Efforts begin to save one of St. Clair’s most storied structures
Story by Robert Debter Submitted Photos
The story of the Looney Family, among the first settlers in St. Clair County and one of the oldest in state of Alabama, begins over 200 years ago on the high, east bank of Tensaw Lake, which had been from an old channel of the Alabama River at a place named Fort Mims.
Remaining structure after the fire, below
The fort began as the fortified plantation of early settler Samuel Mims and consisted of 17 buildings, a blockhouse and a log palisade.
Following the victory of the Red Stick Creeks at the Battle of Burnt Corn Creek on July 27, 1813, over 500 settlers from the surrounding area sought refuge at the fortified home. Maj. Daniel Beasley and 70 volunteers of the Mississippi Territorial Militia were sent to garrison the fort, while another 100 volunteers were sent to other nearby posts and forts.
At noon, on Aug. 30, Red Stick warriors, led by William Weatherford, or “Red Eagle,” assaulted the haven by rushing though the fort’s open gate and firing through the gun ports. Maj. Beasley and his militiamen fell during the first part of the enemy’s attack.
It fell to Capt. Dixon Bailey, a Creek, and his force of Americans and Creeks who repelled the hostiles for four hours. The battle ended when the fort’s buildings were set ablaze. The casualties numbered from 300 to over 400, mostly women and children.
Gov. Willie Blount (pronounced “Wylie”) of Tennessee was quick to react and the state legislature authorized him to summon 5,000 troops to defend the Mississippi Territory. Major General of the Tennessee Militia, Andrew Jackson, who was recovering from a near fatal brawl in Nashville, was given command of the volunteer forces.
On Oct. 7, with his arm in a sling, Jackson and his second in command, Gen. John Coffee, departed Camp Blount in Fayetteville. They made their way south and later erected Fort Strother along the Coosa River in present day Ragland.
The Creek War came to a close following the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on March 27, 1814, and many familiar names of places in Alabama came about as result of this often-forgotten war, such as: Moulton and Somerville and the counties of Blount, Coffee, Jackson, Lauderdale, Montgomery and Wilcox.
St. Clair beginnings
Among the brave Tennessee volunteers were John Looney and his son Henry, of Maury County. During the war, they had come through this land, helped construct Fort Strother, and fell in love with the beautiful country that surrounded them during the campaign.
In the aftermath, father and son returned to Maury County and in 1816, John began selling his land. In late 1817, he, his wife Rebecca, and their children left Maury County, bound for the land described by Julia Tutwiler, as “Goodlier than the land that Moses climbed lone Nebo’s mount to see.”
Trusting in the Lord with their hearts and leaning not on their own understandings, the John Looney Family settled in Beaver Valley in 1818, and the site they chose was near a sparkling spring, not far from Little Beaver Creek. They soon began work on their house and were finished by the winter.
The new spring brought with it swarms of mosquitoes, illness from fever and chills and a flooded home. A new home place was found nearby, and the house was moved to higher ground where it has stood ever since.
John Looney became a prominent leader in the young St. Clair County, serving as a justice of the peace and foreman of the first jury. After his death in 1827, Henry became head of the family and married Jane Ash, the daughter of Ashville’s namesake John Ash, on Oct. 25, 1838. Henry departed this life in 1876 at the age of 78 and was interred at Liberty Cemetery in Odenville. Jane moved to Texas around 1888 to live with her son George and died there in 1900, aged 85. She was laid to rest in City Greenwood Cemetery in Weatherford, Texas.
Henry’s siblings were Jack (married to Lucinda Cooper), Asa (Joyce Cooper), Absolom (Nancy Chenault), Sophia (John Cooper), Elizabeth (Wylie Yarbrough), Isaac (Elizabeth Hammond), Wylie (Laurinda Little) and Melinda (Hugh Cooper).
The Looney House, with all its history and dovetailed, heart of pine logs, was sold in the late 1800s by D.W. Looney to John and Eliza Lonnergan. It remained in the Lonnergan Family until it came into the possession of Col. and Mrs. Joseph R. Creitz.
The house, once the perfect picture of pioneer architecture and Southern resolve, was now without a roof, missing many of its window panes and overgrown with honeysuckle. In March 1972, the couple offered the house to the county or any historical organization that would vow to restore the property.
Historical Society steps in to save structure
On April 8, 19 people attended the founding meeting of the St. Clair Historical Society at the Odenville Community Center. On Sept. 15, the house and property were given to the St. Clair Historical Society for $10 and by the end of the society’s first year, its membership measured over 500.
Mrs. Mattie Lou (Teague) Crow valiantly led from the front and organized the restoration of the home. A cedar shake roof was installed, window panes were replaced, and the grounds were cleared, with much appreciation being extended to the Ashville Garden Club and the John Pope Eden Career Technical Center.
The front porch was restored by Jack Bowling of Rainbow City for the cost of around $2,600 and it was said, “It’s as near to the original as we could build it,” as a great deal of research was conducted to determine how the first porch looked.
The rock steps, quarried out of Beaver Mountain and hand hewn, date back to the 1860s and were donated from the old Cox house in Beaver Valley. Wild roses and four o’clocks were planted. For the inside of the house, Miss Nan Young made the rugs and Miss Nellie Patterson made the briar-stitched curtains.
Furnishings and decorations were donated from treasures found in the homes of many St. Clair Countians: Karl Scott donated a pegged rope bed; Ann Riser gave a lovely chest of drawers which opens into a desk; Elizabeth Teague donated a period rocker; and the Rankin Family gave a beautiful wardrobe.
Howard Hill gifted a set of candle molds, which belonged to his grandfather, and his wife, Elizabeth, the great-granddaughter of county pioneers Littleton Yarbrough and Reuben Phillips, donated a reel, for arranging thread, from her great-grandfather Reuben Phillips’ plantation and a butter mold used by her mother, Sallie (Phillips) Hodges.
The first of the St. Clair Historical Society’s Annual Fall Festivals took place over the weekend of Nov. 23 and 24, 1974, and the grand opening of the museum was attended by a crowd of over 2,000. The ribbon cutting was officiated by Dr. James McClendon, the father of Sen. Jim McClendon, and music was provided by the Springville and St. Clair County High School bands.
The Looney House was soon added to National Register of Historic Places and on Feb. 15, 1975, a certificate, signed by Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace, recognizing this achievement was presented to the St. Clair Historical Society.
In 2018, descendants of John and Rebecca Looney came together from all over Alabama, as well as Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas and Utah in a homecoming celebration as part of the St. Clair County Bicentennial.
Until a tragic fire destroyed it on Aug. 6, 2022, it was considered one of the oldest-standing, two-story, dogtrot houses in the state of Alabama.
St. Clair County’s courthouse stands like a beacon, centering a perfectly square intersection in downtown Ashville. The structure itself has undergone many renovations since Littleton Yarbrough built it in 1844, but it remains central to the county’s legal system, making it the oldest operating courthouse in Alabama. Many of the stories created within its walls and the legal system itself were shaped by those who served as its judges.
A sampling of those earliest years gives a glimpse of how history was made and who made it:
John Ash
John Ash was born Nov. 30, 1783, to William and Jane (Fleming) Ash. The family originated in York County, S.C., and, making their way south, found themselves in Franklin County, Ga., for a time. John, his brother, James, and their families made their way to Alabama.
In January 1817, they were making their way on the Old Montevallo Road, which led through modern-day Ashville and Odenville in Beaver Valley. They camped there and spying game in the distance, John dismounted his wagon, took aim with his rifle and fired. The shot caused the horse to bolt, and Betsy, John and Margaret Ash’s daughter, was thrown from the wagon.
John Ash historic marker
She lay unconscious for three days until Jan. 27, when she died at the age of 3. Not finding it in their hearts to leave Betsy alone, the family stayed with her. A log dogtrot house was constructed for John’s family and his wife’s parents, the Rev. Thomas and Ann Newton. This house, the Ash-Newton Cabin, still stands today and is the oldest structure in St. Clair County.
John would have a two-story house built not far from the Newtons and his beloved daughter.
In November 1819, Ash succeeded James Thomason as county judge and remained in that position until the next election in 1821. Ash was the first man elected to that position, as Judge Thomason had been appointed by Gov. William Wyatt Bibb.
In 1820, Ash, Joel Chandler, John Cunningham, John Massey and George Shotwell were selected by Bibb to secure a Seat of Justice for the county. The first courts had taken place at the home of Alexander Brown near present-day Ashville in Old Town, or “Cataula” in the Creek Language.
On Nov. 28, 1822, St. Clairsville, which covered 30 acres and was in the center of St. Clair County, was incorporated. In less than a month, on Dec. 12, the town was chosen by the five commissioners as the county seat.
St. Clairsville was owned by Philip Coleman, a man who possessed great business skills. He and the commissioners had a model of the town built and began dividing it into lots and selecting locations for the county courthouse and jail.
After this process, Coleman and the commissioners agreed to rename the town Ashville, to honor their friend Judge John Ash.
The courts were moved to Ashville well in advance of the construction of the first courthouse, an 1824 wooden structure that stood on the site where Ashville Rexall Drug was located and is now home to Ashville Dental Care.
The new courthouse was built in 1844 by Littleton Yarbrough, and although renovated several times, part of the original 1844 structure still stands, encased in the modern building, making it the oldest working house of justice in the state of Alabama.
On Oct. 8, 1823, Ashville was purchased by the commissioners for $10,000. Judge Ash would continue to serve his community and county as state senator from 1825-1826, then 1832-1833 and 1844-1845.
Margaret died in 1855, aged 63, and was reunited with her husband on April 1, 1872, when he departed this life at the age of 89. They are both buried at Liberty Cemetery in Odenville and had a total of 13 children together.
Their original grave markers were donated to the City of Ashville by the John Scoggins family and are on public display at Ashville City Hall.
E.J. Robinson
When Henry DeBerry resigned as probate judge in 1871, Gov. Robert B. Lindsay appointed E.J. Robinson, a young Ashville attorney, to that office. In 1874 Judge Robinson was elected to a full, four-year term, and the voters kept him in office until 1886.
Elisha James Robinson
Elisha James Robinson was born on Sept. 16, 1846, to George and Mary Robinson, who had come to Alabama from Newberry District, S.C., in 1849. The family first lived in Elyton, but in 1857, they purchased a farm two-and-a-half miles away from Ashville.
When he was 17 years old, Robinson entered the Confederate Army. He joined Company E, 53rd Alabama Infantry Regiment in June of 1863, and at once was in the thick of battle at Big Shanty. On Dec. 13, 1864, the discharge of a torpedo caused him to lose his right foot. He was soon discharged and returned to his studies. He read law and passed the bar examination at the age of 22. He was only 25 when he became probate judge.
Judge Robinson was married three times – first to Susan Vandegrift, then to Lena Ligon, and the third time to Laura Weatherall. Two of his sons, Harold and Memory Leake Robinson, were Birmingham lawyers.
After his service as probate judge of St. Clair County, Judge Robinson moved to East Lake and sold his beautiful Victorian home, built in the 1880s, to James P. and Clara (Inzer) Montgomery, which would remain in the Montgomery family for many years until it was transformed into a bed and breakfast inn known as “Roses and Lace.”
It is now owned by the Nicholas Lemonds Family. Judge Robinson served as mayor of East Lake for a number of years and was active in promoting public schools there. Robinson Elementary School was named for him.
He is interred with his third wife at East Lake Cemetery.
James Lewis Herring
James Lewis Herring was born in St. Clair County on Sept. 7, 1876, to James P. Herring and Elizabeth Forman. After his father’s death of brain fever in 1878 at the age of 27, Elizabeth remarried and moved from Springville to Ashville.
Judge James Herring campaign pin
The young James would one day be a football player and graduate of the University of Alabama. He received his degree in law from Georgetown University.
In 1906, at the age of 29, James became the president of Ashville Savings Bank and would serve in that capacity for the remainder of his life. On Dec. 21, 1910, he married Esther Nunnally and the next year was elected probate judge. During his four-year term, Judge Herring championed for new and better roads in St. Clair County.
The Herrings moved to Gadsden in 1916 and there, the former judge would be engaged in real estate and civic activities. He was also a devout Mason.
Judge Herring passed away on Sept. 13, 1952, at his home and was interred at Forrest Cemetery. He would be reunited with his wife almost two years later, when Esther passed away at the age of 68 and was laid to rest beside him.
In 1884, Judge Herring’s uncle, Augustus B. Herring, transformed the family home in Springville into the Herring Hotel, which stood until it destroyed by a fire on Christmas Day in 1960.
Curtis D. Adkins Sr.
Curtis D. Adkins Sr. was born on Jan. 24, 1897, in Moody, attended high school in Leeds and returned from his World War I service in France to become St. Clair County tax collector at the age of 23, the youngest person to ever serve in that office.
Curtis D. Adkins
In 1928, he became St. Clair County probate judge and served as vice president and president of the Leeds State Bank for many years, as well as president of the Ashville Savings Bank. He was also a livestock dealer with large farming interests and served as post adjutant for the American Legion chapter in Ashville.
Death came suddenly and unexpectedly early in the morning on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 1956, and he was buried at Ashville City Cemetery. At the time of his death, he was director of the U.S. Savings Bond sales program for the state of Alabama.
Judge Adkins was married to the former Erin Westbrook, and their children were Joe, Curtis Jr., and Carolyn (Adkins) Spann. His grandson is the noted television meteorologist and author, James Spann.
Adkins’ portrait was donated by the Joe Adkins Family to the Ashville Museum & Archives. It was painted by Floyd Stewart, Bessemer, a painter and St. Clair native. l
County named for Revolutionary War soldier, American statesman
Story by Robert Debter Submitted Photos
On Nov. 20, 1818, the Second Alabama Territorial Legislature representing 20 counties, seven of which had been created by the Mississippi Territorial Legislature (Washington, Madison, Baldwin, Clarke, Mobile, Monroe and Montgomery) and the remaining 13 (Morgan*, Lawrence, Franklin, Limestone, Lauderdale, Blount, Tuscaloosa, Marengo, Shelby, Bibb**, Dallas, Marion and Conecuh) established by the First Alabama Territorial Legislature earlier that year.
The first county created by the Second Territorial Legislature was taken from the northern portion of Shelby County and would bear the name of St. Clair.
A county older than the state itself draws its name from far away roots in Scotland. On March 23, 1734, at at Thurso Castle, in Thurso, County Caithness, Scotland, William and Margaret St. Clair welcomed a newborn son and bestowed the name, Arthur. After completing his formal education, he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and was apprenticed with Dr. William Hunter in England for a time. But like so many of his warrior ancestors, he heard the call of adventure and could not deny it.
Arthur St. Clair
In 1757, just in his early 20s, the young St. Clair purchased an ensign’s commission in the British Army and came to America during the French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Years War. He served in Canada during this almost decade-long conflict and was present at the Siege of Louisbourg.
For his heroism, Arthur was promoted to the rank of lieutenant (originally known as leftenant). The year 1759 saw the young soldier at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in Quebec, where Lt. St. Clair seized the colors, which had fallen from the hand of a dying soldier and bore them until the day was won. In May of 1760, he married Phoebe Bayard of Boston, whom he had met while his regiment had been stationed there. They were joined in holy matrimony at Trinity Church in Boston. They would have 58 years and seven children together.
Two years after marrying, Lt. St. Clair resigned his commission and moved to Bedford, Penn., to survey land for the Penn Family. In 1764, the St. Clairs settled in Ligonier Valley, Penn., and through the establishment of several mills, St. Clair would eventually manage to become the largest landowner in western Pennsylvania. The parlor of his home, “The Hermitage,” remains preserved at the Fort Ligonier Museum.
He became surveyor of the Cumberland District in 1770, a justice of the court of quarter sessions and common pleas, a member of the proprietary council and justice, clerk and recorder of the Orphans’ Court.
In 1771, Gov. John Penn appointed him first prothonotary of Bedford County and deputy register for the probate of wills. Three years later, he was appointed magistrate and prothonotary of the newly established Westmoreland County. Penn described him as “… a gentleman … and in every station of life has preserved the character of a very honest, worthy man …”
Soldier, hero
St. Clair, commissioned as a colonel of a Pennsylvania regiment in 1776, raised and trained his regiment in the dead of winter and then marched six companies north to reinforce the American Army in Quebec. Unfortunately, St. Clair arrived to find the army in full retreat upon the death of Gen. Richard Montgomery, for whom the capital of Alabama is named. Col. St. Clair, through familiarity of the terrain and British strategy, saved the army from certain capture.
For his bravery, he was promoted to brigadier general and ordered to join Gen. George Washington and help him raise a militia in New Jersey. On Christmas night, St. Clair’s troops, now under the command of Washington, crossed the Delaware into Trenton and attacked the Hessians at dawn on the 26th. The Continental forces were victorious with 22 Hessian mercenaries killed, 84 wounded and 918 captured.
The empire struck back on Jan. 2, 1777, attacking Princeton and routing the small garrison that escaped over the Assunpink Creek to where Washington had posted several cannons. These cannons, along with musket fire, managed to stalemate the British forces.
That night, a council of war was called and many of Washington’s generals advocated for retreat. St. Clair’s lone voice championed attack. He proposed a daring plan to outflank the enemy and take Princeton. For this, St. Clair’s brigade was given the honor of marching ahead of the advancing army, and his battle plan resulted in a resounding victory for the Continental Army.
It was here that Arthur St. Clair and George Washington formed a strong bond that would last for many years. Even when some would later contest and question the Scotsman’s abilities, Washington, with one exception, always remained supportive and faithful to his friend.
St. Clair was promoted to major general for his “fierce bravery and loyalty” and given command of Fort Ticonderoga in New York. Previously a British stronghold, the fort had been captured in 1775 by Gens. Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold “in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress.” St. Clair arrived in early June 1777 and found the fort in disrepair. Worse yet, it was ill supplied and manned by a garrison of only 2,500.
Winthrop Sargent
Gen. John Burgoyne, “known more for his baggage train than his battles,” according to local historian Joe Whitten, laid siege to the fort with an impressive force of 8,000 British regulars and 2,500 auxiliary members.
Not seeing for the needless waste of life, St. Clair ordered the fort evacuated and later recounted, “I know I could have saved my reputation by sacrificing the army; but were I to do so, I should forfeit that which the world could not restore, and which it cannot take away, the approbation of my own conscience.”
The same cabal who endeavored to replace Washington as commander in chief with Horatio Gates lobbied strongly against St. Clair, decrying him as a “coward” and “traitor.” A court martial was convened, and the trial concluded with St. Clair being acquitted, “with the highest honor, of the charges against him.” Afterwards, naval hero Capt. John Paul Jones wrote to him, “I pray you be assured that no man has more respect for your character, talents, and greatness of mind than, dear General, your most humble servant.”
A leader
Following his vindication, St. Clair continued his active leadership. He commanded at West Point, suppressed a mutiny, continued raising troops and sending them south to aid Washington and Lafayette and served on the court martial that condemned Maj. John Andre, the co-conspirator of turncoat Benedict Arnold. He joined Washington at Yorktown four days before the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. In November, he was given orders to reinforce Gen. Nathanael Greene in his campaign to expel the British from the Carolinas.
Lawmaker
The general returned to Pennsylvania following the war and was elected to Congress in 1785. The Pennsylvania Herald reported, “Quorum having been formed in Congress, they proceeded to the choice of President for the ensuing year, when his Excellency Arthur St. Clair, Esq., was elected.”
During his 1787 term, the Northwest Ordinance was adopted, and the U.S. Constitution was drafted. In 1789, he had the great joy of assisting in the inauguration of his friend as the first president of the United States and had once been named as a possible candidate for the vice presidency.
From 1788 to 1803, St. Clair served as first governor of the Northwest Territory and named the city, Cincinnati, Ohio. His second-in-command, Winthrop Sargent, would serve from 1798-1801 as the first governor of the Mississippi Territory, from which Alabama was carved in 1817.
Return to duty
In 1791, St. Clair was once again called into action. As major general, he was tasked with suppressing Native-American resistance, and his force, originally consisting of 2,000, eventually dwindled down through illness and desertion to less than 1,000.
The combined forces of the Miami, Shawnee and Delaware numbered over 1,000 and on Nov. 4, 1791, ambushed the American force. St. Clair, ill with gout, suffered a devastating defeat, and the cries of cowardice and incompetence were once again revived.
Arriving at Philadelphia, St. Clair immediately requested a court martial to clear his name. This was denied by President Washington who called him “worse than a murderer” and demanded his resignation as commander of the Army. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives began an investigation and sided with Gen. St. Clair. They found secretary of war, quartermaster general and other officials in the War Department had ill manned, equipped and supplied Gen. St. Clair’s expedition. The Congress voted against a resolution on the committee’s report, so St. Clair was never officially vindicated.
He was allowed to remain governor – a position he found increasingly difficult following his humiliating forced resignation as commander of the Army. St. Clair, a Federalist, believed that the Ohio Territory should be admitted as two states instead of one to increase the power of his party in the federal congress.
He delivered a speech at the Ohio Constitutional Convention that railed against the Convention and President Thomas Jefferson, “acting like a father betrayed by his son, he used a paternalistic tone and discussed his contributions to the territory, outlining what he had accomplished in fourteen years ….” Jefferson responded by removing St. Clair from office.
Returning home
At almost 70 years of age, the old soldier returned to the Hermitage and facing debts from loans he had given out during the Revolution, attempted to rebuild his wealth. However, the stars in their courses fought against all his attempts to replenish his life, and sheriffs began to sell his property for all the debts he had incurred.
St. Clair beseeched Congress for money he was believed owed to him for his services to his country. The Hermitage was sold, and the St. Clairs moved to a log house called “Chestnut Ridge,” situated near Youngstown, Penn. Several months later, the legislature of Pennsylvania finally granted St. Clair an annuity of $8,400, and shortly before his death, he received from Congress $2,000 in discharge of his claims and a pension of $60 a month.
On his way to Youngstown to purchase goods, St. Clair was thrown from his wagon and found unconscious on the side of the road. He was tenderly carried back to his home, where he passed away surrounded by his family on Aug. 31, 1818, after a departing message of peace forevermore. By November of that same year, St. Clair County, Ala., would be created and bear his name.
Patriot
He was buried at the St. Clair Cemetery in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Penn., and his monument, a gift from his Masonic brethren reads: “The Earthly Remains Of Major-General Arthur St. Clair Are Deposited Beneath This Humble Monument, Which Is Erected To Supply The Place Of A Nobler One Due From His Country.”
Always the patriot, in his own words: “I hold that no man has a right to withhold his services when his country needs them. Be the sacrifice ever so great, it must be yielded upon the altar of patriotism.” l
Editor’s Note: Of Alabama’s 67 counties, more than a dozen are named in recognition of those who have some connection as leaders, statesmen or soldiers to the American Revolution. Arguably, none gave so much and received so little in return as Arthur St. Clair. But his name lives on in this Alabama county.
* Originally “Cotaco [co-take-oh]” until renamed in 1821 for American Revolutionary leader, Brig. Gen. Daniel Morgan of Virginia.
** Originally “Cahawba” until renamed in 1820 for William Wyatt Bibb, territorial governor and first governor of the state of Alabama, shortly after his untimely death.
Leroy F. Box and Pleasant Riggs Crump, St. Clair’s witnesses to history
Story by Robert Debter Submitted Photos Photos by Graham Hadley
They both hailed from St. Clair County in the early 1800s. One returned home from the Civil War to live out his life there. The other resettled in nearby Talladega County after the war. But Leroy F. Box of Ashville and Pleasant Riggs Crump of Ragland crossed paths as Confederate soldiers on a fateful day at Appomattox, Va., as eyewitnesses to history.
Soldier, educator,judge, lawmaker
Leroy Franklin Box’s story does not begin in St. Clair County, but in Kent, England, where his family originated. The Box family had a long history of patriotic military service to America from the American Revolution to the War of 1812 and the Seminole War.
He was born at Trout Creek (now Ragland) on April 9, 1837, to Allen and Mary ‘Polly’ Box. Both were from South Carolina and of the Methodist faith. Mrs. Box was described as “true in all relations of life” and “a faithful, devoted Christian.” At the time of his birth, St. Clair County was not even 19 years old, and its boundaries extended farther north into present day Etowah County.
Many of the county’s first, founding and most prominent families, as with his, the Ash and Dean families, came from South Carolina, with many others coming from Georgia (Inzer), North Carolina (Yarbrough), Tennessee (Looney) and Virginia (the Chandler and Cobb). The young Leroy received his early education from Professor Law and Pope and would teach school for several years.
Leroy Franklin Box
In 1860, he became St Clair County’s first superintendent of education but also in 1860 came a very contentious and divisive presidential election in which the winner carried only 18 of 33 states (none were Southern) and received less than 40% percent of the popular vote. South Carolina seceded unanimously (169-0) on Dec. 20 and was followed by Mississippi (83-15) and Florida (62-7) on Jan. 9 and 10, 1861. Then, the hour of decision fell to Alabama and in Montgomery on Jan. 11, the Republic of Alabama was declared in a vote of 61-39.
Box joined Company A of the 10th Alabama Infantry, which had been organized at Montgomery and placed under command of Col. John Horace Forney. The regiment would see action beginning at the Battle of Dranesville in Fairfax County, Va., and continue to be engaged at many noteworthy battles, including: Gaines’ Mill, Frasier’s Farm, Second Manassas (Bull Run), Sharpsburg (Antietam), Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Petersburg.
All through the war, Lt. Box studied from law books which were always with him. He married Isabella Vandegrift on April 22, 1866, and journeyed to Calhoun County to continue his law education, all the while still teaching. After obtaining his license, Box returned to Ashville and entered into a partnership with Judge John W. Inzer.
He served one term in the Alabama Legislature, two terms as state superintendent of education and was later nominated, then elected, as judge of the Seventh District. Judge Box was a Mason and a member of Ashville Lodge 186.
His home, built in 1890 by his son-in-law, still stands proudly in Ashville on Box Hill. Its elegance and splendor are displayed and preserved by its owners Lavon and Pat Drake, who operate their business the Ashville House Quilt Shop, in the beautiful Victorian home.
On March 26, 1895, Judge Box passed from this life while holding court at Edwardsville, then the county seat of Cleburne County. The Southern Alliance newspaper eulogized him as “… one more good man gone on before to mansions in the skies.” His epitaph reads: “A just judge always dared to do right, a brave soldier, a true mason, a conscientious Christian devoted to his church and every worthy cause.”
‘The last Confederate veteran’
In October 1864, during the almost year-long Siege of Petersburg in Virginia, a 16-year-old boy from Greensport, who had been in Crawford’s Cove on Dec. 23, 1847, appeared and was placed in the ranks of Company A of the 10th Alabama.
The son of Robert and Martha (Hathcock) Crump had been inspired by a returning soldier in 1863 and had become determined to join the Army and take up the cause for which many Southerners, both high and low born, had fought and died.
After the War, Crump journeyed back to Alabama and began his new life in Talladega County.
Pleasant Riggs Crump
He married Mary Hall on Sept. 19, 1872, and built a home for them near Lincoln in the Acker’s Chapel Community. The honorary title of “colonel” was bestowed to Crump, a member of the United Confederate Veterans, by President Harry Truman, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and he would be addressed by this title for the remainder of his life. In an apparent show of respect for Confederate veterans, he bestowed the honorary title much like Alabama Gov. Lurleen Wallace appointed Bob Hope an honorary lieutenant colonel in the Alabama State Guard.
Crump was a deacon at Refuge Baptist Church for almost 80 years and read the Bible through several times.
On April 26, 1950, Crump enjoyed a surprise visit from James W. Moore of Selma, commander-in-chief of United Confederate Veterans. The old soldiers clasped hands tightly and held their grip as they talked. Throughout the day they looked over old photos and reminisced of days long ago and old friends now passed.
His final birthday was one of tremendous celebration as friends, neighbors and members of the local Civitan Club gathered around a cake festooned with 104 candles. Col. Crump was made the first honorary member of the club.
His favorite scripture was from St. John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled,” and he once confided to a reporter, “I have spent these last few years sitting in a rocking chair and talking with the Lord.”
On Dec. 31, 1951, the flags of the past fell still, and the bugle calls became silent. There would be no more dreams of battle, nor seeing friends fall from rifle, cannon or bayonet. Crump, known as the “Last Confederate Veteran,” had passed away.
The United States flag draped his coffin.
APPOMATTOX
On April 9, 1865, two soldiers, one a lieutenant and the other a private, watched the man who had led the Army of North Virginia ride to the Appomattox Courthouse, dismount his horse and enter. Private Pleasant Crump, uttered to his commanding officer, “… when Gen. Lee comes out after surrendering, he’ll come out without his sidearms, sword or anything else.” Lt. Leroy F. Box, replied, “That won’t happen. He’ll come out the same way he went in.”
About 15 minutes passed, and Lee emerged. He stood for a moment on the front porch and, looking out into the distance, placed a fisted hand into the open palm of another. True to his commander’s word, Pvt. Crump observed that Gen. Lee was still wearing his sword, as he mounted Traveller, and began his journey.
“How did you know it would happen that way?” Crump asked. Box replied, “Lee and Grant both graduated from the U.S. Military Academy. They saw service on the Mexican border together. When secession came, Lee chose the South, and Grant chose the North. There could not have possibly been ill feelings between them.” l
“Northern politicians do not appreciate the determination and pluck (bravery) of the South, and Southern politicians do not appreciate the numbers, resources, and patient perseverance of the North. Both sides forget we are all Americans.” – Gen. Robert E. Lee
From its nondescript exterior, it looks just like many a building scattered throughout Alabama, just an old National Guard armory that has seen better years. But what or who – lies underneath – is the story here.
It may mark the end of an era for this St. Clair County couple, but it preserves the story behind the beginning of their life and lineage in the county, rooted long ago in royalty.
James Thomason Greene was born on Feb. 2, 1849, to John Greene, who was born in Cork County, Ireland, in 1814, and came to America in 1832, and Elizabeth (Thomason) Greene, a descendant of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Elizabeth’s father, James Thomason, served as St. Clair County’s first probate judge from Nov. 20, 1818–Nov. 20, 1819, and her brother, John Isham Thomason, also served a probate judge from Dec. 13, 1845–Jan. 15, 1848, and Jan. 30, 1850–June 8, 1850.
Her grandfather, John Duett Thomason, was a Revolutionary War soldier who held a commission in the Carolina Regiment and was wounded at the Battle of King’s Mountain. After the war he made his way through South Carolina and Georgia, he came to St. Clair County. He had acquired many acres in modern day Springville and St. Clair Springs through a land lottery for men with Revolutionary War service.
Gardner Greene
It was this patriot who married Elizabeth Stuart Diamond, and their final resting place is underneath the Ashville Armory. Elizabeth’s mother, also named Elizabeth, was born into the House of Stuart and was listed in Burke’s Peerage until her name was removed after she married a commoner named John Diamond.
Charles Dickens once said, “In love of home, the love of country has its rise.” It seems a fitting proverb for John Duett Thomason and one that was transferred to his granddaughter and great-grandson. Elizabeth was an ardent Southern patriot who, in the tumultuous and dark military rule of Ashville following the subversion of the Confederate government, raised the Confederate flag on a fishing pole line each morning. According to legend, she slept under the flag each night for she said that this gave her a sense of complete safety and security.
At the age of 13, James enlisted as private in the Confederate States Army and served until ill health forced him to leave service.
The young James was a public, spirited man and in 1871 and began reading law. The next year saw him admitted to the bar and also appointed to register in chancery, a position which he would hold until 1880.
From 1876–1881, he served as chief clerk to Judge Leroy Franklin Box, later state superintendent of education, at his office in Montgomery. Greene would go on to represent St. Clair County in the Alabama State Legislature from 1884 to 1886 and during his term was chairman of the Committee on Education.
He continued to serve the people of St. Clair County as probate judge, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and uncle, from Sept. 14, 1887–Nov. 1, 1892. Judge Greene practiced law in Ashville from 1872–1876, 1881–1886 and 1892–1901. He also opened the “Law Office of Inzer & Greene” with Judge John W. Inzer in Ashville. His son, Gardner Greene, would one day study law.
On October 13, 1873, he married Margaret Ashley and to them were born 10 children: Otis, Claude, James Gardner, who be known for his heroism in World War I, Postelle, Evelyn, Ethel, Margaret, Marie, Nelle and John Benjamin.
Judge Greene was a Mason and a member and Worshipful Master of Cataula Lodge No. 186 in Ashville, a member of Lodge No. 443 in Anniston; a royal host of Anniston chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Chancellor Commander of Anniston lodge, No. 46, Knights of Pythias. He was also an Elk and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Judge Greene died on April 10, 1910, in Pell City while trying to recover from a severe cold that had settled on his lungs. His obituary notes, “He was one of St. Clair’s most distinguished citizens and by his strength of character and kindly disposition had held the love of our people for several generations.”
His son, the gallant World War I hero Gardner Greene, was born in Ashville on April 16, 1878, and after finishing his primary education, studied at the Inzer & Greene Law Office, run by his father and Judge John Washington Inzer at Ashville. He was licensed to practice law in 1897.
At the age of 20, the young lawyer volunteered for the Spanish-American War and served with distinction as a private and non-commissioned officer. In 1900, he entered the George Washington University Law School, graduated in 1901, and soon after, he entered service in the United States Census Bureau. In 1908 he opened a law office in Pell City and continued to practice there until he entered service in the Army.
Greene organized the Pell City Guards, known as “Company C” Fourth Alabama in 1915 – before the regiment was demobilized, war was declared on Germany, and the Fourth Alabama became the 167th United States Infantry. It was one of the regiments of the now famous “Rainbow Division.”
Captain Greene, in command of Company C, sailed for France and entered the trenches of the Toul sector early in 1918. He served continuously with his company until July 31, when he was gassed, but under skillful treatment recovered and returned to command his company in late August.
On September 12, 1918, while leading his troops into battle with the German forces in the Saint Mihiel sector, fire from a machine gun struck him in the forehead, and he died instantly. He was buried at the Saint Mihiel American Cemetery and Memorial in Lorraine, France.
Greene was universally loved and respected and was popular in his regiment. He was a Mason, a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity and one of the leaders of the St. Clair County Bar.
Nearly a century before, his ancestors would be laid to rest in Ashville’s first cemetery, where the armory stands now. On a corner of the building, a plaque commemorates the royalty – both of historic nobility and local legends.
It simply reads:
ELIZABETH DIAMOND THOMASON
1739-1829
7th Gen. from Mary Queen of Scots
John Thomason, R.S.
1724-1825
Editor’s Note: The name in all capital letters denotes her royal roots, niece of Queen Anne of the House of Stuart. The R.S. following his name signifies, Revolutionary Soldier. The plaque was dedicated in 1989 by the Broken Arrow Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution.
Story by Joe Whitten Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr. Submitted Photos
Many late-Victorian-style cottages remain in St. Clair County, and one of the loveliest is the c1891 home of 80-year-old Maurice Huneycutt, who has cherished and restored this ancestral home.
“My great-grandfather, William Henry McConnell, built the house. He was married to Salome Ash,” a descendant of the John Ash family and for whom Ashville was named. After William Henry died in 1930 and Salome in 1932, “grandmother and granddaddy bought out the other heirs for this place – house and about 38 acres.”
Maurice’s grandmother, Velma McConnell, grew up in this house. She married Arthur Huneycutt, who lived a short distance from them on today’s U.S. 174. They lived in Birmingham for a while, then on Blount Mountain. When the Great Depression swept the country, they moved to the homeplace around 1931 or ‘32.
The house as it looks today
Maurice was born in 1941 in this house. “Some of my first memories,” recalls Maurice, “was playing under the house using a tablespoon and a toy truck to build roads. There was no underpinning, so it was light under there.”
In the 1940s and ‘50s, families had gardens and raised beef and pork for food. “We had a garden and cows and pigs and beehives,” Maurice reminisced. “We had turkeys and chickens for eggs and meat. We had a salt box to store the pork in and a smokehouse to smoke bacon and hams. The fat was rendered into lard – nobody used Crisco or cooking oil in those days. My grandmother milked the cow every morning, and we had fresh milk, cream and butter all the time.”
Water for the family came from the front yard well still kept under a roofed shelter today. “The well water was cool and tasted wonderful. Our well was freestone, and the water was the best around. On Sunday, the church people would come here and draw a bucket.”
Pat and Maurice’s parents were Annis Redwine and Maurice “Boots” Huneycutt, Sr. The nickname “Boots” came from his love of wearing boots, and everyone in Beaver Valley knew him as Boots. He was a butcher working in Birmingham when he met Annis. “The Redwines were from Hampton, Ga., and had come to Birmingham. She worked at Pizitz’s candy counter, and that’s probably where she met Daddy,” Maurice recounted.
Boots and Annis married in 1932, and had two children, Patricia, born in 1934, and Maurice Edwin, Jr., born in 1941. For a while, the family lived near Atlanta where Boots had a job. “We were way out in the country,” Pat laughed, “and it was lonesome. They said I would sit and carry my coat. I wanted to go back, so finally my granddaddy, Arthur, came and got me. We came back to Odenville.
Boots worked hard, and in the early years of married life, he raised vegetables to sell to supplement his regular job. “I heard my mother tell about one year my father plowing two oxen,” Maurice chuckled. “They said people laughed at him about the oxen, (but) he made a good crop.” Boots took the vegetables in his buggy to the Margaret coal mines “and sold them to the miners for clacker,” Maurice said. “Clacker” was the term used for coins the mines paid the workers with. You could take the clacker to the company store and get food, shoes or whatever you needed.” With the clacker, Boots traded at the company store.
Arthur Huneycutt, Boots’ father-in-law, worked as a foreman at the Pullman Plant in Birmingham. He helped Boots and a number of Odenville men get jobs at Pullman. These men, Maurice said, “would ride Mize Bus Line on Sunday night and come back home on Friday night. Glen Stevenson drove the bus. It was white with blue stripes.” The men boarded in the city during the week, and on Friday night, some of the men had nipped the bottle before they bid Glen Stevenson goodnight.
And liquor almost killed Boots and changed the Huneycutt story. For all of Boots’ hard work providing for the family, when the craving took hold, it took over. It happened the evening of Christmas Day in the mid-1950s.
Boots and family had spent the day with daughter Pat and her husband, Henry Coshatt. Back home in Odenville, one of Boots’ drinking friends came by. “When they got together,” Maurice reflected, “they would get very drunk, and it would be bad for a day or two.” Annis and Maurice begged Boots not to go, but their pleas went unheeded. He left, and “the next day, no word from him, and the next day nothing. So, we started the ‘find Boots’ routine.” This included calling the jails, the drinking places and the hospitals.
It took three or four days, but they located him in an Anniston hospital. He and his friend had wrecked, and Maurice remembered that the ambulance driver said he thought Boots was dead, so he stopped for a soft drink. “Boots went through the windshield. Broke his leg above the knee and cut his throat, leaving a scar of about 6 or 7 inches and 1-inch wide.”
Annis had Boots transferred to the VA hospital in Birmingham. A month later, he came home in a body cast, and lay in bed flat on his back for eight months. His leg never healed properly, and he limped when he walked again. In his early 40s, Boots never worked again.
From this tragedy, there came to be a café called Huneycutt’s Country Kitchen. Annis Huneycutt was a woman of indominable spirit – the “unsinkable Huneycutt matriarch” of Odenville. From the tragedy, a family and a community combined forces to build a café still fondly remembered by older folk today – Huneycutt’s Country Kitchen.
“We had to make a living.” Maurice remembered, “and we had no money,” So, with three related superb cooks – Annis, her mother-in-law, Velma McConnell Huneycutt, and Velma’s sister, Claire McConnell Scoggins – why not a snack bar or even a café established in Odenville?
Ed Fulmer owned nine small lots along Beaver Creek where MAPCO is today at the corner of Alabama Street and U.S. 411. The Huneycutts bought them, but they required fill dirt to raise them above floodplain. Dwight Blocker, although crippled by arthritis, drove the dump truck and filled in the lots.
With the site ready, Maurice and his grandaddy tore down the homeplace barn to construct a building. “It had wide boards, and all that lumber was straight,” Maurice said. “We had three syrup buckets for different sized nails. The nails had a little bend, and you’d lay ’em down and hit ’em one time and they’d be straight. With a handsaw, a hammer, a hatchet, a level, a square, a plumb bob and chalk line, we built that snack bar out of old heart pine 12- to 15-inch-wide boards. My Uncle Bill Redwine wired it, and George Mize came by and gave us directions.”
They bought finishing material at Sears and put it on their ‘Easy Payment’ charge account. Mr. Granger from Sears helped them with selecting the materials.
“We put the gas in through a hole in the wall,” Maurice laughed, “and built a frame out of 2x4s to set a grill on. Then we took the stove and refrigerator out of our house down there and started cooking – hotdogs, hamburgers and stuff like that.
“Grandma would cook vegetables up at her house, and Aunt Claire would cook the pies. My job was to get in the car – I was about 15 and didn’t have a driver’s license – but I’d get the vegetables at Grandma’s and then go to Aunt Claire’s and get the pies.”
Things progressed, and community folk pitched in to help make the business a success. Ben Vandegrift gave them his barber shop, which the Huneycutts “tore down and put the nails in a bucket” and built onto the snack bar. “We put a sink and the stove in there.” Then, Mr. Hoover, who had a farm in Odenville, “gave us a house in Ensley. So, we went down there and tore it down. Charlie Mordiccai let us borrow his dump truck, and we’d load the lumber on it and bring it home.” With this material, Lester and Burt Cash extended the kitchen and built a wing onto the snack bar, and the Huneycutt Country Kitchen came to be.
“Back in those days,” Pat commented, “nobody had any money, and we didn’t know the difference.” Maurice added, “You did whatever you had to, and you did it yourself.”
Clair McConnell Scoggins, Arthur and Velma McConnell Huneycutt
Maurice continued reminiscing. “Granddaddy found the windows on the railroad. So, we put hinges on top of them, and we put an eye on the bottom and had a coat hanger hanging down that we hooked the window to. None of ’em ever fell and hit anybody! That was in the snack bar. In the new part, we used the windows out of the building we tore down in Ensley.”
The school recognized that Boots and Annis needed Maruice’s help during their lunch hours. They worked his schedule so he had study hall, lunch and PE, one right after the other, so Maurice could help during rush hour. After school, he worked until 9 p.m. “We’d clean after breakfast, after lunch and at night. On Monday night, we waxed the floors.” Oldtimers remember the café as being immaculate.
The new wing provided more seating for regulars, so, Boots and Annis hired other local good cooks, Missouri Patmon and Ozella Smith. Word began to spread, “There’s a good little café in Odenville.” So, when someone passed though Odenville and stopped to eat, on Sunday, he’d bring his family for lunch after church. Claire’s son, Henry Scoggins, was in Atlanta and someone asked where he lived. When he told them, Odenville, Alabama, the person responded, “Oh, they’ve got the best restaurant there!”
Sundays became very busy. “Most of our trade was from Birmingham and Leeds,” Maurice recalled. “We had so many come they couldn’t all get in, so we built a cover where they could wait in line. We could seat 30 at a time”
Of course, many Odenville citizens made Huneycutt’s their regular eating place. Maurice remembered Mable and William Forman, Garland and Sis Fortson, and Steve and Evelyn Mize dining there almost every day.
It was hard work. “When I went to work, I’d took a picture of the café and put it on the wall. No matter how bad it got, I’d look at the picture and say, ‘I’m better off now than I was then.’”
Boots became an iconic part of the café, and his memory brings a smile to those who remember him. One story involves a customer who had moved to Odenville “from up north,” who asked for “iced coffee.” Boots slammed a cup and saucer down, filled the cup with coffee, threw an ice cube in it and said, “There’s your iced coffee.” This customer is remembered as knowing how to “pull Boots’ chain.”
Pat recalled Boots’ encounter with the Alabama health inspector. “The health department would always come in at lunchtime – busiest time of the day. They came in one time, and it made Boots mad. He picked up a hammer and said, ‘You come in here at lunchtime! Don’t ever come in here at lunchtime again.’ They said, ‘Oh, no, no, we won’t come at lunchtime again.’’
Sales tax collection was another thorn in Boots’ side. “A long time ago,” Maurice laughed, “the sales tax man would come to your place to collect. He’d say you owe us so much, and that would be it. So, Daddy got a length of pipe and took a hatchet and clinched one end and nailed it next to the cash register. He said, ‘Every day when we close, figure out how much the sales tax is and put it in that pipe.’ So, every night we’d put in the quarters and dimes and nickels in that pipe. So, the next time he comes to collect the tax, he got out his calculator, but Daddy hops over and gets the pipe and empties it out. The money spilled all over the table, the floor and rolled against the walls. Daddy said, ‘There it is.’”
In spite of his impatience, Boots was also a man of kindness and compassion. “He always looked out for the underdog” Maurice commented. For instance, if the sheriff, transporting prisoners, stopped for lunch at the café, Boots would take hamburgers or hotdogs to the prisoners. He gave the food to them, but the sheriff had to pay. Boots and Annis also provided meals to folks who were shut-in or needy.
The most well-remembered act of kindness is their taking into their home Wayne Franklin. Maurice recalls the first time he met Wayne in the 1950s. “I heard this awful crying or screaming noise, so I went out to see what was happening. I see this kid, seven or eight years old, running down the road.”
Maurice couldn’t understand what the child tried to say, but knowing he was scared, he took him into the house. He calmed down and told him his name was Wayne and where he lived – quite a way from the Huneycutt home. When he’d got home from school, his grandmother wasn’t there, so he started out. The Huneycutts took him home and waited for his grandmother, Sal Betts, to arrive.
Later, Mrs. Betts and Wayne lived in a tar-paper cover building across the highway from the café, and that’s when the relationship with Wayne began. Wayne’s parents were dead, and Mrs. Betts was destitute. Boots and Annis both had tender hearts for the less fortunate folk. “Wayne started hanging around the café,” Maurice reminisced. “Boots always loved the underdog, and my mother just took Wayne under her wing. He stayed with us most of the time. Tom, the Coca-Cola man, would pay Wayne to stack empty bottles in the cases, and he bought Wayne a blue and white coat.”
Wayne was a happy boy with the Huneycutts. However, school was another matter. He had a speech impediment, and he couldn’t read, so the school placed him in the Special Education class. He was smart in other ways and could learn. He suffered from dyslexia before this was understood or help for these students was available in public schools.
Mrs. Betts died, and Wayne lived in the Huneycutt home. One day an aunt and her husband from Florida, who had somehow heard about Wayne, showed up in Odenville and packed him off to live with them. “I do not think,” Maurice observed, “that they understood his reading problems. But these people were real and took Wayne with them.”
They didn’t hear anything from Wayne for a long time, until one Sunday afternoon, Wayne was back. “We were glad to see him,” Maurice said. “The aunt said Wayne wanted to live with us, and Daddy said, ‘That’s just fine,’ and we moved him in. The aunt said that it hadn’t worked out as they had hoped it would.”
The Florida folk left, and then the Huneycutts learned what happened when it didn’t “work out.” Wayne had a grandfather living in the woods of Montana. The aunt wrote a tag with Wayne’s name and where he was going, pinned it to the blue and white coat that Coca-Cola Tom had given him, put him on a Greyhound Bus and sent him to Montana. At the Montana destination, nobody was there to meet him. A policeman took him home with him then got him to the grandfather.
A Montana newspaper wrote a story about his trip and mentioned he was hard to understand because of his Southern accent. Maurice recalled Wayne’s telling him his grandfather taught him to hunt and that they lived off the land. When his grandfather died, Montana sent him back to Florida and from Florida, he arrived back home with the Huneycutts in Odenville.
Boots and Annis sent him to Gadsden Trade School where he finished cabinet making and learned a trade. He married and had children. His first son he named Paul after his friend, Paul Loren in Odenville. He owned and operated The Shelby County Woodworks and made a good living for his family until his death in a car wreck.
Maurice said of Boots, “Daddy was always in trouble. He didn’t conform. But at his funeral, there were people standing in the parking lot because they couldn’t get in the church.”
Of Annis, Pat commented, “Her background was Hampton, Ga. They had a big country place there. She was more like a refined Southern lady.” Those who remember her would agree. In her speech, Annis retained the soft vowels of her Georgia years. She had a distinctive laugh that was joyful and contagious.
Reflecting on the difficult times, Pat said, “Mama just took everything in stride and kept working.” Maurice agreed, adding, “That’s what she did. She had a pretty bad time with some of the things that went on.” He paused in memory, then said, “She always worked hard.”
This quotation by Leonard da Vinci applies to Annis: “People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life.”
But it was perhaps a granddaughter who described her best: “(She) showed us all how to be strong and resilient,” for Annis had held a family together by the strength of her character and spirit.
