Maury County
Historical Society
Odds and Ends
(Interesting tid-bits culled from newspapers and other sources.)**From The Columbia Herald, 26 Aug 1870:
"About a month ago one of the attaches of this office went to his mother's home in DeKalb County, Alabama, which is partly in the mountains. Several days after his arrival an old lady named Mrs. Tolbert, about 76 years old, walked down from the mountains to see him, as she had heard that he was from Columbia. She told him that she had a son in the 3rd Confederate cavalry during the late war and the last she had heard from him he was at a white house, about two miles from town on the Shelbyville Pike in the year 1863. He was sick and that was the last she ever heard of him. The years of anguish whe has spent since then, none but a lone widow's heart can tell. Isolated and cut off from the world by vast mountains, this old woman had never been able to institute any inquiries about her son. The gentleman aforesaid came home and on going to the Confederate graveyard found the grave and on the headboard was written: 'William Tolbert, Co. I, Col. Howard's Regiment.' In order to satisfy the mind of the mother of the dead soldier, Mr. H. then went to Mr. Padgett's and Col. Gordon's who said they had had so many soldiers at their houses they could not recollect their names. Mrs. Padgett recommended him to go to Mrs. James R. Shelton, who was one of the principal managers of the Confederate Hospital at this place. That estimable lady told Mr. H. that she recollected Mr. Tolbert and that he died, but could not recollect the attending circumstances. Mr. H. then wrote all these facts to Mrs. Tolbert...MR. H. told her in his letter that he found her son's grave the 9th from the first, and zealously cared for, having on it a bouquet of faded flowers..." (Note: This is still the location of the grave in the section of Rose Hill Cemetery in Columbia dedicated to "Our Fallen Heroes - 1861-1865." There are approximately 100 graves in this section, guarded by a tall statue of a Confederate soldier. After the war, much effort was expended in an attempt to notify the relatives of soldiers buried in the area. Many of the remains were transported to gravesites nearer the homes of the fallen soldiers. There were a number of families that could not be located, however. These were brought together in this section of Rose Hill Cemetery and the statue erected. FLH.)
**From THE MAURY DEMOCRAT, 26 Jan 1911:
"J. O. Cheek of the Fountain Creek Mills has filed a bill in chancery praying an adjustment of the co-partnership heretofore existing between Cheek & Hinkle. The bill charges that profits or revenues have irregularly disappeared and that after Hinkle retired from the business that he purchased a farm for $3,000 in cash. It is petitioned that the farm be made the property of the firm and that the books be examined. An injunction restraining Hinkle from disposing of the property was granted. It is claimed by Mr. Cheek that he furnished the money to operate the mill."
"Miss Helen Knox Spain chaperoned the following Institute girls to Nashville last Saturday to see 'Madame Sherry': Misses Laura Brighton, Winnie Davis, Maude Arthur, Charlotte Lockridge, Annie Willmore and Willie Rob Buchanan."
"W. P. Morton, principal of the High School, gives notice to the school boy and girl to be at home after seven o'clock p.m.; go to no operas without a permit; and not spend the night with their friend without permission. This regulation is for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights only, and is endorsed by Supt. R. L. Harris of the city schools and the Board of Education. Pupils disobeying this regulation are subject to expulsion."
**From THE MAURY DEMOCRAT, 10 Mar 1911:
"Death's Harvest: Mr. P. L. Derryberry has received the news of the death of his cousin, Elder J. K. Spear (Speer), which took place at Indianopolis on March 9th. Elder Spear made Columbia his home in the early sixties and was for three years pastor of the Christian church here. He will be pleasantly remembered by some of the older residents."
**From THE MAURY DEMOCRAT for 25 May 1911:
"Odd Fellows. "Three Past Grand Masters of the State are buried in Columbia: S. P. Shelton, first grand master in state is buried in Greenwood Cemetery; Constantine Perkins and William Wood in Rose Hill; Dr. W. A. Smith is a resident of Columbia."
** Ad from THE MAURY DEMOCRAT for 18 Jan 1894:
"POTATOES! POTATOES! We are the only practical and experienced Coopers in Maury County. We employ only competent labor and use only first-class material in every respect. Will give contracts and deliver barrels or make them on your farm, as cheap as anybody. Do not be imposed upon by incompetent and inexperienced parties, offering to make barrels without any knowledge of the business. See us before buying. Call phones No. 43 or 66. References: McLemore Milling Co., Maury National Bank. Signed: C. F. Wilson & Co."
**"ATHANAEUM NOTES. Prof. Ball and Mr. Frank Smith spent last Saturday hunting in the Bigbyville neighborhood. They were very successful, and the game they brought home furnished quite a feast, which everyone enjoyed.
**PISGAH METHODIST CHURCH. The Minutes of the Mississippi Methodist Conference records: "A log church was built in 1810, which was used for both school and church purposes....The Rev. Thomas Nixon was converted at Pisgah Church during the revival in 1810....The first person buried at Pisgah is reported to have been W. R. Roach who died in 1811. No tombstone has ever been located for Mr. Roach but this early statemen adds to the evidence that the church was organized at a very early date and is one of the very oldest in Maury County.
**TWELVE GRAVES DISCOVERED ON SATURN PROPERTY. THEIR IDENTITY????
On 31 Oct 1986, while the Saturn Corporation was excavating a section of its building site, a series of twelve graves was disclosed with no identifying inscribed markers or other indication as to who the people were. Excavation was immediately halted and several experts called in to help identify the person buried in the graves. It was determined that the remains had been buried during the mid-1800s but little else could be discovered. Property records failed to mention the existence of a cemetery on the property and a search for information from families known to have owned or inhabited the property gave no clues. After exhausting all leads as to the identity of the remains, a court order was securred permitting Saturn to move the graves to a new location. That location is in the old Cheairs Cemetery behind Rippavilla mansion. The spot is marked by a new stone inscribed with the words: "Here lies persons unknown. Removed from Haynes Haven land, reinterred with reverence at this site this 10th day of November, 1986."
**From Maury Democrat, 29 Jul 1897.
"The battle flag of the 9th Battalion, Tenn. Cav., was brought to this office Monday by Mr. J. B. Cathey of De Soto, Texas, who attended the reunion at Nashville and carried the flag with him. It is ragged and torn by bullets and stained by the blood of Capt. Biffle who was wounded at the Battle of Bentonville on March 22, 1865. Capt. Biffle still lives at Hampshire. Rev. J. J. Delk, the color bearer, now lives at Waxahatchie, Texas, and the twenty or more bullet holes throught the flag were made while it was in Mr. Delk's hands during the shower of bullets in battle.
"Allen Powell was the bugler at that time and some of the officers were Lieut. T. J. Perry, Capt. McClain, Capt. Arch Lipscomb, Capt. Bromley and Capt. Calloway. Mr. W. M. Cathey, who was in Biffle's company, says he was within six feet of Capt. Biffle when he was shot. The regiment surrendered three miles north of Charlotte, N.C., on april 26, 1865, and Mr. Delk concealed the flag under his jacket and brought it home with him. This is the second time since the war it has been brought to Tennessee and Messrs. J. B. and W. M. Cathey carried it back to Texas with them Tuesday." (Quoted in The Civil War in Maury County, Tennessee, compiled by Jill K. Garrett and Marise P. Lightfoot.) --Wonder what ever happened to this old, tattered flag????
**From an Obituary, published in the Columbia Herald and Mail, on 15 Feb 1878.
"ALLEN, James M., 65, died Sunday in New Orleans, La. He left Maury County about 40 years ago as a poor man, now very wealthy, and believed to be a millionaire. He was a brother to John M. Allen of Maury County. In his will he left $350,000, with $222,250 to go to the people of Maury County. "
Another article stated: "James M. Allen died on the 6th, native of Maury, in 1836 settled in Yazoo County, Mississippi; in 1854 went to New Orleans."
**From Jill Garret's card files:
"FYKES MILL--Capt. Fykes was a well educated man and surveyor who first had a sawmill at Water Valley, but later moved his mill to Williamsport. He lived in a shack at his mill and slept in a box of feathers. When he came to the store...the feathers were a-flying. I got this from a 90year-old man about 15 years ago. He remember Capt. Fykes well.
The Maury Democrat for 11 Oct 1892 lists Fike's Mill as a voting precinct. The name was spelled both 'Fykes' and 'Fikes'. He was not listed in Maury County in the 1860 census, but listed in 1870 as J. F. Fike, age 50, a mill builder, born in Pennsylvania, living in Williamsport. The 1880 census shows him as John F. Fike, age 55, born in Pennsylvania. He was listed both times as single." Mrs. Garrett then asks: "Did he come South after the war? Being from the North, was he a carpetbagger?"
On the Lighter Side.Genealogists are a serious bunch, dedicated to researching old records for possible leads, spending hours pouring over notes to unravel the jig-saw puzzle of obscure references to persons who "just might" die in with our family line, never engaging in a moment of levity or raring back to enjoy a "horse laugh". Right? Wrong! At least not all of us. Many have taken pen in hand to record the lighter side of our hobby. In this section we will, from time to time repeat some of the items that we have seen or heard. The Internet is full of these items and some of them have some basis in truth.
** NO FOOTPRINTS ON THE SAND OF TIME
"It's nice to come from gentle folk
Who wouldn't stoop to brawl,
Who never took a lusty poke
At anyone at all.Who never raised a raucous shout
At any Country Inn
Or calmed an ugly lout
With a belaying pin.Who never shot a Revenuer
Hunting for his still,
Who never rustled cattle, who're
Pleased with Uncle's will.Who lived their lives out as they ought
With no uncouth distractions,
And shunned like leprosy the thought
Of taking legal action.It's nice to come from gentle folk
Who've never known disgrace....
But, Oh! though scandle is no joje
It's easier to trace!!!(Written by: Virginia Scott Miller.)
THE FAMILY CIRCUS once ran a cartoon showing a man at the computer and three small children whispering in the
foreground. One says, "You better be quiet or Granddad will leave you out of the family history he's writing!"Another cartoon by Bob Thaves, showing Frank & Ernest discussing Genealogy. Their dog is salivating at their feet.
Frank turns to Ernest and says, "He loves stories about where old bones are buried...."More to come----------
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