906.
- G. Beers & Co., Montgomery County, Tennessee Map, Philadelphia, 1877.
Montgomery County, Tennessee Census (1870, 1880, 1900, 1910).
Montgomery County, Tennessee Marriage Index 1799-1953, Volume 18, page 374.
“Mortgage Sale”, Leaf Chronicle, July 5, 1900.
Pension file 423525, Burr, Marshall, Civil War, National Archives Building, Washington D. C.
Pension file 815.936, Clark, Shelby, Civil War, National Archives Building, Washington D. C.
“Tax Sales”, Daily Leaf Chronicle, December 7, 1896.
Untitled Article, Nashville Globe, March 18, 1910.
Clardy Family Biography
There are six members of the Clardy family buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery. They are all members of Samuel Robert Clardy’s family, and to date, no headstones have been found for the members of this particular family.
Samuel Robert Clardy was born to Charles and Millie Clardy in 1856. His older brother Henry was born in 1845. When Samuel was four years old, his father died. The family was located in District 4 of Montgomery County in 1870 and were employed as farm laborers. Listed just below their household on the census is Aaron Griffy who was a rich farmer in District 4. The Clardy family were members of a household headed by Polly Griffy, so it is possible that they were working on the Griffy farm at this time. Just northeast of the Griffy farm was J. Clardy’s farm which might have been the place the family was enslaved before the Civil War.
The 1880 census shows that Samuel’s mother, Millie, and his brother, Henry, were still living in District Four, but Samuel was not with them. On November 18, 1879, Samuel married Annie Reaves and started his own household. Currently, mention of Samuel and Annie has not been found in the 1880 Montgomery County census. There is no record of Samuel and Annie being blessed with children. Sometime before 1887, Annie either died or was divorced from Samuel because on May 31, 1887 Samuel married again to Laura Harris. Again, there is no record of children in this marriage. Laura was either dead or divorced by 1891 because on November 12, 1891, Samuel married Minnie Beaumont. This was Samuel’s last and longest marriage.
The 1870 census listed Minnie Beaumont, age 4, living with her mother Lucy, age 30 and sister Bettie, age 8 in District 1. By 1900, Samuel and Minnie had 4 children, and Lucy Beaumont was also living with them. The four children were: Irvin, age 5, Minnie, age 3, Sam, age 2, and George W., age 2 months. Samuel was working as a teamster. Ten years later, Samuel was working as a Porter in the American Snuff Factory which was located at 820 Commerce Street. He was employed by them just as they were establishing the company in Tennessee. He would be employed by them for the rest of his working life.
The 1910 census shows the family living on South Elder Street in a house that they owned free of a mortgage. They had added five more children to the family: Lucy, age 6, Minerva, age 5, Cecil L., age 3, Hazel, age 2, and William B., age 9 months. The 1911 Clarksville City Directory listed the family as living on Martin Street.
October 14, 1917 began a streak of tragedy for the Clardy’s that would last for four years. Pulmonary Tuberculosis ended son George’s life that day. It killed daughter Minnie on June 22, 1918, and daughter Minerva on July 4, 1918. On June 21, 1919 son Irvine died from a general infection from follicular tonsillitis. This means that the infection in his tonsils spread throughout his body. These four children were buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery.
The 1920 census listed the remaining family living on Martin Street. Samuel, age 65, was still working at American Snuff Factory and now owns the Martin Street house free of mortgage. Minnie, age 46, was keeping house and taking care of children Lucy, age 17, Cecil E., age 12, Hazel, age 11, and Willie B., age 10. Tragedy was not done with the Clardys. On August 23, 1921, Pulmonary Tuberculosis claimed daughter Lucy. She was also buried in Mt. Olive.
The 1929 Clarksville City Directory listed Samuel and Minnie living at 904 Martin Street. William B. was listed separately as a student living at 904 Martin Street. On June 27, 1921, Minnie died of congestion of the lungs from acute bronchitis. The informant on her death certificate was her son Sam who was living at the Clardy’s first house at 635 Elder Street. She is buried in Mt. Olive.
The 1930 census listed Samuel, now age 60, retired and living at the Martin Street house with Cecil, age 22, Willie, age 19, and Hazel, age 20. The house was valued at $250. Cecil was working as an odd job laborer. On May 3, 1936, Samuel died of Lobar Pneumonia and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery. His funeral was held at Fifth Ward Baptist Church, and his obituary lists seven surviving children: Bell, Mary, Annie, Hazel, Cecil, Willie, and Flem.
Samuel Robert Clardy was a remarkable man. He left an estate worth $11,495.52. Cecil was the executer of the estate. After the bills were paid, seven heirs received $1,484.31 each.
Bibliography
1877 Map of Montgomery County, Tennessee
American Snuff Company https://americansnuffco.com
Clarksville City Directory (1911, 1929)
Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle Newspaper (May 5, 1936)
Divorce, Probate Estate Files 1840-1962; Author: Tennessee County Court (Montgomery County);
Probate Place: Montgomery County, Tennessee.
Montgomery County, Tennessee Census (1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930)
Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1958; Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee.
Susan Hite Biography
Susan Hiter was born Susan Warfield in Kentucky in 1849. Currently there is no information on her parents or where precisely she was born. The first record that mentions her is a marriage record to Osborne Hiter. They were married in Montgomery County on August 31, 1865.
When Osborne Hiter died is unknown. In a deposition, Susan stated he died shortly after the war ended. She then “took up” with Thomas Bristol who was a USCT veteran of Company B, 16th USCT. A deposition supporting her claim for a widow’s pension puts the beginning of their relationship in 1869. They lived together as man and wife until his death on January 4, 1870. Their only child Thomas Bristol, Jr. was born July 1, 1870. An 1895 Clarksville City Directory shows her living at 124 University Avenue which is the address given in all the paperwork in her pension application.
In April of 1890, Thomas Jr. applied for a minor’s pension which was never awarded to him. In 1892, Susan applied for a widow’s pension. She had depositions attesting that she and Thomas Bristol were man and wife, and attempted to secure the paperwork that the pension office demanded. They sent a Special Examiner to Clarksville to investigate her claim, and this probably frightened her into admitting that she and Thomas were never married. She stated she was talked into applying for the pension by R. D. Newton who was in jail for pension fraud. She acknowledged that Newton had told her she would have to prove her marriage but claimed that if any of the paperwork said she and Thomas were married it was a mistake and she had never claimed it. She contended that Newton had put it in the paperwork. She just signed what he told her to sign, and since she could not read or write, she trusted his word on what was in the documents. The Special Examiner sent a short report back stating at this point, he ceased looking into the claim since she wasn’t eligible for a pension. This probably was also the reason Thomas Jr. did not receive a pension.
There are three letters in the pension record to various people from Susan Hiter that seem to indicate she was more aware of the attempt to prove her claim than she indicated to the special examiner. All three letters start the same: “I am a poor widow”. One written to U.S. Senator William B. Bates asking him to check on the status of her claim. Another written to John R. Blair of West Virginia who was the regimental surgeon asking for any information on her husband’s disabilities during the war. The final one to the pension office stating she has sent all the evidence she had to their office twice. All three are written in different hands, but there is no indication in the letters that Susan didn’t write them herself. At one point in the paperwork, she tells the pension office she cannot furnish them with proof of her marriage to Osborne Hiter because the courthouse burned in a fire in 1878.[1]
On October 7, 1898, Susan claimed that she was assaulted by Neal McFall, a black barber. That afternoon the case was tried before Squire Caldwell. Susan claimed McFall attempted to strike her. The result was McFall was fined $10.
The 1900 Montgomery County census shows Susan living at 218 University Avenue with three of her daughters: Clemmie Hiter, born 1878 and working as a servant; Willie Hiter, born 1883 still at school; and Jessie Hiter born 1899. Susan was working as a cook.
By 1910, Susan was living at 219 Sixth Street working as a cook. Thomas Bristol, Jr. was living with her and working as a porter in a club room. Another son, Clarence Hatcher and his wife Goldie were also living with her. Clarence was working in a snuff factory, and Goldie was working as a laundress in a school. Susan also had a boarder, Charlie Meriwether who also worked in a snuff factory.
The 1911 Clarksville City Directory revealed that Susan was working for J. A. Lyons as a cook and that her address had changed to 229 Sixth Street.
Susan Hiter died on January 4, 1919 of Dysenteric Diarrhea that had plagued her for some months. She was buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery the next day by William Keesee. Her headstone in Zone 8 is simple but professionally carved.
Bibliography
“Assault and Battery.” Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. October 8, 1898.
Clarksville, Tennessee, City Directory, 1895, 1911
Pension file 566981, Bristol, Thomas, Civil War, National Archives Building, Washington, D. C.
- S. Census Bureau, “Montgomery County, Tennessee 1900 & 1910 Census.”
[1] Following the shooting of an unarmed black man by a police constable, a fire in downtown Clarksville started. The fire originated in a wooden building behind a business on Franklin Street, and by the time it was extinguished, 15 acres of downtown had burned. The courthouse burned but most of the records were removed in time.
William Dudley Biography
William Dudley’s short life began on August 13, 1896. His parents Carter Dudley and Ellen Pennilton were married in 1881 shortly after Carter’s first wife Ann died. Carter died sometime between 1891 and 1900.
William had two brothers John, born 1882 and Rhen, born 1891. All three of the brothers would work in local tobacco factories. By 1910, John and Rhen had moved out. William and his mother were living at 348 Spring Street. Although William was only 15, he was working as a sorter at Dunlop & Hanratty Tobacco Factory on Front Street.
On Monday, March 6, 1916, William was playing pool in Will Ventress’ Pool Room on Franklin Street when he got into an altercation with Marcus Carneal. The altercation got heated enough that William threw a pool ball at Marcus. This enraged Marcus to the point that he attacked William with a knife. William received two wounds. One of the knife cuts severed one of his jugular veins, and the other stab wound was just under his left arm possibly puncturing his chest cavity.
William was given immediate medical attention and was carried to his home where he died at midnight on Tuesday, March 7, 1916. Marcus Carneal was arrested on March 6, and held on a charge of murder. Currently, the details of his trial are not known. William Dudley was buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery on March 9, 1916. He was twenty years old.
Bibliography
Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle Newspaper (March 7, 1916 and March 8,1916)
Montgomery County, Tennessee Census (1900, 1910)
Barry and Kittie Gupton Biography
Very little is known about Barry and Kittie Gupton before the war. The pension record gives little to no personal information on them or their lives. The first records we have on Barry are his military records which show that he joined Company D of the 16th USCT on February 18, 1864 in Clarksville, Tennessee. He was 33 years old and had been born in Christian County, Kentucky in 1831. He was 5 feet 8 inches in height with black hair and eyes and a black complexion. His occupation prior to the Army had been farming.
His service was unremarkable. He did not rise in rank above private and did not loose any of his equipment. On October 19, 1865, like so many other USCT troops, he was given a furlough which he spent in Clarksville. The government charged him $11.80 for transportation to Clarksville and then back to Chattanooga, Tennessee. He returned to the unit in November of 1865. On March 30 and 31, 1866 Barry was treated for a sprain. His record does not specify what part of the body the sprain was in. When he mustered out in Nashville on April 30, 1866, the government owed him $25.23 in pay.
As a member of the 16th USCT, the majority of his time in the Army was spent in Chattanooga on occupation duty. He was in Nashville, Tennessee with his unit for the Battle of Nashville in December of 1864 but did not take part in the battle since the 16th USCT was held in reserve.
After his discharge, Barry returned to Clarksville where on June 3, 1866, he married Kittie Hatcher. On November 19, 1866, George and Ben Pennington were passing the newlywed couple’s house when Ben started “abusing” Kittie. Barry ordered him to leave and to stop mistreating his family. Ben drew a pistol on Barry who snatched it from Ben’s hand. Barry went into the house with the pistol. Ben’s brother, George, followed and attempted to retrieve the gun. When George would not get out of his house, Barry hit him on the head with the pistol killing him. The killing was ruled justifiable homicide. This account was carried in the Clarksville Chronicle.
In the 1870 census, Barry listed his occupation as laborer and a personal estate of $15. Kattie’s occupation is listed as keeping house. His personal estate starts to get interesting after 1870. On March 23, 1871, Barry and Jeff McReynolds bought 4 lots in an auction and divided them between the two of them. On September 20, 1878, Barry bought 5 more lots at auction for $135.
The 1880 census lists Barry’s occupation as carpenter with Kittie listed as keeping house. Jo Ann Oldham is listed in their household as a 10-year-old granddaughter. This is very strange since all accounts state that Barry and Kittie had no children. This granddaughter might have been the product of a relationship that Barry had before the war.
On November 2, 1880, Barry bought the land that Jeff McReynolds kept from the first auction from Jeff’s wife for $105. On November 19, 1881, Barry transferred ownership of eight lots to Kittie.
Barry Gupton first applied for a pension December 13, 1890 and listed his address as 527 Ford Street. He stated that on the march from Nashville to Chattanooga he became exhausted in an effort to keep up with his company and suffered an affliction in his shoulders and breast from carrying his accoutrements that affected him from that time on. Fellow soldiers who gave depositions in support of his application recalled that he had to put his gear in the company wagon. They remember him complaining of pain in his heart and shortness of breath. One of the soldiers who gave a deposition was Stephen Kimbrough who is buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery.
C.V. Roman a doctor living in Clarksville wrote a medical affidavit dated March 8, 1892 for Barry which stated five disabilities:
- Articular and muscular rheumatism of the chest, shoulders, and knee joints that rendered him unfit to work in damp weather.
- The heart was weak and circulation was feeble.
- Atony of the bladder which caused frequent retention of or dribbling of urine.
- Chronic cough with a decided tendency to asthma.
- Total deafness in his left ear.
A report dated November 22, 1893 by a doctor who performed examinations for the pension office found that Barry was deaf in his left ear but it wasn’t service connected. An analysis of Barry’s urine failed to find any abnormalities. A light murmur in the aortic opening was found but all other heart valves sounded normal. The doctor saw stiffness in Barry’s movements but no other signs of chronic rheumatism. The verdict of the doctor was: “He is a robust looking man and still capable of performing manual labor.”
Needless to say, they rejected his application. He appealed and was rejected again. He appealed a third time and was finally given a pension of $6 a month for heart and bladder disease starting on November 3, 1893. It ended when he died on July 31, 1894. There is no death certificate, but from the chest pain and shortness of breath reported by everyone who gave a deposition, he probably died of heart disease.
One final thing. In one of the depositions it was stated that Barry was a member of the Order of the GAR. GAR stands for Grand Army of the Republic. This was a veteran’s group for former Union soldiers.
Kittie applied for a widow’s pension on July 15, 1895. All of her depositions deal with her property. When Barry died, he left her 11 lots with small cabins on them. Most of them were in the area of Kellogg Street (now known as 8th Street), Marion Street, and Ford Street. One of the lots was on Martin Street. Most of her statements on the properties are confusing because she was trying to make the case that she did not receive much income from them. She stated that she owned 16 lots with 14 tenement houses valued at $2,880. Two of the 16 lots were vacant lots. The taxable value of her husband’s estate was $2,500. She stated she paid $73 for three years on 12 tenement houses and $11 for three years on the house she lived in. After expenses she claimed that her income from the rent of these houses was $20.50 per month. The pension record is unclear about when she started receiving a pension but a note dated September 8, 1916 increased her pension to $20 per month.
The 1910 census lists Kittie living alone at 527 Marion Street with no occupation listed, but the 1911 Clarksville City Directory lists her as having the occupation of Laundress. In the 1920 census her house number changed from 527 to 825 Marion Street and no occupation listed.
Kittie died on March 10, 1923 of senility. She was 95 years old. All her property was left to her brother John Wesley Williams and his children. She directed that $100 be used for her funeral expenses. According to the estate accounts, S.A. Dabney was paid $309 for “one burial outfit”. This was probably the total expense for funeral, burial, and headstone. She and Barry are buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery under one of the most beautiful gravestones in the cemetery.
Six people had valid claim to her estate. Each one received $12.72 in cash from the estate and the real estate property was split between them. At the time of her death, Kittie was receiving $30 per month from her widow’s pension.
825 Marion Street exists as an address today. The property was appraised in 2019 at $76,100.
Thomas Campbell Biography
Thomas Campbell was born in Warrick County, Virginia in 1841. It is unknown how he came to Tennessee but during that time frame, Virginia and North Carolina became important in the exporting of slaves to other states since importing slaves from Africa was outlawed in 1808.
Thomas enlisted in Company H, 16th USCT on January 21, 1864 in Clarksville, Tennessee for a term of three years. He was 23 years old, 5 feet 5 inches tall with black hair and eyes and a black complexion. He had been a farmer before he enlisted. His service record is unexceptional until he was granted a 15-day furlough which started on November 24, 1865. He was charged $6.20 for transportation to and from wherever he spent his furlough. Most USCT units were kept on active duty until 1866 but after hostilities ended, the units granted furloughs wholesale to their troops. Otherwise, Thomas was never absent from duty and did not loose any of his equipment. Company H does not seem to have left Chattanooga at all during its time on active duty so Thomas would not have seen action at the Battle of Nashville. When he was mustered out of the Army on April 30, 1866, the Government owed him $11.38.
Thomas is listed in the 1880 Census as living in District 12 of Montgomery County, Tennessee. This district encompasses Clarksville City proper. Listed with him is his wife Sarah who was born in 1840. They have no children in the household and Thomas listed his occupation as Laborer.
Thomas knew and was friends with William Logan. He made a deposition for William Logan’s application for a pension dated February 10, 1890. In his deposition, Thomas attested to the fact that he knew William both before and after the war and could state from personal knowledge details of William’s health problems and their effect on William’s ability to do any labor. Thomas had worked with him and testified that William was unfit to do labor.
Thomas, himself, filed an application for a pension on August 11, 1890 and like so many of the Clarksville USCT veterans, his initial attorney was R. D. Newton who was paid $10 to forward his claim. His application stated that he suffered from dropsy and its results which left him unfit for labor. Dropsy is an old medical term that refers to the swelling of soft tissue that usually indicates congestive heart failure.
Thomas Campbell’s pension record is extremely brief and includes a mere 13 pages. His initial application was a standard form that indicates his unit of service, dates of service, reason for unfitness for labor, and details of who his attorney was. On April 9, 1891, Thomas had an appointment for a medical examination in Russellville, Kentucky. A note appears on this form stating “Claimant failed to appear within the specified time. A letter from a Clarksville attorney, J. W. Robarts with an office at 93 Strawberry Alley is dated July 11, 1892. He stated in the letter that the claimant was indebted and inquired about reimbursement of Thomas Campbell’s claim. This is the sum total of information in the pension record of Thomas Campbell.
The reason he did not appear at his medical examination was that he died on December 7, 1890. We can make the assumption that he died of his cardiac condition. We know the date that he died because someone asked the Federal Government for a USCT headstone for his grave. He may have left a small paper trail but his service in the United States Colored Troops left a large legacy.
Cube Lyle/Steele and Mary Eliza Steele
In 1840, Charles Steele and Sallie Lyle had a son that they named Cube. Both parents were slaves. Charles belonged to Squire John Steele who lived on the South Side about 6 or 7 miles from Clarksville. Sallie belonged to Margaret M. Lyle, a widow with two daughters, who also lived on the South Side of the Cumberland near Antioch Camp Ground about 4 miles from Clarksville. Cube was born on the Lyle farm. The law at that time stated that children born to slave women were born slaves and belonged to whomever owned the mother. Cube had a sister Melvina who moved to Kansas after the Civil War.
On February 8, 1864, Cube went to the recruitment station near Ft. Defiance (then Ft. Bruce) and enlisted in Company I, 16th USCT. He was present with his unit for the rest of the war except for the following hospital stays: June 1, 1864 pneumonia, June 27 – 30, 1864 helminthiases (the condition of having worms anywhere in the body although usually affecting the intestines), November 4, 1864 diarrhea, and January 4 – 6, 1866 constipation.
Cube was 18 years old when he enlisted and was describes as being 5 foot 5 ½ inches tall with black complexion, hair, and eyes. Later he described a scar on his right leg and stated that he was missing half of the second and third fingers of his right hand probably due to the fact that he worked in a saw mill after the war. He also had Phthisis (a wasting away or atrophy of the body or a part of the body) of his left eye due to being struck in the eye by a splinter.
The 16th USCT was stationed in Chattanooga, Tennessee for all of its existence except for being called to Nashville in response to Hood’s attack on that city. The 16th did not participate in the battle because they were part of the reserve force. They initially were part of the force that chased Hood when he withdrew but were sent back to Chattanooga early in the march. Cube was there for the battle and initial pursuit because in his application for a pension he stated that on the march from Nashville to Columbia Tennessee, he incurred severe cold that affected his lungs and back. These two complaints affected him the rest of his life. Also, he suffered an injury to his left elbow working on Nashville’s battlements. A piece of timber fell on his arm causing the injury. Cube also complained of suffering from varices (swollen, twisted, and distorted lengths of veins anywhere in the body) in his left calf and thigh starting in December 1865.
Cube was mustered out on April 30, 1866 in Nashville. He owed the government $5.11 on his clothing account. He returned to Clarksville right after being mustered out because on December 15, 1867 he married Mary Eliza Crittle.
Mary Eliza Crittle was born in 1847 to Margaret Norfleet. No record currently has been found that identifies her father. She was born into slavery and prior to the war lived with Jasper Bradley. This relationship ended when Jasper Bradley joined the 16th USCT. There is no indication that Cube knew either Mary or Jasper before the war. Jasper seems to have died in Memphis of Cholera around 1866. This relationship would cause Mary some problems when she applied for a widow’s pension. She swore, and produced witnesses to the fact that she had no relationship with Jasper after the war and that they had never been legally married.
At the time of Cube’s marriage to Mary, he worked as a laborer at Kellogg’s Saw Mill in Clarksville. This is where he received the injury to his eye and probably lost part of two fingers. He suffered a partial loss of sight in the damaged eye. It was also probably about this time that he dropped the last name of Lyle and adopted his father’s name of Steele.
The 1880 Census is the first census that the Steele family appears in. Cube was 35 years old and working at a flour mill. Mary was 35 and was keeping house. Mary’s mother Margaret Norfleet Manley, aged 60, was living with them and was working as a wash woman. Three children were listed: Sam, age 9; Maggie, age 4; and Charlese, age 2. In his pension application, Cube reported that he and Mary had thirteen children. Eleven of these children were dead by 1915. Sam died in 1911 at age 40. Maggie and Charlese survived both their parents and were twins.
In 1890, Cube applied for an invalid pension with R. D. Newton as his lawyer. He based his application on affliction of the right arm and partial blindness of his left eye. They granted him a pension of $6 per month which was raised to $12 in 1907 when he achieved an age over 60 years. In 1912 his pension was raised to $17. When he died, Cube was receiving $23 per month.
On February 14, 1894, Cube applied for a minor’s pension on behalf of Shelby Clark’s three children that were below the age of 16 when Shelby died. In the 1900 census, Cube was working as a teamster and Clarence Clark, age 18, was listed in his household as his nephew. Clarence was working as a laborer in a tobacco factory. Cube’s two daughters were married by this time, but Maggie, the 21-year-old widow of Albert Carnel, was living in her father’s house with her son Maurice, age 3. Samuel was still living with his parents and working as a mail carrier. Charlese was now the wife of Odie Harris with a house of her own. The Steele family was living at 14 Paradise Street which Cube owned.
By 1910, Cube and Mary’s children had all left the nest. George M. Carnel, age 14, was listed as a grandson and was living with them. They had two boarders living with them as well. Cube was still working as a teamster. Mary does not have an occupation listed but in the 1911 Clarksville City Directory she is listed as a laundress. In the 1912 directory, Cube’s occupation is listed as a common laborer.
Cube Steele died on November 7, 1916 from hemiplegia (paralysis of one side of the body) of the left side. Mary Steele applied for a widow’s pension in December 1916. By 1918, Mary was living at 524 Front Street and had her U.S. Representative, Joseph Byrns inquiring about the status of her pension for her.
Mary was granted a pension and when she died, she was receiving $30 per month. She died of a stroke on October 15, 1922. Both Mary and Cube are buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery. It is currently unknown where Sam and Charlese are buried. Maggie is buried in Evergreen Cemetery. Currently no headstone for either Cube or Mary has been found in Mt. Olive Cemetery. There is no record that the government ever issued a USCT headstone for Cube.
Wilson Thomas Biography
Wilson Thomas was born into slavery in 1834 in Christian County, Kentucky on Ike Thomas’s farm. At some point before the Civil War started, Wilson started living with Lucy Garrett. Both of them stated later that they were never married. In October 1864, the 5 foot 2 ½ inch, copper skinned, 30-year old black haired and eyed man left slavery and joined Company B, 9th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery (USCHA). He was mustered into the unit on October 2, 1864 and received a $300 bounty for enlisting.
Company B, 9th USCHA left Clarksville and from December 31, 1864 through June 1865 the unit was stationed in Nashville where they worked on fortifications. In August 1865, the 9th USCHA was broken up and the men were transferred to other units. On August 11, 1865, Wilson was transferred to Company I, 15th USCT. At the time he joined the unit, it was stationed at Sulpher Fork Bridge, Tennessee. In September they moved to Springfield and remained until November 1864 when they were transferred to Nashville in response to Hood’s attack on that city. In January 1865, the unit returned to Springfield. In May 1865 they returned to Nashville and remained until they were mustered out of the Army.
Wilson had some bills that followed him when he transferred to the 15th USCT. He was charged 25 cents for ordinance and owed H.H. Pugh, the sutler of the 9th USCHA $23 which was noted on his July/August 1865 muster roll. His military record noted that he was absent sick in hospital since August 12, 1865 for chronic diarrhea. The November/December 1865 muster roll notes that he was paid $100 on his $300 bounty. He returned to duty on March 27, 1866 and mustered out of the army in Nashville on April 7, 1866.
After leaving the army, Wilson returned to Kentucky and lived in the Longview area of Christian County working as a farm laborer. He returned to Lucy and the 1870 census shows them living and working on Robert Garnett’s farm. The census shows him as having a personal estate of $200 which may have been the rest of his $300 bounty. Either in 1878 or 1879, Lucy left Wilson. In a deposition she admitted that they weren’t getting along. She married a man named George Vaughn and the two of them continued to live and work on the Garnett farm as did Wilson.
On December 23, 1882, Wilson married a widow named Victory Green. They were living on adjoining farms when they met. The 1880 census shows Victory, age 40, living with her children by her first husband Bob Green near Pembroke, Kentucky. They had six children: William, 21; Sally, 15; Henry, 13; Ruben, 11; Martha, 9; Lizzie, 4; Bobbie, 11 months. Bob Green had also been in the war due to his owner taking Bob with him when he joined the Confederate Army. Bob Green died in 1878.
Wilson and Victory moved to Montgomery County in 1884. They were living and working on Duke Smith’s farm near the state line. Their post office was in Kennedy, Kentucky. On February 14, 1887, Wilson applied for an invalid pension. He stated that he was engaged in wheeling a wheelbarrow of dirt onto a breastwork in 1865, and while going up the plank, he fell and the wheelbarrow fell on top of him and hurt his side resulting in a rupture of the right side. It started as a small knot but increased in size over time fully developing after he was discharged. At the point he made the application it had spread to his other side as well. On advice, he purchased a truss to “keep his parts in place”. As part of the application, he was examined by a surgeon who verified that Wilson had a double hernia. He was granted a pension on November 25, 1895 for $8 a month. Unfortunately, this was a little late, Wilson Thomas died in his home at 102 South Spring Street of paralysis on November 10, 1895. He had been paralyzed for a year before he did and was treated by R.G. Martin, a black doctor.
After Wilson died, Victory moved in with her children from her first marriage. She worked for them and they supported her. The 1900 census shows Victory, age 56, living at 18 Sullivan Alley with her mother Matilda Moore, age 86, and her children Ruben, age 31; Lizzie, age 23; Bobbie, age 19; Victoria, age 6; and Sally, age 9. Victory applied for a widow’s pension on November 25, 1895. That it was granted is apparent because on August 5, 1911, she applied for a new certificate. She had lost the original.
The last census Victory appears in is the 1910 census. She is living at 218 Kellogg Street with her mother who was now 104 years old and two of her children: Sally now 19 and Victoria age 15. Also living with her is a grandson, Stanley Martin, age 9.
On November 24, 1915, an entry was made in Victory Thomas’s widow’s pension that she was dead. There is no death certificate and no one requested reimbursement for her burial expenses. Currently, no obituary has been found so exactly when she died and where she is buried is unknown.
Martin and Macie Means Biography
Both Martin and Macie Means were born in Christian County, Kentucky and belonged to slave-owners who were neighbors and very likely friends. Martin was born in 1833 and Macie was born probably about 1840. Martin belonged to Samuel Means and Macie belonged to Robert Brenaugh. An indication of the fact that the slave-owners were friends is that on September 15, 1855 Martin Means and Macie Brenaugh were married in Robert Brenaugh’s house by Isaac Gains, a black Baptist minister. They were allowed to live together as man and wife. In order to marry and live together, both slave-owners would have to agree to the marriage and living arrangements.
Regardless of how good their living arrangements were, Martin left and went to Clarksville, Tennessee and enlisted in Company H, 101st USCT on July 26, 1864 for 3 years. The 5 foot 7 inch Martin is described as being 31 years old with black eyes and hair and having a brown complexion. In his pension record a former fellow slave described him as “a large man, very fat and robust and who was regarded as Means’ stoutest slave.” His occupation was listed as farmer, and he was paid a $300 bounty for enlisting.
Martin was very lucky in his choice of units. Company H spent almost its entire existence in Clarksville and it is not credible that he would not have moved his family to Clarksville. When the company moved from Clarksville to Carthage, Tennessee in April 1865, Martin was placed on detached duty starting on March 2, 1865 to guard Regimental Headquarters in Clarksville. He returned to duty with the unit when it returned to Clarksville in May 1865. In July/August 1865, Company H was in Nashville and Martin was with it. During this time, the Army paid him $100 on his bounty. By September/ October 1865, Company H was back in Clarksville. Martin was mustered out on January 24, 1866 in Nashville. The government owed him $7.23.
Martin returned to Clarksville by 1870. He is listed on that census with Mary Means age 16. There is no indication as to where Macie is until the 1880 census when the three if them were living at 358 College Street with two other large families. Both censuses list Martin’s occupation as laborer. In subsequent censuses, Macie is listed as having had two children. One of her children married Andrew W. Roberts and is referred to as Annie by Macie. It is probable from the dates of the children born to this marriage that Mary and Annie are the same person. There is no record of the date of this marriage but before he died, Martin and Macie were living with the Roberts at 1112 Commerce Street. By 1890, Martin is described as a cripple who could hardly walk from rheumatism in his shoulder and right arm and hip. From November 1890 he was lame and frequently confined to bed and was also treated for heart disease. From this point on he was unable to work. Macie took in washing and ironing.
On February 1, 1892, Martin applied for an invalid pension citing rheumatism, heart problems, and vision problems stemming from his service. His doctor’s deposition in support of Macie’s widow’s pension states that on May 5, 1892, Martin suffered a stroke that caused paralysis. Ironically, Martin was dressing to go to Nashville for an examination for his pension when he was stricken. Martin Means died on June 1, 1892 at his son-in-law’s house.
Macie applied for a widow’s pension on June 30, 1892. And after at least one rejection, finally received a pension of $8 per month. Her daughter died June 26, 1899 leaving behind 11 children ranging from age from 23 to 2 years of age. Macie became very involved in helping to take care of her grandchildren. By the 1910 census, there were still eight children at home. Macie died on January 11, 1915 of lumbago. Her son-in-law, Andrew W. Roberts filed for reimbursement for her burial expenses. The invoices he submitted to the pension office listed $4.85 for the physician and $154 for nursing care during Macie’s last illness. Nace Dixon’s firm charged $81 and the grave digger charged $2.50.
Both Martin and Macie were buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery.
Alexander McNeal Biography
Alexander McNeal was born in Hartman, Tennessee in 1845. The names of his parents are not known but his pension record lists two brothers: Lee and Napolein McNeil and a sister, Emma Calyten. His life is one confusing mystery after another. The name of his master is unknown but after he fled slavery, he stayed in Memphis for a short time, probably working as a civilian laborer. Eventually he enlisted in the Army on June 1, 1863 at Bolivar, Tennessee for three years. The unit he joined was Company C, 1st Regiment West Tennessee Infantry African Decent. Basically, he was among the first recruits to the unit which was mustered in at La Grange, TN later that month. On March 11, 1864 in accordance with the new Army policy of standardizing unit designations for black regiments, it became the 59th USCT. He is the only member of this unit buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery.
The new soldier was 18 years old when he joined and was 5 foot 6 inches tall with black hair and eyes and black complexion. Before he became a soldier, he was a farmer. Alex spent the first part of his life and most of his Army career around the Memphis area. The first mystery is what brought him to Clarksville.
The Unit stayed in La Grange until August 1863 when it proceeded to Corinth, Mississippi where they stayed for the rest of the year. They returned to Memphis in January 1864. In June the unit returned to Mississippi. They were part of the expedition commanded by Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis which ended in a Union defeat at the Battle of Brice’s Crossroads. Alex had been listed on the March/April 1864 roll as on detached service since April 2, 1864 but was back in the unit by the May/June 1864 roll so he would have participated in this expedition. The regiment lost 3 officers and 143 men. Company C lost 1 First Lieutenant, 1 private killed, and 1 private missing.
In July 1864, the unit was part of the Tupelo Expedition commanded by Major General Andrew J. Smith. The unit was engaged in the Battle of Harrisburg, Mississippi on July 14, 1864. The regiment lost 1 killed, 10 wounded, and 3 missing. On July 15, 1864, the regiment started its march back arriving at La Grange on July 21. From there they returned to Memphis by railroad and arrived on July 23, 1864.
Company C again left Memphis on an expedition commanded by Major General Smith. On August 3, 1864 they left for Oxford, Mississippi arriving on August 21. On the same day, they turned around and went back to Memphis arriving on August 30. The company records reported no enemy engagement and that they marched 170 miles. This was the company’s last expedition. The unit was assigned to Ft. Pickering in Memphis until it mustered out.
On the November/December 1864 roll, Alex was on detached service at General Chetlain’s headquarters starting on December 8, 1864. This lasts through the January/February 1865 roll, but the March/April 1865 roll lists him absent under arrest since January 14, 1865. In his record is Special Order number 129 which releases him from arrest and restores him to his unit. The rest of his record lists him as present with his unit until the November/December 1865 roll which shows him absent on furlough for 10 days since December 20, 1865. Alex mustered out on January 31, 1866.
The special examiner’s report in his pension record states that he did not come to Clarksville immediately after discharge and that he does not know where the soldier was during this time period. By 1870. Alex was in Montgomery County living northwest of the Ringgold area probably close to the state line (per Montgomery County Archivist Jill Hastings). He was living and working on Lou Clardy’s farm.
The 1880 census gives another mystery. Although all of the depositions in Alex’s pension records say that he never was married before 1885, the census lists him as living in New Providence with a wife named Dicy and a 3-year-old daughter named Sue. There is only one marriage record for Alex and that is in 1885. It is possible that they had just “taken up together” and they either went their separate ways or his wife and child died.
On July 6, 1885, Alexander McNeal married Mary L. Moore at Steel Springs, Montgomery County, TN. They were married by a black preacher named Abe Wimberly who lost their original certificate and had to get them a second one. Mary states in her deposition that she knew Alex for 6 or 7 years before they married. This is another mystery because this would mean that she knew him while he was with Dicy. Also, Steel Springs is across the Cumberland River in the Cumberland Heights area in a bend of the river that isn’t close to any ferry. If Mary lived in this area before they were married, courting would have been difficult.
By the 1891 Enumeration, Alex and Mary were living in Clarksville proper probably at 68 Marion Street. His pension records describe Alex as owning a lot with a small house valued at $300 which was mortgaged to a Clarksville Building and Loan Association. He applied for a pension on May 21, 1892 and was awarded $6 a month for rheumatism and disease of the heart starting on December 6, 1892. He and Mary had one child who was still-born. Alexander McNeal died on February 5, 1895 at his home of consumption. He was 48 years old and was working as a barber probably for Buck’s Barber Shop when he died. The Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle reported that Abe Smith, a colored bootblack who once worked at Buck’s Barber Shop disrupted Alex McNeal’s funeral on February 6th with “very indecorous conduct” and outlandish behavior.
Mary McNeal applied for a widow’s pension and received one starting on February 8, 1897. When her pension was discontinued, she was receiving $8 per month. Mary married William Collier on November 17, 1898 and the 1900 census shows them probably living in the McNeal house. The census lists them as renting the house. Currently this is the last record found for them.
Roderick and Margaret Faulkner Biography
Roderick Faulkner was born in Trigg County, Kentucky in 1838 to Sarah Faulkner and both were owned by Dr. Hutch Faulkner who lived about four miles from Port Royal. His future wife Margaret was born in 1843 in Robertson County, Tennessee and belonged to Tom Bowen. Tom Bowen’s place was about four miles from Dr. Faulkner’s so the two knew each other from childhood. While they were still slaves, Roderick and Margaret were married in the summer of 1862 by Kit Humphrey, a black preacher. The ceremony took place in Tom Bowen’s yard. The couple would go on to have 12 children but only one survived after the parents died. Unfortunately, we only know the names of three of the children.
Roderick enlisted in Company H, 101st USCT on January 15,1865 in Clarksville and seems to have spent his entire term of service here. The 27-year-old was described as 5 feet 10 inches tall, black hair and eyes with a yellow complexion. The March/April 1865 muster roll notes that he was absent sick in hospital at Clarksville, Tennessee since March 25, 1865. On September 1, 1865, Roderick was promoted to sergeant. His military career came to an end when he was mustered out of the Army on January 24, 1866 in Nashville. The Army owed him $3.15 in pay, and paid him a $100 bounty.
Roderick and Margaret are listed in the 1870 Montgomery County, Tennessee census with two daughters: Eliza born in 1866 and Phebe born in 1868. In 1870 they added another daughter, Mannerva to the family. They lived at 216 Poston Street in a house described as a small rudely constructed frame cabin which was probably built by Roderick himself. The house was renumbered several times as Clarksville grew. In 1910 it was renumbered 132 and in 1911 it was renumbered 415. In the 1870 census, Roderick was working as a grocer and by 1880 he was listed as a laborer.
The community of USCT veterans seems to have been mutually supportive. In February of 1890, Roderick witnessed a deposition that John Christian and Thomas Campbell gave supporting William Logan’s application for a pension. By this time, Roderick was 52 years old and suffering from heart disease. Dr. N. L. Camey diagnosed him with organic heart disease due to exposure and wrote a deposition to that effect in support of Margaret’s application for a widow’s pension. During the last two weeks of his life, Roderick was confined to bed. Margaret described his death on July 1,1890 as follows: “He got up, and walked out, and fell dead in the garden.” His daughter Phebe died in 1898. It is unclear when Eliza died and there is no record of where either of them is buried.
Margaret found herself living alone in the family house in 1900 working as a laundress. She owned the house outright with no mortgage. In the 1910 census, she is still living alone but is no longer working very likely due to her widow’s pension which she applied for in 1900. By 1920, Mannerva, her sole surviving child, is living with Margaret in the family home along with her husband Reed Smith and their daughter Maggie.
Margaret died on August 31, 1925 of a perforating ulcer and was buried in Mt. Olive by Nace Dixion’s Undertaking Company. She was 82 years old. The total cost of her funeral was $170. At the time she died, her widow’s pension paid her $30 per month.
Charles Griffey Biography
Charles Griffey was born in 1840 in Columbia, Tennessee. He was owned by George G. Griffey and spent most of his life on a farm in Noah Springs, Kentucky which was in Christian County, Kentucky not far from the state line with Tennessee. While a slave, he had a wife named Sue Kendrick with whom he had a daughter named Charley Ann. Slave marriages were not considered legally binding and this one was even less binding due to the fact that George Griffey did not give his permission for Charles to marry. He apparently snuck out at night to go see Sue who was owned by Smiley Kendrick.
On February 16, 1864, Charles crossed the state line and came to Clarksville, Tennessee and enlisted in Company A, 16th USCT. He is described as 24 years old, 5 feet 2 inches tall, with brown complexion and hair and black eyes. He enlisted for 3 years. The 16th USCT spent almost all of its existence in Chattanooga, Tennessee. On the January/February 1865 muster roll, Charles is charged $1.25 for a canteen (45 cents) and two haversacks (80 cents). He was promoted to corporal on April 1, 1865.
The 16th USCT was ordered to Nashville, Tennessee in December of 1864 in response to Hood’s advance on that city. The 16th USCT fought in some initial skirmishes but was held in reserve during the battle. After the battle, Company A, 16th USCT, marched back to Chattanooga from Nashville. According to Charles’s bunk mate, this march took 12 to15 days and this is when his bunkmate noticed that Charles had problems with rheumatism. He stated that Charles walked bent over, and frequently had to use two sticks to walk. Many of his comrades stated in their depositions that Charles complained of rheumatism pains while in the Army and that he went to the regimental doctors to get medicine for it.
He was mustered out in Nashville on April 30, 1866 and owed the government 87 cents, and apparently the government did not owe him any money. He did not come straight to Clarksville after mustering out. Delia, his wife, states that he went to St. Louis to see his mother. He was back in Clarksville by 1867 because he married Delia Elder on August 3, 1867 in the basement of the white Methodist Church. Dr. Taylor presided over the ceremony. Delia had belonged to Joshua Elder who sent his slaves to a cousin in Little Rock, Arkansas when the war broke out. She came back to Clarksville in December of 1864. She met and became engaged to Charles while he was still in the Army. His relationship with Sue Kendrick had ended when he joined the Army by mutual consent.
Charles built a house at 146 Commerce Street in Clarksville soon after they married. He worked at Winfield Rove’s stable until his rheumatism began to cripple him. First his feet and legs caused him problems, then it moved to his spine. He stopped working at the stable in the fall of 1867. When he was able, he worked as a painter because he could no longer do heavy work. In April of 1885, Charles went to see Dr. Charles Wilson who diagnosed him with locomotor ataxia which is described by Wikipedia as “the inability to precisely control one’s body movements.” Patients walk in a jerky, non-fluid manner and don’t know where their limbs are unless they look. This is a condition often connected with syphilis. Dr. Wilson only treated him a short time before his death. He did state in a deposition that he saw no other signs of syphilis and that the condition could be caused by other health issues. When Delia applied for a pension, the special examiner asked tactful questions of the people being deposed which were designed to see if Charles showed any signs of syphilis. No one had seen any signs of this disease.
Towards the end of his life, Charles was so crippled that he was confined to his house. He died there on February 6, 1888 at 6 pm. He was buried in Mt. Olive by Henry Roberts and the grave was dug by George Vance.
Delia got her pension and appears on the 1900 census living in their house with her widowed Sister-in-law and her nephew. Delia died on May 21, 1918.
As a side issue, when Delia first applied for a widow’s pension, her local lawyer was R. D. Newton. He is described as a crippled black lawyer. R. D. Newton’s name appears in several pension records. According to Delia, Newton convinced Charley Ann, Charles’s daughter, to apply for some of his pension money. On April 17, 1895, R. D. Newton was convicted of pension fraud and was sentenced to 13 months in jail.
CPL Chesterfield Dabney
Biography of a Civil War Veteran
Chesterfield Dabney Born in 1846 in Montgomery County, Tennessee Enlisted on December 26, 1863 in the 16 th USCT Infantry Company F. When he enlisted, his occupation was listed as Farmer. He enlisted in Clarksville, TN for a period of 3 years. His description on his muster-in was an 18 year old who was 5’5” with copper skin, black eyes and black hair. He was promoted to Corporal on June 26, 1864 at Chattanooga, TN. On the muster roll dated May and June 1865, he was listed as sick in the Regimental Hospital in Nashville, TN. He was mustered out on April 30, 1866 in Nashville, TN.
On August 28, 1874, he married Mary Buckner who had been previously married and had an 8 year old daughter, Willie May from the previous marriage. Willie took The Dabney name. Chesterfield and Mary had one child together John who was born July 28, 1878. They lived in Clarksville, TN from 1866 to 1908. On 1910 census, Chesterfield and Mary were living in Louisville, KY where he was employed as a tobacco packer by Luckett Wake Tobacco Company. Mary died in 1917.
The 1920 census finds Chesterfield and his son John living with stepdaughter Willie and her husband James H. Lewis in Louisville, KY. John died in 1921 of retention of urine. Willie May died of pneumonia in 1925. The 1930 census finds Chesterfield probably living in a boarding house or hotel since the census lists the number of people living in the building at 64.
Chesterfield died in Louisville, KY on November 26, 1931 of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle). He was 85 years old and had outlived his immediate family. His nearest relative was Stella Dabney Parker, a niece, who lived in Indiana.
For his service with the Union Army he was awarded a pension In 1901 of $6 per month for rheumatism. Under the Act of July 6, 1907 his pension was increased to $12 per month. In 1912 it was raised to $17 per month. In 1915 when he was 70 years old, he applied for another raise in his pension due to attaining the age of 70 years old. The application was rejected because they considered his birth day to be the day he enlisted. Chesterfield had to wait until December to apply again.
Biography of a Civil War Veteran
SHELBY CLARK
Born in 1842 in Christian County, KY
Enlisted on Jan 15, 1864 in Company G of the 16th USCT at Clarksville, TN. His occupation at the time of enlistment was farmer. He enlisted for a period of 3 years.
He is described at the time of enlistment as 22 years old. He was 5 feet 4 and ½ inches tall with brown eyes and black hair. His complexion is described as copper.
According to the 16th USCT Regimental Records, Company G spent its entire time in Chattanooga, TN, and the time frame indicates that they were on occupation duty since the battle of Chattanooga occurred in Nov 1863 and the battle of Chickamauga occurred in September 1863. Shelby’s Military Records indicate he was not careful with his equipment. In October 1864, he lost his haversack and canteen at a total cost of 85 cents. On the September/October 1865 muster, he is listed as having lost a lampion (a small oil lamp) and a cartage belt plate a total expense of $12. On the January/February 1866 muster, he is listed as having lost by neglect an Enfield R. Musket (cal 58) costing $18.50. Shelby mustered out in Nashville, TN on April 30, 1866. At that time, the Army owed him $8.32.
On October 13, 1867, Shelby married Sarah Wyatt. For the first 15 years after his discharge, Shelby worked moving wheat from one department to another in a mill. One of the granaries he worked at, was owned by Wiliam T. Dorch. He also did general labor at a tobacco factory.
Shelby and Sarah had six children: George born Jan 30, 1868; John born June 29,1872; Lillie born Feb 19, 1876; Shelbina born May 5, 1881; Clarence born Nov 4, 1882; and Lura born Nov 11, 1886.
In 1891, Shelby applied for a pension due to rheumatism which was rejected at first. He made an initial statement in which he originally said the disability started in January of 1874 due to the amount of exposure to the elements sustained doing his job at the granary of William Dorch. The first attack involved his back, left hip and leg causing him to be bedridden for six months. He was disabled again in the fall of 1876 for three months and periodically disabled from that point until the end of his life. His first application was rejected due to the disability occurring after he left the army. He reapplied, and this time stated that the rheumatism was as a result of exposure to the elements while he was stationed in Nashville. He was awarded a pension of $12 a month.
Shelby’s wife, Sarah, died either April 4 or April 6, 1891. There is a statement by George Vance (also buried in our cemetery) who states he was the sexton of Olive City Cemetery and buried her on April 6, 1891. The only record I could find of her was the 1880 Census. There is also a statement by Vicie Oakley that Sarah was a member of a lodge called “The Household of Ruth” at the time of her death and that the lodge buried her.
On April 16, 1893, Shelby Clark died of consumption. He was 54 years old. He left behind 5 living children. Four of the children were less than 18 years old when he died.
In 1894, an application for a minor’s pension was made on behalf of those four children by Cube Steele, a neighbor. Before the application process was through, one of the children reached the age.
Jordan Barksdale
Jordan Barksdale was born in 1825 in Norfolk, Virginia. It is unknown when he arrived in Clarksville, Tennessee, but he is mentioned in the local paper as early as 1861 and seems to have been well-known in Clarksville for a while before that. The article announces the establishment of an eating house at the state line for railroad travelers opened by W. F. Bibb. The article states “Jordan Barksdale, the most widely known colored individual in the Confederacy, from his long connection with our best hotels, is a fixture, now, at Bibb’s and says he is going to work harder than ever before, to make that the model Railroad-house of the country. Jordan’s a good trump.” This is the earliest mention found on him in the local paper but it is one of twenty found so far. It indicates that Jordan was not a slave and had been a free man for quite a while. The paper seemed to take a keen interest in his employment and career. Jordan distinguished himself as a porter in the Franklin House Hotel and then as an agent and porter for the steamboats running the Cumberland River.
He married Janie or Jane who was born in 1840 in Tennessee. They had five children together but only two of them, William and Peter, survived to adulthood. The only description of him deals with his personality not his looks. In June 1866, a correspondent for the Clarksville Chronicle wrote a letter/column on a trip he took on a steam boat going to Paducah. In the last paragraph of his description of the trip, he said this about Jordan Barksdale: “Our old friend and distinguished townsman, Jordan Barksdale, is last but not least, of the excellent institutions of this worthy little craft, and is especially attentive to all the Clarksville people.”
The boat the reporter was on was the Steamer Tyrone on which Jordan was a porter until 1869. Apparently, steamboat travel had a season because Jordan is reported in newspaper articles dividing his residence between Clarksville and Paducah, Kentucky. On July 17, 1869, the paper noted that Jordan was no longer working on the Tyrone and was now working at the Southern Hotel. In December 1869, he was rehired to work on the Tyrone only to part ways again in April 1871. The Nashville Union and American Newspaper suggested that the President appoint him as Minister to Haiti in 1869.
The 1870 census list his age as 47, his residence in District 12, and his occupation as laborer. His wife Janie is 40, his son William is 11 and Peter is 7. Neither Jordan nor Janie can read or write, but both his sons can.
The Montgomery County Fair started on October 20, 1871 and the paper announced that Jordan Barksdale was working at the fair and would take care of anyone’s baggage if they left it with him. He was working in the area of Booth 3.
The January 3, 1873 Nashville Union and American Newspaper reported that Jordan, a colored Democrat, had established an intelligence office for the hire of servants at Clarksville.
On Oct 6, 1873, someone attempted to burn down Jordan’s house which was on the corner of Strawberry and First streets. The arsonist poured coal oil on the weather-boarding and set fire to it. It was discovered and extinguished before it did much damage. He probably did not own the house because a search of the county tax records failed to turn up his name.
An announcement in the Clarksville Weekly Chronicle on January 27, 1877 stated that Jordan “will notify passengers who may wish to take a boat, at any time day or night.” Two months later, he was reporting to the paper that a 15 year old deck-sweeper on the T.T. Hillman was drowned off the boat as it was landing at Hillman’s Rolling Mill on March 7, 1877.
Jordan was probably the first black Clarksville entrepreneur. Porter at hotels and on steamboats, agent for steamboats, baggage handler, and boarding house proprietor are just a few of his enterprises. The latter was reported on April 13, 1878 when the Clarksville Weekly Chronicle noted that “Two couples of runaway colored people have recently been married at Jordan Barksdale’s boarding house on Strawberry alley.”
In 1879 one of the important debates in Tennessee was called the Compromise. This proposed to settle Tennessee’s debt at once but at less than the full amount of the debt. It was put on a ballot for Tennessean’s to vote yes or no. The Democratic Party was in favor of it and the republicans were not. The paper noted on August 12, 1879 that Jordan voted for the Compromise and that this indicated the vote “of the intelligent class of colored people.”
On October 25, 1879, the Clarksville Weekly Chronicle published a letter calling for J.J. Causman to run for Mayor of Clarksville. The letter was signed by the most prominent black citizens of Clarksville. One of the men that signed the letter was Jordan Barksdale.
The 1880 Montgomery County Census does not record his occupation, but it notes that his wife Janie was a housekeeper; his eldest son, William, was a grocer; and his youngest son, Peter was still at school. It is possible that William worked in his father’s grocery because a September 7, 1880 article used Jordan Barksdale’s grocery as a landmark in an article describing an arrest.
In September 1880 Jordan started a new business. The newspaper announced that Jordan ‘owns an express wagon for hauling baggage and will see it properly checked on RR or steamboat.” In November 1880, the newspaper noted he was a porter on the Steamer Throup.
Both the Clarksville Weekly Chronicle and the Clarksville Semi-Weekly Tobacco Leaf carried his obituary. Both record he died suddenly on October 5, 1881. His tombstone records his death date as October 7, 1882. This tells us that there was a delay in putting a marker on his grave since the date recorded is in error.
The best description of Jordan Barksdale is contained in the obituary published by the Clarksville Weekly Chronicle on October 8, 1881.
“Jordan Barksdale, a prominent, reliable, and well-esteemed colored man who was known to everybody in our city, died very suddenly on Wednesday morning at five o’clock of supposed heart-disease. He was up and walking around the evening before, though complaining some, and his sudden death was a severe shock to his family and numerous friends.
No colored man in our midst was ever more generally liked than Jordan Barksdale. He was quiet, polite, and always attentive to his duties. For many years past he has acted as agent and porter for the steamboats running the Cumberland. He was aged fifty-four years. He was buried Thursday evening at the colored cemetery where his remains were followed by a large concourse of mourners.”
His wife Jane is listed in the 1900 census living at 531 Franklin Street with her son William and his family. Her occupation is listed as cook and there is some indication that she ran an eatery. She owned the house free of mortgage. The 1910 census shows her as proprietor of a boarding house. Her house number changed to 535. Jane Barksdale died on December 13th, 1911 of paralysis. She was 65 years old. Currently, her burial place is unknown.
Leonard Mabry Biography
Enlisted in Company B, 16th Regiment of the USCT in Clarksville, TN on November 27, 1863. At that time, he was listed as 40 years of age which makes his birth year 1823. His military records describe him as 5’5’’ tall, dark complexion, and hair and eyes that were black. He was born in Montgomery County, TN and his occupation at enlistment was farmer.
On January 1, 1864, he was promoted to Corporal. By March of 1864, he is demoted back to Private and transferred to the Invalid Corps. In April of 1864, he was sick and listed as absent at Post Hospital in Nashville, TN and returned to the unit in May 1864. Company B, 16th USCT was stationed in Chattanooga, TN He was mustered out April 30, 1866. According to this document, he had pay due from enlistment and owed the government $9.21. In April of 1864, he had lost by carelessness one screw driver costing 46 cents, one ball screw costing 12 cents and one canteen costing 41 cents.
Leonard Mabry earned a Certificate of Disability for Discharge which was given in Chattanooga, TN on May 24, 1864 for “prolapses ami”. His commander Artemas Curtis of Company B, 16th USCT certified that he had been unfit for duty 60 days out of the last 2 months and that his condition was caused or developed by change of diet together with exposure while on duty at Clarksville, TN during the months of January and February 1864 and that he was a good faithful soldier previous to his disease. This certificate of disability allowed him to join the Invalid Corps organizing at Nashville, TN. The certificate also certified that Leonard had not been paid since his enlistment. He then became a member of Company C, 101st USCT on June 27, 1864.
While in the 101st USCT, he was listed as absent sick in General Hospital on the July/August 1864 muster roll and also on September/October 1864 roll. He was detached for duty at the Contraband Camp from December 31, 1864 to August 31, 1865.
In his pension records, it becomes clear exactly what caused all these admissions to the hospital and his eventual transfer to the 101st USCT. While with Company B, 16th USCT he developed a very bad case of diarrhea and camp cough. He also developed an inguinal hernia or rupture (the abdominal wall gives way and allows the intestines to protrude usually caused by severe straining). Leonard Mabry connected this rupture to two things: drilling at Nashville in April 1864 and the severe camp cough and diarrhea he suffered in Chattanooga.
After he left the Army, he worked both as a farmer and laborer using a truss (padded supportive sling) to hold his intestines in place. By 1890, his rupture was so bad he could no longer work and was dependent on charity. He could no longer use a truss because it was too painful. His hernia is described by his neighbors as being the size of two fists put together. He also had pain in all his joints and described his condition as not being able to get out of bed or dress himself without help. He received a pension which at the time of his death was $8 a month.
He died on February 16, 1900. There is no Physician’s Certificate indicating what he died of. There is no record of Leonard Mabry ever marrying, and he had no children.
Isaac Fields Biography
According to the 1880 Census, Isaac Fields was born in 1838. He joined Company D, 16th USCT on December 24, 1863. His Descriptive Roll states he was 22 years old with black hair, brown eyes, and brown complexion standing 5 feet 7 inches tall. He was born in Montgomery County and joined the Army in Dover, Tennessee. His occupation when he joined was farmer. Unusually, when he mustered in he was given the rank of Corporal.
Company D of the 16th USCT spent its existence in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and it seems so did Isaac Fields. On the July/August 1865 Muster Roll, he is listed as in confinement at Chattanooga, Tennessee since August 27, 1865. His pension records show he was reduced in rank to Private on June 26, 1865. Muster Rolls indicate he was back with his company in September/October 1865.
Isaac Fields was mustered out of the Army in Nashville, Tennessee on April 30, 1886. His military record shows that he owed the government $4.67 on his clothing account. The next record found on Isaac Fields is the record of his marriage to Hannah Steger on 29 August 1875. At this time, he was living on Lewis Bower’s farm in St. Bethlehem near the old fairgrounds. Both he and Hannah worked on this farm and during the time they were there, their son, Floyd, was born. According to her petition for a widow’s pension, Hannah states that two years after Floyd was born they had a second son who lived just one week and a day. In 1880, they were living in downtown Clarksville according to the Census his occupation was laborer. He was 42 and living with Hannah and Floyd now aged 5. In Hannah’s statement for her pension request, she stated that Isaac earned his living as a brick maker.
Shortly before his death, Isaac and Hannah separated. According to statements made by Hannah and their neighbors and friends who gave depositions in her application for a pension, they had a very stormy marriage. It seems Isaac was a lady’s man. Testimony paints a picture of a man who ran around with women quite a bit before his marriage and did so after his marriage as well. In depositions, Charity Bradly stated “She could not stand him. He was awful mean to her.” Shelby Barker stated “She belonged to the church and he didn’t.” Monroe Warfield who was raised by Hannah and was living in the house at the time testified that Isaac came home drunk and beat her. She knocked him in the head, and he bundled up his clothes and moved in with another woman. He remained with this woman until just before his death when he moved in with his sister, Arlensen Ligger, who lived on Franklin Street. Statements in the pension request indicate that Isaac’s spine and kidneys were bad and that just before he died, he could hardly walk.
Isaac Fields died in his sister’s house. Most of the records state he died on July 26, 1890, and his wife stated he died at 6 a. m. In the pension application, C. W. Beaumont, Clarksville Health Officer who kept the mortuary record, stated that Isaac Fields died on July 15, 1888 and was buried in Mt. Olive by Henry Roberts on July 16, 1888. He states Isaac died of Bright’s Disease. Bright’s Disease is a kidney disease characterized by inflammation of the kidney, apoplexy (bleeding in internal organs), convulsions, blindness, and coma. It is diagnosed frequently in patients with diabetes.
In September of 1890 as a result of a change in the law, Hannah Fields applied for a widow’s pension. As a result of a problem with conflicting dates in statements in her application, her pension request was referred for investigation. During the investigation, attention focused on her morals and if she had lived with another man since Isaac died. In 1893, Hannah was living at 1119 Franklin Street. In 1898 she was living at 1020 Franklin Street. At this time that part of town was called “Scuff” Town and was inhabited by “lewd colored women”. It is clear from the questions asked by the investigator that just living there called her morals into question. Some of the people deposed made clear that there was a man living in her “house” which at the time consisted of two rooms, one upstairs from the other. Her landlord stated that this man paid the rent for her rooms for several weeks. She denied any cohabitation and stated that she allowed him to stay a short time in the upstairs room while she stayed in the downstairs room.
Her application for a widow’s pension was rejected for adulterous cohabitation since the death of the soldier. She applied for reconsideration in 1897 but was rejected again on the same grounds.
No further records have been found at this time either on Hannah Fields or Floyd Fields.
It is interesting to note that both William Logan and his wife Eliza gave statements on behalf of Hannah Fields. William is one of the USCT buried in Mt. Olive but was in a different regiment. Eliza is also buried in Mt. Olive.
Violet Allen Adams
Violet Allen Adams was born into slavery in 1852 in Montgomery County. In a statement she provided in her claim for a widow’s pension, she stated that her family was owned by Sam Adams who lived “over the river in the South Side about 8 miles from Clarksville.” Her parents, not uncommonly, took the last name of their owner. Her parents, Washington and Dinah Allen, had three children: Peter, Viney, and Violet.
When she was 17 years old, she was living in the area of LaFayette, KY working for Dr. William Meese when she went to a baptism. There she met Nicholas Adams. She married him the following year 1868 and went to work for Nicholas’ employers, Tom and Cynthia Crenshaw. Shortly after she went to work for them, Cynthia told Violet about Nicholas’ previous wife, Caroline. She warned Violet that Nicholas had treated Caroline meanly and had beat her. Caroline had run away and gone back to Knoxville where she had come from. When Violet asked her husband about Caroline, he stated that he had never married her that she was just a woman who had followed him out of the Army. Unfortunately, this fact gave her trouble when she applied for the widow’s pension. On May 26, 1866 the Tennessee legislature passed a law that stated that all ex-slaves then living together as man and wife were considered married. Nicholas never divorced Caroline and evidence seems to support his living with Caroline in Clarksville, TN at that time.
Violet and Nicholas had five children: Alexander born April 25, 1869; Rosa born in 1871; Matthew born June 6, 1869; Mattie born August 24, 1874; and Washington born May 24, 1877. Nicholas died on October 11, 1893 on Poston Street in Clarksville, TN. Violet was 42 when he died. Nicholas had been almost incapacitated in the last years of his life by an inguinal hernia acquired during his time in the Army.
Violet bought a house on Marion Street in 1896 for $550 which she paid in installments. She worked variously as a cook, housekeeper, and in a tobacco factory. The 1911 Clarksville City Directory lists her as a laundress.
Violet Allen Adams died on May 31, 1917 of heart disease and was buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery on June 2, 1917. She left $25 for a burial marker, $25 to her son Mann, and the rest of her estate to her daughter Mattie.
Alexander Carr Biography
Alexander Carr was born in Logan County, Kentucky on February 17, 1842. He grew up in the same neighborhood as his future wife Mary Ann Teasdale and knew her since she was 6 years old. He was owned by Jimmy Allison of Russellville, KY until Mr. Allison’s death when he became part of the estate that went to Jimmy’s daughter Susan. Susan had married a man named John Vick so Alexander’s last name changed from Allison to Vick.
On March 1, 1864, the 22 year old Alexander Vick enlisted in Company I, 16th USCT at Clarksville, TN for three years. He was described as 5 feet 5 inches with a black complexion, and black hair and eyes. He listed his occupation as farmer. The 16th USCT was stationed in Chattanooga, TN for the duration of the war except for the period when they were ordered to Nashville in response to Confederate General Hood’s attack upon the city. The 16th USCT was in reserve so it did not participate in the battle. Alexander was in the city at that time because his uncle, Joseph Allison, who was also in the Army had a chance to see him after the battle.
Aside from a note in the May/June 1865 roll stating he was detailed to the Engineer Department which ended by the July/August roll, Alexander was present with his unit for his entire enlistment with no lost equipment. He was mustered out on April 30, 1866 in Nashville, TN and owed the government $6.30 on his clothing allowance.
Upon leaving the army, he returned to Russellville, Ky. After a year, he moved to Clarksville, TN in 1867. On April 24, 1869, Alexander married his childhood sweetheart, Mary Ann Teasdale. They had five children together, but only two survived to adulthood. Ever Carr was born in 1870 and her brother Eugeen Carr was born in 1876. When he moved to Clarksville, Alexander met up with his father, Barry Carr. Barry convinced Alexander to change his name to the family name of Carr. His father had also served with the USCT during the war, and later moved to Kansas where he died.
The 1880 census shows Alexander, Mary, and the two children together in one household. Alexander was working as a laborer and could not read or write. They bought 219 Ford Street on June 24, 1893 from Dr. N. L. Carney. It was a four bedroom house on a small lot. The location is described as being on Taylor’s Hill in the north part of town.
Alexander filed for an invalid pension on February 17, 1894. He complained of rheumatism, a sprained ankle (sprained while on camp duty when he slipped in a hole and sprained it), deafness, pain in his back and hips, disease of the heart, gravel in his bladder, and being unable to lay on his left side. According to a deposition given in support of his pension request, he had been a black-smith but had to quit due to failing health. After examination by a physician, he was awarded a pension of $6 a month for rheumatism and heart disease. One of these exams done on November 25, 1896 noted he was 54 years old with a height of 5 feet 5 ½ inches and weighed 159 pounds.
The 1900 census lists Alexander, Mary and Eugene living at 219 Ford Street. At that time. Alexander was working as a body laborer and owned the house with no mortgage. On June 2, 1903, Alexander Carr died in his house of Cardiac Hypertrophy (a thickening of the muscle wall of the heart) with Rheumatism as a contributing factor. At the time he died, his occupation was listed as stone mason. He was buried by Nace Dixon in Mt. Olive.
Moses Parrish Biography
Moses Parrish was born in Virginia in 1826 and at some point in his life was brought to Kentucky. At age 38, he enlisted in Company C, 16th USCT on December 10, 1863. The 16th USCT had a recruiting station in the area of Ft. Bruce (today known as Ft. Defiance) from about November 1863 to about March or April of 1864. The Army would not muster in a company until it had a certain minimum of men and would not pay the men until after the unit mustered in. The first muster roll for Moses is dated April 30, 1864. He is described on the Company Descriptive Book as 5 feet 7 inches tall, brown complexion, hazel eyes, and brown hair. His occupation at the time of enlistment was as a farmer.
On August 28, 1864, he was detailed to report to Captain Giffe, Commander of Company H, 16th USCT by order of William B. Gow, Colonel Commanding 16th USCT. He was back with the unit by September 1864.
In 1865 when hostilities ceased, commanders began to authorize furloughs so the men could see their families. The July/August 1865 roll records that Moses was absent on furlough by command of General Thomas. He was charged $2.79 for transportation while on furlough.
February 1866 found Moses on duty as a laborer in the Quartermaster’s Department. He was mustered out in Nashville on April 30, 1866. The government owed him $38.52 in pay.
Moses, age 46, appears on the 1870 Census in District 7 of Montgomery County. The majority of this district is between 6th Street and 9th Street and between Franklin Street and College Street in downtown Clarksville. His occupation is listed as laborer and three children are listed as living with him Lucinda, age 20; Mary, age 1; and Adam, age 14. Moses is listed on the 1871 Enumeration of Voters as paying a poll tax of $1. Seven years later on August 8, 1878, Moses was married to Mary Henry by Harvey Thompson. This marriage occurred just four months after 13 acres of downtown Clarksville burned down. The fire was concentrated on Franklin Street between 2nd and 3rd Street and did not reach the area of District 7; however, the Courthouse did burn down.
Moses is mistakenly listed as age 70 on the 1880 census and is living with his wife, Mary, age 58, and four granddaughters: Ella Henry, age 16; Dora Henry, age 12; Julia Garth, age 4; and Cintha Moody, age 8. His occupation is listed as shoe maker and he is now living in District 12 which by this time included downtown Clarksville and areas of the county to the east, south, and west of downtown. In all probability, he was still living in the same neighborhood as he was in 1870. This neighborhood is the same one that William Logan and Isaac Fields lived in. In July 1889, Moses gave a deposition for Hannah Fields in support of her application for a widow’s pension stating that he visited Isaac in his last illness and helped prepare the body for burial. In 1892, the year before his death, Moses gave a deposition for William Logan in support of his application for an invalid pension stating he lived 1/4th mile from William and visited him often, worked with him frequently, and knew him since 1866. He attested to Logan’s disabilities.
Moses applied for a pension on July 19, 1890 and does not seem to have had a hard time getting approved for a pension. His application states that several years before, he was breaking stones when a piece struck his right eye and as a consequence, he lost sight in that eye. His medical examination confirmed the damage to his eye and on June 14, 1892 he was approved for a pension of $8 per month from July 19, 1890. His pension was increased to $12 per month from December 4, 1891. Moses applied for an increase in his pension due to partial loss of sight in his other eye. His pension record gives us his address in 1892: 1034 Franklin Street.
Moses Parrish died on April 18, 1893. The Weekly Leaf-Chronicle published this obituary of him on April 21, 1893: “Mose Parrish, colored, better known as “Uncle Mose,” died at his home in the eastern suburbs last Tuesday of pneumonia. Mose was an old landmark in that part of the city, and his death will be read with regret by his friends.”
Woodson Wheeler Biography
Woodson Wheeler’s military record states he was born in 1821 in Buckingham County, Virginia. Later the census records would list his birthplace as Kentucky. This is understandable as in all probability he came to Kentucky early in his life. His owner Elizabeth Watkins was born in the same county as Woodson and brought him to Kentucky after marrying Dr. James Wheeler. They settled in Christian County, Kentucky on a 445-acre farm named “Richland.” This farm was not far from the Tennessee state line. In January 1864, Woodson escaped to the recruitment camp of the 16th USCT located in New Providence not far from present day Ft. Defiance. There on January 22, 1864, the 43-year-old 5-foot 5-inch farmer joined Company H, 16th USCT for 3 years. He was described as having copper skin and black hair and eyes. His military record shows his rank as cook.
On March 31, 1864 Woodson was listed as deserting in Clarksville. This is about the time that the 16th USCT was leaving Clarksville. In May, the Army charged him $23.90 for his uniform. On September 15, 1864, Woodson rejoined his unit at Chattanooga. The January/February 1865 roll notes he was awaiting trial on charge of desertion. By March/April 1865 he was waiting the sentence of Court Martial. He was acquitted of the charge of desertion but found guilty of absence without leave for 20 days. He was fined one month’s pay plus loss of pay and allowances for the 20-day absence. May/June 1865 found Woodson sick in quarters, and the January/February 1866 roll showed that the government owed him $21.21 for transportation. When Woodson mustered out on April 30, 1866 and this $21.21 is all that the government owed him.
Woodson returned to Clarksville after being mustered out because on November 5, 1866 he married Amanda McCurtis in Montgomery County. The 1870 Census shows Woodson and Amanda living in the 9th Street, 10th Street, Franklin Street corner of Clarksville. They have four boys living with them: Jerry, age 14; Richard, age 18; Walter, age 21; and Robert, age 6. This possibly explains his desertion. If these are Woodson and Amanda’s sons, which is highly likely, their ages indicate that Woodson and Amanda were man and wife during slavery. Woodson could have spent his 20 day absence getting his family to Clarksville.
The Montgomery County 1870 census was taken in June 1870. In July 1870, Woodson appears in the Christian County, Kentucky census in the same area as his old master’s farm working as a farm laborer and living with nine other unconnected people. None of his family that appeared on the Montgomery County census are with him. This possibly indicates that he left his family in Clarksville and returned to work on Dr. Wheeler’s farm.
The1880 census shows him back in Clarksville but the only member of his family living with him is Jerry who is now 23 years old. They are both listed as laborers. Curiously, on the census Jerry’s gender is obviously changed from male to female and he is listed as Woodson’s wife.
The last document found on Woodson is an unused marriage license dated 12 March 1881 for Woodson to marry Nancy Campbell. The note on it is “This license destroyed not used.” Nancy Campbell was a 30 year old widow who was living in the same area as Woodson. The reason the marriage was called off is unknown. Nancy died in 1916 and was buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery.
Woodson Wheeler died on March 28, 1889. He was 66 years old.
Charles Herbert Gray Biography
Charles Herbert Gray’s life was very short. He was born in March 1930 to Robert Fisher and Angline Gray. Charles died on May 31, 1930 at six weeks old. The cause of death was inanition with a contributory factor of lues. Inanition is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the exhausted condition that results from lack of food and water or the absence or loss of social, moral or intellectual vitality or vigor.” Today this condition would be called a failure to thrive. Lues is defined in the same dictionary as syphilis. Charles might have contracted syphilis from his mother through the birth process.
Angline Gray contracted with Andrew J. Winters to bury Charles in Mt Olive Cemetery. Winters had promised to convey Angline and a neighbor Ada Parchman to the cemetery but he failed to do so. The women went to the grave later in the week, and the mother express displeasure about the burial. The newspaper does not explain what made her unhappy, but Winters informed her that it would be very expensive to move the body. Whatever made Angline Gray unhappy about the burial prompted her to return with F. J. Malone, the county health director, M. W. Sanderson, the sanitary inspector, and Constable W. T. Perry. They found Charles buried in a Hercules powder box with only three inches of dirt over it.
The Hercules Powder Company was a small explosives company that was owned by the Du Pont Company until 1912 when it was forced by the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to divest some of its explosive companies. The Hercules Powder Company still exists as Hercules Inc. It is now a chemical company with headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware.
Andrew J. Winters was charged with violating the vital statistics law of Tennessee for the improper burial. He was also charged with obtaining money from the county under false pretenses because he represented to the county that he was burying Charles in a pauper’s coffin and was credited $12 as part payment of Winters’s privilege taxes.
Winters pled guilty to the charge of violating the vital statistics law and was fined the maximum of $50. The paper did not report on the results of the fraud charge.
The 1930 Montgomery County, Tennessee census, taken in November 1930, lists Angline Gray, age 23, living at 1020 Eleventh Street with daughter Ella, age 6, and son Walter, age 4. The census lists Angline as a widow. No record has been found for Robert Fisher.
There is no record of Charles Herbert Gray’s reburial. Since his first burial was in Mt Olive and his mother was a pauper, it is logical that he was reburied in Mt Olive. He is recorded as a resident of Mt Olive Cemetery.
Bibliography
Encyclopedia.com, s.v. “Hercules Inc,” last modified May 29, 2018, https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/economics-business-andlabor/businesses-and-occupations/hercules-inc.
Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “inanition,” accessed May 11, 2022, https://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/inanition.
Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “lues,” accessed May 11, 2022, https://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/lues.
Montgomery County, Tennessee Census (1930).
Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1958; Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee.
“Trial of Fraud Case is Delayed.” Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle. June 27, 1930.
“Winters is Fined $50 and Held on Count of Fraud.” Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle. June 28, 1930.
Ann and Henry Boyd Biography
In 1870, the Boyd family lived in the Round Pond area in Civil District 17. They were farmers. Jessie Boyd, aged 40, and Ann, aged 30, had real estate worth $180 and a personal estate of $100. Five children were listed in the family: Henry, aged 13, listed as a farm laborer; Ulally, aged 10; Eliza, aged 6; Elizabeth, aged 2; and Charles, aged 1. By 1880, the only family member found in the Montgomery County, Tennessee census was Henry. Henry, aged 25, was now married and he and wife Ella, aged 21, had a one-year-old daughter named Mary. They were still in District 17 and were farming, possibly on his father’s land.
Henry enlisted in the Army in 1881 and was described as 5 feet 61/2 inches tall with dark hair, eyes, and complexion. He served with the 20th Infantry and was discharged in May 1882 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas for an unspecified disability possibly the diabetes which later killed him.
Ella Boyd died before 1897 because on October 23, 1897, Henry married Alice Keesee. It was a second marriage for both of them. No other record of Henry’s daughter, Mary, except the 1880 census has been found. It is possible Henry’s brief stint in the army was motivated by the loss of his wife and daughter.
Both Ann and Henry were found in the 1900 Montgomery County census and both had moved. Henry and Alice were farming in Civil District 13. Ann, aged 49, was living at 423 Sullivan Avenue with a widowed daughter, Georgia Boyd, aged 27, and a granddaughter, Lizzie, aged 5. Ann was working as a nurse, and Georgia was working as a laundress. According to this census, Ann had borne six children but only two were still living. This was incorrect as Henry and Eliza were still living and this census lists a
third child, Georgia. Eliza could not be found in the 1900 Montgomery County census.
The 1910 Montgomery County census shows Ann and daughter Eliza living on Sullivan Alley. A
Granddaughter Georgia, aged 24, lived with them. Ann and Georgia worked in a tobacco factory while Eliza worked as a laundress. Henry and Alice were farming in Civil District 3, and Rachel Isby, Alice’s mother, was living with them. Henry owned this farm and had a mortgage. Interestingly, Alice had two children but they did not survive. By 1911, Ann and her daughter Eliza were living together at 614 Franklin Street. Ann was a tobacco stemmer and Eliza was a laundress. By 1920 they were renting 408 Sullivan Avenue, and Eliza was working as a cook. Ann was keeping house. Henry and Alice were renting a farm in District 8. The 1922 Clarksville City Directory listed Ann and Eliza at 421 Lee Street which was located in the Lincoln Holmes area and does not exist today.
Henry died on August 31, 1923 and was living with his mother and sister at 408 Spring Street. Alice was dead because Henry was listed as a widower and Eliza gave the information on his death certificate. Henry died of diabetes at the age of 74 and was buried in Mt Olive by Nace Dixon on August 14, 1923.
Ann died on January 24, 1924 of chronic cystitis. She and Eliza were living at 408 Spring Street when Ann died. Eliza listed Ann’s birthplace as Kansas City, Missouri, and the 1870 census listed Henry as born in Missouri. Ann was buried in Mt Olive on January 31, 1924. So far, no tombstone has been found for either Ann or Henry.
Eliza and Georgia have not been found on any Montgomery County record after these dates.
Bibliography
Clarksville, Tennessee City Directory (1911, 1922).
Montgomery County, Tennessee Census (1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920).
Montgomery County, Tennessee Marriage Index, 1799-1953.
Register of Enlistments in the U.S. Army, 1798-1914; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M233, 81 Rolls); Records of the Adjutant Generals Office, 1780’s-1917, Record Group 94; National Archives, Washington, D. C.
Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1958; Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee.
Joseph Martin Biography
Joseph Martin lived in Montgomery County, Tennessee all his life. He was born in 1859 to Daniel Martin and Rose Keesee. In 1870, when Joseph was ten years old, the Martin family lived in the northeast corner of District 17. His father was a farmer with real estate valued at $250 and a personal estate of $150. The 1870 Montgomery County census lists four other children in the family. Nannie, age 6, Martha, age 5, Fannie, age 3, and Franklin, age 1.
On March 4, 1876, Joseph married a widow, Charity Moore Dailey. The 1880 census shows that Joseph and Charity moved to District 18 and were living two houses away from Charity’s parents, John Moore and Ellen Steele Moore. Charity was living there alone with Ellie, age 2 and P., age 1. Joseph was living in Clarksville with two other men getting work as a laborer.
The family was reunited in the 1900 census. They were living at 635 Elder Street. It is unclear what happened to the child listed as P. She had either died or married by 1900. Ellie had married Demoss Wiley, and the couple were living with Joseph and Charity. There were four other Martin children in the household: Josie (Josephine), age 17, daughter Willie, age 15, Emmett, age 13, and son Willie, age 8. The Martins were also caring for a niece, Charlotte F. Anderson, age 7. Joseph was working as a porter in the grocery firm of Keesee and Northington. This is a job he would hold until his death. Joseph and Charity had two other children who were not captured on a census living with them: Ann, born October 19, 1881, and Meolis, born April 25, 1892.
Charity Martin died on October 31, 1908 of paralysis of the brain (stroke). Currently it is unknown where
Charity Martin was buried. One year later on October 30, 1909, Joseph married another widow, Almeda Williams Parham. Almeda had a five-year-old son Joseph Parham who later took the Martin name and was considered as Joseph’s son. The 1910 census shows the three of them living in District 9. Joseph’s occupation was listed as Minister of the Gospel.
By 1920, the family had moved back to Clarksville into Joseph’s house at 635 Elder Street which he owned free of mortgage. The family had expanded and consisted of three children: Joseph, age 16, Henry, age 7, and Fannie, age 5. The children from Joseph’s previous marriage had all moved out and established their own households.
On July 13, 1929, Joseph’s son, Meolis became a victim of homicide. He was living in Indianapolis, Indiana and a man named Jessie Brown shot three bullets through the back door of his home. Meolis died instantly. Brown believed his wife was in the house with Meolis. Meolis was brought back to Clarksville to be buried.
The 1930 census finds Joseph and Almeda living at 635 Elder Street with Henry, age 17 and Fannie, age 15. Joseph was listed as a Minister. Almeda died on July 16, 1932 of pulmonary tuberculosis and was buried in the Kendrick Cemetery. This choice of cemetery could have been due to her sister, Anna Kendrick. Joseph survived Almeda for six more years. He died on December 12, 1938 of chronic nephritis
(kidney disease) and was buried in Mt Olive Cemetery. He is the only member of his family buried in Mt Olive. It is possible that Mt Olive was chosen because Charity might be buried there but there is no confirming documentation. Joseph’s obituary states he was a Methodist preacher and his funeral service was conducted at St. Peter’s AME Church. Joseph’s grave is unmarked.
Bibliography
1877 Map of Montgomery County, Tennessee.
Clarksville, Tennessee City Directory (1922).
Indiana Death Certificates, 1899-2011.
“Joe Martin Buried.” Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle. December 13, 1938.
“Minister’s Wife Dies.” Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle. July 18, 1932.
“Mistaken Husband Shoots Through Door, Kills Man.” Indianapolis Star. July 14, 1929.
Montgomery County, Tennessee Marriage Index, 1799-1953.
Montgomery County, Tennessee Census (1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930).
Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1965.
Charley and Mansfield Clark
Charles and Mansfield Clark were brothers who were buried in Mt Olive Cemetery. Their parents, Lewis Clark and Minnie Collins, were married on August 3, 1893. The family lived originally in District 6 south of St Bethlehem, but by 1900 they were living in District 1 near Hampton Station. The family was composed of Lewis, age 34, Minnie, age 27, Reaves, age 9, Mansfield, age 7, June, age 3, Charley, age 1, and Charles Clark, age 88. Charles was Lewis’s father. The last child in the family, Frank, was born in 1904.
On September 15, 1909. Lewis Clark died of consumption . There is no record of where Lewis is buried. The family moved in with Minnie’s brother Judge Collins. Judge Collins was a widowed farm laborer who lived on the Hampton Station & Port Royal Road. Mansfield, now aged 15, was working as a farm laborer. On March 15, 1912 tragedy struck the family again when Judge Collins died. On the day before, Judge drove his wagon to Clarksville and was accompanied by Thomas Gill and Mansfield. Mansfield and Thomas Gill were dropped off a short distance before Judge was to get to his house. Judge was intoxicated but since the distance he had to travel was so short, the other two men thought he would be alright. Before Judge got to his house, he stopped the wagon and went into a field. Apparently, he fell asleep and died of exposure during the night. Judge was found by Minnie the next morning. Again, there is no record of where he is buried.
Mansfield was called up for duty for World War I but was found to be physically unfit for duty in August
1917. The Montgomery County 1920 census recorded Minnie, age 48, serving as a live in cook for
Thomas Gill, a farm laborer. Four of her children: Mansfield, age 26, Irene, age 24, Zenora, age 9, and James, age7, were living there with her. The family was in District 12 on the Port Royal Road. It is unclear where Charles was living in 1920, but on September 3, 1926 Charles died of tuberculosis. He was buried in Mt Olive Cemetery. The information for his death certificate was given by his uncle Quent Collins of Guthrie. It is possible that Charles had been staying with this uncle. Charles was working as a laborer when he died. Mansfield died two years later on April 5, 1928 of double lobar pneumonia. He was buried in Mt Olive the next day. Neither Charles nor Mansfield have headstones.
The 1930 census records that Thomas Gill married Minnie although there is no record of a marriage license for them in Montgomery County. They were living at 108 Carpenter Street in Clarksville. The remains of Carpenter Street are on the campus of Austin Peay State University today. The street consists of less than two blocks and there are no residences on it. Thomas was working as a farm laborer and Minnie was working as a cook for a private family. Living with the couple was Frank Clark, Minnie’s youngest son, who was working in a tobacco factory and James Gill, Thomas’s son from his first marriage, who was doing housework for a private family. Minnie died nine years later on January 16, 1939 of Broncho-pneumonia. She was buried the next day in Evergreen Cemetery.
Bibliography
“Drunken Negro Meets His Death.” The Leaf-Chronicle. March 15, 1912.
Montgomery County, Tennessee Marriage Index, 1799-1953.
Montgomery County, Tennessee Census (1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930).
“Names of Delinquent Registrants.” The Leaf-Chronicle. January 3, 1918.
“Names of Those Who Have Been Found Physically Disqualified.” The Leaf-Chronicle. August 9, 1917.
Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1958; Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee.
Lacy Family Biography
Four members of the Lacy family were buried in Mt Olive Cemetery: Sam Lacy, his sister Margaret Minor, his daughter Maud Wallace, and his mother, Nancy Lacy. The first record found on the family was in the 1880 Montgomery County census. Robert and Nancy Lacy and their six children: Sam, age 14, Alice, age 13, Lanarah, age 12, Margaret, age 5, Bettie, age 3, and George, age 4 months, were living in District 9 near Dotsonville. Robert worked as a laborer and Nancy raised the children and kept house. In 1885, Alice married Bob Outlaw and moved to District 21. On May 13, 1884 Sam Lacy married Eliza Lisinby and moved out and established his own household. Two years later, Sam’s sister, Bettie, married Henry Davis on April 1, 1896 and moved out as well. Currently no records have been found documenting Robert Lacy’s death, but by 1900 all the children seem to have left the parental home.
The 1900 Montgomery County census listed the youngest Lacy, George now 21 living with sister Alice and her husband, Bob Outlaw in District 21. Bob worked as a teamster and George worked as a laborer. Alice and Bob had been married for fifteen years and had one child who died. Sam Lacy was living in District 8 with wife Eliza and two children: Floyda, age 15, and Maude, age 13. Sam was farming and owned his own farm. The following year on May 11, 1901, Sam’s eldest daughter married Sam Ogburn.
The 1910 census listed Sam, aged 45, living on Clarksville and York Road in District 8 with Eliza, aged 41, and Maude, aged 22. He was still farming but rented this farm. Maude was listed as a farm laborer which probably meant she was helping Sam with the farm. Sam’s sister, Margaret, married Clarkman Minor, and in 1910 they were living at 321 Poston Street in Clarksville with Clarkman’s daughters Myrtle, aged 23, and Maude, aged 22. Clarkman, who was 50 years old, was working as the fireman in an ice factory. They rented their house. Clarkman and Margaret had one child who had died. On December 31, 1910, Sam’s youngest daughter, Maude married Will Wallace and set up her own household.
1919 was a sad year for the Lacy family. On May 12, 1919, Margaret Lacy Minor died of bronchopneumonia caused by the Spanish Influenza. She was buried in Mt Olive Cemetery two days later by Nace Dixon’s Undertaking Company. Then on September 18, 1919, sixty-eight-year-old Nancy Lacy died of acute indigestion caused by an improper diet. She was buried the next day in Mt Olive Cemetery by Nace Dixon’s Company.
Sam and Eliza, now empty nesters, had moved to Blooming Grove Creek and Fork in District 9 by the 1920 census. Sam worked as a laborer, and they were renting the house they lived in. Maude and her husband, Will Wallace, also living in District 9 on Yellow Creek Road. Will was farming and they owned the farm with a mortgage. Sam’s eldest daughter Floudie, also known as Florida, and her husband, Sam Ogburn, were living in District 8 with daughter, Nina, aged 17, and son Henry, aged 16. Henry was listed as a farm laborer. Sam and Floudie also had another son, Brad, who was not living with them at the time of the 1920 census. Brad Ogborn died on September 25, 1927 of heart failure caused by typhoid fever. He was 17 years old and was buried at Ogburn Chapel near Dotsonville.
Maude’s marriage to Will Wallace was unsuccessful because she was living with Sam and Eliza at 115 Glenn Street in Clarksville in the 1930 census. She had resumed using her maiden name, and her marital status is listed as divorced. Sam was working as a garden laborer, and owned their house which was listed with a value of $1500. Floudie and Sam Ogburn with their son, Sam, aged 17 were still living and farming in District 8. On July 11, 1939, Sam Lacy died uremic poisoning which occurs as an end product of kidney disease due to the inability of the kidneys to filter toxins out of the urine. He was buried in Mt Olive Cemetery by Winters & Company two days later.
With Sam’s death, the 1940 census listed Liza and Maude Lacy living at 1115 Glenn Street. Liza owned the house which was now valued at $2000. Sam and Floudie Ogburn were still farming in District 8 on York Road. Their farm was listed as having a value of $250. On June 8, 1947, Maude Lacy died from a Coronary Occlusion, commonly called a heart attack. She was 58 years old and was buried in Mt Olive Cemetery by Foston Funeral Home two days later.
Sam and Floudie Ogburn moved in with Liza Lacy and were listed in the 1950 census living at 522 Glenn Street. Sam’s occupation was still listed as a farmer, and the household is listed as earning $1000. Also listed with them is daughter Nina Tyler who was now widowed. In the 1952 Clarksville City Directory, Sam Ogburn is listed as working at the Blue Moon Café.
Floudie Ogburn died on June 30, 1964 of unknown causes and was buried in Ogburn Chapel Cemetery three days later. Her husband, Sam, died on May 17, 1979 and was probably buried in the same cemetery. A search of Ogburn Chapel Cemetery failed to locate any markers for Floudie or Sam. No record of Eliza Lacy after 1950 has currently been found. When she died and where she was buried is still unknown.
Bibliography
1877 Map of Montgomery County, Tennessee.
Clarksville City Directory (1911, 1947).
Montgomery County, Tennessee Census (1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, 1950).
Montgomery County, Tennessee Marriage Index, 1799-1953.
“Mr. Ogburn.” The Leaf-Chronicle. May 20, 1979.
Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1970; Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee.
Bud McCarter Biography
Initial Research by Blayne Clements
It is unknown when or why Bud changed his name, but he was born Bud Ramey to John Ramey and his wife, Lucy Allen Ramey, in 1864. The family consisted of John Ramey, a farm laborer, Lucy Ramey, Bud, aged 6, Jack, aged 4, and John, aged 2. At the time of the census, Lucy was pregnant. Clara Ramey was born later that year. In 1877, Mary Turner was born. Her death certificate shows Lucy Allen as her mother but her father is listed as Don Turner. No record of Don Turner has been found to date in Montgomery County. The information on Mary’s father was given by her daughter. It is unclear when John Ramey died, but by 1900, Lucy Ramey was living on Marion Street in Clarksville and listed as a widow.
By 1885, Bud had changed his name and was known as McCarter and alternately McCarty. On December 30, 1885, Bud McCarty married Rit McElwain. They had one child, Lulu, who was born in 1887. Rit died between 1887 and 1897 because on February 13, 1897, Bud McCarty married Callie Davie. The witness on the Marriage License is Frank Wisdom, the brother of Mary’s husband, Elmo. A newspaper article announcing Bud and Callie’s wedding states that Bud was working as a porter at A. S. Wood & Co.
On May 10, 1897, Annie Hopkins deeded her home on Beach Street in New Providence to her two nieces, Callie McCarter and Eliza Trice with the proviso that she could live in the house until she died. The 1900 census listed Bud, aged 35, as head of household in District 7 which includes New Providence. He worked as a porter at a grocery store. The census noted that he owned his own home. Also listed were Callie, aged 30, Lulu, aged 12, Eliza Trice, aged 19, and Annie Hopkins, aged 68. The census incorrectly listed Annie as Bud’s mother-in-law and Eliza Trice as his sister-in-law.
Callie McCarter wrote her will in July 1904 and left everything she owned to Bud. She died in 1907 because the will was probated on August 17, 1907. Bud McCarty married his third wife, Almeda Wyatt, on April 14, 1909. The 1910 census does not list Eliza Trice in Montgomery County so it is probable that she was dead by 1909. The 1910 census lists Bud, aged 44, at the Beach Street house with his new wife, Almeda, aged 29, and her mother, Sally Wyatt, aged 60. Bud was working as a teamster for a grocery store. The three of them were also listed at the same house in 1920, but Bud was working as a laborer in the concrete industry. Sally Wyatt died on May 31, 1920 of cerebral apoplexy (stroke) and was buried at Round Pond. On June 6, 1923, Bud’s mother, Lucy Ramey, died of acute dysentery and was buried at Mt Olive Cemetery. Bud’s sister, Mary Wisdom Payne, died in Nashville on August 27, 1927 from Diabetes. She was returned to Clarksville for burial. There is no cemetery listed on the death certificate.
Bud, aged 65, and Almeda, aged 45, were listed in the 1930 census at the same address. Bud was working at the Nicotine Plant. Originally called the Trahern Tobacco Plant later becoming the Nicotine Production Company. Locals called it the Nicotine Plant. It was located on Spring Street. Riverside Drive now passes through the location of the plant’s office building. It closed around the end of WWII. Bud
McCarty wrote his will on July 27, 1932 leaving everything he owned to Almeda. Bud McCarter died on December 27, 1939. His death certificate listed the cause as unknown due to no physician in attendance. His obituary listed the cause of death as a heart attack.
Almeda continued to live in the Beach Street house. In the 1940 census, Almeda, aged 56, is listed with a
Lodger, James Smith, aged 66, whose occupation was noted as foot doctor in private practice. Her house was listed as valued at $2000. Almeda sued her sister-in-law, Clara Evans, in May 1941 claiming that Bud owned a half interest in his dead mother’s house on Marion Street[1]. As his widow and heir, she wanted the house sold and half the money from the sale. There is no record of how the suit was settled. It is possible that Almeda’s death in 1943 settled the suit. Currently no death certificate has been found for Almeda McCarter. In August 1943, Almeda’s lodger, James Smith filed a claim against her estate for $3,2002. The claim included funeral expenses. On October 20, 1944 Mildred Harding, Bud’s niece, sold the house on Beach Street, New Providence to Almeda’s lodger, James Smith for $150. The property was sold at an auction and James Smith made the highest bid. Mildred actually acquired the deed to the property in 1935. Bud had given a six-month mortgage on the property to Dr. Robert Burt to secure a note for $112.50. Bud and Almeda defaulted on the note and Mildred bought it from Dr. Burt. Almeda’s death date and burial place are currently unknown. No record has been found for Lulu McCarty after the 1900 census.
Bibliography
1877 Map of Montgomery County, Tennessee.
Clarksville, Tennessee City Directory (1911).
Montgomery County, Tennessee Register of Deeds, Deed Book 31, Page 227, Anna Hopkins to Callie McCarter and Eliza Trice.
Montgomery County, Tennessee Census (1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940).
Montgomery County, Tennessee, Deed Book 31: 227 & 228; Montgomery County Archives.
Montgomery County, Tennessee, Deed Book 94: 25; Montgomery County Archives.
Montgomery County, Tennessee Marriage Index, 1799-1953.
“Reality Transfers.” The Leaf-Chronicle. November 28, 1944.
“Saturday, August 23, 1947. The Leaf-Chronicle. August 1, 1947.
Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1958; Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee.
Untitled Article. Clarksville Daily Leaf-Chronicle. February 15, 1897.
Will Books; Author: Tennessee County Court (Montgomery County); Probate Place: Montgomery, Tennessee. Will Books, Vol T, 13.
“Uncle Bud McCarter is Heart Victim.” The Leaf-Chronicle. December 29, 1939.
Will Books; Author: Tennessee County Court (Montgomery County); Probate Place: Montgomery, Tennessee. Will Books, Vol V, 51.
[1] Amelia McCarty v. Clara Evans, Chancery Court, Clarksville, Tennessee, Probate File 11289. 2 Amelia McCarty, Loose Papers of Montgomery County Court, File 132.02.1.
Wiley Rogers Biography
Wiley Rogers was born in 1877 a possible product of Andrew Roger’s second marriage to Susan
Johnson. Andrew Rogers initially married Mary Jane Poston in November 14, 1867. The 1870
Montgomery County census listed the family in District 12 which includes the City of Clarksville. Andrew was working as a Mill Hand and had a personal estate of $100. Two children were listed: Reuben, aged 1 and Louisa, aged 4 months. On May 8, 1871 Andrew bought a city lot on St John Street from Z. M. Taylor for $207.50. Andrew bought a second lot next to the first lot from Taylor on November 20, 1874 for his wife and paid $125. Between 1874 and 1879 Mary Jane Poston died because on November 20, 1879 Andrew married Susan Johnson.
The family was listed in the 1880 census as living between College and Marian and Spring and
First Street. Andrew was working as a cooper and six children are listed in the household: Ness, aged 12;
Lou, aged 10; Ben, aged 8; Andrew Jr., aged 6; Willie (or Wiley), aged 4; and Frank, aged 3. Unless Andrew “took up” with Susan before they were married, all these children were Mary Jane Roger’s prodigy. Later in legal documents, Susan will claim Wiley as her son.
Andrew Rogers probably died in 1888 because that was the year his will was probated. He left the homestead to Susan and upon her death, to the children to share and share alike. One proviso was “if before that time any of the children named shall so conduct himself or herself as to bring disgrace upon the family then in that event, I direct that such one are entitled to only ½ of his or her share, the balance to be divided among the others.” This directive might indicate that Andrew was aware of problems with some members of his family.
On September 26, 1892 Wiley Rogers bought a lot on Baseball Hill . On April 12, 1894 Wiley took out a marriage license to marry Ellen Ray. He had to pay a bond to get this document. It is doubtful that the marriage took place. First, the Certification of Matrimony section was never filled out. Second, there is no other evidence of marriage in any other document. Wiley’s brother Benjamin Franklin Rogers married Carrie Bailey on June 20, 1894. Susan Rogers deeded a house on 11th Street to Wiley out of the love she had for her son. She made the transfer depended on Wiley paying the mortgage and allowing Amanda Conrad to live there for life.
Sometime in the spring of 1896, Wiley moved to Louisville, Kentucky. That summer he was employed by Mrs. John McComb as a cook. He was a good employee until February 13, 1897 when he deliberately tried to burn her house down. He prepared breakfast and did his morning chores as usual, but then took coal oil and poured it on excelsior in the basement and all over the furnishings in an upstairs room and set it on fire. While the fire department fought the flames, Wiley laughed heartily. The Courier-Journal reported that his mind had become deranged over love and religion. The authorities in Louisville determined Wiley was of unsound mind and that he was from Clarksville and had property there so they put him on a train and sent him to Clarksville. He went back to Louisville at the first opportunity and Louisville sent him back home again.
On February 19, 1897 Wiley’s brother, Andrew Jr., was arrested for lunacy. He was wandering along Greenwood Avenue only half clad and scaring the women there. This is the last record currently found on Andrew Jr. It is possible that he was committed.
On June 14, 1898 Susan Rogers was arrested. She was preaching and swearing in the Ninth Ward and was fined $20. They decided she was of unsound mind and were going to turn her over to the county for proper care. On March 1, 1899 the Sheriff was ordered by the County Court to empanel a jury to determine her sanity. This jury met, heard evidence and on March 6, 1899 judged Susan to be of unsound mind and recommended she be sent to the poor house.
The 1900 census listed Benjamin and Carrie living at 114 St John St which was probably the Andrew Rogers homestead. Benjamin was working as an upholsterer. Three children were listed in the household: Laurine, aged 5; Lillie, aged 2; and Webster, aged 8 months. Susan Rogers, now aged 60 and Wiley, aged 23 completed the household. Wiley was working as a carpenter.
Wiley was arrested on June 30, 1902 when police broke up a crap game on Spring Street near the lower Red River Bridge . He was arrested again on December 22, 1902 when police broke up a crap game in Gallows’ Hollow4 and was fined $6. This is the last time he is mentioned in the local paper until they printed his obituary.
By 1910, Susan Rogers apparently died. The 1910 census shows Benjamin and Carrie living at 114 St John Street with 4 children: Laurena, aged 14; Lillie, aged 12; Webster, aged 10; and Benjamin Jr, aged 4. Wiley, now aged 34 according to the census, was working as a carpenter.
On April 15, 1910 Ben, as executor of Andrew Roger’s estate, petitioned to sell the plot of land Andrew bought for his first wife. At this point only 4 of Andrew Rogers children were living: Ben, Wiley, Eubay (living in St Louis) and Frank (living in Chicago). The land sold for $52 with costs of the sale at $13. This meant each of the siblings received $9.75 which in today’s money would equal $305.85.
On January 29, 1918 Wiley Rogers was found dead on the floor of the 11th Street house Susan Rogers had deeded to him. Apparently, sometime after the 1910 census, he moved from his brother’s house to live on his own. He was found by his cousin Annie Moore who was probably taking care of him. A coroner’s jury determined he died of natural causes. He was buried in Mt Olive on January 30, 1918.
Ben became the administrator of Wiley’s estate and on February 20, 1918 petitioned the county court to sell Wiley’s 11th Street house and the lot on Baseball Hill. He had sold Wiley’s household goods for $26.40 and presented an estate bill to the court of $141.54. When the land went up for auction, Ben bought the 11th Street property for $230 and the lot on Baseball Hill for $22. After paying the estate bill, each of the remaining siblings received $34.21 which in today’s dollars would equal $675.16.
At this time, it is unknown when Andrew, Susan, or Andrew Jr died or where they were buried. Wiley’s Roger’s estate did not buy a headstone to mark his grave.
Bibliography
“Adjudged Insane.” The Leaf-Chronicle. March 3, 1899.
“Administrator’s Sale of Real Estate.” The Leaf-Chronicle. April 30, 1910.
B. F. Rogers vs Wiley Roger, Eubey Rogers, and Frank Rogers, Loose Papers of the County Court Box 177, File 11 (Montgomery County, Tennessee County Court, 1910). Montgomery County, Tennessee Archives.
B. F. Rogers vs Wiley Roger, Eubey Rogers, and Frank Rogers, Loose Papers of the County Court Box 177, File 12 (Montgomery County, Tennessee County Court, 1910). Montgomery County, Tennessee Archives.
Clarksville, Tennessee City Directory (1911).
“Delinquent Taxpayers, Take Notice.” The Leaf-Chronicle. May 20, 1916.
“Half Clad Lunatic.” The Leaf-Chronicle. February 19, 1897
“Insane Servant.” The Courier-Journal. February 14, 1897.
Montgomery County, Tennessee Census (1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920).
Montgomery County, Tennessee Deed Book 14: 121.
Montgomery County, Tennessee Deed Book 19: 494.
Montgomery County, Tennessee Deed Book 27: 327.
Montgomery County, Tennessee Deed Book 29: 419.
Montgomery County, Tennessee Marriage Index, 1799-1953.
“Non-Resident Notice.” The Leaf-Chronicle. May 2, 1910.
“Old Negro Found Dead in Home.” The Leaf-Chronicle. January 30, 1918.
“Pistol Case.” The Leaf-Chronicle. August 18, 1898.
Rogers, Andrew. Last Will and Testament of Andrew Rogers. May 25, 1887. Montgomery County, Tennessee Archives; Clarksville, Tennessee.
“Rogers Brought Here.” The Leaf-Chronicle. March 23, 1897.
Smith & Lurton’s Addition to Clarksville, Tennessee, No.1 Plat Boog Reg. Office (Baseball Hill). Montgomery County Archives; Clarksville, Tennessee.
State of Tennessee vs Lunatic Susan Rogers, Court Minutes Book 36, Page 118 (Montgomery County, Tennessee County Court,1899). Montgomery County, Tennessee Archives; Clarksville, Tennessee.
“Sunday Crap Game.” The Leaf-Chronicle. June 30, 1902.
“Susan Rogers.” The Leaf-Chronicle. June 14, 1898.
Susan Rogers, Lunatic, Court Minutes Book 36, Page 115 (Montgomery County, Tennessee County Court,1899). Montgomery County, Tennessee Archives; Clarksville, Tennessee.
Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1970, Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee.
“Two Games.” The Leaf Chronicle. December 22, 1902.
“Was Sent Here.” The Leaf Chronicle. February 17, 1897.
“Wiley Rogers Again.” The Leaf-Chronicle. March 10, 1897.
United States Colored Troops (USCT) Tribute
The drawing above was made by one of the officers of Company G, USCT, named Campbell.
Campbell kept a diary and was quite an artist.
Society member Jill Hasting identified the house from the drawing as first built by Robert West Humphries and later became known as the Pettus House. Pettus Park and a parking lot across the street from the park are two possibilities for the site of the house. The house no longer exists.
This home site was in the vicinity of what is now known as APSU's Dunn Center
PVT Isaac Fields
The grave site of PVT Isaac Fields was discovered during a Preservation and Restoration Project conducted in July 2017. Up until this time, local records made no mention of his burial at Mt Olive.
Private Fields' grave site and head stone were completely covered by a rich bed of perennial vines that blanket much of the cemetery. It was the hard work and persistence of a regular volunteer, CW4 (Retired US Army) Scott Loose, that made this discovery possible. We are grateful for his commitment to our mission and for his untiring devotion to seeing the restoration of the cemetery completed.
It's unknown just how long it had been since America heard the words "Private Isaac Fields" uttered by a fellow citizen and Army veteran. But on that day of discovery in July, when his name was called-out by Chief Loose, it was truly a moment of celebration for the Society and indeed our nation.
Rest in Peace Isaac Fields
The photos below show PVT Isaac Fields' headstone & burial site
The most recent photo of Private Fields' gravesite (right) was taken on December 17, 2021, where he and the other 31 veterans interred at Mt Olive Cemetery were honored and remembered with the laying of wreaths, as part of National Wreaths Across America Day, which has the mission of remembering America's fallen heroes, honoring those who serve, and teaching children about the value of freedom.