Marion Jordan Kilzer and Mary Angeline West were our maternal grandparents. They were the parents of our mother, Addie Mae Kilzer, who later changed the spelling of her name to Eddie Mae Kilzer. Both of our grandparents died before we were born.
Marion Jordan Kilzer was born on August 24, 1878 in either Gibson or Madison counties. The uncertainty was because his mother and father, Jacob B. Kilzer and Mary Brogdon Kilzer, often moved from one county to the other because they had relatives on both sides of the boundary line.
In addition to Marion, his siblings were: Elijah C. Kilzer born about 1871; Lavina M. Kilzer born on December 6, 1872; Rachel L. Kilzer born January 10, 1874; Issac S. Kilzer born about 1877; and William A. (Billy) Kilzer born about 1882. At one time or another, Elijah C., Lavina, and Rachel lived in Crockett County when they were adults.
During his early years Marion lived with his parents in Gibson County during the early 1880s. By the 1900s the family moved to near Spring Creek in Madison County. Marion’s mother, Mary Brogdon Kilzer had relatives in the area around Spring Creek. It was in the Spring Creek location that Marion met and eventually married Mary Angeline West.
Mary Angeline West was born on November 2, 1879 in Gibson County just north of the Madison County line near Medina, Tennessee. Mary was the daughter of Wyatt A. West and Elizabeth R. Lyon West. The West and Lyon families lived on either side of the boundary between Madison and Gibson counties. The Wests lived on the Gibson County side and the Lyons lived on the Madison County side.
William Turner Lyon owned a 145 acre farm in which the northern boundary was the Gibson County line. Eventually, the daughter of William T. Lyon, Elizabeth R. Lyon married Wyatt West. Mary Angeline West was one of the several children of the marriage.
The first official document related to Marion J. Kilzer was a marriage license from Madison County. On May 23, 1896 a marriage license was issued to Marion Jordan Kilzer and Mary Angeline West. The following day, May 24, M. D. Fly, Justice of the Peace and neighbor of the Lyon family conducted the ceremony that officially united the couple.
Marion J. And Mary A. began their married life in northern Madison County, but they would soon move to Crockett County. In the Madison County tax books for 1900 in District 12, Marion J. Kilzer paid his $2.00 poll tax just before the presidential election of 1900. The Kilzers apparently took an interest in the politics of the time because most of them annually paid their poll tax until they became exempt or quit voting.
Sometime before 1910 Marion and Mary West Kilzer moved to Crockett County. They were residents of District 6 in the vicinity of Alamo. By 1910 their family was almost complete except for two children born between 1910 and 1920. Eventually, they became the parents of William Milton Kilzer born on September 21, 1897; Calvin Kilzer born on November 14, 1899; John B. Kilzer born on July 22, 1902; Chester Kilzer born on July 26, 1906; Irene Kilzer born in 1908; Addie Mae Kilzer born on April 7, 1910(our mother); Ruby Kilzer born on June 20, 1912; and Homer Kilzer born on December 5, 1914. There were at least two other male children that were un-named because one was stillborn in 1917 and the other born in 1918 only lived about three months.
Marion J. Kilzer and Mary Angeline West Kilzer were small farmers in Crockett County. At first they rented land, but on September 29, 1908, her mother died of tuberculosis in Madison County. Her mother, Elizabeth R. Lyon West had been living on the old Lyon family farm for many years. The 145 acre farm was divided into equal 45 acre sections and left to the three children of William T. And Rebecca Lyon.
In 1908 Mary Angeline West Kilzer inherited a one-third interest in her mother’s 45 acres. Instead of moving to Madison County the couple decided to sell the one-third interest to one of her Lyon relatives. The deed between M. J. Kilzer and wife and W. H. Lyon, an uncle of Mary Kilzer, was executed on October 17, 1908, less than a month after the death of her mother. Mary’s one-third interest was sold for $373.50 with $50.00 paid at the time and the remainder on January 10, 1909 [View Deed].
Not long afterward Mary’s sister, Donie West, died and Mary inherited a one-third interest in the original 45 acre section of Donie West amounting to eleven and one-fourth acres. Marion and Mary sold the one-third interest to C. C. West in 1908 for $100.00. Therefore, by early 1910, Mary West Kilzer and her husband had sold all of her interest in her mother’s estate [View Deed].
In 1908 Marion and Mary Angeline used a part of the proceeds of her mother’s estate to purchase twenty-three acres of farm land from C. C. Porter and his wife in District 6. Pinpointing the exact location of the land has not been possible, at least by this author. The land was bounded by other property owned by people named A. G. Dungan, someone named Dower, M. C. Permenter, Daniel Lamone, and F. M. Goldsmith. Total price for the twenty-three acres was $475.00, $325.00 in cash and a note due on January l, 1910 for the remainder [View Deed].
In 1912 Marion and Mary Kilzer purchased a lot in an area in Alamo being developed by J. J. Norville. The area was called East Woodlawn. It is not clear where this would be located in Alamo at the present time. On March 19, 1912 the couple bought Lot Number 15 Block #3 for $15.00. They paid $5 down and agreed to pay $5 notes due in six and twelve months. Before the first note was due in six months, they sold the lot to J. C. Jaynes at a loss in November, 1912. Jaynes paid $12.50 for the lot $2.50 in cash and assumption of the two five-dollar notes. The sale of the lot in November, 1912 was in preparation for the purchase of thirty-eight acres from Ira R. Davis and his wife.
Apparently the twenty-three acres they had purchased from C. C. Porter and his wife in District 6 no longer suited them. In November, 1912 they purchased thirty-eight acres in District 4 for $800.00. The land was bought from Ira R. Davis and his wife. The Kilzers paid cash for the thirty-eight acres, probably using funds from the sale of other acreage they had sold. Locating the area where in District 4 the property was situated has proven to be unsuccessful. The only name in the deed other than Kilzer and Davis was Joe Betts that owned property on one of the boundaries [View Deed].
In 1920 Marion and Mary Angeline were residents of District 6. Six of their children were still living at home, including my mother who was nine years old at the time. Raising such a large family and unsuccessful pregnancies were taking the life out of Mary. In 1917 a male child was stillborn and in 1918 another male child only lived about three months. Nearing forty-four years old, she became pregnant again late in 1921. On May 22, 1922 she began to hemorrhage during the birth of a child and bled to death. She was buried in Cypress Cemetery near Alamo, Tennessee.
After the death of Mary Angeline West Kilzer, Marion married Mrs. Ludie Moss on September 23, 1923. Ludie Moss already had two children by a previous husband. They were Dora and Wilson Moss. In 1924 Ludie gave birth to Donie Kilzer. The family was farming near the Hatchie River in Haywood County, about where Highway 70-79 crosses the river. On September 29, 1932 Marion J. Kilzer died in Dyer County while at the home of his son, Calvin Kilzer. He was buried near his first wife, Mary Kilzer, in Cypress Cemetery. No gravestone exist to mark the exact location of the graves of Marion and Mary Kilzer, but both death certificates indicate they were buried in Cypress Cemetery.
Contributed by: Bobby J. Williams and Janie Williams Morris