Tag: Carpenter

John William Jackson Serves in the Union Cavalry

April 15, 2018 Dennis Ayers

When Peter Jackson died he left the family farm to his two sons, John age 23 and George age 16. The farm was worth about $1200, and was located in the Haws Crossroads community about 4 miles west of Jonesborough, and 1 mile east of present day Interstate 81. The arrangements for dividing the farm are not known, but George did not stay around long. By 1856 he moved to Monroe County, Kentucky, where he married Rebecca Ford and settled down in that area. So, John became the sole owner of the family property. He had been romancing a young woman who lived not far away. John and Margaret “Peggy” Hale were married in 1853. They proceeded to have a total of 9 children by 1871.

As previously mentioned on several occasions, when the Civil War broke out in 1861, East Tennessee was severely conflicted with a mixture of Union and Confederate sympathizers. In September 1863, John William Jackson chose to join the Union side at age 38 leaving a young family behind. He joined the 8th Reg’t Tennessee Cavalry, Company H, as a Private, enlisting at Mossy Creek. Recall, that was the same Union Regiment in which some of our Derrie ancestors also served. The 8th Cavalry participated in battles and skirmishes throughout East Tennessee until the wars end. It also participated in the Battle of Chickamauga just across the Georgia line near Chattanooga, TN. Thankfully, John Jackson returned home safely, unlike another John Jackson from Washington County who is sometimes confused with our ancestor, but who died from dissentery in a hospital in Gallatin, TN.

Although the initial circumstances are unknown, the John Jackson family became very close to the Zachariah Chandler family which lived in the Buffalo Ridge community north of Jonesborough. This is evidenced by multiple marriages between the families. First as mentioned above George Jackson married Rebecca Ford. Well, Rebecca’s mother was Elizabeth Chandler, Zachariah’s sister. Then three John Jackson siblings married three Zachariah Chandler siblings as follows:

James Jackson married Sarah Chandler in 1879. — Our direct ancestors

Sarah Jackson married James Chandler in 1881.

Martha Jackson married John Chandler in 1886.

Most of his life John Jackson was a farmer. However, records show that he was no more successful than his father, Peter. Although the devastation of the Civil War no doubt had a large impact, by 1870 John’s wealth had dwindled to only 1 horse and livestock worth just $200. So, it is understandable that he turned to work in his later years as a carpenter. It is believed that John died sometime in the 1890s, but no records have been found providing exact date and place. Based on John’s war service, Margaret later applied for a widow’s pension in 1898, but she too died soon after.

William Lafayette Depew, Man of Many Skills

March 16, 2016 Dennis No comments exist

Ira Ayers’ grandfather on his mother’s side was William Lafayette Depew. Some called him Bill, but most folks called him Will. He was born in 1872 in Hancock County, Tennessee, as the oldest child of Henry and Sarah Depew. Will grew up farming and raising and shearing sheep with his brothers on his father’s farm. However, he eventually developed skills that would lead him into other occupations. Although various records indicate that he was a farmer his whole life, his daughter, Elizabeth Suckel, claims that although they lived on a farm, he never did very much farming. Instead, at various times, he was a butcher, a grocer, a surveryor and a carpenter.

In 1893 at age 20, Will Depew married Matilda Seal who was two years younger. Very little is known about her. She apparently was mostly called Tilda, but maybe also Grilla at times. Her grand daughter Rose Jordan never knew her, but remembered the name sounded like “Gorilla” to her as a little girl. Will and Tilda had four children until Tilda’s tragic death around 1904, perhaps as a result of her last childbirth. No record of death is available.

The Louisville & Nashville (L&N) Railroad was one of the first railways built in the South starting in the 1850s. After the Civil War it grew rapidly and by the turn of the century it had pushed into the coalfields of the Southern Appalachians. At Jellico, a small town on the KY and TN border, the L&N tied into the Southern Railway and continued down through the Elk Valley in Campbell County on the way to Knoxville and then Atlanta. Because of his grocer experience, around 1900 Will Depew was hired by the L&N to run its commissary at the train depot in Jellico. So, he moved his family from Hancock County to Campbell County, TN.

Unfortunately, in September 1906 Jellico was the scene of a horrendous disaster when a train car at the depot loaded with 11 tons of dynamite exploded killing 12 people nearby, and wounding some 200 more. 500 people were left homeless as the town of 3000 was devastated. It was very fortunate that Will was not a victim, but the incident apparently ended his job with the railroad as the town of Jellico had to be rebuilt.

After Tilda died, and about the time of the Jellico incident, Will met Florence Ada Ayers and they were later married in 1907. Florence was a loving and loyal wife. Between 1909 and 1932 Bill and Florence had seven daughters and two sons. Tragically, one daughter died at only one year old from measles and whooping cough, one son died from typhoid at age 20 and one son died at age 15 when struck by a car while riding a motor scooter to school. Two of their daughters, Estelle and Ethel, were twins. Their youngest daughter, Lena Elizabeth, born in 1926 still lives in Long Beach, California. She is a delightful lady and loves to talk about her memories of earlier times.

Will Depew was about 5 foot 9 inches tall with a slender build. He never was called to serve in any military capacity. According to Elizabeth, he was a quiet man who only spoke as needed. He was strong willed, determined, and sustained by his faith and perseverance. He was very strict with his children as he was raised himself. Will did all the shopping for the family. While attending a turkey shoot in his thirties, he was shot in the hip, but recovered. Elizabeth, also remembers him playing the fiddle and the organ, so he must have had a good ear for music.

After Will married Florence, he continued working as a grocer, but also learned carpentry. He eventually went on to build houses and restore churches. By 1910 Bill and Florence and their family were living in the Hickory Creek area next to Florence’s father, William Riley Ayers. In the 1920s, when Florence’s brother, Martin, decided to build a new house on Walnutt Mountain, Will helped with the carpentry work. He told Elizabeth that when work became scarce during the 1930s Great Depression, he “nickeled and dimed’ to keep the family going by fixing up places, sharpening tools and saws, and helping neighboring families with “how to” advice on many things.

Unfortunately, as he grew older, Will became badly crippled with severe rheumatoid arthritis in his hips and legs, and needed to depend on canes and crutches to get around. By 1940 he was unable to work. It was hard for him to sit with one stiff leg, so he designed a special high stool/chair to be able to sit at the table. He designed, built, stained and polished the chair with a cane seat to match the other dining chairs. Will was very innovative that way.

Florence died of cancer in 1942 and for awhile Will lived in an “old folks” home. However, about 1945 he moved to LaFollette to live with his daughter, Della Cornelius. That’s where he later died in 1956 at age 84 from a heart attack. Will is buried in the Hall Cemetery on Stinking Creek where both of his wives and both sons are also buried.

Ayers Brothers and Sisters

May 2, 2011 Dennis Ayers 2 comments

As mentioned before, Martin Ayers had four children with his first wife, Hannah, and five children with his second wife, Eullalia. I’ve never seen a picture of the whole group all together. The picture below is the closest with all the offspring present except Addison who had joined the CCCs, and Geneva who was not yet born. It must have been at a special family gathering, since Rose and Mary were already married and living away.

Although growing up they lived in an isolated mountain environment with few material possessions and with no transportation and none of today’s conveniences, the children had normal childhoods, and were close to one another. They had pet dogs and cats, went to school and church, and grew up like everyone else in the mountains…strong and independent. They attended the Flat Rock School located about 3 miles away, which meant a lot of walking. It was a one room schoolhouse with a big pot-bellied stove for heat and a long coatroom in the back. The teacher taught all grades 1 through 12. One side of the big room was for the higher grades and the other side was for the lower grades. They attended church at the Broyles Church of God near Adam Hollow, with the whole family sometimes walking to service. Then as they got older, some ventured off the mountain to find jobs elsewhere.

Unfortunately, due to overall poor economic conditions in the county, in the 1940s Ira, Rose, Addison, Aileen, Bill and Hannah left Tennessee for better opportunities in the North, as Mary, Tom and Geneva stayed behind. While relocating proved to be the right thing for those individuals that left, the result was a fractured family with members living far apart in four different states. Family love was always still there, but opportunities for the brothers and sisters to be together grew fewer and fewer over the years. Now 65 years later only Aileen and Geneva remain. For the benefit of those who didn’t know them, below is an introduction and short summary of how each of the brothers and sisters’ lives evolved from the oldest to the youngest, with some old pictures thrown in for fun. Remember to click the photos to enlarge them. All facts may not be totally correct, so readers please let me know when I need to make corrections.

Ira Lawson Ayers (1913 – 2003)

Ira, born in 1913, married Helen Derrie in 1942 and they moved to Baltimore, MD in early 1946. He worked for the B&O railroad as a brakeman, but he also worked just as hard as a part-time farmer. He and his wife had three children: Dennis, Carol, and Annette. Ira had a serious and stern disposition along with a short temper, probably like his great-grandfather, Elihu. He worked very hard for his family. Only after retirement, did he mellow and become more relaxed. Ira died in 2003 at age 90 after suffering several mini-strokes. See more about his life with Helen in a following post.

Rose Elizabeth Ayers Jordan (1915 – 2001)

Rose, born in 1915, married Vurl Jordan in 1937. She was working as a housekeeper in LaFollette, and she and some other young women like to go watch the men in the CCCs constructing Cove Lake. There she met Vurl who was a bulldozer driver. Rose and Vurl had three children: Jack, Bob, and Carolyn. They moved to Baltimore in the late 1930s where Vurl got a job at the Baltimore Shipyards, and where he continued working during WWII. After the war, he became a partner in a sawmill operation, and later owned a successful hardware & lumber store in Glen Burnie, MD. Rose had a sweet and gentle disposition and always wore a smile. She was a homemaker and the family attended the Nazarene Church. In the 1970s, Rose and Vurl moved to Florida, first to Homestead and then to North Ft Myers, where they spent the rest of their years. Vurl died in 1988 at age 71 and Rose died in 2001 at age 85.

Mary Lou Ayers Myers (1918 – 2007)

Mary, born in 1918, married John Myers in 1935. She was working as a housekeeper in LaFollette, when she met John who lived on a farm nearby. Mary and John had four children: Sue, Janice, Glenn, and Joan. John also came to Baltimore for a time in the 1940s to work in the shipyards, and brought his family to live in Glen Burnie, MD from about 1948 to 1950. Then they returned to live in Tennessee, and never moved again from their farm in LaFollette. In addition to farming, John worked as a carpenter for many years at the Oak Ridge National Laboratories established during WWII in adjacent Anderson County, TN, as part of the effort to produce materials for a nuclear bomb. Mary was a homemaker and was a very quiet spoken lady with a quick smile. The family attended the Independent Baptist Church in LaFollette. John died in 1992 and Mary died in 2007 at age 88.

Addison Lee Ayers (1919 – 1986)

Addison, born in 1919, married Doris Rauhoff in 1940. Addison met her when she was working in a small grocery store in the Stinking Creek area. According to their daughter, Wanda, they were married by a preacher, who was also a postman. One day Addison and Doris were waiting by the mailbox and asked him to marry them! They moved to Milford, Ohio, near Cincinnati in the 1940s. Addison and Doris had six children: Troy, Glenna Faye, Don, Wanda, Ricky, and Debbie. Addison worked at a paper mill where he fed the pulp beaters. He and Doris also liked to build houses, sell them, and then move on to the next house project. Addison was a quiet man, with good humor and a twinkle in his eye. He died in 1986 from cancer at age 66. Doris later moved back to LaFollette, TN where she remarried an old acquaintance. She died in 1994.

Barbara Aileen Ayers Huckelby (1930 – present)

Aileen as she is called was born in 1930. She married Gene Huckelby in 1947 and they moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, soon afterwards. Aileen and Gene had two daughters: Brenda and Marsha. Aileen was always a homemaker while Gene worked in the same paper mill as Addison Ayers. He drove a fork lift. After being married for 62 years, Gene died in 2010. He was a quiet, gentle man, and had a strong religious faith. Aileen is very talkative and has a wonderful sense of humor, and she too is very religious. She has a strong memory and has been a great resource of family information. Aileen and Gene liked to spend winters in Florida, and Aileen still returns there with her daughter, Brenda.

William Riley Ayers (1933 – 2003)

Bill was born in 1933 and named after his grandfather. He married Rose Sharp in 1952 and they moved to Milford, Ohio also. He worked for a company that makes heaters. He and Rose had two sons: William and Timothy. Bill was a prankster and a cutup, and always liked to have fun. He loved bluegrass music and played the guitar and banjo as much as he could. He died of cancer in 2003 at age 70. Rose continued to live in Milford, but later died in December 2012.

Hannie Evelyn Ayers Chadwell (1935 – 1993)

Hannie, born in 1935, married Henry Chadwell. They moved to Indianapolis, Indiana in the 1950s. Henry worked for the railroad while Hannie was a homemaker. They had four children: Angie, Paul, Terry, and Tony. Hannie loved music and loved to laugh. She too died of cancer in 1993 at age of 57. Henry also died in 1996.

Aaron Tommy Ayers (1937 – 2008)

Tom, as he was called, was born in 1937. He never married and always stayed close to home, except for a tour in the Army in the 1950s when he was stationed in Maryland and in Germany. He was an MP in the service. Back home in LaFollette, Tom had a variety of jobs over the years including working at a shirt factory and working at a food store. He tended to have various physical ailments that mostly kept him from full-time work, and he continued to live with his mother until she died in 1994. He then continued to live in her house until heart trouble caused him to move in with his sister, Geneva in 2006. Tom was a laid back, easy-going individual who liked to read books. He was a great storyteller, and enjoyed watching television. He died of a heart condition in 2008 at age 71.

Alice Geneva Ayers Collingsworth (1941 – present)

Geneva, born in 1941 was the last child of Martin Ayers and Eullalia Hatmaker. She Married Frank Collingsworth, Jr. in 1959, and she always calls him Junior. Geneva and Junior have lived in LaFollette ever since they were married. They do not have any children. Geneva is a homemaker and Junior worked in construction and also later as a school janitor and maintenance man. Geneva is quiet, soft-spoken, and has an infectious laugh. They attend the Independent Baptist Church in LaFollette.

Martin Van Buren Ayers

April 18, 2011 Dennis Ayers 3 comments

Martin Ayers ca 1915 -- Click to Enlarge — **Martin Ayers ca 1915**

Martin Van Buren Ayers, born in 1883 in Campbell County, TN, was the fifth child but oldest son of William Reilly (Black Bill) Ayers. As such, he grew up knowing hard work on the family farm. Eventually though, as a young man Martin made his way off the farm to find different work.

The exact year is not known, but before 1910, Martin ventured to the nearest small town of LaFollette. There he got a job as a carpenter at the LaFollette Iron Furnace. In 1910, at age 27, he was living in a boarding house in LaFollette with five other borders. Also about this same time he was involved with a woman named Susan Archer and she had an out-of- wedlock child named Minnie. For whatever reasons, life and work in town must not have suited him very well, because not long after that he was back farming in Stinking Creek.

Martin was a medium sized person, about 5 ft 9 in tall, weighing about 155 lbs, with brown hair and

brown eyes. In 1912, he married Hannah Mae Depew whose father had married Martin’s sister Florence in 1907 and moved next door. Hannah was 18 and 11 years younger. They had four children: Ira, Rose, Mary and Addison. Martin was a quiet person, and he had a stern temperament. All the children had to work hard and obey.

In 1915, after renting a farm on Walnut Mountain for a couple of years, Martin and his brother, Matthew, bought the 107.5 acre property. Matthew took 54 acres and Martin took about 42 acres after selling 11 acres to a neighbor. Matthew was later killed by a timber cutting accident around 1918 and their sister Betty inherited his land.

The original log house on Martin’s farm was located close to the spring near the road. This is probably where the oldest children were born. His Father-in-Law, Bill Depew, helped him build a new house with sawed lumber farther up the hill. This new house had a kitchen, living room and a bedroom, and of course a path out the back door. In addition to working on his farm, Martin also worked for a time at a sawmill in the Stinking Creek area. Most of the time Martin’s family subsisted on animals raised and crops produced on the farm. Whenever shoes, clothing, or something from the store needed to be bought, Martin would raise the cash by selling pigs or maybe selling corn to the mill to be ground into cornmeal.

Martin Ayers' Farm — **Martin Ayers’ Farm**

Tragically, Hannah contacted tuberculosis and died in 1926 at only age 32, leaving Martin with 4 children between 7 and 12 years old. Ira, the oldest, had to drop out of school to take care of the younger children while his father continued to work the farm. In addition, Martin’s mother Malinda had died just a year before. It was a difficult time, but fortunately his sister Betty, who lived in an old log home nearby, helped out some with food preparation and became like a second mom to the children.

Martin’s father, “Black Bill”, and his second wife, Lizzie Gross, had moved to her house in LaFollette on Rose Hill. That house was near where Eullalia Hatmaker lived. So, they introduced Martin to Eullalia whom he dated awhile before asking her to marry him and move up to Walnut Mountain on the farm. She was 19 and 27 years younger, so it was not an easy decision for her, but she eventually agreed and they were married in 1929. Martin proceeded to have five more children with Eullalia by 1941: Aileen, Bill, Hannie, Tom and Geneva.

Aileen says that sometime before she was born, Martin was struck by lightening. It tore off his clothes and shoes and he was burned badly. They wrapped him in a white sheet and packed him in cold mud and he came out of it seemingly unharmed. The lightening also set the house on fire.

Aileen also tells the story that her dad used to ride his horse over the mountains to LaFollette. On one occasion, he went to purchase some goods, and tied his horse up at the edge of town. While he was shopping, the horse got loose and headed back toward home. Along the way, someone caught the horse and removed his saddle and bridle, but the horse once again broke for home. When the horse arrived back at the homestead without rider and saddle, the family thought something bad had happened to Martin. Neighbors gathered with lanterns to go out hunting for him, but just then Martin arrived by foot much to everyone’s relief.

Youngest son, Tom, grew up on the farm working beside his father. He said once they had an old mule named “John” that was a good work mule. But old John had a major attitude problem and wouldn’t let Tom or anybody else ride him.

Tom also liked to tell stories about his Dad being hard of hearing and making lots of bobbles guessing what people said. One time they were working in the field when a jet flew over and made a loud noise. Tom told his father that it was just a jet breaking the sound barrier. His dad replied “What was it doing making sand bags”.

As Martin and Eullalia got older, Aileen and her husband, Gene Huckelby, bought the old homestead

to get them to move off the mountain down to LaFollette. So in August 1954, Martin finally moved to town again after farming on the mountain for 43 years. They moved into a house on Andy Baird Drive that Eullalia had inherited from her Uncle. They later added indoor plumbing to their new residence, and lived there very comfortably in their declining years..

Martin fought tuberculosis for a number of years, but eventually died of pneumonia in 1967 at age 84. He was buried in Hall Cemetery off Stinking Creek Road next to his first wife Hannah. Eullalia also lived to age 84 before dying in 1994. She is buried in the Baird Cemetery next door to the their old house in LaFollette. Her faithful son, Tom, who never married and died in late 2008, is buried beside her.

Nathaniel Ayers of Maryland

March 29, 2011 Dennis 1 comment

John Ayers of New Jersey died in 1732. He left no will but did record the births of his nine children, including a son named Nathaniel born in 1700. Unfortunately, no other records are available to help define Nathaniel’s life in NJ.

Instead, in 1723, a young man by the name of Nathaniel Ayers appears in Maryland where he is named in Baltimore County court records. He is about the right age to have been the Nathaniel born in NJ, but is he in fact the same person? The DNA test results previously mentioned indicate this is highly probable. Although Nathaniel is listed as an immigrant in one reference book, I believe it was because he came to Maryland by sailing ship from NJ. He probably sailed up the Chesapeake Bay into the Patapsco River and disembarked at Elk Ridge Landing. At that time, the Maryland colony had about 70 thousand residents, but Baltimore City would not be founded at the mouth of the Patapsco until 1729.

By about 1729, Nathaniel Ayers is married to Rhoda, last name unknown, and by 1733 they have three children, Ruth, John and Thomas who are registered in St. Paul’s Parish, one of 30 such territorial units established in colonial Maryland associated with the Anglican (later Episcopal) Church.

In the new colony of Maryland, all land was originally owned by Lord Baltimore and only at his discretion or his representatives could it be assigned to any tenant. Between 1663 and 1683, every adventurer who could claim to have brought five persons to settle in Maryland became entitled to a grant of 2000 acres. After 1683, however, land patents (titles) were issued only against payment of money or tobacco. At first the rate charged was 200 lbs. of tobacco for every 100 acres granted, but that rate increased with time.

Three separate documentary processes were required to authenticate new grants of land: (1) warrants, which were instructions to lay out a specified number of acres for a named person, (2) certificates of survey, which stated the exact location and boundaries of the new tract, and (3) patents, or essentially titles of ownership.

It appears that Nathaniel was actually in Baltimore County several years before he initiated the process for obtaining land. Perhaps he didn’t have enough money when he first arrived. Then between 1727 and 1745, Nathaniel obtained 4 separate grants of land on the north side of the Patapsco River in Baltimore County, and he is listed as a farmer and a carpenter in the records. Since tobacco was the primary medium of exchange, it appears Nathaniel was farming successfully on his early land acquisitions and using his extra tobacco to add to his land holdings. It is not known if he employed the use of slaves or not.

In those days, it was customary to name tracts of land after the owner or with whimsical names. Nathaniel’s purchases, two of which are shown in the map below, were called:

Ayers Lott – 100 acres – 1727 Ayers Desire – 28 acres – 1734
Bucks Range – 45 acres – 1745 Nathaniel’s Hope – 15 acres – 1745

Balt Co Nathanial Ayres' Land — **Nathaniel Ayers’ Land in Baltimore County**

As can be seen, the land purchases of Nathaniel in Baltimore County were all near the Patapsco River not far from where the Ellicott brothers would later establish the new town of Ellicott Mills in 1772.

My father, Ira Ayers, knew nothing about his ancestors beyond his grandfather. It is an ironic twist that in 1950 he purchased land only 4 miles upriver from where Nathaniel, his 6th great grandfather, purchased and farmed land 200 years earlier!!