Halley's Comet

On May 18, 1910 Haley's Comet was visible by all of the citizens of James County and the surrounding areas. One Hundred and Three years later, there has only been one other time where this comet was visable.
(Don't miss the comments below by some of the townsmen in Michigan about the comet. They are just too funny to pass up.)



courtesy of Wikipedia.com
taken May 29, 1910 during its approach

 

 



Halley's Comet^] is the best-known of the short period coments and is visible from Earth every 75–76 years. Halley is the only short-period comet that is clearly visible to the naked eye from Earth, and thus the only naked-eye comet that might appear twice in a human lifetime. Other naked-eye comets may be brighter and more spectacular, but will appear only once in thousands of years.



The 1910 approach, which came into naked-eye view around 10 April through the 20th of April.  This was notable for the reason that it was the first approach of which photographs exist. Furthermore, the comet made a relatively close approach, making it a spectacular sight. Indeed, on 19 May, the Earth actually passed through the tail of the comet. It was claimed that, when Earth passed through the tail, the gasses from the comet "would impregnate the atmosphere and possibly snuff out all life on the planet."  This pronouncement led to panicked buying of gas masks and quack "anti-comet pills" and "anti-comet umbrellas" by the public. In reality, as other astronomers were quick to point out, the gas would be so diluted that the world would suffer no ill effects from the passage through the tail.
The comet was also fertile ground for hoaxes. One that reached major newspapers claimed that the Sacred Followers, a supposed Oklahoma religious group, attempted to sacrifice a virgin to ward off the impending disaster, but were stopped by the police.

American satirist and writer Mark Twain was born on 30 November 1835, exactly two weeks after the comet's prior orbit. In his autobiography, published in 1909, he said,

I came in with Halley's comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don't go out with Halley's comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: 'Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.'

Twain died on 21 April 1910, the day following the comet's subsequent orbit.

Halley's 1910 apparition is distinct from the Great Daylight Comet of 1910, which surpassed Halley in brilliance and was actually visible in broad daylight for a short period, approximately four months before Halley made its appearance.*

*the information provided above by wikipedia.com

Times-Picayune, New Orleans, LA; May 22, 1910; page 3
Genealogy Bank

Below is part of an article from The Kalamazoo Gazette, Tuesday, May 17, 1910; page 4

Kalamazoo People Prepared for Coming of Halley's Comet--Patiently Waiting for Arrival

Wednesday night at 11:20 o'clock the earth will dive into the tail of Halley's comet. It will remain there for two hours, emerging at 1:20 o'clock Thursday morning. What is going to happen to Kalamazoo people at that time? Here is what some of the comet students say.

J D Clement- Comet bosh: Way back as far as the ten hundreds, comets were fashionable and nobody's been snuffed out yet, guess there need be no worry, at least until Wednesday. Okay

H R Horton- That's right. It does happen on Wednesday. Hadn't thought much about it. Well if it does happen I will about as ready as ever.  Boring

A L Blumenburg- If I see that comet coming earthward at its advertised schedule of 31 miles a second, I am going to write to all my creditors and tell 'em  I will forward a check later written on asbestos paper.  A Banker perhaps?

E P Wilbur- Mr Halley's orphan will probably find me playing golf at the Country club when he or she (as the case may be) visits the earth.  My husband?

A K Edwards- I am going to put a lightning rod on the six-story store and conduct this heavenly tramp to the ground in safety.  Planning on going Back to the Future?

F P D'Arcy- When the comet strikes the earth I am planning to have it drop on one of our D'Arcy Bed Springs. It will then land easily and gracefully. Wouldn't that jar you? A salesman to the end.

Bill Orrell-They say that Halley's comet will strike the earth with a terrible thud- let her come-  my auto bumps have prepared me for anything in this line.  Yep, cars and roads were pretty bumpy in those days

Glen Hathaway- If  'tis true that there may be poisonous gases in the tail of the comet, I think I'll go to the lake with an oxygen tank for my own safety and pick up the large fish that will line the shore if this happens.  Is that cheating? What about the thrill of the hunt?

Mrs F C Russell- You can't imagine what a business we are planning on having as the result of the comet scare. Why, the women are all worrying so that they are causing many wrinkles and frowns. I have already ordered from Chicago two more operators to be here by Thursday morning ready to work at smoothing out these ladies' faces. What can I say...just too funny!

F B Crego- Have I made any preparations for Comet day? Yes, I have laid in a good stock of cigars. Hid them in a safe place , as I sure would dislike having to search around the town through an excited crowd, for a good smoke.  Is that my husband again?

C W Vanderbilt- I 'd like to find some means of bottling the gas from the comet- it would save coal bills in running my bake ovens. He was a restauranteur and a candy maker- can you tell?

W O Harlow- If it visits us, It'll find me singing "Buick" praises to the last. He must have REALLY looooved his vehicle

John Rose- A-H-W  them reports circulated in the papers by reporters about the comet make me tired- ought to hang you all for your nonsense. Bloomin' things been circling us hundreds of years and we're still all here and alive.  So true! No truer words have ever been said!

W P Major- Only hope that after the comet passes the swish of the tail will start some business excitement. Yet, I think it's going to strike alright but when we recover we'll be in a world of new ideas and can all take it easy and smoke our pipe.  Smoking seems to be the preferred past time


Well, now that you know all about Halley's comet in 1910,  relax, chill out and grab a smoke  some lemonaide, sit on your front porch rocker and be thankful that we are still here today.



May 2013 Meeting

The James County Historical Society will meet Sunday, May 5, at 2:30pm in the Ooltewah Methodist Church in the Sunday School addition for an unusual meeting.

J T Shadrick and others from the Whitwell Coal Miners Museum will present the program.

They established and operate a museum in the area.  We will hear about the history of the area and the local mining. They will also share the "how and why" they started their museum.

Everyone is invited and there is no charge.

At the meeting, two questions are going to be asked-- come prepared to answer:

Who is the oldest living person who was born in Old Jim County?

 

What are names and age of any living person who was born in Old Jim County?

6131 Relocation Way, Ooltewah, Tennessee

Believe It of Not

How many people can lay claim to being in the Ripley's Believe It of Not book?  No?  Not me, either. But Frank W. Field, of Ooltewah, had many accomplishments to his name, but one of those accomplishments was being noted in the Ripley's Believe It of Not in 1939.



Omaha World Herald(Omaha, NE); Tuesday, November 14, 1939; pg 14
from GenealogyBank.com
F.W.Field,
 Ooltewah, Tenn.
Legally Voted the Day Before
He Reached the Voting Age
 

This really piqued my curiosity. I decided that I was going to have to find out about this man. Who he was, where he lived, and how he came to vote early and do it legally? This would be quite an investigation. I was up for the challenge and looked forward to getting to know the man named F.W. Field.

All the information that I had to go on was that he was from Ooltewah, Tennessee. So I went looking for him in Ooltewah, but he was not there and had never been there, as far as I could determine. I eventually found him in Collegedale, just outside of Ooltewah. He was a part of the faculty for Southern Adventist College. Now I was really interested. Why would a man with these qualifications have done something like this and have it become nationally known in such a humorous fashion?

1928 Faculty Photo from the Southern Junior College Yearbook
Collegedale, Tennessee
Ancestry.com
His biography at the bottom of this picture states:
Mount Vernon Academy
Pacific Union College
Japan
Western Washington Conference

Frank was born in Wisconsin to William and Henrietta Field in November of 1863. What exact date, it does not say. According to the 1870 United States Federal Census, the family then made the move from Wisconsin to Clayton County, Iowa.

 I have not positively located the family in 1880, but I believe Frank is by himself, located in Sonoma County, California. He is 17 years old. This area is one of the first few educational locations for the Seventh Day Adventist. I believe that he moved here to go to school and study this newly sanctioned faith. His biography has him attending the Pacific Union College in Angwin, California. Prior to it being named Pacific Union College, it had been named Healdsburg College which was located in Healdsburg, CA. He actually attended college when it was still called Healdsburg College. It began operations in 1882, as the first SDA College in the west and the second in the United States. (Battle Creek College in Michigan was the first. It opened its doors in 1874.) All these areas in California are relatively close in proximity.

Healdsburg College (Pacific Union College) early years
wikipedia.com

A few short years later, in September of 1884, Franklin W. Field registered to vote in the state of California. Yes, you are right, if you do the math, Frank is not yet 21 years of age yet. (The voting age was 21, until 1969.) According to Ripley's, he then voted in the Presidential election on November 4, 1884. Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, New York Governor was running against a Republican, Senator from Maine, named James G. Blaine. It must have been very important for him to vote in this particular election. As we all know, Grover Cleveland won this election. Who did he vote for?

California, Voter Registers, 1866-1898 Record for Franklin W FieldCalifornia, Voter Registers, 1866-1898
Ancestry.com

Ellen G White, one of the "founding fathers" of the the Seventh Day Adventist, at first was against the principle of voting. She later came to understand that the people felt a duty to vote. This was a strong sentiment after the Civil War. So she relented and agreed that there was a need to be responsible citizens. Her recommendation was that they were always to vote "on the side of temperance and virtue." Now, history tells us that Grover Cleveland was dead-set against the temperance movement. I would guess that Frank felt a strong need to vote for James Blaine. To ensure his part in keeping Grover Cleveland from coming into the Presidential Office, Frank would vote earlier than legally allowed. He might have been urged by his church to do so.

Within 5 years, Frank was in Battle Creek, Michigan. Why you ask?  Battle Creek was very important to the Seventh Day Adventist. It actually was the location for their very first sponsored grammar school in 1872. The first college opened in Battle Creek two years later. 



Battle Creek College, Battle Creek, Michigan
http://www.willard.lib.mi.us/historical/bcphotos/sbccollege/h50_4933.htm

While here in Michigan, he met a girl named Effie Stewart. They were both students at the time. I am assuming that they went to the SDA school at Battle Creek,  On August 8th of 1889, he and Effie were married.

FamilySearch.com

At some point they moved to Pennsylvania, because their first child, a daughter named Ethel, was born there in 1894. By 1900, they are located in Morris Township, Knox County, Ohio. Their second child, Clarence, was born there in 1899, as well.  Frank is listed as a teacher. He must be teaching at the Mount Vernon Academy in Mount Vernon, located in Knox County. This school opened its doors in 1893 and became an important part of the SDA educational facilities around the world.

I have not been able to place him in the 1910 census. However, I show the family leaving Hong Kong on March 13, 1909  and arriving 18 days later into Honolulu, Hawaii. They then continued on to San Francisco and arrived on April 7, 1909. (The years before this must have been when he spent time in Japan.)  Their manifest has their destination as Washington DC. Where did they go from there, I do not know.

Ancestry.com

He was also involved in the Western Washington Conference of the SDA. This covers the Pacific Union College area. It serves as the church headquarters for leadership and spiritual training.

By 1920, they are living in Collegedale,Tennessee, teaching at the Southern Junior College there. It is now named Southern Adventist University. He had been on the faculty for a while and was well-respected. On January 18, 1923 the students gave him a surprise party and presented him with gifts as "a token of their appreciation of his long and patient ministry to them." How long had he and his family been in the area. I do not know, but he was their at the college before 1920 because his son Clarence graduated from there in 1918. He continues to stay at this location in James County( and then Hamilton County) until approximately 1935, when he and his wife retire to Sanitarium Blvd in Orlando, Florida.

Does he really retire or does he go down there to continue his work? The Florida Sanitarium in Orlando is a nursing college for the SDA.  He later dies there in 1944.

It appears to me that this gentleman was instrumental in laying the foundation of the Seventh Day Adventist movement. He was in California in the very beginning when Ellen G. White was promoting this new religion to the public. He was there for the beginnings of the important schools and universities. He traveled the world, on a mission to promote his faith. And he was here in Collegedale for the beginning of the Southern Adventist College and continued to stay involved in the promotion and education of his faith until his death.

I really came to respect this man of strong values and principles. His son, Clarence followed in his father's footsteps and was also on the faculty of the Southern Adventist College in Collegedale. He must have felt very strongly about voting against President Cleveland to ignore the voting laws.

Through this investigation, I have determined that F. W. Field was born November 3, 1863, 21 years minus 1 day from the 1884 Presidential election.

I have also determined that he must have had a sense of humor to allow himself to be portrayed in the Ripley's Believe It or Not book. The next question that I would like to know, is how did Ripley's find out about this indiscretion and were they given permission to print it?  Did he know that it would then be printed in newspapers around the country? Somehow I don't think so.

What a journey this man has led me on. If you know anything about this man and the life he led, please be sure to contact me. I am very interested in knowing what you may have to share.

Share and Fare

The other day, I talked to a group of ladies from the Home and Community Section of Family and Consumer Sciences about the history of James County.

 

I had not done this of any consequence before and I was quite intimidated. But, all turned out well. Everyone seemed very interested and learned some things that they may not have previously known.  Ultimately, that is my goal.: to have people walking out of the meeting more informed than when they entered.

 

There is so much to learn. The history of James County is not a widely publicized topic.  Most people have never heard of James County. And yet, the history of this area is very turbulent which makes it very interesting. Thanks to the James County Historical Society for allowing me the privilege of sharing the history of "Tennessee's Lost County."

 

Thanks also to the Home and Community Section of Family and Consumer Sciences for allowing me to speak and enjoy the lovely lunch afterwards. I also had the pleasure of  speaking with everyone about their experiences and answering their questions.



The Ooltewah Flour Mill

Thomas Carter, Sam Brown and others applied  for permission to buy and operate a flour mill in Ooltewah, Tennessee sometime before the summer of 1913. Sam Smith must have been one of the other men who invested in the mill or there was an error transcribing the name into the logbook. It made it into a manuscript called The Iron Age on November 13, 1913.

 

They obviously purchased their mill and operated it for a short time. The purchase must have been just for investment only, because by August 13, 1913, the mill was being offered for sale. There was an advertisement for the sale of the mill in the  Booster Edition for James County. It appears that this was an existing mill before they bought it. If anyone knows who owned and operated it before Smith and Carter, please contact me and let me know.

 

 

 

OOLTEWAH  FLOUR MILL

CARTER & SMITH, PROPRIETORS

 

This mill which was recently purchased by Carter & Smith is located one mile north of Ooltewah on Wolf Teaver Creek. By some repairs on dam this mill could be run 12 months by water power but at present is using steam power for lack of a sufficent dam to hold the water. Has a Chandler & Taylor 40 horse power engine and boiler in fair condition. Mill consists of four stands, built by Richmond City Mill Co. and they are in good condition, just been worked over and among other machinery has jarrator, reel, purifier, bran duster, in other words a complete 60 barrel mill. This is a fine mill stand and in a wheat growing section and not competitors nearer than Cleveland, Tenn, and Chattanooga, Tenn, a distance of 15 miles to each point. The present owners are doing well and the mill has not been on the market but owing to other business the proprietors would consider a proposition to sell same.

Address Lock Drawer C, Athens, Tenn.   for further information

 

They must have sold the mill soon after to  W.I. Newton.  He is listed as owning the mill in 1914 and again in 1923.

 

 

 W.I. Newton was born in 1876 in Bradley County, Tennessee near Cleveland, reared on a farm and was well educated through the public school system. In the fall of 1908, he came to Ooltewah and purchased a livery business from W. H. Howard. He also owned some mountain land which had a  year-round, flowing spring on it. The water was piped into the livery stable which was used for watering the animals and  cleaning the vehicles. This helped to create the first-rate establishment that he was known for.

 

"When we say that this place  is one of the best conducted and best equipped livery barns in a town of this size in the State we are only stating facts and it is run on strictly business principals at that. He has recently added a new Ford five passenger car to his livery service and is doing a splendid business with same."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Newton is a charter member of the James County Telephone Co., and lead the construction work of putting the system into service. 



The James County Times  Ooltewah Tennessee   front page     December 2, 1914  Wednesday

 



Southern Junior College Yearbook 1923 Collegedale, TN from Ancestry.com



Jim's Big Day

James County Times, Monday, March 20, 1916; page 1

Jim's Big Day

April 3rd

1 County Court!

2 Farmers' Institute!

 

Have you ever attended a Farmers' Institute? If you have you will be glad to hear that you are to have one in your own county. The Agricultural Experiment Station of Tennessee University have been invited by some of James County's farmers and citizens to hold an Institute in James County.

 

April 3rd and 4th

 

Here are some of the topics to be discussed! Improvements of Farm Soils, Farm Crops, Live Stock, etc, etc. Look for program in next issue.

 

 

 

 

If your family was a farmer during the time that James County existed, they probably attended this special day. It was free and it educated the farmers how to manage their crops for better productivity.

 

The University of Tennessee was kind enough to send me a book concerning the history of this project, A History of the Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station by Thomas J. Whatley. Thanks to them!

 

As early on, as the the beginning of the 1800's, our agricultural society and government leaders would debate the issues on how to obtain a safe and adequate supply of food for our growing population. The railroads allowed farmers to transport their goods out of their immediate area to other areas around the county. The Industrial Revolution was creating a larger and more diverse population that required various forms of agricultural specialties. These debates by the leaders took into consideration the farmers themselves did not have the resources or the education to conduct the necessary research to meet the growing goals. The decision from the government was to create higher education that specialized in the fields of agriculture and mechanical arts, in addition to, the more sought after fields of the ministry, medicine and law.

 

President Lincoln signed the Morrill Act in 1862 that created a system of land grant colleges and universities where agriculture and the mechanical arts were part of the education roster. The Hatch Act, followed in 1887, that established an agriculture experiment station in each state and territory, as the primary agricultural research center. The government appropriated $15,000 per state.

 

In 1869, after the Civil War, East Tennessee University at Knoxville, which later became the University of Tennessee, was our state's location for the research center. The College of Agriculture was created, land was purchased, and experiments were conducted. "The objective of the Station was to promote the agricultural interests by practical and scientific investigations. Analyses were to be conducted of seeds, fertilizers, soils, minerals, drinking waters, and botanical determinations of benefit to the public ..." Later, dairy and ranching were added to the curriculum.  Agricultural societies were organized on a county basis. Farmers began to send in samples that were then analyzed. The University would then correspond with the farmers of that county the results of their research.

 

These farmers' agricultural societies across the state provided an opportunity for the "Station" to promote themselves to the farming communities around the state in the form of county conventions. Speakers would follow the railroads and travel from one convention site to another to give their discussions on agricultural topics. These conventions were usually well recieved by the farmers.The farmers would use these conventions to display their farm products and learn the latest agricultural information.

 

In summary: These county farmers' institutes were used to promote the adoption of the latest approved methods of crop production, the improvement of live stock, the conservation of soil fertility and the improvement of agricultural conditions.

 

 





 

Our Founder- Polly Watkins Donnelly

A few weeks ago, we lost an individual that was instrumental to the creation of James County Historical Society. Polly Watkins Donnelly, a retired teacher and historian, died January 25, 2013 in Florence, South Carolina after an extended illness. She was a long-time resident of Cleveland, Tennessee.
She was the founder of our James County Historical Society and was significantly involved in our publication of JAMES COUNTY: A LOST COUNTY OF TENNESSEE in 1984. We would like to thank her for all of her hard work. Without her, we would not be here today.
As an active historian, she was a Regent of the Ocoee Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution. She was also involved with the First Families of Franklin, as well as, many other historical societies.
You can read all about the wonderful life that she led in her obituary from the Morning News in South Carolina. There will be a memorial for her in Cleveland with a date to be set later. Rest in Peace, Polly.