Catherine & Gee Sawyer Revealed

 My Sawyer great-grandparents lived large. Large family. Large personalities. The stories are numerous, full of love and laughter. Much like their children. But since they died long before I was born, my images of them were constrained by the few photos I'd seen. Especially for Gee Sawyer (Jehu Stokely Sawyer, 1855-1940). My great-great aunts Selma and Mary Kathryn resembled their mother Catherine. I knew them well. I could imagine her cooking, or chatting, or chasing down a stray child. But the only photos I'd seen of Gee were a formal portrait at the time of his marriage, and this one of him not long before he died. 

Sawyer family, c. 1940 (from left to right, Clevel Sawyer Luttrell, Gee Sawyer, unknown man (perhaps Clevel's husband Hardin Luttrell), Mary Kathryn Sawyer McKenzie, Emma Sawyer)

It was hard to get the sense of him that I knew from the stories. However....

Looking through my aunt Mary Kathryn's photo album from the 1920s I found what I am certain is a snapshot of her parents. Faded, and not the greatest image of her mother. But, after I put it through the photo enhancement program at MyHeritage.com,  I can see Gee now. His little smile. Sparkling eyes. The relaxed embrace he and Catherine share. 

Catherine Conway and Gee Sawyer, c. 1927

That caption says it all. For me, too. Happy? Yes.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Catherine Conway Sawyer

Amy Johnson Crow has issued a challenge to genealogy bloggers to write about an ancestor a week during 2014 on her blog No Story Too Small. We'll see how close I get to hitting her number!

I am starting with my great-grandmother Catherine Conway Sawyer - the Nolichuckiest of my Nolichucky Roots. Catherine Pearlina was born 3 February 1865 to Porter and Eleanor Holt Conway at Conway's Ferry on a bend of the Nolichucky River in Cocke County, Tennessee. She was, you will notice, born near the end of the Civil War leading me to believe her children's assertion that her father did not fight during the War. Another post, but not so!

As a girl she ran the ferry from her father's farm across the river to Warrensburg in Greene County. Somewhere on one of those trips she must have met Jehu Stokely  "Gee" Sawyer. They were married two days before Christmas in 1886 and settled into the house he built in Warrensburg along the Nolichucky River.

Gee and Catherine had 10 surviving children from 1887 to 1909. The household was full of life, laughter and probably more than a few pillows flying through the air. Catherine's children and grandchildren describe a mother rarely flustered, rarely still, and often laughing. She had plenty to laugh at. Merely traveling by the house put one at risk from projectiles flying from one of the trees, roof or windows. She was a legendary cook, quilter and seamstress. Her youngest daughter's first memories were of being leashed to her mother's sewing machine while the older children frolicked. Frolicking was a favored pastime. I've often wondered if Catherine was trying to protect her toddler daughter from her older brothers, keep her from wandering off, or was too absent minded to keep track of her while sewing. Or all of the above.

I have no photographs of Catherine from the time of her marriage until her daughters got their first camera around the time of World War I. Even then photos are scarce. One reason might be she never stood still long enough to get a shot. Here's what I found when I looked through the photo albums.

And finally, this with her daughter and granddaughter in 1929.

Catherine was widowed in 1940 and died 2 March 1943 in Warrensburg. She lived her entire life within yards of the Nolichucky. She is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Greeneville, TN. I never heard anyone mention her name or tell any story about her without a huge grin on their face. She brings a smile to mine every time I think of her. 

Sources

1870 U.S. census, population schedule, Tennessee, Cocke, District 4, p. 378A, dwelling 64, family 64, Perlina Conaway; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 Jan 2014); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M593, roll 1519.  

Cocke, Tennessee, Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002, December 1886: 376, Sawyer-Conway; digital images, Ancestry.com (accessed 5 Jan 2014).  

Greene, Tennessee, Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1958, 1943: Katherine Conway Sawyer; digital image, Ancestry.com (5 Jan 2014).  

Photographs
Gee Sawyer Family Photo Albums; digital images, privately held by Susan Clark . 1996.  

Toasting Independence 183 Years Ago - Amanuensis Monday

     Thanks to John at Transylvanian Dutch who originated the Amanuensis Monday meme, providing a framework (and nudge) for transcribing family records, news clippings and other treasures.
     The recent heat wave in the Midwest drove me to extremes as I sought refuge indoors. Extreme browsing. Extreme snooping through old newspapers. And extreme laughter when I found an article in a Fredericksburg, Virginia newspaper detailing the celebration held in Kilmarnock, Virginia on July 4, 1830.
     It reminded me of the scene in the old Gable movie Never Let Me Go, when Gable (in good Cold War fashion) drinks his Soviet foes under the table during a night of increasingly absurd toasts. The festivities weren't reported until July 9th, probably the first day any of the gentlemen were sober enough to put quill to paper. To be fair, there were other equally florid accounts of celebrations across Virginia.

COMMUNICATED

Kilmarnock, (Lancaster,) Ju'y 9th, 1830.
     The 54th Anniversary of American Independence, was celebrated with great hilarity and spirit at this place.
     The morning was ushered in by the roar of the cannon, the effect of which upon our waters, was grand and imposing. At 12 o'clock, the Declaration of Independence was read by Doct. Morris Emanuel, prefaced by a concise, but highly entertaining recital of the events which led to its adoption. At 3 o'clock, the company sat down to a handsome dinner prepared by Capt. Issac Brest [sic]. After the cloth was removed, V. S. Conway, Esq was appointed Presi_ent, and Col. A. Palmer, Vice President – when the following toasts were drunk:
     1. The Day we celebrate – May its return be speedily hailed with universal, as it is now with national rejoicing.
     2. George Washington – When the triumphal arch of liberty shall extend o'er the earth, his name shall be inscribed thereon, as its illustrious founder.
     3. Thomas Jefferson – The renowned author of the Declaration of Independence. The world is enriched by his wisdom, whilst liberty has lost her dearest votary.
     4. Our Union – Let it be as the seven sealed book, torn in sunder only at the sound of the last trump.
     5. Universal Liberty – Though the desolation of Kings, Principalities and Powers, be the necessary sacrifice – it must prevail –

For freedom's battle once begun

Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son,

Though battled oft, is ever won.

     6. The Ex-Presidents – Then light was shed like the golden beams of the meredian sun – Like the declining rays of that orb, their wisdom is reflected by other luminaries.
     7. The President and Heads of Departments – By their acts, shall they be adjudged.
     8. The Army and Navy – Let them command the watch-towers and battlements of the Fortress, for which they are so eminently qualified; and there let their command cease.
     9. Agriculture, Commerce and Manufactures – The foundation, pedestal and pillar of national strength and individual wealth.
     10. The Arts and Sciences – They may grow and prosper under the fostering hand of a king or despot – They must ever flourish in the genial soil of Republicanism.
     11. The New Constitution – The work of the sages, patriots and orators of the State – May its practical good be commensurate with the exalted character of its framers.
     12. Virginia – From the ashes of her illustrious dead, may the Genius of wisdom and glory, Phoenix-like, arise in regenerated splendor.
     13. The Daughters of America – Not less distinguished for beauty, intelligence and love of virtue, than her sons are for wisdom, chivalry and love of liberty.

VOLUNTEERS

     By the President of the day, V. Y. Conway, Esq.– The flag of our country, which floats from yon battery: How dear to our hearts is each star, and each stripe.
     By Capt. Gresham – The memory of De Witt Clinton: of Liberty the friend, the genius of internal improvement: His name will ever be remembered with admiration by the friends of equal rights.
     By Mr. J. W. A. Edmonds – Henry Clay: May he receive from his country's hands, that which his genius, talents and public services merit – the Presidency of the United States.
     By Mr. B. M. Tomlin – The Ladies: Let us offer them hearts of devotion, and ask in return, smiles of affection.
     By Dr. Emanuel – South Carolina and Georgia: A grave to their spirit of anarchy and disorganization; a monument to their attachment to the Union.
     By Maj. Dulany – Of the disaffection of Carolina and Georgia, let us say – “eras credimus hodie nihil.”
     By Mr. James Pollard – Friendship – May its benign influence never cease to be felt.
     By Col. A. J. Palmer – The prosperity of the Union: A reduction of the Tariff.
     By Capt. Gresham – Our absent friend, J. W. Chinn: May he live many hears and enjoy that esteem and admiration which his bland and amiable manners, his talents and usefulness so much entitle him to.
     By Capt. Armstrong – Gen. Jackson: His bravery set at defiance the uplifted sword of a British officer, (when a boy) – his reputation has no less triumphantly set at defiance the envy, hatred and slanders of his enemies in his maturer age.
     By Mr. W. Eustace – The Fair Sex: Though the theme of compliment may be exhausted, their warmest eulogium will ever reside in our hearts.
     By Mr. J. W. A. Edmonds – The American Youth, the future support of our nation: May the Republican spirit of '76, ever dwell in their hearts – and may virtue direct their steps through life.
     By Dr. Yerby – Washington and Liberty: The one the cause, the other the effect – The former our fortress in war, the latter our companion in peace.
     By Dr. C. H. Leland – Levi Woodbury, Robert Y. Hayne and Philip P. Barbour: Able and efficient servants of the people.
     By R. Smither – Whilst we commemorate the deeds of the patriots of the Revolution, we will not forget the brave defenders of our country in the second war.
     By V. Y. Conway, Esq. President of the Day – Henry Clay: Like the slumbering fires of Etna, he will again burst forth in splendor, but not in terror – save to the foes of regulated liberty, or the friends of military misrule.


     My giggles diminished as I read through the toasts. The second war must be a reference to the War of 1812. I was unsure what the reference to the “New” constitution meant, but discovered Virginia had just ratified a new constitution expanding suffrage, though not to the degree the growing population in the western part of the state sought.
     Gov. Clinton seemed an unlikely candidate for a toast, but the Erie Canal was of great interest to the planters living along the rivers of Virginia's Northern Neck. Several of the men in attendance were investors with the steamship lines that crossed the Chesapeake Bay. The equal rights reference was surely referring only to white men. It seems unlikely that Capt. Brent (not Brest) prepared the dinner himself. Most unlikely. As to the tender toasts to the Fair Sex – why bless their hearts.
     Col. Palmer is my husband's 3rd great-grandfather. At least half of the attendees are his cousins of one degree or another. Conway is likely my distant cousin, though the connection would be in England rather than this country (we descend from different Conway lines).


Source
"Untitled," [Frederick, Virginia] Enquirer, 27 Jul 1830, p. 4, col. 1; digital images, GenealogyBank.com (accessed 6 Jul 2012), Historic Newspapers.
Image Source
"Tankards," by waldopepper

Joseph Conway 1802 Will (Part 1) - Amanuensis Monday

Thanks to John at Transylvanian Dutch who originated the Amanuensis Monday meme, providing a framework (and nudge) for transcribing family records, news clippings and other treasures.

My 4th great-grandfather Joseph Conway wrote a will shortly before his death in 1802 in Cocke County, TN. The Cocke County Courthouse burnt in 1876 and all records held there were lost. A copy of the will was found, however, in the Court of Common Pleas records in Highland County, OH where Conway had owned land.

I transcribed his will and the following orders from a copy of the court record in Joseph Conway's Ancestor file at the DAR Library in Washington DC. The document was marked "Common Pleas Court, Highland Co., Ohio, Record Book A, 191-192."

Because of the length of the court record my notes and analysis will follow in Part 2.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the name of God Amen I Joseph Conway of Coke County & State of Tennessee being week in body but of Sound & perfect memory blessed be God for this same calling to remembrance the uncertainty of this life that it is appointed for all men once to do and being desirious so to order & dispose of what estate God in his mind has been pleased to bless me with do make constitute and ordain this my last will & testament in manner & form as follows Viz  Imprimes I gave and bequeath my persons & immortal Souls to God who gave it & as to my worldly estate which God in his mercy hath been pleased to bestow on me my will & meaning is that it be so order and disposed as by this my will & testament is hereafter mentioned after all my just debts & Funeral expences are paid  Item   I give & bequeath to my dear & loving wife Sarah Conway one Third part of my real & personal estate among her natural life after that the real estate to be disposed of as is hereinafter mentioned  also  the personal estate to be agreeably divided between the Surviving heirs except the Negro girls given to my daughters in lieu of lands  Item  I give & bequeath to my son Edward Turner Conway two tracts of land lying on Knob Creek  one containing 347 acres conveyed to me from Spencer Rice & John Gooch  The other containing 70 acres adjoining the aforesaid tract taken up and Surveyed by myself also one other tract of land containing 200 acres called the Sugar camp tract Taken up also by myself
Item I give and bequeath to my son Joseph Conway one tract of land containing 300 acres whereon I now live purchased from Robert King also 400 acres as part of an other Tract of Land lying on the North side of the Ohio river on the waters of Paint creek a branch of the Sciota River called the buckskin tract
Item I give and bequeath to my son Peter Conway  Charles Conway and William Turner Conway also the child my wife is at present pregnant with if a son the remainder of the Buckskin tract of land and also one other tract of land containing 2400 acres called the Lees Creek tract a branch of this aforementioned Paint Creek to be equally divided agreeable to quantity & quality
Item I give & bequeath to my daughter Elizabeth Maree Conway and Sarah Conway also the child my wife is at present pregnant with in case it is a daughter to have each a Negro girl when the come of age or at the day of marriage the Negro girl to be picked out by the executors which shall be in leiu of their portion of land
Item I give and bequeath to my sons and daughters Edward Joseph Peter Charles & William Elizabeth & Sarah also the Child my wife is at present pregnant with all the rest of my property to be equally divided also my will and desire is that there shall be no division of the estate until my son Edward comes of age at which time there shall be a division & he runs his portion and the rest also in rotation as they come of age shall run their portion also My will and desire also is that my wife shall have the care or ________ent of the estate & children under the directions of the Executions who shall be and are hereby empowered in case they shall see the estate wanting in any respect or the children misused to take possession of the estate and apply it to the best use for the advantage of the children  Also my desire is that the children may be educated and raised in as Christians like manner as the circumstances of the Estate will admit
Finally I do constitute appoint and ordain William Scruggs Phillip Hall & Christopher Conway my whole & sole Executors of this my last will & testament in witness whereof I have set my hand & seal this twenty first day of May 1802
Attest                                                                  Jas Conway {seal}
Florence Puckett
Clary Scruggs
S  Crosby

I William Garret Clerk of the Court of {seal} Pleas & quarter Sessions for the County of Coke do certify the above to be a true copy of Joseph Conway will as rewarded & filed in my ____ in witness whereof I have hereunto Set my own private Seal having no Seal of ___ence this 23rd day of September 18__ (14?)

W. Garrett  ____

Whereupon ordered that a writ of Partition issue to the Sheriff commanding him that by the oath of James Johnson Esq.  Charles N Clifton & Reubin Brown who are appointed commissioners & Thomas N Sanders Surveyor cause to be d____d & partitioned the land mentioned  in the petition agreeably to the ____ of Petitioners and furthered ordered that the commissioners report at the next term of this Court and that the p___n & Document accompaning the same this order & report of Commissioners be one the records of the Court whereupon a writ of Partition issued in the following words & figures to wit  The State of Ohio Highland Common pleas March Term 1815  this day on motion of Beston & Jainagan & others by Wm Couch their attorney  it was ordered that the Sheriff of Highland County by the oath of James Johnson Esq.  Charles N Clifton  and Reuben Brown commissioners & Thomas M Sanders Surveyor because to be set off & partitioned the land in the Petition mentioned which is patented to Joseph Conway on Lees Creek of 2400 acres to be divided in four equal shares equal for quality & quantity that there be set apart respectively to Charles  William  & James Conway each one fourth of said tract in severally and that the remaining fourth part divided to Peter Conway now deceased be equally divided into seven equal parts or shares equal for quality & quantity and set a part in severally to Edward  Joseph  Charles  William & James Conway & to Elizabeth Conway now Elizabeth Jainagan & to Sarah Conway now Sarah Hogain brothers & sisters to the said Peter Conway deceased & it is further ordered that the Commissioners report to the next court

       In testimony that the foregoing is a true copy of the order in the {seal} case of Allen Trimble Clerk of the Court of Common please for said County have been unto set my hand & seal _____ this 6th day of March 1815

Allen Trimble

I hereby certify that the within named James Johnson Reubin Brown & Charles Clifton Commissioners & Thomas M Sanders Surveyor was qualified according to law to the duly a____'d on them by this order Given under my hand & seal this 9th day of March 1815

David  Te___ll JP

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Source

Highland, OH, Court of Common Pleas Record Books Record Book A: 191-192, Joseph Conway Will and Petition for Division of Land, 9 Mar 1815; DAR Library: Ancestor Database File for Joseph Conway (#A025212).  

Porter and Ella Holt Conway - Wordless Wednesday

My great great-grandparents, Charles Turner Porter Conway (1828-1886) and his wife Ella (Eleanor) Holt Conway (1827-1895). They were born in Cocke County, TN and believed to have died and been buried there.

The Home Place Brought Home

Memories of my grandfather's Sawyer brothers and sisters are fixed in one spot - the farm house near the Nolichucky River their parents, Gee & Catherine Conway Sawyer built. As a girl I would sit on the floor or the porch steps as they rocked and laughed and told stories of long ago frolics. As I grew up we gathered there for weddings, birthdays, reunions and funerals. My children slept upstairs in the rooms the aunts and uncles had occupied 90 years earlier - probably in the same beds.

That house in Warrensburg is my home place - the spot were I feel most connected with my Tennessee family and history.

The family sold the house and farm after the last aunt died. Since then I've carried the home place with us as we've moved. Catherine's milk pitcher (filled with sea glass from Cape Cod) is in the living room. Gee's powder horn and shoe forms sit on the family room bookshelves. Quilts the aunts made are in the guest room.

But my favorite piece of my Sawyer home is the pie safe Catherine's father, Porter Conway, made for her when she was married in 1886. Aunt Mary Kathryn gave it to me a couple years before she died. Bless station wagons. I piled the luggage on the car seats with the children and put the safe in the back, wrapped in blankets. We drove home to Michigan where it sat in our family room filled with cookbooks and table linens. Today it's in our kitchen in Missouri. Someday it will be in my daughter's home.

It's a primitive oak cupboard and more than well used. No original patina here. It was painted, stained, stripped and repainted more times than I could ever count. The hinges were replaced when the doors fell off (ten children raiding a pie safe will do that) and fake wood knobs were added at some point. I hate them and keep meaning to replace them with something fun or funky. Odds are my daughter, like her great great-aunts Selma and Mary Kathryn, will paint it when it becomes hers. As she should. She remembers Mary Kathryn and while her memories and feelings about the home place are far different from mine, she still hears the Tennessee voices in her head.

Old and young, 1941 - Wordless Wednesday

My great-grandmother Catherine Conway Sawyer and her eldest great-grandchild, c. 1941 at home in Warrensburg, TN. 

Slaves named in Sarah Porter's Will (1833) - Amanuensis Monday

Thanks to John at Transylvanian Dutch who originated the Amanuensis Monday meme, providing a framework (and nudge) for transcribing family records, news clippings and other treasures.

I am continuing to process the documents acquired during my recent travels. This is a transcription of the will of Sarah Turner Conway Porter (10 Jun 1774 - 9 Jan 1834), my 4th great-grandmother. She was born in Fauquier County, VA and died in Jefferson County, TN.  I found a photocopy of the will at the Daughters of the American Revolution Library. It was part of their Ancestor File for my 4th great-grandfather and Sarah's first husband, Joseph Conway. The will includes bequests of slaves to her heirs.

Though no source information was included in the file regarding the filing date or location of the original will I have been told it was filed in Jefferson County, TN. There was a lawsuit resulting from the will that ended up being heard by the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1840.

Sarah Porters Will

The last Will and Testament of Sarah Porter of Jefferson County, East Tennessee. Considering the uncertainty of this mortal life and being of Sound mind and memory ____ __ almighty God for the same, do make and publish this my last Will and Testament in ____ and Terms Following: That is to say, First. I give and bequeath unto my daughter Sarah Hogain, the Mahoggany sideboard and one dozen gilt Windsor chairs. Item I give and bequeath all the balance of my property both real and personal, that I die possessed of, ( Consisting of four negroes, Viz., Charlotte, Abraham, Ann and Warner household and kitchen furniture, farming utensils stock of all kind, Waggons gears & Horses and Lands ) to be divided into four equal fourth shares and shares alike. First to my daughter Sarah Hogain and her heirs I give on share. Secondly to my son William Turner Conway and his heirs I give one other share. Thirdly I give one other share to my son James Christopher Conway and his heirs Fourthly, I give to my grandson Joseph Porter Conway ___. the fourth and last shares. But in case my said Granson Joseph Porters Conway should depart this life before he becomes of lawful age or before he has a lawful heir of his own body then and in that case the above devised share to my grandson Joseph Porter Conway should decend to his full blooded sisters and brothers, and lastly I do hereby constitute and appoint my esteemed friends Major William Conway and William C. Hogain Esq of Green County and Peters Beckers and Charles T. P Jarnagin of Jefferson County, East Tennessee my lawful executors of this my last Will and Testament ___ing and annulling all former Wills by me made Testifying and Confirming this and none other to be my last Will and Testament. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal this the      day of June in the year of our Lord One Thousand eight hundred and thirty three.

                              Sarah Porter {Seal}    

   Signed Sealed published and declared by the above
   hand Sarah Porters to be her last Will and Testament
   in the presence of us who at her request and in her presence
   have subscribed our Names as Witnesses Hereunto
    Eleventh line from the bottom on the first page interlined before signed

John W. Haill

William Haill

Abraham {his X mark} Dawson

A.

Notes - The lawsuit I referred to above states that Sarah Porter died in 1835. The information I've had handed down to me gives a date of 9 January 1834. I have not researched her death date and have no supporting documentation for the date I've used. 

The photocopied will shows no date for Sarah Porter's signature beyond June, 1833. 

Major William Conway was the nephew of Sarah's first husband, Joseph Conway. William Conway Hogain was the husband of Sarah's daughter as well as her first husband's grand-nephew. Charles Jarnigan was Sarah's grandson (through his mother Elizabeth Maree Conway, who died before her mother) and party to the subsequent lawsuit. There is no known relationship to Peter Beckers. 

   

Abstract thoughts

I've relied for many years on published abstracts of wills, marriages and deeds in my research. I don't live anywhere near the places I've needed to research and it's only in the last few years that original documents have become more available online. As I worked through the thousands of names in the family trees I inherited, validating the information and adding rudimentary sources, the abstracts were heaven sent.

I'm now in Virginia - ground zero for much of my family and my husband's. I'm visiting houses, cousins, graveyards and my personal Mecca, the Library of Virginia. Four days there doesn't seem nearly enough time, but I shall make the most of it. 

Saturday I plowed through Lancaster and Northumberland records, looking for the wills I've been citing, looking for estate settlements, inventories, other deeds and indentures. And I found them. Dozens and dozens of them. I haven't dared count how many pages I'm going to copy to my flash drive on Monday.  

And I saw what I'd known in the abstract - the names that are missing from those lovely, easy abstracts. There are dozens and dozens of them, as well. Names like Sam, 42 year old male. Annie, 16 year old female. Stepto, 27 year old male. (These aren't specific people - just examples.) I looked away several times. I was more exhausted than I've been the entire trip. I can't possible copy them all. But I will copy everyone of "ours" that I can get to. And over the next months I will transcribe every name and publish them all. 

In the meantime, if you're seeking enslaved ancestors from the Northern Neck and believe they might have been owned by the following families please contact me after August 1st. I'll be glad to send you copies of anything I've found. 

Slave Owners naming Slaves in 18th & 19th c. Northern Neck Records

Corbin

Currell

Gibson

Lawson

Lee

McTyre

Meredith

Palmer

Yerby

These other families may also have left records naming slaves, but I have not seen them so far. I will, however, be copying records so may have information on them later.

Conway (Northern Virginia)

Dobyns (Northern Virginia)

Doggett (Northern Virginia)

Holt (Amelia and Campbell Counties)

James (Wythe and Smyth Counties)

Mason (Campbell County)

Porter (Fauquier County)

Turner (Northern Virginia)

Williams (Wythe, Grayson, Smyth Counties)

J.S. Sawyer - Sunday's Obituary

J. S. SAWYER

     J. S. Sawyer, aged 84, a prominent citizen of the Warrensburg community, died very suddenly at 8 o'clock Friday night at his home from a heart attack.

     Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon at Warrensburg Baptist Church of which he was a member, by Rev. C. P. Jones, assisted by Rev. John McGregor. Interment in Oak Grove Cemetery in Greeneville.

     He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Katherine Conway Sawyer, five daughters, Mrs. H. L. Luttrell of Greeneville, Mrs. Herbert Haunt [sic], Misses Emma, Selma and Katherine Sawyer, all of Warrensburg. Also three sons, Bob of Morristown, Conway and Winston, of Warrensburg; seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Notes - The undated newspaper clipping was kept in the funeral home memorial books in the Sawyer family collection of papers. J. S. (Jehu Stokley) Sawyer died 19 January 1940. The clipping may have been from a Greeneville (TN) newspaper since his third daughter living there was mentioned first. His eldest daughter was Lillian, Mrs. Herbert Haun, not Haunt. The other children are listed in birth order.

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Birthday Girls

"All birthday girls"

Lillian Knight, Eunice Holt Sawyer, Flavia Tweed Sawyer and Sara Elizabeth "Aunt Boss" Conway Dawson

This photograph is from a collection belonging to Mary Kathryn Sawyer McKenzie. Eunice was married to Mary Kathryn's first cousin Joe Henry Luther Sawyer, Flavia was her sister-in-law and Aunt Boss was her mother's sister. I don't know what, if any relationship Lillian Knight had to Mary Kathryn beyond friendship. 

Flavia and Eunice were both born on September 1st. The birthdays of Lillian and Aunt Boss are unknown. The picture was probably taken after August, 1947 when Flavia married Conway Sawyer. The location is in Cocke or Greene Counties, TN. 

Source: Birthday Girls, Photograph, date unknown. Digital Image.  Privately held by Nolichucky Roots [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], 1997.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Genealogy in the 1940s

F.R. Conway letter

My great-aunt Selma Sawyer was the family custodian of records and lived across the Nolichucky River from her great-grandfather Conway's land. Visitors poking around Cocke or Greene County asking about the Conways were often referred to her for information and housing.  Being gregarious and hospitable she took them in for a night, or at the very least served up a country meal. She was not a researcher, but was eager to see what other's had learned. I used to accuse her of chasing Charlemagne, but she saw no shame in collecting illustrious relations, and had the family crests on her wall to prove it. There are more than a dozen letters from genealogists she met (never leaving her porch, I suspect) in her papers. They attest to her warmth - and perhaps their hope that she might lead them to whatever Holy Grail they were seeking.

Helen Cooper letter

The letters suggest some competition for artifacts (imagine!), express frustration at other researchers' stinginess with information, and include a few not so subtle barbs. But they also demonstrate great generosity, warmth and a passion for the hunt that I recognize.

Helen Cooper Map

Helen Cooper's letter (right) sparked my interest in history when I was a girl. I was no more than 11 when my aunt showed it to me and I was fascinated. It amazed me that someone had an old map, that others wanted to see it and that someone took the time to copy it - twice!

Ethel Jackson letter

I admit to being amused by Ethel Jackson's (right)  letter. More than half the letters are from her. They are chatty and casual. I was ready to lump her with Aunt Selma as nothing more than a crown collector until I realized how many hours she spent digging through court house basements and various attics. Some of the documents that I "found" to support the Conway information I had been given actually were found by Mrs. Jackson in the 1930s and 1940s. Whatever the tone of her letters, she dug.

I'm grateful I'm researching today, and not then. But there's charm in the idea of roaming the countryside, knocking on doors and being invited into the family. I have to wonder though, some of those doors up in the mountains might have had moonshiners behind them.  Knocking on those could have proved fatal.

Letters to Selma Sawyer from: F.R. Conway, dtd 28 May 1940; Helen Cooper, dtd 4 Oct 1945; and Ethel Jackson, undated. Digital images. Privately held by Nolichucky Roots [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], 1997.