Family Research 101 October 4th in Fayetteville

Saturday, October 4th I will be hosting a mini-course in conducting family research locally. We will look at what is available at the Lincoln County Library, the local archives, genealogical society, the state library and archives, and what you can do with the Library's free edition of Ancestry.com.

After attending a great conference at Nashville Public Library with presentations by State Librarian Chuck Sherrill and staff at Ancestry.com I feel like this will be a great class!

2014's Most Endangered Historic Places

http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/11-most-endangered/

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has released its annual 11 most endangered historic sites. These are always interesting to explore, and some do not have buildings on them.

My website

To check out some other projects I have worked on in recent years, visit my website!

www.jillianreal.com

It was created by students at the University of Alabama in Huntsville!

New Lecture Series!

Schedule change: Dr. Molly Johnson will be July 22nd and Kelly Fisk will discuss Civil Rights in Huntsville, AL on August 26

Short Update

Unfortunately, it has been a while since I last updated this site. My work as Director of the Fayetteville-Lincoln County Public Library has kept me busy...as has my 18 month old and graduate work. We have amazing things happening here at the Library, including access to Ancestry.com for our patrons (for FREE!) My recent writing has focused on some research into the Traveling Church out of Virginia that brought the Baptist faith to early Kentucky, and ultimately leads us to John Whitaker's arrival here in Mulberry. John is actually reference in the memoirs of the Rev. John Taylor during his time as a traveling minister in Kentucky. This is exciting because it actually links John Whitaker to a specific church at a specific time and provides further insight into the church he ultimately came to establish here in Lincoln County. This was an exciting discovery for me as a researcher, and it was a huge piece of information missing from my overall thesis research. I plan to take a trip up to Kentucky int he coming year to visit some sites and gather more documents. I will post some of the highlights from this most recent paper soon, as well as the quotes that tell us about John Whitaker's location in Kentucky.

A Day of History

I recently spent the day with my son and step-mother in Spring Hill and Franklin. We toured both Rippavilla and Carnton Plantations. Both were amazing tours and absolutely gorgeous! Both houses stand within the Franklin Battlefield here in Tennessee and are chalked full of history. Carnton was taken over by the Confederates and utilized as a field hospital. Blood stains still remain in many of the room, the most chilling being in the nursery. Rippavilla was used as a Federal headquarters.

For those who have read my previous posts about the Newton Whitaker house in Mulberry striking similarities in the design and style of Rippavilla will be immediately striking.

carriage entrance of Rippavilla

 

 

Carnton is a a wonderful experience and I highly recommend it. To add to the experience, try reading Robert Hicks's "Widow of the South". Hicks uses the house and the McGavock family as a backdrop for a fictional love story.

Friends of the Library Lecture Series!

We are hosting a fund raising event for the Fayetteville Public Library's Genealogy Room! These talks will go from June 26-October 23rd and run from 6:30-7:30 PM. Admission is free, but the friends will be accepting donations from those who would like to give. The money raised will go toward purchasing supplies and equipment for the Genealogy Room, including items such as Sanborn Maps, and hopefully a new Microfilm reader and printer!!

Friends of the Fayetteville Library Fund Raiser

I am assisting the Friends of the Library organization in a fund raising event that will provide money for the library's genealogy room. The schedule is being firmed up right now, so I will have an official schedule up soon. As of now, we have talks confirmed for topics ranging from archaeology, local Civil War history, Native American cremation practices, and I will be speaking on my initial findings on my thesis research pertaining to the Mulberry Baptist Church and early slave relations.

The first speaker will hopefully be scheduled for June 26, and the series will run through the end of October with two speakers per month. We are aiming to end the series with a panel discussion on the relationship between Lincoln, Moore, and Madison Counties and Jack Daniel's whiskey. This is going to be an exciting series and I hope you will come out and learn a little local history!

St. John's Episcopal Church

Located between Columbia and Mt. Pleasant, TN, this church was built for religious services for both whites and blacks. Churches such as this are part of my upcoming thesis research.

Preservation Grants

In April, the state of Tennessee will open up the application process for funding of preservation projects. Until early September, community groups, local governments, and other non-profits will have the ability to apply for grant money for preservation and planning studies, and in some cases money to fund preservation/restoration of buildings.

So, if you are a group looking to create an historic district, expand a district, or attempt to place a building on the National Register of Historic Places, your time to apply is coming soon.

If you are interested in consulting help, you may email me for information. I work as a preservation consultant, and have other contacts that may be of service to you. email: jhistoryfinder@gmail.com

An interesting article from NPR about the public state of Preservation through a look at famous houses such as Graceland.

http://www.npr.org/2012/02/04/146210038/while-graceland-booms-other-historic-homes-rot

Historic Preservation Activity in Tennessee

For those interested in local historic preservation, this link shows the state of Tennessee's announcement of the projects that received funding for restoration and preservation projects for 2011-2012. New applications for next fiscal year will be due in September 2012!!

Follow this link!! http://news.tn.gov/node/7534

We Made It!!!

The Whitaker-Motlow House was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places in November 2011. Recently, State Re. Pat Marsh visited the house to meet the owner and take a short tour.

In other notes, I have a preliminary topic for my Master's thesis research. Continuing with my work on the Whitaker family, I have decided to attempt to delve deeper into John Whitaker's religious activities. I believe John was actively present at the camp revivals held in Kentucky during the Second Great Awakenings. I hope to be able to prove that, but not sure if I will succeed. I plan to study the Awakenings and use John as a case study to bring the implications of these revivals to a local level. I also plan to more closely study early American migrations, again using those endured by the Whitakers as a primary case study. So, those of you following this blog that are Whitaker family descendents, I may be able to help shed yet more light onto your historic and intriguing family!

Update on the Newton Whitaker House

In late September, I attended the state review board meeting held in Nashville. I was there to hear the outcome of my NRHP nomination for the Whitaker-Motlow House recently submitted. GOOD NEWS!!! The nomination passed the review board with flying colors and is now on its way to the NRHP national office. I will know in approximately three months the final outcome! Long story short, the house will be listed, it is now simply a matter of time, as I may have to address some updates or clarifications. Congrats to the home owner, Maria Maroney!!

Whitaker-Motlow House, Mulberry

A few new things:

• Dots on the Map will begin exploring the history of Lynchburg, TN in anticipation of the completion of my new book.
• Watch for updates and links to my new photography website. I have decided to officially open Red Door Studios asap.
• I will also be discussing graduate school and my thesis decision (and the process of choosing it!)
• In the near future I will be starting an internship in Huntsville, AL. Look forward to some history on the historic Twickenham Village!!
• I want to give a special thanks to the Lincoln County Historical Society for inviting me to speak at last month's meeting and for thier enthusiastic support of my ongoing work. I hope to see them all again in November for an update!

I am looking forward to getting back to regularly blogging. Life has been crazy lately and I haven't been able to do as much as I had wanted. But, hopefully that will begin to change and I can update the site more often.

NRHP Nomination

Well, we have made it to the second round of edits on the National Register Nomination for the Whitaker-Motlow House. Things are looking good! The Historical Commission will be getting back to me on further edits, and the review board will meet in September...keep your fingers crossed that we make it in!!!

Whitaker House Nomination

As the process moves forward...

the first draft of the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Newton Whitaker House is due at the end of May!! Whew! Wish me luck, people!!
J

The Newton Whitaker House, cont.

Bob Motlow surveys tornado damage

Before Newton's death in 1878, he sold his house to his son-in-law, R.A. Rees and a cousin of Fayetteville. However, in 1903 the house once again changed hands, this time bought by Mr. Robert Lee Motlow-also known as Bob. Mr. Motlow was a cousin to the famous Lem Motlow, owner of Jack Daniel's Distillery in neighboring Lynchburg. Mr. Motlow resided in the house until his death in the 1950s.
In 1909 a devastating tornado struck the Mulberry area, and according to the local newspaper Bob suffered the greatest property damage in the area. As is seen in these photos, nearly 2/3 of the top story of the Newton Whitaker house was ripped away, leaving the once beautiful home almost unrecognizable.

Another shot of tornado damage

Fortunately, though, Mr. Motlow was a rather wealthy man. As such, he was able to have the house rebuilt exactly as it was before. According to family history, Mr. Motlow hired a crew from Nashville and had them camp on the premises until the house was completely rebuilt. It may seem far-fetched that a house that had sustained such severe damage could be salvaged, but I assure it is true. To this day, the only obvious signs of change are noticed in the variances of brick color on the back portions of the house (as is seen below).

brick variation

Fortunately, for those of us interested in such things, there are some surviving photos from before and after the tornado to give us some great examples of what the earliest versions of the house looked like.

Newton Whitaker House in 1905. Note the taller chimneys before the tornado.



Whitaker House c. 1940s or 1950s.

Whitaker House 2010, post restoration

The Whitaker House has undergone extensive restoration and preservation since the 1980s. In the next post, I will share with readers some photos and descriptions of what such a project requires.

The Newton Whitaker House, Mulberry, TN

In December 2010, I presented my senior paper on the Newton Whitaker House, so bear with me as this topic may take several entries to complete. Newton Whitaker, born in Lincoln County in 1816, was the youngest son of John Whitaker and his second wife Nancy Guess. When John died in 1837, he left all nine of his children a modest monetary inheritance, as well as other personal items. At the time of his death, John remained in possession of large land holdings; however, he did not bequeath this land to his children. The reason for this is quite simple: his land was intended to be sold off (except the land upon which his house stood) to repay debts. Nonetheless, Newton purchased 213 acres from his father's estate. It was here that Newton built his beautiful home. Interestingly, the placement of John, Newton, and Mark Whitaker's houses made a large triangle, and were located quite closely to one another. These houses also very likely closely resembled each other in style and appearance. Newton's house is the only one that remains in its original style. As mentioned earlier, John's house burned after the Civil War and was replaced with a wooden structure that likely resembles the original house, but varies somewhat. Mark (John's brother) built a brick Neocolonial/Greek Revival style house; however, a tornado in the 1950s tore away the second story, which was never rebuilt. The house is still inhabited, only now it stands as a one story house. Newton's house underwent serious tragedy as well, but that is a story for a little later on.
For now, we will focus on the early history of the house and it's builder. Newton was a farmer, and for the most part his land produced wheat and corn. Operations were rather small, and he possessed at most seven slaves at one time. In addition to his farming activities, Newton was a business and civic-minded man. He was a member of the Mulberry chapter of the Free Masons, served as a delegate to the Whig Party in 1852, served on the board for the Central Union Railroad, and helped establish the Bank of Shelbyville. His house shows his economic and social standings very well, in terms of architectural styles. It is a blend of the Greek Revival and Italianate styles and was constructed around 1850. The large front pediment, wide cornice line, and white columns are typical indicators of the Greek Revival. However, the brackets located under the cornice line are more indicative of the Italianate design. Nonetheless, this house is rather high style for a provincial estate. But, it is a far cry from the great mansions of the time found in places like Columbia and Nashville. The use of the I-house design is one example of where this stylistically academic house meets the vernacular. Moreover, the use of square columns rather than round exemplifies the need to "cut corners" and save on construction expenses. Regardless of the intermingling of styles, this house is an important element in understanding the middle class in early America.

Newton Whitaker House, c. 1850

Currently, the owner of the house and myself are working to have the house placed on the National Register of Historic Places. After submitting a preliminary nomination to the Tennessee Historical Commission, we were told the house looks promising for a full nomination. Some of the Historical Commission staff came to Mulberry on March 18 and visually inspected the house. We now have the go-ahead to complete the full nomination!

In Memory of Jaleya..Always Loved, Never Forgotten

Dear Jaleya,
I have started to write this so many times, but the words wouldn't come out right. Today has been excruciatingly difficult though, and I no longer care how the words flow. I needed to do this.

Since we lost you my mind has continuously raced. Thoughts of old times and memories from long ago have flooded my mind, and this knot in my stomach just won't let up. Even now as I write this, the tears keep coming. I think of geometry class and the notes you passed me every day, the talks we had and the laughs we shared. I also think about what you wrote me in my yearbook, song lyrics. It drives me crazy that I cannot remember the song and I hate that I don't have any of those things here with me. They are stored away for safe keeping in New Mexico, but I would give anything to be able to read them again. I know we didn't stay in as close of contact as we used to, and it brings me such regret. I know we have talked, but now it seems like it was nowhere near enough.

Your memorial service was beautiful, and I could feel you there with us throughout. We miss you so much, and you affected so many people in such positive ways that you may have never known. I love you and your family like my own, and I don't know how they are making it through their days without you. But, I promise to try to do anything I can to help them. Honestly, the only time I have felt even remotely ok was when we were all together this weekend. You brought us together in a very special way, and for that I truly thank you. After the service, there was a lot of talk amongst us (and you know who I mean) about taking things for granted and spending time with the ones we truly love. Promises were made, and I truly believe they will be kept.

I know you left us too soon, but from our loss has come much inspiration and an outpouring of love. You would be so proud. In the spirit of trying to look on the bright side, those are the things your life and memory have accomplished. In life, you have always inspired me to be a better person and to smile...your smile, that is one of the things I miss the most. They say that only time can heal the pain, but at this point this is still to be determined. I know my heart will always ache when I think of you. And, I am pretty sure that I am going to drive A.J. crazy with all my texting. But, on days like today, the really really hard days, the only way I feel like I can make it through is to know that he is ok and to tell him I love him.

You will always be special, and I think I speak for us all in your extended family when I say that you will ALWAYS hold a very special place in our hearts...Always. If there was anything I could do to bring you back and make everyone's pain go away, you know that I would. I love you, Jaleya, and I wish you peace.

Book Proposal Accepted

I found out yesterday that Arcadia Publishing as accepted my book proposal, and Lynchburg is slated to be released in the summer of 2012. The book will tell the history of Lynchburg through over 200 historic photographs. There is still much work to be done, but I am getting there step-by-step. If anyone knows of any historic photos that they wouldn't mind sharing for publication, please let me know! The images will be scanned and returned to you pronto! Thank you to everyone who has been keeping up with the progress of my new venture, and as promised, I will keep you posted!