Reflections of An Uncommon Common Man

 When my wife Debbie and I were dating for meanness she would sic her Chihuahua on me and she would draw blood. My wife thought it was funny. Of course I was in love so I put up with it. After we were married I came home from basic training and we were staying in her parents house until I left for my first duty assignment in Oregon. One morning I woke up and when I leaned over to kiss her I kissed that dog right in the mouth. So kind of like Katy Perry I can say that I kissed a dog but I didn't like it.

  For years now I have seen many attacks on our inalienable right to free speech in America by the Communist/Fascist political left. They have sought to redefine what free speech even means. They have  invented the term "hate speech" and it is is very popular with the left. They would like to see anyone guilty of hate speech go to jail. The only problem is that their definition of hate speech is subjective. What is hate speech to the left may not be hate speech to the right. One man's garbage is another man's treasure. In England and Europe people are going to jail for their social media posts. If people say anything against illegal migrants or if they question the government on the transgender issue among other things. In England they are arresting people for silently praying outside of abortion clinics. In Scotland they are warning people not to be caught praying in their homes. We have seen censorship in this country against conservatives voicing their opinions on ...

 When I was working mall security in Murfreesboro a woman stopped me near the entrance doors of the food court. Pointing outside she said that a man was wearing a television set on his head. Thinking that maybe she meant he was carrying it on his shoulder like a boom box I stepped outside to investigate and nearly ran into a man who was literally wearing a TV on his head. Mall policy before Covid was that you couldn't wear a mask or cover your face on mall property. After I got over the shock of confronting a man with a TV set on his head I asked him to uncover his face while on mall property. He politely refused so I politely asked him to leave which he promptly did. I snapped this picture as he walked toward his car.

   I never sang in public until Christmas Eve 1970 when I was stationed at Erhac Detachment 93 in Turkey. We were in a remote assignment and our unit had 200 Americans if that many. One of our Security Policemen was a guy named Garland Atkins who was from North Carolina and to the left of me. He was such a good guitarist we nicknamed him Chet Atkins. We put together a Christmas show which included several acts. We were the first to perform and we sang mainly country. There was also a beauty contest. Since there were no women around we had a few brave men dressed as very ugly women. Our stage was two pool tables pushed together. Most everyone was drinking and it is not hard to entertain a bunch of drunks. A fight broke out while we were performing and it reminded me of the old western movies where everyone is fighting and the piano player just keeps on playing. We never stopped singing. Beer cans and chairs were flying everywhere. I was never able to work up the courage to sing...

 My great Uncle Jacob "Jake" Mayfield in his uniform and with his wife later in life. Jacob was a Union soldier in the 13th Kentucky Infantry. He served with his father Isaac Mayfield and older brother William. All three fought at Shiloh on April 7, 1862 as part of the Army of the Ohio which was later renamed the Army of the Cumberland. Union armies were named after the rivers that they operated close to. They also served during the siege of Corinth Mississippi where Isaac would come down with pneumonia and die in a Louisville military hospital on December 13, 1862. Both Jake and William survived the war. Jake would eventually move to Ardmore Oklahoma where he is buried.

 I was a mall cop for 13 years. We handled theft probably more than anything. If I was called to a store because someone was acting suspicious or in the process of stealing there was actually little that we could do. We couldn't physically stop them from stealing or chase them down to retrieve stolen merchandise. That is unless we actually saw them stealing. By law we were allowed to make a citizens arrest but I told my officers not to do that because we were not armed. I don't believe in going to a gun fight or a knife fight armed with nothing but a smile. We couldn't even talk to them or question them. One thing that I have found out over the years is that if a thief sees a uniform they will usually not steal. We were a deterrent to theft. If a thief walked into a store and the store staff didn't call us until they left the store with the product then I couldn't do a whole lot for them except follow the suspect and hope I could get a license plate number and descr...

 The Brown family circa 1900. My grandfather Marcellus is the third from the left in the 2nd row holding a child. He is seated next to his mom Donie Brown and his dad Henry Brown The only person other than my grandfather in this picture that I can remember was my Aunt Arda. She is the 2nd adult from the left in the top row. In her youth she was kind of heavyset but when I knew her she was very skinny and crippled by rheumatoid arthritis. She lived with us and she didn't like my brother Mark, my cousin Roy and myself but loved my cousin Alton. I don't remember being hateful to her but she never had children and I don't think she cared much for them. We were pretty rambunctious but I can't remember being mean to her. Aunt Arda died in September 1963. The main standing on the porch might be my Uncle Elmore Hughes. He was a railroad engineer and married to one of granddaddy's sisters and I think her name was Beaula. I remember him but she died before I was born. His fam...

My great great grandfather Goodman Seagraves and my great great grandmother 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. Goodman fought in the Confederate 4th Tennessee cavalry. The 4th Tennessee Cavalry saw action at the battles of Parkers Crossroads, Franklin, Chickamauga and the Atlanta campaign. One regiment fought under General Nathan Bedford Forrest and the other under General "Fighting" Joe Wheeler.

 James McKinley Frogge, was my great great grandfather and was born on April 9, 1832 in Jamestown, Fentress County Tennessee. He would die on December 1, 1920 in Edmonton Kentucky, which is the county seat for Metcalf county. He married my great great grandmother Elizabeth Jane " Eliza" Scroggins. She was born in 1832 and would die in 1909. They had 15 children before she died. He would have two more with a 2nd wife totaling 17 children. James McKinley Frogge would serve as a Union soldier in the 13th Kentucky Cavalry as a farrier. A farrier was responsible for shoeing horses and taking care of their hooves. James would raise 17 children, one of which was my great grandfather John Clayton Breckinridge Frogge. His brother Tom pictured below had 19 children by the same woman. Tom Frogge

 My great grandmother Mattie or "Mammy" Mayfield Frogge is in these pictures with her identical twin sister Elizabeth. They were the youngest of 10 children and were only 2 when their father Isaac Mayfield died in the Civil War as a Union soldier on December 13, 1862. Isaac was serving in the 13th Kentucky Infantry with his 2 oldest children William and Jacob who both survived the war. Their father Isaac was an identical twin and he and his brother married the Martin sisters who were also identical twins on the same day. My great great grandmother was Susanna Martin Mayfield. Mattie and Elizabeth Mattie and Elizabeth and an unknown woman in the middle Elizabeth top left - Bottom left my grandmother Ella Frogge Brown with her mom Mattie Top row Mattie, Elizabeth and my grandmother Ella shading her eyes

 My great great grandmother Susanna Martin Mayfield. She received a pension of 8 dollars a month for the rest of her life due to the death of her husband Isaac Mayfield in the Civil War. She also received a pension of 6 dollars a month for each of her minor children. I have the original pension in my possession.

 This old Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis steam engine sat in Centennial Park from 1953 until 2019 when it was donated to the Tennessee Central Railroad museum for restoration which should be completed this year at a cost of 2.5 million dollars. It should soon be fully operational. It was a favorite spot for family pictures when we were growing up.

   My brother Mark and I got our singing voices from our parents. Both had beautiful voices and my mom also played the guitar. She loved gospel music and she joined her cousins the Hughes family regularly on Cahal Avenue in East Nashville for jam sessions on warm summer nights in their backyards. The Hughes were also talented musicians and singers. My mom is the lady with the blonde hair and guitar. My mother with her best friend and singing partner Dorothy McMillan

Granddaddy with my cousin Alton  My grandfather Marcellus Fain Brown was born in 1889 and died in 1968 when I was 18. For many years we were not that close because he was nearly deaf from his years of working in the Tennessee Central blacksmith shop. Being deaf you are socially cut off from people. He was one of the hardest working men I ever knew. Granddaddy was a carpenter, plumber and iron worker. He had hands of steel. He built my mother a mailbox out of channel iron and chain that he welded together. One story about him was that he once had a piece of hot iron fly into his ear and he spit it out of his mouth after it burned through his eardrum. My grandfather was a binge drinker in his younger days. I never saw him drunk but family told me that after getting paid sometimes he would go on a binge and they would find him passed out somewhere downtown and bring him home. On one occasion he was passed out on his bed when the house caught on fire. Family tried to rouse him but he j...

 Very early on the morning of September 10, 1957 pro segregationists dynamited Hattie Cotton elementary school on Greenwood Avenue in East Nashville. I was just starting first grade at Martha Vaught elementary in West Nashville. My grandparents, however only liveda few hundred yards across Gallatin road from the school on Mckennie Avenue. I remember my parents telling me that they were blown out of bed by the explosion. The explosion caused 71,000 dollars damage or 588,953 dollars in today's currency. A witness stated that it knocked out every window and caused damage to the library, classrooms and interior walls and lockers. Despite an investigation no one was charged. John Kasper, one of six suspects had secured a cache of dynamite two days before the bombing. Kasper was convicted in November 1958 of inciting a riot on the first day of that school year. Kasper predicted "blood will run in the streets of Nashville before Negro children go to school with whites".  Nashvil...

 My Aunt Mattie Louise Hall or Aunt "Tincy" as we called her with her husband Jim Hall. He was a session musician and back-up singer during the golden age of country when the Nashville sound originated during the 1950's and early 1960's. He arranged all of Roy Orbison's big hits and for many other artists. Uncle Jim had a gold record for Roy Orbinson's song "Crying: and a platinum record for Sue Thompsons's record "Sad Movies Always Make Me Cry". I loved going to his house at Christmas because of all the Christmas cards he had hanging up from famous artists. The one that stands out in my mind was Burl Ives.  

  Picture of my wife's house in 1906 from 916 Boscobel Street. I am sitting in the bottom picture where the man is sitting on the porch. This was taken when Debbie and I were dating in the 1960's.

  My grandmother Ella Belle Frogge Brown b-1894 d-1964 with my Uncle Doug about 1912. Uncle Doug was the oldest of my mothers siblings. He was born in 1911 and nicknamed Big Brother. My mother was the 2nd oldest born in 1923 followed by my Aunt Mattie Louise nicknamed Tincy in 1925. My Aunt Goldie Elizabeth nicknamed Didi came along in 1927. Uncle Alton was born in 1929 and he was nicknamed Bud or Buddy. I once asked my Aunt Didi why my mother didn't have a nickname. She said that she did. It was stinky britches but for obvious reasons they quit calling her that as she got older. My uncles were both very tall. They grew to be about 6'5" It was rare to see my grandmother facing the camera.. She lost her right eye because of German measles at the age of three. Most pictures that I have of her are a side profile.  

  This picture was taken around 1900. My great grandfather Henry Thompson Brown B-1850 D-1918 is seated on the right. My great grandmother Celana Caldonie Sherrill Brown B-1851 D-1933 is seated on the left. Everyone called her Donie. My mother was named after her and my granddaughter Donie was named after my mother. They had 13 children together of which only 9 survived to adulthood. Twins died not long after they were born. My grandfathers brother Milford Brown is standing top right and his wife Virginia is holding their youngest son on the left. Tragically Millford and Virginia both contracted tuberculosis, or consumption as it was called then. They both died within weeks of each other in 1914 and are buried in Calvary Catholic cemetery which is next to Mount Olivet cemetery. Virginia was Catholic and Milford converted to Catholicism after they were married. Their three orphaned boys were sent to Catholic orphanages. Two were sent to a Nashville orphanage and one was sent to a Me...

  I am absolutely amazed when I hear people on the left, friends, relatives and even some establishment Republican's calling Donald Trump Hitler. J.D. Vance even called him Hitler at one time which is surprising to me because Vance is a very smart man. We can forgive him because he seems to have realized the error of his ways. People who say this are either lack knowledge of history or they are lunatics. I have no other explanation for their reasoning because it is so preposterous. When Obama and Biden were presidents I didn't like hearing some of my friends referring to them as Hitler. I may have said it in a joking way from time to time myself or used it in a meme but I was never serious. Obama was not only corrupt but a Communist. Biden was just corrupt. I could see both of them being ruthless dictators if they had attained that kind of power. In my view they are both sociopaths and have much blood on their hands, especially Biden. Most Holocaust survivors are in their 80...

When President Reagan gave his famous "Evil Empire" speech on March 8, 1983 I was still a Democrat but quickly converting to being a conservative. By March of 1983 Reagan had already accomplished a lot. His tough talk had been responsible for the Iranians releasing our embassy hostages on his inauguration day. He had also been shot and nearly died. Like Trump God spared him for that time in history. He engineered the destruction of the Soviet Union, fired all of the striking air traffic controllers in the country after they ignored his warning to return to work. By March of 1983 the horrible recession of the late 1970's and early 1980's was over. We were hopeful for the future again after the morass of the Watergate scandal, the fall of Vietnam and the disastrous incompetence of Jimmy Carter who I am ashamed to admit that I voted for not once but twice.   On election night 1980 I was suffering from RDS or Reagan Derangement Syndrome. As a Democrat I believed the lefts...