Anderson County Tennessee Genealogy & History https://tngenweb.org/andersoncounty a TNGenWeb Project affiliate site Sat, 27 Jul 2024 19:32:39 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Freels Cabin https://tngenweb.org/andersoncounty/2024/07/freels-cabin/ Sat, 27 Jul 2024 19:32:39 +0000 https://tngenweb.org/andersoncounty/?p=5435 Continue Reading →]]> Freels Cabin
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991
Freels Cabin is located on a rise overlooking the Clinch Riverit is among the earliestcabins built in Anderson County.
Edward Freels arrived in Tennessee with his family in the late 1790s.
Coming from North Carolina the Freel’s family became some of
the earliest European settlers in Anderson County.
Roadmaps from 1801 and 1807 show that the Freels had purchased several
hundred acres around the Clinch River.
Freels Cabin is located on a rise overlooking the Clinch River. It is among the earliest cabins built in Anderson County. This cabin is one of only two that I know of, that are still standing in the county. The other log cabin is over by Bull Run Steam Plant located on private property. Freels Bend Cabin was built by Edward Freels and is composed of two log rooms with a chimney in between them. These simple log rooms are called ‘pens’ by Preservationists.
Edward Freels arrived in Tennessee with his family in the late 1790s. Coming from North Carolina, his family became some of the earliest European settlers in Anderson County. They arrived in the 1790s but didn’t construct the first pen of the cabin until around c. 1810.
The cabin’s exterior and interior appearance generally reflect the period of use, with concrete daubing (between the timbers) and wraparound porch added during the 1940s.
Roadwork maps from 1801 and 1807 indicate that the Freels had purchased several hundred acres around the Clinch River. I want to point out that when the cabin was built (c 1810), the level of the Clinch River level wasn’t as hich and wasn’t as stable. TVA didn’t build the dams, stabilizing the water flow, until 100 years later. “God willinc and the Creeks don’t Rise!”
All of this area would later become known as Freels Bend. The Freels raised corn and cattle on the lands adjacent to the Clinch River. The family expanded the cabin around 1844, by building the second, larcer room (or log pen) to the East side (river side) of the cabin. They added this second room along with a limestone chimney positioned between the two rooms of the cabin, with a fireplace in each room. This simple double-pen log structure is characteristic of early settlement in central and eastern Tennessee durinc the early years of the formation of the state.
The exact sale date is unknown, but the majority of the Freels’ land, including the cabin was sold to Howard Van Gilder, Sr., during the early twentieth century. In 1942, the federal government acquired the house and 813 acres of land for the development of ORNL. Freels Bend was just one of many similar properties acquired by the War Department at the time. Approximately 59,000 acres located between the Clinch River and Black Oak Ridge were targeted for the construction of one of three federal research facilities dedicated to the development of the atomic bomb. In less than three years, a collection of small, rural farming communities was transformed into one of the largest industrial complexes in the world. Most of the pre-existing structures were demolished, although a number of buildings remained in use as housinc or as other facilities for project employees and their families. Freels Cabin was one such building, repurposed as a picnic and recreational area.
 Although the Freels family
arrived in the 1790s, they
didn’t start building their
cabin until around 1810.
Building a cabin from
scratch, by hand, was a
huge amount of work.
Remember every bit of
work was done by hand.
The following videos demonstrate the techniques that the pioneers used to construct the early cabins..

Bethel Valley
1998 Interviews

Life Back Then

  • Maude Lane
  • S.E. Coley
  • Dorothy Moneymaker
  • Barbara McCall-Fly
  • Velma Blank
  • Dot Anderson Bushell
Self-sufficient, extremely hard-working, practical, humble, perseverant. They were stronger than we are today, `tougher’, life was really hard, most of the time they had to work from sun-up to sun-down, back then, even the children. They were consequently more realistic about the hardships of life than we are.
Interviewer: What was your favorite thing to do as a kid? Tell me about your childhood around here. What did you do as the child of a farmer?
Unknown: Well, we made our own wagons, and we rode over the hills and climbed trees and swung out of them and fell. I could hold my own with any of those boys.
I could shoot a gun as good as they could. They didn’t bother me, we’ll put it that way. We played in the creek all the time (White Oak Creek). My oldest brother threw me in the Creek one time and told me to sink or swim. I can remember sitting on the bottom of that Creek. I sunk. We just fought and scratched and stayed hidden from Mom so we wouldn’t have to do anything.
Interviewer: Did you feel as though your family’s personality changed as a result of the move?
Miss Lane:  It did.  We didn’t even have electricity until we moved out of the valley.  Our refrigeration was a spring right down over there that comes out from under the hill. It was where we kept our stuff, or a cellar under the house. We could take our milk and butter that we didn’t want to spoil, and mother put it in crocs. I don’t know if you know what a croc is or not, but mother would put it down in that and put a lid on top of it. Set it down in the creek and nobody bothered it. Everybody’s crock was marked, and everybody knew whose, was whose, and nobody bothered it. That was one thing you didn’t do was go around bothering other people’s property.
Interviewer: Was the area primarily farms?
Mr. Coley: Yes, it was in fact there was practically nothing but farming then there were a lot of Peach orchards that hired people during the harvest season and that gave us teenagers money to spend that we wouldn’t have had otherwise.
Interviewer: Tell us what farm life was like back in those days, in about 1916?
Mr. Coley: We just farmed, we didn’t have tractors and things like we do now. We had teams of mules and stuff like that too, and we went out that they hope to clean the weeds out of the gardens and cornfields.
In places we mowed our hay with a mowing machine and raked it with the mules and everything.
We just had a good farm living, we grew a lot of what we ate, and everything you know we’d save. We’d have a wheat crop and stuff like that, and we’d sell stuff it to buy the staples that we would need for the year.
You know, we had to get up early in the morning and when we were in school, we’d have to go out and milk about two cows before we went to school. Carry up water to the house for Mama. We just worked from daylight maybe until the sun went down on the farm.
Interviewer: Did people go to big towns like Knoxville a lot back then?
Mr. Coley: Oh yes, if you wanted to go and buy fine clothes you had to go to Knoxville. There were a few horses a few people rode horseback or had a horse buggy. Many of the people walked. I’m 83 years old, (in 1998, so born in 1915). So that was a long time ago back then.
Mr. Coley: I want to tell you something I remember as I was growing up. At a certain time of year, and I guess it was the fall of the year, but I’m not for sure about that, they would have a drive of animals to the Knoxville Market. Most of the time it was cattle they would start, I don’t know where they started, but any farmer that was along the way added to it and they went up with them.
My daddy would point it out to me and show me the way that they would go. One person from each farm went with their group of animals and they would walk the trail up by our house to Knoxville.
Ruby Shanks lived there for a few years in the 1940s, when she was a teenager. Shanks said she and her parents, and four siblings lived in the cabin for about two years starting in October 1941. They had no running water, fished in the Clinch River, and raised cattle and horses. The children trekked a long distance, all the way from Freels Bend to where a stoplight is now located at Y-72 National Security Complex, to catch their school bus. Her father was a farmer and miner who worked for Roane-Anderson Company during World War II. She recalled plucking chickens for 50 cents an hour.
This information was provided from a presentation by Elizabeth Krispin to the Anderson County Historical Society, and has been posted by permission of the author.
Elizabeth Ann Krispin
Oak Ridge National Laboratories

 

 

]]> Lake City Air Force Station https://tngenweb.org/andersoncounty/2020/02/lake-city-air-force-station/ Wed, 05 Feb 2020 17:01:14 +0000 https://tngenweb.org/andersoncounty/?p=5411 Continue Reading →]]> Originally designed as Cross Mountain Air Force Station, Lake City AFS was one of twenty-eight stations built as part of the second segment of the permanent Air Defense Command network. Prompted by the start of the Korean War, on 11 July 1950, the Secretary of the Air Force asked the Secretary of Defense for approval to expedite construction of the second segment of the permanent network. Receiving the Defense Secretary’s approval on 21 July, the Air Force directed the Corps of Engineers to proceed with construction.

The 663d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron began operations at a temporary “Lashup” site L-47 located at McGhee Tyson Airport, near Knoxville, TN on 1 January 1951. It later moved to a Tennessee National Guard Armory in nearby Maryville, Tennessee in November 1951.

With construction at Cross Mountain AFS finishing in March 1952, the 663d AC&W Squadron began operating a pair of AN/CPS-6B and AN/FPS-10 radars from the permanent site, allowing for the deactivation of L-47 at Maryville. The station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and warning station. As a GCI station, the squadron’s role was to guide interceptor aircraft toward unidentified intruders picked up on the unit’s radar scopes. The station was re-designated as Lake City AFS, TN, on 1 December 1953. An AN/FPS-6 height-finder radar was added in 1958. One AN/FPS-10 was removed in 1959.

Wikipedia

The following photos are courtesy of Raymond A. Rochat, former apprentice building LCAFS.

]]> Oak Ridge – 1949 https://tngenweb.org/andersoncounty/2020/02/oak-ridge-1949/ Wed, 05 Feb 2020 16:33:33 +0000 https://tngenweb.org/andersoncounty/?p=5362 Continue Reading →]]> Amateur photographs from the Oak Ridge Opening Day Celebration, March 19, 1949, when the residential and commercial portion of Oak Ridge, known as the “townsite,” was opened to public access. (from the album of a deceased relative who lived and worked in Oak Ridge in the early days.)  Photographs courtesy of Amy Beth Sexton.

  • Opening Crowd
    Opening Crowd
  • Movie Star, Adele Jergens
  • Cowboy Movie Star, Rod Cameron
  • Jack Bailey “Queen For A Day”,
  • Movie Star & Pinup Girl, Marie McDonald
]]> Descendants of Richard Ashlock https://tngenweb.org/andersoncounty/2017/05/descendants-of-richard-ashlock-2/ Sat, 06 May 2017 13:08:33 +0000 http://tngenweb.org/anderson/?p=4311
Descendants of Richard Ashlock

]]> Thomas ASHER https://tngenweb.org/andersoncounty/2015/09/thomas-asher/ Mon, 07 Sep 2015 12:44:44 +0000 http://tngenweb.org/anderson/?p=4274 Continue Reading →]]> Thomas ASHER was the one who decided to pull up his roots and “go west”. Thomas was born between 1785 and 1795 in Tennessee. Some researchers believe his father was Robertson ASHER who is listed on the Washington County TN tax list for 1791 & 1793. On his application for Bounty Land Claim, filed in DeWitt County Texas on 19 July 1855, Thomas states that he married Mary McGEE in Anderson County TN in May 1817. Also on the application Thomas ASHER states he served as a pvt and as a substitue for Walton/Walter TAYLOR. He was mustered into service 19 Sept 1814 at Knoxville, TN. in Capt. James TUNNELL’S Co., Reg’t East Tennessee Militia commanded by Col. Wm. JOHNSON. His term of service expired 4 May 1815. In his application for bounty land he names the following as being members of the same militia unit: RICE-Adjutant General; James C. McGEE-major; McADOO-1st Lieutenant. Other enlisted men: Michael ASHER; David LANDRUM; James BLACKBURN; Andrew EDGEN; George GARNER; John SEXTON; Wm. SEXTON and _____ PATTON. By 1820 Thomas ASHER had moved to Bond County, Illinois and he married his second wife, Sally SWANSON in Greene Co. Illinois on 5 Dec 1822. In Shelby Co. Texas, Republic of Texas, on 22 Feb 1838, Thomas ASHER made an application for bounty land as “an immigrant of the year 1832.” He was granted a league and labor of land in Travis Co. TX in 1841. By 1846 Thomas had moved to DeWitt County TX and is listed without a wife on the 1850 DeWitt County census. Thomas died 4 July 1885 in Riddleville, Karnes County, Texas. Children: (1st marriage) 1. James ASHER , b. 4 Jan 1818 Tennessee m. Emily WOFFORD; 2. Delaney ASHER b. 1820 Illinois (2nd marriage) 1. Thomas Pleasant ASHER b. 1825 Illinois m. Mrs. Annastasia BROWN TENNELL; 2. Mary Ann ASHER b. 1826 Illinois m. John J. TOMLINSON; 3. Robertson ASHER b. 1828 m. Susan DOWDY; 4. Franklin ASHER b. March 1835 Texas m. Sarah Ann KEYES; 7. Nancy Caroline ASHER b. Feb 1838 Texas m. John Benjamin HAND in 1855; 8. John Henry ASHER b. Oct. 1842 Texas b. 1. Rachel BROWN 2. Nellie BARTER; and 9. Louisa Eliza ASHER b. 12 Apr 1843 Texas m. Thomas CAFFALL note: another ASHER researcher has related that his ancestor Charles ASHER and a brother of Charles, William both served in the War of 1812 from Anderson Co. TN. The Michael ASHER named in Thomas ASHER’S claim application has been traced to Washington Co. Arkansas.

FOLLOWING THE FOOTSTEPS
OF THREE GG GRANDFATHERS

I have been interested in family research for almost 30 years and just this past year I discovered that my husband has THREE gg grandfathers who lived in Anderson County, Tennessee. These three men also served in the same War of 1812 military unit from Anderson County. Two of them can be found on the Scott County Tennessee 1850 Federal Census. One of them had a son who married the other one’s daughter. The third one had wanderlust and left Anderson County for Illinois and then came to Texas when Texas was still a Republic. This third one is the one who made it possible for my husband to be a “Texian” and a registered member of the “First Families of Texas”. I want to share some of my research on these three men.

Submitted by:
Glenn & Patsy Hand
417 Cottonwood St.
Victoria, TX 77904-9623

Information provided by Brenda Foster from original Anderson County GenWeb site.

]]> Andrews Family https://tngenweb.org/andersoncounty/2015/09/andrews-family/ Mon, 07 Sep 2015 12:41:46 +0000 http://tngenweb.org/anderson/?p=4271 Continue Reading →]]> Richard Andrews was born 28 Spet 1805, in Virginia. He was living in Anderson County when he married Martha Ashurst, in 1828. Martha was born 1 Aug 1811, the daughter of John and Milly Ashurst.

Richard and Martha were prominent leaders in the area baptist churches.

CHILDREN

1.  John (Andrew) Jackson Andrews, born 1829.
    Married Amanda Clark in 1849, And Co Tn.
2.  Sarah C Andrews, born 1831.
3.  Milly J Andrews, born 1833.
4.  Nancy A Andrews, born 1834.
    Married Elisha Disney, Jr., 6 July 1856.
5.  Permella E Andrews, born 1837.
    Married Samuel Disney, 14 Sept 1856.
6.  Robert Andrews, born 1839.
    Married Serepta Disney, 15 Aug 1858.
7.  Martha M Andrews, born 1841.
8.  Joseph M Andrews, born 1843, died 1905.
    Married Catherine Queener, 5 Jan 1865.
9.  Mary Andrews, born 1845.
10. Rachael Andrews, born 1848.
11. Richard Thomas Andrews, born 1849.
    Married Sara Jane Leach.
12. Wilburn W Andrews, born 1852.
    Married Susan Sharp.

Information provided by Brenda Foster from original Anderson County GenWeb site.

]]> Levi Adkins https://tngenweb.org/andersoncounty/2015/09/levi-adkins/ Mon, 07 Sep 2015 12:39:54 +0000 http://tngenweb.org/anderson/?p=4268 Continue Reading →]]> It is believed that Levi Adkins is the son of Elijah and Nancy (Hunter) Adkins. Levi Adkins married Elizabeth George, 22 July 1813 in Knox Co, Tn. They moved to Anderson Co and had these children:

Calvin b. 1814, m. Ellen Mitchell
Elijah b. 1816, m. Matilda Rutherford
Edith b. 1817, m. Donald Hankins
Nancy b. 1819, m. Joseph Sharp
Mary Martha b. 1822, m. Wm C Carnes
Travis b. 1824, m. (1)Lucy Rutherford, (2) Hannah Hibbs
Joseph b. 1826, m. Nancy Brogan
Parnick b. 1828, m. Mary Harmon
Susannah b. 1831, m. George Lawson
ELizabeth b. 1833, m. William W Weaver
Levi Mynatt b. 1838, killed in civil war.

Information provided by Brenda Foster from original Anderson County GenWeb site.

]]> Adkins families https://tngenweb.org/andersoncounty/2015/09/adkins-families/ Mon, 07 Sep 2015 12:38:33 +0000 http://tngenweb.org/anderson/?p=4265 Continue Reading →]]> Here is a skeleton of the Elisha Adkins family

Elisha Adkins
Rebecca (?)

Their children:

1. Elijah Adkins born 1825
Catherine Adkins (mar 1847)

2. Elisha Adkins, jr born 1828
Hannah Bullock (mar 1847)

3. Alvis Adkins born 1829
(1)Mary Bryant (mar 1849)
(2)Creasy Phillips (mar 1881)

4. Richard Adkins born 1833
Eliza Adkins (mar 1854)

5. Lewis Adkins born 1835
Izella Adkins (mar 1854)

6. Rebecca Adkins born 1837
—- Tackett

7. William L Adkins born 1839
(1)Frances Henson (mar 1858)
(2)Mary —

They had other children; at least two girls.

Information provided by Brenda Foster from original Anderson County GenWeb site.

]]> Disney/Dizney Family https://tngenweb.org/andersoncounty/2015/09/disneydizney-family/ Sun, 06 Sep 2015 10:57:15 +0000 http://tngenweb.org/anderson/?p=4260 Continue Reading →]]> Descendants of Elisha Disney, Sr 1 Elisha Disney, Sr b: 1808 ..+Nancy b: Abt 1799 ...2 Serepta Disney ...2 Elijah Disney b: 1822 ......+Kindness Walker b: 1822 ......3 Nancy Disney b: 1843 ......3 Walker Disney b: 1844 ......3 Daniel H Disney b: 1845 ......3 Sarah C Disney b: 1848 ......3 Cynthia Disney b: 1858 ...2 Elizabeth Disney b: Abt 1824 ...2 John Disney b: 1828 ...2 Sarah Warren Disney b: 1829 ......+D J Smith ...2 Samuel Disney b: 27 August 1832 d: 11 February 1909 Buried: in Disney Cem Buried: in Camp Co Tn ......+Permelia Andrews b: 28 June 1838 d: 11 June 1904 Buried: in Disney Cem Buried: in Lake City Campbell Co Tn ......3 Richard Disney b: 1858 ......3 James Disney b: 1860 ...2 Polly Ann Disney b: 1834 ...2 Elisha Disney, jr b: 1839 d: 20 December 1914 Buried: in Old Beech Grove Buried: in And Co Tn ......+Nancy Andrews b: 1834 ......3 Martha Jane Disney b: 1856 ......3 Richard Jackson Disney b: 1858 ......3 Martin Disney b: 1860 ......3 Sarah Eliza Disney b: 1865 ......3 Kelly Disney b: 05 August 1867 d: 23 March 1927 Buried: in Woodlawn Cem Buried: in Camp Co Tn .........+Sallie Taylor b: 24 July 1873 d: 10 October 1932 Buried: in Woodlawn Cem Buried: in Campbell Co Tn ......3 Samuel Disney b: 1869 ......3 Robert Disney b: 1872 ......3 Catherine Disney b: 1874 ......3 Rachael Disney b: 1876 ...2 Ripley Disney b: 1841

 

This is from my own personal files.
I have info on the Kelly Disney line.
Brenda Foster

Information provided by Brenda Foster from original Anderson County GenWeb site.

]]> 1914-1933 Anderson County Death Index https://tngenweb.org/andersoncounty/2013/10/1914-1933-anderson-county-death-index/ Mon, 14 Oct 2013 19:14:20 +0000 http://tngenweb.org/anderson/?p=4194 Continue Reading →]]> The Tennessee State Library & Archives has compiled a state-wide index to death certificates from 1914-1933. The pages below contain more than 3,900 deaths recorded in Anderson County from 1914-1933.  

Select a letter group to see lists organized by surname.

For more information about the index, please visit the TSLA website.  To access images of the death certificates, you may search FamilySearch for free.  Be aware however, that it is always best to follow-up with the original death certificates for information not captured in the microfilm records.

]]>