AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND REMINISCENCES, Wiley M. Crook

            Through the efforts of Major J. W. Crook, a cousin my father, our ancestors were traced back to two others who came from Wales in Great Britain to this country. One of the brothers settled in what came to be New York, and it is supposed that from him sprang the Crook families of New York, Ohio and Kentucky.

            General George Crook of Indian war fame in the west in an early day, was of the Ohio branch of the Crooks.

            Some of the Kentucky Crooks went to Tennessee. One of them about the age of my grandfather settled in Henderson county and reared a large, interesting family, near my grandfather and his brother, Jerry Crook.

            One of the sons of this Kentucky Crook, Thomas Crook, married a daughter of Uncle Jerry Crook, whose name was Eveline. It was not thought that they were kin and if they were, it was very remote. In my young days I was often in the home of Cousin Tom and Eveline Crook. Their son Jerry, and daughter Mary, were near my age, as well as their entire family were strong friends. One of Cousin Tom Crook’s brothers went to Lamar county, Texas, and one of his sons served as sheriff of that county.

            Gen. George Crook, above referred to, was in the United States regular army, and during the American expedition in Arizona in 1882 was sent to Mexico in pursuit of Geronimo, the famous chief of the hostile Indians in the Sierra Madre mountains.

            General Crook got together some of the Indian scouts of the Third United States cavalry and soldiers of the Sixth cavalry, crossed the border in pursuit of Geronimo's bandits. On May 1, 1883, General Crook began his march into Mexico; May 12th, had a fight with those hostile Indians, Geronimo surrendered and General Crook made the return march of 900 miles out of Mexico with his 400 prisoners.

            The other brother from Wales is my great-great-grandfather, and settled in South Carolina. His son, James Crook, is my great-grandfather and lived in Spartanburg District, South Carolina. My great-grandfather served under Gen. George Washington in the Revolutionary war and was captain of a company. He had six sons, all reared in South Carolina. Jesse and James remained in that State; Joe and William went to near Dalton, Georgia; Jonathan and Jerry went to Henderson county, Tennessee, about the time the Indians were moved to the Indian Territory, now a part of the great State of Oklahoma. My grandfather, Jonathan Crook, and his brother, Jerry, married sisters, Lucy and Polly Arnold, before they left South Carolina. Lucy was my grandmother. They had three sons and four daughters, John, James and Willis; their daughters, Polly, who married Thos. Dodds; Sallie married Jno. Conner; Elminey, William Hopper, and Emily, Pinkney Tap. The last named son and three last named daughters, were not married until grandfather went to Tippah county, Mississippi, just after the Indians were brought out by our government. My father, Uncle John ‘Crook and Aunt Polly Dodds had already married and remained in Tennessee. Grandfather gave those three married children a home adjoining each other. Uncle John Crook was a Baptist preacher and about 1860 moved to Mississippi and in later years went with some of his children to Bell county, Texas, and died there. James W. Crook, my father, was born in Spartanburg District, South Carolina in 1816. His first marriage was to Sarah Thomas. From this union were born three daughters, Lucy, Mary and Sallie. This wife died about the year 1840, and in the year 1843 he and my mother married. Her maiden name was Eliza C. Hodges and they lived on the old homestead given him by his father until the death of my father in December, 1850.

          John Harvey Hodges, a cousin of my mother, told me that my maternal great-great-grandfather Hodges came to the colonies of this country when there were but very few women here. At this time the ships from the old countries would bring young ladies to the colonies and accept tobacco from the young men over here in payment of passage of the girls on the ship. My great-great-grandmother, Mary Collins, came to this country this way, and her sweetheart paid her ship fare with tobacco. However, they knew each other in the old country. They settled in the old Dominion of Virginia, and when this same Mary Collins was 97 years old, she migrated to Tennessee and lived to the advanced age of 105 years.

          My maternal great-grandfather. Jesse Hodges, served in the Revolutionary war under General Green, and was in the battle of Guilford, North Carolina.

          My grandfather, Elijah Hodges, was born in Halifax county, Virginia, and went to Wilson county, Tennessee, while a young man, and there he married Hannah P. Hubbard, a daughter of Elder Clark Hubbard, and in the year 1824 they moved to Henderson county, Tennessee, settling near the village of Jacks Creek. Grandfather Hodges had seven brothers and three sisters. The brothers names were James, William; Elisha, Josiah, Jessie, Thomas and Harvey. The sisters, Tabitha married a Barton; Fannie married Hollis, and Polly, a Kitchens.

          All of these people settled in Henderson and McNairy counties, Tennessee. I very well remember my Grandmother Hodges and Aunt Tabitha Barton. My mother had three brothers, Harvey, Newton and William J. Hodges; two sisters, Elizabeth Crow and Susan, that married Wiley Masingill. Uncle Wm. Hodges was a Baptist preacher of excellent ability and served as pastor of Unity church more than forty years.

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