OLD PEOPLE THAT LIVED 90 YEARS AND NEAR ONE CENTURY p.33-37 
Click here for the list of names
 

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SYCAMORE CREEK 

Its course is up in the 15th District of Cannon County.  Its length is 4 ½ miles.  Its course is N E across the 10th Dist. of Cannon County and empties into Clear Fork two or three hundred yards below the DeKalb Co. and Cannon Co. 
line.  I will write of the left side of the Creek first.  I will go up stream.  The Blair branch is the first tributary of  Sycamore.  It is two miles long and has a public, or county road that leads to Woodbury, the county seat. 

There are various coves on up the creek that extends far back into the hills. The Thomas Hall cove, later known as the Horace Knight farm; in front of C. C. Hancock's residence is another fertile cove.  On the Lewis Hancock farm is a cove and a hollow on the left side of the Creek.  No hollows or coves of any note on that side on up to the head of the creek. 

THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE CREEK 

The Haley branch is the first branch on that side.  Only three families live on it.  The Kelley hollow is next.  The Bill King and Kelley hollow is next.  More will be said later about this.  The Bobby King branch comes next.  It has a public road that leads across the high Davis hill down to Prosperity Baptist Church.  There is also a cove on the C. B. Summar farm that is of real value.  The Lick, or Spout Spring hollow is of great value.  It has a very good road which leads down the ashehopper hollow to Hurricane road and on into Auburntown.  The Richard Hancock farm has a fine cove on the right hand side and on the same side is the Lewis Hancock hollow.  It was once the finest parcel of land I ever saw.  The Ford cove on the Jerry Mullinax farm once was as good as the best. 

We now come to the Sellers farm.  It belongs to Andy Vickers and Joe Bryson.  There is one of the best tracts of land, up in the long hollow that has three prongs to it, in the county.  The Larkin Keaton farm is next.  Two hollows 
run far back into the hills.  The upper hollow runs the farthest back.  Andy Smithson owns back next to Hurricane and is known as "egypt". 

We are now at the P. A. Keaton farm.  Some small coves and hollows run off on each side of the creek.  One or two farms extend on up to the crest of the ridge.  There is much fine timber on the head of Sycamore Creek, and many 
fine cove springs on the creek and any number of these good springs are in close proximity to all.  A rural mail route goes down the creek but the road is only moderately good. 

OLD OR FIRST SETTLERS 

First settlers were John Haley, Hiram Dodd, Nathan Mathis, John Mathis, James Blair, Bill Kelley, Jake Kelley, William King, Tom Hale, Bobby King, James King, Colville Evans, Noah Mahaffa, Richard Hancock, Lewis Hancock, King Buel Adams, Larking Keaton, and Peter Keaton.  These men once owned all the land on the creek except the A. L. Hancock hill across in front of the church house.  That hill, or lot, belonged to Christopher Cooper when the creek was settled.  There were many tenants back in those days and many of them lived on Sycamore.  I will mention all I know of them in this history.  There were many Negro slaves on the creek before the War Between the States.  Many 
prominent men grew up on the creek:  Ministers, traders, merchants, school teachers, lawyers, and many prosperous farmers. 

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CHURCHES, MILLS, POST OFFICE AND MERCHANTS 

Way back about 1818 the citizens set up, or organized, a church on the creek. They built a large log church house just above where Grady Smithson now lives. It was used for a black smith shop after the members ceased to worship there. C. B. Summar was the owner of the farm for years.  The church was a Baptist Church and the peopled no longer worshipped in it during the War or soon there after.  The church was name Nauvoo.  In 1871 the Baptists reorganized the church down on the creek and it has since been called Sycamore.  Sometime during the seventies, or latter part of the sixties, the Methodists set up a church at the Spout Spring school house.  It went defunct about 1882.  The Baptists always have, and still predominate all other sects on the creek. 

Many saw mills have come on the Creek but all of short duration.  The Brown Brothers came in 1871 and sawed the lumber to build the first Baptist Church house and when the church was rebuilt in 1894 the same Browns came and sawed the lumber.  Various saw mills have sawed on the creek.  Corn or grist mills have been run by W. J. King, William Vickers, the Brown, and several others.  Will Hale has a saw mill on the Creek at the present time. 
A post office was established in 1891.  It was of short duration.  T. B. Reedy was postmaster and N. J. Keaton assistant post master.  R. A. Dennis was the mail carrier.  Ingalls was the name of the post office and it was 
located in N. J. Keaton's dwelling house. 

There have been several store keepers, as they are usually called, on the Creek, to wit:  Lee Overall, Claude Spurlock, Elmer Byron, W. A. and Maud Spurlock, Will Robinson, B. A. Williams, Tillman Tittle, John Turney, John 
Sadler, Fate Vickers and others that I cannot recall.  The doctors were Dr. Arnett, T. O. Bratten and another young doctor whose name I do not recall. He boarded with Johnny Young just below the Rebecca Hancock home, where John Keaton later lived.  Sycamore has produced some old time merchants, C. W. L. Hale, John Robert Hale, Jarrett Warren.  The lawyers were Chris Hale, Horace Hale, Walter Hancock, and probably others.  Other merchants of some note were Blue Givan, George Turney, George Hancock, Jerry Collins, and Joe Herandon. 

PREACHERS OR MINISTERS AND TEACHERS 

Sycamore has produced some noted ministers, W. J. Watson, M. A. Cathcart, A. C. Webb, John Tedder, Vernon Rich, John Rich, Ernest Rich, Leburn Rich, Odas King, John T. Hancock, W. J. Hale, J. E. Spurlock, and H. L. Keaton. 

There were a number of school teachers of which I will name only the old time ones.  They were R. A. Hancock, Elvira Gassaway, James King, Henry King, J. P. Byrn, Buck Knight, Delta Hancock, Babe Hale, Fate Hale, Alon Hancock, Charles Mullinax, and W. J. Hale.  For the last 40 years Sycamore Creek has produced some excellent teachers.  They were George McKnight, Matt Odom, and a Mr. Cope, who taught at Spout Spring school house in 1877 and back in 1875. 

IMMENSE LAND OWNERS 

I have heard my father speak of a Mr. Shaw who once owned the A. L. Hancock farm down on Clear Fork Creek and the Monroe Hancock farm, just above the Haley farm now owned by Jennie Vickers, Shelia Jetton, and J. J. Dodd.  Mr. Shaw possessed a large tract of land upon the Lick branch.  The log cabin house was over across the branch opposite the beautiful Spout Spring.  Christopher Cooper got in possession of all this land in some way.  Mr. 
Cooper married Mary Adams.  Cooper died and Richard Hancock married his widow and of course she was the lawful owner of the land.  Mary and Christopher Cooper had no 

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children.  She married Richard Hancock and had three children by him.  A. L. and C. C. were the boys and Alaminta the only daughter.  The heirs of Richard and Mary Adams Hancock heired all the land at their death. 

THE BLAIR BRANCH 

Hiram Dodd's home was the first place upon the Blair Branch.  His wife was Jenny Adamson.  Their boys were Harvey, Milton, Will, John R., and Monroe.  The girls were Anna, Rachel, Fannie, Mary, and one who married Blue Givan. 

Nathan Mathis lived on the branch many years ago.  I do not know anything about him except that he raised two sons, John and Daniel.  There may have been others but I have never been informed of them.  Daniel married Frankie Pistole.  Johns first wife as a Miss Dodd, a sister to Hiram and Bill Dodd. Uncle John raised a large family.  Rich Mathis was the oldest boy and other boy was named George.  One of the girls married Polk Grizzle and another 
married Tip King.  The second wife of John Mathis was a Miss Rigsby.  To this union 3 sons and one daughter were born:  Henry, Horace, Hiram, were the boys and the daughter married John R. Dodd. 

James Blair comes next.  His home was where the late C. W. Grizzle lived.  H.B. Edward owns the home place at present.  Mr. Blair owned the Joe {Joe Frank} Spurlock farm, the Arnette Farm, the B. L. Grizzle farm and the Motley farms, and probably more.  Eunippus and Tip were the only sons I ever heard of and A. L. Hancock's wife was the only daughter.  I am confident, however, there were other children.  No doubt other land owners lived on Blair Branch back in those days but I never did hear them spoken of. 

I am writing of the old settlers first.  When I complete the first land owners and settlers I will refer to those who came later. 

I will now start up Sycamore Creek.  Ten or twelve men owned the entire Creek at the time I am referring to, with the exception of two or three.  I will speak of some very interesting happening later on. 

JOHN HALEY 

John Haley's home was the first location above the church house.  The late E. T. Haley lived and died there.  John Haley owned the W. J. King, J. J. Summars, Mon and James Haley, and the J. D. Campbell farms.  His wife was a 
Miss Williams {Jerusha Calvin}, sister of Sebastian, James and Tom Williams. They raised 4 boys and 4 girls.  They are all dead except Cynthia Keaton. Tom Haley owns the E. T. Haley home.  The rest of the estate belongs to 
Spurlock, Vickers and Jetton.  The boys were E. T., James, Monroe, and John M. Haley.  They are all dead, too.  The Haley family was certainly a noble one. E. T. Haley was the finest, solidest, man I 'most ever saw.  The boys are all dead long ago.  John Melton Haley, the youngest son, went to Missouri sixty years ago and never returned. 

MONROE HANCOCK 

Monroe was a son of A. L. Hancock.  He married Cynthia Hancock, daughter of Charley Hancock.  They had 5 children.  John Turney, Richard Thomas, and Alfred Monroe Hancock, Jr. were the boys.  Eliza and Fannie were the girls.  John Turney Hancock was a Baptist preacher.  He was full  of energy and industrious.  He taught school most every year and was held in high esteem by every one.  He married Ida Hale in 1886.  Died January 9, 1895. Richard Thomas married Nancy Bratten. He lived up on the Blair branch and died some years ago.  A. M., the youngest one of the family married a daughter of Tip Blair.  He moved to Warren County and is now dead. 

Eliza's husband was Joe Dodd.  Fannie's husband was H. L. W. Dodd.  A. L. Hancock gave  each of them a farm.  A. L. was their grandfather.  All are dead. 

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THOMAS HALE 

Tom was a son of Benjamin Hale.  Ben reared his family near Gassaway on Hog Thief Branch just above the Campbellite meeting house.  five sons were born to Benjamin Hale:  Thomas, John, James, Joe, and Ben., Jr.  Two girls, one married John R. Adamson, and the other married Christopher Owen. 

Tom Hale is one I am writing of at the present time.  He lived and reared his noted family of six sons and one daughter, whose name was Letitia.  She married Jarrette Warren.  The boys were C. W. L., J. N., W. J., Babe, Horace and Chris.  Tom Hales wife was a Miss Warren.  Fate and John R. were merchants.  Horace and Chris were lawyers; Babe a farmer and W. J. a Methodist minister.  While at work in a new ground a limb dropped from a tree 
and killed Thomas Hale almost instantly. 

Thomas' first wife died and he married Melissa Keaton.  To this union two daughters were born:  Polly and Ida.  Joe Bryson married Polly and John T. Hancock married Ida.  All are now dead except Joe Bryson.  Thomas Hales home 
was upon the hill and later became known as the Horace Knight home.  Rufus George now owns it.  When Thomas Hale died his widow, Melissa, chose her homestead and dower down on the side of the creek where Tom Hancock now resides.  I am persuaded to believe that Thomas Hale gave Melissa a deed to the farm.  Her daughters:   Polly and Ida, heired all the farm at their mother's death. 

The old Hale home, built of hewn logs burned down in 1878 or 1879 and Mr. Knight built the present home where Mr. George now resides. 

ROBERT KING 

Robert King came to this country with Zack Keaton and Isom Keaton.  He married one of the Keaton girls.  His home was on the King branch where William Grizzle now lives.  He owned the entire branch and some land elsewhere.  His family consisted of 6 boys and 5 girls.  Bill, the oldest, married Nancy Kelley.  They had 5 boys:  Bob, Tip, Jake,  Taylor and John.  There were 5 girls:  Lise, Lyda, Marian, Morning, and Emmaline.  Bob's wife was Frances Mahaffe.  Tip married a daughter of John Mathis.  Jake's wife was Tabitha Bratcher who first married Madison Keaton.  John's wife was Lucy Barrett.  Lize's husband was Harry Dodd.  Lyda married Joe Knight.  Mary Ann married Monroe Haley.   Morning married Jackson King. Emmaline married J. D. Campbell.  Bill King is my wife's grandfather.  His son Jake is my father-in-law.  I married Delia King, daughter of Jake King, Jr. 

Other sons of Robert King were James, Abraham, Jake, Sr., Alexander, and John, Sr.  James married Agnes Strickland.  Abraham married Sally Keaton.  Jake, Sr. married Louanie Williams.  Alexander married Nancy Jones.  John married Mary Caroline Hancock.  The King girls were:  Nancy McGee, Betsy Craddock, Lucinda Kelley and Mary (Pop) Keaton.  All of Robert King's sons lived and died on Sycamore Creek except Abraham who lived in Carroll County, West Tennessee and died there.  The King family is a large one.  The off-springs of Robert King 
run up in to the thousands, no doubt.  The older ones were men of importance. some were carpenters, black smiths, stock doctors, school teachers, physicians, and preachers. 

SONS OF ROBERT KING 

William King, oldest son of Robert, was born in 1809.  He married Nancy Kelley and to this union were born five sons and five daughters.  One of the sons:  W. R. King, was born about 1835.  His wife was Frances Mahaffa and 
four sons and four daughters graced their home.  Jasper, William, Nanny, and 

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Oscar were the boys and Tennessee, Sarah, Martha, and Nora were the girls. Taylor, another son of Bill and Nancy, died in prison during the War Between 
the States.  J. K. King, second son of William and Nancy King was born in 1844 and died August 7, 1897.  His wife was Tabitha Bratcher.  Two sons, Allen and William, and one daughter, Ardelia were born to them.  Ardelia 
became the wife of R. A. Dennis January 18, 1894.  J. H. and A. J. Dennis are the sons of R. A. Dennis and Ardelia King, his wife.  One daughter Bertie, and an infant son died young.  Bertie was only four years of age when she 
died in July, 1903. 

Tip King, son of William and Nancy King, married a daughter of John Mathis. They had one son Johnny.  He married Nancy Barrett.  John, fifth son of William and Nancy King, married Lucy Barrett.  They had five sons and two daughters:  Bill, Eb, Taylor, Hatton, and Ambrose, were the boys and Allie and Lula were the girls. 

Lize, [Nancy Elizabeth] daughter of William and Nancy King, married [James] Harvey Dodd.  Lyda married Joe Knight.  Mary Susan married Jacob Monroe Haley. Emmaline married John Campbell. Morning married Jackson King.  I wish I had the dates of all the births, marriages, deaths, and everything pertaining thereto so that I might be able to write a better manuscript. 

Taylor King, the fourth son of William and Nancy King, died a prisoner of the War Between the States.  Taylor was a southern soldier as were all the King boys.  There were six of them. 

Jake, the third son of Robert King and Nancy King, married Louanie Williams the first time. They had three sons and two daughters.  S. A. King, the oldest son married Tennie Keaton.  Robert, Jake's second son, married Maggie Janeway.  Millie was their only child.  Bill married Alice Groom.  Mary, the oldest girl, married Neal Bogle. 
Martha married James Womack. 

Abraham, son of Robert King Sr., married Sally Keaton.  Nelson and Mary are all the children I ever saw but there were more than those two. 

John, son of Robert Sr., married A. L. Hancock's daughter. 

Alexander, youngest son of Robert King, married Nancy Jones, daughter of Aaron Jones.  Lee, their only son, was accidentally killed while leading a heavy log on a wagon.  Josie went to Texas.  Mollie married Bedford Gann. 

DAUGHTERS OF ROBERT KING 

Elizabeth married Robert Craddock.  Simon, Harrison, John, and Billy were their sons and Mary, Lucinda, Paralee, and Martha were the girls. 

Nancy married Jesse McGee.  Bob, Sam, Jesse Jr., and Henry McGee, the doctor, are their sons and Sis, Julia, and America were the girls. 

Lucinda married William Kelley.  Bethel and Sam were their sons and Alaminta, Paralee, and America were their daughters. 

Mary "Pop"  married Gabriel Keaton.  Their children died in infancy. 

SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF JAMES KING 

Jackson King's wife was Morning King.  The had one heir:  Candace, who married Lee Vickers. 

Jordan's wife was Martha Bogle who died and he married Martha Haley.  They had one son, Sampson.  Martha Haley King, his second wife, died and he married the widow Allen, formerly Cynthia Fuson. 

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Henry King married Amanda Keaton.  They had three sons and two daughters. Matthew and Hall are dead.  Reece married Nancy Rich.  They live on Hurricane Creek. 

Matilda married H. L. [Henry Lester] Young. Hattie died unmarried. 

Lydia, daughter of James King, married Jim Knight.  They had one son and two daughters.  Elizabeth and Eliza died single and James moved down in Wilson Co. Jim Knight died and Lydia married Daniel Bryson. 

Cynthia married Sam Keaton, Jr.  She died and Jane a sister of Cynthia's married Sam Keaton. 

James, the second son of Robert King, married Agnes Strickland.  They had five sons and three daughter of Daniel and Mary smith Bogle.  They had four girls and four boys:  J. D. King married Darthula Raikes, Frank married Alice 
Davenport.  Sterling married a Miss Morris and Pharris married Meda Melton.  The girls were Edna, who married Bill Moss, Samantha who married Henry Keaton, Amanda Jane married James Scott, and one died very young. 

James Jr., son of James and Agnes King, married Nancy Parton.  Three sons and three daughters were born to them:  Lester, whose wife was Nan Keaton, dau. of Haman Keaton; Marvin, whose wife was a dau. of James Derting; Herschel, whose wife I do not recall; Florence married John Banks; and Callie married Mr. Curtis.  Nola died young. 

RICHARD HANCOCK 

I now come to the noted, influential, intellectual Hancock family.  I shrink with dread, almost with horror, because I know I have not even begin to honor them here as they deserve.  They were, and are, all staunch Baptists, rock 
ribbed Democrats and everything else that entitles them to a graceful citizenship.  The Hancock brothers came here from Virginia.  They were Richard, Lewis, Charles lived across the hill on Hurricane Creek.  Their farms joined each other.  Benjamin, I have been told, went to Alabama.  The Hancock brothers owned about  3,000  acres of the finest fertile  land  I  ever saw.    It  extended  from the Robert King farm and Tom Hale farm up the creek to the Larkin Keaton farm, and from over on Blair Branch and Clear on to Hurricane Creek. 

Richard Hancock, a son of Benjamin Hancock, was born in Fluvanna Co., Virginia April 16, 1783.  He emigrated west in 1809 and settled on a farm in what was then Wilson county but now (1940) is Cannon county, Tennessee.  In 
1810 he married a widow Mary Cooper who owned a farm on Sycamore Creek about one mile below where he had settled.  She was the widow of Christopher Cooper. Her maiden name was Adams.  Being born in 1773 she was ten years his senior.  She had no children by her first husband.  She died and Richard married the widow Warren.  Richard Hancock left three children by his first wife.  Two sons, Alfred L. and Christopher Cooper, and one daughter, Alaminta.  All three of them married and raised families as the following pages will show. 

Richard Hancock owned two thousand acres.  His farms were located on Sycamore and Clear Fork creeks in the 10th district of Cannon County except a small portion that extended into DeKalb Co.  Richard was a slave owner and had several thousand dollars loaned out.  He was open hearted and the needy and poor were never turned away empty handed. 

Alfred L. Hancock, the oldest son of Richard and Mary Adams Hancock, was born in what is now Cannon Co., Tennessee on March 30, 1811.  He grew to manhood on his father's farm on Sycamore Creek.  He owned near two thousand acres of land.  He put up a cotton gin on his farm which was run by horse power 

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attached to a sweep.  He put up an overshot power mill to grind corn.  He brought into the neighborhood the first two horse rail-road power wheat thresher.  He donated the land for a graveyard, a school building, a church building and was noted for his generous manner of helping the poor and needy. Objects of charity were never turned from his door without having been helped. Alfred L. Hancock married Eliza Blair in 1836.  The latter was born in 1812.  To this union were born four sons and five daughters as follows:  Richard Monroe, Armilla, Christopher Eleana, , Mary S. Caroline, Margaret Lucetta, Alfred Buel, Eliza Alaminta, Adaly, and George Hancock. 
 
 
 

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