Thought you might enjoy this excerpt From SERGEANT YORK by Sam K. Cowan, 1922, Funk and Wagnalls Company: "Old Coonrod Pile lived in the valley until his life spanned from the days when it was a hunting-ground of the Indians to the time when he can be remembered by some of the men and women now living in Pall Mall, who knew him as the most influential man of his time in the section, the owner of the river-bottom farm land, vast acres of hardwood timber, a general store and a flour mill worked by his slaves—a man grown to such enormous size and weight that in his last days he went about his farm and to oversee his workers in a two-wheeled cart pulled by oxen. Those of the valley who now remember him were children when he died, for he was born on March 16, 1766, and his death occurred on October 14, 1849. He saw his valley home changed from a part of the state of Franklin to a part of the State of Kentucky, then to Tennessee, and the abstracts to the deeds for land he owned show that Pall Mall was first in Granger county, later in Overton and finally in Fentress county as the State of Tennessee developed. Pall Mall is but seven miles from the Kentucky line, and for many years Coonrod thought he had taken up his residence within the Kentucky border. In a newly settled territory a man’s birthplace and antecedents are facts immaterial to the community’s welfare and many incidents historical in nature concerning Old Coonrod have been lost in the waste-basket of forgetfulness and no one now at Pall Mall has “heard tell of jes’ where he come from.” Yet some readily say that he came from “over yonder,” and they point back across the mountains toward North Carolina." There is much more written in the book about the people of Pall Mall, and especially about Coonrod. Of course the book is out of print, but can occasionally be found in old book stores. Also of interest is the movie, "Sergeant York," for which Cary Cooper received an academy award. This one is much more available, and portrays some of the Pile clan. --Stephen Pile