Ezell of Davidson County

This is not my line.  This is information that I have gathered on the Ezell family over the years. I am passing the information on in hope of helping someone else. I posted some of this info to rootsweb message boards in 2003 - http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.ezell/458/mb.ashx
See Davidson County Chancery Court Loose Records, File # 1100 and  - From deposition of James Hamiton, Mar 21, 1857, Chancery Case # 1100, Peyton Watson vs. James Hamilton. Susan Ezell, mother of Lafayette is 72 or 73 years of age and in good health.

and Davidson County Chancery Court Loose Records, File # 234 Schulter, Pigg & Others vs. T. Wright & Others

On the 3rd day of April 1849, Susannah Ezell, aged about 67 years and Minerva E. Marshall aged about 33 years, deposed in the house of Joseph Marshall in Rutherford Co., TN. 

Davidson County Will Book 11, page 378
The will of Jeremiah Ezell was written January 8, 1834 and filed in Will Book 11, page 378 in Davidson County, TN. The original will is on file at Metro Archives, written and signed by Jeremiah Ezell.

He gives to his wife Susanna Ezell the land and plantation "whereon I now live in Davidson County Mill Creek Tennesee".

Also names "oldest son Collattinus C. Ezell",
"Doct. Lafayette Ezell 2nd son",
"3rd son Uberto Desaix Ezell",
"daughter Minerva E. Marshall",
and "4th son Gregor McGregor Ezell". (The name is definately written as Gregor McGreogor.)



Davidson County Court Minute Book B,
Page 309, March 5, 1838, Jeremiah Ezell – Will – A paper purportinig to be the last will and testament and codicil of Jeremia Ezell dec was produced in court for probate and proved thus.  Robert Buchanan one of the subscribing witnesses says that he became such in the presence of the testator
and at his request and in the presence of Thomas Buchanan the other witness and that he believes that said Jeremiah Ezell was of sound and disposing mind at the time of executing said will and codicil.  Edward H East says he is acquainted with the handwriting of Jeremiah Ezell and believes the body of the will are in the proper writing of Jeremiah Ezell but cannot prove as to the codicil.  JosephVaulx also believes the will is true but cannot prove the codicil.  Henry Hollingsworth says he is acquainted with the handwriting of said Jeremiah Ezell and he believes the handwriting and signatures to the will codicil and memorandum on the back thereof are the handwriting of Jeremiah Ezell.  And Collatinus E Ezell, Alberto D Ezell, Gregor Mc Ezell,  De Lafayette Ezell, Josiah Marshall & Minerva E Marshall his wife heirs and divisees of Jeremiah Ezell dec all being personally present in court asserted to the probate as above.  Ordered that the will, codicil & memorandum be admitted to record as such.  Collatinces Ezell the executor came into court and gave bond in the sum of $3000 with Lafayette Ezell & G M Ezell his securities and qualified according to law.

Page 310, March 5, 1838, Jere Ezell – Comm to divide negroes – Court appoint Thomas S King, Edward H East, Robert Buchanan, Wilfred D Gowan & Willis N Hawkins Commissioners to divide ten slaves among the ;heirs and divisees of Jeremiah Ezell dec and make report to ensuing court.  (See petition filed)

Page 336, June 5, 1838—J Ezell dec—Inventory and account of sales—Said account returned into court by C C Ezell Exec .  Ordered to be recorded.

Page 336, June 5, 1838—J Ezell—Negroes divided—Thomas S King, Edward H East, Wm N Hawkins, Wilfred B Gowers (Gowen ? sp) & Robert Buchanan Comms appointed at March term and to value and allot negroes belonging to the estate of Jeremiah Ezell among his heirs.  Ordered to be recorded.

Notes.
Jeremiah Ezell of Davidson Co., TN had sons Collatinus, Lafayette, Gregor McGregor and Desaix. The latter 3 were all named for men involved in the Napolenic Wars. Collatinus is a figure [a soldier] from ancient Roman history. As Collatinus is the oldest he was born before the end of the Napolean era. It would seem that Jeremiah had an interest in military history.




History of the name Collatinus

166. The rape of Lucretia. Traditionally, Ardea, near Rome, ca. 510 B.C. (Livy, History of Rome 1.57.6-58. Late 1st cent. B.C.-early 1st cent. A.D. L)

http://www.uky.edu/ArtsSciences/Classics/wlgr/wlgr-publiclife166.html
While they were drinking at Sextus Tarquinius' house, where Tarquinius Collatinus, son of Egerius, was also dining, the conversation happened to turn to their wives. Each one praised his own, and the discussion heated up. Collatinus said there was no need for all the talk as only a few hours were needed to prove beyond a doubt that his wife was the most virtuous.
'We are young and strong. Why don't we get on our horses and make a surprise visit. Then we'll see with our own eyes how our wives behave when we're not around.' The wine had got them fired up.

'Let's go!' they cried and flew off towards Rome, which they reached as twilight was falling. There they found the daughters-in-law of the king banqueting with their friends. They continued on to Collatia to check on Lucretia, whom they found, not at dinner like the others, but in the atrium of the house, with only her maidservants, working at her wool by lamplight.

There was no question who won the contest. She greeted her husband and the Tarquins, and the victorious husband graciously invited the others to dine. That was when Sextus Tarquinius became inflamed by lust and became possessed by the idea of raping Lucretia.

A few days later, unbeknownst to Collatinus, Sextus Tarquinius returned to Collatia with a single companion. The household received him warmly, as no one realized why he had come, and after dinner he was shown to the guestroom already seething with passion.

When he was sure everyone in the house was asleep, he went, with his sword drawn, to Lucretia's room, where she was asleep. With his left hand he pinned her to the bed and said, 'Not a sound, Lucretia. It is I, Sextus Tarquinius. I've got a sword in my hand. One sound and you will die.' The terrified woman, awakened like that, was sure she was going to die. Tarquinius confessed his love and tried to persuade her with a combination of entreaties and threats. But when he saw that the fear of death was having no effect, he tried that of dishonour.

He said that next to her dead body he would place the corpse of a slave with his throat cut. That way it would seem that she had been killed in the act of adultery. With such terror his lust triumphed over her tenacious chastity, and then he went away, proud of having blotted the woman's honour.

Lucretia, overwrought by her ordeal, send a messenger to her father in Rome and her husband in Ardea for them to come to her each with one trusted friend and that they should hurry as something terrible had happened. Spurius Lucretius came with Publius Valerius, son of Volesus, while her husband brought Lucius Junius Brutus with whom he happened to be returned to Rome when he met his wife's messenger.

They found Lucretia weeping in her room. 'Are you all right?' asked her husband. 'No', she replied, 'how can anything be all right if a woman has lost her honour? In your bed, Collatinus, you'll find the traces of another man. But only the body was violated, the mind is innocent, as my death shall attest. Promise me that the adulterer will be punished. He is Sextus Tarquinius. Last night, he came an enemy masquerading as a guest and by force of arms took his pleasure. But that pleasure, if you are men, will be death for him as well as for me.'

They all promised and reassured her that she, who had been forced, was not guilty, but only the author of the crime. 'You'll see,' she said, 'what punishment he deserves. As for me, although I absolve myself of guilt, I do not release myself from paying the penalty. From now on, no woman can use the example of Lucretia to live unchaste.' With that she took the dagger she had hidden in her clothes, plunged in into her heart, and fell forward dead. Her husband and father cried out.





History of the name Lafayette

Gilbert du Mottier was just under age two when his father was killed at the Battle of Minden in 1759, during the Seven Years' War, whereupon Little Gilbert became the Marquis de La Fayette. When he was age eleven his mother and grandfather died, leaving Lafayette a very wealthy orphan. While a member of the King's Musketeers, at age 15, the duc d'Aven was so impressed with the boy he made him a lieutenant and arranged for Lafayette to marry his daughter Adrienne. The marriage took place in 1774, when Lafayette was aged sixteen and the bride a year younger, whereupon Lafayette immediately became a captain. Eventually Lafayette and Adrienne had one son and two daughters. Adrienne became one of the most devoted wives in the world, as you will learn later.

After Napoleon defeated the forces of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1797, Lafayette and his wife and daughters were released from prison. Meanwhile, Adrienne's health suffered for years due to her confinement in the dungeon, and on Christmas Eve 1807 she died at age 48, having spent 33 years with her beloved Lafayette. Knowing her devotion, Lafayette promised never to remarry, and he never did. According to her wishes, Adrienne was buried in the little Picpus Cemetery in Paris.

Lafayette died on 20 May 1834 at age 78 and was buried next to his wife in the little Picpus Cemetery in Paris. The soil he had brought back from Bunker Hill Monument was poured over his grave.

http://www.flssar.org/lafayett.html

History of the name  Desaix

Louis Charles Antoine Des Aix de Veygoux (17/08/1768 - 14/06/1800) [Louis Desaix]
Born in Chateau D'Ayat, near Riom, Auvergne. Died on the field of Marengo, Italy. The son of an impoverished noble, he rose to become one of the most respected generals of the Rhin-et-Moselle. Served under both Moreau and Pichegru, and was close friends with General [later Marshal] Gouvion Saint-Cyr. He followed Bonaparte to Egypt with his aides Rapp, Savary, and Clément (along with convincing the young General Bonaparte to take along his protegé, Louis-Nicolas Davout), and led his first solo campaign through upper Eygpt, proving his prowess as an independent commander. Returned to France in May 1800 and joined the second Italian Campaign. Came to the aid of Bonaparte's beleaguered army at Marengo, and charging the Austrian line along with Kellermann fils' cavalry, Victor's infantry and Marmont's artillery, secured the plain and won the battle at the expense of his life.
 
History of the name Minerva

Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom and sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. From the 2nd century BC onwards, the Romans equated her with the Greek goddess Athena.[2] She was the virgin goddess of music, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, and magic.


History of the name Gregor McGregor 

Gregor McGregor Ezell was named for Gregor McGregor, an adventurer who had served in the Napolenic wars and Simon Bolivar's revolution in Venezuela. In 1817 he led an army of adventurers and captured Fernandina Island without firing a shot. Gregor McGregor intended to take all of Florida from Spain, but failed to gain aid from the US government. He held the island for three months flying the Green Cross of Florida Flag. He then left his Lietenants in charge of the island, which was taken by the pirate Luis Aury. Aury raised the flag of the Republic of Mexico over the island. The pirates used the island to move slaves over the Georgia line before the US Naval squandron put an end to their reign.


http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/pageload.cgi?ubert::ezell::2955.html
A biography of Ubert D. Ezell, M.D. Transcribed by Jane Riggs Curci July 3, 2014
from - http://books.google.com/books?id=JvAxAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=113&f=false



Page 440 UBERT D. EZELL, M.D. A physician and surgeon whose capable work has made him known over an extensive region of western Texas, chiefly Johnson and Bosque counties, Dr. Ezell represents a family of physicians and is now an honored resident of Cleburne. He was born in Austin, Texas, January 5, 1867. He is of French ancestry. His great grandfather, Jeremiah Ezell was born in France (not accurate), and founded the name in this country. The grandfather of Dr. Ezell of Cleburne, was Doctor Ubert Ezell, who was born in Davidson County, Tennessee December 8, 1809, He graduated in medicine at New Orleans in the institution that became Tulane University. He practiced Medicine at Nashville until 1861, when he came to Texas and joined his son at Austin and died there in 1871. Dr. Ubert Ezell married Isabella Marshall, who was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee, September 9, 1811, and died in Austin about 1900. They reared eight children, four of whom are still living: John who was a Confederate soldier, has been a contractor and carpenter in business and is still living in Austin; Mary Culistine, wife of Pike McFarland of San Antnio; and David of Amarillo, Texas.

The father of the Cleburne physician was Coriolanus Ezell, who as born abut five miles northeast of Nashville, Tennessee, but in early childhood the family moved to Nashville where he grew up and served in an old time apprenticeship to the trade of wheelwright. That trade he made his lifelong occupation. In 1849 he started for Texas, coming from Nashville, and he and his wife spent several months in Arkansas on the way and thence proceeded on horseback in company with a friend. When they reached Indian Territory the friend decided to return home and the Ezells went on alone. They came in contact with the Comanche Indians, but found them friendly and considerate. At San Antonio Coriolanus Ezell was employed at his trade for about five years, and then settled permanently at Austin. At Austin he made a specialty of baby buggies, and probably made the

page 440. first of these vehicles in the state. This he found more profitable than making horse vehicles. He was still active in his work when he died in November, 1871, at the age of forty-nine. His life was spent quietly and without the honors of public office, though he saw some service as a Confederate soldier under Captain Carrington on the border. Most of his fighting was with Mexicans and outlaws, and he was in the state all the time except one incursion into Louisiana, where his command came in contact with Federal troops. He was very industrious, thought little of affairs other than his own and his family and their spiritual welfare, was devout, a close reader of Scriptures, and his old Bible is a prized possession of Ezell.

Coriolanus Ezell married Martha Robinson, who was born in LaClede County, Missouri, February 27, 1850, her parents being natives of Tennessee. By her first marriage her two children were Dr. U. D. and Mary Culistine, who died at Amarillo, the wife of Ed Orbison, leaving a son, Curtis Orbinson. Martha Ezell married for her second husband, M. B. Pogue, and the eight daughters and son of that union now live at different points in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arizona. Mrs. Marth Pogue died March 18, 1917, at Cleburne. Her mother was a Hardeman, a cousin of Tine Gotch and Dr. Black Hardeman, old time and prominent Texans, after one of whom a county of the state was named.

In December, 1871, Mrs. Coriolanus Ezell moved to Bosque County to be near her people. Ubert D. Ezell was then four years of age and he grew up on the Ezell farm and attended a little country school house on his mother's land. At the age of seventeen he graduated from Add-Ran College at Thorp Spring. This was followed by an experience of two summers and one winter on the range as cowboy, an occupation that gave him the money to pursue his medical education. He was employed by the Kit Carter Cattle Company, the headquarters of which were in Palo Pinto County, but his work as a range man covered a wide extent of the plains Dr. Ezell entered Tulane University Medical School, where his grandfather had finished his course. He graduated June 3, 1889, and had previously practiced to some extent on a district certificate. he began his real career as a physician and surgeon at Kimball in Bosque County, and continued the arduous work of his calling there thirty-four years. On leaving Kimball he removed to Cleburne. During his residence in Bosque County he carried on in connection with his professional duties stock farming, and was a successful breeder and handler of registered saddle horses of the Blue Bull and later the Hall strain. Dr. Ezell never participated in county politics, but has always voted as a democrat.

At Kimball, July 1, 1890, Dr. Ezell married Miss Ada James, who was born in Meridian, Texas, daughter of John and Ara (Bateman) James, her father a native of Missouri and her mother of Tennessee. Mrs. Ezell's grandfather was a physician. Of the three children in the James familyh the oldest was Fred James, now deceased; Mrs. Ezell is the secnd, and her sister Annie is Mrs. Jo Boggs of Cleburne.

Of the four children of Dr. and Mrs. Ezell the oldest is Dr. Coriolanus V. who graduated from the Cleburne High School, is a medical graduate of Vanderbilt University, and is now actively associated in practice with his fathr at Cleburne. He married Catherine Winstead. The second of tghe family is Leslie Muton, a resident of Cleburne, and formerly connected with the Santa Fe Railway Company. The two younger children are Marcileta, who finished her education in the Meridian High School, and James Marshall.

Ernest G. Oeser, III

 Several years ago I wrote this letter to my brother.  His health was not good and I wanted to say how much I loved him while he was around to know.  He called me the day he got my letter and told me he loved me and thanked me for sending the letter.  Last year, June 18, 2013, my brother died.  I slipped a copy of the letter inside his jacket, just over his heart, on the day that he was buried.  He was a good man, a good husband and a good father.  He often talked about his faith, his love for Jesus and his belief in prayer.  He married his wife Geneva in 1965 and took her sons, Steve and Paul, as his own.  In 1969 a third son, George, was born.  He loved his sons equally, he took them to church, and taught them about his Christian faith through words and action.  He was honest and hard working, faithful and kind.  I miss him very much.  He was one of the finest men I have known.

Dear Ernest

I appreciate that you always say “I love” when we part, whether in person or on the phone.  It reminds me to say it back and to say it to others.  You have always been supportive and ready to help me with any need.  It was always fun to hear stories of how you carried me around on your hip when I was a baby and the loving way you cared for me.  I have always been so proud of my handsome big brother.  The Christmas I was 13 you called and asked me to go shopping with you to help pick out gifts for Geneva.  I felt so grown up and was so happy to be asked.  You always make me feel special and loved.

I respect your knowledge, opinions and beliefs.  I have always cherished the way that you have loved your wife Geneva and your sons, Steve, Paul and George.  I am proud of the way you have lived your life, of your morals and of your Christian faith.  You and Geneva raised three sons.  Steve has been a hard worker and he learned that good work ethic from you.  Paul learned, from your witness of your love of God, to love Jesus, and to have faith that He would be with him through all things and that the Lord would never give him more than he could bear.  George has grown up to be a Christian man and a kind person with a good heart and compassion for all people, following your example.

Mama always said that you never gave her a moment’s trouble and I’m sure that is true.  She also often said that raising a boy was easier than raising girls.  I guess that means Ann and I caused her a few problems along the way.

You know I love you and I know you love me because you tell me so often.  I just felt the need to write it down and share some of my thoughts with you.

I love you.
Your baby sister, Debie

“Through the Eyes of a Child”

I was trying to think of how to title this post, and these words came, “Through the Eyes of a Child.” There have been so many uses of the phrase, I was not sure how to credit it.  And then I found the lyrics to a song with the same title.  Listen to the song while you read - Through the Eyes of a Child.


I wish, for one day, I could go home.  I would walk up the front steps, and the look through the long glass panel in the door.

1017 Meridian (Metro Assessor, thanks to Tim Walker)

I open the door and step into the living room  Too early for Mama to be cooking, but I wonder what she has planned.  Maybe it will be fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, cornbread and fresh brewed tea. I walk into the next room, which doubles as a den and my bedroom.  I find Mama singing along with a Doris Day song that is playing on the radio. I sing the words with her, Que Sera, Sera, Whatever Will Be, Will Be....  It is so hot, on this late summer day. Window fans are running in the den and in the kitchen, mostly just stirring the warm moist air.  Time for Mama's show, "As the World Turns." 

I go out back and stand in the shade of a huge old hackberry tree.  My cousins, Linda and Eleanor and I played so many times under this tree. We would play baseball with my cousin Jerry and Marty White and other kids in the neighborhood, the Martins, the Crouches or the Cunninghams. Sometimes instead of baseball we played freeze tag, hide and seek, or some game that we made up.  We were always outside.  With no air conditioning, inside was not an option.  For our baseball games, the sewer grate, in the middle of the alley, was home plate.  First base was in my yard, second was in the alley, and third was in Mrs. Charlton's backyard.   I wish I could go running through my old neighborhood and visit my friends.

Daddy comes driving up the alley and turns into the back yard.  He takes his lunch box and big coffee thermos out of the back seat and heads into the house.

I wish I could walk down the alley and go into my grandmother's house.  She was Mama Oeser to all of her grandchildren and every child in the neighborhood.  She would have fresh baked cookies or cake or pie waiting. She had a window air conditioning unit in her den and we, Linda, Eleanor and I, would sometimes go there to cool off.  My cousins Janice and Cheryl would be there.  They stayed with Mama Oeser while their parents worked. We were never inside long.  Out in the back yard, Mama Oeser had a wonderful flower garden, with a pond, filled with big gold fish, with water lilies growing on top.  In the winter the top would freeze over.  My grandfather would break up the ice.  The goldfish stayed low and survived the cold weather.  Mama Oeser loved roses and had them everywhere, lots of varieties and colors.

Her house was fun.  She had so many things to touch and look at.  Her front bedroom was painted pink.  The furniture was painted white with rose decals.  There was a bed and a dresser and a wardrobe.  Also a little dressing table with a mirror and a bench.  The furniture was sort of dainty looking.  Mama Oeser and Papa bought the bedroom suit when they first got married.  There was a vanity set on the dresser and Avon powder and cologne, "To A Wild Rose."
 

The next bedroom was blue, even the phone.  It was a princess phone.  She had another princess phone in the den, it was beige.  I don't remember much about the furniture.  There was a big chifferobe with mirrored doors, probably ten feet high.  It had belonged to Papa's sister, Minnie Rogers.

If Mama gave me a quarter, I would go out back and up the alley to Red Cross Drugs to spend it.  As I walked, I would see Mrs. White out back hanging laundry on the clothes line.  Mrs. Hargis might be looking out her back door.  All along the alley, at the back of the houses, were old garages and storage buildings.  Several houses still had a trash pit at the alley where residents would burn trash before there was city trash pickup.  Sometimes when I got near the corner, I would see a box turtle in the alley.  Mrs. Sharpe (I thought her name was Mrs. Shark when I was little) lived on the corner and she had turtles in her back yard.  I don't know why, just remember they came from there.  Her yard was sort of overgrown as I remember. A couple of times I carried one home but Daddy made me take it back.

I had to cross Vaughn St. to continue. It was not a busy street and usually there were no cars in sight.  There were houses on the Meridian St. side of the alley for most of the block until I came to Meridian Street Methodist Church.  The red brick church had some sort of bays at the back that were open and there were always pigeons roosting in there.  Their cooing made a weird echoing sound, and the slapping sound of their wings was loud and I was always afraid and ran until I was past the church to Cleveland St.  I crossed Cleveland which was a little busier than Vaughn St. and go on up to the end of  alley and the drugstore on Wilburn Street.

Metro Assessor Office (thanks to Tim Walker)

A quarter would buy a comic book, a candy bar and a coke.  Next to the Red Cross drugstore was Jacobs.  It was a dry goods store and sometimes I would go in and look around.  If I had extra money, I would sometimes buy something.  I remember getting flip flops there.  Just across the alley from Red Cross was the old Roxy Theater building.  It was closed by the time I was old enough to walk that far from home.  (Except for the time when I was about 4 and I took my cousins, without permission, on an adventure to find Mickey Mouse.) There was a coin laundry in the lobby area and a church was using the theater auditorium.


How much fun it would be to walk through Glenn Elementary School and stop in each classroom and watch the teacher and the children as they go about their day. I would stop by the library, where there were so many books, I wanted to stay forever. The wide hallways with beautiful wood floors always seemed warm and safe.  Down to the cafeteria, vegetable soup and hot dog day, always smelled so good.  Out to the school yard and the swings where we all tried to swing higher than anyone else, pumping our little legs and soaring through the air.

Most kids I knew got new clothes for school every year.  Mama and I would go to town on the bus and shop at Harvey's and sometimes Castner's or Cain-Sloan.  I usually got three maybe four new dresses.  Girls were not allowed to wear pants to school.   I don't think I was the only girl at school who had to come home and change before going out to play so the dress could be worn another time before it was washed.  I would get a new pair of shoes, sometimes two pair if I needed dress shoes.  One year my Uncle Jimmy and his wife Doris bought me a new coat.  Financially, times were difficult at our house.  My daddy had lost his long time job because the company closed.  It was a long time before he found a decent job again and it did not compare with the one lost.  He always worked but it was often for little money.  To be honest, I really didn't know then, how bad things were.  I did appreciate that new coat, though.

Washing clothes! Oh if kids today only knew.  At our house wash day started early, as soon as Mama got Daddy off to work and out of the house.  We had a wringer washer and she had to use the bath tub as a rinse tub.

Mama would pull the washer near the bathroom door and fill it with hot water and add powdered tide.  White clothes always went first. If there were a lot clothes the water would be changed but usually one tub of water did all the clothes.  Load the clothes into the hot water, let the machine agitate for awhile.  Then run each piece of clothing through the wringer and place it in the tub.  The machine I remember most was electric but the older ones had to be agitated by hand and the wringer had a handle that was turned to wring the clothes.  Ours had a motor that turned the wringers as clothing was fed through.  After the clothing was rinsed in the clean water, it went back through the wringer again and into a basket.  Then out to the clothes lines.  We had five or six lines strung between metal "T" poles that had been secured into the ground with concrete, so the weight of the wet clothes would not pull them down.

Once I was tall enough I helped hang the clothes.  Mama wouldn't let me use the wringer.  She got her hand caught in one and was afraid I would get hurt.  We had a lot of people in our house at times and a lot clothes.  By the time enough had been washed that all the lines were full, usually the first clothes hung, had dried and were taken down to make room for the next load.  In the summer my sister Ann and I were always home to help but once school started Mama was on her own.  It was an all day job and Mama washed the clothes and hung them out year round.  Rainy days would delay wash day and in the winter she sometimes had to wait for the warmer days.  I do remember when clothes froze on the lines, but they seemed to dry anyway.  When I was about 10, I think, an automatic coin laundry opened in the old Roxy theater.  By then my sister was married and she would bring her laundry and we would take Mama's and go there to wash clothes in bad weather.  Mama still washed and hung the clothes in good weather until she moved from Meridian in 1972. And next came ironing day!

I wish I could visit the neighborhood pharmacy, grocery, diner, cafe, dime store, these places of my youth.  But I am getting old and the children I knew are growing old as well.  Most of the adults in my life back then, are gone.  The houses and buildings are gone or changed. I have lived many more years away from that old neighborhood than in it. For most of us, our childhood was our "good old days,"  even when sometimes things were not so good.  We never had much money, and I really didn't know anyone who did.  Most of us have happy memories of childhood.  Even hard times are not so bad through the eyes of a child.  Lyrics to "In the Eyes of a Child."

You might also enjoy reading a similar blog page - That Old House

Henry Clay Binkley, Nashville, Tennessee

Pictures of Company B.
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Nashville Banner, April 16, 1934.  
 

Funeral for Capt. Binkley To Be Tuesday

Forrest Cavalryman Had Enviable Career as Soldier and Citizen

Funeral services for Capt. Henry C. Binkley, 86, one of the last of Forrest’s cavalrymen, who died at his home, 902 Chickamauga Ave., Sunday, will be held from the residence Tuesday at 10 a.m. Services will be conducted by the Rev. John F. Baggett, and the Rev. T. C. Ragsdale, with burial in the family cemetery near the Hermitage.

Capt. Binkley was born and reared near Nashville, and spent his life here. He retired five years ago as assistant manager of the Security Title Company, with which he had been connected since the company organized in 1894. Survivors are a son, J. H. Binkley, and two granddaughters, Misses Gladys Ree and Mary Evelyn Binkley. Active pallbearers will be Edwin L. and S. H. Haynes, Ben Binkley, Ben J. and H. Barnett Carver, and Allen Mason. Honorary pallbearers will be members of Company B, United Confederate Veterans, and Ernest Walton, J. M. Whitsett, General Harry Rene Lee, Henry Thornton, W. W. Porter, K. T. McConnico, Carson Bradford, P. D. Houston, Paul M. Davis, J. D. Torrey, C. B. Whitworth, Sanford Duncan, George I. Waddey, John Gaffney, Jr., J. B. Daniels, R. R. McClure, W. M. Lingner, Jordan Stokes, Walter Stokes, Thomas Malone, E. B. Rucker, W. E. Norvell, Jr., S.E. Linton, W. P. Cooper, H. H. Hughes, T.G. Chase, Judge J. D. B. DeBow, Congressman Joseph W. Byrns, Mayor Hilary E. Howse, Judge Litten Hickman, James G. Stahlman, L.A. Bauman, J. W. Wagner, and Noah W. Cooper.
 
Enlisting at the age of 15, when the War Between the States had turned its second year, Captain Binkley served in the brigade of Col. James W. Starnes in Forrest’s division. The youth was with the remnants of Joe Johnston’s army in North Carolina just before it was captured, and then was part of the escort for Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, through North and South Carolina. At Washington, Ga., he was with the last of the gray troops to be captured and was paroled. Captain Binkley was one of the last of Forrest’s troopers. 

Captain Binkley was commander of Company B, United Confederate Veterans. He was always full of old war stories and at his desk nearly every day before his retirement, could be seen some old veteran sitting, talking over old times. He always had a happy greeting for all, a word of good cheer for every old soldier and comrade. Company B is composed of veterans of many different companies and brigades. It wears the old rebel uniform to all reunions and is in demand at many public functions. It has been through the individual efforts of Captain Binkley that this company has been able to attend the annual reunions in recent years. He took great pride in his company and in different ways provided for the transportation to and from the reunions.

One of Captain Binkley’s best adventures happened when he was a boy, scarcely fifteen years old, and before he had joined the army. He was born and reared ten miles from Nashville on the Stewart’s Ferry Pike, near the Hermitage. He was at home with his father, Joseph Binkley, in 1863. His brother, Benjamin F. Binkley, had joined the army, had become a captain, and had been in many fights.

In March, 1863, great distress prevailed in the Binkley home, for they had not heard from Ben in months. Joseph Binkley then asked his son, Henry (Captain Binkley) if he would not venture through the lines and find out about Ben, whether he was dead or alive.

On this trip Captain Binkley went through many hardships, walking most of the way. He was taken to Lebanon on a horse and from there walked to Tullahoma, where he had learned that the troops were stationed. When he reached Tullahoma he was informed that his brother had been ill and had been removed to a hospital in Rome, Ga. He then took a train to Chattanooga, and from there to Kingston, Ga., he made his way in a box car full of wounded soldiers. He walked from there to Rome. He later found his brother on the outskirts of Rome after many harrowing experiences in keeping out of the way of the Federal troops, who were in possession of the town at that time.

In 1924 Captain Binkley celebrated his golden wedding anniversary. He married Miss Ree J. McGee in Chicago on August 16, 1874. Mrs. Binkley died in 1928.

Captain Binkley was born in Davidson County November 25, 1847. He was a member of the 4^th Tennessee Cavalry (Starnes) and surrendered with the latter’s command. In 1861 he joined Capt. Carroll Martin’s company, but on account of his age, 13, he was not allowed to leave. In June, 1863, he joined Capt. James Payne’s company in Morgan’s Cavalry in Wilson County. It disbanded and he was attached to Company B of the Second Kentucky battallion under Capt. J. B. Harris. In Company B of the Fourth Tennessee Cavalry, he was under Col. McClemore in Dibrell’s brigade.

He took part in the Battle of Chickamauga, Rockyface Ridge, Resaca, and all of the engagements of General Wheeler’s command from Dalton, Ga., to Atlanta, and from Stone Mountain to Columbia, S.C. He was never wounded. He was paroled at Washington, Ga., on May 10, 1865 
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