REMINISCENT:
It was in the month of January and the year 1877, if my local historian is correct, that a dental doctor named Tom Randolph, died from tuberculosis, in Lexington, in the home of Attorney - afterwardsJudge - Levi S. Woods, who occupied what has since been the C.F. McHaney residence on Monroe or Purdy street. Dr. Randolph moved to Lexington from Mifflin, hoping to regain his health, but was never able to do much after he came here. Dr. Randolph's family consisted of Mary Tuley his wife, and Patie, their only child, who still lives as Mrs. W.M. Moss, in Jackson Tenn., and all who know her agree that she has made one of the world's best somen. Mr. Randolph, while living here taught the then popular "art" of making wax flowers - as I am informed by Mrs. Mollie Woods (widow of Judge L.S. Woods) who is my historian above referred to. When Dr. Randolph died his remains were carried to Purdy, in a wagon ( a distance of 35 miles) by our townsman, Joe H. Moffitt, who knows that he went the sad journey alone, but does not remember to whom or what place in Purdy he delivered the remains. Just a little more history and I am done with that feature of this article; Mrs. Randolph was a daughter of the late Mr. Tuley, a blacksmith and farmer of McNairy county, and his wife who was a sister of the late General John H. Meeks, of McNairy County.

Now comes the reason that prompted me to write this reminiscience:
When Mrs. Mary Randolph and her daughter Patie, came back to Purdy, after my father, the late Dr. Daniel Barry, had moved back athere in August 1878, from Flatwood, Wayne County, Patie and I together attend the school in Purdy, presided over by Old President Wright and with a teaching force of the Rev. T. Cotton, Prof. Taylor and Charles H. Wright, son of the President, who married Christiana, daughter of Major R.M. Thompson, in Purdy, and Wright died in Baltimore, Maryland in 1917. I will admit that I was very much in love with Patie, when we sat together in the school room of Prof. Taylor and afterward when I clerked in the store of V.J. ("Bud"> Kindel - and I yet feel like congratulating her upon escaping me as a husband. I have always had an interest in the Randolph family, not only because of Patie and her excellent mother, and her good maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Tuley, but because of John Randolph, with whom I went to school in Purdy. I h ave known of John from time to time since we were schoolmates, that he became a minister of the Southern Methodist church and was a chaplain in the US Army. Recollection of John Randolph coming around again in my mind. I decided to hunt him up, nothaving heard of him since I saw notice of him as an Army chaplain in the World War - so I began by making inquiry of our local Southern Methodist pastor, the Rev. A.N. Goforth, who failed to understand the particular man I was enquiring about and cited me to Rev. Joseph B. Randolph, Presiding Elder of the Corinth, Miss., district of the same church. The Rev. Joe B. not only forwarded my letter to his brother, John A., at Sardis Miss., but also wrote me a nice letter - showing that he is a good boy - as I already know John to be. Very soon I had a real heart-warming letter from John, who told me that for twenty- -- and the rest of the story is missing. (There is a written date on the article of Sept. 12, 1924-- might have been re-written at this time).
Thomas Jefferson and Mary (Cummings) Randolph are buried in McNairy County..
Their daughter Mary Peyton Randolph born 23 Dec 1861 in McNairy TN married William Mortimor Moss and they are buried at Rivrside Cemetery in Madison Co TN.