Transcribed by Janette
West Grimes
December 17, 1953 -
Reprinted May 25, 1978
* CAL’S COLUMN *
We resume our story of two
weeks ago based on a trip we recently made from Lafayette to a funeral service
at Mt. Tabor, near Pleasant Shade, and the trip to the family burial ground
where the dead man was laid to rest.
The man who had passed away was our friend for many years, Walter Chambers,
commonly called "Big Walter" Chambers. We closed with some account of
the first time we ever heard the name Ebenezer, which is the name of a Baptist
Church located on the extreme upper waters of Little Peyton's Creek, which
empties into the main stream at the Kittrell or old Ballou farm, about a mile
and a quarter above Pleasant Shade.
Passing on down the valley,
we came to the cemetery in which are buried various members of the Cleveland
family which is now nearly extinct in Macon County. In fact we do not recall at
this time a single man or woman bearing the name of Cleveland. On this point we
would like to give some account of the Clevelands in Smith County, of whom we
have any information, was William, who, in 1820, had the following family: Four
males under 10, and one male over 45, no doubt William himself. There was only
one female in the family, and she was between 16 and 26, supposedly his wife,
although she was much younger than her husband.
Joseph Cleveland lived in
Smith County in the year 1820, and might have been a son of William by a former
marriage. Anyway, he was then between 18 and 26, and his wife was in the age
group between 16 and 25. There were no children in the family.
William Cleveland is listed
in the census of 1830 as follows: Head of family, William Cleveland; male under
10, one; one from 10 to 15 years old, one from 20 to 30 years of age; and one
male from 50 to 60. Females, three under five, one from 5 to 10, one from 20 to
30, and one, supposedly the wife, from 30 to 40 years of age. His nearest
neighbors were William Evetts and Joseph Evetts and other neighbors included
Elias Johns and Sam W. McMurry, who so far as we can learn, lived in the long
ago Dixon's Creek. Readers may not know that prior to 1850, the census taker
did not give the name of any member of the family except the head of the
family. Beginning in 1850, the various members of the family were enrolled,
together with their ages and places of birth.
Joseph Cleveland, presumably
the same one listed in 1820, as above set out, had in the year 1830 the
following family: Joseph Cleveland, head of the family, males, one from 5 to
10, one from 30 to 40, and this was no doubt Joseph himself; and one female
under five, one from 5 to 10, and one from 20 to 30, Mrs. Cleveland no doubt.
From the names of his neighbors, whose places of residence are fairly well
known today, we would judge that Joseph lived in the year 1830 on Dixon's
Creek. His neighbors were Thomas Porter, George Wright, William Bransford,
Isaac Wiseman, John Shrum, Womack Parker, Nicholas Shrum and others.
These two Cleveland families
are all that lived in Smith County in the year 1830. In the census of 1850 we
find the name is spelled there "Cleaveland," which is incorrect.
Listed on Peyton's Creek in that year we find: Martha Cleveland, 54, evidently
a widow and born in North Carolina; and two other members of the family, Sarah
S. Cleveland, 23, and born in Tennessee; and William N. Cleveland, 15, and born
in Tennessee. Her neighbors were: James Eden, Nancy Richardson, John Hiett and
Joseph Hiett, the grandfather of Luid Hiett, of our town. Living not very far from
Martha Cleveland was Joseph B. Gregory, whose wife, Harriet, was a Miss
Cleveland prior to her marriage. She was a relative of the Clevelands of
Smith County 100 years ago. She was
also the great-great-grandmother of the late Fred D. Gregory, who died in
Lafayette some months ago.
Another Cleveland family
listed as being in Smith County in the year 1850 was that of Elizabeth
Cleveland, evidently a widow also. She was 47 years of age in that year; 1850,
and had the following members of her family: Francis M., 17; Lucinda I., 14;
and Sarah D., 10. Her nearest neighbors included: Matthew Anderson, Moses
Abbitts, supposed to have been Evetts; William B. Weatherford, John H. Ligon,
all of whom lived, from the best information obtainable now at a period more
than 100 years removed, on the waters of Dixon's Creek
The last listed Cleveland
family in the census of Smith County in the year 1850 was that of Jacob Martin
Cleveland, 29 years old and born in Tennessee. Other members of the family were
his wife, Amanda, 23 years of age and a native of Tennessee; and their one son,
Robert Hatton Cleveland, for many years a merchant at Pleasant Shade and a very
fine man. He married Maggie Wilkerson, or Wilkinson as some spelled the name.
The writer held the funeral of both Bob Cleveland and his wife in the years
gone by. Bob was born in the year 1849.
Since the above Cleveland
data was written, we have found among our old papers the following information
furnished us by Elder Bud Beal, who tells us that his mother, Mrs. Letitia
Gregory Beal, gave him these facts on the history of the family more than 20
years ago. She is now dead. The information given by Mrs. Beal follows.
Billie Cleveland must have
first married a Burris or a Martin. No further back is known on his line. Mrs.
Letitia Beal's mother was Sarah Susan Cleveland, daughter of Billie Cleveland.
By the first marriage, either to Burris or Martin, Billie Cleveland was the
father of five children: Perry Cleveland, Sookie (Susan) Cleveland, Jack
Cleveland, Emmett Cleveland, Harriet Cleveland. Harriet married Joe B. Gregory.
Billie Cleveland later
married Patsy Burris, by whom he had six children: Martin Cleveland, Nancy
Cleveland, married Alfred Richardson; Matilda Cleveland, married William
Taylor; Sarah Susan, married Ambrose David Gregory, son of Big Tom and Bettie
Gregory; and Letitia Cleveland, married Billie Smith. Martin Cleveland married
Amanda Parker Wright, by whom he had three children, Robert Hatton (Bob),
Campbell and Scott Cleveland. Nancy had no children and neither did Matilda.
Sarah Susan and Ambrose Gregory we the parents of: three, died in infancy; and
Letitia, married Dixon Beal and had four children two who died in infancy; and
Bud Beal and Georgia Beal, who married Isham Earps and had eight children, and
Palmyra Cleveland, married Rufus Beasley. Bud has but one son. Letitia
Cleveland Smith was the mother of two children, one of whom died about 1900 and
nothing is known of the other. Billie, Jr., who makes out the number of six
children by the Burris woman of the second marriage, married Edith, daughter of
Dobb Gregory, by whom he had two children, Monk or William and Addie. Addie
married a Godfrey. Billie Jr., married Cattie Lester, by whom he had one son,
Fred Cleveland, at present owner of a drug business in Carthage. Still later he
married Melvina Hooper.
Proceeding southeastward in
our journey to the funeral, we came to the Brown place. Here living in the
years gone by Lee Brown, who married a Miss Andrews, Emily by name, the
daughter of Drury and Jane Cartwright Andrews. Drury Andrews was the son of
John Andrews, commonly called Jack Andrews, and his wife, Matilda Willis. John
Andrews was the son of Drury Andrews, who is the ancestor of every Andrews of whom
we have any knowledge in North Middle Tennessee.
We drove further
southeastward and passed the old home of Billie Gregory, son of Jesse Gregory,
son of Curtis Gregory, son of Smith Gregory, son of Squire William H. Gregory,
a soldier of the American Revolution, and a brother of the writer's
great-great-grandfather, Bry Gregory. Not far from the Billie Gregory home
place John B. McDuffee, who is now in his ninties at his home at Hillsdale,
this county, was born and grew to manhood. Uncle John is a most remarkably
preserved man for his many years, still being able to drive his own car, to
mount a horse with the agility of many men 40 years younger than he.
We came later to the
Cartwright place near the forks of the upper part of Little Peyton's Creek, but
we do not have the name of the first Cartwright who lived there at hand.
However, he was a relative of Richardson Cartwright, a pioneer Defeated Creek
citizen, perhaps a brother.
Down past the Luster Jones
farm, the G. O. Richmond place, the Horace Dickerson farm, we came to the Henry
Oldham place. Here lived in the years gone by Elder Henry Calvert Oldham, a
Baptist minister, who had the care of quite a number of county congregations
and who was quite active in his work as a preacher. He was the son of James
Oldham, the son of James Oldham and his wife, Mary Perkins Oldham. James Oldham
was the son of George Oldham, and his wife, Celia Sutherland Oldham, who came
out of Virginia in the autumn of 1805 and settled at the present Herbert Sloan home.
George and Celia are the ancestors of every Oldham of whom we have any
information here in North Middle Tennessee except for Reeder Oldham, Gainesboro
Church of Christ minister.
We knew Henry Oldham perhaps
as well as any other minister. We knew his problems, his fears, his hard trials
and his dread of the work of a preacher as intimately as any other man perhaps.
He has been gone since July 16, 1943.
He was not a perfect man but
neither are our readers and the editor certainly is far from perfect. But
Brother Oldham did a lot of good. In fact he was one of the very best preachers
we ever knew, to go into the homes of his members and there talk with them over
their problems, their sorrows and their worries. The writer has not had time
for many years to do even half as much
on this line as he desired to do and felt in his heart he ought to do. Brother
Oldham was, at the time of his death, even younger than the writer is today. By
this fact we are reminded that our race will soon be run and that we are
destined to " go the way of all the earth" at no distant time in the
future.
Henry and the writer held
many meetings together and enjoyed a fellowship not often found between
preachers. We knew each other's faults and short comings perhaps as few
ministers do. We had many good times together. We recall his extreme fondness
for certain foods and our "razzing" him about how much he could eat.
He also had some fun at the expense of the writer. While we were engaged in
preaching in the mountains of southwest Virginia, near the big Stone Gap about
30 years ago, he had a lot of fun out of Gregory over the fact that we took
refuge in a home near a highway during a shower while we were waiting for a bus
to carry us to Middlesboro in the extreme southeast corner of Kentucky, not
many miles away. We rushed into the strange home, to find the occupant, a
Methodist minister, about to engage in the morning prayer. We apologized for
intruding and were then welcomed into the midst of the family of the mountain preacher,
who already had his Bible in his hand from which to read a lesson. He looked at
the two strange ministers and then handed the book to the writer saying,
"You are the older. Take charge of the devotional period." We were
some five years younger than Oldham, but we took the Bible, read a lesson and
then led in prayer. Oldham got a "laugh" out of the strange
preacher's thinking that Gregory was the older of the two.
We recall another episode in
which Oldham was the "goat" instead of Gregory. We were with Elder C.
B. Massey in a little Bible school at Gladdice Baptist Church, in Jackson
County, Tenn. It was the noon hour and dinner was to be spread in the church
house. Oldham said to Gregory. "Let us take a walk." We accepted his
invitation and went outside where we found the temperature far below freezing.
After we had almost frozen, we said, "Lets go back into the house. I am
about to freeze." Oldham refused, saying that he did not wish to go back
just then. We went anyway, with Oldham some distance behind. Just as the writer
entered the church house, Elder Massey, who was pastor, asked, "Brother
Gregory, where is Brother Oldham ?" We replied, "He is about to come
into the church house. I think he is trying to get out of offering thanks."
At this point Massey said, "Bow your heads while Brother Oldham offers
thanks." Poor Brother Oldham, who had a dread of offering thanks, finally
managed to begin his "grace." After a few words, he said, "O
Lord, we thank thee for this food that we are about to .. here he faltered for
want of the correct word, "receive." He finally said the word,
"enter" and shortly afterward terminated his thanks with
"A-men." Massey whispered to the writer in a voice loud enough for
Oldham to hear it, "Gregory, I've got a good joke on Oldham." We
said, "What is it, Henry ?" He replied, "That fool blunder I
just now made in offering thanks." It makes me think of ....." He
named another preacher who was as full of blunders perhaps as any man we ever
saw. Oldham was then told by Massey, "Brother Oldham, you should have said
this food that is about to enter us, instead of the food we are "about to
enter," unless you are planning to dive right into the good things to eat
on this table." Oldham became terribly blue and said to the writer privately,
"I have a good mind to go home and never try to preach again." He was
very easily discouraged and we sought to minimize the blunder he had made,
although we did have a lot of fun about it.
C. B. Massey, who preached a
sermon for criticism some later, made a remark in his sermon about Jonah and
the ground vine, which came up in a night and of which he was very proud. He
then stated that the worm cut down Jonah's ground vine. The writer could not
resist saying to Oldham, who was sitting by his side, "Henry, didn't a
worm cut down your vine this morning ?" At this remark Oldham laughed a
great deal and the writer almost disturbed the service. Massey thought that he
had made some sort of "slip" and that we were laughing about his
break. When we told him what had happened, he joined in the fun and Oldham soon
forgot the feeling of giving up and going home and leaving the work of the
ministry once and for all.
(To be continued)
212 Tenn. Ave.,
Bremen, Ga.
December 8, 1953
Mr. Calvin Gregory,
Lafayette, Tenn.
Dear Mr. Gregory:
I am enclosing herewith check
for six months' subscription to the Macon County Times. We find it a very
interesting and wholesome newspaper. Your Column is just splendid. I thought,
perhaps, there may be some information gleaned on the McDonald clan, too. I am
still eager to locate Jane McDonald Halliburton's father and the dates of her
birth and death. Have you any response from your advertisements asking for the
history books, Sisco's Historic Sumner County and Goodspeed's History of
Tennessee, with special account of Macon, Sumner, Smith and Trousdale Counties?
I wonder if the bond issue
passed. As I see it from here, it looks like it would be a good thing. Thank
you so much for the copies of the Macon County Times. We shall look forward to
enjoying them in the future.
With best wishes to you and
yours for the Christmas season, I am
Sincerly
yours,
Mrs. W. H.
Weaver
( Editor's note.We appreciate
this communication from Mrs. Weaver and thank her for her good words about the
paper. We hope that we may "live up to them." As to the success of
our efforts to obtain the two histories above mentioned, we are sorry to report
that we have no success. However, it should be added that we already had
Goodspeed's History but wanted a second copy. Sisco's Historic Sumner County is
still missing.
Since we prepared the article
on the McDonald family for Mrs. Weaver and others, we have discovered the
following facts about the Halliburtons which may give some light on Mrs.
Weaver's search for Jane McDonald Halliburton's record: On Sept. 29, 1839,
James M. Albright was married to Margaret S. Halliburton, the ceremony being
performed by Thomas Janiagin, J. P. This record is found in the marriage
records of Dickson County, Tenn. On Jan. 11, 1840, in the same county, Edward
M. Rogers was married to Lucy L. Halliburton, the ceremony being performed by
W. H. Turner, J. P. In the same county, on Nov. 21, 1840, Allen Halliburton and
Susan Rainey were married.
On Oct. 2, 1842, in the same
county, John D. Halliburton and Julia Anne Parrott were married, with James
Daniel, J. P. officiating. On Jan. 5, 1843, in the same county, Robert
Halliburton and Lucretia Tilly were married, but the officiant is not named. On
April 20, 1843, in the same county, R. P. Halliburton, J. P., officiated in the
marriage of Joseph Shelton to Susan Rice. The same Magistrate officiated in the
marriage of John S. Whitsitt to Rizbah Waynick on Feb. 23, 1844.
On Sept. 20, 1845, in Dickson
County, Tenn., Humphries Halliburton and Mary E. Humphries were married, but
the officiant is not named in the records I have. On March 10, 1846, Charles
Halliburton and Nancy Ragon were married by J. G. Hinson, J. P. On Jan. 21,
1847, William Humphries and Arrabella Halliburton were married, but the
officiant is not given. On Jan. 12, 1847, Thomas W. Halliburton and Martha E.
Ragon were married, with no record given of the officiant. On Dec. 30, 1847,
Squire R. P. Halliburton officiated in the marriage of Issah Bagett and Harriet
A. Suggs. On March 24th, same year, the same man officiated in the marriage of
Jesse Steeley to Aney Jordan. These records are still on file in Dickson
County, Tenn. They show that quite a large number of Halliburtons once lived in
that county.
In Woodlawn Cemetery, near
Knox County, Tenn., is buried La Venia Halliburton, born March 24, 1847, and
died Aug. 4, 1926.
Perhaps you glean a bit of
information from the above items which I have among my old records. We have
here in Macon County a few members of the Halliburton family, but they know
almost nothing of their line of descent beyond two or three generations.
Perhaps you might be interested in knowing that the writer's father's first
sweetheart, away back in the late eighties, was Miss Alice Halliburton. Whose
daughter she was we do not know, although we are of the opinion that this could
be ascertained.
I find that a small reference
is made to one McDonald in Ramsey's Annuals of Tennessee, in the following
words, found on page 188 in the year 1779: "Another party took Little
Owl's Town, and others were in like manner taken and burned. Besides the other
spoils, Shelby took 150 horses, 100 cattle and great quantities of deer skins,
owned in part by a trader named McDonald."
If we can be of further
service to you, please let us know and we will make an effort to secure the
line of descent of the Macon and Smith County Halliburtons.)