6 - THE TOWN CRIER, DECEMBER 1991

Some Civil War idols also had down side

Restin’ and Relaxin’ –

BY LAVERNE ROGERS

..Excerpt from article..

"President Lincoln hoped to treat the South as mistaken children and bind up the wounds of such a devastating war and be a united country again, but people in government, such as Thaddeus Stephens, were bound and determined that the heel of the North should grind the South into complete oblivion, especially it’s economy. They set out to "reconstruct" the South, but with the proud people of the South it was a formidable task. I think it was, indeed, only the fierce pride of the South that kept them going. Even in the midst of grinding poverty they always remembered who they were and never allowed the North, with its cruelties, to bend their strong resolve. I think my grandmother was a microcosm of the South. She had to work in the fields on their small farm, but when she took people into her pretty white house, that was kept in perfect order, she was the consummate hostess, her proud head unbowed. She let the world know she was a lady, aware of her own worth."

..Continued from article..

"When we were young we never questioned our status or knew of the great suffering of our Southern ancestors. My great-grandfather, Abraham Stakely, was a doctor, dentist, Trustee of the County and owner of two shafts in a copper mine at Copperhill. When the war was over he was reduced to poverty. My grandmother told of taking cornbread with stewed apples on it for her school lunch without sugar.

Grandfather Stakely was overseer of making gunpowder in Craighead Cave and was marked for murder. His Masonic affiliation was all that saved him.

GRANDFATHER’S BROTHER, William Stakely, owned a store in Madisonville (Dr. Houston Lowry had a drawing by Charles Hunt in his office of the Stakely Building). Great Uncle William furnished the Southern soldiers families food while they fought in the war. He held mortgages on much of the property in this area and after the war he owned much of this area. He sold all his holdings in Monroe County and moved to Atlanta where he established a girls "finishing school." He married a Mrs. Hall and they established "Halls On the Square" in Knoxville, which was in business until recently. Another daughter married a Mr. Smith who owned the "Mascot Marble" or some sort of works and lived in one of the beautiful homes on Kingston Pike. Quite a big difference in the outcome financially of the two brothers.

My mother once told me that great-grandfather’s brother, William was great-grandfather’s bondsman when he became Trustee but refused to help pay Monroe Counties tax and great-grandfather sold his shares of the copper mine to pay them. He couldn’t collect them, there was no money. Another brother was John Stakely of the Bethlehem Community and his brother William wrote him a letter saying he should meet him half way to Atlanta, with a mule, and he would give him the deed to a large tract of land in that community. He rode the mule to meet him and was given the deed."