Babe Ruth Taylor, Jesse Owens, Bessie Smith

Oakville Baseball

When I was a small boy in the 1950’s and early 1960’s, most country folks like mine did not have a television, very few had radios, and many were without electricity or could not afford the cost; therefore, community baseball was a local sport that many people enjoyed watching to pass the time.  The baseball teams were not allowed to play on crop land, but many cattle farming folks would allow the teams to play in their pastures. During those years, each small community including the black folks of Oakville had a baseball team; most of the time, the players would play ball in overalls and plow boots or barefooted.  

During most baseball games, big picnics would also be a part of the festivities in order to support the team.  Some folks would donate chickens and garden vegetables for the big stew pot and ice down drinks in number three wash tubs.  The black folks of the Oakville Community would have a fish fry at their baseball games; the fish would be seined from the nearby Oakville Pond.  The baseball picnics were to raise money for their team to travel and to buy necessary equipment.  All the items donated by the families of the Oakville players were used to raise money for the home team.

Babe Ruth Taylor

Oakville was a black community not far from my present-day home of the original Preuit Farm site; the black league played most of their baseball games in P.B. (Bryant) Lowery’s cow pasture or across the road where the church now stands.  Charlie Pointer said he was a first cousin to Babe Ruth Taylor; Taylor was the main player, leader, and coach of the Oakville team.  Charlie Pointer, Buddy Taylor, and many of the other black baseball players from the Oakville team did farm work for John Wiley, John McCay, Tass Jacobs, Clebe Preuit, and Bryant Lowery. 

I remember Mr. Jimmy Speake, who was an attorney in Moulton for years, telling me about some of the best black baseball players that he had ever seen and coached against were from Oakville; one player in particular that Speake liked was called Babe Ruth Taylor; Jimmy Speake said, “Babe Ruth Taylor could knock a baseball over 500 feet on a regular basis and he should have been a major league baseball player.  The black Babe Ruth from Oakville was one of the best baseball players to ever play the game;” the Babe Ruth of Oakville was James Andrew Taylor, also known as Buddy Taylor. 

For a long time, Babe Ruth and his family owned and lived in the old J. C. Cannon House which was built in 1890 just a hundred yards west of the West Fork of Flint Creek in the Community of Oakville, Lawrence County, Alabama.  Today, the old house is owned by Mr. Don Alexander who is in the process of saving this historic home.  The Cannon House is just north of Highway 157 and just west of the bridge crossing the West Fork of Flint Creek; if you were heading east toward Cullman and just prior to crossing the bridge on Highway 157, you can see the Cannon House across the farm fields.  Jim Cannon and his wife Minnie McLemore eventually moved to Moulton, and he was elected Sheriff of Lawrence County.

Charlie Pointer who was a team mate of Buddy Taylor said, “Babe Ruth Taylor was definitely one of the best baseball players to ever play the game for Oakville. I do not remember us ever losing a game.” Today, years after his death, everyone in the area of the Warrior Mountains has heard of the baseball exploits of Buddy “Babe Ruth” Taylor.  It was an honor for me as a young boy to watch the legendary Babe Ruth Taylor play baseball at Oakville; to this day, I remember the crack of that bat when Babe Ruth Taylor would hit a homerun.

My Uncle Cadle Wilburn was a member of some of the cow pasture baseball teams; he played for Speake, Wren, and Pin Hook.  He spent most of his amateur baseball playing with the Pin Hook team that, for a long time, had their home field in the pasture of Mr. Ben McMillan of the Pin Hook Community.  He said, “One of the best baseball teams that I ever played against was the black team from Oakville; Babe Ruth (Buddy Taylor) would knock a homerun nearly every time the ball went over home plate.”

In his early days, Babe Ruth Taylor was both a left and right handed pitcher, but after one of his pitches caused a fatality, Babe Ruth chose to played catcher; he had the ability to play any position on the baseball field.  Taylor doubled for many years as a player/coach for the team; he could throw a runner out at second base without even standing up.  His son Rayford Taylor told me if a man was on first base that his dad would say to the pitcher, “Let him run, I got him;” seldom did a runner ever steal second base when Taylor was catcher. 

At the time that Buddy Taylor was catching baseballs, it was legal for the catcher to chatter, and he was constantly chattering to the batter.  Buddy would say, “You can’t hit what you can’t see; the bat must have a hole in it.”  As a young boy, I loved to hear Buddy Taylor chatter at a baseball game.

Also, Buddy Taylor had a feel for the baseball; he would tell the players this ball is dead and we are not going to play with it anymore.  Buddy’s son said that he went up north one time to try out for professional baseball, but did not want to stay away from his family or leave his Oakville home.  From all that people have said about Babe Ruth Taylor, you could tell that he loved the game of baseball.  After he got too old to play baseball, Babe Ruth Taylor coached a girls’ softball team that was also very good.

Babe Ruth Taylor, the grandson of a former slave, and Emma Williams Taylor had 17 children.  Buddy encouraged his kids and grandkids to play ball because he loved the game with all his being.  Many of these children and grandchildren of Babe Ruth and Emma Taylor still live near the Oakville Community.

James Andrew “Babe Ruth” Taylor also had a son that was also a great baseball pitcher; his name was Hosey Lee Taylor.  Besides Hosey Lee Taylor, Babe Ruth Taylor had other sons that played baseball:  Wyman Taylor, Wayne Taylor, and Rayford Taylor.   Hosey would usually start the game pitching left handed and about half way through the game, he would switch to pitching right handed. 

Mr. Rayford Taylor, the son of Babe Ruth Taylor, told me that the Oakville team finally raised enough money to buy uniforms and equipment.  The team would get together and seine Oakville Pond; the fish they caught would be cooked and sold at the baseball game to make enough money for the team’s expenses.  They would fry the fish, and then sell fish sandwiches and cold drinks to the spectators that came to watch the home games.  I feel fortunate to say that I was one of those spectators when my Uncle Cadle Wilburn pitched for the Pin Hook Team; Pin Hook was never able to beat the all black Oakville baseball team with Babe Ruth Taylor behind home plate.  

Jesse Owens

Another famous black Lawrence County family that had ties to the J. C. Cannon place was Henry Cleveland Owens and Mary Emma Fitzgerald who were the parents of the Olympic great James Cleveland (Jesse) Owens.  According to the 1847 tax list of Lawrence County, Alabama, Isaac N. Owen owned a black slave known as Henry who was the grandfather of Jesse Owens.  Henry had a son who was named Henry Cleveland Owens; the black Owens took their name from the Owen Estate in Lawrence County.  After the Civil War, several of the slaves of Isaac N. Owen added an “s” to their last name and became Owens. 

The Owen Plantation was the namesake of Owen Chapel Church in the present-day Community of Youngtown some five to seven miles east of Mt. Hope School and some three to four miles south of Landersville Community in Lawrence County, Alabama.  The church and community lies along the north edge of the William B. Bankhead National Forest, and within one mile north of the Indian trail known as High Town Path which follows the Tennessee Divide through Lawrence County.

Youngtown got its name from Reason Young, who according to the 1860 Census of Lawrence County slave schedules owned 20 black slaves; the Young Family owned a vast estate in the area that extended from the edge of the mountain to Landersville.  In addition, Youngtown became one of the largest reconstruction black schools in the area after the Civil War; as I was interviewing folks in the area for my book “Warrior Mountains Folklore,” I heard many stories about long lines of black children walking the dusty country roads every morning and afternoon heading to and from the black school at Youngtown.  Today, the black school has long since been torn down; very few black people remain in the area of Youngtown.  I remember the old two story wooden black school that sit about one mile west of present-day Owen Chapel Church; the school sit in the 90 degree curve just west of the church.

After Henry Cleveland Owens and Mary Emma Fitzgerald married, they moved to the J. C. Cannon place just west of the Community of Oakville; they lived in a small wooden house that was located just south and behind the Jim Cannon house.  Since the West Fork of Flint Creek was the line between the Oakville and Pin Hook Precincts, it appears that the Henry Owens Family was living on the J. C. Cannon place at the time Jesse Owens was born on September 12, 1913; during this time, the Henry Owens’ family was listed in the Pin Hook Precinct.  When Jesse Owens was about nine years old, the family moved north to Cleveland, Ohio.  During the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany, Jesse Owens won four gold medals; his remarkable wins embarrassed the white supremacy ruler Adolph Hitler.

State Representative Roger Dutton, who was a friend of mine, pursued the placement of a monument to Jesse Owens on the Lawrence County Courthouse Square when he was serving in the State of Alabama House of Representatives.  His intentions was to honor the black Olympic hero who was born in our county, but the white political structure of Lawrence County effectively blocked the placement of the monument for Jesse Owens on the courthouse square.  I remember Roger telling me that he wanted to see the ivory towers of Lawrence County’s political structure crumble and fall; therefore, not to be outdone, Roger got funds provided to buy a small rectangular block of property at the road junction in the Community of Oakville for placement of the Jesse Owens Monument; originally the monument was just west and across the road from the present-day Jesse Owens Park.  Roger Dutton died before seeing his dream come to fruition; he is buried in the Naylor Family Cemetery at Bulah Church near my great, great, great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Welborn Segars Naylor.

Marvin Fitzgerald, a dear departed black friend, along with other black and white leaders worked tirelessly to insure that his cousin Jesse Owens was appropriately honored.  After several years, additional land was purchased on the east side of the road for the Jesse Owens Park; the park was strongly supported by then Lawrence County Commissioner Larry LouAllen.  During his tenure, LouAllen worked with the Lawrence County Commission to insure the Jesse Owens Park and the adjacent Oakville Indian Mounds Park received their fair share of funding.  Today, Jesse Owens Park in Oakville has worldwide recognition; the museum in the park tells the story of one of the most famous native Lawrence County athletes-James Cleveland (Jesse) Owens, the grandson of a former Lawrence County, Alabama slave.    

Bessie Smith

Also on the Lawrence County, Alabama, 1847 tax list of Isaac N. Owen was another famous black slave lady, Laura Owens; Laura became the mother of the famous Blues legend known as Bessie Smith.  In the 1847 tax list, Bessie’s mother, Laura Owens, was only a new born slave baby.  Shortly after the Civil War, Bessie’s father, William Smith and Laura Owens were married; William became a black Baptist parson or preacher in Moulton.  According to the 1870 Census of Lawrence County, Alabama, William Smith was listed as a black minister of the gospel in Moulton, Alabama.

It appears for some reason that William and Laura Owens Smith moved from Moulton, Alabama, to Chattanooga, Tennessee; Bessie Smith was born on April 15, 1894, in Chattanooga, Tennessee.   By the time Bessie was nine years old, her parents were dead.  Bessie’s older sister Viola took charge of her siblings including Bessie.

From Lawrence County slaves, Bessie Smith eventually became known as “The Empress of the Blues.”  During her time, Bessie became the highest paid black singer and entertainer in the United States.  She had many recordings with Columbia Records; Bessie Smith was considered the first lady of “Blues Music.”  In 1929, Bessie Smith was in a movie based on W. C. Handy’s song known as the “St. Louis Blues;” Handy, who was the Father of the Blues, was born in Florence, Alabama, where he is honored each year for his contributions to Blues music.

Bessie Smith died as a result of terrible car crash on September 26, 1937; she was on United States Route 61 between Memphis, Tennessee, and Clarksdale, Mississippi.  The delay of the arrival of the ambulance contributed to her death.  Some say if Bessie had been carried to the white hospital in Clarksville that she would have survived the car accident; however, the time it took to get her to the G. T. Thomas Afro-American Hospital did not help her chances of survival and she died in the hospital.  She was buried in Philadelphia at the Mount Lawn Cemetery.  Finally, on August 7, 1970, singer Janis Joplin provided money and support to erect a tombstone for Bessie Smith.

Be sure to follow my blog and learn about the plantation owners, slaves, and the survivors of slavery.  This part of Charlie life and other stories will be a part of my book, “Black Folk Tales of Appalachia: Slavery to Survival!”  

Brick, The Oaks, LaGrange

Brick Community

Brick Community was called Brick because of four very early 1800 houses in the area were built of slave brick: Jarman House, John Johnson House, Abernathy House, and Brick Church.  The building bricks used in construction of the homes and church were made from clay that was dug and fired in pits by the slaves.  This brick making site and activities used in making the bricks were close proximity to the Old Brick Presbyterian Church.

Also during the tour with Huston Cobb, we stopped at the Old Brick Church which was one of the original white churches in Colbert County; the Jarman Plantation Family supposedly attended the church with their black slaves.  The church had a balcony at the back of the building that was used as the black slave gallery for those slaves who attended the services because they were not allowed to sit with the white folks.

The original log church was completed in September 1820 and burned to the ground in 1824.  Black slaves of the church members made the bricks for construction of the new church which was built just southwest of Shegog Creek and Spring.  The Shegog Family was probably the origin of the name of the spring and creek; the 1860 Census of Lawrence County, Alabama, lists George Shegog, age 35, Ireland, physician; Mariah, female, age 28; John S., age 4; and, George H., age 1.

     

The slave bricks were fired hardened and still form the walls of the church that was completed on October 8, 1828.  The church members were not allowed to work their slaves on Sundays.  During the Civil War, there were no services at the church; supposedly General John Bell Hood used Old Brick Church as his headquarters.  The name of the church was eventually changed from Mount Pleasant to Old Brick.

The Oaks

Huston Cobb directed us from Highway 157 to Colbert County Road 61 where we visited The Oaks Plantation of Abraham Ricks, the home of Abe Sledge, Mother Church, and the black cemetery.  These four structures and features of the days of black slavery are still visible today.

Huston Cobb’s wife was Sadie Long; it is not known where Sadie was born, but it is sure that she attended the black school within a few hundred yards south of plantation house known as The Oaks.  The school was actually held in the black church just south of The Oaks Plantation House.  Sadie Long’s ancestors were more than likely descendants of the some 300 slaves owned by Abraham Ricks of The Oaks.

Owner of The Oaks was Abraham Ricks, Sr.; he was born on October 10, 1791, in Halifax County, North Carolina, and died at The Oaks in Colbert County, Alabama, on December 23, 1852.  Abraham left North Carolina in 1818 with some 30 families and he brought his slaves to Alabama.  Portions of the plantation were purchased during the United States government land sales of 1818.

The Ricks and King Families stopped briefly in Courtland, Alabama; the King Family moved to Leighton from Courtland in 1825.  According to Bertie Ricks, her grandmother Mrs. Abraham Ricks said they moved to The Oaks on November 3, 1818.  A log cabin was already built at The Oaks by Indians; Abraham Ricks added to the log cabin that was built by the Cherokees who occupied the area from the 1770 to 1816.  The big part of the Ricks house is on the same style as the little cabin and they are attached together.  The Oaks home was located on the flat plain that lies along north edge of LaGrange Mountain in Colbert County, Alabama.

At The Oaks, Abraham Ricks accumulated some 300 slaves and 10,000 acres of land which was part of the original land grant to Lemuel Sledge.  Abraham Ricks was said to have treated his slaves very well.  Many of the black families of Colbert County are descendants of the slaves and servants of Abraham Ricks; these black families were first listed in the census of 1870.

Mother Church

Abraham Ricks was a member of the Church of Christ which was started by Alexander Campbell; Campbell broke from the Presbyterian Church in 1812 adopting baptism by immersion.  Abraham Ricks wanted his black slaves to go to church and be converted to Christianity; he allowed his slaves to be taught catechisms which were bible verses.  Fannie Johnson Carter was Huston’s grandmother and taught her grandkids bible verses in the same tradition of the catechisms taught to their slave ancestors.

From The Oaks Plantation House, Huston Cobb directed us to the first black church in Alabama.  Sometime around 1825, Abraham Ricks built his slaves a log church about a quarter mile south of his plantation home on the little dirt road that passed just east of the main house.  The church was established as a Church of Christ; the church became known as the “Mother Church” or “Christian Home.”  Huston Cobb’s family was members of the Church of Christ; today, Huston Cobb is an elder in the Westside Church of Christ in Leighton, Alabama.

One of the black slave families of Abraham Ricks that attended the Mother Church was that of George Ricks.  George Ricks was born in 1838 and died on Christmas day, December 25, 1908. Some claim that George Ricks was from Liberia, Africa; however, in 1808 slave trade from Africa was outlawed by the United States.  Therefore, most of “The Oaks” slaves were probably descendants of those who had been in America prior to the stop of African slave trade.

Parson George Ricks was a black slave of Abraham Ricks; he was the first preacher at the Mother Church and helped set up other black Churches of Christ in the area.   During George’s time, all black preachers were called parson.

Today, the third church building is still standing at the site of the original church. Huston’s wife Sadie Long Cobb went to school in the second building that was on the site.  Material from the second church was used in the construction of the third building and included the original pews of the second church.  The first church was a log building which was built about 1825.  The second building was used until 1937 when it was replaced in 1940 with the building that is at the site today.  The second building was torn down and replaced with a block building. Arthur Graves paid for putting the roof on the church that stands today.

Fred Ricks, Parson George’s grandson, carried on preaching at the Mother Church and later moved to Leighton, Alabama, some 10 miles from The Oaks.  All the black churches in the area would go to the old original church one Sunday per year to have service.

Several years ago, the great, great, granddaughter of Parson George, Lois Long died some two years ago in her 70’s; prior to her death, she and her husband revived the weekly services at the original church.  Grant Ricks, Parson George’s grandson, was the father of Nellie Mae Ricks Long who was Lois Long’s mother; Nellie Mae Ricks married Isaac Long who had land on the Jackson Highway in Sheffield, Alabama.

After a short stop at the Mother Church, we went to the black cemetery that was located just west of the church.  Parson George bought 320 acres of land around the church and gave one half acre for the graveyard.  The majority of the deceased black folks buried in the cemetery are the descendants of Abraham Ricks’ slaves.

Abe Sledge Home

As we were making the tour of the old black landmarks in northeast Colbert County, Huston Cobb showed us the home of Abe Sledge, who was a direct descendant of the slaves of The Oaks; Abraham Ricks owned Abe Sledge’s ancestors.  Abe’s old home appears to be in good shape and looks to be occupied today. 

Abe Sledge’s grandmother was Emma Ricks Sledge; she was known as Momma Emma and was the cook for the plantation.  Momma Emma was born on November 7, 1866, and died on May 7, 1954.  In 1930 the government interviewed Momma Emma by workers of  the Library of Congress.  Emma Sledge was a midwife that delivered both black and white babies.

Abe was born on The Oaks Plantation; Abe was born in the house where he died.  Abe Sledge was a black man; the Miles brothers repaired his old house which is located between The Oaks and the original black Mother Church.  The Sledge name came from a white family by the same name; Lemuel Sledge, a white man, owned half a section of land in the area.

LaGrange Mountain Cemetery

Within a few miles southeast of The Oaks, Huston Cobb directed us to the LaGrange Mountain Cemetery where Abraham Ricks, Sr. was buried in December 1852; LaGrange is a French word that means “The Place.”  By far, the largest monument in the cemetery is that of Abraham Ricks, Sr.; he was the owner of The Oaks Plantation.  It took 16 yokes of oxen three days to transport the Italian marble from the river to the top of LaGrange Mountain to construct Ricks’ tombstone and monument.

The mountaintop cemetery was just south of LaGrange College which opened on January 11, 1830, with two three story brick buildings.  On January 19, 1830, LaGrange College became the first educational institution issued a charter by the Alabama Legislature with Reverend Robert Paine as the first president.  In 1830, Turner Saunders was elected the first President of the Board of Trustees; a Cherokee and Choctaw served on the board with John Coffee, who surveyed the Indian lands taken in the Turkey Town Treaty of September 1816.  Turner Saunders mansion, which was supposedly designed by President Thomas Jefferson, still stands in Lawrence County just one mile east of Doublehead’s Trace or present-day Highway 101.  LaGrange College was burned by the Union forces of General Grenville M. Dodge on April 28, 1863. 

Turner Saunders’ son was James Edmonds Saunders; James was a owner of black slaves and was said to have chains and shackles in his basement.  The Saunders, Goode, Hall Mansion is just one mile east of Highway 101 in Lawrence County, Alabama.  According to the 1850 slave census, James Edmonds Saunders owned 41 black slaves; by 1860, James Edmonds Saunders owned 145 black slaves.

This story will also be CONTINUED; stay in touch with my blog on the black, Indian, and plantation history in our area as it unfolds in my new book and on my blogs.  Mr. Houston Cobb, Jr.’s story will be included in my new book which will be called “Black Folk Tales of Appalachia: Slavery to Survival.”

Preuit Family Farm

Preuit Family Farm

Charlie Pointer’s father and older brothers were the black farm hands on the Lamar Cartwright place on the West Fork of Flint Creek near Five Points Community; in the late 1920’s, Jackson moved his family to the Clebe Preuit farm when Charlie was about six years old.  The Preuit Family originally came to America from Scotland in 1687 and first settled in Virginia.  The Preuits were connected through intermarriage to the Cartwright Family; two of Clebe Preuit’s sisters married two Cartwright boys.  The black Pointer Family moved from the Cartwright place to a little frame house on located in the northeast corner of Lawrence County Highway 212 and Lawrence County Highway 211 on the old Preuit Farm. 

The little plank home that the Jackson Pointer Family moved in was located on an old Indian trail known as the Coosa Path or Muscle Shoals Path.  The Indian path came from Chickasaw Island just east of Ditto’s Landing south of Huntsville, Alabama.  The route passed through Hartselle, then Danville, to Oakville, then Moulton, and to Tuscumbia Landing in Colbert County circumventing the rough and rugged rapids of the Tennessee River.  The Indian path passed south of the Elk River Shoals, Big Muscle Shoals, and Little Muscle Shoals; this particular section of the Tennessee River was very dangerous and treacherous to boat travel. Today, the portion of the Indian trail that passes the Prueit home place is Lawrence County Highway 211.

When Charlie was a little boy, his father Jackson Pointer and his brothers started doing farm work for Patrick Cleburn (Clebe) Preuit.  The parents of Clebe were John William Preuit who was born on August 8, 1834, and died August 19, 1923, and Martha E. McDaniel Preuit who was born on August 13, 1839, and died September 20, 1907.  Martha was the daughter of P. A. McDaniel and Ann Leeper; according to the 1860 slave census of Lawrence County, Alabama, P. A McDaniel owned 67 slaves.  Many of the black folks in Lawrence County, Alabama, by the name of McDaniel are probably the descendants of the slaves of the white McDaniel Family.

John William and Martha McDaniel Preuit had ten children born in Lawrence County, Alabama: Cora Ann Preuit, born January 29, 1859, and married Peter Edward Cartwright on January 1, 1879; Travis Lamar Preuit, born September 14, 1860, and died single on December 29, 1892; Vashti A. A. Preuit, born May 11, 1862, and died on October 26, 1867; Thelma Blanche Preuit, born January 10, 1865, and married Dr. Oscar Bradley Cartwright; Sallie Octavia Preuit, born September 15, 1868, and married first to R. T. Burleson and second time to S. R. Martin; John William Preuit, Jr. died in infancy; Patrick Cleburn (Clebe) Preuit, born January 20, 1871; Brent Elmo Preuit, born January 30, 1873, and married first Maud Bracking and second time to Elizabeth Brown; Jacob Jackson Preuit, born December 6, 1875; and Minnie Preuit, born October 11, 1878, and married Thomas Durrett Simms.

John William Preuit was listed in the 1850 census slave schedules as having 22 black slaves and his wife Martha Preuit was listed as having 43 black slaves.  Today, my home is on the original site of the John William and Martha Preuit home; John and Martha are buried in the little Preuit Cemetery which is on my property and located behind my house on Highway 211.

John William Preuit inherited the place from his parents William Madison Preuit and Martha Looney who purchased the property from the Robert Price Family in 1825.  William Madison and Martha Looney Preuit lived in the original house that was built prior to 1815 which was before the Indian lands were taken by the Turkey Town Treaty of September 1816.  In all probability, the log cabin built on Cherokee Indian land was the dwelling place of Cherokees who occupied the area until the treaty was ratified by congress in 1817; nearby Oakville was a Cherokee trading village and hosted a number of Indian people in the surrounding area.  Some speculate that Robert Price may have built the house on Cherokee land. 

The original house was a two room log cabin separated by a dogtrot.  After William Madison Preuit and Martha Looney Preuit moved from Madison County to the place in1825, four additional rooms were added to the house which included two upstairs and two behind the original cabin.  In addition, the logs were covered on the outside with plank board siding and ceiling were added to the log rooms. 

Since the Preuits owned some 65 slaves, most of the home construction and remodeling was done by the black servants and farm hands.  The bricks were made by the black slaves owned by the family; brick chimneys were built on both sides of the house.  Brick fireplaces provided heat to the upstairs and downstairs rooms; the fireplace mantles were hand carved by the grandfather of Finis and Walter Bass.  The front yard of the house was also covered with slave made bricks and a picket fence was built around the yard.

During the Civil War on April 29, 1863, Union Colonel Able Streight and some 1,500 Yankee cavalrymen passed by the Preuit place; Streight was chased by Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest with his command of some 500 cavalry soldiers.  This particular Union action through the area was referred to as Streight’s Raid.  Three Union soldiers died on the Preuit Farm during the Civil War, and one is buried in the cemetery behind my house; the Union soldier buried on my property has a marker that reads unknown.  The other two Union soldiers are buried on the Preuit place just west of Highway 212 near the present-day home of Willie Hood; supposedly the Preuit slaves buried the Union soldiers.  Several Rebel and Yankee troops passed along the road that ran by the house, but none of the soldiers harmed the old home.

During the occupation of the home by the Preuit Family, some 35 members of the Preuits were born in the house.  Several generations were born in the house from John William Preuit, the son of William Madison Preuit; Patrick Cleburn Preuit, the son of John William Preuit; John Hodges Preuit, the son of John William Preuit; and Ward Preuit, the son of John Hodges Preuit, was the last member of the family to be born in the house.

In February 1959, the original plank covered log house was torn down after standing about 145 years to make room for a new house which was built on the same location.  John H. Preuit built a new brick house in the early 1960’s; he also built a detached garage made from the slave bricks.  I purchased the home in September 2003.  The John Preuit House that I bought from Ward Preuit’s son, Johnny, was destroyed by a tornado on February 6, 2008.  I rebuilt another house on the same foundation and completed the new home on March 11, 2009; I give most of the slave brick to my sister Diane Thrasher.

Charlie said a mule was one of the primary reasons his family left the Cartwright place and moved to the Preuit Farm.  Jack Pointer, Charlie’s dad, agreed to buy a mule from Billy Jacobs for six dollars; at the time, Jack was making ten cents per hour.  Uncle Mack McDaniel was renting Jack fifteen acres for him to farm with the mule he had purchased from Jacobs.   Uncle Mack had also loaned Jack the gear and plow to make a crop; however, Jack was only able to come up with four dollars to pay on the mule, and Billy Jacobs came to take the mule. 

Clebe Preuit found out that Jacobs was going to take the mule away from Jack.  Clebe told Jacobs not to take the mule; Clebe would not rent Billy Jacobs the farm field which contained some 400 acres if he repossessed the mule.  After some negotiations, Clebe paid the remaining two dollars so that Jack could keep his mule.  Clebe knew that Jack was a hard worker and wanted his help on the Preuit Farm.  Jack Pointer agreed to move to the Preuit place but needed a house for his family.  Clebe Preuit told Jack to look at the house where his family could live and use as their own, but the house was too small and had only two rooms.  Therefore, Clebe got Grady Moody to help Jack Pointer cut timber to saw into boards to make an additional room on the house.  With everything worked out agreeable to all parties, Jack, Lucy, and the Pointer children moved to the Clebe Preuit Farm.

 

Charlie Pointer, who is now 89 years old, said, “I also worked for Clebe Preuit and later his son John Preuit.  Clebe told me one day to get in his car that we were going to Moulton.  Mr. Preuit bought me my first pair of shoes and two pair of overalls from Howard Delashaw’s store in Moulton.  Before that day, I went barefooted and wore clothes made from flour or guano (fertilizer) sacks.  The day I went to the store with Mr. Clebe, I was wearing a long sack dress or shirt and did not have any shoes.”

When Charlie was a small boy, he would hear Doctor Price Irwin coming down the road in his horse and buggy to see the sick folks.  Charlie would run open the gates for Doctor Price; Doctor Price would flip Charlie a nickel every time he opened a gate for him.  The nickels that Doctor Price would give Charlie made a lasting memory that he cherishes to this day.  Charlie thought that Doctor Price was one of the best and kindest men he had ever known.  The gesture of kindness to a poor, black, country boy will never be forgotten by Charlie Pointer. 

Clebe Preuit would give Charlie’s daddy Jack and the other farm hands tickets that were good at the four stores at Wren.  Jack Pointer would get in the wagon pulled by a pair of mules and go to Wren and swap the tickets for lard, meal, flour, and other food items.  The ticket that Jackson carried to the store was a piece of metal about the size of a dollar bill; Wren store owners, like Will Willis would stamp the metal ticket.  Jack Pointer would sometimes buy two sides of hog meat to eat; he would also get enough corn and cotton seed to make the next crop on the Clebe Prueit Farm.  Jackson and his sons made the crops for the Preuit Family each year; after Jackson got too old to make the crop, Charlie continued making a crop for the Preuit Family.

Clebe Preuit was born on January 20, 1871, and died on June 7, 1932, and his wife Sallie Hodges was born on April 9, 1875, and died on May 7, 1911.  Sallie was a member of the Hodges Family of Oakville Community; her father was Doctor John Hodges.  According to the 1820 Census of Lawrence County, Alabama, Fleming Hodges, Sr. of Oakville owned 26 black slaves.  The Hodges Family was some of the wealthy slave owning white folks of the Oakville area; Fleming Hodges Family members are buried in large stone crypts on top of the Copena Indian burial mound at the Oakville Indian Mounds Park.  William Hodges, who is buried on the mound, married Sarah Walker.  I believe that William Hodges was the son of Fleming Hodges, Sr. and brother to Fleming Hodges, Jr.  According to the 1850 Census of Lawrence County, Alabama, Fleming Hodges, Jr. was 34 years and born in Alabama; his wife Margaret, age 28; William, age 10; Thomas P., age 7; James F., age 5; Alis, female, age 3; and, Margaret, age 1.

When Charlie was only eight years old Mr. Clebe Preuit died.  As long a Charlie is alive and has a good mind, he will never forget the first store bought clothes that Mr. Clebe Preuit bought for him.  After Clebe’s death, Charlie and his family worked for his son John Hodges Preuit. 

Charlie told me that he grew to manhood on the Preuit Farm. For many years, Charlie made a crop for John H. Prueit until he died.  Charlie said, “If John Preuit told you something, he would do it; it was as good as money in the bank.  I was at their home when both Mr. Clebe and Mr. John Preuit died.”  Charlie said, “I wound up living on the Preuit Farm and making crops for John Preuit for some 50 years.”

In the driest time of each year, Charlie said, “They would let me down with ropes about 50 feet into the dug well to clean it out.  Every time I went into that well, I had to kill snakes that lived in there before I could start work.   After we started cleaning out the well, muddy water would run out of a spring some 200 yards west of the John Prueit House.  We would put something in the well and it would come out in that spring.”  Today, the old Preuit Family well that Charlie Pointer cleaned out each year is still in my back yard some 20 feet from my back porch.  The spring that Charlie referred to is about 20 yards from my west property line.

Each year, John Preuit would go to Florida where he owned 160 acres and bring back a truck load of apples, oranges, and pecans every Christmas; he would give the Jackson Pointer family all the fruit and pecans that they wanted.  Ward Prueit, the son of John Prueit, eventually sold the farm in Florida.

After Mr. John Preuit died, Charlie Pointer began doing farm work for Tass Jacobs; after Mr. Jacobs died, Charlie worked for Ms. Willie Jacobs for ten years.  Ms. Willie gave Charlie cash money to pay for his one acre of land where he now lives.  Charlie worked for Ms. Willie Jacobs for fifty cents per day tending the cows and taking care of the farm work; initially, Ms. Willie told Charlie that he had to pay her a dime before she would let him work for her.  Ms. Willie Jacobs told Charlie that the dime was a paid contract that he would not be late for work and would do the work that she wanted completed.  Charlie said that Ms. Willie kept that dime for many years; occasionally, Willie showed Charlie the dime as a reminder of their work agreement.

Charlie would get off work on Saturday and Sunday; on Saturday morning, he would work in his garden and do the things around his house.  On Saturday afternoon, Charlie would sometimes take his kids fishing to the Beaver Pond just north of Highway 36 or to the Oakville Pond. Charlie also planted and worked the garden for Ms. Willie; he had nothing but praise for his former employer, Ms. Willie Jacobs.

Be sure to follow my blog and learn about the plantation owners, slaves, and the survivors of slavery.  This part of Charlie life and other stories will be a part of my book, “Black Folk Tales of Appalachia: Slavery to Survival!”  

Stanley and Jarman Mixed Families

Stanley Family

Huston Cobb’s brother Ernest Cobb married Helen Stanley who was the great, great, granddaughter of former slave Lila Vinson King; Helen was the daughter of O. C. Stanley and Elsie King.  Helen Stanley had a brother Henry Stanley; Henry married Helen Garrett and they had a son that is Doctor Wayne Stanley.  

The white Stanley Family came into the area during the 1818 federal sales of Indian lands taken by government in September 1816 by the Turkey Town Treaty.  By the time of the 1820 Census of Lawrence County, Alabama, Syrus Stanley is the listed as having five black slaves; his family consists of one white male over 21 years of age, three white males under 21 years of age, one female over 21 years of age, four females under 21 years of age, and five black slaves. 

In the 1830 Census of Lawrence County, Alabama, Henry Stanley is listed as one white male between 50 and 60, one white male between 20 and 30, one white male between 10 and 15, two white males under 5, one white female between 20 and 30, and one white female under five.  Also in 1830, Nathaniel Stanley was listed between 40 and 50, one white male between 20 and 30, one white male between15 to 20, one white male between 10 to 15, two white males between 5 to 10, and one white male under 5.  Also three white females were listed in Nathaniel family with one between 40 to 50, one between 20 to 30, and one 10 to 15.

The white Stanley Family was owners of black slaves; according to the 1850 slave census of Lawrence County, Andrew Stanley had six slaves, Joseph Stanley had 55 slaves, and Edward Stanley had 34 slaves.  By the 1860 census, Andrew Stanley owned 11 black slaves and J. H. and E. R. Stanley owned 42 slaves.  Many of the black folks who were descendants of the white Stanley slaves took Stanley as their last name.

According to the 1850 census, Joseph H. Stanley was from North Carolina and was 38 years old.  His wife was Mariah L. who was age 30 and from Virginia; Joseph H., Jr., age 10, born in Alabama; Thomas E., age 5, born in Alabama.  Also living with the family was Hannah Kemper, age 17, born in Alabama, and John Green was age 70 from North Carolina; John was probably the father of Mariah.

Edward R. Stanley is listed in 1850 as being age 26 and born in Alabama; Mary J., age 26, born in Virginia; Mary J., Jr., age 4, born in Alabama; and, Margaret Hill, age 70, born in Virginia.  Margaret Hill was probably the grandmother to either Edward or Margaret; Edward and Joseph were probably brothers.

Obviously, the Stanley Family along with several other wealthy white slave owners came from North Carolina and Virginia to the Tennessee Valley after the lands were taken from the Cherokee and Chickasaw Indian people in September 1816.  These white families bought the fertile lands near the Tennessee River for their cotton farming activities; through the blood, sweat, and tears of their black slaves, the early white Appalachian settlers passed their wealth and power to their white descendants. 

Today, Doctor Wayne Stanley is known as one of the best medical doctors in the northwest Alabama area.  Dr. Stanley’s Grandmother Elsie King was a descendant of black slaves and white slave owners; she was half white and half black.  She was thought to be the daughter of one of the white King Family slave owners; the Kings owned some 220 black slaves.

On the other hand, the descendants of the slaves had to struggle for survival nearly 100 years after the end of the Civil War before the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960’s put black folks on a more level status with the white families.  Even after the Civil War, black women were many times subjected to the advances of wealthy and powerful white men who had children by their black house maids; such was the case with the black King Family females.  

Dr. Wayne Stanley is one of the descendants of the former slaves of the white Stanley Family and the white King Family.  His grandmother Elsie King Stanley was the mulatto daughter of Lou Bell (Momma Bell) King and granddaughter of Lila Vinson King.  Today, Dr. Wayne Stanley has a beautiful hilltop mansion with a big metal gate at the entrance of his drive just south of Second Street.  His huge spacious home sits on a hill with a magnificent view of the former land that his ancestors worked as slaves.   

Jarman Plantation

During our tour of his ancestral land in northeastern Colbert County, Huston Cobb, Jr. guided us to the Jarman Plantation House that had several black slaves.  Huston’s brother Leo Cobb married Nazarene Jarman who is a descendant of the former slave Lila Vinson King.  Nazarene was born on Jarman Lane and was one of 12 siblings; she was a descendant of the white King Family and the white Jarman Family slaves.  Two of Nazarene’s aunts married descendants of the mixed blood black and white Spangler and Mullins Family.

The Jarman Plantation was owned by Amos Jarman who was born on November 13, 1789, and he died on December 14, 1861; his wife was Mary who was born in1790.  The original plantation house is still standing just one mile north of Second Street in Colbert County, Alabama.  The home is a beautiful brick house that is on the flat plain between the River Road and Second Street.

According to the 1860 Census of Lawrence County, Alabama, Amos Jarmon was 70 years old and a planter from North Carolina.  In his household at the time, Mary was listed as 70 years old from North Carolina; George W. was a 32 year old teacher born in Alabama; and Neppie was a 30 year old female from Tennessee.  In the 1850 census, Amos and Mary were listed as 60 years old; living in the house with them was James C. Vincent, age 32 from Virginia, and William H. Jarman, age 26 from Alabama, and D.F. who was a 23 year old male. According to the 1850 Census of Lawrence County, Alabama, Amos Jarman owned 50 black slaves.

Amos Jarman’s household was listed next to Samuel O. Eggleston from Virginia who was 53 in 1850 and owned 48 black slaves.   Houston’s great grandfather was Shirley Eggleston who was probably a descendant of the Samuel O. Eggleston’s slaves.  The black man Shirley Eggleston had a brother named Houston Eggleston; Houston may have been the namesake of Houston Cobb, Sr. and Huston Cobb, Jr.

The Amos Jarman place was a landmark in Huston Cobb’s lifetime and was located in the area that he called home; many of Huston’s black neighbors were probably descendants of the Jarman slaves.  According to Huston, the Jarman family eventually moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and began making Jarman Shoes.  Jarman Shoes eventually merged with another company and the Jarman Shoe line is no longer available.

Jarman Lane is south of Second Street and the Jarmon Plantation Home; the lane is a blacktopped county highway that ends to the west on the County Line Road.  Jarman Lane is where some of the slave descendants of Amos Jarman live today.  Probably many of the black folks in the area of present-day northeastern Colbert County, Alabama, are descendants of the Jarman Plantation slaves.

This story will also be CONTINUED; stay in touch with my blog on the black, Indian, and plantation history in our area as it unfolds in my new book and on my blogs.  Mr. Houston Cobb, Jr.’s story will be included in my new book which will be called “Black Folk Tales of Appalachia: Slavery to Survival.”