Taverns and gathering places

I don't think any of my immediate ancestors had come into Tennessee by 1775.  They were a couple of years later.  But these were people who were alive at the same time, hacking out settlements in a wilderness.  And since I live in the Appalachians these days, I am very awestruck by what a job that must have been.
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What can I contribute to the Sepia Saturday meme for this week?  (Others may post something that meets this suggestion HERE.)



Can I find something to do with racing, flags, pipe smoking, hats of different styles, women in long dresses sitting and looking around, or little girls with black stockings...?

And the actual print has this description at Sepia Saturday.
Opening Of Norwood Sports Pavilion (1909) East Riding Archives Flickr Stream

However faded the print may be,  the celebrations are clearly visible, with flags flying and the very best hats being worn. The occasion was the opening of the new pavilion for the Beverley Town Cricket, Bowling and Athletic Club, in Beverley, East Yorkshire. The eagle eyed amongst us may just notice a cricket score in the background. Whatever game you play and whatever theme you care to identify and follow in this fine old photograph, all you have to do is to post a post on or around Saturday 15th July 2017 and link it to the list below.

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Bean Station Tennessee never had anything to do with cricket, bowling or the kind of pavilion that is shown above, I'll just bet.

The Bean Station Inn, pencil drawing (not clear focus)

My Tennessee settling ancestors were coming from Virginia, over passes, along trails that may have been cut by Daniel Boone.

Tavern at Bean Station

The tavern pictured in my header at the very top of my blog is where my ancestors may have wet their whistles many years later, (1850) the ones who had trekked out to Willis, Walker County, Texas.  The Rogers landed there before the civil war, having settled originally in Tennessee in 1794.

(Here's the header pic that has since been changed...)

The Holston River ran along Bean Station and was the route taken towards what would one day become Nashville.  It runs into the Tennessee River, which runs into the Ohio, which runs into the Mississippi, thus this was a major river artery for going west.  But I dare say that the Rogers of Sevier County (further south in the mountains near the Smokeys) would have travelled by land.  Many of the families settled in northern Louisiana rather than going on to Texas.

Today Bean Station overlooks the Cherokee Reservoir, held behind a TVA dam and hydroelectric facility of the same name, located downstream from Bean Station.  TVA is the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built many dams and formed reservoirs all over Tennessee in the 1930s through 50s.  It was the aim to provide rural electricity to many people who lived out on farms a long distance from cities.  Telephones came about the same time, once poles and wires were laid.  And the reservoirs became lakes for recreation.

Today Bean Station is at the junction of US Highways 11W and 25E, and there is a crossing through several islands in the Cherokee Reservoir, or perhaps they still see it as the Holston River there.  Once you get on the south shore from Bean Station there's an Old Kentucky Road in Morristown, TN.

Red ball is Bean Station

Bean Station is about 2 hours from where I live, using an interstate highway system, crossing at least 2 of those TVA reservoirs, going through some tunnels in the mountains.

Property for sale in Tennessee currently

Some more photos from Willis TX

1915 tomato farmers were bringing their crop to the rails in Willis, TX

And the following clipping is a 1887 news story about vigilante justice in Willis, TX - a bit of wild west law

The Old Woodbridge Boarding House in Willis, TX.

In the late 1800s, a school for all ages, some students were housed in nearby dormitories.  The school building is gone now, but a historic marker and the school bell are nearby still.

 The Willis water tower.

In the Longmire area of Willis, a couple of homesteaders take a water break from plowing.  The couple are Homer and Delfia Calfee, photo taken around 1900.

The King Hotel, popular for train travelers from late 19th century to early 20th century.  I'm pretty sure this is a different building from the one depicted in a previous post Here. 

Poppy's birthplace

Not everyone would get excited about finding pictures of the place where their grandfather had been born.  Just a bunch of genealogy freaks like me.

Traces of Texas, a Facebook site which frequently shares old vintage photos that it's members have sent in, posted some from Willis, Texas last week.  And it wasn't just one photo, it was a Facebook site for the City of Willis Texas!  I felt like I'd struck gold.

That's because the last article I found on the town had said it wasn't anything anymore, because the railroad had passed it by when it was where people could travel.  Ah ha, not so any longer!  Of course I knew that, but didn't search any more. And my grandfather never told any stories from his life.  He was a joker, and always had the family laughing. I think he coped with some tragedies in his life by learning that shared laughter was a glorious thing. He only lived until the year I graduated high school.

Poppy (my father's father) was born in Willis Texas, on August 28, 1877.  George Elmore Rogers, Sr.

Posted on Facebook by - Traces of Texas June 13 at 5:00pm · 

The City of Willis, Texas graciously shared this wonderful circa 1900 photo of downtown Willis. The city has a nice webpage with all sorts of historical photos and current information about Willis.

1880 Census from Willis Texas.

George Rogers is line 18 in the household #183, of widow Betty Rogers, who was "keeping house." He was 2 at that time, and his little sister was 1 year old.

His sister had been born in March, and his father died in May of 1879. George's father, William Sanford Rogers died at age 29 and was buried in the Rogers family plot in Huntsville, TX, where he had been born and raised.  However by the time he was an adult, he met and married Betty (Elizabeth) Bass of Old Wavery, TX in Willis TX on Dec 15, 1876.  The information on this wedding includes the pastor being Rev. D. S. Snodgrass.

It's funny how some details are carried along, and others lost.  Why did they move to Willis?  How did they meet? What killed him so young? Was Betty Bass Rogers really only 19 and widowed with 2 children as it says in the census? (No definite records of her birth have been found and she gave different ages on different census records.)

And how did the widow survive? I think in those days she would have moved in with relatives.  She had several sisters.  And her husband had a fairly large family.  But perhaps in 1879 things were difficult. However, there she is in the census of 1880 living with her two children in Willis, Texas.

I have a census record from 1900 where my grandfather again was still living with his mother and sister, but then in Galveston, TX, which was a city much like Houston is now.  By that time he was 22 and working as an accountant.  That census was taken in June of the year of the horrible Storm of 1900 which came in September and wiped out much of the city and as many as 6000 lives.  My grandfather not only survived, but I'm sure he helped in the massive cleanup afterwards.

I'm reposting some photos that were on the City of Willis, TX  Facebook page, HERE.

Hotel on corner of Montgomery St, Willis TX, around the turn of the Century (1900)

1910 Willis Saloon, Billiy Wilson and J. P. Paddock with a mascot on the bar.

Where was this saloon?

The Willis City person said, "I believe it was in one of the old brick buildings of the downtown strip still standing."

Look at the first photo where there is, indeed, a Saloon depicted! 

OK, there is much more I can learn about Willis, TX.  I'll do that, then do some editing and share with you later...the things that seem pertinent at least.

And I'm sharing this with my Sepia Saturday friends, though it has nothing to do with the meme for this week.  But you might enjoy seeing what the others have posted HERE (down where all the names are listed.)