unclewill

Every since I was a small child, I had heard of the three brothers of my grandfather, Will, Cal & Lem. My Grandfather was the baby of the family and remained close to his three sisters. But there were 3 brothers who had not been seen since 1912. Later, I found out from a story told to me by Mildred Boydstrom what had happened, but I will reserve this thought for now. The purposes of this website are simply to show the true heritage of this family, not to point fingers.
From day one of my searches for these missing three, I had searched under the Stinnett surname. Being very young in expertise and a bit naive, I just knew that there were 3 brothers out there somewhere, all bearing the surname Stinnett and all being the children of William & Edna Yearout Stinnett. Finally I got a copy of the marriage record of my grandfather's oldest sister, Aunt Alice. It was shock to say the least, that she married her husband as Mary Alice Yearout, not Stinnett. Also the man she married Uncle John Horace Willix, he was not a Willix at all, but a Willocks. According to Aunt Alice's death records, her surname was Stinnett, but I began to take a closer look at this Yearout name and wonder if perhaps my Great grandmother was unmarried.
I visited Tennessee on one of my many genealogy quests and met with a man known among us as the "guru" of the Yearout surname. Mr. Wayne Yearout invited us in, told us to sit down, had his wife make coffee and he said, "I've got a story to tell you."
I discovered my own direct lines to be completely covered over and hidden away when the well known book on the Yearout Family was written by Mr. Glenn Alvin Yearout. Hard to accept such, as soon as I got home, I signed onto my trusty PC and began to call up a few search engines. Everywhere I turned, everywhere I looked, my Grandfather and all 6 siblings were named as Yearouts. Names of spouses were correct.
Anyway, Wayne suggested that the family of Uncle Will had moved to Chattanooga and that if i would call out there, perhaps I would be able to locate his line. Yearout is definitly not a common name, so i did call, asking information for the phone # of William Yearout. Surprized, there was a listing for a William Yearout, she gave it to me and i called, but was informed that Mr. William Yearout had died about 3 weeks prior. He was the grandson of my Grandfather's brother, William Marsh Yearout. I told the lady on the phone that this was referring to genealogy and she suggested "The Yearout Book". I told her that the book is wrong and her comment was "Oh, you are one of those." Then she gave me another phone number of someone who might help me. It was the number of Mildred Nix, another grandchild. When I called Mildred, I wanted to be slow and thought over in my head what i would say, but instead just blurted out, "Have you ever heard of Edna Yearout?"
She hesitated a short time, then replied, "Yes, Edna was my Great grandmother."
Talking on the phone was simply not enough. I had to make that 5 hour trip to Chattanooga and meet this cousin and she has been a storehouse of information. Like me, she had been looking for the missing siblings for many years, BUT like me, she was looking under the wrong surname. She thought they used the surname Yearout.
I am including in part some of her wonderful letters to me. They contain much valuable information.

Minnie Lane was born 28-Apr-1882 in Tellico Plains, Tennessee. Beautiful blue eyes, dark curly hair, but uneducated as there were no schools available. Her father was a blacksmith. When she was 10 years old the family moved to Dalton, GA. for a few years. She worked for 10 cents a day at Crown Cotton Mill. She gave her parents 50 cents, they in turn allowed her to keep one dime.
The family moved to Knoxville, then to Rockford, TN. Minnie was working at Bryan Cotton Mill when a sweeping revival took place. The owner simply closed the mill so everyone could attend.
William proposed to Minnie as they sat on the steps at the Presbyterian Church. She was 16, he, 21. They married 11-June-1898. People said she was the prettiest bride in the county. Her dress had 12 yards of material. The skirt had 3 rows of French Row Ruffles and the ruffles were frilled out on top of this. She wore a pale blue ribbon sash and a sailor hat with a black band around it.
William was reading "Chauncer Canterberry Tales" when his fatal heart attack hit him at age 46. He worked as carpenter maintenance at a cloth mill in Chickamauga. he was classified a very skilled person. He was a 32 degree mason, had auburn hair and a red mustache. He was good looking with a handsome family, all blessed with high IQ's. They all had a good sense of humor and witty. The sons were all at least 6' tall, the daughters measuring 5'5" to 5'9".
When living in Maryville, William had many different jobs. Once, when delivering mail, he almost drowned in a flash flood that lost both buggy and horse.
Quoted in exact words> William Marsh Yearout was the son of Edna Yearout and Polie Ellis. He was related to Dr. Ed Ellis, Jim Ellis with wife Mary Knox, etc. The Ellis family helped clothe William Marsh's children in those early hard years and the family resemblance is uncanny. It was simply a well accepted fact back then. My quotes> The story goes among the ancestors of Uncle Will, that Polie and Edney loved each other, but back then, divorce was unheard of. Mildred also stated that Polie could have possibly been the father of Uncle Cal as well.

Mildred believes that Uncle Will did not know of the death of his mother. I find this very much possible, the death of William and his mother occured in very close proximity and the families had been estranged for some time. Mildred has told me what caused this estrangement. Minnie Lane Yearout saw Edna coming across the mountain with young Bobby in tow. Both were barefooted and it was a long walk. Will was gone at the time and Minnie did not invite her mother in law in, nor did she offer them, food or drink.. This story was told to Mildred by her mother, who was scandalized that her own mother was so cold hearted. Mildred however feels that her gram was simply looking out for her own family. Whatever the facts, it is easy to judge, none of us are completly free from that. Whatever the case may be, it is very likely the reason for the families to lose contact as pride would definitly be involved here.
William was born William Stinnett in 1876. He married Minnie Lane in Blount county, Tennessee as William Stinnett.
1910 Census, Blount County, TN
William Stinnett, 32, married 11 years, farmer
Minnie, wife, age 27
Callie, daughter, 10
Sam, son, 8
Willie, son, 7
Grace, daughter, 5
James L. , son, 3

However, Uncle Will went through a legal name change after 1910. Mildred has spoke of it.

1920-Walker County, GA census
William Yearout, 42, rents, occupation carpenter
Minnie, wife, 37
William, 16, labor, bleachery
Grace, 15, topping, Hosiery mill
Lon, 13 (This would be James leon)
Paul, 8
Ross, 3.

William Marsh Stinnett-Yearout 1876 Maryville, Blount Co. TN - 1923
   +Minnie Eliza Lane 28-Apr-1882 (MD: 11-Jun-1898, Blount Co., TN listed as William Stinnett & Minnie Eliz Lane)
      1. Caroline Evelyn Yearout 08-Jan-1899 - 21-Sep-1990 Signal Mtn., GA (AKA-Jewell - AKA- Callie
           +John W. Jones (MD: 15-Aug-1917)
             1. John William Jones
             2. Virginia Jones
           +Paul McCauley 22-Jun-1898 - Aug-1984, Tunnel Hill, GA (both buried National Cemetery, Chattanooga, TN)
              1. Nancy McCauley
              2. Ronnie McCauley
              3. Joyce McCauley
              4. Paul McCauley
       2. Samuel Yearout 1902 - 1927 Norfork, VA)
       3. William Lawson Yearout 09-Mar-1903
            +Margaret Mason 15-Nov-1907 (MD: 08-Jul-1926)
       4. Ulysses Grant Yearout 15-Aug-1910 - 17-Jun-1911 (Clarks Grove Cemetery)
       5. James Leon Yearout 06-Apr-1906 - 27-Aug-1994 Augusta Co., VA
           +Genevieve Brown
       6. Grace Yearout 18-Nov-1908 Blount Co., TN
           +Jewell Boydstrom
             1. Mildred Boydstrom
                 +Nix
             2. Dorothy Boydstrom
             3. Paul Boydstrom
             4. James Boydstrom
       7. Paul W. Yearout 1912 Blount Co., TN
           +Elizabeth Henry 1913
       8. Ross Edwin Yearout 12-Feb-1916 Blount Co., TN - 08-Nov-1970 Martinsville, VA
           +Ruth Bailey 1917 (MD: 24-Dec-1936, Walker Co., GA)
       9. Mack Lane Yearout 10-Mar-1920, Chicamauga, GA - Dec-1982 Tunnel Hill, GA
           +Thelma Lee Vinson 27-May-1924, Hollywood, Al. (MD: 30-Dec-1944)
      10. Helen Yearout 27-Mar-1922, Chicamauga, GA - 25-Nov-2000, Bradford, TN
            +John Skae
             +Jesse W. Vess 1921