CLACK, Micajah (1886)

Posted on November 2, 2011 by

In Memoriam of Micajah Clack

Died, August 16th., 1886, at his residence in Rhea County, Tenn., Mr. Micajah Clack, aged 87 yrs., 2 Mo., and 25 days. He was born in Wayne County, Ky., May 21st, 1799. His father removed with him to Sevier County, Tenn., while he was a lad; where he grew up and was married to Miss Margaret Kerr, daughter of Robert and Amy Kerr, on the 28th day of Sept., 1820. He afterwards removed to Bradley County, Tenn., and from thence to Rhea County, Tenn about the year 1839. He leaves surviving him four sons and two daughters, (his wife and four sons have fallen asleep). He made a public profession of his faith in Christ by uniting with the Baptist Church in July 1833, of which he lived a most acceptable member to the end of his life -beautifully exemplifying the character of a true christian.

Father’s health had been declining for several years. His ast illness was severe and protracted, but he bore his sufferings with christian fortitude. Often as he drew near the gates of death, he expressed himself as resting fully upon the merits of Christ for acceptance before God, as resigned to God’s will, and ready to depart. He said Jesus was near and precious, and that he was drawing near his eternal home. Several times during the two last weeks of his life he called upon Bro. Johnson and others to sing for him, and amid intense sufferings he rejoiced and praised God.

He said he soon would be free from all pain and be with Christ. Thus his spirit passed away, in peace and tranquility, through the gate of death to join his kindred spirits, and to increase and enliven the happified throngs in the home of the blessed. His devoted children, relatives and friends mourn his departure with the firm belief that he has joined the crown of the finally faithful. “May our last end be like his.”

His remains were intered according to his own dictationsin the Clack burrying ground, near James Ewing’s, at 9:30 o’clock a. m., on the 17th inst., amid a large crowd of friends. Love for his many virtues and a tear of sorrow to his memory.
W.R.C. Roddy, Tenn., August 25th, 1886

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CLACK, Margaret Kerr (1877)

Posted on November 1, 2011 by

Mrs. Margaret (Kerr) Clack, wife of Micajah Clack, was born in Sevier County, Tennessee, June 5th, 1796, and died at her husband’s residence in Rhea County, Tennessee, September 10th, 1877, aged 84 years, 3 months and 5 days.

The deceased won the respect and confidence of all who knew her, by her strict integrity on character, and her quiet peaceable life. She was a considerate and dutiful wife, a tenderly affectionate mother, a faithful friend and a kind neighbor. She made a public profession of her faith in Christ, by uniting with the Baptist church in the year 1833, of which she lived a most acceptable member until her death, beautifully exemplifying the character of a true christian. She exhibited her profession by a scrupuous observance and constant practice of christian duties., In her fireside conversation, she often spoke of the peerless excellence of the ‘man Christ Jesus’ and often while discanting upon the beauties of holiness, now lowering cloud meanwhile intercepted her soul’s sunshine; and she rejoiced in hope of a blessed immortality beyond the grave. She ever acknowledged God as the primal source of every enjoyment. As a christian matron, she sought to lead her family into the golden paths of wisdom and holiness. Her deportment in every ……….in life was a continued display of blended virtues; a scene of practical religion, worthy the emulation of every christian.

Mother’s health had been declining for several years previous to her death, though confined to her room and almost entirely helpless, yet she was cheerful, and always greeted her friends with a pleasant smile and a hearty welcome. (She was gored by a cow and was bedridden almost 10 years-EC)

Her last illness was severe and protracted, but she bore her afflictions with christian fortitude. Often as she drew near the gates of death, she expressed herself as resigned to God’s will and ready to depart – All her thoughts, up to the hour of her death, seemed to be celestial, constantly marching onward to the realms of bliss ineffable. A short time before she expired, she called upon her children around her bed to sing that good old hymn, “O, sing to me of heaven; When I am called to die”. Then her spirit passed away, in peace and tranquility, into the paradise of God, there to bask forever in the smiles of the blessed Redeemer. I feel rejoiced to know that when life was ebbing out as an evanesceat taper, she left the consoling evidence that all was well. Then in conclusion I would say, rest on, dear mother, with the pale sleepers of the silent city. By faith we behold thee robed and crowned for the society of heaven.

Dear Father, brothers and sisters, we are left to battle a while longer, while she has been called home by the Prince of Peace – Let us cherish her memory, as an influence irresistibly winning us to a land of perpetual light, and may we, as the fragments of a once happy family, meet her in heaven’s bright world.
Wm. R. Clack

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CLACK, Hugh Baxter (1949)

Posted on November 1, 2011 by

May 15, 1868 – January 14, 1949

Resident of Bozeman, Mont. since 1903, born in Roddy, Tenn., married Anna Bertha East April 7, 1903, a carpenter by trade until his retirement in 1937, member of Carpenters Union local no. 557, survivors were his wife, Ernest E. Clack of Bozeman, Marvin Clack of Missoula and Reba Young of Jacksonville, Texas, granddaughter Lucille Young. Three sisters; Mrs. Sam Galloway of West Plains, Mo., – Mrs. J.H. Manis of Bradenton, Fla – a brother, R.M. Clack of Roddy, Tenn.  Interred in the Sunset Hills cemetery.

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TALLENT, Seth (2002)

Posted on November 1, 2011 by

Obituary Seth Tallent

Died: 05-16-2002

Seth Tallent, 82, of Spring City, died Thursday, May 16, 2002, at his residence.

Born in Rhea Springs, he was the son of the late Q.A. and Ethel Phillips Tallent. He was a graduate of Spring City High School and retired after 32 years as a carpenter for Oak Ridge Union Carbide. A well-known lifetime member of the Rhea County Historical Society, he was appointed by the Rhea County Commission as Historian of Rhea County. Mr. Tallent was a member of the Wolf Creek Baptist Church.

He was preceded in death by his brothers, Nixson, Alvin and Russell Tallent and sisters, Hazel Williams, Mary Brown and Ruth Daniels.

Survivors include Henrietta Crosby Tallent of Spring City, four sons, William Joseph “Joe” Tallent of Concord, N.C., Paul Tallent of Spring City, James Tallent of Huntersville, N.C. and Glen Tallent of Daniels, W.Va., nine grandchildren and six great grandchildren, several nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be conducted Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in the chapel of Vaughn Funeral Home with the Rev. Paul Forgery officiating. Burial will be in the Spring City Cemetery.

The family will visit with friends Saturday from 6-8 p.m. at the funeral home.

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BYRD, Isaac (1935)

Posted on November 1, 2011 by

In Memory of Isaac Byrd

Died Nov. 27, 1935

Isaac Byrd, 88, pioneer citizen of Rhea County and one of the few remaining veterans of the War Between the States, died on Wednesday, Nover 27, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Betty Worthington, at Old Washington. Funeral services were held from the Washington Baptist Church at 10 O’Clock Sunday, the Rev. I. M. Rainey officiating. Interment in Montgomery Cemetery. Members of the American Legion served as pallbearers. Coulter’s in charge.

He was born in Blount County, Tennessee, April 24th, 1847 and died November 27th, 1935. His age was 88 years, 7 months and 3 days. On September8, 1864 as a young man scarcely more than a boy he joined the Union Army, serving until the end of the civil war and receiving an honorable discharge July 27, 1865. Having been converted while a young man he became a different type of soldier, “a Soldier of the Lord,” and joined the Baptist Church of which he has been a faithful member for more than half a century. Much of that time he has served as clerk of the Church or in some other active place.

On April 6, 1869, he was united in marriage to Nancy Hare, who was a devout Christian women, and their home, which was soon established in Rhea County, became a religious center of the town of Washington.

Daddy Byrd (as he was often called) was a man of systematic habits, of great courage and determination, loyal to his party, his friends his loved ones and his Church.

He has expressed many times lately his readiness to go and meet his Maker and be reunited with his wife and three children, who departed this life several years ago.

He set his earthly business also in order, even planning certain parts of his funeral and requesting that if a stone marker his grave it bear these words: “The Lord is my Shepard, I shall not want,”

His life still speaks and will continue to speak in this community.

He leaves to mourn his loss, nine children: N. C., Bettie, Samantha, Vira, Bud, William, Rector and Robert. Also forty grandchildren and fifty great-grandchildren. Other relatives and a host of friends.

Submitted by Carol Byrd Great-Grandaughter (born 1954)

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Goodspeed Biography of W. C. Gardenhire

Posted on October 31, 2011 by

W. C. Gardenhire, of Dayton, Tenn., was born in Roane County, May 14, 1838, son of George W. and Polly (Bottom) Gardenhire, both natives of Roane County, Tenn., and both of Scotch descent.  The father was born in 1796, and is now living in Rhea County.  The mother was born in 1806, and died in Hamilton County, near Chattanooga.  They were married in Roane County, and subsequently moved to Hamilton County.  The father was a farmer, a slave trader before the war, and a Democrat in politics.  W. C. Gardenhire, received a liberal education, and began life as a salesman, which business he followed two years.  He then established a mercantile business of his own at Harrison, and on a boat on the Tennessee River, which he continued up to the breaking out of the late, war, when he served three years in teh Confederate Army.  In 1866 he went to California and was engaged in the mining stock business in that State up to 1869, at which time he made a voyage to the South Sea Islands, visiting the Fijians and the Sandwichers, Australians and a number of others.  He returned to California in 1871, bringing with him four native Fijians, and after exhibiting them in Woodward Garden, San Francisco, for some time at $150 a day, he sold them to P. T. Barnum for $20,000.  He returned to Tennessee the same year on a visit, and in the spring of 1872 he went back to California, and was engaged in the mining stock business up to 1878.  In the meantime (1876) he went to Arizona, and located the town of Safford, Graham County.  In the early part of 1877 he went to New York City, and was one of the charter members of the American Mining and Stock Exchange.  About this time Mr. Gardenhire was suffering with Bright’s disease, and he spent several months in visiting the celebrated springs in the United States with no improved symptoms.  In 1879 he started on a voyage around the world.  He visited England, India, Africa, etc., and came into port at San Francisco, Cal., in the spring of 1881.  April 3, of the same year, he married Miss Julia Wiseman, a native of Los Angeles, Cal., born May 21, 1858, daughter of William C. and Annie R. Wiseman of California.  He afterward went to Arkansas and tested the virtue of the Eureka Spring.  In 1884 he had a survey made, and located the town of Dayton, and subsequently built a fine residence there, and was cured of Bright’s disease by drinking water at Dayton Spring.  He has been very active in the erection of buildings, and in improving the town.  He has been instrumental in erecting six brick stores, opera house, brick livery stable, stone bank (called Dayton City Bank), and numerous other dwellings.  Our subject is a Democrat in politics and a man well-known and well respected by all who know him.  After returning from the South Sea Islands, he wrote a history of Fiji and the Fijians, which had a good sale.

Published by The Goodspeed Publishing Co 1887

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Goodspeed Biography of Creed M. Fulton

Posted on October 31, 2011 by

Creed M. Fulton, A. B., president of the Dayton Masonic College, Dayton, Tenn., was born at Summerfield, Grayson Co., Va., February 24, 1862.  He is of an ancestral line no less distinguished for its intellectual acumen than exceptional merits. His father, Capt. Samuel M. Fulton, the youngest of a family of twelve children, acquired at his own expense a substantial business education, and is notorious in his State (Virginia) for his enthusiasm in public affairs and for his political wisdom and ability.  Miss Mary C. Ried, of Campbell County, Va., became his wife about 1854.  At the close of the late civil war he was high sheriff of his county, and continued in said office for ten consecutive years, when against the voice and free-will of his people, he resigned.  In 1877 he was elected to the State Legislature, which position he held to the satisfaction of his constituents.  This office he held for two years, and became thoroughly established throughout his State as one of the leaders of the Re-adjusting Party.  In 1880 he was strongly urged by the people of his senatorial district for the Senate, but, being in very poor health for the first time in his life, was forced to refuse.  In 1881 his congressional district called for him to bear their standard, but again illness prohibited it.  He is a Democrat in politics, and was born of a family noted for their piety, all being members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. His eldest brother, Creed, was a man of devout character, and inestimable worth as a Christian minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church South.  He was endowed with extraordinary powers of intellect, and wherever he went, Creed Fulton was ever afterward known. His course was per aspera ad astra.  As an orator no man of his church stood forth his peer.  In the approach of the storms of his age, he was always to be found above the clouds.  He soared among the eagles, and dwelt in higher climes.  At Madisonville, Monroe County, he formed an academy, and under the influence of one of his gifted educational speeches, Hiwassee College was erected.  He continued his labors among the mountains of southwest Virginia, with that peculiarity of character which has ever made him magnetic.  He laid the corner-stone for Emory and Henry College, and later died in his mountain home.  The remainder of the family, while they have not figured so conspicuously in church and State affairs, are enjoying the abundance of successfully spent lives.  They are of Irish, Scotch and French lineage.  Our subject is a young man of unquestionable morals, undoubted integrity and unrelenting energy.  He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and a Democrat in politics. He was educated at Hiwassee College, Monroe County, Tenn., graduating in May 1885.  In June of the following month he was elected to the position that he now holds.  Under his able management the institution has gained great prominence.  He was first chosen for one year, but before the year expired he was re-employed for a term of four years.  On the 17th June 1886, Miss Emma V., daughter of Rev. Dr. John and Lucretia Walsh, became his wife.  Her father was a man of great literary attainments.  He was educated at Dickenson College, Carlisle, Penn., studied theology and dentistry, and ranks among the most successful.  As a minister he has few equals and fewer superiors.  He is a Republican, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has held the office of United States collector of the Ninth District for six years.  Suffering severely from bronchial affection he has been forced to confine himself to a quiet life.  He married Miss Lucretia Grittinger, daughter of Adam and Eliza Grittinger, who were of German descent, and members of the Lutheran Church.  To our subject  and wife was born April 26, 1887, one son, who bears the given name of his father and the maiden name of his mother, Creed Walsh.  Mr. Fulton was educated at Christiansburg, Va., in the Montgomery Female College.

Published by The Goodspeed Publishing Co 1887

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Goodspeed Biography Abner W. Frazier

Posted on October 31, 2011 by

Abner W. Frazier, an influential citizen of Rhea County, and resident of Dayton, was born in Rhea County, Tenn., October 21, 1821.  His parents, Beriah and Barbara (Gibbs) Frazier, were of Scotch-Irish and German descent respectively.  The father was a native North Carolinian, born May 4, 1776, and died in Rhea County October 25, 1858.  The mother was born April 18, 1789, in Knox County, Tenn., and died in Rhea County July 8, 1866.  They were married in Knox County, Tenn., May 1, 1806, and lived in that county until 1818, at which time they came to Rhea County, and settled eight miles east of Dayton, on the Tennessee River, where they passed the remainder of their Days.  They were among the first settlers of Rhea County, immigrating there several years before the Indians left.  The father, before he came to Rhea County, was engaged in the service of the United States, concerning the Indians on the Tennessee River. Our subject’s father was a farmer and a prominent citizen of Rhea County.  He held the office of justice of the peace for several years. The Frazier family is largely connected in Tennessee.  Judge Frazier, of Davidson County, was the first cousin to the subject of this sketch.  Abner W. Frazier was one of a large family of children. He secured a good academic education, and assisted his father on the plantation, remaining there until the death of his parents.  In 1867 he purchased and settled on a farm, giving his attention exclusively to agricultural pursuits up to 1883, at which time he sold out and moved to Dayton, and retired to private life.  September 2, 1858, he married Miss Mary J. Craighead, a native of Alabama, born in Jackson County October 8, 1829.  This union resulted in the birth of one son and one daughter; the latter, Mary B., was born October 21, 1861, and died September 8, 1886.  She had married M. G. McDonald October 8, 1884, and left a son, Carl, who was born August 14, 1886.  B. A. Frazier, son of our subject, was born November 21, 1859, and is the well-known and popular editor of the Dayton News-Gazette.  A. W. Frazier is a Democrat, and a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church; his wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.  His grandfather, Samuel Frazier, was born in 1759 beyond the waters. He came to America at an early day, and fought for independence, and took part in the battle of Guilford Court House, North Carolina.  The grandmother, Rebecca (Julian) Frazier, was born March 17, 1749.  She was a French Huguenot, and settled in South Carolina with her ancestors.

Published by The Goodspeed Publishing Co 1887

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Goodspeed Biography of George C. Dodge

Posted on October 31, 2011 by

Maj. George C. Dodge, a prominent attorney of Spring City, Rhea Co., Tenn., and the son of George C. and Lucy (Burton) Dodge, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, November 20, 1845.  He was educated at the public schools of Cleveland, Ohio, and at the Western Reserve College at Hudson, Ohio.  About this time the war broke out, and at the age of sixteen he enlisted in Company D, Forty-first Ohio Infantry.  He went in as orderly sergeant and came out as captain, with the rant of brevet-major.  He was attached to the army of the Cumberland and was at all the battles from Shiloh to Nashville, and at Chickamauga received a wound.  He was the youngest commissioned officer in the State of Ohio.  In December, 1868, he led to the altar Miss Laura J. Gedge, daughter of W. H. Gedge, president at that time of the Kentucky Central Railroad.  This union resulted in the birth of two children, one son and one daughter.  In 1876 our subject was admitted to the bar and began practicing that year in Cleveland, where he remained until September 19, 1881, when he came to his present location and continued the practice of his profession.  Maj. Dodge was secretary of the board of education, and was one of the members of the board.

Published by The Goodspeed Publishing Co 1887

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Goodspeed Biography of William P. Darwin

Posted on October 31, 2011 by

Capt. William P. Darwin, an enterprising merchant of Darwin Station, Rhea County, Tenn., was born at his present location, February 22, 1830; son of James A. and Bethia W. (Clements) Darwin, both of Dutch descent.  The father was born in Virginia, in 1798, and died in Rhea County, at Darwin Station, in September, 1872.  The mother was born in Jackson County, Tenn., in 1816, where they lived four years, then came to Rhea County and settled where our subject now lives, and here remained the balance of their days.  The station finally took its name from this family.  The father was a farmer, an old line Whig, and last a Democrat, and a worthy member of the Christian Church. The mother was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Our subject is one of fourteen children.  He secured a good academic education, and has been engaged in farming all his life, in connection with merchandising.  In 1853 he engaged in the mercantile business at Washington, Rhea County, with W. E. Colville, with whom he continued three years, then with H. C. Collins two years, then in the firm of Darwin, Bean & Co., up to the late war.  In 1862 he entered the Confederate Army, enlisting as captain of Company C, Sixteenth Battalion of Tennessee Cavalry, and remained captain of that company until the close of the war.  He served in both the western and eastern army and was paroled at Athens, Ga., in 1865.  For two years after the termination of the war he was in no special business except settling up his father-in-law’s (R. N. Gillespie’s) estate, having been made executor of the same.  In 1860, previous to the war, he married Miss Adelia Gillespie, a native of Rhea County, born July 11, 1839, and to them were born a large family of children.  In 1868, he, in connection with H. A. Crawford, engaged in merchandising at Washington, Rhea County, and continued up to 1870, at which time they moved their stock of goods to Orm’s store, Bledsoe County, and here remained until about 1878.  In 1881 he opened a general merchandise store in Darwin, the firm being Darwin, Crawford & Co.  He soon bought out Crawford’s interest, and the firm then became Darwin & Son.  In 1883 it was changed to Darwin, Allen & Co., and in 1885 it was again changed back to Darwin & Son.  Mr. Darwin is a Democrat, and he and wife and five children are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

Published by The Goodspeed Publishing Co 1887

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