Fifth Generation

William Albert Burns was born on 25 February 1884 in Linden, Perry, Tennessee. He died on March 11, 1971 in Jackson, Tennessee. His mother was Sallie Burns who married a John French in 1872, but were mysteriously no longer living together by 1880. We don’t know who Albert Burns’ father was. Sallie was the daughter of Guilford Burns and a woman named Tabitha.

Albert Burns grew up in Perry County, Tennessee on farms. He was a farmer all of his life. He had two four sisters, Laura, Alice, Nancy, and Virginia, and two brothers, George and Oscar. All but Nancy and Virginia went by Burns. Nancy and Virginia had French as their last name.

When he was 18 years old he married Parthenia Lomax also of Perry County, Tennessee. The next year their first child, Ila Ruth, was born. She died a month later.  He continues to farm in Perry County until around 1910 when the family moved to Gibson County, Tennessee.

He and Parthenia had the following children:
1. Ila Ruth Burns 1903-1903
2. Olive Pearl 1905-2000 married Stylon Dodson Proctor
3. Lena Irene 1907-1968 (my great grandmother)
4. Lora Mae 1909-1951 married Jesse Hillard Bell
5. Hattie Lugenia 1912-2002 married Richard Calvin Dycas
6. Russell Albert 1914-1976 married Thelma Warren
7. Mary Ruth 1921- married William Mayes
8. William Wallace 1923-1995 married Lila Palmer

William Albert Burns was known as Papa Burns to his grandchildren and great grandchildren. Since he died in 1971, my mother and grandfather have many great memories of Papa Burns, (that I wish they would tell me more of:-)

Here is one story shared by my grandfather, James Etheridge:

Papa was a farmer all his life and I best remember him when he lived about five miles west of Trenton, Gibson County Tennessee.   Papa had always farmed with two mules and a plow and the maximum land that he could farm this way with help was 40 acres.  When Uncle Wallace was in his late teens, Papa decided that to expand the farm, they needed to buy a tractor which Wallace would drive.  Some time after the tractor was bought, Papa decided that he should learn how to use it on the farm and to use it to pull his wagon into Trenton to pick up supplies.  He and Wallace went out into the pasture, took the tractor which was a Model H John Deere.  This machine used a hand lever as a clutch.  Papa was shown where the brakes were, (each rear wheel had a separate brake pedal which were joined as one with a metal bar that locked the two pedals together.  Wallace then pushed the hand clutch in  and stepped off the rear of the tractor.  Around the pasture went Papa and as he came around where Wallace was he began to say Whoa and of course the tractor kept going.  No amount of whoa’s would stop the machine.  Wallace then ran, jumped on the rear of the tractor and pulled the clutch, stopping the machine.  Papa got off the tractor and never set foot on it again.  He never learned to drive nor ever had a car.  He would hook up his team of mules to the wagon and make the 5 mile trip into town for his supplies.  He knew that he could stop that team when and wherever he wanted.

My entire life my grandfather Charles Lee, told me that he was German from his grandmother, Theadora Mae Deaton. He told me that his grandmother told him that she was German. My grandfather had a love of Germany from an early age and tried to learn the language. He would only drink German beer and loved to dance to German beer drinking music. The problem is that I couldn’t see how he was German. His grandmother’s name is Deaton which is English. I guess eventually it is Germanic if you go back to the Anglo-Saxon times, but nevertheless it is an English name. I thought my grandfather had a case of wishful thinking.

Well, sure enough he was correct and his grandmother was indeed half German. Thedora Mae Deaton’s mother was Sarah Isabella Souars from Iredell, North Carolina. She was born in 1847. Her father’s name is Philip Souars and her mother is Elizabeth. I couldn’t find anything else on the Souars. The only reference to the Souars name that I saw was the name of a man by Etienne Souars who was executed by the guillotine in Paris, France in 1784. I kept seeing references to the Sowers family in Iredell County so decided to check to see if a Sowars family matched up. In handwritten records, a “w” and a “u” look similar.

Sure enough there was a Philip Sowars who was born on Dec 4, 18oo in Rowan County, the part that because of boundary changes was turned into Davidson County. On the 20 March 1828 he married Elizabeth Overcash (Oberkirch) also of Davidson County, NC. Around 1848 they had a daughter named Sarah J. This is another case that if someone looked at written records, they would mistake the “I” for a “J”.

This is the lineage of Philip Sowars:

1.John Peter Sowars (1767-1802) Rowan,NC married Catherine Hepler

2.Johann Philipus Sowars (1733-1784) Born in Katzenbach, Altenkirchen, Rheinland-Pfalz (Germany) and died in Salisbury, Rowan, North Carolina. He married Christina Faust.

I looked on the message boards to see if anyone knew anything about the Sowars/Overcash and sure enough I found a post from a distant cousin who is also a descendant of Sarah Souars who traveled to Rowan County and did some research linking the family to Elizabeth Overcash (Oberkirch) and Philip Sowars! Elizabeth’s father may have been Michael Overcash also known as Oberkirch.

Now I understand what my grandfather was trying to tell me all of those years. I wish I could tell him that I am sorry for not believing him!

12. James Ollie Etheridge was born on November 14, 1908 in Murray, Calloway, Ky and died on March 28, 1968 in Trenton, Gibson County, TN. He was the son of William Henry Etheridge and Callie Elsie Carter. On December 25, 1929 he married Lena Irene Burns in Humboldt, TN.

I don’t know much about his childhood, but I am sure my grandfather can fill in the blanks. He grew up on a farm. Sometime in his childhood his family moved back to Gibson County, TN and lived in Humboldt. He was too young or too old to be in a war, but raised a family during the depression. His mother, Callie Carter was his father’s second wife so he had brothers who were much older than himself. He had nephews and nieces not much younger than himself. He made Lena Burns and later married her. Not too long after that they moved to Trenton, TN. They had my grandfather, James William Etheridge soon after in 1930. Later in life he mowed the grass along the highways for the government. I think he had a business that contracted out to the business. I have heard nothing but the kindest things about him. My mother told me he had these big eyes that were very kind but glared when he got angry. He was greatly missed when he died of heart failure in 1968 when my mother was 12. My mother said it was snowing when he died and she remembered that winter was particularly cold.

13. Lena Irene Burns was born on August 11, 1907 in Linden, Perry, TN. She died on October 31, 1968 in Trenton, Gibson, TN. She was the daughter of William Albert Burns and Parthenia Lomax.

I also do not know much about her early life. I have seen pictures of her when she was young. She was a small woman with beautiful strawberry blonde hair. She had the nicest smile I have ever seen. My mother was particularly close to her and tries to be a Mamaw like she was. My mother told me about how she loved to play dress up with her Mamaw’s dresses and hats. There are many pictures and even some films of her. I would like to know more about her. I do not know about her likes and dislikes, where she went to school, her friends, etc. She died soon after her husband in 1968 I think also of heart problems.

The Children of James ollie Etheridge and Lena Irene Burns:

1. James William Etheridge 1930- Married Nancy Jane Johnson

2. Martha Geraldine Etheridge 1932-1999 Married Guy Mitchell Pybass

3. Robert Frank Etheridge 1933- Married Barbara Ann Hill

6. James William Etheridge was born in 1930 in Trenton, TN. His parents are James Ollie Etheridge and Lena Irene Burns.

I have heard nothing but the best of his parents who raised him to be an honest, hard working man. He ahs a younger sister and a younger brother. He lived in Trenton his entire childhood. I don’t know exactly how he was affected by the Depression. I know he played the clarinet in hsi school’s band and wore glasses from a young age. He had sandy blond hair and big blue eyes. He loved technological type of things. When he was 22 he met a beautiful girl from Dyer, TN. He had never seen her before. She looked like the type of girl you might see in the movies. She had black hair, blue eyes, and smooth ivory skin and was a little taller than average. He fell in love and they dated. He then found out later that she was only 15 years old. They still dated a while, and when she was 16 they eloped. She still finished school, while my grandfather did work with the Tennessee National Guard. My grandfather trained to fix radios and later TVs. They lived together as man and wife and lived in a trailer. When my grandmother was 20 she had my mother. Two years later my grandfather joined the LDS church and worked hard to help the church grow in West Tennessee. He later became Branch President. He traveled to Utah a few times to go to the temple as there were no temples close by at the time. He moved to Jackson, TN where he owned a sound equipment business with his brother Robert, who we call Uncle Bob. He moved his business to Memphis not long after his parents died. He did the sound for many concerts and he does the sound for the Miss Tennessee pageant every year. He worked for the LDS Memphis Stake for many years and did a lot of genealogy work. He later became the first counselor of the Memphis, TN Temple. He is still alive and doing well.

7. Nancy Johnson was born in 1936 in Dyer, TN. She is the daughter of Vilous Wayne Johnson and Nannie Mildred Warren.

She was a pretty girl who hated the farms and hated farm animals. She had an older sister Peggy who was her exact opposite and a younger brother named Billy. They had a rough time during the Depression and moved around a lot. They even had to help pick cotton. My grandmother got appendicitis as a child and nearly died. She loved school and had many friends. Because she was a little tall she played basketball. She was very pretty and looked older for her age. She attracted the handsome 22 year old James Etheridge when she was 15 years old. She skipped school and married him in Mississippi to the shock of her mother. She finished school and everything worked out. Since she has the RH negative factor there was worry that she should not have children. She had four. They were afraid to have more and adopted a son. She joined the LDS church with her husband and was a very faithful and always fulfilled her callings. She moved to Memphis and still lives there. She loves children and babysits children for extra money. She is a lot of fun and has an interesting kind of humor. She is my husband’s favorite relative. He loves her straight talk.

1. My father was born in Ripley, TN in 1956. His name is Charles Henry Lee Jr. He was named after his father, Lt.Col. Charles Henry Lee Sr.His mother is Frances Tucker.

He has one older brother and two older sisters. His father was in the Army reserves and was a pilot who fought in WWII. When he was young they went to Kentucky and were stationed at Fort Knox. Then they lived in Jackson, TN where my father lived around the corner from his future wife. They moved to Memphis when my father was 6. A couple of his uncles lived in Memphis. His mother’s parents were passed away, his father’s parents lived in Chattanooga, TN. They loved to go on trips to Florida and would visit their grandparents in Chattanooga. He also had an uncle in Johnson City, TN and one in Florida. He went to Grandview Elementary, GEorgian Hills Junior High, East High, and then Trezevant High, which he hated. He loved speech class and drama and was supposed to be very good. He loves reciting poems to this day and is an excellent speaker. He grew up Presbyterian and also went to a Baptist church sometimes, but then he met my mother when he was 17. She was LDS. When he was 19 he was baptized into the LDS church. He also attended Memphis State University and studied Accounting. After my mother graduated from High School, they married. One year later, they traveled to Utah to get sealed in the temple. My father dropped out of university when my mother became pregnant with me. After a couple of years he started his own business. He had a glass company. He lived in my grandparent’s house in Memphis after they retired to Florida. He had to pay rent. He was real close to his brother and sisters and would visit them on the weekends. He was also very active in the LDS church and became a second counselor of our ward. When I was around 4, he went back to school and got an Associates degree in Computer Science. He still ran a business on his own at the time. He switched his business when I was older to Property Management and managed 180 properties throughout Memphis. After several years, he decided on a change. The business wasn’t go all well and he did not like the dishonesty of the property owners. He also believed that Memphis wasn’t the best environment for his children. He looked around for jobs, but the economy was bad at the time. He moved his family into his grandmother’s house in Chattanooga. My mother took care of her while my father did what he could to provide for his children. After 6 months, he finally found a job doing computer work. He is still with the company to this day. In Chattanooga, he and my mother took care of his grandmother until she died in 1992 and then they took care of his own parents when they became too ill. He stayed in Chattanooga to care for his parents until his father passed away in 2005. His sister MArsha took over the care of his mother and soon after he bought property in Alabama. He built his dream house. Now he is busy as the Branch President. He is a great example of faith and optimism and taught me to never give up n matter how difficult life becomes.

3. My mother is Patti Etheridge. She was named after a contestant in the Miss Tennessee pageant. She was born in Humboldt,TN in 1956 but was raised in Jackson, TN until she was 16. She is the daughter of James William Etheridge and Nancy Jane Johnson.

When she was two, her parents became members of the LDS church. Her favorite memories are of going to her father’s mother’s home, Lena Burns Etheridge. She was real close to her. She called them Mamaw and Papaw. Her great grandfather was still alive and she called him Papa Burns. They lived in Trenton, TN along with her Aunt Gerry. Her other grandmother lived in Dyer, TN. She wasn’t as close, but she still has wonderful memories of her and loved the way she talked. She also loved seeing her grandfather and staying at her Aunt Peggy’s farm. She loved farms and animals unlike her mother who hated them. My mother was a beautiful child with long black curly hair, white skin, and huge blue eyes. She entered a beauty contest but lost to the mayor’s daughter. My grandmother still kept my mother’s hair from when she was a child and showed it to us. My mother thought that was disgusting. She had two younger sisters and one younger brother. When she was a teen her parents adopted another brother. My mother went all over the United States. They went to Utah to go to the temple and be sealed together as a family. They visited my grandfather’s cousin in Chicago. They still have film of these adventures. When my mother was 16 her family moved to Memphis, where my grandfather had a sound equipment business with his brother. My mother went to Trezevent. There she was great in Biology class and History. She was put in an advanced level Biology class that was equal to a college course and excelled. She met my father at this time. When she was 18 she married my father. She had five children, one girl and four boys. Her dream was to have a comfortable home and this was promised to her in a blessing. She never seemed to have her home. We lived in her parents in law’s house, and then when she and my father bought a house, the neighborhood soon went bad and was unsafe. Then she had to live in her husband’s grandmother’s small 50 year old home with five children. She never gave up her faith that she would someday be blessed with her own home. She was faithful in church and became a great genealogist and helped many people with their genealogy in the Chattanooga Family History Center. She took care of her in-laws even when they weren’t so grateful. She took very good care of her children and protected them as much as she could. Her sons went on missions all over the world and all were married in the temple except the youngest who is too young at this time. He is preparing to go on a mission this year. She is a very intelligent detailed woman who loves to tell you stories about her family. She is an excellent grandmother and wants to be like her Mamaw Lena Burns was and follow her example. She is still very close to her parents who come to visit often. Finally, in 2005 she built her dream home and it is a place of comfort and love for the entire family to gather. The home she was promised was finally given to her.