How many times
has the
reader driven or walked by a small cemetery in your community and not
recognized the names on the headstones? Maybe you wondered
who
they were and what brought them to this particular area.
Well,
this is just what happened to me when I first saw the White Cemetery on
Partins’ Farm Road outside Tracy City. This cemetery was
surrounded by a four-foot high, cement block wall, and the headstones
were well kept throughout the years. It was obviously a
caring
heart, who had built this wall. This article is a condensed
version of my research on this family.
William, Sr. and Katherine White were born in 1817 and 1824 in Ohio and
Pennsylvania respectively. Their first five children,
Armenia,
Franklin, Libby, Charles and Ellen were born in Russell County Virginia
between the years 1844 and 1855. The next three children,
Allice,
William, Jr and Fannie were born in Hawkins County, TN, between 1858
and 1861. Mr. White supported his family doing carpentry
work. We see here that they moved from Ohio/Pennsylvania to
Virginia then over into Tennessee.
Sometime between 1861, Fannie’s birth, and 1867, Mr. White’s death, the
family moved outside of Tracy City near the Ben Wooten home
place. In February 1867 the first of the family to die, Mr.
White, was buried in what was to become the family plot.
Throughout the years, seven more of his family members were interred
beside him. They were his wife Katherine, his son Charles,
his
daughters, Ellen, Allice, Armenia and Fannie. There is a
grave
for an “Annie” that I am not certain about at this time.
Ironically, the son who was responsible for the four-foot wall and the
gravestones was not buried with his family. William, Jr., the
last of the children to die, was buried at the Fall Creek Falls
Cemetery.
Around 1920, William, Jr. built a hotel on the family acreage, which is
owned by the James Bell family now. The hotel boasted a large
cistern, an outdoor furnace, and outdoor dance floor, plenty of card
games, sulfur baths and plenty of cold spring and well water.
The
Haynes depot stop delivered patrons by train and then by wagon to the
site. Battle Creek Road as it was called in those days, came
up
from the valley below and brought in guests. The local
stories
tell that William, Jr. went to Alaska where he acquired a gold
mine. This may be supported by the census record in 1920
where
his occupation is listed as “owns a mine”. It appears that
maybe
the “Great Depression”, the opening of Highway 41 up and over Monteagle
Mountain, and a fire brought an end to the hotel business.
Libby White grew up, married William Barlew and had eight children born
in Tracy City. Libby was not buried in the family plot near
the
hotel; instead, she, her husband William and some of their children are
buried in the Tracy City Cemetery. Records show that some of
the
Barlew children were still in Tracy City around the 1940’s.
Franklin White married Clara Law and had three daughters and one
son. Franklin supported his family working as a boss over the
coke oven operations. Their son Alfred James L. White served
in
the U.S. Navy for several years. He was living in Detroit,
Michigan, when I last found him on record. Franklin, Clara
and at
least one of the children are buried in the Tracy City
Cemetery.
Records lead me to believe that the Law and White families knew each
other from the Ohio/Pennsylvania area. Since the Law family
first
settled in Marion County below the plateau, this may have been the
reason the White family came our way.
For more
information on this
family or to add to/or correct this record, please contact Jackie Layne
Partin; P.O. Box 295; Monteagle, TN 37356.
