John & Rebecca Denton: Repeated Returnees

John & Rebecca Denton Family:
Back - L to R: Ezekiel, Robert, Sam, Alma
From - L to R: John, Rebecca, Dora

John & Rebecca joined the LDS Church on February 22nd, 1882. The were part of the Cedar Creek Branch and had been taught by Elders Robert Spence and Daniel R Bateman. Two years later in March 1884, the family emigrated to Colorado. John's parents had emigrated to Colorado in November 1883, and may have been influential in John and Rebecca's decision. Rebecca's father went along with them in 1884.

Since they were living on the Tennessee river, it made sense for the family to take a steamboat for the first part of their journey. They boarded at New Era Landing and traveled four days downriver to Johnsonville, Tennessee (now flooded under Kentucky Lake) where they changed to a train for the rest of their journaey

Rebecca became ill during the trip. According to her daughter, Rebecca "took some kind of rheumatism and couldn’t walk. ... [She] had to be carried on and off the train. She was not able to do any work for about six weeks."

In Colorado, Rebecca did find work spinning and carding wool. John found work clearing land. The family lived in a tent until they saved enough money to buy some horses which John used to haul logs from the mountains to build a home. While in Colorado there were three more children born to them: Robert, Alma, & Laura.

In about 1892, with an idea to improve their situation, they decided to move to newly opened land in "Indian Country" The family made their way by train to Joplin, Missouri. From there I'm not sure where they went. One family story says John pawned some possessions to get by and was able to find enough work to buy them back. Their stay in that area, however, was short lived. By 1894, when Dora was born, they are again living in Tennessee.

Back in Tennessee, John is rebaptized in 1897. For this reason alone John's name appears in the MTBR*. While I have records showing his original baptism in 1882, in the age before electronic records, not having access to the original baptism record may have been enough of a reason for local authorities to redo the ordinance.  His wife, however, does not appear have been rebaptized. I can think of a couple reasons for this, from her poor health to her having no interest.

I do know her health deteriorated, though I not sure when. She came down with tuberculosis and the humid Tennessee air was considered a problem. So in 1908 (Dora says she was 14 at the time) the family returned to Colorado where the dryer air would possibly help out. They may have had relatives there and could find a way to live. I'm not sure if the whole family went or if it was just Rebecca and Dora. It did not last long, however. By 1910 they all are back in Tennessee. The reason for this last return to Tennessee was described Dora as "she became dissatisfied" meaning her mother.

Dora's choice of the word dissatisfied is interesting. It is a word Mormons often associate with being dissatisfied with the Church. However, I don't know that we can make that unqualified assumption. To decide dissatisfied meant disaffection we need more.

Ultimately Rebecca did not get better. In April 1911 she died in Wayne County, Tennessee, probably from tuberculosis. Although I have found no proof of the cause of death, TB is a reasonable assumption. John remarried in 1917 to Mary Mayberry. He died a few years later in 1928 in Perry County, Tennessee.

The Denton family constantly struggled with poverty. A lack of education or job skills left them searching to improve their situation, often by move. For this reason I believe their moves were not  motivated by a disaffection with the LDS Church, even when considered with Dora's use of the word dissatisfied to describe her mother. While it could describe her relationship with the church it could also describe her hatred of Colorado weather. In addition, many of the children and grandchildren of this couple continued to get baptized, and receive temple ordinances. Had the family decided to leave the church a legacy of multi generational membership would have been unlikely.

* The Middle Tennessee Baptismal Record or MTBR is my source for converts who went west but later returned to Tennessee.The record contain converts mostly between 1894 and 1920 with a few earlier than that. About 1411 baptisms are recorded with a small number of them being returnees.

Short Creek Chapel

Short Creek is a unassuming place along the east side of the Tennessee river in south west Perry County, Tennessee.

This undated photo looks like it was taken in the late 1930's or early 1940's.  That matches the other evidence I have for a branch at Short Creek. The chapel was built in 1928 and dedicated by Charles Callis. Attendance was small, often only consisting of only the Richardson family. In 1930 Jensen noted in his encyclopedia that there was a Sunday School at Short Creek, Tennessee. It wasn't a branch then and he specifically did not include it in his list of the three branches in the state that year. But Alvin Richardson serve as the President from 1928 until 1942. Exactly when it was considered a branch is vague. By 1940 references were using the word "branch" instead of Sunday School. In 1942 Marvin Dedrick was set apart as the new Branch President, a position in which he served until 1972.

I also have this dated photograph from 1944.

I looked at the names associated with the Short Creek branch I find a few who appear to be related to members from the earlier Spring Creek and Cedar Creek branches. This makes sense because those two historic branches were respectively south and north of Short Creek. But Short Creek included members from West of the Tennessee River and over much of Perry County. Another Sunday School met at Pope, Tennessee in Northwest Perry county.

In 1960, the branch moved into the old Lego Schoolhouse. It was only 1.5 miles away, so convenient for those who like the location of the old building. Unlike the previous building, this one had running water and indoor plumbing. Sadly, I don't have a photo good enough to share.

In the mid 1970's the branch had outgrown the Lego Schoolhouse and a new building was planned. A more central location was selected, in Linden, Tennessee. Members west of the Tennessee River were organized into their own unit putting Short Creek out of its central location. The efforts to fund the new building and justify the efforts led to the branch becoming a ward in the late 1970's. At the same time a new name was in order, so the Short Creek Branch became the Linden Ward. This new building is still in use today.

Preaching under fire; first rocks then guns. Britt's Landing Branch Conference

Britt's Landing was little more than a general store, a warehouse and a loading dock on the east side of the Tennessee River. It is about four miles south of where Interstate 40 crosses the river today. Active before and after the Civil War, it was abandoned with the arrival of the railroad. Today nothing of the historic buildings remain.

The branch at Britt's Landing was also short lived. It centered around the family of Columbus and Lillie Fuller. The two had married in 1895 in Houston, Wayne county, Tennessee but were living in Tipton county when the met the missionaries. Columbus was baptized, along with his sisters Cora and Carrie. But it would be almost another year before his wife too joined the Church. By then they were living at Britt's Landing in Perry county. It was the Fuller family that brought the missionaries to preach at this out of the way place. I have no first hand records of the missionaries who preached there, only a quick historical note.

Last year [1907] the elders were forbidden to tract in Britts Landing. They are now meeting with success in that city.

The two missionaries who were having success had arranged for a branch conference at the home of Mr Brigg. I've not found a Brigg family living at Britt's Landing, but there was a Britt family who had a magnificent white home with a large curved stairway and lavish furnishings. They owned the warehouse and a general store.

A branch conference was held at Britt's Landing [Perry County, Tenn] June 27 and 28, [1908] Four elders were present on the first day and two Elders D. S. Dorrity and George Shaw, on the last. Everything went smoothly until the night of the 28th. A meeting was held at the home of a Mr. Brigg. While it was in progress, some of the neighbors with more bigotry than religion, threw rocks through the windows in the hope of breaking up the meeting. The people were plucky and not easily disturbed. A little later guns were fired on the outside, but the meeting went on, and no harm was done. The honorable people of the community were indignant over the mobocratic outbreak and are determined to bring the offenders to justice.

Four were baptized that day by Elders Dorrity and Shaw

-Mavis Pearl Beasley, a niece of Columbus Fuller

-Reginald Buchanan, a brother of Lillie Fuller

-Walter Brown Bell, probably a nephew of Columbus Fuller

-Harmin Duglas Fuller, a son of Columbus & Lillie

Missionaries returned a couple weeks later and baptized two more: Benjamin Harrison Bell and Sam Bell and the following year Monroe Harrison Branch. By 1910, however, the Fuller family had moved to Utah, and Britt's Landing fell off the radar. The branch quietly faded into history.

Linden Ward Open House

On August 10th, 2014 the Linden Ward of the Franklin Stake held an open house. You can almost feel the intent behind the event. On the 130th anniversary of the Cane Creek Massacre, members of the congregation which included the site of the massacre wanted to open their church to their neighbors.

The event was to be 3 hours long, and included stations throughout the building that showed off specific aspects. This ward has four missionaries. Sister Curtis and Sister Ferrin and Elder Goal and Elder Steve. In an inverse relation to my age, missionaries are getting younger. And these seemed more youthful than the current age limit would appear to allow. They spoke about their testimony of the newest paintings in the foyer.

After seeing the foyer, we moved on to the Chapel where members of the Ward discussed what happens during a typical LDS service. There was time for questions, and several people took advantage of that. We moved on to the Young Men's room, which was positioned behind the not-so-sound-proof dividers at the rear of the chapel. In any other building this would be the overflow before the cultural hall (Translation: indoor carpeted basketball court). But this building does not have one ... yet.

Our tour led us back across the foyer to the Clerk's office and the Bishop's office. A member of the Bishopric was there to describe what the Bishop does and answer more questions. My tour was interrupted as more "real visitors" (translation: non members) arrived. I missed out on seeing the Young Women's room, the nursery and the Primary room. I did see the media center, and the kitchen, which were unstaffed.

For those of you imagining your own building as we walked through these rooms, I have to stop here and say you are thinking too big. I could have stood in a single spot and seen the door to everything on my tour. The stations were only feet away from each other, so I could see and hear many conversions going on all at once. Despite this, great effort was made to create an environment conducive to  feeling the spirit, and they were successful on several counts.

Refreshments were available at the end. More sugar than is healthy for the average person, let alone a diabetic. Plus reading materials on church programs for food storage, family history, and more. One enterprising Ward member created DVDs with the combined video clips from the scriptures that the Church has put online. These were given out as gifts to the visitors.

I was there for 45 minutes, much longer than the 15 minutes the local thought each tour would take, and I did not get to see everything or talk to every one. Before I arrived about a dozen people had been through already. And another two dozen or so arrive while I was there. I left by 3:00 with another two hours to go. To put that into perspective, this ward covers all or part of four counties: Perry, Decatur, [most of] Lewis, and [northern] Wayne. The meeting house sits in a rural location 7 miles outside of the town of Linden which has a population of just over 900.

Harriet Lendora Brakefield Conder

Harriet was born April 3, 1855, in Linden, Tennessee, the daughter of Mary E. Dickson and Lemuel Brakefield. When she was 6 years old, her father enlisted in the army to fight in the Civil War. While he was in the army he contracted measles and pneumonia and died. Her mother remarried in 1865 to John Kirkpatrick.

On 30 Nov 1872 in Perry County, Tennessee, Harriet married George "Henderson" Conder. Though he went by Henderson, his close friends and family called him Henry. The two settled on a farm along Spring Creek.

On 21 February 1881, Henry and Harriet were baptized into the LDS Church by Elders Hyrum Belnap and James Eardley.[1] Harriet's brother had joined on a few weeks earlier, and Henderson's brother Jim had joined two years earlier. Eventually several of the Conder brothers joined the Church, and Harriet's mother and stepfather joined too.

Most of the Conder brothers lived in Perry County, except Jim who lived just across the county line in Lewis County. In 1883 three of the brothers moved to Obion County, Tennessee, to take advantage of work there; Anderson, Thomas, and Henderson. Of course Harriet went with them. Three of her children were born in Obion County. When one of the brothers, Thomas, was hung for murder in 1889, the family decided it was time to move on. Harriet's mother and step father lived in Sanford, Colorado, and many of the saints from Tennessee had gathered there too. So they decided to join them.

They only lived there for a short time before they moved across the state line to Aztec, New Mexico. They eventually bought land in 1897 and after Henry passed away in 1915, Harriet continued living on that land with her son, Boyd, who had never married.

Her grandchildren fondly remember her love of horses. She owned a side saddle and a beautiful white horse, that even when she was old she'd ride it to visit her grandchildren. No one recalled how she got on the horse, but when she arrived, they'd rush to help her off of it. After she died the saddle was donated to the community museum in Aztec.

She was a kind and sweet grandmother. She kept her hair up most of the time as was the style at the time, but took it down to let her grand daughters comb it. They described it as sandy brown, long enough for her to sit on, and silky smooth. The texture she claimed was from her homemade soap.

When Boyd died she moved to American Falls, Idaho to live with her daughter, Della Baker.[2] It was while living with her daughter in 1949 that she made a recording describing the events of the Cane Creek Massacre which took place at her brother-in-law's home in 1884. Her granddaughter Dessie helped prompt her for the 4 minute and 44 second recording.


Henry, Matilda (their youngest) and Harriet Conder in 1902

In 1953, at the age of 98, Harriet passed away. She had been ill for sometime. Her remains were flown by plane to Aztec, New Mexico, for burial near her husband.

[1] This date comes from the Autobiography of Hyrum Belnap. New Family Search has a confirmation date of 1 January 1880.
[2] In all they had eight children.

Short Creek Chapel c. 1944

A few weeks ago I was canoeing near Short Creek. My canoeing partner had grown up in the area and had been to more than a few "youth conferences" at the Short Creek Chapel. He gave me directions to exactly where the chapel was, but he wasn't sure it was still standing. So after we finshed our trip, I took a detour to see if it was still there. Sadly, there was nothing. Not even evidence that it was once there. If my directions were correct, there are only woods there now. Even so, I did pull this photo from a photo collage from 1944. The Short Creek branch appears to have been combined with the Linden Ward sometime between 1977 and 1983.

Canoe Trip into the Past

Today, and for the next couple of days, I will be taking our local BSA troop canoeing down the Buffalo River. The Buffalo runs though Perry County, Tennessee, where Jim Conder took his surviving family after the massacre. Perry County is where the Cedar Creek Branch was, and descendents of those who stayed in Tennessee ather than emmigrate to Zion still live on the Buffalo River today. I was tempted to take some time away from the trip to visit some one who ancestors were listed on my last post. But if the truth be known I just can't squeeze it in. I'll just have to make a special trip of it.

Years ago, traveling on the river was the best way to get around. Farming was not the best way to make a living in this part of Tennessee. Too rocky and a lot of work. What farming went on seldom brought in enough to sell at a market place. It was mostly for personal use; for fodder or to store for winter. Hunting and fishing were much easier and made possible by the river. [At about the turn of the century some professional farmers from the Ohio River valley came in and started using some more aggressive farming techniques. They did so well, that the local farmers adopted the same practices and farming became a profitable line of work.]

So as you are reading this post, I'll be paddling down a river with a handfull of local boys. We'll be fishing and maybe we'll catch a turtle to cook. They may not be actual descendents of the first members of the church in this area, but they certainly are their spiritual descendents. One of the adults going with us does have ancestors who joined the LDS Church here four generations back. And we'll share some of his stories when we stop for the night. Together we'll be seeing a part of Tennessee that everyone who lived here, Mormon or not, saw 125 years ago.

The Shipman family "just picked up and left the country."

Another exceprt from the autobiography of Mary Jane Miller. She writes that immediately after the massacre at Cane Creek, residents of Cedar Creek in neighboring Perry County were understandably concerned for their safety.

The people were so wrought up that none of us were at ease of mind. I remember my brother [John] and me went to those people, Shipmans, the people that he came to when he came home. They were old friends of ours, but they had just recently joined the Church, and her people were very much opposed to the Church. It was her brother Howard Bunch, whose mask Mother snatched off at our place. That night, after we had gone to bed and been asleep, she came and woke us up and said they were afraid someone was coming to mob us, and we had better go out in the woods. We all took our quilts and went to the woods. This was my first experience sleeping with the skies as my only cover. I didn’t know then that it was her brother that came to our house but supposed she did, for I believe it was her own folks she was afraid of. They got so worked up they just picked up and left the country. Where they went or what became of them we never heard of more.

Mary Jane may not have known what happened to them, but historical records abound. A little digging turned up their names: George Washington Shipman (1844-) and Mary Jane Bunch (1850-). Both were baptize on 28 May 1884 in to the Cedar Creek Branch. A little more digging and I found them on the 1900 Census (and the 1910 and 1920 as well). They are living in Johnson, Oregon County, Missouri. Their married chilldren are living nearby and one grandchild was born there in 1894. I wonder about about what made them choose Missouri, and so I looked for evidence of others from Tennessee there. I also looked for evidence of non-LDS Mormon groups her. I found none on both counts.  Whether they stayed in contact with the church or just quietly kept the faith, they found a place they could call home in peace.

Special thanks to Patricia R. Major Miller for sending the excerpt from Mary Janes' autobiography

"Lost while traveling to Zion" or "Have you seen this child?" 1883 Edition

[I have heard of stories where parents in Mormon Pioneer companies whose children had wandered off and had to be left behind. To me this is the Tennessee equivalent. It comes frm the autobiography of Mary Jane Miller Bailey. She and her family joined the LDS Church in Tennessee]

So in the fall of 1882 my father started to the West with his family. Having a sister [Applane Steffon] whom I have mentioned before in Evansville, Indiana, he figured on staying there for a while, then selling his stock that he was bringing with him and coming on West.

[The family stayed in Indiana for a couple months to earn more money to go west. Besides, winter was no time to travel]

My brother John was 14 in January [1883]. He was working at a plow factory at $2.50 a week. One Sunday he went out, and when evening came he never came home. We were uneasy, so next day we went to both of Emiline and Uncle William DePriest [who] had moved to Evansville, but none of them had heard or seen him. Father appealed to the police for help in locating him, but to no avail. Imagine the sorrow, grief and pain that brought to the family--more especially my mother who gave birth to my sister Lottie [Charlotte Angeline] the following March 3, [1883]. We never knew whether he was drowned in the big Ohio River which people always went down to for their sports, watching the boats and going out in small boats for rides. That was a terrible blow, so we decided to go back to Tennessee instead of coming West. ...We went back hoping and praying our brother and son would come back to us or that we would hear from him. I don’t think I ever failed to pray every night and ask God to send him home or care for him if he was alive

[In July 1883 Mary''s older brother Nicholas went to Colorado, and then in the following March 1884, Mary's father Philip took three of the children to Colorado to prepare a place for the rest of the family.]

In July [1884] one Saturday evening I had gone to the neighbors to take home a mule I had borrowed. I hadn’t been there long ‘til a neighbor boy, Jimmy Shipman, said, “I came after you.” “What for?” He said, “John's come home.” I believe I went up that big hill at two jumps. He had come to those neighbors [Shipman’s], and she sent her two boys home with him and told one of them to go ahead and let Mother know he was coming. We were so happy that the prodigal son had returned. [John was just a couple of years younger than Mary Jane.] He had worked on farms and stayed around and had never heard of the family--supposed we had gone on West. He came back to our grandmother [Mary Ann DePriest Davidson] and found out about the family and came home.

[Mary didn't explain exactly what happened to John that Sunday he went missing. Maybe they never asked. Special thanks to Patricia R. Major Miller who sent me this story.]

The Brave Sarah Bird Davidson

Patricia R. Major Miller sent me this story from an autobiography of Mary Jane Miller. Mary Jane and her parents joined the Church in Tennessee in the 1880's. She tells one story of her mother Sarah Bird Davidson Miller and about how "friends" and neighbors behaved when it came to Mormonism.

Before we even joined the Church but were keeping the elders, the Kuklies as they called themselves in those days, came to our place one night hunting for the Mormon elders. Me and my older brother Nicholas were away from home that night, and Mother had always said that if they ever came to our house, she would find out who some of them were. She told them there were no Mormon elders there. They threw a large rock against the door and knocked it open. Then they came around to the other door and wanted to come in to see if there were any elders there. Mother [Sarah Bird Davidson Miller, pictured here] told them to wait ‘til she got her lights fixed; then they could come in. So she got them fixed so they couldn’t put them out. She opened the door and the leader came in. Then another one came in slinging his head. She stood at the door and snatched his false face off, and she knew him. He looked at her and said, “You hadn’t ought to have done that.” Then they jumped back out and said, “Kill her. Kill her.” They snapped the pistol in her face three times, but it didn’t fire. That was the old cap and ball or six shooter pistol. They didn’t want us to keep the Mormons around us. My mother never told me who that fellow was, nor I never had any idea until we came to Colorado. Then she told me, and he was the young fellow that me and my brother with others ran together with as good friends.

Sarah, her husband Philip, and their children eventually left Cedar Creek, Tennessee for Colorado in order to worship as they wished.