church. She was the first
woman in her district to cast a vote in a presidential election after women
were given the right to vote. In 1920 - James Cox was nominee for the Democrats
- and Warren G. Harding the Republican was elected. Electa remembers that Lester
helped hold the election so my Dad drove her to the polling place and home
again. She said: Granny (My mother) kept the two boys while I went to vote and
when I got back, Grandad took her to vote, too ! I know the voting place for
them was South Carthage at that time. I recall that my grandmother, Mary
MATHEWS was the first to vote in the first district - Carthage.
Lester
and Electa had five sons:
a-3 Victor
Theodore PETTY born Aug. 13, 1917 at Defeated Creek, Smith Co., Tenn. He was
married Sept. 18, 1942 to Nancy Elizabeth WRIGHT born Oct. 27,
1923, daughter of Jesse Raby WRIGHT and Mary Lee JOHNSON. Victor was educated in
Smith Co. schools and Cumberland and Vanderbilt Universities -
employed with Southern Bell Tel. Co. since 1940 with
time out for World War II. He was with the Army Signal Corps 1941 - 1946 and
with the Air Force (Korean
War) 1951-52. He entered as a private, came out with
the rank of Lt.-Col. - went right back to his civilian job with Southern Bell,
where he is a licensed engineer but
presently working in the personnel end of things -
training management people etc.
He and Nancy have three children:
a-Nancy Jane
PETTY born Sept.18, 1945 - married Aug.20, 1957 to Carey Leer BROCK Brentwood,
Tenn.
b-Vicki Lynn
PETTY born Nov.21,1949 - married Jan.3, 1968 at Montgomery,Ala. to William Lee
BULLARD.
c-Lisa Ellen
PETTY born March 27, 1962.
b-3 David Gordon PETTY born Sept.19, 1920 at the old
Tyree Farm on the South side of Cumberland river about three miles from Carthage.
He was married to Betty
Lou FOWLER born Oct.5, 1926 at Asheville, N.C.,
daughter of Wallace Duncan FOWLER and Eva Myrtle HUMPHRIES, both born in
Spartonburg Co., S.C.
In World War
II David Gordon PETTY served as an officer in the U.S. Navy. When the war
ended, he went back to civilian life and an old dream of becoming a doctor. He
proceeded to get his medical training at Vanderbilt University (he had some
pre-med at Cumberland University before the war). He interned at a (41)
Nashville Hospital and then started his practice in Carthage where he had grown
up and where, now, he and two colleagues operate the modern Smith County Hosp.
He and Betty have two children:
a- David Gordon PETTY Jr. born Sept.9, 1951 -
graduated from Castle Heights Military Academy and will enter Vanderbilt
University in the fall.
b- Samuel Glenn PETTY born July 17, 1955 at Carthage,
Tenn.
c-3 Lester Ray PETTY born March 17, 1923 at Carthage,
Tenn. He was born in the house nestled at the foot of the Battery Hill - the
house where his parents still
live. He died Dec.9, 1953, and is buried in Ridgewood
Cem. at Carthage. He was married March 4, 1949 to Opal KENNEDY born Dec. 26,
1927 at Defeated Creek,
Tenn. Lester Ray PETTY died while still a young man.
He was endowed with a more than ordinarily keen mind, a fine sense of humor and
of honor. He took great
pleasure in his everyday life, his work and the
companionship of the wife he loved. He had a patient acceptance of the
ill-health that was with him all of his life. He
had many good friends and a close happy relationship
with his parents and his brothers. He and his wife were employees of Smith
County Bank. Opal still works
there. They had no children.
d-3 Rob Neal PETTY born Nov.12, 1925 at Carthage,
Tenn. - was married Sept.3, 1949 to Lorene REED of Shelbyville, Tenn. She was
born July 9, 1924. In World
War II Rob enlisted in the United States Marines. He
served in the Pacific area - was severely wounded at Okinawa. When the war was
over, he decided to make
the service his career. Retired in 1968 after a tour
of duty in Viet Nam, Major PETTY and his family now live at Shelbyville, Tenn.
He and Lorene have two children:
a- Patricia Ann PETTY born April 4, 1951.
b- Janis Marie PETTY born Feb. 12, 1954
e-3 Joe
Steele PETTY born Feb. 16, 1933 at Carthage, Tenn - was married Oct. 5, 1957 at
Union Ave. Baptist Church at Memphis, Tenn. to Olamae (Punky)
ALLFORD, born March 22, 1932 at Blytheville,
Arkansas, daughter of James L. ALLFORD and Annie Mai WICKER. Joe PETTY and his
wife are members of the Christian (42) church. They live in the beautiful
mountain town of Crossville, Tenn where one child has been born to them.
a- Tammy PETTY was born Jan.19, 1960 at Uplands
Cumberland Medical Center, Crossville, Tenn.
H- Silas Balaam PETTY was married Dec.19, 1902 to his
2nd wife, Leona MATTHEWS born April 14, 1870 in the Smith Branch Communtiy,
daughter of John
(Dock) MATTHEWS and Mary BROWN. Leona MATTHEWS was 1st married to Allen GREGORY and they
had a daughter Eppie Iola. Her chart appears in the
MATTHEWS section of this book. Leona MATTHEWS PETTY
was a good woman, a good neighbor and friend, intensely loyal to those she
liked - which included
almost everyone. She was, for most of her life, a
member of Peyton's Creek Baptist Church. She loved to work in the earth with
flowers and vegetables. She was
famous for the flowers she grew and was never happier
than when sharing her plants with others or when tending sick people -
especially children. She loved to read
and often read aloud to us on long winter evenings
while Dad puffed away at his pipe and worked at something. She was a great
believer in education and
encouraged, pushed, shoved and nagged my brother and
me along the rough road to learning. She was the best teacher I ever had -
possibly because no matter how
well I thought I had learned a lesson it was never
good enough to satisfy her! My mother was a great woman. She died Dec. 6, 1954
and is buried beside my Dad in
Ridgewood Cem. at Carthage.
Silas Balaam PETTY
and Leona MATTHEWS had two children:
1 - Irene PETTY born July 24, 1906 in a little house
in the Boston Hollow near Monoville, Tenn Married twice: 1st April 11, 1925 to
Alexander (Alex) APPLE II
born in the Horseshoe Bend section of Smith Co.,
Tenn., a sone of Herman APPLE and Annie Elizabeth GILLESPIE and Grandson of
Adolphus GILLESPIE and
Samantha SAMSON. Alexander (Alex) APPLE II died at
Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, Oct. 30, 1945 at the age of 36. He
is buried in Ridgewood
Cemetary at Carthage, Tenn. He was a member of Green
Valley Baptist Church - he was baptized into that church in the autumn of 1931.
Their children:
a-1 Annie Leona APPLE born May 3, 1926 - in the
Horseshoe Bend near Carthage, Tenn. The farm where she was born and most of
this HOrseshoe Bend land will soon (43) be covered by the waters of the new
Cordell Hull Lake. The portions of land not covered by water is to become a
state park. Leona APPLE was married on the first
day of April, 1944 at Napoleon, Ohio to Edmund
Leonard TOMASZEWSKI - born Sept.3, 1925 at Swanton, Ohio - son of John
TOMASZEWSKI and Josephine
CZARNICKI who were fram people living on their farm
near Swanton until their deaths in 1952.
Edmund and Leona APPLE TOMASZEWSKI are members of the
Baptist church - they live in Grand Blanc, a suburb of Flint, Michigan, where
for many years
Edmund has been connected with General Motors Corp.
They have two children:
a- Mary Ann TOMASZEWSKI was born Jan.19, 1946 at
Beyer Memorial Hospital at Ypsilanti, Michigan. She was graduated at a Flint
high school and attended
Michigan State University at Lansing. She was married
Nov.4, 1967 to Dr. J. Carl NATCHEZ, They have a daughter:
aa- Toni
Shaun NATCHEZ was born Oct.13, 1968 at Flint, Michigan.
b- Edmund Leonard TOMASZEWSKI Jr., born April 12,
1950 at Beyer Memorial Hospital at Ypsilant, Michigan. He is a student at
University of Michigan this fall.
He was married in 1968 to Jenifer Bly CORNING. They
have a daughter:
bb- Peoria
Chloe TOMASXEWSKI born May 20, 1969 at 7:30 p.m. at Flint, Michigan.
b-1 Nina Lou APPLE born Feb. 11, 1929 at Carthage,
Tenn. - married July 24, 1948 at First Baptist Church, Ypsilanti, Michigan to
James Berkley HARRIS born May 9, 1927 at Tawas, Michigan - a son of Marshall
HARRIS and Phyllis LATHAM. It is interesting that the minister who read the
marriage ceremony, Rev. G. B. SHAW, also officiated at the marriage of James'
father and mother as well as that of his brother and sister. James and Nina
HARRIS are members of the Baptist church. Jim served with the U.S. Navy in
World War II. After the war was over, he attended and was graduated from
Eastern Michigan University at Ypsilanti. They now live in Warren, Ohio. They
have three children:
a- David
Marshall HARRIS born Dec. 9, 1949 at Beyer Mem. Hosp. at Ypsilanti, Michigan.
At present he is a student at Western Michigan University at Kalamazoo.
b- Melissa
Lee HARRIS born Nov. 8, 1954 at Beyer Mem- (44) orial Hospital in Ypsilanti,
Michigan.
c- Susan Rene
HARRIS born Nov.8, 1954 at Beyer Memorial Hospital, Ypsilanti –
(Susan
and Melissa HARRIS are, of course, twins.)
c-1 Herman
David APPLE born Feb.2, 1931 in Horseshoe Bend, near, Carthage, Tenn. The farm
on which he was born and where he learned to love the farm life
will soon be no more - covered by the waters of the
Cordell Hull Lake. David APPLE was
married July 26, 1956 to Beatrice Sanders WILSON born July 8, 1927 at
Tullahoma, Tenn., a daughter of Erskine SANDERS and
Elizabeth JERNIGAN. David APPLE was in the U.S. Air force 1946-1949 and 1951-1953.
He was a
crew-chief and later an instructor. For several years
he has been at Ford Engineering at Dearborn, Michigan. David and Bea APPLE have
no children but have raised
Bea's son by a previous marriage:
a- Arthur
(Artie) James WILSON was born Feb.7, 1947 in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He is at
present a student at Eastern Michigan University. (45)