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July 20, 1874 This day comes G. R. [Gilbert R. - Maybe Riddle?] PATTERSON, M. [Mason "Mace"] EZZELL, J. G. ALLEN and others, Citizens of Greenfield, a village in Civil District No 9 of Weakley County and files their petition asking to have their said village of Greenfield in-corporated. It is therefore ordered by the
Court
that Mason
EZZELL, W. H. FISHER and Samuel BAKER be and are
hereby appointed
Commissioners
to fix boundaries of said town by metes and calls
and that they file
their
report with the Clerk & Master of this Court
wherever said limits
of
the Villiage of Greenfield shall have been fixed by
them. - Chancery
Court
Weakley County, Tennessee Order Book G (July
1874-Oct 1875) page
62.
MaryCarol |
January 22nd 1875 G. R. PATTERSON, M. EZZELL, W. H. FISHER, J.B. ALLEN et als Ex Parte Be it remembered that on this the 22nd day of
January 1875
before
the Honorable John Sommers, Chancellor, etc came on
this cause to be
finally
heard, upon the petition, Interlocutory decree herein,
and report of
the
Commissioners: Samuel BAKER, W. H. FISHER, and M.
EZZELL filed in this
cause, showing that on the 21st day of September 1874
he had opened and
held an election in said proposed limits of the Town
of Greenfield, and
it appearing to the Court that the said Commissioners
here fixed the
Corporate
limits of said Town of Greenfield as appears from
their said report,
which
report is in the words and figures following to
Wit: See plat
attached
to this sheet [ it wasn't there]. MaryCarol
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Tri-City Observer submitted by Leslie Bell PATTERSON CEMETERY PLACE OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Strange but ture are many facts of Greenfield history, as is evident by what may be seen in the old Patterson Cemetery, inside the city limits, and which was a burying ground some 22 years before the town came into being. The first grave ever made in this old graveyard is as plainly marked as if it had been made in 1967. All lettering can be read easily at the a long distance. This pioneer cemetery contains the graves of a daughter-in-law and two grandchildren of a United States President and Govenor of Tennessee. It also contains the grave of the man who has been called the "founder of Greenfield" and his wife. The late Oscar Elam, who lived to be 90 is responsible for most of the facts printed here. This first grave is that of James J. Hatcher who died August 21, 1852, twenty three years before the building of the Illinois Central Railroad in 1873-74. Standing by the grave of his great grandfather is Will Edd Akin of Greenfield. Mr. Akin is 72. Other great grandchildren of Mr. Hatcher, who has been dead for 115 years, are Joe and Thomas Akin, Mrs Iva Corum, Hall McAdams, Mrs. Mary Elinor Dueberry, and Eli and Fred Tillman, all of Greenfield. Jim C. Tillman of Chicago, a frequent visitor here, is also a fourth-generation descendant as are a number of other out-of-town people. The wife of James F. Hatcher, Jane Hillis Hatcher, died in 1910 and is buried in a family plot west of town. A fact known to but a few, perhaps, is that the wife of James K. Polk, Jr.. son of President James K. Polk, and her two infant children, Knox and Ella, are buried in Patterson Cemetery. Mrs. Polk, who died at age 20, was a sister of the late Oscar Elam, who lives only a few steps from the graveyard. Lettering on these markers is still readable after some 90 years. About the center of the burying ground is the tomb of the man who has been called the "founder of Greenfield", Samuel Baker, and his wife Frances Patterson Baker. Mr Baker is said to have owned most of what is now Greenfield when it became a town. Standing at their graves is a fourth-generation direct descendant, LeRoy Baker, who is just one of the hundreds who have descended from this couple who had 16 children. Perhaps the oldest of these, was a granddaughter, Mrs. Lula Lipscomb Ross, who died a year ago at 96. Most present day buriels are in the cemetery across the street known as Morris graveyard, but occasionally one is held in this historical Patterson burying ground. If many of those sleeping out there could rise up, what a story they could tell! PHOTO 1- Distant Relative - Will Edd Akin stands behind the gravemarker of James J. Hatcher, his great grandfather, Mr. Hatcher died in 1852, 115 years ago at age 27. PHOTO 2 - Founder of Greenfield - This stone marks the grave of Samuel Baker, generally regarded as the "founder of Greenfield", and his wife, Frances Patterson Baker. LeRoy Baker, pictured at this site, is a fourth-generation direct descendant of Mr. and Mrs. Baker. PHOTO 3- Related to President - These gravestones mark the burying places of a daughter-in-law of a United States President and her two infant children. Mrs. James K. Polk Jr.�s husband was the son of President James K. Polk. She is the sister of the late Oscar Elam and an aunt of Robert Elam who lives near the cemetery. **note - not sure where this story came from, but turns out to be false. President Polk had no children.
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Found your website and love it! Thought you might want to mention something about the Greenfield High Yellow Jackets under Coach Bullington in the late 20's and early 30's. It was 1932-33 that they were state champs. My father, Fate Lett, was the captain and stayed in high school an extra year just to play football as the quarterback, then went on a football scholarship to Union Univ. in Jackson. He was the son of Samuel Lee Lett and Nora Rigby Lett (she was from Bradford, he from Greenfield), and the nephew of Mr. and Mrs. J.B. Reed, both long-time educators of Weakley County. Mr Reed served as president of Bethel College for a number of years and as trustee/treasurer of the First Presbyterian Church of Greenfield. They lived in a big old Victorian house on Main Street, torn down in the 1970's, and had the first indoor plumbing in the area.. All the relatives are buried in the Highland Cemetery. I'll be watching for further Weakley County news! Anna Rolling 1932
GREENFIELD
High School football team - with photo |
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