Growing Up in the Ozarks

I grew up in the heart of the Ozarks, surrounded by a time and culture that has slowly ebbed away. It was in a small place called Mammoth, Missouri. It's south of Gainesville, Missouri, and just a few miles north of the Missouri/ Arkansas state-line. Literally, it was in Ozark County, and you can’t get any more Ozark than that.

Vincent Anderson, Lesa Anderson-Pulliam, Dana Long-Headrick, Lynn Anderson,

Jereldene Anderson, and Jimmy Anderson on Granny's front porch banister

Living in today’s culture, is a totally different time or era than when I was growing up. I am really not that old; I’m only 44. But, times have changed so much. Many people spend hours occupying their time in endeavors that would have been foreign to me. I’ll admit, sometimes I catch myself in trivial pursuits that really have no eternal value. This could be surfing the Internet, texting for hours, and even watching TV. It does sound somewhat hypocritical for me mentioning the Internet, since this is a blog…and it’s posted on the Internet. But as I grew up, TV was sometimes a luxury. We lived so low in the valley that TV reception was not that viable. Therefore, we didn’t have a TV for years. We listened to the radio. We also spent many of those hours we could have been watching TV and did other things. Though at times I complained about not having TV, I was saved from fruitless hours and rewarded with memories I cherish, such as:

• Going visiting…that’s what we called it. We didn’t need to call ahead of time or make a special time on the calendar. We would just show up…
• Sleeping with the windows open and positioning for the perfect breeze through the screened windows…
• Sleeping with the roar of the attic fan on high…
• The smell of the fresh & humid air as it saturated the sheets at night…
• The chorus of tree frogs, bullfrogs, crickets, and whip-poor-wills chanting in the night…
• The huffs of the hoot owls and the haunting shrill of the screech owl’s phantom call…
• The yelps of the coyotes and the barking yaps of the gray fox…
• The cry of the bobcat or the scream of a mountain lion/ panther echoing on the banks of Lick Creek which sounds like a lady convulsing in terror…
• Fishing Possum Walk and Lick Creek for small mouth bass, blue gill, perch, and sunfish…
• Catching grasshoppers, crickets, and crawdads for bait…
• Finding and flipping the perfect 4 to 5 day old cow pile that held the juiciest night crawlers for fishing…
• Stepping on thorns and old nails and soaking my foot in kerosene because Granny said so…
• Helping my dad load the old aluminum V-bottom boat into the pickup bed and going to Liner Creek on Norfork Lake…
• Watching the spring floods inundate the Possum Walk Creek & Bridge...
  
• The fear of failure I felt… before I pulled the trigger on my rifle and dropped my first deer…
• The pride of trapping my first gray fox…
• The panic I felt when it came back to life in my hands…
• The relief I felt when my dad helped me put it out of its misery for the second time…
• The dread I felt in seeing my first skunk in a trap…
• The joy I felt in the sense of knowledge in skinning my own animals on the trap line…
• The wonder of seeing a herd of 60 white-tailed deer in the fields in front of the Mammoth Church…
  
• The early morning breakfasts at Granny Anderson’s saucering hot coffee, eating biscuits, twice toasted toast, soakie, greasy gravy, black-eyed gravy, fried eggs, bacon, and sausage all covered in flour gravy made from grease…basically…a lot of grease…By the way, if you haven’t “saucered your coffee or had “soakie”,” you haven’t lived…
• The mornings she spent reading to me from the Bible and the afternoons she spent reading to me The Ozark County Times, The Baxter Bulletin, or The History of Baxter County. Then, she would talk about the people she read about or how we were related…

• Her lunches of black-eyed peas, rice with sugar, or cooked cabbage…all with cornbread…
• The summer days I spent at her front porch and swatting flies…
• Covering cousins up in the fallen maple leaves…pretending they were in graves…and jumping out and screaming like it was the Resurrection Morning…

Aunt Phylis, Aunt Velma, Aunt Jesse, Aunt Ruby...and me eying in Christmas dinner at Granny Anderson's.

• Uncles, aunts, and cousins gathering a Granny’s house every Thanksgiving & Christmas Eve…

Kim Long-Sinor, Lesa Anderson-Pulliam, Roger Anderson
Jimmy Anderson, Dana Long-Headrick, Lynn Anderson, Jereldene Anderson
Jackie Anderson-Jennings, and me

• Listening to KTLO Radio out of Mountain Home, Arkansas, to hear the most important news of the day…the hospital report, listing all the names of the people who were admitted and released, and the list of the people who died in the area…
• Going to brush harbor meetings and using funeral home fans to keep cool…
• Swimming at the Possum Walk Bridge, ole' Baptizing Hole, the Big Rock, or the Hoggard Hole…
• Skidding down the icy cemetery hill on sheets of plastic & inner-tubes…
• New Year’s Eve hike & camp-outs…
• Playing football for Gainesville and always hoping for the next game to be a win...(long story)
  
• The glee of watching spot-lighters chasing deer in the field in front of our house…knowing the game warden, Ralph McNair, was watching them from a hay barn...
  
  
• And the work…
• Hauling & splitting wood…
• Feeding the chickens & protecting them from the coons…
• Picking up rocks…gardening…picking up rocks…
• Picking up beer bottles & beer cans on T Highway because Baxter County, Arkansas, was a dry county until 1978. Therefore, our road was the shortest distance between the honky-tonks on the Missouri / Arkansas state line on Highway 201 North & Highway 5 North…
  
  

This whole list thing could go on….and on.

Although no time or era is perfect, in the past or present, these times have helped to mold and form me into the person I am today. Though I cannot go back, I still hold these memories in my heart. At times, I am quickly swept away by some sight, smell, taste, word, or phrase to a little place called Mammoth. After all these years, it is still part of my essence. It is my sampling & experience of the Ozark’s History.

Thanks Dad & Mom.

The old smoke house behind Granny Anderson's house.

Mining in Baxter County – Part II

Mining in Baxter County, Arkansas, was an up and coming enterprise and very speculative. By 1901, over 400 mining claims had been reported in The Baxter Bulletin. By the same article, mining claims had been registered in the county starting in 1886. Of some of these mining claims, a geological survey of Baxter County was completed by 1892 by state geologist Dr. John C. Branner.

Some of the minerals collected and verified were:

• Zinc Carbonate
• Lead
• Dolomite
• Chert
• Iron
• Red Marble

Many of the minerals were amalgamated together in a blend. Therefore the jack or mineral ore that had to be processed to get the desired zinc.

While doing the survey, Dr. Branner had a young geology student & assistant named Herbert Hover, future president of the U. S., inspect 13 shafts, prospects, and mines in Baxter County, which were:

• The Michigan Prospect
• The Partnership Claim
• The Gilliland Shaft
• The Commercial Shaft
• The Jones Prospect
• The Big John Claim
• The Bruce Creek Hawkeye
• The Hawkeye No. 1
• The Hawkeye No. 2
• The Gold Standard Claim
• The Lost Mine
• The Halsenbeck Prospect
• The Bean Prospects

Click on pictures to enlarge them.

Districts were also mentioned such as the Bald Dave, Bruce Creek, Jenkins Creek, and the North Fork of the White River area.

Click on pictures to enlarge them.

As the years rolled by, The Baxter Bulletin Published a front page article & graphic about the “Lost Mine” owned by the Kimberly Company.

“The most important discovery yet made in this county, and one that is second to none in the Arkansas District, has been revealed by the log of the Kimberly Mining and Milling Co.’s drill on the Last Chance. This company commenced drilling on their property in January, but the inclement weather in February compelled them to temporarily shut down, after reaching the depth of 68 feet. The work was resumed three weeks ago and the hole put down to a depth of 154 feet. At 42 feet the drill passed into a heavy body of ore and continued for 20 feet, then the ore got lighter and showed lead mixed with the jack. This run continued for 32 feet, then passed into a heavy ledge of blend, and this held out any breaks for 60 feet and was still good ore at the bottom of the hole- making an almost continuous run of ore for 112 feet.”
As progress was made, the founding of other mining companies became a norm in Baxter County, and these companies were selling stock to cover the expensive investment of mining in northern Arkansas.

Click on pictures to enlarge.


Lastly, as a Tribute to the hard working prospectors & miners, The Baxter Bulletin published a popular poem entitled:
"The Man Behind the Pick"

There has been all kinds of gush about the man who is "behind"—
And the man behind the cannon has been toasted, wined and dined.
There's the man behind the musket, and the man behind the fence;
And the man behind his whiskers, and the man behind his rents;
And the man behind the plough beam, and the man behind the hoe;
And the man behind the ballot, and the man behind the dough;
And the man behind the jimmy, and the man behind the bars;
And the Johnny that goes snooping on the stage behind the "stars";
And the man behind the kisser, and the man behind the fist;
And the girl behind the man behind the gun is on the list;
But they missed one honest fellow, and I'm raising of a kick,
That they didn't make a mention of the man behind the pick.
Up the rugged mountain side a thousand feet he takes his way,
Or as far into the darkness from the cheering light of day;
He is shut out from the sunlight, in the glimmer of the lamps;
He is cut off from the sweet air in the sickly fumes and damps;
He must toil in cramped positions; he must take his life in hand.
For he works in deadly peril that but few can understand;
But he does it all in silence, and he seldom makes a kick,
Which is why I sing the praises of the man behind the pick.
He unlocks the bolted portals of the mountains to the stores
Hid in nature's vast exchequer in her treasure house of ores.
He applies a key dynamic, and the gates are backward rolled,
And the ancient rocks are riven to their secret heart of gold.
Things of comfort and of beauty and of usefulness are mined
By this brave and quiet worker—he's a friend of humankind;
Who though trampled down and underpaid, toils on without a kick;
So I lift my hat in honor of the man behind the pick.

 

                            Click on picture to enlarge  poem.

Sources:

I would like to thank Brenda Johnson for her valuable help in acquiring the Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Arkansas for 1892.

Anonymous. “The Man Behind the Pick.” The Baxter Bulletin 1.32 1 Aug. 1902: 9.

(1892) Branner, John, C. Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Arkansas for 1892. Thompson Lith. and Ptg. Company. Little Rock, Ar.

Shiras, Tom. “The Mineral Field: The Kimberly Mining and Milling Company Couple work with Faith and are Rewarded.” The Baxter Bulletin 06 June 1902 Volume 1, Number 24 ed.: A1-1.

White River Mining and Development Company. Advertisement. An Opportunity of a lifetime11 July 1902: 29. Published in: The Baxter Bulletin.

Small Beginnings in a Mammoth Surrounding: An Ozark County Family Journey

This is the story of how the Anderson family migrated to the Ozarks.

I must also give a small warning; this story can be a little confusing due the replicating of names in the 1800’s. There were a lot of Williams, Garlands, & Billy/Bills…such as “Long Billy” & “Short Billy.” Also, a big thanks is also due to my dad, J. R., for taking a summer Tennessee trip with me to the small town of Gainesboro, Tennessee, in the county of Jackson, nestled in the Cumberland Mountains. There are other stories to be told of Virginia & Scotland, but we will touch on Tennessee for the moment.

Armed with a thumbnail sketch of Gainesboro, Tennessee, dad and I took off to journey back the 500 miles and the 134 years that had separated a family. To do this, we must also cover some earlier genealogy and history. The destination was Gainesboro, Tennessee, in Jackson County...Just north of Cookville on Interstate 40.

About 208 Years Ago

In 1801, Thomas Shirley Anderson and his five brothers, Garland, Joel Blanton, Paul Thomas, Silas Caleb, William James (Long Billy), emigrated from Virginia to Tennessee after the Revolutionary War looking for a fresh start. Virginia was offering Warranty Bounty Land Grants as payment for services in the war. In addition, the beckon call for young settlers to move west was given. Others, such as the Anderson brothers, were going for cheap land. Why was the land cheap? This was also in the heart of disputed Shawnee & Cherokee Territory. The trek was made down the Cumberland Road. (Yes…it’s OK to let your mind to wander to Daniel Boone & Davy Crockett days.) The fight and bartering for land was on.

Thomas Shirley Anderson Thomas Shirley Anderson was born on Feb. 8, 1779, in Cumberland County, Virginia and died on Oct. 8, 1858 in Jackson County, Tennessee. He married Judith Anne Robinson in 1807 in Jackson County, Tennessee. Judith Anne was the daughter of Edward Robinson, Jr. and Anna Elizabeth Meador. Judith was born on May 9, 1785, also in Cumberland County, Virginia.

Thomas & Judith had 10 children.

• William James "Short Billy" Anderson
• Anna "Annie" Anderson
• Garland "Gallant" Anderson
• Fannie Anderson
• Paul Thomas Anderson
• Edward "Ned" Anderson
• Katherine Anderson
• Silas Caleb Anderson
• Francis Marion Anderson
• Thomas Shirley Anderson, Jr.
  
  
  
  Here is the tombstone of my Great, Great, Great Grandfather & Mother at the Anderson-Allen Cemetery at Blackburn's Fork in Jackson County near Gainesboro, Tennessee.

This was once the family homestead where crops of corn, cotton, and tobacco were raised.

Thomas & Judith’s eldest son was William James "Short Billy" Anderson, my great, great, grandfather, was born on Feb. 12, 1808 in Jackson County, Tennessee, and died in 1890 in Blackburn's Fork, Gainesboro, Tennessee. "Short Billy” married Mary "Polly" Lynn. "Polly" was the daughter of Asa Lynn, Sr. and Elizabeth Hawkins. She was born in 1808 in Jackson County, Tennessee, and died in 1854 in Jackson County, Tennessee.Thomas Shirley Anderson also had a brother named William Garland “Long Billy” Anderson. From these two brothers, a line of Andersons moved to Mammoth, Ozark County, Missouri.

William James “Short Billy” Anderson

William James "Short Billy" Anderson was born on Feb. 12, 1808 in Jackson County, Tennessee and died in 1890 in Blackburn's Fork, Gainesboro, Tennessee. He married Mary "Polly" Lynn. Mary "Polly", daughter of Asa Lynn, Sr. and Elizabeth Hawkins, was born in 1808 in Jackson County,Tennessee and died in 1854 in Jackson County, Tennessee.

“Short Billy” & “Polly” Anderson had 9 children.

• 
  Garland "Garllante" Anderson
• Miles Wesley Anderson, Sr.
• Andrew "Andy" Thomas Anderson
• Bailey Payton "Pate" Anderson
• Asa Lynn Anderson
• Sarah "Sary " Ann Anderson
• James William "Blue Jim" Anderson
• Edward A. "Ned" Anderson
• William Roberson Anderson.

Here are the tombstones of my Great, Great Grandfather, William James “Short Billy” Anderson & Great, Great Grandmother Mary “Polly” Lynn Anderson at the Anderson-Allen Cemetery at Blackburn's Fork in Jackson County near Gainesboro, Tennessee.

Garland "Garllante" Anderson

Garland "Gallant" Anderson, age about 17, married a young lady named Louisiana "Lucy" Ann Hawkins, age about 17, in 1850 in Gainesboro, Jackson County, Tennessee.

Garland & "Lucy" had 7 children.

• 
  Crawford Anderson
• Andy Thomas Anderson
• Martha J. Anderson
• Alexander Anderson
• Polley J. Anderson
• William W. Anderson
• Sampson Anderson

Here, in this small town, Gainesboro, Tennessee,a family had apparently grown to the point that greener pastures were needed. After the Civil War, the Ozarks was considered a great place to make a start with land in abundance and relatively cheap. In addition, Jackson County records arefull of law suits. Yes, with the Anderson name duly recorded all over the court documents. We had neighbor’s cows eating off our apple trees and property lines being moved. Neighbors were suing neighbors, and family members were suing family members. There were …and still are familiar family names that encompass Jackson County that have traversed county record books for the past 110 years that we are still kin to such as: Allen, Apple, Hawkins, Kirkpatrick, Loftis, and Lynn.

Gainesboro, Tennessee

Road Trip

As dad and I drove into Jackson County, and Gainesboro, I have to honestly admit it kind of felt like home. It looked like home, and the people we met were very friendly. The first day we were there, dad and I started driving down the county roads looking for Blackburn’s Fork…and found it. How? A gentleman stopped while we were looking around and took us to the old family cemetery. It turns out…he was a distant cousin.

Here are a few pictures on our excursion towards Blackburn’s Road to find the Anderson-Allen Cemetery.

We made it!

The Anderson-Allen Cemetery

Great, Great Uncle Miles Wesley Anderson...Confederate Veteran

Going down town into Gainesboro, Tennessee.

Then, we then went to Jackson County Historical Society & Museum to do some research.

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Here are a few pictures from there.

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Jackson County Courthouse…Downtown in Gainesboro.

We briefly found family and touch bases in exchange of name and the promise of future correspondence. Pictured here are Jimmy Dale & Linda (Flatt) Anderson. They own the Upper Cumberland - Anderson Funeral Home in Gainesboro, Tennessee. http://www.ucfuneral.com/

Jimmy Dale & Linda (Flatt) Anderson
Thanks Jimmy & Linda for your cordial hospitality.

Garland Anderson & My Line of Andersons

Garland & Lucy (Hawkins) Anderson with their son and daughter-in-law, decided to follow trek in pursuit of land and headed for the Ozarks. Crawford Anderson married a young lady named Julie “Dula” Sims. Guess what…this is a bit of a unique twist. They were cousins…3rd cousins. Grandma Dula’s mother was named Martha Emeline Anderson who married Thomas Paris Sims. The Sims were people of considerable substance. According to county records, Dula’s father, Thomas Paris Sims and grandfather, Otis Sims, were doctors in the Jackson County and possibly in the Civil War. Dula’s mother was Martha Emeline Anderson’s father & grandfather was William Garland "Long Billy" Anderson and wife Sarah Loveall. William Garland "Long Billy" Anderson was a wealthy man by the standards for that time. In 1850, he owned 6 slaves. By the looking over the U.S. Census, a fair exodus took place about this time from Jackson County & extended family members, such as Sims, & Hawkins headed this way. They also came and moved to Ozark County & Howell County, Missouri and Baxter & Marion County, Arkansas, in the rugged hills of the Ozarks.

About 1875, Garland & Crawford's family all moved to the Mammoth, Ozark County, Missouri, area on Little Creek and started a homestead land. This stretch of land can be found today close to Uncle Jerel Mack & Aunt Velma’s house that burnt and Palmer & Delpha’s home on T Highway.

The Mystery ???

The mystery to me is why only Garland, Lucy, Crawford, and Dula Anderson went to Missouri and left the other Andersons in Tennessee. Garland and Lucy were getting up in years. They left all family…fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters. But, Dula's family, the Sims, also made the journey to the Ozarks.

While I was in the Jackson County Courthouse, in the Recorders Office, I found the deed of sale Garland made to his brother, Bailey, in the amount of $400 for 50 acres of prime farmland.

Questions???
Also, how did they know about the Ozarks?

How did they know about Gainesville, Missouri?

Isn’t it odd they left Gainesboro and moved to a Gainesville?

By records in Tennessee, the sale of land was in November, 1875. Crawford& Dula’s first child was born in April, 1876…in Mammoth, Missouri. That means…after the harvest & sale of land, they traveled 500 miles in the winter on a wagon train. That’s remarkable…that’s almost crazy.

Here is a list of Crawford & Dula’s children who were all born in Mammoth, Missouri.

• Angeline “Liney” Anderson
• Lucy E Anderson
• Mary Anderson
• Abby G Anderson
• Mack Anderson
• Robert Crawford,
• Orlena Anderson
• Elmer Anderson
• Cloves Anderson
• Ethel Anderson
• James “Jimmy” Franklin Anderson.

Here is a family photograph from 1925 of Anderson siblings.

Pictured are Angeline "Liney," Ethel, Elmer, Mack, Lucy, and Abby.

Here is another old family photograph starting with the back row from left to right:

Willie Dye holding Sue McGinnis, Eunice & Mack Anderson, Lucy Dye, Eual McGinnis holding Joni, Lucy Dye, Velma McGinnis, Myrtle & Elmer Anderson, Abby Foster, Jimmy Anderson, Ben Foster. Front Row: little boy Billy Anderson, Ethel Holmes, Ivy Holmes.

My Grandfather & Grandmother: Mack & Eunice Anderson

Mack Crawford Anderson was born on Feb. 24, 1890, in Mammoth, Ozark County, Missouri, and died on May 5, 1962, in Mammoth, Ozark County, Missouri. He married Eunice McNeil on Mar. 12, 1926, in Three Brothers, Baxter County, Arkansas. Eunice, daughter of William Frank McNeil and Mollie Mary Gerkin, was born on Feb. 23, 1906, in Baxter County, Arkansas and died on Sep. 30, 1990, in Bull Shoals, Arkansas. They are both buried at the Mammoth Cemetery. To view their tombstone, please click this link: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirxUr5RpGmNhP4jEIDKOJIJJplwpEvVoS-vdnWCvmd5T3_SH6AVZm3SWTugogYQrT8mMNa2XWWM7dUSo8M7yZBhgq0ZmaKvDa7GQMR0LgiQ4AzdeBTlikOow4WZF4GPbTVYbjD6QzHuOo/s400/SD532390.JPGLSeI/AAAAAAAAAGc/QPYYAVP4uHU/s400/SD532390.JPG

Mack & Eunice Anderson had 4 children.

• Berman Anderson
• Frank Anderson
• Jerel Mack Anderson
• Phyllis Anderson
• James Ralph "J. R." Anderson

Frank, Jerel Mack, Phyllis, James Ralph "J. R."

(I will get a picture of Uncle Berman posted soon.)

The Excursion In addition to our family genealogy exploration, dad and I decided to take a small excursion to Bee Rock in Monterey, Tennessee. This was a last moment idea but well worth the time. We were directed to go to The Garden Inn Bed and Breakfast http://www.thegardeninnbb.com/. Let me say here also, this is a beautiful bed & breakfast with gracious hospitality. We parked our car and inquired of the proprietor, Mike Kopec, for permission to take look at the view from his property. It turned out to be after normal visiting hours; nevertheless, he graciously consented and gave instructions on accessing trail that only took about 5 minutes. We walked to the end of the trail and found the view breathtaking. The view overlooks Calfkiller Valley & Stamps Hollow below. Apparently to local lore, it was called Bee Rock due to Native Americans scaling over its precipice to retrieve precious honeycomb. Hence the name, “Bee Rock.”

Journey's End
Before I leave this post, I would like to thank Martha at the Jackson County Historical Society your all her help. Also, research help from the Jackson County Archivist, Jackson County Clerk, Belinda Ward, and Jackson County Recorder, Kim Barham. The last picture that I leave this post with is a view of the Roaring River in Gainesboro, Tennessee.