Introduction
It was a beautiful, clear Wednesday morning, January 16, 1963. Daddy sat at a nearby dresser, watching mother as she lay sleeping. Granddaddy, and my grandmother, who we called mama, and granddaddy's invalid sister Arda Brown Mannion, were in the kitchen at the rear of the house. Which was about 50 feet away from where my parents were in the front bedroom. Didi, my mother's youngest sister, was working at Southern Bell Telephone Company a few blocks away. My brother Mark, myself, and my cousins Roy and Alton, were at school. Donna, my older sister, was living with her husband Larry at our home across town in West Nashville. The rest of us were temporarily living with my grandparents because my father had suffered a mental decline over the past six months or so. Our hope was that one day we would be able to return to a somewhat normal life. It wasn't in the cards. At approximately 10: 05 A.M. daddy leaned across the bed and pointed a.22 caliber pistol at the left side of my mother's head and quickly fired three bullets into her brain, just behind her left ear. She died instantly, along with her unborn baby. Almost immediately daddy shot himself in the right temple. He was found lying on his back with his feet sprawled across the fireplace hearth.
The death of my parents changed our life in an instant. Just one year later it would claim the life of my grandmother who died of congestive heart failure which was really a broken heart. I have no claim to fame but I like to think of myself as an uncommon, common man. For the most part I am self-educated. Like Ross Perot would say I am a "roads scholar" rather than a Rhodes Scholar. I have learned as much from the roads that I have traveled in life as I have from our government schools, books and other sources. Because of my twenty one years in the military and my intense interest in history I have had the opportunity to see much of the world along with most of the United States. Being an honor graduate from the school of hard knocks I have a pretty balanced education. My life since I married my wife, however; has been pretty normal. I feel blessed to have my family and to have been born in the greatest country on earth. God has made up for the personal loss in my life by granting me a loving wife and five wonderful children. I count my oldest granddaughter as our child because we raised her from birth. As of this date, 1-17-20, I have a total of 12 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. Because of my mothers influence I have never blamed God for the bad things that have happened to me. I don't look at myself as a victim because my goal is to be a victor.
Hopefully the reader will come away with something positive after reading about my life and struggles. I have had both failures and successes that one might learn from. The most important reason that I wrote this book is for my family, grandchildren and descendants. As far as I am concerned there is nothing more frustrating than not knowing the history of your family. Over the years I have found out a lot about the Segroves and Brown family. These are my father and mother's family along with the various sub branches of each family. I realize, however; that I have only scratched the surface. It is my desire that my family will know as much about me and my wife's family as I can leave to them. They will be vastly more informed about their parents than I ever was about mine. I want to leave behind a "mental heirloom" for them. Everyone has a story to tell but far too many of these stories are buried with the dead. Dead men tell tales but live ones tell better tales. I would give anything to have another opportunity to interview my loved ones who have passed on. To have another chance to ask questions about our family but because of youthful ignorance and procrastination I failed to ask questions when I had the chance. Because of this my task is much harder.
I have told the truth as I see it. Some of the things I have written about I have no way to confirm their authenticity. I am simply relaying what I have been told by people speaking from memory. As far as my own life I can leave a more extensive recollection. I have tried to be fair in my assessment of both sides of my family, listing the good along with the bad. Not everyone is interested in their family history but I hope that I can leave something to those family members who are. Being a naturally curious person I did learn much from my Aunts Viola Segroves Baird, Freddie Segroves Davidson, and Goldie Brown Evans. I have also learned much from my sisters Carolyn Segroves Kemper, and Donna Segroves Bass. In addition my cousins Roy Anderson and Virginia Brown Murphy.
The Tennessee State Library and Archives, Metropolitan Nashville Public Library, and Ancestry.com have also been good resources. In addition I want to thank my cousin Jenny Trotter for the treasure trove of old pictures that she sent me in the mail. Because of her, I now have a picture of my father as a child. The youngest picture that I had of him previously was about the age of nineteen. I have also never seen a picture of daddy's brother Edward until now. She sent a picture of Ed as a small child. He died in his early 20's as the result of being hit in the head by a rock when he was a child. Thanks to her I not only have these pictures but young and old pictures of Aunts Viola, Lillian and Margaret. My Aunt Freddie, before she passed away, also provided me with pictures of my grandparents Claude and Mary Segroves. Since the death of my aunt Goldie "Didi" Brown Evans in 2012 I have also come across a treasure trove of old family pictures. Recently I did a DNA test through Ancestry.com and I have acquired a much deeper understanding of the origins and ancestry of my family. At various times I have updated this book since I finished writing it in 2018.
November 14, 2014
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| Fannie Vandergriff Swann and Samuel B. Swann |
My grandfather was Claude Union Segroves, who was born in 1888 and died in 1940 and my grandmother was Mary Elizabeth Swann Segroves who was born in 1888 and died in 1947. I will go into more detail on them later. Our Great grandfather was Joseph S. Segroves. My Aunt Viola called him Josephus but I have never located him under that name. Josephus might have been a nickname. He was born about 1861 in Wartrace which is in Bedford County Tennessee and died in 1938 at Huntsville Alabama. My great grandmother was Clemenza Anne "Menzy" Jolly Segroves. She was born in 1872 in Bedford County Tennessee and died in 1939 at Huntsville Alabama. Joseph and Menzy were married on November 5, 1887 in Bedford County. Aunt Freddie, daddy's sister, said that Joseph and Menzy didn't live together for much of their marriage. She said that they never got a divorce but they were separated. Menzy Jolly's father was Aaron Jolly who was born in 1852 and died in 1942 and is buried along with his wife Jane Baucum Jolly in Florence Alabama. My father's middle name was Aaron and I named my oldest son Robert Aaron. Menzy's mother was Nancy Jane Baucom who lived from 1853 until 1943. Joseph and Menzy had at least six children and as far as I can tell Claude was the oldest. Next in line was Burl Houston Segroves, born on January 11, 1893 in Wartrace Tennessee, He died January of 1977 in Nashville. James Guy Seagroves was born on June 23, 1902 in Huntsville and died on July 2, 1951 in Nashville of tuberculosis. For some reason he spelled his last name Seagroves. Celia L. Segroves was born in Hillsboro Alabama in 1906 and died in 1998. There is supposedly a Maude Segroves but I can't find any information about her. So far these are the only ones that I have been able to find any information on.
My 2nd great grandfather was Goodman (John) Seagraves. Seagraves is on his headstone. He was born in June 1829 in Wake County North Carolina. Goodman died on 20 Jul 1904 in Perry, Arkansas, He served as a Private in the 4th Tennessee Cavalry (Confederate) McClemore's. This unit fought under Nathan Bedford Forrest at Parkers Crossroads, and served under Joseph Wheeler and John Hunt Morgan. It was in many actions including the battle of Franklin and Nashville. It was surrendered with Joe Johnston's army in North Carolina in 1865. His wife and my 2nd great grandmother was Narcissa Ellen Turner. As of right now I am thinking that he divorced her because he had a different wife named Margrett when he died. Narcissa was born in 1827 and died in 1905. My 3rd great grandfather was William Segraves born in 1785 and died in 1835. His wife and my 3rd great grandmother was Francis Rebecca "Becky" Edwards, born in 1791 in Surry County Virginia and died in 1871 in Murfreesboro Tennessee. My 4th great grandfather was John D. Segraves who was born in 1758 in Wake County North Carolina and died in 1840 in Madison Georgia. John was a Revolutionary War veteran. My 4th great grandmother was Patsy Martha Barker, born in 1762 in Wake County NC and died in 1852 in Madison Georgia. Finally there was my 5th great grandfather named Jacob Isaac Seagraves who was born in 1730 in Isle of Wight Virginia and died on March 20, 1840 in Salem New Jersey. He was also a Revolutionary War veteran. My 5th great grandmother was Patience Nesum Hinnant, born in 1739 and died in 1820. I have seen variants of the name Segroves in our family. We have relatives that spell it Segroves, Seagroves, Segraves and Seagraves. The Segroves family seemed to have arrived in North Carolina and spread primarily into Tennessee and north Alabama over the years.
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| Goodman Seagraves and his wife Margaret Sessions - His son John is in the top middle. One of the women is his daughter Indiana and the young boy is her son |
Aaron Jolly's father and my 3rd great grandfather was Stephen Jolly. He was born in 1814 and died in 1884. His wife and my 3rd great grandmother was Winneford " Winnie" Hiles. She was born in 1819 and died in 1884. Stephen was named after his father and my 4th great grandfather Stephen Jolly. He was born in 1761 but it is unknown when he died. His wife and my 4th great grandmother was Mary Hall. She was born in 1783 and it is unknown when she died.
The father of my 2nd great grandmother Nancy Jane Baucom and my 3rd great grandfather was John Jefferson Baucom. He was born in 1820 and died in 1904. My 3rd great grandmother was Nancy D. Crick. She was born in 1827 and died in 1894. My 4th great grandfather was Wilson Baucom. He was born in 1799 and died in 1849. His wife and my 4th great grandmother Christina "Crissy" Crick was born in 1805 and died in 1850.
My grandmother Mary Swann Segroves, who married my grandfather Claude Segroves was the daughter of Samuel B. Swann born August 1856 in Knox County Tennessee. The date of his death is unknown. Samuel married my great grandmother Fannie H. Vandergriff on 20 September 1882. Fannie was born September 1864 in Tennessee. The date of her death is unknown also. I was told that Fannie was at least half Cherokee but my DNA results through Ancestry.com do not indicate that we have any Indian heritage. I don't know why many on my fathers side of the family have dark complexions. My Aunt Vera, daddy, Aunt Margaret and my brother Mark had dark complexions. In the only picture I have of Fannie you can definitely see the high cheekbones. She looks a lot like my Aunts Margaret and Freddie. Aunt Viola told me that she was committed to Central State hospital at some point in her life. How long that she was a patient I don't know but she would eventually die there. Aunt Viola said that she was committed because she suffered from a severe case of post partum depression. Fannie was buried in the hospital cemetery. Samuel Swann's father and my 2nd great grandfather was William B. Swann. He was born in 1802 and died in 1858. His wife and my 2nd great grandmother was Sarah C. Taylor "Nix". She was born in 1815 and died in 1895.
During the 1950's Central State started an agricultural project and the cemetery was plowed under and the markers removed. As a result my great grandmother Fannie Vandergriff Swann is buried in an unmarked grave. Dell computer company now sits where the old Central State hospital was. There was an article in the Tennessean about this cemetery. I contacted the state archaeologist who told me the history of it and that Dell was supposed to build an iron fence around the cemetery. A historical marker was supposed to be placed there but to my knowledge it never happened. He said that the building housing the records was destroyed by a tornado in 1974. The storm destroyed half of the burial records. I gave him the name Sara Vandergriff, which I found out later was her mothers name. Also she wouldn't have gone by her maiden name but the Swann name so he was unable to find her. I don't know anything about Samuel Swann other than what he looked like.
Fannie's father and my 2nd great grandfather was John William Vandergriff. He was born in 1829 but his date of death is unknown. His wife and my 2nd great grandmother was Sara Vandergriff. I don't know her maiden last name. She was born in 1833 but her date of death is unknown. My 3rd great grandfather was John Vandergriff, born in 1791 and died in 1860. Sarah M. Wofford was my 3rd great grandmother. She was born in 1805 and died in 1860. John's father and my 4th great grandfather was Garrett Jacobsen Vandergriff. He was born in 1759 and died in 1845. His wife and my 4th great grandmother was Mary Ann Black. She was born in 1760 and died in 1835.
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Claude Segroves in Hillsboro Alabama
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| Jim Seagroves |
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Marriage Certificate of James and Mary Roberts Seagroves
Celia Bayless Segroves was the only child of Joseph and Menzy Segroves that I ever met and I only saw her twice in my life. The first time was at the visitation for Aunt Viola when she died. Celia was in her early 80's and a very sweet lady. The second and last time was a few years later. We had visited Debbie's brother Ronnie in Montgomery Alabama and we stopped at Celia's home in Huntsville on the way home. I had always wanted to see the Dallas textile mill that I heard so much about. Daddy frequently talked about the mill in Huntsville. A Nashville businessman named Trevanion B. Dallas owned this mill along with three others in Huntsville. My timing was perfect because the city was in the process of demolishing the mill and much of it was still standing. I was able to get some good pictures. Aunt Celia lived in what used to be company housing called Merrimack Village. She was suffering from mild dementia on this second visit. Her daughter and grandchild were living with her. Celia gave me a newspaper article about the textile mill and her experiences as a child living next to the mill. The article was entitled: It's Our Turn To Help The Mills by Liz Harvey. |
On November 25th, 1991, Resolution No. 91-747 was adopted and approved by Steve Hettinger, mayor of the city of Huntsville. The resolution requested that the city of Huntsville make space available for cotton textile industry archives. The storage space is now available to store donated items for use in a proposed cotton textile museum.
It's now our turn! Mill Number 1, the original Merrimack Manufacturing Company building, is disappearing fast. The nucleus of West Huntsville is slowly fading into the shadows of yesterday. The great Dallas Mill was gutted by fire just six months ago. The history of the cotton textile industry is so vital to where the city is today, that we must somehow preserve its historical and cultural past. It was a wonderful and fascinating era for Huntsville; a dream come true for folks like 85 year old Celia Bayless.
Celia Segroves Bayless was born in Hillsboro, Alabama in the year 1906. Her family and all the "kinfolk" came to Huntsville in 1896 from Wartrace, Tennessee. They traveled here by way of caravan in covered wagons. Each family usually had two wagons, one was filled with the family's furnishings and the second wagon was used by the family. These folks were farmers from Tennessee and they had been struggling along with the rest of America. When they heard about the cotton mills in Huntsville, they knew there would be jobs for them. So to Huntsville they came. Since Celia's father was a farmer, he moved the family on to Decatur where he got a job working on a farm. Celia's parents moved on to Hillsboro, but by the time she was three years old, her parents had moved to Huntsville and settled in the "Merrimack Village". Claude Segroves, Celia's brother, was working at the Merrimack and had persuaded their father to take a job there.
Celia's memories of the Merrimack Village are fond ones. She remembers tales of her active childhood, starting at age three. The yellow house that she and her family had once lived in can be seen from her living room window where she lives now. As she peeks out the window at that yellow wood frame house, she reminisces about the times when she and her mama would carry a hot lunch to her "Papa" who worked across the street from the village at the Merrimac Mill. She remembers a long wooden bench like the benches that you might see at a bus stop. Everyday she and her mother would wait at the bench for her papa to come outside to eat his lunch, which was usually fresh cooked vegetables.
The cotton textile mills of Huntsville provided dreams and a good future for people like Celia Bayless. Soon there will be no trace of Huntsville's cotton mill past unless we do something about it now. We owe it to these people that worked in the cotton textile industry. It is time to collect and preserve what's left of our cotton textile industry. Your help is needed to establish one of the finest cotton textile industry museums in this country. If we all pitch in, this dream will come true---a reality that all the citizens of Huntsville will be proud of.
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| Dallas Mill |
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| Dallas Mill |
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| Merrimac Village |
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| Merrimac Village from the air |
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| I don't know where this picture was made but it depicts the miserable conditions of the mills |
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Claude Union Segroves and Mary Swann Segroves
Daddy's mother and father died before I was born. Claude Union Segroves was born on November 15, 1888 in Bedford County Tennessee and died of colon cancer on April 15, 1940 in Nashville at 1306 3rd Avenue North. Claude's middle name has also been listed as Eulan. Mary Elizabeth Swann Segroves was born on March 2, 1888 in Coffee County Tennessee and died of a stroke on August 9, 1947 in Nashville at 903 Clay Street. Both are buried in Nashville's Spring Hill cemetery. Mary's grave is marked but Claudes was unmarked until November 2019 when my children, grandchildren, my sister Donna, my brother Mark, and my cousin Rowena Davidson Graham contributed money to help buy Claude a grave marker.
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| Claude Segroves |
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| 1306 3rd Avenue North |
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| December 1, 2019 |
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| Me with my grandfathers new marker December 1, 2019 |
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| 903 Clay Street - The house is no longer there |
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| Mary Elizabeth Swann Segroves |
My Aunt Freddie described both of them as kind and hard working people, especially Mary. Both were members of the Baptist Church. My father frequently talked about how poor his family was when he was growing up in Alabama. He said that the only thing that he ever got for Christmas was a cap pistol. The family farmed and also worked in the mill in Huntsville scratching out a meager living. Claude also worked on the railroad for a while. I have heard through my sister Carolyn that Claude was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama. I have not been able to confirm this, however. Carolyn and my Aunt Didi also told me that he was active as a Union organizer and was basically blackballed from getting a job. I believe this is one reason that daddy's family moved to Nashville in the 1930's. The 1930 census shows that he was living in Huntsville Alabama.
Didi told me that my father was very anti-union and she believed that he was this way because he resented his father's union activities. This was probably the reason that they were so poor and his dad couldn't get a job. Mary went to work to support the family at the Werthan Bag Company in North Nashville. The same Werthan family that was portrayed in the movie "Driving Miss Daisy" It is believed that her job contributed to her death at age fifty-seven because she developed "brown lung" disease from breathing the lint. Her breathing difficulty is what led to her fatal stroke. Claude and Mary had six children. Two boys and four girls.
Viola, the oldest child was born on April 25, 1910 in Alabama and died on June 12, 1997 in Tennessee but I know absolutely nothing about her when she was young. I remember her house in North Nashville during the 1950's and recently I put her old address into my GPS. A Kroger now sits where her house used to be. Sometime in the late 1950's she moved to an antebellum house on Two Mile Pike across the street from what became Rivergate Mall. It was a beautiful house surrounded by five acres. We visited there frequently and after my parents died I spent many a weekend there.
Claude and Mary were Baptist but at some point Viola converted to Church of Christ. Primarily because of Aunt Viola I have developed a negative opinion of that church and many Church of Christ members have reinforced my negative opinion even further over the years. In addition my own study of the Bible has enlightened me to errors in their theology. There are many good Christian people that are Church of Christ and there are none finer than Aunt Viola's family or Freddie's family. I don't want to sound judgmental but I considered Aunt Viola to be very narrow-minded. She was definitely the matriarch of her family and seemed to rule the roost.
She gave my sisters Carolyn and Faye hell because they were Catholic. For example Carolyn said that she offered her a balogna sandwich to eat on a Friday knowing that Catholics were only allowed to eat fish on Friday's at that time. I never heard anyone ever speak ill of my mother when she was alive, or since her death, except for Aunt Viola. People only had good things to say about her. My late sister-in-law Debbie Segroves told me that Aunt Viola once told her that the only good thing she could say about my mother was that she kept us clean. Needless to say I was unhappy when I heard this.
On one particular Sunday we needed something at the grocery for Sunday dinner. Aunt Viola wanted me to ride with her so I could go into the store and buy the groceries on her list. As I was about to get out of the car she grabbed my arm and asked me if I listened to the sermon that morning in church. Her next question was this. Did I agree with the preachers sermon? I meekly said "I guess so". The sermon was on Matthew 16:18. " And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it". Aunt Viola believed that the Rock was the true church and in her mind the Church of Christ denomination was that church. I have come to believe that Jesus was not referring to the church or to Peter as the Catholics believe. Jesus was referring to himself as the Rock. The church has to be founded on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ and not on man. Of course at the age of thirteen I was a long way off from understanding this concept. I wasn't a Christian. She looked me squarely in the eyes and said " You know that the only way you can go to heaven is if you are converted to the Church of Christ". I didn't know what to say as I got out of the car. Debbie told me that after we were married Aunt Viola told her that she was going to hell because she was Baptist.
The Church of Christ was an outgrowth of the American Restoration movement, aka the Stone-Campbell Movement. It began on the American frontier during the Second Great Awakening which lasted from 1790 until 1870. Barton Stone, Thomas Campbell and his son Alexander Campbell wanted to restore the church from within and unify all Christians into a single body as it was in the original church of the New Testament. Several denominations, however; evolved from this movement. The Churches of Christ, the Christian churches, the churches of Christ, and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
I have grown to realize over the years that there is a basic flaw in this theology. If you believe the promise of Matthew 16:18 it says that hell itself would not prevail against it (the church). This tells me that God's true church has always existed and there was no need to restore it. There has always been a remnant that has persevered through the best and worst of times. They are the Body of Christ, who make up the real Church of Christ that consists of all true believers.
I take issue with several Church of Christ doctrines such as it being necessary to be baptized to be saved. In my view it can be established that baptism is necessary for obedience but not salvation. The frequency of taking the Lord's supper and the doctrine against having music in Church. These latter two doctrines are majoring in the minors in my view. It is not a deal breaker if you don't take the Lord's Supper every week or whether you have musical instruments in church. I loved Aunt Viola. For the most part she always treated me well. She was the oldest child from a poor hard working family and it may have impacted her life in such a way that she developed a dominating or bossy personality. I just can't say.
Edward was born on December 26, 1912 in Alabama and would die on December 15, 1935 in Tennessee. He would die when he was almost 23 from a injury he sustained when he was about 12 years old. While playing with other boys he was hit in the head with a rock and a blood clot formed on his brain. Mary took care of him the rest of his life. The clot, however; eventually expanded too far into his brain and killed him. Freddie said that Mary tried to get an operation for him at Vanderbilt but by the time she sought help it was too late. I was hit in the head with rocks a time or two when I was a child but I never threw rocks at other kids. Mainly because I grew up hearing the story of Ed's death and how dangerous it was to throw rocks.
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| Edward, Lillian and Viola |
Aunt Lillian was born in 1915 in Alabama. She married Robert Petty and had three children. Two boys and a girl. They were older than me and we were never very close. Aunt Lillian was a very sweet lady. She helped daddy at the store on occasion until she suffered a devastating stroke when she was just 43. Aunt Lillian was an invalid for the rest of her life. Her speech was impaired and she was usually using a walker or a cane. The only time I saw her was at funerals, weddings or family reunions after her stroke. She would always want me to come and visit her but I never did. Just before she died I looked her up when she was living in an apartment in Old Hickory. I was shocked at her appearance and the bitterness that she showed toward me. Until that day I had never heard her utter one unkind word. She said something like " Now you come to see me". Aunt Lillian was cold and distant, as if I were a stranger. Actually I wanted to turn over a new leaf and to get closer to her but it was not to be. She died a short time after this visit on August 19, 1997.
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| Lillian Segroves |
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| A young Lillian possibly on a date |
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| Aunt Lillian and her husband Robert Petty |
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| Aunt Lillian's children- Mary, Don, and Bob Petty |
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| Aunt Lillian |
Aunt Margaret was born on August 5, 1917 in Alabama. I loved Aunt Margaret because she was a very good hearted person. My dad was closer to her than he was to any of his other sisters. With the possible exception of Freddie. She was a pretty woman. When I knew her she was very well off financially because she was married to Charlie Williams. Uncle Charlie was a self made millionaire who rose from rags to riches. Charlie worked all the time and sold his business (Williams Optical Company) before he died, for eight million dollars. Every two years they traded for a new Cadillac whether they needed it or not. His brother, whose name escapes me now, owned a chain of local drugstores that no longer exist called Wilson-Quick Drugstores. Aunt Margaret and Charlie adopted two children. A girl and a boy,named Brenda and David. I can't remember much about Brenda. In my opinion David was spoiled and Aunt Margaret once told me that he was undergoing counseling. He once got mad at Mark and hit him over the head with a hockey game.
Carolyn said that Brenda was actually Charlie's child from an affair that he had with a woman in East Tennessee. Charlie called Aunt Margaret and told her that he was bringing Brenda home to raise. Whether this is true or not I only have her word on it. I have since been told by someone close to the family that this story is not true. According to her this story has been circulated in the family but Brenda had no biological relation to my Uncle Charlie. As an adult Brenda developed a severe drug addiction and would eventually have her hand amputated due to drug abuse. I think that she eventually straightened her life out and was working at a restaurant in Murfreesboro. I wanted to see her but she died before that could happen. David and I made contact with each other recently and he told me that he had been married a couple of times and lived in Orlando for many years. He has a daughter and is now living in Nashville. David is a good man today and my memories of him are from the perspective of a teenager.
After our parents died Aunt Margaret stepped up to the plate and tried to do all she could to help us. She would invite us over to their house in West Meade, which was a fairly exclusive neighborhood in West Nashville. The house was a large ranch style and I always felt like a duck out of water there. She had black maids that took care of the house. Aunt Margaret would take us to shop for clothes and out to eat which was a real treat. There weren't that many chain restaurants but Shoney's was my restaurant of choice because I loved their onion rings. For the few days we were with her she spoiled us. She once told me, however; that money didn't guarantee happiness. I had the impression that Aunt Margaret wasn't happy in her marriage. If we were at her house on a Sunday we would have to be quiet because Charlie would be working in his office at home. One weekend I told Aunt Margaret that I was interested in the Civil War and I had always wanted to go to Chattanooga. I always wanted to see the battlefield at Lookout Mountain but nobody wanted to take me. She promised me that the next weekend that we came to visit she would take us to spend a whole day in Chattanooga. Aunt Margaret picked us up after school on a Friday. Bright and early the next morning we were up and dressed ready for a great day in Chattanooga. Aunt Margaret told us to wait in the den while she went into Charlie's office to talk with him.
I could hear muffled talk and it sounded like they were arguing. We sat there for a very long time and early morning turned into late morning. Eventually Aunt Margaret walked out of the room and I could tell that she had been crying. She was very apologetic but she said that we couldn't go. I can't remember what her reason was but she was very disappointed. I didn't blame Aunt Margaret. It was obvious that Charlie didn't want us to go. He was always nice to us but he could be very crude. I remember one time when Aunt Margaret and Uncle Charlie took us to a horse race when an attractive girl walked by. He leaned over and whispered to me "That girls shorts so tight if she were to fart it would blow her shoes off". During the mid 1970's Aunt Margaret began showing signs of mental illness and I remember visiting her at what is now Centennial hospital in Nashville. She was sitting with a group of patients in the lobby and she barely recognized me. I felt like I was talking to a zombie. There was no life in her eyes and she was expressionless. She died on March 17, 1976, a short time after this visit. Uncle Charlie said that she had suffered at least 13 strokes shortly before she died. Charlie lived quite a few years after her death. He remarried and moved to Brentwood. I would see him at weddings and funerals but other than that I had no contact with him until he died.
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| Margaret George Segroves |
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| Freddie Segroves Davidson, me, and Margaret Segroves Williams - East High Graduation - June 6, 1968 |
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| Aunt Margaret and Uncle Charlie |
Daddy was born on January 30, 1920 and died on January 16, 1963. His name was Willard Aaron (Bill) Segroves and he was born in Decatur Alabama. I know very little about him as a child or as a teenager. Carolyn told me that he had attempted suicide at 17 by turning on a gas stove and sticking his head in the oven. Freddie told me that he didn't do it on purpose It was an accident. I tend to believe it was on purpose. Why would you accidentally stick your head in an oven with the gas on. There will be much more about my dad later.
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| Margaret Segroves and daddy, Willard A. (Bill) Segroves |
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| Post Card of the chow line at Ft. McPherson Georgia during WW2 - Daddy pointed out a soldier that looked like him in the chow line. |
Freddie was born on July 3, 1925 in Alabama. My great niece Anna Louise Segroves was born on May 12, 2016. Rowena Davidson Graham, who is my cousin, told me that Freddie was named Anna Louise Segroves. Freddie was born at home but the doctor named her Anna Louise on her birth certificate for unknown reasons. Claude and Mary had named her Freddie Mae. In the 1940's Freddie was needing her birth certificate. This is when she discovered the doctors mistake and she had to change the name to Freddie Mae. I asked Rowena why my grandparents would give her a boys name. Rowena said that my Aunt Viola's middle name was Woody and my Aunt Margaret's middle name was George. She said that they were named after my grandparents friends or people they respected. As a child, Freddie's house burned down and the Red Cross sent her boy's clothes thinking she was a boy. Freddie was the most fun and down to earth of daddy's sisters. I was more comfortable around her.
When I was growing up she was always around. We lived on Brookside Court and later on Henry Ford Drive. She lived in an older subdivision called Croleywood which was just behind our subdivision. When we lived there I would walk over to play with my cousins, primarily with her oldest son Ricky Nolan. Or he would come over to our house. Freddie was married to Larry Davidson who was her second husband. Ricky was her oldest child by first husband Leo Nolan. Then there was Steve and Rowena Davidson who were Larry's children. Of all my cousins on daddy's side I feel closest to Freddie's children because we spent so much time together growing up. Daddy's relationship with Freddie was similar to my relationship with my own sister Donna. He loved her but she could get on his nerves. For example daddy hated anyone to hover over him while he was eating. I get that from him because I am the same way. He would get irritated at Freddie because she would stand behind him and pick off of his plate. After my parents died and Freddie was living in Goodlettsville I spent a lot of time at her house. I will never forget the time when her septic tank was overflowing and we were playing football in her backyard. I was running for a pass and I slid through the septic tank overflow.
I loved Freddie's laugh because she was always lighthearted and I can't remember anything about her I didn't like. Except for her politics. We had some passionate political debates after I became a conservative. She was a product of her generation. Freddy grew up during the depression when most Southerners thought Franklin Roosevelt was a god. Like many people of her generation she couldn't see that the modern Democratic Party no longer represented her interests and Christian values. Unfortunately I was never able to change her mind. Neither was anybody else, She wasn't a racist because she voted for Obama. I know many die-hard Democrats of her generation that voted for every white liberal presidential candidate from McGovern to John Kerry but they wouldn't vote for Obama because of his skin color. Didi was like that but not Freddie, She was consistent to the end. Freddie died October 23rd 2012.
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| A young and sultry Freddie |
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| Freddie and her 1st husband Leo Nolan - The father of my cousin Ricky |
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| My mother with Freddy |
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| Freddy at my grandparents house - 1300 McKennie Ave. |
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| Marcellus F. Brown |
Marcellus Fane or Fain Brown, my mother's father, was born in Lebanon Tennessee on June 16, 1889. Granddaddy, as I called him, was called "Celly" by the adults. He was a meek and gentle man in his late 60's when I was old enough to remember him. When I say meek I am not implying weak because he was strong as an ox from years of hard work as a blacksmith on the Tennessee Central Railroad. One of my favorite sayings is the one I learned from a church marquee. If you think meek is weak, try being meek for a week. Many men on my mother's side of the family were railroad men. He was a good carpenter and plumber and was constantly chewing and spitting tobacco. He kept a spit can next to his easy chair in the back room. I credit him for instilling in me an aversion to tattoo's because he had the tattoo of a naked woman on his arm but he always wore long sleeved shirts. He was ashamed of it. I saw the legs of a woman sticking out from under his shirt sleeve one day and I asked him what it was. He said "Son it's a tattoo and you should never get one. You will live to regret it".
Granddaddy was very hard of hearing because of the noisy environment of the blacksmith shop.. For that reason he wasn't able to interact with others on a normal basis. In order for him to understand anything it was necessary to cup your hands and speak loudly into one of his ears. For this reason I was never close to him until the last years of his life. When I was fifteen or sixteen I began to have long conversations with him about our family history and he would tell me stories about his life when he was young. He died of cancer in July 1968 and is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Nashville. A few years ago I struck up a conversation with a man in a restaurant in Smyrna. He was sitting at a table next to us. I asked him what he did for a living and he said that he was a blacksmith. I told him that my grandfather was a blacksmith on the Tennessee Central Railroad. He said that his grandfather was also a blacksmith on the Tennessee Central. The man then told me that he had a group picture of men from the blacksmith shop that included his grandfather and uncle. He wanted me to look at the picture and see if I recognized anyone.
I had seen this man at a Mexican restaurant where we were singing karaoke at the time. A few weeks later he brought me a copy of the picture. My jaw dropped and I couldn't believe my eyes. I recognized my great-grandfather John Clayton Frogge and my grandfather Marcellus Brown. His grandfather was standing on the front row and his uncle on the right rear of the back row. Later when I showed the picture to Didi she pointed out my Uncle Elby Morse who was also in the picture. He had on a white hat and was standing on the back row. I was simply amazed that our paths had crossed and out of the thirteen men in the picture we could identify five of them.
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| Early picture of my grandfather Marcellus Brown |
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| From left to right my great grandfather J.C. Frogge, (Foreman) ,1st man front row- Second man on back row Uncle Elby Morse,- 4th man on back row in center my grandfather Marcellus F Brown |
Grandaddy's father was Henry Thompson Brown who was born on June 18, or 29, 1850 in Lebanon Tennessee. He died on December 9, 1918 in Nashville and is supposedly buried in Mt. Olivet cemetery. I have never been able to find his grave, however. Henry's father was William Coleman Brown. He was born on my birthday February 28, 1816 in Wilson County Tennessee. William married Mary C. "Polly" Johnson on December 24th 1839. She was born in 1816 in Wilson County. William died in 1880 and she died on August 28, 1885 in Lebanon Tennessee. William's father was George Brown who was born in 1787 and died in 1857 and his mother was Mary "Polly" Thompson, who was born in 1787 and died in 1870. Polly Johnson's father was Samuel Johnson, born in 1779 and died in 1840. Her mother was Sarah Moss, born in 1784 and died in 1858. George Brown's father was Richard Brown who was born in 1759 and died in 1830. George's mother was Rachel Teague who was born in 1760 and it is unknown when she died.
My great-grandmother Celana Caldonie (Donie) Sherrill Brown was born on March 6, 1851 in Lebanon and died March 31, 1933 in Nashville. She is buried in Mt. Olivet cemetery. My mother and my granddaughter were also named Donie. Henry and Donie were married on May 2, 1869 in Lebanon Tennessee. As far as I can tell they had 13 children of which only 9 survived to adulthood. There were a set of twins that died in infancy. Donie's father was Louis Wesley Sherrill. He was born in 1812 and died in 1869. Her mother was Eliza Pott's Burns. She was born in 1825 and died in 1903. My 3rd great grandfather was Archibald Sherrill. He was born in 1786 and died in 1853. Archibald was a veteran of the War of 1812 who served in the Tennessee Militia. In the 1950's his body was disinterred from his original grave in Gladeville Tennessee I believe because this is where Percy Priest Lake was going to be. He was reburied in the Sherrill family cemetery which is off of Stewarts Ferry Pike and close to state route 840. When Archibald's remains were disinterred the only parts of his body that were left was his skull, which was huge, and a femur bone. It was determined by the length of the femur that he stood over 6'4' , which was a giant in the 1800's.I have been to his grave a couple of times in the last few years. He was an ensign in the Tennessee militia. The US Army used the rank of ensign until 1815. His wife and my 4th great grandmother was Elizabeth Anderson. She was born in 1788 and died in 1819. Archibald's father and my 4th great grandfather was Samuel Wilson Sherrill. He was born in 1758 and died in 1823. His wife and my 4th great grandmother was Elizabeth Thomas. She was born in 1764 and died in 1851. My 5th great grandfather was Jacob Sherrill and he was born in 1739 and died in 1813. His wife and my 5th great grandmother was Hulda Wilson. She was born in 1742 and died in 1834. The Sherrill family name originated in Sherwell England and somehow the name evolved into Sherrill over the years. For many years I thought the name was of Irish origins.
The following is an account of Archibal Sherrill that I found on Ancestry.com. ARCHIBALD SHERRILL (SAMUEL WILSON, JACOB, ADAM, WILLIAM, WILLIAM, ADAM SHERWELL) was born May 26, 1786 in Rowan County, North Carolina, and died June 27, 1853 in Wilson County, Tennessee. He married (1) ELIZABETH ANDERSON September 26, 1809 in Wilson County, Tennessee. He married (2) AGNES MOSS July 12, 1819 in Wilson County, Tennessee.
Notes for ARCHIBALD SHERRILL:
Archibal Sherrill was a soldier in the War of 1812. Dr. Hugh N. Sherrill described his father as follows: "My father was about 6 feet high, erect, square built, smooth features and fair skin, a man of decided convictions, careful on taking a stand on any subject, but once settled he remained firm. I think as perfect a type of true nobleman as the world ever produced."
The tract of land upon which was built the home of Archibald Sherrill was first patented to General Andrew Jackson on March 7, 1796, by the State of North Carolina and by him was sold to Archibald Sherrill, 22 September 1815 and was later owned by Samuel Wilson Sherrill, Archibald's oldest son.
Child of ARCHIBALD SHERRILL and ELIZABETH ANDERSON is:
494. i. SAMUEL WILSON SHERRILL, b. November 19, 1807, Wilson County, Tennessee; d. November 19, 1895, Wilson County, Tennessee.
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| Grave of Donie Brown |
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| Granddaddy, Tom Morse, Mr. Gray at the Blacksmith shop |
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| Granddaddy on North 5th Street |
Granddaddy had a brother named Milford Brown who was married with three children. Milford and his wife died within a couple of months of each other from tuberculosis. Milford was born July 15, 1874 and died September 12, 1914 at the age of forty. He died a couple of months after his wife Virginia Sullivan Brown. This was a sad story because it is similar to my situation. The couple had three boys Edward, Milford Jr. and Tim. Virginia Brown was Catholic and Milford Sr. converted to Catholicism after they were married. After the three boys were orphaned two of them, Edward and Tim, were sent to a Catholic orphanage in Nashville and Milford Jr. was sent to a Catholic orphanage in Memphis. A few years ago I met Milford's granddaughter Virginia Brown Murphy. She is as interested in genealogy as I am and I have learned a lot from her. Recently I helped her find Milford Sr's grave in Nashville's Catholic Calvary Cemetery.. Virginia lives in Memphis and visits her Nashville cousins. They are descendants of Tim Brown. Edward became the black sheep of the family and got in trouble with the law. He moved away and the family lost track of him.
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| Caption on the picture is wrong. Hattie Lee is Virginia Sullivan Brown, wife of Milford |
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| I am 2nd from left and my cousin Virginia Brown Murphy 3rd from left. Her sister and son are also in the picture. |
Granddaddy had an older sister named Arda Brown who would marry William Mannion, a Nashville grocer. In her youth Aunt Arda was a stout woman but when I knew her in the late 1950's and early 60's she was frail and elderly ravaged by rheumatoid arthritis. Will died in the 1930's and Aunt Arda lived with my grandparents after she could no longer take care of herself. She was born on January 6, 1885 and died on September 12, 1963.
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| Granddys sister Arda |
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| Arda Brown Mannion in old age |
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| Arda's grave at Mt. Olivet |
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| Aunt Arda's husband Will Mannion holding my mother |
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| Will Mannion's grocery store in Nashville |
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| Will Mannion's grave in Mt. Olivet |
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| Milford Brown Sr |
This is the grave of a great uncle William G. Brown. Born 1841 and died in 1913. He fought with the 4th Tennessee Cavalry (Murrays). He is buried in Browns cemetery in Wilson County. The regiment fought in many battles, including Stones River and it also fought under Forrest.
My grandmother Ella Belle Frogge Brown was born on June 17, 1894 near Paducah Kentucky. At the age of three she contracted German measles and lost an eye. She had a glass eye and I remember her putting it in her eye socket in the morning and removing it at bedtime. People called her Belle but the kids called her mama She dipped snuff and the sides of her mouth were frequently stained with tobacco. Many Southern women of her generation dipped snuff. She was a great example of Christian kindness for me. I remember homeless men coming to her back door and asking for food. She would tell them to have a seat on the back steps while she would fix them a plate of food.
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| Mama as a small child |
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| Ella Belle Brown probably as a teenager |
Granddaddy and Mama had five children. There was Douglas born on July 30, 1911 in Kentucky and he died March 1982 in Nashville. For whatever reason everyone of their kids were given nicknames. Douglas or Doug was known as (Big Brother) and he was a wild one. For much of his life he had a drinking problem. He was a big man that stood about six foot four. There were twelve years between Doug and my mother. She was the second child. Apparently these were lean years financially for my grandparents. It was during the years between Doug's birth and my mother's birth that granddaddy traveled to Detroit to look for work and became a streetcar conductor. When my mother was born Mama was unable to nurse her and Doug would scour the neighborhood looking for a wet nurse or a lady who was nursing her own baby. I was told that mother even nursed black women on occasion. As Seinfield might say"not that there is anything wrong with that".
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| Left to right- Goldie, Mattie, Douglas, Donie and Alton Brown |
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During the Second World War Doug was inducted into the Army and at some point was stationed at Fort Ord California. My Aunt Didi lived with Doug and his second wife Catherine while they were there. His first wife was said to be a hellcat. Didi was traumatized by an incident in 1945 when Doug got drunk one night and chased her all around the house with a gun threatening to kill her. He ended up emptying a revolver trying to shoot Aunt Catherine. As he chased her out of the house he was shouting that she was too good to live. After the war Doug went off the deep end with his drinking The following is from an article written about him by the Nashville Tennessean during the 1950's. The article said that for fifteen years he traveled a dark and lonely road as a two fisted belligerent man looking for a place to hide. In his words "I ran along the very brink of Hell. I had no friends. I wanted none. I have been stabbed and stomped. I Have been knocked in the head. I have been kicked in the face. I knew no physical fear. I looked for trouble and found it". Doug straightened his life up after being saved and even became a Methodist preacher. He was Pastor of the Anne Morrison Smith Methodist Church at 216 Main Street. My mother took me there on many a Sunday. I have fond memories during the Christmas season when Santa would pass out bags of candy and fruit. The church sat below the Victory Memorial Bridge after the bridge was built. At the time his work with the underprivileged and alcoholics was widely heralded. "God meant for me to do this kind of work " he said. "Had he not, I don't believe I would be alive today"
After Uncle Doug became a preacher he and Catherine adopted two girls from broken homes. The oldest was my cousin Judy who would survive a near fatal car wreck in 1969 in which doctors gave her no hope of survival. A drunk driver hit her and her husband head-on and the hood of the car came through the windshield hitting her in the head. She suffered severe brain trauma that left her in a deep coma. Judy made a slow but miraculous recovery and today there are no visible signs of her injury. Other than the inability to smell and a few minor things she is completely normal. The youngest was Virginia (Ginny) Brown. Ginny would later be strangled by her boyfriend in March 1989 and her body was discovered by a mailman on the side of the road in Mt. Juliet. Her body lay unidentified in the morgue for days and she was finally identified when her daughter saw a composite drawing of her in the Tennessean.. The man was later caught and claimed to have had a Vietnam flashback as his excuse for killing her. For several years my Aunt Catherine and cousin Judy had to appear at parole hearings once each year in order to keep this man in prison. He was finally released after only serving about five years.
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| Ella Belle and Doug about 1912 |
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| Catherine and Doug |
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| Anne Morrison Smith Methodist Church |
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| Anne Morrison Smith Methodist Church |
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| Uncle Doug with Judy and Jenny |
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| Virginia (Ginny) Brown |
As happens far too often Doug was unable to conquer his dark side. He had an affair with a lady in the Church that had come to him for counseling and was forced to leave the ministry. Unfortunately Doug returned to the bottle. He worked for the State of Tennessee for the rest of his life as an engineer. His drinking however ruined his health and he had a series of heart attacks and strokes over a period of years until he finally suffered a devastating stroke that left him bedridden and unable to talk. His loyal and loving wife Catherine stuck with him through everything. She waited on him hand and foot for years and very seldom was able to leave the house. Uncle Doug passed away in March 1982 from a lethal stroke.
Aunt Catherine lived eleven years after Doug's death but was killed in a freak accident one rainy night in March 1993 while I was with my Guard Unit in Hawaii. She was riding with her oldest daughter Judy on Old Hickory Boulevard when they stopped at a railroad crossing. They were waiting for the Broadway Dinner train to pass. A man was driving too fast and rear-ended Judy's car pushing it into the path of the train. The train was so close Judy barely had time to unfasten her seat belt. She shouted for Aunt Catherine to unfasten her seat belt but in her panic was unable to do it herself. Judy reached over and unfastened the belt telling her mother to get away from the car as fast as she could. She was barely able to get clear when the train smashed into the car causing it to spin violently. Judy said that the car missed her stomach by inches. Aunt Catherine was unable to move fast enough and the car door hit her as it spun on the track. Aunt Catherine was thrown through the air about 100 feet and landed in the middle of Old Hickory Boulevard. While lying there in the rain an off duty paramedic tried to save her life but she was dead when she reached the hospital.
My mother was a Yankee Doodle Dandy and was born on July 4th, 1923. Everybody had a nickname but my mother. Or at least that's what I thought. A few years ago I asked Didi why mother didn't have a nickname and she said that she did. It was stinky britches. I can understand why it didn't stick, no pun intended. Not much is known about my mother's childhood or her life before she met John Phillips. Relatives would tell me how shy and sweet she was as a child. Her best friend was Dorothy McMillan and they seemed to be inseparable. I don't know how long they were friends or when they met each other. Mother learned how to play the guitar and I have a 1946 model Gibson guitar that belonged to her. Dorothy and mother sang and played together in church. Both had beautiful voices and great harmony together. Didi told me that they auditioned for the Grand Ole Opry once but were rejected because they were too good. Their voices weren't country enough. She said that they were good friends with Kitty Well's who grew up near them on Hermitage Avenue and they could hear her singing on her back porch. Didi said that Kitty must have been ashamed of her humble roots. In retirement Didi worked as an usher at the Opry House. She said that Kitty would virtually ignore her whenever they passed each other as if she was too good to speak to her. Mother attended Howard school in south Nashville and Hume Fogg High school. Mother didn't graduate, however. She attended Hume-Fogg with a couple of people who would achieve stardom in vastly different genres. Dinah Shore and the pin-up girl Bettie Page.
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| Dinah Shore |
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| Bettie Page |
At some point mother dated Allen Smith. Allen aka (Frog) was from (Flat Rock) as the Woodbine section of Nashville was called. He was a soldier in World War II and I was told by Didi that he at one time or another dated all three of the Brown daughters. My mother, Aunt Tincy and Didi. Mother dated several soldiers in World War II. One had the last name of Segro and they were pretty serious about each other. Didi said that she thinks mother and this guy broke up because he was seriously wounded and for that reason ended the relationship. Apparently he lost a limb or was disfigured in some way. He didn't want my mother to see him in that condition. Segro was in a California military hospital when she received the Dear John letter. Didi told me about an incident when mother was asked to go on a blind double date with a friend. The friend drove her to the Cathedral of the Incarnation on West End. To her horror her date turned out to be a Priest. Didi said that mother came home crying and nearly hysterical because she had fought this guy off all night and she said booze was flowing freely.
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| Donie Belle Brown |
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| Donie, Goldie and Mattie louise Brown |
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| Left to right- Didi, Tincy, Mary Morse, Mother, Bud on the ground |
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| Mother about 10 |
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| Mother and my grandmother |
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| Mother and her best friend Dorothy |
Mattie Louise Brown or as everybody called her (Tincy) was born in Nashville on February 16, 1925 and died on March 14, 1992. Like mother I know little about her life when she was young. She was another wild one. Didi told me that she was always causing problems for granddaddy and mama growing up. She married a preacher named Samuel Shelby at a young age who was quite a bit older than her. Didi said that he was abusive to her and they would divorce. She was a pretty woman but a life of cigarettes and heavy drinking took it's toll on her and she died a haggard bitter old woman at the relatively young age of 67. I have a few memories of her and they are mostly bad. When I was a small child I remember seeing a magazine or some pictures that showed nude women. I can't remember if she showed them to me or if I just happened to have found them on my own. We were standing in the kitchen at my grandmothers house on McKennie and I remember her telling me that the nude body was beautiful and not a bad thing. If my mother had seen me looking at nude pictures of women, she would have freaked out. This was how my mother and aunt Tincy were different. On Christmas when I was small we always traveled to my grandparents house, after opening our presents at home in the morning. The extended side of my mothers family gathered for Christmas dinner at my grandparents house on McKennie. I remember one particular Christmas when I was small when a fight broke out between my dad and Aunt Tincy. My only memory is that everyone was upset but because of my age I didn't understand just why. I believe it was Donna that told me that the reason for the fight was that both my dad and aunt Tincy had been drinking and she slapped my father.
I can't remember my parents ever slapping me but slapping was used as a form of discipline by aunt Tincy, my grandmother, and my aunt Didi. They wouldn't hesitate to slap you if they thought you needed a good slapping. My grandmother would threaten me by saying that if I didn't shape up she would "pop my jaws". I hated being slapped. One time when I was probably about 9 or 10 aunt Tincy walked up to me with a plate of brownies and offered me one. I grabbed 2 and she slapped the holy crap out of me. Granted, I was in the wrong but I wanted to knock her lights out. When Aunt Tincy was married to her 2nd husband, Jim Hall, both of them were alcoholics and they would get to fighting each other when they were drunk. Aunt Tincy and uncle Jim lived in Donelson. I can remember many weekends when my mother, Didi, and my grandmother, along with all the kids, would pile into the car late at night, usually on a weekend, and drive out to Donelson in order break up one of their drunken brawls. It was usually late at night and they would leave us kids in the car while the adults went inside.
Uncle Jim was in the music business during golden age of country back in the 1950's and early 1960's. This was when some great country music artists were around like Patsy Cline, Marty Robbins, Roy Orbison and many others. Elvis was also recording in Nashville a lot during this time. Uncle Jim was a session musician and back-up singer. He also arranged music. Uncle Jim arranged most, if not all of Roy Orbison's music. When I went to visit Aunt Tincy I would see a platinum record and a gold record hanging in his office. The platinum record was for his arrangement of Sad Movies Make Me Cry by Sue Thompson, and the gold was for Roy Orbison's big hit Crying. At Christmas time I enjoyed looking at their Christmas cards lining the doorways. It was a who's who of famous people. The card I remember most was from Burl Ives. Uncle Jim had a glass eye because his brother accidentally stabbed him in the eye with a butcher knife when he was cutting a watermelon as a child. Aunt Tincy and Uncle Jim adopted a little girl and they named her Angela. A few years later, however; they got a divorce and aunt Tincy really went down hill. Uncle Jim took custody of Angela.
During this post divorce stage she lived with Didi for a while and tormented and terrorized everybody. On one occasion my brother Mark Mark had to hit aunt tincy with his fists in order to stop her from beating Didi up. It got so bad that my Mark went to live with Aunt Viola and she would go to court and gain custody of him. This would cause much bitterness. All this was going on while I was stationed in Turkey, which I will go in to more detail later. Didi felt betrayed by Mark because he was forced to choose sides in court and Mark chose aunt Viola. I believe Mark did this for several reasons. Primarily to get away from aunt Tincy and that Mark grew close to our cousin Benjy and his dad Ben Trotter. Ben was like a second father to Mark and we lost our own father when Mark was only 7 years old. Aunt Viola had a five acre farm and they had horses. Mark enjoyed that environment. Years later when Mark joined the Baptist church aunt Viola told him that one of the main reasons that she became his legal guardian was so that he would become a member of the Church of Christ.
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Pastor Samuel Shelby and Mattie Louise (Tincy) Brown Shelby
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| Mattie Louise Brown |
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Aunt Tincy & Uncle Jim's Wedding
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| Uncle Jim & Aunt Tincy |
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| Aunt Tincy's maid |
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Goldie Elizabeth (Didi) Brown was born on August 3, 1927 and died in May 2012 at the age of 84. Again I don't know much about her early life. I do know that she was very attractive and had a ton of boyfriends especially during the war years. When I knew her she was so straight laced and rigid I can't imagine her in that way. She had a lot of pictures of all of her boyfriends mostly while in uniform. She worked at Ligget's Drugstore on Church Street. There she met my Aunt Freddie who also worked there. This was before my mother ever met my dad. During the war Didi met Lee Roy Anderson who was a Navy combat veteran. Didi and Lee Roy married after the war and she gave birth to my cousins Roy and Alton. In the early 1950's, after the birth of Alton, she would divorce Lee Roy. Didi told me that he was always threatening suicide. He would scare her by threatening to jump off of high places like at Lookout Mountain. Lee Roy actually tried to kill himself by rigging a deer rifle where it would go off when a door was opened. He shot himself in the chest but somehow survived. When he would come to visit Roy and Alton after the divorce he would brag about how fast he would drive through small towns. This was the era before seat belts. He would die an old man, however. My sister Carolyn told me that Didi fell in the floor and had a tantrum when she found out she was pregnant with Alton. She went to work as an operator for what was then Southern Bell Telephone Company and retired in the 1980's after marrying her third husband Bob Evans, He died about a year after their wedding of brain cancer. Didi would die after a massive cerebral hemorrhage in May of 2012.
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| Didi in front of the capital |
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| Didi in California |
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| Didi and Lee Roy |
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| Lee Roy with Roy |
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| Didi with Roy on North 5th St |
The youngest was Alton M. "Bud" Brown. He was born on April 3, 1929 and died on August 20, 1995. Like the others I don't know much about him as a child. Of all of the Brown children he was the only one that finished high school and graduated from college. He graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. Being a preacher he probably went to a religious seminary. Everybody loved Uncle Buddy as we called him and we were crazy about him. Like Uncle Doug he was a tall man and stood six foot four inches tall. He was skinny and nerdy looking in his teenage pictures. I believe that he was a homosexual. My brother-in-law Larry Sircy said that he was "queer" when I was about fifteen. I didn't believe it at the time. As an adult I began to put two and two together. He was never interested in women and never married. By itself that doesn't mean that a person is a homosexual. My sister Carolyn didn't believe it. She told me that the reason he never married was because a girl broke his heart when he was young. He was deeply in love with her and she dumped him. Uncle Bud was a preacher as long as I knew him and always preached somewhere out of state, primarily in Kentucky but he also preached in Louisa Louisiana for a time. I can't remember who told me this but I learned that Uncle Bud, as a young preacher, was caught in a homosexual act. The United Methodist church made an agreement with him that if he ever tried to pastor in Tennessee again they would go public about his homosexuality. This is why he always pastored at churches out of state. In the last few years of his life he moved in with Didi and became the pastor of a non-denominational church in Beech Grove Tennessee. I sang there on many occasions and my son Jon was married in that church, with Uncle Bud officiating. The only thing that I can figure was that maybe his accusers had all died or he felt free to preach in a church that was not affiliated with the United Methodist church, or maybe there was no truth to the story.
In later years I heard allegations that he was also a pedophile. When I heard that I had a flashback to the time when I was about fourteen years old. One morning he sat down beside me on my bed and I was lying there in my underpants. He talked to me for a while and with the back of his hand he tapped me on my privates as he stood up to leave. I remember thinking how odd that was at the time but I never thought any more about it. After he died I heard that he molested a male member of the family who I will not name. He was always very loving toward the male children in our family. Uncle Bud never failed to hug me when he saw me. He was never as affectionate toward the females in the family, however. When my children came along he was crazy about my sons but he virtually ignored my daughter's. Uncle Bud frequently asked us to let Robbie come and live with him. At the time we didn't think that he was a pedophile but we had no intention of letting Robbie live with him. As a single preacher he was in an excellent position to come in contact with male children. He fit the profile of a pedophile. On a regular basis he would take troubled or unwanted male children into his home as a foster parent. He would call them his children and several stayed with him for years. If Uncle Bud was a pedophile he was selective about who he molested I believe. There was one boy that he raised from a broken home, that seemed to be crazy about him. Uncle Bud had a positive impact on his life. He grew up to be a very successful preacher who married and had a family. I don't believe that Uncle Bud ever molested him. There were others though that left as soon as they were able and they broke all contact with him.
As a small child I was crazy about Uncle Bud and all the rest of us were too. When he would come in for the holidays Roy, Alton, Mark, Donna and myself would stand peeking out of the windows looking for Uncle Bud's car to come driving up to my grandparents house on McKennie Avenue. I don't think we would have been more excited if it were Santa Claus himself who had arrived. Uncle Bud had a dry sense of humor. I will never forget a long trip that we took down to Florence Alabama around 1960. Uncle Bud drove my grandmother and myself down to pick up one of his foster boys that was in the army. There were no interstates in 1960 and it was all two lane highways. By interstate today it is a 2 hour and 17 minute drive but for a ten year old it seemed like an eternity. I was begging him to stop at a restaurant because I was hungry. Every time I complained he would stick his thumb out of the window and after a while he would stick it in my face and say, "Suck on this cool pop". He finally stopped when my grandmother said she was hungry. Uncle Bud died of a massive heart attack in the Spring of 1995. He would stay at a motel in Manchester every weekend that he preached. When he didn't show up for church one Sunday one of his church members drove to the motel to check on him. The man found him dead lying on the floor of his motel room. He was 66 years old.
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| Alton M. Brown |
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| Bud with his mom |
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I know much more about my grandmothers ancestry than I do my grandfather Marcellus Brown. Through her family I am related to President James Madison and the William Wallace clan of the movie (Braveheart) fame in Scotland. The name Frogge originated as Froedge in Scotland. Colonel John Frogge was born in Aberdeen Scotland sometime in 1709. He traveled to America and would die in Bath Virginia on August 19, 1794. I read a great book called the Frontiersman. It parallels the life of one of our greatest frontiersman Simon Kenton and the great Indian leader Tecumseh. Colonel Frogge's son Captain John Frogge was killed October 10, 1774 at the decisive battle of Point Pleasant Virginia, which is now in West Virginia. The battle was a costly victory for the Colonists. They lost three times more men than the Indians but they abandoned the battlefield. The Indians retreated after discovering re-enforcements enroute to the aid of the Colonists. Point Pleasant was the only battle in what became known as Lord Dunmore's war. The Indians consisted mainly of the Shawnee and Mingo's led by Shawnee Chief Cornstalk. Tecumseh's father was killed in this battle. The Frontiersman describes the battle and how decisive it was. Lord Dunmore, the Royal governor of Virginia negotiated a treaty with Cornstalk that would confine the Shawnee to the Ohio side of the Ohio River. Until the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775 settlers would flood much of the Ohio Valley.
My grandmother Ella Belle Frogge's father was John Clayton Breckinridge Frogge born on July 19, 1858 in Fentress County Tennessee and he died January 20, 1943 in Nashville. His wife and my great grandmother was Mattie Mayfield Frogge. More about my great grandparents later. My 2nd great grandfather was James Mckinley Frogge who was the father of my great grandfather John Clayton Frogge. He had 16 children and his brother Tom had 19 I believe by 2 different women. James fought in the Civil War as a Union soldier. He joined the 13th Kentucky Cavalry as a farrier. He was in essence a blacksmith and took care of the horses. James was born in 1822 and died in 1920 in his late 90's. His wife and my 2nd great grandmother was Elizabeth Jane "Eliza" Scroggins, born in 1832 and died in 1909.
My 3rd great grandfather Evan D. Frogge was the son of Arthur Frogge. He was born on November 9, 1806 in Fentress County Tennessee and would die in March 1878. Evan married my 3rd great grandmother Prudence Davidson. She was born on December 26, 1811 and would die on June 21, 1908. By trade Evan was a farmer and a miller. Evan shot a man in Fentress county and was charged with the crime. The account I read doesn't say if the man died or whether or not he spent any time in prison for committing the crime. He may have been sent to prison because Prudence and Evan were separated for a period of time. By the time of the 1860 census, however; they are shown to be living together again. At some point after he committed this crime Evan moved to Metcalf County Kentucky which explains why my grandmother Ella Belle Frogge was born in Paducah Kentucky. Apparently the Frogge's weren't men to be trifled with. Evan's cousin William Frogge was indicted for stabbing a man in 1824. Again it is unclear whether the victim died or not.
A few years ago I read a book about Alvin C. York, the most decorated soldier of World War I and he was from Pall Mall Tennessee. Many Frogge's are buried only a few feet from York. The book named several Frogge's that were some of York's best friends and his worst enemies. This prompted me to do some research and I found that my 4th great grandfather Arthur Robinson Frogge born on April 13, 1776 was a tough frontiersman born in Virginia. At the age of 19 he joined the Virginia militia in 1795 and was discharged in 1798. During his service he fought the Creek Indians in Georgia. During the War of 1812 the state of Kentucky raised the 7th Mounted Infantry Regiment to fight under William Henry Harrison in the Thames Campaign against the British and the Indian Confederation of Tecumseh. William Wood was named Captain and Arthur was named a Lieutenant and second in command. The battle was fought in present day Canada and was a great victory for American forces in which the famous Shawnee leader Tecumseh was killed. Arthur survived the campaign with a badly broken ankle.
After the war Arthur, his brothers and their families, moved to the Three Forks of the Wolf River, and settled on what today is called Frogge Mountain in Pall Mall Tennessee. The first settler of Pall Mall was Conrad Pile, or (Coonrad Pile) the 2nd great grandfather of Alvin C. York. Lieutenant Arthur Robinson Frogge, along with three other settlers were the next men to inhabit what would later come to be called Pall Mall Tennessee. The other three men were Pearson Miller, John Riley and Moses Poor. Coonrod was living in a cave at the time in Pall Mall and kept a fire burning near the entrance. My grandfathers group of hunters was drawn to the smoke of Coonrod's fire and this is how they met him. The following is from Alvin C. York's diary. “Above the spring in the rock-facing of the cliff is a large cave. Here Coonrod Pile spread a bed of leaves and made his home. The camp-fire was kept burning and its smoke was seen by other hunters, and Pearson Miller, Arthur Frogg, John Riley and Moses Poor came to Coonrod in the valley, and they too made their homes there, and Pall Mall was founded and descendants of these men are today eighty per cent of the residents in the "Valley of the Three Forks o' the Wolf”. This would account for the close relationship of the Frogge and York family over the years.
The area near Pall Mall where Arthur and his family settled was then in Cumberland County Kentucky. A few years later the boundaries would be redrawn and Arthur's property would then be in Overton County Tennessee. When he first settled the land he marked the boundaries of his property by carving his initials AF into the trees. Arthur would eventually own a lot of land and much of the land that Dale Hollow Lake is on now. In 1832 he became a county road commissioner and the first commissioner of the first railroad in Tennessee, the Nashville and Chattanooga railroad. Because of the panic of 1837, however work on the railroad would not begin until 1851. It was during this time that Arthur and his family moved to Tippecanoe Indiana where my grandmother Jane Richardson passed away. Arthur moved back to Pall Mall where he remarried and had several more children. He would die there and is buried in the Frogge cemetery. Arthur Robinson Frogge died on May 13th 1855. Some of Alvin York's best friends and worst enemies were Frogge's, however. His wife and my 4th great grandmother Jane Thompson Richardson. She was born in 1780 and died in 1839.
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| Frogge Mountain / Pall Mall Tennessee |
My great grandfather John C. Frogge married my great grandfather Mattie Mayfield on August 6, 1876, and they had at least six children. They were Evan Donald Frogge, born in 1877 and died in 1929. James Arthur Garfield Frogge, born October 28, 1880 and died May 28, 1932. If his date of birth is right he was born a few days before President James A. Garfield was elected in November 1880. Apparently John, Mattie, or both admired Garfield. It might have had more to do with Garfield being a Union General during the Civil War than anything else. Mattie's father died fighting for the Union. Then there was Isaac Bradford Frogge who was either born on December 4, 1884 or June 24, 1885 and died January 28, 1917. Odell Jacob R. Frogge, born in 1890 and died in 1960. Uncle Jake was chief engineer at the Maxwell House hotel when he retired at the age of 66. He had also been employed at the Tulane and Hermitage hotels. Uncle Jake was an electrician for Tom Ryman's steamship line on the Cumberland River as a young man. The ships steamed up the Cumberland River from Nashville to Burksville Kentucky with stops along the way at Lebanon, Hartsville, Gainsboro, and Celina. The boats shipped general merchandise and foodstuff. They returned with cattle, lumber and heavy freight. He survived two sinkings on the same steamboat named the Bob Dudley. It sank once at Celina Tennessee and later under the Woodland Street Bridge in Nashville.
I barely remember Uncle Jake but I do remember very well going to Cosmopolitan Funeral home with my mother to the viewing when he died. My mother brought along her guitar and sat by the casket playing and singing gospel songs to comfort the family. This was my first experience with death. My mother sheltered me from the subject and I was terrified at the thought of dying. I had never seen a dead person and I asked her if I could sit outside in the hallway where I wouldn't be able see Uncle Jake's body. By accident I caught a glimpse of him for just a split second and that was the first time I ever saw a dead body. Uncle Jake was named after Mattie's older brother, Jacob "Jake" Mayfield who was also a Union soldier that survived the war and moved out to Oklahoma after he was discharged. Uncle Jake apparently died of complications from gall bladder surgery at the old General hospital. He was 69 years old. Curiously, uncle Jake spelled his last name Frodge. This is similar to the original spelling of Froedge that originated in Scotland. Uncle Jake was married to my Aunt Lillie whose maiden name was Dennison. She was born on September 21, 1888 and died on July 3, 1981. I came across an interesting article on her in the paper. In 1946 she was reunited with a son that for whatever reason was taken away from her when he was 5 years old. I am assuming that she was married before Uncle Jake and this separation was due to a divorce. She and her son were reunited 35 years later.
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| Mother and son article |
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| Jake Frogge |
My grandmother came along next in 1894 and died in 1964. Last but not least was Mattie Elizabeth Frogge, or as we called her, Aunt Lizzie, born in 1900. I remember her well and she was the last to die of my grandmother's siblings in the 1970's or 80's. She was a very sweet lady and always lived in the Nashville housing projects. Her husband Elby Morse never said much but he worked with my grandaddy, and my great grandfather John Frogge in the blacksmith shop. John Clayton Breckinridge Frogge died in 1943. His obituary reads: John Clayton Frogge - Funeral services for John Clayton Frogge 84, who died at his home, 239 Hermitage Avenue, Wednesday night of a heart attack, will be held at 3 o'clock this afternoon at the residence. Burial will be in Woodlawn Cemetery where Masonic rites will be held. A blacksmith foreman for the Tennessee Central Railroad, Mr. Frogge had apparently been in good health, having worked the day before his death. He was born in Jamestown Tenn. and had been a Tennessee Central employee for 37 years. Surviving are his widow, Mrs. Mattie Frogge; two daughters, Mrs. M.F. Brown, and Mrs. E.R. Morse, of Nashville; one son, Jake Frogge of Nashville, and two brothers, Elick Frogge of New Town Indiana and E.D. Frogge of Waterview Ky.
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| John Clayton Breckinridge Frogge |
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| Aunt Lizzie, my grandmother, Susanna Mayfield, Mattie & John Frogge |
My grandmothers other brother Isaac was a member of Company D 27th Tennessee Calvary. She said that he was riding on a troop train and another soldier was cleaning his rifle. The rifle accidentally discharged striking Isaac in the back severing his spine. This was in the latter part of December 1916 and he lingered for eight days before dying in early January 1917. She told me that she nursed him until he died. Sometime after my grandmother's death in 1964 I was talking to my grandfather about Isaac and he said that his death wasn't an accident. Isaac was trying to desert from the train but what he had said didn't make sense. America didn't enter World War I until April 1917 and Isaac was in a National Guard Unit. A few years ago I saw his death certificate which added to the mystery of his death even more. It said the cause of death was homicide. That makes more sense to me than anything else but I have not been able to learn the the true circumstances of how he died. The first picture is of Uncle Isaac and his wife. The second is the telegram notification of his being shot. The third is his grave at the National Cemetery on Gallatin Road in Nashville.
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| Notice the cause of death is homicide |
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| The grave of Isaac Frogge |
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Isaac Frogge grave
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| Sussannah's pension from Isaac |
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| One room school house where Isaac Mayfield attended school in Pulaski County Ky. |
. My grandmother Ella Belle Frogge's mother was Martha Mattie "Patsy" Mayfield, born on February 18, 1859 in McCrackin County Kentucky and died on February 18, 1945 in Nashville. Mattie's father was Isaac M. Mayfield, born November 1823 in Barren county Kentucky and died on December 13, 1862. Her mother was Susannah (Susan) Martin Mayfield, born in 1824 in Pulaski County Ky and died February 15, 1911 in Nashville Tennessee. She was the daughter of John Martin and Rachel Dobbs Martin. They were married on November 18, 1842 in Pulaski County Kentucky. Isaac had a twin brother named Phillip or Philey Mayfield. Both brothers married Martin sisters on the same day. Isaac married Susannah Martin and Phillip married Mary Martin. Isaac and Susannah had ten children born between 1843 and 1859. Mattie was the youngest along with her identical twin sister Elizabeth. Susannah chewed Red Man tobacco and smoked a pipe. She had a daughter named Rachel that also lived in Nashville and was married to a John Nance.
Isaac Mayfield joined the Union army on October 22, 1861 as a forty one year old Private. He survived the 2nd day at Shiloh but contracted pneumonia during the siege of Corinth and died in a military hospital on December 13,1862 at Louisville Kentucky. This was the same day that the Union army suffered one of it's worst defeats of the Civil War at Fredricksburg Virginia. Isaac belonged to what was then the Army of the Ohio. It would later became the Army of the Cumberland. Susannah received a pension of eight dollars a month for the rest of her life. At the time Isaac died white soldiers were receiving thirteen dollars a month. Their next to the oldest son Jacob (Jake) Mayfield was born in 1845 and died on January 18, 1918. He was also a Union soldier but survived the war. Isaac and Jake both belonged to Company K, 1st Kentucky Infantry. The 1st Kentucky regiment fought in early battles in West Virginia, at Shiloh, the siege of Corinth, the Perryville campaign, Stones River, the Tullahoma campaign, the battle of Chickamauga, the Chattanooga campaign and Confederate General John Hunt Morgan's Kentucky raid. The regiment lost a total of 143 men during service; 60 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 1 officer and 82 enlisted men died of disease. One of those casualties was my great great grandfather Isaac. It mustered out at Covington Kentucky on June 18, 1864. Recently I found Isaac's grave in the Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville. My 3rd great grandfather was Jacob Mayfield born in 1796 and died in 1875. His wife and my 3rd great grandmother was Letitia T. Pleasant, born in 1796 and died in 1904.
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| 2900 Felicia Street today |
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| Elizabeth and Mattie |
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My Great Great Grandfather Private Isaac Mayfield
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| Jake Mayfield and his first wife of Whitesboro, Tx. Joanna Duggins Mayfield. She was accidentally killed after being thrown from a horse and wagon. |
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| Jake Mayfield in older years |
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Jake as a Union soldier
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