December 28, 1975

Dear Spike and Alphia

So good to hear from you all. So glad to hear all are well. I'm feeling better each day. The Dr. just can't believe how well I recovered. But the prayers of the Christians praying for me. God healed me really quick, which I give him all the praise and glory.

Alphia, here is the History of the Harwell family. Uncle Elzer wrote 22 pages in handwriting like a letter, so I'm ------ what he wrote as following.

I'm going to give you more of the history of the Harwell and Easons and if there is a repetition in what I've already written please ignore it. The original Harwells who settled in Virginia sometime between 1610 and 1620 were English. The old Harwell mansion which was built hundreds of years ago is still in use as a boys school, it is located in the town of Blackburn.

In a book with the title of "Before The Mayflower" there is a record of one Thomas Harwell, an English Knight, who was a member of th London Company on June 23, 1709 (I don't know if uncle Elzer got the dates mixed up or not (1909). Will ask him when I see him., was granted land in Dinwiddil County Virginia, by the King of England, it does not appear that he ever came to America, but his sons, those that were mentioned in the material published by Dr. John Rufus Harwell, who did come over, have found a record of a Samuel Harwell dated 1680. Who, I feel was one of Sir Thomas sons that settled in Virginia.

English history shows that one Sir Edmund Harwell was an admiral in the British navy, another Harwell was at he sheriff of a county at that time the position did not carry much more prestige than the same position does in this country.

Dr. John Rufus Harwell of Nashville was not only an outstanding physician and surgeon, he was a Methodist minister as well and I've been told the most educated of the many Methodist ministers of that name.

The copy of the will I sent to you is without a doubt our ancestor. Samuel Harwells sons that is, some of them migrated to Tennessee, Buckner Harwell, a brother to Samuel Jr. moved to Giles county about 1808 or 1809. He was the father of nine sons, there are numerous of his descendants still living in that county. Other members of the clan stayed in Nashville a few of them prospered, quite a lot them did not. In fact, the same line of Harwells can be found in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. I have cousins living in Corinth Miss. and Alabama.

My father was born on a farm bordering on Richland Creek near Pulaski Tennessee, so far I have been unable to locate his place of birth. I found a record of Grandfathers marriage in the town of Lewisburg, which is the county seat of Lincoln county, it ----- Giles county, why he chose to get his marriage license in Lewisburg, I do not know. Grandmother was only 16 years old at the time, it may have been a runaway marriage.

During 1958 I spent a lot of time doing research in Tennessee and Washington D.C. Grandfather was a Confederate soldier. The records in the archives building were better than I had expected them to be. They show his various assignments, pay and issue of clothing, apparently he was captured but was paroled immediately, then re-enlisted etc. He was finally discharged in North Carolina, how he managed to get home I've never found out. There is a rather sad incident. My father told when grandfather returned hoe to find my grandmother, her mother, my father who was about 7 years old and Aunt Sallys, all living in a rail pen with corn fodder stuck in the cracks to keep out the cold. Their house had been destroyed , horses and cattle, taken by the armies who had marched through the country (both sides) they were near starvation. The was lost in so far as he was concerned, nothing left but his land. He sold the land moved to Texas, did not stay very long, moved to various places in Tennessee, never owned land again, because a Methodist minister, never had a circuit, somehow he raised a large family.

Grandfather was the victim of a ruthless and cruel war, frustrated as long as he lived. He died in 1894 a few days after I was born, buried in a cemetery in Sardis Tenn, the location of which has been found.

Grandmother Harwell was the daughter of James M. and Caroline Edwards. I can not trace this family beyond my great grandfather. They wee of Scotch ancestry I'm told. Grandmother died in 1899 during a small pox epidemic, she was buried in Columbus Kentucky. Her grove is marked but not very well. I believe her name was shown on the graph sent to you as Mary Jane Edwards.

Your grandfather Harwell was born in 1858. I think he must have had paliomyelitis when a child as one of his legs was slightly deformed, the foot too, however, it was not much of a handicap. Father was very much like your father John, he was a large man with powerful shoulders always weighed 200 pounds, or more. His formal education was lacking but he was an avid reader, kept himself well informed with respect to the political scene, he had an uncanny way of mentally figuring out interest on money or problems, how he could get it right was always a mystery to me. The lack of education was due to the fact that he grew up just after the civil war when the South was in chaos, no schools available to attend, then too they moved often, the opportunity to learn anything was just about nil. Lacys and Kennedys mother who was older had a much better education because her schooling before the war was the average of that day.

Father died as the result of an operation (stone in the bladder) by a surgeon of the crudist kind, actually he did not know the rudiments of common antiseptic surgery. He died before he was 50 years old.

The Easons were my mothers people. They were Irish I can not trace them any further than Anson County North Carolina.

Shadrack Eason migrated to Decatur County Tenn. in 1826. He was my great grand father. Legend has it that my grandfather, Stephen or Steven Eason walked all the way from Anson County North Carolina behind an ox wagon, a distance of between 600 and 700 miles.

The children were rugged in those days, he was about 10 years old. I visited Anson County in 1939,, I didn't find out very much, in fact, I knew very little about how to do research at that time. There was a doctor Fred Eason, in the county that is Wadisboro where he was practicing at the time. The tales are legion as to grand papa ??? prowess and ability to handle his liquor, he was never a belligerent but did not back p from a fight either.

I will go back to the migration of the Easons from North Carolina to Tennessee. Certain laws were passed during the early 1820 and they were a part of a caravan in which there were Johnsons, Easons, Murphys, Stegalls, Lacys, and Kennedys an came to take up land which was rich in timber but the soil except in bottom land was not productive.

The above mentioned families were Scotch ????. All had been neighbors, also they were intermarried then and their descendants are still intermarrying, this is very true of the Easons, Johnsons, Murphys, and Kennedys. It would be almost impossible for them to compute their relationship among themselves into this day.

Grandmother Eason was a Bennett, I believe she was born in Tennessee, she was an orphan and it is very difficult to trace her lineage.

I placed a head stones to grandpaps grave also, to his two wives. I will say grandpop never did belong to any church but was quite religious in a way, never allowed any work on Sunday. His motto was - "Sunday work would not prosper". It has been said that his word was as good as his hand. He died in 1894 and was buried in the Liberty cemetery, Tenn.

Uncle Bob Eason fought at the battle of Shiloh on the Confederate side later he ran flat boats down the Tenn, Ohio and Mississippi river to New Orleans, loaded with barrell staves, bolts and ???? poles at onetime was quite wealthy but lost some of his boats and nearly all of his wealth. Your father John can remember all of our grandparents very well, but I can only recall very faintly grandmother Harwell. Uncle Theophilus (Office?) Lucy Irvins father was to young for the army until the war was almost over, then he joined the home guard - Union side., he never was eligible for a pension.

I'm going to give you a thumb nail sketch of one of Grand pop Easons sisters Aunt Fannie, ??????. She was quite an athlete and rugged as well, could jump astride of a horse with ease could kick a lot higher than her head. She married to a man by the name of Billy Massengill, moved to Texas before the Civil War, once when she had gone for medicine at a distance from home, Comanche Indians chased her for miles until she came to some white men who were wood cutters ( where one would find wood to cut in west Texas. I'd never know) they were armed she grabbed a gun and fought off the Indians side by side with the men; her descendants still live near Dublin and Hamilton, which are in western Texas. Mother told me that story more than once.

Grandpop Eason stayed put, some of the land that was taken up by the Easons is still in the hands of his descendants. He lived from an early age to his death on the land he had inherited, likewise my mother (your grandmother Harwell) lived nearly all her life in the proximity of where she was born.

I've told you of both sides of the family in so far as I can remember together , with the research I have done. I guess you would say we are from the average American Scotch - Irish- English stock. A few of our folks achieved some prominence, many of them did not. I never knew any Eason who had served any time or ever had been arrested, perhaps some of the younger generation should have been for their part in boot legging, but were smart enough not to get caught. There was a rumor that there was Cherokee Indian blood some whee in the Eason line, but I never believed it.

I found the record of one Sterling Harwell who had been sentenced to thirty days in jail and fine $100.00 for stabbing another man in a drunken fight. That was a pretty stiff fine in those days when a mans wages were in the average of $100.00 per year. This incident took place more than 100 years ago.

Alphia, I wrote just what uncle Elzer wrote so this might be what he wanted to tell me when we meet. Earl Jr. took the history records to where he works and run them off for me so don't send any money. I sure do enjoy reading the records. I would have typed this but our old typewriter is on the bum so had to write it out and my handwriting is worse than chicken scratching.

I sure do enjoy talking to Uncle Elzer. I was at his house one time and saw all the pictures he had taken and he told the history of each. Would like to spend a month and just listen to him. He and Aunt Mae are so sweet. Marylin and husband lives near them, she doesn't have any children, she teaches school.

Jane has four children, she and her 1st husband separated. She and her 2nd husband lives in Texas They see June and family. Muriel and Bul had all their girls home for Christmas. They will be up Friday after Christmas. So we all will be at Napa on Sat.

The Sheppard Family
Written by Elzer Harwell 1979

Dewey Sheppard's mother was Mary Frances Laster, the daughter of Elizabeth and John Laster. Elizabeth Laster was my mothers only sister. So Mary Frances Sheppard was my first cousin, Dewey my second cousin.

The Sheppards owned considerable amount of land, up beyond Cedar Grove, and probably still do but Lafayette (Fate) Sheppard sold his land and moved to Missouri in 1907. They had five boys, William Jasper, Ophie, George, Ruth and Dewey, two girls Clydie and Ina Dee, they are all dead now except Ina Dee who lives in Sacramento California. Bill was killed in a car accident with me, he did not have any children. Ophie had one boy and one girl, I believe the boy was killed in an oil field accident during World War 2, some where in the middle east probably Iran, or Saudi Araba. Ophie did not farm very much, he was usually in business. George farmed near Blytheville Arkansas. He had three children one made a career of the army, one is a farmer in Arkansas, one daughter lives in Memphis. Ruel did not have any children neither did Bill. Dewey had three girls. Two of them live near Dell Arkansas, so does Pearl, his widow, one girl recently married (the second time) (her first husband was accidental killed) and moved to Colorado. Clydia had two children a girl and boy, they lived in Missouri, then just before world war II they moved to Calif. the two children live somewhere in the Sacramento area.

Of the original family was Billy (old) Sheppard, who married a Fergerson. They had four sons, John, father of Little John and Little Bill. Frank Sheppard did not have any children. Bud Sheppard, I do not know his real name, lived in the Sardis area. He had some children of which Mrs. Nan Presley was one of his daughters. Dewey Sheppard was the only successful cotton farmer I ever knew. He said that when he was married his assets were six-dollars and an ???? head pistol. When he died he must have been worth at least three hundred thousand dollars.

I Feel sorry for Joe Eason and Lessie Gilbert spending so much of their lives in a mental institution. Too bad as Lessie was good musician. Frances Sheppard was born and lived on the Laster land until she married when very young. The Laster home was down the hill east of where Wezzy Eason now lives, possibly one quarter of a mile, a road used to run down to it. Now it must be grown up. I think the late Hattie Eason and Flora Gilbeert still owns this plot of land which was given to Elizabeth Eason Laster by her father Stephen (Steve) Eason.