"Unofficial"
JELLICO, Tennessee
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        This history first appeared as, and was intended for, a series of articles in the Jellico Advance-Sentinel, written at the request of the editor and published in the summer and fall of 1938. These sketches may, for that reason, appear a bit vague to readers not familiar with the section, since they were originally intended for"local consumptions." Although the major part of the town of Jellico is located in Campbell County, Tenn., with only two or three hundred people living on the "Kentucky Side," Jellico's main relations, in many respects, have been with Whitley County, which will account for a slight edge given, perhaps, to data on Whitley County.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Most of the research for these historical sketches was done in the Berea College Library, Berea., Ky.,and in the Calvin McClung Historical Room, Lawson-McGhee Library, Knoxville, Tenn.I am indebted to the following who very graciously helped me with information of various sorts: Dr. W. G. Burroughs of Berea College; Mrs. Walter R. Fendley of Dallas Texas; Mr. Clifford Seeber of Iuka, Mississippi; the Adjutant-Generals Office of the War Department, Washington & Southern Railway, Knoxville; Louisville and Nashville Railway, Louisville; Mrs. E. S. Moss, Mrs. Verna Denham, Mr. Charles Finley, Miss Hattie M. Sullivan, and Mr. E. H. Stephens of Williamsburg Ky.; Mrs. T. E. B. Siler of Charleston, West Virginia; Dr. and Mrs. William Goodell Frost of Berea, Ky.; the Kentucky State Historical Society of Frankfort; Miss Laura Luttrell of Knoxville; the Post Office Department of Washington;,Walter F. Pond and Dr. L. C. Glenn of Nashville, Tenn.; Mrs. L. M. Scott of Lexington, Ky.; Mr. Jeremiah Smith, Mr. R. B. Baird, Dr. and Mrs. D. W. Moore, Dr. J. L. Heffernan, Rev. Parks, Mrs. Sarah Gaylor, Mr. W. A. Oakes, Mrs. Mary Thomas Arnold, Mrs. Sam C..Baird, Mrs. Rachel Scott, Mr. and Mrs. John Barker, Mr. Tom Zechini, Mr. Herman Trammell, Rev. D. W. Donaldson and Mrs. Adam Klein of Jellico, and others whose names I have possibly omitted from this list by oversight but to whom I nevertheless grateful for interest and help. Also to Mr. Stetson Siler for certain financial assistance in connection with expenses incurred during the writing of the history. H.S.

I. Geology and Geography of the Region

Jellico is built on a part of the flood plain of Elk Creek, and on the hills to the east of the creek. Elk Creek is the principal drainage stream of the immediate Jellico area, draining, northward into the Clear Fork(or more properly, perhaps, the Clear Fork of the Cumberland, as it is given in earlier works.) Elk Creek rises in the Jellico Mountains near Elk Valley, and from Elk Valley to Sandy Flats (a mile below Jellico where it joins the Clear Fork the) there is a fertile flood plain generally a half a mile or more in width. It flows with low gradient and is almost swampy in places.
     Jellico's main business and residential sections lie on the slopes and at the foot of Hackler Knob (also called Faulkner's Knob), Reservoir Hill, Branham hill, above the flood waters of Elk Creek. Even the great flood of 1929 did not reach Main Street but inundated the small portion of the town built on the bottom lands created by Elk Creek. (I have used the name, Reservoir Hill, coining it, as to my knowledge it has no name.)Less than a mile east of Jellico is famed Pine Mountain, easily seen from many sections of the town.* Pine Mountain extends as fault ridge from Elk Gap (at Pioneer) to the Breaks of the Sandy in Kentucky, near the Virginia and West Virginia lines. It extends in a general northeast direction, broken by only two water gaps throughout its entire 130 miles, once at Pineville, and again at the famous Narrows near Jellico. If the Breaks of the Sandy be counted, as they sometimes are, there are three water gaps. Lookoff Rock, Well-known to Jellico hikers, and the so-called Billy Schalaily Rocks above Highcliff are the two opposite sides of the mountain through which the Clear Fork has cut its deep and beautiful gorge.

*1965 - Jellico's growth since 1938 has been consistently toward the east, toward the foot of Pine Mountain and it is interesting to note that the city now completely surrounds Reservoir Hill, joining _________________________ Hollow soon to be incorporated.

     *Contributed greatly to compiling of the original land grants-an historian, then, as well.

II. Prehistoric Inhabitants of the Section

The earliest inhabitants of Kentucky belonged to the Algonquian Linguistic group. Much later, but before the first exploration of the white man beyond the Appalachians, The Cherokees of the Iroquoian Linguistic group came into Kentucky. The land where Jellico is now located was owned by the Cherokee, and was retained as hunting ground even after Kentucky and Tennessee became states (1792 and 1796 respectively), and was not ceded to the United States until 1805 by the Treaty of Tellico Plains, Tenn. The land ceded in this treaty included the present Kentucky counties of Knox, Whitley, McCreary, and Wayne, and grants of land in this section became known as "Tellico Grants." Dr. Funkhouser and Dr. Webb, archaeologists of the University of Kentucky, writes that "As would be expected from its location of the Cumberland River, that great southern highway for the aborigines with its wealth of cultural significance, Whitley County is rich in evidences of prehistoric occupation. Unfortunately the authors have been able to make only a very cursory survey of the region but enough is known of its possibilities to predict that it is well worthy of extensive examination." The actual sites recorded by Dr. Funkhouser and Dr. Webb in 1931 include the remains of a town on the Cumberland River near Williamsburg, mounds on Laurel River, Watts Creek; some quite extensive remains on the Snyder farm a mile above Williamsburg; mounds at Nevisdale, Lot, on Jellico Creek and a few others.The earliest inhabitants of Kentucky belonged to the Algonquian Linguistic group. Much later, but before the first exploration of the white man beyond the Appalachians, The Cherokees of the Iroquoian Linguistic group came into Kentucky. The land where Jellico is now located was owned by the Cherokee, and was retained as hunting ground even after Kentucky and Tennessee became states (1792 and 1796 respectively), and was not ceded to the United States until 1805 by the Treaty of Tellico Plains, Tenn. The land ceded in this treaty included the present Kentucky counties of Knox, Whitley, McCreary, and Wayne, and grants of land in this section became known as "Tellico Grants." Dr. Funkhouser and Dr. Webb, archaeologists of the University of Kentucky, writes that "As would be expected from its location of the Cumberland River, that great southern highway for the aborigines with its wealth of cultural significance, Whitley County is rich in evidences of prehistoric occupation. Unfortunately the authors have been able to make only a very cursory survey of the region but enough is known of its possibilities to predict that it is well worthy of extensive examination." The actual sites recorded by Dr. Funkhouser and Dr. Webb in 1931 include the remains of a town on the Cumberland River near Williamsburg, mounds on Laurel River, Watts Creek; some quite extensive remains on the Snyder farm a mile above Williamsburg; mounds at Nevisdale, Lot, on Jellico Creek and a few others.
      In 1824, Rafinesque, that most remarkable early Kentucky celebrity, who was a professor at Transylvania at Lexington, made a trip to Whitley County. He visited (or at least described) an ancient town "on the Cumberland above Williamsburg" but did not give the exact location. He stated that it contained a teccalli, three hundred and sixty feet long, one hundred and fifty feet wide, and twelve feet high, and the remains of houses. This information, with information concerning prehistoric remains in other parts of the state, he included in his "Ancient Annals of Kentucky" which was published in Frankfort in 1824 in Humphrey Marshall's History. Rafinesque's Ancient Annals is one of the most valuable of all early works on Kentucky.
     Webb and Funkhouser examined the site of an ancient village on the Cumberland, on the farm of Willoby Inman. It is not certain if this be the site mentioned by Rafinesque. (I have heard that this site was near the confluence of Meadow Creek, but can get no definite information concerning it.)
     As to the mound at Lot (formerly, Boston), Webb and Funkhouser write "...has been a local landmark for many years. It has been cultivated over, but has never been excavated and is still very prominent, Reported by H.R. Rule."
     Continuing they write, "Artifacts of many kinds and in large number have been found in most parts of Whitley County and residents of the county are constantly finding surface material, which, however, is seldom preserved. Included in this material are unusually fine specimens of flints, especially the beautiful, highly-polished, bi-concave, large flint discoidals, commonly known as chunkee stones' which seen to be characteristic of the region. Mess Hattie M. Sullivan of Williamsburg has a particularly fine specimen of this interesting gana stone, and Willoby Inman has a number of such specimens."
     Webb and Funkhouser cite Bennett Young's Prehistoric Man in Kentucky which mentions a large knife which came from Whitley County. It was eight and one half inches in length, two and three-fourth inches in width and three-eights of an inch in thickness and showed signs of much use.
     To my knowledge no work exists nor has any search been made classifying prehistoric remains in Campbell County. In spite of evidence of a village or two along the Cumberland this entire region was used more for hunting purposes than for a permanent residence by the Indians.
      The early settlers of this section had a few "Indian problems" along with other Kentuckians. In October, 1786 several families comprising McNutt's company were surprised in camp at night between Big and Little Laurel Rivers. Twenty-one persons were killed, and the rest dispersed or made prisoners.
     John Tye and his son and two or three others while encamped on the head of Big Poplar Creek (probably now in Knox County) were attacked at night by a party of Cherokees. Tye's son was killed, and the story goes that two large dogs helped defend the camp, and that one Indian was seriously wounded by them. Joseph Johnson was killed by three Cherokees on Lynn Camp Creek (near the present Corbin) in his house while his wife was milking. The Indians then pursued Mrs. Johnson, but she reached another house before they could overtake her.
      As to the authenticity of these stories I cannot say; they are to be found in Collin's "History of Kentucky," and are as near to Jellico as I can find stories of Indian trouble.

III. Origin of Whitley and Campbell Counties

Chapter 21, Acts of 1806, State of Tennessee, passed Sept. 11 created Campbell County from parts of Anderson and Claiborne counties. November 7, 1807 the county line was revised, and again on October 28, 1811. (Since then there have been a few minor changes; Scott County was formed in 1849, and Union County in 1850).
      Campbell County was named for Colonel Arthur Campbell, a Scotchman and prominent Indian fighter of early Tennessee history. He died in 1811 at his home near Cumberland Gap, on Yellow Creek, where the present city of Middlesboro now stands. Being a staunch Scotchman he refused to call the gap and mountain and river "Cumberland" because that name (given by Dr. Thomas Walker in 1760) commemorated the Duke of Cumberland, "the Butcher" who defeated the Highlanders under Bonnie Prince Charlie at Culledon in 1749. He persisted in writing and calling the mountain and gap "Omasioto," the Indian name.
      Jacksboro (originally Jacksborough) was named for Judge John Finley Jack, who died in his 84th year in 1828 in Mississippi. He lived for many years in Rutledge, Tenn. The site of Jacksboro is land formerly owned by Stokley Donelson, father-in-law of Andrew Jackson.
      Whitley County was formed from Knox County in 1818. Knox County, in turn, was formed from Lincoln, one of the original Kentucky counties, in 1793. It was named for Colonel William Whitley, another early Indian fighter, whose old home near Crab Orchard is still standing.
      The June term of court, 1818 met at the home of Samuel Cox with Edward Reilly, Samuel Cox, Francis Faulkner, Urich Parks, Issac King and John Berry, Gentlemen Justices, and Richard Herndon, Ambrous Arthur, Robert Baine, Jame Chitwood, and James Rentfrow, Commissioners, present "...for the purpose of pointing out the most eligible and central spot in said county for the purpose of erecting the public buildings thereon...after mature deliberation had on the subject do unanimously agree and point out the south bank of the Cumberland River between the house where said Samuel Cox now lives in said county and a cabin occupied at this time by Benjamin Parsons for a grocery at the spot for the purpose above mentioned of erecting Courthouse and other necessary public buildings..." Later, "... and we the commissioners beg leave to recommend to honorable court to call said Town by the name of Williamsburgh in commemoration of the essential services of the memorable Coln. William Whitley."
      Many interesting old records in the old record books in the Whitley County Courthouse may be read to-day, throwing many interesting lights on the social and economic life of the times. One record reads, "Ordered that Thomas Laughlin, Senr., Archibald Jacomay, John Meadowes, Adrian Jones and Thomas Hedge be appointed Reviewers to review the road leading from this place to intersect the road leading from Jacksborough to Barbourville and to review the same the nearest and best way for the convenience of citizens and Travelers, and make their report at our next court."
      No marriage record earlier than 1829 has been found in Whitley County. The first one will bear quoting: "To Any Minister of the Gospel or Other Person Authorized: You are hereby licensed and permitted to join to-gether in the holy estate of matrimony William Crascilous and Jenny Harmon, the consent of whose parents hath been given in writing, and the said William having entered into bond in my office as the law directs. Given under my hand this 27th day of march 1829. Andrew Craig, Clerk. Executed on the 31st day of March by me, John Moses." "Isaac Cracillas" and Polly Harmon" were the parents who gave their consent.
      In 1870-71 a portion of Whitley County (about 45 voters at the time) known as "South America" (where the Henderson Settlement School at Linda or Frakes in now located) was cut off and added to the then new Bell County (Or as it was called for a few years, Joshua or John Bell County.) In 1912 McCreary County was formed out of Whitley, Wayne, and Pulaski.
      The first postmaster in Williamsburg in 1819 was Le Roy Ewell from Virginia.
      Of interest may be the early population reports of Whitley County. In 1820 there were 2,340; 1830, 3,806; 1840, 4,508; 1850, 7,222; 1860, 7,552; 1870, 8,140. There were 146 slaves in 1840, 201 in 1850, and 183 in 1860. Williamsburg had 50 people in 1830, 75 in 1840, 125 in 1860 and 139 in 1870. In 1870 Barbourville was the largest city in this section, having 438 people, it had 138 in 1830, and 55 in 1810. (Knox County at its firs census had 1,109 people, which then included Whitley of course, and 5,875 in 1810, and 3,661 in 1820 after Whitley was cut off from Knox.) Jacksboro had 178 in 1870.
      Lewis Collins in his "Historical Sketches of Kentucky," published in 1848,contains one of the earliest descriptions of Whitley County. Quoting it in part, "Corn is the staple product, and hogs the principal export of the county...Valuation of the taxable property of Whitley in 1846 was $388,332; number of acres of land in the county, 187,967; average value of land per acre, $1.42."
      Quoting it further: "Williamsburg, the seat of justice...is situated on the right bank of the Cumberland river... and contains a Methodist church, two lawyers, four stores and groceries, one tavern, and several mechanics shops. Population of 75. Boston is a very small village, containing a Baptist church, a store, post office, etc., Population, 30." (Boston is the modern Lot, which is therefore the oldest settlement in this immediate vicinity.)
      Collin's History contains a most glorified account of Cumberland Falls, and probably one of the earliest, "The falls of the Cumberland River, in Whitley County, about 14 miles below Williamsburg, are among the most remarkable objects in the state. The river here is precipitated over a shear fall of sixty-three feet, perpendicular. On a clear morning, the roar of the waters may be heard for a distance of ten or twelve miles above and below the falls. Immediately behind the falling sheet of water, there is a considerable cave in the surface of the rock; and a person can go almost across the river by this passage, through an arch formed in one side by the rock, and on the other by the flashing waters. Just below the falls large fish are to be caught in great numbers. The country, for six or eight miles above and below the falls, is very irregular, and presents to the eye of the traveler a succession of scenery as romantic and picturesque as any to be found in the state. The hills and mountains rise upon each other like clouds upon the horizon."

IV. Civil War in the Vicinity

The immediate Jellico region was comparatively free from the ravages of the Civil War. According to Mr. Jeremiah Smith regiments commanded by Houck and Kelly passed through the present site of Jellico. Houck's regiment, he states, camped on what is now known as "East Tennessee." In the "Atlas to Accompany the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies," published by the War Department, Washington, 1891-95, Vol. I. Plate 24 (3), there is a map of one of the marches of Kirby Smith. By this map it appears that he came from Knoxville, through Big Creek Gap (the present LaFollette) to a site very near Jellico, if not right there, where his army apparently divided, one section going to Boston (Lot) and thence across Big Poplar Creek to Barbourville, the other section going down the "Clear Fork of the Cumberland" (Clearford) to "Whitley Court House" (Williamsburg) and apparently joining the other section a little north of Lynn Camp Creek (now Corbin.) According to other plates of Col. Byrd marched from Jacksboro to Williamsburg, passing near Jellico. Other marches near Jellico were that of Burnside from Huntsville to Williamsburg, from Tazswell through Cumberland Gap to Barbourville and London, thence to McKee. Big Hill and to the Battle of Richmond.
      March 14, 1862 there was a skirmish at Big Creek Gap (LaFollette). The Federal forces, under Col. Carter numbered 1300, and comprised the 2nd East Tenn., Co. lA; 1st East Tenn. Co.B; the 49th Indiana; and a detachment of the 1st Battery, Kentucky cavalry. Lt-Col. White was the Confederate Commander. The Federals won the skirmish, having only one wounded; 5 Confederates were killed, 15 wounded, and 15 were taken prisoners.
      The same day there was a skirmish at Jacksboro to Federal advantage. June 11th and 12th, 1862, there were skirmishes at Big Creek Gap again, in which 2 Confederates were killed, and 3 prisoners taken by the Federals. Brig-Gen. Spears was Federal commander and 3rd, 5th, and 6th Tenn. Volunteers took part.
      June 15, 1862, there was again action at Big Creek Gap to Federal advantage. Col. Houck was the Federal commander, and the 3rd, 5th, and 6th Tenn., volunteers participated.
      Still another skirmish at Big Creek Gap took place September 4, 1862, with Federal advantage, and a detachment of 6th Tennessee volunteers participating.
      October 28, 1862, there was a skirmish at Williamsburg, with 7th Kentucky volunteers fighting. None were killed nor wounded, and no advantage listed.
      Simon Snyder, aged 20, and Squire Perkins, aged 27, members of old families of the Jellico region, were "murdered by the rebels" as their tombstone inscriptions read, October 23, 1862 while hunting near Caryville.
      An old legend goes that two Confederate soldiers were forced to hide during the winter in the cave that is the source of the water at Limestone Springs, on Pine Mountain above Crouches Creek, and froze to death.
      Most of this section was Union, and Co. C, 49th Ky. Regiment was largely made up of Whitley Countians. Natives of the section were expected to feed soldiers of either army when they marched through, and many stories are told of families hiding their best meat, etc.
      In the New Mammoth Cave may be seen a room in which saltpeter is supposed to have been made during the War.

Notes:
      1. In the "Atlas to Accompany the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies," Washington, Govt. Printing Office, 1891-95 plate 95(3) in Volume II, " Map Showing the Gaps in the Mountains from Winter's Gap in Tennessee to Louisa in Kentucky" Jellico is shown. Since Jellico did not exist in war-time this map must have been drawn later than the Civil War although the information on the map concerning each gap is "contemporary." The War-Department says that the original map is on file in Washington, but is not dated.
      What is stated on this map about two of the gaps may be of interest. "Big Creek Gap: (a second class wagon road at the foot of the mountain the road forks. The main road leads up the mountain, and follows a tributary of Hickory Creek. The crossing of Pine Mountain is rough, rocky, and steep. Elk Fork is crossed by a small bridge, but is fordable...Clear Creek is fordable--wide, gravely bottom.)" "Woodson's Gap: (a horse track that could be made a good wagon road. Between this and Childer's Gap is a track which has been much used by people who packed salt from Kentucky, on horses.)" (This track crossed Cumberland Mountain, Coming down on the other side on White Oak Creek.)

The origin of the name Jellico is shrouded in some mystery, but is a fascination and interesting subject. The town's name was changed, as we shall seelater, from Smithburg to Jellico in 1883, being renamed for the Jellico Coal, at that time just coming to considerable fame. The coal had taken its name from the fact that it was first mined in the Jellico Mountains (Woodridge, Proctor, and Kensee.)
      First mention of the Jellico Mountains is in C. S. Rafinesque's Ancient Annals of Kentucky (1824) already referred to, in which he delves into the historical geology of the region, "The Black, Laurel, Pine, Log, and Gelico Mountains emerge successively, after the Cumberland Mountains, and an inland sea remains between them, surrounded by sandy hills."
      Jellico Creek, the watercourse that drains most of the western side of the Jellico Mountains, rising in Scott County, Tenn., and flowing into the Cumberland River about midway between Williamsburg and Cumberland Falls, is first mentioned in 1813 as the "water course" for a grant of land among the "Tellico Land Grants." Thereafter for the next twenty or thirty years the creek is spelled in both land grants and deeds in the Whitley County courthouse, with both a "G" and "j," with the "g" spelling predomination. Such forms as Gilico, Gillico, Gelico, Gellico and Gilco Creek (sometimes called River) appear. One of the "j" spellings was Jalico. The "G" spelling even cropped out occasionally in the 1850's, but since that time has disappeared, giving way to the present accepted spelling. Both "g" and "j" render the initial sound, of course, and the old clerks often spelled phonetically, which account for the variations in the old records.
      We have them, Jellico Creek mentioned as early as 1813-14, also spelled with a "G", and Jellico Mountains mentioned in 1824 as "Gelico Mountains."
      Most likely origin of the word has been the long suggested one that is from the "Angelica," a plant which grows profusely in the Jellico Creek region, from which early settlers made an intoxicating drink. The Angelica is popularly known as the "Gelica" or "Jelica" root. From this root would come quite easily the name for the creek and mountains.
      Another theory has been that it is a corruption from Tellico. Mr. E. L.Stephens, well-known attorney of Williamsburg, says that a tribe of Indians known as the Tellico Indians once inhabited this section and gave their name to the mountains and creek, later corrupted to Jellico. Such initial consonantal change as that from "T" to "J" or "G" is harder to imagine than others might be, but is of course possible. Dr. L. C. Glenn, of the Department of Geology of Vanderbilt University, who spent some time in this section while writing his The Northern Tennessee Coal Field writes "I have, however, always understood that the word Jellico was a corruption of the Indian word Tellico, and I think when I was in that region I discussed it once or twice with some of the older citizens, and I recall that they either suggested or agreed to Tellico being the original form. I THINK some very old maps also have Tellico applied OT the mountain ridge now known as Jellico."
      The Tellico Land Grants which comprise land in this section are so called because the treaty by which the Cherokee Indians ceded the land to the government was signed at Tellico Plains, Tennessee, near the Smokies, and a gathering place of the Cherokees, quite removed from Jellico. I have not been able to find any trace of the Tellico Indians Mr. Stephens mentions, nor of any old maps with Tellico Mountains, as Mr. Glenn suggest, although the search has not been absolutely exhaustive.
      A third possibility has been that the name is from a family. The Jellicoe family has been long prominent in England; Admiral Jellicoe of the Battle of Jutland fame died only recently. Was there in early days of this section a Jellicoe family who gave their name to the creek and mountains?
      Until more definite proof can be amazed the question will have to remain where it is. Here have been presented points pro and con; the reader may make his own guess from the facts at hand.

Note:
      1. Land grants in Whitley County have come under several headings. There are a few Virginia Grants, which are the oldest. The Tellico Grants (mentioned above) and Kentucky Land Warrants are perhaps the most numerous. Others are Old Kentucky Grants, Grants South of Green River, Grants on County Court Orders, and Grants South of Walker's Line. The last mentioned are interesting, because they are really for land in Tennessee. There was a dispute over the Tennessee-Kentucky boundary which was not finally settled until after 1820. One line separating the two states was known as the Latitude Line, the other as Walker's Line, the two being twelve miles apart. At the agreement reached between the states Kentucky was given title to the soil, that is , the right to receive the money for the patents, and Tennessee to acquire jurisdiction. The grants on the Cappuchine, Clear Fork, etc., may of the be found in Kentucky Land Grants, even where those creeks may now be in Tennessee.

October 29 1878 a post office was established under the mane of Smithburgh with Thomas M. Smith as postmaster, and the office located where the sidewalk now is in front of the present Ancil Smith home on South Main Street (Now occupied, 1938, by the E. L. Reeds.) On August 6, 1883 the name of the office was changed to Jellico. In the almost five years between these two dates an eventful change has been wrought in the sleepy little settlement.
      In 1878 Smithburgh could hardly be called a town; its post office served the Smith and Perkins families, and the few others who lived around. Prior Perkins had a log house where the J. W. Howe home now stands on South Main, Frank Booth had a residence on the site of Dr. S.S. Brown's home on South Main, there was a house just back of where Mr. William Ellison now lives on Fifth Street. Richard Perkins lived on the state line, and Thomas Smith, James Smith, and Josiah Smith were all nearby. The present Main Street was a corn field, the road to Kentucky following the Kentucky Street of to-day. This road led north to Boston (Lot) and Williamsburg, and south through the present South End across Pine Mountain above Hoot-Owl Hollow (up Anchor Branch) to Big Creek Gap (LaFollette) and Jacksboro (via Stinking Creek and Ganddaddy Mountain.)This was the road that was then used exclusively to the south, and it was well-traveled. There was also a road that led through Crouches Creek, and across the mountain at the present rock crusher to the Hickory Creek section (now Morley, Chaska, Habersham.)
      What happened to Smithburgh between 1878 and 1883? In the first place, both the Southern and Louisville & Nashville Railroads "arrived." The Southern had long planned a line north from Knoxville. Surveying first began in 1867, and continued at intervals until 1880. It got as far as Caryville in 1870 or 1871.
      By 1873 the Louisville and Nashville had gone as far south as Livingston, Rockcastle County, Kentucky. In July, 1880 an extension southward called the "Lebanon-Knoxville Branch" was begun from Livingston, and in December, 1882 had reached the Cumberland River at Williamsburg.
      A race was begun between the two to see which would reach the state line at Smithburgh first. According to records the Southern line was "completed in September, 1882, and the L&N in April, 1883, four months after leaving Williamsburg. However, according to stories told by old residents here the L&N won the race. If this is so, then the Southern tracks were merely completed into Smithburgh in September, 1882, and the first train could not make the run until after the L&N had made its first run. The Southern is supposed to have had bad luck with the bridge between Jellico and Oswego, which may account for their delay. At any rate, Jellico was terminus for both lines, and on June 4, 1883 through trains were operated between Louisville and Knoxville.
      The L&N trains from Louisville to Jellico were manned by Conductors John Rose, Dick Delph, Carey Ashbey, and Pete Renicker, with Engineers H. Farrar, Phil Soden, S. W. Pettibone, and Dan Sexton. Two freight trains operated between Jellico and Livingston, manned by Conductors John Smith and W. C. Stanfill, and Engineers George O'Mary, and John R. Carter.
      Before considering the opening of the Jellico seam of coal in the vicinity let us follow the history of the railroads around Jellico. In July, 1892 the Jellicoe, Birdeye and Northern Railway was begun, and was competed to Halsey in September 1893, opening up another rich coal field to transportation.
      The Knoxville, LaFollette and Jellico Railroad Company was incorporated in Tennessee on April 3, 1902, being organized by the Louisville and Nashville R.R. for the purpose of building an extension from connection with the Atlanta, Knoxville, and Northern R.R. at Knoxville to connection with the Louisville and Nashville near Jellico, thus to form a continuous route from Cincinnati and Louisville to Atlanta. (In the same year the L&N acquired a majority of the capital stock in the Atlanta, Knoxville, and Northern, making the entire route L&N.) The extension from Knoxville to Jellico was to be built through the Narrows, thus utilizing the route which Crandall had thought so feasible back in 1885 (see first article in the history.)
      Construction was begun on May 12, 1902. It was completed and put in operation on April 3, 1905, although trains had been operating over parts of the road prior to that date. By a deed of December 22, 1904 the properties of the Knoxville, LaFollette and Jellico R.R. were conveyed to the L&N.
      This line missed Jellico, of course, by a mile and a half, being built to Saxton, and for years a mixed train known as the "Short Dog") operated between Jellico and Saxton to connect with all passenger trains at the latter point. James Elmore was the conductor.
      The Southern Railway, using the L&N trackage from Jellico to Holton, built the line to Fonde, completing it in November, 1905, in time to "open" the new Clear Fork Field, the Pruden mine opening in 1906.

VII. Coal

The second thing that had happened to the small village of Smithburgh between 1878 and 1833 was the discovery of coal in the nearby Jellico Mountains, and the opening of mines. Mining began in 1882 and 1883 with the advent of the railroads.
      The Jellico Coal Co., (later the Woolridge Jellico Coal Co.) was actively developing the Jellico seam of coal in 1882, and shipped its first cars in 1883. The Standard Company opened the same seam in 1883 and shipped its first car in January, 1884. Smithburgh changed the name of its post office in August of 1883 because the Jellico Coal was becoming so famous. Who named the seam of coal Jellico from the mountain is not known, but it was probably some early geologist or promoter. Just who first "discovered" the Jellico Coal is not know, nor how the earliest promoters became interested in the region. Suffice to say that Mr. B. R. Hutcharaft of Lexington, Ky., Col. Sam Woolridge of Versailles Ky., a Mr.. Kidd, and John Oliver, Horace, and James Fox of Bourbon County, Ky., were the earliest developers of the Jellico Coal in the mines at Woolridge, Standard, Proctor (then known as Red Ash),and Kensee, all of which mines were operating by 1885. Mr. Hutchcraft was also a geologist. The Fox brothers were particularly interested in the Proctor Coal Co., and it was while living there that John Fox, Jr. the noted novelist, got the inspiration for his novel, Mountain Europa and characters for other novels. The Dupont family at one, time owned Kensee, later selling it to Marcellus E. Thornton who was author of "My Buddy and I" Col. Charles, F. Johnson was another early promoter. After 1835 the growth of the town was rapid, with many new mines opened in the vicinity. Crandall's report on Whitley County (Kentucky Geological Survey, 1885) has said, "Of the coals in the measures above the conglomerate division the bed known as the Jellico seam is the most, important...The Jellico coal is already most favorably known in the market, and the question of its extension and relation to the surface features of the country has a corresponding importance. In its relation to the topography of the hill region to which it is here limited, it ranges from 200 to 400 feet above the main water courses...In this region this bed is exceptionally persistent in its structural characteristics, as it is as it is also in its composition, being unusually free from excesses of ash and sulphur throughout... From the preceding-description of the Jellico coal, with its regional extension, it will be seen that it is a bed of great importance to the county, and to the coal trade...The Jellico coal is recognized as a steam and a grate coal of the first rank, and as such it has become the basis of one of the largest coal mining interests in the state. The mining plants in operation here are on a scale suited to a growing industry..." (A picture of the new tipple at Proctor was in the report at this place.) The capacity of the five mining plants is in excess of the railroad transportation provided, especially to the southern markets. The increasing demand for this coal makes additional transportation lines a necessity, the meeting of which will add greatly to the industrial wealth of the county. In the same report Crandall mentioned that "Below the Jellico seam 100 to 125 feet, in a portion of the Whitley region, is a bed which will find a ready demand from its free-burning qualities. It is known as the Birds-eye coal, from the peculiar pitted fracture which it exhibits in unusual perfection ... The field for this coal is the Patterson Creek region, and the heads of adjacent creeks, Big and Little Caney, Mud and Poplar Creeks." Crandall's prophecy about this coal came true, the railroad to the Bird-Eye camp was completed in 1893, and the camp enjoyed several years of prosperity but has not completely disappeared.
      In 1889 there was a strike of three months duration in the Jellico coal field, which was responsible for the shortage of that year. The loss caused by the strike was estimated at 60,600 tons. In 1897 Whitley County fell from the second to fifth place in the line of production due to another extended strike in the Jellico district. The first strike was caused because the miners wanted a check weighman; the strike of 1897 came about because of a reduction in the price paid the miners, and was settled by a compromise with Bank rules being agreed upon. Whitley County was the second leading county in the state in coal production from 1890 to 1896, and second again from 1899 to 1902. By 1920 it had dropped to eight in rank, being led by Bell, Pike, Harlan, Floyd, Perry, Letcher, and Knox, in order named, and followed by Breathitt and Clay. The following are some statistics on Whitley County coal production, according to the U. S. Geological Survey in 1923, the latest I have found:

Loaded for shipment at mines	471,538 net tons
Total (counting that used at mines Steam and heat, and sold to local trade and used by employees)	497,677 net tons
Total value was put at $1,509,000
Average value per ton, $2.53

There were a total of 1,369 workers, of which 1,149 were underground, and 202 on the surface. Campbell County produced 160 tons of coal in each year, 1854, and 1855, after which no record of production appears again until, 1873 when 14,773 tons is the figure. The next figure is for 1880 and is only 1,460. In 1884 (just after the opening of the Jellico field) it was 125,000 however; in 1887, 156,000; in 1891 159,937; in 1892 289,605 tons. In 1895 it had risen to.340,395, in 1899 to 430,553 and in 1903 to 710,564. It reached its highest peak in 1912 with a production that year of 1,807,413 tons. Every year, however, from 1906 to 1924, with the exception of 1921, it has been over a million tons. The 1924, latest I have found, is 1,010,503.In 1905 Campbell County rose to the highest producer in the state, succeeding Anderson, Morgan, and Claiborne Counties, its nearest rivals. Since 1916 Claiborne County has taken the title away from Campbell. Anderson and Grundy Counties in earlier days were the largest producers of the state.

VIII. Incorporation

Jellico was incorporated as a town March 7, 1883 with a majority of the 34 qualified voters of the town voting for incorporation. Drew Smith was the deputy-sheriff of the county, at the time, and the first aldermen W. M. Lyons, R. P. McGuire, S. A. Byram, Drew Smith, and John Smith. The Advance-Sentinel of October 12,1912 stated in part, that "...the town was originally incorporated for the purpose of selling whiskey here. The law at that time prohibited the sale of whiskey within, four miles of a schoolhouse except in incorporated towns..." In 1904, by Adams Law. saloons were done away with on the Tennessee side of the town.

IX. The Jellico Explosion

On Friday September 21, 1906 Jellico was visited by its worst disaster. To quote the headlines of the Advance-Sentinel that told the story, "Jellico Wrecked By Dynamite Explosion--Car Containing Eleven Tons of Dynamite, Lets Go in the Railroad Yard--Killing Eight Persons, Injuring Two Hundred More and Doing Untold Damage to the City. The explosion occurred at 7:47 A.M. and is supposed to have been caused by the bumping of other cars, against the car containing the dynamite while it was on the side-track in the Jellico railway yards.
      The dead were J. M. Cook, master mechanic for the L&N R.R., Joe Seller, engineer on the Proctor Coal Co.'s engine; Walter Rogers, agent for the Jung Brewing Co.; George Adkins, lineman for the East Tennessee Telephone Co.: Amos Bennett, retired; James Reynold, colored, waiter at the Wal-Bruce Cafe; John Gordon, colored, restaurant keeper; and Emmond Norman, Syrian, section hand on the L&N. To this list was later added John Koch, age 20, who was studying for the priesthood, who died from injuries received in the explosion.
      To quote further as the Advance-"Sentinel told the story of the catastrophe: "No human language is adequate to describe the terrible destruction wrought by the force of the explosion. Not a plate glass was left in the town...The frame buildings near the railroad were totally demolished...Everywhere one turns he faces wreck and ruin. Not a single residence in the town escaped damage; some of course are worse than others...Hundreds of chimneys were knocked down to the roofs. All of the windows were swept out, furniture knocked and piled promiscuously about the rooms, the occupants were bruised by flying debris and cut with glass..." Again the paper had to say "The day may come when the city of Jellico will have outlived financially the calamity whose dire results now hang like a pall over all the community but neither money nor time can atone for blood and tears, and shattered nerves have no price that can be paid in gold. The broken family circle can never be mended in this world, and grief-stricken hearts of the widow and orphan will find no sufficient balm save the grace God. The souvenir edition of the Advance-Sentinel of December 28,1906 contained many excellent photographs, taken the day after the explosion and given a graphic idea of the extent of the damage and destruction. A circus was in town the day of the explosion.
      The town quickly recovered from the material effects of the explosion; the main headline of the souvenir edition mentioned above was: "Jellico For One-Fourth of a Century has been a household word all over the World - Being in a Noted Coal Field and Famous as a Gretna Green - And with a Population of 3,500 is Growing Rapidly - Dynamite Explosions and Other Disastrous Contingencies Are Blown to the Rear By the Whirlwind of Progress- That Sweeps Through the Breast of Jellico's Progressive Citizenship."
      Two disasters of a minor nature have also visited the town: the flood of March, 1929, and the tornado of March 14, 1933. The latter, the first of its kind in Jellico, caused considerable property damage but was accompanied by no loss of life. At Pruden, in the rich Clear Fork mining section in Claiborne County near Jellico, several lost their lives, and the camp was practically destroyed.

Note:
      Concerning the fact that Jellico was a "Gretna Green," one "statistician" in 1905 figured that since the beginning of the town some 16,558 marriages had been performed here.

The earliest schools in this section were subscription schools. Some wandering scholar would open a two or three months school to which students would come from miles around, paying for their education.
      After the Civil War there was a real growth in the desire for good schooling in Whitley County. The most important subscription school of the 1870's was the Boston Academy at Lot, which John Wilburn Siler helped to start. Dr. William H. Nesbitt, who has been called the "Father of Whitley County Education," came alone the first time to Lot from Pennsylvania, and possibly originally from Canada. His wife and daughter later followed him. He was a brilliant scholar, and fine teacher and many prominent Whitley Countains "went to" him. He also taught at a school at Pleasant View for a time. Mr. Charles Finely of Williamsburg has a set of Plutarch's Lives which Dr. Nesbitt gave him when he was a young student at Lot. Another of the teachers at Lot was Prof. Napoleon Bonaparte Hays, who later became Attorney-General of the State of Kentucky. Before teaching at Lot he had held large subscription schools at Pineville, Barbourville, and Flat Lick. His first wife was an accomplished musician, bringing to Lot with her piano, the first ever seen there. His second wife was a Miss Hume, an expert French scholar. The Boston Academy was probably equivalent to the first two years of high school. Included in the curriculum were algebra, geometry, and French. The school was well-known and did a fine work in its day. The late Governor Black of Kentucky, a native of Barbourville, was once a student there. Another teacher at Lot was a Prof. McCleod. A brief sketch of the foundings of the Williamsburg Academy, and the Williamsburg Institute must be included because of the far reaching, influence of both schools, and the fact that Cumberland College has sprang from the union of the two. In the winter of 1878 Rev. A. A. Myers of Hillsdale, Michigan came to Berea College, Ky., to visit his brother-in-law Prof. L. V.' Dodge. "He was a great evangelist in the prime of life, full of zeal and courage, with a great love of mission work, with a great vision of the possibilities in the mountains...He was a fine scholar and had every quality needed to make a great evangelist. He chose rather a field of hard labor, the Kentucky mountains." In January Rev. Myers came to Williamsburg, and held a meeting of ten days. He left an organized body to carry on the work, and went north and east raising money for the school he wished to found at Williamsburg. The school was started in the spring of 1882, and although supported by gifts from northern Congregationalists was always a non-sectarian school. It was linked however closely with the First Congregational Church of Williamsburg which Myers founded in 1878, and whose first building was dedicated March 16, 1884.
      The Academy did a great work for education in southeastern Kentucky. Its teachers were of the finest, and its curriculum broad and varied. Many teachers were from Oberlin and Mt. Holyoke. Many fine musicians served as members of the music faculty. For the last few years of its existence it was known as the Highland Normal Junior College. It was sold to the Baptist Williamsburg Institute in 1907.
      Rev. Green Clay Smith and Rev. R. C. Nedaris were instrumental in starting a Baptist school at Williamsburg, which opened its doors January 7, 1889 as the Williamsburg Institute. E. E. Wood of Dennison College, Ohio became president in the fall of 1890. The institute bought the Highland Normal Junior College in 1907, and in 1913 the name was changed to Cumberland College, which it holds to-day.
      Rev. Myers was a man of fearless temperament. He founded "mission" churches in Jellico and Corbin. His life was often threatened by Jellico saloon-keepers whose hated he aroused by his courageous denunciation of liquor. He was once wounded by a shot taken at him from ambush by a saloon-keeper while he was returning to Williamsburg from Jellico.
      The Congregational Church founded by Myers in Jellico (see sketch on church histories) had a subscription school in connection with it, and this school was probably the oldest in Jellico. Just when it was started is not certain, but according to the American Missionary Association of New York it was started is not certain, but according to the American Missionary Association of New York it was mentioned in a report in their files in 1884. The first school was held in a blacksmith's shop on the present site of Snyder's Fruit Market, and was next moved into the new congregational Church building which occupied the present site of the Dr. J. L. Rose house (corner Church St., and Beever.)
      The first teacher was a Prof. Lawrence who was shot in 1886 by a man named Chandler because of some school difficulties with Chandler's children. Lawrence recovered from the wound. His wife also taught school, and was a sister of Mrs. A.A. Myers of Williamsburg, and Prof. L. . Dodge of Berea.
      The school lasted until about 1900; unfortunately dates for both the school and church are uncertain. Rev. Joel (?) Partridge (an Oberlin graduate) was a teacher in the school for a time, as was his son Prof. Ernest Partridge in the 1890's His daughter Mary Partridge went as a missionary to China and was killed in the Boxer Uprising.
      Prof. Elijah Franklin Disney was a teacher in the school for several years, first coming in the fall of 1887 (probably.) He later taught in the Jellico public school, and in the Williamsburg Academy and Berea College Academy. Several of his children were born here, among whom are Helen Disney, now a distinguished Congregational missionary in China.
      The last teacher in the school was a Prof. Rugby, a graduate of Cornell. He was forced to leave town because of a scandal, of implication in which time has proved that he was utterly innocent.
      Judge H.H. Tye had a school on the "Kentucky Side" in the later 1880's. According to Mr. Jeremiah Smith early teachers in the Jellico region were Perry Cross, Mrs. Harmon, Thomas Smith, and Mr. Neeley (on Jellico Creek.)
      The first public school in Jellico was the building now known as the "Tannery hollow School House." It was built sometime before 1890 and served until a new building was built in 1897 on the site of the present school building (South Main and Logan). This was replaced in 1914-15 by another and larger building, which in turn burned in January, 1931, and was replaced by the present building.
      The County High School building on Florence Avenue was erected in 1914, and a large addition completed in 1924. In 1938 a Home Economics Practice house (including classrooms) was constructed. An Agricultural and manual training building is also part of the plant.

OVER: ADDENDA

ADDENDA: Education

According to John A. R. Rogers (Birth of Berea College, Philadelphia, Henry T. Coates and Co., 1904, P. 39) a Mr. Richardson, a man of gentle and loving spirit' went OT Williamsburg not long before the Civil War and started a school there, but was soon afterward mobbed and driven away. Richardson was probably one of a number of teachers and preachers who were working in Kentucky in the late 1850's more or less under the auspices of the American Missionary Association. Among others in this general reform movement the names of John Gregg Fee, George Candee, Otis E. Waters, William E. Lincoln, John White and James Scott Davis are prominent.

XI. Doctors

Jellico and vicinity have always been blessed with the best of doctors. Of the medical attention of the days before 1860 I can give little information. Pioneer families learned to be their own doctors, and there were always those who were versed in medicaments and herbs, and there was no lack of good neighborly mid-wives throughout the countryside. One of these who was very well known throughout this section, and was an efficient "doctor" as well as obstetrician was "Aunt" Helen Smith (see Ellison), wife of John Smith, and great-grandmother of Mr. Lloyd Baird of Jellico.
      Among the early Whitley County physicians were Dr. Turner, Dr. Dickinsen, Dr. Barton, and Dr. Kerns. They all practiced in the 1870's, and Dr. Turner perhaps before that time. A little later, in the 1880's, come Dr. Finley, Dr. Gatliff, and Dr. Moss.
      Doctors in the immediate Jellico vicinity before the days of the large coal companies were Dr. Douglas, Dr. Hood, Dr. Richmond, and Dr. Lindsey. With the coming of the coal companies came Dr. J. L. Jefferman (firm to Woolridge, 2887); Dr. J. W. Clubb 9t "East Tennessee" 1885"; Dr. D. W. Moore (to "East Tennessee" 1887); Dr. L. M. Scott 91887); Dr. Borin (Red Ash); Dr. Petree (Red Ash); Dr. A. T. Slemmons (Kensee); and Dr. McClintock (Newcomb.) Dr. J. L. Rose started practice in this section around 1880, and other early physicians were Dr. Newman, Dr. Duncan, Dr. Finley, Dr. Faylor, Dr. Pascal Petree, Dr. Andrew Smith, and Dr. Jones.

XII. Churches

The earliest church in this section is probably the Clear Fork Church (on Lower Cane Creek, Between Jellico and Saxton, on U.S. Highway 25-W) which was founded in 1797, when this section was still a part of Lincoln County. This was a Baptist Church, as are the following early founded churches: Cumberland River Church (at Briar Creek near Williamsburg), 1810; Jellico Creek Baptist Church, 1809: Red Bird, founded 1810; Old Poplar, 1810; Patterson Creek, 1828, and Wolf Creek, 1837.

BAPTIST

An excellent history of the First Baptist Church of Jellico has already been written by Mrs. Sam C. Baird, although it is yet in manuscript form. To it I am indebted for the facts presented here.
      Thomas M. Smith, the town's first postmaster, gave land for the proposed church (the present site), organized to combat the evils (saloons, etc.) which the coming of the mines had brought. He served as the first pastor for two years without salary. The church was "constituted" August 24, 1884, when the new church costing $400 was completed. The Presbytery was compose of Jesse Lay, R. C. Madaris, Thomas M. Smith, Michael Davis and Adam Siler. The charter members were William Snyder, Adam Siler, John Milton Smith, Thomas C. Mahan, Susan Meadows Smith, Nancy Snyder Siler, Mary Siler, Delphia Hackler Smith, Thomas M. Smith, Jesse Lay, Josiah Smith, Sr., S.A. Bryan, Delphia Lay, Cynthia Archer Mahan, Polly Smith, and Virginia Young.
      Pastors have been, Thomas M. Smith, R. C. Medaris, William Estes, Starling Stanfill, A. E. Gray, William Shelton, George E. Baker, W. H. Cornelius, William B. McGarity, Edgar W. Barnett, A.F. Baker, John E. Martin, Thomas C. Crume, Russell C. White, Fred T. Moffatt, and the present pastor (1938) W. Fred Kendall.
      September 24, 1893 a second and larger building was dedicated, costing $2,824.42. This building was destroyed by fire April 21, 1897, and a new building costing $3,000 was dedicated December 3, 1899. This became inadequate, and was replaced by the present structure, formerly opened May 4, 1913. (Membership had increased from 89 in 1892 to 459 in 1912.)
      Deacons in the church have been Josiah Smith, Sr., Joseph Leach, Thomas C. Mahan, Jesse Lay, Michael Broyles, Jesse Snyder, Jeremiah Smith, A. T. newman, G. B. Creekmore, Ben Sid Branham, William Ellison, Amon Tiller, James F. Archer, Sam W. McComb, Lee Mahan,( There was something missing here )were both built in the fall of 1886.

CATHOLIC

Father Vaulk of Louisville came to Jellico in that year and bought the land for the church, and served as the first priest of the church. Priests since that time have been Father Gosselin (who was French-Canadian); Father Foys (Belgian); Father Cassender; Father Paul Meyer (who was priest at the time of the explosion in 1906 which damaged the churchbuilding); Father William; Father Leo; Father Clarence Meyer; Father Clements; and Father Martin of Corbin who is the priest at the present time.
      Among the early Catholic Families in this section were the Zechini, Butterind, Deschamps, Cappelli, Mabelitini, Dolcini, Marcharitta, Bassino, Rissardi, Cuel, Donnelly, Farrell, Dugan, Dixon, Thomas, Riley, Koch, Treboldi, Gazay, Graef, Comparoni, Pezzarossi, McNelis, Wippel, Di Levrangi, Cassinelli, Bortolo, Bignotti, Bertolotti, Dusina, Urlecci, Filippine, Faginoli, Bonetti, Derico, Pietrch, Staffella, Chabart, Pardlari, Nuldoon, Lynch, Kelley, and Thailer families.

CHRISTIAN

The Christian Church of Jellico was organized in the fall of 1899 during a two-weeks meeting in the auditorium of Jellico's first school building. Rev. J. W. Masters conducted the meeting. The number of charter members was 23. After meeting for a year in the school auditorium the church moved across the street to the office room of the Blue Gem Coal Co. Building, Mr. E. S. Jameson, owner of the property, offering it to the church rent free. Mr Jameson was an elder in the church as well as a charter member. The growing church, needing new quarters, moved again into the old Congregational Church building, worshiping there until 1907.
      A new building was completed in September, 1906, and had not been dedicated when it was wretched by the explosion September 21st. The members went to work again with great zeal in the face of such disaster and built the present church (on the corner of Fourth and Broad) dedicating it on November 17, 1907. Mr. J. M. Cook, one of the charter members, was killed in the explosion.
      Resident pastors have been Rev. Wren J. Grinstead; Rev. R. G. Sherrer (here during the Explosion): Rev. J. A. Holton; Rev. J. S. Hawkins; Rev. O.R. Keller; Rev. H.T. Martin: Rev. A. O. Foster; Rev. C.B. Cloyd; Rev. Harold Hanlin; Rev. Harold Enz; Rev. Cleo Purvis; Rev. Lyle Harvey; and the present pastor (1938) Marvin H. Matthews.
      Charter members were Mrs. S. _. Scott, Mr. and Mrs. E. V. Campbell, Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Nelson, Mrs. Sam W. McComb; Mr. J. W. Ratliffe and daughters Pearl and Helen Ratliff, Dr. and Mrs. L. N. Scott, Mr. W.A. Oakes, Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Cook, Mr. and Mrs. E. S. Jameson, Mrs. Withers and daughter Mayne Withers.

CHURCH OF GOD

Mountain Assembly . August 24, 1907 the Mountain Assembly of the Church of God was organized on Ryans Creek. The Jellico church was the third of the ten churches in the association, the churches at Wolf Creek and Zion Hill being first and second.
      The first meeting place of the present church was in the Oswego schoolhouse, after which it was moved to the Hackler Schoolhouse. A church was built near the same site after this schoolhouse was burned. This became inadequate, and in 1920 the first Tabernacle was built in Jellico on Florence Avenue, being replaced by the present Tabernacle in 1925.
      Rev. Parks has been pastor ever since the organization in 1907, a period of thirty-one years.

Cleveland Assembly . The Cleveland Assembly was organized in Jellico in about 1921, meeting in the old Methodist Church building on South Main Street. After this building was burned they erected a new church building on the same site.
      Among the pastors since the beginning have been Rev. Starling Smith who helped with the founding, Rev. Lettsinge, Rev. Robert Brown, Rev. Batts, Rev. Stone, Rev. Lively, Rev. S.A. Wilson, Rev. Baxter Bryant, and the present pastor Rev. Frank Foshee (1938).

CONGREGATIONAL

Although the records of the Congregational Church of Jellico have been lost, it is certain that this was the first church in Jellico, having been started probably in 1882. The church was not officially organized until 1885 (this date is furnished by the American Missionary Association of New York), which was the year that the new church building was erected.
      The church was a " missionary" church of the First Congregational Church of Williamsburg, Kentucky, and was started here by Rev. A.A. Myers. Who often filled the pulpit. (See Education sketch.)
      At first the church (and the school that was held in conjunction with the church) met in the old blacksmith's building where the Snyder's Fruit Co., is now located. The new building was built on the hill just behind this original site, and stood for many years, until the lat Dr. J. L. Rose bought the site and built his house there, using part of the old foundation of the church building.
      Rev. Edward Bullock was pastor at various time in the church (it is certain that he was in the late fall of 1885). Another pastor was Rev. Joel (?) Partridge. Mrs. Rachel Scott taught a Sunday School class in the early days of the church in 1882.
      Mr. and Mrs. Thomas E. B. Siler were among the charter members and were most active in the work of the church. Prof. E. F. Disney was secretary and treasurer of the church and on Feb. 3, 1894 was delegate to a convention at the Congregational Church in Williamsburg. The church was disbanded sometime before 1900.
      In the twelve or more years of its existence the Congregational Church was a great force for good in Jellico. It fearlessly fought the saloons. For two years it was the only church in Jellico, until the Baptist were organized in 1884. (By its official organization date it is a year younger than the Baptist however.)
      Rev. James A. Amis preached in Jellico and Newcomb in 1883. Regular services were not started until 1886 or 1887 in the old Tannery Hollow School house. During the years before the building of the first church building Rev. W.C. Oagle and Rev. James A. Baker were pastors.
      The new church building was dedicated September 154, 1889. It was located at the site of the present Church of God, Cleveland Assembly. Mr. Conley, of the Elk Valley Tannery, was one of the largest donors of the new building.
      Since the dedication of the first church in 1889 pastors have been W.C. Miller (1889-90); Rev. David Hodsden (1890-92); James A. Amis (1892-95); George W. Coleman (1897); John M. Emert (1898-1902); G. E. Morse (1902-04); Rev. Foster 1904-05); James S. Jones (1906- 08); Robert L. Stapleton (1908-09); James Jefferson Robinette (1909-10); T. K. Willis (1910); James William Boling (1911-13); H. E. Little (1914); W. A. Martin (1915-18); William A. Ragan (1919-24).
      While Rev. Ragan was pastor the new church building on the corner of Fifth and Broad was completed in 1921, and pastors in the new building since Ragan have been Joe M. Hampton (1925-28); D. B. Cooper (1929); Roland C. Elzey (1930-33); William L. Oliver (1934); John A. King 91934-36; and the present pastor (1938) David Warren Donaldson who came in the fall of 1936.
      In some cases the above dates apply to the years appointed (usually in the fall(, and in other cases the dates cover the actual years spent here.
      In October, 1924, the Jellico church was host to the annual Holston Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
      Homer Rodeheaver when a young man in Jellico was a member of the Methodist Church, and has often returned there to sing.

PRESBYTERIAN

Rev. Henry Miller came to Jellico July 5, 1897 for the purpose of organizing a Presbyterian Church. This organization was perfected July 32 1897 with twenty names as charter members. Rev. W. K. Forsyth was the first pastor, and Nathaniel Lafon and J. L. Allen the first ruling elders of the church.
      In 1897 the church met in the Congregational Church building, and subsequently worshiped in the Baptist Church building, the Sedger Inn and the Jellico Hotel.
      Rev. Forsyth remained in Jellico until June, 1899. In November, 1900 a new building was completed for the church on the corner of Kentucky Street and Cumberland Avenue, and this building was dedicated the next month, December 2, 1900 with Dr. McElroy preaching the dedicatory sermon.
      Pastors since Forsyh have been henry V. Escott (1900-1907); George C. Alexander; W. H. Muirhead; Willis Thompson; Rev. Turpin; Thomas H. Wix; and Louis L. Barr.

XIII. "Literary" Jellico

John Fox Jr's The Mountain Europa has already been referred to as having a setting near Proctor. We quote again from it, a scene depicting the Jellico of the time (about 1895) "The journey to the mountains was made with a heavy heart. In his absence everything seemed to suffered a change. Jellico had never seemed so smallso coarse, so wretched as when he stepped from the dusty train and saw it lying dwarfed and shapeless in the afternoon twilight. The State line bisects the straggling streets of framed-houses. On the Kentucky-side an extraordinary spasm of morality had quieted into local option. Just across the way in Tennessee was a row of saloons. It was "payday" for the miners and the worst element of all the mines was drifting in to spend the following Sabbath in unchecked vice. Several rough, brawny fellows were staggering from Tennessee into Kentucky, and around one saloon hung a crowd of slatternly Negroes, men and women."
      The following excerpt is the beginning paragraph of the book (Indian Creek is the real Indian Creek of to-day on which Proctor is located) "As Clayton rose to his feet in the still air, the treetops began to tremble in the gap below him, and a rippling ran through the leaves up the mountain side. Drawing off his hat he stretched out his arms to meet it, and his eyes closed as the cool wind struck his throat and face and lifted the hair from his forehead. About him the mountains lay like a tumultuous sea - the Jellico Spur, stilled gradually on every side into vague, purple shapes against the broken rim of the sky, and the Pine Mountain and the Cumberland Range racing in like breakers from the north. Under him lay Jellico Valley, and just visible in a wooded cove, whence Indian Creek crept into sight, was a mining camp - a cluster of white cabins - from which he climbed that afternoon."
      In The trail of the Lonesome Pine Mr. Fox wrote of a character whom he had known while living at Proctor, "Uncle Billy Beams." "Uncle Billy" is buried in the Jellico Cemetery, where his tombstone reads "William Beams, 1827-1902, Co. K. Ert Ky. Inft., Mexican War, and in Capt. Croley's Co., Nat. Guard in Civil War."
      Mrs. Cordia Greer-Petrey, author of the Angeline stories, first read one of them at a meeting of the Lanier Club, which was probably Jellico's earliest literary and social club. The reading was given at the home of Mrs. Jameson-Jones. Mrs. Petrey, whose husband was mine doctor at Halsey (Bird_Eye), got the inspiration for Angeline from a character she saw at the mining camp. Years later after returning to live in Louisville Mrs. Petrey published the sketch that had first been read in Jellico and it won instant approval, and was followed by several others.
      The Lanier Club had ceased by 1909, and was followed by a short-lived Browning Club. Other clubs have been the Music Club of Jellico, the Jellico Woman's Club, and the present Jellico Garden Club. Among the more strictly masculine clubs has been the Kiwanis Club.
      A brief mention must be made of Jellico's two famous "children", Grace Moore and Homer Rodeheaver. Neither can be claimed as having been born here, however, for Mr. Rodeheaver was born October 4, 1880 at Union Furnace, Ohio, and Miss Moore December 5, 1901 at Del Rio, Cooke County, Tenn. (Dates from "Who's Who in America.")
      Grace Moore, daughter of Col. Richard Lawson and Jane (Stokely) Moore, was educated at Ward Belmont, Nashville and the Wilson-Greene School, Washington. In 1922, 23, and 24 she was the star of Irving Berlin's "Music Box Revue," after which she studied extensively in Europe. Among her teachers have been Mario marafiotti, Jean de Resske, Samuel Chotzinorff, and Isaac Van Grove.
      She made her operatic debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, February 7, 1928 as Mime in "La Boheme," and her debut at the Opera-Comique in Paris September 29, 1928 in the same role. She studied the opera "Louise" with the composer Charpentier, and sang with him conducting the orchestra at the Opera-Comique June 27, 1929. She made her debut at the Covent Garden opera in London June 6th, 1935 in "La Boheme" at the command performance during Their Majesty's Silver Jubilee...In 1935 she received the gold medal award of the Society of Arts and Sciences for "conspicuous achievement in raising the standard of cinema entertainment." In 1936 she received the medal of "Ingenito et Arti" the highest decoration of Denmark from King Christian. She has sung throughout Europe, and given concerts in most of the forty-eight states. Her operatic repertoire consists of eleven operas, Puccini's "La Boheme", "Gianni Schihcchi") and )La Tosca), Charpenier's "Louise"; Bizet's "Carmen"; Massenet's "Manon"; Guonod's "Romeo et Juliette" and "Faust"; Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci"; Offenbach's "Contes d'Hoffman"; and Montemezzi's "L'Amore dei Tre Re." In addition she has a large concert repertoire of songs in German, French, Italian, Spanish, and English, and is well known for operatic arias from the operas "Mignon", "Madam Butterfly," "Manon Lescaut," "Herodiade," "La Traviata," and "Martha." In 1931 she married Valentin Parera of Madrid, Spain. In 1934 she made the successful motion-picture "One Night of Love" and since has mane four others. She maintains a home in Brentwood Heights, Hollywood, California, an old Connecticut farm near New York, and her villa, Casa Lauretta at Cannes on the French Riviera.
      Homer Alvan Rodeheaver, son of Thurman Hall and Fanny (Armstrong) Rodeheaver was educated at Ohio Wesleyan university. His first musical experience came as trombone player with the 4th Tennessee Regiment Band during the Spanish-American War in Cuba. He was the musical director with William A. Sunday on his evangelistic campaigns from 1909-1931, and has directed choruses in nearly all the leading cities of the country, and is, in addition, president of the Rodeheaver Publishing Co., gospel music publishers, in Chicago and Philadelphia. He has made many phonograph records, and many trips to foreign countries, including being with the YMCA in "France in 1918, and a trip around the world in 1923 and 24. He is the founder and promoter of the Summer School of Sacred Music at Winona Lake, Indiana. Recently he has been much in demand for community sings, and directed the Palmolive Community Sing on a nation-wide hook-up in 1936. He is a Methodist, a member of the Masons, and unmarried.

XIII. Swifts's Silver Mine

One of the interesting legends of this region is that of the long-lost Swift's Silver Mine. The legend is by no means confined to this section however for tradition has also placed it in several other Eastern Kentucky counties as well as in West Virginia. Of recent years people have sought for silver on Primroy Branch (which flows into the Clear Fork Between Sandy Beach and Holton), and near Highcliff. Ninety years ago the mine was sought under Cumberland Falls.
      The Primroy legend would seem to be a variation of the legend that places the mine in Bell County in the Log mountains, for in a straight line it is not far from the head of Primroy to Bell County or to the Log Mountains. (From Lewis Collins' History of Kentucky (chapter on Bell County) we may read "In 1854-55 while making geological investigations in the southeastern part of Kentucky, as part of the official survey ordered by the state, (Prof. David Dale Owen examined the supposed location of the notorious Swift mine, on the northwest side of the Log Mountain, only a few miles from Cumberland Ford or Pineville, then in Knox, now in Joshua Bell or rather Bell County. The Indians are said, in former times, to have made a reservation of 30 mile square, on a branch of the Laurel fork of Clear Creek. Benjamin Herndon, an old explorer, and a man well acquainted with the country, guided him to the spot where the ore was supposed to have been obtained by the Indians and afterwards by Smith and his party. It proved to be a kidney-shaped mass of dark-gray argillaceous iron-stone containing some accidental minerals sparingly disseminated such as sulphuret of zinc and lead - which proved, on examination, to be a hydrated silicate of alumina. This ore originated in a thick mass of dark bituminous argillaceous shale, with some thin coal interstratified, that occurs about 500 to 600 feet up in Log Mountain.) (Ky. Geological Survey, 1,222.)"
      Judge John Haywood says in his History of Tennessee, written in 1823 (pp. 33, 34) "Cumberland Mountains bears N. 45 degrees E.; and between the Laurel Mountain and the Cumberland Mountain, Cumberland river breaks through the latter. At the point where it breaks through, and about ten miles north of the state line in Clear Creek, which discharges itself into the Cumberland, in the state of Kentucky. On Clear Creek are two old furnaces, about half way between the head and mouth of the creek and first discovered by hunters in the time of the first settlement made in this country. These furnaces then exhibit very ancient appearances...There are also a number of line furnaces on the south fork, bearing similar marks, and seemingly of a very ancient date. One Swift came to East Tennessee in 1790 and 1791 and was at Bean's Station on his way to a part of the country near which these furnaces are. He had with him a journal of his former transactions - by which it appeared that in 1761, 1762, and 1763 and afterwards in 1767, he, two Frenchmen, and some few others, had a furnace somewhere about the Redbird fork of Kentucky river - which runs toward Cumberland river and mountain, north-east of the mouth of Clear Creek. He and his associates made silver in large quantities, at the last mentioned furnaces; they got the ore from a cave about three miles from where the furnaces stood. The Indians becoming troublesome, he went off, and the Frenchmen went towards the place now called Nashville. Swift was deterred from the prosecution of his last journey by the reports he heard of Mrs. Renfro. The furnaces on Clear Creek and those on the south fork of the Cumberland, were made either before of since the time when Swift worked his. The walls of these furnaces and horn buttons of European manufacture found in a rock house, prove that Europeans erected them. It is probable therefore that the French - when they claimed the country to the Alleghenies, in 1754, and prior to that time, and afterwards up to 1758 - erected these works. A rock house is a cavity beneath a rock, jutted out from the side of a mountain, affording a cover from the weather to those who are below it....It is probable that the French who were with Swift showed him the place where the ore was." (By Cumberland Mountain Haywood must have meant Pine Mountain; these distinctions were not fully made in 1823 when he wrote his history. H.S.)
      Carter county, Kentucky has an equally possible claim to be being the seat of Swift's original mine. The "Greenup Independent" in Feg. 1873 contained a long article in support of this claim, which was quoted in Collin's History. Of it we quote in part, "When Swift was driven from the silver mines in Kentucky by the approach of hostile Indians, he returned to his home in North Carolina. The money which he had with him created suspicion among his neighbors and he was arrested as a counterfeiter. In those days there existed no mint in the United States, and the only test of the circulating money was the purity of the metal. Upon the trial of the case against Swift it was proven that the coins in possession were pure silver and the charges were dismissed."
      From Collin's account of the history of Floyd County we read "The first white visitors of what is now Floyd County were probably one of more of the parties who came to Eastern Kentucky at different dates before the Revolutionary War in search of Swifts Silver Mine' and worked it."
      From Collins' discussion of the history of Wolfe County we read "Swift's Silver Mine, already spoken of under Bell and Carter Counties, is too beautiful and fanciful to be confined to these Counties, but needs must have a local habitation also in Wolfe County - on Lower Devil Creek, 6 miles in an air-line grom Compton, the county seat (which is about 30 miles from Mt. Sterling) Swift's name is carved on both rocks and trees."
      Collins in his History (published 1874) mentions having seen a document supposed to be the journal of John Swift. It was shown him through the courtesy of Co. Wm. G. Terrell from the papers of Wood C. Dollins of Mt. Sterling, Ky. Is it the same journal referred to in Haywood's History? It describes the journeys of 1761 (which began at Alexandria, Va.), 1763,1764, 1767-69, and contains such glowing passages as this: "On the first of September, 1769 we left between 22,000 and 30,000 dollars and crowns on a large creek, running near a south course. Close to the spot we marked our names (Swift, Jefferson, Mundey, and others) on a beech tree...At the forks of the Sandy, close by the fork, is a small rock, has a spring in one end of it. Between it and a small branch, we hid a prize under the ground; it was valued at $6,000."
      The statement that there was much silver ore at Cumberland Falls had general circulation many years ago, and "a great number of persons were deluded into the purchase of shares in a stock company which was organized for working this ore. The excitement was so great about the latter end of 1850 that individuals in other states were induced to leave their homes to embark in this flattering pursuit." Prof. Owen, however, in his report of the first state geological survey, says that what silver was exhibited "must have been derived either from argentiferous lead, employed in large quantities to cupel or refine the metallic ore, or was fraudulently introduced during the process of smeltin or refining - since traces of sulphuret of lead, that might be present in the ore, even if argentiferous, could not supply more that a fraction of a grain to the ounce of ore." (A Cornish Mises was hired to extract the ore.)?
      From all this mass of conflicting legends, traditions, and assumptions, it is difficult to gather a clear picture of John Swift and his mysterious silver mine. It is certain that a John Swift existed, and was undoubtedly a notorious counterfeiter of his day. Also it is certain that he was in eastern Kentucky very early, before Daniel Boone. Whether his mine was on the Big Sandy, in Carter County, in West Virginia, or in the Log Mountains, or elsewhere it seems impossible to know at this date. The prevalence and extension of the legend point to the notoriety of Swift and his silver in early pioneer days. But it should be clear that the sites around Jellico are only part of many others that have been suggested. In 1937, according to the "Eye" column in the Advance-Sentinel a man named James F. Stringfield of Knoxville was supposed to be looking for the mine near Highcliff, and said he had a map showing the workings that Swift had last worked in 1848. This seems impossible for Swift was probably long dead by that date.
      Mrs. Irene King in "Over the Editor's Desk" in the spring of 1938 wrote in the Advance-Sentinel, Concerning a hike through the Primroy section a sentence which makes a appropriate ending for this discussion of the Swift legend: "Silver's alright, but during the course of a walk over that section Sunday we'd say that its natural beauties are of more and permanent value to this section than any silver mine ever will be, for podner, there's gold in them thar hills--tourist gold and plenty of it."

Bibliography

Chapter I:

Crandall, A. R., "Report on the Pound Gap Region" and "Report on the Geology of Whitley County Co., and a part of Pulaski," in Kentucky Geological Survey; Southeastern Kentucky Coal Field ; 1885. (C, part 2.) Page 8 in Pound Gap report; pp. 7, 8, 10, and 11 is Whitley Co. Report. (This book is unfortunately out-of-print. It contains a very large and accurate map of WhitleyCounty, topography by J. R. Hoeing and geology by A.R. Crandall, 1889, with northern section of Campbell County included. It is one of the best I have ever seen and is much larger for the immediate section than the U.S. Geological Survey map of theWilliamsburg quadrangle. This book also includes a rare old photograph of Jellico, taken around 1884 or 1885, taken from near the foot of Blackoak Ridge. Anyone having access to the few libraries which contain copies of this early report should see this interesting picture of "young Jellico." The Old Congregational Church and Buckner's Boarding House are prominent on the "Skyline", and the timberline on Hackler Knob" is much farther down than at present.)

Fox, John, Jr., The Mountain Europa , N.Y., Scribners, 1910. Glenn, L.C., The Northern Tennessee Coal Field; being bulletin number 33-B, Division of Geology, State of Tennessee, 1925, p. 90.

Jillson, Willard Rouse, Geology of Whitley County , included in Kentucky Counties, published by the Dept. Of Associate Industries of Kentucky, Louisville.

Webb, W. S., and Funkhouser, W. D., "Archaeological Survey of Kentucky" University of Kentucky. Reports in Archaeology and Anthropology, Volume II . Lexington, September, 1932.

Collins, Lewis, Historical Sketches of Kentucky , Covington, 1848; also a late edition known as Collins, History of Kentucky , 1874.

Atlas to Accompany the Official Records of the Union an Confederate Armies ,"Washington, Govt. Printing Off., 1891-95, vols. 1 and 2.

Henniger, Mossie, "The Building of the Knoxville Division" the L & N Employees Magazine , Dec. 1931.

Denham, Mrs. Verna Wilder, "History of the Williamsburg Academy and of the First Congregational Church of Williamsburg." (Manuscript.) 1937. (Copy in Mountain Room, Berea College Library Special Collections, Ky.)

Baird, Mrs. Sam C., "History of the First Baptist Church," Jellico, Tenn., 1934 (Manuscript)

Minutes for the annual Holston Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1905-37.

Minutes of the 118th Annual Session of the South Union Association of United Baptists, 1932.

Minutes of the 42nd Annual Session of East Union Association of missionary Baptist, 1932.

Collins, Lewis, History of Kentucky , 1874.