Fifth Generation

1. Annie Blanche Isbell was born 26 September 1885 in Underwood, Clark, Indiana and died on 22 April 1959 in Kentucky. She married John Fred Johnson on 12 August 1899 in Dyer County, Tennessee. She is buried at Union Grove Cemetery in Obion County, Tennessee.

PARENTS

2. James Redman Isbell was born on 06 December 1839 in Jefferson County, Alabama and died on 30 September 1908 in Dyer, Gibson County, Tennessee. He married Helen Missouri Lee on 10 February 1865 in Henrysville, Clark, Indiana. He is buried at the Goodhope Cemetery in Dyer, Tennessee.

3. Helen Missouri Lee, known as Missouri, was born on 02 May 1850 in Atlanta, Fulton, Georgia and died on 31 March 1936 in Dyer, Gibson, Tennessee. She is also buried at the Goodhope Cemetery.

GRANDPARENTS

4.  William r. Isbell was born from 1797-1810 in Tennessee. Not at lot is known about him.

5. Ann, we don’t know her last name but she was born around 1810 in South Carolina and is shown on the 1850 census living in De Kalb County, Alabama.

6. Jordan Lee was born in 1818 in Georgia. We do not know when he died. He married Carolina Goodwin on 04 June 1843 in Tallapoosa, Alabama.

7. Carolina Goodwin was born  in 1824 in Georgia and died on 10 October 1907 in Underwood, Clark, Indiana.

Great Grandparents

8. Levi Isbell was born 1770 in North Carolina. He moved to Tennessee when he has his children. He was living in Jackson County Alabama by 1850.

9. Jane ?

12.  Jordan Lee or Thomas Jordan Lee was born around 1780. He was either born in Scotland or South Carolina. He is recorded to have lived in Richland County, South Carolina.

13. Lidia Hodge was born about 1790 in Richland County, South Carolina and died in Tallapoosa County, Alabama.

14.  Jesse Goodwin probably from South Carolina or Georgia.

Great Great Grandparents

16.  Zachariah Isbell was born in 1770 (?) in Virginia and died in North Carolina

17. Polly Miller (information unknown)

26. Benjamin Hodge was born in 1751 in the Richland area of South Carolina.  (Camden District?) He died around 1838 in Richland County, South Carolina. He was a private in the Revolutionary War.

27. Nancy from South Carolina.

My grandmother used to tell me the story about how when her parents worked, she would stay at her grandmother’s, Annie Isbell Johnson’s house. Annie Johnson’s son, my grandmother’s uncle was in WWII and when the news would come on the radio she would require the kids to be quiet. When they wouldn’t she would lock them in another room while the news was on. My grandmother is still not happy about that and described her as a”tough old woman”. The more I learn about Annie Isbell Johnson the more I understand that she had an excuse to be tough.

Annie Blanche Isbell was born on the 26 September 1885 in Underwood, Clark County, Indiana. Her family was living in Marshall County, Tennessee, and moved to Indiana sometime before 1885. Annie Blanche’s mother’s family was in Indiana. Her parents are James Redman Isbell and Helen Missouri Lee whose families both lived in Alabama. The Lee family  moved to Indiana near the time of the Civil War. Helen’s brother fought with James Isbell in the Confederate Army from Alabama. That is probably how James found out about Missouri Lee. He went to Indiana perhaps to meet her and they were soon married in Underwood, Indiana. James was 25, Missouri was 14. The girls on that side of the family mature young and age well.

The couple soon settled in Marshall County, Tennessee because their eldest daughter, Mary, was born there in 1866.
After Mary they had William Thomas, Joseph Newton, Lillie Fair, James Lawson, and Robert Edward born 1868, 1870, 1874, 1876, and 1879. They were into farming though I cannot find them in the census. There is a huge gap in children. Perhaps the family hit difficult times. Missouri was in Indiana when she had Annie Blanche, the baby of the family. It is not known when Annie’s family moved back to Tennessee but by the 1900 census the family is in Dyer, Gibson, Tennessee.

Annie went to school probably up to the 8th grade which was common in those days. When she was 13, she married the 25 year old John Fred Johnson. He was a farmer and probably helped grow tomatoes, strawberries, cotton, or corn who also lived in Gibson County. Maybe he helped to grow strawberries that taste so delicious there. It is unknown how they met. Perhaps they met at church.  Did they meet at a social gathering like a wedding or a funeral? What is interesting is that on the marriage certificate it states “husband says that she is 16 years old”. They applied for a license on 1 May 1899. They were married on 20 May 1899.

The next year she gave birth to Mary Frances. She was very young and having children that young could not have been easy on her. It was more common in those days, of course, and she was married and responsible, however, the physical toll must have been immense. It is unknown if she had any problems.

Missouri, stayed with Annie a little bit to help her out. Missouri is listed with Annie and John Fred in the 1900 census. Missouri lived the rest of her life in Gibson County, Tennessee. Her husband James Redman Isbell died there in 1907. Before he died, Mary Elizabeth met with her parents and they had their pictures made.

This is what their homes looked like. This is Mary Elizabeth’s family.

They had a photographer come in and Mary (Warman) and Missouri shared the same scarf. Sometimes a photographer would have clothes for his clients to borrow.

Annie needed as much help as possible. She could not afford luxuries like baby nurses or housekeepers. There was only cloth diapers. The poor could not afford many cloth diapers. They had to do laundry by hand daily. There was always a worry that a child would die. Babies were solely nursed at least the first year. No solid foods were given at all. We now know the benefits of that because of the possibility of allergies. Nursing a baby also acts as a natural birth control. (not always!) Annie must have nursed her children up to two years since there is a three year gap between her children.

Annie had her son, Odel, in 1903. Not long after, the family moved to Texas. Since so few had cars they probably had to travel with a horse and wagon. It is possible they could have taken a train, but I doubt that. The trip was difficult. John Fred Johnson worked in Denton, Texas near Dallas. I cannot find any records stating what job he had there or if he was there with a family member. Annie became pregnant again while raising two small children.

Theodore Roosevelt was the president. The Wright Brothers were getting ready to have the first flight. The average wage was 22 cents an hour. Most homes did not have an indoor bathroom. Most people had no refrigeration. The most common causes of death were pneumonia and tuberculosis.

Annie gave birth, more than likely at home, to Elvine Gerene in Denton, Texas. Around the same time, little Mary Frances, Annie’s only daughter passed away. The family decided not to stay in Texas. Perhaps Annie wanted to be near her mother. She must have felt alone in Texas dealing with the death of her only baby girl and having to raise two baby boys without much support. I can’t imagine her pain and she probably never got over her sad time in Texas.

They returned back to Tennessee. In 1907, Annie had Thelbert Venise. That was the year her father passed away. Ishamel Rudolph was born in 1910. Vilous Wayne (my great grandfather) was born in 1912. John Fred Junior was born in 1924.  She gave all of her boys unusual names. They became known by their nicknames, Slim, Shag, Odel, Peck, Pill, and Junior.

Between the time that “Pill” and Junior were born, Annie and John Fred lived separate. So, Annie raised those boys mostly by herself. I could not imagine raising 6 boys with the lack of technology that they had. I struggle with two boys! As I said before, my grandmother doesn’t remember having an indoor bathroom until sometime in the 1940s. Most houses didn’t have electricity or indoor plumbing either. They traveled by horse or walked and were lucky to bathe once a week for church.I couldn’t imagine bathing six boys and making sure they had clean clothes for the Sunday Service.

They had picture shows you could see for a dime and at least by the 1930s they had a radio. Her boys went to school and found work on farms. They would hang out at dances where they would listen to locals play music. This is how Vilous, “Pill”, met his wife Mildred. Mildred played the mandolin at those parties with her brothers and sisters. The Depression soon hit and her sons moved from farm to farm looking for work. I do not know where Annie lived at this time. Her mother, Missouri passed away in 1936. She would tell her grandkids that she was kin to Robert E. Lee and that he bounced her on his knee when she was a baby. (of course it was not true!!)

Annie had to have a radio by the time of World War II. Her sons worked along with some of their wives at the Arsenal in Milan, Tennessee. The Arsenal provided a lot of jobs and saved many from the poverty of the Depression. Annie watched the grandkids. I think (please help me) that it was Junior who was fighting in World War II. That is when the story my grandmother told of her being locked in the room would happen.

Her husband died in 1947 of heart trouble. She lived with her sons.

Annie Blanche Isbell Johnson grew ill and became senile. She died in 1959 in Kentucky at the age of 73.

I read an epitaph for an woman in Pembroke, Massachusetts and though it might fit Annie Blanche Isbell as well:

“Here lies a poor woman who always was tired

She lived in a house where help wasn’t hired

The last words she said were “Dear friends, I am going

Where washing ain’t wanted, nor mending, nor sewing

There all things is done exactly to my wishes

For where folks don’t eat there’s no washing of dishes

in heaven loud anthems forever are ringing

But having no voice, I’ll keep clear of the singing

Don’t mourn for me now, don’t mourn for me never

I’m going to do nothing, forever and ever

(From the book Tombstones of Your Ancestors by Louis S. Schafer, Heritage Books 1991)

14. Vilous Wayne Johnson was born on September 30, 1912 in Trimble, Dyer, Tennessee and died December 18, 1974 in Trenton, Dyer, Tennessee. He married Nannie Mildred Warren on December 20, 1932, in Trenton, Gibson, Tennessee. His parents were John Fred Johnson and Annie Blanche Isbell.

I also do not know much about his young life, but he was known as “Pill”. All of his brothers had nicknames. He grew up on a farm and there is a picture of him as a child. My grandmother describes his family as being rough, though her father was always kind. He had tanned skin with high cheekbones, black hair, and blue eyes. He was tall I think. He had it rough during the depression and even had to spend time as a sharecropper to make ends meet. During WWII, he worked for the Milan Arsenal. It was not long after this time that he bought a house in Dyer, TN near his wife’s relatives. The house had no bathroom or electricity, but he updated the house over the years. This was this house I would go to for Thanksgiving as a child. I last went there in 2004. The only other story I remember about him is the one told by my grandmother. She told me that she wasn’t allowed to see Gone with the Wind because there was a curse word in the end (”Frankly my dear. . . “) but she retorted back that she heard her Daddy say that word all of the time! I am sure she got her humor from her dad but I need to make sure.

15. Nannie Mildred Warren is the great grandparent I know the best. She passed away only a year ago and wrote down her autobiography. She was born July 26, 1914 in Dyer, Gibson, TN. She died on April 22, 2007 in Trenton, Gibson, Tennessee. She is buried next to her husband in the Oakwood Cemetery in Dyer, Tennessee. Most locals know this cemetery well. For some weird reason the local teens hang out in the cemetery. There are many pictures including one of my great grandmother as a young woman hanging out in the cemetery. She is the daughter of William Clint Warren and Willie Inez McDonald.

She was known as Mildred because she hated her first name Nannie. She also grew up on a farm and was very poor, but was not the poorest. She lived nearby family most of her life, She played the mandolin and sang with her family. She even wrote her own songs. She got to perform on the radio when she was young. I got to meet most of her brothers and sisters though one brother died before she was even born. She attended school in Dyer and survived a tornado that destroyed everything they had. No one was killed but several people were hurt. She wrote about how she met her husband “Pill” in her autobiography but I forgot. She went into detail about all the trials they suffered during the Depression. She was a great cook and always loved to cook for people. For Christmas they would give their children oranges and put nuts in the trees to feed the birds. She worked most of her life. After her husband died in 1974, she would take care of elderly people and did this until she herself got too old sometime in her 80’s. She was always in excellent health. Everyone loved the way she talked for she had a very strong country accent and would call everyone “hun”. She died at the age of 92 and lived a full beautiful life.

Children of Vilous Wayne Johnson and Nannie Mildred Warren:

1. Peggy Juanita Johnson 1934- Married Bobby Gene Paschall

2. Nancy Jane Johnson 1936- Married James William Etheridge

3. Billy Wayne Johnson 1938- Married Joy Dickey

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.