OUR CLAYBROOK HERITAGE
(Madison County, Tennessee)
By Jonathan K. T. Smith
Copyright, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 1993.

John Barnett (April 14, 1785-November 3, 1844) and his wife, Elizabeth (Robertson) Barnett (December 8, 1789-November 27, 1875) moved from York District, South Carolina into the Claybrook vicinity in December of 1825.[1] In his LWT, executed a few days before his death, Barnett left his wife "in full and entire control" of his estate; provided $500 for his grandson, John W. Barnett; devising 30 acres off the west section of his Irvin tract to a son, John M. Barnett; mentioning as well his children, Jane D. Barnett, who had inherited already from her grandmother Robertson; William R. Barnett, Richard B. Barnett, Samuel D. Barnett, Lawson C. Barnett who was to "carry on my mercantile business until 1st January 1846", then close out the store. John M. Barnett and G. W. Haughton were executors of his estate .[2]

In January of 1856, Elizabeth Barnett conveyed the western portion of 100 acres left to her by her husband, to her children, as management of this property had become "irksome, difficult and troublesome to manage." Mentioned in this LWT were William R. Barnett, Elijah T. Barnett, Harriet Barnett and husband, George W. Haughton (also Houghton); Elias D. Barnett; Mary E. Barnett and her husband, Joseph Smith; Ann Barnett, widow of her son, Albert G. Barnett (and their children: Martha, Henry, Virginia and Albert); Margaret, widow of her son, Lawson C. Barnett (and his son, William Barnett).[3]

One reliable source has a complete list of the children of John and Elizabeth (Robertson) Barnett:[4]

l. William Robertson Barnett, born June 13, 1808;

2. John Miles Barnett, born November 23, 1809;

3. Albert Gallatin Barnett, born - 1811;

4. Elias Devalson Barnett, born - ;

5. Lawson Carter Barnett, born - ;

6. Mary Elvira Barnett, married Joseph Smith, August 25, 1840;

7. Elijah Tresvan Barnett, born August 24, 1821;

8. Harriet Minerva Barnett, born January 1, 1824;

9. Dorcas Jane Barnett, born - ;

10. Richard Beard Barnett, born December 21, 1830;

11. Samuel Davidson Barnett, born April 4, 1833.

John Miles Barnett, born in South Carolina, November 23, 1809, died April 1, 1891 on his large farm northeast of Claybrook. He and several members of his immediate family and that of his parents were long members of Bethlehem Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He was thrice married: (1) Martha ___ ; (2) Jackey J. Harp, February 27, 1855; (3) Lavanda Ferguson, March 20, 1860 in Hardeman County, Tenn. The heirs of J. M. Barnett, named in the 1898 division of his real estate, 260 acres, were Margaret and Emerson Hill; Lizzie and Pat Ward; Mattie and W. D. Yarbrough; Mollie and Ewell M. Bryant; Mary and D. B. Hill. This tract crossed the Claybrook-Law Road, striking the northeast corner of the Woolfolk lands and a stake in the property of John S. Pearson.[5]

In 1860 Miles Barnett, as he was known, reported a real estate holding worth $6000 (175 agriculturally improved acres; 125 unimproved) and a personal estate, including slaves, worth $22,000.[6]

REFERENCES

l. The various census reports reveal consistently that nearly all the children of John and Elizabeth Barnett were born in South Carolina. In the 1880 census, it was reported that Miles Barnett's father was born in Virginia and his mother in South Carolina.

2. Madison Co.: will book 4, page 279. LWT, John Barnett, executed October 29, 1844 and proven Dec. 2, 1844. Barnett had sold 80 acres of his land to a son, John M. Barnett, for $625, along the north boundary line of the Russell Goodrich tract of 1000 acres, May 1833. (Deed book 3, page 286)

3. IBID.: deed book 18, page 461. Deed executed Jan. 4, 1856 and proven Jan. 9, 1856.

4. FAMILY FINDINGS, Mid-West Tennessee Genealogical Society, volume 24, #4 (October 1992), page 126. Research notes provided by Carmen (Cockrill) Bruer of Jackson.

5. Madison Co.: deed book 56, page 359. Deed recorded February 23, 1898.

6. U.S. Census, 1860, Madison Co. , Miles Barnett.

Evander McIver Betts, called by his nickname, Vander, was born in Davidson County, Tennessee, February 22, 1833; one of the several children of John J. Betts (died Jan. 4, 1849) and Ruth (Glasgow) Betts (September 5, 1798-April 7, 1883), who were married in the same county, September 29, 1814. The father was a farmer and a veteran of the War of 1812, having served in Captain Edwin S. Moore's Mounted Riflemen, Colonel R. H. Dyer's Regiment of Tennessee Militia.[1] He "was a farmer in the latter part of his life, his early days being spent in milling." He and his wife had three daughters and seven sons. The Bettses moved to DeSoto County, Mississippi about 1845 where the father died.[2]

In February of 1900, Vander Betts wrote that he had been born near Goodlettsville, Davidson County, Tennessee and ". . . about the year of 1837 my father moved to Henderson County, near Plesant Exchange, a flourishing town at that day, or vilage. about the year of 1845 father moved to DeSoto County, Miss. I remained in Miss. until 1859. I then came to Madison County. In 1862 I enlisted in the 51 Tenn. Regment, served there untill 22 day of July 1863 [1864]. I was wounded in front of Atlanta, never done any more field service, after I got able to come home I was given a furlo to come home and it was renewed from time to time up to the surrender /and in the/ following May I got my parole in Jackson, Tenn. I never was able for duty any more after I was wounded."[3] Betts enlisted March 8, 1862, Co. D, 5lst Tennessee Infantry Regiment, CSA; transferred to Co. H; did special duty as a

regimental carpenter; wounded severely in his right collarbone, July 22, 1864 in the fighting around Atlanta.[4]

Vander Betts and his older brother, J. J. Betts, under the firm name of Betts Bros., owned a small general store in Cotton Grove, Madison County,1859 until the younger brother went into Confederate service.[5] March 4, 1861 Vander Betts qualified as constable in Civil District 14.[6] He was one of the election officials of that district, May 6, 1861 when the referendum was held to vote whether or not Tennessee should secede from the Union.[7]

Betts was among the early developers of the village of Claybrook.[8] His land purchases and homeplaces are described elsewhere in this book. He had also served as postmaster of Cotton Grove, Jan. 12-Oct. 22, 1860.

Bett's mother, "Rufie" Betts moved to Madison County. She was buried in Brown's Methodist Churchyard after a long life. Vander Betts was an active member of the Bethlehem Cumberland Presbyterian congregation, Claybrook, from after the Civil War until he resigned in the summer of 1889. He was a Ruling Elder and Clerk of the Session for years.

He was married, first to Catharine T. Bushy (Qct. 21, 1840-July 27, 1865) about 1860. Their only child, Thomas Alexander (Alex) Betts (Nov. 15, 1860-Aug. 1, 1879), died young of malaria; both he and his mother are buried in Brown's Churchyard also. The second marriage was to Eliza Louisa (Lou) Boswell (Feb. 11, 1832-Dec. 17, 1896), whom he married in 1866.[9] She was one of the children of Edward Boswell and Emily (Blalock) Boswell (born March 28, 1806) of Henderson County, Tennessee. The only child of Vander and Lou Betts, Emma Anna Betts, was born February 16, 1867. She was married November 25, 1886 to William Rayburn Bnitt (1858-1942), with whom she had several children.[10] Vander Betts married a third time, to Mary Ellen Stegall (March 20, 1850-September 27, 1935), widow of Dr., John G. Hendrick, May 9, 1900; no children.

The Betts, Vander and Lou, had moved to Lexington, Tennessee to be near their married daughter. After Lou Betts' death in 1896 and her husband's subsequent remarriage, Vander and Mary E. Betts moved to Jackson where they lived at 207 Neely (Hollywood) and there he died, November 9, 1913.[11]

Vander Betts was a Democrat and a Free-mason. He was admitted into the Cotton Grove Masonic Lodge, August 1871 and withdrew February 1876. In his LWT, Betts wrote, "Now with malice toward none and good will to all I admonish you to do night, which I have tried to make a rule of my life."[12]

REFERENCES

l. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Pension application papers of Ruth (Glasgow) Betts, based on service of her husband, J. J. Betts, War of 1812. Application for pension accepted. Also, in the same agency, the compiled military service record of John J. Betts.

2. Weston A. Goodspeed, HISTORY OF TENNESSEE, Madison County (Nashville, 1887), page 841. "E. M. Betts." Cited hereafter as Goodspeed, Madison, 1887.

3. Handwritten autobiographical sketch of Evander M. Betts, Jackson, Tenn., Feb. 19, 1905 in the Betts Collection, Tennessee Room, Jackson/Madison Co. Public Library. This collection was donated by direction of E. M. Betts' granddaughter, Mary Fances Reid Tillman (1909-1987), soon after her death.

4. State of Tennessee, Application for Civil War service pension, #12486, E. M. Betts; filed March 18, 1911; successful application.

5. U.S. Census, 1860, August 29, Madison Co., Tenn., Civil District 13, page 235. E. M. and J. J. Betts.

6. MadisonCo.: county court minute book 9, page 420.

7. WEST TENNESSEE WHIG, Jackson, May 17, 1861.

8. Goodspeed, Madison, 1887, page 842.

9. Lou Boswell Betts' birthyear is given, here, as 1832, rather than 1833 as it appears on her tombstone. Her birthdate and the birthdates of her siblings are given in an old journal. See, FAMILY FINDINGS, Mid-West Tennessee Genealogical Society, volume 21, #4, Oct. 1989, page 143.

10. Emma A. Betts lived until November 16, 1936. Her children were: John Vander Britt (1889-1902) and Ramelle Britt (1887-1980), wife of John Robert Reid (1879-1950), whose children were Mary Frances Reid Tiliman (1909-1987) and James Rayburn Reid (1913-1986), who married Audry Gates (1910-1985). Most of this family, including Lou Boswell Betts, are buried in the Rosehill Cemetery in Lexington, Tennessee.

11. Madison Co.: will book B, page 496. LWT, E. M. Betts, executed Aug. 18, 1900 and proven Jan. 26, 1914. Having provided for his third wife, the remainder of his estate went to Emma Britt and her children.

12. IBID.

Captain John Hardgrove lived for many years in Davidson County, Tennessee; was married there December 19, 1807 to Mary (Polly) Robertson, one of the ten children of Charles Robertson (died 1805) and wife, Susanna; she was a niece of General James Robertson (1742-1814), justly celebrated in early Tennessee history.[1] The Hardgroves, whose surname lent itself to a variety of spellings, were among the first wave of settlers in Madison County. He signed the petition to the state legislature, September 28, 1821, requesting the formation of a new county which resulted a few weeks later (November 7, 1821) in the creation of Madison County.[2]

Captain Hardgrove received two land grants in Madison County, both dated December 20, 1821, in Surveyor's District 9, Range 2, Section 10. One was for 75 acres and the other 640 acres.[3] He settled his family upon this property. In March of 1826 he deeded in filial regard some 150 acres of his land to a son-in-law, Burwell (pronounced berl) Butler (1790-1851).[4]

While visiting in Nashville, Captain Hardgrove died in November of 1828.[5] His widow, Mary Hardgrove, Burwell Butler and John Barnett served as the executors of his estate.[6] In his LWT, the captain left all the land he lived upon to his wife except for 150 acres designated for their son, Francis C. Hardgrove; daughter, Lavinia and son-in-law, Burwell Butler; son, Felix Robertson Hardgrove; son, Skelton Hardgrove; daughters, Nancy and Amanda Hardgrove. If his wife remarried, she was to retain her widow's dower and the rest of his land was to be distributed among their children, including any benefit he would receive from his own father's estate. This LWT was executed in the home of his brother, James Hardgrove in Williamson County, Tennessee, October 11, 1821; it was proven the next month in Madison County.

The child, Skelton Hardgrove drowned in a tub bath in the spring of 1830 [7] and the slave that he had inherited from his father was sold, as was reported by a neighbor, John Barnett.[8] Polly Hardgrove remarried, to Edward A. Freeman. Burwell Butler bought her dower, 114 acres (the southeast corner of the 640 acre tract) late in 1835.[9] Butler bought up other heir-shares in the Hardgrove estate. Francis C. Hardgrove of Washington County, Ark.; Felix R. Hardgrove of Madison County; Nancy Hardgrove and her husband, James M. Pyles sold their interest in their deceased sister, Amanda Allen's interest, 42 acres to Burwell Butler; a transaction conducted at "Cottage Grove," Butler's homeplace in Madison County, sometime in 1843.

Amanda and William M. Allen had both died and so had their two children, Dorcas and Amanda Allen.[10]

Burwell Butler became a substantial planter, a magistrate. He added to his landholdings from time to time; one such was the 113 acres he bought from Hugh M. Weir, adjoining Green C. Howlett, James Weir, John Barnett and the Russell Goodrich tract of 1000 acres. The Ross' Ferry Road, running from Jackson to this ferry on the Tennessee River, near present-day Camden; March 9, 1844.[11]

After Butler's death, his heirs divided his land estate among themselves. Amos Williams and John M. Barnett assisted the county surveyor in setting aside the widow's dower. Lavinia Butler's dower was 666 acres, located on the north boundary line of entry #24 and at the northeast corner of the same; being thus part of her own father's 640 acre grant. The Butler home and graveyard were in this tract.[12]

Dawson D. Bennett, William Hutcherson, Walter T. Key, John Barnett and Amos Williams assisted in setting aside the children's portions: James C. Butler, 389.60 acres; John H. Butler, 212.98 acres, located in the southwest corner of his grandfather Hardgrove's 640 acre tract and on the line of the Hall, formerly the Russell Goodrich land; Mary Ann Butler and husband, John C. Rogers (married April 12, 1847), 113 acres, located on John M. Barnett's north property line and Green C. Howlett's northwest corner. The Ross Ferry Road ran by her tract.[13]

Lavinia (Hardgrove) Butler remarried, to Byrd Hill, October 21, 1852 and moved to Shelby County, Tennessee. In a marriage indenture, dated the day before their marriage, Hill acknowledged Lavinia R. Butler's "exclusive" possession of the 640 acre "plantation whereon" she then resided; this also included her slaves and carriage and personalty.[14]

Mary Ann and John C. Rogers sold their interest in Lavinia Butler-Hill's estate, the Butler homeplace, to her brother, James C. Butler, for $800 in October of 1853.[15] Unfortunately for him, John H. Butler became mentally ill; a bachelor, his brother, James, was appointed his guardian early in 1859. He had an estate consisting of about 488 acres, 21 slaves and other possessions valued at $28,000.[16] John Hardgrove Butler died June 26, 1860. Besides his inherited land, he had bought 271 acres from the blacksmith, William Hall, at the head of Spring Creek, on Walter T. Key's north line and his own property line, January of 1856.[17]

James C. Butler sold, for ten thousand dollars, to his sister, Mary Ann and her husband, John C. Rogers, all his interest in 500 acres on the east side of John H. Butler's land, November 21, 1860.[18] James C. Butler died January 18, 1862 leaving a widow, Louisa J., who remarried, to Haywood F. Harris of Carroll County, March 2, 1863.

The Rogerses and the Harrises went into chancery court to get an equitable distribution of the combined lands (903 acres) of John H. and James C. Butler in August of 1868. 513 acres of the undivided lands of John H. Butler were adjudged Mary Ann Rogers'; the remainder of the land was to be apportioned among the heirs of John H. and James C. Butler.[19] In anticipation of a tract of 212 acres being set aside from John H. Butler's, being a division made of same between her and her brother, James, Mary Ann and her husband sold this acreage to William Pearson, December 1, 1868. The southern boundary of the 212 acre tract bounded Pearson's north property line.[20]

The court had the whole Butler tract, some 903 acres more or less, surveyed into one large, subdivided tract, which was done December 22-23, 1868, by county surveyor, R. T. McKnight; he was paid $20 for his work and his chaincarriers, William Pearson and Ben F. Puckett, were each paid $8. The southern

boundary of this tract was what is now Hartmus Lane, between Law Road and Matheny Road. The survey and report was filed in chancery, March of 1869 and recorded in Chancery Court Minute Book 4, page 423:

Mary Ann Rogers' 212 acres had already been bought by William Pearson. He also purchased Lot 4, 295 acres, at W. T. Key's (later Hartmus) northeast property corner, paying $4214.44 for it.[21] The court finalized Pearson's purchase by decree, June 29, 1871.[22] Pearson had successfully met the payments, payable at 9 and 18 months, for this land.

Lot 2, 137 acres, adjoining Samuel W. Puckett's (formerly Ben Puckett's) corner, was bought by Asa H. Gaston and it was confirmed to him.[23] Lot 1, 111 acres, was purchased by Ben Waller and it was confirmed to him.[24] Lot 3, 146 acres, was purchased by E. S. Rogers.[25] Dr. John H. Lanier bought this lot from Rogers.[26]

Some 275 acres, including the Butler homeplace and graveyard, was owned by James C. Butler. Ben F. Puckett bought this land from Butler and then sold it to Samuel Witt Puckett (1844-1907), a native of Rutherford County, Tennessee, whose family lived upon it for many years.[27] The Vaughn family now owns that part of the Butler homeplace, "Cottage Grove," which included the Butler-Puckett residence and family graveyard.

Over twenty years ago, a 2600 acre subdivision, with three large man-made lakes, was developed to the northwest of Claybrook, some of which likely included what was one the northwest portion of the Butler lands, and it was named SPRINGBROOK. J. T. Ursery, developer, "said he chose that name because it /subdivision/ was halfway between these two communities /Spring Creek and Claybrook/ and took 'Spring' from one and 'brook' from the other."[28]

REFERENCES

1. CHILDREN OF NASHVILLE, by Sarah Foster Kelley (Nashville, l973), page 428.

2. TSLA, Nashville: Legislative Petitions 61-1821.

3. General Land Grant Book S, page 357. John Hartgrove. Grant#16408, 75 acres, December 20, 1821; entered March 21, 1821 and surveyed March 23, 1821. IBID. , page 358. John Hartgrove. Grant #16407, 640 acres, December 20, 1821; entered Dec. 7, 1820 and surveyed March 23, 1821.

4. Madison Co.: deed book l, page 571. 150 acres in the northeast corner of Hardgrove's 640 acre tract. March 3, 1826; recorded Sept. 6, 1827.

5. JACKSON GAZETTE, November 29, 1828.

6. IBID., December 27, 1828.

7. IBID., May 22, 1830.

8. Madison Co.: will book l, page 233.

9. IBID.: deed book 5, page 279. Deed executed Nov. 29, 1835 and recorded March 27, 1837.

10. IBID.: deed book 9, page 212. Deed recorded January 18, 1844.

11. IBID.: deed book 9, page 338. Deed executed March 9, 1844 and recorded June 25, 1844. John F. Clark and Elisha P. Barnett, witnesses.

12. IBID.: county court minute book 6, page 441, February 2, 1852.

13. IBID., page 442.

14. IBID.: deed book 16, page 95. Deed executed Oct. 20, 1852 and recorded Oct. 21, 1852.

15. IBID.: deed book 28, page 233. Deed executed Oct. 13, 1853 and recorded Oct. 20, 1870.

16. IBID.: county court minute book 8, page 425.

17. IBID.: deed book 18, page 504. Jan. 4, 1856; recorded Jan. 22, 1856.

18. IBID.: deed book 23, page 479. Deed recorded Dec. 8, 1865. John C. Rogers, who was a physician, qualified as administrator of John H. Butler's estate, Sept. l860. Co. Court Minute Book 9, page 214.

19. IBID.: chancery court minute book 3, page 204.

20. IBID.: deed book 26, page 388. Deed recorded Dec. 7, 1868.

21. IBID.: deed book 29, page 169. Deed recorded Sept. 9, 1871.

22. IBID.: chancery court minute book 4, page 425. Deed recorded Sept. 9, 1871.

23. IBID.: deed book 32, page 147. Deed recorded April 4, 1874.

24. IBID.: deed book 33, page 197. Deed recorded March 26, 1875.

25. IBID.: chancery court minute book 5, page 276.

26. IBID.: deed book 31, page 234. Year: 1873.

27. IBID.: chancery court minute book 4, page 432. See, also, reference to this matter in a Puckett deed, recorded in deed book 91, page 325. S. W. Puckett's widow, Judith (Lowry) Puckett was awarded her homestead, 52 acres, including the dwelling and Butler graveyard and her adjoining dower, 79 acres, in the Puckett estate in 1908. IBID.: county court minute book 27, page 210.

28. Cited in an article written by Linda J. Higgins, which appeared in THE JACKSON SUN, July 15, 1990.

William Doak, born June 27, 1789 in North Carolina [1], was living in Middle Tennessee when he served in a company of Tennessee mounted gunmen during the War of 1812. He was married to Jane Wilson (July 17, 1787-Sept. 17, 1841). They moved into Madison County in its first wave of settlers, establishing a farm adjacent to what became Brown's Methodist Church. Doak acquired several tracts of land by means of which he became the owner of several hundred acres of land, the most of it located in Civil District 14. The Doaks were members of Brown's Methodist Episcopal Church, South and several of them were buried in its burial ground. William Doak died January 17, 1849.

William and Jane (Wilson) Doak had children:[2]

l. Lucretia Doak, born December 21, 1812;

2. Alfred William Doak, born August 27, 1814; he bought land locally in 1837 and sold out two years later; [3]

3. Herrian Doak, born February 14, 1816.

4. Gibson Doak, born November 2, 1817; died December 26, 1845.

5. Amanda Alvira Doak, born September 5, 1819.

6. John Brown Doak, born May 24, 1823; died November 18, 1845.

7. Thomas Jefferson Doak, born May 5, 1825; died Jan. 8, 1860, unmarried.

8. Mary Jane Doak, born November 24, 1826.

9. William Doak, born December 29, 1828; died January 27, 1846.

10. Eunice Ann Doak, born July 10, 1830; married Rufus Mortimer Mason; for whose family, see the Mason family data in this book.

Mary Jane Doak (November 24, 1826-May 16, 1906) was married to John Franklin Clark (1822-June 19, 1867), January 30, 1849 (a few days after her father's death), who was a son of Jonas Clark, "born in Maryland in 1759; and went to North Carolina at an early age. He volunteered in the Revolutionary War, when eighteen years of age and served four years /militiaman, Salisbury District/. He afterward drew a pension of $220 per year, for his services. He came to Tennessee in 1830. His wife, whose maiden name was Ann Alexander, was born in North Carolina, in 1787, and was Jonas Clark's third wife. /They were married in Mecklenburg Co. , March 31, 1818. ! She and her husband were members of the Presbyterian Church and belonged to the Steel Creek congregation. The father died in /Madison County in/ 1845 and his wife in 1858." [4]

In April of 1827, Jonas Clark, then living in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, deeded to his sons, John Franklin Clark and Edwin Alexander Clark, 480 acres in Madison County, part of a 750 acre grant to him, in S. D. 9, Range 2, Section 10 (Grant #22355), dated August 10, 1824. John Rudesell was-to keep this land in trust for the younger Clarks.[5]

This large tract of ground lay to the west and south of what became Claybrook. In March of 1850, the younger Clarks sold this 480 acres to Joseph Fogg (died 1859) for $3000; being in the southeast corner of the original 750 acre tract.[6]

Mary Jane Doak and her husband, John F. Clark, inherited the 717 acre Russell Goodrich tract and went to live upon it and on January 21, 1852, they made over a one-third interest in this tract, on which they were then living, to his brother, Edwin A. Clark, along with seventeen slaves.[7] The Clarks sold this tract and one other to Robert W. Hall in 1861.[8]

After his death in June 1867 John F. Clark's estate was administered by Rufus M. Mason, who had married Clark's youngest sister-in-law, Eunice.[9] Their children were Ann, Edwin, Thomas, Susan, Mary Elizabeth Jane (Lizzie, who was blind) and John Harvey Clark.

Major Edwin Alexander Clark (January 21, 1826-May 8, 1900) was raised "on a farm and at the age of fifteen left home and began clerking for $60 per annum. With the exception of ten months, spent in the Mexican war /Co. F, Second Tennessee Infantry Regiment, May 1846; medical discharge, April 1847/, he clerked until 1849, but with increased wages, after the first year. Some time after the close of the Mexican war, he went to California, where he remained until 1851. In 1852 he married Martha Childress of Springfield, Tenn., daughter of George and Martha (Murdoch) Childress." She was born January 1, 1835 and died August 7, 1869. In May of 1881, Major Clark "married Mary M. Black of Henderson County. She was born in 1843." Major Clark and his brother "engaged in the mercantile business at Cotton Grove, about 1852 and continued the same for six years." [10] He then spent four years doing business at different points. In 1862, as captain, and S. D. Barnett as first lieutenant, assisted in the organization of the Fifty-first Tennessee Regiment and Clark was elected major. He was captured at Fort Donelson and was exchanged sometime later. "On account of physical disability, he was unable to engage longer in the service and returned home and resumed mercantile business at Spring Creek, in partnership with Herron & Mason, continuing five years. The following two years were spent in farming and he then came to Jackson and began speculating in cotton," losing money thereby. He clerked for a while, served as county tax collector, 1874-1875; county court clerk, 1878-1886. Clark was a Democrat and member of the Presbyterian Church. He died in Louisville, Kentucky. Both husband and wife are buried in Brown's Methodist Cemetery.[11]

REFERENCES

1. U.S. Census, 1880, June 22, Madison Co., C.D. 14, page 309, Mary J. Clark's parents' birth state given as North Carolina.

2. Paternity and birth records of the Doaks are from an old Doak register, owned by Alliene (Mason) Key of Jackson, Tennessee, as copied by Jonathan Smith, July 23, 1993. Other data is from Doak tombstones at Brown's Church Cemetery, copied by him, May 10, 1993, and public records of Madison County.

3. Madison Co.: deed book 5, page 463. Alfred W. Doak bought 102.5 acres, Nov. 25, 1837 and sold the same land, January 12, 1839 (deed book 6, page 285).

4. Weston A. Goodspeed, HISTORY OF TENNESSEE, Madison County (Nashville, 1887), pages 852-853. "E. A. Clark." Hereafter cited as Goodspeed, Madison Co., 1887.

5. Madison Co.: deed book 2, page 4. Deed executed April 24, 1827 and recorded March 27, 1828. Land Grant #22355, to Jonas Clark, from the State of Tennessee, for 750 acres, entry #26, December 7, 1820; surveyed March 1, 1824 and granted to Clark, August 10, 1824; recorded August 20, 1824. General Land Grant Book Y, page 283.

6. Madison Co.: deed book 13, page 582. Deed executed March 4, 1850 and recorded June 28, 1850. John L. Brown acted as attorney for minor, Edwin A. Clark in this transaction.

7. IBID.: deed book 15, page 483. Deed recorded March 17, 1852.

8. IBID.: deed book 23, pages 43, 45. Deeds recorded May 12, May 16, 1861, respectively.

9. IBID.: county court minute book 10, pages 401, 593.

10. IBID.: deed book 19, page 741. The Clarks sold this lot (#7) and store in Cotton Grove to R. B. and S. D. Barnett, Feb. 9, 1851 (deed recorded August 27, 1857).

11. Goodspeed, Madison Co., 1887, pages 852-853. "E. A. Clark. "W. H. Childress as a token of love, donated to her and her children, John Bell Clark, Edwin Berry Clark and Anna Clark, 75 acres of Madison County land. (Deed book 44, page 106).

Colonel Martin Key (October 16, 1780-December 17, 1857), native of Albemarle County, Virginia, who with his wife, Judith, were founders of the estimable Key family of Madison County. He was one of the several children of Tandy Key (born October 29, 1754) and Mildred Perkins; a grandson namesake of Martin Key, successful planter of Albemarle County.[1]

Colonel Key married Judith Patterson (January 2, 1787-February 16, 1841) of Buckingham County, Virginia. They moved to Rutherford County in Middle Tennessee but sold out there in May of 1842 and moved to Madison County.[2] In July of 1840, Colonel Key bought for $5200 some 555 acres, a portion of the Joseph Phillips' land grant for 2500 acres (founded on entry #864). Some 250 acres on the north side of this purchase Key deeded to his son, Walter T. Key to whom he was financially obligated.[3]

Colonel Key built a substantial log house on the part of the tract that he and Judith settled and Walter Key built a similarly constructed house to the north on the part of this tract that he had acquired from his father. In December of 1857, the colonel drew up his LWT in which he left his home tract to a son, Martin Bibb Key (September 1, 1829-August 18, 1873).[4]

Martin Bibb Key married Violet Puckett, in Madison County, February 10, 1853. In the agricultural schedule for the 1860 U.S. census, Key was credited with 100 improved acres, 140 unimproved, with a total valuation of $3000. He had raised enough cotton in the last growing season to produce ten bales of it for market. He had several slaves houses in cabins near the homeplace.

The children of Martin B. and Violet (Puckett)Key:

l. William Martin (Willie) Key (December 9, 1853-March 11, 1920); married Mary A. (Mamie) Huntington, September 13, 1881; no children.

2. John Patterson Key (February 11, 1855-February 19, 1936); married Susan Frances Pearson, Jan. 9, 1879; four children.

3. Jesse Ray Key (March 19, 1858-July 16, 1890); married Sarah -Sallie- Catherine Blackmon (1860-1954), April 12, 1881; eight children.

4. David L. Key (December 1859-March ll, 1926); married Ida May Pearson, Oct. 29, 1885; no children.

5. Charles (Charley) Key (November 13, 1869-October 15, 1935); married Mary Dean Mason, April 16, 1893; no children.

6. Martin Bibb Key (April 19, 1874-August 9, 1952), born posthumously; married Mary Elizabeth Thompson, December 10, 1902; one son and raised a niece of Mary E. Key.

In January of 1898, Charles and Dean Key bought out the other heirs, purchasing their parents' homestead, 205 acres, for $1900.[5] This remained their homeplace until their respective deaths. Charley Key was a well-known cotton farmer and had been associated with the cotton co-op movement since 1923, serving as its sometime president. He was also a county magistrate. In her LWT, Dean Key devised this homeplace to a niece, Beulah Dean Pearson Sneed,[6] who with her husband, Earnest D. Sneed and son, Kenneth D. Sneed, moved onto the old Key homestead in 1947. The latter man still owns and lives upon this historic homeplace. At Charley Key's death, it was remarked that he had "passed away in the house in which he was born and which had been in the Key family for 95 years /1840/."[7]

David L. (Dave) Key settled on a part of the Key tract, just to the west of his brother, Charley. He also acquired a 709 acre tract, part of the old Walter T. Key-Hartmus plantation.[8] He and his wife owned and operated one of the most prosperous farms in this locality. This farm was left to the sons of John Patterson Key.[9]

Walter Tandy Key (April 7, 1810-Movember 18, 1877), son of Colonel Martin and Judith Key, married Eliza A. Berry in Rutherford County, September 1, 1840; he developed his plantation, to the north of his father's home tract; eventually built there a two-story frame residence, seat of his plantation called "Gatewood. " By 1860 he claimed 300 acres improved and 400 acres unimproved valued at ten thousand dollars. In the last growing season he had raised enough cotton to sell 40 bales of it on the market. Known as a "model farmer" Key died after a long illness in November of 1877 [10], leaving a surviving child, Mary Patti Key (died April 2, 1900), wife of Major Thomas H. Hartmus (died March 23, 1903, aged 69 years). The Hartmuses were married June 8, 1871 and lived thereafter in considerable style. They lived for years in Memphis and would return for visits to their home in rural Madison County. Their surviving child, Thomas Hartmus (Feb. 13, 1879-May 8, 1948) and his wife, Mary Alexander Hartmus, mortgaged the old Key-Hartmus estate, some 750 acres, to People's Savings Bank in 1921 and a kinsman, David L. Key, bought the entire tract from the Bank.[11] Hartmus had been forced to mortgage and then lose this estate when he speculated disastrously on the cotton market. He lived in Jackson during his latter years. He and his wife had no children.

James C. "Jimmy" Pearson had operated a general store in Claybrook for several years but moved with his family into Jackson and remained there for several years before returning to the rural homeplace and store at Claybrook. Two local men, John R. (Bob) McCallum and Martin B. Key decided to open a store to help fill this void and bought from Jimmy Pearson a 65 acres parcel, some of it fronting the Jackson-Lexington Road and a 35 acre tract adjoining it to the southeast, On April 29, 1899.[12] On a lot on the main road they kept a little store, chiefly a drygoods establishment for several years. Most of their business ledgers have survived [13], serving as social-economic documents, casting insight into the operation of small rural mercantile businesses of that era.

The items most frequently bought in this store were sugar, coffee, smoking tobacco, snuff, sewing thread and small meats. These merchants bought oil stored in big drums from Standard Oil Company. It was before the time of telephones in every home. The "community phone" in the McCallum-Key store was used mostly for necessary reasons. The store's telephone bill for August 1900 was $2.60; in July 1901, $28.80; January 1902, $4.15. Had one walked into one of these country stores, the "sight" would be markedly different from today's supermarkets and convenience stores. On long shelves would be found dishes, drugs, books and drygoods. Customers had an assortment of patented and other drugs to buy for the many real and imagined ailments that afflicted them, including paregoric, rhubarb, turpentine, calomel, sassafras, asafetida and opium mixture. In the fabric line would be ginghams, Irish linen, calico, cambrick, muslin and nankeen. Coffee, flour, sugar and pickles were kept in big barrels. Guns, saddles, harnesses, leather items, rope, cotton bagging, boots, nails, glassware, a multitude of tools — all these and more were kept on the shelves, counters, racks and in drawers. The place would likely smell strongly of an odd mixture of the prevailing odors produced by these store-bought goods.

The merchant usually had to be content with allowing most of his regular customers long-time credit, perhaps as much as twelve months. This allowed such time for a customer to borrow towards his crop, after the fall harvest and marketing, "settling" with the merchant. Many a merchant "went under," failed, sinking in an ocean of unpaid, partially-paid customer accounts. Bob McCallum sold his interest in this store to his partner, with the two tracts they had bought from Jimmy Pearson, on January 19, 1903,[14] for $3200. Key continued in business for several more months but he disliked

the, confinement of store-keeping, thought that his health would be better if he returned to farming, which he did. Among the items these men had sold among their customers, according to their ledgers were:

Located a few miles southeast of Claybrook, in the hills and hollows of Henderson County, off the Jackson-Lexington Road, was a favorite vacation place called CRAWFORD SPRINGS. There, in high summer, Jacksonians and some persons and families from other parts of Madison County gathered to enjoy a rustic holiday, staying in small cabins or tents. There was a log pavillion where dances were held. The big annual event, however, at the springs was the fox-hunting meet, the oldest having been the Forked Deer Red Fox Club. Fancy dressed men and women (in later years) rode their horses, whooping and hollering, with horns blaring, hounds chasing foxes up and down the hills in this locality, sometimes proving a nuisance to local farmfolk who tolerated this temporary hullabaloo for the money "the spenders" brought with them to the little country stores and chance for odd jobs.

In 1907 Charley Key raised a shed at the springs, with the help of Henry Laws. In August, that year, he went into Jackson to purchase a stove and supplies for a small "lodge" and screened-in dining area that he and his wife operated during the season. They moved out there August 24 and remained while the crowds vacationed there.[15] They hired local women to prepare the meals. The Keys kept up this seasonal enterprise for many years.

Most of this area, including the old encampment area has been impounded in recent years for a lake, the exclusive domain of persons owning a small number of luxury residences on its shores. Down one hollow, though, by a clear feeder stream may still be found a "tombstone" (moved now from its original location), raised in appreciation to a hound dog: S. I. Biffle's Ch. /Champion/ May Raider, killed by car while running a fox at August 1929 meet.[16]

This springs eventually closed, fashions in vacationing and social shenanigans having changed.

Late in the 1880s a master carpenter, a house and barn builder, appeared in the Claybrook community; his name was N. R. H. Burnett. The progressive farmers there had him build huge houses, two-story frames affairs that were indeed impressive! He built large, state-of-the-art barns for Charley and David Key, used for the housing of cattle, horses and mules; storing hay and cribbed corn and to protect some farm implements. These farmers loved fine-looking horses, bred-well cattle, whose owners sometimes housed them almost as well as they did their own families.

Burnett worked in and out of this area for years; his biggest surge of building houses was about 1905. Prospering, the farmers/planters built big, two-story frame houses all over the community; a number of these fine rural dwellings are also standing. Burnett improved, side-boarded the comfortable residence of Charley and Dean Key that was built in 1840. Childless, they allowed Burnett to add a small bedroom onto the west side

of their house, which room opened onto the back porch. He lived and boarded with the Keys for a long time. Eventually, as quietly as he had come into this locality, he left, leaving behind him numerous houses and a few barns as monuments to his carpentry skills.

REFERENCES

1. THE VIRGINIA GENEALOGIST, volume 8, #4, Oct.-Dec. 1964, page 177. Also, ALBEMARLE IN VIRGINIA, by Edgar Woods (Charlottesville, 1901), page 245.

2. Rutherford Co.: deed book Z, page 469. Martin Key to Preston Davis, 140 acres on the west fork of Stone's River, May 7, 1842; recorded Aug. 25, 1842.

3. Madison Co.: deed book 8, pages 272-273. Martin Key bought this land in 1840 but only secured a firm title for the 555 acres from John Childress late in 1847. See, deed book 11, page 560. Joseph Phillips received a land grant for 2500 acres, September 13, 1823; recorded Jan. 27, 1824; entry #864 dated November 24, 1821; surveyed April 12, 1822. S. D. 9, Ranges 1-2, Section 10. Began at the northeast corner of entry #863 in Phillips' name for 348 acres, east to a stake on line of Russell Goodrich, entry #2 and south with this line /now Matheny Road/ to entry #326, John Bingham, to a stake on the east line of Jonas Clark's land.

4. IBID.: will book 7, page 8. LWT, Martin Key, executed Dec. 16, 1857; proven January 1857.

5. IBID.: deed book 60, page 321. Deed executed Jan. 10, 1898 and recorded March 18, 1901.

6. IBID.: will book E, page 333. LWT, Dean Key, executed March 31, 1938 and proven July 30, 1943. Mrs. Sneed was obligated to pay bequests made to the other legatees in Mrs. Key's LWT, which she and her husband did. They sold their Claybrook property, the old Jimmy Pearson homeplace to J. T. and Jeannette Johnson, June 4, 1946, retaining the rents for 1946 as they had since Mrs. Key's demise. (Deed book 145, page 173)

7. THE JACKSON SUN, October 16, 1935.

8. See, Madison Co. deed book 98, page 173; 106, page 102. Deeds recordered Nov. 2, 1921 and Feb. 14, 1925, respectively.

9. IBID.: will book C, page 400. LWT, D. L. Key, executed March 1911; proven April 9, 1926.

10. WHIG-TRIBUNE, Jackson, November 23, 1877. Key left his estate to his widow and their child, Mary Patti Key Hartmus. LWT, W. T. Key, executed Oct. 19, 1877, proven March 1878. (will book A, page 257)

11. Madison Co.: deed book 98, page 173.

12. IBID.: deed book 58, page 13. Deed recorded June 7, 1899.

13. These ledgers were donated to the Mississippi Valley Collection, Memphis State University Library, by Miss Elizabeth Boren of Jackson. They cover ledgers:

Ledgers:
August 20, 1900-April 12, 1901
April 13, 1901-November 4, 1901
November 4, 1901-July 19, 1902
July 21, 1902-April 15, 1903
April 15, 1903-October 7, 1903

14. Madison Co.: deed book 63, page 359. Deed recorded April 12, 1903.

15. Diary, 1906-1907, Charley Key, entries March 10, 1906; August 18, 21, 23, 24, 1907. Diary-owned by K. D. Sneed, 1993.

16. Tombstone read by the author at this location, March 1993.

From an old book, THE MARRIED LADY'S COMPANION OR POOR MAN'S FRIEND, by Samuel K. Jennings; once the property of Judith, wife of Colonel Martin Key.

Peter McCallum and his wife, Sarah McCallum (February 23, 1793-May 23, 1857), native North Carolinians, lived near Beech Bluff in Madison County. Among other local land purchases he made was one for 290 acres in Surveyor's District 9, Range 2, Sections 8-9 on September 28, 1830.[1] He offered his plantation for sale in the summer of 1833, which then amounted to 370 acres, of which 125 acres were cleared; there was a spring on the property and a saw and grist mill.[2] He seems to have kept the tract, though.

Peter McCallum, who seems to have preferred the older rendering of his surname, McCollum, died in 1834, leaving his widow and three children, including two young sons, whose brother-in-law, William C. Murchison, became their guardian in May of 1837.[3] Sarah McCallum left a comfortable estate to her children, Mary L. Murchison, Robert D. McCallum and Peter McCallum.[4] (Mary L. McCallum married William C. Murchison.)

Robert Duncan McCallum (February 27, 1828-October 4, 1907) was never married and made his home with the family of his brother, Peter McCallum (March 31, 1830-August 5, 1882), who married, January 28, 1854, to Roxanne Estes (Jan. 13, 1831-June 22, 1892), a daughter of Sam Estes and Penelope (Evans) Estes (1810-1894), the latter of whom married after her first husband's death, to John Tomlinson. The combined McCallum estate amounted to 1213 acres in 1889.[5]

The children of Peter and Roxanne (Estes) McCallum:[6]

l. John Robert (Bob) McCallum (Jan. 5, 1855-March 8, 1937), married Mamie Pearson (1858-1932); their only child, Ernestine, died in infancy. They lived for years near Claybrook.

2. Duncan E. McCallum (March 31, 1858-Sept. 18, 1896), a graduate of Vanderbilt University (1884), a physician who lived near Paducah, Kentucky.

3. Francis Pope McCallum (called Joseph in the August 29, 1860 census) (July 13, 1860-November 24, 1903), Tennessee State Representative, 1901-1903

(continued on page 53)

[Page 52 is Key Family Graveyard]

4. Peter Lee McCallum (August 13, 1863-February 9, 1864).

5. Joseph Fenner McCallum, a twin (August 7, 1867-March 1, 1954). Farmer. The Fenner McCallum homeplace, an attractive, two-story frame house (remodeled about 1906), stood at the southwest corner of the Cotton Grove-Brown's Church Road near Claybrook. Fenner McCallum married (1) Callie McHaney and had one child, Eva Ann who married Leroy Croom; (2) Katherine DuBois and had two children, Katherine Matilda McCallum, wife of William Ralph Winslow; Joseph Fenner McCallum, Jr.

6. Virginia Ann McCallum, a twin (August 7, 1867-1950), married Sidney John Everett.

REFERENCES

l. Madison Co.: deed book 2, page 602. Deed recorded February 28, 1830.

2. SOUTHERN STATESMAN, Jackson, July 13, 1833.

3. Madison Co.: county court minute book 4, page 168. Administration on the estate of Peter McCallum was granted to one Duncan McCallum, November 3, 1834. IBID. , page 528. May 1837, guardianship of Murchison for Robert and Peter McCallum.

4. IBID.: will book 6, page 488. LWT, Sarah D. McCallum, executed June 9, 1855 and proven August 1857.

5. IBID.: deed book 48, page 91. Deed recorded May 15, 1890.

6. From the family records of Katherine (McCallum) Winslow, Madison County, Tennessee, shared with the author, March 18, 1993.

Rufus Mortimer Mason was born July 21, 1818 in Essex County, New York; one of the ten children of George Mason (1790-1865) and his first wife, Lydia (Hathaway) Mason (1792-1839); both parents were natives of Massachusetts, were there married but moved into New York State in 1816. The father, a farmer by vocation, married Wealthy Cole as his second wife. R. M. Mason was raised "to the vocation of farming and when twenty-one years of age began traveling, locating finally in Ohio where he attended school the better part of three years. He then came to Tennessee and located at Spring Creek, Madison County and taught school until 1847 when he began merchandizin in partnership with J. F. Clark. In 1851 he and his brother-in-law /Thomas J. Doak/ purchased a farm, upon which he located. The most of the time from 1855 to 1858 he taught school; then remained on the farm until 1861 and then enlisted to help erect Fort Pillow. He was finally appointed to the secret service by Gen. /Pierre Gustave/ Beauregard but returned home in 1862 and took no further part in the war."[1]

R. M. Mason, a gregarious person, took "all the degrees of Masonry, including the commandery degree. From 1865 to 1871 he merchandized at Spring Creek" but afterwards farmed exclusively. He was for years a member of the Madison County quarterly court, an elected justice of the peace for Civil District 12. He affiliated with the Democratic Party.[2] He joined Mt. Carmel Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in July 1854, near Spring Creek, being one of its faithful laymen, a pillar of the congregation, for decades.

R. M. Mason was married to Eunice Ann Doak (July 10, 1830-June 25, 1880), on October 8, 1850, a daughter of William and Jane (Wilson) Doak of Madison County. They boarded for a while with Elizabeth Barnett, a widow, who lived just northeast of what became Claybrook, but soon settled on a large farm located about two and a half miles southeast of Spring Creek — their home-
 

place that they called "Forest Grove," on a county road later known as Doak Mason Road. Although his wife was fated to predecease him, in June of 1877, Mason deeded this homestead of some 600 acres to his wife, in her own right as "a comfortable home and support" for her.[3] He also owned tracts of land in Civil Districts 12, 13 and 14. However, his wife died before he did, from tuberculosis. Their residence was a large, single-story loghouse which they later had weatherboarded and a gallery (porch) built around most of the house. In 1905-1906, after their son, Doak Mason, had acquired much of the old homeplace, a large, two-story frame addition, an "L", was added on the east side of the house. It was for many years the comfortable homeplace for several generations of the Mason family.

R. M. Mason died April 26, 1889. He, his wife and others of their family are buried in the old Brown's Church Cemetery.

The Mason children:

l. Adelia Ann Mason (August 13, 1851-May 18, 1854).

2. George William Mason (Aug. 31, 1853), married Lucie Senter, May 1, 1878.

3. Emma Jane Mason (June 6, 1855-Sept. 4, 1906), married (1) Wyatt Rone, May 27, 1880, s. p.; (2) James Christopher Pearson, Nov. 18, 1884, three children.

4. John Mortimer Mason (Aug. 25, 1857), married Mollie Hilliard, Oct. 25, 1881.

5. Ella Lulu Mason (Feb. 21, 1860-Sept. 19, 1880) , unmarried.

6. Lydia Adelia Mason (Jan. 13, 1862-Aug. 15, 1884), married James Christopher Pearson as his first wife, May 25, 1882; one child.

7. Minnie Eunice Mason (March 19, 1865-April 4, 1884).

8. Mary Dean Mason (Feb. 16, 1867-July 26, 1943), married Charles (Charley) Key, April 16, 1893; no children.

9. Thomas Doak Mason (Aug. 15, 1869-Nov. 24, 1954), married Mittie Donnell (Nov. 6, 1868-Dec. 8, 1949), December 13, 1893, four children.

REFERENCES

l. Weston A. Goodspeed, HISTORY OF TENNESSEE, Madison County (Nashville, 1887), page 884. "R. M. Mason."

2. IBID.

3. Madison Co.: deed book 34, page 374. Executed June 17, 1877, recorded the same date.

4. The Rufus M. Mason family Bible (Cincinnati, 1851), later owned by Alliene (Mason) Key (born October 6, 1897), wife of Eugene H. Key, and the data contained therein were copied in her Jackson, Tennessee residence, by the author, July 23, 1993. Mrs. Key was the oldest child of Thomas Doak Mason.

William Pearson was born in Anson County, North Carolina, June 1, 1810; one of the several children of John and Penelope (Taylor) Pearson; the father descended from thrifty, industrious Quaker folk, a family whose origins have been reliably traced to Cumbria in northwestern England. Billy Pearson, as he was more familiarly known, had migrated from his native Carolina to the Red Mound/Parker's Cross Roads area of Henderson County, Tennessee in 1834, bringing his wife, Eliza (Williams) Pearson (Feb. 15, 1811-July 27, 1873) and their two young sons, Jonathan Dudley Pearson and John Solomon Pearson, the latter an infant, with him. There, amid numerous Pearson, Williams, Flake, Kirby and other kindred, Billy and Eliza Pearson would live, "well-fixed" as the old expression went — well off financially.[1]

By 1850 Pearson cultivated about three hundred of his 700 acre plantation on which he raised cotton. He raised much corn, oats and wheat. Large herds of cattle roamed his fields as well as numerous other livestock. Barns, sheds and cribs were scattered about the place as were several slave cabins.

During the 1850s Pearson enlarged his landholdings to about 2000 acres, five hundred of which he planted in the usual area crops but he had also begun to raise tobacco. He was the second largest recorded slave owner in the county in 1860, some forty servants, residing in seven cabins. His real estate was given a cash value of $10,500 and his personalty, including bond servants, was valued at $52,700. He was a progressive farmer, a member of the county's agricultural and mechanical society.

Having lost one son, "Little Billy" Pearson (April 8, 1844-June 22, 1864), a Confederate soldier, in the fighting around Atlanta, Georgia during the Civil War, the Pearsons resolved to pick-up stakes and move to a fertile farm country in Madison County, which they did in 1865 — to the old Russell Goodrich tract of 744 acres, on which the parents and the two older sons settled and built their residences; they also bought the 318 acre Hamlet tract on the south side of the home farm. Three years later, Billy Pearson acquired much of the old Butler plantation north of Claybrook. The Pearsons took relish in recalling that the Butler estate, involving some of the most desirable farming land in the area, had been sold through chancery action; the subdivided tracts sold high for the time, especially in the depressed economic situation right after the war. The Pearson men bought lot 4, 295 acres for about $4200, payable by installment. Evidently there was the feeling that they wouldn't be able to make these payments and would have to default. The sharpies didn't know what they were dealing with when it came to Pearson thrift. The payment was made and the Pearsons have been laughing ever since.[2]

Beginning about 1868 the Pearsons took a major role in developing the village of Claybrook, established as it was on their land, around the Jackson-Lexington stage road in northeastern Madison County. They offered encouragement to others to settle among them, resulting in a notably prosperous rural community

Billy Pearson died October 12, 1878. Whatever may have been his share of shortcomings, his life stood as an example of what one encomium noted about him, "Thrifty and liberal, his energy and good fortune were blessings through /his/ life."[3]

Jonathan Dudley Pearson (January 10, 1831-April 15, 1899), usually addressed as Dudley, settled on the western section of the Pearson lands at Claybrook, with his wife, Rebecca Cornelia (Holland) Pearson (1833-1885); he was elected as a magistrate from Civil District 12 and was so commissioned October 27, 1870 and was repeatedly elected to this office for years. He was chosen the temporary chairman of the county court, September 18, 1882; elected by his

magisterial peers as chairman for a full term, January 1, 1883 and served continuously until January 4, 1886. He was elected as a floterial Representative from Madison-Henderson counties, to serve in the 45th General Assembly, January 1887; as a Representative from Madison County, 4th General Assembly, 1889, 1890; again, in the 47th General Assembly, 1891.

Dudley Pearson had several children, one of whom, James C. "Jimmy" Pearson (1857-1919) was particularly active in the life of the Claybrook community as a church and political leader and as a successful rural merchant and postmaster. A grandson of Dudley and Cornelia Pearson, Herron Carney Pearson (1890-1953), was a distinguished attorney of Jackson and served as a Representative in three Congresses, 1935-1943.

John Solomon Pearson (September 7, 1833-November 18, 1902) was a quiet, industrious farmer in Claybrook, actively interested in the promotion of whatever advanced his community. He and his wife, Martha Jane (Olive) Pearson (18411918) had a large family, most of whom lived on their Claybrook farms and one of their sons, Dudley H. Pearson (1868-1940) was for generations a respected physician in this locality. A grandson, William Neely Key (1880-1963), was a notably capable attorney of Jackson and strong lay leader of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in that city.

Mary Penelope Pearson (January 4, 1841-August 15, 1927), a daughter of Billy and Eliza Pearson, married Thomas F. Berry (1833-1874); after his death she remarried, to John C. Haley and moved to Williamson County in Middle Tennessee; she had no children.

Tom Berry, a brother of Walter T. Key's wife, Eliza Ann, had come to Madison County from Middle Tennessee about 1857, where he had sold a 302 acre farm in Williamson County that same year [4]; he had married Annis Vaughn, Feb. 4, 1856. She died childless and he married Mary Pearson in 1870. He bought from James Weir, for $2000, a 100 acre tract located on the east and north side of the Jackson-Lexington Road, October 18, 1858 [5] and established a home upon it. Prospering, with his evident sound farm managerial skill, he eventually acquired a 735 acre holding, which his widow sold variously after his death, part of which, including the Berry residence, was sold to J. P. Hill in 1908 which place remained in his family until bought by Lloyd Mays early in 1959. This substantial log house was a local landmark for years. The new Mays residence was built over the site of the older dwelling.

Another daughter of Billy and Eliza Pearson, Susan Elizabeth (Sue) Pearson (January 12, 1847-January 8, 1917), a lovely little woman, was married to John G. Woolfolk (1845-1906), November 5, 1868. He was one of the children of Dr. Vivian Brodus Woolfolk and wife, Mary; member of a family that had settled early in the Cotton Grove neighborhood. John and Sue Woolfolk built a house on the 153 acre tract given to her by her father, just north of Claybrook. It was destroyed, reportedly by an incendiary, June 7, 1873 — all its contents being reported lost.[6] They built back a frame house on this site, on their farm called "Walnut Flat" for many years.[7] In her LWT, Sue (Pearson) Woolfolk left her homeplace to her son, William Brodus Woolfolk and made generous bequests to her other children, including daughters who intermarried with members of the Donnell, Simpson and Eubank families.

REFERENCES

l. The history of the Claybrook Pearsons has been published in A GENEALOGICAL MEMOIR: PETER AND RACHEL PEARSON OF NANSEMOND COUNTY, VIRGINIA, by Jonathan K. T. Smith (Jackson, l993).

2. The story of how the land sharpied thought they might outsmart

the Pearsons remained "current" in the Pearson family for many years. Billy Pearson's niece, Dora (Pearson) Davis of Lexington, Tennessee, told the author this story that she had heard from her elders. Conversation, the author with Dora Lillian (Pearson) Davis, born in 1874, in her Lexington residence, November 1955.

3. THE JACKSON SUN, November 1, 1878.

4. RutherfOrd Co., Tenn.: deed book 9, page 157.

5. Madison Co.: deed book 27, page 122. Deed recorded July 14, 1869.

6. WHIG-TRIBUNE, JacksOn, June 14, 1873.

7. TENNESSEE AGRICULTURE: A CENTURY FARMS PERSPECTIVE, text by Carroll Van West, Tennessee Department of Agriculture (Nashville, 1986), page 301. Woolfolk farm, "Walnut Flat. "

Pearson Family Graveyard

Joseph John (Jack) Perdue, f or several years a Claybrook merchant, was born in Tennessee, April 1833; a son of Isaac Perdue and Sarah (Davis) Perdue. (Oftentimes this surname is spelled Pardue.) The Perdues moved to Mississippi in 1847. In 1861, Jack Perdue returned to Tennessee and in March 1862 enlisted in Co. L, 6th Tenn. Infantry Regiment, CSA. He also served as a captain on Braxton Bragg's staff.[1] He farmed after the war until about 1879 he opened a store in Claybrook. From William Pearson and sons, March 1875, he bought a small lot just east of E. M. Betts, on the Jackson-Lexington Road.[2] He sold some of this acreage to J. H. Western in July of 1877.[3]

Jack Perdue married Elizabeth Catherine (Brown), widow of Nathan Moore (whom she had married September 4, 1848; a daughter of Adam and Aquilla Brown of the Brown's Church community), May 7, 1861. Their children were Rosa and Laura Perdue. Elizabeth Perdue, born January 14, 1830, died June 25, 1898.

Jack Perdue later lived in Middle Tennessee.

REFERENCES

l. Weston A. Goodspeed, HISTORY OF TENNESSEE, Madison County (Nashville, 1887), page 893. "J. J. Perdue." Also, Compiled Military Service Record, CSA, Tenn., for J. J. Perdue.

2. Madison Co.: deed book 35, page 444. Deed recorded February 2, 1878.

3. IBID.: deed book 35, page 445. Deed executed July 14, 1877 and it was recorded February 8, 1878.

This surname is pronounced as

Frederick Replogle (August 15, 1782-September 16, 1857), native of Pennsylvania, was one of the pioneer citizens of Madison County. There, July 24, 1832, he bought from Charles Chamberlin, for $312, a small tract of 48 acres.[1] He acquired other land adjoining this acreage, just south and southwest of what became Claybrook.

In his LWT, Replogle devised his lands to his wife, Catherine (Kate), who was born about 1787, also in Pennsylvania.[2] After her demise, their children sold the 300 acre farm in Madison County for $5.15 an acre; and the 80 acre tract in Henderson County for $6.10 an acre, of the Replogle farmstead, to one of the sons, Frederick A. Replogle (1823-1898); a transaction confirmed by the county court, February 4, 1869.[3]

REFERENCES

l. Madison Co: deed book 3, page 241. Deed recorded March 26, 1833; acreage taken off the northeast corner of the Chamberlin home tract.

2. IBID.: will book 6, page 511. LWT, Frederick Replogle, executed June 12, 1857; proven October 1857.

3. IBID.: deed book 29, page 106. Frederick A. Replogle, Henry V. R. Replogle, Phillip N. Replogle, Nancy Ann Replogle and husband, Wiley T. Harris (married locally in 1845) v Benjamin R. Replogle, Catherine Replogle, Lou Ann Replogle, Mary Chamberlin, Catherine Cupp, Elizabeth Evans, Susan Replogle and husband, Micajah Keith (married locally in 1832); to sell the Replogle family lands. Deed recorded July 24, 1871. Frederick A. Replogle and wife, Nancy (Harris) Replogle; Phillip Replogle and wife, Mary (House) Replogle remained in the Claybrook vicinity and raised large families.

Erasmus Darwin Sneed (August 8, 1849-January 1, 1896) was a native of Canton, Mississippi, one of the children of Albert Sneed and Maria (Bullock) Sneed, who moved from Mississippi to Madison County in 1848.[1] Although raised on a farm he preferred keeping a general store which he did in Mississippi but in 1873 moved to Claybrook where he kept a general store owned by his brother, Richard A. Sneed (who borrowed from Tom Berry to establish this store). He didn't do well in this "venture" and the store was sold to J. D. Pearson in November of 1874, in trust for Berry's widow, Mary.[2]

The Sneeds lived in Jackson for a while but farmed several years. E. D. Sneed moved to Oklahoma (then Indian Territory) where he died. Erasmus D. Sneed married Alice Ragland Lanier (May 17, 1856-February 13, 1891) in 1877; one of the daughters of Dr. John Hicks Lanier of Civil District 12. Their children:

l. Richard Sneed (February 20, 1878-November 30, 1897).

2. Alice Sneed (born December 7, 1879; died in childhood).

3. Fanny

4. Lavinia Sneed (1881-1968), married, July 29, 1903, John J. Pulliam of "Woodlawn" in LaGrange, Tennessee. One son, Junius Pulliam, born July 15, 1906; married Margaret Hedrick, March 23, 1935; no children.

5. Katherine Lanier Sneed (June 1885-Sept. 15, 1972), founder of the Valdosta College of Music, Georgia; unmarried.

6. Emma D. Sneed (March 24, 1886-Oct. 25, 1890).

7. Earnest Darwin Sneed (December 26, 1889-July 10, 1949), who married Beulah Dean Pearson; one son, Kenneth D. Sneed, Claybrook, Tennessee.

Erasmus D. Sneed's brother, Richard Alexander Sneed (August 28, 1845-March 15, 1936), served in the Mississippi Volunteer Infantry, CSA, Barksdale's Brigade; was wounded in May of 1863 and was for a time a POW. He moved to Oklahoma in 1885 when it was known as the Indian Territory. He married a raised a family there. He was prominent in state-wide Oklahoma politics for decades; held several significant offices, including Secretary of State, 1923-1935.[3]

REFERENCES

l. Weston A. Goodspeed, HISTORY OF TENNESSEE, Madison County (Nashville, 1887), page 905. "E. D. Sneed."

2. Madison Co.: deed book 32, page 586. Deed recorded November 12, 1874.

3. "The Oklahoma News", Oklahoma City, OK, March 16, 1936.

The Sykes farm, to the northeast of Claybrook, is the oldest Century Farm in Madison County — the oldest farm (1822) that has continued in the same family since it was purchased in the 19th century.[1] It was acquired (with the acreage varying over the generations) by Jonas Sykes, initially with a 142.5 acre tract entered January 18, 1823 in Surveyor's District 9, Range 2, Section 10 [2]; partially in November of 1827, some 30 acres, through purchase from Isaac Swan.[3]

Jonas Sykes had lived in Caswell County, North Carolina but in middle-age he moved with other members of his family to Tennessee. They certainly didn't settle in Madison County as early as has been claimed [4], well before the Chickasaws ceded this area to the whites. A Jonas Sykes was living in Rutherford. County, Tennessee, appearing in its 1820 census; likely the man of the same name who entered land near Claybrook in 1822. Several of the area's earliest settler-families lived in this Middle Tennessee county.

This old farmer must have been a good farm manager. He executed his LWT on December 8, 1842, signing it with an "x", and died soon afterwards. He made a bequest to a daughter, Nancy Pugh and her children; his grandchildren: (James) Monroe Sykes, Martha Sykes, Darius Sykes, Amanda Jane Sykes and his youngest grandson, Cyrus Sykes; to these youngsters he left each a slave and other personalty. He directed that his farmland be kept intact for the benefit of his daughter (daughter-in-law), Eliza Sykes and her children; that when young Cyrus reached his majority the land was to be sold and the proceeds distributed among these grandchildren.[5]

Cyrus Sykes (February 24, 1798-September 1, 1834) died in early middle-age [6], leaving a widow, Eliza (born about 1803) and several children: James Monroe Sykes, Martha Ann Sykes, Darius P. Sykes, Amanda Jane Sykes and the youngest, Cyrus Sykes (1834-1906). Only the oldest-born, Monroe, was then of age.[7] He died unmarried, in 1846, leaving his property to his "dear mother" and $100 to his sister, Amanda Jane Sykes.[8]

Martha Ann Sykes, born about 1827, married John D. Elam, December 8, 1845 and they had two sons, Monroe and John Elam. Perhaps a widow, she and her sons lived with her mother, Eliza. She had gained title to the Sykes farm, 228 acres, in three tracts, but sold these to a younger brother, Cyrus, December 31, 1868. Included in the second tract was the family graveyard.[9] Cyrus Sykes later lived near Huntersville but his son, Jesse Sykes, returned to live on the old Sykes farm near Claybrook.

The Claybrook Cumberland Presbyterian Church records reveal that long-time members, Eliza Sykes and her daughter, Martha Sykes Elam, died December 6, 1876 and May 6, 1876, respectively.

Floyd Sykes, one of Jesse Sykes' sons, bought the seventeen acres that had constituted the old Bethlehem campground and graveyard in May of 1913; sold it to a brother, Victor Sykes, three years later. It, with a modest adjoining acreage, is still owned by some of the Sykes descendants.

REFERENCES

1. TENNESSEE AGRICULTURE: A CENTURY FARMS PERSPECTIVE, text by Carroll Van West, Tennessee Department of Agriculture (Nashville, 1986), page 301.

2. General Land Grant Book Y, page 47. Jonas Sikes, Grant #21395, Feb. 6, 1824; surveyed April 8, 1823. Entry #1190. January 18, 1823.

3. Madison Co.: deed book 1, page 634. Deed recorded March 6, 1828.

4. "History of the Sykes Family," manuscript, n.d., pages 1-3, written by Lena (Sykes) Dees of Jackson; an interesting memoir but the claim for a settlement in Madison County before 1820+- cannot be verified and in fact, circumstances would disallow it.

5. Madison Co.: will book 3, page 676. LWT, Jonas Sykes, executed Dec. 8, 1842; proven Feb. 10, 1843. John Barnett and W. B. Morrow, executors.

6. Cyrus Sykes' tombstone, broken but readable, marked his grave on the farm.

7. Madison Co.: county court minute book 5, page 400. John M. Barnett was their guardian. May 6, 1845.

8. IBID.: will book 5, page 21. LWT, James M. Sykes, proven May 1846. J. M. Barnett , executor.

9. IBID.: deed book 27, page 13. Deed recorded April 20, 1869; for $1500.

Sampson Willis emerged from the mist of black bondage to establish a well-respected family in the Claybrook community, some descendants of whom still live in this locality. He was born about 1833; wed Harriet, also born in bondage, supposedly in May of 1840. Marriages between freed persons living together as man and wife while in a former condition of slavery were considered legally married by an act so stating this fact passed by the state legislature after the Civil War.[1]

In 1870 the Willises were tenant-farming on the Thomas Berry farm near the present-day Berry Zion Church. Sampson Willis bought for $550 a nearby tract, 150 acres, part of the old William B. Morrow homeplace, in November of 1871.[2] He bought other contiguous tracts, thereby leaving some 343 acres in Civil District 13, at his death, April 9, 1889. His widow survived him, dying on September 23, 1906. Both, along with most of their children, are buried in the Berry Zion Cemetery near Claybrook.

The Willis children were, in approximate order of birth (all born between 1862 and 1884):[3]

Levi Willis; Milton Willis; Sallie May Willis, wife of Dave May; Malvira, wife of A. H. Pearson; Josephine Willis; Dersie Willis, wife of Charles Sanderlin; Raymel Willis, wife of Emerson Neal; Connie Willis; Sammie Willis (1871-1958), who married Lula Braner (1881-1972), Dec. 9, 1899 and among their children was Kermit Whitfield Willis, born in 1918, who still lives on a part of the old Willis land.

The Reverend Andrew Adams (April 1857-July 4, 1937), a native of South Carolina, and his wife, Betty, had no children but they raised Lula Braner Willis. Adams Chapel on Potts Chapel Road was established by the Reverend Andrew Adams.[4]

REFERENCES

1. ACTS OF TENNESSEE, 1865-1866. Chapter 30, page 65.

2. Madison Co.: deed book 49, page 63. Deed filed April 24, 1891.

3. Their names listed on pages 106+, deed book 89, a deed of land division among the heirs of Sampson and Harriet Willis. April 26, 1916. Deed recorded February 17, 1917.

4. Conversation, the author with Kermit W. Willis, born 1918, step-grandson of the Reverend Andrew Adams; March 24, 1993.

JACKSON CITY DIRECTORY 1900-1901
(Jackson: Thos. R. McCowat &Co., 1900)

Given are the names of persons on the rural routes in Civil Districts 12 and 13, along with their mailbox numbers. If a person was black a small c follows his/her name.

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