Barefoot Memories of a Hillbilly - From Heir to Eternity

From Heir to Eternity

Now Great Great grandparents, George and Tabitha were both born and raised in Virginia pre 1820. Soon after their marriage they headed over into Tennessee to establish themselves and begin raising a family. Some 13-children later, with threat of war tearing up the nation, they made the decision to take advantage of the neutrality of the state just north of Tennessee. They saw this as an opportunity to establish a life without the constant hail of guns and cannons firing in the near horizon or the continuous worry of a possibility of battle breaking out in the back forty. As things stood, at best the crops were suffering due to the ravages of the times and trials of nature and weather, with war sounding its drums in the background.

In 1860, both George’s father and mother, the center of the family, passed away, and word came that the lines of war had been declared. So along with several of great great grandpa George’s siblings, (including Christopher who had married great great grandma Tabitha’s sister Hulda, and a couple of the siblings who had married Pennington siblings) packed up lock, stock and barrel and began the northward track across The Cumberland Gap into Kentucky. Joel, George and Tabitha’s teenage son, felt passionate about the movement and went on across the way to enlist as a northern soldier at Camp Dick Robinson. His years of service had him seeing battle from Mt Vernon, to Wild Cat, to Cumberland Gap and eventually into the southern states. Sadly, the war lasted longer than his years of service, as he passed on over the river Jordan in 1863, joining hundreds of thousands of other deceased young men who gave everything, including their life, for the war cause.

Also along the trek north, Chris and Hulda stopped of in the Flat Lick area of Knox County and set about establishing their line. Another sibling headed towards Clay County via Gray, Kentucky. Further dropping off a sibling here and there, eventually the remaining band, including my Pap’s grandpa Woodson, swept into Jackson County in the mid 1860s. Thanks to the crew that had come ahead, there were pole houses with rough barns and cribs set up to accommodate the family moving in to prep for winter. The crops planted by the early arrivals was coming in just the right time to begin preservation for the winter and prepped also to feed the stock. After joining the neighbors in planning sessions, it was decided there was need for a church and schools, and this was given priority and immediately attended to.

This was just the beginning. There would be hitches along the way. There’d be need to bury loved ones, like Joel, who never came home. There’d be weddings and funerals, education and homespun training. Folks would come and folks would go. Grandchildren would arrive and children would leave. The winds of change and the sun being the only constant. The future gives a view of what Heir to eternity looks like.

I wear shoes now, but sometimes I have barefoot memories.