Lake County, TNGenWeb

Information provided by Rovena (Lee) Hillsman.

Amos Riley Hathaway

AMOS RILEY HATHAWAY and his wife ELLEN RILEY HATHAWAY moved across the Mississippi River from Missouri sometime prior to 1860 to what is now Lake County. For decades settlers and their descendants cleared the land and established farms. They traveled by riverboat and ferry from Hathaway to Pemiscot County in Missouri. Caruthersville became the “trading” place for these families on the Tennessee side.

Caruthersville also was where most of them went when they had to evacuate because of floods. (KENNETH BARGERY, son of JESS AND ALPHARETTA BARGERY, recalls his mother talking of years when the water got so high the steamboats came up Chute 15 that ran in front of the Hathaway Grocery.)

A small village grew around Hathaway’s riverboat landing. Supplies and mail were delivered by riverboat. State records show a post office opening in 1860 and closing in 1866 at Hathaway’s Landing which was at that time part of Obion County. The Hathaway postoffice (Lake) opened in 1870 and closed in 1925. L. B. “BUNK” POWELL, son of early settler THOMAS C. POWELL (1825-1902), started the Powell’s Ferry which operated for about 100 years between District No. 6 and Caruthersville, MO.

This was all rich timberland; bears, deer, and wild turkeys roamed the forests. People traveled up and down the Mississippi heavily. As the land was cleared, logs were rolled down and floated by raft to market. Sawmills were built and companies formed to market timber. Homes, churches, schools and cemeteries followed. Over time much of this caved in the River. Today no one lives in Hathaway and the last structure still standing is the house built by IRA HOLLOWAY (1909-1968) on land now owned by BRAD KEISER.

Ira Holloway House

The son of FRANK HOLLOWAY (1880-1969), Ira was a college graduate and taught school in Hathaway. He married LORENE RUSSELL (1909-1985). Their daughter MARY HOLLOWAY married GARY HOLDER and they live in Ridgely.

JOHN BARGERY came from England to settle in Hathaway in 1872. Many of his descendants still live in Lake County and own land “behind the levee” in Hathaway. Among the names on old land records for acreage near the river can be seen the names of R. L. CHAMPION, JESS BARGERY, L. V. PEACOCK, MONROE LEAKE, MONROE BARGERY, WILLIAM A. BARGERY, HANCOCK, HOMRA, HOLLOWAY, POWELL, TURNER, JONES and LEE.

The GARDNER and the HAYS families came to Hathaway about 1878.

According to ABIGAIL RICE HYDE, as early as 1876 two churches and a free (public) school were there. SION TURNER, Mrs WILL TURNER, and Mrs MARY PARNELL organized the Hathaway Baptist Church in 1908. WILL TURNER was the first church clerk; JOHN HENDRIX became clerk in 1912. Mrs. BUCK (VADA HICKS) CARLTON and Mrs ALPHARETTA TURNER BARGERY held the position later. Mrs. SALLIE TURNER MCCASLIN, a niece of ALPHIE BARGERY, remembers attending church revivals that lasted an entire week. In 1908, WILLIAM E. LEE (1872-1935) bought 100 acres from CHARLIE DYER at $20 an acre. Dyer lived in Caruthersville. HARRY BARGERY farmed the land until 1914. Only 28 acres were in cultivation; the rest was timberland. The LEE family moved to Hathaway from Peck’s Mill in March, 1914. Will Lee ran a tram car for a saw mill and farmed. In 1938 his son, FRANK LEE (1899-1982), started driving children to school in Ridgely in a small pickup truck. In 1940, he bought a school bus and transported children from Hathaway to Ridgely. This was the first bus service in Lake County. LEE opened Hathaway Grocery in 1940. He kept it open until 1948 for the convenience of farmers in the area even though all the families had moved to the east side of the levee.

The once close-knit community of Hathaway is gone but the memory lingers. . .cherished by those who lived there. The deer, the wild turkeys and other wildlife have returned in abundance. Some of the land has been acquired by the State of Tennessee and plans are under way for old Hathaway eventually to become a wildlife preserve.