 |
| WWII Veteran USMC John Fox Wheatley, Jr. in 1944 |
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Happy Veterans Day
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Touching Tribute
This beautiful photo of Jane Grace at American Village was featured in the Birmingham News for Memorial Day.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Bette Davis
Love / John Wheatley in Montgomery
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Poppy & Gangy
June Taylor Locke (shown on the left in the picture of June, Anne, & Martha Ann) responded back to Linda with the priceless information shown below. You probably know that June lived in Shelbyville for most of her life. FYI: Poppy and Gangy moved to Warner Robbins, Georgia shortly after the death and funeral of their only son, Bobby, who was struck and killed by a drunk driver in Shelbyville as he made his way home from school on his bicycle on the day that they were originally scheduled to move to Georgia for Poppy's new job as general contractor for a large construction project there. When that project was completed, they moved to Hollywood, Florida to do other construction work for a business associate of Poppy's. While there, they opened up A1A Bait and Tackle Shop on the intracoastal waterway and operated a successful business there for many years. All of us visited them there from time to time and I spent part of my summer vacation with them a couple of times as a teenager. Poppy and Gangy eventually sold their business and returned to Shelbyville, where they bought three mobile homes....living in one and renting out the other two for income. They later purchased a duplex house in Shelbyville, where they lived together until Poppy passed away. Poppy was pretty active with "swap shop" activity and did all sorts of "horse trading" throughout his life to make extra income. He could fix just about anything and was always fixing up used and broken items to re-sell for a profit. After Poppy had a heart attack and passed away, Gangy lived alone in the duplex for years, but eventually Gangy moved in with June and lived there until health issues required professional care in a senior housing facility.
Practically all of the family events in Shelbyville were enjoyed at June's house for many years. June now lives in Florida. Her message below speaks for itself.
Love / John Wheatley in Montgomery
From June:
The picture of Mother, Martha Ann, and I was made at my house when we had the surprise birthday party for Gangy--her 75th, I think. And we really surprised her! Course, the one of Poppy and Gangy was their 50th wedding anniversary. Daddy told me he would pay for the cake as his contribution--when I told him it was $75.00, he said: "Next time we will have cookies!"
Love, June
Santa
Love / John Wheatley in Montgomery
Cousins
Love / John Wheatley in Montgomery
Society Editor
Love / John Wheatley
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Overall children
The attached photographs are a couple of real gems. The first is Bobby Overall, the second features from left to right: June, Anne (Gangy), and Martha Ann (MyMy) Overall when the girls were still living at home and going to school.
Linda has been sorting and scanning pictures and doing a great job of it.
Love / John Wheatley in Montgomery
Christmas, 1970: John, Linda & Johnny
Love / John Wheatley
Friday, May 28, 2010
Poppy & Gangy
Here is a lovely photo Linda found and scanned to share with the family. Pictured at left are "Poppy & Gangy" or Mr. & Mrs. Jesse Robert Overall, Jr., MyMy's parents.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Wheatley family photo
We had a nice visit with the family in Odenville yesterday and wanted to share this great family photo!L-R are Mary, Shannon, Audra, Emory, Angela and (front row) proud parents David and Debbie Wheatley!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Overall Hotel / Walking Horse Hotel of Wartrace TN
Another Google search for Overall Hotel in Wartrace, TN yielded this website which shows excerpts on page 301 and 302 from a book entitled "Duck River Tour". The interesting part of this reading is the brief history of Wartrace, TN and of the Overall Hotel built and run by Jesse Robert and Nora Overall and their family, which included my grandfather, Jesse Robert Overall, Jr. ("Poppy"). This hotel was later purchased by Richard Carothers, who changed the name to the Walking Horse Hotel during the time when local horse breeders started having "walking horse shows" in Wartrace and later in nearby Shelbyville, where the "world champion" walking horse celebration has been held for many years. The actual excerpt from the book reads as follows:
Andrew Jackson supposedly gave the town (Wartrace) it's unusual name. An old Indian war trail came through here. Jackson, who owned land nearby, carved these words into a beech tree by the creek: "This is Wartrail Creek". By the time the railroad was build, the name of the creek had been corrupted to Wartrace, and the railroad gave that name to its depot in 1851.
The most prominent building along the railroad tracks is the Walking Horse Hotel, built in 1917. Jesse Robert Overall and his wife, Nora, operated a hotel called the Overall House at Smyrna in adjoining Rutherford County. The Overalls heard reports from salesmen and other travelers that Wartrace had no hotel, a significant omission in those days, so they built Hotel Overall in 1917. Floyd and Olive Carothers bought the place around 1930 and changed the name to Floyd's Walking Horse Hotel. It is recognized as the "birthplace of the Walking Horse".
If you explore this matter further on the internet, you'll learn that the hotel has since had several owners and is a historic site that is still very prominent in the town of Wartrace. The current owner, Joe Peters, is a very successful musician who did a lot of improvements around 1997 and now features live music, excellent food, and 5 hotel rooms for those who wish to stay overnight. The owner and his own band play there, along with a wide variety of other talented groups. Check them out on the internet at http://www.walkinghorsehotel.com/
In Years past, I have enjoyed visits and overnight stays at this historic hotel with my parents, my grandmother, and other family members. Besides the obvious sentimental family history that we have with the original owners, we also enjoyed the walking horse decorations and pictures throughout the building, the "WHOA" stop sign that was mounted on the road in front, and the peaceful visit to historic Wartrace, TN. It's only a short drive from Shelbyville, TN, so please take the opportunity to visit if you're "in the neighborhood".
John Fox Wheatley III / March 26, 2010
Andrew Jackson supposedly gave the town (Wartrace) it's unusual name. An old Indian war trail came through here. Jackson, who owned land nearby, carved these words into a beech tree by the creek: "This is Wartrail Creek". By the time the railroad was build, the name of the creek had been corrupted to Wartrace, and the railroad gave that name to its depot in 1851.
The most prominent building along the railroad tracks is the Walking Horse Hotel, built in 1917. Jesse Robert Overall and his wife, Nora, operated a hotel called the Overall House at Smyrna in adjoining Rutherford County. The Overalls heard reports from salesmen and other travelers that Wartrace had no hotel, a significant omission in those days, so they built Hotel Overall in 1917. Floyd and Olive Carothers bought the place around 1930 and changed the name to Floyd's Walking Horse Hotel. It is recognized as the "birthplace of the Walking Horse".
If you explore this matter further on the internet, you'll learn that the hotel has since had several owners and is a historic site that is still very prominent in the town of Wartrace. The current owner, Joe Peters, is a very successful musician who did a lot of improvements around 1997 and now features live music, excellent food, and 5 hotel rooms for those who wish to stay overnight. The owner and his own band play there, along with a wide variety of other talented groups. Check them out on the internet at http://www.walkinghorsehotel.com/
In Years past, I have enjoyed visits and overnight stays at this historic hotel with my parents, my grandmother, and other family members. Besides the obvious sentimental family history that we have with the original owners, we also enjoyed the walking horse decorations and pictures throughout the building, the "WHOA" stop sign that was mounted on the road in front, and the peaceful visit to historic Wartrace, TN. It's only a short drive from Shelbyville, TN, so please take the opportunity to visit if you're "in the neighborhood".
John Fox Wheatley III / March 26, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Brinkley Family Tree / Wheatley Family History
Brinkley Family Tree / Wheatley Family History
Mimi and Dandy (Mr. & Mrs. John Fox Wheatley, Sr.) lived in Shelbyville, TN, and had two children: John Fox Wheatley Jr. (PyPy) and Martha Jane Wheatley. Martha Jane married George Lewis Brinkley, Jr. of nearby Murfreesboro, TN, whose family was in the grocery business and "Lewis" was a very talented musician who could play a variety of instrument expertly and led his own very popular orchestra touring throughout Tennessee in his high school and college years. When the Brinkleys closed their grocery store in Murfreesboro and Wheatley Lumber Co. (owned by "Mimi and Dandy") closed in Shelbyville around 1955, my great uncle David Marks invited "PyPy", "Dandy", and Uncle Lewis to bring their families to Birmingham and work for him at Marks-Fitzgerald Furniture Co., which he owned. When the company expanded to open a new store in Huntsville about a year later, the same three families moved to Huntsville where "PyPy" was assistant mgr., Uncle Lewis was credit mgr., and "Dandy" was a salesman. All three families initially lived in neighboring units of the same apartment complex in Huntsville and later moved into houses in the same neighborhood. It was like a big happy family reunion every day as we all attended the same church, schools, and events together for many years. "PyPy" was later promoted to be the store manager of the new 5 Points West store in Birmingham about 1964, so our immediate family moved to Birmingham. Mimi and Dandy lived the rest of their lives in Huntsville and the Brinkleys still live in Huntsville. The Brinkleys and Wheatleys have always been very close as family members and we love them dearly, although we now live many miles apart. For more information about the Brinkley family tree and a host of pictures that are included in their website, just get on the internet and go to:
http://www.connieq.com/main-brinkley.htm
then scroll down about 2/3 of the document to the orange colored box featuring George Lewis Brinley, Jr. and Martha Jane Wheatley. Click on either of their names and you can easily explore and enjoy their family tree and pictures that include a very interesting surprise. If you scroll further up to the yellow box featuring the names of Minnie Brinkley and her husband, John Overall (click on their names to see their pictures).
This writing is an effort to share family information by John Fox Wheatley III on March 26, 2010
Mimi and Dandy (Mr. & Mrs. John Fox Wheatley, Sr.) lived in Shelbyville, TN, and had two children: John Fox Wheatley Jr. (PyPy) and Martha Jane Wheatley. Martha Jane married George Lewis Brinkley, Jr. of nearby Murfreesboro, TN, whose family was in the grocery business and "Lewis" was a very talented musician who could play a variety of instrument expertly and led his own very popular orchestra touring throughout Tennessee in his high school and college years. When the Brinkleys closed their grocery store in Murfreesboro and Wheatley Lumber Co. (owned by "Mimi and Dandy") closed in Shelbyville around 1955, my great uncle David Marks invited "PyPy", "Dandy", and Uncle Lewis to bring their families to Birmingham and work for him at Marks-Fitzgerald Furniture Co., which he owned. When the company expanded to open a new store in Huntsville about a year later, the same three families moved to Huntsville where "PyPy" was assistant mgr., Uncle Lewis was credit mgr., and "Dandy" was a salesman. All three families initially lived in neighboring units of the same apartment complex in Huntsville and later moved into houses in the same neighborhood. It was like a big happy family reunion every day as we all attended the same church, schools, and events together for many years. "PyPy" was later promoted to be the store manager of the new 5 Points West store in Birmingham about 1964, so our immediate family moved to Birmingham. Mimi and Dandy lived the rest of their lives in Huntsville and the Brinkleys still live in Huntsville. The Brinkleys and Wheatleys have always been very close as family members and we love them dearly, although we now live many miles apart. For more information about the Brinkley family tree and a host of pictures that are included in their website, just get on the internet and go to:
http://www.connieq.com/main-brinkley.htm
then scroll down about 2/3 of the document to the orange colored box featuring George Lewis Brinley, Jr. and Martha Jane Wheatley. Click on either of their names and you can easily explore and enjoy their family tree and pictures that include a very interesting surprise. If you scroll further up to the yellow box featuring the names of Minnie Brinkley and her husband, John Overall (click on their names to see their pictures).
This writing is an effort to share family information by John Fox Wheatley III on March 26, 2010
Origin of 'Fox' as a family name
Further internet searching for "John Fox Wheatley" through Google has turned up a gem of information about the "Fox" name if you check out the website of
http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:dran1zGwtZ0J:www.tngenweb.org/bedford/Obituaries/Obituary_Index_1944.htm+John+Fox+Wheatley&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
and scroll down through the various obituary information to the listing for John Calvin Fox in 1944 and read the comments in the far right box to learn that John Fox Wheatley, Sr. (my grandfather "Dandy") of Shelbyville was named after his uncle John Calvin Fox. Although the Fox name shows up often in our Wheatley family tree, it is now clear that Dandy (John Fox Wheatley, Sr.), PyPy (John Fox Wheatley, Jr.), and I (John Fox Wheatley III) derived our middle name of Fox originally from John Calvin Fox of Franklin, TN, who was the son of Pervines Fox and Elizabeth Hayes Fox. Now my newest grandson, Louis Fox Wheatley is named Fox after me, so the tradition continues.
Love,
John Fox Wheatley III
http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:dran1zGwtZ0J:www.tngenweb.org/bedford/Obituaries/Obituary_Index_1944.htm+John+Fox+Wheatley&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
and scroll down through the various obituary information to the listing for John Calvin Fox in 1944 and read the comments in the far right box to learn that John Fox Wheatley, Sr. (my grandfather "Dandy") of Shelbyville was named after his uncle John Calvin Fox. Although the Fox name shows up often in our Wheatley family tree, it is now clear that Dandy (John Fox Wheatley, Sr.), PyPy (John Fox Wheatley, Jr.), and I (John Fox Wheatley III) derived our middle name of Fox originally from John Calvin Fox of Franklin, TN, who was the son of Pervines Fox and Elizabeth Hayes Fox. Now my newest grandson, Louis Fox Wheatley is named Fox after me, so the tradition continues.
Love,
John Fox Wheatley III
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Overall Family History
When I initiated an internet search for "Jesse Robert Overall" through Yahoo recently, I came across an outstanding family tree that seems to include many of our direct Overall ancestors. In the interest of sharing this information with our family members, I am forwarding the information and asking you to share it with others by forwarding it to them by e-mail or other means. I have researched this website to determine as best I can our "direct" Overall ancestors on Poppy's (Jesse Robert Overall) side of the Overall family. Gangy's (Anne Overall) side would be the Parsons family and it is not included in this writing. I would encourage interested family members to explore this information further by going to:
http://genealogy.jimharrisononline.com/family/index/ind0231.html
then look at the top left of the page and click on Jesse Robert Overall, Sr., which will open up a new window and you'll see a listing that are his 9 children, including #8 Jesse Robert Overall, Jr. (we called him "Poppy" as our grandfather) and #9 Butler Kelly Overall (Uncle Butler). You can then click on any one of those 9 kids (or any other names) and go to other windows that will give further detail on each one. If you will notice and click on the "father" or "mother" listed further below each major name on the left....you can click on each one and progressively follow the family tree back in time. You can also check out the family tree diagrams and click on selected names featured to explore in great detail. There is also a little box in the top left area of the window labelled "menu" that moves along with you as you scroll up and down....click on it and a drop-down menu will give you access to a variety of documents, pictures, and other resources.
Based upon what I'm reading from this very excellent, but very complex document with sometimes conflicting data from various sources, the direct line Overall ancestors from Jesse Robert and Anne Overall, Jr. (we called them Poppy and Gangy as our grandparents) going backwards in time would read as I've typed them below:
William Overall, Sr. born between 1650 & 1660 in England & died Jan. 17, 1725/26 in King George Co., VA
married between 1675 and 1680 in VA to Jane Baldridge (had 1 child) born about 1652 in VA & died April 1718 in Westmorland Co., VA
William Overall, Jr. born about 1680 in VA & died Jan. 17, 1725/26 in King George Co., VA
married about 1700 to Mary Jones (had 7 children) born ? in Westmoreland Co., VA & died after 1743
John Overall, Sr. born about 1701 & died 1742 or 1743 at Prince William Co., VA
married Oct. 8, 1722 to Mary Elliot (states her name was Mary ELLIS) (had 5 children) born about 1703 & died July 24, 1738
William Overall born 1727 Prince William Co., VA & died 1783 Nashville, Davidson Co., TN
married 1753 in Frederick Co., VA to Maria Christena Froman (Forman?) (had 7 children) born Mar. 1, 1736
Nathaniel Overall born 1758 Frederick Co., VA & died 1835 Rutherford Co., TN (Came to TN, settling first at Ft. Nashborough...was Tennessee Patriot; signed Cumberland Compact of Government at Nashborough on May 1, 1780)
married Feb. 26, 1783 in Davidson Co., TN to Anne Thomas (had 8 children), a Quaker born 1767 in Shenandoah Co., VA & died 1844 in Rutherford Co., TN
Robert Overall born June 11, 1785 & died Oct. 8, 1862 (came to Rutherford County, TN about 1810...was in War of 1812...Settled one mile south of Overall's Campground)
married Dec. 24, 1816 to Mary Espey (had 13 children) born 1787 & died Dec. 24, 1838.
James Garnett Overall born May 23, 1814 & died May 2, 1874
married Oct. 26 1837 to Rachel Webb Davis (10 children) born July 13, 1819 & died Aug. 26, 1874
William Jefferson Overall born August 2, 1838 in Rutherford Co., TN & died April 3, 1908 in Rutherford Co. in Rutherford Co., TN / buried Overall Cemetery
married Feb. 28, 1860 in Gibson Co., TN to Clementine Hutchison (had 12 children) born July 8, 1842, Rutherford Co., TN & died May 23, 1908 in Rutherford Co., TN / buried Overall Cemetery
Jesse Robert Overall, Sr. born March 22, 1868 & died Oct. 18, 1945
married Sept. 18, 1885 to Mora Jane Compton (had 9 children) born Sept. 28, 1867 & died Jan. 4, 1938
Jesse Robert Overall, Jr. ("Poppy")
married to Anne Parsons ("Gangy") (had 3 children: Martha Ann, June, and Bobby)
Most of our present family members are familiar with Poppy and Gangy, June's family, and the Wheatleys, but the above information should be very helpful to all of us in learning more about our direct ancestors in the Overall family. Due to time and space limitations, the many children and extended families of each generation are not included in this writing, but I would encourage everyone to also use the internet to further explore each family listed above by following the instructions written at the top of this writing, going to the family tree website, and simply clicking on the wife and/or children's names in each generation to access a wealth of information.
This writing is a labor of love by John Fox Wheatley III in Montgomery, AL on March 24, 2010
http://genealogy.jimharrisononline.com/family/index/ind0231.html
then look at the top left of the page and click on Jesse Robert Overall, Sr., which will open up a new window and you'll see a listing that are his 9 children, including #8 Jesse Robert Overall, Jr. (we called him "Poppy" as our grandfather) and #9 Butler Kelly Overall (Uncle Butler). You can then click on any one of those 9 kids (or any other names) and go to other windows that will give further detail on each one. If you will notice and click on the "father" or "mother" listed further below each major name on the left....you can click on each one and progressively follow the family tree back in time. You can also check out the family tree diagrams and click on selected names featured to explore in great detail. There is also a little box in the top left area of the window labelled "menu" that moves along with you as you scroll up and down....click on it and a drop-down menu will give you access to a variety of documents, pictures, and other resources.
Based upon what I'm reading from this very excellent, but very complex document with sometimes conflicting data from various sources, the direct line Overall ancestors from Jesse Robert and Anne Overall, Jr. (we called them Poppy and Gangy as our grandparents) going backwards in time would read as I've typed them below:
William Overall, Sr. born between 1650 & 1660 in England & died Jan. 17, 1725/26 in King George Co., VA
married between 1675 and 1680 in VA to Jane Baldridge (had 1 child) born about 1652 in VA & died April 1718 in Westmorland Co., VA
William Overall, Jr. born about 1680 in VA & died Jan. 17, 1725/26 in King George Co., VA
married about 1700 to Mary Jones (had 7 children) born ? in Westmoreland Co., VA & died after 1743
John Overall, Sr. born about 1701 & died 1742 or 1743 at Prince William Co., VA
married Oct. 8, 1722 to Mary Elliot (states her name was Mary ELLIS) (had 5 children) born about 1703 & died July 24, 1738
William Overall born 1727 Prince William Co., VA & died 1783 Nashville, Davidson Co., TN
married 1753 in Frederick Co., VA to Maria Christena Froman (Forman?) (had 7 children) born Mar. 1, 1736
Nathaniel Overall born 1758 Frederick Co., VA & died 1835 Rutherford Co., TN (Came to TN, settling first at Ft. Nashborough...was Tennessee Patriot; signed Cumberland Compact of Government at Nashborough on May 1, 1780)
married Feb. 26, 1783 in Davidson Co., TN to Anne Thomas (had 8 children), a Quaker born 1767 in Shenandoah Co., VA & died 1844 in Rutherford Co., TN
Robert Overall born June 11, 1785 & died Oct. 8, 1862 (came to Rutherford County, TN about 1810...was in War of 1812...Settled one mile south of Overall's Campground)
married Dec. 24, 1816 to Mary Espey (had 13 children) born 1787 & died Dec. 24, 1838.
James Garnett Overall born May 23, 1814 & died May 2, 1874
married Oct. 26 1837 to Rachel Webb Davis (10 children) born July 13, 1819 & died Aug. 26, 1874
William Jefferson Overall born August 2, 1838 in Rutherford Co., TN & died April 3, 1908 in Rutherford Co. in Rutherford Co., TN / buried Overall Cemetery
married Feb. 28, 1860 in Gibson Co., TN to Clementine Hutchison (had 12 children) born July 8, 1842, Rutherford Co., TN & died May 23, 1908 in Rutherford Co., TN / buried Overall Cemetery
Jesse Robert Overall, Sr. born March 22, 1868 & died Oct. 18, 1945
married Sept. 18, 1885 to Mora Jane Compton (had 9 children) born Sept. 28, 1867 & died Jan. 4, 1938
Jesse Robert Overall, Jr. ("Poppy")
married to Anne Parsons ("Gangy") (had 3 children: Martha Ann, June, and Bobby)
Most of our present family members are familiar with Poppy and Gangy, June's family, and the Wheatleys, but the above information should be very helpful to all of us in learning more about our direct ancestors in the Overall family. Due to time and space limitations, the many children and extended families of each generation are not included in this writing, but I would encourage everyone to also use the internet to further explore each family listed above by following the instructions written at the top of this writing, going to the family tree website, and simply clicking on the wife and/or children's names in each generation to access a wealth of information.
This writing is a labor of love by John Fox Wheatley III in Montgomery, AL on March 24, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Sunday best
This one was so good we had to share it right away - John Fox Wheatley, Jr. and Martha Ann Overall Wheatley, aka PyPy and MyMy, pictured in March 1964 in Huntsville, AL - probably dressed for church.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Family Album
 |
| family tree |
John has kindly shared some wonderful old family photos (some older than others!) for the blog. We've added them to an online album so everyone can see and download, order prints, etc. A slideshow is running int he right margin of the blog of all the photos so far. Please click the album above to see all the photos and add any you'd like to the mix.
A big thanks to John for scanning all of these in - it's wonderful to see them!
Enjoy!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
An e-mail from MyMy - submitted by John
While reading through some older e-mails on MyMy's old computer, I ran across one that you may wish to include as an entry on the blog. I have copied and pasted her writing from April of 2005 about the relationship between her (Mrs. John Fox Wheatley, Jr.) and her husband (John Fox Wheatley, Jr.) during their engagement period, which involved her agreement to "wait for him" as he went of to war....serving in the U.S. Marines as a machine gunner at Okinawa and other assignments. He was a year and a half older than her, so he was going off to war while she was still a senior in high school, followed by the year she attended Ward-Belmont College in Nashville, TN. He served about two years in the Marines and came home to Shelbyville, TN, where they resumed their engagement and were married the same year. Here is what she wrote.....note that I inserted notes in parentheses to hopefully explain some of her statements, and I edited out some parts of her message that were not "family history"-related.I (Martha Ann Overall Wheatley....married John Fox Wheatley, Jr.) think of my grandmother Parsons (mother of Anne Parsons Overall who was married to Jesse Robert Overall...lived in Shelbyville, TN, and ran a small grocery store, plus apparently rented out property nearby...was Martha Ann Overall Wheatley's grandmother) who sat at home and made quilts, and collected her rent money, and my other grandmother (Overall) at the hotel (Walking Horse Hotel....originally build by Overall family as the Overall Hotel in Wartrace, TN...now a national historic site a short drive from Shelbyville, TN), who died in her third bout with pneumonia because she worked so hard running the Overall Hotel, even though her brother, Dr.J.Roy Compton of St. Louis, Mo. came and cared for her when I was in the fifth grade; and I didn't realize how life is different when you tire so easily on top of the tiredness you already have. But you don't give in to it ..... you just keep going you hope, forward.
We (John & Martha Ann Wheatley) got to go to church and Sunday school and put things in order this past weekend, so we were invigorated again, and after I went to class and Johnny went to work and last night we got a chance to watch the wonderful videos (original U.S. Marine films on videotape from WWII of Okinawa where John Fox Wheatley, Jr. served as Marine machine gunner on front lines), John had secured and watch them. It wasn't sad for Johnny, he was amazed to finally put all of Okinawa together, and what I had only imagined was clearer and more accurate, then we both became thankful for what God had brought us through, when we didn't know if we would ever even see each other again, or get a chance to marry. To think we have a complete marvelous family, like we would have wished for, was a miracle !
You know the night of our third date, he asked me how many children I wanted someday, and didn't say much else in the evening, so I thought he'd never ask me for a date again, but when he went up to the front door to see me in on the porch , he said will you wait for me until I get home from the service, and I told him I wanted as many as I could afford, he decided to ask me if I would wear an engagement ring. I wanted to put it on after I graduated from high school, and so that's what we did. When we were together in North Carolina at Parris Island area (while he was in Marine training camp), as his parents and Martha Jane and I rode by car up there, his mother helped pick out a ring in Asheville at a jewelry store, and they kept it in a lock box until the next June. Then I didn't date anymore after I put the ring on, til it was him, home again that I dated., He arrived in Shelbyville in August of 1946 (returning from WWII), to find Martha Jane (his sister) seriously ill in Nashville Vanderbilt hospital from constant bleeding from a miscarriage, and some relatives let us ride as they carried the two of us to Nashville and we let Johnny out to see M. J.(his sister, Martha Jane Wheatley who married George Lewis Brinkley of Murfreesboro, TN), because only the immediate family could go in, and I had to wait til later for a real date.
More in a little bit.
Love Mother Wheatley (Martha Ann Overall Wheatley)
>> The above entries are submitted February 22, 2010 by John Fox Wheatley III
The above is my mother's account of her engagement to her husband during the last two years of World War II, which was a time of great struggle and sacrifice for our country and it's citizens. Daddy fought in the bloodiest battles of the war and was very fortunate to survive and return home to marry my mother and start the wonderful family that we now know and love. It is an appropriate honor that they are now buried together with full military honors at Alabama National Cemetery in Montevallo, AL, which was fulfillment of their expressed wishes. Theirs was and continues to be a love story of epic proportions that we all can be proud of.
Remembrances by John
E-mail from John Wheatley in Montgomery, sent February 20, 2010 10:32:13 PM EST:One brief little tidbit of information that I could share tonight is that I ran across a little spiral notebook that belonged to Mimi (Mrs. John Fox Wheatley, Sr.) when she attended Ward-Belmont College in Nashville, TN. She had written her name as Jane Allen Marks across the top of the page, so please adjust your records to reflect that as her accurate maiden name. It's interesting that MyMy (Mrs. John Fox Wheatley, Jr.) also attended Ward Belmont College about 20 years later while she was "waiting" for PyPy (John Fox Wheatley, Jr.) to return home as her fiance from serving as a U.S. Marine during World War II on the front lines in Okinawa (you can check out the Sixth Marine Division at their website - they were historically famous for their bravery in WWII).When he returned home from the war, they were married the same year and I was born the next year as the first of their 5 children. PyPy worked at Wheatley Lumber Company for his parents until they closed the lumber company and retired, at which time he accepted the offer from Uncle David Marks to come to work for Marks Fitzgerald Furniture in Birmingham. MyMy worked at the Shelbyville Times-Gazette newspaper and was the society editor there. MyMy and PyPy had both been raised and educated in the small town of Shelbyville and they were very popular in a town where just about everyone knew each other.
Thanks...
John Wheatley in Montgomery
Pictured above: Jane Allen Marks Wheatley and her son, John Fox Wheatley, Jr. (PyPy) in 1944 after Marine training to fight in WWII.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Poppy and Gangy
Thanks for your kind comments and thoughts. I know my e-mail was lengthy, but there's not a brief way to give an accurate family tree history dating back to the Revolutionary War.
As previously stated, there is probably a ton of information from MyMy's side of the family (Overall) and it will be important to include that data in the overall project to the extent that is possible. I'm just not well versed on the Overall family tree and I'm not aware of an Overall family history document that would help us in that effort, although there may be helpful materials that I'll run across while going through the many boxes of photographs and historical documents that I brought home from MyMy and PyPy's storage shed in recent months. The sheer volume of it is overwhelming, so it will just have to be "work in progress" for now.
There were some really old school records and personal photographs that belonged to Gangy that I brought home, and her maiden name was Parsons. Poppy and Gangy only had 3 children.....Martha Ann (MyMy)......June.....and Bobby, who was tragically killed just before his 11th birthday when a drunk man's car struck him as he crossed a stop sign intersection in Shelbyville. Poppy and Gangy were already in the process of moving from Shelbyville to Warner Robin, Georgia when they lost Bobby, and proceeded with those plans, which involved Poppy being the head man at a major construction project there for years. They later moved to Hollywood, Florida, where Poppy pursued further construction opportunities with the same boss and later retired from construction to operate A1A Bait and Tackle for many years on the intracoastal waterway in Hollywood, which was only 2 short blocks from the beach and straight across the canal from the Hollywood Yacht Basin and Marina. They lived there for many years, mostly in mobile home locations that were very nice.
When they decided to retire and return to Shelbyville, Poppy continued doing various "swap shop" types of repairs and "horse-trading" and they lived there for many years until he passed away due to a heart attack. Poppy had a very good sense of humor and was often the "life of the party" at gatherings. He had a very strong work ethic and was an expert carpenter in his own right, having achieved a strong reputation for building and repairing homes and businesses "right" throughout his lengthy construction career. Poppy also was highly skilled at training animals and was a local star for having trained performing trick dogs for parties, along with his success in training chickens, pigs, goats, and a variety of other animals before they moved away from Shelbyville.
Gangy was a very devoted and supportive wife to Poppy throughout their long marriage and worked tirelessly at a fast pace to handle her homemaker duties while also helping Poppy constantly in his endeavors as his "partner". She even helped with heavy labor type duties that many men would back up from, but she was a hard worker. She even helped him dig out a basement under one of their mobile homes and helped carry concrete blocks back and forth to line the basement. She was an extaordinary cook and mother, with tremendous talents in all sorts of wifely and motherly skills. She always had a positive attitude and an amazing work ethic that paved the way for her to succeed in all endeavors. Gangy was very active in visiting people in nursing homes during her later years. She was also very active in senior citizen activities in Shelbyville. She especially loved spending time with her grandchildren and would visit Birmingham and Montgomery whenever possible. When she and I went fishing during many of those visits, she would always catch the first, the biggest, and the most fish. She was a devoted Chrisitan and faithful member of the Church of Christ. She was a very special person whom we all loved dearly.
Gangy's parents also lived in Shelbyville and I can recall visiting her mother (we called her Mammy), but her last name was Parsons. She and her husband lived in a house next door to a small neighborhood grocery store that they operated for many years, but Mammy's husband had already passed away before I had the pleasure of knowing him. Poppy and Gangy eventually took over the running of the store and lived in the adjacent house and that's where they were living when Bobby was killed in the traffic accident. Poppy also made regular runs to rural areas with his "rolling store" that was a converted school bus, so he literally brought their store to people who otherwise would never shop at their store in Shelbyville. June could tell you a lot more about the Overalls and the Parsons for sure, so I would encourage you to write or call her at your earliest convenience.
When I corresponded with June in recent months, she said she was working on an Overall family history that she would share with us upon completion, so maybe that will be the answer for all of us.
I hope that all of this is helpful to you.
Love,
John Wheatley in Montgomery
As previously stated, there is probably a ton of information from MyMy's side of the family (Overall) and it will be important to include that data in the overall project to the extent that is possible. I'm just not well versed on the Overall family tree and I'm not aware of an Overall family history document that would help us in that effort, although there may be helpful materials that I'll run across while going through the many boxes of photographs and historical documents that I brought home from MyMy and PyPy's storage shed in recent months. The sheer volume of it is overwhelming, so it will just have to be "work in progress" for now.
There were some really old school records and personal photographs that belonged to Gangy that I brought home, and her maiden name was Parsons. Poppy and Gangy only had 3 children.....Martha Ann (MyMy)......June.....and Bobby, who was tragically killed just before his 11th birthday when a drunk man's car struck him as he crossed a stop sign intersection in Shelbyville. Poppy and Gangy were already in the process of moving from Shelbyville to Warner Robin, Georgia when they lost Bobby, and proceeded with those plans, which involved Poppy being the head man at a major construction project there for years. They later moved to Hollywood, Florida, where Poppy pursued further construction opportunities with the same boss and later retired from construction to operate A1A Bait and Tackle for many years on the intracoastal waterway in Hollywood, which was only 2 short blocks from the beach and straight across the canal from the Hollywood Yacht Basin and Marina. They lived there for many years, mostly in mobile home locations that were very nice.
When they decided to retire and return to Shelbyville, Poppy continued doing various "swap shop" types of repairs and "horse-trading" and they lived there for many years until he passed away due to a heart attack. Poppy had a very good sense of humor and was often the "life of the party" at gatherings. He had a very strong work ethic and was an expert carpenter in his own right, having achieved a strong reputation for building and repairing homes and businesses "right" throughout his lengthy construction career. Poppy also was highly skilled at training animals and was a local star for having trained performing trick dogs for parties, along with his success in training chickens, pigs, goats, and a variety of other animals before they moved away from Shelbyville.
Gangy was a very devoted and supportive wife to Poppy throughout their long marriage and worked tirelessly at a fast pace to handle her homemaker duties while also helping Poppy constantly in his endeavors as his "partner". She even helped with heavy labor type duties that many men would back up from, but she was a hard worker. She even helped him dig out a basement under one of their mobile homes and helped carry concrete blocks back and forth to line the basement. She was an extaordinary cook and mother, with tremendous talents in all sorts of wifely and motherly skills. She always had a positive attitude and an amazing work ethic that paved the way for her to succeed in all endeavors. Gangy was very active in visiting people in nursing homes during her later years. She was also very active in senior citizen activities in Shelbyville. She especially loved spending time with her grandchildren and would visit Birmingham and Montgomery whenever possible. When she and I went fishing during many of those visits, she would always catch the first, the biggest, and the most fish. She was a devoted Chrisitan and faithful member of the Church of Christ. She was a very special person whom we all loved dearly.
Gangy's parents also lived in Shelbyville and I can recall visiting her mother (we called her Mammy), but her last name was Parsons. She and her husband lived in a house next door to a small neighborhood grocery store that they operated for many years, but Mammy's husband had already passed away before I had the pleasure of knowing him. Poppy and Gangy eventually took over the running of the store and lived in the adjacent house and that's where they were living when Bobby was killed in the traffic accident. Poppy also made regular runs to rural areas with his "rolling store" that was a converted school bus, so he literally brought their store to people who otherwise would never shop at their store in Shelbyville. June could tell you a lot more about the Overalls and the Parsons for sure, so I would encourage you to write or call her at your earliest convenience.
When I corresponded with June in recent months, she said she was working on an Overall family history that she would share with us upon completion, so maybe that will be the answer for all of us.
I hope that all of this is helpful to you.
Love,
John Wheatley in Montgomery
Update from Shannon and Mary
We've been working on tracing the Wheatley family tree on ancestry.com and are happy to see that most of what we've found has now been verified by you all. We've think we've managed to trace back one generation up from Thomas Wheatley to his father (maybe!) Samuel Wheatley (b: 1705 d: 1760) of North Carolina. See photos of our work so far (click on them to enlarge), and also the Web site.
We'll be working on incorporating all of the great information you've all sent and fact-checking and are happy to share the results!
Love,
Shannon and Mary
Corrections from John
To All...
Correction #1:
When looking back over the e-mails that I sent to all of you last night, I caught some errors that need to be corrected. Samuel Wheatley was the son of Alexander Wheatley, but I mistakenly omitted him from the "lineup" that I put together for easier understanding, so here's the corrected version:
Alexander Wheatley (my great, great, great, great grandfather)
Samuel Wheatley (my great, great, great grandfather)
Francis Marion Wheatley (my great, great grandfather)(married Mary Ann Fox)
William Harris Wheatley (my great grandfather)
John Fox Wheatley, Sr. (my grandfather)
John Fox Wheatley, Jr. (my father)
John Fox Wheatley III (myself), along with Jane Anne, David, Sylvia, and Maria.....and all of our respective families and descendants that you're already familiar with.
Correction #2:
When describing my grandmother, Mrs. John Fox Wheatley, Sr. and her mother, Lady Bird Shapard, I apparently had some "typo" errors, so let me clarify to avoid confusion.
PyPy's father, John Fox Wheatley, Sr.(we called him Dandy), was married to Jane Shapard Marks (we called her Mimi). Mimi's maiden name was Marks and Mimi's mother's maiden name was Shapard. Mimi told me that her mother was fondly called "Ladybird." Mimi told me when I was a young child that she had become the acting mother of her two brothers, David and Tom Marks, due to the sickness and premature death of her mother. I don't have any other factual information at this time on the history of the Marks or Shapard families during that era.
All of the other available information from the Wheatley book is already included word for word in the earlier e-mails.
I apologize for any confusion caused by my error and "typos", and I hope the above corrections resolve those matters.
Addition:
The last section of the "Wheatley book" deals with the Fox family in order to properly map out their role in the Wheatley family. The cover page of that section simply reads: The Fox Family of Marshall County Tennessee and the section is 28 pages in total. Since our only involvement as direct descendants of the Fox family starts with Mary Ann Fox, who was married to Francis Marion Wheatley in 1855, and I have no knowledge of any interaction between the Fox family and the Wheatley family in more recent years, I will focus this "addition" on Mary Ann Fox and her direct ancestors as shown in the Fox section of the "Wheatley book".
The next page in the Fox section reads: The Fox Family, Descendants of John Fox (1784-1850) and wife Martha Harris (1786-1870), natives of North Carolina.
Appropriate excerpts from subsequent pages yield the following information for our understanding of the Fox family as it relates to our direct ancestors:
John Fox: born 3-6-1784 in North Carolina and died 8-26-1850 in Tennessee was married to Martha Harris, who was born 7-8-1786 in North Carolina and died 10-27-1870 in Tennessee. The headstone of John Fox states "An Elder in the Christian Church" and are buried in the Jackson Cemetery in Maury County near Leftwich Bridge south of Duck River. They were apparently involved with the Cedar Creek Church, which was organized in June of 1841. A new church has since been build within the limits of Maury County called Antioch, which has taken the place of Cedar Creek.
John and Martha Harris Fox had 8 children, including Joel Gideon fox, Pervines Fox (our direct ancestor), Jane fox, Diannah Fox, Joshua Fox, John Fox Jr., Harris Fox, and Frances Fox.
Pervines Fox was born 3-25-1810 in North Carolina, died 8-16-1887 in Tennessee, and married his first wife, Narcissus Bennett, on 7-21-1888 and she is our direct ancestor. Pervines Fox later married two more times....his 2nd wife was Frances Clymore whom he married 2-13-1849 (born 10-4-1831 & died 11-1-1857), and his 3rd wife was Frances Breechen whom he married 10-11-1858 (born 11-12-1811 & died after 1887).
Pervines Fox and his first wife, Narcissus Bennet Fox, had 5 children including William Fox, Martha Fox, Pervines Fox Jr., Mary Ann Fox (our direct ancestor), and Jackson Fox.
Mary Ann Fox (born 11-6-1837 & died 5-14-1881) married Francis Marion Wheatley on 3-14-1855 and this is the point at which the Fox family became part of the Wheatley family. Further information about direct descendants of Mary Ann Fox relating to our modern Wheatley family is covered in my earlier e-mails about the Wheatley family.
I hope the above explains to your satisfaction the role of the Fox family in the history of our direct ancestors. Further detail is available in the "Wheatley book", which we can look at more closely or make plans for you to make a copy for yourself at some future date.
Love
John Wheatley in Montgomery
Correction #1:
When looking back over the e-mails that I sent to all of you last night, I caught some errors that need to be corrected. Samuel Wheatley was the son of Alexander Wheatley, but I mistakenly omitted him from the "lineup" that I put together for easier understanding, so here's the corrected version:
Alexander Wheatley (my great, great, great, great grandfather)
Samuel Wheatley (my great, great, great grandfather)
Francis Marion Wheatley (my great, great grandfather)(married Mary Ann Fox)
William Harris Wheatley (my great grandfather)
John Fox Wheatley, Sr. (my grandfather)
John Fox Wheatley, Jr. (my father)
John Fox Wheatley III (myself), along with Jane Anne, David, Sylvia, and Maria.....and all of our respective families and descendants that you're already familiar with.
Correction #2:
When describing my grandmother, Mrs. John Fox Wheatley, Sr. and her mother, Lady Bird Shapard, I apparently had some "typo" errors, so let me clarify to avoid confusion.
PyPy's father, John Fox Wheatley, Sr.(we called him Dandy), was married to Jane Shapard Marks (we called her Mimi). Mimi's maiden name was Marks and Mimi's mother's maiden name was Shapard. Mimi told me that her mother was fondly called "Ladybird." Mimi told me when I was a young child that she had become the acting mother of her two brothers, David and Tom Marks, due to the sickness and premature death of her mother. I don't have any other factual information at this time on the history of the Marks or Shapard families during that era.
All of the other available information from the Wheatley book is already included word for word in the earlier e-mails.
I apologize for any confusion caused by my error and "typos", and I hope the above corrections resolve those matters.
Addition:
The last section of the "Wheatley book" deals with the Fox family in order to properly map out their role in the Wheatley family. The cover page of that section simply reads: The Fox Family of Marshall County Tennessee and the section is 28 pages in total. Since our only involvement as direct descendants of the Fox family starts with Mary Ann Fox, who was married to Francis Marion Wheatley in 1855, and I have no knowledge of any interaction between the Fox family and the Wheatley family in more recent years, I will focus this "addition" on Mary Ann Fox and her direct ancestors as shown in the Fox section of the "Wheatley book".
The next page in the Fox section reads: The Fox Family, Descendants of John Fox (1784-1850) and wife Martha Harris (1786-1870), natives of North Carolina.
Appropriate excerpts from subsequent pages yield the following information for our understanding of the Fox family as it relates to our direct ancestors:
John Fox: born 3-6-1784 in North Carolina and died 8-26-1850 in Tennessee was married to Martha Harris, who was born 7-8-1786 in North Carolina and died 10-27-1870 in Tennessee. The headstone of John Fox states "An Elder in the Christian Church" and are buried in the Jackson Cemetery in Maury County near Leftwich Bridge south of Duck River. They were apparently involved with the Cedar Creek Church, which was organized in June of 1841. A new church has since been build within the limits of Maury County called Antioch, which has taken the place of Cedar Creek.
John and Martha Harris Fox had 8 children, including Joel Gideon fox, Pervines Fox (our direct ancestor), Jane fox, Diannah Fox, Joshua Fox, John Fox Jr., Harris Fox, and Frances Fox.
Pervines Fox was born 3-25-1810 in North Carolina, died 8-16-1887 in Tennessee, and married his first wife, Narcissus Bennett, on 7-21-1888 and she is our direct ancestor. Pervines Fox later married two more times....his 2nd wife was Frances Clymore whom he married 2-13-1849 (born 10-4-1831 & died 11-1-1857), and his 3rd wife was Frances Breechen whom he married 10-11-1858 (born 11-12-1811 & died after 1887).
Pervines Fox and his first wife, Narcissus Bennet Fox, had 5 children including William Fox, Martha Fox, Pervines Fox Jr., Mary Ann Fox (our direct ancestor), and Jackson Fox.
Mary Ann Fox (born 11-6-1837 & died 5-14-1881) married Francis Marion Wheatley on 3-14-1855 and this is the point at which the Fox family became part of the Wheatley family. Further information about direct descendants of Mary Ann Fox relating to our modern Wheatley family is covered in my earlier e-mails about the Wheatley family.
I hope the above explains to your satisfaction the role of the Fox family in the history of our direct ancestors. Further detail is available in the "Wheatley book", which we can look at more closely or make plans for you to make a copy for yourself at some future date.
Love
John Wheatley in Montgomery
Family info from Debbie ~ Ford Family
See Snapfish album.I copied this on the printer and scanned it. The writing turned out to be the same clarity both ways (not good). I haven't taken the copy Francis gave me to a copy shop yet to see if that might be better. I also sent you a few pics of daddy's baptism last year. Saw them last weekend and went to the biker church. I haven't looked through all the pics yet from the Denny family but I'm just glad to know they exist. Hope to see Aunt Say next week and maybe get more info on the Ford side. John sent a long e*mail detailing info he had on the Wheatley tree several generations back. He didn't send it in graph form. I'll forward that to you.
Glad you asked about this . It helps to have a reason to keep these documents current and in tact for posterity.
- Mom
More Info / Resources
Date: February 6, 2010 3:13:13 AM EST
Hey.....I was just fooling around and decided to check out the internet for Alexander Wheatley Revolutionary Soldier. I turned up two pretty interesting sites on the first two pages of the search results that you might want to check out for yourself. Just click on the following web sites:
http://southerncampaign.org/pen/w102.pdf
This site shows the application for a pension for military service and is very detailed as to his military service during the Revoluionary War: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tnweakle/RevolutionaryWar.htm
This site shows the list of Revolutionary War veterans from Weakley County, as stated on the plaque in the courthouse. While looking at the list, you can click on the name Wheatley on the list and it will take you to the following site, which is an interesting account of a pension application by Peggy Wheatley with great amounts of detail, all of which is found at the site:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tnweakle/WHEATLEY_Alexander.htm
More on Alexander Wheatley is found through a similar Google search at http://southerncampaign.org/pen/w102.pdf
When I did a search for John Fox Wheatley, it turned up the following site, which shows the letter of tribute I wrote a while back in the forum section of the Sixth Marine Division's official website honoring my father, John Fox Wheatley, Jr., who was a machine gunner serving in the U.S. Marines and saw lots of brutal front line action in the bloodiest battles of World War II in Okinawa, where the Japanese military made their "last stand." Read it and you'll be proud... go to:
http://pub28.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=2367314316&frmid=98&msgid=903732&cmd=show
Please share this information with other family members so that they can also learn more about out family.
Thanks...
John Wheatley in Montgomery
Hey.....I was just fooling around and decided to check out the internet for Alexander Wheatley Revolutionary Soldier. I turned up two pretty interesting sites on the first two pages of the search results that you might want to check out for yourself. Just click on the following web sites:
http://southerncampaign.org/pen/w102.pdf
This site shows the application for a pension for military service and is very detailed as to his military service during the Revoluionary War: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tnweakle/RevolutionaryWar.htm
This site shows the list of Revolutionary War veterans from Weakley County, as stated on the plaque in the courthouse. While looking at the list, you can click on the name Wheatley on the list and it will take you to the following site, which is an interesting account of a pension application by Peggy Wheatley with great amounts of detail, all of which is found at the site:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tnweakle/WHEATLEY_Alexander.htm
More on Alexander Wheatley is found through a similar Google search at http://southerncampaign.org/pen/w102.pdf
When I did a search for John Fox Wheatley, it turned up the following site, which shows the letter of tribute I wrote a while back in the forum section of the Sixth Marine Division's official website honoring my father, John Fox Wheatley, Jr., who was a machine gunner serving in the U.S. Marines and saw lots of brutal front line action in the bloodiest battles of World War II in Okinawa, where the Japanese military made their "last stand." Read it and you'll be proud... go to:
http://pub28.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=2367314316&frmid=98&msgid=903732&cmd=show
Please share this information with other family members so that they can also learn more about out family.
Thanks...
John Wheatley in Montgomery
Family Memories from John Fox Jr.
Begin forwarded message:Date: February 5, 2010
To All:
This all started when David and Debbie requested information on our Wheatley ancestors to help Shannon and Mary to pursue their interest in family history. I found a wealth of information on the subject today and I'm wanting to share it with all of you and all of them right now tonight. I hope you find it interesting and informative. We have a great family history and it needs to be shared among the family. I hope to have more to share about the Overall side of the Wheatley family at a later date, but this writing is about the Wheatley family history that's depicted in the family history book that I found earlier today mixed in with a lot of other old documents. If I've already shown it to you or copied you on it before, that's great, but I don't think that I have.
Love,
John Wheatley in Montgomery
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Fri 02/5/10 9:49 PM
Dear David and Debbie....
While moving around and re-arranging some things in my garage today, I ran across a box of keepsakes from a Shapard reunion that I attended in Tennessee many years ago. Included in the box was a Wheatley family history that was put together years ago by Bertha Wheatley Porter with the assistance of my great aunt, Volenia Wheatley Hays, who was one of two sisters of my grandfather, John Fox Wheatley, Sr. I may have received this "Wheatley book" from Allen Brinkley, instead of at the reunion, for he has been extremely generous in sharing documents and pictures with our family on many occasions. Your inquiry and my own interest led me to look through this wonderful book pretty closely tonight, and I would like to share with you some of the highlights of the book as they relate to those people that we are the direct descendants of dating back to the Revolutionary War and beyond. I think you'll find this very interesting and I would encourage you to promptly forward this information to all of your children and to all other family members who might have interest in this information. We can get together later and work out a plan to make copies of this book for all interested parties, but I want to share these amazing details with you right now by e-mail. I will add in my own comments to hopefully make all of this easier to understand for those who might not be as familiar with "the old days" as I am at the ripe old age of 62.
First let me resolve any questions about the "Shapard reunion" mentioned above. PyPy's father, John Fox Wheatley, Sr. (we called him Dandy), was married to Jane Shapard Marks (we called her Mimi) and the maiden name of her mother was Shapard (Mimi told me that her mother was fondly called "Ladybird"). Mimi told me as a child that she had become the acting mother of her two brothers, David and Tom Marks, as a young girl due to the early death of her own mother, and that she and her two brothers were very close. David and Tom Marks later moved from the Shelbyville, TN area to Birmingham, AL, where they were partners in the furniture business for a while and later operated their own separate businesses. David Marks bought out Fitzgerald Furniture Company and called it Marks-Fitzgerald Furniture Company to hopefully retain the existing customers of Fitzgerald, and his business grew to become a highly successful chain of top-notch furniture stores in Birmingham and Huntsville. Tom Marks owned a successful furniture store in Bessemer operating as Marks Furniture Company, and did very well until he was violently killed during a robbery at his store during his senior years, which would have been around the early 1960's.
When Mimi and Dandy closed their long-time Wheatley Lumber Company in Shelbyville, TN, Uncle David Marks offered PyPy a job, so our family (PyPy, MyMy, Jane Anne, and I) moved to Birmingham in about 1955 and lived there for about a year while PyPy proved himself to be a shining star in the furniture sales role and outsold everyone else that he worked with. A new store was opened in Huntsville, AL in 1956 and PyPy was promoted and transferred to become the Assistand Mgr. of the store, reporting to C.H. Gaines as mgr., who was the brother of David Marks's wife, Louise. In the meantime, PyPy's father, Dandy, had tired of being retired and came to Birmingham, where he also was trained in the furniture business, so he also moved to Huntsville and became a full-time furniture salesman working with PyPy. About the same time, PyPy's beloved sister, Aunt Martha Jane Brinkley, and her family also moved to Huntsville, where her husband, Lewis Brinkley, became the credit manager at the same furniture store (Lewis Brinkley had previously managed the family-owned Brinkley Grocery Store in Murfreesboro, TN, but that store had recently closed and Uncle David offered him a job, too.) So now we had my father, grandfather, and uncle all working at the same store and all three of our families lived as neighbors in the same apartment complex in Huntsville, AL and all of us kids attended the same schools. We all later moved into houses that were in the same neighborhood, so everyday was like a family reunion and it was absolutely wonderful for many years.In about 1964, Daddy was promoted again to become the store manager of the brand new 5-Points West Marks-Fitzgerald store, so we moved back to Birmingham while the other two families remained in Huntsville. Mimi and Dandy passed away around 1970, but the Brinkley family still lives in Huntsville.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Family Facts
John Fox Jr. writes:
OK.....now for the "Wheatley book" and the facts from it that I want to share with all who will read this writing. I'll lead off by typing for you the first page in the book....word for word.
The Wheatley family is of English descent and the progentor of the Wheatleys in Marshall County, Tennessee, is Alexander Wheatley, Revolutionary Soldier, born in Martin County, North Carolina December 26, 1760, died October 31, 1834, in Weakley county, Tennessee, married July 1781 in Pitt County, North Carolina to Peggy Stokes, born in Edgecomb County, North Carolina September 5, 1766, died 1851 in Weakley County, Tennessee. She was the daughter of Marcus and Bethulah Stokes of Edgecomb and Pitt county, North Carolina.
In 1775, Alexander Wheatley enlisted as a private under Captain hardy, but his father thinking him too young, sent a substitute. In 1776, he moved to Pitt County, enlisted under Captain Reeves and General Caswell. He was Sergeant in Captain Spain's Company in the battle of Camden. He states in his pension application that Captain Stafford, Drury Rogers, and his brother William who served with him could vouch for his service. His name is on a Memorial Plaque in the Weakley County, Courthouse being placed there by the local DAR Chapter honoring Revolutionary Soldiers buried in the county.
After Alexander's death, Peggy applied for his pension, vouching for her were Silas Bennett, Sara Wheatley (William's wife) and Catherine Cherry, who said she knew Alexander before he married and his mother and she believed Peggy was from Edgecomb County, North Carolina.
Alexander and Peggy immigrated by way of Sumter County, South Carolina, Lincoln County, Tennessee, and on to West Tennessee. They were the parents of thomas, Pierce, Benjamin, Marcus, John Samuel, Alfred, and several daughters.
Their son, Samuel Wheatley, born 1799 in South Carolina, died 1868 in Tennessee, married 1824 in Maury County, Tennessee to Elizabeth Kilcrease Hays, born 1796 in Edgefield County, South Carolina, died November 1, 1859 in West Tennessee, widow of James Hays and daughter of William Kilcrease, a wealthy land owner in Maury County but formerly of Edgefield County, South Carolina.
Elizabeth had the following Hays children: James, David K., Eliza Loftin, and Nancy wife of Andrew Jackson.
Note: Although we're not closely related to Andrew Jackson's wife, it is interesting to note that one of our direct ancestors (Elizabeth Kilcrease Hays Wheatley) was Andrew Jackson's mother-in-law, although Andrew Jackson's wife was not actually a member of the Wheatley family.
Note: At this point the book leads into a lengthy breakdown of the children and descendants of those children, etc., etc., so I'll limit this writing and e-mail to just those direct descendants that lead to our modern day family and all of you can check out the actual book at a later date for further details that you may want to explore. Note that Alexander Wheatley's son, Francis Marion Wheatley is our direct ancestor.....here's his account as per the book, word for word....
Francis Marion Wheatley born August 7, 1825 in Obion County, Tennessee, died July 4, 1885 in Marshall County, Tennessee, married March 14, 1855 to Mary Ann Fox......continued below the note...
Note:.....this is apparently the point at which the "Fox" name became part of the Wheatley family history and is prominent in male family names down through the years....including my name.
......Mary Ann Fox born November 6, 1837, died May 14, 1881, daughter of Pervine and Narcissus Bennett Fox, prominent and prosperous citizens of Marshall county, Tennessee. Francis Marion was a Confederate Soldier enlisting in Company A, Newsom's Regiment, Tennessee Calvary, Jackson, Tennessee. He and Mary Ann lived for a while in Obion County where their children were born, but later moved to Marshall County and are buried in the Fox-Wheatley Cemetery........
Note: Many years ago, I visited the Fox-Wheatley cemetery, which is a "country" cemetery about 50 yards off of a main 2-lane highway near Lewisburg, TN, and I took pictures of practically every grave marker and headstone that was present......I'm not certain where those pictures are, but I definitely have them, so maybe we could find and examine those to better understand some family history at some point in the future.
......They were the parents of Martha Ann, Samuel Pervine, John Alexander, William Harris, and Francis Marion, Jr. All members of the Church of Christ and all buried in the Fox-Wheatley Cemetery, except Francis Marion, Jr., who is buried in Lone Oak Cemetery, Lewisburg, Tennessee.
Note: Our direct ancestor from this group of kids is William Harris Wheatley, so I am now skipping to his section and typing it word for word from the book for you....Note that at this point in the book, there is a full page that features a copied photograph of William Harris Wheatley, his wife Vertna Olive Willis Wheatley, and their children, Gladys, John Fox (in a baby carriage) and Volenia as they stand in front of their home, which is a large and prosperous looking white wooden one-story home with chimneys on the left and right ends and a large porch in the center that has 4 very thick white columns and about 10 steps leading up from the front yard and walkway to the front porch and front door. They were clearly a prosperous family at the time. The John Fox that they mention is my grandfather, John Fox Wheatley, Sr., so as we think back through the earlier Wheatley men that have been mentioned, they line up with our current family as I'm noting below:
Alexander Wheatley (my great, great, great grandfather)
Francis Marion Wheatley (my great, great grandfather)
William Harris Wheatley (my great grandfather)
John Fox Wheatley, Sr. (my grandfather)
John Fox Wheatley, Jr. (my father)
John Fox Wheatley III (myself), along with Jane Anne, David, Sylvia, and Maria.....and all of our respective families and descendants that you're already familiar with.
Maybe this "lineup" makes it easier for all of us to visualize the direct family lineage through the generations.
.....continuing on word for word from the book......
William Harris Wheatley was a prosperous and outstanding farmer of the Cochran Community. He was born December 29, 1861, died February 29, 1942, married April 8, 1888 to Vertna Olive Willis, born May 4, 1867, died November 19, 1945, the daughter of Sarah Waid Haislip and Thomas Hughes Willis. Buried in Fox-Wheatley Cemetery. They were the parents of Volenia, Gladys, and John Fox.
Note: Gladys was Dandy's sister, as noted above, and her direct descendant is Aunt Mary Gladys, who currently lives in a retirement home in the Birmingham area.... Vestavia area I think.... you should check with her on all of this to fill in the blanks on a lot of family history. She is a wonderful lady and loves the Wheatley family very dearly. She would welcome your call or visit, I'm sure.
.....continuing on....
John Fox Wheatley, Sr., born 1897, died 1970 (in Huntsville, AL) married Jane Shapard Marks of Shelbyville, Tennessee. They moved to Huntsville, Alabama. Both are deceased and are buried in Willow Mount Cemetery, Shelbyville, Tennessee. Children are John Fox, Jr. and Martha Jane.
OK.....now I will depart from the "word for word" account in the book to make a few comments of my own, since all of the rest of the book is primarily devoted to various other family members who are not our direct ancestors. There is also an entire section in the back of the book that goes into great detail about the Fox family because of Mary Ann Fox being married to Francis Marion Wheatley, who was my great, great grandfather, as noted above.
John Fox Wheatley, Sr. was my grandfather and the book says very little about him, as you already read, so I'll add a few brief comments of my own that may help you to better appreciate what a fine man he was. Like most of our other direct ancestors, he served bravely in the military (Army, I think ???) during World War I, but I don't know any of the details of his service, rank, etc. After he and my grandmother, Mimi, were married, he apparently did pretty well in business. My father, John Fox Wheatley, Jr. (PyPy) was actually born in Winter Garden, Florida and I asked him in more recent years how he ended up being born in Florida and he said that Mimi and Dandy were living in Florida at the time, taking advantage of the "boom" in Florida and selling lumber while lots of construction was under way. The lumber business was apparently good for them and they owned and operated Wheatley Lumber Company in downtown Shelbyville for many, many years, where they sold all sorts of constuction materials, paint, hardware, and whatever else their customers needed. I have many fond memories of visiting that business to visit with my father and grandparents when I would walk from our house a few blocks away by myself as a 6 and 7 year old boy....it was kind of like Opie stopping by to visit Andy Griffith on the TV show in their small town. Dandy was an excellent businessman and was very active in social and civic activities around town. He was very involved in the Shelbyville Rotary Club and served as it's president during World War II, during which time he led his club and the entire town in efforts to conserve fuel and vehicle resources by encouraging everyone to travel by horseback, bicycle, or on foot instead of by vehicle, so that our soldiers would have what they needed to succeed in the war effort. Those efforts were widely publicized in newspapers and magazines, and some of you may have seen my earlier e-mails of pictures showing "Dandy" leading his fellow Rotarians on horseback.....yes he was the one on the white horse, so it's very clear that he was the "good guy".....really !!! Dandy and Daddy, and my Uncle Lewis Brinkley were very close....particularly during our years in Huntsville, and Dandy was right in the middle of many happy family memories that were shared by our entire family. He was indeed a great man.
Jane Shapard Marks Wheatley was Dandy's beloved wife and my grandmother, and I loved her dearly.... and she loved her children and grandchildren with a passion that was stronger than you've probably ever seen. She was a great lady in her own right, and was very smart for sure. She kept all the books for the family business at the lumber company, while also handling her duties as wife and mother at home. She was very active and involved in social and civic events, just like Dandy, and they both were devoted members of the first Methodist Church, as were my parents. Mimi, as we called her, was an absolute delight to be around, and she was always the perfect lady, the perfect friend, and the perfect grandmother in every way. She absolutely loved to spend time with all of her grandchildren and she was actively involved in taking us on countless excursions to show us, train us, teach us, and entertain us at every opportunity. She took me to some of the old family homesites to teach me about family history. She took me to the horse show, to the pond to feed the ducks, on shopping excursions, to join her for out of town weddings, etc., etc., etc... we were best buddies for sure and I love her dearly. She even helped me to learn how to drive in her 1957 Plymouth Belvedere... yeah that was the one with the pushbutton automatic transmission and I'm sure I scared her to death driving her car at the ripe old age of 13, but we had a ball doing that... just like we did every time we were together. I ate dinner at their house every night and she taught me all about food, manners, and etiquette in her efforts to make me a "gentleman." She never stopped trying to benefit all of her grandchildren throughout her life. She was a major joy in our lives and we were likewise a joy in her life. She was a very great lady to all who knew her, and all who knew her loved her.
There are lots of stories to tell and facts to share about all of our family members because we do indeed have a wonderful family, but time and space are limited tonight, so I'll stop for now with just a simple salute to all of the family members who have made all of our lives possible, and a big thank you to all of them for all that they've done to benefit all of us.
The Wheatleys are only part of our overall family history, but this e-mail is about the Wheatley ancestors, and I haven't written much about my parents, John and Martha Ann Wheatley, in this writing, but most of you who will read this e-mail already know how great they are, and you've all heard and read the many praises I've made about them previously, so I'll simply say that I love them and I miss them very much. Let's all try to live our lives in ways that would make them proud of us.
The Overall family is just as much a part of our family history and I hope to have information to share with you about them at some point in the near future.
OK.....now for the "Wheatley book" and the facts from it that I want to share with all who will read this writing. I'll lead off by typing for you the first page in the book....word for word.
The Wheatley family is of English descent and the progentor of the Wheatleys in Marshall County, Tennessee, is Alexander Wheatley, Revolutionary Soldier, born in Martin County, North Carolina December 26, 1760, died October 31, 1834, in Weakley county, Tennessee, married July 1781 in Pitt County, North Carolina to Peggy Stokes, born in Edgecomb County, North Carolina September 5, 1766, died 1851 in Weakley County, Tennessee. She was the daughter of Marcus and Bethulah Stokes of Edgecomb and Pitt county, North Carolina.
In 1775, Alexander Wheatley enlisted as a private under Captain hardy, but his father thinking him too young, sent a substitute. In 1776, he moved to Pitt County, enlisted under Captain Reeves and General Caswell. He was Sergeant in Captain Spain's Company in the battle of Camden. He states in his pension application that Captain Stafford, Drury Rogers, and his brother William who served with him could vouch for his service. His name is on a Memorial Plaque in the Weakley County, Courthouse being placed there by the local DAR Chapter honoring Revolutionary Soldiers buried in the county.
After Alexander's death, Peggy applied for his pension, vouching for her were Silas Bennett, Sara Wheatley (William's wife) and Catherine Cherry, who said she knew Alexander before he married and his mother and she believed Peggy was from Edgecomb County, North Carolina.
Alexander and Peggy immigrated by way of Sumter County, South Carolina, Lincoln County, Tennessee, and on to West Tennessee. They were the parents of thomas, Pierce, Benjamin, Marcus, John Samuel, Alfred, and several daughters.
Their son, Samuel Wheatley, born 1799 in South Carolina, died 1868 in Tennessee, married 1824 in Maury County, Tennessee to Elizabeth Kilcrease Hays, born 1796 in Edgefield County, South Carolina, died November 1, 1859 in West Tennessee, widow of James Hays and daughter of William Kilcrease, a wealthy land owner in Maury County but formerly of Edgefield County, South Carolina.
Elizabeth had the following Hays children: James, David K., Eliza Loftin, and Nancy wife of Andrew Jackson.
Note: Although we're not closely related to Andrew Jackson's wife, it is interesting to note that one of our direct ancestors (Elizabeth Kilcrease Hays Wheatley) was Andrew Jackson's mother-in-law, although Andrew Jackson's wife was not actually a member of the Wheatley family.
Note: At this point the book leads into a lengthy breakdown of the children and descendants of those children, etc., etc., so I'll limit this writing and e-mail to just those direct descendants that lead to our modern day family and all of you can check out the actual book at a later date for further details that you may want to explore. Note that Alexander Wheatley's son, Francis Marion Wheatley is our direct ancestor.....here's his account as per the book, word for word....
Francis Marion Wheatley born August 7, 1825 in Obion County, Tennessee, died July 4, 1885 in Marshall County, Tennessee, married March 14, 1855 to Mary Ann Fox......continued below the note...
Note:.....this is apparently the point at which the "Fox" name became part of the Wheatley family history and is prominent in male family names down through the years....including my name.
......Mary Ann Fox born November 6, 1837, died May 14, 1881, daughter of Pervine and Narcissus Bennett Fox, prominent and prosperous citizens of Marshall county, Tennessee. Francis Marion was a Confederate Soldier enlisting in Company A, Newsom's Regiment, Tennessee Calvary, Jackson, Tennessee. He and Mary Ann lived for a while in Obion County where their children were born, but later moved to Marshall County and are buried in the Fox-Wheatley Cemetery........
Note: Many years ago, I visited the Fox-Wheatley cemetery, which is a "country" cemetery about 50 yards off of a main 2-lane highway near Lewisburg, TN, and I took pictures of practically every grave marker and headstone that was present......I'm not certain where those pictures are, but I definitely have them, so maybe we could find and examine those to better understand some family history at some point in the future.
......They were the parents of Martha Ann, Samuel Pervine, John Alexander, William Harris, and Francis Marion, Jr. All members of the Church of Christ and all buried in the Fox-Wheatley Cemetery, except Francis Marion, Jr., who is buried in Lone Oak Cemetery, Lewisburg, Tennessee.
Note: Our direct ancestor from this group of kids is William Harris Wheatley, so I am now skipping to his section and typing it word for word from the book for you....Note that at this point in the book, there is a full page that features a copied photograph of William Harris Wheatley, his wife Vertna Olive Willis Wheatley, and their children, Gladys, John Fox (in a baby carriage) and Volenia as they stand in front of their home, which is a large and prosperous looking white wooden one-story home with chimneys on the left and right ends and a large porch in the center that has 4 very thick white columns and about 10 steps leading up from the front yard and walkway to the front porch and front door. They were clearly a prosperous family at the time. The John Fox that they mention is my grandfather, John Fox Wheatley, Sr., so as we think back through the earlier Wheatley men that have been mentioned, they line up with our current family as I'm noting below:
Alexander Wheatley (my great, great, great grandfather)
Francis Marion Wheatley (my great, great grandfather)
William Harris Wheatley (my great grandfather)
John Fox Wheatley, Sr. (my grandfather)
John Fox Wheatley, Jr. (my father)
John Fox Wheatley III (myself), along with Jane Anne, David, Sylvia, and Maria.....and all of our respective families and descendants that you're already familiar with.
Maybe this "lineup" makes it easier for all of us to visualize the direct family lineage through the generations.
.....continuing on word for word from the book......
William Harris Wheatley was a prosperous and outstanding farmer of the Cochran Community. He was born December 29, 1861, died February 29, 1942, married April 8, 1888 to Vertna Olive Willis, born May 4, 1867, died November 19, 1945, the daughter of Sarah Waid Haislip and Thomas Hughes Willis. Buried in Fox-Wheatley Cemetery. They were the parents of Volenia, Gladys, and John Fox.
Note: Gladys was Dandy's sister, as noted above, and her direct descendant is Aunt Mary Gladys, who currently lives in a retirement home in the Birmingham area.... Vestavia area I think.... you should check with her on all of this to fill in the blanks on a lot of family history. She is a wonderful lady and loves the Wheatley family very dearly. She would welcome your call or visit, I'm sure.
.....continuing on....
John Fox Wheatley, Sr., born 1897, died 1970 (in Huntsville, AL) married Jane Shapard Marks of Shelbyville, Tennessee. They moved to Huntsville, Alabama. Both are deceased and are buried in Willow Mount Cemetery, Shelbyville, Tennessee. Children are John Fox, Jr. and Martha Jane.
OK.....now I will depart from the "word for word" account in the book to make a few comments of my own, since all of the rest of the book is primarily devoted to various other family members who are not our direct ancestors. There is also an entire section in the back of the book that goes into great detail about the Fox family because of Mary Ann Fox being married to Francis Marion Wheatley, who was my great, great grandfather, as noted above.
John Fox Wheatley, Sr. was my grandfather and the book says very little about him, as you already read, so I'll add a few brief comments of my own that may help you to better appreciate what a fine man he was. Like most of our other direct ancestors, he served bravely in the military (Army, I think ???) during World War I, but I don't know any of the details of his service, rank, etc. After he and my grandmother, Mimi, were married, he apparently did pretty well in business. My father, John Fox Wheatley, Jr. (PyPy) was actually born in Winter Garden, Florida and I asked him in more recent years how he ended up being born in Florida and he said that Mimi and Dandy were living in Florida at the time, taking advantage of the "boom" in Florida and selling lumber while lots of construction was under way. The lumber business was apparently good for them and they owned and operated Wheatley Lumber Company in downtown Shelbyville for many, many years, where they sold all sorts of constuction materials, paint, hardware, and whatever else their customers needed. I have many fond memories of visiting that business to visit with my father and grandparents when I would walk from our house a few blocks away by myself as a 6 and 7 year old boy....it was kind of like Opie stopping by to visit Andy Griffith on the TV show in their small town. Dandy was an excellent businessman and was very active in social and civic activities around town. He was very involved in the Shelbyville Rotary Club and served as it's president during World War II, during which time he led his club and the entire town in efforts to conserve fuel and vehicle resources by encouraging everyone to travel by horseback, bicycle, or on foot instead of by vehicle, so that our soldiers would have what they needed to succeed in the war effort. Those efforts were widely publicized in newspapers and magazines, and some of you may have seen my earlier e-mails of pictures showing "Dandy" leading his fellow Rotarians on horseback.....yes he was the one on the white horse, so it's very clear that he was the "good guy".....really !!! Dandy and Daddy, and my Uncle Lewis Brinkley were very close....particularly during our years in Huntsville, and Dandy was right in the middle of many happy family memories that were shared by our entire family. He was indeed a great man.
Jane Shapard Marks Wheatley was Dandy's beloved wife and my grandmother, and I loved her dearly.... and she loved her children and grandchildren with a passion that was stronger than you've probably ever seen. She was a great lady in her own right, and was very smart for sure. She kept all the books for the family business at the lumber company, while also handling her duties as wife and mother at home. She was very active and involved in social and civic events, just like Dandy, and they both were devoted members of the first Methodist Church, as were my parents. Mimi, as we called her, was an absolute delight to be around, and she was always the perfect lady, the perfect friend, and the perfect grandmother in every way. She absolutely loved to spend time with all of her grandchildren and she was actively involved in taking us on countless excursions to show us, train us, teach us, and entertain us at every opportunity. She took me to some of the old family homesites to teach me about family history. She took me to the horse show, to the pond to feed the ducks, on shopping excursions, to join her for out of town weddings, etc., etc., etc... we were best buddies for sure and I love her dearly. She even helped me to learn how to drive in her 1957 Plymouth Belvedere... yeah that was the one with the pushbutton automatic transmission and I'm sure I scared her to death driving her car at the ripe old age of 13, but we had a ball doing that... just like we did every time we were together. I ate dinner at their house every night and she taught me all about food, manners, and etiquette in her efforts to make me a "gentleman." She never stopped trying to benefit all of her grandchildren throughout her life. She was a major joy in our lives and we were likewise a joy in her life. She was a very great lady to all who knew her, and all who knew her loved her.
There are lots of stories to tell and facts to share about all of our family members because we do indeed have a wonderful family, but time and space are limited tonight, so I'll stop for now with just a simple salute to all of the family members who have made all of our lives possible, and a big thank you to all of them for all that they've done to benefit all of us.
The Wheatleys are only part of our overall family history, but this e-mail is about the Wheatley ancestors, and I haven't written much about my parents, John and Martha Ann Wheatley, in this writing, but most of you who will read this e-mail already know how great they are, and you've all heard and read the many praises I've made about them previously, so I'll simply say that I love them and I miss them very much. Let's all try to live our lives in ways that would make them proud of us.
The Overall family is just as much a part of our family history and I hope to have information to share with you about them at some point in the near future.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)