Jerry: I have enjoyed reading about this tale and seeing you work it out and i
have only a comment: REmember, there are other places called Jefferson City
most notably the capital of Missouri and LOTS of folks from Tennesse and Ky went
to that area int he time frame youa re speaking of. Beyond that my only
interest has been to see if you get further back on your lines as that is where
i may eventually be able to conect up! Good luck in your continued pursuits as
on the Catletts!!!
regards
Alyce Hart
Jerry Bryan wrote:
I have transcribed the following from the Dr. Joseph A. Sharp
Collection at
the Sevier County library. It is a part of a handwritten note attributed to
Hugh Allen. It is the only written reference I have found outside of "The
Nichols Book" to the Catlett-Nichols feud.
"Seems whole family of Henry Catlett moved to Jefferson City. Nichols were
methodists. Mary Ann Catlett Nichols family were staunch Baptists. Uncle
Will and the rest of the family were Methodists. Catletts were Democrats.
Nichols Democrats excpet (sic) Uncle Alex Nichols. Andes all republicans.
Mary Ann Nichols owned a slave girl, given her by Uncle Will Catlett. When
slaves were freed this girl climbed up in chimney and screamed to keep from
being taken from family."
With the help of census data, tombstone inscriptions, and a death
certificate, I think I have figured out who everybody is in the Hugh Allen
note.
The chief player was Mary Ann Catlett, referred to as Mary Ann Catlett
Nichols in the Hugh Allen note. She was born 4 June 1854 in Sevier County,
Tennessee, the daughter of Henry S. Catlett and Martha Andes. The marriage
of Henry S. Catlett to Martha Andes would help explain the reference to the
Andes family in the Hugh Allen note.
Henry S. Catlett was the son of Benjamin Catlett and Nancy Loveday, and is
one of three men (along with his two brothers William Catlett and James P.
Catlett) whom I think are the most likely candidate to have been the father
of three children with my ggg grandmother Sarah F. (Sally) Nichols.
Uncle Will Catlett was no doubt William Catlett, the aforementioned brother
of Henry S. Catlett, and thereby Mary Ann Catlett's uncle.
Mary Ann Catlett married George W. M. Nichols 10 Sep 1868 in Sevier County.
George W. M. Nichols was the son of Joshua Nichols and Eliza Caroline
McCown. Uncle Alex Nichols was no doubt Alexander C.B. Nichols, brother of
Joshua Nichols and thereby the uncle of Mary Ann Catlett's husband George W.
M. Nichols.
The incident with the slave girl and the chimney probably would have
occurred about 1864 or 1865. So Mary Ann Catlett would have been 10 or 11
years old when it happened, and would not yet have been married and known as
Mary Ann Nichols.
Unfortunately, none of this information seems to shed any light on my own
Catlett-Nichols dilemma. Sally Nichols children were born in 1844, 1846,
and 1849, and the Catlett-Nichols lawsuit involving her and her children was
in 1850. Mary Ann Catlett was not even born until 1854, and didn't marry
George W. M. Nichols until 1868. My Sally Nichols herself was the second
cousin of Joshua Nichols.
Here is one last tidbit about the Hugh Allen note. It says that Henry
Catlett moved to Jefferson City. Jefferson City is in Jefferson County,
Tennessee which is adjacent to Sevier County. But Henry Catlett was
enumerated in 1850 and 1860 in Sevier County. I have not yet checked the
1870 census to see if he was in Jefferson County at that time.
Jerry Bryan
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