Note: This letter was written by Charles Joseph Simmons b. Dec 6, 1879 and died April 17, 1969. The Simmons family was originally from Sumner Co. TN.

At the request of my son Charles Richard, I will attempt to write a brief history of my branch of the Simmons family, originating on West Fork of Long Creek in what is now Macon County, Tenn. It will be based on my personal knowledge and what has been told to me by older members of the family and if my memory holds good on seventy-five per cent of what has been told me, I think I will be doing pretty well.

Fearing that there might be some confusion as to the location, I will explain that at that time there was no Macon County. Some thirty-five years later remote sections of Jackson, Smith, and Sumner Counties were combined and legally made into Macon County, with Lafayette designated as the county seat. Prior to this all documents in West Fork community that required registration were record in Gallatin and may be found there at the present time.

Chas. J. Simmons Sept 1965
In the autumn of 1809, Thomas (Long Tom) Simmons and his wife Lucy Basham Simmons came from Bedford County, Virginia and settle on West Fork of Long Creek, Sumner County, Tenn. and obtained a grant for about 2,000 acres of land along the creek and adjacent ridges. At that time his fourth son, Charles was a babe in arms.

He raised six sons and three daughters. Joel married Clarissa Meador, Carroll married Martha Jacobs and Lucinda married Carroll Alvis and the three couples moved to Ill. to make their homes.

Hiram married Martha Meador, a sister to Joel's wife, and settled on land deeded to him by his father. They raised five sons, Wash, Perry, Green, Edmond, Mat, and one daughter, Frances.

William married Sarah Hammock and raised two sons, James and Joel, and one daughter, Margaret. Franklin married a Miss Bradley and Nicy married Bartlett Branham and on the two my mind draws a complete blank. Celia married Elisha Stinson and they settled on Bledsoe Creek, Sumner County, Tenn.

Charles the fourth son and my grandfather, married Jane Hunt of Scotch Irish descent and settled on about 400 acres of land deeded to him by his father. Charles and Jane raised four sons, Simeon, Martin, Cyrus, Jocephas (Joe), and five daughters, Margaret (Peggy) Ann, Sarah, Arilda, Matilda, and Emma. Arilda and Matilda were twins.

Simeon married Mandy Woodcook and raised six sons; Marcus Charles, Lander, William, Herschel, and Alfred, three daughters, Dora, Molly and Laura.

Peggy Ann married Allen Turner and raised four sons, Harvey, Emory, Noah, and Clarence; four daughters, Arminta, Cora, Cammie, and Julia. She lost two infant sons during the Civil War. Sarah married George Dalton, died while young, leaving one small son, Sidney.

Martin married Lamiza Gilliam and raised three sons, Barney, Martin, and Charles; four daughters, Nola, Geneva Tessie, and Zada.

Arilda married William Fagg and raised five sons, Alonzo, Martin, Thomas, Cary, and Williams; five daughters, Ella, Callie, Virginia, Pearl, and Hester.

Matilda married Jonathan Stinson and raised one son, Albert; two daughters, Cora and Purvy; second marriage to Dick Rutgledge, raised one son, David.

Cyrus Married Sarah Hawkins and raised on son, Charles; two daughters, Evangie and Musie.

Joe married Josephine Carrand raised three sons, Walter, Bascom, and James; one daughter, Bernice.

Emma married James Wootten and raised three sons, Bret, Charles, and Fred; two daughters, Stella and Ora. Breacy, a fourth son, died while a small boy.

Simeon was captured and sent to Rock Island Prison, Ill., which was worse than a soratch (?). His uncles, Carroll and Joe, got his release on bond, provided he stay within the state of Ill. for the duration of the war.

Long Tom and Lucy lived alone and in the spring of 1864 their house caught on fire. Tom was 6 feet and six inches tall, weighed 250 pounds, and was practically helpless. Lucy led him a safe distance, seated him in a chair, and proceeded to save what she could from the burning building. A burning shingle fell against her skirt, igniting it. She ran to Tom for help but the flame was so great that she broke away and ran about six feet, where she fell and burned to death. Tom's clothes were on fire from trying to extinguish the flames and his hands were badly burned. He managed to put his clothes out but had a bad burn on his body.

In the autumn of 1864, Carroll came in a two-horse wagon to carry Mandy and her son to Ill. Long Tom was living with Hiram at that time and Carroll insisted that he go home with him. Charles bought a one-horse wagon and hired a man named Snowden to drive and they started to Ill. The second night out they camped at Russellville, Ky. During the night Tom had a cardiac asthma attack and died. The next day they buried him in Russellville.

After the war Simeon and his family came back to Tenn., stayed a few years at the home place on West Fork, then moved to a farm on Drakes Creek, four miles south of Bowling Green, Kentucky, thence to Texas. I don't know who moved first or last, but in a matter of a few years, Simeon, the Turners, Sidney Dalton, the Faggs and the Woottens wound up in Texas to make their homes.

When the Turners moved to Texas, Uncle Joe Simmons who had always lived on West Fork near his father, bought the Turner farm on Trammel Creek, and moved to it. There was a tenant house about two hundred and fifty yards above his house and he, my father, and others overhauled it, made it comfortable, and moved Grandpa Charles and Grandma into it. We visited then regularly. Grandma was one of the nicest, sweetest, old ladies I ever knew, a good housekeeper and entertainer in her home, and a devout Christian. She passed away July 1st, 1889 in her 79th year, and was buried at Pleasant Grove. After Grandma's death Grandpa moved in with Uncle Joe. I was nine years old at the time and remember his sitting on the portico [porch] in the summer and by the fire in the living room in winter, saying nothing to anyone, and seeming to be lost in thought. I can realize now more nearly how he felt. His old home on West Fork was still his and he never expected to see it again, and he had no means of communication with his children in Texas, for he could not write. He visited us at times and still seemed to me moody and lonely. I never really knew my grandpa until he came to live with us. It seemed that he had gotten over his moodiness to a great extent but he was a man of very few words. I asked him if Long Creek Joe Simmons was related to us and he said, "Well, back in Virginia his father's hounds ran a fox across my father's farm." That was the only time I ever heard him elaborate. He was friendly and interested in the farm work, would ask about the crops, and when Father was working near the house he would go out and ask if he could be of any help. About the house he wanted to have something to do with his hands, like shelling beans or peas, not especially to help Mother but to be busy.

About the first of March, 1896. he had put a stick of wood on the fire and, as was his custom, got the broom to sweep where he had walked and fell. Mother was out of the room, heard the fall, and came to see about it. By means of a chair she got him up and to a chair by the fire. She noticed that he had absolutely no use of his right leg. She asked if it hurt and he said it was only numb. She called Father and when he came he found that Grandpa's thigh was broken. Doctor Durham and Wilson set the bone and put his leg in a cast. It was the first time he had ever been visited by a doctor, Bone surgery had never been heard of in this neck of the woods in those days. No one ever heard him complain of pain or anything else. I stayed out of school for the duration of his confinement to help care for him. He was very little trouble only when he would first awake he would throw the covers back and try to get up. Someone would have to restrain him until he was fully awake and he would be all right. I cannot remember when Grandpa was not lame. The ball of the ball-and-socket joint of his right hip came off, allowing the thigh bone, or femur, to slip into his grion (groin) about three inches, leaving him with a stiff hip and a short leg. The phenomenon was attributed to hard work which does not seem plausible. This is the same thigh that was broken when he fell. That femur must have been tubercular, for when he passed away on April 5th, 1896 it had not knitted. Grandpa was buried at Pleasant Grove by the side of Grandma.

Of the fifty-one of Grandpa's grand children, I personally know and have known all but seven. Of the twenty-eight of his grandsons, and I am proud to be one of them, only five are living, Bret and Charles Wootten, and William Fagg, all of Texas, Charles Simmons of Allen County, Ky., and I.

I am glad to have been physically able to have written this brief history. It has brought to mind some pleasantries as well as sad occasions. I may have misspelled some words and my diction may be a little faulty, but at eighty-five I am neither a good speller nor a master of English. When one cannot see well enough to read what he has written, it is a handicap.