History of the Price & Phipps Family In Eastern Hawkins County

PRICE & PHIPPS FAMILY

THIS IS THE HISTORY OF THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN PRICE & PHIPP FAMILY, WHO AS FREED SLAVES IN EASTERN HAWKINS COUNTY, TOOK THEIR SURNAMES FROM THE WHITE SLAVEOWNERS IN THAT AREA---SUBMITTED BY TACIA PRICE

PICTURES IN THE PHOTO GALLERY


Frank Benjamin Price (my grandfather), born December 25, 1890 in the coalfields of Southwest Virginia, born to Robert Haynes Price and Liyiaisto(Lizzie) Armstrong Price.

According to the 1880 Census in Hawkins County, Tennessee, Lucy Smith who married William H. Price was most likely the family that owned his father, Robert Price.



Frank Price was inducted into the United States Army (June 8, 1916) serving in Germany & France during World War I. After the war on June 6, 1923, Frank B. Price married the lovely Nellie Maude Phipps.

Around 1925, Frank worked for the railroad in which he lost his arm due to being caught between two rail cars. Because this happed to him as a young man, none of his children or grandchildren has ever seen him with two arms. A settlement was given for his dismemberment and with this he was able to purchased property from Arthur & Julia Lyons for $400.00.





He loved the Lord and his church, which was Lyon’s Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church and although he could not read nor write, "Grandpap," as the grandchildren called him, knew the Bible front to back. He donated the property that the church and cemetery is currently located today on New Canton Road in New Canton. He proudly served the church for many years as church treasurer and as a member of the Senior Choir.

With one arm, two mules (Nell & Joe) he was able to farm, grow tobacco and raise a family. On his property, there was a spring that ran behind the church, people enjoyed the cool drink that they received and some bottled it to take home.


FRANK PRICE RECOGNITION--PLEASE CLICK ON THE ARTICLE TO ENLARGE

His accomplishments that he received was that he was recognized on NBC's ”Today Show” by Willard Scott, as well as receiving a metal and certificate from President George W. Bush Sr. for turning 100 years old.

The Lord took Grandpap home on November 20, 1994 at the age of 103 in New Canton.

Nellie Maude Phipps Price (my grandmother) was born July 15, 1908 in Hawkins County, Tn., she was born to Victoria & George Phipps.



VICTORIA (AUNT VIC) PHIPPS

Her mother, known as Aunt Vic, worked at The Netherland Inn as a cook. She was well known for her cakes, according to an article in the Kingsport Times-News (dated October 26, 1975). Victoria was a slave before the Civil War at the Rotherwood Mansion, were Joshua Phipps was her owner.

Nellie, "Grandmaw" as the grandchildren called her, was a quiet mother and housewife, but most of all she loved the Lord as well as her church, the Lyon’s Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church. She loved sharing her talent during church programs, among them singing and playing the songs of old and poetry that were in her memory from her childhood. She was also known for quilting.

Again, the Lord visited this family and took Grandmaw home on December 7, 1986 at the age of 78.

Together with the Lord, Frank & Nellie raised seven children, 38 grandchildren and a host of great and great-great grandchildren.

UNKNOWN MEMBERS OF THE NEW CANTON COMMUNITY--IF YOU RECOGNIZE ANYONE, PLEASE LET ME KNOW--CALVIN

Textbook Inscribed With Love Note On Way To Couple’s Daughter

THIS ARTICLE COURTESY THE KINGSPORT TIMES-NEWS


Contact Vince Staten at vincestaten@timesnews.net or via mail in care of this newspaper. Voicemail may be left at 723-1483. His blog can be found at vincestaten.blogspot.com.



Sometimes columns do have a happy ending.
Last Friday I wrote about the book sale of old Douglass High School textbooks. One book in particular struck my fancy because of its inscription: “Linda Eller loves Butch Foster very much & won’t admit it.”
It turned out the inscription was true.
But neither Linda — her name was Etter, not Eller, as it looked in the handwritten inscription — nor Butch could buy that old book. Linda passed away in 1980. And Butch — George Foster — died this past January.
But friends and relatives of the two read the column and alerted Linda and George’s daughter Tia, who now lives in Houston.
Tia e-mailed me, and I volunteered to go buy the book for her. But before she got my message, Pam Kincaid, a classmate of her mom and dad, bought the book, and as I write it is in the mail, on its way to Houston and its rightful owner, Linda and George’s daughter Tia.
I couldn’t send Tia the old schoolbook, but I did send her a newspaper clipping I had come across while researching Friday’s column, a letter her mother had written to Santa in 1962, when she was 11 years old, and sent in to the Times-News’ Santa Letters page. “I want a typewriter, a Barbie tea set, frosty machine and Susie Smart doll. ... My little nephew’s name is David. He is 7 months old. He wants some stuffed dogs and cats and a baby train.”
There were plenty of other happy endings at the book sale. Calvin Sneed tells me that before the day was out, more than 150 old textbooks had found new homes.
“A couple of teachers who remembered teaching from the books they saw — I think they knew their old books were going to Douglass back in the ’60s — came by to see and buy them.”
Calvin says one man who had always wanted to learn to speak French bought a French textbook.
There are still plenty of old textbooks to be catalogued. The Douglass Alumni Association plans another book sale in the near future.
A HISTORY
Calvin Sneed has written a history of African-Americans in Eastern Hawkins County, from Rotherwood to Rogersville, and is publishing it as a series of articles on the Douglass Alumni Web site, www.sonsanddaughtersofdouglass.org , all this week. There’s some eye-opening stuff in the series. Did you know that Diana Ross of the Supremes has her roots in Rogersville and other ancestral ties to Kingsport’s Rotherwood Mansion?

For other stories on African-Americans in Eastern Hawkins County, please click "Older Posts" at the bottom of this page, to go back a page

PLEASE CLICK ON THE PICTURES IN ANY OF THE ARTICLES TO ENLARGE THEM

Tomorrow's story concerns a famous person, and yes folks.. singer Diana Ross IS from Hawkins County. Her folks are all from Rogersville, and her ancestry is Rotherwood. We will have the link that brings the "Supreme" sensation home to upper East Tennessee.

Friday.. Welcome Home to the New Canton Family Reunion. Hear an old-time country sermon from Lyons Chapel A.M.E. Zion Reverend James A. Snapp, on the importance of remembering your roots.

Again.. please click on "Older Posts" at the bottom of this page, to go back a page, and click on the pictures to enlarge them.

The History of Rotherwood: A Master-Slave Mentality

MOST OF THIS ARTICLE IS FROM THE RECOLLECTIONS OF VIRGEALIA "JILL" ELLIS OF KINGSPORT WRITTEN FOR THIS WEBSITE, AND ALSO EXCERPTS REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM "ROTHERWOOD MANSION" UNDER THE HEADING "GHOSTS AND SPIRITS OF TENNESSEE" BY JOHN NORRIS BROWN, AND ALSO AN ARTICLE IN THE KINGSPORT TIMES-NEWS FROM OCTOBER 26, 1975. PICTURES OF SLAVE SCENES ARE GENERIC AND TAKEN FROM THE INTERNET.



Most people do not know that the stately Rotherwood Mansion, was once one of the largest slave plantations in East Tennessee.

The name "Rotherwood," remembers Jill Ellis, "immediately evokes images. One could easily imagine, romance." Rightly so, she says, because so many stories surrounding the "aura" associated with the name, are indeed rooted in romance, grandeur, intrigue, mystery, horror, and ghostly feelings, that still exist within the walls of the mansion.




VIRGEALIA "MAMA JILL" ELLIS ON THE OCCASION OF "VIRGEALIA ELLIS DAY IN KINGSPORT"









Mrs. Ellis' ancestry dates back to the Zion Hill plantation between Surgoinsville and Rogersville, Tennessee. Her family later settled into what is now Rotherwood Heights, north of the original plantation.



"I grew up on the 2,500 or more acre Rotherwood land," she remembers. "My mother, Inez Looney was the cook, and my father James Looney was the chauffeur, the butler, and the mansion maitre 'd.

But let's go back MANY years before that, with information that has been passed down for generations.

Mrs. Ellis writes, "back in the late 18th century, 21-year-old Reverend Frederick A. Ross and his family inherited a vast acreage of land along the North and South Forks of the Holston River, from Bays Mountain on up almost to Virginia. Ross came into the area with his slaves and carriages and enormous wealth. Although he had many white indentured slaves, many of the black slaves he owned lived on plantation grounds at the present-day Rotherwood Heights.

So where did the name "Rotherwood" originate?


Mrs. Ellis says her research shows the name came from an old castle of Welsh-Celtic origin, and Ross was determined to have a home of magnitude and beauty. High on a hill, facing the river, the home he built even had a garden and pool on the roof. Slaves carried water up to the roof, to keep the pool filled. Columns, curved driveways, flowers, exotic florals with hanging gardens made Rotherwood the showplace and entertainment center of the region.

"Young Ross married Theodosia Vance of Washington County," she writes, "and they had about 12 children. But the showplace burned, and had to be rebuilt."

From the John Norris Brown website, writes "Ross was a kindly man, who had a very beautiful daughter named Rowena. She was well-liked by everyone in Rossville, which later down the line becames King's Port. She had been educated in the finest northern schools, and as a result she had many young men interested in marrying her. She did indeed fall in love with one young man, and were planning to marry. But he died tragically, when his boat capsized in the Holston River in front of Rotherwood Mansion, in clear sight of Rowena. She was very much affected by this, and became reclusive."

After two years, writes Mr. Brown on his website, she began to socialize again, and eventually announced her engagement to a rich young man from Knoxville. But tragedy struck again when he died of yellow fever. Once again, Rowena went into a deep depression. A decade later, she married and this time, had a daughter. When the daughter was six years old, Rowena committed suicide by walking out into the river, after she thought she heard her first love calling to her. Today, it is said that her ghost still walks the banks of the Holston River, wearing her wedding dress, searching for her first love. Some have even said the ghost of her first suitor also haunts the mansion.



LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF WILLIAM PHIPPS, WHICH ALSO WILLED JOSHUA PHIPPS THE LAND OF ROTHERWOOD---CLICK ON THE DOCUMENT FOR A LARGER PICTURE


















"Later on, Frederick Ross lost a lot of money," says Mrs. Ellis, "through business losses and investments failures, and prior to the Civil War, he sold the plantation and its slaves to Joshua Phipps, his overseer who had always held a cruel hand over the slaves. Knowing that, Ross freed many of the slaves, who then moved further into Hawkins County, settling at Zion Hill, New Canton, and Rogersville. Among the ones who settled at Rogersville and took the name of their former slave owner, were the ancestors of future singer-actress Diana Ross.



Phipps was a truly evil man, a slave driver, and there are many stories about almost nobody liking him during his lifetime. "The basement in the Rotherwood Mansion had slave cells," writes Mrs. Ellis. "One large room was windowless with dirt floors, dirt walls and only one opening. This room was for housing 'field slaves,' grouped together at night. The front entrance was a narrow section with a seat hewed out from the dirt wall. Iron bars were set into the opening far window, with no glass."

Mrs. Ellis remembers seeing reminders of Rotherwood's slave past as a little girl, after her parents were hired by the Kingsport Improvement Company to maintain the mansion and grounds.



"As a child," she writes, "I had to go into this area almost every day because the food Mother canned was stored in the basement, and the laundry facility was also in this area. The stench was embedded in the ground--the darkness and dampness was sometimes overpowering. One could imagine hearing the moaning, the wailing, the crying of slaves.. their misery and despair. If a slave was maimed, he was shot like an animal because he was of no more use. In the front room of the 3rd floor facing the river, was the whipping post. Slaves were shackled to the post to be whipped. The blood stains are still embedded into the wood floors of that room. Days of heavy moisture, the blood stains appear!"

In fact, people in Kingsport always spoke of Phipps with dread. Phipps was most notorious for his treatment of his slaves.


Phipps was not along in his rantings. Supposedly, he also had a mistress, who, believe it or not, was a former slave. It was said, she was even more evil than he, if that were possible.









"AUNT" VICTORIA (VIC) PHIPPS

The cruelness of Joshua Phipps was also recounted by "Aunt Vic Phipps," a black woman owned as a slave by Phipps, whose account of him was told to Edward Stewart in an article published in the Kingsport Times-News in October of 1975 (Aunt Vic was also an early ancestor of the Price Family, who settled in New Canton). In the article, Stewart said "Aunt Vic was a slave at Rotherwood before the Civil War, and told me about hiding in the reeds and culverts when the slave traders would come through, so she wouldn't be sold. Aunt Vic described Richard Netherland as a workmaster for Joshua Phipps, who made the slaves work harder. She said that both Netherland and Phipps were cruel and beat the slaves all the time." But what impressed Stewart the most, was how "Aunt Vic" described how Phipps wanted to be buried. "She said Phipps often expressed a wish to be buried standing up on the hill at Rotherwood, so he could look down into the bottoms and see the slaves working."

"During the Civil War," says Mrs. Ellis, "Phipps established his own kind of cruelty to his own family. His daughter Pricilla waited faithfully for her young lover to return from the war. Her father disapproved of the young farmhand, and had him killed in action! She died from grief at the age of 20, and her ghost is said to still sit at the front window of the mansion."


The Civil War's Battle of Rotherwood lasted about a day, according to Mrs. Ellis. The mansion had escape routes built in during the war, and the dining room fireplace had a secret trap door that opened into a tunnel that led to the river. A person with the enemy on his tail could escape in a boat down the river.

As mean as Joshua Phipps was, fate had a way of dealing its OWN cruel hand. In July of 1861, Phipps became very sick and had to be fanned on his sickbed by a young slave. There, his sickbed became his deathbed. According to legend, as he lay in bed, a swarm of flies gathered and eventually filled his mouth and nostrils. Unable to breathe, Phipps suffocated.

As if his death were not dramatic enough, his funeral turned out to be even more horrifying. A huge crowd turned out for the funeralization, quickly turning it into more of an event than a funeral. As the hearse carrying his body was being pulled by horses up a hill towards the cemetery, it became too heavy for them to budge it. At the same time, the sky began to darken, as if a storm was brewing. It took many more horses to finally move the casket, and as it slowly made its way up the hill, the sky got darker and darker. All of a sudden, a large dog emerged from the coffin and ran down the hill! The onlookers were terrified. Suddenly, a cloud burst and rain poured down on them. The casket was quickly buried, and everybody ran home.

Today, the black dog, also known as the "Hound of Hell" is said to roam the area around the Rotherwood Mansion. On dark and stormy nights, its low, mournful howl can be heard through the area. Meanwhile, two ghosts are said to haunt the Rotherwood Mansion and its grounds. One is that of Joshua Phipps, who is said to remove covers from sleeping people inside, and laughing his evil, sadistic laugh. The other is the ghost of his evil mistress, who legend says, was killed by the slaves who rose up against her, after becoming sick of tortures inflicted by one of their own. To avoid punishment (and possible mutilation of her remains), she is said to be buried in an unmarked grave, somewhere on the grounds of Rotherwood Mansion.

It's said that most people who have heard the legend of Joshua Phipps have always tended to avoid Rotherwood Mansion after dark. Seeing the ghost of Rowena Ross would be un-nerving, but a chance encounter with the spirits of Phipps, his mistress and the "Hound of Hell" would be too much to bear.


The Rotherwood Mansion sat empty for many years after those harrowing experiences, and its checkered slave past. But then, the railroad came to King's Port (the name later shortened to "Kingsport"), and again, Rotherwood played an important role in the development of the town. Mrs. Ellis writes, "Rotherwood was operated like a "surfdom" when land was purchased by Kingsport for (New York banker and railroad backer) John B. Dennis. An enormous farm was established there, with prize Jersey milk counts, prize bulls, riding stables, a village (Whitesburg) for all farm hands, including an elementary school, church, etc, and of course, the main house servants.

Decisions concerning the building of "Kingsport--The Model City" were made during dinner or lunch meetings. Entertaining notables such as George Eastman, railroad executive J. Fred Johnson and other city notables was all done at Rotherwood Mansion.

Rotherwood was bought by the U.S. government in 1940, Mrs. Ellis remembers. "Mr. Dennis and his wife, my mother Inez (my father had passed away in 1937), moved to Asheville, North Carolina."

Colonel Ryan and his family moved into the Rotherwood Mansion. The 2,500 acre farm was still occupied by the government until the end of World War II.


Mrs. Ellis says Rotherwood was for sale, bought, occupied, for sale again, abandoned, and finally sold during the mid or late 80's, to a young doctor who had found her dream home. "She completely renovated the mansion, reconstructed especially the slave quarters in the basement, the 2nd floor bedrooms and the foyer entrance, and she did hire an artist to paint a mural on the walls in the hallway, depicting the History of Rotherwood. The mural extends up the stairway to the foyer on the 2nd floor. I had to give up photographs of me as a child at Rotherwood to be included as part of the living history of the Rotherwood Mansion."

When the Learning Channel did a television story on Rotherwood called "Ghostly Waters" filmed on location, Mrs. Ellis narrated the first part of the story line. She writes, "Rotherwood Mansion still stands majestic with ghosts who are apparently friendly with the present owner, but holding on to many of its secrets that are still untold."


But lest you think, slaves haunt the grounds of the Rotherwood Plantation itself from the accounts of Mrs. Ellis and research from John Norris Brown, consider the nearby Sensabaugh Tunnel under the CSX Railroad, just up Big Elm Road from the Mansion.

It's said to be JUST AS HAUNTED.

The following information has been documented by the Haunt Masters Club, a paranormal research and investigation group working in Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and Western North Carolina.






Dr. Nancy Hamblen Acuff explains that the original natural tunnel was cut by Sensabaugh Branch and was widened to make a 348' long tunnel that was never intended for driving. An episode of Haunted South TV explains that 16 men died when the Clinchfield Railroad was widening the tunnel (for overhead passage) in the 1920s.

Long ago, slaves from Hawkins County would hide in the natural tunnel and wait for a ferryman to come down the Holston River and signal it was clear to come aboard by waving a lantern.






One slave and mistress to a Hawkins County man escaped with their three children and was waiting in the tunnel when the slaveholder found them. He smashed one baby against the wall, killing it, then shot the two other children and his mistress.

The youngest baby is allegedly the mournful crier of this tunnel.

Sign of the Times in Eastern Hawkins County

Sometimes when you take two steps forward, somebody shoves you back three or four.

I ran across this sign while riding around Sunday, August 10, 2008 in Eastern Hawkins County, taking pictures for the articles on the African-American heritage in that area.. a legacy we all share.


Yes friends.. this sign is posted in the year 2008.

Not 1948, or 1955, or 1964.

2008.

The sign has apparently been there for some time. I got out of the car and examined it closely because of the fading, and it appears to me that something had been spray-painted over it previously, and somebody scrubbed that off. The culprit apparently then came back later and sprayed-painted it again.

Although I am including the sign in a couple of articles, I feel it necessary to give it highlight this sign by itself.

It's absolutely amazing to me that in this day and time, there are still people who either still think like this, or allow their children or grandchildren to think like this. In a time when we are all judged by how we conduct ourselves around others, there are still some people who STILL don't give black people respect.

It may have been spray-painted as a joke. It is not funny.
It may have been spray-painted out of hate. God teaches me to love the person who hates me.
It may have been spray-painted out of disrepect. It is not respectful.
It may have been spray-painted out of ignorance. It is as ignorant as the painter.
It may have been spray-painted from peer pressure. It is the reason new friends are needed.

Take care. There are still some people here at home right in our own backyard, who think African-Americans should be neither seen, nor heard.

---Calvin

History of the Price Family in New Canton

THIS IS THE HISTORY OF THE "WHITE" PRICE FAMILY IN NEW CANTON---THIS FAMILY OWNED SLAVES IN THE EASTERN HAWKINS COUNTY AREA



The Cedar Bluff Farm House, landmark of the late 1870's, was bult by William H. Price, planter, merchant and operator of a 600-acre farm, and the first General Store in 1865 in New Canton.

William H. Price was born near Lynchburg, Virginia on March 10, 1825, the son of Joseph H. and Lucy Stone Price. Joseph was born in England in 1795, and settled in what is now Kingsport, where he died in 1857. William H. married Lou Smith, who died in 1866.. he later married Mary Shaver in 1867. They had one son, John W., born in 1868.

John Price was educated in Kingsport and traveled for the cotten factory there, and in New Canton. He married Maude Cooper. They were the parents of Mary Frances and Lorraine Price. Mary Frances Price, the present owner of the Cedar Bluff Farm. majored in music at Virginia Intermont where her sister was an art graduate. The Price girls' parents died when they were young children, and they were raised by their aunt, Bertha Cooper Smith (Mrs. Walter).

Cattle guards at the gateway entrances are a gentle reminder of a bygone era. Age-old maples and walnut trees frame the stately two-story house with its winding stairs and antique furniture. All reflect the hospitality of the Southern Lady who once coached basketball at Church Hill School, and went horseback riding in the Junaluska area.

Remembrances of the Frederick Douglass Hord Family, New Canton

Frederick Douglass Hord was born October 3, 1893, in a log cabin in New Canton. He was the youngest of 15 children. His parents were Frederick R. and Mary E. Hord.

Times were hard in New Canton, and Mr. Hord remebers looking through the cracks of the log cabin and seeing the snow that had fallen in the night. Many times, they stuffed rags through the cracks of the logs to keep out the wind and snow.




Now that "Professor" Hord has just celebrated his 83rd birthday, there's a little frosting on his beard and hair. However his enthusiam belies his years. His kind eyes speak eloquently as he does, recalling earlier years as a teacher, principal and Tennessee Eastman Company employee.

Hord is proud of his heritage; he says his ancestors have the qualities of mixed blood--Indian, White and Negro. He says "my mother's father was shite." She used to spin wood into yard and make blankets, he said. They kept about 15 sheep. When one of his sister's sheep died, she sheared it to save the wool.

In addition to his career in the teaching profession, Hord has cut timber for sawmills, split rails, worked on a farm, and on the railroad.

Mrs. Sallie M. Hord, 68 years old, retired after 26 years as a janitress at the Holston Defense Corporation and the Tennessee Eastman Company. She proudly exhibited a certificate recently acquired from the Senior Citizens, for a course in Artex painting. The life-like tiger is to be framed and used for a wall hanging.

Mrs. Hord's great grandfather was a Leeper (perhaps related to Lillian Leeper's husband), and part Indian. Her mother came from Virginia and was half-white. She was raised on a farm and enjoyed riding horses. Her parents were the late Eldridge and Etta Hoard (note the spelling).

Mr. Hord, a World War II veteran, told of the time he was in the Army. They were marching up to Metz, Germany with orders to take it at all cotss, even sacrificing 30,000 men.. then they got word the Armistice was signed!

Hord worked his way while attending Swift Memorial Junior College in Rogersville. His first salary as teacher at New Canton was $35. He served as principal from August 31, 1936 through 1940. He taught about 25 years in one and two-room schools. He still has his contract for that first year, signed by A. E. Cope.

Hord needed money for his family, and found he could make more working as a janitor at Tennessee Eastman, so the family moved to Kingsport, where the boys could attend high school.

The Hord's have four sons, all employed in New York State. Frederick D. is with Bell Aircraft.. William A. is a businessman.. bobby G. is with General Motors, having acquired his Master's at the University of Buffalo.. Hugh K. is a computer analyst in Long Island, New York. There are eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

The Hords have a farm in New Canton, and at one time, had a chicken hatchery. He remembers the little post office and the Carter-Parker Store near the Hord Mill. He remmbers his father telling him that a slave (an accomplished workman) built the elegant HOrd HOuse in Church Hill, and was paid $100 "if he could complete it by Christmas," which he did. When they held Open House, he and his master had the first dance to celebrate.

Mr. Hord was named for a famous slave.. Frederick Douglass, who crossed the Mason-Dixon Line, was sent to England and made speeches against slavery, and was appointed Minister to Haiti. A postage stampwas issued in his honor, one of which Mr. Hord has for a keepsake.

The Hords are members of the Bethel A.M.E. Zion Church in Kingsport.

History of the Lyons Chapel A. M. E. Zion Church, New Canton, Tennessee

THIS BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LYONS CHAPEL A.M.E. CHURCH WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1997.. THE CHURCH SERVED AS THE FOCAL POINT FOR THE NEW CANTON REUNION HELD THIS PAST WEEKEND, AUGUST 8TH-10TH.

ALL THIS WEEK, WE'RE EXAMINING THE HISTORY OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN EASTERN HAWKINS COUNTY, FROM ROTHERWOOD TO ROGERSVILLE--PLEASE CHECK BACK EVERY DAY FOR NEW ARTICLES



LYONS CHAPEL A.M.E. ZION--THE BEGINNINGS OF OUR HERITAGE IN NEW CANTON, TENNESSEE
1869 - 1997


The Lyons Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, formerly known as the New Canton African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, was organized in 1869 by the Reverend Robert Russell.


Three other churches were built, the first two destroyed by fire, the third demolished to make room for the fourth building built for the Worship of God. The foundation members of the New Canton A.M.E. Zion Church were Mrs. Louise Leeper, Creasy Leeper, Lee Lyons, Addie Lyons, Gip Lyons, Annie Lyons, Ludie Leeper, Davie Lyons, Fannie Lyons, Fred Hoard, Mary Hoard, Henry Lyons, Cornelia Lyons, Victoria Phipps, William (Bill) Lyons, Dan Ford, Winnie Ford, Clint Lyons, John Lyons and many others.

During 1954-1955, the new church edifice was built during the administration of the late Reverend C.A. Coffee, the late Reverend Curtis Edge, Presiding Elder, and the late Bishop Raymond Luther Jones, Presiding Bishop. Mr. Vincent Maxwell played a very important part in the eriction of this building, including the laying of the cornerstone.


Mr. William A. Lyons was the chairman of the Trustee Board, Mrs. Margaret Ford, Secretary, who passed away on Friday, January 31, 1997, and the Service of Triumph was held on Wednesday, February 5, 1997. Mr. Ed Leeper was Treasurer during this period. Mr. Frank Price was 104 years when he died on November 20, 1994, during the conference year 1994-95. Mr. Owen Maxwell died on December 30, 1995, during the conference year 1995-96. He was 74 years. Mr. Ralph C. Leeper, Chairman Emeritus of the Trustee Board gave his life for the church, and passed away during this conference year 1996-97 on Friday, October 25, 1996, and the Service of Triumph was held on Monday, October 28, 1996. He was 75 years.

At the time of this writing in 1997, the Church celebrated the heritage of the parishioners still living at that time: Mrs. Effie Leeper (97 years, the oldest member).. Mrs. Dennie B. Ford, Mr. Walter Stafford (at that time, residing in the Church Hill Nursing Home).. Mr. Vincent Maxwell, Mrs. Myrtle Leeper, Mrs. Elizabeth Maxwell, Mrs. hazel Leeper, Mrs. Lucille Lyons, Mrs. Mary Kate Brice, Mrs. Minnie Cox, Mrs. Zeola Leeper, Mrs. Mary Watterson, Mr. Tom Long, Mrs. Maggie Long, Mr. Carl Leeper, Mr. Ernest Ford, Mr. James Watterson, Mrs. Barbara Hoskins, Mrs. Janie Maxwell and many others, including a nice group of young adult members.


We cannot forget those who labored at the New Canton A.M.E. Zion Church, now known as the Lyons Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church, and have gone on to the world beyond the grave. Let light perpetual shine upon them and they continue to rest in peace.

God has richly blessed us, and we look forward for even greater blessings. We praise God and give Him all the glory and honor, world without end.

(Signed)
Mr. Vincent Maxwell, Historian and Chairman of the Church History Committee
Mr. William Douglas, Jr.
Mrs. Phyllis Delaney
Mrs. Elizabeth Maxwell
Mrs. Delores Douglas

2 Youth Build Homes Taking Shape

THESE PICTURES COURTEST ERICA YOON, KINGSPORT TIMES-NEWS

PLEASE WATCH FOR A STORY ON THE YOUTH-BUILD HOMES IN RIVERVIEW, WITH PICTURES FROM THE BEGINNING OF CONSTRUCTION TO THIS POINT

At top right, Stevie Allen, a Youth-Build instructor, helps Chris Snapp hoist a piece of plywood for the roof of a home being built on Carver Street in the Riverview community recently. YouthBuild is for young people between the ages of 18 and 24 who can earn a GED while learning skills to become employed in the building/construction industry. The program will last about six months and 44 students will build four houses on Carver and Louis streets. The GED classes are held across the street from the build at 908 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Students listen to instructor Steve Souder, above right. At top left, Arjuna Goins passes down a tool to Chris Snapp during construction of a home on Carver Street. At bottom left, Amos Bell works on a math problem during his GED class. Bottom right, class is in session.

Lamarcus Miller Passing

KINGSPORT — Mr. LaMarcus A. Miller, 30, of 1921 Bowater Apt. #46, Kingsport, went to sleep in the arms of Jesus on Sunday (Aug. 10, 2008) at his residence.
He is survived by two sons, Khalid and Mathew Miller; one daughter, Kerrie Miller; parents. Mr. and Mrs. Grover (Janet) Miller; one brother, Matt Miller; two sisters, Mrs. Teresa Lowe and Ms. Shelley Miller.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete.
Mr. Miller and family are in the care of R.A. Clark Funeral Service, Inc. 423-245-4971.

From Canton To New Canton: From Slavery To Bravery

THIS WEEK, WE ARE COMMEMORATING THE NEW CANTON REUNION BY EXPLORING THE LEGACY AND HERITAGE OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS FROM ROTHERWOOD TO ROGERSVILLE, TENNESSEE--WE START IN THE NEW CANTON COMMUNITY



Netherland Inn.. Rotherwood.. The Canton Hall Plantation and Hord's Mill at what is now New Canton.. Zion Hill at Surgoinsville.. Needmore.. Guntown and Petersburg at Rogersville.


THE OLD CANTON HALL, NOW A PRIVATE RESIDENCE


"There were probably more slave towns before the Civil War between the Netherland Inn at King's Port down to Rogersville, than anywhere else in East Tennessee," says William (Bill) Lyons of New Canton in eastern Hawkins County, Tennessee. Mr. Lyons says his ancestors used to tell him what THEIR ancestors told him about life in servitude on plantations in the eastern part of the county.

Records from the Hawkins County Courthouse and the Tennessee State Archives indicate that many of the plantations in that area had anywhere from 10 to 20 slaves, to upwards of 300 slaves. Back then, slaves had to be up front with their activities, but they were secretive about their lives when not working for the slave masters.



THE OLD CAVE ENTRANCE, SURROUNDED BY OVERGROWTH

"Most people don't know about the cave that the slaves used way back," he says. "The opening is between Canton Hall and the Hord Mill, and it ran all the way south to the Holston River, about a mile distant. It was so big you could stand up in it and walk along the cavern. Legend has it, that slaves would use the cave as a passage from the plantations to go down to the river and fish and hunt. They'd bring their food back through the cave to their homes and families."

"I always heard that they would use the cave, so they wouldn't have to cross the railroad track or the main dirt road and be seen by white people, who would take their food away from them," Mr. Lyons remembers. "That cave and tunnel stayed there for many years, in fact, my uncle has told me time and time again that he and a white friend of his, would also go through the cave down to the river to fish and trap game."





WHAT'S LEFT OF THE CAVE ENTRANCE

"When they built the new four-lane 11-W," he says, "the blasting for the road caused the cavern to cave in. Nobody ever went through it again, and as a passage, it was lost forever. Only the spirits of the slaves and their descendants long ago, know of the legacy of that cave."

What's left of the cave is near the land Mr. Lyons farms and lives on now, part of the land his great-grandfather actually bought from the Hord and Canton slave owners nearby.

Turns out.. his freedom came along with it.

GRAVESITE OF HENRY H. LYONS, SON OF HENRY L. LYONS

"My great-grandaddy was Henry L. Lyons," says Mr. Lyons. "He was from Stony Point along the Holston River, and was 57 years old when he was freed from slavery. He paid 25 cents every once in a while to buy the land. There was also a movement he'd found out about in Nashville to free the slaves by simply buying their freedom, and he also paid 25 cents into that. He saved enough until he could buy his own freedom, and from the paper I have on him, it looks like he was paying so much per month for the freedom of other slaves around here, too. His wife was Cornelia, who had been a Galbreath, and they raised a big family here."



So how did New Canton get its name?

"The story goes, that when the slaves were freed after the Civil War, many of them did not know what to do or where to go," says Mr. Lyons. "They decided not to go anywhere, but to stay where they were the most familiar. Since they lived near Canton Hall, they named their old slave town "New Canton."

"Back then, freed slaves knew nothing of their own names, so they took the names from their former masters," he says. "Lyons, Hord, Leeper, Galbreath, Price, Cox.. those were all names of slave owner families in this area. Those freed slaves also established churches between Rotherwood and Rogersville. There was an African Methodist Episcopal church in New Canton, one in Zion Hill, and also one in Rogersville."



















There were probably 50 families that descended from slaves that lived at one time in the New Canton area alone. Mr. Lyons says although many families stayed behind, some freed black slaves moved away, and when they did, the former white masters came in and took their land, even selling it to other whites in the area. There were only dirt roads and paths to the small farms. Even to this day, he says, the population is about 50-50, reflecting where the land has gone over so many, many years.


NEW CANTON ROAD--BAYS MOUNTAIN IS IN THE BACKGROUND

"New Canton was a self-contained community back around the turn of the century and well into the 1930's and 40's with the little branch running through it," says Mr. Lyons. "Before I was born, my family owned one of several grocery and community stores on or near New Canton Road. It was called Lyons Store, which had a little restaurant in the basement. John Ford also had Ford's Grocery and Grill, there was Hoskins Grocery. It was sort of what Riverview was like in Kingsport at around the same time. My mom used to talk about the only entertainment being whatever was going on at church on Saturday nights. The rest of your time was taken up with work, school, or just talking with friends, relatives and neighbors nearby."





TYPICAL NEW CANTON HOME-STORE: HOME IN FRONT, STORE IN BACK

George Dulaney remembers those stores, especially the Lyons Store. "They had a little monkey that kinda watched the store for them.. let them know whenever somebody came in, or got agitated if it felt something was wrong with somebody who'd come in. He says that community spirit carried on in the New Canton community well into the 40's and 50's. "The churches were the main thing," he says. "people looked to the churches here for everything, fish fries, entertainment. The churches like Lyons Chapel held the community together. Over the years, most of the families here only had one or two children, and when they grew up, they all moved away."

Many of the reasons the younger ones left, would be a spirit outside the close-knit community that shows, no matter how different things are these days, in some ways.. they're still the same.

This example of the old harrassment is not from the 40's and 50's.. it's from 2008, very near the New Canton community right now.

"When I was growing up in the 40's and 50's," says Mr. Lyons, "there were places you could go to, and places you didn't go to. The closest place for us to shop was Kingsport. we knew not to go into Kress's, Woolworth's, any downtown store that had a restaurant. When you went to the Greyhound Bus Station on Main Street, you could go in and get a hamburger where you bought your tickets, but you had to stand up to get it, and then go back outside to eat it. I remember the little small place where the black people would sit down and wait on the bus. When it got there, of course, you had to sit in the back."


THIS GREYHOUND BUS STATION IN MINNESOTA RESEMBLED THE ONE ON MAIN STREET IN KINGSPORT

"There were work buses at the bus station, that brought black workers from the Kingsport workers down into Hawkins County to the plants there. Holston Defense was running pretty good, and many of those black workers would walk up New Canton Road to come to the stores and restaurants that were black-owned. I used to sell kindlin', greens, just anything I could find to sell."

"We didn't really have quite as much controversy in blending in with whites as the other larger towns we were hearing about," he says. "That's probably because many of the whites in the area were just as poor as we were."

"When we really wanted a treat," he says, "we'd go to that drive-in theater on the other side of Riverview in Kingsport, and we'd run into other black people who would sneak into the drive-in. Whenever we would come in a car, we could not ever leave the car to go to the concession stand, so we'd have to bring our own stuff. My mom used to pop popcorn, and wrap ice around those big tall bottles of Pepsi-Cola. Being separated from the white people was a sign of the times, but we had fun anyway."

"Funny thing though," he remembers. "me and my daddy owned our own business where we made those sanitary sewer manholes and catch basins. 95 per cent of our workers were white, but we could only be seen working with them, never having fun with them. Later, I ended up being the first and only black concrete contractor at Tennessee Eastman for a while."



GEORGE DULANEY AND THE OLD NEW CANTON SCHOOL

The old New Canton School is now a big focus of the people in the community. "After it closed as the all-black school back in the 60's, the Head Start program out of Rogersville took it over for a while," says Mr. Dulaney. When that fizzled out, it closed up for good, and kinda ran down. It really started falling in with no attention and no maintenance.








"We'd like to get that old school fixed up and renovated, like Kingsport is doing with the old Douglass School," says Mr. Lyons. "That's a big project for our community right now. We're looking for grants and funds, to renovate it as a community center for reunions, birthday parties, community events and neighborhood gatherings. Perhaps, part of it could be an historic center and museum, where we could memorialize some of the things that made New Canton a good community.. artifacts that were passed down from slavery times, that were important to our families. We're not lazy, we could do a lot of the work ourselves."









NEW CANTON RESIDENTS BILL LYONS (L) WITH OZINE BLY---WHICH ONE IS THE MAYOR?

"We know nothing like this will be possible," says Mr. Lyons, "without the community's help, without help from the younger generation that we have got to work to get them more involved, and also from the Lord. Right now, nobody but the Lord knows what this community has been through since slavery times, and it's a heritage worth remembering."

CBS (Central Baptist Singers) Gospel Explosion

The Lord was definitely in control at the Douglass Ballfield Friday and Saturday, August 8 & 9.

The event was called "CBS Alumni presents: It's Not About Us, It's About Jesus. In The Spirit, Say Yes! Jesus, Eternal Life."




PICTURES FROM THE CBS GOSPEL EXPLOSION ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 9TH IN THE PHOTO GALLERY

"We wanted to promote a higher level of spiritual education, of life with God, so people can continue to grow up in the Lord," says Gospel Explosion coordinator Lisa Williamson.

There was plenty of singing and praise dancing at the event, sponsored by the Central Baptist Singer Alumni, and the New Vision Youth Kids.

Many groups took part in the Gospel Explosion, including praise dancers "For His Glory" and "Anointed."

"I had heard so much about 'Anointed,' says Lisa, that I just had to get them in concert here. They have definitely got the right name 'Anointed,' because I knew it had to be the Lord that put them in my heart. They got the crowd involved in the Spirit."




This is the first year for the CBS Gospel Explosion, and Lisa says she'll have the same theme for the next three years, as the event catches on and grows in popularity.

Many visitors say they'll come back, including Mary Welch of Kingsport. "I think it's a blessing for the community as a whole, to see and hear different groups singing and dancing," she says. "I enjoy coming out and giving Praises unto God, because that's what it's all about, giving the Glory to Him and acknowledging Him through song and dance. I also enjoy someone who can take secular music and inserting the name of God in there, or Jesus or Jehovah. I think that takes a special kind of talent."

The person she is speaking of is Jevan Martin of Bristol's Open Door Full Gospel Church. Jevan's specialty is rapping to the Word of God. "It shows people that you can still make good music and make it positive. People tell me all the time they never imagined that rap music could be done like this, but it does open their eyes to more than just what's on TV and radio."



Just like the Spirit puts words in Jevan's actions, the popular dancers "Anointed" wowed the crowd with their popular numbers. Food was also provided, and the event was well-attended.

"It's important to have to these kinds of events in the community," Lisa says, "because Kingsport, Johnson City and Bristol are just too small for all the rampaging and rebellion of the children. It's up to the Christians to call these chidren back to the fold, to plead the Blood of Jesus over their lives, so they will not have to endure all the ruggedness that's going on in the world today. It is our responsibility to bring them back."

"They are our future."

FIRST Douglass School Book Fair Very Successful!

The first Douglass School Book Fair of its type was, by all accounts, a rousing success.

Even though the fair was held in the spacious V.O. Dobbins Community Center Gym, table after table of books had standing-room only status, as book lovers and former students and their families looked through stacks of books.

MORE PICTURES OF THE SCHOOL BOOK FAIR IN THE PHOTO GALLERY

After all, the low, low price of only $1.00 per book was enough to peak everybody's interest.

Those books were rescued from a "date with the dumpster" back in the spring, when they were discovered in the school lockers of the Douglass School Building's second floor. They'd been sitting there collecting dust for the past 42 years, after the Douglass School closed its doors.

"We actually had people standing outside, waiting for us to open the doors," says Douglass Alumni vice president Andra Watterson. "We were pleassntly surprised at the response. We were still cataloging them while people were looking through them, deciding which ones they want. Fortunately, they did help us though, understanding that the former students whose names were inscribed in many of them, got first dibs on them. Many former students stopped by to pick up their old school books, and there were plenty of unsigned books to interest everybody else."


"We sold over a hundred books," says Andra, "which made money for the Douglass Alumni Scholarship program and for our youth programs. We've never done a book fair before, and the uniqueness of these books, brought everybody out in droves."

Best sellers among the many books were arithmetic, basic math, English and French books, and the history books, especially the ones talking about countries that were no longer in existance. Home Economics books also proved very popular, because many of them had recipes in them and kitchen-how-to suggestions, including how to weigh and measure food. Those ideas have not changed in generations.






Kathy Evans made an important find.. she located two more school books inscribed by her brother Ricky, who had passed away. She also located a school book belonging to her other brother Carl, who also passed away just recently.

"Since the names of former students and their books were published on the Douglass website," says Andra, "we were able to make reservations and hold books out for those students whose names were in them. Between now and our next school book fair, we'll be gathering up even more names, and letting people know which of their school books we have, so they can reserve those, too, if they want."





A couple of teachers were also seen perusing the school books.. One of them mentioned that she had taught with one book she found, and lost track of it. Most of the books the Douglass School received from the school system, were hand-me-downs from Dobyns-Bennett and the other city schools--very seldom did students at Douglass get new books. Another teacher was matched up with a book that she remembered on U.S. social studies, and was overjoyed to find it again.

The biggest question at the Douglass School Book Fair?

"When is your next book fair?"







The answer is.. quite soon. The next Douglass School Book Fair will be even bigger, because other books that did not make it into this first fair, will be up for sale, along with others newly found, with the names of former students in them. Those will be cataloged, and their names announced on the website with the type of book inscribed just prior to the book sale time and location.