USA > Tennessee > Fentress County > History of Fentress County, Tennessee > Part 10
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Was a soldier in Company "H", Fourth Regiment Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, during the Spanish-American War, with rank of Captain. He had under his command men from Fen- tress County. Among them were Sim Linder (died 1914), O. P. Stephens, Monroe Stephens, Fate York, D. M. Smith, Flem Boles, D. H. Beaty, John Beaty, Cullem Robertson and Wm. Stephens.
He is a K. P. and a democrat.
He has been on the Ways and Means Committee in Congress for many years. He drafted the Income Tax bill, and has had much to do with the present tariff legislation. His work on these two measures has made him a national reputation.
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HISTORY OF FENTRESS COUNTY, TENNESSEE.
WILLIAM SHERMAN WINNINGHAM.
W. S. Winningham was born at Jamestown, Tenn., Novem- ber 27, 1869. He is a half brother of Soloman Winningham.
He was educated at A. T. U. and began teaching when a mere boy. He was elected County Superintendent of Fentress County in 1891 and served two terms. He was married to Belle Hogue, a daughter of Vard Hogue, in 1890.
He died August 18, 1897.
HORACE VIRGIL WINNINGHAM.
H. V. Winningham was born in 1893 at Jamestown, and is the son of W. S. Winningham and Belle (Hogue) Winningham. He was educated in common schools of Fentress County and in the Fentress County high school. Began teaching in 1911 in Fentress County. Taught in Palma Sola, Fla., 1913-14. Taught again in Fentress County in the fall of 1914.
In politics he is a democrat.
ASA SMITH.
Asa Smith is a native of Fentress County. He was born in 1844, and is a son of Davy Smith and Fannie (Cobb) Smith.
Grandparents : Richard Smith and Jessie Cobb, a relative of Howell Cobb.
Richard Smith came from Virginia and settled on Indian Creek, at J. C. Smith place, and died about fifty years ago in Overton County.
Asa Smith has been a farmer all his life. Was elected County Road Superintendent at the April term of the county court, 1913. He is a republican.
He has had two sons to serve as County Superintendent of Schools in the county-David D. and James Smith. James is now County Trustee of Cumberland County and David D. is a prosperous farmer near Rockwood, Tenn.
BENJAMIN ANDERSON GREER.
B. A. Greer was born near Pall Mall on Wolf River in 1872. He is a son of David Greer and Malissa (Jennings) Greer.
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Grandfather: Sam Greer.
Great-great-grandfather: David Greer.
His ancestors came to this county from Woodbury, in Can- non County, in 1855.
He was educated in the common schools. Taught from 1892 to 1906. Also a farmer. Has been County Court Clerk since 1906. Became a member of F. and A. M. at Byrdstown in 1894. Is a member of M. E. Church.
Married Paralee Guffy in 1895.
His grandmother was a Wright,
AUGUSTUS LOWDON. 1852-1915.
Augustus Lowdon was born in Ohio in 1852. His parents were of Dutch descent, and were natives of Pennsylvania, but removed to Ohio and came from Ohio to Fentress County, Tennessee, and settled about four miles south of Jamestown on Crossville Road about forty-six years ago. For the past thirty years A. Lowdon has resided in the twelfth district, where he was school director for many years.
He has followed farming and saw milling and grist milling. He married Mary Vanslyke in 1875.
His mother, Caroline Lowdon, was burned to death in a fire which consumed his residence and practically all its contents in January, 1913. She was ninety-one years old.
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JOHN THOMAS WHEELER.
J. T. Wheeler was born in 1874. He is a son of J. D. Wheeler and E. E. (Holland) Wheeler.
Grandparents: John Wheeler and Jane (Igo) Wheeler and Thomas R. Holland and Sarah J. Holland.
Great-great-grandparents: John Igo and Elizabeth Igo.
He was born in Rhea County and educated in the public schools of that county and the Grandview High School.
Occupation, was a pharmacist for six years at Dayton, Spring City and Chattanooga. Admitted to the bar in 1901. To U. S. courts in 1903 at Nashville. Makes a specialty of land law and chancery practice.
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He was Chairman of the County High School Board for five years. Is a member of the Christian Church and a 32° Mason, Scottish Rite, in Trinity Consistory at Nashville.
Married Margaret Lee Smith, eldest daughter of Hon. L. T. Smith. His maternal ancestors were English and Irish descent. The Wheelers and Igos came to Rhea County from Virginia and were among the first settlers.
It is a part of the family history that in the early settlement of America five brothers of the Wheeler family came to this country and landed in the east. One of the brothers went West, another-Joe Wheeler-came South, and the Wheelers in the South, including Gen. Joe Wheeler, were his descendants.
BERRY TIM GARRETT.
B. T. Garrett was born in 1874, in Fentress County, Ten- nessee. He is a son of Elijah and Cela J. (Rains) Garrett. He is a brother of Dr. I. L. Garrett. His father was a soldier in the Federal army during the war.
B. T. was educated in the common schools and by home study. Began teaching in 1899. Taught in the primary schools of Fentress County and one year in the Jamestown secondary school. Was assistant principal of the Stockton Valley Baptist Institute, 1909-10 and 11. He is a Seventh Day Adventist and a progressive republican.
CLAIBORNE BEATY.
C. Beaty was born in Fentress County on the East Fork in 1844. He is a son of David (Tinker) Beaty and Avy (Collier) Beaty. His father was a native of Fentress County. Was born at R. Smith Place. His mother was born in Overton County. Grandparents: George Beaty and (Wilson) Beaty. They came from North Carolina and settled on what is now Richard Smith's farm in early settlement of the county.
John Beaty, George Beaty and David Beaty were brothers and settled the W. B. Bowden farm. David Beaty lived on what is now Jerry Beaty farm, purchasing it from Wm. Crock- ett. All came from North Carolina at same time. David Col- lier, who lived in Overton County; the grandfather of C. Beaty,
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was a soldier in the War of 1812 and fought in the battle of New Orleans.
C. Beaty served as a member of the Lower House of the Tennessee Legislature from 1885 to 1887, representing Over- ton, Pickett, Fentress and Clay counties. John Gaudin, Pa-, and J. W. Giles, were candidates.
C. Beaty, Harve, James, Jones, Collier and Flem were all brothers. James and Claiborne were in the war, the others were too young.
Mr. Beaty has followed farming and logging all his life.
He married Dicy Beaty in 1867, and Levanna Stephens in 1892.
D. C. Beaty, who was Register of Fentress County for eight years, and now resides in Bellingham, Washington, is a son of C. Beaty.
David Beaty, George Beaty, the grandfather of C. Beaty, and John Beaty, three brothers, were the early settlers on the river between Boatland and Glenobey. They were all respected, well-to-do farmers. When the Beatys settled in this section there were plenty of bears, wolves, panthers, deer, turkey, squirrels, and abundance of fish of many kinds in the river.
WILLIAM CROCKETT.
William Crockett settled the Jerry Beaty farm across the river from Boatland. David Beaty bought his improvements and lived there over a hundred years ago. Crockett was an uncle of David, George and John Beaty, mentioned in the his- tory of the Bowden family, and a great-great uncle of Hon. C. Beaty, and an uncle of the famous Davy Crockett. It is said that Davy Crockett spent a winter in a beech flat near Boat- land on his way to West Tennessee.
G. W. SMITH.
G. W. Smith was born on Indian Creek in 1844. He is a son of George Smith, who was born in 1800 and died in 1888, and Peggy (McDonald) Smith.
Grandparents: Richard Smith and Ellen Smith.
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HISTORY OF FENTRESS COUNTY, TENNESSEE,
Richard Smith came from Virginia and settled on Indian Creek. His father first settled in Overton County in what is called the Barrens. He later came to Fentress County.
Allen McDonald, the grandfather of G. W. Smith, was also a pioneer settler on Indian Creek. He came from North Carolina.
Old Uncle George Smith had several brothers. Andy lived in Kentucky; William and John lived in Overton County; David, George and Willis became citizens of Fentress County. James and George are the ancestors of most of the Smiths re- siding in this county at present. Wash, Allen, Richard and John C., are the sons of George Smith. All were well-to-do farmers. G. W. taught school one term just after the war. Was constable of first district three or four terms. Was Dep- uty Sheriff under G. W. Conatser (Hickory). Was County Trustee from 1889 to 1891 and served as Justice of the Peace from 1900 to 1912.
He is a member of the Christian Church.
He has owned and operated a farm since boyhood; also en- gaged in the mercantile business with his son-in-law James N. Franklin for several years at Glenobey and at Parkstown.
Harve Smith and John Allen Smith, farmers on the East Fork, are sons of Richard Smith; also George T. Smith, who lives at Jamestown.
George W. and Grant Smith, both of whom have taught school, are sons of J. C. Smith. They live on Indian Creek.
JOHN HICKS.
John Hicks was born in Fentress County, Tennessee, in 1843. He is a son of Joseph Hicks and Nancy (Downs) Hicks. Joseph Hicks was born in 1811 and died in 1898.
Paternal grandparents : John Hicks and Chrissie (Mills) Hicks.
Maternal grandparents : Wylie Downs and Chrissie (Nobles) Downs.
Joseph Hicks was born on Sulphur Creek nine miles east of Burksville, Ky .; came with his family to Fentress County in 1817, and settled in old twelfth district on Clear Fork on what
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is now known as Coonrod Pile place, which had been opened up at that time by Pile. Joseph entered a tract of land ad- joining it and lived there until a short time before the war, when he moved over into Morgan County and died there during the war.
Joseph Hicks was a school teacher and was also a Justice of the Peace before the Civil War. The Hicks family have resided on Cumberland Mountain and all have followed farming and hunting for a living.
Wylie Downs came from North Carolina, and also settled in old twelfth. The Hicks were originally from the same county.
When the Hicks came to this county Marsha Millsaps and her husband lived in the only house in Jamestown. It stood on what is now the Yelton lot.
JAMES BLAINE REAGAN.
James B. Reagan is a son of Joel L. and Lucy C. Reagan. His paternal grandparents were John Reagan and Nancy (Finley) Reagan. Great-grandparents: Peter Reagan and Nancy Reagan. Maternal grandparents: Isaac Beaty and Susie (Green) Beaty. Great-grandparents : James Beaty and Mary (Smith) Beaty.
He is related to John H. Reagan, U. S. Senator from Texas. Attended rural schools, Byrdstown Academy, Pleasant Hill and Doyle College.
Has followed school teaching, traveling salesman, merchan- dising and farming. Has been a Justice of the Peace. Is now a rural route mail carrier and a member of the County High School Board. He is a Mason and I. O. O. F. He belongs to the Baptist Church and is a republican in politics.
Married Effie Chism, a daughter of Judge L. B. Chism, in 1907.
FRANK TINCH.
Frank Tinch was born in twelfth district, near where he now resides, in 1871. He is a son of Polk Tinch, a farmer, a saw mill owner and operator. His mother was Sarah A. (Northup) Tinch. He is a grandson of Anderson Tinch and Sarah (Spurlin) Tinch. Great-grandparents: George Tinch and
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HISTORY OF FENTRESS COUNTY, TENNESSEE,
Frankie (Hicks) Tinch, and James Spurlin and Great-great grandfather Tinch came from England to Vir- ginia. George Tinch came from Virginia to Fentress County in 1828 and settled in the twelfth district, where his descend- ants now reside. George served in the Florida War with Andrew Jackson in 1817. He died in 1840 and was buried in Morgan County. He was a Justice of the Peace. His son Polk, and his grandson Frank, the subject of this sketch, have also held this position. Frank is now a Justice of the Peace. Polk served ten years, he also taught school and is now a prosperous Cumberland Mountain farmer. Frank Tinch served four years as Tax Collector in his district and one term as School Director. He married Rhoda Ann Blair in 1890. Member Christian Baptist Church. Republican.
ROBERT ANDERSON.
Robert Anderson was born in 1846. He is a son of Tom Anderson and Penny (Edwards) Anderson. Grandparents : Lewis Anderson and Sarah (Nobles) Anderson.
Lewis Anderson came with his family to Fentress County and settled on Crooked Creek on Cumberland Mountain about seventy-five years ago. He entered a thousand acres of land.
Lewis Anderson died about thirty years ago and Tom Ander- son about sixteen years ago.
The Edwards family came from North Carolina about the same time the Andersons came. Riley Edwards, an uncle of Robert Anderson, also entered some tracts of land near the Andersons. He was killed by lightning, one of the Morgans was killed at the same time. Will Edwards, a. brother of Riley Edwards, was killed on John Boles' porch by Ferguson's men during the war. James Edwards was a soldier in the Mexican War. About thirty Indians stayed all night with the Edwards family after they came to the county and ate about two bushels of meal made into mush and bread. They would not eat salted meat.
Robert Anderson is a farmer and lives at Banner Springs.
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CLARK CHOATE.
Clark Choate was born in 1883. He is a son of Austin Choate and Martha (Hart) Choate. Grandparents: Austin Choate and Mary (Barnes) Choate. His great-grandfather was also Austin Choate. Maternal grandparents: Socrates Hart and Nancy (Brown) Hart, natives of Russell County, Kentucky.
He was educated at the A. B. Wright Institute and Union Seminary in Granger County. Began teaching in 1905, and has taught at Albertson, Jones, Buffalo Cove, Banner Springs, Mt. Gilead and Little Crab. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and of the M. E. Church. Married Miss Reynolds in 1906.
DR. PHILLIP C. YORK.
Dr. York was born on Bills Creek in Fentress County in 1854. He is a son of Jeff York and Rhoda (Riddle) York. Grandparents : James York and Lucinda (McPherson) York. Great-grandfather: Phillip York. Jeff York and his father came from Virginia with Anderson Hogue to Knox County, Tennessee, and finally to Fentress County. Yorks settled on Bills Creek, entering three hundred acres of land.
James York was a soldier in the Mexican War. Phillip, the great-grandfather of P. C. York, emigrated from France. The Riddles were English. His mother was a native of Holland. Joe Riddle, an old Mexican and Union soldier who lives near Monterey, Tennessee, is an uncle of P. C. York.
P. C. began the practice of medicine in 1887. Entered the ministry in M. E. Church in 1885. Has filled prominent charges in both Holsten and Central Conferences. He had the Rock- wood charge in 1908, Tracy City in 1907. He became a Mason in 1899, I. O. O. F. in 1901. He was a member of the County Board of Education, 1910-12. He died in 1914, was buried by the I. O. O. F.
SAMUEL ADKINS BERTRAM.
Sam A. Bertram was born in 1871. He is a son of Elza and Mary Jane Bertram.
Attended the Albany H. S. Has farmed. Began teaching about twenty years ago and has followed it as a profession and
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is now Principal of Sun Bright School, and is a very successful teacher. He taught for several years in this county and should have been kept here. Lack of appreciation of the services of good teachers and low wages have lost Fentress County many of her best teachers.
He is a Royal Arch Mason.
He married Electa Hancock in 1895.
Bertrams are of Teutonic origin with a mixture of French and Irish. William Bertram, his great-grandfather, lived originally in Bradley County, but moved to Sunny Brook, Ky., in 1815.
ABRAHAM ALEXANDER PEAVYHOUSE.
A. A. Peavyhouse is a son of G. W. Peavyhouse and Jane (Wright) Peavyhouse.
Grandparents: Geo. W. Peavyhouse and Rachel (Camp- bell) Peavyhouse, Wilson L. Wright and Hannah E.
He is related to Col. Campbell of King Mountain fame. Has followed farming and teaching, and has served eight years as Register of Fentress County. Is now engaged in farming in Poplar Cove.
He is a member of the Baptist Church and is an Odd Fellow, Junior Order and a Mason. Has held the highest offices in both Odd Fellow and Masonic Lodges.
He was married to Susan Reagan in 1894.
STANLEY H. PEAVYHOUSE.
Stanley H. Peavyhouse was born in Fentress County in 1895. He is a son of A. A. Peavyhouse and Susan (Reagan) Peavy- house. He attended the rural schools, the Jamestown High School and the Stockton Valley Baptist Institute. Began teaching at sixteen at Broad Door and taught two years there. He received a certificate to teach at the age of fourteen. He is now in Carson and Newman College at Jefferson City, Tenn.
GEORGE EDGAR HARRISON.
G. E. Harrison was born in 1875. He is a son of Benjamin Porter Harrison and Leeann (Noland) Harrison.
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Grandparents: Benj. Harrison and Elizabeth Gunnels, Jesse Noland and Matilda Kendrick.
Grandparents were all native Virginians, and emigrated to Kentucky and Tennessee. His father was a soldier in Bled- soe's Company and made an honorable record. He is one of the six survivors of that company.
He followed merchandising eleven years at Albany, Ky .; dealt in real estate two years in Idaho and Oregon. Was direc- tor of the Weiser National Bank, Weiser, Idaho, and Western National Bank at Caldwell, Idaho. · He is now vice president of the Bank of Jamestown, Jamestown, Tenn., and is also engaged in farming. He lives on, owns and operates a farm two miles east of Jamestown. He has a fine Cumberland Moun- tain farm. He harvested on his farm nearly 100 wagon loads of hay in 1913. He owns more than 13,000 acres of coal and other minerals, and also owns over 6,000 acres of timbered land in Fentress County. He is an enthusiastic real estate man, and is anxious to see this county developed. He has cut up several large tracts of land into smaller ones to encourage buyers to locate here and help develop the county.
He has been married twice. First to Miss Dora Emma Cosby, of Dixon, Ky., in 1899; second, to Miss Elsa Selma Gernt, of Allardt, Tenn., 1910.
He is a member of the Church of Christ and lives a model life.
GEORGE W. COOPER.
George W. Cooper was born in 1874. He is a son of David and Sarah D. Cooper.
Grandparents: Jacob and Catherine Cooper.
Great-grandfather: Thomas Cooper, a native of Pennsyl- vania.
Parents and grandparents were all natives of Fentress County. Thomas Cooper first settled on Rottens Fork of Wolf River, one of the first settlers there; then he moved to Indian Creek more than a 100 years ago. He was a teacher. He was a soldier in the War of 1812 and drew a pension. He rode horseback to Nashville to get his money.
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HISTORY OF FENTRESS COUNTY, TENNESSEE,
Jacob Cooper was born and raised on Indian Creek. He married and reared a large family, all industrious farmers.
G. W. Cooper attended the Alpine Institute, and has taught in Fentress and Overton counties. He was a Justice of the Peace for several years, and was a member of the County High School Board. He was again elected Justice of the Peace in 1914 to fill out the unexpired term of J. B. Boles, deceased. He is a Scottish Rite Mason, a K. P., Odd Fellow and Junior Order.
Married in 1904 to Margaret Smith, a daughter of Allen Smith, an old and respected farmer of Indian Creek.
THURMAN PRICE.
Thurman Price was born in 1889. He is a son of Rev. Jas- per Price of the Free Will Christian Baptist Church, and a grandson of James A. Price, a well-to-do farmer in the Linder Cove on East Fork. Thurman is a great-grandson of Nathaniel Price, whose parents and other members of the family were killed by the Indians. He came from Virginia to this county and became an early settler.
Thos. B. Price, a son of James B. Price, and an uncle of Thurman, was a soldier in the Cuban War, and is said to have been the only one in his company that always obeyed all the rules and regulations. James A. Price was a Union soldier in the Civil War.
Thurman Price became a member of the Baptist Church in 1903 and has been an active Sunday School worker ever since, and has filled every position in the Sunday School.
His ancestors on his father's side are Dutch, English and Irish, and on his mother's side, English and Cherokee Indian, Jarvis Green Adkins being one-half Cherokee.
RICHARD ANDERSON WINNINGHAM.
R. A. Winningham was born in 1837. He is a son of Richard and Polly (Hooser) Winningham. Richard was born in 1796 and died in 1893. His parents came from North Carolina about ninety years ago and settled on East Fork near the mouth of Cricket Creek and was one of the first settlers in that region. Settled on the Compton place, known also as the Joel
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Beaty farm. Richard entered several tracts of land in the county. Adam Winningham, the brother of Richard, settled in Overton County at what is now Winningham Cross Roads. The Winninghams about Wirmingham are his descendants.
R. A. Winningham was a Union soldier, serving in Company "B", Second Tennessee, and did service at Fishing Creek and other minor engagements. Was captured at East Port and carried a prisoner to Chattanooga, then to Madison, Ga. Spent one night in Andersonville prison. Was then taken to Salis- bury, N. C., where he and two comrades escaped by strategy. They burnt their faces, hands and arms with a hot iron and bathed in salt water and made the blisters white so as to re- semble smallpox. They were taken out of prison to the hospital for treatment, where they escaped in the night. He reached his command again at Somerset, Ky., and rejoined them after being held eighteen months a prisoner. He was discharged at Knoxville, October 6, 1864. Now receives a pension.
He was with the Home Guard at Cave Springs in Overton County when that county was placed under military authori- ties to suppress the Ku Klux. Claib Beaty was commander.
He was constable of the sixth district of Overton County (Livingston) just after the war; was Deputy Marshal in 1868; was in a skirmish with the Confederates near Livingston in 1864, in which two of the Hammocks, James Ledbetter and another Confederate were killed. Two Union men were wounded. Sam Hooser was shot through the thigh.
BEN. R. STOCKTON.
Ben R. Stockton was born in 1843. He is a son of Isaac and Amanda (Randalls) Stockton.
Grandfather: Peter H. Stockton.
According to family history these Stocktons are related to Commodore Stockton and to the Stockton who signed the Dec- laration of Independence. Ancestors came from Virginia and were of Scottish descent.
Isaac Stockton came to Fentress County about 1840 and set- tled in Jamestown, and lived in what is now known as Erwin
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lot. He finally located seven miles east of Jamestown, where B. R. Stockton now lives.
B. R. married Paulina Shilling in 1877. His sons are J. K., a Justice of the Peace; Henry, a merchant, at Rugby, Tenn .; Grover, a lumber manufacturer; George, a contractor and builder in California ; Henderson, a graduate of the law depart- ment of Southern University, -, Cal., and resides in Los Angeles, Cal. His daughter, Stella, married W. R. Phillips, a well known citizen and prosperous farmer near Jamestown.
Mr. Stockton served in the Confederate army in Company "K", Sixty-ninth Arkansas Regiment, Infantry. Saw service in Arkansas, Missouri and Louisiana. Was in the battles of Jefferson City and Ironton. Served from 1862 to 1865.
Was Justice of the Peace for twelve years. Is a member of the M. E. Church, South, and is a democrat.
He owns a fine Cumberland Mountain farm and probably has more land under fence than any other farmer in the county.
AN INDIAN CAMP AND BURIAL GROUND.
On the B. R. Stockton farm there is a large rock house or bluff which appears to have been an Indian burying ground. The bones of probably a dozen skeletons have been uncovered in removing ashes from under the bluff to use as a fertilizer on the farm. Perhaps a thousand loads have already been hauled out and as many more yet remain. Five hundred loads were taken out before any bodies were found. Some arrow and spear heads, some vessels, some rocks for beating grain, acorns, etc., into meal, rocks for dressing hides and other relics have been found.
Some of these bodies were found in a sitting posture. Rocks were set up so as to form a box or vault about the bodies. From all appearances fires had been built in these vaults after the bodies had been placed there. Small sticks had been used. They were charred as if though the fire had been smothered out. This may have been done to assist in preserving the bodies, or it may have been used to torture them; again it may have been a religious rite the Indians performed with their
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dead. We are not sufficiently familiar with Indian customs to say what story these facts portray.
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