RUTH PRESNELL/PRESLEY
(1832 - AFTER 1870)


Presnell / Presley Family Page

This snapshot, taken by me in the summer of 1997, is of the fertile farmland in the Nolichuckey River Valley near the small community of Conklin in southwestern Washington County, TN. When the 1860 census was taken, Ruth and several of her siblings were listed as living near the West's Store Post Office. This community is now known as Conklin.

RUTH PRESNELL/PRESLEY was born 1832 in South Carolina. At the age of 26, she married William Dempsey Davis. They married on December 30, 1858 in Washington County, TN. (To see a copy of their marriage bond, click here.)

Ruth and William Dempsey had one son together prior to the war. His name was Thomas. There were other children living in their household when the 1860 census was taken. Perhaps these were William's children from a previous marriage. At present, it is not known if they had other children together.

After the death of her parents, Ruth became the overseer of the welfare of her younger brothers and sisters. When her parents died, she made sure that each child was placed in a good home. The boys went to homes where each would learn a vocational trade. Her sister, Mahaley, married David Warden. (Mahaley died between 1855 and 1860.) And her youngest sister, Sarah Elizabeth, lived with Ruth and William Dempsey. (See Ruth's Parents' Family Sheet.)


Times were hard, when the Civil War started, but things progressively worsened as the war raged on. By December 1864, they were desperate for food. Both Union and Confederate troops had plundered and confiscated all food that had been stored and raided their gardens. At least two of her brothers had already died of illness in the Union Army. Her husband, too, had joined the Union Army. This left Ruth with the heavy burden of caring for her family and providing food for them when there was no food to be had. With winter coming on, the prospect of finding food became even more bleak. And, having Union sympathies in a Confederate state must have been difficult at best.

Finally, the only solution that seemed viable was to get out of the war-torn area. So Ruth along with her son, Thomas, and her youngest brother, Amos, boarded a train to head north. They spent 4 days and nights crowded in one of the train's cattle cars with other women and children who were also fleeing the area. During their 4-day journey, they had absolutely nothing to eat; however, the train did stop periodically for water. After 4 days of riding in the train, they arrived in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Here they deboarded the train. Ruth found a place for each of them to stay in the homes of local families. She told her brother, Amos, that when the war was over, and her husband came to get them, that she would let him know when and where to meet the train for them to all go back home together.

Ruth kept her word. When her husband came to get them, she got in touch with the minister with whom Amos was staying and told him the date and time for Amos to meet the train to go home. Tragically, the minister, who needed help on his farm, did not relay the message to Amos. Thus, Amos missed the train and did not get to go home with his sister. He never saw or heard from any of his family again.

Ruth and William next appear on the 1870 Washington County, TN census. To date, I have not located them in any subsequent censuses. Neither have I been able to locate any pension papers for William Dempsey Davis.

E-Mail: Glenda Bastin or Edith Bastin



gbastin@bbtel.com

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