USA > Tennessee > Monroe County > Sweetwater > History of Sweetwater Valley > Part 6
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In Axley's times the people were not so fully agreed as to the evils of alcoholic drinks. It was not commonly considered disreputable as now to make or sell whiskey or brandy. There was no internal revenue tax on the manufacture or sale of intoxicants. Fruits which would otherwise be a total loss could be made into brandy and thus be a matter of considerable profit. Twenty-five or thirty cents a gallon or even less was considered a fair price for what was called "good" whiskey or bran- dy. Most people kept it and it was not uncommon to pass the bottle around. They had it on hands presumably for sickness, as most of it was kept until it was of some age, what was drank then would now be termed a su- perior article. It is not a matter of surprise that indis- position requiring stimulants were not at all uncom- mon. A doctor who would not prescribe whiskey for ailments (with or without roots and herbs) was either a crank or did not understand the nature of symptoms; so they took it anyhow. Axley in private and public talked and preached against stilling, drinking and the traffic in drink in terms that raised a blister. I have heard the Rev. James Sewell, who was well acquainted with Axley, tell how one of his neighbors, who had be- come very angry with him for some remarks he had made in the pulpit about drinking, went to his house early one morning for the purpose of giving him a "gen- teel thrashing," unless he took back what he had said. After he had stated his business Axley quietly remarked that when he called at the gate he was about to have family prayers and as that was something he never put off or neglected, he would be very much pleased if he
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would join them, and afterwards if nothing else would do, he would try his best to accommodate him. He ac- cepted the invitation. Axley prayed (not as the preacher Bob Taylor used to tell about when a bully threatened him, mentioning how many fights he had had and al- ways been victorious) but it was equally effective. He offered up a fervent petition for the salvation of the young man and that he would see the error of his ways. When the prayer was over he thanked Axley, shook hands with him and went away without saying anything fur- ther of the whipping he was going to give him.
Axley was largely instrumental in changing public sentiment in regard to stilling and dram drinking in the Sweetwater community. He was especially severe on the women following the fashions, decking themselves out with jewelry, fine clothes, frills and furbelows. He read frequently the 3rd chapter of Isaiah commencing at the 16th verse. He denounced the wearers of "round tires" as he termed the hoop skirts worn at that time. The reasons he gave for this action I have not learned.
One of his illustrations (the sense not the language is given) was: Sometimes you farmers go out to the woods hunting for a good hickory tree to make a maul stick out of. After a while you spy one you think is well suited to your purpose. It is nice and trim and straight, the foliage is green and beautiful and it has every appearance of being sound, you therefore cut it down and when you come to examine it more carefully you find it is rotten at the heart; so many women are symmetrical and enticing but are useless in the fam. ily cirele and unfit material for the church.
At other times he compared them with the blue jay that carries all he has on the back, but of no value ex- cept for the plumage and the top knot on the head.
Notwithstanding all this it appears that his admoni- tions were little heeded by the ladies. They considered it none of his business. No man is looked up to by them as the arbiter of fashion .-
He failed not on occasion to express his opinion on the use of tobacco, snuffing, smoking and chewing; but chewing was his particular aversion. Judge H. L. White in Holston Methodism, Vol. II, is quoted to have said: "I confess that father Axley brought me to a sense
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of my evil deeds-at least a portion of them-more ef- fectually than any preacher I ever heard." Going on he further quotes him in an exhortation as mentioning sev- eral things that he was not going to talk about and then remarked. "The thing I was going to talk about was chewing tobacco. Now I do hope than when any gentle- man comes to church who can't keep from using tobacco during the hours of worship he will just take his hat and use it for a spit box. You all know we are Metho- dists. You all know that it is our custom to kneel when we pray. Now any gentleman can see in a moment how exceedingly inconvenient it must be for a well-dressed Methodist lady to be compelled to kneel down in a pud- dle of tobacco spittle. Judge White says further that during Axley's exhortation, "I was chewing and spitting my large quid with uncommon rapidity and looking at the preacher to catch every word and gesture. When at last he pounced upon tobacco, behold, there I had a great puddle of ambeer. I quietly slipped the quid out of my mouth and dashed it as far as I could under the seats, resolved never again to be found chewing tobacco in a Methodist church."
Axley preached much after, "location" and much in- creased his former reputation. He was of such inde- pendent character as to be restive under the order of the bishop.
Although very much has been written of his quaint sayings and doings not much is now known of his early history and that of his family. It is proper here to give what one of the descendants says is the true history.
A grandson of Rev. Jas. Axley says that the history be told of himself as follows: "Axley, a Scotchman, and his wife and son named James, a boy of twelve years of age took passage in a sailing vessel to come to the United States in the year 1777. They had a rough and boister- ous voyage. Before reaching their destination, Axley and his wife both took sick and died and their bodies were consigned to the sea. At the end of the voyage at some port of entry on the James River or Chesapeake Bay the boy, James, was bound out or sold to one Judge Stevens to help pay for passage. Thus he was born in Scotland, place not known, and not in Cumberland Coun- ty, Va. Judge Stevens observing that he was a
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bright boy educated him with the intention of making him a lawyer and making him a partner with himself. As has been seen however circumstances and Axley's will determined otherwise. If there is any relationship between the Tennessee and Virginia Axleys it is not known what it is." Whatever may have been his early history, that he was uneducated is negatived by the re- port of his sermons and exhortations by the Hon. Hugh Lawson White and various others.
Something original and unique stirs the public pulse and brings out a crowd. He may have at times used slang and uncouth sayings for this purpose. Once he got the people together it is agreed on all hands that none knew better than he how to hold them.
Shakespeare has Hamlet say in his soliloquy : "To be or not to be that is the question," paraphrasing ; to stay here or go yonder, or as Ty Cobb would put it, "re- main on the base or try for a home run." This same Danish gentleman on reflection concluded "to bear the ills he had than fly to others he knew not of." He also advised Ophelia, his former sweetheart, against love and marriage. Trust not mankind. "We are arrant knaves all of us." I am myself a deep dyed villain and guilty of crimes unspeakable. "Get thee to a nunnery." Axley maybe knew what awful trouble this same Ham- let caused by his advice. Anyhow he faced a dilemma of "to be married or not to be married." Whether to take the advice of John Wesley and Francis Asbury, the founder and the bishop of the M. E. Church, and remain a bachelor or to marry and settle down. To marry and rear a family on $60 a year, the then maximum sal- ary of a circuit rider, was entirely out of the question. Even could he reach the high office of a bishop the sal- ary of Bishop Asbury in those times was $80 a year only. Besides that he endured innumerable hardships. He traveled great distances almost wholly on horseback and sometimes in inclement weather in the mountains he was compelled to spend the night in a hollow log and let his horse crop the wild grass for a living.
It is not at all surprising to us that Axley preferred marriage and a fine body of Sweetwater Valley land to a precarious support as a circuit rider even with a good chance of being elected a bishop. He was located
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by the Holston Conference in the year 1821. From the best information at hand at present he must have pur- chased the tracts from Matthew Nelson, Treasurer of East Tennessee and the then agent of the State and obtained the grants directly from the State. The tracts he owned were the northwest quarter of section 1, Town- ship 3, Range 1, east, and the south half of the S. E. quarter of section 2, T. 3, R. 1 E. He built a house on the latter, near a large spring by the side of the Mad- isonville road one-half mile southeast from the South- ern Railway depot in the town of Sweetwater. It is needless to state at that time the town and railroad were not in existence or scarcely thought of. He must have married and settled there in the early twenties soon after the Hiwassee purchase from the Cherokee Indians. The house he built is still standing though almost a cen- tury old. It is diagonally across the road from the J. C. Waren (old Ramsey) residence. It is one of the old landmarks of the valley. There is growing at this house an Isabella grape vine which. still (1914) bears grapes and which was planted as a slip by Axley previous to his death in 1837; thus making it more than seventy- five years old. At the head of the spring not far from the house is a giant oak tree likely as much as one hun- dred and fifty years old. The two tracts of land men- tioned were purchased in 1859 by Col. John Ramsey for the sum of $7,000.
He (Axley), married Cynthia Earnest one of a fam- ily of ten brothers and seventeen sisters. Oh: there were patriarchs and matriarchs in those days! The Earnests were Greene County people. Cynthia was a sister of Mary Ann Earnest who married John Lot- speich, Sr., one of the original white settlers of Sweet- water Valley. They resided in the brick near the Athens road one and a half miles southwest of Sweet- water. Cynthia was considerable younger than Mary Ann ; the latter was born in 1789 and the former in 1800. The one died in 1878 and the other in 1882. They are both buried in County Line Cemetery.
Mr. and Mrs. Axley reared a large family. Numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren of theirs are now living.
In the marriage license book of Monroe County in
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the County Court Clerk's office this record is found: License issued to Samuel Blair and Cynthia Axley. Cere- Inony performed July 30, 1844. James Sewell, Minister of the Gospel, M. E. Church. I am told the marriage did not turn out happily. They did not live together many years.
I make no apology for thus giving at some length the history of Rev. James Axley. He was not only one of the early settlers but a very remarkable man. He was by far the most prominent preacher of the M. E. Church residing in the valley. He was brave and outspoken and feared not to condemn what he thought wrong or commend the right and added to that an unblemished character. He would have been a man in any age and any country.
The children of the Rev. James Axley and Cynthia Axley were :
One. James, b. Sept. 8, 1825. d.
Two. Samuel Douthard, b. 1827. d. 1903.
Three. Elijah, b. d.
Four. Marilla, b. d.
Five. Betsy, b.
d.
Six. Jemima, b.
d.
Seven. Matilda, b. d.
One. James Axley, married, first, Mary McKenzie Dec. 11, 1856.
Their children were :
1. James Thomas, b. Oct. 4, 1857. He is a railway con- ductor Ogden, Utah.
2. John McKenzie, b. Dec. 31, 1858. Broker in Kan- sas City, Mo.
James Axley married, second, Martha Ann Smith of McMinn Co., daughter John Pickens Smith of South Carolina, on August 7, 1860. She was born Aug. 12, 1832, and died Apr. , 1892. Their children were:
1. Mary Alice, b. May 23, 1861. She married George Reynolds of McMinn Co. They reside at Canyon City, Texas.
2. William Wesley, b. Sept. 23, 1862, at the old Axley place three miles west of Madisonville, Tenn. He mar-
-
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HISTORY OF SWEETWATER VALLEY
ried Sarah F. Norris, of Lutherville, Ga., Dec. 19, 1895. She was the daughter of a Baptist minister. They lived first in Sweetwater for several years and then moved to Chattanooga, where they now reside. He is a travel- ing man. Their children are:
Robert Chapman (named Chapman from grand- mother), born Feb. 14, 1897; Martha Francis, b. Aug. 31, 1898; and William Wesley, Sept. 20, 1901.
3. Charles Davis, b. Nov. 1, 1864. d. Oct. 5, 1885, at Troupe, Tex.
4. Samuel Wiley, b. Sept. 1, 1866. d. Mar. 10, 1911. Kansas City, Mo.
5. Ella, b. Dec. 4, 1868. Married Oscar Hunt, of Mon- roe County, Tenn., Sept. 6, 1894. They reside at Carson City, Texas.
6. Ida, b. June 6, 1870. Married S. P. Tolleson in 1900. He died in 1902 at Amarillo, Texas.
Two. Samuel Douthard Axley married Eliza Jane Dean Jan. 31, 1860. She was born in July, 1836, and is still living (1916). He went to California in 1849 and returned in 1857 or 1858 and located on Bat Creek, in Monroe County, where he lived on his farm until he died in 1903. Their oldest child died in infancy. Their other children were:
2. James, b. Sept. 14, 1862. Married Susan Eliza Johnson Mar. 3, 1886. She was born in May 1866. Was the daughter of Jacob Kimberland Johnson and Susan Swaggerty. He came to Philadelphia, Tenn., in 1886, and moved from there to the James Axley farm three miles west of Madisonville in 1898. He was elected Trus- tee of Monroe County in 1900 and re-elected twice. He is a member of the General Assembly of Tennessee, as representative of Monroe County, elected in 1914. He lives in Madisonville. The children of James and Susan Axley are :
(1) Walter Brunner, b. Jan. 17, 1887. Married Lois Kimbrough Nov. 1909. She was the daughter of Jos. Kimbrough. They have two children: Nannie Peck, b. Mar. 3, 1911, and James, b. Nov. 16, 1913.
(2) Jacob Johnson, b. Feb. 16, 1890. Post-office, Dairy, Oregon.
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HISTORY OF SWEETWATER VALLEY
4. Fred, son of Sam. Douthard Axley, born Nov. 9, 1865. Died Nov. 17, 1914. He was a farmer on Fork Creek. He married Malissa Johnson, daughter of Frank J., and granddaughter of Louis Johnson. She was born Mar. 13, 1870. They were married Sept. 5, 1889. Their children are :
(1) Zelma, b. Aug., 1890. Married Horace King, of Sweetwater Oct. 27, 1911. They have one child, Lucille, b. Aug. 18, 1912.
(2) Beulah, b. Oct. 17, 1892.
(3) Hazel, b. Jan. 29, 1899.
(4) Flora, b. Apr. 6, 1901.
(5) Blanchard, b. Feb. 5, 1905.
3. Nevada, b. July 16, 1864. She- married C. P. A. Woolridge on Oct. 7, 1891. He is a farmer and they live near Madisonville. Their children are:
(1) Birge Littleton, b. Sept. 8. 1892.
(2) Edna Bond, b. Feb. 12, 1894.
(3) Ralph, b. Feb. 11, 1896.
(4) Ivy Modena, b. June 16, 1898.
5. Arch Bacome, b. Married Samantha Hull on July 16, 1896. Their children are: Antel Lee (about 18), Walter, James Douthard, Tennie May, Sarah, Blanche, Jay Hugh, Artie Lou, Gertrude Belle, and in- fant b. June, 1916.
6. Tennessee, b. 1872. Married Douthard Green, who is a farmer on Bat Creek, Monroe County. They have two children: Francis Irene, b. Feb., 1905, and Garland, b. 1907.
7. Philander, b. Apr. 22, 1873. Married Hattie Kel- ler Nov. 14, 1900, who was born Nov. 5, 1880. Their children are: Delia Irene, b. Nov. 9, 1902; Vola Eulalie, b. Feb. 22, 1905; Nellie Maude, b. Mar. 9, 1907; Ruby Alta, b. Jan. 11, 1909 ; Georgia Lois, b. Feb. 8, 1911 ; Vas- tine Stickley. b. Jan. 27, 1913, and Raymond Philander. b. Apr. 2, 1915.
8. Tressie, b. 1875. Married J. Henry Brakebill, Mar. 23, 1897. Eight children, three of whom are dead. The living are: Robert, Alonzo, Stella, Willis and Clyde.
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9. Artie Lou, ninth child of Samuel Douthard Axley, b. 1880. Married Austin Brakebill, Dec. 7, 1899. Four children : Mabel (sixteen), Mary Axley, John Douthard and Milburn (eleven).
Harriet Jeannette Axley, daughter of Elijah and Mar- tha Jane Axley was born Ang. 10, 1870. She mar- ried Wm. Haun at Rome, Ga., on May 9, 1887. He is the son of Abraham Haun of Monroe County, a Baptist minister. He (Wm. H.), came to Sweetwater Dec. 17, 1912, and has been Marshal of the city for three years.
Their living children are:
1. Oscar C., b. Feb. 11, 1888.
2. Ella F., b. Oct. 26, 1890.
3. Davie Ann, b. March 7, 1893.
4. Ethel J., b. June 15, 1895.
5. Elijah C., b. March 27, 1900.
6. Cora Lee, b. Sept. 16, 1903.
7. Erskin R., b. Nov. 29, 1906.
Bessie, daughter E. Axley, married Chas. Rickett, Dec. 19, 1898.
Mack, son, E. Axley, married and lives at Chattanooga.
Charles, son, E. Axley, married Kittie Moser Dec. 14, 1899. One child, Eva, b. 1904.
Ernest, son, E. Axley, married Ellen Frost.
Four. Marilla, daughter of Rev. James Axley, mar- ried Jesse Fouche, Feb. 24, 1842. They had two chil- dren : Jesse and Matilda. Matilda married - Har- old and they had two children: Margaret, who married Heneger, and Jesse, who is unmarried.
Five. Betsy, daughter Rev. James Axley, married Josiah McGuire, Mar. 4, 1850. They moved to Iowa, near Des Moines. One son, Carl McGuire, married Mary Wilmot. They are both physicians.
Six. Jemima, married Wm. A. Plemings, Feb. 20, 1860. They went to Weatherford, Texas, and then to Oklahoma.
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HISTORY OF SWEETWATER VALLEY
Seven. Matilda, youngest child Rev. Jas. Axley, mar- ried Wm. Bryan, May 24, 1840. They went to Grainger County, Tenn.
Three. Elijah, third son of Rev. James Axley, mar- ried Martha Jane Forshee Dec. 23, 1858. Their children are: (1) Bascom, who married Angelina Kinser. They live on Dancing Branch, Monroe County, and have con- siderable family.
(2) Cynthia Ella, b. Feb. 24, 1864. Married George H. Foland, who was b. Jan. 19, 1862. Died in Sweet- water Apr. 15, 1909. Their children:
(1) Mollie b. Ang. 1, 1885. Married Ed. Colquitt, of Sweetwater. Four children: Willie, b. Dec. 21, 1907; Gracie, b. Ang. 3, 1909; George, b. May 6, 1911; Edgar, b. May 5, 1914.
(2) Gracie, second child George Foland, b. Jan. 31, 1887. Married Garfield Stephens, Oct. 4, 1909.
(3) Henry, b. Aug. 29, 1888. Died Nov. 21, 1913.
(4) Harvey, b. Sept. 26, 1890. Married Jella Queen, of Sweetwater, Sept., 1911. One child, Katherine, b. Sept. 25, 1913.
(5) Asbury, b. Jan. 9, 1893. Married Bessie Blanton May 31, 1908. One child: James Franklin, b. Apr. 22, 1915. Live in Sweetwater.
(6) Martha, b. Mar. 7, 1896. Married Fred Seymour Feb. 7, 1915.
(7) Hobert, b. Aug. 24, 1897. Married Gertrude Aiken June 27, 1915. She was born Jan. 2, 1898. Live in Chattanooga.
(8) Mary, b. May 22, 1899.
(9) Prudie, b. Feb. 5, 1901.
(10) Willard, b. July 22, 1903.
(11) Elijah Eugene, b. May 30, 1906. Died infant.
Elizabeth, daughter of Elijah Axley, married William Lambert Jan. 30, 1896, who is a guard at Brushy Moun- tain.
Mattie, daughter of Elijah Axley, married Lafayette Hudgens. They moved to Iowa where he was at one time a member of the Legislature.
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HISTORY OF SWEETWATER VALLEY
WILLIAM BROWDER.
The following sketch was written for the Monroe Dem- ocrat and published in that paper of date July 9, 1890. The facts given were obtained from Mr. Browder himself shortly before his death. He died in Meigs County on Sunday, June 29, 1890. He had been living for a num- ber of years at County Line in McMinn County but had gone on a visit to his son William in Meigs.
"Wm. Browder was born on February 10, 1792, in Chatham County, North Carolina, about twelve miles from Hillsboro and twenty-two miles from Raleigh. He was therefore at the time of his death 98 years, 4 months and 19 days old.
About the year 1800, two brothers, John and Darius Browder, moved from North Carolina to the Browder place between Lenoirs and Loudon. Darius Browder was the father of William, who was then about 8 years of age. At that time Knoxville was a mere village, hav- ing about seven or eight stores. The county around Le- noirs was a wilderness. Bear, deer, turkeys, wild-cats and game were plentiful.
Win. Browder enlisted in the war of 1812. He served under Brigadier General White. This brigade camped for a long time at the famous Lookout Mountain await- ing orders and supplies. The war closed before the brigade saw much active service.
At the time of the encampment at Lookout, no white man lived there, as it was before the purchase of the land and the removal of the Cherokees to the Indian Nation. Jack Ross was then the Cherokee chief and resided in that section. Hence the site near the city, now Chatta- nooga, was first known as Ross' Landing.
Darius Browder, the father of William, died in 1812.
In 1814, William Browder was married to Elizabeth Lackey, of Roane County. He afterward moved to what is known as the Hugh Goddard place and in one winter cleared eleven acres of land. He subsequently moved to the Hagler farm on Paint Rock, where he resided until 1835. He then came to Pond Creek Valley, to the place now owned by his son, James M. Browder. He lived there until 1862, when he went to Georgia, returning to this section after the war was over. Since then he has
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HISTORY OF SWEETWATER VALLEY
lived principally with his son, David Browder, and since his (David's) decease, with his widow.
William Browder was a man vigorous in mind and body, of great industry and sterling integrity.
It would naturally follow that endowed with these qualities his life was eminently useful and successful. The history of his life would be the history of the sec- . tion in which he lived.
When he came to Tennessee, John Sevier the first Governor of our state was still governor. The Cherokee Indians occupied our section and warred, roamed and hunted amid the virgin forests scarcely touched by the axe of the white man. He had seen the Indian go from their hunting grounds; the wheat and corn take the place of the forest; school-houses, churches, railroads and all the concomitants of civilization rise where erstwhile roamed the bear and deer.
He has seen a great number of his. descendants grow to be good and useful men and occupy prominent posi- tions in the country. He can count his descendants in various parts of the Union. There are few, if any of them who do not reflect credit upon the name. Many of his children and grandchildren have passed before him to the other shore. They will be there to welcome his coming at the Golden Gates.
He, more than most men, because of such a long and useful life, has seen the abundant harvests of his good works while still alive. Whatever was for good and for the upbuilding of society he has been foremost in, and has spent his time and money for its success.
One of his last works was the Browder Memorial Church, for the building of which he furnished the prin- cipal part of the money.
He was an ardent man and took an active part in busi- ness, in politics and church matters. In politics he was a democrat.
When President Cleveland visited Atlanta, Mr. Brow- der went down saying that he wished to shake hands with another Democratic President before he died.
When voting day came around, he was always to be found at the polls. He thought it as much a duty to vote as to go to church.
He was a zealous Methodist and contributed greatly
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HISTORY OF SWEETWATER VALLEY
to the success of that society in this section of the coun- try. He always went to preaching and there is hardly a man, woman or child in a circuit of ten miles who has not heard Brother Browder lead in prayer. He sup- ported his church with time and means. He believed that each church should meet promptly its obligations, pecuniary as well as religious, and he labored to that end.
In all the relations of life, as farmer, neighbor, cit- izen, church member and as father of a numerous fam- ily, he has been everything that could be desired. Few men in any country have been loved, revered and re- spected as he was. He has indeed been a good and faith- ful servant and has gone to his reward."
Children of William and Elizabeth Browder: Mary- line, oldest child, married James Stone. Their children were Malinda and Elizabeth. Malinda married Wm. Murray of Pond Creek Valley, in the fall of 1850. They moved to Missouri and reared a large farmily. Eliz- abeth was married to Estel Lowe in the fall of 1851. There were six of the Lowe children, 5 boys and 1 girl. James now living in Knoxville; David, dead; "Billy" lives in Texas; Samuel and Lee both dead; Josephine died at the age of 8 years.
Elizabeth Stone Lowe died in 1863 or 1864.
William, third child and second son of William and E. B., b. in 1822. He married Sarah Deatherage in 1848. She died at Harriman in 1911, aged 90 years. They lived in Sweetwater Valley many years, part of the time at County Line the D. A., now C. O. Browder place. They went from there to near Nashville. They came probably in the early 80's to Meigs County, where he died in 1906. They had no family.
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