Person Page 272

from Tracy DeVault:

D.D David Rice McAnally was also known as D. E. McAnally. He was also known as D. E. McNally. He was also known as D. R. McAnary. He held the title Rev. He was an Editor of the "St. Louis Christian Advocate."

Dr. David Rice McAnally D. D. (1810-1895) was a prominent Minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church South. In his early years he served as a circuit rider visiting churches in Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee. In 1843 he became President/Principal of the Knoxville Female Academy. (In 1946 the academy's name was changed to the "East Tennessee Female Institute.") In 1851 he moved to St. Louis, Missouri and became editor of the “St. Louis Christian Advocate.” Except for a few years during and after the Civil War, he held that position until his death. In 1856, he founded Carondelet Methodist Episcopal Church South. Dr. McAnnally was a strong supporter of higher education. In the Central Methodist College, on the ground floor of Bannock Hall is a plaque that reads:

To the Memory of David Rice McAnally

Preacher Educator

Editor Author

Curator Staunch Friend of Central College

Prior to his marriage to Julia Reeves, David was married to Mary Ann Patton Thompson. They had three children that died in infancy and three that lived to maturity.

In 1975 his great-granddaughter, Frances McAnally Blackburn Hilliard, published a biography of David Rice McAnally titled, "Stepping Stones to Glory, From Circuit Rider to Editor and the Years in Between, Life of David Rice McAnally D. D., 1810 - 1895."

Dr. McAnally's private papers are located in the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis.

The following is a portion a a paper titled "Family Reminisences," by Reverend David Rice McAnally dated: 08 November 1837. The original is in the Missouri State Historical Society Archives

Family Reminisences:

My Great, Great, Grandfather McAnally was kidnapped near the mouth of the Fourth in Scotland and brought to America and set down to shift for himself near Philadelphia on the American coast at eight years of age. His account of this matter was in substence as follows - He was playing with some nabor [neighbor] boys on the banks of the above mentioned River where they discovered a large earthen pot filled with money. The father of the boys sent him to his fathers who lived at some distance with directions to tell his father to come and assist in the division of the money. On his way he was over taken by a man on horseback who enquired of him where he was going and upon bing informed proposed that he should ride behind him he accordingly mounted but instead of alighting at his fathers he was put on board of vessel just ready to sail for America and was soon after landed near Philadelphia. Here he remained untill he came of Mans estate when he married a woman by the name of Houston and settled on the Susquehannah river near the mouth of Sweet Arrow Creek, in Lancester county Pennsylvania. He was never able to assign any probable cause for his being kidnapped - except that the individual near whose house the treasure was found might possess himself of it entire. The only data we now have as to the time of his arrival in America is as follows - The family account says - that his son John, My Great Grandfather - was born in the 28th year of his fathers age, and he died in 1796 aged 83. As his father came at 8 years old, he was here 20 years before his sons birth and 103 before his death. One hundred and three years taken from 1796 the year in which John died leaves 1693 which must have been the year of his arrival.

On the Susquehannah where he first settled he raised his family consisting of three children John Charles and Mary - After his death these children all of whom had previously married removed to Virginia then Armherst county. The daughter Mary married a Mr. Shannon who after living awhile in Virginia removed to North Carolina - and that is the last authentic account of them which I have ever been able to obtain. In 1757 Charles removed his family to Dan River in North Carolina where some of his decendents still remain. John my great grandfather remarried in Virginia untill 1792 - when he followed his son David My Grandfather who the year previously had removed to Hawkins County C-Tenn. Here he and his wife who was originally a Houston both died - the former in May 1796 - They both now lie in an old burying ground in the north side of Holston River near the road now leading form Rogersville to Kingsport in the naborhood of what is call McPheeters bend. My grandfather was born in Armherst Co- Va in August 1748. In March 1768 he Marrid Martha Pannell daughter of Thomas & Kesiah Pannell. He who was of English decent on her fathers side her mother was a quartroon of the Shawnee tribe. He was born in 1748 and died in 1789 leaving nine children one an infant. In 1790 my grandfather married a second time. In 1791 he removed from Va to Hawkins Co. Tenn - In 1796 he removed from this to Grainger Co - near the mouth of German Creek - In 1803 he removed from this to the waters of Indian creek in the same Co. where he died 24 of Dec 1834 aged 86 years. He was far near forty years or upwards before his death = an acceptable member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and left hehind him a lasting testimony of the truth and efficacy of the religion of Christ, of its supporting influence in death and of the hope of a blessed immortality with which it inspires the soul.

In the struggles for American Liberty he bore an active part serving thru campaigns in the capacity of a Captain.

My Father Charles McAnally was the third son of David and Martha McAnally and was born in Armherst county, Va in the 11th of Nov 1775. Accompanyed his father to Tennessee in 1791- In 1798 he married a Miss Molly Shelton - Dec 25. In March 1800 he removed to the waters of Indian creek where he has since remained wer since - In May 1807 His wife died leaving three small daughters. In 1809 He married my Mother Elizabeth Moore daughter of Rev. Rice & Elizabeth Moore by this marriage he has five children, four sons and one daughter. Of the sons I am of dist- He joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in June 1803 - In the latter part of 1809 he was licenced to exhort in sd church. In 1811 he was licenced as a local preacher. In 1818 he was ordained Deacon by Bishop McKendree. In 1822 he was ordained Elder by Bishop George. Besides his ministrial labors he has far a number of years served his fellow men in several capacities. for twelve years successively he performed the duties of high sheriff of Graniger county- for almost twice that number he acted as justice of the Peace in the same Co- and hundreds can bear testimony to his attentions as a physician. He has lived to see most of his children grow up around him and has the satisfaction of remembering that though poor - they are all of irreproachable moral charracter. He is now (Nov. 8th 1837) living where he formerly has for many years and in the enjoyment of peace and competence.

Of my mothers family I never learned much - her mother was a Madison first cousin to James Madison President of the U.S. a family well known in Virginia.

Obituary -- The Comet, September 22, 1891:

An Old Citizen Gone

Peter M. Reeves, father of Col. E. C. Reeves, of this city, died yesterday at 10 a. m., aged 84 years, 8 months and five days. Mr. Reeves has been in a critical state of health for a long time, and his death was not unexpected. The funeral services will occur at the old homestead, two and a half miles from this city, today at 10 o'clock.

The following information provided by Peter Miller Reeves' granddaughter, Myra Gaines Reeves Hardin (via Tracy DeVault):

Peter Miller Reeves was my paternal grandfather. There is not a great deal that I can tell about him that is not in "Ancestral Sketches", by LeRoy Reeves.

He married Matilda DeVault and they were the parents of two girls and four boys besides a baby that is mentioned in the book. I have heard that there were also two "blue babies" that died.

Grandfather was a strong man and I have heard the story often about the load of bricks he carried up the scaffolding, but like LeRoy, I forgot how many.

In many ways he was a good man, seeming to keep all the kin who did not have a home, until they died. I have heard that they used to bake 100 huge hand-made-out biscuits for breakfast, and that Grandfather would butter a plateful while they were hot and lay out four on Grandmother's plate. They had a slave boy, Joe, that they were very fond of, and Joe had a small table in the corner of the dining room, and whatever his masters had, he had too.

When Grandfather was a young man he and others of the kin went to a wedding at the old DeVault place down on the Watauga River. That was at the time of what is called the Cold Friday and Saturday. My father used to have the date on a piece of paper he kept in his old clock. They all had to spend two or three days at the DeVault place and it was so bitterly cold that they kept roaring fires day and night. No one could stay outside long, and a stout young man would wrap up and dash out to the wood pile and chop furiously for a few minutes, and as my father used to say, "break and run back to the house," to be replaced by another chopper. The next morning they had to break the ice from the horses' mouths before they could eat, where their breath had frozen.

But Grandfather had a seamy side, too. His disposition was stormy. I have heard my father laugh about how he used to dump anything on the floor that he found on a chair, including the women's bonnets. The Sabbath Day was strictly kept, and when my uncle's wife was first married, she opened the piano one Sunday to play and he told her that it was one of the rules of the house that the piano not be played on Sunday. Aunt Rhoda closed it and said that if such were the rules of his house she would abide by them, but that having her play and sing to him on Sunday was one of her father's greatest pleasures. Her father was Rev. Taylor, father of the two brothers who were governors of Tennessee.

Several of his children lived there for some time after they married. My father and mother lived there six years, then built a house just across the fields from him and moved to it. By then Grandfather was getting a little childish, and he was always very proud of their early garden -- so was my father proud of his. One Sunday Grandfather went out to spend the day at his son's and found my mother was cooking green beans for dinner. His garden had not yet produced any, so he decided it was wrong to cook beans on Sunday and went home in a huff, to their great amusement.

But he was highly respected by his children, as well as both feared and loved. And they copied him to a great extent. For one thing, none of his children would eat chocolate in any form. As a child I was not allowed to read a book on Sunday or to write letters. Nor could I play what we called the organette, a sort of hand organ that played a sheet almost exactly like that used in a player piano. I used to say that it did look to me like they should have copied his better traits.

Grandfather had a dream one night and in it he saw himself and all his daughters-in-law laid out for burial, in the order in which they died, and on each breast was a cross. He saw himself first, then Aunt Addie, Aunt Alice, my mother, and Aunt Rhoda last. They died in that order. The cross of flowers was on each breast -- some accidentally and some because they remembered and put them there -- all but Aunt Rhoda. They forgot hers, because the ones who knew about it were most of them dead or away.

In Grandfather's big old house was a room, still there, called the Haunted Room. Back when Grandfather entertained all the preachers who came his way, some of them begged not to be put in that room. I don't know what they heard, but I have heard my father tell that one night Aunt Addie -- Uncle Fred's* twin sister -- and a friend of hers, a Miss Carr, were sleeping up there. In the night he heard terrible screams and was sure they were being murdered and ran as fast as he could to the rescue. Both were hanging out of the window screaming for help. It seems a mysterious force insisted on pulling the covers from their bed -- which would make most people faint instead of scream. My brother and a cousin once spent the night in that room, after they were grown, and they lay awake all night listening to breathing in the other bed.    It was a huge upper room. I remember there was a tree near the north window and I used to watch the flying squirrels leap from roof to tree.

I slept in the room many times, but I never saw or heard anything unusual. The ghost never walked for me, and strange to say, I never gave it a thought. But now I often dream of that room and of being terribly afraid.

Grandfather and his brother, William, both had cataracts, but I don't think either went entirely blind. Grandfather died of old age that took the form of softening of the brain.

Uncle Fred's wife, Addie Boring, was Grandfather's favorite. He requested that she help lay him out.    This she did, although she was pregnant at the time.

(Peter Miller Reeves, son of Edward Prothero Reeves and Mary Miller, was born 16 Jan 1807 near Jonesboro, TN, and died 21 Sept 1891 near Jonesboro.)

Note: George Alexander Reeves was called Fred.

Notes for ELBERT CLAY "EB" REEVES (via Tracy DeVault):

LETTER - Elbert Clay Reeves to Eva Dawalt, dated January 26, 1923

"Dear Miss Dawalt:

"Yours of Dec. 29th to Mr. A. Beverly DeVault, of this city, has been turned over to me for answer.    I fear I cannot assist you much in tracing the "Dawalt" ancestry.

"About the last of the year 1700, or near the beginning of the year 1800, one Henry Devault of York County, Pennsylvania, came to this (Washington) county, Tennessee, and located four sons, Frederick and Valentine in this county and Henry and Gabriel in the adjoining county of Sullivan.

"Valentine had four sons: Isaac, John, Jacob (grandfather of A. B. DeVault) and Valentine. Also there were three girls; Elizabeth married Rev. James Miller; Mary married W. P. Reeves; and Matilda (my mother) marred P. M. Reeves in 1836. One daughter of Henry DeVault, Mary, who came from the said county of York, had married Martin Kitzmiller, who came from York County, or from Maryland, near Pennsylvania, and my memory fails me which.

"That you are "mixed up" with our Devaults here, I have no doubt. I have a theory and give it to you for what it is worth: Henry Devault of York County, Pennsylvania, was your great-great-grandfather. The trouble is with the name for I never heard of a "Dawalt" in my life until I read your letter.    There are Dewalds, full Germans, in North Carolina, and I went to the Public Library in Washington and sought to ascertain if Devault and Dewald came from the same name. The librarian said, "No, Dewald is German, and Devault is French, originally 'DeVaux'." Then I remembered that my Uncle Valentine had told me, "Our people came originally from France near the German line, in Alsace-Lorraine, half and half in blood, though they spoke the German language." When I returned home and reported the "DeVaux", then our Devault or Davault kin (for some wrote it one way and others the other way; even brothers differed in the writing of their names) fell on to DeVault, and took on the capital V.

"All in all, I take it that we are of kin.

Very sincerely,

Your supposed kinsman,

E. C. REEVES (Signed)"

EXCERPTS FROM LETTER --   Elbert Clay Reeves to Eva Dawalt, dated May 17, 1923:

"You are a kind, good cousin. Your letter of the 3rd with the history of the ancient Dawalts is indeed interesting. The facts stated, along with the facts in a former communication, show conclusively that your lineage, mine and a host of other descendants date back to Henrich Dewalt (Henry DeWalt, German; Henri DeVaux, French; Henry Dawalt, English - take your choice).

"The Sullivan County farms, given to Gabriel and Henry, I have seen, and while my mother often spoke of "Uncle Gabriel", and I knew some of his descendants here in Tennessee, I don't remember her referring to "Uncle Henry". He must have left these parts and gone west before her day, or when she was very young. [Note: Mrs. Reeves was born in 1812, Henry Dawalt built the third house in Salem, Indiana, in 1803.]

"My grandfather, Valentine, was the largest farmer in Washington County (Tennessee), the largest slave owner in the county, and keeping up the habit formed in Pennsylvania, owned a distillery. Some of his slaves, I suppose he brought with him from Pennsylvania, for one old Negro woman, said to have been kidnapped and brought from Africa, who was believed to have been over one hundred years of age when she died, use to speak to me, when I was a small boy, of things that happened in "York". I had no idea then where "York was. When old "Aunt Clara" became incapacitated, she just lived around among the "kin". She claimed the white folk as her "kin".

Your kinsman,

E. C. Reeves (Signed)"

Note (Tracy DeVault): Some of the facts in the above letters are not entirely accurate.  In particular, the embedded note that Eva Dawalt wrote about Henry Dawalt building the third house in Salem, Indiana in 1803 appears to be an error, at least to the date. I suspect Eva passed this misinformation on to Newland DeVault. Newland, in his report, also said that Henry Dawalt moved to Washington County, Indiana about 1803, however, information has come to light that shows that Henry and family did not move to Indiana until about 1811. It is now believed that from about 1803 until 1811 the family lived in Claiborne County, Tennessee. Henry's first five children always reported in census records that they were born in Tennessee. (The last of these five, Elizabeth, was born in 1809.) It was only the last two children that said they were born in Indiana.

Obituary – Johnson City Chronicle, Johnson City, Tennessee; Wednesday, 25 SEP 1929, page 4 (Newspapers.com):

ELBERT C. REEVES

Col. Elbert C. Reeves, 88, died at 4:35 o’clock Tuesday morning, in a hospital in East Radford, Virginia, following an illness of a few weeks.

With arrival of the remains in Johnson City on Southern train No. 25 Tuesday afternoon, it is announced that funeral services are to be conducted Thursday afternoon at three o’clock, from the Munsey Memorial church, and will be in charge of Dr. C. K. Wingo, pastor of that church, and Rev. E. E. Wiley, presiding elder of Morristown. Pending the funeral, the body will be in state at Appalachian Funeral Home, Road street, until noon Thursday.

Burial will be in Monte Vista Burial park.

Active pall bearers named are A. H. Abernathy, B. B. Snipes, Sam Bailey, J. A. Vines, Pal B. Carr and C. P. Faw.

Honorary pall bearers, who are trustees of Munsey Memorial church, recent associates of Col. Reeves in that body, are to be James A. Martin, H. H. Dyer, E. C. Lockett, S. S. Crumley, S. C. Williams, C. L. Marsh, George S. Hannah, J. C. Campbell.

Col. Reeves was one of those who should be termed foundation stones of the civic, religious and commercial development of Johnson City and the vicinity. Born near Johnson City on March 2, 1841, he spent his entire life here, and was actively connected with the public and social life of the city to a degree given to but few. His chosen profession as lawyer was carried on in a way which won an outstanding position in the bar. He was an active member and officer in the Methodist church during his long life.

He was a direct descendant of original setters of this section.

He was the first mayor of Johnson City, following its incorporation as a town, and more than once held that office. He also served as county court clerk, as representative to the state legislature, as magistrate, and later held other appointive and elective public offices.

He was a graduate of Emory and Henry college, and of the Lebanon Law school. His passing removes another of the dwindling ranks of Confederate veterans, he having served as an ofifcer in the Confederate Army during the Civil war.

He is survived by four children: Maj. Leroy Reeves, now in Honolulu, H. I.; Raymond F. Reeves, Montgomery, Ala.; Stanley Reeves, Richmond, Va., and Miss Willie Reeves, Atlanta, Ga.

Obituary -- from Willie Reeves (Hardin) Bivins' collection of East Tennessee Letters, via Tracy DeVault):

ELBERT CLAY "EB" REEVES

After lying in state at the Appalachian Funeral Home, until noon Thursday, the body of the late Elbert C. Reeves, was taken to Munsey Memorial church for funeral service at 3 o'clock. Burial followed in Oak Grove cemetery, with Masons in charge.

Before a filled auditorium, the pastor, Dr. C. K. Wingo, read a eulogy that was as eventful as it was interesting. Dr. John M. Crowe, Nashville, and former pastor of the Munsey Memorial church assisted Dr. Wingo.

The ceremony for the deceased was a simple one, yet impressive, the songs inspiring.    Many were the beautiful floral tributes. Numbers sang by the Munsey Memorial quartette were: "Jesus, Lover of My Soul," "My Faith Looks Up to Thee,"; "How Firm a Foundation," and as the bier was removed, soft strains of Mendelssohn's "Funeral March" came from the organ.

Col. Reeves' passing occurred at St. Albans hospital, East Radford, Virginia, September 24, following a lingering illness of several months. The body arrived in Johnson City on Southern train No. 25 Tuesday afternoon.

Pall bearers were: A. H. Abernathy, B. B. Snipes, Sam Bailey, J. A. Vines, Paul Carr and C. P. Faw.

Honorary pall bearers, recent associates of Reeves, and now trustees of Munsey Memorial church were: James A. Martin, H. H. Dyer, E. C. Lockett, S. S. Crumley, S. C. Williams, C. L. Marshall, George S. Hannah, J. C. Campbell.

The deceased was married to Alice Robeson September 23, 1875. Five children were born to this union. His wife, mother and one of the children preceding him to the grave.

Surviving Col. Reeves are three sons and one daughter. Major LeRoy, United States Army in Hawaii; Raymond P., Montgomery, Alabama, Stanley, of Richmond, Virginia, and Miss Willie R. of Johnson City.

A varied career, carrying the deceased through a long and useful pioneer and a devout Christian.

In a civic way the life of Col. Reeves was outstanding, he being the first mayor of this city, supreme court clerk, magistrate, editor, and secretary to Ex-President Andrew Johnson at Greeneville, Tenn.

Note: Elbert's father also died before him.

Obituary -- (unknown newspaper) Mrs. Alice Robeson Reeves, wife of Col. E. C. Reeves, of Johnson City, Tenn., who is one of the members of the Book Committee of our Church, died at her home there after a very brief illness on March 17. So sudden was the call that not one of her four children nor of her brothers and sisters reached her bedside in time for a parting word. Mrs. Reeves was a lifelong Methodist, the daughter of an itinerant Methodist preacher, and, like many another of that parentage, a woman of exceptional personal charm. For a quarter of a century she had lived in Johnson City, identified with its social and religious life and loved as widely as known. For more than thirty years she had taught in Sunday school, and for nearly that long had been connected with the Woman's Missionary Society, long as President of the Holston Conference Society. She leaves three sons and a daughter to mourn with their father her going away. She was fifty-seven years of age. "Her children rise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her."

RESOLUTIONS OF RESPECT

By the Munsey Memorial Sabbath School to the Memory of Sister Reeves.

Whereas, On March 17, 1900, our friend and teacher, Alice Robeson Reeves, went to her Heavenly home to live forever with Jesus and the angels; and,

Whereas, She was a teacher in this Sabbath School for more than a quarter of a century; and,

Whereas, She was always faithful and true in the service of her Christ,

Therefore be it resolved by this Sabbath School, That in the death of Sister Reeves we have lost our best and most faithful teacher; that in the many years of her service as a teacher it was always her pleasure to teach the young under her care the beauties and attractiveness of the Christian religion. With watchful care and solicitude she instilled into their hearts and lives those eternal principles of truth and righteousness that make them worthy to live and ready to die.    She was a great woman, a great character and a true follower of Jesus Christ. In all these characteristics she stood out preeminently among her fellows. It was her's to speak the kindly words, to do the noble deeds, to elevate mankind. Her life was a benediction and the world was made better by her having lived in it, and Heaven has received one of its brightest jewels and there are many, many stars in her crown, and as the years go on her influence for the good will continue in this Sabbath School until we all have answered the last roll call, and then if we are faithful as she was we will meet with her around the throne of God.

Be it further resolved, That these resolutions be spread upon the records of this Sabbath School and a copy be given to Col. E. C. Reeves, her bereaved husband, and that a copy be given the newspaper of the city for publication.

J. C. King,

S. B. White,

J. B. Cox,

Committee.

The Comet, Johnson City, Tennessee, April 8, 1909, Page 3:

MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR MRS. REEVES

At the Munsey Memorial Church Sunday at 3:p.m. service was held in memory of the late Mrs. E. C. Reeves, who was known over East Tennessee. Mrs. E. E. Wiley, of Greeneville Orphanage, read memories of Mrs. Reeves. Mrs. W. H. Fulton told of her life as president of the Missionary society. Mrs. S. B. White spoke of her labors in the Juvenile societies. Mrs. S. C. Williams read resolutions offered by the Missionary societies of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Miss Isabel Wade read resolutions from the Juvenile societies. J. S. Anderson presented resolutions from the Young Men's Bible Class, which was taught by Mrs. Reeves. Four girls from Greeneville Orphanage sang a sweet song. Rev. S. B. Vaught spoke of her as a typical Christian.

(unknown newspaper), Knoxville, Tennessee; 27 SEP 1915:

Knoxville, Tennessee, September 27, 1915

Mr. and Mrs. L. C. Baker is entertaining as their week-end guests at their home, 1115 Gratz avenue, Mrs. Rhoda Reeves and daughter, Miss Love Reeves, of Johnson City. Mrs Reeves who is a sister of the late Senator Robert L. Taylor, has recently returned from Rochester, Minn., where she underwent an operation from which she is now recuperating.

OBITUARY - Kingsport News, Kingsport, Tennessee; Monday, 22 November 1943; page 1 column 5; (Ancestry.com):

Sister Of Two Taylor Brothers Dies In Virginia

Abingdon, Va. -- AP -- Mrs. Rhoda Taylor Reeves, 88, sister of the late Bob and Alf Taylor of Happy Valley, Tenn., famous brothers who each became governor of Tennessee and are especially noted in history for their "battle of roses" campaign, in which they toured the state together and spoke on the same platform as opposing candidates, died at 8:35 o'clock Sunday night at Abingdon Hospital. She had been ill since Thursday.

Mrs. Reeves, the last surviving member of the noted Taylor family is survived by four sons and three daughters, N. D. Reeves, Glendale Cal., E. C. Reeves, Prospect, Oregon, John D. and Paul Reeves, Johnson City, Tenn., Mrs. J. W. Sensabaugh, Knoxville, Tenn., Mrs. G. C. Simcox, Bulls Gap, Tenn., and Mrs. Roland Craig, Abingdon.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete.

Funeral Notice -  Kingsport News, Kingsport, Tennessee; Tuesday, 23 NOV 1943; image 3 column 4; (Ancestry.com):

Ex-Governors' Sister Dies

Abingdon, Va., -- AP -- Funeral services for Mrs. Rhoda Taylor Reeves, 88, will be held at Abingdon Methodist church at 11 a.m. Tuesday to be followed by another service at Munsey Memorial church in Johnson City, Tenn., at 3 p.m. Interment will be in the family cemetery in the Knob Creek section near Johnson City.

She was a sister of former Governors, Bob and Alf Taylor of Tennessee. She died Sunday.

Obituary -- Kingsport News,Kingsport, Tennessee; Monday, 22 November 1943; page 1 column 5; (Ancestry.com):

Sister Of Two Taylor Brothers Dies In Virginia

Abingdon, Va. -- AP -- Mrs. Rhoda Taylor Reeves, 88, sister of the late Bob and Alf Taylor of Happy Valley, Tenn., famous brothers who each became governor of Tennessee and are especially noted in history for their "battle of roses" campaign, in which they toured the state together and spoke on the same platform as opposing candidates, died at 8:35 o'clock Sunday night at Abingdon Hospital. She had been ill since Thursday.

Mrs. Reeves, the last surviving member of the noted Taylor family is survived by four sons and three daughters, N. D. Reeves, Glendale Cal., E. C. Reeves, Prospect, Oregon, John D. and Paul Reeves, Johnson City, Tenn., Mrs. J. W. Sensabaugh, Knoxville, Tenn., Mrs. G. C. Simcox, Bulls Gap, Tenn., and Mrs. Roland Craig, Abingdon.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete.

Kingsport News (Kingsport, Tennessee); Tuesday, 23 November 1943; image 3 column 4; (Ancestry.com:

Ex-Governors' Sister Dies

Abingdon, Va., -- AP -- Funeral services for Mrs. Rhoda Taylor Reeves, 88, will be held at Abingdon Methodist church at 11 a.m. Tuesday to be followed by another service at Munsey Memorial church in Johnson City, Tenn., at 3 p.m. Interment will be in the family cemetery in the Knob Creek section near Johnson City.

She was a sister of former Governors, Bob and Alf Taylor of Tennessee. She died Sunday.

Her daughter, Rhoda Beatrice (Reeves) Simcox wrote in the family Bible:

My Dear little momma died 8:35 eastern wartime

She died Nov 21 1943. Age 88 4 months 21 days. Young in spirit, enjoyed life, wanted to live for her children, interested in everything, Mind Bright, looked for the beautiful, never lost her pride, and was greenly. A wonderful friend so cheerful and gracious and a wonderful mother and pale to her children from childhood on down through the years. It seems it can't be true, just a horrible dream, we miss you momma. Our hearts are broken. Beatrice Reeves Simcox.

Newspaper article by Patty Smithdeal Fulton -- Johnson City Press, Johnson City, Tennessee, 20 MAR 2011:

If these walls could talk: History of East Unaka home

Robert DeVault, member of a prominent pioneer family in the area, built the house at 501 East Unaka Ave. [Johnson City, Tennessee] that his wife, Osceola Walton DeVault, designed.

It was her dream home, a spacious square brick built like a fortress of quality materials. Unaka Avenue was a quiet, tree-lined street and the DeVault home was surrounded by formal gardens, which gradually blended into an expanse of land through which a creek meandered, providing water for the family cow in the fenced pasture just below the vegetable garden.

This was the ideal setting for the young couple to begin the large family both desired. The original plans featured a nursery at the back of the house, adjoining the master bedroom. However, with the passage of time, it was apparent the DeVaults were unable to have children. Adoption laws as we know them did not exist in the 1920s. Mrs. DeVault made it known throughout the community that she wanted to help with the placement of orphaned children.

Mr. and Mrs. Joe Summers’ son was adopted from the nursery at 501 East Unaka. The handsome young daredevil was a pilot during World War II who was killed while fighting the Germans. The entire town mourned the death of Joe-Joe Summers.

And there were others, many unknown, but one was a bright young red-haired lady who was an excellent bridge player, mother of several children, and a good wife to her husband, a banker of extraordinary character. Hope Lewis was in the prime of life when she died.

Dr. Hugh Swingle, a prominent local physician whose family lived down the street on the next corner, told me his sister came from the DeVault nursery. His mother became attracted to the infant during one of her visits with Mrs. DeVault and decided to take the baby home for the weekend. She never took her back.

And there was Joyce, the baby girl who was passed over time and time again because she was so ugly. Pretty babies came and pretty babies went and Joyce stayed. When Mrs. DeVault became ill and died on Christmas Eve 1928, at age 45, Joyce was 7 years old. The following year, when the crash of 1929 shattered the economy of the nation, Robert DeVault faced the Great Depression with indebtedness, loneliness, a big house to care for and little Joyce. Fortunately, in time, Robert met, wooed and married Kathryn France, an attractive lady who spoke the smooth, soft language of her native South Carolina. She had the invisible stamina and determination that is so characteristic of many southern ladies — attributes that are elusive because they are handled with such grace.

For their honeymoon, Bob DeVault brought Kathryn to her new home in Johnson City where she set out to clean the dirty house by washing the more than 50 windows and the lace curtains which she stretched, piece by piece, increasingly aware that there were two pieces of curtain to each window. Each piece was carefully soaked, washed, rinsed and attached to adjustable wooden frames by slipping sharp needle-like nails through the delicate lace border of the curtain, pulling until the curtain was taunt and straight. Left to dry in the sun, more than 100 pieces were retrieved from the curtain stretcher and hung at the windows. Kathryn waxed miles of hardwood floors, polished oak woodwork, washed plastered walls and worked herself into a state of exhaustion.

Robert raised cash by selling the land where the family had planted a vegetable garden to Harry Dosser, an owner of Dosser’s Department Store. The red brick Dosser house was soon constructed next door to the DeVault home.

Kathryn had secretarial skills and took a job in the admitting office of the Mountain Home Veterans Affairs Hospital. She told me of Robert’s depression, his failing health, and the embarrassment, which she felt contributed to his depression, because his wife was working to support him. In those days a man was judged by the standard of living he provided for his family and the wife seldom worked outside the hom

In order to increase the family income, Kathryn added a bath on the landing at the top of the back stairway and made an apartment across the back of the house where the nursery had been located. Although the apartment rented readily (Carl and Kathryn Jones lived there when they moved to Johnson City as newlyweds), it became apparent the family would have to make additional changes. Kathryn persuaded Robert to sell the big house, which they could no longer afford to maintain.

The Couch family bought the house and Kathryn designed a modest white frame duplex she and Robert built on the lot beside the Dosser home, the land where the cow had grazed. Robert, Kathryn and Joyce lived in the two-bedroom unit; the one-bedroom apartment provided incom

Robert died in 1947. Joyce, the little girl nobody wanted, became a nurse, married and moved to another state.

In 1959, my husband, Dr.Lyman Fulton, admitted Kathryn to Memorial Hospital to evaluate some persistent digestive problems. After studying various test results, Lyman called Joyce DeVault Kropff to tell her Kathryn had pancreatic cancer. The ugly little girl nobody wanted to adopt traveled to Johnson City and assumed the role of nurse and daughter. Joyce stayed at the bedside of 66-year-old Kathryn throughout her illness and was with her when she died. Two and one half years later, in 1962, Joyce died of cancer. She was 41.

At the top of a gentle hill at Monte Vista Cemetery, there is a sturdy maple tree with large extended limbs, spreading shade over four graves. Standing at the grave of Oceola DeVault, there is a life-size marble statue of a woman wearing a softly draped gown, holding a child in her arms. The inscription reads, “She did what she could for God’s little ones.” Joyce lies beside her.

OBITUARY:

Mrs. Virginia Smith Loyd died at her late residence near New Florence on the 7th day of October, 1895, at the age of 79 years, 2 months and 11 days.

She was born in Fleming County, Ky., July 26, 1816, and was the daughter of Elijah and Polly Maughs, who in the year 1821 moved west and settled in St. Louis County, where they lived until 1832 when they came to this county.

Mrs. Loyd was the only living sister of G. B. M. Maughs whose prominence as a state senator about the beginning of the war and as mayor of Kansas City, as well as his high standing in medical circles, makes him a distinguished figure in the history of the state. At her death she left but one child, Mrs. Mary M. Powell, wife of one of Montgomery's oldest and best known citizens, Col. Thomas J. Powell of New Florence.

Mrs. Loyd was twice married. The husband of her girlhood choice was Henry Davault, Esq., to whom she was married in 1834; Mrs. Powell was born of this union. On the 5th of April, 1849, Mr. Davault, a member of the distinguished family of that name still so well and favorably known in north Missouri, died, and left his widow living on the same farm on which she so recently died.

In 1851 she again married, this time giving her hand to Mr. Willis Loyd, who died in 1880, leaving no living children; and thus she again was left a widow in the same old home where she continued to reside until her death, cared for and protected by her grandson, Wm. L. Powell, who lived with her during her old age and, with the assistance of her daughter Mary and her son-in-law, Thos. J. Powell, made her last years comfortable, peaceful and happy.

At her bedside during the last days and last hours of her life were her daughter and Col. Powell, and her brother, Dr. Maughs and thus surrounded she passed serenely away, without pain or struggle, a landmark of the olden times and a type of character that the early days of this western country have made historic and marvelously grand. She was the last of the associates of her young days, for her almost four score years had witnessed the passing away of all with whom her girlhood formed friendly ties. And yet she died "a mother in Israel," who had blessed the world with her own life and left, to weep over her grave and hold sacred her memory, thirteen living grand children -- all the children of her daughter, Mary M. Powell -- and twenty-six living great grand children.

Mrs. Loyd was a woman on unusual strength of mind and character and while kind and affectionate she was a fine example of the woman of decision and firmness of purpose. A half century before her death she joined the Methodist church and during all those years she lived a consistent, christian life -- a splendid type of true christian womanhood -- and passed to the land "beyond the river" without a fear, leaving brother, daughter, grand children and great grand children full of sorrow, but hoping for an eternal reunion.

May God in his great love and mercy be with them all and may his kindest, tenderest care gather around the aged brother who stands now alone of his family, watching and waiting for his call to rejoin them beyond the grave.