by Zelma O’Neal
scanned and contributed by David Austin
This is the introduction to this book containing history and lore from Scotts Hill, Tennessee.
Continue reading the book at https://archive.org/
Introduction
The first half of stories came about as a result of my pursuit of an elusive Irish ancestor, Issac Dennison O’Neal, who was found a stow-away on a ship. All branches of the family tree agree on this but there is confusion as to whether he was seven years old at that time or worked seven years to pay his passage over. Again, all agree his service on the ship ended at age 21. All this brings on a review of the Impressment of seamen by the British which would have been about this time, and research on terms of Indenture by which many paid their way over, and even a check on the deserters and prisoners from the British ships after Jackson’s victory of New Orleans. The indenture sounds more likely but no actual proof.
To help support his wife and three children (found in the 1830 census of District 2, Hardin County) Den transported produce by rafting it down the river to New Orleans and other cities. Again, all family historians agree the story that from one trip down the river, he never returned. It was probably in the early 1840’s and Hardin County Courthouse records show the “orphan Mary O’Neal” at about the right time to have been his oldest daughter. But again, no concrete evidence of it.
It has been hard to pass up any history even remotely connected with Scotts Hill area. In Anson County, N. C. I visited Miss Viola Kiker who had found the church records of Benjaman Clenney and donated the to Duke University at Chapel Hill. On a trip to New York while my husband was stationed in Philadelphia, I found the History of General Grant in a second hand book store that had first hand knowledge of Shiloh. At the Archives in Washington, D. C. the librarian seemed to have no trouble at all in coming up with Aaron Melvin Clenney’s Mexican War Record.
In the Library of Congress I read in one of the first editions of the History of McNairy County. While there I glanced over at a rather impressive volume labeled “Dunn and Bradstreet”. Thumbing through it I was surprised to find Scotts Hill but not surprising was the information that Dr. R. L. Wylie had the highest credit rating. In Charlotte, N. C. the nicest librarians I’ve ever met found a family history of a brother of Daniel Winchester that verified he was last heard of in Bedford County, Tennessee. They also wanted me to meet a descendant who told me the family “lost track of Daniel” after he left Bedford County.
The Library at Wadesboro in Anson County, N. C. was a sort of disappointment as far as genealogical material was concerned but more than made up for it on oral history and phoning others who might give me information. Their library was new and they were very proud of it because it had been built by donations of the local people only. At plaque on the outside had the donors listed and there was more of the surname “Horn” than that of any other. I couldn’t help but recall that when the Mr. Horn of Texas made his contribution to the Henderson County Library in Lexington, Tennessee much nearer my home.
This is only the beginning of all the libraries I have been to, and I am extremely grateful for their help. Until I enrolled at Union University, in my earliest and nearest library was in the of my grandparents, Tom and Viola O’Neal. At one time I counted thirteen or more weekly and daily newspapers and magazines, plus a number of books. It is doubtful if a book salesman ever called at their home without a sale. Later, for Center, our country school, the patrons managed to buy a bookcase of the classics, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Alice in Wonderland, etc. were my favorites. I am forever indebted to my grandparents as well as my mother’s brothers, Perry, Dan and Robert Dudley Murphy who thought I ought to get an education and teach because they did.
- published by White Printing Company, Henderson, TN 1984