Pioneers

John Sevier (1745-1815), noted Tennessee history frontiersman, became known as “Chucky Jack.” His accolades were fearless Indian fighter, hero of the Battle of Kings Mountain and other Revolutionary War encounters, first governor of the short-lived State of Franklin and the new State of Tennessee and a U.S. Representative.

In 1955, the R.L. Maples family, Gatlinburg hotel owners, built Hunter Hills Theatre on 24.57 acres of land to feature an outdoor drama that accurately personified the life of Sevier. The 2500-seat facility was located about four miles outside the heart of Gatlinburg. It was named after Kermit Hunter, a successful drama writer who taught history on a stage under the stars. It was Hunter’s third drama, the other two being “Unto These Hills” (1949, Cherokee, NC) and “Horn in the West” (1951, Boone, NC). He later added several more productions.

The Maples’ aim was to attract tourists who routinely traveled 35 miles across a narrow, winding mountain road to see the popular drama in Cherokee. The play opened in 1956 with performances scheduled from late June to early September. Viewing “Chucky Jack” was described as a painless, pleasurable way to learn early Tennessee history in the coolness of pristine mountain air.

The play employed 92 actors, some of whom had previously worked on Broadway. Others were college drama students and local residents. The main stage was 55 feet wide and equipped with two 30-foot revolving stages that allowed speedy set changes.

Promoters of the event devised a clever attention-grabbing stunt to draw attention to the new enterprise. They purchased what appeared to be a train for $13,000 from an amusement Company in Dayton, Ohio. The vehicle, comprised of a Diesel-looking locomotive and two cars, ran on the road rather than a rail. The word “Tennessee” appeared across the front of it. The new owners drove it from Dayton to Gatlinburg to draw media attention along the 350-mile stretch of highway. Local newspapers and television stations were curious about them.

Accompanying the train on its overland trek were Mr. and Mrs. Maples; their son, Jack, who piloted the train; and Bart Leiper, a director of public relations for Gatlinburg and “Chucky Jack.” When the train finally arrived at its mountainous destination, it assumed a new role – providing sightseeing around the city for tourists and rides to and from the theatre. During the 1957 season, major script changes were made to the play. Also, an organ and a special trained chorus replaced tape recordings.

In 1958, a 24-page brightly illustrated comic book titled, “Chucky Jack’s A-Comin’” was published that was aimed primarily at youngsters. Bill Dyer, well-known cartoonist for the Knoxville News-Sentinel (famous for his “Dyergrams” of the Tennessee Volunteer football games), provided the artwork. Bill modestly commented that all he had to do was let history tell its own story. He simply supplied the pictures and released the imprints for it.

Over time, attendance at “Chucky Jack” performances began to wane in spite of efforts to publicize it. John Sevier, as impressive as he was in Tennessee history, was not as recognized to the general public as were other Volunteer State notables such as Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, Andrew Jackson and Sam Houston. Another problem was the three-hours length of the play, but Hunter refused to shorten it by even one word.

In 1959 after a brief three-year run, “Chucky Jack” was chucked. The early pioneer left the open-air stage and returned to history books. In December 1965, the Maples’ family donated the theatre to the University of Tennessee.  

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Besse Brown Cooper, former area resident, celebrated her 113th birthday on August 26, making her a super-centenarian (someone over 110) and currently #8 (as of Mar. 3) on the list of the oldest living people in the world (www.grg.org/Adams/E.HTM).

Her son, Sidney, and daughter, Angie Tharp, shared her story for this column. Besse, a daughter of Richard Brown and Angie Berry Brown, was born in Sullivan County on Aug. 26, 1896, and lived on the banks of the Watauga River for several years. She and her siblings enjoyed the benefits of living near and playing in the river. 

According to Sidney: “In November 1900 while Mother was four years old, her aunt and uncle convinced her parents to move to Arkansas, known as the ‘Land of Opportunity.’ The two families built a large houseboat alongside the river for the journey. It was fabricated upside down, turned over and then placed on the river. This attracted a lot of attention from neighbors and friends.  

“Their journey took them down the Watauga River and into the Tennessee River. They had a rudder and guided the boat with a big pole. They docked at night and traveled by day. Besse remembered being tied around the waist to keep her from falling off the boat.  One night, the weather was so cold that the river froze delaying them for three days.”

When the two families reached Chattanooga, they became stuck on a sandbar at low tide causing Mr. Brown to go into town to get assistance. He was advised against going to Arkansas because of a high number of Yellow Fever cases there. They abandoned their journey, sold the houseboat and rented a house for about a year while Mr. Brown worked in the city as a carpenter.

They decided to return to the Johnson City area. In 1906, the Brown family moved to the Boones Creek community where they built a two-story wood house on 15 acres of land on a hill along what is now called Brown Road. Besse attended Boones Creek School, graduating in 1913.

Miss Brown enrolled at East Tennessee Normal School (which had opened just two years prior). She rode the CC&O train between Gray Station and Johnson City on weekends and boarded with her aunt in Johnson City during the week. She commuted to and from the Normal School on a trolley. She greatly admired school president, Sidney J. Gilbreath, later naming a son after him.

After earning a teacher’s certificate, Besse taught at a school in Tiger Valley, TN, between Hampton and Roan Mountain, and rode the Tweetsie narrow gauge railroad to and from there each weekend. When she exited the train, she had to walk and carry a suitcase another five miles to her boarding house in all kinds of weather. Her next jobs were at Cog Hill School at Etowah, TN where she taught about a year and at Piney Flats.

Besse moved to Georgia in 1918 where she met and married Luther H. Cooper in 1922. This union bore four children: Angie Tharp; L.H. Cooper, Jr.; Sidney Cooper; and Nancy Cooper Morgan.   

Sidney attributes his mother’s long life to her being an outdoor person who loved working in her yard and garden, not worrying about things and eating right. While in Boones Creek, she was a member of Boones Creek Baptist Church. Several family members are buried in the church cemetery. 

Besse’s four brothers: Thomas Cecil Brown (BC storeowner), John Ralph Brown, Edward King Brown (butcher at Copp’s Grocery on Millard Street in JC) and Richard E. Brown) and three sisters: Besse Berry Brown Cooper, Mary Lee Brown (long time BC schoolteacher) and Urcel Brown (Morton Brothers meat producers) were residents in the Boone’s Creek area.

The city of Monroe, GA honored the super-centenarian by proclaiming Aug. 26, 2009 as “Besse Cooper Day.” 

NOTE: Besse Cooper passed away peacefully on Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at the age of 116. I wish to thank her son, Sidney, for the honor of allowing me to write her story for the Johnson City Press.

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Col. Landon Carter Haynes is a familiar name to area history buffs. What is now Johnson City, which began as Johnson’s Tank and Johnson’s Depot, was once briefly identified as Haynesville before officially being renamed Johnson City on Dec. 1, 1869.

Haynes was born in 1816 by the banks of the Watauga River in the Buffalo community of Carter County. During the Civil War, he aligned himself with the Confederate cause. He became a major stockholder in the East Tennessee and Virginia Railway and worked hard to obtain state support for the construction of the rail line.

The well-known lawyer and stump speaker was the brother of Emily Haynes Taylor, wife of Rev. Nathaniel G. Taylor. This celebrated family was the product of “War of the Roses” gubernatorial candidates Bob and Alf Taylor.

An undated Comet newspaper article had lustrous comments to say about Landon: “His celebrated tribute to East Tennessee is a literary gem of such beauty that it bears frequent repetition and should never be forgotten by the local citizens of the Old Volunteer State. It was delivered at a banquet of the local bar (in 1872) at Jackson, Tennessee.”

General Nathan Bedford, toastmaster of the event, introduced Haynes by saying, “I propose the health of Col. Landon C. Haynes of East Tennessee, the country sometimes called God-forsaken.”

Col Haynes, obviously offended by the hurtful remark countered: “Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: I plead guilty to the ‘swot impeachment.’ I was born in East Tennessee on the banks of the Watauga, which in the Indian vernacular is ‘beautiful river,’ and beautiful river it is. I have stood upon its banks in my childhood and looked down through its glassy waters and have seen a heaven below and then looked up and beheld a heaven above, reflecting like two mirrors, each in the other its moons and its planets and its trembling stars.

“Away from its banks of rocks and cliffs, hemlock and laurel, pine and cedar stretch a vale back to the distant mountain as beautiful and exquisite as any in Italy or Switzerland. There stands the great Unicorn, the Great Roan, the Great Black and the Great Smoky Mountains, among the loftiest in the United States of North America on whose summits the clouds gather of their own accord in the brightest day.

“There I have seen the great spirit of the storm, after noon-tide, take his nap in the pavilion of darkness and clouds. I have then seen him arise at midnight as a giant refreshed with slumber and cover the heavens with gloom and darkness. I have seen him awake the tempest, and let loose the red lightnings that run among the mountain tops for a thousand miles, swifter than an eagle’s flight in the heaven.

“Then I have seen them stand up and dance like angels of light in the clouds to the music of that grand organ of nature, whose keys seemed touched by the fingers of divinity in the hall of eternity, that responded in notes of thunder, which resounded through the universe.

“Then I have seen the darkness drift away beyond the horizon and the morn get up from her saffron bed, like a queen put on her robes of light, come forth from her palace in the sun, and stand up tiptoe on the misty mountain top, and while night fled before her glorious face to his bed chamber at the pole, she lighted the green vale and beautiful river where I was born and played in my childhood with a smile of sunshine. Oh! beautiful land of the mountains, with sun-painted cliff, how can I ever forget thee!”

The Comet concluded by stating that Haynes’ speech left Gen. Forrest in a state of sheer amazement. 

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East Tennessee has been blessed with capable leaders who helped shape the Volunteer State into what it is today. Test your knowledge of the region’s pioneers by matching their names with their contributions. The answers are located at the end.

Choices: A- Daniel Boone, B- Tidence Lane, C- Andrew Jackson, D- Elihu Embree, E- William Bean, F- John Sevier, G- Katherine Sherrill, H- William Blount, I- Samuel Doak, J- Henry Johnson, K- Andrew Johnson, L- David Crockett and M- Bob Taylor.

1. This individual was among the first Baptists to set foot on Tennessee soil, having the distinction of pastoring the first permanent church organization of any denomination in the state of Tennessee, Buffalo Ridge Baptist Church in the Gray community.

2. President George Washington appointed this veteran of the Revolutionary War to serve as governor of the Southwest Territory and superintendent of Indian affairs. He later became the first U.S. senator to be impeached.

3. Reported to be the first white settler west of the Alleghenies, this person became a companion of Daniel Boone in 1760. In 1768, he and his family settled at Boone's Creek, a small tributary of the Watauga River.

4. Known as “Bonnie Kate,” this hardy and adventurous woman became the wife of John Sevier after he bravely pulled her to safety during an Indian attack at Fort Watauga at Sycamore Shoals.

5. This trailblazer, pathfinder and Indian fighter gave pioneers and settlers courage to penetrate the vast wilderness regions. He left his mark on the area by carving his initials in a large beech tree north of the city.

6. The American Presbyterian clergyman and educator who became an advocate for the abolition of slavery. Later he established an academy that became known as Washington College, the first one west of the Appalachians.

7. This Washington County native, son of a Quaker minister, abolitionist leader and publisher of the first abolitionist paper in the United States, “The Manu-mission Intelligence,” became an ardent anti-slavery advocate and remained so until his death.

8. This pioneer arrived in the area in 1856 and established a city that would later bear his name. Over time, he built a combination residence and merchant store, train depot and water tank.

9. “Old Hickory,” so named because of his robustness, was a colorful Jonesboro lawyer, Indian fighter and leader of the “Tennessee Volunteers” in the Battle of New Orleans. He became the first United States president from west of the Appalachians.

10. This 17thpresident of the United States assumed office upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He led the nation during the Reconstruction era and became the first president to be impeached.

11. The witty Democratic contender for governor of Tennessee during the famous 1886 “War of the Roses” campaign served one term in the U.S. House, three as governor and one in the U.S. Senate. He co-founded The Comet, an early Johnson City newspaper.

12. The Tennessee hero of the Battle of Kings Mountain in South Carolina became governor of the State of Franklin, first governor of the State of Tennessee, Indian fighter and state-builder.

13. This celebrated 19th-century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician was born on the Nolichucky River near Limestone, Tennessee and died fighting the Battle of the Alamo in Texas.

Answers: 1B, 2H, 3E, 4G, 5A, 6I, 7D, 8J, 9C, 10K, 11M, 12F and 13L. 

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The mere mention of Henry Johnson evokes an image of Johnson City’s modest founder who among other duties served as farmer; storeowner; postmaster; hotel landlord; first mayor; and railroad depot, freight, ticket and express agents.   

Johnson’s strong fervor and high energy level was instrumental in his developing the little mid-1800s mountainous village known as Johnson’s Depot into the sprawling prosperous city we know today.

The founder had another contribution not generally known; he invented, developed, patented, manufactured and sold a threshing machine, a device used to separate grain from stalks and husks. This little-known fact surfaced in 1941 after Judge Samuel Cole Williams (donor of cash and land to Mayne Williams Library) spotted an advertisement in the October 1836 edition of “Tennessee Farmer” magazine. Johnson would have been 25 years old at the time.

According to the ad: “Johnson’s Thrashing (old spelling) Machine. We certify that we have seen in operation, by two horsepower, this machine which, thrashing at the rate of 48 dozen of wheat per hour, which is effectually cleaned. (Signed) John G. Ruble, Archibald Williams, William G. Looney, Jesse B. Hunter, George W. Hoss, Henry Massengill, John Hoss, Michael Massengill.

“Rights for Sale: The thrasher may be seen in operation at the plantations of Mrs. Sarah Hammer and William Massengill in Washington County. Apply at John Hoss on Brush Creek or at the subscriber in the neighborhood of said Hoss. (Signed) Henry Johnson, September 6, 1836.”

The name, John Hoss, is significant because Henry married John Hoss’s daughter, Mary Ann. Williams contacted the Patent Office in Washington DC and received confirmation that the invention was patented in the name of “Henry Johnson of Washington County, Tennessee” on May 29, 1835. The judge, in turn, documented his discovery in an article for the May 4, 1941 edition of the Johnson City Staff-News.

The new innovation was an important contrivance in the first half of the 1800s and afterwards since wheat was the leading money crop of Tennessee. Washington County was considered premier among the other counties in the state for wheat production harvesting grain that was highly sought after because of its hardness and milling quality.

For this reason, flourmills were abundant throughout the countryside. Several businessmen of Jonesborough and local millers formed small businesses that shipped flour down the Watauga, Holston and Tennessee rivers to markets as far south as the northern regions of Alabama and Mississippi.

 Among the participants in this endeavor were two leading Jonesborough mercantile firms, Crouch and Emmerson (W. Crouch and Thomas B. Emmerson) and Carter and Jones (David W. Carter and James H. Jones).

Emmerson was the son of Judge Thomas Emmerson who served on the Tennessee Supreme Court. When he retired from the bench, he moved from Knoxville to Jonesborough where he had been the first mayor and engaged in the practice of law and newspaper publishing.

In 1835-36, the elder Emmerson established the “Tennessee Farmer,” which he believed to be the first purely agricultural journal of the Central South. If true, Jonesborough has two noteworthy distinctions: the first agricultural journal and an 1820s magazine, “The Emancipator,” produced by Elihu Embree that was devoted solely to the emancipation of slaves.

Henry Johnson’s contribution to the thriving milling business was to invent, patent, manufacture, and sell threshing machines. Although it is not known how successful he was, his laudable venture was likely not overly successful because affordable and adequate transportation for moving manufactured products such as his new machine was difficult to find. This was prior to the coming of the railroads, thereby restricting access to markets due to the seclusion of East Tennessee at the time. 

The majority of shipping vessels hauled flour and numerous articles fabricated of iron. Very little wheat was grown below Knoxville and almost none in Alabama and Mississippi, which were cotton regions. Another problem for Johnson was that his threshing machine was not the only product on the market; he received ample competition from Pennsylvania and the Valley of Virginia.

The magazine ad revealed those who were among the progressive farmers of the 1830’s in Washington, Carter, and lower Sullivan Counties. The George Hoss home was a log structure, which later gave place to a house of “more distinction.” John Hoss’s farm was located on what became known as Carnegie Addition, his residence having stood on the site of “Orchard Place” at what is now the land surrounding 825 E. Fairview Avenue.

John was likely the first Hoss in the area. His father, Jacob, developed the “Hoss apple,” a species believed to be destined to win a reputation of excellence throughout the land. Unfortunately, it was “improved” out of existence.

Another supposition is that the first manufacturing plant within the city limits was on the Hoss estate and operated by Henry Johnson.

The discovery of Henry Johnson as an inventor adds yet another accolade to this impressive man. 

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My column last week, disclosing the news that some anonymous person has possession of Johnson City’s Boone Trail Marker, spurred several notes to me. As promised, I forwarded each one to the unnamed owner for his consideration. Two of the suggestions grabbed his attention.

I contacted Mr. Gary Marshall, Managing-Director, Boone Trail Highway and Memorial Re-Association and author of a book on the subject, “Rich Man: Daniel Boone.” The organization’s leader was delighted that the marker’s rescuer is coming forward to secure the monument’s return to public service. “What a pleasant announcement you make. Please commend the anonymous caretaker of the Johnson City Boone marker in my behalf. I stand ready and willing to do whatever I can to assist in this significant effort.

Mr. Marshall sent a complimentary copy of his book to the undisclosed marker owner, showing several nationwide designs. He suggested that the city pay particular attention to one in downtown Wytheville, VA.  “I watched a bit of the construction of this monument. I observed that they used an arrowhead shaped metal insert inside the monument, around which the mason constructed the stone and mortar arrowhead.”

I quizzed the managing-director about an old photo of Science Hill High School, depicting a square recessed area above the plate and what appear to be raised bars emitting from it: “The crest-like feature above the metal tablet was distinctive to each monument. The authentic Indian arrowheads, collected from donations received by supporters of the Boone Association, were imbedded in the concrete of the monument in various geometric designs. Sometimes the central square feature was a glass case containing a paper listing of the names of the local contributors to the cost of the monument. I am sure the original monument at Johnson City would have featured authentic arrowheads, for that is what your photo would indicate.”

Mr. Unknown previously shared with me a membership receipt issued to Mrs. Justus T. Whitlock, regent of the State of Franklin Chapter of the DAR. The expiration date showed June 1, 1933. “These certificates were issued as receipts for donations to the association in support of its work nationally. The memberships were annual, so I interpret the date of this certificate as one year prior to its noted expiration.”

The historian stated that the Jonesborough monument was dedicated on July 4, 1930 as part of their Sesquicentennial Celebration. Mayor J.T. Whitlock received the Jonesborough monument on behalf of the town.

“The Johnson City tablet, like the Jonesborough one, is a style-3, making it among the later vintage tablets, dating after 1923. “It seems to me that Mr. Rich was active in East Tennessee about 1927 (date of the Elizabethton marker), and 1930 (date of the Jonesborough one). I would suppose that the Johnson City and Kingsport monuments also date from this era. “Every Johnson City patriot should and must rally to the cause of this proud heritage, restore this community artifact, and commend its significance to the generations of citizens yet to come.”

If anyone has any additional suggestions for the marker, please contact me right away so they can be considered before a final decision is made. I will announce in a future column the final decision and details for placing the marker in Johnson City.   

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Between 1958 and 1961, I made a daily jaunt up 88 steps to the old Science Hill High School, scarcely noticing the unusual vertical concrete arrowhead to my left near the bottom of “the hill.”

The Daniel Boone Trail Marker, containing a large bronze plate showing the pioneer trailblazer and his dog, stood there from about 1930 to early 1979.

Beginning in 1913 and extending for 25 years, J. Hampton Rich and his North Carolina Boone Trail Highway and Memorial Association erected 358 such markers across America. The organization’s stated mission was “to build a trans-continental highway in honor of Daniel Boone,” placing markers throughout this country, including a few in the regions where the frontiersman was known to have trekked.

Tennessee had nine such units: in Johnson City, Cumberland Gap, Elizabethton, Harrogate, Jonesborough, Kingsport (2), Laurel Bloomery and Mountain City. As a bonus historical gesture, a small piece of metal from the U.S.S. Maine, a Spanish-American War vessel that was raised in 1912 from the floor of Havana Harbor, was added to each relic’s molten mix. In early 1979 during demolition of the old high school, the city’s once treasured artifact abruptly disappeared without a trace.

Recently, I became acquainted with the individual who has possession of the long lost Boone marker. He agreed to an interview, provided I would not disclose his identity: “While they were tearing the school down, I went up there one day to watch. I noticed that the Boone Trail Marker had been knocked over by a front-end loader and had broken into two large crumbling pieces.

“I asked one of the workers if I could have the bronze plate that had separated from it. He said ‘yes.’ I was shocked that the city had no further plans for it. I put it in the trunk of my car, took it home and located it in my basement, where it has resided for 27 years. “I have often wondered what would have become of it had I not saved it. It was another 10 to 15 years before people began wondering what happened to it.”

The mysterious gentleman told me that the city’s overall track record for preserving landmarks and artifacts was not favorable, specifically mentioning the Southern Railway Depot, Tennessee Theatre, the Lady of the Fountain and the globes at East Tennessee State University: ““When the university redid their main entrance, those globes ended up in a sinkhole. Fortunately, they were later found and relocated to the Chamber of Commerce building.”

The undisclosed owner considered several options over the years – donating the marker to the new public library, mounting it in a coffee table for use at City Hall and soliciting the assistance of the late Tom Hodge. “I am willing to give it back to the city, provided I have full assurance that it will be placed in a safe location – somewhere like a Winged Deer Park – without worry that it will later be disposed of or sold.”

The possessor hopes that people will respond to this column with carefully thought-out suggestions, which he promises to give serious consideration. Are Johnson Citians interested in reviving the Daniel Boone Trail Marker or will it reside in a cellar for another 27 years? We shall see.  

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