Person Page 309

It was said that Sophia once killed a mountain lion with a gun. When an article appeared in the local paper, describing the incident, future husband Marshall Rankin McLean wrote to her. This correspondance eventually led to their marriage.

Although she lost two sons to airplane crashes, she was a frequent passenger until her health prevented it.

From The Turkey Tail Tattler, Volume 1, Number 2, May 1999, page 2, Cindy Coleman - Editor

Men on the railroad called it Turkey Tail ...

What's In a Name?

According to Sketches of Burke County by Cordelia Camp, "the little town five miles west of Morganton … reaches an elevation of 1,315 feet, the highest point of the railroad in Burke County."

In 1868 the Southern Railroad was built through what is now Glen Alpine. By 1876, the little town consisted of "only two white families and one Negro."

Men on the railroad called it Turkey Tail because of a tree next to the railroad tracks that had the shape of a turkey tail.

J.D. Pitts set up a planing mill at this spot at the same time Columbus and Edmund Sigmun began operating a post office and store in 1876. The town's name was changed to Sigmundsburg and a building boom was underway.

In the early 1870's a hotel was built near Sigmundsburg called the Glen Alpine Springs Hotel. The hotel was supposed to have been the largest wooden structure in North Carolina and may have had as many as 100 guests at a time.

Possibly due to the popularity of the hotel, the town's name was changed again to Glen Alpine Station around 1883.

"Glen Alpine Station," writes The Morganton Star in its April 3, 1885 issue, "is located on the line of the W.N.C.R.R., six miles west of Morganton. It has rich territory to draw from, being surrounded with a thriving, industrious population of farmers who produce yearly large quantities of surplus corn, wheat, tobacco, pork and beef cattle, with Glen Alpine as their chief trading point.

"On our arrival there we found the people all at work like bees after the first approach of the spring flowers.

"We wound up by calling at Sigmon Bro., where we found the model postmaster, Columbus Sigmon, polite affable - always ready to look when the question is asked: 'Anything for John Smith … and if there is nothing for the Smiths is there anything for anybody in my neighborhood.'

"And the strongest proof that these people exhibit bit to show that they are a progressive people is that they are willing to patronage their county newspaper. In addition to the already large subscription list we have at that place, we added fifteen new names - all good men - and took some good orders for job work also for advertising. We predict a bright future for Glen Alpine Station."

The Glen Alpine Springs Hotel was closed in the 1890's. The word "Station" was dropped in 1896 and the town received the name Glen Alpine.

Marshall Rankin McLean married Rachel Sophia DeVault. His mother was also a DeVault, Isabel Catherine "Ibby, Catherine or Katie" DeVault. Isabel Catherine is shown in the 1850 Census for Guilford County, North Carolina living with her parents under the name Isabel C. Duvolt. Her parents were Gideon DeVault (born 1810 in North Carolina) and Elizabeth Gerringer). Gideon's parents were Valentine DeVault (born 1769 in North Carolina) and Anna Barbara May. Although an interesting coincidence, Marshall's mother is not a descendent of Henry Dewald of Pennsylvania.

Marshall was a charter member of the Sharon Evangelical Lutheran Church in Gibsonville. On November 11, 1894, he was appointed as one of the first deacons. According to his granddaughter, Betty (McLean) Moore, Marshall switched his membership from Friedens Lutheran Church to Sharon so there would be enough members to form a church. Sharon Lutheran was completed in December 1897.

Obituary:

The Kingsport, Tennessee Times; Wednesday, November 1, 1961; page 14 column 1; (Ancestry.com)

Joseph G. DeVault

Joseph G. DeVault, 91, of Emory, Va., died Monday after a long illness.

He moved from Sullivan County to Virginia about 50 years ago. His wife, the former Nannie E. DePew, also came from Sullivan County originally. She survives.

Other survivors are: three sons, Serle D., Canton Ohio; F. S., Woodlawn, Va., and Charles C. DeVault, Marion, Va.; three daughters, Miss Mary Mabel DeVault, Emory, Miss Anna Nelle Waddell, Holdon, Mass., and Mrs. Irma G. Darden, Fresno, Calif.; and six grandchildren.

The funeral will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday in the Emory and Henry College Chapel at Emory, Va.

Letter from Joseph G. DeVault to Newland DeVault, 1957:

Just a little to acquaint you with our children. We raised six and helped to raise three of my younger brother's. We gave all six of our children a college education and helped two of my brother's to get one (one died) -- not a black sheep in the family. All are doing excellent in their work, but so, so far from home that most of them do not get here more than once a year -- all members of the Church and I hope Christians. I pray daily that they may live better lives than I have been able to do. And may God continue his mercy on us. May God bless you and yours."

From a letter written by Rev. E. Hubert Broyles to Dorothy DeVault Bicknell dated May 24, 1953:

"Betty and her sister Mollie were married in a double wedding ceremony. Mollie will be 95 next Tuesday the 26th. Not at all well, but still goes around some."

OBITUARY -- Lubbock Morning Avalanche, Tuesday, May 21, 1929

GILMORE FUNERAL TO BE HELD HERE

Funeral services for Mrs. Mary E. Gilmore, mother of Mrs. R. H. Martin of Lubbock who died last Friday night in Kansas City, will be held in this city Wednesday afternoon at 2:00 o'clock. The body is expected to arrive here Tuesday.

Funeral services will be conducted at the Rix-Sanders Funeral chapel with the Rev. H. L. Munger, pastor of the First Methodist church, officiating. Burial will be in Lubbock cemetery.

Accompanying the body here will be Mrs. Nora Brooks, of Kansas City, and C. E. Gilmore of Wichita, Kans., children of Mrs. Gilmore. Others who survive are four daughters, Mrs. J. T. Collom, Arlington, VA; Mrs. Lula Gregory, Stillwater, Okla.; Mrs. E. E. Frost, Denver, Colo.; Mrs. Julia Patterson, Tacoma, Wash.; and three sons, Jacob E. Gilmore, Fort Cobb, Okla.; William Bruce Gilmore, Washington, D.C.; Guy Gilmore, Wagoner, Okla.

OBITUARY -- Lubbock Daily Journal, Tuesday, May 21, 1929

Funeral services will be held at the First Methodist church at 2:30 o'clock tomorrow afternoon for Mrs. Mary E. Gilmore, mother of Mrs. R. H. Martin of this city, who died in Kansas City last Friday.

The Rev. H. L. Munger, pastor of the church, will officiate. Burial will be in the Lubbock Cemetery under the direction of Rix-Sanders.

The body arrived this morning and will lie in state today at the Rix-Sanders Chapel.

; date per U.S, Select Military Registers, 1862-1985, page 1209 (database on line, Ancestry.com).¹

Obituary -- (Findagrave.com):

Teacher, Lawyer, and Designer of the Tennessee State Flag. He taught in the Johnson City schools from 1896-1898 . He was admitted to the bar, in 1899 and began began practicing law in Johnson City. He entered military service as a major in the United States Army in 1919 and after the war he began work in the Office of the Judge Advocate General in Washington. During his military service, he designed the state flag which became the official flag of the State of Tennessee on April 17, 1905.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES (via Tracy DeVault):

Born in Johnson City, Tennessee, in June 1876, LeRoy Reeves was the son of Elbert Clay Reeves (1841-1929) and his wife Alice Dulcina Robeson (1851-1909). A graduate of Johnson City High School, Reeves studied French, German, Latin, logic and mathematics at Johnson City College and Normal Institute. From 1896-1898 he was a teacher in the Johnson City public schools. Admitted to the bar in 1899, Reeves practiced law in Johnson City with his father until 1905.

In June 1903 he organized Company F, Third Infantry, Tennessee National Guard, and was elected and commissioned the first captain of the company.    Reeves resigned in June 1906 after commanding Company F during service in Virginia and at Tracy City, Tennessee. He subsequently was appointed major judge advocate of the Tennessee National Guard and served in the Mexican border campaign in 1916. After being discharged from the Tennessee National guard in 1918, he entered the Officers Training School at Camp McClellan, Alabama, where he was commissioned major in the United States Army in 1919.

After World War I he was assigned to duty in the Office of the Judge Advocate General in Washington, and in 1920 he was commissioned major in the Judge Advocate General's department. Before retirement in 1940, he advanced to the rank of colonel.

While practicing law in Johnson City and serving in the Tennessee National Guard, Reeves designed a state flag for Tennessee. The flag was adopted as the official flag of the State of Tennessee by an act of the Tennessee General Assembly passed and approved April 17, 1905.

In 1951 Colonel Reeves published Ancestral Sketches, a genealogy of his ancestors. He died in Washington, D.C., on May 25, 1960 and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Johnson City, Tennessee.

Colonel Reeves Ranks With City's Great

Col. Leroy Reeves, who died Wednesday in Washington, will rank in history as one of Johnson City's distinguished sons.

Two remarkable achievements set him apart: (1) He designed the Tennessee State Flag. (2) He organized Company F, Tennessee National Guard.

But old friends, who gathered for the funeral yesterday, remembered the man more than his achievements. They spoke of his unfailingly correct military posture, his flair as a practicing attorney, his courtly conversation, his grand manners.

"He was a Chesterfieldian gentleman," said a lady who knew him from his youth.

Colonel Reeves had been living in the Army and Navy Club in Washington since his retirement in 1940. However, he made occasional visits to Johnson City to renew old friendships. He also kept an eye out for significant military or political developments, often mailing clippings to the Press-Chronicle.

It was in June, 1903, that Colonel Reeves organized Company F, Third Infantry of Tennessee, National Guard, serving as its first captain. And it was in 1905 that he drew up a legislative bill providing that a flag of his design be made the official flag of Tennessee. Judge Walter W. Faw, a Johnson City native who at the time was living in Franklin, Tenn., piloted the bill through the Legislature.

The flag, with its familiar three white stars, was first put into service, appropriately, by Company F of the Guard. And, again appropriately, the first building over which it was flown was the East Tennessee State Normal School, now East Tennessee State College.

It was not until 1909 that the Legislature appropriated funds for purchase of flags to fly over the Capitol in Nashville.

Colonel Reeves attended Johnson City public schools, and in early manhood practiced law with his father.

He served as major and judge advocate of the Tennessee National Guard before going into service on the Mexican border as acting brigade adjutant and assistant division adjutant. In 1918 he entered the Third Officers Training School at Camp McClellan, Ala., receiving a major's commission.

Upon general demobilization, he was retained in service and assigned to the office of the judge advocate general in Washington. In 1920 he was commissioned a major in the Department of the Army, and subsequently advanced to lieutenant colonel and colonel. He held the last rank when he retired in 1940.

Author of Ancestral Sketches, J.P. Bell Company, 1 JAN 1951.

Obituary -- (Findagrave.com):

Johnson City (TN), November 10, 1966:

WILLIE ROBESON REEVES

Willie Robeson Reeves, formerly of Johnson City, died in Siloam Springs, Ark., last night.

She was a native of Johnson City and attended public schools here.

Miss Reeves was a graduate of Martha Washington College in Abingdon, Va. She took special courses at the University of Chicago, and at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. She was a former teacher at Science Hill High School and also taught in the Knoxville school system. She had taught nine years in a girl's high school in Atlanta.

She was the daughter of the late Elbert Clay and Alice Robeson Reeves and was a member of the Methodist Church.

Survivors include one brother, Stanley, of Charlottesville, Va.

Morris-Baker Funeral Home is in charge.

FUNERAL NOTICE - Johnson City, TN; November 10, 1966:

REEVES, MISS WILLIE ROBESON -- Funeral services for Miss Willie Robeson Reeves, formerly of Johnson City who died in Siloam Springs, Arkansas Tuesday evening will be held Friday 2 p.m. at the Oak Hill Cemetery. Officiating will be Dr. E. E. Wiley. The body will arrive in Johnson City Friday morning. Morris-Baker Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.

; Engagement announced in the 29 JUN 1934 edition of The Daily News Leader, Staunton, Virginia, page 3, quoting the Buffalo, NY Evening News (Newspapers.com).

Obituary -- The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Virginia; Saturday, 23 JAN 1971, page 8 (Newspapers.com):

Stanley Reeves

WHITE HALL -- Stanley Reeves, a civil engineer for Dupont who retired in 1946, died yesterday in a Charlottesville nursing home. He was a graduate of the University of Virginia.

Born in Johnson City, Tenn., on Oct. 25, 1881, he was the son of the late Elbert C. and Alice Robeson Reeves.

He is survived by his wife, Mary L. Hutchinson Reeves.

The funeral will be tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Mt. Moriah United Methodist Church in White Hall, with burial in the church cemetery. Anderson's Funeral Home in Crozet is in charge of arrangements.