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The ABERNATHY Family is one of the largest and best connected families in the County. Quite a number of the name have lived in and around Pisgah and many of the older ones camped and attended camp meetings at this place. William, son of Charles and Ellis ABERNATHY was born April 4, 1742, in Virginia. He married Elizabeth CLAYTON. All of their children were born in Virginia. He died February 8, 1832. The following were their children: Clayton who was born September 21, 1769; Alice, who was born December 17, 1771; William, who was born July 29, 1774; Jesse, who was born July 3, 1778, and died July 19, 1851; Caty, who was born January 11, 1781, and married Alexander TARPLEY; Susannah, who was born March 20, 1783, and married Alan ABERNATHY; John, who was born February 23, 1785, and died March 7, 1861; Eliza, who was born March 4, 1787, and died October 1, 1831, and was the wife of Jonathan DRAKE; and Charles Clayton, who was born July 27, 1790, and died January 2, 1877. I do not know how many of them came to this County.Charles Clayton ABERNATHY was born in Brunswick county, Virginia. He married Susan W. HARRIS the first time. Elizabeth, the oldest child, was born October 30, 1816. She married Richard DALEY. They had one son. The second child, Mary Ann, was born August 28, 1818. She married Alfred EASON. They had a large offspring. Gilbert T. was the third child. He was born May 21, 1820, and died in Montgomery County in 1888. He left a large family. Alfred Harris, the fourth child, was born February 26, 1822. He was a scholarly man and was a noted educator. Dr. Charles Alfred is a son and has a son named Shields. A. Samuel, County Superintendent of Public Instruction, is a son. He married a Miss MAY and has the following named children: May HARRIS, Aubrey Lee, who recently married Thomas O’NEAL, Butler, Haywood, Fisher and Samuel, Jr., Mrs. J. V. AYMETT is a daughter. She has several children. “Bub” is another son. He is engaged in teaching school in Pulaski. He has a daughter named Julia. One daughter married a RODEN and has a daughter named Elizabeth. Butler ABERNATHY, Sr., is a son of Alfred H. ABERNATHY. The fifth child of Charles Clayton, Sr., was Maria D., who was born November 23, 1823. She married James Milton PAINE, a half-brother of Bishop Robert PAINE. They had one son and three daughters. She died July 5, 1901. Susanne, the sixth child, was born August 24, 1825. She married J. P. MAY, and is the mother of Dr. Pink MAY. She has been dead several years. Dr. Charles Clayton was the seventh child. He was born October 9, 1827, and died April 27, 1903. He had two daughters – Mrs. Mollie BYRNE and Mrs. Eliza PAISLEY. William Allen, the eighth child, was born January 26, 1830, and died March 29, 1848. John S., the ninth child, was born August 14, 1832, and was mortally wounded at Cheat Mountain, Virginia, in September, 1861. Judge Andrew J., was the tenth child. He was born September 18, 1834. He was Chancery Judge for sixteen years. Several of his children died in infancy. Three are living – Mrs. CUNNINGHAM, Rebecca and Sadie. The Judge is well preserved and is quite an affable man of deep piety and erudite attainment. He lives at Pulaski. Katie, the eleventh child, died when a babe.Charles Clayton, Sr., married the second time, Elizabeth H. DICKSON, a sister of Colonel DICKSON, July 16, 1848. The twelfth child is J. Polk, the present Clerk and Master of Giles County. He has two grown children – Ensign Robert and Miss Tommie – and three or four small children. The thirteenth child is Ada E., relict of the late F. D. AYMETT. The fourteenth child is Delia T., wife of W. S. BUTLER, County Judge of Giles County. The fifteenth child is Robert D., of Pulaski. The sixteenth child is Charles M. The seventeenth child is Dr. Albert Sidney. The eighteenth child died when young. The nineteenth child was Charlotte, who married Frank WILLIAMS. They have several children and live in Pulaski.

James and Elisha ABERNATHY, two brothers, came from Virginia to this County. James had nine boys and two girls. Their names were: Hardaway, John, Clayton, Elbert, Sterling, Lee, Turner, Hartwell, Caltson, Mrs. Davis BROWN, and Mrs. William BIRDSONG. Elisha had nine girls and two boys. Their names were: Elise, who married her first cousin, Turner ABERNATHY; Harriet, who married Jessie GRUBBS; Ellen, who married William GRUBBS; Nancy, who married Baker POTTS; Susan, who married James WATSON; Mary, who married a COFFMAN; Martha, who married a GRIFFITH; Parthenia, who married Bryant FOWLER, and a girl that died when young, and James, and William, who choked to death when a small boy. A. L. ABERNATHY is a son of Eliza and Turner ABERNATHY. He has three children – Mrs. Holland, Mrs. V. E. WORLEY, and Homer.

Sterling ABERNATHY was a prominent citizen of this section. He was born in 1811 in Brunswick County, Virginia, and came to this place in 1817. He died in 1879, aged 69 years. His children were: William J., who lives near Pulaski; Mart, who lives at Curve, West Tennessee; Eb, Ned, Mrs. Press BASS, Mrs. Pat BASS, Mrs. Parilee OSBORNE, Mrs. Lee SMITH, Mrs. Rebecca OLIVER, and a girl that died early.

Most of these have families and some of their children live in this section. Mrs. J. H. OLIVER and Mrs. Samuel S. HARWELL are daughters of Mrs. OSBURNE. The other OSBURNE children live in West Tennessee.

Thomas and James ABERNATHY lived near Elkton. They were wealthy and influential citizens. They had camped at Pisgah for several years. Thomas ABERNATHY married a sister of Bishop Robert PAINE. She died in 1891.

Stephen, Alexander, William, John H., Henry and Cole LOYD, with several sisters, came from Brunswick County, Virginia, to this County. They were influential citizens of this section and their descendants are prominent people of the county. Several of the older men were leaders in the camp meetings.

Among other noted families of this section is the SMITH family. Robert SMITH was the first of the family to settle in Giles County. He married a RHODES and had a large family. R. M., of Pulaski, Lee, of Bunker Hill, Mrs. HOUSE, of Nashville, and Mrs. Charlotte LOYD are the only ones now living. Washington SMITH died this year. O. E. SMITH was his son. He has one child – Robert Everett. “Buck” was killed during the war. William, Zachary and “Polly” are dead. I do not learn the names of the others. R. C. SMITH is a son of R. M. SMITH. He married Jennie LOYD. They have three children – Thurman, Virgil and Ellen. Mrs. Reverend Robert H. HUDGENS, of Nashville, Mrs. Claude BENNETT, of Pulaski, Arney,and Orman, William and Eunice (the two latter are dead) are the other children of R. M. SMITH.

Rebecca COLLINS McCracken was born in Lincoln County November 10, 1809. She was a daughter of Abner COLLINS, an old Revolutionary Soldier and a Hardshell Baptist. He lived to the advanced age of 93 years. At the age of nineteen, Rebecca married John Lytle MCCRACKEN, and moved to Giles County a few years later. They were both members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church but always camped at Pisgah during camp meetings. Five children were born to them, to wit: Luther, Mary, Martha, John C., and Cordelia. Luther married Charlotte SMITH and died during the Civil War. Mary married Means STORY, both dying shortly afterwards. Martha died quite young, John C. married Mary BARNES. Cordelia married Samuel MAYES. John Lytle, the father, died in 1855. “Aunt Becky”, as she was usually called, was an energetic woman of profound intelligence. Her memory was remarkably good, remaining so until a year or two before her death, which occured April 1903. She was very religious and was full of piety and zeal. Her last words were “glory”. She belonged to a family noted for their longevity. She was 94 years of age. At the time of her death she had ten grandchildren. Robert S., and W. W. MCCRACKEN, of Bunker Hill, Mrs. E. F. AYMETT, of Pisgah, Mrs. R. S. TUCKER, Mrs. Henry MCKINNEY, John Lytle MCCRACKEN, of Bunker Hill, Mrs. W. P. DOBBINS, of Pulaski, and Mae and Belle MCCRACKEN. She also had twenty two great-grand children and two great-great-grandchildren, little daughters of Luther Holt.

Reverend James B. BROWN lived at Pisgah many years ago, leaving a widow and several small children. Reverend W. D. BROWN, who went to Mississippi; Reverend Willis J. BROWN, of near Pulaski; M. P. BROWN now dead; Mrs. Ella WILLIAMS now dead; Mrs. Lucy A. WILKERSON; and Pitts B. BROWN, a conductor on the L & N Railroad for several years, were his children.

The children of Reverend W. J. BROWN are: Coley, Marvin, Fannie, Elizabeth, Florence, dead, Pitts, Neil, Ed, and William, dead.

Larkin CARDEN came from South Carolina to this County in 1809. He had several children. William was killed during the war. Raley married an ARTHUR and had three children: Hawkins; Poney, who married an ABERNATHY; and Rosanna, who married Bent EZELL. Betsey married Crutch BAUGH. Dicie married Pink HOUGH. Cynthia married Freeman BIRDSONG. Larkin and Lewis were the other children.

Lewis CARDEN’s wife is still living. Their children are: James, W. Henry, R. Hatcher, Annie, and R. Murray.

James (known as “Big Jim”), first married a WILLIAMS. They had two children, Dee, who lives in Texas, and Lou, who married Gail RAMBO, and has three children, Robert, Beulah, and Luther. James CARDEN married a WATSON the second time – William, J. Hawkins who married Lillie BECK, Pearl who married Will NIP, Fisher, Henry, Mary, Lizzie who married Matt BIRDSONG, Kirk and Una, are the children of this union.

W. H. CARDEN married Joanna WATSON. The following are their children: Cletus, who married Pearl HOLLINS; Mary Eliza, who married Si NEAL and is the mother of one child, named Warren; Neely, Ella May, Tippie, Ada Ruth, Charlie and Buford.

R. H. CARDEN married a BROWNLOW. Their children are: Eza, who married Eula BRYANT and has two children, named Mary Lee and Barbee; Annie who married Hy SISK and has three children, respectively, Myrtle, Irene, and William Allen; Ethel who married Claude WATSON, and has one child, named Robert; Kate, who recently married Leck HOPPER; Raymond, Floyd, P. D. and one dead.

Annie married Thomas E. YOUNG. Their children are: Sidney, Dora, Annie, Walton, and Carlie, who married a WEDDINGTON, all now dead. Lewis who is in Texas, Nannie, Florence, and Joe D.

R. Murray CARDEN married Maude HOLLAND. Kelly and Jessie are their children.

Larkin CARDEN, brother of Lewis, married a DEGRAFFENRIED first. They had three children – Kirk, who married a JACKSON. Willie, who married a DUGGER, and “Sissy”, who married Zachary DYER. His second wife was a DUNNIVANT. James is a son. He married first an ABERNATHY and the second time a GOLIGHTLY, Vessie and Myra are the offspring. Larkin’s other children were; Tom, who married a THOMAS; Fannie, who died when a young lady; Edna who married a BEARD, and Leona, who married a BEECH.

There were others connected with the History of Pisgah. I think I have secured about all the names of the prominent families.