Cane Breaks ~ Hard Rains ~ Flood Waters

ANTHONY RUCKER CARDWELL

Birth 03 MAY 1797 in Concord, Campbell County, Virginia

Death 20 NOV 1891 in Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas

Anthony Cardwell (1797 - 1891)

My 1st cousin 6x removed

James Cardwell (1761 - 1806)

father of Anthony Cardwell

John Cardwell (1715 - 1795)

father of James Cardwell

Perrin Cardwell (1744 - 1820)

son of John Cardwell

George C Cardwell (1787 - 1870)

son of Perrin Cardwell

Nancy Cardwell (1824 - 1872)

daughter of George C Cardwell

George Washington Myatt (1842 - 1911)

son of Nancy Cardwell

Nancy E Myatt (1870 - 1896)

daughter of George Washington Myatt

Dovie Mary Martin (1894 - 1933)

daughter of Nancy E Myatt

Ernest Haywood Allison (1921 - 2000)

son of Dovie Mary Martin

Anna Faye Allison

I am the daughter of Ernest Haywood Allison 

Anthony R. Cardwell lived on his father's farm in Campbell County, Virginia, until the age of twenty. He then went to Grainger County, Tennessee, where his brother Robert had previously moved. He is found on the Tax Rolls of Grainger County in 1820. In 1850 he is listed as a farmer in Grainger County. Sometime thereafter, a part of Grainger County became Jefferson County, Tennessee. In August, 1855, he disposed of all his property in Jefferson County and left for Caldwell County, Texas. He brought his entire family of nine sons (one son, Alexander, had died earlier in Jefferson County), three daughters, one son-in-law, three daughters-in-law, five grandchildren, and his many slaves. They traveled by oxen wagon train, ultimately arriving in Caldwell County, Texas on December 31st; the trip lasting almost five months. Sarah Angeline Cardwell, Anthony's daughter, wrote about this trip, described in part below.  The journey led them across the Ohio River (Note: Certain to have actually been the Mississippi) which they crossed by ferry. Once across the river, they landed in a cane break and every little while one of the wagons would bog down and the others would help get them out. Finally, they got through the cane break only to run into hard rains and flood waters. Every thing was water soaked and Anthony had lost his shoes, so he waded around barefoot, but singing all the while. One woman who heard him said "There's the man after my heart - anyone who can sing in all this slush."  All provisions were washed away and the whole crowd  was desperate. Finally, he contacted a man who had killed  a bear and he managed for it. That was their first meat but said  it was delicious. The oxen drawn wagon train arrived in Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas, on December 31, 1855. Early in 1856, Anthony bought land lying about two miles north of Lockhart, on which a few acres had been cleared and a log house built. During the remainder of 1856, he bought more land and by the end of the year owned about 1500 acres.  Laboring diligently and wisely, he cleared a good farm and engaged in farming and ranching during the remaining years of his activity, living there until his death on November 20, 1891, at the age of ninety-five years, six months, and seventeen days.  (bio by: Loris O. Brewer)  The Cardwell Cemetery  was also known as Misenhimer Cemetery Caldwell County, TEXAS

JAMES ANDERSON ASHBURN

James Anderson Ashburn

More often called 'Anse'
My 2nd Great Grand Uncle

"Anse" was born on October 13, 1839 in Fentress County, Tennessee. (Son of Robert Ashburn and Sarah Vaughn Ashburn) He married Armilda Melvina Baldwin on August 6, 1862, by Jesse Adkins in Jamestown, Tennessee.  
Anse and Sarah had 10 children. He died on April 10, 1946 in 
Clarkrange, Fentress County, Tennessee.


Anse was a Corporal, Company D, 1st Tennessee Militia, U.S. Army; Civil War Veteran.  
He enlisted on January 25, 1863 (age 23) and served for two years.  
His pension application says he was thrown from his horse near Livingston, Tennessee while on a scout and injured his back.  He also stated that he contracted small pox near Nashville, Tennessee while covering up dead horses and the disease caused him to lose sign in his 
left eye totally and partial blindness to the other eye.  

Anse was described as having black hair, black eyes, dark complexion, 
and was 5 feet 5 inches tall.  

Photo Taken Around 1900

Sitting: John C Ashburn (son), Melvina (Baldwin) Ashburn, James Anderson Ashburn Standing: Riley Hood (grandson), Bell Zara Ashburn (daughter),                                Sarah (Sallie) Ashburn (daughter)

MY LINE

James Anderson "Anse" Ashburn (1839 - 1916)

is your 2nd great grand uncle

Robert Wesley Sr Ashburn (1812 - 1897)-3rd GG

father of James Anderson "Anse" Ashburn

Emanuel Alexander Ashburn (1833 - 1910)

son of Robert Wesley Sr Ashburn

John Calvin Asburn SR (1862 - 1943)

son of Emanuel Alexander Ashburn

William Esker Asburn (1897 - 1968)

son of John Calvin Asburn SR

Lorene Ashburn (1924 - 2003)

daughter of William Esker Asburn

Anna Faye Allison

daughter of Lorene Ashburn 

Clarkrange Methodist Church Cemetery 

Clarkrange - Fentress County - Tennessee

History of Fentress County, Tennessee:
the old home of Mark Twain's ancestors

by, Albert Ross Hogue
Published by Williams Printing Co., Nashville, Tenn., 1916
Transcribed by, Jan Stipple

CHAPTER I

Fentress County is located in the northern part of Tennessee, east of the center of the State, and lies principally on the Cumberland Plateau. It originally bordered on Kentucky, but Pickett County was formed partly from its northern territory in 1881.

Fentress County has an area of 486 square miles, or 311,000 acres. It was created by an act of the legislature in session at Murfreesboro in 1823, from territory carved out of Overton County. It was named for James Fentress, a prominent Tennessee legislator for many years, and later an officer in the Confederate army.

Its county seat, Jamestown, is situated near the center of the county on the Cumberland Plateau. The site was no doubt selected on account of the fact that it was near the geographical center of the county, and the fact that several fine springs of water bubble up from the sand here. The place was once called Sand Springs, later it became the Obedstown of the "Gilded Age", by Mark Twain. This place is on an Indian trace and was an Indian resting place on their trips from the east to the Cumberland River region. It also possibly furnished them a camping ground while hunting on the plateau. This region has always been a good range for deer, bear, turkeys, and other wild animals. There are still a few of these animals to be found on the plateau.

When the first courthouse was built, in 1828, there were only five families living in the town. Their names are given elsewhere in this book. The town was incorporated in 1837. The act of incorporation was not repealed until a few years ago. Its growth has been slow until within the past few years. The population of the town, according to the census of 1910, was 350. All are white. This is practically true of the entire county, there being only ninety-eight colored people in the county, and 7,348 white.