Memories of Oak Grove
Part Two:
The Sherrons, The Freelands, The Angleas,
and The Others
The Sherrons, The Freelands, The Angleas,
and The Others
Reprinted with permission.
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William "Buck" Sherron lived to be in his 90's and when he died he had, in addition to his 13 children, 64 grandchildren, 87 great-grandchildren and 4 great-great grandchildren. Their 13 children were: Thornton, Tom, Frankie, Mary, Bill, Effrom (sometimes spelled Effraon), Nancy Sarah , William, John, America Tennessee, Charlie and Robert. Their birth dates range from 1846 to 1872 - a 26 year period. One child was born out of every two years. I will take these children one at a time to show you their significance around the Oak Grove Community.
Thornton Sherron - He had three children, Morgan, Matt and Ella. Morgan's children were Alene, Joe, Hershel, Henry, Fannie Bell and Bessie. Matt married a Durham and had children named Alfred, Luther, Virgil, John, Lloyd, Ollie Paul, Carroll, Bertha, and Willie.
Alfred Durham's son, John W., was my partner in the country store ice routes. Ella Sherron Simpson had four girls and a boy. The girls were named Gertie who married a Martin, Susie who married a Hunter, Alvia who married a Fisher and Rosalie who married a Parrish. Jessie, the boy, married Neely Presnell, the preacher's daughter.
Tom Sherron - The second of the 13 children had 9 children and lived to be about 104 years old. His children were Walter, Willie, Tommy, Maude, Chaney, Ethel, Vernie, Laura and Ann. Ann later married a Duffer. Chaney married a Simpson. One of the other girls married a West. Her name was Laura as I recall. Anyway, this West lady had 3 boys that I remember, namely, Johnny, Russell, and Albert. The other children of Tom Sherron I know little about.
Frankie Sherron Purdue - The third child of the 13 married Reese Purdue and from this marriage they had Ann Fleming, Gilbert, Brode, Carry, Evna Martin, Pearl, Fannie Hunter, Izzie Moye, Lillie Hunter, and Mattie.
Out of this group the significance to Oak Grove in particular was Ann Fleming. Ann had children names Robe, Ernest and M.B. Robe married "Miss Mabel Anglea", Charlie Anglea's sister, and they lived practically in front of the Presbyterian Church when I grew up. They were both active in the community and in the church and loved by many people. They had a daughter named Dorothy who was about the age of one of my sisters - Theda.
Mary Sherron Neal - The fourth child of the thirteen married George Neal. George and Mary Sherron Neal had 10 children - Emma, Charlie, Hack, Luther, Herman, Nannie, Mag, Callie, George, and Gus.
Taking these one at a time of those I know, I will begin with Hack Neal. He was pastor for the Presbyterian Church for a period of time. He was a Presbyterian Minister. He and his wife had children Narcella, William, and Carlyle.
Maggie, one of the girls of George and Mary, married a Purdue. He died and she later married Brade Maddox. From Purdue they had children named Prater Purdue and Mildred Johnson. From Brade Maddox they had Basil Maddox and Kenneth Maddox. The Maddoxs lived across the road from us when we were growing up and Basil and I played together a lot.
Gus, one of the boys of George and Mary, married Emma Clendening. They had children named Lila, Dorothy, Jimmy and Bobby. Dorothy is a nurse at the hospital in Fountainhead. Jimmy is a nationally known lawyer living in Nashville. Bobby is a retired officer of the military service and he lives in Gallatin at this time with his wife.
Lila married Beuford Ligon. Lila and Beuford were a significant part of Oak Grove as well as Lila's parents. They continued to make Oak Grove a part of their activity as they live in Gallatin. They had as children, Linda, Barry, and Beth who grew up in Oak Grove.
Bill Sherron - The fifth of this 13 number had one child named Nora.
Effrom Sherron - The sixth of these 13 children had sons named Willie and Johnny.
Nancy Sherron - She was known as "Nanny" and was the seventh of the 13 children. She married an Isaac McGlothen. They had children named Bill, Taylor and Bertha. Bertha married Will Freeland.
The Freelands lived near Oak Grove down toward Sulphuria at the creek. They had two children - Oscar and Jewel. Oscar married Inez Thornton and had Nancy and Billy as children. Jewel married Raymond Jones and they had children named Joanne and Charles William.
This whole family was active and some are still active in the Oak Grove Church and community. Bill and Taylor, I remember, had good jobs with the railroad and moved from Oak Grove as young men.
Sarah Sherron Brown - Sarah Sherron was eighth of the 13 children and married Jim Henry Brown. This marriage produced 12 children - Lannie Butt, Harris, Joe, Fount, Bill, Muncie, Dewey Gilliam, Lula Hodges, Hattie Ashlock, Vallie Brown, Meazzy Hodges, and Follie. Harris had 2 or 3 children - 2 daughters. One was named Thelma.
Joe of this group contributed most to the number of people in Oak Grove. Joe married Arah Lambert and they had children named Edith, J.D., Marguerite, Sarah, Claudene, Billie, Pattie, Harold, Betty and Connie. They were all significant parts of Oak Grove church, school and community. Some of the children and grandchildren are still active in the Oak Grove community.
Hattie Brown Ashlock had children by Will Ashlock named Leslie and Ardeth. Ardeth married Tommy Hodges. Leslie married Paulene Moye. Lula Hodges of Jim Henry Brown and Sarah Sherron had a daughter named Beulah Mayes.
Lannie Butt of the children of Jim and Sarah Brown had children named Virgil, Roy, James, Cecil, and Rufus. Bill Brown of the marriage of Jim and Sarah Brown, married Rosie Cantrell and had children named Mabel, Pete. and Rufus.
William Sherron - William was ninth of the 13 children. He was one of the men who left the community and went to Texas when he was young and I know nothing about his family.
John Sherron - He was tenth of 13. He married Cass Anglea, my grandfather's sister, and had children named Harry, Harvey, and a daughter named May. May married Henry Brown and from this marriage they had two children named Harland and Hubert. I don't know about Harvey Sherron's family since he left and went to Indianapolis at a young age. Harry never married.
America Tennessee Sherron Anglea - This Sherron was my grandmother. She was the 11th of the 13 and she married George Anglea. They had children named Witt, Cassie, Chaney, Norma, Paul, and Harrison. Witt married Nola Doris and had no children. Chaney and Norma died when they were teenagers. Paul married Pauline Walden - the doctor's daughter. They had children named Billy and Joanne.
Harrison Anglea married Myrtle Presnell - the preacher's daughter and had no children. Cassie, my mother, married Harris Freeland, my father. They had 8 children - all still living. They are Allene, Annie V., Dewitt, Christine, Theda, Lorene, Donald, and Jeanette.
Allene married Wayne Durham and had children named Richard, Ward and Sherry. Annie V. married Victor Allen. They have one daughter named Anita. Dewitt married Sarah Clay and had children named Sandra, Sheila, and Debby. Christine married Sturge Poorman - a doctor from Philadelphia. They have children named Sturgis, John and Donald. Theda married Graham Snow who later died. She is now married to Chic Thomas. She has no children.
Lorene married Haskel Douglas and they have Kathy, Teresa, and Bill. Donald, my only brother, married Sue Barker and they have children, Carole, Robert, and Mark. Jeanette, my youngest sister, married Bill Evatt and they have children named Julie, Alan, John and David.
Charlie Sherron and Robert Sherron - These boys were number 12 and 13. They had no children as far as I know.
Sid Freeland, my grandfather, had two brothers and one sister who lived in the Oak Grove Community. His brother, Elvis, ran a store there in the early days. Elvis later moved toward Corinth. Will married Bertha and lived in Oak Grove. (Editor's Note: Mr. Freeland hand wrote a correction. There was third brother named Albert.) Elvis, Sid, Will, and Annie, the sister were the children of John Freeland who came from North Carolina into the Corinth Community.
My grandfather, Sidney Freeland married Julie Gant and they had children named Cleve and Harris. After Julie died Sidney Freeland married Lizzie Parker and they had a son named Clare. I have already told you about the family of Harris, my father.
Elvis Freeland ran the country store there in Oak Grove in the very early days and later his son Luther ran the country store. Elvis also had a son named Omar who had two sons, I believe, and two daughters. I remember Lloyd and Christine. Lloyd, I believe, is an active part of Sumner County right now. Luther Freeland had a son named Talman who married and had at least one daughter whom I've met.
Will Freeland, I mentioned, married Bertha and they had two children, Oscar and Jewel, and lived in Oak Grove.
Annie Freeland, grandfather Sid's sister, married John Brown and had two sons named Henry and Harvey, mentioned elsewhere.
George Anglea, my other grandfather, was a son of Robert Anglea, a Civil War casualty, who is buried near Cross Roads close to Oak Grove. You can get detailed history about the Anglea Family from a book called "Band of Angleas" written by Robert W. Anglea.
One other person I want to mention that has the name Anglea is Charlie Anglea. He was a distant relative of my mother and, of course, me. Charlie Anglea ran one of the three country stores as I grew up in Oak Grove. He married Nannie Allen Anglea from Edenwold, Tennessee. They were a highly respected couple who were active in their church, teachers of young people and a big part of the community. They had a son named Bert.
Now that just about takes care of the close relatives and my connection with Oak Grove. Let me go to other people, some of whom are distant relatives, in Oak Grove. They are mentioned in no particular order except maybe where they lived.
Charlie Cook and his wife, Vera, had children named Christine, Kenneth, Delores, Evelyn, JoAnne, and Jean. All of these people were a big part of the Oak Grove community as I grew up. They were active in school and church. As a teen-ager I played with Kenneth along with Basil Maddox, J.D. Brown, and others. Some of these children along with their grandchildren are probably still active in the community. I know that the younger children are active in the Oak Grove community at this time.
At the center crossroads of Oak Grove, in a two story building with a porch, lived Albert Bradley and his wife, Miss Clare. They had a daughter named Maude who married Esco Hinton (the blacksmith, the gristmill operator and the carpenter). They had one son named Harley J. who was an early teen businessman with whom I sometimes worked.
A family named Simpson was a big part of Oak Grove. Joe Simpson and wife Nora had three children - Tennessee, Dennis, and Alton. Tennessee and Alton remained active in Oak Grove throughout this period. Alton married Rachel Reddick. They had children named Barbara and Roger. Tennessee is mentioned elsewhere.
There was a gentleman named Will Cantrell, I remember, that lived near Oak Grove. There was a couple named Mr. and Mrs. Homer Campbell, Will Cantrell's sister, who had two children named Austin and Clayton. There was a Mr. and Mrs. Bud Crowder who had a son named Roscoe.
There was a Mr. and Mrs. Brode Fleming. Brode and his wife Mallie Butt had children named Floyd, Allene and Pauline. Allene and Pauline were twins. They were a very significant part of the community and teenage crowd when I grew up.
Minus Denning lived down the road towards Fairfield. He married one of the daughters of Mary Sherron. She and Minus Denning had children named Opal, G.D., Hazel, and Lucille. I know at least two of these people are still a part of the area of Oak Grove.
There was a preacher named Reverend Tom Neal who lived in Oak Grove after he retired and of course attended Oak Grove church. I recall when he retired he preached his farewell sermon titled "The Great Plan of Salvation." I have a copy of that sermon.
There was a Mr. and Mrs. Jim Thornton from Oak Grove living towards. Liberty. They had children named Herchel, Kay and Pat. Herchel had children named Opal and Hoyt, near my age.
There was another family that was a significant part of Oak Grove - Mr. and Mrs. Tom Durham. Tom Durham married Annie Reddick. Annie Reddick was a sister of Harris Reddick who was a sheriff of Sumner County part of the time I was growing up. Henry Durham, Tom's brother, was a bachelor. He lived and farmed with the Tom Durham family most of the time when the children were growing up.
Tom and Miss Annie had children named Beulah, Wayne and Edith. Beulah was the wife of Morphew Douglas. People called him Doug. He was a barber in Gallatin. Beulah and Doug had a son named Larry. Beulah and Larry are still living. Doug died an early death, a very unfortunate happening. Wayne, the son, married my sister, Allene Freeland and their family has already been mentioned. Edith, the other daughter, married Wilson Walker and had a child - Patsy.
Will Ashlock, who I may have already mentioned, married Hattie Brown and had children named Leslie and Ardoth. Ardoth married Tommy Hodges and had James Bob, Charles and Wardene. Leslie married Paulene Moye and had one daughter.
Mr. and Mrs. Joe Lambert of the community had children named Willie, Arah, Ivey and Jody. Arah was the wife of Joe Brown. Ivy was the wife of Dr. Hunt.
Neely Lee and wife lived near the Sherron cemetery. They had children named Bates, Otis, Harvey, Annie Bell, Lucille, and Artealia.
There was a Mr. and Mrs. Bob Gray, who lived down towards Brackentown. They had children named Roy, Cull, Dale, Mabel and Clara Bell.
Toward Portland there was a family named Mr. and Mrs. Tom Hinton. They had children names Newt, Eula Bell and Rhea.
Isaac McGlothen lived nearer my grandmother Anglea's place. He and his wife had a son named Verge, and two daughters named Babe and Sister. I know only of those names.
Mr. and Mrs. Houston Douglas lived down toward Brackentown and they were the grandparents of Morphew Douglas who lived with them and he grew up in the Oak Grove community. Another grandson of Houston Douglas was Haskel Douglas who married my sister, Lorene.
John Brown, who lived down the Gallatin Road, married my grandfather's sister, Annie, a Freeland, and they had Harvey, Henry, and Linnie. Harvey Brown was the county court clerk of Sumner County for a number of years.
I have mentioned Reverend and Mrs. Sam Presnell. He was a minister at Oak Grove and retired after being a minister there in the Presbyterian church. He and Mrs. Presnell had children named Neeley, Nell, Fan, Martin, Sid, Myrtle, Doris, and Marie.
Part of the children grew up away from Oak Grove while Rev. Presnell was a minister at another location but Martin, Myrtle, Doris, and Marie lived in Oak Grove. Myrtle married my mother's brother, Harrison Anglea.
Lee Calvert of Oak Grove married Tennessee and they had children, Merlin, Elmer and Evelyn. Evelyn later married Clemon Gilliam. Gilliam was a nephew of Dee Gilliam who ran one of the country stores in Oak Grove for years. He and his wife Evelyn have been a positive, contributing factor of the Oak Grove community, Oak Grove church and the Sherron Cemetery. Evelyn died just a short time ago and left a big hole in the community because she had been serving as a leader, organist and pianist there at the church for years.
Other families I recall include Mr. and Mrs. George Perigo. They had children but I don't remember their names. Mr. and Mrs. Herman Roark had children but I can't think of their names either. Mr. and Mrs. Loan Lee had children named Oscar, Floyd, Ruth and Anna Bell. He was a homemade veterinarian.
The Elder Charlie Crouch lived down the Gallatin Road and off to the right of this road. He was a minister of the Church of Christ in Corinth but his children J.D. and Brody attended the Oak Grove grammar school.
Then there was a Mr. and Mrs. Jack Gant down by the branch near my grandfather's house. They had children, Eulela and Bobby. Bobby, I remember, along with Oscar Freeland and maybe one or two more, were among the first of the Oak Grove Community to finish four years of high school sharing rides to Portland before the school bus days.
Alf Sarver, the son of Jeremiah Sarver and his wife Sis Anglea who lived down the Fairfield road had a big farm (a plantation type farm). On this farm was a graveyard for slaves who were buried there in the very early days. The black people still had "decoration day" for this slave graveyard. Because some of those people, including some of the black people buried there, had taken the name Freeland from my ancestors. My Dad, my granddad and uncles were invited and we went to those decoration days.
I remember these black people talking to me about what their ancestors said about the Freelands in the early days. The nice things they said about releasing them from slavery and allowing them to work on the place as free people made me very proud as a very young boy.
There was a Mr. and Mrs. Brode Gant who had two sons named Luther and Herman. Mr. and Mrs. Jim Hodges had children that lived near grandfather Freeland's place toward Corinth but I can't recall their names. I've already mentioned Alf Sarver who married Sis Anglea Sarver and is included in the "Band of Angels" book. This Mr. and Mrs. Alf Sarver had a daughter named Frances Elizabeth who married Charles Clendining and they had as their children Mary Lottie and Charles who was a part of the Oak Grove Community and went to school at the Portland High School on the school bus. Now that is about all of the people I remember that made up Oak Grove as I grew up and slightly before I grew up.
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Part One: Preface, Forward, Oak Grove - Incorporated, and Growing Up
Part Three: Living and Working
Part Four: The Church and The Cemetery
Part Five: The Schools, The Stores, and The Garage
Return to Sumner County Family Album