USA > Tennessee > Monroe County > Sweetwater > History of Sweetwater Valley > Part 15
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James Patton, b. October 29, 1864; married Josie Bushong. Two children living, two dead. They live near County Line, Monroe County, Tenn.
Joseph Lung, b. March 13, 1867. Lives at the old Jane- way place.
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Franklin Berry, b. April 15, 1869, artist, portrait and landscape painter. Lives at Knoxville, Tenn.
Mary Josephine, b. September 30, 1871. She married Jno. Hansard. He died in 1871.
Mr. Janeway ceased ministerial work after his 70th birthday. He had read the Bible through more than fifty times. He was made a Mason at Loudon, Tenn., in 1861.
JOSEPH DYCHE JONES
Was born in Bedford County, Tennessee. Came to Phila- delphia, Tenn., and lived there from the time of his mar- riage until his death. He was a cousin of the Rev. Eli Cleveland. He was a tanner by trade, and which in the early settlement of the valley was a very profitable one. He also owned a farm. Like many people of his time his house was always open to his friends whether on invita- tion or not.
He married Aley Mathis, daughter of Eli Cleveland, February 6, 1830. She was born May 7, 1813 and died May 30, 1855. He died in June 1883. They were mem- bers of the Baptist Church. The children by this mar- riage were :
1. Lodusky Caroline, b. October 6, 1834; d. June 30, 1862. (See Chas. Cannon).
2. Mary Louise, b. December 16, 1836. Married S. Y. B. Williams. (Whom see).
3. Aley Mathis, b. August 8, 1840; d. March 3, 1857.
4. Eli Cleveland, b. January 25, 1841; d. August 4, 1902.
5. James Chamberlain, b. August 26, 1844; d. October 5, 1872.
6. Joseph Morton, b. August 30, 1847.
7. Robert Augustus, b. April 3, 1849; d. in 1903 at Greenfield, Mo.
8. Jesse Franklin, b. June 1, 1851 ; d. by accident when a young man.
Eli Cleveland Jones was educated at Mossy Creek, Tenn., now Jefferson City. He entered the Confederate army, Co. F., 43rd Tenn. Regiment and was made cap- tain of that company after the death of Captain Turner. He married (first) Emma Adkins, daughter of Eli Ad-
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kins, September 15, 1873, b. August 31, 1857. He was a merchant at Philadelphia, Tenn., for many years, and afterwards at Loudon, Tenn., until his death. His first wife died at Philadelphia, August 8, 1878. Children were :
1. Paul, b. June 10, 1874. Married Annie, daughter of Dr. William Harrison, of Loudon, Tenn., on July 31, 1907. He lives in Colorado. They have one child, Wm. Harrison, b. October 15, 1915.
1 2. Alma, b. May 5, 1876; d. June 14, 1903.
Captain E. C. J. was married (second) to Sarah, daughter of Rev. W. M. Kerr, minister of the M. E. Church, South, and formerly of Greene County, Tenn., January 25, 1882. She was born January 14, 1861. She resides in Loudon, Tenn. Their children are:
1. Earl C., b. January 19, 1883. Lives in Montana.
2. Edna, b. November 15, 1884. Married Frank Jones, son of Mat Jones, February 21, 1904. Live at Loudon Their children are: Jesse Franklin, b. June 15, 1908, Sarah Elizabeth, b. June 20, 1910.
3. Harriet, b. October 6, 1886. She married Ed., son of W. K. Blair, July 31, 1913. Two children: Jane, b. September 5, 1914; Corry, b. December 18, 1915.
4. Ann Mathis, b. February 28, 1889.
5. William Kerr ("Don"), b. September 5, 1891. Em- ployee Bank of Loudon, Tenn.
6. Mary Katherine, b. January 1, 1894.
7. Margaret Bicknell, b. January 19, 1899.
James C., second son of Joseph D. Jones, m. Lou, daughter of Melvin Porter. They had one child, Sydney Lenoir, who died unmarried. After the death of her husband, James Jones, Mrs. J. married Mc- Knight and moved to Missouri where he died.
Joseph Morton, third son of J. D. Jones, married Louisa J., daughter of Eli S. Adkins, November 29, 1869. They moved to the state of Washington. They had one daughter, Joseph, who married Will, son of Philander McCroskey. Joseph M. J. died in Washing- ton and his wife married again.
Robert Augustus, third son of J. D. Jones, married Nannie A., daughter of Thos. L. Upton, September 8, 1870. She was b. June 27, 1846; d. February 22, 1882. He was in the mercantile business, for a number of
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years, with his brother, E. C. Jones, at Philadelphia, Tenn. Their children were:
Joseph D., who died unmarried; Frank Upton and Thomas, both married and live in Missouri, and Hattie Cleveland, who died unmarried. Frank U. married Fannie, daughter of William Johnson, son-in-law of D. H. Cleveland. They have two daughters, teachers in Greenfield, Mo.
JESSE F. JONES
was a brother of J. D. Jones, of Philadelphia, Tenn. He was born August 9, 1808. He married Clarissa, daughter of the Rev. Eli Cleveland. She was born , 1815. She died March 11, 1880. They lived on the Philadelphia and Sweetwater road about half way between those places, on a farm adjoining those of F. H. Gregory and David H. Cleveland. Their children were :
1. Aley, m. W. H. H. Ragon January 26, 1865. They moved to the state of Washington. Their children were: Bettie, b. January 22, 1866; d. October 23, 1885. Dora, b. April 27, 1867; d. January 21, 1891. Sons Charles and
2. Matthew, m. November 21, 1875, Bettie Harri- son, daughter of William Harrison, of Pond Creek Val- ley. She died in July, 1916. They had three sons and one daughter. One son is dead. One son, Frank, lives at Loudon and is postmaster. The youngest son, Robert, and his father live in Loudon, Tenn.
3. Florence, third child of Jesse F. and Aley Jones, was b. February 19, 1859, and d. June 1, 1876.
JOSIAH K. JOHNSTON.
There is an old burying ground where the Mt. Le- banon Cumberland Presbyterian Church used to stand. It occupies about two-thirds of an acre, one and one- half miles northeast of Sweetwater on a corner of the farm now owned by Harry Heiskell. Now it is almost entirely grown up in woods and undergrowth. There are many graves there judging from the rocks and foot- boards and from the remains of palings rotted down.
The Josiah K. Johnston enclosure, near the northwest corner of the graveyard is a solid brick wall about three
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feet high and about 30 by 13 feet in dimensions. Next to the north end of the cemetery is a monument bear- ing the inscription "Nancy P., wife of William E. Snead and daughter of J. K. and C. Johnson. Born April 3, 1833. Died December 31, 1863." There is also a monu- ment near the centre of the enclosure, having on three sides of it these inscriptions :
"Josiah K. Johnston, born February 10, 1805. Died December 10, 1861. Clarissa, wife of Josiah K. John- ston. Born April 23, 1811. Died April 9, 1864. Sue, daughter of J. K. and Clarissa Johnston. Born Decem- ber 15, 1845. Died August 8, 1864."
The enclosure to the Johnston lot is the only one in the graveyard which is well preserved.
Josiah K. Johnston came from Fork Creek Valley to the place on the Philadelphia road, one and one-half miles north of Sweetwater, where the Rufus Gaut fam- ily now reside. He purchased the land from W. M. Hen- derson. He had a fine body of land and, with slave la- bor, operated it successfully. He had a large family of daughters who were universally popular and, being of a hospitable nature, they entertained lavishly. Mr. John- ston was a Presbyterian. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston were the parents of six daughters and no sons. They were: One. Nancy, b. April 3, 1833; d. December 31, 1863. Two. Letitia, b. February 18, 1835.
Three. Sophronia, b. September 10, 1837.
Four. Callie, b. February 5, 1842.
Five. Josephine, b. February 22, 1844.
Susan, b. December 15, 1845; d. August 8, 1864.
One. Nancy was married to William E. Snead. They had one son, William E., who resides on the Madisonville road, three miles from Sweetwater.
Two. Letitia, the second daughter of J. K. Johnston was married to James A. Wright on March 13, 1855. James A. Wright was born in Wilkes County, N. C., in 1823. His father, Josiah Wright, came from England. His mother, Nancy Reynolds Wright was a native of North Carolina. Mr. Wright came to Monroe County, Tenn., in his boyhood. On the 25th of May, 1848, he married his first wife Emma Yoakum, of Philadelphia, Tenn. She died in 1854. They had one daughter, Mary,
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born at Madisonville in 1849. She married George H. Holliday, of Atlanta, in 1868.
About four years after his first marriage (second) to Miss L. Johnston, Mr. Wright bought the Bowman, now the Kilpatrick place, south of Sweetwater, and moved there. Mrs. Wright says he was the first postmaster of Sweetwater. He was a merchant in Sweetwater, belong- ing to one firm or another from the beginning of the town until after the commencement of the Civil War.
He moved to Tyner's Station in 1862, and in 1867 from there to Atlanta, Ga., where he became a member of the firm of Glenn, Wright and Carr, commission mer- chants. He died in Little Rock, Ark., where he then re- sided, on November 18, 1872, and was buried there in Oakland Cemetery. The children of James and L. Wright :
(1) Josiah J., b. February 16, 1856; m. Margaret Maude Horsfal on January 6, 1897. Their children are : Harry, b. April 16, 1898; Edith, b. December 14, 1910; Richard, b. April 16, 1911.
(2) Nannie, b. April 11, 1858 ; m. George A. Alexander in June, 1876. Their children are: Julia G .; Letitia J .; James A., and Florence Bell. Part (or all) of them re- side in Washington, D. C.
(3) Benjamin B., third child of James A. Wright, was born April 6, 1860. He married Katie Ledwidge. They live at Little Rock, Ark. Their children are: Ben. B., Jr., b. June 26, 1892; Kathleen, b. October 15, 1891; Christopher L., b. February 18, 1898, and Edward L., b. July 16, 1903. They are Roman Catholics.
(4) Dicky L., fourth child of James A. Wright, was born December 12, 1867. She married Eli Richard Shipp December 12, 1889.
The children of Mary and George H. Holliday, men- tioned above, Mary being the child of J. A. Wright's first wife Emma Yoakum are: Mabel, who married John Moody; Ethel m. Joseph Crenshaw, and George H. Holliday, Jr., of Atlanta, Ga.
Three. Sophronia, third daughter of Josiah K. John- ston, married Archibald Bacome on October 23, 1856. He was born in Sullivan County, Tenn., July 29, 1814. He died December 7, 1899, at his residence, one mile south of Philadelphia. He had lived on this place since
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his father, James Bacome, moved there in 1819. Dur- ing his lifetime he had bought and sold many valuable farms. The children of A. and Sophronia Bacome are: 1. Callie, b. October 21, 1858; m. W. C. Milligan Oc- tober 15, 1893. Residence, Philadelphia.
2. Beulah, b. May 12, 1865.
3. Clara, m. S. J. Akin, of Cleveland, Tenn., Novem- ber 11, 1898. He was a graduate of Annapolis and a lawyer at Cleveland. Their children are: Caroline, b. March 4, 1900; Sammie, dau., b. October 6, 1901. S. J. Akin died July 31, 1901.
Four. Caledonia, m. on October 4, 1865, H. C. Peake, a druggist of Warsaw, Ky. Their children were:
1. Clara, b. March 14, 1867 ; m. J. W. Evans February 11, 1885. They have three daughters, two of whom are married. Juliette, m. Henry Blanton; Sue m. J. T. Fow- ler and a third daughter, who is a school girl.
2. Josie, b. May 3, 1869. She married S. D. McDan- nold. Address, Tarrant, Texas. He has a large farm and makes a specialty of high grade horses and cattle.
3. Sue, b. December 20, 1876; m. E. F. Earnest Jan- uary 9, 1909. Address, Douglas, Ariz.
4. Ben. b. September 26, 1879; m. May 7, 1910. He has been general manager of a large drug house for a number of years. They have one son of 4 years.
5. Nellie, fifth child of H. C. and C. Peake, was born January 25, 1886; m. E. Wolf June 6, 1903. He died June 20, 1904. She then married K. W. Goff, postoffice, Douglas.
Josephine, fifth daughter of J. K. and Clarissa John- ston, was married to Dr. J. B. Lackey July 20, 1865. They had two children: James Gilmer and Lizzie J. The latter married W. W. Holton, a son of Mrs. Lack- ey's second husband. Dr. Lackey practised his profes- sion at Friendsville, Blount County, Tenn. He died on March 22, 1872. Mrs. Lackey married (second) John W. Holton, of Sparta, Ky., on April 5, 1876. He was a farmer and stock dealer. They had one son and two daughters. The son was drowned on January 1, 1897, at the age of 19 years. One of the daughters died at 2 years of age. The other daughter married Tilton Detheridge, a farmer living near Sanders, Ky.
Mrs. Josephine Holton is dead.
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THE LENOIR FAMILY.
Our destiny and character are in a great measure de- termined by heredity and environment. No biography is complete therefore without an answer to the ques- tions: "Who were your ancestors, where and when born, whence came you and why?" Nations, provinces and neighborhoods have their own particular racial in- stincts and proclivities, their prejudices, likes and dis- likes. Families have their own peculiar characteristics. One distinguishing trait of the Lenoir family is impa- tience of dictation from others where personal, political or religious liberty is concerned. If you make the mis- take of telling one of them he must or must not do some- thing, which he thinks should concern only himself and not the public good, he thereupon resolves himself into a committee of one to devise ways and means to do or not to do that very thing. This pertains especially to such matters as amusements, food, drink and clothing, as he deems these are purely personal matters.
St. Paul said: "If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no meat while the world standeth." A truly commendable spirit, considering the fact that he was once a persecutor "even unto strange cities."
I believe as a rule the Lenoirs have gone as far as they ought to relieve their fellow beings in distress, their time and money being at the disposal of their friends; but if one of them were asked, even by a friend or brother to refrain from something on account of some whim or fancy, I am afraid the answer would not be satisfactory. I have known few of them that would consent to reg- ulate their diet according to the notions of another.
When Louis XIV in 1685 revoked the Edict of Nantes, the charter of religious liberty signed by Henry IV in 1598, a number of the Lenoirs left French soil forever. This they did not so much because they were enamored of the German, Martin Luther, or that the views of the gloomy and ascetic Calvin appealed to them, but because they resented the persecutions and tyranny then prac- ticed by the Pope of Rome and Louis XIV.
When George III imposed a tax on the colonies they became ardent whigs and revolted, not that it would hurt them to pay the tax but because it was a violation
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of the Charter granted Carolina by King Charles II. Thus the spirit of Touchstone in "As You Like It": "If reasons were as plenty as blackberries, I give no man a reason on compulsion."
In 1861 the Lenoirs in all parts of the south wished to stay in the Union. But when Mr. Lincoln issued his call for troops to whip them in when and if they seceded, they unanimously, with one accord, to a man and to a woman, did their level best to get out and stay out and were sorry when they did not succeed. They were union men of their own volition but not on compulsion. Gov- ernment should not be founded on the consent of those that govern.
In France the name Lenoir is not an uncommon one. It was first probably written Le Noir, then anglicized into Lenoir. The names Xavier and Cholmondeley have undergone still greater changes; now written in this country Sevier and Chumley. I have been told also that the Huguenots of the family even in France wrote the name "Lenoir" to distinguish themselves from the Catholics, who wrote it with a capital N. The Lenoirs in France so far as I have been able to ascertain were farmers, traders, merchants, manufacturers, explorers, and occasionally art collectors and bankers. They have never risen to celebrity as advocates, soldiers or profes- sional men. Nearly the same has been the case in our own country. Farmers, merchants and manufacturers will include nearly all of them. I have known only one lawyer and one physician of the name in Tennessee and North Carolina, and they did not depend on the practice of their profession for a living. They have never been soldiers for pleasure, pay, plunder or glory. They have been under arms only when they were assured their coun- try needed their services. Nor have they been states- men, orators or politicians. If ever one was a preacher or could write "Rev." before his name I have never heard of it. They never had the gift of fluent speech nor were fond of exhibiting themselves to the public gaze. Few of them were so fixed in the belief of the tenets of any one church organization as to feel called to preach. Some of them have represented their counties and dis- tricts in the lower and upper houses of the Legislature
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of their states, as the saying goes, with credit to them- selves and their constituents, but I believe that is about as far as they ever got or aspired to. They were not adepts at intrigue or swapping votes on public meas- ures.
They have always taken prosperity and adversity with equal complacency; never boasted of the one or com- plained at the other or appealed to the public for sym- pathy. Their nonchalant disposition was illustrated by one of the Lenoirs who was an explorer in the deserts of northern Africa. Early one morning one of his com- panions came to his tent in great excitement and shouted : "Lenoir, the Bedouins are attacking us." "Tell the fools to wait; I'm shaving," was the answer. But the "fools" wouldn't wait. His dead body was found with the razor still in his hand.
Lenoir is a favorite name for the villain in melodrama and dime novels. Mrs. Southworth uses it in "The Hidden Hand." The adjective "noir" means black; and black in name, black by nature is assumed. Yet they are not always pictured as villains in the play but are some- times given the place of the hero, coming out with flying colors.
I might as well give at the outset the authorities on which I rely for statements made below :
Wheeler's History of North Carolina.
Historic Homes of North Carolina Part III.
Homer D. L. Sweet's History of Avery Family of Croton. Published at Syracuse, N. Y.
The Unpublished History of the Lenoir Family by Miss Laura Norwood of Lenoir, North Carolina.
Public and Family Records and Letters. Personal Conversations and Knowledge. This will save footnotes and special quotations. Any of the family friends desir- ing more specific and lengthy information would do well to consult the above authorities.
There were four Lenoir brothers that came to America after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV on May 2, 1685. One of these four brothers came across the ocean in his own vessel. He therefore was probably a resident of Nantes, as this has been a great commercial and shipping point from the time of the Ro-
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man occupation. He must have come almost directly to New York City. In the archives of the Old French Church is a Baptismal Record of which the following is a translation :
"Baptism Today, 6th October, 1696.
After the prayer of the evening has been baptized in this church, Isaac, son of Isaac Lenoir and of Anne, his father and mother, born on the 25th of last September and presented to his baptism by Auguste Grassot and Susanne Hulin, Godfather and Godmother, and baptized by M. Peiret, Minister."
(Signed) I. LENOIR. SUSANNE HULIN.
PEIRET, Minister.
AUGUSTE GRASSOT.
At this time New York was an English possession, hav- ing passed from the hands of the Dutch in 1674. New York City then included only the territory between the Battery and Wall Street.
In one of his voyages this Lenoir's vessel was lost "in a storm, carrying him to a seaman's grave." As how- ever he was not heard from after his departure from New York this is mere conjecture. This was in the day of piracy, and he may have been captured by pirates. He was, I understand, the great grandfather of William Lenoir who settled in Wilkes County, N. C.
In what is now Caldwell County in the "Happy Val- ley" of the Yadkin River, surrounded by a grove of mag- nificent hemlocks and oaks, stands the colonial mansion of General William Lenoir, spoken of above. It was built by him after the Revolutionary War in 1785. Near this mansion is the family burying ground containing the remains of many of the Lenoir family. In this is a large monument of beautiful marble impressive in its silent majesty. It dominates the landscape and rises above the other monuments of children and grandchildren as his name and fame is above theirs. On this monument is the epitaph, which is almost an epitome of the history of his life. It is in a fine state of preservation, and reads as follows :
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Here Lies All That Is Mortal Of WILLAM LENOIR Born May 8th, 1751. Died May 6th, 1839.
"In times that tried men's souls he was a genuine whig. As a lieutenant under Rutherford and Williams in 1776, and as a captain under Cleveland at King's Mountain he proved himself a brave soldier. Although a native of another state, yet North Carolina was proud of him as her adopted son. In her services he filled the several of- fices of major-general of militia, president of the Sen- ate, first president of the Board of Trustees of the uni- versity, for sixty years justice of the peace and chair- man of the court of Common Pleas. In all these high public trusts he was found faithful. In private life he was no less distinguished as an affectionate husband, a kind father and a warm hearted friend. The traveler will long remember his hospitality and the poor bless him as a benefactor."
The matter of the inscription, above quoted, was left to his friends and associates in public life. This is their estimate of him-their tribute to his memory.
In addition to the information heretofore given in re- gard to William Lenoir we give these facts: He was born in Brunswick County, Va. He married Anne Bal- lard, of Halifax, N. C., in 1771. In 1775 he moved to near where the site of Wilkesboro, then in Surry Coun- ty, now stands. In 1785 he moved to his residence in Happy Valley, called by him Fort Defiance. There he died.
He served in the Indian campaigns against the Chero- kees under Rutherford in 1776. From his account of the expedition against Ferguson and the Battle of King's Mountain I make the following excerpts :
"Ferguson had daily information of the advancement of the Whigs and was so on the alert that men on foot would not be able to over- take him; therefore orders were given that as many as had or could procure horses go in advance as mounted infantry, there not being a single dragoon in the Whig army. Whereupon about six hundred were prepared and marched off about sunrise on the sixth day of October, 1780, leaving the footmen, about 1,500 in number, encamped
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on Green River under the command of Major Joseph Herndon. They, the six hundred, marched all day to Cowpens, where they were joined by Colonel Williams with a few South Carolina militia. They started to camp but were ordered forward. They marched all night and in the morning joined the forces of Shelby, Sevier, Cleaveland and Camp- bell. They marched in four columns: Colonel Winston commanded the right-hand column, Cleaveland the left, and Shelby and Sevier the middle columns. As Colonel Campbell had come the greatest distance, from the State of Virginia, he was complimented with the command of the whole detachment."
(He then tells of the battle and highly important re- sults. His own personal part in the engagement he re- lates as follows) :
"I was captain of a company and left them at Green River, except six of them who procured horses and went with us. I went as a com- mon soldier, and did not pretend to take command of those that be- longed to my company, but fell in immediately. behind Colonel Win- ston, in front of the right-hand column, which enabled me to give more particular account of the progress of that part of the army than any other. Before the battle Adjutant Jesse Franklin (afterward Governor of North Carolina), Captain Robert Cleaveland and myself agreed to stand together and support each other; but at the commence- ment of the battle enthusiastic zeal caused us all to separate. Each being anxious to effect the grand object, no one appeared to regard his own personal safety. As to my own part from where we dis- mounted, instead of going on to surround, I advanced the nearest way toward the enemy under a heavy fire, until I got within about thirty paces. * * * About that time I received a slight wound in my side and another in my left arm; and after that a bullet went through my hair, where it was tied, and my clothes were cut in several places. From the account I have given of the battle it will be understood that it was fought on our side by militia alone. By that victory many militia officers procured swords who could not possibly get any before; neither was it possible to procure a good sup- ply of ammunition."
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