Since 1998 - Historical and Genealogical
Resources
for the Upper New River Valley of North Carolina and Virginia
These materials have been made available by the courtesy of the Historical Society of Southwest Virginia and Rhonda Robertson.
THE EROSION OF ISOLATION IN SOUTHWEST
VIRGINIA
TRACKING THE WALLIN(G)S
RUFUS MARTIN AND LOU JENNINGS MCCLELLAND
THE INVOLVEMENT OF RUSSELL COUNTY, VIRGINIA IN THE
CIVIL WAR
J. HOGE TYLER SUTHERLAND
METHODISM COMES TO THE HOLSTON
THE GREAT TORNADO TRAGEDY OF RYE COVE
In the years before the American Revolution, a few people came to the more accessible parts of Southwest Virginia to seek or repair fortunes or to escape the restraints of a more structured society. The communities which resulted provided bases of operation for those restless adventurers who traveled the unsettled areas in search of furs. Their roles would be changed little by the coming of the American Revolution except that some would receive postwar pensions and land grants from a government that was grateful for their contributions. Postwar economic dislocations and worn-out lands sent some of these recipients into those least accessible areas which have come to symbolize Appalachia. They would still be fighting Indians within the present boundaries of the Old Dominion while Jefferson was drawing plans for the University of Virginia.
Those who lived along the routes to the agriculturally attractive trans-Appalachia supplemented their farm income by supplying the needs of westward travelers, maintaining a healthy manufacturing economy and absorbing eastern attitudes. In these areas, architecture took on something of a Tidewater flavor, patrons of the slave economy were emulated, and migrant members of dominant eastern families asserted their influence. This easternizing influence was confined to narrow ribbons along the access routes. A few miles from the route, up a mountainside or through a laurel thicket, there existed an entirely different world.
As late as the 1850's, the isolated areas were connected with the rest of America only by infrequent mail service, by militia obligations, and by ubiquitous politicians and Methodist circuit-riders in search of votes and souls. A few people are attracted into isolated areas by curiosity, and some are driven by fear or Christian duty. What brings large numbers of people to suffer the dangers and discomforts of difficult routes, however, is greed. This implies that the inhabitants of an area have something of value to sell or to give away or the economic capacity to buy. Among the subsistence farmers of Southwest Virginia, neither conditions prevailed until the demand for coal and timber grew and outsiders learned something that was not known to most of those were natives: that the virgin forests which surrounded them were of great value and that the minerals upon which they sat were priceless.
The first cracks in the isolation of large portions of Appalachia did not appear until the Civil War. The contacts which mountain soldiers had with other parts of the country made their contribution. Certainly the postwar alliance between northern and southern businessmen had much to do with it.
By 1870, the appearance of sedentary merchants with wide selections of "brought-in" goods signaled the beginning of the determination of mountain self-sufficiency. Without much to offer in return, however, people's wants far exceeded their capacities to buy. By the end of the decade, agents were buying coal lands for northern investors and timber cruisers had their eyes on the magnificent oaks and walnuts which a newly-affluent society would need in never increasing numbers. If the old ribbons of outside influence were found along the routes of earliest access, the new ones, which followed the railroads, were different. Their course was determined by potential wealth rather than by convenience.
As life became more complex and yesterday's luxuries became the necessities of today, the need for cash became urgent. Men fled the subsistence farms and eagerly sought the ready cash which a job in the mines or in lumbering offered. As production rose, native labor proved inadequate and workmen were imported from plantations of Alabama and villages of eastern Europe. The population in many areas doubled every ten years. The heretofore isolated regions of Appalachia soon enjoyed something most of he rest of the South did not have: a cosmopolitan population.
Had Thomas Jefferson overcome the delusion that he somehow epitomized the small independent farmer and, had he admitted that most of what gave life meaning for him were the products of the cities he detested, he might have agreed that subsistence agriculture, despite its many virtues, leads to cultural stagnation. The barn- raisings, county fairs, and delights of court days did not compensate for the fact that most farmers spent their days in solitude. The necessity of working together in the mines and at the sawmills on a daily basis provided a strong socializing influence.
It is perhaps a part of human nature for those who move into new areas to try to duplicate as nearly as possible the lives they lived in the area which they had left. The new business leaders from Pennsylvania, Tidewater Virginia and Bluegrass Kentucky, together with their retinue of lawyers, engineers, and clerks, brought in tutors with Yale degrees for their children; gathered musical groups, formed literary societies, and organized elaborate formal dances.
What distressed these newcomers more than anything was the rowdiness and apparent lawlessness which they found among the native population. An agricultural society can tolerate diversity to behavior to a degree which the industrial community cannot. The newcomers, appalled by what they saw, set about remaking the system, employing vigilante groups in some areas. Among the examples made to those who were reluctant to regularize their lives were the hangings of Talton Hall and Doc Taylor, immortalized in John Fox's Trail of the Lonesome Pine.
As interest in coal grew, almost every train brought with it visitors to Southwest Virginia. The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough visited their money in Big Stone Gap in a special train and, upon their departure, suggested that the name of the town be changed to Wolverhampton. William H. Vanderbilt and Jay Gould, both prominent financiers, came to stay in a rough-looking hotel in St. Paul. Coal-miners from diverse backgrounds continued to come into the area, an influx that was accentuated by the outbreak of the first World War. As in other wars, Southwest Virginians marched off to return with expanded knowledge of the world. In the absence of radio or television, local speakers such as John Fox, Jr., kept people informed about the progress of the war and urged them on to greater acts of patriotism. There is evidence that German saboteurs came to the coalfields to put the railroads out of commission.
The Depression of 1929 brought increased ties with outside institutions. The New Deal often provided a makeshift job on the WPA and a first experience with government bureaucracy. Some critics expressed disappointment at the eagerness with which mountain people accepted outside help, believing it to be a denial of characteristic pride and independence. Many people did refuse this help and returned to the subsistence agriculture they had so recently abandoned. The New Deal meant the right of collective bargaining under the NRA as well as a chance to play host to the CCC.
The Depression was not ended when the Second World War began. To hep fill the nation's wartime needs, small industries were brought into the more accessible parts of Southwest Virginia, including a factory which transformed dogwood into shuttles for weaving parachutes. The shortage of labor and the resulting high wages in industrial centers signaled a full-scale exodus of mountain people of all ages. The need for fighting men cut family ties which had been intact for centuries and sent a whole generation of young men off to war.
After the war was over, some of the workers stayed where their jobs were, others returned to the mountains with new ideas as to what constituted a satisfactory life. The GI Bill gave opportunities which enabled young men and women to enter professions hereto reserved for the town elite and to transfuse new ability into the structure of public education.
Prior to the war, economic and cultural changes had mostly followed the railroads. The post war period saw a mammoth assault upon isolation as better highways were pushed into the mountains. These times also brought poverty of the most desperate sort to the mining areas where the hand loader found himself being replaced by machinery. Although the value of the coal mined increased each year, payrolls declined precipitously after 1950. An exodus began which resulted in a loss in some counties of a thousand people a year for the next twenty years.
The discovery of this poverty in the early sixties shocked an apathetic nation. A whole task force of diverse people - bureaucrats, students, VISTA Volunteers, the totally-committed and the merely curious - invaded Appalachia. In their impact upon isolation, the fact that these people, with their diversity of backgrounds and motives, came to Southwest Virginia was probably more important than what they did after they got here. They were soon talking knowingly of ginseng, dulcimers, and gob, and trying their hands at weaving and folk singing. Some of their number merely produced unread reports and unused statistics. Meanwhile, those thousands of economic exiles who had fled Appalachia were not only sending news of the big cities back home, but were also laying the groundwork for careers of many county music stars on juke boxes from Detroit to Atlanta.
Although not part of the anti-poverty program, the founding of Clinch Valley College, the first state- supported institution of higher education in an area of over five thousand square miles, had a tremendous economic and cultural impact after 1954. There was a direct connection between this and the founding of one of the best public library systems in the state. The Community College system would contribute to the erosion of isolation before the sixties were over. Meanwhile, out-of-state television stations were condensing the world and sending it, for better or worse, into virtually every home in Southwest Virginia. A Wise County School Superintendent and a Clinch Valley College dean combined forces to provide a first-rate public television station.
The erosion of isolation became complete with the energy crisis of 1973-74. The quintupling of coal prices turned poverty into affluence for many people. This meant that there was money for city shopping trips, vacations at Myrtle Beach and even foreign travel. Many of the exiles, who had been away absorbing city ways, could afford to return with their families to a prosperous Appalachia. National economic institutions such as the fast food chains found it profitable to invade Appalachia in force to help sponge up the surplus demand. People in Southwest Virginia forgot the loyalty which they owned to these local merchants who had extended them credit and "carried them" through the Depression - chain stores could finally attract customers.
If it is true that the only really valid components of a culture are those directly connected with its survival, then the last concrete remnants of Appalachian culture will very soon be entrusted to those who practice it for fun, profit, or (in our case) the deliberate purpose of preservation. It will be the spiritual part which endures longer. Values connected with the basic human condition - those dealing with such as work, love and duty - which have been developed and tested in centuries of isolated mountain living will be the important inheritance which Appalachia will leave the rest of America.
(Pages 1 to 5)
Elisha Walling was born July 27, 1708, in Providence, Rhode Island (1). The family had moved from Providence, Rhode Island, to Cohansey, Salem County, New Jersey, by January 7, 1718 (2). Elisha and his brothers appeared on the 1733 tax list for Monacacy Hundred, Prince George County, Maryland (3). In 1745, he appeared in Lunenburg County, Virginia, where he patented 400 acres on Cherrystone Creek. He later patented lands on Irwin and Smith rivers and lived at a place called the Roundabout (4). In 1748, he as appointed constable in Lunenburg County, Virginia, on Smith's River and the Wart Mountain. This area was later in Henry and Patrick Counties, Virginia (5). The July 17, 1767, List of Tithables taken by Peter Copland, Gentleman, for Lunenburg County has Elisha Wallen, Sr., his sons Joseph and James Wallen, and Captain William Blevens (6). The 1767 list taken by Robert Chandler shows Elisha's son Elisha Walling (7), and the 1767 list taken by Hamon Critz shows Elisha's son Thomas Walling (8).
There has been much confusion in determining which Elisha was the Long Hunter who, with a party of hunters out of Walling Station (a hunting camp) in present day Lee County, Virginia, hunted in what is now Carter's valley, Hawkins County, Tennessee, and who hunted on the Clinch and Powell Rivers, and went as far as Crab Orchard, Lincoln County, Kentucky, from 1761 to 1763 (9). (See Emory L. Hamilton's sketch, "The Long Hunters," in Historical Sketches of Southwest Virginia, March 1970, pages 29-61, for an excellent description of the Long Hunters.) Some sources have Elisha Walling, born July 27, 1708, as the Long Hunter and also have the oldest Elisha as marrying a Mary Blevins. (10)
Colonel Redd, who knew the younger Elisha personally, verified that it was the younger Elisha who was the Long Hunter and the one who married a daughter of "William Blevins." Redd stated that he became acquainted with "Walden" in 1774 when "Walden" was about 40 years of age. (11) This shows Elisha was born circa 1774 (The older Elisha could still have married a Mary Blevins.) The younger Elisha is alleged to have married Katherine Blevins. There is a tradition that the Elisha, born 1708, joined the Blevins family in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and migrated with them to Lunenburg County, Virginia. (12)
There are at least three different traditions as to how Walden's Ridge received its name. The most common one is that it was named for Elisha Walling, the Long Hunter, who hunted on the ridge. (13) The next most common one is that the ridge was named for John Walling, son of Elisha Walling, Sr. The account is as follows:
In the early part of the century, John Walling with a posse of men came from Virginia to what is now Hamilton County in pursuit of Indians, who had captured and carried away as prisoners two white women. The place of capture is known as "Walden's Ridge," near Chattanooga, Tennessee. Mr. Walling built a fort on this ridge, which they occupied for some days. Supposing that the Indians had become reconciled to the loss of their captives, they returned home and restored the women to their families. The Indians followed, however, and killed Mr. Walling while he was plowing in his field." (14)
Although there may be some truth in this tradition, John Walling did not die until April 22, 1836, in McMinn County, Tennessee, and the records do not show anything about his being killed by the Indians, especially at that late date. (15) This account may be confused with John Ish who is buried in the Ish Cemetery near Fort Loudon Lake, across a narrow arm of the lake from Friendsville, Tennessee. John Ish was killed while plowing his field in July 1794, by a party of Cherokees. He left a widow, Elizabeth. (16)
The third tradition is that Wallin's Ridge was named for a Wallin who was probably Alice Walling, born July 27, 1708. The account goes as follows:
There are several versions of the story or account of Walling' death. On their return to camp the other men saw blood on the snow and found the remains of him and his companion; some say that Walling' dog led them to his body while others say that his dog stood over the bodies, protecting them from wild beasts. At any rate these men had been killed by Indians and it is the first known death of a white scout to be scalped in Harland County. The ridge where they camped, the creek and the town of "Walling" were named for him." (17)
It should be noted that the Washington County, Tennessee Court Minutes for August 2nd Monday, 1789, show Alice Walden as exempt from payment of public tax, over age. At least two pertinent questions arise: How old did one have to be to be exempt from public tax? (This could have been Alice, born 1734) When was the Walling scalped in Harlan County, Kentucky?
The Bible of Sarah Catherine Gilbert, wife of Thomas J. Walling (born March 12, 1849), son of Alice, son of Thomas, son of John and Elizabeth Roberts Walling (The John of Walden's Ridge), has the following account written by Thomas J. Walling on February 9, 1884, which seems to confirm that Alice Walling, born July 27, 1708, may be the one who was killed by the Indians on what became Walled's Ridge in allegedly Harlan County, Kentucky.
February the 9 1884 Family Record The first of Walling that immigrated to this country was Alice Walled refugee from England & was Englishman who was killed by the Indians shortly after the Revolutionary War his body was found whence allmost decayed recognized by the buttons on his clothes. Elishias son John Wallin was bornd in VA his second wife was Nefsey Roberts John died in McMinn County Tenn near Athens 1839 Johns son Thomas was born in Va 1800 Lived in Va Illinois Tenn & N. C. and his first wife was the daughter of Joseph Duff to wit (Nancy Duff) who emigrated to America with her father in early childhood & was first by Ireland and said Thomas Wallin moved to Madison Co., N. C. & maired Betty Rice after the death of his first wife who died in McMinn County, Tenn and he lived in Madison Co., N. C. till the Dec 25 A D 1873 and his last 7. 2 wife died at the same place on Big Laurel? are buried there. Thomas Wallins son Elisha was born in White Co., Tenn? Maired Nancy M. Ramsey daughter of Job Ramsey Madison Co., N. C. and Elisha died in prison Feb. 1869 (sic) in the Civil War of 1864 at ?Armys? Camp, N. Y. Elishia was committed to Christianity about 20 yeas of age & lived all life a Christian man
The Bible record has at least one error. Elisha Wallin didn't emigrate from England. He was born in Rhode Island. Another possible error is that, according to a widow's Declaration for Pension dated August 25, 1892, the younger Elisha Wallin was a Union soldier in Company A, 2nd N. C. mounted Infantry and "died while in service, at Andersonville prison" in February, 1865. The pension was denied by the War Department. On October 4, 1892 because "The name Elisha Walling has not been found on the rolls of the 2nd N. C. Mtd. Inf."
It is almost as difficult to identify Walden's Ridge as it is to determine which Walling or Wallings it or they were named for. It appears there are at least two Walden's Ridges, one runs along the east side of the Sequatchie River in Hamilton, Sequatchie and Bledsoe counties, Tennessee. This is the one allegedly named for John Walling. Another one, now spelled "Wallen" Ridge, is in Lee County, Virginia, and runs along the east side of Powell River. Harlan County, Kentucky, is very near there and this may be the one allegedly named for the Wallin who was killed by the Indians, probably Elisha, Sr. There is also a Wallen Mountain on the east side of Holston River in Hawkins County, Tennessee. This is very near Bays Mountain and probably named for Elisha Walling, as an Elisha Walling of Hawkins Co., TN, sold land on the north side of Bays Mountain, on Fowlers Fork of Beech Creek to Patrick Kelley on June 4, 1792. (18)
John Walling (son of Elisha, Sr.) In March 1811 was declared as having known the area around Black Water at the Flat Lick (now Duffield), Clinch River, for nearly 50 years. (19) This would put him as knowing the country almost as early as 1761, probably 1762. At that time John would have been only twelve years old. That the Wallings continued to live to the east, in what became Henry County, Virginia, is verified by the 1767 Pittsylvania County tax lists and by the fact that Elisha, Jr. was elected captain of a company of militia for Pittsylvania County in 1767. (20) It appears that John learned the country while accompanying his brother Elisha, Jr. on his long hunts and it is likely that all the males of the family who were old enough were long hunters, including Elisha, Sr. By 1771 Elisha Walling, Jr. and his brother Joseph had moved westward to the New River area of then Botetourt County, Virginia. (21) By 1772, they were joined by their brother James Walling (22) and, by 1773, by their brother Thomas Walling. (23)
The New River area became Montgomery County, Virginia, in 1777 and John Walling appears on the undated list of Elk Creek District under Lieutenants John McKinney and William Walling. The date appears to have been about 1782. (24) On November 11, 1782, a survey was made for John (appearing as John Walton) for 200 acres on Nob Fork of Elk Creek, branch of New River, Montgomery County, Virginia. (25) His brother, James, had a survey made on Fox Creek Branch, New River, on March 26, 1783, and his brother Joseph had a survey on east side of New River, May 10, 1784. (26)
The following account describes the attack of Benge, reputedly a half-breed Cherokee, and his band of Indians upon John Walling (son of Elisha, Sr.):
Sometime in the year 1789, John Wallen built a small cabin at the mouth of Stock Creek where Clinchport is now situated. He located his cabin on the Kentucky Path and, no doubt, helped to entertain some of the hundreds of settlers who were at that time emigrating to Kentucky over the Wilderness Road. Wallen was not left long in the peaceable enjoyment of his new home in the wilderness. Benge and his bloodhounds soon found his cabin. One morning just at daybreak, his wife, on opening the door, was shot by an Indian and slightly wounded. Quickly closing the door, she barred it to prevent its being forced. Wallen, who was yet in bed, then hastily arose and snatching the gun from the rack, shot and killed the Indians nearest the door. The other Indians then rushed upon the house, trying to effect an entrance, nor did they retreat until Wallen had killed three of them. After driving the Indians away, Wallen and his wife went to Carter' Fort, eight miles distant. (Thomas Carter's letter, Draper Manuscripts). (27)
John Walling's wife during this attack was Elizabeth Roberts whom he had married on February 18, 1786. (Re: Widow's Declaration for pension, January 27, 1884, in McMinn Co., TN) That Wallen was attacked was also confirmed by the letter of John Anderson to Col. Arthur Campbell on May 17, 1789:
Dear Sir: I wrote you a few days ago, wherein I informed you respecting Mr. Wallen's being driven from home. Wallen lived at the mouth of Stock Creek. (28) (Now Clinchport)
There is also an account that John Walling's first wife, name unknown, was scalped in an Indian attack. (29) Another account adds that she was scalped at the spring. (30)
The case, McKinney vs Preston, shows that Thomas "Wallen," brother to John, was driven from the Black Water, at the Flat Lick, Clinch River area about 1775/76 by Indians, but returned about 1799. (31) Thomas was also a member of the Halifax County, Virginia Militia in September 1758. (32) This appears to establish him as one of the older sons of Elisha, Sr.
John Walling (son of Elisha, Sr.) In his Revolutionary War Pension application of June 3, 1833, in McMinn County, Tennessee, stated that he was born in Henry County, Virginia, year unknown, but believed he would be 83 years of age on "July 27th next." This places his birthdate as July 27, 1750. He also stated that he "lived in Wythe County, Virginia when called into service, moved from Holston to Clinch River near the Flat Lick at which place declarant lived near 40 years from thence he moved to Illinois, from thence to Kentucky, Casey County, from thence to McMinn County, Tennessee where he now resides - and has done so for the past 10 years." (While in Illinois he lived in Jefferson County.) In a declaration dated September 4, 1832, he stated he enlisted in Wythe County, Virginia, at about 21 years of age in a company commanded by Captain John Cox and Lieutenant Alexander Cox and served six months. He enrolled a second time in Wythe County, Virginia, and served for 3 months in a company commanded by Captain John Bryson, Lieutenant Alexander Bryson, and attached to Colonel William Campbell's regiment where they rendezvoused at "one Captain Enoch Osborne's on New River high up and marched from thence to North Carolina near the Hanging Rock with an intention of aiding the American Army at that place against the British and Tories, but was met by an express with the news of the defeat of our forces there, when within a few miles of that place, and received orders to retreat, which was done..." John must have been in error on his age at enlistment. If he was 21 years of age, he would have enlisted in 1771 which was before the Revolutionary War began. At any rate, his pension was allowed. (33) The battle of Hanging Rock occurred no August 6, 1780/81. (34)
There was an Elisha Wallen who served with Alexander Ritchie as an Indian spy during the American Revolution. Per Ritchie, he "and his contemporaries William Condray, Elisha Wallen, William Steward, and others - waded through blood for many years for the protection and settlements of the frontier." (35) Elisha Wallen, Jr., born 1734, died 1814 in Missouri. (36) Apparently the Elisha, Revolutionary War soldier, had testified sometime prior to March 22, 1841 (definitely after 1814), as to the military service of Alexander Ritchie. (37) The Elisha Wallen, Revolutionary War soldier, applied for a pension while living in Claiborne County, Tennessee, November 4, 1828. He was born March 6, 1760, in Henry County, Virginia, and he stated "my uncle Joseph Wallen lived in Hawkins County, NC (now Tennessee) at Long Island in 1791." (38) This shown that Elisha was a grandson of Elisha, Sr., as Joseph Walling was a son of Elisha, Sr. Elisha, Revolutionary War Soldier, is believed to be a son of Elisha, Jr. (39) Without further information, it would be difficult to determine which Elisha was the one who had land on Fowlers Fork of Beech Creek, Holston River, Hawkins County, Tennessee, as both Elisha, Jr., born 1734, and the Revolutionary War Soldier (son of Elisha, Jr.) may have been of Hawkins County, Tennessee, in 1790. (40) Per Col. Redd, Elisha Jr., in 1776, lived on the Holston about 18 miles above "where Knoxville now is... A few years after this he moved to Powell's Valley, remained there a short time, removed from there to Missouri and settled in the very extreme settlement up the Missouri river." (41) Fowlers' Fork of Beech Creek is about 80 miles northeast of Knoxville. Powell Valley appears to be about 40 miles west of Fowler's Fork.
James Walling, son of Elisha, Sr., lived in Montgomery County, Virginia, and served in the Navy on an armed boat called "Rattletrap" on an expedition to New Orleans in 1777. His will was executed December 3, 1785, and he died March 28, 1786 - both in Montgomery County, Virginia. (42)
The William Walling who was a Lieutenant in the Militia for Elk Creek District, Montgomery County, Virginia, was probably a son or a grandson of Elisha Walling, Sr. He appears on two militia lists (both undated) but they were taken between 1777 and 1790. (43) On one list, he was under Lieutenant John McKinney. (44) At the court held for Montgomery County, March 5, 1782, "John McKinney recommended to his Excellency the Governor as a proper person to serve as First Lieutenant of the Militia of this County." Charles Morgan was listed as Captain of the Militia for "this county" on the same date. (45) In the minutes of March 6, 1782, it was "ordered that William Walling be recommended as a proper person to serve as Second Lieutenant in Captain Morgan's company of militia." (46) The other undated list of Montgomery County, Virginia, Militia shows William Walling as "Lieut., General Muster." This list was "returned by me Chas. Morgan." (47) This definitely establishes Lt. William Walling as being in the militia in 1782. William must have had some previous military experience in order for him to have been appointed Second Lieutenant. I believe he may have been the William Walling who "was at King's Mountain and served 24 months between 1777 and 1781, being pensioned in Sullivan County, Tennessee, in 1832, when 73 years old. After the Revolution, he served 18 months against the Indians." (48) This could also be the William Walling who married Mary Rogers, daughter of Elisha Rogers of Lee County, VA, and had a son Andrew Walling, born ca 1804 (possibly April 15, 1804), who married Drucilla Hartman, daughter of Jacob Hartman of Stringers Ridge, Hamilton County, Tennessee. (49) William Walling, however, who married Mary Rogers is claimed to have moved to Stringers Ridge in 1827. (50) This would conflict with the William Walling who was pensioned in Sullivan County, Tennessee, in 1832. As to their being the same man, that is an issue that still needs to be resolved. In the court case McKinney vs Preston, a William Walling, born ca 1761, made a deposition that he knew the Black Water at the Flat Lick, Clinch River area in 1778. (51) This is undoubtedly the Lt. William Walling, born ca 1759, of the Montgomery County, Virginia Militia.
In summary, the known children of Elisha Walling, Sr., were: (52)
Elisha Walling, Jr., born ca 1734, married Katherine
Blevens.
Thomas Walling married Mary Cox
James Walling married _____ White
Joseph Walling married Milly Jones
Margery Walling married Isaac Rice
Elizabeth "Betsy" Walling married William "Will" Roberts
Sarah Roberts (Walling?) Married Clement Lee
John Walling, born July 27, 1750, married 1st _____ unknown, 2nd
Elizabeth "Betsey" Roberts.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: (1) National Genealogical Society Quarterly, June 1966, V 53, p. 100 (2) Historical & Genealogical Miscellany, Early Settlers of New Jersey and their Descendants, Vol. V, by John E. Stillwell, M. D., p. 236 (3) Letter of Edna Walling Newhauser to Kenneth C. Wilde, September 7, 1971 (4) The History of Pittsylvania Co., VA, by Maude Carter Clements, p. 43 (5) Ibid, p. 50 (6) Ibid, p. 281 (7) Ibid, p. 279 (8) Ibid, p. 282 (9) "Walling" by Maudie Walling, p. 3 (10) Ibid (11) Virginia Historical Magazine, Vol. VI, p. 338 (12) Maudie Walling, p. 4, and letter from Edna Walling (Mrs. F. G.) Neuhauser to Emory L. Hamilton, July 27, 1971 (13) Maudie Walling, p. 3 (14) ibid, p. 24 (15) John Walling's Revolutionary War Pension file W171, BLT 27690-160-55 (16) The Knoxville News Sentinel, Sunday, May 22, 1977, p. C-4 (17) A History of Harlan County, by Mabel Green Condon, p. 49 (18) Hawkins County, Tennessee, Deed Book 2, p. 12 (19) Augusta County, VA, Chronicles, Vol. 2, by Chalkly, p. 227. (20) VA Magazine History & Biography, Vol 23, p. 378 (21) New River Tithables 1770-1773 by Mary B. Kegley, p. 11 (22) Ibid, p 17 (23) Ibid, p 32 (24) Militia of Montgomery Co., VA, 1777-1790, by Mary B. Kegley; and Annals of Southwest Virginia, Part 1, by Lewis Preston Summers, pp 759, 760 (25) Summers, p. 900 (26) Ibid (27) History of Scott Co., VA by Robert M. Addington, pp 125-126. (28) Ibid, p. 97 (29) Maudie Walling, p. 24 (30) Ida Walling, p. 4 (31) Chalkley, p. 227 (32) Statutes at Large by William Waller Hening, Vol 7, p. 220 (33) John Walling's Revolutionary War Pension File (34) The Loyalists in NC During the Revolution by Robert O. DeMond, p. 231 (35) Historical Sketches of Southwest Virginia, Pub No 12, 1978, "Samuel Ritchie of Scott Co., VA," by Emory L. Hamilton, p 26 (36) Letter of Mrs. H. B. Wilde to Kenneth C. Wilde, October 8, 1981 (37) Historical Sketches of Southwest Virginia, 1978, Hamilton, p 27 (38) Some Tennessee Heroes of the Revolution by Zella Armstrong (39) Mrs. H. B. Wilde (40) Armstrong and Henry County, Virginia, Deed Book 4, p 133 (41) Virginia History Magazine, Vol VI, p 339 (42) Maudie Bolling, p 5 (43) Militia of Montgomery County, Virginia, Kegley, p 25, 48 (44) Ibid, p 25 (45) Annals of Southwest Virginia, Vol. I, Summers, p 756 (46) Ibid, p 760 (47) Militia of Montgomery Co., VA, 1777-1790, Kegley, p. 48 (48) The Kings Mountain Men by Katherine Keough White, p 244 (49) Letter of Taylor Walden to "Chattanooga news," date undetermined; and the 1850 Walker Co., GA Census, Household 1706, Andrew & Drucilla Walden (50) Taylor Walden (51) Chalkley, p 228 (52) Maudie Walling, p 3; Ida Walling, p 4; and Neuhauser to Wilde.
(Pages 6 to 13)
James C. and Helen McClellan Stallard of Wise, VA, and Naples, FL; their daughter, Ann Stallard of Atlanta, GA, and their son, Richard Stallard of Mt. Vernon, OH, at the September meeting of the society, made a generous gift to the Historical Society of Southwest Virginia in memory of the parents of Mrs. Helen McClellan Stallard who were Rufus Martin and Lou Jennings McClellan.
Rufus Martin McClellan was born September 14, 1896, and died July 14, 1982, a son and 6th child of Sylvester Thomas and Nancy Hammond McClellan of the Alley Valley section of Scott County, Virginia.
On November 2, 1920, at the first election of women's right to vote, he married Lou Jennings, who was born September 10, 1895, and died March 14, 1981, the daughter of John M. and Jane Bellamy Jennings of the Red Hill section of Scott County, Virginia.
Mr. McClellan graduated from Shoemaker High School, Gate City, VA, on May 18, 1918, and immediately enlisted for service in World War I, along with Richmond Bond, who were among the youngest soldiers to enlist from Scott County. At the end of World War I, he returned to Scott County and taught the 1918-1919 term of school at the Mountain View School near Moore's Chapel. After this he went to McRoberts, Kentucky, where he worked for two and one half years in the coal mines, returning to Gate City in July 1922. After this, he remained in the field of education until his retirement in 1963/64. His last work for the State Board of Education was with the Veterans On the Job Training Program of Southwest Virginia.
Mr. McClellan was a lifelong Democrat and active in the party throughout his life. He was at one time Chairman of the Democrat Party for Scott County, and Chairman of the Scott County Draft Board during World War Ii. He was a Past Commander of American Legion Post No. 65. He was also a former council member for the town of Gate City where he had resided most of his life. He was a longtime member of the United Methodist Church of Gate City.
Mr. McClellan possessed a deep love for the county of his birth, which he always referred to as the "Kingdom of Scott."
His first grandson, Richard Stallard, became the first High School Student member of the Historical Society of Southwest Virginia, joining at the second meeting of the society after its organization in 1962.
(Pages 15 and 16)
In the year 1861, Thomas T. Dickenson of Bickley Mills, Virginia, read an advertisement for a Franklin Almanac and diary for that year, from a firm in Cincinnati, Ohio. So he sent 25 cents in silver and duly received them by mail.
Thus began his diary which he continued from 1861 until the year 1912. These old diaries are still in possession of his granddaughter, Lillian Buck Kiser, who sent them last year to the Alderman Library at Charlottesville to be microfilmed. They have not been returned to the owner. The contents of this old diary fascinated me. Even though I am not related to the Dickenson Family, some of my relatives and childhood neighbors were.
He recorded deep snows, killing of beef cattle on his farm, activities of his men, slaves, births and deaths of relatives and neighbors; the busy lives of the mistress of the plantation and her black slaves - since all clothing and shoes were made at home, and practically all foods were grown on their land.
Nevertheless, he frequently took time to record important news headlines. One could sense the tension that surrounded the area during 1861 - even on the 3rd of January when he recorded the meeting of a Florida convention.
On January 7th, the Legislature of Virginia had called a special session.
On the 9th there was a Union Meeting, convened from the previous day, and news that the State of Mississippi had seceded.
Two days later he recorded a cold and windy day; then added that "Cousin Nannie Duff" came to his home which was called "Grandview." (NOTE: I immediately recognized his cousin Nannie Duff as the first Sunday School Teacher that I can remember in Lee County, when she was a widow.)
Next came the entry that the State of Alabama had seceded from the Union, giving the vote as 61 pros and 39 cons. This was followed by the announcement that Florida had seceded.
On the 26th he had made a pair of shoes for "Rode," who was apparently their slave woman.
Next came the news that Louisiana had seceded.
On February 4th he announced the election of the 4 delegates to the Virginia Convention (a called session). Then he wrote that he went to Lebanon to the "Election on Peace." On February 8th, he "opened" some of his sugar trees. On the 21st, Cousin Nannie went to the sugar camp to boil sugar water. The next entry was to say that he had finished a pair of shoes for Cousin Nannie.
On March 4th, he went to Abingdon to trade and spent the night at Alderson's.
On March 18th, he stated that his wife Josee was ill. On the 22nd, Roda's second child died and was buried that evening.
On Friday, April 12th, the Battle commenced at Fort Sumpter. On the 13th it ended. South conquered. Lost no life.
On the 18th, a portion of citizens of Castlewoods met at John Banner's to form a homeguard.
April 20th - North Carolina seceded.
April 24 - Josee and I went to the Campground at which time and place the "Rough and Ready Volunteers" were presented with a silk bag and a Bible to each of the highest officers, and a dinner for the company.
May 6th - Notified my Company to attend at the old Courthouse with all the guns they have. On the 15th they had their first weekly muster at John Banner's.
Some items were recorded by Josee who had cooked the beef tallow and made a kettle of soap. T. T. and Henry had been vaccinated and "it took effect," (which explains why she wrote up the diary). Dr. Gibson died and was buried at Aaron Gose's place.
In February 1862 - Josee wrote: "I went to camp and boiled (sugar) water all day. Henry has a very bad cold. 15 Negroes ran off from this neighborhood last night - Dave among the balance." (Dave was a Dickenson slave.) On Tuesday she wrote again: "T. T. and Charles went to hunt up those Negroes. I stirred off 12 pounds of sugar." On Wednesday, they returned with all the Negroes. On Monday the 9th: "Mr. Young has a sack of goods. I bought 6 silk handkerchiefs and 3 linen, and 2 coarse combs - for which I paid $36."
Three weeks later Mr. Dickenson apparently resumed with his diary: Josee complaining. "Can't walk to do any good. On Monday the 30th our third son, John Thomas, was born. Nancy B. Gray came down. Paid Dr. Gibson."
April 1st - At this time Josee was quite ill and the baby was not well either. Dr. Kernan had visited them. By May 3rd, she had grown weaker and was too hoarse to talk. During her illness there has been few notes on the war. On May 2nd, he had sold 596 pounds of bacon to the army for $1.00 per pound. He had gone to the camp to get some medicine from Dr. Whipple for Josee.
On May 28th, Giltner's men took their horses from his father's place. On the 28th Josee was "rather worse." The next day she was "worse than common." On June 1st she was "some pearter." By June 22nd she had grown very weak and had given instructions as to the future of her children. "She advised me to break-up housekeeping."
The Conscript Board was at Lebanon.
Dr. Gibson and Dr. Easterly were visiting Josee regularly. On July 2, 1862, she died at l:00 p.m. Josephine Bonaparte Dickenson was buried at father's at half after 5:00 on July 4, 1862. Gray went away and took John Thomas Dickenson to his grandpa's to be raised.
On July 9th, "J. T. Dickenson and I started to Lee County. Got to Carter's in Rye Cove. Tuesday the 11th J. T. Dickenson, Nannie, M. E. Duff and I went up the creek to Mr. Young's. Returned on the 12th."
On August 6th, he and W. J. Dickenson attended a quarterly meeting at McClure's Chapel, where he spoke to Rev. E. Kesser about preaching Josee's funeral, which was not held until October 25th. No more entries int he diary until October 14th, when he reported there had been some fighting around Bristol between General William's Company and General Booker. This was still going on the following day when General Williams fell back above or east of Abingdon.
On November 3rd, he had gone to Lebanon to Court and had reported his taxable property to the Confederate States.
At this point my only access to the old diary was through microfilm copy which was not too clear. However, the war news seemed to decline and problems of the home front took precedence.
A letter was written by General Humphrey Marshall from Lebanon, Virginia, dated March 8, 1862. It was addressed to the Honorable Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, but marked "Private." He began by saying: "I want you to know what I don't want to put upon record officially, through the War Office, and therefore I write again thus directly to you." In this letter he described the apathy of the people of the area, and the unwillingness of men to be drafted into service. He had been in Lebanon almost a week, and had spent three weeks in Wise County.
As I depart from the old diary to describe briefly Russell County's involvement in the Civil War (which has been called the War Between the States, the War of Secession, etc.) I might add that this conflict also included a portion of what is now Dickenson and Buchanan counties. There were maneuvers along Lick Creek. There were about 75 Confederate pensioners left in Russell County by 1902, and 17 of them were either widows or mothers of Confederate soldiers. Buchanan County had 58, including widows, and Dickenson County had 75.
The 72nd Regiment of the Russell County Militia was organized in March of 1862 at Lebanon and immediately mustered into service of the Confederate States of America. This was quite different from those organized in 1861. There were no spirited parades nor enthusiastic good-bye parties. The recruiters were not in search of adventure or glory. Virginia troops were sickly - having gone through sieges of mumps, measles and smallpox.
The period for which they were paid was short. Most of them were not paid at all after November 1862. They knew that because of its geographical location Russell County would either become an anvil or a hammer - or both. Its geographical location was one of the main factors that led her to form the Russell County militia. She was only a short distance from the Virginia counties that were to become a part of the new state of West Virginia; only a few miles east of Kentucky and north of the Tennessee and North Carolina borders. The eastern Tennessee counties remained loyal to the Union and, after the fall of Nashville in 1862, all of Tennessee was placed under Federal military rule. Kentucky was unsteadily balanced between the Union and the Confederacy. In the beginning, she furnished many soldiers to the Confederacy but, after much controversy, she became loyal to the Union and served as a back door of the Confederacy for the enemy.
Still, the determined Federals began raiding the railroad lines from Knoxville to Marion, Virginia. On December 16, 1864, the Richmond Times Dispatch reported that the enemy had taken a group of Southwest Virginia railroad officials by surprise and captured all of them but one who escaped to report the capture. On the same day they captured several flat cars, an engine and an undetermined number of prisoners. By breaking the railroads they were able to prevent Confederate troops from being sent down the line to reinforce Saltville. With no reinforcements, Saltville was doomed.
On December 18th, they struck with an overwhelming force of 10,000 men. They succeeded in destroying a part of Abingdon, including the Courthouse, and the salt works. They destroyed property as they went. A Virginia- Tennessee railroad official, who had escaped capture, reported that they had destroyed every railroad bridge in Southwestern Virginia.
The county's geographical location caused her another disadvantage. As the Federals charged toward Saltville, their forces often fell back into other Southwestern Virginia counties. But Union soldiers were not the only deserters. As the war dragged on these Confederate and Federals who had advocated the war in the beginning were the first to desert. According to the writer, there were more than 100,000 deserters.
The mountainous terrain made an ideal hideout for deserters. In May 1863, Major General Samuel Jones of the Headquarters Department of Western Virginia, reported over half of those from the western Virginia rolls absent. So these forces could not be relied upon. Russell County also sheltered a large number of refugees from other parts of Virginia and bordering states.
North Carolina was also unsteadily balanced. So it seemed inevitable that Russell County would be in direct conflict with these bordering states. Captain John A. McFarland's one company of cavalry was formed from Russell County militia in June 1862, and soon encountered battles with her neighboring "Union Committed" states.
Russell County Cavalry was called upon during General Jubal Early's Shenandoah Valley campaign in June 1864. Major McFarland's Cavalry was transferred several times in 1863 and finally became a part of the 34th Battalion of Virginia Cavalry as Company B and Company I also known as Witcher's Battalion of Mounted Rifles.
Another factor that led Russell County to play an important role in the war was her location between the Federal forces and Saltville. The north knew that the south needed salt to preserve its pork and other meats and was determined to capture the salt works located in Smythe County.
As early as December 29, 1862, Confederate Brigadier General Humphrey B. Marshall at Abingdon reported that he had received a telegraphic dispatch from Morristown, Tennessee, that 4,000 Federals were marching towards Southwest Virginia. Not knowing if the enemy would direct their efforts towards Lebanon, Abingdon or Saltville, all routes had to be defended. Forces were placed between the old Russell County Courthouse and Hansonville; others between Abingdon and Saltville and still others at Richlands. Residents were warned by Miss Molly Tynes of Tazewell County.
Skirmishes occurred for two years. By 1864 the Saltville fortifications and reserves had grown weak. On October 2, 1864, a force of 4,800 Federals advanced from Kentucky to attack 3,000 Confederates, were repulsed and retreated to Kentucky - pursued by the Confederates.
Also, there were lawless groups that roamed the mountains. During the last year of the war, there were few safe regions in the state, but Russell County was safer than most others. Eastern invasions drove more refugees to Southwestern Virginia. Destruction of property and theft became woefully common. People began to direct strangers more than a Federal invasion. Soldiers left the army to defend their homes and families.
They were now less concerned with State Rights and preservation of slavery, or of the Union, than they were about their ruined farms, broken families, their fatigued bodies and their imprisoned, ill, wounded and dead comrades - and, most of all their peaceful way of life.
Sources: Diary of Thomas T. Dickenson, Records of E. J. Sutherland, Roster of Confederate Pensioners of Virginia, A feature article: "Russell County's Involvement in the Civil War," Lebanon News of June 23, 1976, by Jerry Harrison Chafin.
Pages 17 to 22
On June 3, 1897, a new star appeared on the horizon of Dickenson County, Virginia. No one heralded its coming and, so quietly and gently did it appear, that only a few people along Frying Pan Creek knew of its existence. But this star was to shine in its reflecting glory to brighten the intellectual skies of that county for almost half a century.
There were many high lights - and some low ebbs - in his busy life. He had intended to write about these himself, but time ran out on this busy and conscientious man that many of his friends knew as Hoge Sutherland.
His parents named him Joshua Hoge Tyler Sutherland - the Joshua for his father and the Hoge Tyler for the (then) Governor of Virginia who lived at Radford.
The above three paragraphs are quoted from a speech delivered before the Historical Society of Southwest Virginia during the spring of 1970 at Clintwood. The speaker was Mrs. Linda Sutherland whose husband, Ronald Sutherland, is a relative of the subject.
Among Mr. Sutherland's memoirs are outstanding events of his childhood. These include his recollections of an early citizen and avid hunter named Simpson Dyer who killed a deer on Lick Creek, and an important week in 1907 when his uncle, Elijah Counts, took him to the Jamestown Exposition.
His father was Joshua P. Sutherland and his mother was Isabella Victoria Counts who, according to Mr. Sutherland, was named for two queens. She was left a widow and, through her persistence and the help of his older brother, Tivis Colley Sutherland (who had managed to get through the Virginia Medical College and started the practice of medicine in Dickenson County, Hoge continued his education.
After attending the local public schools, Hoge entered high school at Lebanon, Virginia, where he completed the course in three years. He proudly noted in his diary that his mother, Isabel, had attended his graduation in 1917. Later he went to Lexington, VA, to attend Washington and Lee University. During his first year there, the students trained in R. O. T. C. At the end of the session, he enlisted in the U. S. Navy, but was not called into active service. After the Christmas Holidays, he re-entered school and completed his Bachelor Degree at the end of four years.
In the fall of 1921, he became principal of a five room school at Stonega in Wise County, where he also taught classes in the 6th and 7th grades full time, at the beginning of the 1922-1923 school term, he was one of the three teachers at Sand Lick. Here, at the request of some school patrons and by permission of the Dickenson County School Board, he taught four high school subjects to about a dozen pupils during that school term. During the summer of 1923, he taught a vacation school in the old Sulphur Spring School near his home - with elementary pupils of all grades during the morning and adults in the afternoon.
In the fall of 1923, Ballard D. French, the Dickenson County School Superintendent resigned. The Electoral Board recommended Mr. Sutherland as his successor. So he was appointed to complete the term and to serve four additional terms - until 1941.
On March 11, 1924, his mother, Isabelle Victoria Sutherland, died at the age of 70. On June 3, 1926, he married Emma Burns Chase, daughter of State Senator and Mrs. Roland E. Chase of Clintwood. They became the parents of a son and a daughter as mentioned in his memoirs from which we quote:
CHURCH - On July 15, 1928, on day my twins, Hoge Tyler and Maribel, were born in Sutherland Hospital in Clintwood, Rev. W. H. Walker baptized me into the membership of the Clintwood Methodist Church.
In 1930, Mr. Sutherland headed a movement to celebrate the 50th birthday of Dickenson County, which was described 25 years later in a volume which he co-sponsored during the 75th anniversary of Dickenson County's formation. (More about this later.)
During 1930, he took a year off and went to the University of Virginia for graduate study. He was accompanied by his wife, Emma, and the twins who lived at Charlottesville during that period of study. He finished his class work but did not attempt to complete his thesis titled "A STUDY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM OF DICKENSON COUNTY, VIRGINIA," until 1940.
The County of Dickenson had elementary supervision during the period that he served as School Superintendent, and he made special efforts to keep apace of teaching trends.
Unfortunately, the battle for better schools was constant and his interest was so keen that he neglected his own health and labored for a few years under doctors' orders. He spent some time in the Preventorium at the University Hospital in Charlottesville.
Mrs. Sutherland was also a teacher. He stated in 1941 that their thirteen year old twins had "provided an interesting laboratory and were a real satisfaction" in their lives.
In 1941, due to conditions which he considered unprofessional and might not have been properly corrected because of existing political problems, he decided not to have his name considered again for the executive post - but had expected to do elementary supervision or related work during the following session. That fall, he accepted a position in Wise County as principal of an elementary school.
In 1942, he was employed in the Department of Price Controls in Richmond, Roanoke and Lebanon.
In 1943, he was appointed as a director of education in Bedford County, Virginia, where he took a leading role in that county's bi-centennial program in 1953.
In 1946, he enrolled their twins in college - Hoge Tyler in Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, VA, and Maribel at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, VA. (The son later served in the Korean conflict.)
They remained in Bedford for ten years before returning to his native Dickenson County in 1953, when he was again appointed as School Superintendent of Dickenson County. He held this position for eight years, after which he retired to work on a long contemplated history of Dickenson County Schools - many of which he had previously founded, built and nurtured.
From 1964 to 1966, he worked with the Appalachian Volunteers at Berea, Kentucky, and lived in the home of a friend there.
In 1966, his family moved to Abingdon, VA, and he concluded that, even though he enjoyed his work, it was too inconvenient to remain so far from his loved ones. So he returned to Abingdon and, erelong, was busily involved in church work, community work, and planning the Washington County Bi-centennial for 1976.
He was a life member of the Virginia and National Education associations and president of District K for a term. He was also affiliated with the American Association of School Administrators, was a charter member of the Clintwood Kiwanis Club, was active in the Methodist Church in Clintwood, and, later in Abingdon. He headed the movement for the Diamond Jubilee celebration in Dickenson County in 1955, when he was assisted by the late Judge Elihu Jasper Sutherland in compiling a large pictorial history of the county entitled MEET VIRGINIA'S BABY - a book that has been sold by the thousands of copies through this organization. As part of the jubilee, an outdoor drama, titled DIAMOND IN THE WILDERNESS, the script for which was compiled, written and narrated by Journalist Glenn Kiser, was presented by a cast of patriotic citizens - many of whom had witnessed the events and activities portrayed therein. This was a vast undertaking - but Mr. Sutherland was an organizer who knew how to secure the help of competent workers and supporters.
He served as Vice President of the Historical Society of Southwest Virginia. As President of the Counts Family Reunion in 1969, with his usual methodical system of planning, he prepared a suggested schedule to be followed by the organization for the ensuing years through 1980.
His chief interests were education, church and family. He served on an advisory committee for Clinch Valley College. His hobbies were history, centennials and photography.
As Superintendent of Schools, he was known as a builder and was responsible for the first high schools at Haysi and Ervinton in Dickenson County. In 1960, his advisory committee recommended thirteen elementary schools and three high school centers for the county. He built, or added to, 25 of 50 buildings int he county. He also promoted school bus transportation. In 1969, there were 35 school busses that carried 4,300 pupils in the county - compared to 30 pupils transported during the 1931-32 school term.
As a skillful planner, he was active in the organization of the program for the Washington County, Virginia Bicentennial. While he did not live to see it through to 1976, he had laid the groundwork for his co-workers to carry it out.
He kept a diary and, while serving as School Superintendent, he faithfully recorded all his daily activities. He maintained scrapbooks with favorite photographs, clippings, poems, family and friendly letters, sentimental greeting cards, personal notes, favorite scripture quotations and maxims that described his philosophy of life. It would require a huge volume to list all the interests and activities of this dynamic figure.
The writer first heard of the youthful school superintendent in the 1920's and first saw him in the 1930's when he attended a layman's meeting for Methodists on Sandy Ridge. He had accompanied a group from Clintwood to Herald, VA, to present a program. The group was headed by Rev. L. D. Perkins. Mr. Sutherland was the speaker, Rev. Perkins the master of ceremonies, and N. B. French led a fine male quartet.
The next time I saw him, it was a rainy morning in late August of 1941, as he greeted me at the Tom's Creek School in Wise County when I accompanied our three small children to school on the first day.
He immediately became involved in community work and visited in our home. The new situation was difficult for a man of his accomplishments, but he was not a quitter. At the close of the school, he planned and carried out a splendid graduation program that provided the seventh graders with a new and proud sense of dignity.
The following year (1942), we moved to Dickenson County, where James M. Skeen was serving as Superintendent, and I returned to the teaching profession. Among the first people we met there (Haysi) were members of the family of Dr. Tivis C. Sutherland, a brother of J. H. T. Sutherland.
Mr. Skeen retired due to ill health and, in 1953, Mr. Sutherland returned from Bedford County and was again appointed as School Superintendent in Dickenson County. He immediately set about the inauguration of plans for a Diamond Jubilee Celebration for the county's 75th birthday, which culminated in the memorable events - publication of the pictorial history of the county and the pageant, "Diamond in the Wilderness."
Mr. Sutherland was well known for his interest in education, community improvement and church work. He possessed a deep devotion to his family and friends, and great integrity. A chance remark by a school official who was striving for the re-assessment of personal property to aid int he building of schools in Dickenson County, revealed that the only person in the county who listed ownership of a diamond was J. M. T. Sutherland who recorded the fact that his wife owned a diamond ring.
I believe it was in 1968, when Mr. Sutherland drove over from Abingdon in the Breaks Interstate Park to address a group of Senior Citizens. At that time he was deeply engrossed in plans for the Washington County Bicentennial celebration. We returned to Haysi with him. While he gave no hint of illness, he did say that he wished to reach his home in time for an afternoon nap.
On the last Saturday in September, 1969, the Historical Society of Southwest Virginia held a special meeting at the home of the late Judge Elihu J. Sutherland on Sunset Hill, Clintwood, VA. The program was to be in memory of Judge Sutherland who had passed away in July, 1964.
J. H. T. Sutherland was the speaker. I am fairly sure that was the last time I ever saw him alive. The LORD seemed to have sustained him for that day. I never before heard such splendid oratory from anyone as he unfolded the life history of another great and accomplished Dickensonian, the late Elihu Jasper Sutherland. It was as if he had striven to retain his strength for this occasion, as he marveled at the Judge's ability to keep his diary up to the time of his departure.
Some days before he passed away, J. H. T. Sutherland conversed with his family and quoted this beautiful prose written by an anonymous author: "I shall not pass this way again."
On February 27, 1970, he breathed his last at the University Hospital in Charlottesville at the age of 72. His obituary was published in newspapers and periodicals all over the State of Virginia. Funeral services were conducted in his church in Abingdon and interment was in the Temple Hill Cemetery, Castlewood, VA. He is survived by his widow, his son and daughter; one sister, Mrs. Mae Owens, and four grandchildren.
Few men have accomplished so much in a lifetime - yet he left with some disappointment in his failure to bring out his long anticipated school history and a little volume honoring his mother whom he regarded as Queen Isabelle Victoria Counts Sutherland.
His long period of service and his exemplary Christian life have left an indelible impression upon Dickenson County and Southwestern Virginia. He was truly a "Fallen Prince."
Pages 23 to 28
Methodism had its beginning in England at Oxford University in 1729. Forty-four years later it had reached the Holston Country. You must remember the Holston Country in the late 1700's and early 1800's was frontier country where hostile Indians still roamed, where there were no settlements only a cabin here and there - and wild animals were plentiful. Indian traces that they used in war and hunting were the only paths one could travel. One could travel by canoe but that was dangerous because of ambush by Indians from either shore. Treacherous waters, especially at the time of the spring floods, and many small falls and shoals were dangerous at any season of the year.
The American Revolution was to begin during the movement of Methodism westward, and the Allegheny Mountains were to be crossed into a frontier region where few white men had been - a region so distinctly frontier that people who came did not know the names for the rivers and mountains, and some of them had not been named by Indians or whites.
When the pioneers came they found a frontiersman who had built a cabin and settled at the head of one of its principal rivers by the name of Stephen Holston. He had settled there sometime previous to 1748. The land held by Stephen Holston and other earlier settlers at this portion of Virginia was under what was known at that time as "corn- rights;" that is, under the law as it then stood, each settler acquired title to a hundred acres of land for every acre planted by him in corn.
The Pioneers named the river and region for Stephen Holston because they did not know the Indian name for the river. The Indians called it Hogoheegee. The French named it the Cherokee. The French had been in the region earlier and had encountered Cherokee Indians in the region but had left because they feared the hostility of the Indians. They had just lost the French and Indian War, and this was to become a dark and bloody ground.
It was to this kind of an environment that the Circuit Riders came to the Holston to face the hardships along with the settlers. Knowing they would not get and not wanting any earthly reward but only to do the will of God. He rode the wilderness of the Holston in search of souls as a hunter would stalk his prey. They had no churches - their pulpits were the cabins of the settlers, brush arbors and the great out-of-doors. If the crack of the rifle and the sound of the ax were the first human sounds of the Whites in the Holston, the second was the greetings of the Circuit Riders. They were the advance guard of civilization and morality, the most self-sacrificing breed of men known to American history. They ate where and what they could; they slept in the woods when they could not find a cabin because some of the settlers were unfriendly. The weather was not always favorable to the Circuit Rider and no doubt hastened the death of many of them from exposure and respiratory diseases such as influenza and pneumonia. Nearly half died before they were thirty years old and many died within the first five years of service in their twenties.
When a settlement was made, a notice was sent out that they desired preaching. When the circuit rider received such notice, he went. No contracts were made, no stipulations were entered into other than a promise that some of the settlers would welcome him into their humble homes and to such as they had.
The circuit rider did more than preach. He held funerals, ministered to the sick and performed wedding ceremonies. When a person died the burial usually took place the next day as there was no embalming on the frontier. If the preacher could not be reached in time for the burial, a memorial service was held for the deceased when the preacher came back to the settlement.
There were no doctors on the frontier and people had to treat themselves, using herbs that grew in the hills and mountains. The circuit rider usually carried a book on herbs in his saddle bags along with his Bible and hymn book. The books carried were usually THE ENGLISH PHYSICIAN written by a Doctor Culpeper or John Wesley's PRIMITIVE PHYSIC.
Many of the medicinal plants of the old world were not to be found in the new world, so substitute plants had to be found. The pioneers got such medicinal plants from the Indians as may apple, blue cohosh, golden seal, Indian turnip, sassafras, bloodroot, squaw vine, boneset, joe-pye-weed, witch hazel, wild cherry, senega snakeroot, culvers root, lobelia and green hellebore. Many more were added as time went on through a trial and error method.
Using the herb books that had been brought over from England, they substituted the new world plants for the old world plants. This did not always work and sometimes caused grave illness or death.
Some of these plants were used by the Indians as a dye and to paint their bodies. Golden Seal and Bloodroot were used to dye the skins of animals. The settlers learned this from the Indians. They also learned to use many other native plants to dye their clothes - Alder Bark (Black), Birch and Sumach (Brown), Bloodroot and Madder (Red), Arbor Vita (Green), Oak bark was often used to set certain colors.
Many medicinal plants were brought from Europe as civilization began to move on to the frontier. Some of the plants were Catnip, Burdock, Feverfew, Comfrey, Coltafoot, Mugwort, Dandelion, Sorrel, Chickory, Tansy, St. John's Wort and Bouncing Set (the Soat Plant of colonial times) and other foreign folk medicinals.
The blue flowering Chickory, the golden flowered Tansy and the St. John's Wort of the old world are familiar wayside weed over much of the United States. Pioneers living on the frontier had to rely on wild animals for survival. Fats and oils of raccoon, skunk, snake, deer and bear were medicinal substitutes for mutton, tallow, butter, lard, chicken fat and goose grease.
The oil of bear was especially highly regarded by settlers as well as Indians. It was often referred to as a soft oil. As Indian herb doctor said it is of great service in Phthisis, Quinsy and stiff joints.
Native trees proved a rich source for useful gums and resins. It was from the pines that the pioneers got turpentine.
A remedy used by the pioneers for rheumatism consisted of one pint of turpentine, one pint of skunk oil, one quart of Wintergreen boiled down to one-half pine, put in oil and boil until all water is removed, let cool, add turpentine. Shake well before using. Apply three times daily, rub vigorously for 20 to 30 minutes.
Previously to the year 1781, the marriage ceremony to be legal should have been performed by a minister of the Church of England. The circuit riders were not authorized by law to perform the rites of matrimony in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The General Assembly of Virginia at its October session in 1780 enacted a law declaring what should be considered a lawful marriage by the act in question. It was declared that it should be lawful for a minister of any congregation to celebrate the rites of matrimony according to the usage of the congregation to which the parties to be married respectively belonged, and declared such marriages, as well as these theretofore celebrated to be good and valid in law. But the act provided that no person should be married without lawful license first had or thrice publication of banns in the respective congregation in which the parties to be married resided.
Banns of marriage was a public announcement of the fact that a man and a woman intended to be married. This was an old English custom going back to medieval times.
The reason the banns were lawful was because it was a great distance to the nearest county seat from the lower Holston and Southwest Virginia through hostile Indian country without roads, bridges and, in some instances, not even a path to follow.
The fee for performing the wedding ceremony was also fixed by the General Assembly at twenty-five pounds of tobacco and no more. There was no tobacco on the frontier, so the preacher was paid with furs or anything he could turn into cash - sometimes only with promises.
The Form of Solemnization of Matrimony. At the day and time appointed for the solemnization of matrimony, the persons to be married (having been qualified according to law) standing together, the man on the right hand and the woman on the left, the minister shall say:
Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the presence of these witnesses, to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony; which is an honorable estate, instituted of God in the time of man's innocency, signifying unto us the mystical union that is between Christ and his Church; which holy estate Christ adorned and beautified with his presence, and first miracle that he wrought in Cana of Galilee, and is commended of St. Paul to be honorable among all men; and therefore is not by any to be enterprised, or taken in hand unadvisedly, but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, and in the fear of God.
Into which holy estate these two persons present come now to be joined. Therefore, if any can show any just cause why they may not be lawfully joined together, let him now speak, or else hereafter forever held his peace.
And also speaking unto the persons that are to be married, he shall say:
I require and charge you both (as ye will answer at the dreadful day of judgment, when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed), that if either or you know any impediment why ye may not be lawfully joined together in matrimony, ye do now confess it; for be ye well assured, that so many as are coupled together otherwise than as God's word doth allow, are not joined together by god, neither is their matrimony lawful.
If no impediment be alleged, then shall the minister say unto the man:
Wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance, in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her, as long as ye both shall live?
The man shall answer,
I will.
Then shall the minister say unto the woman:
Wilt thou have this man as thy wedded husband, to live together after God's ordinance, in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou obey him, serve him, love, honor, and keep him, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live?
The woman shall answer,
I will.
O, eternal God, Creator and Preserver of all mankind, Giver of all spiritual grace, the Author of everlasting life, send thy blessing upon these thy servants, this man and this woman, whom we bless in thy name; that as Isaac and Rebecca lived faithfully together, so these persons may surely perform and keep the vow and covenant between them made, and may ever remain in perfect love and peace together, and live according to thy laws, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Then shall the minister join their right hands together, and say:
Those whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. Forasmuch as John and Mary have consented together in holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and thereto have pledged their faith either to the other, and have declared the same by joining hands, I pronounce that they are man and wife together, in the name of the father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
And the minister shall add this blessing:
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, bless, preserve and keep you; the Lord mercifully with his favor look upon you; and so fill you with all spiritual benediction and grace, that ye may so live together in this life, that in the world to come ye may have life everlasting. Amen.
The Preacher was required to make a certificate of the fact of marriage and return it to the court, there to be recorded by the Clerk. The circuit rider usually waited until he had several to record - or he might record just one if he were passing through the county seat. Sometimes one would be lost and never recorded.
The certificate of marriage reads as follows:
I certify that I joined together in the Holy State of matrimony John Alley and Mary Porter this the 29th day of April, 1790. Signed: Rev. Richard Whatcoat.
The circuit rider, when he held religious services, may have had the only hymn book. There were no song books as we know them today. All the old hymns were sung by syllable or meter. At the beginning it gave the syllable or meter to use in signing the song. Any number before the letter S meant syllable such as 4s, 6s, 8s. L. M. meant Long Meter, C. H. Common meter and S. M. Short meter, and P. M. Peculiar Meter.
At the beginning of the service the minister would announce the song and line it as it was called. I give here one of the favorites that was sung perhaps more than any other. This son was sung in common meter:
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
This verse was sung by the congregation. This was done until all six verses had been lined and sung.
Amazing Grace was written by John Newton after his conversion. He at one time was a slave trader and captain of a slave ship.
If services were held and no one had a hymn book, the preacher would line and lead the singing - or if he did not sing, he would say to someone in the congregation, "brother, strike a tune," who would then line and lead the singing. The old hymns had been sung so much that most of them had been committed to memory.
If you were to ask how Methodism came to the Holston and you answered by "immigration and conversion," you would be right - but that would not tell the story or history of the people of Methodism an dhow it came to the Holston.
To learn how Methodism had its beginning and how it crossed the Atlantic, let us go back to John and Charles Wesley and the Holy Club at Oxford University of England, an dhow it came to the Holston. We must go back to Edward Cox, pioneer and Continental soldier of the American Revolution; Francis Asbury, itinerant and bishop of the long road; Dr. Thomas coke, one of the missionaries sent to America by John Wesley. Thomas Ware, the first circuit rider to come to the lower Holston; Elizabeth Russell, the first lady of Methodism on the Holston, and William McKendree, the first native American Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
These people would do such a good job with their converts that they go about their work singing:
I'm a Methodist, Methodist, this is my belief.
I'm a Methodist til I die.
Til old grim death comes knocking at the door;
I'm a Methodist till I die.
John Wesley was born at Epworth, Lincolnshire, England, June 17, 1703. He was graduated in 1724 from Christ Church Oxford University. In 1729, he went into residence at Oxford as a fellow of Lincoln College. There he joined the Holy Club, a group of students which included his brother Charles. These young men lived a very strict and orderly life. The other students called the members "Methodist." They said the members were too orderly or methodical in their study and beliefs. The members called themselves "The United Society."
In 1735, the Wesley brothers were invited by General Oglethorpe, Governor of the Georgia Colony, to come to America as missionaries to the Indians and settlers. John Wesley's work among the Indians was not very successful and he was unpopular with the colonists because of his strictness and his loyalty to the Church of England and the English Crown.
Upon his return to England in 1738, he experienced a religious awakening which profoundly convinced him that salvation was possible for every man through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Describing the experience in his Journal, he wrote:
I felt my heart strangely warmed, I felt I did trust in Christ alone for salvation that he had taken away my sins, even mine.
On April 2, 1739, he preached an open air sermon. The enthusiastic reaction of his audience convinced him that open air preaching was the most effective way of reaching the masses. Few pulpits would be open to him in any case, for the Church of England frowned on revivalism.
Wesley and his followers were earnest and hard working. They preached a religious message that stimulated the people. They found ready audience wherever they taught and preached. Their success was also due in part to the fact that contemporary England was ready for a revivalist movement. Public morality was at a low ebb and the Church of England was unable to offer the kind of personal faith the people craved. Thus emphasis was placed upon the inner religion and his assurance that each person was a child of God and could be saved through he saving grace of Jesus Christ. This had tremendous popular appeal among the people.
The United Society under Wesley's leadership had grown beyond Oxford and the community in which it was founded, and branch societies were formed.
Wesley liked the name "Methodist," adopted it for his religious society and endeavored to make Methodism part of the Church of England. That church refused to accept Wesley's work and teaching and also refused to recognize his preachers and followers.
During all this time Wesley and the Methodist continued to remain in the Church of England. He had no intention of founding a new church. It was only after his death that the movement in England broke away from the established church and formed the Wesleyan Methodist Church.
Wesley was an untiring preacher and organizer. He traveled about 5,000 miles a year mainly on horseback delivering as many as four or five sermons a day.
Once when he was refused a pulpit, he preached on a platform that marked his father's grave.
Susan Wesley, the mother of Methodism, died July 23, 1742. She was buried in the famous Bunhill Fields across the road from Wesley's Chapel. Standing beside his mother's open grave, John Wesley preached her funeral service in a great congregation that he described as one of the most solemn assemblies. I ever saw or expect to see on this side of eternity.
Wesley was not only a spiritual leader but a great humanitarian as well deeply concerned with the intellectual, economic and physical well being of the masses. He was also a prolific writer on a wide variety of historical and religious subjects. His books were sold cheaply so that even the poor could afford them. He donated profits from the sale of his writings to the needy and unemployed. He aided debtors and those trying to establish a business. He founded medical dispensaries. He said "doctors were too expensive." He wrote a medical book called PRIMITIVE PHYSIC which was later used in America by circuit riders.
In 1751, at the age of forty-eight, Wesley married Mary Vazille, a widow with four children. His wife made no attempt to share his life and the marriage was very unhappy. After twenty years, she left him. He said, "I did not send her away. I shall not bring her back." She died in 1781, but he was not informed until two days after her burial.
In the later years of his life, the hostility at the Church of England to Methodism had virtually disappeared and Wesley was greatly admired for his religious leadership.
John Wesley died in 1791 and was buried in the graveyard of City Road Chapel, London.
Charles Wesley was the youngest brother of John Wesley. He was born December 18, 1708, in Epworth Rectory, Lincolnshire, England. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church Oxford University. He was the first leader of the Holy Club at Oxford University, and some historians give him credit as the founder of Methodism.
In 1735, after becoming a minister, he sailed with his brother John to Georgia to become Secretary to General Oglethorpe. However, ill health forced him to relinquish that post and he returned to England. He joined his brother John in the new movement and preached in various parts of the country.
The two Wesleys differed on certain doctrinal matters and he disapproved of his brother's ordination. He strongly opposed steps which might lead to separation from the Church of England.
Charles Wesley is often called the poet of the Methodist movement. He composed more than 6,000 hymns, many of which are still sung in Protestant churches. Among the best known, are "Jesus Lover of My Soul" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" which is sung during the Christmas season. It is said he could write a song for any occasion.
So intense was his devotion to the Church of England, and so strong was his antipathy in ordination and the Methodist trend away from Anglicanism, that he would not be buried in City Road Churchyard. He died March 29, 1788, and was interred at Marylebone Church in London.
There is a memorial plaque in Westminster Abbey inscribed as follows:
John Wesley, MA
Born June 17, 1703, Died March 2, 1791
Charles Wesley, MA
Born December 18, 1708, Died March 29, 1788
The best of all God is with us
I look upon all the world as my Parish.
God buries His workmen but carries on his work.
The first Methodist who came to the Holston were laymen, and the first of these was Edward Cox who had been converted under the preaching of Bishop Asbury. He came from Baltimore, Maryland, and settled near Bluff City, Tennessee, in 1773, which was then part of the state of North Carolina. He stayed two years and made a claim for a land grant, which claim was granted in 1775. After his two years were up, he returned to Maryland to claim Sallie Merdeth as his bride. They established a Christian home on the frontier and became useful Methodists.
The first evening in which they pitched their tent in the forest upon their own homestead, they erected a family altar and consecrated themselves and all they had afresh to God. This was probably the first prayer by a Methodist family in the Holston Country. It was offered up on a little hill near Bluff City, Tennessee.
The Revolutionary War soon began, and Mr. Cox thought that the situation of himself and family (on the frontier, exposed to the vengeance and cruelty of hostile Indians) justified his decision to stay home for the protection of his wife and child. As the war increased in magnitude and fury, although a man of peace, he felt that every arm was needed for the establishment of American Independence. His wife said, 'Go Edward and fight for the Independence of your Country - if need be, die in the cause of liberty. God will take care of me and the child." He enlisted and continued in the service till the war ended - leaving his family in a country wild and exposed to serious danger with but here and there a white settlement. The people united in erecting a fort to which the few men that remained would gather the women and children at night for their safety. Indian depredations became so common on the Holston that General Washington sent a detachment of soldiers to defend the settlement. Among the soldiers thus sent was Edward Cox.
For several nights before the soldiers arrived, the Indians had roamed through the settlement without hindrance. Some of the people could not always get to the fort because of distance - or they had not been alerted that Indians were in the area. Several women and children had been murdered and scalped. Mrs. Cox escaped one night by taking her child and leaving her cabin after dark and spending the night in the stockyard between the stacks of hay and grain that stood close together. The next day the news spread throughout the settlement that soldiers had arrived at the fort for the protection of the inhabitants. Mrs. Cox heard it and set out with her child for the fort, partly for protection and partly in the hope of getting news from her husband of whom she had heard nothing for several months. As she approached the fort, imagine her surprise when she saw her own husband coming out from a group of soldiers to meet her. His joy was past expression. He had been told, after coming to the fort, that his wife and child had been murdered the night before.
The war over and the American Independence established, Mr. Cox returned to his home on the Holston. He soon opened his home to religious meetings and he was accustomed to conduct them himself. Many were converted and gave their names to Mr. Cox for membership int he Methodist Church. He had promised to use his best endeavors to procure a preacher to take charge of them and administer to their spiritual needs.
The preacher came at last and, among the first that came, was Bishop Asbury on his way to the first conference west of the Allegheny Moderator. He had found two of his spiritual children, Edward and Sallie Cox.
Mr. Cox gave liberally to the church and the support of the preachers. He especially liked to help young preachers when they first began their ministry by giving them a good horse, clothing and money. He did this as long as he was able to farm and , when too old and feeble to do this, he gave from his pension money.
In the same year that Edward Cox came to the Holston country, the first Methodist Church was built in what is now the Holston Conference. It was named Page's Meeting House.
Edward Cox died at his home on the Holston in 1852, age 102. His wife had preceded him in death by a few years. The Cox house has become an official shrine of Methodism, and is the last Asburian site left standing within the bounds of the Holston.
Francis Asbury was born in England in the Parish of Handsworth, near the foot of Hamstead Bridge about four miles from Birmingham in Staffordshire, on the 20th of August, 1745.
His mother, before his birth, said she had received a vision from God foretelling that her child would be a boy and that he was destined to be a great religious leader who would spread the Gospel among the heathens. From the day of his birth, she began to prepare him for his divinely predestined ministry. As soon as he was old enough to understand, she read the Bible to him for an hour each day.
When he was about twelve years old, he inquired of his mother who, where and what were Methodists. She directed him to a person who took him to hear them.
I soon found out this was not the Church (of England) but it was better, the people were so devout. The preacher had no prayer book, yet he prayed wonderfully. What was yet more extraordinary, he took his text and had no sermon book. I thought this is wonderful indeed. It is a strange way, but the best way.
He took up Methodism at the age of thirteen and, at the age of eighteen, he became a local preacher and, three years later, was received by the Evangelist. John Wesley into the itinerant Methodist Ministry - was admitted into the British Conference in 1768.
He attended the Baptist Conference in 1771, when John Wesley in his address to the conference said, "Our brothers in America call aloud for help." He arose and said, "Here I am, send me." He and Richard Wright were chosen.
From the Bristol Conference, he went home to acquaint his parents with his great undertaking. He told them in a gentle manner as possible. They consented to let him go. This, said his mother, was to fulfill the vision she had before his birth. He said goodbye to his parents and friends and returned to Bristol where Richard Wright was waiting for him to sail for America. When he came to Bristol, he had not one penny of money, but the Lord soon opened the hearts of friends who supplied him with clothes and ten pounds. He said, "I found by experience that the Lord will provide for those who trust him."
Rev. Asbury preached his last sermon in England just before he sailed for America. His text was from Psalms, Chapter 61, Verse 2, which reads as follows: "From the ends of the earth will I cry unto thee when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me in the rock that is higher than I."
He sailed from Bristol, England, with Richard Wright, September 4, 1771. Richard Wright stayed in America about two years then returned to England. Asbury said he was a short candle and soon burned out. Wright later gave up the ministry, but Asbury never returned to England.
For three days after the ship left port, he says, "I was very ill with seasickness and no sickness I ever knew was equal to it." He preached five sermons to the crew of the ship on the voyage to America.
On October 27, 1771, at the age of twenty-six, Rev. Asbury landed in Philadelphia as a missionary. He preached his first sermon in America on October 28, 1771, in St. George Church - now the oldest Methodist place of worship in America. This was seven years after the first Methodist Church was built in America - a small meeting house of logs on Sam's Creek in Maryland.
There were between 300 and 600 Methodists in the colonies at that time and they were concentrated chiefly in Philadelphia and New York.
Rev. Asbury became a citizen of the colony of Delaware. During the American Revolution, he sympathized with the American cause. He was at one time imprisoned on suspicion of loyalty to England, was released and permitted to resume his labors - but kept under surveillance for about ten years.
In 1774, the several Wesleyan societies in the United States were organized into the Methodist Episcopal Church and Rev. Asbury and the English Missionary, Dr. Thomas Coke, were elected joint superintendents. The next year, Rev. Asbury assumed the title of "Bishop." Thereafter, his life was devoted to preaching and the supervision and extension of Methodism. He became the first circuit rider in America. He wrote in his Journal, November 20, 1771, "My brothers seem unwilling to leave the cities, but I think I will show them the way." After he showed them the way, many others were to follow to bring Methodism to the colonies and the frontier as the great western migration began.
John Wesley's intemperate attack on the American cause, in his calm address to the American Colonies, cost the great founder of Methodism his influence in the New World. He then gave Asbury authority to conduct church affairs in America as he saw suitable and proper. Under Asbury's leadership and guidance, the Methodist church began to grow. The circuit rider system was well adapted to a new and sparsely settled country.
On May 26, 1783, Bishop Asbury and Coke traveled to Mount Vernon to call on General Washington. They were well received by the General who responded favorably to the business they brought on this occasion - the abolition of slavery in Virginia. The two bishops paid a formal visit to the Capitol, New York City, a month after Washington's inauguration as President of the United States to submit a greeting and congratulations on his inauguration.
In 1788, Bishop Asbury crossed the mountains from Morganton, North Carolina, through the gap east of roan Mountain, near the present town of Elk Park, North Carolina, into what is now Tennessee on his way to conference. He stopped at the home of Edward and Sallie Cox near the present Bluff City, Tennessee, to rest and refresh himself.
He held the first conference west of the Alleghenies at Stephen Kewoods in Washington County, Virginia May 13- 15, 1788. Keywood lived in a two-story log house. The Conference met in an upper room and sat for three days organizing the Holston circuit, which embraced all the settlements on Watauga, Nolichucky and Holston rivers - including those in what is now Greene, Washington, Carter, Johnson, Sullivan and Hawkins counties in Tennessee; Washington, Smyth, Russell, Scott and Lee counties in Virginia.
Jeremiah Lambert has the honor of being the first Methodist preacher regularly appointed to charge west of the Alleghenies. This was before the Holston Circuit was organized. In 1783, he reported sixty members and, on year later, he reported seventy-six members - a gain of sixteen. In five years, the membership had grown into three hundred and sixty.
After Bishop Asbury held the Conference at Stephen Keywood's, he began to travel east to Pennsylvania to hold Conference in July 1788.
In 1790 Bishop Asbury held the Conference on the Holston and then passed through Moccasin Gap to visit the settlements on the Clinch River and in Powell Valley - going into the western edge of Kentucky - visiting as many different settlements as he could - preaching, holding prayer meetings, class meetings; talking to and praying with families as he spent a night or took a meal with them.
He made his trip into Kentucky over the Wilderness Road to organize a Kentucky Conference - ever interested in the spiritual welfare of the frontier people. He wrote in his Journal:
The people it must be confessed are amongst the kindest in the world, but kindness will not make a crowded log cabin twelve feet by ten agreeable for six adults and as many children no room to retire to and much loved solitude is not to be found, unless you choose to run out into the woods.
I found amongst my other trials I have taken the itch; and considering the filthy houses and filthy beds I have met with coming from the Kentucky Conference it is perhaps strange that I have not caught it twenty times. I do not see that there is any security against it but by sleeping in a brimstone shirt.
In 1796, Bishop Asbury visited the frontier settlements again going to the northern part of Russell County and head waters of the Clinch River preaching from time to time to such as could be found and gathered together.
The Holston district had formed the Clinch Circuit, which at this time included Scott, Russell and part of Lee County in Virginia, and part of Tennessee lying north of the Holston River. Bishop Asbury, in his Journal, makes the following entries concerning his visit to Fort Blackmore:
Wednesday, April 28, we have had cold weather and severe frost for two nights past we had a dreary ride down to the ford of Clinch through a solitary plain; many attended at L-S. We rode down to Blackmore's Station, here the people have been forted on the north side of the Clinch. Poor Blackmore had a son and daughter killed by the Indians. They are of opinion here that the Cherokees were the authors of this mischief. I also received an account of two families having been killed and of one female that was taken prisoner, and afterward retaken by the neighbors and brought back.
Thursday, April 29, called at James Osborne. Here I preached to an attentive congregation, and Richard Whatcoat performed a wedding ceremony for John Alley and Mary Porter after which they rode to Joseph Blackmore. Lord pity the people in these backwoods though living in jeopardy every day yet the greatest part of them seem to have no more religion than savage tribes.
Friday, April 30, Crossed the Clinch River about two miles below the fort. In passing along I saw the precipice from which Blackmore's unhappy son leaped into the river after receiving the stroke of the tomahawk in his head; I suppose by the measure of my eye it must between fifty and sixty feet high; his companion was shot dead upon the spot; this happened on the 6th of April 1789.
We came on a dreary road over rocks, ridges, hills, stones and streams along a blind and tortuous path to Mocheson Gap and Creek, thence to Smith's Ferry across the North branch of Holstein. Here I found some lies had been told about me. I was not moved.
Sometime in 1814, Bishop Asbury preached a memorial sermon of Dr. Thomas Coke. He was born at Brecon, South Wales October 9, 1747. He graduated at Jessus College Oxford in 1780. He was Wesley's assistant at the London Conference September 18, 1784. He sailed for the United States for the first time. He crossed the Atlantic eighteen times. In 1800, he was president of the American General Conference in Baltimore. He served as joint superintendent with Bishop Asbury. Later this title was changed to that of Bishop. He made his last visit to the United States in 1803.
Dr. Coke died on his way to Ceylon may 3, 1814. His servant knocked at his cabin door to awake him at the usual time, but heard no response. Opening the door, he beheld the lifeless body extended on the floor. A funeral service was held and his body was buried in the Indian Ocean.
In 1815, Bishop Asbury visited South Carolina. About Christmas time, he started to make his way toward Baltimore to attend the General Conference which was to meet in May. He became very ill with influenza which resulted in pulmonary consumption. He reached Richmond, VA, and preached his last sermon in that city March 24. He was carried from his carriage to the pulpit and placed on a table. He spoke from Romans Chapter 9, Verse 28, which reads as follows:
For he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness; because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
In a few days, he reached the home of an old friend, George Arnold, in Spottsylvania County. He overheard the family talking of having a preaching appointment for him. He observed that they not be in any hurry - a remark so unusual that it gave Rev. John Bond uneasiness. After a bad night, a doctor was sent for but none could be found. As his condition grew worse he asked Rev. Bond to read the 21st chapter of Revelations, sing some old hymns and pray. He died March 31, 1816, at the age of 71. The prophet of the long road had died as he had lived by the side of the road he had traveled. He never had a home, a boarding place. He never owned any property. He had no address save America and the Methodist Church which he loved so much.
He was buried in the family burial ground of Mr. Arnold and, afterwards by order of the General Conference, his body was taken up and transferred to Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland. The gray granite slab which once served as a covering to his grave has been filled into the rear wall of the Eutah Street Church and it hears his epitaph.
Bishop Asbury crossed the Allegheny Mountains 60 times, preached 1600 sermons, ordained over 4000 ministers and presided at 224 conferences. It is estimated that, during his ministry, he traveled more than 270,000 miles.
Rev. Thomas Ware received letters from persons living down on the lower Holston informing him of their destitute conditions and imploring him to give aid. He left his home in New Jersey in 1787 and remained there until 1789.
He was a man of learning and intellectual force, a great power in the pulpit as well as in fireside conversations.
Rev. Ware was exposed to hostile Indians as he rode from one settlement to another on the Holston frontier. He was saved one time after his horse gave an alarm and turned and ran in the opposite direction.
One time, while preaching at a private residence, the congregation was alarmed by the cry of "Indians." Instantly every man seized his rifle and sallied forth to ascertain the cause of the alarm. On coming out of the cabin, they saw two lads running and screaming, "The Indians have killed mother." They followed and found a Mrs. Carter had been tomahawked. She had been making sugar. She had decided against going to hear Rev. Ware because she was much troubled about her spiritual condition and confused.
Antinomian preachers came to this section at an early date and succeeded in prejudicing the people against the Methodists and finally against all religion. They preached that God is not loving to every man and that mercy is not over all his works; that Christ did not die for all but only a select number of mankind.
These confusions cost Mrs. Carter her life. If she had gone to Church, her life would have been saved. Her funeral was held the next day at her home.
After holding the funeral of Mrs. Carter, Rev. Ware went to the lowest settlement on the Holston and found the people at various places in a state of alarm and devising means of defense against the Indians, from whom they expected no mercy. Many were astonished that the preacher would hazard his life to visit them at such a crisis. They showed great kindness toward him, heard his sermons and conversations with close and respectful attention - and guarded him from place to place.
Once, while traveling alone through the forest on the Holston, he became very ill and had to lie down beside the path. It began to rain. With great effort, he succeeded in mounting his horse. He did not reach a settlement until night fall. He called at the first house he came to and solicited lodging, but was abruptly refused. He had heard of a Quaker living in the settlement, and requested the man to direct him to his home. The man complied with a significant shrug of his shoulders. When Rev. Ware reached the Quaker's home, he found a sarcastic deist instead of a warm friend. The Quaker said that the intended visit and character of Mr. Ware were well known and that neither he nor his neighbors had any use for a priest of any kind; he thought therefore that he had as well pass them by. Mr. Ware then said that, whatever the difference of their religious views might be, there was a debt of humanity owned to each other and, if there be any flesh in his heart, he would not deny a fellow man shelter from the storm during the night. He replied, "Young man, if thou wouldst follow some honest calling, honest men would make thee welcome. There is a neighbor Hodge whose wife is old and ugly and he may give thee lodging." They gave him shelter but treated him badly. They would give him no supper and he had to sleep on a dirt floor without cover.
After a visit to the Nollichucky River country, he returned to new Jersey, where he died March 11, 1842, at the age of 84 years.
Perhaps a poem by George B. Staff, titled "A Brother's Hand," best sums up the feeling of the circuit riders in the Holston Country when people on the frontier made them welcome.
When you're feeling all downhearted
and life's hard to understand,
Say! It's fine to feel the Pressure
Of a Brother's friendly hand.
Just to know he sympathizes,
Though he doesn't say a word;
How it starts your courage climbing,
As your heart is touched and stirred.
With an arm across your shoulder,
And a grip you Love to find;
How it makes you feel the bounding
Of the hearts of humankind.
It is just a little token
Of an ever growing band;
For there's faith, hope and courage
In a brother's friendly hand.
Elizabeth Russell could well be called the First Lady of Methodism in the Holston Country. Born in Hanover County, Virginia, July 10, 1749, she was a sister of Patrick Henry - the great orator and patriot of the American Revolution.
Her first husband was Col. William Campbell of King's Mountain fame. He died August 22, 1781. She then married General William Russell of Revolutionary War fame, for whom Russell County, Virginia, was named. He removed from Aspenvale to the "Salt Lick" (as it was then called - afterwards known as "Preston's Salt Works") in Smyth County, Virginia. General Russell died January 14, 1793.
Mrs. Russell was converted to Methodism in 1788, one week before the first Holston Conference was held. The preachers had met at the home of Stephen Keywood to prepare for the conference. John Tunnell and Thomas Ware were two of the outstanding preachers. It was under their preaching that she was converted.
It is said by the people who knew her, this good and great woman became a flame of Christian zeal not surpassed in ancient or modern times. Her home as appointed as a regular preaching place for the circuit riders and laymen. She had a movable pulpit in her spacious living room, which could be moved to suit the needs of the congregation. No minister ever went any empty handed. She always gave something - a new suit, shoes, money and extra food to carry with him when he went on the frontier.
In those days people kept slaves - bought and sold them as they did any other property - and the Russell family was no exception. But, after her conversion, this business of buying and selling slaves began to bother her conscience. She wrote the following to emancipate her slaves:
Whereas by the wrong doing of men it hath been the unfortunate lot of the following Negores to be slaves for life to- wit: (Here she names all her slaves) and where as believing the same have come into my possession by the direction of Providence and concerning from the clearest conviction of my conscience aided by the Power of a good and Just God, that it is both sinful and unjust, as they are by nature equally free with myself, to continue them in slavery. I do, therefore by these presents, under the influence of a duty I not only owe my conscience, but the Just God who made us all, make free the said Negroes hoping while they are free of man they will faithfully serve their maker through the merits of Christ. Signed Elizabeth Russell, 21st day of July, 1795.
A few weeks subsequent to her death, her funeral was preached to a large concourse of people assembled at the grave where she is buried. The sermon was from Mark, Chapter 14, Verse 9, which reads as follows:
Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.
The sermon was preached by Rev. Isaac Lewis.
William McKendree, the first American born bishop, was born in King William County, Virginia, July 5, 1757. He had little formal education, but over the years by reading and study, he became self-educated. He learned to speak his mother tongue with precision and force.
He enlisted in the Continental Army, rose to the rank of Adjutant, and was present in that capacity when Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown. The experience thus acquired in dealing with men proved of great value to him in coming years - when he rode as captain with his itinerant host on to the frontier.
He was converted to Methodism in 1787 and the next year was sent as assistant preacher to Mecklenburg Circuit. He had not been licensed to preach - nor had he been consulted on the subject. The presiding elder said to him, "While you were standing before the Conference, I believe that God showed me he had work for you to do." He was a circuit riding preacher for eight years and had shown great results in his work.
At the session of the Virginia Conference which met at Salem Chapel, Mecklenburg County, November 24, 1795, Bishop Asbury appointed McKendree to a district that stretched form the Chesapeake Bay northward and westward over the Blue Ridge and the Allegheny mountains to include the Holston Country. On May 18, 1808, McKendree was ordained by Bishop Asbury as bishop. After Asbury's death, McKendree became senior bishop.
Bishop McKendree died March 5, 1835, and was buried beside his father. Forty years later, his remains were taken up and reinterred on the campus of Vanderbilt University.
The year 1800 was the start of the Great Revival which swept the western territory. In two years membership increased in the western Conference from one thousand to nearly three thousand. Homes, schools and churches were inadequate to accommodate the throngs that came to hear the circuit riders. This was the beginning of the camp meetings.
William McKendree had sent his circuit riders into this new country west of the Allegheny Mountains to preach the word of God from homes, schools, camp meetings, churches, or any place people could be brought together.
In twelve years the membership had grown so large and the territory was so large that one bishop could not oversee the business of the church. So a new conference was created out of the Western Conference to include the Holston District which covered Southwest Virginia, East Tennessee, much of Western North Carolina, and the northern tip of Georgia.
At the General Conference of 1824, held in the home of Hugh Lawson White on East Main Street, Knoxville, Tennessee, Bishop Robert R. Roberts presided.
Provisions were made for the organization of the Holston Conference within the following limits: to include all that part of the state of Tennessee lying east of the Cumberland Mountains, that part of Virginia and North Carolina embraced in the Holston District; also the Black Mountains and French Broad circuits formerly belonging to the South Carolina Conference. At this time there were 42 preachers and 14,934 members. At present (1981) the Holston Conference has 1050 churches and 600+ preachers, three colleges and one children's home.
Pages 29 to 46
How can one record for history a tragedy, such as the one that took so many lives as the terrible tornado that destroyed the school at Rye Cove, Virginia, on Thursday, May 2, 1929 - a thing so powerful and devastating as to be almost unbelievable! One would like to set forth a record that would spare the good people of Rye Cove and surrounding area from ever again hearing of their great loss and hurt - a record whereby we could avoid the mention of the awful aftermath of the event. But, if history is to be maintained and recorded for our archives, one has no choice but to write of those who paid with their lives in the making of history - those who were maimed and disfigured - those who were spared but pinned beneath tons of debris crying for help that no doubt seemed to them an eternity in arriving - the marks of pain and suffering left upon the faces of parents, brothers, sisters, playmates and other loved ones - marks that time alone can erase.
Perhaps we feel that each one to whom we talked, or each writer, has a different version of the event. However, when we survey the matter more closely, we can plainly see that everyone whose life was directly or indirectly touched by this great catastrophe - to him or to her - it was an individual happening and each saw or was affected differently by the occurrence.
The Rye Cove School building was erected about 1917. It was a two story frame structure with ten rooms, built of German siding, with 2 by 4 and 2 by 6 uprights or studding. The sheeting was of oak and ceiling of pine. Concrete blocks formed the foundation. It was one of the strongest and best constructed school buildings in Scott County at that time, the fourth largest in the county, and served a radius of approximately seven miles.
W. D. Smith, Scott County Superintendent of Schools, was on the scene within an hour after the twister struck rendering all possible aid and, of course was grief stricken.
This mighty instrument of destruction gathered in the valley, west-southwest of the Rye Cove school and approached as a mighty animal of sound and ferocity - determined to vent its anger and fury on an unsuspecting populace made up mostly of the students and faculty of Rye Cove School and the people of the peaceful community.
The twister struck during the lunch hour at school - about 12:55 p.m. - a time when all but about 25 of the students were outside the building. It struck so suddenly, and with such force, there was no time to escape. From all reports the school was apparently lifted from its foundation, twisted and thrown into the air. What the whirling monster could not carry on down the valley, it threw back to the ground - pinning beneath it anything that happened to be there, human or otherwise.
Within an hour after the twister struck, eight bodies were recovered from the ruins of the building. The body of Ava Carter, 24 year old teacher, as found 75 yards from where the school had stood. She was inside the building when the twister struck. Her home was at Cove Creek, and she was a graduate of State Teachers College, Radford, Virginia. The body of Polly Carter, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Miles Carter of Rye Cove, was carried some fifty yards. Of the 155 students attending classes on that fateful day, besides the ten dead as shown above, one little girl died enroute to Clinchport; one child died in a Bristol hospital and, with the death of an eighteen year old boy in a Kingsport hospital, the final death list was thirteen. More than fifty were seriously hurt, 38 were taken to King's Mountain Memorial Hospital in Bristol - 27 of them on a special train from Clinchport. Four were taken to Kingsport hospitals. The more seriously injured had earlier been taken by ambulance to Bristol and Kingsport hospitals. It was reported that fully one hundred children, other than those in Bristol and Kingsport hospitals, suffered minor injuries.
Because of the rural situation of Rye Cove, news of the disaster traveled slowly. It was two hours after the occurrence before outside help arrived. The few telephone lines in the community were knocked our by the storm and it was necessary to dispatch someone to Clinchport, six miles away, to summon help.
Doctors and nurses came from Bristol, Kingsport, Gate City, Appalachia, and other communities to render first aid at the scene and at Clinchport where a passenger train was standing by to carry the injured to Bristol.
Meanwhile strong shouldered mountain residents plied through the rubble with bare hands seeking traces of those known to be missing. The injured were carried to nearby buildings and made as comfortable as possible. Bodies of the dead were laid on the ground. Prior to the arrival of ambulances, cars and trucks were commandeered to evacuate the injured.
One can be imagine the confusion and frustration as frantic parents began arriving at the scene. Some children had been blown several hundred feet from the site and lay unconscious; others were buried under the rubble. Hysteria prevailed. Many children had already been taken to hospitals when their parents arrived at the school. Frantically searching for their children, anxious fathers worked feverishly in the ruins, fearful of what they might find, and desperate mothers sought news of their children.
Fire, probably from a stove blown some distance from the site, broke out immediately and threatened to turn the debris into a flaming pyre. Since several children were trapped in the wreckage, early arrivals found it necessary to fight the fire before giving attention to the other injured children. Two road tractors were used to drag wreckage away from the fire and isolate it. Teachers, neighbors, and children who were not disabled, carried water in buckets and tubs from a nearby pond to douse the flames.
A. S. Noblin, Principal of Rye Cove School at the time, gave a reporter the following account of the disaster:
I was walking through the hall when I saw what looked like a whirlwind coming up the hollow. Trees were swaying. As it neared the school, it became a black cloud, appearing as though a tremendous amount of dirt had been gathered. I think I yelled as it struck the building. The next thing I remember, I was standing knee deep in a pond 75 feet from where the building stood before it was demolished.
Another eye witness, John Runyon, 17, a student, said he saw the trees swaying while he was standing with a teacher in one of the class rooms. "It just picked up the school house," he declared. "The next thing I knew, I had about half of it on me and I was trying to dig out." Runyon's head was badly lacerated.
Elizabeth Richmond, a teacher who was standing with Runyon, is reported to have given the following eyewitness account of the disaster.
We had only started school after recess...when I noticed that a bad storm was coming up the valley. It alarmed me, but I didn't say anything about it to the children. The wind increased to a very high degree. It had a loud howling noise. Then, suddenly the building collapsed with a crash. Probably it was only a few seconds from the time when I thought the building might be in danger until it fell. I was on the second floor.
Loy Osborne, an eighteen year old senior who suffered numerous cuts and abrasions, and a fractured left arm, gave the following eyewitness account from his bed in a Kingsport hospital:
There were stoves in most of the rooms and fire in some of the stoves. I was standing in the first floor hall near Principal Noblin when the cyclone came. I heard the roof go. Then the walls crashed all at once. I made a dive for the floor as the walls collapsed and the children were screaming. I came to some distance outside. I don't know whether I had been blown or crawled there. I saw that flames were beginning to lick up through the rubble, in which lots of people were trapped.
My arm hurt me, but I got up and began to carry water from a nearby pond, and throw on the fire.
Osborne stated further that others, old women, parents and children were carrying water. The blaze was put out.
Jim Morrison, a nearby resident who had children in the school, is reported as saying:
I was coming in with my truck and saw the tornado dip into the valley. I saw it approach the school. I had three children in that school. My heart stood still as the tornado hit the school and tore the roof off, and the building collapsed. I hurried down to the school. After searching frantically under the boards. I found my son Kyle, nine years old. He was lying blank. I dragged him out. He had a fractured arm and leg.
Kyle was taken to the Marsh Clinic at Kingsport where he was operated on for a fractured leg and head injuries. Before going on the operating table, he told hospital attendants:
I thought when I heard the noise that a big tree was coming down on the school. Everything got black and when I woke up and saw a boy near me all mashed up and looking like he was dead. I just fainted, I guess.
Mrs. Frances Morrison watched the approaching cloud from her home and said it looked like a whirlwind, "the biggest I ever saw," and contained trees and shocks of fodder. She saw it dip and hit the school. First the top of the building was picked up in the funnel and whirled around, then the walls collapsed. The funnel circled as it left the school and pushed down an old log house. Watching in horror from her kitchen window, Mrs. Morrison clutched the window sill with such pressure her hands had to be forcibly pulled from it. She ran down the road to see about her own children.
At a time like the great tribulation of Rye Cove, there is no time for individual heroes - yet one instance will always stand out from others. One reporter wrote of such an incident - a small boy, as he heard the crash, gathered a tiny girl into his arms and, although he himself was badly crushed, the girl escaped unscathed.
Many of the dead, as they were dragged from beneath the ruins, were so horribly mangled that identification was accomplished with great difficulty.
A fourth grade pupil recalls the terror she felt as, without warning, she saw the school collapsing about her:
When I looked out, there was a dark cloud coming and children were running toward the school house. All that were on the ground were running and screaming. I was inside - there were several of us in there - and I looked and saw the walls coming down on top of us. That was the last I remember. I came down on top of the desks and then I crawled out. I came out under the floor...I went to the hospital but just stayed over night.
Mrs. Annie Stone, who lived near the school and rendered first aid to many of the children, gave the following account of the tragedy:
The principal was boarding here. He came over and ate dinner. I looked along the mountain and there was the blackest cloud, and it thundered. The children were all out playing and I said to Mr. Noblin, "That's an awful looking cloud along the mountain." He got up and started through and hollered back to me, "Yes, and back in here is an awful looking cloud - I'd better get back to the school house." I didn't go to look out - I just went to closing windows and doors. Well, it reached our house and took it off (from the chimney) and the chimney went to falling. I heard someone screaming and I went out the opening where the chimney had been. My neighbor woman had come out and looked this way and just went to screaming...I started to begin to meet the children from over there - some with arms broken - some with just cuts. They carried the children in the house and the storehouse...we were so tore up here - you can't imagine.
Mrs. Stone finished with a revealing remark which many Rye Cove residents share, "Lord, I'm scared to death of storms."
Following is the final death list of the awful tragedy of the Rye Cove, with appropriate remarks:
Ava Carter, 24 year old teacher, lived on Cove Creek near Duncans Mill. On the day of the tornado, she had planned on not attending classes. Mrs. Myrtle (Taylor) Carter, who lives a mile or two further from the school and was also a teacher, says that on this day she and a friend (or friends) were walking to school, as was the custom. In passing the home of Ava Carter, they called to her and asked that she walk with them. Whereupon, she reconsidered and was in school when the mighty wind came. Mrs. Myrtle (Taylor) Carter was interviewed personally by this writer - more about her elsewhere in this treatise. Ava Carter was buried at the Peter Carter cemetery on Cove Creek near the family home on Sunday, May 5, 1929. Services were conducted at the home of her mother.
Callie Bishop, age 10, Rye Cove, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Grant Bishop.
Monnie Bishop, age 8, Rye Cove.
James Carter, age 14, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Carter of Rye Cove, was buried int he Morrison family cemetery in the cove.
Polly Carter, age 18, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Miles Carter of Rye Cove
Bruce Cox, age 18, son of Beverly Cox of Gate City.
Joint funeral services were held Saturday, May 4, at the Gate City Baptist Church for Polly Carter and Bruce Cox.
Lillie Lee Carter, age 12, of Clinchport.
Bertha Mae Darnell, age 15, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Trigg Darnell of Rye Cove, died ont he way to Clinchport.
Guy Davidson, age 18, Rye Cove, died May 3, at a Kingsport Hospital.
Millie Stone, age 12, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Stone of Rye Cove, died in King's Mountain Memorial Hospital, Bristol. Final rites were conducted at 2:00 o'clock Sunday, May 5, at the home of her parents.
Emma Lane, age 6, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. N. G. Lane of Rye Cove, was laid to rest at the crest of a grassy knoll overlooking the tragic site of the school house. Her grave was the first to occupy the knoll which is part of the Lane homestead owned by her grandfather, W. T. Lane.
Bernice Fletcher, age 8, daughter of Isaac Fletcher of Rye Cove.
Monnie Fletcher, age 14, daughter of Charles Fletcher of Rye Cove.
The double coffin of the two Fletcher children was buried int he McNew cemetery at Stanleytown, after services at the Stanleytown Church just outside the cove. They were aunt and niece. Isaac Fletcher was a brother to Monnie and a son of Charles.
After destroying the school, the twister wreaked havoc in a swath one fourth of a mile wide and four miles long before spending itself against the southwest side of high knob.
A log dwelling that had stood