RAGS TO RICHES -- A GREAT AMERICAN SUCCESS STORY
Or
The Story of William Lafayette Ledford and James Edward Ledford
{Quotes are excerpts from a narrative written by Rebecca Dulcina Ledford, circa
1946.}
“Just over the
William Lafayette Ledford’s story is the epitome of the “Great American
Success Story”. W.L. was born April
23, 1846 in
“At the age
of about 7 his father died, leaving a widow and one younger brother.
…W.L. or Fayette and Jim Ledford who, with their mother went to the
nearby mining town for better opportunities to make their home there at
Ducktown, Tennessee. These boys
grew up around the mines to manhood, became miners in the Ducktown mines for the
support of themselves and their mother…”
Little is known about the youth of W.L. and Jim.
We know their father likely died circa 1851.
It is said they went to work in the copper mines at a very early age but
it is obvious that they did have some education.
Their lives seem to have been determined by the fluctuations of the
copper mining industry in the
The two
brothers are mentioned 3 times in “Ducktown Back in Raht’s Time” by R.E.
Barclay. On page 156 & 157 is
printed an anonymous poem about mining 1865-1878.
Not only does this poem mention names familiar to the Ledford family but
mentions W.L. (Mug) and Jim, too.
“There is Mug Ledford contrary to rule
He carried off rations and killed his old mule
And there is Jim Ledford, a brother to Mug
(Jim was in the saloon business later on in
W.L. enlisted in the Union Army in
William L. Ledford married Mary Jane Galloway in 1866.
Mary Jane was the daughter of Rev. John Colby Galloway and Rebecca Moore.
This branch of the Galloway family originated in old Buncombe and
“…preaching the Bible to the mountain folks carrying his Bible and
belongings in his saddle pockets astride horse back.”
Mary Jane died
in
James E. Ledford, W.L.’s brother, did not see action during the Civil
War, staying home to care for their mother.
He was married to Matilda Brown on May 27, 1866 in
Ducktown Back in Raht’s
Time on page 174 of it tells how W.L. had a small part in a
February, 1876,
In 1878 a downturn in the mining industry had many of the
W.L. moved to
“My father
continued on at the mines and soon had a small brood to support.
After the birth of his fifth child (about 1876), he had about made
up his mind for a change. So tried
farming one year thinking to make a better living for his growing family but
soon gave that up returning to Ducktown from Bradley Co., Tennessee where he was
a share cropper that year on the Beeeler Farm in Tasso, (Bradley County),
Tennessee. Again he went into the
mines as a miner digging copper ore.”
“About the
year 1876 there was a lot of talk going on about a silver boom in a mining town,
This is where we first begin to see traces of
Joseph T. Stewart and Burgess Alonzo (B.A.) Edwards who both play a large part
in the lives of both W.L. and Jim Ledford.
Joseph T. Stewart (J.T.) is the youngest son of Jacob B. and Mary Ann
Edwards/Stewart and brother to W.L. and Jim’s unknown mother.
(W.L. later leaves a legacy to “Aunt Anna Green” who is identified as
Mary Ann Stewart or Mrs. John Green and a sister to J.T. Stewart.)
Joseph T. Stewart married the daughter of James Witt.
From other stanza’s of the poem from “Ducktown Back in Raht’s Time:
“There is Jim Witt at the head of the store,
Gives bread to the rich as well as the poor,
When
Jim kept his position and came out all right.”
“And there is Joe Stuart a kinsman of Witt,
Took lots in the store and owes for it yet.”
In late 1877 or spring of 1878 the two Ledford
brothers, Joseph Stewart and other
kinsmen, along with their families left for
During this stop in
“So at last with all ready again he landed at
Leadville, Colorado with wife and six children, thus for a new child had been
born at Canyon City, Colorado to add to the family of Ledford’s.”
“At
There is no 1890 census but both W.L. and Jim are
found in the Leadville City Directories in several different years in the 1880’s
.
In April, 1884 W.L.’s wife Mary Jane
Galloway/Ledford passed away. Being
a widower with several children he was forced to ‘farm out’ four of his
younger daughters. Louella & Ida
were the eldest so was likely allowed to stay to care for the household.
Julia and
“There we lived until mother died and was buried
there …far from home and (her) native land (of)
In
the early1890’s W.L. moved the family north to
James had also lost his wife.
He was remarried about 1890 to widow, Belle Moore, the daughter of
Hamilton & Catherine Carey.
Hamilton Carey was a shoemaker from
W.L. was in
“Father later heard and read of the opportunity
at
We came on to
After 3 years the lease was up he offered to reverse the royalty taking
the 25 per cent and paying them the 75 percent he made for himself but they took
over his plant (in) 1896 at the expiration of his lease and greatly enlarged the
plant he built and continued to make copper cement by the same process and
continued on now these past 50 years at the rate of $6,000,000.00 annually at
their plant at the Meaderville where they removed it and piped the water there
where they continued to make this copper at present day.”
PRECIPITATION OF COPPER
AT DUCKTOWN
Mention was made several times in this volume of the recovery of copper
from mine water at Ducktown and in Chapter 10 is a description by a visiting
committee of the Union Consolidated Mining Company in May 1860, telling how this
was accomplished. Neither the
chemistry nor the method of recovery by this process was discovered at Ducktown.
For instance, the Mining Magazine of September, 1854 contained an article
on cupreous water by a correspondent of the
Although the precipitation process was an old story even before the
Ducktown mines were discovered and was then practiced here for nearly a quarter
of a century after the mines were opened the method was apparently not generally
known among the copper miners in some of our western states as late as the
1880’s. For instance, a Ducktown
miner, W.L. Ledford, known locally as “Mug” and “Fate”, migrated westward after
the shut-down in 1878 and through his knowledge of the precipitation process was
able to make a fortune. Ledford
noticed one day that water from the Butte, Montana, mines were he was employed
was depositing a heavy coating of metallic copper on a pile of tin cans over
which the water was running.
Realizing at once what was taking place, the crafty miner from
In due course the water was drained off and the queer fellow was seen to
get down in the troughs and begin sweeping the iron with a stiff broom.
He was not scrubbing the iron as some probably thought.
The full significance of what was taking place became apparent when
Ledford began shoveling up hugh quantities of sludge containing finely grained
metallic copper. When this most
pleasant chore was finished the water was again turned into the troughs.
This routine went on for over a year, despite the fact that the mining
company made vigorous but vain attempts to have the lease declared null and
void. Upon expiration of the lease
the company took up the process while “Mug” Ledford retraced his steps to
The foregoing is another old story, one that was and still is familiar to
older native citizens of both Bradley and Polk counties.
But what makes it unusual is in that credit seems to be given in certain
circles to Ledford for discovering the precipitation process and to
For some additional information on W.L. Ledford, witness the following
excerpts taken from a Special Illustrated Trade Edition of the Cleveland
(Tennessee) Journal, published in December, 1900:
‘Capt. W.L. Ledford, the subject of this sketch, was born in Cherokee
County, North Carolina, and is 55 years of age…’
‘Mr. Ledford was an employee in the copper mines at Ducktown, Tenn.,
where he commenced work at seven years of age, working there until 33 years
old…’
‘About this time he became imbued with the spirit of the great throng who
were trekking westward in the hopes of bettering their fortunes and in
accordance, in a two horse wagon, set sails for Colorado in 1878, finally
landing in Montana in 1885.’
‘While in the west Mr. Ledford discovered how to mine copper by a
precipitation process and mines that were considered worthless were made
profitable and thus Mr. Ledford was enabled in a short time to make a
considerable fortune from his valuable discovery.’
‘He returned to Bradley County in 1896, buying a farm of nearly 2,000
acres on the Hiwassee river, which he has improved and it now contains all the
improvements of any farm in any agricultural locality.’
‘Mr. Ledford is the richest man in
‘Although a republican in politics, he is one of Senator Clark’s warmest
friends. Mr. Clark is the
democratic senator from
It will be noticed in the foregoing article, too, that W.L. Ledford was
credited with discovering the precipitation process.
When the author inquired of certain older citizens who knew Ledford about
why he permitted himself to be given credit for the discovery, they only smiled
and replied by saying that ‘he probably did not think it was important.’
As a matter of fact, ‘Fate’ or ‘Mug’ Ledford was for some twenty-five
years in and around the mines at Ducktown before migrating westward.
And during practically all these years there were systems of troughs
filled with scrap iron at several mines were copper was being recovered by
keeping the iron immersed in water pumped from underground.
It was his foreknowledge of this chemical action that enabled him later
to ‘work’ the Anaconda interests for a huge sum of money.
The precipitation process was obviously
enough, not first practiced at
The Cleveland Herald wrote
this in 1895:
“Mr.
W.L. Ledford, who bought the Raht farm on the Tennessee river, was in town
Tuesday mixing with old friends.
Mr. Ledford was formerly a citizens of Ducktown but left there nearly twenty
years ago and located in
W.L. Ledford may have
retired from the mining industry but he did not settle completely into the quiet
life of gentleman farmer. He was
about the age of 50 when he returned to
W.L. and Catherine Ledford
returned to Bradley County, Tennessee in early 1896 bringing with them, daughter
May Helen & Catherine’s son, Ed Erwin.
Soon after his return he
purchased one finest farms in the
region. It just so happens that the
2,000-acre farm was the land once owned by J.E. Raht, whom W.L. had associated
with while working the mines in
B. & B. Marina.
His neighbors were the Sharp’s, Grave’s, Hooper’s, Beeler’s &
“My father retired to Tennessee, his
home state, and bought a vast acreage of fertile valley farming lands in Bradley
Co and an Island of 2,000 acres in the Hiwassee River and began the life of a
Gentleman Farmer raising fine pure breed short horn cattle, hogs, horses and
mules, raising much grain, corn, oats and hay and shipping to Chattanooga,
Tennessee by boat on the river the Old John Wheeler…he being situated on the
Hiwassee River and this Ledford Island being in the river.
Surrounded on all sides by the river and its slue or arm, he had a
palatial farm home near by but out of high water where he enjoyed his family
life for years before he died. He
had also a lovely home at
In 1897 two Wolfe brothers
apparently had a grudge against W.L.
They shot him 5 times over a property rental dispute.
The reports of W.L.’s death were greatly exaggerated.
He recovered from the injuries but his ‘death’ was reported in Tennessee
newspapers in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Cleveland, then in Butte, Montana, Omaha,
Nebraska and Dallas, Texas….just to name a few.
The “Anaconda Standard, in
” W.L. (Bill) Ledford, the
father of copper precipitation in
In December, 1899 both W.L.
and James were involved in a
From the
“He Denied All Liability,
The Price of a Coffin and Funeral Expenses – The Cause of An Action – The
W.L.’s reply was this:
“I received your
undertaking bill from Mr. Ledford.
I instructed my brother to have my son buried, but I did not instruct him to
have an undertaker rob me. I know
through my correspondence with a friend in
The article goes on to say:
“In a telegram sent after
the letter was written Ledford declared that $100 was the limit of what he would
pay for the burial of his son….. he
(W.L. Ledford)
is also the father of the notorious Jack Ledford (John E.) who was
recently convicted in the district court on the charge of attempting to kill his
mistress.”
On or about June 21, 1925
at least four newspapers in the
“ NEW COPPER for OLD IRON, Turning the junkman’s
refuse into the metal everlasting…tin can bill ‘holes out’ in par…copper water
drips from troughs on top through pans, thence to settling tanks…cutting down
big pieces that go into the drip pans…from a few beds of tin cans – comes a fine
crop of copper.
The story was about the ‘new’ precipitation process
being used after W.L. Ledford had lost his three year lease.
Unfortunately, William Lafayette Ledford’s story
did not end with his death in 1907.
He had written a specific will in 1905 with a codicil in 1906 just after
James Edward Ledford remained in
James and
Matilda’s son, Benjamin Franklin Ledford, married Fannie Wilhelmina Hazen.
Wilhelmina was a well recognized portrait painter in southern
James’s daughter Myra Ledford was born April 7,
1867. She married an unknown Hughes
then after James’ death married a Broaddus.
She died in
His son, John
E. is the last child he had with Matilda.
We know that he was living in
True to form
for the Ledford brothers, James’s 1928 death was a controversial one.
The Montana Standard wrote about the shooting death of the elderly James
Ledford.
The headline
read:
“Mystery angles Uncovered in Death of J.E. Ledford Found Shot Through Head….Old
Timer Found Dead In Store…Wound Near Back of Skull and No Powder Burns Show ,
say those investigating Tragedy in Butte…Body Back of Counter…In same place
Veteran Business Man Killed (a) Man he said was attempting to rob him a few
years ago.”
Belle Carey/Hamilton/Ledford went to
On W.L.’s 1898 Bureau of
Pensions application the surviving children are Thomas, Dulcina, John, Julia and
May Hellen.
Of W. L.’s
children:
·
Louella we have no trace of
·
John E. (aka Jack) stayed
in
·
Thomas also stayed in
·
Ida married an unknown
Dean. She died in
·
Julia returned to
·
Rebecca Dulcina married
Nobel Smith Ledford an attorney from Harlan County, Kentucky and a distant
cousin of W.L. She never remarried
& died in 1952. Nobel went back to
Harlan Co., KY. He died there
October 3, 1936.
·
We have no trace of
Caroline .
·
·
Ed Erwin, W.L.’s stepson
continued to live with his mother, Catherine and is buried alongside her.
·
May Hellen married Nelson
Zeigler, divorced. Later married
Dr. Foster Wall. She is interred at
Hamilton Memorial,
There is a historical legacy left by these
two brothers, W.L. in particular which lies within a family of prominent
people….descendents in
(Authors note: This writer simply
cannot conclude this narrative without this little story.....
The descendents of W.L. Ledford have diligently researched and written
about him for almost 70 years.
Three generations of Dulcina’s family have worked on his lineage for many years.
Little was known. They had
Dulcina’s wonderful story and several other documents she had saved over the
years but, still, there was very limited knowledge of him, his brother and his
children.
A few years ago W.L.’s great, great, great grandson, David Carroll and
his Aunt Judy Moore had an accidental discovery. David has a bit of a hobby in
attending estate sales. He and Judy
had attended such a one at the old business of Mayfield and Mayfield, attorneys.
They had looked around for quite a while and were about to ‘give
up’….that is until Aunt Judy opened an old safe and found reference to William
Ledford. They purchased the entire
lot of documents. What a goldmine
for this family! Letters found were
from Joseph T. Stuart & John E. Ledford from
Bibilography:
William Lafayette Ledford Family History by Rebecca
Dulcina Ledford, circa 1946, used with permission of owner, Dorris Ledford
Prevou.
Ducktown Back in Raht's Time, by R.E. Barclay, 1946,
NOTES:
For
more reading concerning the local Copper Mining industry read:
Narrative written by
Joyce
Gaston Reece, Historian & Genealogist
August, 2009
Edited, resourced by & used with permission of:
Mr.
David Carroll,
Mrs.
Dorris Ledford Prevou,
Data from Dorris’s BIG FIND
Daniel Ledford, died on Jan
24, 1883 at the age of 7 months setting birth date as mid June 1882,
HEADLINE FROM NEWSPAPER – Pearl
A. Ledford, a child 7 mos died on Jan 25, 1883.
This child is not a child (or children) of Mary Jane and WL.
Not if Julia’s birthdate of Ausust 12, 1881 is correct.
I suspect that the word Daniel
was mis-transcribed to the cemetery record.
It is probably Pearl.
Mary Ledford, April 17, 1884; age
37; setting birth year at apx 1847;
Julia born Aug 12, 1881.
No definitive date on Pearls Birth.
Now, if we apply a very short
term between Julia and the next child of ten months this would be May, 1882.
It was unlikely that Mary Jane gave birth 10 months after Julia.
If she died in childbirth as Dorris has always heard it will likely be
J. Ledford died Aug 22, 1887 age
30, setting birth date at 1857, lot 18, grave #2, no headstone (This isn’t a
wife or child of either James or WL.)
Age fits more to be a sibling or cousin or something like this.
Could be NO relative at all.
Mrs. M. Ledford, died July 2, 1882; age 35,
birthdate will be apx. 1847; lot 17, grave #1, no headstone -
This should be Matilda Brown/Ledford, Mrs. James E.