Author: Jim Daniel

This is the story of the old table.
My great grandfather Wilkins Callis made the table for my great grandfather John Daniel Agee.

The home of John Daniel Agee burned just before William Tucker Agee (my grandfather) was born, and it was after that the table was made. Wilkins Callis was a cabinet maker. He had his shop where he made furniture near his home. (I remember seeing the old shop when I was a little girl.)

I also remember my Grandfather Agee saying that he was “born in the barn”. When their house burned, the family escaped to the barn and lived there while their house was being rebuilt. And they lived there until they migrated from Gibson County to Crocket County Feb 26, 1868. so I believe the old table was made between April 1832 and Feb 26, 1868. And I feel sure that it was made when they (John Daniel and wife, Sarah Burton Agee) were refurnishing their house after the fire.

My Grandfather took me to see their old home where he and his eight brothers and four sisters grew up in Gibson County Tennessee. It was a two-story white house. And the thing that I remember most about it was the upstairs porch. It had a gable in the middle of the front porch.

The nine boys were: Bethel, William Tucker (my grandfather), James, Tom, John, Daniel Thompson (Daddy’s grandfather), Marion (killed in the battle of Shiloh), Foster, and Christopher Columbus. The four girls were Jane Agee Hayes, Lucy Ann Agee Davis, Sara Agee Cleek and Emily Agee Burrow. Imagine having nine boys and four girls! I know that Sara and Emily were the youngest of the children. Emily was the baby.

John Daniel (great grandfather) was a carpenter and contractor, also a farmer and a business man an energetic man. He LOVED to dance! And my grandfather told me that he had seen his father and his oldest brother Bethel dancing on the floor at the same time.

John Daniel bought a negro girl just to wait on his wife and help with the babies. He bought all the kitchen supplies and the material for the boys clothes (woolen jean) and had their clothes made. He had all his boys work hard. Bethel carpentered and helped his father build houses. William Tucker (my grandfather) drove a wagon train hauling merchandise from Hickman, Kentucky, to Trenton, Tennessee (the county seat of Gibson County). The merchandise was brought down the Mississippi River on boats to Hickman. Another thing my grandmother told me about my great grandfather was that he was a very polite man that he always took his hat off in the presence of ladies, and she said she had seen him stand in the hot sunshine talking to ladies with his hat off. Originally from Virginia, but went to Georgia or Alabama, where he married Sarah Burton, and later moved to West Tennessee and settled in Gibson County near Trenton. The dates I have mentioned in this letter I have taken from my grandfather’s bible in his own handwriting. He always wrote I after any date “in the year of our Lord”.

My grandparents William Tucker and Martha Ann (Callis), were very religious. Martha Ann was my “shouting” grandmother, and I am sure they would never have danced. They did not believe in playing on Sunday, even cutting paper dolls. I remember slipping into the garden to cut some paper dolls on Sunday. I was always embarrassed when my grandmother shouted, and I was afraid that if I got religion I would shout. But she was a wonderful and sweet Grandmother to me.

After John Daniel Agee died, an auction was held to sell all his household goods. I remember my grandmother getting up early to go to the sale, because she said she wanted to be sure to buy the table that her father had made for my great grandparents (John Daniel and Sarah Burton Agee)

Written by Mrs. James Thompson Agee
(Martha Louvenia Agee Agee)
b 19 Dec 1892
d 11 July 1973

2004 – Martha Boye

These notes concerning my early childhood have been written for my children and grandchildren who may someday even as I do now wish that they knew more about what it was like in the “olden days.” When I was younger and my parents and grandparents were around so that I could have inquired about their lives as children, I was too busy or too disinterested to ask. Now that it is too late, I wish I knew more. With that in mind, I write these memoirs for those of you who may some day want to know. I dedicate this to all of you- with love and affection always.

By Kathleen Agee Goodwin
June 9, 1983

Family

I was born the third child and second daughter in a family of one boy and three girls. Our parents were James Thompson (Jim) Agee and Martha Louvenia (Mattie) Agee. My father was raised an only child, although I believe another boy was born and died after he was born. Mother was raised by her paternal grandparents because her mother died when she was very young. She told me that when her mother was very ill she asked her mother-in-law to raise her baby Martha Louvenia, who was named after her two grandmothers Louvenia Burnette Mount and Martha Ann Callis Agee. Mother and Daddy had a common ancestor their great-grandfather John Daniel Agee. Their grandfathers, William Tucker Agee and Daniel Thompson Agee, were brothers. I do not think my father cared one way or the other, but to Mother family was a very important matter. At least, their having a common ancestral background probably alleviated bickering since there was no “your family” or “my family”, just “our family.” Daddy was a very affable, good natured, fun-loving man with a wonderful sense of humor. He never seemed to worry about anything until the early 1930s when the price of cotton plummeted, many banks closed their doors and my father was forced to close his grocery business. I think he would have gone into politics because he was liked and respected by everyone, but he was not ambitious. He was the Police Judge for a while and was asked to run for the State Legislature, but he declined. He was, as far as I know, a completely open and honest person. My mother, on the other hand, was more complex, even somewhat devious at times. The old adage “the end justifies the means” was philosophy that she could go along with. In retrospect, I know that she manipulated all of us many times. Still, when we were children, I can remember no time when either of my parents did anything dishonest and we children knew instinctively that we would be swiftly and surely “set straight” if we deviated from the “paths of righteousness.”

Although I was never told and it never occurred to me to ask, I do not think my father had much formal schooling. His spelling was atrocious (he even had trouble spelling his children’s names sometimes); his penmanship, on the other hand, was beautiful. Mother graduated from Thompson’s Classical Institute (possibly the equivalent of a good high school education) with a certificate to teach school. This she did in a one-room country school until she met my father with his “beautiful blonde, curly hair and blue eyes” and she fell in love. She told me once that they never kissed before they were married but that once Daddy tried to kiss her and she ducked and he only brushed her forehead. So much for their courtship.

Mother and Daddy were married June 28, 1905. Daddy was almost 24 years old and Mother was six months younger.

More Family:

Mother’s mother, America Elizabeth Mount, was born on the 4th of July, 1856, which I assume explains why she was named America. After America died, Mother’s father, John Marion Wilkins Agee, married a girl named Ella Fraley who also died leaving no children. Then my grandfather married Zalena Taylor and to this union were born Ruth and Harry Lee and another child Fred who died in infancy. Mother was ten years older than her half-sister Ruth and twenty years older than Harry. She lived in Tennessee with her grandparents while her father and stepmother and their children lived in Arkansas. Still Mother felt very close to Ruth they called each other “Sister” and her little half-brother Harry. There are many stories about Harry’s escapades; he must have been the original “Dennis the Menace”. For instance, he enjoyed talking all the books out of the bookcases and throwing them out the window; he buried a cat alive once but his mother rescued it just in time; he turned the sorghum barrel over and let all the sticky sweet stuff run onto the smokehouse floor, then spread the dirty linens from the washhouse over the mess and walked around on it, loving the squishy feeling of the molasses oozing up between his toes. Harry married rather late in life. His wife, Forrest Anderson, had been married before and had a little boy about five years old. Harry adopted the boy who was allowed to choose a new name for himself, so he became James Dale Agee. Ruth married Everett Ensor. They both loved children and were very good to all of us. We called out aunt “Auntie” (pronounced ahn-tee). She played the piano very well and could really make our old piano dance. I particularly loved to hear her play “Kitten on the Keys” and “Turkey in the Straw.” Uncle Everett had a beautiful bass voice and when he sang his great Adam’s apple bobbed up and down on his long neck. He was tall and thin with black curly hair, not exactly a handsome man, I think he was too angular, but his long neck and prominent Adam’s apple always fascinated me. Auntie had black straight hair and brown eyes as did Harry. Mother, by contrast, had brown curly hair and blue eyes which must have come from her mother since Grandpa had black curly hair and brown eyes.

As I mentioned, Auntie and Uncle Everett loved children and I am sure they would have had many of their own if they could have. They took a little boy into their home when the boy, Joe Higgins, was about four years old. Joe’s mother had died leaving several children and his father allowed him to live with Auntie and Uncle Everett even though he would never give him up to be adopted legally. When Joe grew up, he had his name changed to Ensor.

Auntie gave birth to a little girl who lived only a few days. Later they had John Everett, named for our grandfather and Uncle Everett. John Everett died of pneumonia at the age of eight, a terrible tragedy for Auntie and Uncle Everett and for all of us. I was in college at the time of his death. Some years later, when Auntie was in her forties, she gave birth to a little girl, Lucy Margaret. Her parents were so delighted to have another child and they spoiled her terribly. When she became a young woman, her parents simply could not cope with her escapades although they never gave up trying and never stopped loving her with all their hearts.

Auntie died of cancer which I think started in her ovaries. Uncle Harry died of lung caner; he lived just three months after his cancer was diagnosed.

So much for aunts, uncles and cousins. As you see, we had one half-aunt, one half-uncle, each of whom had one living child. Although our parents had many first cousins, we never had an opportunity to know hem well since they all lived in Tennessee while we grew up in Arkansas.

When I was about 8 or 9 years old, the Agee families living in Tennessee and Arkansas decided to have a reunion. The date chosen was July 4th and the place was a spot on the Mississippi River. The Arkansas Agees drove to Cottonwood Point near Blytheville where there was a ferry that took us across the river to Tennessee. There were about 25 people attending that first picnic, but the following year when the reunion was repeated word had gotten around and a crowd of several hundred attended. In a way we enjoyed these reunions, although it was always hot and dusty and humid at that time of year. WE all agreed, however, that we hated listening to the relatives saying over and over “Well, well, so you’re Jim and Mattie’s youngun- my how you’ve grown” especially me, since I was such a slow “grower.”

For several summers following the reunions many long-lost relatives came to visit us. Poor mother was exhausted from cooking and cleaning and making “Baptist pallets” on the floor (that’s where the children slept, of course) for the constant stream of guests. It seemed that as soon as one group departed another group arrived. For so many years there had been practically no family communication and then suddenly all these cousins, aunts and uncles whom we did not know at all arrived to vacation with “Jim and Mattie.” Although Mother was happy to see the relatives, I know she was worn out with entertaining. For some reason we never returned their visits.

Daddy’s mother was born in Mississippi in 1858. She was one of the youngest children of James C. and Eliza J. (Farmer) Goodwin. She was named Martha Pamelia Eleanor but was called Mattie as many girls named Martha were in those days. Our name for her was “Massie” because when her first grandchild, my brother Guy Wilbur, was little he started to call her “Ma” as my father did but somehow the Ma turned into “Massie.” She lived with Mother and Daddy after her husband, William Preston Agee, died, which was probably soon after Mother and Daddy were married. Later she married her brother-in-law James Monroe Agee our “Uncle Jim.” William Preston, called Billie, died of tuberculosis (they called it consumption in that time) I believe. After his death, Mother and Daddy and Massie moved from Tennessee to Arkansas where Daddy worked for a while with his father-in-law, our grandfather John Marion Wilkins Agee, as a carpenter.

Massie’s second husband, Uncle Jim, had quite a number of children by his first wife but only two were still at home when Massie and Uncle Jim were married, Alpha who married York Mitchell and Eula who married Bearden Lloyd. It appears that my father took full responsibility for seeing to the needs of Massie and Uncle Jim. I know that he set Uncle Jim up in business with a little grocery several miles out in the country from Paragould and kept it stocked with groceries from his own store in town.

After Uncle Jim died of a stroke Massie came to live with us again. She was the warmest, dearest person in my life always loving and ready to listen but never interfering in our lives or decisions, never criticizing or trying to discipline us. Although she told me some stories about her childhood in Mississippi, I regret to say that I remember very little. She told me that she and her brother John, who was about a year older than she and whom we knew because he lived in Paragould also, made “loblollies” in the cotton fields. When I asked her what a loblolly was, she explained that they would jump up and down in one spot until water would ooze up through the sand and make a “fine puddle.” She spoke most often of her sister Caroline. I was under the impression that Caroline was the oldest and took over the care of the younger children when their mother died (when Massie was four years old) but in looking over some family records I find that Caroline was only six years older than Massie. Still, being ten years of age when their mother died, she very well may have been the one who took over the care of her little four-year old sister. A scrap of paper found among Massies’ things listed the children in her family as follows: William T. born in 1846; Sara A. K. (called Kizzie) 1848; James T 1849; Marian L. 1850; Caroline E. 1852; another child (I cannot make out the name) 1854; John W. 1856; M.P.E. (Massie) 1858; and infant son no name given so I presume he died at birth 1859; Leander (called Lannie) 1860; and George A 1862. Their mother died February 14, 1862, about three weeks after the birth of George, at the age of “40 years, 8 months and 11 days.” This same paper stated that James C. Goodwin (Massie’s father) died September 19, 1894 “aged 80 years, one month and 14 days.” Massie’s sister Kizzie married an Agee also and she gave birth to twin girls. I am sure that Massie told me that tow of the nieces married Agees as well.

The Goodwins were living in Mississippi during the Civil War and Massie recalled that they always knew when the Yankees were coming because their chickens would run squawking into the woods. Obviously the vibrations in the earth caused by the horses’ hooves or the soldier’s marching feet would alert the chickens long before the family was able to hear them coming.

I seem to recall that she also told me that her father and mother were married in Virginia but moved to Tishomingo County, Mississippi soon after their marriage and that her mother’s parents insisted on giving her a young slave girl to care for her but that her father did not approve of slavery, so it is not clear how long the girl stayed with them.

I think Daddy’s parents, Martha Pamelia Eleanor Goodwin and William Preston Agee, must have had a very romantic courtship as I have copies of many poems and song ballads some of which I believe to have been composed by my grandfather and all of which are in his handwriting. They were mostly love ballads (although there was no music written down for them) and he signed them “Willie P Agee” and dated about 1877. Most carried some sort of symbolic signature as well I think it represented lover’s knots. My mother mentioned many times that her father-in-law had a beautiful tenor voice and that she remembered his coming home from town, riding his horse and singing at the top of his voice.

Daddy must have inherited musical talent from his father. He could sing harmony and could play any stringed instrument and loved to sing and listen to music.

My earliest recollection of being with Massie was when she and Uncle Jim were living on South Second Street in Paragould. I would go to visit and she would hold me on her good, warm, comfy lap and hug me. I never remember feeling so loved before or since, I think. She had a pet name for me “Miss Prissum Prossum.” I don’t know what she meant by that but I always thought that it meant I was special to her. I must have asked her a million questions because I remember her saying to me many times, “Ask me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies; if you’ll come to my house, I’ll bake you some pies.”

Although she suffered from diabetes in her later years, she was able to control it with diet. During all the time she lived with us, I never remember her being sick or going to the doctor. She died of a heart attack when she was 91.

My mother’s father, John Marion Wilkins Agee, and his third wife Zalena Taylor lived on a small cotton farm six miles east of Paragould near the St. Francis River (the boundary between Arkansas and Missouri). We called Mother’s stepmother “Mammie.” Mother was very fond of “Mama” as she called her; she called her father “Papa.” I remember visiting Grandpa and Mammie in the summer. It was the only time in my entire life to be on a real “working” farm with the smell of hay and barns and corn cribs, with a smokehouse where the hams hung, with a pump in the kitchen that had to be primed (water poured down into it and a handle pumped up an down vigorously) before you could get the water flowing, with chickens and ducks running loose in the yard, with a beautiful long grape arbor and a lovely tall hedge of crepe myrtle in the front yard, with smoky oil lamps in the kitchen and dining rooms and one bright Aladdin lamp in the living room, with the best chicken and dumplings in the whole world cooked by Mammie especially for us, with the outdoor toilet where we really did use Sears-Roebuck catalogs for toilet paper. One summer stands out especially in my mind because I picked cotton along with the hired pickers and when we went up to have our “pickings” weighed Grandpa put my little paper sack on the scale and promptly paid me in pennies the first money I ever earned and I loved it and was so proud. Incidentally, all the workers on Grandpa’s farm were white as there were no black people in that area.

Grandpa had cataracts on both eyes but he never had an operation to have them removed. I have been told that he was saying grace at the table one day and when he said “Amen” and raised his head he was completely blind. He remained active, however. According to Mother, he said he wanted “to wear out, not rust out,” a philosophy to which my mother also ascribed wholeheartedly.

I am not certain when Auntie and Uncle Everett and their children Joe and John Everett moved to the farm with Grandpa and Mammie, but I think John Everett was about four when Grandpa lost his eyesight and they were constant companions until Grandpa died. I loved my only grandfather very much and felt a deep sense of loss when he died of cancer. I remember him as a gentle, soft-spoken, generous and caring person. He always had a pipe in his mouth and always smelled of tobacco. He had a big gray moustache and had his own moustache cup for his coffee. I loved Mammie too and I know she loved all of us.

Contributed by: , daughter of Kathleen Agee Goodwin

The Crockett County Poor Farm was located about two miles from Alamo, Tennessee off the Alamo to Maury City highway. The farm was purchased in 1879 and the main building was built at that time, with additional buildings being built as needed.
The concept for the caring for the poor in America had its beginning with the Alms charity houses that were scattered throughout Europe during the Medieval period and afterwards. The early immigrants who came to America brought the concept with them and as early 1727, there was an Alms House in Plymouth, Massachusetts that had been voted at a meeting, Dec. 29, 1728, providing “that there be an Alms House built for the Entertainment of the Poor of the Town of Plymouth.” In 1820, the Massachusetts General Assembly set up a committee to recommend revisions of the laws on poor relief. They discussed several avenues as to how to best meet the needs of the poor in their community. They reached the following conclusion: they could, 1). provide for the poor, by letting them out to the lowest bidder, in families at large, within the town; 2) provide for the poor, by letting them to the lowest bidder, together, that is, all to one person; 3) provide for the poor, by supplies, in money, or articles, at their own houses; or 4). provide for the poor by establishing poor, or alms houses.
The fourth and last mentioned, the provision for the poor by establishing houses, explored the experience that England had with their houses, which had resulted “in every case, where means of work were connected with such houses, in united districts, and when they have been superintended by the principal inhabitants, they have been greatly beneficial. This has been done in various parts of England, by a number of parishes being united into one district, with evident good effect, both as it respects the better condition of the poor, and also as to the reduction of the expense.”
The concept of the small farm environment sufficient for agricultural purposes, allowing those who were physically able to work would be a benefit to the overall expense of the establishment. This concept was the one adopted by the Crockett County Court when it set up its system to care for the poor. Some of the other methods were tried in other counties of the state.
When the settlement of the Western District of Tennessee began, in 1821, the new counties, by 1840, began to feel the need for some place to care for the more disadvantaged citizens in their communities and Gibson County, in 1840, bought 100 acres about five miles southwest of Trenton and established a Poor House. The first superintendent was Allen Parr. Likewise, Madison County, the same year established a Poor Farm for its poor. Any resident within the area that was later to encompass Crockett County would have been sent to those Poor Houses or Farms or ones in Dyer and Haywood counties.
As early as 1832-33, the settlers between the Hatchie and Forked Deer Rivers had seen the need for a county of their own in order to better make the laws and expedite them in a more convenient location. They floated a petition in 1833 that did not seem to go anywhere and they continued to petition the Tennessee government and an Act passed, on December 20, 1845, by the General Assembly entitled them to establish the county of Crockett in honor of David Crockett, who had represented the settlers in Congress. In the spring of the following year, the newly appointed commissioners marked off the boundary lines, and selected Cageville (later Alamo) as the county seat.
However the Act passed in 1845 was to be short lived. After organizing the government for the new county, the new circuit court met in session in October. The court was presided over by Judge J. C. Reed. The question of the new county’s constitutionality was raised, and was referred to Judge Reed, whereupon the Judge decided against the county, adjourned the meeting and went home.
The desire for a more centralized form of government continued to be a quest for the residents and a renewed effort was begun to petition the General Assembly. A petition similar to the one passed in 1845 was finally passed, on November 23, 1871 and a commission was appointed to lay out the new court from parts of Madison, Gibson, Dyer and Haywood counties. The Act, in addition, named the county, Crockett, and the county seat, Alamo.
On March 9, 1872, an election was held and the county began having its court sessions in the Odd Fellows and Masonic Halls meeting place which was located in the upper floor of the Alamo Methodist Church on Johnson Street.
A court house was completed in 1875; the jail had been completed, in 1874; and now the court turned it’s attention to taking care of the poor in its community. In 1879, the county purchased a 90 acre farm in the 6th district located about two miles west of Alamo.
A careful look at the inhabitants in the town of Alamo gives one a picture of a thriving town at the time the 1880 census was taken. It had twelve lawyers, Caswell A. Goodloe, Robert S. Thompson, William F. Poston, Little B. Lewis, William A. Spence, Herman E. Austin, Howell H. Mahan, James W. Williams, Edward J. Read, Jr., William H. Biggs, E. James Buchanan; six doctors, Dr. Francis M. David, Dr. Robert W. Fleming, Dr. Ephraim T. Austin, Dr. James H. Clay, Dr. David W. Harris, Dr. David A. Walker; four ministers, Joseph M. Maxwell, W. A. Cook, Thomas S. Freeman, Clayton J. Mouloin; one dentist, Pink B. Tatum; and one druggist, Theophilus G. Johnson. Businesses included Undertaker, Henry M. Klyce; Grocers, F. Blythe Fisher, John H. Revel, Virgin M. Tucker, Ephraim Ellington, John Clay, Solomon H. Clark, James Harris; Dry Goods, John B. Fleming, George F. Tatum, P. Booker Nance; Hotel, William N. Braden; Newspaper, William J. Elliot, Editor, John C. W. Nunn, Printer; and Livery Stable, John B. Yancy. Craftsmen included Carpenters, Thomas H. Durham, Edwin B. Crandle; Brick Masons, John H. Payne, Eliza Forester; Wheelwright, Samuel J. Hopkins; Blacksmith, Joseph Ezell; Stone Cutter, William Patterson; Shingle Maker, John Henderson; and Miller, William D. Crandle. Officers of the law were Sheriff Andrew J. Collingsworth; Deputy Sheriff; Thomas J. Evans; County Court Clerk, William N. Brown; Circuit Court Clerk, William A. Johnson; and Chancery Court Clerk, John Harris.
The land for the farm and the main building cost the county $2,000. Additional buildings were added as the need presented itself. Since it was to be a working farm, one would assume that the barn was built next with various additional outhouses to follow.
The main house was a rectangular structure with a porch extending across the front. It followed, basically, the “dog trot” type house design where you had two wings and a central open space for outside activities. In the case of the Crockett County Farm, the dog trot was enclosed. The entrance was a rather small room that could serve as a living room, if desired, with the family dining room behind it. On the front of the house and to the right was a bedroom with a large fireplace. To the left was a large bedroom with large fireplace. This room was, what we would call today, the master bedroom. It was the center of activity since the kitchen was behind it on the back side of the house and you could count on it being warm in the winter-time from the fireplace and kitchen heat. Across the back and next to the kitchen was a dining room for the superintendent’s family and next to it was a small porch leading to the outside, but entrance to the back bedroom could be accessed from it, also. A door in the superintendent’s dining room open into a flight of stairs that led to the upstairs where there was only light available from each end of the building through two windows. This space could have been used for additional bedroom space, if needed.
Behind the kitchen was a long dining room that would accommodate three long tables with benches and cane bottom chairs. A small screened porch off this dining room, served as a place for containers for waste food that was feed to the pigs on the farm. This dining room was where the inmates ate. From it, a door led to a room that was occupied mostly by the more infirm females at the farm. Another door led to a porch which gave access to the additional two rooms attached to the building. This porch was covered in order to give as much protection as possible in going to and from the dining room. It also provided a place for the inmates to sit.
There were three privies on the farm: one for the superintendent’s family; one for the female inmates; and one for the male inmates. These were all the standard outside privies until the Works Project Administration, in 1936, replaced all with the newer concrete lined waste containers and two hole seats.
In the center of the back yard, and in close proximity to the main house, was a small one room building that was probably built to accommodate the black inmates. To the right of this building was a long building that housed three rooms with a porch. This area was the residence of the male inmates.
In the beginning the water supply was furnished by a well near the men’s quarters. In time, a windmill was built that had a large tank on a raised platform that served the inhabitants and watered the livestock. This water had a very high iron content and caused staining on all the cooking utensils as well as everything else it came in contact with. In addition, it had a strong taste, that made it unappetizing to drink.
Below is a very rough drawing of the farm as I knew it. I am not an architect, my daughter is the architect in my family, however it should give you the general idea as to the layout of the farm.

Crockett County, Tennessee Poor Farm, c1945
The dwellings were located in the center of the farm with the fields surrounding them.
The 1880 Census of Crockett County, Tennessee list, in District 4, the following household: 266: John F. Carter, age 41, farmer; Nannie W. Carter, age 33, wife; Willia A. Carter, age 14, daughter; William T. Carter, age 8, son; Irene Carter, age 2, daughter; Abraham Wade, age 37 (b), hired hand; Thomas Steward, age 82, boarder, pauper; Eliza Young, age 75, boarder, pauper; John W. Todd, age 27, boarder, pauper; Lee Johnson, age 5, boarder, pauper; Edward Horton, age 77, (b) boarder, pauper; and William Taliferro, age 76, (b), boarder, pauper.
The 1900 census shows D. W. Cates and family living in household 155 and lists the inhabitants in household 156 as paupers. One might assume that D. W. Cates was the superintendent of the Crockett County Poor Farm at that time. He was listed along with: Jennie Cates, his wife; Clara Cates, daughter; Herbert Cates, son; Alma Cates, daughter; Gladdis Cates, daughter; Vera Cates, daughter; Mary Cates, daughter; and Jefferson McLemore, servant. The paupers were: Gus Hudson, age 96 (b); Robert Ridley, age 50, (b); Nicey Patterson, age 60; Bettie Smith, age 60; Joe Cunningham, age 65; Vera Cunningham, age 65; Sally Baker, age 60 and Bud Farrow, age 35.
The 1910 census records that William R. Boling, age 33, as superintendent of the farm. Listed as his wife is Florence I. Boling, age 26. They had no children. The inmates were Betty Smith, age 58; Della Sisk, age 23; Vinia Cunningham, age 69; Boling Sisk, age 4; Ruby Sisk, age 4 months; Joe Cunningham, age 80; James Sexton, age 50; and Bob Ridley, age 60 (b).
In the 1920 census Ed Brown, age 49, was listed as superintendent of the farm. His wife was Belle Brown, age 48. Two sons were listed, Ed Thomas Brown, age 25 and Lofton Brown, age 17. Letitia Lewis, age 78, was listed as mother. There were only five people listed as boarders: Becky Dial, age 78; James Keyton, age 50; Thomas Richardson, age 65; Will Hayes, age 57, and Ed Cleek, age 26.
The 1930 census lists W. H. Turner. age 59, superintendent. His wife, Lucy was age 44. Children listed were: Willie Lee Turner, son, age 25; C. Turner, son, age 17; Allie Turner, daughter, age 14; Mary F. Turner, daughter, age 12; and Evelyn Turner, daughter, age 5. Boarders were: Jim Saxton, age 70; Jim Taylor, age 49; L. Taylor (female), age 69; Mollie Forsythe, age 82; Betty Lowery, age 49; Junior Lowery, age 4 years, 8 months; Maude Covington, age 59; Pierce Oldham, age 64; Orlan Jones, age 59; Alice Jones, age 58; Kate Jones, age 10; James Jones, age 7; Viola Jones, age 5; Ray McLaughen, age 51; Homer Wylie, age 46; Lucile Wylie, age 41; Neal Wylie, age (?); and Ruby Wylie, age 2.
My grandparents, William Neal and Cordelia Laman Nolen took over the management of the County Poor Farm in 1935. They continue the management until the death of my grandfather in 1941 and the death of my grandmother in 1943. When my grandfather died, my father, Jesse Pierce Nolen, moved his family to the County Farm to help my grandmother fulfill her commitment. He was superintendent until his death in 1960.

Photograph Missing

Crockett County, Tennessee Poor Farm, c1936

Neal Nolen is in center of picture dressed in black. Facing the picture and to the left of him is Cordelia Nolen. Three of the children in front of the Nolens are grandchildren. The main house is in the background, and to the right in the picture is the windmill and tank. One of the inmates, Elmer Ballentine is holding the two prize mules used on the farm, Buck and Epp.

When my grandparents took over the management of the county farm, there had been an increase in the number of boarders since the results of the depression was taking its toll.
The theory behind the working farm was to let the farm to a family who would be given a certain amount for the board of the each inmates. He, in turn, employed the inmates in the working of the farm. The superintendent furnished, food, and clothing, and the county paid the superintendent extra for the laundering for the inmates. The county paid for the medical expenses and medicine. It seemed to have been a mutual benefit for both the superintendent and the county.
Life on the farm did not seem to be a depressing one to the inmates. While my grandparents and parents were in charge of the farm, the boarders ate the same food that was served on our table. This consisted of country style fresh vegetables; pork of all kind, such as, ham, bacon, tenderloin, and pork chops; chicken, beef, mostly roasts; wild game; and biscuits, corn bread, yeast rolls, cakes, pies, fried pies, and other desserts. A trip to Cracker Barrel Restaurant would give you an idea of the menus of that time. The food was good and there was plenty of it.
On many weekends churches, would have groups come and preach and have singing with the inmates. There was a piano in the dining room and they would usually congregate there for their gathering. Many of the boarders had family members who would visit them and bring them either money or gifts.
In 1972, the county decided to close the County Poor Farm and move the residents to the new Crockett County Nursing Home. It was felt that it could better serve the needs of the indigent there. The facilities were new and sterile, a far cry from the century old county farm. There are probably none of the residents who lived at the farm who are still living today, but the ones who were moved stepped into a different life, and one could argue whether it was a better life. The fresh air was gone, the incentive to ‘get up and move about’ was gone, the farm fresh food was replaced with menus planned by a nutritionist, and their privacy was gone.
If you drove out County Farm Road and dead ended into the farm, I don’t think you would find much to remind you of the activity that took place there for almost one hundred years. Only memories and a grave yard in the upper corner of the farm that is the resting place for many of those residents who resided there.

2005 – Margaret Nolen Nichol