USA > Tennessee > Fentress County > History of Fentress County, Tennessee > Part 6
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The bones that are found are usually well preserved, having been buried under a dry cliff and covered with ashes.
Samuel Walker, of Scott County, one of the soldiers who assisted in the removal of the Indians west of the Mississippi, in talking with the author, said that the Indians had learned the English language, and many of them were living like the white people, and courted and intermarried with the whites; but that there was a great irreconcilable difference between the
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HISTORY OF FENTRESS COUNTY, TENNESSEE,
two races that made it impossible for both to live together. The Indian would not consent to abandon his tribal govern- ment. He insisted that the Indian should be tried for his of- fenses by the Indian council, and that the white man should be tried by the white man, and rather than consent to any other arrangement he parted with his old home forever.
The Indians were finally removed in 1842. Mr. Walker was about eighteen years old. He told an amusing story connected with his service in this work of removal. One day he was on picket duty with orders to allow no one to pass either in or out of the lines. A white man and an Indian maiden were seated on a log within the lines talking. They would talk awhile and cry awhile. This attracted the attention of Mr. Walker so much that he forgot his duty as a picket, and while he was en- gaged watching the couple on the log an Indian slipped through the lines and was forty yards away before Mr. Walker discov- ered him. He raised his gun and called on the Indian to halt, but the Indian only ran the faster. He took his gun from his shoulder and let the Indian go, feeling that it was his fault that he had allowed the Indian to get through the lines. In a few minutes the Indian returned with a little bundle and again passed through the lines. Soon they were all on their way.
The Indians were first collected at Knoxville. An old Indian, who was being taken to Knoxville preparatory to removal, ob- jected to the course being taken and said : "This is not the way to Arkansas." The officer answered : "Move on, I'll get you to Arkansas all right."
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THE OLD HOME OF MARK TWAIN'S ANCESTORS.
CHAPTER XXII
JIM CROCKETT.
TT is related that a little deaf and dumb boy, named Jim Crockett, was taken captive by the Indians and kept by them for a number of years. He and his brother Joe were cutting wood near where Harve Smith now lives. The Indians came upon them. Joe heard them and ran. They shot him and broke his arm, but he managed to get away. The deaf and dumb boy was captured by them and held by them until finally exchanged for an Indian the whites had captured. While this boy was a prisoner it is said that he would be taken by the In- dians to a point near a lead mine on the East Fork, where they would tie him and leave him until they would go and get a load for him and themselves. He was never allowed to see the mine, and it has never been found.
Joe's arm was taken off below the elbow, and it is a part of the story that an iron cuff was put upon the end of his arm. In this he would put the handle of a fork and use it at the table while eating.
The story which is here related of Joe Crockett as happening in Fentress County is believed to be true, for the reason that William Crockett, an uncle of Davy Crockett, lived in the pioneer days at what is now known as the Jerry Beaty farm, near where Joe was captured. The Beaty's, who are related to Crockett, also moved into this very neighborhood. The story is told with much detail by those who have heard the story from their ancestors, who claimed to have seen both Joe and James. However, Davy Crockett's history contains the same story, but fixes the location in Hawkins County, and locates his uncle William in Kentucky, in which he is doubtless mistaken. The boundary line of Kentucky and Tennessee was, long after Davy's death, a matter of dispute, and the county boundary lines were not well defined, hence the possibility of a mistake.
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HISTORY OF FENTRESS COUNTY, TENNESSEE,
THE RED DEER.
It is related that a man was once passing through this coun- try with a sack of gold. His horse broke his leg above a cliff. The load being too great for the man to carry he went below the cliff and hid his sack of gold. On the cliff he carved a red deer, so that he might return and find the money. It is said that he went on his way and never returned. It is also said that many a futile search has been made for the cliff with the "Red Deer." The story has at least served to interest children and possibly has aroused the spirit in some that led the an- cients to chase the rainbow with the hope of finding a pot of gold.
HORSE RACING.
Before the war race tracks were common. There was one in what is now the northern part of Jamestown, which was the scene of many exciting races. Betting was common; in fact, the life of the races and the race track. Edward Franklin, Edward Paul and Staples, of Morgan County, seem to have been the leaders.
One of these men owned a filly that sold for seven hundred dollars. She became famous on the rack track. She was taken to Georgia and finally to California.
CUMBERLAND MOUTAIN LOOM
INDIAN RELICS, JAMES CONATSER FARM NEAR JAMESTOWN
BAPTIZING IN THE BEAUTIFUL CLEAR FORK RIVER
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THE OLD HOME OF MARK TWAIN'S ANCESTORS.
CHAPTER XXIII
MARSHA MILLSAP'S CASE.
State of Tennessee
VS.
Libel
William M. Bledsoe.
Page 356, Minute Book, Circuit Court Record, Fentress County, June term of the Circuit Court, 1843.
To whom it may concern:
CAUTION.
A witch of the most extraordinary power has made her ap- pearance in Jamestown. She can, at a single touch, convert those who have lived without stain or blemish into the most consummate rogues and rascals. She can transform members of the church into liars, sorcerers and robbers of hen roosts. She can change her neighbors' geese into her own with a single touch of her all-powerful wand. She infects those who share her bed with an overstock of loathsome vermin. She fills those with whom she converses with false ideas of her neighbor's honesty. She can transform herself into a suitable mate for the masculine gender of the canine species, which she has fully tested by experiment.
Unless she ceases the exercise of the diabolical art she shall feel the force of public opinion turned against her.
(Signed) A. WIZZARD.
A true bill was found against Bledsoe for libeling Marsha Millsaps, John H. Savage being the attorney general. He was found guilty and fined $25 and costs.
A short time afterwards Marsha Millsaps and her husband, Hiram Millsaps, filed two damage suits against William M. Bledsoe and Robert H. MacIlvain, respectively, for $10,000 each for circulating above defamatory and libelous matter. The jury, Thomas Choate, John Culver, Fuller Grisham, Joseph Upchurch, Francis Davidson, James Story, William C. David-
5
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HISTORY OF FENTRESS COUNTY, TENNESSEE,
son, David Crawford, Archibald Dishman, Abraham Terry, Martin Crouch and Joseph Wilson rendered judgment in favor of Marsha in the sum of $10,000 damages in each case.
MacIlvain then brought suit against Hiram Millsaps and his wife Marsha for $5,000 damages for falsely charging him with mutilating the books in the Register's office, of which he had charge. The jury gave judgment in his favor for the full amount claimed. In all these cases the judgment seems to have been released by the winners upon the payment of the costs.
JOHNS VS. MACE.
From the records in the Circuit Court in a case styled Eli F. Johns vs. Phillips Mace, some items in the accounts filed in the case are interesting.
1841-Phillip Mace, credit by boat, $40.
By two kegs of tar, $2.
By two gallons of liquor, at 50c, $1.
To one quart of whiskey and six pounds of pork, 80c. To one deer skin on the river, 75c.
To two ounces of indigo, 40c.
To one gallon of whiskey, by Mathew Pennicuff, 50c. To five and one-half pints of whiskey, 311/4c.
STATE VS. JULIAN F. SCOTT.
Julian F. Scott was indicted for not keeping Scott's Turn- pike, the road leading from Jamestown toward Clarkrange, which he owned, in proper repair, and found guilty and fined $5 at the June term of the Circuit Court in 1844.
The case was tried by Joel Hinds, William Lee, John Price, Andrew Conatser, Kaleb Stephens, Robert Boles, Elisha Hood, Arthur Edwards, John Linder, Mathew Wood, John Albertson and Perry Pulse as jurymen.
This road was much traveled in the days of slavery. Stock was carried south over this road and exchanged for slaves.
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THE OLD HOME OF MARK TWAIN'S ANCESTORS.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE ONLY WITCHCRAFT CASE IN TENNESSEE.
F
IFTEEN or twenty years ago the following appeared as a news item, under the above head, in the Chattanooga Times :
"The official records have been received in this city, as a matter of historical interest, of the first and only arrest and prosecution for witchcraft ever had in Tennessee. The scene was Jamestown, Fentress County, claimed by many to be the Obedstown of Mark Twain, and by many of the older residents to be the actual birthplace of Mark Twain, whose father was at one time Circuit Court Clerk of Fentress County, and a practicing lawyer at the bar.
"The case of witchcraft was in the year 1835, and originated on the banks of the Obeys River, the trial being before Joshua Owens, a Justice of the Peace.
"An old man named Stout, who lived in a very quiet way in the neighborhood, who did not attend church, who had been sitting up late at nights reading strange books, and about whose early history nothing was known, was suspected of be- ing a witch, and when a daughter of one Taylor was taken vio- lently ill with a disease that the doctor could not diagnose, it was determined to arrest old man Stout for bewitching her.
"A large posse was secured, and guns were loaded with silver bullets, as it was thought that nothing else would kill a witch.
"The old man was arrested and brought to trial before Squire Owens. A vast array of witnesses testified as to his habits, and added that they had seen him escape from dwelling houses through the keyhole in the doors, and that he had thrown people and animals into strange spells by his influence when they were miles away from him. The officers and posse subjected him to a great many indignities, and he was held to await the action of the grand jury.
-
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HISTORY OF FENTRESS COUNTY, TENNESSEE,
"When court convened Judge Abraham Caruthers, who was on the bench, and Gen. Jno. B. McCormick, the prosecuting at- torney, refused to indict the old man, the action of the court and attorney general almost precipitated a riot in the court room.
"Old man Stout then sued the officers and posse for dam- ages, and they pleaded as a defense that they were in the act of arraigning a criminal, and cited the statute of Henry VIII and James I, making witchcraft a felony, which they de- clared had never been repealed in Tennessee. Judge Caruth- ers, however, charged the jury that these statutes were repug- nant to and destructive of the freedom of the State, and to a republican form of government, and by the act of 1778 never in effect in Tennessee. Thus ended the first trial of a person charged with witchcraft in Tennessee by the conviction of the persons who had arrested him and subjected him to great in- dignities."
The above article was clipped from the Times and preserved by the author of this book. The statements with reference to the facts in the case and the charge and action of the court are undoubtedly in the main true, but can not be verified by the records in the Circuit Clerk's office. The records covering this period are missing. They were probably burned in the fire which consumed the courthouse and part of the contents in 1905.
Under the statute of Henry VIII, referred to in this article, all witchcraft and sorcery was a felony without benefit of clergy, and Blackstone, in his Commentaries under the head, "Crimes Against God and Religion," says: "Witchcraft is a sixth species of offense, and to deny it is to deny the revealed word of God."
Scarcely two centuries ago the main body of Christians be- lieved in witchcraft, and under the solemn sanction of the law, hundreds of poor old decrepit women, condemned as witches, were tortured and died amidst the blazing fagots. It has been said that the lurid light of these judicial fires is spread upon the pages of American history. Some of the greatest and wisest men believed in this delusion. Francis
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THE OLD HOME OF MARK TWAIN'S ANCESTORS.
Bacon, Sir Mathew Hale, Martin Luther, John Wesley and Cotton Mather were among the many professed believers. Great theologians contended that disbelief in witchcraft was rank heresy and cited the scriptures : "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."-Exodus 22:18.
Louis XIV, during his reign, stopped prosecutions in France for witchery. This was followed by an English statute, enacted under George II. This statute declared "That no prosecution shall, for the future, be carried on against any person for con- juration, witchcraft, sorcery or enchantment."
It is proper to say that Fentress County is as free from ideas of witchcraft and superstition as any of her sister coun- ties. People everywhere inherit more or less superstition, and a person perfectly free from superstition would probably be hard to find. This is not strange when we consider how short the time has been since our ancestors gave the solemn sanction of the law to superstitious ideas.
The following case, taken from Vol. VII of Chadman's Ency- clopedia of Law, illustrates the peculiarities of some people along this line:
MATTER OF VEDDER.
This case was brought to break a will. It was proved that the testatrix was very old, and in a gradually failing condi- tion; that she put irons in the cream, and marked the bottom of the churn with the sign of the cross to make the butter come; that she said she could not keep her horses fat because the witches rode them at night; that she told a neighbor that she had seen a headless horseman riding across the field; that she told another neighbor that her crying child was bewitched; that if she would search its pillow she would find a hard bunch of feathers, which was the witch; that she should boil this bunch at night in a pot, and that at midnight she would hear some one knock, that she should not answer, and in the morn- ing the body of the witch would be found outside the door; that she told a certain woman to put live coals and a red garter under her churn to make the butter come; that once upon a time she took her nephew (a contestant) to dig for gold upon her farm, and had him carry a red rooster under his arm for
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HISTORY OF FENTRESS COUNTY, TENNESSEE,
good luck, and that they dug and found no gold; that she said that she desired to be robed like the angels when she died. All these things happened in the last quarter of a century of her life. She proved that she used good judgment in her business affairs and the will was upheld.
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THE OLD HOME OF MARK TWAIN'S ANCESTORS.
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS
CHAPTER I.
Locate Fentress County. In what natural division does it principally lie? Bound it. Give its area and population, When and where was it cre- ated? How? For whom was it named? What is the county seat? What was it once called? What is it called in the Gilded Age? How was the place connected with Indian history? When was the first courthouse built? When was it first incorporated? What is the population of the town? To what race do they belong? Tell what you can of the popula- tion of the county.
CHAPTER II.
Describe the surface of the county. Give the three principal natural divisions. Describe the soil of each division. Mention some products that have been successfully grown. Mention some crops and give amount produced on the acre. Mention some of the natural advantages of the plateau. What can you say of cattle raising on the plateau? What was the first industry of the people who lived on the plateau?
Name some of the pioneers in the Wolf River region. Where were the first courts held in the county? For whom was the Obeys River named? Who were the Long Hunters? Describe Rock Castle. What minerals are found? Mention some of the natural curiosities of the Castle.
CHAPTER III.
Why does the writer call Jamestown a quaint old town? Mention some of the changes that have taken place. What mistakes are made by the writer in this article? Who was Wade Erwin? What important public buildings have been erected within the past few years?
CHAPTER IV.
Who drew the first plan for a courthouse and jail for this county? Describe the jail to be built. Describe the plan for the courthouse. What was the date fixed for the completion of these buildings.
CHAPTER V.
Who was Mark Twain? In what way is his history connected with Fentress County? What official position did his father hold in the county? Who wrote the Gilded Age? Why is it of special interest to us? In what sense is it true? Who was Si Hawkins? How did the Clemons heirs obtain title to so much land in Fentress County? What interests you most in this chapter?
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HISTORY OF FENTRESS COUNTY, TENNESSEE,
CHAPTER VI.
Name some of the officers who served in the Fourth Tennessee Cavalry. Give some officers who were natives of the county. What Fentress coun- tian was finally a commander of the regiment? Under what famous cav- alry leader did they serve? Mention some other Tennessee counties that were associated with Fentress in the war.
CHAPTER VII.
Where was Bledsoe's company formed? Where was their first service? To what great general were they ordered to report early in the war? Mention some battles in which they took part.
CHAPTER VIII.
Where was their first engagement after their transfer to the Fourth Tennessee Cavalry? Describe the battle of Murfreesboro. Mention some Fentress County soldiers who were killed at McMinnville. At Fort Donelson. Describe the battle of Chickamauga.
CHAPTER IX.
Give the date of Wheeler's raid, and the results. Who were among the killed ?
CHAPTER X.
Who were the first to resist Sherman in his famous march? Mention and describe some of the battles in Georgia in which the Fourth Tennes- see took part.
CHAPTER XI.
Describe the battle of Saltville. Tell of Gen. Williams. Who was Champ Ferguson? Tell of Lieut. Smith.
CHAPTER XII.
Describe Sherman's march from Atlanta to the sea. From Savannah through the Carolinas. What is said of the killed and wounded in this campaign ?
CHAPTER XIII.
Describe the surrender of the Fourth Tennessee. Why were there so few to be mustered out at Greensboro and Charlotte? Repeat some sen- tences from Wheeler's Farewell Address that are of interest.
CHAPTER XIV.
Tell of the Bledsoes. Tell of others who distinguished themselves in the war.
CHAPTER XV.
Name three Union commanders who were natives of Fentress County. Tell something of each of them.
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THE OLD HOME OF MARK TWAIN'S ANCESTORS.
CHAPTER XVI.
Where was the Second East Tennessee Regiment recruited? Mention some of the officers of this regiment. Describe some of the most im- portant engagements in which they took part. Where were they cap- tured by the Confederates? Where were they imprisoned? Were any of your relatives in this command? Mention some who gave up their life in this service.
CHAPTER XVII.
Why did Fentress County suffer so heavily the effects of the war?
CHAPTER XVIII.
Why is the battle of the Horseshoe Bend of peculiar interest to us? Describe this battle. What two great Tennesseans took part in this bat- tle? Mention some Fentress countains that took part in this battle. Tell of the Florida war. What connection did the people of our county have with it? What connection between some of our early ancestors and John Sevier?
CHAPTER XIX.
Mention some of our ancestry that took part in the Revolution. Battle of Kings Mountain. Describe this battle. Give names of some soldiers of the War of 1812. Under whom did they serve? In what great battle did they take part? Describe the battle.
CHAPTER XX.
Name ten Fentress countains who served in the Mexican War. What can you say of J. Q. McGhee? Mention the important engagements. De- scribe them. When was Mexico City occupied? What caused the war with Spain in 1898? Mention some volunteers from this county. Men- tion some who were sent to the Philippines. What was their principal work in Cuba? Who was their captain? Tell something of the condition of Cuba at the time.
CHAPTER XXI.
Tell what you can of the Indians that lived here. What evidences have we of their former life here? Tell Mr. Walker's story of their re- moval beyond the Mississippi. Tell the Story of Jim Crockett. Tell the story of the Red Deer.
CHAPTER XXIII.
What interesting lawsuits are described in this chapter? What is pecu- liar in Eli F. John's account against Mace? Where is Scott's Turnpike? Why so called?
CHAPTER XXIV.
What was the only witchcraft case that was ever tried in Tennessee? Who were the parties? What Justice of the Peace tried the case? What famous judge finally disposed of it? Who was the attorney general? When were the witchcraft laws repealed? Tell the important feature of the Vedder case.
PART TWO
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THE OLD HOME OF MARK TWAIN'S ANCESTORS.
PERSONAL SKETCHES
ELIAS BOWDEN.
E LIAS BOWDEN was the son of John Bowden, a native of Franklin County, North Carolina. When a young man he enlisted in the army and served five years, which in- cluded the war of 1812 with England. After the war he was sent with the command to drive the whites off the Indian lands in East Tennessee, or Georgia; later was sent to Missouri, and was at St. Louis, then a fort, having been one of the old French forts. They went from there up the Missouri to make a treaty with the Indians. At the end of the five years he was dis- charged, and in 1818 came to Fentress County and hired to work to Bailey Owen, who lived near Boatland on the East Fork of Obeds River. Soon afterwards he married Mary Owen, a daughter of Bailey Owen. He bought and settled the farm where Perry Hinds now lives below Boatland. He and his wife spent the remainder of their lives on this farm, and were buried at what is now the Dr. Chism cemetery.
Eight children were born to them-three girls and five boys -viz., Polly, Miley and Nicey Ann; William B., Joshua S., Elias W., Bailey O. and Sampson V.
Polly Bowden married Clark Franklin, a tailor. She died in Kentucky.
Miley married Gwyn Stephens, a farmer. They lived for awhile on Cumberland Mountain, in the south end of the county, and later moved to Kentucky, where they both died many years ago.
Nicey Ann married Granville Gwyn. They went to Mis- souri, then to Texas, and died there.
W. B. BOWDEN.
W. B. Bowden was trustee of Fentress County two terms, and served one term as a member of the State Legislature in the latter part of the 70's. He was a member of the county court for many years.
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HISTORY OF FENTRESS COUNTY, TENNESSEE,
He married Sallie Franklin, and lived on a farm he owned on the river above Boatland, now owned by James E. Beaty. He and his wife are both buried in the cemetery on this farm. Near the cemetery is an Indian mound, from which some In- dian relics have been taken.
Mr. Bowden was a very clever man and much loved by his neighbors. It is said that he never laughed nor cried. He sometimes smiled, but never laughed aloud, yet he was always pleasant and agreeable. He read a great deal and kept well informed.
JOSHUA BOWDEN.
Joshua Bowden married Polly Ann Stephens, who is still living. He was a farmer and a shoe and boot maker. He taught school for several years when a young man. He died on his farm near Glenobey a few years ago.
ELIAS W. BOWDEN.
E. W. Bowden married Emma Mullinix, a daughter of Eli Mullinix. He followed farming, and lived on the old Elias Bowden farm until shortly before his death a few years ago. He served for several years as Justice of the Peace in the first district. His widow is still living.
SAMPSON V. BOWDEN.
S. V. Bowden lived on the farm until he went with his brother, B. O. Bowden, to Mt. Cumberland and Hiawassee College.
He was elected a member of the legislature in 1861, and after the fall of Fort Donaldson, in 1862, he went with the legisla- ture to Memphis, at the request of the Governor, Isham G. Harris. He succeeded his brother, B. O. Bowden, as Clerk and Master of Fentress County. He studied and practiced law at Jamestown. Later he became a clerk in the pension office at Knoxville, and served fourteen years. He died in Knoxville a few years ago and was buried in Gay cemetery.
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THE OLD HOME OF MARK TWAIN'S ANCESTORS.
BAILEY OWEN BOWDEN.
B. O. Bowden was born in 1834, near Boatland. He worked on the farm with his father, Elias Bowden, until he was twenty-two. He then entered Mount Cumberland Academy, which was located in the Poplar Cove in Fentress County, and attended three sessions. He then went to Hiawassee College, walking eighty-five miles to reach the school. He remained in this school two years and six months, when the Civil War broke out. He then enlisted in the Federal army and served to the close of the war, and took part in the battles of Nash- ville, Franklin and others.
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