Goodwin, After Growing Up On The Farm, Learned The Tailor Trade And Followed The Trade For Awhile And About The Age Of 23 He Married Miss Heneretta Smith Pryor (On Sept. 14 1834). From This Marriage They Had 11 Children, Six Boys And Five Girls, For Which I Am Going To Write A Brief Sketch As Best I Know.

Archibald Swepson, The Oldest, Was Born Aug. 1, 1835. Swip Grew Up On The Farm And At A Very Young Age He Assumed The Cares Of The Farm. As His Father Was A Trader. He Was Gone From Home A Great Deal Of The Time. This Being The Case, It Threw A Great Deal Of Responsibility On Swip While He Was Young, But He Was A Great Lover Of His Mother; He Stuck To His Work Until He Was 21. After Then He Went To West Tennessee And Remained There Until After The War Ended. During This Time He Married Mrs. Susanna Lourned, Widow Of Edd Lourned, And In Feb. 1866 He Paid Home Folks A Visit Then Went Back To West Tenn. And Made That His Home For The Rest Of His Days. In 1866 He Bought The Sam Mill Property In Carroll County And Rutherford Fork Of The Obine River. There He Stayed Until 1889 Then He Moved To McKinzie And Ran A Hotel For A Few Years And Practiced Veterinary Until He Died Which Was About 1906. Swip Was Twice Married His Last Marriage Was To Mrs. Nealy Alexander. To This Union They Had One Child, Mary Davis. From His First Marriage He Had 5 Children, Three Girls And Two Boys. The Boys Died In Infancy. Swip Was A Man Full Of Energy, And Ambitious, And A Great Lover Of Fine Stock. He Always Made A Good Living And Was A Good Provider. Lots Of His Family Always Went In Good Society And Were Members Of The M.E. Church.

William Lytel Davis Was Born February 10, 1837. He Being Next To Swip, Of Course, Took Part In The Work On The Farm And Helped To Make The Crops. He Was A Natural Mechanic, Could Do Any Kind Of Work. He Stayed At Home Very Close, Did Not Care Much For Company, Had A Distant Disposition, But Firm Convictions. He Has A Common School Education And Was A Fine Scribe. He Taught School Several Years (Writing Schools) In His Younger Days. He Went To Texas In 1859 And Enlisted In The Southern Army In 1862, He Served Through The War, Then Married And Settled Down In Nacogdoches County And Raised A Family Of 4 Children, Two Girls And Two Boys. He Made A Useful Citizen And Was Elected To The Position Of Judge Of His County For Two Or Three Terms. In 1901 He Paid His Old Home A Visit Then Returned To Texas But Was Soon Stricken With Rheumatism And Died. This Was Brother William's Sketch As Best I Can Remember.

John Louis Davis Was Born April 13, 1839. He Was Very Apt To Learn And Strived Hard For An Education. He Was Not A Stout Man. He Was The Smallest One Of The Boys And Had Some Hard Sickness In His Boyhood Days. This Undermined His Constitution And He Was Never A Stout Man, Yet He Took Up His Share Of The Work On The Farm And Made A Faithful Hand. He Prepared Himself For Teaching, But When The War Broke Out He Enlisted. He Was Under General Bragg And While The Army Was Stationed At Atlanta, Georgia He Was Taken Sick With The Flux And Died In The Army Hospital Sometime In 1864. He Was About 25 Years Old When He Died. He Was Low And Chunky And Weighed About 130 Pounds. He Was The First One Of The Boys To Die. The Balance Of The Boys All Lived To Be Over 63. He Was Of A Kind Disposition And Made Many Friends. He Was A Great Lover Of His Mother And Was Always Ready To Help Her And Take Any Hardship Off Her That He Could.

Able Davis Was Born May 12, 1842. He Was The Fourth Boy To Grow Up On The Farm, But In His Boyhood Days Was Not Much Inclined To Work. But He Grew Out Of That And Became One Of The Most Industrious Men In The Family. He Had A Kind Disposition; Got Along Well With His Brothers And Sisters. He Was Quick In Figures, A Good Reader, But A Poor Scribe. He Had A Desire To Leave Home While Very Young And Did Make A Start One Time But Father Went After Him And Brought Him Home. He Stayed Very Well Contented Until The War When He Enlisted At The Age Of Eighteen. His Camp Was Mostly In Camp Trousdale. He Stayed With The Army Until Feb. 1865. He Left The Army At That Time And Came Home As Many Others Did. He Went To Work In The Spring And Made A Crop Of Corn And Hay. After His Crop Was Made He Went To Work At The Carpenter Trade And Built A Cotton Gin For Ben Ransom. He Was A Natural Mechanic And In January 1866 He Married Sara Smith. After His Marriage He Continued To Farm And Work At The Carpenter Trade In His Spare Time. In The Year Of 1868 He Moved To The Lower Edge Of Bedford County. He Made A Crop There That Year And In The Fall Of 1868 He Sold Out What He Had, All But A Wagon And Team, And Went To West Tennessee And There He Rented A Good Farm. This Farm Was Located In The 20th. Civil District Of Carroll County And Belonged To Sam Clark Of Milan, Tennessee. He Remained On This Farm For Eight Years And Paid During That Eight Years $1800.00 Rent. He Raised Cotton For A Money Crop. He Had Lots Of Setbacks During This Time. He Lost His Two Oldest Children Besides Having Lots Of Sickness Himself In The Year Of 1871. He Had Earslipis In His Leg That Kept Him Confined To The House Pretty Well All Of The Fall, But After All Of His Misfortune He Came Out All Right. After Living There For Eight Years He Sold Out What He Had Accumulated And Went Over In Kentucky And Bought Forty Acres Of Good Land, Paid Cash, And Then Remained There The Balance Of His Life Which Was 35 Years. Able Davis Was A Good Man Liked By Everybody That Knew Him. He Was Strictly Honest And Straight In His Dealings With Everybody. He Thought Lots Of His Brothers And Was Always Ready To Lend A Helping Hand To Them, More Especially The Younger Ones. He Had A Great Deal Of Misfortune With His First Family. His Children All Died At An Early Age. He Lived Himself To See All Of His First Set Of Children Buried But One; That Was John. He Is Living Now (September 4, 1916.) He Had One Son, Abel, To Take His Own Life By Drowning. He Was Grieved Over His Condition And Had Consumption (TB) And He Had Seen His Mother And Two Sisters Die With The Disease. Able Was Twice Married. After The Death Of Sara, His First Wife, He Married Again And Had Several Children Born To Them, But He Never Lived To See Them All Grown. But In Spite Of All His Misfortunes He Prospered, And When He Died, He Left His Family In Good Circumstances. He Died August 10, 1915.

Alabama Davis Was Born April 13, 1844. She Was The First Girl Born To The Family. She Had Large Gray Eyes, Fair Complexion With Dark Hair. Bamma Grew To Be A Very Beautiful Woman And Was Quick To Learn. She Most Always Led Her Class In School, But Being The First Girl She, Of Course, Had Lots Of Work To Do Helping Her Mother. She Learned To Do All Kinds Of House Work While Very Young. She Learned To Card And Spin And Make Any Kind Of Cloth And Then Cut And Make It Into Garments. She Was A Very Smart Girl And Lots Of Help To Her Mother. She Was Very Much Devoted To Books In Her Young Days, But Like All Other Poor Girls Did Not Have The Opportunity To Develop Her Talent In The Way Of Literature, Which She Always Seemed To Regret. She Had A Great Many Girl Friends And Had A Talent For Gaining Friends Wherever She Was. She Professed Religion While She Was Young And Was A Faithful Member Of The Baptist Church And Was Much Devoted To Her Religion. Bamma Married Pleasant Wade In 1862. Wade Was A Very Handsome Man And A Man Full Of Life And Humor. Bamma Was Very Devoted To Him. She Loved Him Almost Beyond Reason. He Being Somewhat To The Reverse It Made An Unhappy Union, Yet They Lived Together And Raised A Large Family Of Children Which All Grew Up To Be Men And Women Of Good, Well Respected People. The Girls All Married (Eight Of Them) Good Men And Did Well For The Opportunity They Had As They Had Very Bad Chances. Their Father Was A Poor Man And Was Not Able To Give His Children Any Schooling, Except The Common, Free Schools. This Bamm Hated Very Much For She Had A Great Desire To See Her Children Educated And I Am Sorry To Write That Sister Bamma's Life After Her Marriage Was Everything Else But Pleasant. Her Husband Was Not As Devoted To Her As He Should Have Been For She Sacrificed A Pleasant Home And Gave Her Whole Life Doing Drudgery All For The Affection She Had For Him And Died Prematurely; No Doubt On Account Of It.

Robert Young Davis Was Born June 20, 1846. He Was The Fifth Boy. He Grew Up On The Farm Like The Rest Of The Boys, Did The Best That He Could With What He Had To Do With. He Was Too Young To Go Into The War. He Stayed At Home And Helped To Provide For His Mother And Sisters. He Did Well For A Boy For There Was Not A Man On The Place, All His Older Brothers Had Enlisted And His Father Was Gone Too. Young Went To West Tennessee In 1866 With His Older Brother Swip. He Stayed Two Years, Then Came Home And Stayed In Bedford County Until 1870. He Returned To West Tennessee And Married Lenor Learned (Aunt Lena). After A Few Years He Returned To Bedford County. His Wife Soon Died And Left Him With Three Small Children. He Lived Without A Wife For Several Years And Then Married Martha Mccall, A Good Woman. She Took Great Interest In His Children And Reared Them To Be Grown. They Had One Child Between Them, Henry. He Is Grown And Is Living With Them Now. Young Is Still Living And Is About 69 Years Old. He Was In His Young Days Very Active Full Of Life And Mischievous. He Went To School Some, But On Account Of The War His Schooling Was Cut Short. Young However Made A Good Citizen, Always Got Along With His Neighbors, Paid His Debts, And Made A Good Living For His Family. He Never Owned A Home Of His Own. He Always Rented But Got Along Better Than Most. This Is Young's Sketch As Best I Can Give It.

Sarah Louisiana Davis (Sallie) Was Born April 2, 1848. Sallie Was The Second Girl, Blue Eyes And Fair Complexion. She Was A Smart Girl, Always Went About Her Work, Had A Kind Disposition. She Was A Good Child And Made A Good Woman. She Took Great Interest In Education And Was A Good Student For Her Chances. She Married, In The Year Of 1868, John W. Marsh. From This Union They Had Fourteen Children, Seven Boys And Seven Girls, And They Are All Living. The Two Youngest Were Twin Girls, And They Are Now 22 Or 23 Years Old. Sallie Was Not As Pretty As Some Of Her Other Sisters But She Had By Far The Best Disposition Of All Of Them. She Was A Pure Christian. She Took An Interest In Her Younger Sisters, Tried Hard To Get Them Interested In Books. She Could Do All Kinds Of Work; Card, Spin, And Make Cloth. She Was A Woman With Remarkable Courage. She Had A Husband That Was A Good Provider. Sallie Had Lots Of Friends, Was Well Liked By All Who Knew Her. She Had A Very Narrow Escape From Being Killed Once In Her Younger Days. She Was Going To Church One Sunday And The Mare That She As Riding Ran Away With Her, Threw Her Off, And Hurt Her Real Bad, But Did Not Break Any Bones. So I Will Say To Any One Who May Wish To Know Anything About Sallie Davis That They May Think Of Her As A Pure Christian Woman And Be Proud To Know That You Had Such An Aunt For She Was Good From Her Childhood And As Long As She Lived. This Is What I Know About Sallie Davis Marsh. September 9, 1916.

Mary Margaret Davis Was Born April 9, 1850. Mary Was The Third Girl Born. She Had Black Eyes And Dark Hair. In Her Girlhood Days She Was Full Of Mischief; A Tomboy. She Could Climb The Tallest Trees In The Orchard And Always Get The Best Fruit. She Would Ride Anything From A Billy Goat Up To A Wild And Unbroken Horse. She Had No Fear Of Getting Hurt And Luckily She Never Did Get Hurt Bad. She Learned To Do All Kind Of Work, But Was Hard To Keep At It. She Had A Desire To Play And Be Out Of Doors.

Valentine Sublett Davis Was Born On December 24, 1852. I Was Born In The Eighteenth Civil District Of Bedford County And My First Recollection Was When I Fell In The Fire And Burned My Hands. I Was About Two Years Old At The Time. I Was The Sixth And The Youngest Boy Of The Family. This Being The Case I Was Spoiled And Petted To A Certain Extent. Yet, I Remember A Good Many Things That Happened Before I Was Four Years Old And Well Do I Remember The First Day Of School. It Was In The Year Of 1857, About A Miles Walk. My Teacher Was Mrs. Mary Jane Reed. She Was A Large Fleshy Woman With Big Gray Eyes And A Fair Complexion. I Remember How Most All Of The Students Looked Sitting Around In The Old Log School House On The Slab Benches And The Old Chain Pump Where We Got Water. The School House Was In A Sugar Tree Orchard And Under Those Large Sugar Maples Is Where The Children Played At Noon. It Was A Beautiful Grove And I Can Recall The Scenery To Mind Very Readily And It Seems As Vivid To My Mind As If It Was Yesterday. Two Older Sisters And Myself Attended And Sometimes Brother Young Went, That School House Was Just Six Miles From Shelbyville On The Lewisburg Pike And Was Known As The Reed Place. Mr. L. C. Reed Owned It At That Time And Ran A Store There. It Was The Only Painted House In The Neighborhood. That Same House Is Standing Today, With But Little Changes, Though The Old School House Is Gone. The Old Store House Is Gone Also But There Is Yet Some Of The Old Sugar Maples Left. That First School Made A Great Impression On Me. I Began To Learn About Other Children And Their Ways. There Were Some Good Ones And Some Bad Ones. There Was One Boy Who Went To School That If He Is Living Yet And I Should Meet Him I Would Feel Like Taking My Raising Out On Him. Yet He Was Bigger And Older Than I And Seemed To Take A Delight In Imposing On Me And All The Rest Of The Little Boys. The Only Time That I Ever Got Him Was To Throw His Old Hat In The Well. He Never Did Find Out What Became Of It. I Will Have To Tell How That Happened. One Day At Playtime He Found A Bird's Nest In One Of Those Old Maple Trees And He Wanted To Knock It Down By Throwing Rocks At It, And Not Being Any Rocks Handy He Gave Me His Hat And Told Me To Go To The Well, Get It Full Of Rocks, And Bring It To Him. I Took The Hat And Went To The Well And Filled It Full Of Rocks And Raised Up The Cover Over The Well And Dropped The Hat, Rocks And All, In The Well. By This Time The Bell Rang To Come To Books, And All That He Or The Teacher Or Anybody Else Could Get Out Of Me Was That I Left It At The Well. That Boy Came To School For About One Week Bare Headed, His Hair Was A Dirty Brown And He Was Freckled Faced And Mean. I Had One Little Boy That I Played With, His Name Was Bed Sutton, And We Had Marbles Enough Between Us To Make A Full Set. And When We Would Be Playing That Mean Boy Would Come Around And Throw Our Marbles Away, Destroy Our Rings, And Do Every Thing That He Could Think Of To Tease Us. He Would Make Us Cry And Then Whip Us For Crying. He Called Us Cowards And The Like. That Boy's Name Was John Roan And If He Made As Mean A Man As He Was A Boy He Must Have Been Hung Or Sent To Prison. I Never Knew What Became Of Him, But I Know Several That Went To School That Are Living Yet, And I See Some Of Them Every Once In A While. I Started In My Abc In The Old Blue Back Speller And When I Quit I Had Been About Half Through It, But I Do Not Remember Just How Long I Went But It Was Getting Along In The Fall When The School Was Out. So That Fall, Which Was The Fall Of 1857, I Began To Want To Go Out On The Farm With The Older Boys To Help Them Work. But It Was Not Often That They Let Me Go As I Was Only In The Way, Yet Sometimes They Would Let Me Go, And I Remember One Particular Time That I Went Out With Them In The Woods To Get Wood. And After Awhile I Decided That I Wanted To Go Home But As We Were Out Of Sight Of Home I Was Afraid To Start By Myself, As I Had A Great Horror Of Wild Beasts; I Imagined That A Wild Cat Was As Big As A Cow Or Horse, But None Of Them Would Stop Work To Go With Me So I Decided To Go By Myself. So I Got Me A Long Pole About As Much As I Could Carry Well And Started For Home. I Went Along A Little Dim Path, Directly I Came In Sight Of Home And Traveled On Across An Open Lot Until I Got To The Yard Fence. After Climbing Up On Top Of The Fence I Saw Two Something's Right Between Me And The House That Bluffed Me Good. They Had Me Cut Off From The House, However After Looking At Them For A Very Short Time I Got Down And Went All The Way Around The House And Came In From The Front Side Of The House And As It Was A Large Yard It Seemed Little Distance From The Gate To The House, But I Made The Landing All O.K. After I Got In The House I Found Mother Sitting And Sewing And, Of Course, My First Inquiry Of Her Was To Know What Those Two Big White Things Was Out In The Back Yard. She Told Me They Were Goats That Pa Had Brought Home. The Old He Goat Was White, Had Long Whiskers And Long Horns Curled Back Over His Shoulders And Looked Very Vicious To Me But They Were Bashful Goats. Some Of Their Off Springs Got To Butting But I Was The Cause Of It After I Got To Be A Pretty Good Size Boy I Learned Some Of The Goats To Butt And I Got Many A Hard Knock In The Year Of 1858. I Don't Remember Much About 1858 As I Did Not Go To School Any That Year, But I Did In The Summer Of 1859 Start To School Again. I Think It Was The First Monday In April 1859 That Sister Sallie And Sister Mollie And Myself Started To School. We Went To Old Shiloh About One And One Half Miles. Shiloh Was A Large Cedar Log House Built I Think For A Church. It Was Located On What Was Known As The Sims Dirt Road And About Seven Miles From Shelbyville Near The Bill Allen Farm Known As The Delk Farm. It Was Also Near The Squire Coldman Grave Yard Known Now As The Damons Graveyard. After Crops Were Laid By Brother Able (Ting He Was Often Called) And Brother Young Started To School, By This Time The School Had Increased To About Forty Students And I Can Remember Very Distinctly Just How They All Looked And Remember The Names Of Nearly All Of Them And I Will Put Down All Of Them That I Can Remember. Our Teacher Was Mr. Gus Clay An Old Bachelor. I Guess He Was About Thirty Five Years Old At The Time. He Was A Pretty Strong Fellow And Did Not Mind Using The Hickory Pretty Freely And Used It On Me Too Much I Thought. Below I Will Give The Names Of All Of The Students As I Remember, Beginning With Our Family: Able Davis, Young Davis, Sallie Davis, Mary Davis, Vol Davis, Surfrania Tarpley, Dutch Tarpley, Kinney Coldman, Henry Coldman, Nezor Coldman, Babe Coldman, Jinnie Coldman, Betty Coldman, Richard Allen, Martha Jane Allen, Sam Griffee, Tobe Griffee, Emeline Smith, Tom Sims, Dallas Temple, Dick Temple, Winnie Temple, Helen Temple, Sis Griffee, Tom Williams, Zack Williams, Mary Williams, Maggie Williams, Hisky June Muse, Susanna Muse, Dick Earnhart, James Fanduel, Joe Ann Fanduel, I Believe That This Roll Of Names Includes Everyone Of The Students, This Lasted Until About The First Of November. Our Amusements At Recess Was Town Ball And Bull Pen. That Was A Separate Game That We Played With A Ball. Town Ball Was A Game Similar To Baseball. We Sometimes Played Marbles And Sometimes We Would Play What We Could Best. We Got Thirty Minutes Recess At Ten O'clock And At Twelve He Gave Us An Hour And A Half. At Three In The Afternoon We Got Fifteen Minutes Recess. He Took Up Books At Eight And Turned Out At Half Past Four. I Went Through The Old Blue Back Speller That School Year From The First To The Last. I Would Recite Four Lessons A Day And Had No Other Studies But The Spelling Book. It Use To Be The Custom At That Time For Us To Turn The Teacher Out Just A Few Days Before School Was Out. One Morning About A Week Before The School Was To Be Out The Teacher Was Late And When He Came We Were All Inside And Had The Doors Barred Up, Had All The Old Slab Benches Pilled Up Against It, And We Would Not Let Him In. He Rode Up To The Door And Took Off His Hat And Rode Around The House Three Times Holding His Hat Just A Little Higher Than His Head. After Passing Around The House Three Times He Got Off His Horse And Peeping In Through A Crack He Said, "What Are You All Doing ?" Some Of Them Said, "We Have Turned The Teacher Out. "Well" He Said, "What Do You All Want ? " We All Called For Candy So He Told Us To All Stay There Until He Came Back, So He Went Off And When He Came Back He Had A Hand Full Of Switches; Good, Long, Keen Ones. He Stuck That Bundle Of Switches In The Crack Of The House And Got On His Horse Again And Told Us That He Was Going Off For A While And For Us To Open The Door And Sweep Out The School House And Put All Of The Benches In Place By The Time He Got Back And He Rode Off And We Went To Work To Do What He Had Told Us. The First Thing We Did When We Came Out Of The House Was To Examine Those Switches And We Found That He Had A Switch For Everyone. This We Did Not Understand But There Were Two Boys That Lived Near The School By The Name Of Griffey. Their Father Was Dead And Their Mother They Would Not Mind. They Would Go To School Only When They Wished, And The Teacher Had All Sorts Of Trouble With Them When They Did. These Two Boys Made A Practice Of Coming To School Early Every Morning. At The Twelve O'Clock Book Call They Would Go Home. These Two Boys Were There That Morning And Took A Big Part In Helping To Turn The Teacher Out, But Those Switches Had, I Suppose The Intended Effect For After We Counted Them, There Were Exactly As Many Switches As There Were Children. So Those Two Boys, After Consulting Each Other For Awhile, Left. So We Put The Switches All Back In The Crack Of The Old Log House And Cleaned Up Things Nice And After Waiting And Waiting, For About Two Hours, We Saw Our Teacher Coming. And As It Was Getting Late In The Fall The Attendance Had Fallen Off Until There Was Not But About Twenty Children And The Teacher Had Us All To Take Our Seats Then Gave Us A Little Talk Advising Us To Be Good Boys And Girls And Not To Forget Our Books Because School Was Out, Advised Us To Study Our Books A Little Every Day And By Doing This We Would Not Forget What We Had Already Learned. After He Had Finished His Talk He Picked Up A Pair Of Saddle Bags And Walked Across The Room To An Old Fashion Writing Desk That Extended The Whole Length Of The School Room, And Out Of Those Bags He Took Two Big Rolls Of Striped Stick Candy And He Laid Down A Stick Of Candy For Each One Of Us On The Old Desk. He Continued This Until He Had The Same Amount Of Candy For Each Of Us. There Were Just Twenty-One Piles And Twenty-One Sticks To The Pile And A Separate Piece Of Paper Large Enough To Wrap It Up In. Then He Laid Down A Piece Of Paper That Had No Candy On It And Said That Was His, And He Said, "I Am Going To Give Each Of You A Pile Of This Candy And That Paper With No Candy On It Is Mine. My Candy Gave Out And I Did Not Have Any To Make Myself A Pile, So, All Of You That Want To, After You Get Your Candy, Can Put A Stick On The Paper, Then We Will All Have Some." Now, He Said "I Am About Ready". But His Orders Were For Each One To Wrap His Candy Up And Not Eat Any Of It Until After He Had Dismissed. So He First Called The Two Oldest Girls And Told Them To Go And Get Their Pile Of Candy. They Got Up And Went And Picked Up A Pile Of Each, And Each One Of Them Took A Stick Out Of Their Pile And Laid It On The Teachers Paper, Then Wrapped Up The Candy And Went Back To Their Seats. So The Next Two Girls Went But One Of Them Failed To Put Any Sticks On The Teachers Pile. They Went On And On Until All The Girls Had Gone, Then The Boys. One Girl And Two Boys Failed To Put Any Candy On The Teachers Pile; They Were All From The Same Family. One Of The Boys Is Living Yet And I See Him Every Now And Then And He Still Is Smart. So After We All Had Received Our Candy And The Teacher Thanked Us For The Candy We Had Given Him, He Opened Up The Other End Of His Saddle Bag And Gave Everyone Of Us That Had Put A Stick Of Candy On His Pile A Big Red Apple. But The Two Boys And The One Girl That Did Not Give The Teacher Any Candy Got No Apple, And I Will Tell You That They Looked Pretty Sheepish. Of Coarse He Did This To Try The Children And See How Many Selfish Ones There Were In The Crowd. Then He Gave Us Another Talk And Shook Hands With Us All, Told Us Good-By And Dismissed Us. He Shut The School House Doors, Got On His Horse, Tipped His Hat, And Rode Off And We All Went Home Eating Candy On The Way, But I Kept Some Of Mine For 3 Or 4 Weeks. I Remember That We Got Home About 3 O'clock In The Afternoon And Father Was The First One I Saw. He Was Surprised To See Me Home So Soon But He Guessed That We Had Turned The Teacher Out. I Showed Him My Candy And Gave Him A Stick And Also Gave Mother A Stick And Put The Rest Away And Would Go To It Every Day And Get A Little Piece. I Was Then Nearly Seven Years Old So The Next Year, 1860, Was No School And I Put In The Most Of My Time In All Sorts Of Mischievous Ways. But My Oldest Brother Made A Crop To Himself And He Told Me If I Would Carry Water To Him That Year While He Was At Work That He Would Get Me A Pair Of Red Top Boots In The Fall And I Carried Water To Him All The Summer Whenever He Was At Work And Did A Good Many Other Little Jobs. So In The Spring Of 1861 The School Started Up Again At The Same Place And The Same Teacher. Myself And Sisters Started In When The School Started And 2 Of My Older Brothers Started After Crops Were Laid. Through The Month Of July And August There Was A Full School. A Good Many Grown Boys Went And It Being About The Outbreak Of The Civil War, Drilling Was The Amusement At Playtime. We All Had Wooden Guns And Got So That We Could Drill Pretty Well. The School Lasted Until November, But We Did Not Get To Turn Teacher Out That Fall. He Dismissed Us One Afternoon Before We Were Expecting It, But He Treated Us To Candy Anyway. It Was About November 1861 That He Dismissed Us. I Never Saw That Teacher Again Until 1904 And I Knew Him, That Was 43 Years Later, And His Face Looked As Familiar As It Did When I Use To See Him In The School Room. At The Close Of This School, I Was In My Ninth Year And Had Advanced In My Studies From The Spelling Book To The Second Reader. So In The Winter Of 1861 I Began To Make Myself Useful In The Way Of Helping To Do Chores. Feeding The Sheep And Goats Twice A Day Was One Of My Jobs. All That Winter, No Matter How Cold It Was, I Had To Get Up And Feed Them Before Breakfast. The Next Spring, 1862, The Older Brothers Had All Left Home And Joined The Army. That Just Left Brother Young And Myself At Home. He Was About 16 And I Was 10. He And I Made A Little Crop Of Corn. We Had No School That Year And By The Fall Of 1862 The War Was On Good, But We Gathered Our Little Crop And Had Enough Corn To Make Out On And Fatten Some Meat. So We Roughed It Along As Best We Could, The Next Winter Times Began To Get Hard. Everything Was High. Salt Was Very Scarce. I Remember That We Dug Up The Dirt In Our Smoke House, Put It In A Hamper And Dropped It Down And The Water Would Be Salty And We Would Boil The Water And Get Out A Pot Full Of Salt. That Smoke House Has Been There For A Long Time And Had A Dirt Floor But Salt Sold For $25.00 A Barrel At That Time. Wheat Was Scarce But I Don't Think That It Sold For Over $150.00. Meat Was Not Bad. We Had 2 Or 3 Cows All The Time; By That Means We Got By Very Well. Things Were Not As High As They Were Scarce But Few People Had Anything To Sell. We Managed To Keep Our Milk Cows But The Solders Called "Home Guard" Was A Company Of Men Made Up From Around Shelbyville And In Bedford County For The Purpose Of Protecting The People Of The County But I Am Sad To Say They Did Everything Else But Protect Them Because Lots Of Them Did Not Do Anything But Fill Up The County And I Know Men Today That Are Drawing A Pension From The Government That Belonged To That Home Guard Crew That Never Did Anything But Steal Horses And Abuse Women And Children And They Came Of Them Our Neighbors, But We Lived A Little Off The Road And Did Not Suffer From Those As Bad As Those That Lived On The Highway, Yet We Got Enough Of Their Menaces All Through The Year Of 1863-1864. The People Were Honest With Them, I Remember One Morning That Mother And Myself Were Milking The Cows And Some Of Them Came And Took The Last Horse We Had. My Mother Began Begging Them Not To Take The Last Horse. They Began To Curse, Use Abusive Language, And Threatened To Burn The House. I Was Just 11 Years Old And They Threatened To Shoot Me When I Told Them They Were Nothing But Horse Thieves. Anyhow They Took The Last Horse That We Had; It Was A Little Gray Mare. Then I Had Nothing To Ride To Mill As The Custom In Those Days Was To Put A Turn Of Corn On A Horse And Go To Mill And It Was Three Miles To The Nearest Mill. But The Next Spring, 1864, There Was An Old Government Horse That Had Been Turned Loose To Shift For Himself Got Into Our Pasture. He Had Sores On His Shoulders And Back As Big As My Hands. Me And Brother Got Him Up And Fed And Attended To Him Until He Got So We Could Ride Him. So With This Old Piece Of A Horse We Managed To Make A Little Crop Of Corn And Hay. There Was One Thing That Helped Us Along Was A Yoke Of Oxen. Their Names Were Buck And Ball. They Were Well Trained To Work And With Them We Did All Of Our Hauling. We Had An Ox Cart That We Used To Work Then. The Ox Cart Had Two Wheels And Stiff Tongs. We Had A Frame For The Cart, Also A Box Bed. Sometimes We Would Buck The Oxen Up To The Cart And Take A Load Of Corn And Wheat To Mill. Often We Would Carry Some For The Neighbors. My Father Kept, As Far Back As I Can Remember, A Yoke Of Oxen To Do The Hauling. He Never Owned A Wagon And Team. He Always Had Plenty Of Horses And Very Good Ones But He Thought Too Much Of Them To Let Them Be Over Worked. He Would Let Us Plow Them, But He Thought We Had To Do All The Hauling With The Oxen. They Were Real Slow But Sure.

END PART 1

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This Data Was Written By My Great Grandfather Valentine Sublett Davis (1852-1918) Of Shelbyville, Tenn. I Will Be Happy To Share Additional Data To Those Interested In This Family.
Mike Hammond - Garland Texas
mikham@bigfoot.com