Hi Bailey, Thanks for the Carden family info here is what I have on the Duncan side up to Susannah Duncan who married Alfred Carden Generation No. 1 1. WILLIAM2 DUNCAN (WILLIAM R.1) was born April 29, 1726 in Culpeper, Culpeper Co, VA, and died May 17, 1790 in Culpeper, Culpeper Co, VA. He married ROSANNA NORMAN Abt. 1755 in Culpeper, Culpeper Co, VA. She was born Abt. 1730 in Culpeper, Culpeper Co, VA. More About WILLIAM DUNCAN and ROSANNA NORMAN: Marriage: Abt. 1755, Culpeper, Culpeper Co, VA Child of WILLIAM DUNCAN and ROSANNA NORMAN is: 2. i. BENJAMIN3 DUNCAN, b. 1755, NC; d. December 09, 1803, Knox Co, KY. Generation No. 2 2. BENJAMIN3 DUNCAN (WILLIAM2, WILLIAM R.1) was born 1755 in NC, and died December 09, 1803 in Knox Co, KY. He married MARY DAVIS December 1776 in Wilkes Co, NC, daughter of THOMAS DAVIS and ELIZABETH KNOX. She was born 1756 in Orange Co, NC, and died 1843 in Anderson Co, TN. More About BENJAMIN DUNCAN: Burial: Pioneer Cemetery, Knox Co, KY More About MARY DAVIS: Burial: Frost Bottom Cemetery, Anderson Co, TN More About BENJAMIN DUNCAN and MARY DAVIS: Marriage: December 1776, Wilkes Co, NC Children of BENJAMIN DUNCAN and MARY DAVIS are: i. MOSES M.4 DUNCAN, b. 1792, Yellow Creek, Knox Co, KY; d. January 15, 1872, Anderson Co, TN; m. (1) MARY FROST, May 1814, NC; b. Abt. 1796, VA; d. April 28, 1825, Frost Bottom, Anderson Co, TN; m. (2) ELIZABETH DAVIS, 1825, Haywood Co, NC; b. February 17, 1788, NC; d. January 26, 1839, Anderson Co, TN; m. (3) NANCY NOLEN, December 08, 1839, Haywood Co, NC; b. May 1815; d. October 30, 1903, Anderson Co, TN. More About MOSES M. DUNCAN: Burial: Duncan Cemetery #3 More About MARY FROST: Burial: Frost Bottom Cemetery, Anderson Co, TN More About MOSES DUNCAN and MARY FROST: Marriage: May 1814, NC More About MOSES DUNCAN and ELIZABETH DAVIS: Marriage: 1825, Haywood Co, NC More About NANCY NOLEN: Burial: Duncan Cemetery #3 More About MOSES DUNCAN and NANCY NOLEN: Marriage: December 08, 1839, Haywood Co, NC ii. JAMES S. DUNCAN, b. January 1777, Wilkes Co, NC. iii. SAMUEL DUNCAN, b. 1778, Wilkes Co, NC; d. March 12, 1825, Pulaski Co, KY; m. NANCY WITHERS. iv. ELIZABETH DUNCAN, b. 1780, Wilkes Co, NC; d. Abt. 1850, Anderson Co, TN; m. MOSES BROWN, Knox Co, KY; b. 1772. More About MOSES BROWN and ELIZABETH DUNCAN: Marriage: Knox Co, KY v. JOHN R. DUNCAN, b. 1786, Wilkes Co, NC; m. ELIZABETH MILTON, August 14, 1830, Anderson Co, TN; b. Abt. 1805. More About JOHN DUNCAN and ELIZABETH MILTON: Marriage: August 14, 1830, Anderson Co, TN vi. JOSHUA DUNCAN, b. 1788, Wilkes Co, NC; d. June 04, 1861, Anderson Co, TN. More About JOSHUA DUNCAN: Burial: Duncan Cemetery #3 vii. JUDA (JUANNA) DUNCAN, b. 1790, Wilkes Co, NC; d. June 04, 1861, Frost Bottom, Anderson Co, TN. Notes for JUDA (JUANNA) DUNCAN: Juanna never married but her children were thought to be fathered by an Adkins and a McKamey. More About JUDA (JUANNA) DUNCAN: Burial: Frost Bottom Cemetery, Anderson Co, TN viii. GEORGE DUNCAN, b. 1794, Nelson Co, KY. ix. WILLIAM R. DUNCAN, b. 1797, Nelson Co, KY; m. MARY ROARK. x. ISAAC DUNCAN, b. 1799, Nelson Co, KY; d. May 27, 1842, Anderson Co, TN; m. TABITHA/TALITHA SMITH, 1824, Haywood Co, NC; b. 1809. More About ISAAC DUNCAN and TABITHA/TALITHA SMITH: Marriage: 1824, Haywood Co, NC xi. ALFRED DUNCAN, b. December 16, 1800, Anderson Co, TN; d. December 03, 1889, Anderson Co, TN; m. CATHERINE LEACH, Abt. 1826; b. March 31, 1809, Anderson Co, TN; d. December 20, 1882, Anderson Co, TN. More About ALFRED DUNCAN: Burial: Bethel Cemetery, Anderson Co, TN More About CATHERINE LEACH: Burial: Bethel Cemetery, Anderson Co, TN More About ALFRED DUNCAN and CATHERINE LEACH: Marriage: Abt. 1826 I need some LEACH info bad, wasn't Catherine a Grandchild of William Leach and Sarah Sanders? I was AWOL due to my COMPUTER Being out of whack, I had to get a new one and then I had to start from Scratch with family files and photo's Thats why I can appreciate the predicament that Mr. Lay is in. John __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

Hi Angela, You are doing a fine job on the old articles. I have some Messmore relations some spell it M-e-s-s-A-more some leave the A out. Kind of like the Burge and Byrge and the Burress/Burris/Burse families. John __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? All your favorites on one personal page � Try My Yahoo! http://my.yahoo.com

Little Kitty Turns Out to Be Wild Bobcat CLINTON, Tenn. (UP)-Charlie Phillips will hesitate the next time his wife tells him to fetch the little kitty out from under the house. He crawled under his home Friday at his wife's bidding and the 'ordinary cat" turned out to be a snarling bobcat which charged and hit Phillips head-on. "It was like being hit by a load of bricks," he said. "I w a s knocked at least 20 feet. When I got up I grabbed the cat by the throat and hind legs and started choking him." After about 11 minutes, Phillips finally killed the cat with the help of Louis Patterson of Ft. Wayne, Ind., who planted his foot on the bobcat's middle, while Phillips and his opponent wrestled. The bobcat got his claws in before he died. Phillips was scratched on the hands and chest but was not seriously injured. "It was the first time in my life that I was ever attacked by a bobcat," the bloody Phillips said "and I hope it is the last." Dailey Independent, Monessen, Penn., January 4, 1958

It might be of interest to mention that Mrs. Annie ADKINS was the former Anna P. COLE, daughter of William C. COLE and Susannah/Susan C. DUNCAN, and the surname of her brothers, Alfred and Oscar, is also COLE. Bailey -----Original Message----- From: AngelaMeadows3@aol.com [mailto:AngelaMeadows3@aol.com] Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2005 2:10 PM To: TNANDERS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [TNANDERS-L] Mrs. Annie Adkins Obit Mrs. Annie Adkins Services were to be at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the Rose Funeral Home in Knoxville, Tenn. for Mrs. Annie Adkins, 77, formerly of Lima, who died at 4 p. m. Thursday. She was the widow of W. M. Adkins, who died two years ago. Survivors include a sister, Mrs. Myrtle Reynolds, Knoxville, and two brothers, Alfred, Miami, Fla. and Oscar, Clinton,Tenn. Burial was to be in Lynnhurst Cemetery, Knoxville. Lima News, Lima, Ohio, January 14, 1956 ==== TNANDERS Mailing List ==== To See Previous Posts http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/TNANDERS Protected by Polesoft Lockspam http://www.polesoft.com/refer.html

Hello Bailey, Thanks for the info I was searching all over for Oscar and Alfred Adkins. Now I know that she had a brother William Robert Cole who M. Martha Jane Carden. Who were the parents of William C. Cole and Susannah Duncan. I have a half dozen William Coles and about that many Susan Duncans? John __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! - Try it today! http://my.yahoo.com

Mrs. Annie Adkins Services were to be at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the Rose Funeral Home in Knoxville, Tenn. for Mrs. Annie Adkins, 77, formerly of Lima, who died at 4 p. m. Thursday. She was the widow of W. M. Adkins, who died two years ago. Survivors include a sister, Mrs. Myrtle Reynolds, Knoxville, and two brothers, Alfred, Miami, Fla. and Oscar, Clinton,Tenn. Burial was to be in Lynnhurst Cemetery, Knoxville. Lima News, Lima, Ohio, January 14, 1956

I forgot to mention the other day that WILLIAM M CROSS who had a religious service for the Koreans that had died in the war, Uncle Bill recieved a Bible that had his name engraved on it in gold. It was presented by General Matthew B Ridgeway. Uncle Bill gave it to his mother BESSIE KEATHLEY CROSS and when she died Uncle Bill took it back and now his wife Barbara has it...What a treasure to pass down to her grandchildren..... Milly WARD Piros My mind is lightning one brilliant flash and pooooffffffffffffffffffffff it's gone. Rootsweb Administrator for Anderson, Campbell and Fentress Tennessee Counties

Manhunt Ends as Convict Gives Up Somerset, Ky, (AP) An escaped Tennessee convict meekly surrendered to police early Saturday in the midst of a manhunt for him following the slaying of two prison officials. Commonwealth's attorney Russell Jones said Oakley Hewgley, 22, of Nashville, Tenn., walked into the police station and gave up two pistols he had taken from the officers before fleeing in their siren-eqipped automobile Friday afternoon. Jones said Hewgley admitted shooting the officers but denied knowing that they had been killed. The surrender came after police had set up roadblocks in this southeastern Kentucky hill country area and Hewgley had been quoted as saying "They'll never get me back there (at the prison)". W. L. Cox, 40, transportation officer at the Brushy Mountain state penitentinary in Petros, Tenn., was killed outright. He was shot through the heart with his own gun. Joe Blevins, 60, one-legged penitentiary clerk, died later. Walla Walla Union Bulletin, Walla Walla, Washington, November 10, 1951

Dale I also took a picture of the church. I think they have some sort of reunion there each year. I have more memories of there. My father and DANA WARD came to Ohio in 1952 and left my stepmother, my sister , brother and me in Fork Mountain. Every time a prisoner would break out, we would pack up and high tail it to FLOYD BLANKENSHIP's house until they caught them. We could hear the siren and then the blood hounds. You could see the prisoners a mile away. They wore those black and white suits...... Milly WARD Piros My mind is lightning one brilliant flash and pooooffffffffffffffffffffff it's gone. Rootsweb Administrator for Anderson, Campbell and Fentress Tennessee Counties

Dale I lived in Fork Mountain. If you go there from Devonia, after you pass the bridge(it's a new one now) I lived in a two family house on the right. Which I must say it ie not there anymore...Ugly yellow and green. The back end of the house set on tree trunks and when it rained the creek would raise and would come under the house. Many times we would go across the road and stay on higher ground. After those people moved we took over the house..No more fear we would wash away. Well I was there four years ago and neither house is there as well as many that I can visualize being there. I remember the train tracks and a coal loader ..I didn't see either. I remember the engineer of the train. us kids called him "RED". His face was always blood red. Most likely from the heat. I can remember the compant store, the post office and Daugherty's Furniture store. I was about 7 years and I remember someone being shot in store. It was blamed on a three year old. I remember people saying they thought it was his father and then shoved the gun in the child's hands. It had to have been about 1948. I'll ask my Dad if he remembers who it was that got shot. His memory isn't so good anymore..... Milly WARD Piros My mind is lightning one brilliant flash and pooooffffffffffffffffffffff it's gone. Rootsweb Administrator for Anderson, Campbell and Fentress Tennessee Counties

Milly, That memory of yours is just too cool. :>) My family was only there for about a year or so in the early 1960s. Thanks, Dale Welch

My daddy, Hershel Welch (b. 1920 d. 1980) from Monterey, TN, was a coal miner during those early 1960s at Fork Mountain. I couldn't have been more than two or three when we moved there for about a year. We lived, I was told later, in the second house at the very top of the hill at Fork Mt. (Lavonia). I can only remember a couple of things about Fork Mt. One was when we moved in the house with a high porch (at least to a two or three-year-old) I found a yellow hula hoop. Another thing I remember is sitting in the floor at the front doorway. My sister, 11 years older than me, and my mother were peeling potatoes or apples or something outside on the porch on either side of the door. I was watching for my daddy to come across the railroad track from the mines. I made a trip back up there a few years ago. I took pictures of the church that would have been just a house or two away. There wasn't any houses left on the side where we lived. Does anyone else remember anything about Fork Mt? Thanks, Dale Welch Monterey, TN ----- Original Message ----- From: <NAAC776@aol.com> To: <TNANDERS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2005 6:24 PM Subject: Re: [TNANDERS-L] Fork Mountain Mine Cave In, 1961 (Seiver, Kennedy, Woods, Ca... > Angela, > Thank you for posting this. Herley Carroll was my Husband's great > Uncle. His brother, Thurman (or Thumb) was my husband's grandfather. > Thank you > again!! > > Nancy Adkins Carroll > > > ==== TNANDERS Mailing List ==== > Post your questions and inquiry about your Ancestor regularly...Someone > may find a relative. > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/TNANDERS > >

Angela, Thank you for posting this. Herley Carroll was my Husband's great Uncle. His brother, Thurman (or Thumb) was my husband's grandfather. Thank you again!! Nancy Adkins Carroll

RESCUERS TRYING TO REACH MINERS Little Hope for Two of Men Held by U.S. Inspector by James A. Bryant Petros, Tenn., (AP) Men dug through a debris-choked coal mine shaft high on the face of a mountain today in an agonizing effort to reach three trapped miners. "Get me out," pleaded one of them, Herly Carroll, 18, from beneath the rubble more than nine hours after the old mine caved in on eight miners Friday an hour before they were to start a two-week vacation. Federal Mine Inspector Steve Bukovich said there was no hope of finding Charles Seiver, 23, and Charlie Kennedy, 28, alive. * * A doctor used a hacksaw to amputate the arm of Robert Woods, 19, who was pinned between the rocks and a coal car. He was taken to an Oak Ridge hospital in serious condition. Woods' father, Claude Woods, 47, suffered a fractured pelvis. The other three miners escaped serious injury. The mine, 2,300 feet up on the face of Fork Mountain in the Cumberland Mountains of east Tennessee, had been closed several years. The miners were taking out coal pillars and shoring up the mine, preparatory to reconditioning it for the Fork Mountain Mining Co. "It happened all at once," said Billy Rose. 54. "When we heard the noise we all started running and I passed one boy. And the rocks caught me. As soon as the rocks stopped falling, the other fellows came back to help us out". The caved-in shale covered an area about 100 feet long, 30 feet wide and 8 feet deep about 400 feet from the mine entrance, which is reached by an incline railway. * * Only three or four rescue workers, using hand tools, could get in the shaft at one time. As the rescue operation continued through the night, lights burned in every house in the mountain village of Fork Mountain. Relatives and friends clustered in small groups at the foot of the mountain. There was an air of expectation each time the lights of a rescue man could be seen starting down the incline railway, followed by disappointment when he brought no news of the trapped men. The mine is about 40 miles northwest of Knoxville. Ironwood Daily Globe, Ironwood, Michigan, June 24, 1961

I received this information from: clmoore@geoe.com Dear CCWF Friends and Volunteers: We are planning a dedication ceremony at Fraterville Miners' Circle in recognition of it being placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 19, 2005, the 103rd anniversary of the Fraterville Mine Explosion. We will have a plaque made noting the historical significance of the site and the date it was listed on the National Register (i.e. January 5, 2005). The plaque will be mounted as part of the ceremony. We'll provide more details after arrangements are made, but we wanted to let you know the date so you can mark your calendars. Carol

Hi Carol, This Jake Drummond was allegedly a brother to the Drummonds that was hanged at "Drummonds Bridge". The prisoner lease program ended after the "Coal Creek Wars" but working conditions in the mines really didn't improve until after the FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT was passed in 1936 by members of the FDR administration. And, a lot of this could be attributed to John L. Lewis and other organizers of Collective Bargaining Associations or the "HATED UNIONS" as some refer to them. The miners didn't receive "Black Lung" and other health care benefits just because the Mine Owners felt sorry for them. These men had to fight and sometimes die in order to get the benefits that they were justly due. John __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

Crossville Chronicle Dorothy Copus Brush "Random Thoughts" More on Coal Creek Few travelers along I-75 know that Lake City was Coal Creek in the 1890s. Only three miles from the interstate is Militia Hill, where the earthen embankments of Fort Anderson can still be seen. That is all that remains of the Coal Creek War, which began July 15, 1891. On that day, the miner's committee sent a telegram to Gov. John P. Buchanan. It read: "We, the miners, farmers, merchants and property owners of Briceville and Coal Creek and vicinity assembled to the number of 500, who have come together to defend our families from starvation, our property from depreciation, and our people from contamination from the hands of convict labor being introduced at the Tennessee Coal Mining Company, do beg you, as chief executive and protector, to prevent their introduction, and thus avoid bloodshed, which is sure to follow if their taking our livelihood from us is persisted in." The governor responded by sending several groups of state militia to guard the mines. Miners outnumbered the guards, and they acted immediately to take the prisoners from the mines to be sent back to the Nashville prison. All was done without violence. A 60-day cooling-off period was agreed to while state legislators considered the question of the prison lessee contract. Nothing was accomplished in Nashville, and the violent element among the miners urged that the time for talking was over. On Oct. 31 - Halloween - miners released prisoners and torched the stockades and other buildings at the Briceville-Coal Creek mines. More armed miners on horseback headed for the mines at Oliver Springs, where more convicts were freed and buildings burned. The Knoxville newspaper's headline next day was, "Liberated! A clean sweep has now been made. All branch prisons gone. And every convict in East Tennessee freed". Then on New Year's Day, 1892, 84 troops of the state National Guard arrived by train at Coal Creek. The train carried tents, supplies and provisions for a long encampment. A flat car carried a Gatling gun and mountain howitzer. In the following days, the ridge just below the crest of Vowell Mountain was cleared and earthworks dug for a fort. By April, Fort Anderson under the command of Gen. Sam Carnes of Memphis was in place, and convicts were once again replacing miners By August 1892 prison workers in the mines had increased and taken the jobs of miners at Inman and Tracy City. Following the example of the Coal Creek miners, the prisoners were put aboard trains and sent to Gov. Buchanan in Nashville. The state prison overflowed with over 600 returned prisoners. Fellow miners from Kentucky joined the local group to try to take Fort Anderson. Now, the fighting was serious, and shots were fired and deaths resulted. More militia and posses were rushed to the scene. Gen. Carnes started arresting every man ages 15-75 in Coal Creek and confined them in boxcars. He threatened hangings. Trials were held, but there were few convictions. In mid-October, Gen. Carnes and most of the soldiers left. A small group of militiamen stayed at Fort Anderson. In the November 1892 election, Peter Turney won the governor race and a trusted miner from Coal Creek - Jake Drummond - was elected a state representative. Drummond was a one-issue representative. He wanted to end the prison release system which would also rid his town of the soldiers. Both outgoing Gov. Buchanan and incoming Gov. Turney recommended the abolition of the convict lessee and the construction of new prisons. Both measures passed and, in September 1893 the remaining militia at Fort Anderson left. The Coal Creek War was over. Jake Drummond had accomplished his mission, and he did not run for re-election. Instead, he returned to the mines, to the job he loved. In 1902, he was killed in a mine explosion but lived long enough to write his wife, Betsy, a note: "I love you. Take care of the children. Tell them not to be miners." · · · Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday.

Crossville Chronicle Dorothy Copus Brush "Random Thoughts" A look at the Coal Creek War, Part II Today we know it as Lake City, but in 1891 it was the small town of Coal Creek, populated by unemployed coal miners. They had been locked out of the mines because they had asked to be paid in cash rather than company scrip. Now, they were struggling to feed and house their families. The companies continued mining operations with prison labor. The state began the practice in 1866 and called it the prison lessee contract, which allowed companies to use prisoners at any lawful occupation they had worked in before. The Knoxville Iron Company Mine had used the prison release since 1877 and had more than 130 convicts. The practice had been tolerated, but the miners silently disapproved. When prison labor was brought to the Briceville, TN, Mining Company, just south of Coal Creek, in July 1891, tempers flared. With so many miners locked out of work, bringing in more prisoners to replace them was just too much. On July15, 300 miners, armed with old guns, marched in the dark of night to the stockade holding the prisoners at Briceville. They surprised the few guards and demanded the prisoners be released to them so they could be sent to Knoxville by train. At a signal from the leaders, torches blazed, and the size of the group was too large to try to stop. Their demands were met, and prisoners and guards were marched to Coal Creek and put aboard the train to Knoxville. The Anderson County sheriff declined to intervene and turned it over to the Knox County sheriff. In Nashville, Gov. Buchanan received telegrams asking for two or more military companies at once because local law enforcement was unable to handle the situation. Shortly, the governor, his labor commissioner and Col. Sevier were on a train headed for Knoxville. The train stopped in Chattanooga to pick up two companies of Tennessee militiamen, young, part-time soldiers who had used guns only for target practice. Arriving in Knoxville, the train added the boxcar filled with the prisoner laborers and another small group of militiamen before proceeding to Coal Creek. Col. Granville Sevier, a direct descendent of John Sevier, was in charge of the troops brought to guard the mines. From Thursday, when they arrived, to Monday all was quiet, but in the dark of Sunday night more than 1,000 miners from as far away as Harlan County, KY, were headed for Coal Creek on foot and horseback. Before sunrise Monday, they had surrounded the mine stockade and, when Sevier realized their strength, he surrendered and again the convicts and the militia made the march to the boxcars at Briceville. That accomplished, the miners converged on the Knoxville Iron Company stockade just a mile from Coal Creek. The prisoners there were freed and put aboard a second train. Not a shot had been fired, but the valley was free of all convict slave labor and militia. In the next few days, a 60 day cooling off period was agreed to. This allowed the governor to call the state legislature into a special session to wrestle with the subject of prison lessees. During this period, the state prison authority visited the Coal Creek-Briceville mines and found the deplorable conditions the convicts had to endure. A state senator described the situation as a rebellion and urged that a military force be used to suppress it. Another legislator foolishly questioned the citizenship of the miners. In truth, 75 percent were Tennessee natives and descendents of Sevier, David Crockett and Isaac Shelby. Little was accomplished in Nashville and, as the 60 days neared the end, the miner's committee recognized a violent element was taking control among the miners. They held a final meeting where they, as a committee, resigned. The miners were turned loose to be guided by their own consciences.

Crossville Chronicle Dorothy Copus Brush "Random Thoughts" A look at the Coal Creek War It is amazing what a tale one simple question uncovered. When I asked if anyone knew the location of the Coal Creek Co., I knew nothing of the fight for freedom that went on there. It was an almost forgotten chapter in Tennessee history until one man, Chris Cawood, remembered the family stories he had heard. After much research, he wrote the historical novel Tennessee's Coal Creek War: Another Fight for Freedom. Judith Steepleton of Fairfield Glade brought the book to my attention. In 1891, in what is today Lake City, was a settlement named Coal Creek. There were two mines in the Briceville-Coal Creek area, the Tennessee Mine and the Knoxville Iron Co. They worked 20 or more mines in the surrounding mountains. Coal mining or farming were the main options for the men in the area to provide for their families. Miners worked 10-20 hours a day inside those dark tunnels and were paid 50 cents a ton. They were paid once a month in company scrip, which might be paper certificates or brass tokens. First, the rent for their company house was taken out and then anything that was owed the company store. In late December 1890, the miners asked two things of company officials - two things already guaranteed by state law. They asked to be paid in real money, and they proposed hiring one of their own men as a check weighman to work beside the company man who weighed the coal as it was brought from the mine. Their request was refused, and they were told they either followed company policy or they had no job. The miners stood fast and were locked out, and the stage was set for a long, hard struggle. About 15 years earlier, the Knoxville Iron Co. had encountered resistance and replaced the miners with convict laborers. Few believed the Tennessee Co. would take this route, but they were wrong. Confederate veteran John P. Buchanan had just won a two-year term as governor in 1890. Very early in his term, he was presented with a request for prisoners to work in the Tennessee Co. mines to replace the miners who disputed their contract. Nearly 1,000 convicts were already working in southeastern Tennessee. This system was called the prison lessee contract, and it stated that prisoners could be leased out anywhere in the state at any lawful occupation they had worked in before. In truth, it was a thinly veiled kind of slavery, but for the state it was a money-saving bonus in that they did not have to feed, clothe or house the prisoners, or provide guards. In Tennessee's early days as a state, law breakers were punished at the county level. Gov. Sam Houston signed the bill to build the first state penitentiary in 1829. In 1866 Gov. William "Parson" Brownlow began the practice of leasing out prisoners for 43 cents a day. At first, most of the work was done at the prison in Nashville. A study was done in 1868 revealing the fact that about half the prisoners were convicted of petty larceny amounting to less than $5 each. The cost to the state for keeping them under lock and key was much greater, up to $11 a month. By 1870, the lease allowed prisoners to work outside prison walls building railroads and doing mining. So-called branch prisons - really stockades - were built at these sites. The Knoxville Iron Co. had leased 135 convicts, of which only five were white. Many of the miners tolerated the practice but silently disapproved. As they left their back-breaking day's work, they passed the mine superintendent's home. Surrounded by a stone wall, the nine-room house boasted orchards and gardens. Author Cawood described it: "The house was like a pearl sitting forlornly lost in a bowl of dried India ink." It was a daily reminder to the miners of their lowly status. The locked-out miners had heard prisoners had been placed in mines at Inman, Tracy City and Oliver Springs. There were rumors that the Tennessee Mine Co. was asking approval of the state superintendent of prisons to lease about 40 prisoners to replace the miners with the hope that many would return, but if that did not happen they would need another 100 prisoners. Continued next week.

Crossville Chronicle Dorothy Copus Brush "Random Thoughts" ... and she reopened the Coal Creek question with a fascinating slice of Tennessee history. She is a librarian, and in the Fairfield Glade United Methodist library she found a novel, Coal Creek Wars, written by Chris Cawood and published in 1995. Cawood wrote, "Although this is a fiction-enhanced story of real events, I have tried to be as accurate with the actual happenings of the Coal Creek War as possible." The author is an attorney and served in the Tennessee General Assembly for two years. He lives in Kingston and his family roots were established here before Tennessee was a state. A later column will cover the Coal Creek story. Of interest is the heroine, Betsy Boyd Drummond Brimer, a real person who believed in education and women's equality. She was in the first class of women to be accepted at UT in September 1893. Before that, only men had been admitted. She continued in her chosen profession of education for the rest of her life and was the first woman in her neighborhood to register to vote after Women's Suffrage was passed in 1920.