EXCERPT TAKEN FROM LETTER dated 1 Mar 1960, by Ida O'Neal
to Wayne
S. O'Neal.
"Mother's father was an enrolling officer
and he and another man rode horses and went home to see grandma and
the children, before they sent him some place else. As they left,
the bushwhackers were hid in a cemetery no far from his
home and shot him as he was leaving. The man that was with him,
left him and went on, (that's the man that wrote that
piece). Then Uncle Bob's wife Mary's father, an old man, and the women
neighbors and the negers buried him in their
frontyard. Then when grandma died they buried her by him.
Then a few years back Alpha Christian took it in her head
she wanted to move them to a cemetery. Her mother was dead at
that time, so she wrote to mother for her consent. So
mother wrote that she would rather let them rest where they were and
the people could level off the graves; and that they
had been buried so long there wouldn't be anything to move. So
Alpha went ahead but didn't find anything, only a few
bones and the casket handles, but she said she had the bottomes scraped
good and put in caskets and taken to a
cemetery. Then she put up a nice grave marker." (end of excerpt) {comment
by W.S.: Alpha Christian 1878-1963 married....Dutton about 1916; married
Hugh Easterly some time in the 1940's. "Uncle Bob's wife's....",....Robert
Ewing Christian's wife, Mary Jane, Nee Holdiway.} |
EXCERPT taken from letter dated 18 Sept 1969, by Miss
Mary R. Ruble,
1210 East Broadway, Newport, Tenn., 37821 to
W.S. O'Neal, 523 North Seventh, St. Charles, Mo. 63301: "When
Mrs. Dutton was here she visited Mrs. Milne's parents,
Mr. and Mrs. Bob Talley, who with their daughter Mary Moore, went with
Mrs. Dutton to the old Christian farm. They took
a man with them. Mrs. Dutton located the graves and the man dug
into them. They clearly saw the shovel marks made
when the graves were dug, but very little remained in them. Mrs.
Dutton had prepared a small box, covered inside and
outside with white satin. In the box they placed the remains
they found; a cravat on Mr. Christian was well preserved, as
was a cravat pin. Mrs. Dutton kept the pin but placed the bit
of fabric, dust, parts of bone, etc., in the box. The group
came back to Newport and on to the Union Cemetery where an appropiate
memorial service, with minister, was held.
Mrs. Dutton had a marked erected at the new grave. I will take
a picture of it and send it to you.
As to the location of the Thomas Christian
farm, home, etc., it was between Rankin and Bybee on a high hill
overlooking the "forks of the rivers"; that is, the place where
Pigeon
River flows into French Broad River.The view from
the hill is wonderful as one can see the rivers, bottom lands and the
wide high range of mountains toward the south east." |