Interviews with older folks

          Transcribed by Joe Stout
 

I was born May 29, 1883, up here at the Coston Place, 4th house west of the hotel.

The first Kimery's to come to this section of the country was my grandfather, Alfred Kimery. He came here in 1858 with his family from Hardin County near Savannah, TN and settled down here west of Greenfield on what is now known as the J. L. Kimery farm.  It belongs to Annie Abernathy.

He married Mary Jane Gant, in Hardin County.  He was born in North Carolina and was raised in Bedford County near Shelbyville.  His father was Frederick Kimery, my great grandfather.

My father was Robert Henry Kimery and he married Annie Herbert from near Meridian, Mississippi.  The Herbert family came from England.  Three Herberts came over here form England way back yonder and she was the descendant of one of these; the one who went to South Carolina.  She was a cousin of Hilary Herbert, Secretary of the Navy under Cleveland's last administration.  His home is in Montgomery, Alabama.  She came to Tennessee to visit her sister at Milan and got a school at Greenfield.

I had only three children, two boys and a girl and I am the only one living now.

The Kimery that was an insurance agent was my father's nephew.

I had three uncles named Jesse, James L. and Andrew.  J. L. has two boys living, W. J., this insurance man, and J. B. who is in the grocery business here in Greenfield. Uncle Jesse got killed in the Civil War.  He was the oldest son. Uncle Andrew died in the early 1880's with pneumonia and measles.  Jesse B., who is in the grocery business has a son named Harvey.

My father was one of the first men who came to this town.  He came up here before there was any town to the Old Hall and put in a store and had a grocery and saloon.  They were building the railroad through here in 1873, and, of course, when they completed the railroad and started the town, he came to town and put in a business. He bought a lot and built a house where the 10 cent store is, about the middle of the middle block. (112 N. Front St. J.S)  He continued on in that business for about 10 years and he and Mr. Bill Cantrell went in the Dry Goods business together. He also had a cotton gin and bought cotton.  The gin was located near Mrs. Barnett's.

The railroad was completed in 1887 and I have a picture of the first railroad agent. His name was James K. Polk (buried Patterson Cemetery J.S) He married an Elam - Oscar Elam s sister.

Q: Now if you don t recollect a lot of it yourself, you could probably give me a rough sketch of business expansion of this town from what you have heard your parents say.

A: Greenfield had two flour mills at one time.  Down here where the Baptist Church now stands J. H. Ward & Co. operated a mill for several years.  Then in 1897 Coats Bros. & Hatcher built a mill down here near the Ice House (at the south end of Front St. J.S.)and operated it for about two years. They sold out to J. H. Ward & Co., who operated it from then on.  J. H. Ward sold the machinery of the first mill to a firm in Paducah, Ky.  Then Roger Brasfield and Jim Ward operated a spoke mill in this same building for several years.  Then on right down below that where Jim Brock s house now stands (I believe this house is at the top of the second hill past the present post office. js) there was a planing mill operated there by Baker & Robinson - Will Robinson.  That is where he got his fingers cut off in a planer.

Q: Did any of the Skullbone Hedgecocks ever operate a machine shop here?

A: I don't remember any of the Hecgecocks except Dennis.  He operated a blacksmith shop over on East Main Street, just beyond Gardner's Store. There is a concrete house there now.  That has not been over 35 years ago. He was here when the first automobile came in.

One time there were two box factories here.  One was Anderson Tulley located down by the Ice Plant, and the other Ward Kent & Co., who came here in the early 1880 s.  These two firms operated here as competitors for a time and Anderson Tulley moved to Memphis.  Anderson Tulley was a small outfit compared to Ward Kent & Co.  Later Ward Kent & Co. had stock in the Memphis firm of Anderson-Tulley Co.  The late Judge Harry B. Anderson was a son of the Anderson-Tulley Anderson.  Judge Anderson was Federal Judge of the Western District, succeeding Judge Ross who committed suicide.

I am a member of the Masonic Lodge founded down here about two and a half miles west of Greenfield, on the old Trenton and Dresden road, at a place called Millersburg.  A few years later in 1848 they moved to the Old Hall which is out beyond Mr. Oscar Elam s place.  Then sometime in the 1890 s they moved to Greenfield at the old School building which stands near where the USA Presbyterian church stands.  They moved to Front Street over the Greenfield Drug Store about 1897, the present location.  Tom Brooks is the present master.

Could you give us some of the incidents of interest that happened in this vicinity - some of the feuds or fights that occurred?

A: Bob Goolsby killed old man George Combs, June 26, 1897.  There was a Quaker Medicine show in front of where Keels Pressing shop is now. (between the Greenfield Band and the City Hall. js)  One night when they were there, Comb s son, Henry Combs, had a difficulty with a nigger and threw a brick bat at the nigger.  The brick bat went through the Bank  Mr. Goolsby approached this boy to make him pay for the window and they got into an argument.  Mr. Goolsby was going to thrash him, but the boy thrashed him.  He blackened each of Mr. Goolsby s eyes good,  He called the boy a hard name and he went and told his father.  He came over here from Kenton to see Goolsby and Goolsby shot him.

Mr. Goolsby bank episode:

The directors of the bank were planning to have a secret meeting of the board without having Mr. Goolsby present.  He got on to it and called a meeting of his own.  He forced the other directors, at pistol point, to second all his motions and he conducted the meeting to suit himself.

The Greenfield Normal College was founded by J. E. Goldsby and Robert Garrett in 1893.  Bob Garrett, mentioned above,  taught at Hebrew Seminary previously to establishing Greenfield Normal College.  This was not the Greenfield Training School which existed at a later date.  This Normal College was a prep school and their graduate students were given credit at Vanderbilt University.

Q: Which school did old Prof. Reid teach at?

A: He came to the old Academy first over near the Presbyterian Church.

Q: Was it a log house?

A: No, it was a frame building and the Masonic Hall was up stairs.  He came to Greenfield in the early 1880 s from Dyer, Tenn.  I have heard him say that he rode a horse over here to see the School Committee about getting the school.  He got the school and moved here later.  Mathematics was his hobby.

Some of the first stores in Greenfield were J. H. Ward's brother, Jordon Ward, and his sons, John and Manse. They were the first Dry Goods and General Merchandise Store operators here.  They moved to Texas in 1881.  James Shannon and Will Caudle operated the first Drug Store.

Some of the first Medical Doctors were Dr. Edwards and Dr. Hudson and Dr. Dan W. Scates.  Dr. John Shannon, father of the late Drs. Jim and John Shannon practiced at Scatterville, present site of Shafter.  General Shafter was one of the Generals in the Spanish American war and Scatterville was changed to Shafter in honor of Grneral Shafter.

The first sawmill was operated by Old Man Kennedy, I did not know his given name.  He and his sons were the first to operate a saw mill and stave factory.

Old man Pink Smith was one of the first Blacksmith operators.  His shop was located on South Front St. Also Old man Amos West operated a blacksmith shop.

E. N. J. Brock was the first wagon, buggy, hardware, implement and vehicle dealer.  Claude Moseley and his son-in-law runs the business.

Generally speaking the Kimery s have been Democrats and Primitive Baptists.  My mother s side of the family were Methodists.  In fact her father was a Methodist Preacher.  He and Jeff Davis were school boys together.  Jeff Davis was born in Kentucky, but went to school at Biloxi, Mississippi.  Later on when the war came up, he was a preacher and Jeff Davis gave him an appointment of some kind.  Not a Chaplain - they did not have Chaplains then like they do now - but it was over the Commissary Department, which was the nearest thing to a Chaplain.  My father and mother belonged to the Christian Church, now called the Church of Christ.  I can remember some of the Missionary Baptists had foot washings.

Q: Do you know what the basic objection to the Masonic Lodge of some of the what some of the churches was?

A: I don t know what it was they objected to.  The old Baptist prohibited Sunday Schools because the Sunday School literature was subject to erroneous things as it was gotten up by man, and they believe in nothing but the Bible as it is written.  The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was the first church in Greenfield, the Methodist next and the Baptist still later.

My father was the first saloon keeper.  He moved from Old Hall to Greenfield.

Old man Dan Stout was one of the first restaurant operators. They sold principally soup.  Also Richard Wright; Matt Bannister and Nephew Henry; John Hampton; Ernest Dunlap - Ernest sold drinks - hop tonics, in connection with food; Tom Williams; Susie Costen; Clack Reid; Will Miller; Guy Mullins; John Will Youn, present; Velma Marcus, present; Robert Caudle, present.

Lon Gordon was one of the first barbers. He ran a shop where the Dental Office is, on old Cedar Street. (in the Williams Dept. store bldg. now called Broad St. js) and Thell Baker.

Note; At this point an incident that has no connection with the above interview was related by C. R. Dowland for the record.  This incident follows:

Tom Aylor was coming from Chicago back home on the train, and had struck up with a travelling companion, who, also, was an enthusiastic bird hunter. He had hear of the innumerable shooting scrapes on Soup Street.  Having bird hunting in common, Tom had convinced his companion, by the time  they reached Sharon, that Soup Street had become a peace loving place.  When they reached Greenfield, the gentleman was in the act of following Tom off the train to bird hunt with him a few days, but when he got out to the steps of the train coach, the famous pitched battle broke loose between Tom Grooms of Soup Street, and the McAllesters of Skullbone, whereupon the prospective visiting hunter said:  I don t believe Soup Street has changed quite enough for me, and I will just proceed on to Jackson. 

Tom Lane and J. W. Dudley were one of the first undertakers.  The firm of Lane and Dudley.

One of the first shoe shops was operated by Old man Hornbuckle, George and Will Hornbuckle s father.  Old man John Mullins also had a shoe shop. 

Q: Who was the first 10 cent store operated by?

A: The called it a  Racket Store.   Mr. Will Revis came from Dresden and put in that store.  It was the same thing as a five and ten cent store. 

Q: Who was the oldest Plumbing Company - Steam heating and plumbing?

A: Old man J. W. Forbesa ran a machine shop and did plumbing connection with it.

Q: Who were some of the earlier electricians?

A: I can t exactly get that in my mind.  They did not have any electricians until they got the electricity.  The first electrician was Charlie Barton.  It was first installed by the city and later to the Kentucky-Tennessee Power Co., and now to the T.V.A.  The water has always belonged to the city.  The source is a deep well.

The town has been incorporated twice.  They did away with the first corporation, and it was unincorporated for a long time.  In 1905 it was incorporated again.

The following Officers were named in the charter.  They were not elected but the charter provided for them: The first mayor was Roger Brasfield.  The Aldermen were: John W. West; Jim Ward; Andy Coats; Bob Goolsby; Jim Ray; Ben C. Brock; Bob Holder; G. J. Brasfield.  Henry C. Watkins was the first Marshal and Carl Grooms the next Marshal. The next mayor was J. N. Ray.  Clyde Ezell was mayor when they put in the improvements - the lights, sewage and streets, in 1928-29-30.  The present mayor is Cullen Foust.

The first bank was a branch of the Weakely County Bank, out of Dresden.  They sent Bob Goolsby to open up a branch.  He was the whole works - Cashier, teller and all.  1900 the Greenfield Bank was organized. During the depression it was closed and was reorganized as the Greenfield Banking Co.  There was also a Fruitgrowers Bank.  It failed and the Greenfield Bank took it over.

Note: At a later date, Mr. Kimery submitted the following information concerning the Masonic Lodge.

Washington Lodge #159 F. & A. M. was organized Oct. 5, 1848, at Millersburg (Millersburg was located west of Greenfield near the Lynn Point river crossing. js) Weakley County, Tennessee, about two miles west of where Greenfield now stands, with the following charter members: A. P. Hill; William G. Dudley; Joe Dibrell; Wade H. Carlton; E. J. Shannon; Leonard Miller; James Etheridge; Harvey Waterfield.  The lodge proved popular and was crowded with petitioners, which included some of the most prominent men then living in Weakley County.  Many of their descendants have risen to distinguish honorable stations in life.  A New Hall was built where Greenfield now stands in 1850, and the lodge moved, Dec. 27th of the same year, to where they continued until (Date not given in book) , when they moved to their new Hall on the hill near the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.  They then moved, on Feb. 8 1896 to the present Hall on Front Street, opposite the Depot.  The first master was W. P. Hill - 1848 to 1850.