Ninety Six Years of Great Living

Robertson County

Tennessee lost another hero this week. Joe Harvey McClanahan ended this chapter of his life on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009 at his home. This information is taken from an article I compiled in 2008 for his 95th birthday. I have added some notes and pictures. As researchers and family historians, people like Joe Harvey are rare. He remembered minute details about every person he encountered. He had a keen, discerning eye which I admired. Thank you Joe Harvey.

When I need to learn about any event in Robertson County or any person who lived in the last 150 years, I turn to one person, Joe Harvey McClanahan. He is the historian’s historian. Joe Harvey is an active member of this community and a former businessman. He is a charter member of the Springfield Lions Club and a 48-year-member of the American Legion. He was a lifelong member of Springfield Baptist Church and likely to be seen around town at the Farmers’ Bank Coffee Club or learning about new happenings in town.

Joe Harvey McClanahan was born 20 August 1913 in the house where he lives today.[He died in the same room he was born.] His parents were Albion Amzi McClanahan and Ella White McClanahan. Across the street his nephew, Wilbur McClanahan was born in 1914. Wilbur and Joe Harvey would become close friends and playmates.

The McClanahan family moved into the house at 251 Oak Street (now known at 315 Oak Street) after Dr. A.A. McClanahan purchased the house and lot from Kate England in 1897. In his book, The Springfield I Have Known, Charles Love discussed the backside of this property at the turn of the century.

There were no buildings on the East side of Walnut Street between Third and Fourth avenues. Milton Green’s pasture embraced all of the territory between Oak and Walnut streets and the martin (now Tony Dowlen) property. Along Walnut street between the Green pasture and Third Avenue were the cow lots of G.P. Martin, Dr. McClanahan, John R. Long and others.

As a youth, Joe Harvey had a continuing love for the trumpet and band music. One band he led was called “Blues Chasers.” Their theme song was “Goodbye, Blues.” They traveled throughout the area playing for dances and special events. Among the band members were Charlie Brandon, Herbie Knowles, G.B. Kemper, Bobby Rosson, Johnny Whiting, Haywood Couts, Howard Byrum, Ellis Binkley, and Pope Johnson. His love for music continued. He was a charter member of the Springfield Lions Club where he received the Melvin Jones Fellow Award and also directed the first Springfield [Tenn.] Lions Club Minstrel.

Joe Harvey attended Main Street school and graduated from Springfield High School and also attended Castle Heights Military Academy in Lebanon [Tenn.].

A few years later, he opened the Gulf Pride Service Station, which was located at 4th and North Main, across from the Center. He was a contractor and insurance agent for White-McClanahan Insurance Agency. Mr. McClanahan purchased the Stinnett Coal Company, which later became McClanahan Lumber Company, which he owned and operated with his son, Harvey, until his retirement in the mid-1990s.

Shortly after the marriage of Joe Harvey to his wife, Ruth Glover, the McClanahans moved into what they call the “little house.” According to the family, Joe Harvey built the little house in 1935. His first two children, Harvey and Gail [Holman], were born in the little house. After A.A. McClanahan broke his hip, Joe Harvey and his family moved into the big house about 1938.

The second floor of the house at 315 Oak Street became the home for Joe Harvey, Ruth and their growing family. Their third child, Ella [Bellflower], was born after the family was living in the “big house.” The former pump room of the big house became the kitchen for the family. Joe Harvey had grown up hearing stories about the pumping of water from his older brothers, White and Albion. The front room became Joe Harvey and Ruth’s bedroom. Their children called it the “big room.” Gail and Ella shared a bedroom at the rear of the house beside the kitchen. Harvey’s bedroom was very small. There was just enough room for a bed and a chest.

The family flourished and enjoyed their home. They lived and played in their second floor home for many years. With the exception of weekends, they ate their meals upstairs in the kitchen / dining room. On the weekends, they would go downstairs and dine with Joe Harvey’s parents (or as the children called them, Grandmother and Papa.)

Joe Harvey entered the U.S. Army during World War II. He completed training for the Infantry, was involved in combat in France, and completed his service as an Army clerk. After his military service, he returned to Springfield and the Gulf Pride Service Station. Joe Harvey was involved in several business interests, but we all remember his involvement with McClanahan Lumber on Cheatham Street. He was member of American Legion Post #48.

Joe Harvey and his family have celebrated every Christmas together on Oak Street except one. The family moved to Silver Springs, Maryland, in 1943. Joe Harvey was working in a bakery, until he was called into service. The family moved back to Springfield eighteen months later. Ella remembered celebrating her fourth birthday in Maryland.

[Let me add a note to this memory. During World War II, Joe Harvey was a member of the 4th Infantry Division in France. He completed his Infantry training and remained in the Infantry until the end of the War. Just prior to his discharge, he was encouraged to change his military status so he would receive more compensation. With a young family he changed his status or MOS. Several years after the War, a military friend and colleague wrote Joe Harvey a letter telling him that he was eligible for a Combat Infantry Badge for personally participating in active ground combat while a member of infantry unit after 6 December 1941. Joe Harvey applied for this Badge and was turned down because he had changed his MOS from Infantry to a Clerk. All parties agreed he would have been eligible except for the change in his MOS. He worked with every elected official throughout the years, but was unable to gain that medal. We once thought we could obtain this medal for Joe Harvey and have it presented to him. A medal was purchased and mailed to him with the return address of the awarding organization, but the postage endorsement indicated it was mailed from Springfield, Tenn. He immediately questioned his daughter, Gail, about who might have sent this medal. He was unwilling to accept the medal except if presented from the U.S. Army. He was still working on that at the time of his death. ]

Your life is an inspiration to all who had the pleasure of knowing you. Thanks for the memories and life lessons.

New Atlas Will Broaden Early Tennessee Research

Whenever we have an opportunity to understand the land around us, we should take advantage of that education. The state of Tennessee is a diverse landscape with people whose background is as widely varied as the terrain where they settled. Tennessee is distributed into three natural geographic divisions called East, Middle and West Tennessee. These geographic grand divisions correspond to the political, economic and settlement cultures of the state’s three regions.

The land that became the state of Tennessee was originally part of North Carolina. The King’s Proclamation of 1763 was intended to prevent settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains on the land of native people. However, settlers in southwest Virginia just continued to move down the valley into what is today, Tennessee. The first permanent settlement in Tennessee was made in 1769 on Boone Creek by Capt. William Bean, who came in that year from Pittsylvania county, Va. His son, Russell Bean, is said to have been the first white child born in the State.

Soon after Bean made his settlement, in 1770 and 1771, James Robertson. Landon Carter and others, laid the foundation of the Watauga settlements, which at first were in what is now known as Carter county. The steady stream of emigrants from the older States, however, soon forced these to overflow into the territory now embraced in Washington and Greene counties. Richard Henderson and the Transylvania Company purchased most of the land in northern Middle Tennessee and Kentucky from the Cherokees. In 1780, James Robertson and John Overton brought settlers to the area of Nashville.

With the Revolutionary War, colonies (states) did not have an abundance of money, but did possess unsettled land. Soldiers were promised land in return for service. The military district for the state of North Carolina covered the Middle Tennessee area from the Tennessee River eastward into Clay county. These soldiers or their heirs were given grants on the basis of military service in the North Carolina Continental Line. In addition, North Carolina granted land to those families who were settled in the area (or prempted) prior to statehood. Land was also available to surveyors and assistants, commissioners, individuals for special service and, finally, to the general public for purchase.

Knowledge of these land grants paint a vivid picture of life out on the frontier. Identification of trails, stations, forts and homeplaces would make understanding the Cumberland settlements more complete. It was just that desire for knowledge that led three historians to construct the Founding of the Cumberland Settlements: The First Atlas 1779 – 1804. Doug Drake, Jack Masters and Bill Puryear studied and worked together to compile the first land grants located in portions of eleven counties in Middle Tennessee. In addition this book will include the locations of publicly designed areas, early Indian trails, traces and roads.

Doug Drake traces his kin back to signers of the Cumberland Compact and an original pioneer, John Drake. Jack Masters is a retired Engineering Manager of Aladdin Industries in Nashville and an active member of Bledsoe Lick Historical Association and Sumner County Historical Society. Bill Puryear is a Sumner county native with roots in Dixon Springs & Hartsville and he chairs one of the largest charitable foundations in Tennessee. All three are active historians. In a discussion with Jack Masters at the Tennessee State Library and Archives, he told me that three came together through the Bledsoe Lick Historical Association. One of them mentioned that they should locate the original road or trace and began their search. They learned about the North Carolina land grants and a three-year project was born.

This book will become a well-used reference for land and family historians of Tennessee. The Atlas includes the 1500 land grants taken from the manuscripts of the North Carolina Secretary of State Land Grant Office. This will include a transcription of the land description along with a copy of the surveyor plats from the grant.

Drake, Masters, and Puryear started this project in an effort to locate sites of stations and roads. With the information learned from these grants, these men have been able to identify original sites and have walked the grounds of these pioneer roads. Their first book covers all of Robertson, Macon, Trousdale and Sumner counties and portions of Cheatham, Davidson, Montgomery, Wilson, Smith, and others.

In addition, these compilers have included topographic maps depicting the earliest Indian trails, pioneer roads/traces and a sequence of maps depicting the growth of settlements. In addition to an every-name index, you will find biographical sketches for the pioneers who signed the Cumberland Compact on May 13, 1780.

Lest you think this book is filled with great historical information – it is. However, it is also illustrated with the paintings of nationally recognized artist, David Wright and abundant photography of old roads, buffalo trace segments, fords, fort sites and ruins, relics, historic sites, and portraits of pioneers.

Volume I Founding of the Cumberland Settlements - The First Atlas 1779 - 1804 is in limited pre-publication sales (through August 31st) and can only be purchased via their website www.cumberlandpioneers.com . Delivery on these books is expected in October. Also included with the Atlas is a CD containing copies of all 1,500 land grants. This data supplement is also available in a separately purchased book.

1888 Summer Teachers' School

Since schools will soon be starting up, let's look back at a Summer Teacher Institute held in July 1888. The students compiled the letter to report on their activities. The Robertson County[Tenn.] Teachers Normal School was held on the grounds of the Cedar Hill Methodist Episcopal Church, South, under the oversight of the County Superintendent, J.E. Ruffin. Photo is the Cedar Hill Methodist Church, Cedar Hill, Tenn.

Report from Cedar Hill [Tenn.] Normal School – Springfield Record, July 5, 1888

Knowing the great interest you feel in the young teachers of Robertson county, we offer you a few items from our Normal school now in session at Cedar Hill. And as all young folks like to see their name in the paper we will, in our jottings, insert the name of every member of the class.

The first two weeks of our term Prof. Hooker gave us a thorough drill in practical Arithmetic, introducing some work entirely new to some of us.

Prof. Willett gave us an exhaustive review of practical and analytical Grammar on a new method, which we like very much, and Prof. Clinard wrestled with our dull comprehension in the intricate analysis of intellectual Arithmetic.

This week Prof. Watson has critically ventilated all our pet authors and theories upon Phonic Elements, Reading and Elocution. His work has been intensely interesting both for its merit and novelty.

Prof. Empson has been laboring hard to impress upon our imaginations the graceful forms of his elegant penmanship. Miss Callie Johnson has been striving, with equal emphasis, to resurrect the little knowledge of Geography, which we obtained in our childhood days; and out Superintendent has set us to writing a History of the United States. We think of having it copyrighted and published under the firm name of Robertson County Teachers Normal School.

Our class is composed of twenty girls and five boys. A citizen of Cedar Hill said he thought the women would capture the school of Robertson County before many years, and Supt. Ruffin flattered us by rejoining, “they ought to.”

Bud Moore, Nat Kernan, Charlie Payne and John Cook are domiciled at Rev. F.G. Cobb’s. When Bro. Cobb was asked if the boys had run him from home yet, he remarked, with a wise look, “I think I will hold the fort.”

Misses Lula and Lee Atkins are boarding at Mrs. Melvin’s; Attie Rosson and Maggie Morrow at J.F. Ruffin’s; Sudie and Mattie Chambers at J.C. Ruffin’s; Lattie Holland at Mrs. Wynn’s; Lula Jones and Ida Fry at Dr. Hawkins’; Prof. and Mrs. Walton and John T. White at W.R. Featherston’s and Prof. Empson and Clarance Nave at T.J. Ayers.

Our school is opened every morning with religious service. Misses Jessie Ruffin and Mattie Ayers are our organists. Misses Minnie Henry, Kittie Connell, Walton Ryan and Mollie Clinard, come regularly from Springfield. Bud Moore is the champion athlete of the class.

Nat Kernan is the bashful boy in school. He was seen one evening throwing stones (very softly, of course) at some girls who were leisurely taking a walk down the railroad. Misses Kittie Connell and Mollie Clinard could not be convinced that they are not the tallest in the school until Prof. Willett backed up the standard. Sudie Chambers and Carrie Ruffin are the baby girls of the class.

The girls have christened Prof. Hooker “Lightening Calculator.” Prof. Walton is known as “Old Chris,” and Prof. White “Little Chris.” We are hunting a nick name for Supt. Ruffin but we shan’t talk very loud till after examination.

Mr. and Mrs. T.J. Ayers entertained Prof. and Mrs. Walton and a number of students, Thursday night. The most delightful feature of the evening was Mrs. Walton’s rendition of some find music on the piano. Bro. Reams and Mr. Ben Mallory of Adams Station, spent one day with us.

We have had quite a number of visitors. The people of Cedar Hill have manifested some interest in our work and have treated us with marked courtesy and hospitality. The most delightful entertainment of the season, was given at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Bascom Batts, in honor of Misses Clardy and Carlyle, who are visiting there. We, poor, tired Normal students, were out en masse and all went away thinking our kind entertainers for turning our thoughts away from formulas and rlues event for an evening. We miss, this year, some familiar faces of last year’s class.” Virginia Cobb, Nora Richards, Gussie Owen, Addie Smith, Georgie Atkins and Nannie Atkins, Lucy Felts, Louis P. Pearson, C.P. Kernan, J.E. Empson, and others. Most of all we miss Prof. Borthick, one of our best teacher. One of them, Prof. Pearson, has died. A man whom we all admired – Miss Nannie Atkins has abandoned her profession to became a farmer.

This 1888 report mentioned Professor Louis P. Pearson. His obituary appeared in the Springfield [Tennessee] Record just two months before the school report was shared.

“On Sunday night, April 29th, gloom was cast over the entire community by the death of Professor Louis P. Pearson. No grander, nobler man ever lived. Notwithstanding he had been sorely afflicted for years, he ever maintained a cheerful and amiable disposition. He was a candidate for County Court Clerk in the race of 1886. He leaves a devoted mother and twin sister, and other loving sisters and brothers.”

Sources: Springfield Record, 5 July & 10 May 1888.

Newspapers in smaller town are likely to report personal information and relationships, which may shed new light on our research. Find new records and keep the story alive.

Genealogists Descend on Little Rock

I received this wonderful reminder of the FGS Conference to be held in Little Rock, Arkansas in just a few days. It will be a great conference and hope to see you there. I had a chance to sample some of the great food and desserts prepared by the Peabody. OUTSTANDING! Congrats to Jan Davenport, National Conference Chair (pictured above in front of a White House exhibit at the Clinton Presidential Center) and the Little Rock Conference Committee for what looks like one of the best FGS Conferences ever.

Mark

Only a month left till genealogists descend on Little Rock!

In just a month, genealogists from all over the United States and beyond will be getting together in Little Rock for four full days of learning more about genealogy, finding cousins, seeing how much is online, seeing how much is not online, figuring out how to get the most out of records, determining what archives or libraries have the answers, helping your genealogy society, and spending some money in the large Exhibit Hall. Don’t let this event pass you by. The Arkansas Genealogical Society is the host for this event which is the annual conference of the Federation of Genealogical Societies. You will be hearing about this event for years to come and will feel sad if you weren’t a part of it.

Syllabus

The syllabus consists of most of the lecture handouts and each registrant receives it on CD at the Conference. If you wish to receive a paper copy of the syllabus in addition to the syllabus on CD you must order it no later than August 1st. It will also be online before the conference but some prefer to have the full paper copy at the conference. Just order it online at www.FGSConference.org when you register for the conference. If you have already registered, go back to the registration page and add the paper syllabus for $20.00 using the PIN number you received when you registered.

Door prizes

Many of the vendors in the Exhibit Hall will be giving away conference door prizes. Each registrant will receive 20 door prize tickets with your conference name tag and syllabus CD at the registration booth. The ticket will ask for your name, mailing and e-mail addresses and phone number. Bring along some of those address labels you have sitting around or print some up before you leave home to save some writing. Each participating vendor will have a black box labeled for door prizes. Each attendee chooses which door prize box to drop their tickets in depending on the door prize being given. Some will have more than one door prize drawing during the three Exhibit Hall days. The names of the winners will be posted on a bulletin board in the Exhibit Hall. If you are a winner, all you need to do to claim your prize is to revisit the specific vendor’s booth.

Conference sessions to be recorded

Many of the conference sessions will be audio recorded and available for purchase on CD. Listings of those sessions being recorded will be available at the conference. Jamb-Inc. will be doing the recording and will have a booth where you can make your on-site purchases. The CDs will also be available after the conference from Jamb-Inc. but mailing fees will be charged.

Last minute Conference Information

Be sure to read the Conference News Blog during August and even during Conference Week to learn last minute details, reminders, suggested things to bring along, types of clothing to wear, and detail on special items. www.fgsconferenceblog.org Some exciting special announcements will be made in the next couple of weeks on the blog!

See you at the conference,

Paula Stuart-Warren

National Publicity Chair

2009 FGS/AGS Conference

1905 Tobacco Hearing in Congress

Tobacco and Robertson County Visited the U.S. Senate in 1905

J. Mark Lowe

[Photo: Felix Grundy Ewing, courtesy of Robertson Co. Tenn. Historical Society]

Tobacco has always often been at the center of controversy. Whether taxation or health, the subject has fueled passionate debates. Robertson County Tennessee and Tobacco were featured in an article in the New York Times in March of 2007. The discussion was the proposed comprehensive ban on workplace smoking in Tennessee.  On October 1, 2007 all public places, including restaurants, became smoke free. 

The subject of tobacco was also the focus of the United States Senate in January 1905.  A resolution passed by the House of Representatives was being considered by the Senate, which would have allowed farmers to sell their unprocessed tobacco without taxation. These statements from the hearings were transcribed exacted as printed in the Congressional Record and published accounts of the activity.

Hearings before the Subcommittee of the Committee on Finance, United States Senate on H.R. 14896, for the Relief of Tobacco Growers. 

Washington, D.C., Monday, February 6, 1905.

The subcommittee met 11 o’clock am. Present: Senators Allison (acting chair, Iowa), John W. Daniel (Virginia)  and Arthur P. Gorman (Maryland) of the subcommittee; also Senators William B. Bate (Tennessee) , and Edward Ward Carmack (Tennessee)  and Hon. John Wesley Gaines, Representative from Tennessee. 

Statement of Felix Grundy Ewing, Esq. of Glenraven, Tenn., Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Dark Tobacco District Planters’ Protective Association of Kentucky and Tennessee.

"Chairman:  Mr. Ewing, please state your occupation and business, so that we will know what significance there is to your testimony.

Mr. Ewing: My name is Felix Grundy Ewing. I am a tobacco planter living in Robertson County, Tenn. I am the chairman of the Executive Committee of the Dark Tobacco District Planters’ Protective Association.

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, we are a trust-ridden people. We are suffering very much from the methods that they have resorted to in buying tobacco from us. It has been the custom for the past four years for one buyer to come to a barn and make one bid on that tobacco, and, generally speaking, he does not come any more. He comes and says: “I will give you 4-1/2 cents,” or “I will give you three and one,” or “I will give you something else;” and it is that or nothing. Most frequently we will not have another opportunity for selling.

We see an outlet now for our crop. We are organizing the farmers and demanding a better price. We know that our tobacco is not raised anywhere else in the world. We know that our good tobacco can not be duplicated and we are making a very earnest effort to organize the farmers, with a view of making them pay a fair price for tobacco. But there is another thing that affects us very much. The trusts have been buying the best of it at their own prices, and then they will say, “20 or 25 per cent of this tobacco is nondescript, and we will buy it for nothing. We will give you 3 cents for that,” or “we will give you 2 cents for it.”

Chairman: That is the refuse?

Mr. Ewing: That is what they call nondescript, but we call it low grade or lugs. 

Chairman: And that is what you want to retail?

Mr. Ewing: That is what we want to retail; and if we had the opportunity of simply saying to them, “This tobacco that you call nondescript you need not take unless you want; we can make another disposition of it,” then we would be satisfied. We want to have the privilege of selling that tobacco at retail.

Chairman: Where would you sell it, then?

Mr. Ewing: It is a very coarse character of tobacco, and we would sell it largely to miners and persons of that kind. I do not believe it would be possible for us to take it to a store in New York, or possibly in Washington City, and sell it to a fashionable class of trade. I do not think that would be a possibility. But everybody in that district chews and smokes our own tobacco, and they prefer what we call the “lugs” – that is, the lowest grade. They prefer it because it is not quite so strong as the higher grade tobacco. Eighty per cent of our whole crop is exported.

Chairman: What do they do with it? How do they prepare it in order to use it?

Mr. Ewing: I presume you mean this tobacco we desire to retail at home. If they chew it they just break off a part of the leaf. 

Chairman: They just chew the leaf?

Mr. Ewing: Sometimes they put it in a twist, you know. A man can put it in a twist if he does not dispose of it. Sometimes they do that; but at other times you will find a man with just a hand of tobacco in his pocket, and he will break off a part of the leaf. If they smoke it they crumple it in their hands and put it in their pipes. It is a coarse grade of tobacco that is not popular with the better class of trade; but we see that it has an outlet in this way.

Again, we recognize the fact that this is the only agricultural product that is taxed. Ours is a tobacco country, a tobacco soil, and a tobacco climate. We can not raise wheat and corn in competition with other sections of the country. Our grass is not spontaneous. We do not raise stock as they do in other sections of the country. We are absolutely dependent upon tobacco."

Watch for more installments from this Congressional Hearing.  Learning about individuals can be found wherever the story is shared.  Keep the story alive.  - Mark

Communication Speed Found in Telegraph

(As published in Robertson County [Tenn.] Times in January 2007 by J. Mark Lowe - Photo Credit: Library of Congress)

Today, we have cell phones, e-mail, instant messaging, and even blackberries, but the first method of electronic communication was the telegraph. Thomas Edison is most famous for inventing the light bulb, phonograph and moving pictures. He was granted 1,093 patents for his inventions. But 150 of these patents related to telegraph technology. Edison started his career as a telegrapher. At age 15, in 1862, he started work in a small town Western Union office. As his skill grew he moved to higher profile jobs. By 1869 he had positioned himself in the telegraph service and manufacturing business. 

After the Civil War, as American business expanded across the globe, telegraph was essential as a communication tool. Congress held hearings to consider making the postal telegraph system part of the Post Office. Other companies scrambled to fight the Western Union  monopoly.

JW Mackay founded the Postal Telegraph Cable Co. This company was the major competitor to Western Union.

A young local telegraph operator was George Christopher. George was born outside Murfreesboro Tennessee in 1895 to James and Louisa Christopher. He loved spending summers on his grandparents farm in Robertson county, Tenn. He especially enjoyed riding the train over the ridge.  However his family circumstances were about to change. His grandparents were caught in a typhoid epidemic in Florida. His grandmother died and his grandfather was unable to provide for himself. James E. Allen moved to Rutherford county to live with the Christophers. In the next year, George Christopher’s father and grandfather died. His mother was forced to sell the farm and they relocated to small two-story home in Nashville which Louisa Christopher operated as a rooming house. In addition to George and his mother, there are George’s two brothers, two sisters, a brother-in-law and two nieces. By 1910, George had been working as a messenger for the Postal Telegraph Company in Nashville for three years. George was photographed by Lewis Hine as part of an effort to record Child Labor actions across the U.S.  

This hard working young man continued to work for Postal Telegraph. In 1920, George accepted the position of Chief Telegraph Operator in St. Louis, Missouri.  At that time, his mother, Louisa,  and his brother, Mitchell, joined George, his wife, Katherine and their daughter, Thelma, as they moved to their new home on Olive Ave in St. Louis.  George continued to work for telegraph companies until his death. 

 

The history of the Postal Telegraph Cable Company is simple. When Mr. John W. Mackay, the famous Bonanza gold millionaire, and Mr. James Gordon Bennett, of the N. Y. Herald, associated themselves together for the purpose of building a commercial cable across the Atlantic, they readily recognized the fact that the existing cable was operated in conjunction with the Western Union lines. Mackay resolved to organize the Postal Telegraph Cable Co., and to provide equipment and  resources which would enable it to compete with any and all existing lines.

“Mr. Mackey, who has thus come forward to assist, even if indirectly, in the task of destroying the powerful telegraph monopoly, is a man of about the medium height, if anything, somewhat above rather than below the average stature, and neither stoutly nor thinly built. His features are somewhat prominent and be token a resoint will. His face is clean-shaven and somewhat florid. He is quiet in manner and dress. He appears like a man who does not hesitate long in forming a decision, and when his mind is made up allow no obstacles to remain in the way of execution. 

The capital stock was fixed at $3,million  which might be increased to $7 million.”

James Gordon Bennett was certainly an adventurer himself.  From 1874 to 1877 he had Henry M. Stanley searching for Dr. Livingstone, in Africa In 1879 he fitted out the Jeannette Polar Expedition. In 1899 he engaged William Marconi to transmit by wireless accounts of the American Cup Races between the “Columbia” and Sir Thomas Lipton's first “Shamrock.” In October, 1906, he used the wireless to broadcast news of the World Series of baseball games,

In 1928, the company became part of ITT under the name of Postal Telegraph & Cable. On October 3, 1943, Western Union merged with the Postal Telegraph and Cable Company. Locally, the telegraph offices remained connected with the local railroad office, until  Western Union opened an office on the corner of 6th and Main, where the Birdie Whirlie store is located. 

Sources: New York Times; NY Herald; Census Records, Nashville American, Christopher Family Records, Library of Congress 

Historic Tennessee Wedding and Traditions

As printed in Then & Now, Robertson County Times 18 Mar 2009

Weddings have been a time for celebrating the marriage of a couple and the joining of two families. This week we will learn about historic weddings of our area.

Stories from the very first weddings in Middle Tennessee were recorded by Jo C. Guild in his book, Old Times in Tennessee (1878). 

The first wedding in the colony which settled at the Bluff, near the French Lick (now the city of Nashville,) was that of Capt. Leiper and his wife [a Miss Susan Drake] in the summer of 1780. They were married by Gen. James Robertson, who was the founder and a trustee of the Cumberland settlement [and namesake for Robertson county.] This wedding was followed by a feast and dancing. It is mentioned that roasting-ears were the great delicacy for the ladies on this interesting occasion. 

A short time afterward, Mr. James Shaw, also a trustee, married on one day, Edward Swanson to Mrs. Mary Carvin [the widow of Ned Carvin], James Freeland to Mrs. Maxwell, Cornelius Riddle to Jane Mulherrin and John Tucker to Jenny Herod [daughter of James and Elizabeth Herod], all in one day. [John and Jenny Tucker moved to Robertson county.] Several traditional stories have survived about the marriage of Cornelius Riddle to the beautiful Jane Mulherrin. The Cumberland settlement was then in its infancy and the settlers were not supplied with the means to make a wedding occasion brilliant. They possessed neither  … “gorgeous dresses, a table laden with rich viands and luxuries to tempt the fastidious appetite, and a fine band to furnish music while the guests ‘tripped the light, fantastic, toe,’ as the older settlements [in the East] could do.” There were those  immediately interested in making this wedding affair as grand and imposing as circumstances would admit, especially as it was among the first weddings in the new settlement. They were well supplied with game of almost every description, but there was neither flour nor meal in the whole colony with which to make bread, nor had there been for six months. In this emergency two of the settlers mounted horses and hurried off to Danville, Ky., for a small quantity of corn in order to supply the wedding table with bread. The couriers returned in a few days, bringing with them each one bushel of corn, which soon found its way to the mortar and pestle, where it was converted into excellent meal. From that meal was baked the first ‘bride’s cake’ of which this new settlement boasted. It was made of pounded corn meal, with the only additional ingredients, a little salt and water. All things were in readiness and the happy pair pledged their love and fealty to each other; their lips and lives expressed the sacred vow that they professed. 

“Amid the dangers that environed the settlement, the hearts of this band of pioneers grew happy while celebrating this wedding with song, dance, and feast, rendered exquisitely delightful by the introduction of the wedding ‘pound cake,’ and perhaps no cake on a similar occasion before or since was enjoyed with more zest.”

One hundred and twenty-one years later, a young couple were married in Robertson county. Let’s learn about Richard and Birdie Qualls from a biographical sketch published in 1922.

On the 22nd of September, 1901, occurred the marriage of Mr. Richard E. Qualls to Miss Birdie Holman. Miss Holman was born January 1881, near Springfield, the daughter of R[obert] S. and [Mary Catherine] ‘Katie’ Porter Holman. Her father was a veteran of the Civil War, having served throughout that conflict in the Confederate army and was still living [in 1922] at the age of eighty years. Mrs. Holman was also from one of the most prominent families in the state. She is still living [in 1922] at age 78 years. Mr. and Mrs. Qualls were the parents of four children: Rayburn W. who was a student at the Peoples-Tucker School; Paul Richard, who [in 1922] was attending high school in Springfield; Katherine Rebecca; and Mary Wilmouth. Mrs. Qualls was a woman of much culture and refinement and was prominent socially. She was a consistent and active member of the Methodist Church. 

A man of good business capacity , R[ichard] E. Qualls, who was owner and active in the conduct of the Qualls Motor Company in Springfield, and the owner of the Ford Agency at Elkton, Kentucky. He was born in Robertson county, 13 March 1878, the son of Jesse E and Emmaline Purcilla (Porter) Qualls, both native of this county. Jesse E. Qualls [in 1922] was 76 years of age and actively engaged in farming 400 acres of valuable and well improved land in the 5th district, near Cedar Hill. His wife, who was a daughter of  Edward  and Cordelia (Henry) Porter of Cedar Hill, was deceased. [Emmaline Purcilla Qualls died 19 Nov 1910.] 

In the acquirement of his education R.E. Qualls attended the common schools of this county until he was 19 years of age. At that time he put his textbooks aside and engaged in farming with his father for two years. At the termination that time, he made his initial step into the business world as bookkeeper for W.T. Henry and taking advantage of every opportunity offered him, he acquired a fine knowledge of salesmanship. For some time he was engaged in selling pianos and organs and subsequently he ventured into the grocery and hardware business of Adams. He was active in the conduct of that business from 1908 to 1914, in which latter year he took the Ford agency at Adams. At the end of two years he saw the necessity of locating in a larger town and moved to Springfield, where he has since resided. In the most recent year, 1922, Mr. Qualls sold 366 cars & 65 tractors. He has sold over 200 tractors in this county. In early life Mr. Qualls learned the value of close application to the thing at hand and he had taken only one week’s vacation in five years. He was a progressive and public-spirited man and conducted his business on a modern basis, making each department self-sufficient. 

Mr. Qualls gave his political endorsement to the democratic party and the principles for which it stands. Fraternally, he was a Knight of Pythias. He was a member of the Methodist church and served as superintendent of the Sunday school and chairman of the board of stewards. He was also active in the Kiwanis Club and in furtherance of every movement for the development and improvement of the general welfare. 

Tickets ($15 each)are now available for “A Historic Presentation of Robertson County Brides” that will include a reception, presented on April 25, 2009 at 2 pm, Robertson County History Museum. Call 382-7173 for more information.

Sources: Old Times in Tennessee, Tennessee, The Volunteer State.