Returned Missionary Announcement - 1882

Here's a little tidbit about the persecution at Cane Creek before the Massacre. Although the names of the persecutors are not the same as the ones involved two years later, the one friend was a person who name would come up many times in the future. You can almost see the pattern of events to come.

Returned Missionary.- This morning we received a call from Elder Joshua Taylor of [Salt Lake City] who returned, on Wednesday, from a mission in Tennessee. “He Left Utah in May 1881, and labored the first two months in Shady Grove [Hickman county], and was afterwards appointed to take charge of the Cane Creek district [Lewis County], where there is a thriving branch of the Church. There was in that part a very active opposition. Some time since a mob of seventeen men, led by Witts Skelton and two sons, broke up the meeting, and threatened the lives of the Elders. For this conduct seven of the mobbers, including the three Skeltons, are under bonds to appear to answer a charge of disturbing a public worshipping assemblage. The same party set fire to and destroyed the stand and benches which were in a grove used by the saints. Brother Taylor spoke highly of the hospitality of the Southern people, and mentions Mr. I. T. Garrett of Cane Creek in particular, who was very kind to the Elders." (Deseret News, May 10,1882.)

A visit to the Conder Cemetery

Yesterday I visited the Conder Cemetery once again. It was the 130th anniversary of the Cane Creek Massacre. I have heard it said that we can never take the same trip more than once, for even if the journey is exactly the same, and the location has not changed, we most definitely will never be the same person we were before.

Today's visit achieved a trifecta in its uniqueness. August 10th perhaps allows us to simulate the weather on that fateful day; humid and sunny. The cemetery had seen some great work. The dead tree threatening to fall on the very next person to walk through the gate had been removed. There were no weeds, no overgrown bushes. Even the grass, what little there was, had been neatly trimmed.

There was some inevitable entropy. Just last week I wrote about how  (Malinda's 1st husband) J R Hudson's grave stone has the same inscription as that of W J Conder (her second husband), and that the stones were practically identical in design and material. The biggest difference was the name and the date, and that the second had broken in half. Well, now Hudson's stone has broken, nearly in the same way as the other, albeit a little lower than the first. This time the inscription was completely above the break.

Other than that I noticed things I had not remembered before. I saw the older stones for the graves of Eli  and Barby Talley, right next to the new ones. It was like I never saw the old ones until that day. Were they invisible? Memory is a tricky thing. (I'll save those photos for later)

I also noted the foot stones for the two boys killed at the massacre: William Martin Conder & John Riley Hudson. It made me wonder. Whatever happened to the original stone markers? The story about the placement of the current marker in the 30's never hints. There were three foot stones all about the same (and the same as Jim Conder's foot stone at Trace Creek.)  And that they had foot stones leads me to believe they had headstones, and likely they each had their own. (Did Malinda order four headstones and foot stones at the same time?) You can see the foot stones for William Martin Conder, his half brother John Riley Hudson, and Riley's father J R Hudson in the fore ground. Martin's foot stone in leaning up against a moss covered cinder block since it too had broken off at its base. There were still the remains of rubber cement someone used to try and repair it.

Of course every time I visit I see different things. Repairs someone else has done, repairs that need to be done. And like any kind of research, it creates more questions than answers.

An inscription revealed; J. R. Hudson

This weekend I pieced together the barely readable inscription on the gravestone of J. R. Hudson (1831-1856): Malinda Carroll Hudson Conder's first husband, and the father of J. Riley Hudson who died at the Cane Creek Massacre.

"Tread lightly upon / this soil for beneath / this sod sleeps a / loving father"

It took me a moment but I realized I had read that inscription before, on the gravestone of Malinda's second husband, William James Conder (1832-1911).

The quote was Malinda's! Either she coined it, or she heard it somewhere else and it spoke to her so well that she chose to have it place on the gravestone of both her husbands.

This is part of why I do history the way I do. It isn't the grand scope and the rise and fall of civilizations that pushes me on to dig in the details of people's lives. It is the insight into their soul this gives that memorizing dates will never reveal.

J R Hudson's gravestone

W. J. Conder's gravestone

The Conder Family and Land Deeds.

What can the buying and selling of land tell us about the movements of people? In the case of my family, my parents bought a home when they planned on living there, and sold it when it was time to move. They moved frequently, by almost anyone's standards. But is it appropriate to apply those standards to a family in the late 19th century?

The family in question is one I have researched for some time. I have letters, newspaper accounts, obituaries, and now land deeds. In particular I have two land deeds. One describes the Jim and Malinda Conder selling 160 acres to Thomas Talley in 1898. The deed describes the land only in relation to land owned by Brantley Hudson: Malinda's father-in-law through her first husband. I know the Hudson's owned land on Cane Creek, so I had assumed the Conders were selling  their home on Cane Creek where the massacre occurred. It was smaller than the 300 acres other witnesses said they owned, but I guessed that perhaps they sold it in two separate sales. The fact that it took them 14 years to sell it could also be explained by the fact that no one wanted to buy the land because of its violent history.

Now, however, I have more evidence that casts my assumptions into doubt. The Deed book index for Lewis county indicated that in 1889 Malinda bought some land from James L. Sloan. Last week I was able to get back to the archives to look at the deed itself. Surprise! it was the same 160 acres she sold in 1898. Not surprisingly, this alters how I understand the Conder family's relocation after the shooting.

Sometime after 1884, the family moved. Every version says they would not live in that home after the shooting. But when did they move and to where?

 +In Apr 1889 Malinda (only her name is on the deed) bought 160 acres near Brantley Hudson, with the understanding that Banister Talley could remain on the land for the remainder of 1889.
 +In March 1895 residents in Lewis County say to W. W. Bean that no more Mormons live at Cane Creek.
 +In Nov 1895 Jim & Malinda's daughter, Vicie, married Will Haley and moved to Trace Creek.
 +In 1897 missionaries visited Jim & Malinda Conder in Perry County, 18 miles down river from their old home.
 +In Aug 1898 Jim & Malinda sold their 160 acres near Brantley Hudson to Thomas Talley, while allowing Ruben Mathis to continue removing timber until the end of the year.
 +In 1900 they were living next door to Will & Vicie Haley.
 +In 1911 and 1916 the family was still at Trace Creek when Jim, and then Malinda died. Their daughter Rachel moved in with Will & Vicie Haley.

There are several possible interpretations of these events. Up until now I assumed the two had moved to Perry county and tried to sell their land on Cane Creek because they were not willing to live there. Now I have to question that interpretation. Did they buy the 160 acres for the purpose of living there? Did they rent it out (to Banister Talley and Ruben Mathis) while staying in Perry County? Does owning land mean you lived there? It did for my parents, but it doesn't have to.

What happened to the land where their farm was? I can find no other deed transfers in either Jim or Malinda Conder's name. Did the land not belong to them as previous historians have assumed? I am left with more questions, than answers. But perhaps that is why I am addicted to historical research.

An Unexpected Trip to Dabbs Cemetery

Yesterday, I was on my way to drop off my oldest son at scout camp, and realized I would be passing right by the grave of Jim & Malinda Conder. It had been a while since I had been by there. On my first visit I found that his grave stone was broken in two. Both pieces were there, but the top portion was leaning up against the part still mounted on the ground. A few weeks ago I had seen a photo on his grave site where the two had been fixed, and I wanted to see first hand how well the job had been done.

I took the chance to take more careful notes about the way to Dabbs Cemetery where he is buried. Starting at the Hwy 48 & Hwy 20 junction, follow Hwy 48 south for 3.1 miles, turn left onto the unmarked road - it is called Fire Tower Road, but you won't find a sign saying it. You should see a big white sign for the Lewis State Forest. Drive south 3.8 miles to Kro Hollow Road and turn right. Stay on the paved road for about 0.6 miles. The cemetery in on the right, clearly visible from the road. If you don't see it, you haven't gone far enough. The first time I drove on the road I thought was venturing on someone's driveway near the end.

After parking I walked to the fence, battled the cobwebs on the gate, ducked under the ratchet strap holding the fence posts upright, and walked straight back to the graves. The wooden shed I used as a landmark last time was hidden behind some fallen branches, but I found my way anyhow. Below are Jim and Malinda Conder's headstone and foot stones; Jim on the left, Malinda on the right.

I was surprised at first that there was no indication that the grave marker had indeed been repaired. In fact, it didn't even look like the broken off portion had moved in the nearly two and a half years since my previous visit. Upon further inspection, the top had merely been placed on the bottom for the photo, not actually repaired.

Since I was there I decided it was time to decipher the writing on his headstone. Photos from my last visit had not turned out to have been clear enough to do this. So this time I was going to piece it out on site. The inscription reads...

W J CONDOR

JULY 11 1832

MCH 28 1911

Tread lightly upon 

this soil for beneath

this sod sleeps a

loving father

The markings on Malinda's stone have long since eroded away, leaving only a faintly discernible...

Malinda Conder

As I stood there, I pondered on the sacrifices these two made for the gospel truth and marveled at the humble nature of their graves. It is in keeping with what I have learned of their character in the years I have tried to study their lives. Though they could have asked for more from the Church, and were offered more on at least two occasions, they accepted very little.

The Conders Sell their Farm

Long time readers will know about the Cane Creek Massacre and my fascination with the fate of the survivors. Today's tidbit is no different. It comes from the Lewis County Land Deed Book. In 1898, after living in neighboring Perry County for several years, Brother & Sister Conder finally sold their farm on Cane Creek - yes, the one where the shooting happened - to Tom Talley. I already knew Tom had purchased the land. He was the owner who gave permission for the LDS Church to place a stone marker on the grave of Riley and Martin in 1934. But I didn't know when until now

But the Deed Book record told me a little more than just when it was sold. It gave me evidence for the size of the farm. The record estimates 166 acres. It also hinted that there was a more complex deal involved. Reuben Mathis, the member of the mob who saved Elder Jones' life, had timber rights. The deed specified when those rights would end. I clearly don't know much about the legal language used here. I might be able to figure out some of the illegible words if I did. But I think we will understand the general meaning.

For and in consideration of the sum of two hundred dollars – one hundred and fifty-five dollars in hand paid and forty five dollars to be paid January 1^st 1900 – for which a note is this day [executed].

[?] W. J. Conder and his wife Malinda Conder have this day long arrived sold and [conveyed] to Thomas Talley his heirs and assigns forever a certain tract or parcel of land lying and being in 3^rd civil district of Lewis County on the [waters] of Cane Creek and bounded as follows –

Beginning in the south boundary line of [Entry] No. 188 for 200 acres in the name of Brantly Hutson – 38 ¼ poles west of the south east corner thence west 194 ½ poles to a stake north 127 poles to a stake thence east  - 194 ½ poles to a stake thence south 127 poles to the beginning containing by estimates 166 acres more or less.

The east prong of Cane Creek runs through said land. All the land on the south side of this creek is included in this deed and all on the north side is now owned by Andrew Edward – to have and to hold to the said Thomas Talley his heirs and assigns forever and I [covenant] with said Talley that I am lawfully [seized] of said land and have a good right to [convey] the same and I covenant to warrant and defend the title to the same against the lawfully claims of all persons [whosoever] . But this is understood that Reuben Mathis is to have all the [stove bolts] and [cross ties] timber on said land and is to have until March 1900 to remove said timber from said land.

Witness our hand August 20 1898.

W. Armstrong                                                     William [x] J. Conder

State of Tennessee                                               Malinda [x] Conder

Lewis County

Ellen DePriest's Miracle

Margaret "Ellen" Talley DePriest [1] would certainly qualify as one of the lesser known early Saints. Yet her life can be just as interesting as the more often told stories. Ellen was the recipient of a miracle which saved her life. But her life was so much more than just one event. She was born in the uncertainty of the Civil War on 3 April 1864 in Lewis County, Tennessee to Elisha Freeland Talley & Barbara Ellen Hudson.

Ellen's family had moved to this remote part of Tennessee two generations earlier.  They came in the 1820's, soon after the Treaty of Washington was signed in 1806. The treaty allowed white settlement south of Tennessee's Duck River to the state line. For this vast tract of land, the Creeks received $14,000 while the Cherokees received $10,000, a gristmill, a cotton gin, and a $100 yearly payment to Chief Black Fox.

Small towns sprung up on the larger rivers. But there were large parcels of land to be had on the highland creeks. They attracted the adventurous like the DePriests, the Talleys, and the Lancasters, from North Carolina and Georgia where the opportunities to build your own farm were limited to those who could afford to buy the land.

There were no churches in this highland frontier. But occasionally an itinerant preacher would wander through. Campbellites, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists were the most common,  but the Mormons made an appearance too.

Ellen's parents, Eli & Barby Talley, were the first in Lewis County to join the Mormons in September of 1879.  Mormons were not well liked. They were known to be polygamists and were accused of far worse. Then her uncle John Lancaster joined, and her aunt Malinda's husband, Jim Conder joined too. With her family joining a strange and unpopular faith, it must have seemed like a strange autumn, to be sure. But then a miracle happened. Uncle John's invalid sister, Rachel Lancaster was healed by the power of prayer. It was no trickery. Rachel was at death's door and everyone knew it. She had been sick for years and now had worsened. She could not breath and was not expected to last the night. But there she was the next morning, singing Mormon hymns!! And it was the prayers of the Mormons that did it. They had administered to her with oil like was done in the Bible. Rachel was baptized a week later along with Elizabeth, Uncle John's wife.

It didn't take long for Ellen to decide follow their example. She and her new husband, Tom DePriest, were baptized in Cane Creek on the 28th of January along with three others: Ellen's sister Leona, and her husband's brother and his wife, James and Margaret DePriest.[2] 

Ellen and Tom [3] were expecting their first child. It was an exciting time. A new marriage, a new church, and the baby was due in early May. Sadly there was an accident. The details are sketchy. There appears to have been a fire which went out of control. Accidental fires were a frequent hazard.  Ellen's own grandmother Feriba would die from a fire accident in 1896. While she was making soap outdoors in a kettle over an open fire a gust of wind blew the flames onto Grandma Feriba's dress. The single description of the accident in Ellen's case is more vague. We don't know how the fire started or even where it was. Ellen and her husband were able to suppress the fire, but the "exposure in fighting [the] fire" caused her to miscarry.

Six days passed and she had not delivered the dead child. Ellen was growing ill and was bedridden. Her belly swelled abnormally. She was "chewing her tongue & swooning." The midwives and the local doctor determined there was no more they could do for her. One midwife left saying she would not attend a dead woman. They sent for a physician who had the tools to remove the child in pieces, thinking this was the only way to save her life. Two of the missionaries laboring in the area administered to her, and pronounced that she would have health and strength.

Late in the afternoon on the seventh day, after being prostrated for two days, Ellen finally delivered the dead child, feet first. About an hour later the doctor they sent for arrived and declared her as healthy as any woman he had seen give birth. By the end of the day he declared her fully recovered.

It must have been a monumental event in her life. When other family members turned away from the Church in later years, Ellen remained strong. In March of 1883, Ellen and her husband joined an emigrant company heading for Colorado. Travelling with them was Tom's brother and his wife, James and Margaret DePriest. Both families settled in Manassa, on the same block.

In November 1884, after the Cane Creek Massacre, Ellen's parents and other relatives including Tom's other brother Pleasant, followed them to Manassa. Although her parents didn't stay for more than a couple a years, Ellen remained and raised her 11 children in her new home. All of them grew to adulthood, married and had children of their own. She shared a long life with her husband who died in 1932. Ellen passed away, few years later, still living in Colorado, still true to the faith, on 9 May 1937.

[1] There is a photo of Ellen floating around the internet, but I have not been able to verify its authenticity with a family member, nor have I been able to get a clear enough version to make it worth putting in online. Much of the information about her was confused with her aunt/sister-in-law with the same name.

[2] Ellen shared more than just a first and last name with her sister-in-law, Margaret DePriest. They also shared maiden names: Talley. Her sister-in-law, Margaret Eisabel Talley DePriest, was also her father's younger sister.

[3] Ellen and Tom lived "up the hollow" from her parents Eli & Barby Talley. Missionaries usually visited both families on the same day, so it was probably very close by.

Lizzie Garrett: Photos You Don't Know Exist

Somewhere buried in the deep in the Church History Archives is a photo I never knew existed. The photo has been there for years, but the means by which it is cataloged is perhaps what is keeping it hidden. If you go into the Church History Catalog and search for it by her name you will never find it. Try it. Her name is Lizzie Garrett. She won't come up. But rest assured her photo is in there.

Biography
Lizzie Garrett was born Elizabeth Candice Garrett on 30 December 1857 in Cane Creek to Isaiah Thomas Garrett and Martha Jane Lankford. Lizzie was a bright young girl. Her father was a successful farmer and an Constable of the Lewis County Court. Despite her relatively affluent upbringing - by Lewis County standards - she wasn't coddled or pampered. She performed the farm chores with her father's servants. But she also had the opportunity for an education. She was bright, perhaps gifted, but certainly literate. By the age of 24 she was attending school - probably in Columbia - to learn to be a teacher.

A couple years earlier she met missionaries from the LDS Church. Her father had heard them preach at the home of Sheriff Carroll, and had invited them to come to his home. That was most likely where she heard them preach for the first time.

A string of missionaries came and went through the Garrett home. You might say they were almost perpetual investigators. In August of 1881 - presumably at the beginning of the school year - she told one missionary that she would get baptized after she was done with school. By August 1884, other missionaries wrote about her as though she had already been baptized. Her actual baptism date is a mystery, but so are others who joined the church in 1882 at Cane Creek. Her ordinance work was redone in 1988 and so that date now shows on Church Records.

She also got married, on 3 December 1882, to George C. Baker. Her husband was educated too. He was a trained physician. Oddly enough, after the shooting at the Conder home on 10 August 1884, no one sent for Dr. Baker. and Lizzie was living at home with her father. Was he still attending medical school in Nashville? Was he seeing patients in another county? The record is silent.

Lizzie's was helpful in getting Elder Thompson out of Lewis County unharmed,finding him in the woods and going for help. Her father was key, actually driving Elder Thompson out in a buggy with a blanket over him. For this Tom Garrett was driven out of his home. He fled for his brother's home in Illinois.

Sometime in 1885, Lizzie and her husband traveled with her mother Martha to Illinois where they joined Lizzie's father. There they resettled and raised their family. George practiced medicine, while Lizzie parents tried to rebuild all they lost by abandoning their farm in Tennessee. In 1887 Lizzie's mother died and her father never remarried.

Lizzie and George had six children, four of whom lived to adulthood. George passed away in 1903, and soon Lizzie's father moved in with her. Lizzie does not appear to have continued her membership in the Church. Though her father did write at least two letters clearly indicating he wished he could once more have contact from the missionaries. Lizzie died on September 5, 1935 and was buried in Zion Church Cemetery in Greenville, Bond County, Illinois.

As for the photo? It was taken in about 1880. One of the missionaries who taught her took the photo home with him. Sometime between 1966 and 1972, the missionary's daughter donated her papers to the office of the Church Historian. The papers are indexed under the missionary's daughter's name. But they include journals, photos and other things from her father's life, including this photo of Lizzie Garrett.

Yes, treasures abound in the Archives. But they are not always easy to find. 

Elder Cullimore and the Return of the Church to Cane Creek

Much of the attached post was written by Grace G. Cullimore. Her father-in-law Albert Lorenzo Cullimore served a mission in the Southern States in the late 1890's and had been assigned to Middle Tennessee. After he came home, he delighted in telling his family stories about his mission. In 1952, during a visit from her in-laws, she persuaded her father-in-law to allow her to write the stories as he told them. He dictated and she wrote - long hand. Then he agreed to edit them and the result was wonderful. I have taken only a section covering two visits to Cane Creek. But there is so much more to share. For now, enjoy.

[December 1897]
We were told to go to Perry County; a new missionary was assigned to go with me.  There was an Elder Milburn [Benton] Poole [1871-1960], whom another elder had been assigned to go with; but he refused to be his companion.  So I was asked to take him.  He was a very determined individual who was always right.  As soon as we started on our travels, Elder Poole started to complain and talk on infidelity. He told me the only reason he had come on his mission was to please his mother.

[These two Elders were leaving a mission conference where they had been paired together and were going to their assigned area for the first time.]

We were told that Perryville was due west from Duck River about 30 miles away; there was a straight highway, and we could not miss the road.  As we walked, I told him that we were going more to the south than to the west; but he snubbed me and we continued as he insisted.  We traveled for miles and saw no homes. Finally, we came to a place where the railroad and the road intersected; and a negro man was walking down the track.  I asked him how far it was to the Lewis County line.  He told me that it was back down the road about two miles; we were already in Lewis County.

[Even today there are only two rail lines the enter Lewis County. One cuts through the south east corner at Summertown. The other enters from the north, runs through Kimmins and dead ends in downtown Hohenwald. Since they were heading from Duck River to Perryville, which would have taken them along the north side of Lewis County, these two must have come across the northern rail line.]

We had been told to stay out of Lewis County because of the mobbings.  It was in Lewis County that Elder John Gibbs and Elder William S. Berry, two Mormon missionaries, had been shot by the mob.  At the same time, two members of the Church were killed and several injured.  Mrs. Conder had part of her hip shot off, and it was her two sons who had been killed by the mob.  The leader of the mob was killed.  His name was Dave Henson.  Here we were in Lewis County and it was getting dark.  We went to a little town named [Kimmins]; there were about seventy families in the town.   We canvassed the town for a place to sleep.  We were refused at every home.

[Elders Cullimore and Poole were not the first back to Cane Creek. Willard W. Bean went in 1895 albeit in disguise as a lumber agent. And there were two missionaries - Nelson and Bench - who walked through Lewis County in about June 1897, 6 months earlier. The earlier missionaries did not try to find someone to put them up for the night, but they did talk to a few residents. They had no problems with any kind of mob, but they did not visit any of the members, or baptize anyone.]

We went to see the groceryman, James Cunningham, and explained to him that we were on the wrong road and were very sorry that we were in Lewis County.  He finally said he would give us entertainment.  He said, "I'm happy you didn't come any sooner; a man named John Henson, brother of the mob leader, just left the store.  He had his gun with him.  He has carried it with him ever since the shooting and swears he will shoot the first Mormon missionary he sees, on sight."

[A story very similar to this was told about David Hinson's little brother Babe Hinson, but I've not heard much about John.]

We had been instructed not to travel on Christmas.  It was the morning of December 24th.  The merchant with whom we had spent the night was also a peanut buyer and showed us through his plant.  He directed us to a family of Mormons in [Cane] Creek, by the name of [Elisha and Barbara] Talley.  We found the family, but found that they had been in Colorado and were very dissatisfied and had returned almost apostate.  After talking with us he finally agreed to let us stay with them over Christmas Day.  (Christmas Day then, was the day when there was excessive drinking and hilarious conduct; so we were not to be on the streets.)

[In 1884, after the massacre, the Talleys sold some of their land, to finance their move to Colorado, but had to lease out the balance with no hope of collecting on it. They stayed in Colorado perhaps only a year before they returned to Tennessee, frustrated with the weather, politics, poor economy, and the pervasive role the Church played in their lives, and took possession of their old home they had leased out on Cane Creek.]

We were taken by our host to the scene of the mobbings and killings of Elders Gibbs and Berry.  After a while, a messenger came to the house and told them that the mob had heard that my companion and I were in town, and they were assembling to run us out of town.  So Brother Talley and his son put us on mules, and took us out of town about eight or ten miles and left us.  It was three or four o'clock in the morning.

[Brother Talley probably took them northwest along Cane Creek into Perry County. The Conder's - Jim, Malinda and their oldest daughter Rachel, had moved to Perry County and by 1897 had not yet moved to Trace Creek next door to their younger married daughter, Vicie Haley.]

After they left us we traveled about 18 miles until we found the Conders.  As stated before, the Conder boys were killed by the mob; and Mrs. Conder had part of her hip shot off by the mob. This was August 10, 1884.  Since the killing, they had moved about 18 miles from the scene.  They had not seen any of the missionaries since, so they were pleased to see us, though it brought back memories of the killing.  They told us we could stay with them.  About six o' clock at night a rap came on the door. I had never seen anyone so frightened as they were.  They just shook, thinking it was the mob.  To their surprise it was some friends, a man and his two sons, who had come to see them.  The man's name was Brother [John Thomas] Carroll.  He was a member of the Church, but had not seen the elders since the killings either.  He said he was working out in the fields and something said to him to go to the Conders.  It impressed him so that he and his two sons left their work and came at once.  He said when he saw the elders he knew why they had come.  We held a meeting with them at night and another meeting after breakfast.  The sons were baptized by us in the morning before we left. 

[In addition to being a farmer, Brother Carroll was an amateur dentist and folk medicine practitioner. When he joined the church he surprised the missionaries by showing up at someone else's baptism and asked to be baptized on the spot. His wife Judy and mother Sarah were baptized the next day. They were the last two converts before the massacre in 1884. The two sons of his who were baptized on Dec 27, 1897 were Marshall age 21 and Warren Carroll age 13. Brother Carroll was Sister Conder's nephew.]

Brother Carroll, whose sons we baptized, asked us to come to his home in Lewis County on our way back to hold meetings as he had some people who were about ready to be baptized.  

On our way back, two weeks later, we had to pass through [Hohenwald, the] County Seat, where they were holding public auctions.  We were seen by many who had said Mormons could not come to Lewis County.

We hadn't been at the home long before a man came and told Brother Carroll to get rid of us as they were making up a mob to come and get us.  It was in early January and was very cold, so Brother Carroll took us up over a large hill into a hollow where he was clearing ground and burning the trees.  He kept coming to see if we were alright, and to report on the mob.

They did not come so about midnight we went to his home and held a meeting.  After the meeting we baptized two people and confirmed them members of the Church.  I lay down and had a short sleep.  The family was too worried to sleep.  They gave us our breakfast about 3:00 a.m. and a lunch to take with us and sent us on our way.  They were sorry to see us leave, but felt certain a mob would come and did not want to have any trouble befall us. 

[I can't find who the other two people were that they baptized. They don't appear in the baptism record book for the period. I know several names missing from book, but most are from before 1880. By 1897 the records  were getting pretty consistent. One might have been Bastian Talley, whose lived in the right area and at the right time, but whose baptism date I have not been able to find.]

Elder Poole had been very timid about taking any part in the discussions, and the next morning after the baptisms he would not take any breakfast.  We started to travel on west.  Noon came and Elder Poole still did not want to eat; as night came he would not eat.  So I inquired of him as to the reason.  He told me he was fasting.  He fasted two days and nights.  This was something to fast while traveling as hard as we did.  When we arrived at the place of our meeting, he bore a wonderful testimony.  The change in him was remarkable; he was a very enthusiastic missionary, and became one of the most outstanding missionaries in the conference.

Elder Cullimore and Elder Poole returned at least one more time to Lewis County. On 9 Feb 1898 they baptized Henrietta Carroll, age 18, a sister of the two Carroll brothers baptized six weeks earlier. By March 1898, a mission report indicated that the was a branch of 15 people in Lewis County. Six of them would have been the Carroll family. Two more were unnamed, and perhaps a few others left over from before the massacre.


Just for the record, I see no evidence that either Elder re-dedicated Lewis County for missionary work. Nor were either missionary related to Elder Gibbs or Elder Berry.

For a photo of Albert and his wife Luella, look here.

Looking for Rachel Conder

Amy's post over at Keepapitchinin got me to thinking more about documenting my research on Tennessee Mormon families into the LDS Church's newest online family history tool: Family Tree.  I had been to the site a couple of times, but saw that many of the errors from New.FamilySearch were perpetuated there. Amy's post has given me hope that perhaps the new mechanisms for fixing them might make a difference.

I'm not so naive to think that family history always has clear easy answers. Sorting through the clutter of rumor and ill conceived ideas is part of the fun of history and family history. Creating Family Tree does not remove the clutter. But at least it creates an easier way to store sources which will make the effort of documenting the process and sorting out the problems easier.

Lets take for example the Conder family of Cane Creek. Family Tree shows they had four children, Martin, Visey, Rachel, and "P". I know Malinda and Jim  had six children together, but for three of them their names, gender, birth dates, and death dates were never recorded. They appear to have died very young and before the family met the missionaries. Malinda also had a son with her previous husband, but we'll leave him out of the current discussion. In Family Tree "P" is listed as a son, but I think "P" is really a duplicate of Rachel.

A couple of years back I ordered a copy of the a micro film showing LDS Church Records for Middle Tennessee. This particular record was dated 1910. The record has been a great source, and includes some records of members in Lewis County where some survivors of the Cane Creek Massacre lived. Below are the names listed for the Conder family

It is a pretty close match to Family Tree. As you can see there are four of them. I believe they are...

Visey J. Conder = Lavicia Jane Rebecca Conder
Wm. J. Conder = William James Conder
Malinda Conder = Malinda Conder
P. Conder = Rachel Ann Conder

I think most people would agree with my first three matches, even without knowing the family, but the fourth might give you pause. In what world does "P" = Rachel?

Let me guide you through my thought process.

Rachel lived with her parents for the rest of their lives, foregoing marriage in order to take care of them. Malinda could barely walk due to her injury, though she could get around with a cane. In the days before automation, the chores of housework would have been significant. Rachel would have been very busy  cooking, cleaning, and taking care of her mother. In every interview she gave she is with her parents, and she explains why she stayed. That she might not be on the record is odd.

I also know that she was very dedicated to the church. Even in the face of the horrors inflicted on her family, she received and treasured the church literature sent to her. After both of her parents passed away and she moved in with her Methodist sister, she kept her collection of church publications locked up. After Rachel's death, her brother-in-law took the whole cabinet outside and burned it with all its contents. So for her not to be included in the Church records would be odd.

The record above shows other problems which indicate it was a copy of an older record,and  not an original compilation. In 1910 Visey's name is 13 years out of date. She had married Will Haley in 1897. So it must have been transcribed from an older source and not verified for accuracy.

With a little more digging I did find this record (below) as a possible match for the older record. [There were several names between the header and the Conder family entries. For the sake of space and perhaps privacy, I have cut them out.] Based on the dates of the records around it, it had to be written between Nov 1901 and Sept 1903, though because it was in the same hand writing as the 1901 entries, I am guessing it was closer to 1901 than 1903.

It still has the wrong name for Visey, but in 1901 she had only been married 3-4 years. She had joined the Methodist church when she married and likely did not care to update the Church records. The spelling of each abbreviation and the order of the  names is identical to the first record, making me pretty sure this is the source for the first. In fact this record book has been transcribed many times. It is full of notes, names circled, crossed out, check marks, and on and on. Other than perhaps a note at the top of the page indicating this book was used to generate a 1930 church census, the meanings of the marks are lost, probably stored only in the head of their creator.

Note that Rachel and "P" don't appear on the same record in either case. In this entry, "P" clearly shows a birth date and a baptism date which match Rachel's further validating my opinion that "P" and Rachel are that same person. There are no other options than for "P" to be Rachel. But how do I explain why  "P" was written and not at least part of her real name? So far I have a few options.

1. The intent was to write an "R" but it just looks like a "P" to us. Although I don't know why the clerk would just write an "R". In the second and earlier record, however, it looks even less like a "R".
2. Perhaps the writer for both records was working from a third incomplete source record, not collecting the data first hand. This would also explain why Visey was not listed with the name Haley. He may have misread his source. 
3. "P" was Rachel's nickname. There is no evidence of this whatsoever.
4. Rachel had a twin brother named "P" who died young. But their names got mixed on an early church record and never sorted out since. (this is pure fantasy).

I have not yet figured out where the death date for "P" came from. Family Tree only says "LDS Church Membership" as its source. Plus I also don't know how the gender for "P" was determined. There is nothing in either record indicate the sex of the person.

I'm not ready to delete "P". But if I can figure out how Rachel came be recorded as "P" and answer these last two questions I'm sure I would.

John H. Gibbs' Tennessee Converts

The following names were recorded by John H. Gibbs as being baptized while on his mission in Tennessee either by himself or by his companions: John Styler or W. E. Robison. They range in dates from September 6, 1883 to May 26, 1884. The locations range from Houston County to Lewis County, Tennessee and match Elder Gibbs proseletizing area.

Gibbs was 31 years old and had been working with the young men prior to his mission. Professionally he was a teacher. Among his missionary finding activities was to issue an open challenge to a game a marbles. All this made me wonder about the age of his converts. Turns out he was older than 68% of his converts and half were more than 10 years younger than him. One was even 7 years old, though only by a few weeks. In each case where a very young person was baptized, I have been able to find at least one parent who was a member as well, with the exception of James Prewett. Still looking.  That is even true of most of the teenagers too, with the exception of Fannie Willis (age 15). She joined with her 18 year old brother. But they had a 39 year old uncle who had joined earlier that year.

In fact the young ages of Gibbs converts had more to do with his focus on part member families. He baptized mostly spouses, and children of existing members,and a mother in one case. Less than 10 of his 44 converts were unrelated to existing converts.

There was nothing significant about the sex of the converts; 21 of 44 were female. I'm no statistician, but that seems pretty close to half. All but five were married or were too young to be married. Of those five at least two never married. If it were a ploy to get women for polygamous marriages, it was pretty much a failure.

Age Name
8     Archie H. Region
53   Zachariah Evans
39   Phebe Jane Evans
13   Rebecca Evans
11   David Roger Evans
8     Zachariah Evans Jr.
31   William S. Wood
30   Sarah V. Wood
20   Julia Ann Lockheart*
27   John Riley Hudson
50   Malinda Conder
17   Rachel Ann Conder
8     Jesse Whitfield Lancaster
53   William Winters
29   James Harrison Wood
28   Francis Josephine Sanders
45   Eliza Ann Talley
16   Jennette Love
7     William Jackson Love
9     James Samuel Prewett
14   Robt. Emmonds Bryant
60   Green Berry Corner
73   Gile Baker
39   William Sealy
24   Mary Ann Sealy
53   Lucretia Winters
13   Lupherty Catherine Winters
18   Josie Turner
46   Rachel Smith*
18   William W. Willis
14   Andrew Jackson Talley
15   Fannie Martha Angeline Willis
15   Lewis Sherman Winters
20   Joel Winters
13   George Thomas Talley
20   William Martin Conder
13   Levisa Jane Rebecca Conder
43   Eliz. Matthews Seals*
48   Feneby Fitzgiles
24   Laura Rebecca Grey
24   John Thomas Carroll
45   Banester Talley
45   Sarah Jane Carroll
26   Juda Clemant Carroll

The three converts with a * after their name were baptized by a companion of Elder Gibbs.

Ada Turner Gets Married

Ada Turner was one of the lesser known figures connected to the Cane Creek Massacre. At age sixteen she joined the LDS Church and subsequently - a few weeks before the massacre - immigrated to Utah with her eighteen year old sister Josie and their aunt Lovona Shaw. Their departure has been suggested as one of the causes that led to the violence. More than one missionary serving in Tennessee at the time connected their baptism and immigration to the increased anti Mormon sentiment leading up to the shooting. Leaving ones parents was viewed in Tennessee as a harsh form of disloyalty, though her parents didn't see it that way. Local folklore going back to 1906 speculated that since both girls were shipped off to Utah in 1884, they would have soon become part of some polygamous marriage. Some people got pretty agitated that Mormons were carrying off girls to Utah. The truth, however, was the two went to Utah to go to school. Ada finished high school, went on to finish college, though it was her sister who graduated at the top of her class. After school, Ada opened a kindergarten in Rexburg, Idaho. In 1897, she married Samuel Ricks, monogamously. The two had one child. The marriage ended in divorce ten years later and Ada moved to Salt Lake where she raised her son with the help of her sister Josie.

A couple of years ago I was given two photos for which there was circumstantial evidence that they were the two Turner sisters, Ada and Josie. The photos were taken in Salt Lake City and sent back to Lewis County relatives. They were not labeled and over the years no one could remember who they were. Nearly everybody baptized at Cane Creek were related, and as more years passed the relationships became more interconnected. But only three women baptized at Cane Creek went to Utah: Ada, Josie and their Aunt Lovina. The rest went to Colorado, Missouri, or stayed in Tennessee. Lovina had a debilitating case of Dropsy, and had suffered from it most of her life, making it difficult to even walk. Her condition would be obvious in any photograph. So the theory was these two photos might possibly be the two sisters.

To prove it, I needed to track down a verifiable photo of the sisters. For the last two years I have trolled genealogy message boards and similar sites for people who are working on Ada Turner's family history. Because Josie never married, it was less likely I would find anyone working on hers. Last week it paid off. I received a copy of a photo of Samuel Ricks and Ada Turner. It appears to have been a wedding photo.

But was it a match for one of the two sisters I already had photos of? There is some superficial similarities to one of the photos, hair style and expression in the eyes, but the shape of the face is not quite right. What do you think?

The other mystery woman has no similarities at all. (see the other photo here)

So while you might think this was a bust, what I really am is excited. I have a photo of another member of the Cane Creek Branch!! As for the two unidentified women? I have other possible matches. There is no rule that says they can't have been women who immigrated to Colorado who had their photos taken during a visit to Salt Lake City. Or perhaps formwe Cane Creek resident John Westbrook, who had a history of sending photos back to Lewis County, sent a photo of his first wife: Juda Elizabeth Samples. Elizabeth died young of consumption. I have been unable to locate comparative photos of her either. While I may not spend as much time on this as I have in the past, it is still an unanswered question. Who were these women?

A Sign of the Times

On Wednesday, January 4th, 1967, early in the morning, the state of Tennessee erected a historical marker near the site of the Cane Creek Massacre. The images I have are poor but you can see a few things. The crowd was small. Not really surprising. It was remote; far more so than today. The Cane Creek Massacre was not an event that was popular to discuss among the residents of Lewis County at the time.  The first photo I have is much fuzzy. In it I count perhaps a dozen people most of them women in knee length winter coats and heels. Only a couple are facing the camera. The photo caption had no names.

The second photo looks more posed. The cation read, left to right, Walter F. Hogan, Elder Robert Marcum, Mission President Raymond W. Eldredge, T.J. Green of the Tennessee Central District based in Nashville and [sadly the rest of the caption was cut off on my copy].

From other records I know the people present included Samuel Smith who was a representative from the Tennessee Historical Society, several members of "the Mormon Church and their wives from Nashville" and President Raymond W. Eldredge (1908-2005) from the Mission Presidency in Louisville, Kentucky. Beyond that, perhaps someone from the newspaper in which the report was printed was also there.

I can also tell where it was placed was different than where it was placed the last time I saw it. Based on my knowledge of the area, and clues fromvarious sources, I'm guessing it was just across the street,on the north west corner. There was an error in the first sign in the spelling of John H. Gibbs' name. It was spelled "Biggs".

About two and a half years later, this same mission president responded to a letter asking about the massacre and whether a marker had been place commemorating it. The letter was written by a US Navy Chaplain then serving in Millington, Tennessee (about 10 miles north of Memphis). I don'thave the letter, but I have a copy of the Mission President's response, which was CC'd to the Office of the Church Historian. I have not been able to determine if he is still living, but I have a lead.
According to President Eldredge, only a few weeks after the sign was put up, a truck rounding the corner lost control and ran over the sign, bending the pole at the base. The State mounted the sign - which was apparently undamaged - on a new pole, this time sinking it in cement. A few weeks later the sign was again hit by a truck that lost control rounding the corner.This time the cement foundation was uprooted from the ground. President Eldredge was not convinced of the truth of the explanation, believing that local sentiment was not in favor of having the sign in the first place. But he had no evidence proving it was malicoiusly damaged. Interestingly enough, there was a lumber mill about two miles down the road -on the site of the LDS church that was burned down in May 1884 - and logging trucks would have had to round that corner frequently. Without a stop sign from that direction, there would be no reason trucks could not try to take the corner at speed.

The sign itself was replaced in 1996, but the Tennessee Historical Commission (THC) has no records of replacing it more than that. The records don't even indicate it was replaced in 1967. If the sign was not damaged in either of the 1967 events, the THC would have no reason to actually replace it. WHile the THC provides the signs, the The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) provides the pole and places it on the roadside. If the pole was damaged, TDOT would been the ones to replace the pole, leaving no records of their work on file at the THC. If this was the only time the sign itself was replaced, the spelling of Elder Gibbs name would have been corrected at that time.

The sign was eventually moved across the street, also probably in 1996. I went to see it myself for the first time in 2009. But even a new location did not prevent it from being damaged as it was in January of 2011.

http://amateurmormonhistorian.blogspot.com/2011/02/cane-creek-historical-marker.html
http://amateurmormonhistorian.blogspot.com/2011/03/to-see-what-was-left-of-marker.html
http://amateurmormonhistorian.blogspot.com/2011/03/vandalism-and-rumors-of-vandalism.html

This time the sign was damaged beyond repair. It has not yet been replaced.

Dabbs Cemetery at Trace Creek

I'm really a bit surprised at myself. I have been researching the Cane Creek Massacre for almost 4 years, and although I have been to the Conder Cemetery and seen the marker placed for Riley and Martin, I still had not visited the graves of the family members who survived: Jim, Malinda, Rachel and Vicie.

About four months ago I decided to fix that oversight. It wasn't hard to learn where they were buried. Several independent records confirm that they were buried at Dabbs Cemetery on Trace Creek. That made sense. The family lived along Trace Creek after returning to Lewis County in about 1897. That year Vicie married Will Haley, whose family had lived along Trace Creek for many years.

The cemetery itself, however, was harder to find than I expected. I found Dabbs Cemetery Road, and where it intersected with Trace Creek Road. Thinking that the cemetery was probably at the far end of the road, I drove out to find it. Sadly, the road ended and there was no cemetery to be found. It was getting dark and I was running out of time, but no one was home at the only nearby house I could find. My search would have to wait until next time.

On my next visit months later I finally found the cemetery. Turns out that the road used to continue on to Dabbs Cemetery, but that the bridge had been destroyed and the bulk of the road had been reclaimed by the woods. There was another road from the opposite direction that was still being used: Kro Hollow. My second attempt was successful.

Jim died in 1911. His grave stone was made professionally. But it has sustained the most damage, broken clean in half. Besides his name, and dates, there is a quote which I unfortunately could not read.

Malinda died in 1916. Her stone was not made professionally, and is more difficult to read. But the stone itself is in better condition than her husband's. This low resolution version of the photo does not do it justice, but the script letters of Malinda's stone are thin and appear to have been made by the repeated tracing of a metal stylus. Weather has nearly eroded the name completely from view.

Rachel died in 1955. Her stone is noticeably more modern than the others. Though it has begun to tilt forward as the ground under the marker settles. I had to stand at an odd angle to get this shot.

Vicie died in 1958. I don't know when the current stone was added, but it includes her husband who died in 1964. The stone may have been purchased in 1958 and Will's name added when it was time.

The weather actually cooperated with me. It had been raining and snowing all morning. But I think the lower light gave me better results. The last cemetery trip I took was on a sunny day. The light coming through the trees created too much contrast against the shadows making it hard the photograph anything. The overcast light of early afternoon worked much better.

Although the condition of some of the grave stones is sad, I don't really have a relationship with the deceased. Legally I can't fix this. My only options are to see if some descendents are willing to approve efforts at repairs. Most of them, however, want nothing to do with Mormons.

Guns of the Fathers

A few weeks ago I visited the owner of a place that is today called Talley Hollow on Cane Creek. In 1884, it was called the Conder Farm. The log home where the massacre happened once stood in this hollow.(See note 1.) Today there is only a graveyard to remind the casual visitor of the bloody past. That is, unless you look around carefully. And that is just what the current owner's grandfather did. Foundation stones, bits of pottery, and other discarded items are hidden by the dirt and foliage of over a hundred twenty seven years. No surprise really, the home had been burned to the ground before 1895. But one item surprised me the most; a muzzle loading rifle.

The four foot long handmade gun was found inside the hollow portion of an old tree. It is a magnificent piece. The stock was obviously hand made with a couple pieces missing, like the stock plate and the ramrod. But it was still in pretty good shape. The action had been replaced. It had likely been made as a flintlock originally, and then had a cap lock action added. Notice the double trigger? It is a kind of safety. One is use to set the trigger relase first so that when the second is pulled it will fire more easily. By the way, it still works.

The barrel is octagonal and had a set of initials [GTM] stamped on the top about halfway between the action and the muzzle. The initials didn't photograph well. In all, it is a wonderful piece to look at and hold. The gun was certainly from the right period.(see note 2.) Although it would have been 20+ years old by 1884, and perhaps much more, that is not a problem considering the remoteness of Lewis County and its relative poverty at the time. I would have been surprised to find the latest models of firearms anyway. The big question is, did its presence have anything to do with the massacre? Of course, we will never know. Unless some journal turns up describing how someone left their gun there, I see no way to know for sure. But it certainly stirs the imagination. This is one of the reasons I love to study history in the first place.

1. A hollow is a narrow valley. It was common to build homes in these natural feature. It created natural divisions between neighbors. Cane Creek has dozens of hollows along both sides in the upper portion of its east fork where the massacre took place. They often were named for who lived there. The Talleys have lived in this hollow since 1884, and nearby before that.

2. When I visited, the person who introduced me was a gun expert. He pointed out many of the observations I have made here. He also noticed that the gun had something still in the barrel. On a later visit he was able to extract what was inside and found that the gun was still loaded.

The Home of I. T. Garrett

Isaiah Thomas Garrett, aka Tom, was the very first person to invite the LDS missionaries to speak on Cane Creek, Tennessee. He invited Elder Edward Stevenson Jr. to make the journey to his cabin in the hills. But Stevenson was released and went home before he was able to make the trip. His replacements, Joseph Argyle and Thomas Higham, made the trip instead. The place they preached was Tom's home shown here in a 1967 photograph, taken from the backyard. The opening in the center is a dogtrot, which was open all the way to the front. It allowed a breeze to pass through the house in the days before air conditioning.

The home has been mistaken for the farmhouse of Jim and Malinda Conder, which was the site of the Cane Creek massacre, but that home was a mile away and had burned to the ground, probably just before 1895. Tom's house was the place where three of the four missionaries stayed the night before the shooting. It was the last surviving structure with a connection to the massacre. I had hoped I might be able to get a better, and more current photo. But the road that ran along Cane Creek had been moved. So I wasn't sure where to look.

I knew that it was on the north side of the Creek, about a mile east of the Conder home. I knew that it had passed to the Talley family, after Tom had left Tennessee for the safety of Illinois. I knew that some missionaries had stayed there in the 1940's, even sleeping in the same bed that he missionaries had slept in on the night before the violence. But despite those clues, I couldn't find where the house was today.

Then a few weeks ago, I met with some descendents of the Talley family. They were a wealth of information, some of which I'll share later. But they shed some light on why I could not find it. The owner of the land had built an addition in front of the log home. I was lucky enough to meet someone who had worked on the heating system for the addition. He correctly described the house, with the dogtrot and all.

But it soon became clear that even the addition would not be enough. So, sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s, the owner of the home had the log house portion demolished, sold the logs it was made from, and replaced it with a newer structure. According to my source, an official with Lewis County, it was the last log home standing in the county. Today, there in a mobile home on the site which has had several additions built on to it.

While I may have been 30 years too late to get an update photo. At least I know where it was. Slowly and surely, I'm collecting a better understanding of just where the places connected to the massacre were.

I like to collect photos

Some people collect stamps, I like to collect photos and articles about events in Tennessee Mormon history. Often I have been given these by friends or readers (sometimes by those who are both). Often what I get is tangentially related. But even if they are, I find there is something new in it.

Recently I was given this image. It was dated 1964 and showed Robert Coleman and Horace Cooper "Bud" Talley. The building behind them was identified as the Old Talley Cabin. According to the photgraph notes this was the sme cabin where the B. H. Roberts stayed at Cane Creek after he exumed the bodies of Elders Gibbs and Berry. The bodies actually were left in the wagon in the barn.

The cabin originally belonged to I. Tom Garrett, who was the owner when the missionaries were killed. After Mr. Garrett fled Cane Creek for Illinois in fear for his life, the family sold it to Bash Talley, one of the few members of the branch who stayed at Cane Creek. Bash also ended up buying the land on which the Conder farm sat. H. C. Talley, in this photo, was the son of Bash and Eliza Talley, though he did not join the LDS church until 1949.

When I read this it reminded me of a story told to me a while back how Bud Talley would say the bodies were kept in his barn the night B. H. Roberts dug them up. I always thought, "that can't be right." But now seeing this photo, I put two and two together. I knew the Talley family owned the land that the Garret cabin was on. Now it all makes sense. I'm sure whoever took this photo wasn't thinking it would someday resolve two conflicting stories.

So go ahead and collect stamps. I'll stick with photographs.

To see what was left of the marker

Last week I reported that the historical marker for the Cane Creek Massacre had gone missing. Well, here is what is left. And soon even that will be gone. The Tennessee Department of Transportation is goin to remove the pole and someday, but not this year, it will get replaced.

To give you an idea of scale the post is about 4 inches thick. The sign was made of cast iron, and appears to have been snapped off with a considerable amount of force.

Cane Creek Historical Marker

Yesterday, I spoke with a friend who lives on Cane Creek Road in Lewis County. She told me that the historical marker for the Cane Creek massacre is missing. Now, there are a few possible explanations. It could have been knocked or blown down. Tennessee does have tornado problems. But there hasn't been a tornado through there and there is no damage to the surrounding area. Plus the post is still there, which means it wasn't knocked down by a car. In addition there are parts of the sign still attached to the metal post, which means it wasn't removed by someone with the proper tools. Call me paranoid, but I think it was vandalized. I'm heading up there this weekend to get a photo myself. I'm also contacting the Tennessee Historical Commission.

The sign is the second placed by the historical society, the first was placed in 1966 at a small pull-over spot along the main highway. There was even a picnic bench at the first spot. But according to one local resident it was knocked down and was missing for a long time. The Historical Commission records show the sign was replaced only once in May 1996. At the same time the sign was moved to the intersection of Cane Creek Road and Hwy 41; closer to the Conder farm but with no place to pull over and read it. The sign reads:

TENNESSEE'S MORMON MASSACRE

One-half mile west on August 10, 1884, at a farmhouse on the east fork of Cane Creek several Mormon missionaries and their followers were attacked by a mob of disguised citizens. Killed were two missionaries, Elders William S. Berry and John H. Gibbs, two of their local associates, Martin Conder and J. R. Hudson; and one of the mob. The fight was caused primarily because of local opposition to the practice of plural marriage by the Mormon Church.

Tennessee Historical Commission

Legislative Acts

One of the possible sources for research is public records. There are many kinds of public records and their usefulness varies from area to area. But I found an odd one that surprised me just how useful it was in one particular case.:Legislative Acts. The site of the Cane Creek Massacre is very close to the county line between Lewis County and Hickman County in Tennessee. So close that when the line was redrawn in 1897, the bill passed by the state legislature actually named the land owners who would stay in Lewis County. Some of these names are very familiar to me. This has helped me narrow the time window to determine when members of the Cane Creek Branch returned to Tennessee. In the list is Elisha Talley, a member who had returned from Colorado, Ruben Mathis and Solomon Hinson who were both vigilantes, and W. J. Garrette who was the son of Tom Garrett who was a close friend of the missionaries but never a member. And that isn't all the names I know. Lancaster, Willis, Bastian, tons of Hinsons and even a Crowe.

Including in the said county of Lewis the lands, farms, and homes of the following, to-wit: G. W. Skelton, Sr., R. A. Mitchell, G. W. Hinson, G. W. Skelton, Jr., Thos. James, E. C. Bastian, L. W. Hinson, J. R. Duncan, P.K.J. Hensley, W. H. Crowe, Bryant Mathis, D. C. Anderson, S. J. Downing, Elisha Talley, S. H. Hinson, A. H. Whylie, Budd Mathis, J. E. Sisco, E. M. Hinson, Richard Willis, W. W. Brown, D. D. Humphreys, C. W. Moody, A. T. Wylie, J. P. Talley, Ruben Mathis, W. H. Bastian, J. H. Brown, W. W. Quillin, J. A. Sisco, R. Lee Hinsley, William James, John Harper, D. L. Hinson, W. A. Pace, F. J. Cheatham, J. A. Goodman, C. A. Lancaster, "land" by Union Bank and Tr. Co., Executor; J. H. Sisco, W. A. James, J. M. Carson, Solomon Hinson, J. D. Brown, J. E. McCullom, W. T. Duncan, W. J. Garrette, Jonathan Duncan; and also all other farms and lands and homes embraced within said metes and bounds, as hereinbefore expressly set forth.