I have just started working on my Catlett line, and this will be my first
post to CATLETT-L. My Catlett situation is a little more complicated than
with some of my other lines.
My gg grandfather in Sevier County, TN was John H. Nichols. John H. Nichols
was the son of Sarah F. (Sally) Nichols and a Mr. Catlett. Sally Nichols
and Mr. Catlett had three children in all, Mary M. Nichols b. 1844, Nancy
Elizabeth Nichols b. 1846, and my John H. Nichols b. 1849. Mary and Nancy
never married.
A little book called "The Nichols Book" was published in 1962 by Wyatt
Nichols, a grandson of John H. Nichols. I never met Wyatt Nichols, but he
was my grandmother's first cousin, and he was well known by one of my
uncles. Wyatt Nichols died shortly after the publication of his book. But
the main point is that Wyatt knew his grandfather John H. Nichols well, and
much of the information in "The Nichols Book" had been passed down from John
H. Nichols to Wyatt Nichols.
According to "The Nichols Book", there was a Nichols-Catlett feud. The feud
resulted in an 1850 lawsuit in Sevier County. The result of the lawsuit was
that Sally Nichols and her three children kept the Nichols surname. It is
not clear to me if Sally Nichols and Mr. Catlett had been married and were
forced to divorce, or if they were never really married. But the bottom
line is that I am trying to figure out who Mr. Catlett was.
I notice from the CATLETT-L archives that the Sevier County line has been
discussed before, but there was no mention of the Nichols-Catlett feud. The
Sevier County court house burned down in 1856, making research of events
prior to that date extremely difficult.
(Before I go on, I should point out that Sevier is pronounced like "severe"
with the accent on the second syllable, and similarly with Sevierville.
Sevier County is in East Tennessee, up against the North Carolina state
line. It includes Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Dollywood, a big
chunk of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and the two highest points
in Tennessee. It's a very beautiful, and very mountainous place. I live in
Knoxville in Knox County, adjacent to Sevier County, but I have many, many
lines that go back over 200 years in Sevier County.)
I have found independent confirmation of the Nichols-Catlett feud in the
Joseph A. Sharp historical collection at the Sevier County library. It's
only a brief discussion, but the issues were Methodist vs. Baptist,
Democratic vs. Republican, and perhaps slavery. I think the Nichols were
Methodists and the Catletts were Baptists, but I can't speak as to where the
two families stood on the other issues. The Sharp collection does not
provide any clues to my Mr. Catlett.
John H. Nichols was the youngest Nichols-Catlett child, and he was born 16
Sep 1849 in Sevierville. The following is the 1850 Sevier County census
entry which includes Sally Nichols and her children. There is no Mr.
Catlett in sight.
p.414 HN 397 FN 397
Nichols Margaret 49 f 170 VA
Sarah 25 f TN
Wiet 21 m TN
Clerisa 18 f TN
Mary 7 f TN
Nancy 5 f TN
John 8/12 m TN
Margaret Scantling was Sally's mother, Sally's father had died in 1836,
Wyatt and Clarissa were her brother and sister, and Mary, Nancy, and John
were her children. The given name Wyatt appears in several generations of
the Nichols family.
My theory is that Mr. Catlett was still living in Sevier County in 1850,
given that John H. Nichols was born in 1849. It turns out that every single
Catlett who was enumerated in the 1850 census in Tennessee was living in
Sevier County, so I can safely focus on Sevier County. I will be posting
some of my results and conclusions in subsequent messages, but it appears
that there are several Catlett men who are candidates to be the father of
Sally Nichols' children. It also appears to me that all the Catletts who
were enumerated in the 1850 Sevier County census were descended from Reuben
Catlett.
Obviously, my Mr. Catlett could have been dead in 1850, he could have been
missed in the census, or he could have left the state. So I don't think I
can ever prove who he was. But I would like to make as intelligent a guess
as possible.
I have chased down all the Tennessee census entries for the Catlett surname
in 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880. It turns out that all the Catletts were in
Sevier County in 1860, just like 1850. There are a few Catletts other
places in 1870 and 1880, but most of them were still in Sevier County even
then. I'm still in the process of trying to figure out who everybody was,
but it is taking a while.
I have the 1911 obit and death certificate for Nancy Elizabeth Nichols,
daughter of Mr. Catlett and Sally Nichols. Neither document is any help.
Tennessee death certificates did not include parents' names until 1914.
I have the 1926 obit and death certificate for John H. Nichols, son of Mr.
Catlett and Sally Nichols. Neither document is any help. The death
certificate says that John H. Nichols was the son of James C. Nichols and
Sarah F. Nichols. Well, I would really transcribe it as James/Joseph ?.
Nichols for the father. It says Jas. or Jos., hard to tell which, and the
middle initial is very hard to read. I originally guessed that some sort of
cousin or uncle was listed on the death certificate as a surrogate for Mr.
Catlett. But I have no Nichols in my data base (a very complete one, I
think) who seems to match up with James or Joseph as required. So I do
wonder if maybe this was a veiled reference to a James Catlett.
Mary M. Nichols, daughter of Mr. Catlett and Sally Nichols, died in 1928. I
have found neither an obituary nor a death certificate despite diligent
searching. She never married and would have had no family by the time she
died. Perhaps that would explain the absence of an obit and death
certificate.
All three of Sally Nichols' children, plus Sally Nichols herself, plus a
bunch of other Nichols, plus a bunch of Catletts, are buried in the Shiloh
Cemetery in Sevierville. But the cemetery, nor other Sevier County
cemeteries where Nichols and/or Catletts are buried have provided any clues.
Sam Manard is the current Sevier County historian, working at the Sevier
County library. He knows about the Nichols-Catlett feud, but he doesn't
know who my Mr. Catlett was. He thinks that perhaps he can find out for me.
Sam is related to "Ben Catlett's widow, who has since remarried", and he
thinks that Ben Catlett's widow may have the answer. But she says that all
her information is upstairs, and it would take her a long time to find it.
So in the meantime, I am working on the problem myself. And any help from
the CATLETT-L group would be greatly appreciated.
Jerry Bryan
(P.S. I am related to Sam Manard. I have yet to find anyone in the Sevier
County genealogy community whom I am not related to, usually in several
lines.)
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