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- Letter from Grandson of John and Mary Lovelady on Their Early Life
The following is a letter from an unidentified grandson of John Lovelady, from Cave Creek, Newton County, Arkansas. The letter was written to John W. Bowens, author of an 1892 History of Smith County, Tennessee, and quoted in Mr. Bowen's book. The book, apparently typewritten and "self-published", is a classic on the county and is available at the Tennessee State Library and Archives.
"My grandfather, John Lovelady, was a native of South Carolina. He and his wife both served in the Revolutionary and Indian Wars. Grandmother moulded bullets for the men while they fought, thus being used to camp and fort life.
They came to Tennessee in a one-horse wagon, cutting their way through cane and grape vines with a butcher knife and hatchet. They stopped near the head of Dixon's Creek, on the land now owned by Jessee Parker. Here finding a good spring, they erected a camp beside a large log and used their wagon for a bed room. Thus they passed their first winter in what became Smith County, amid the howling of wolves, screaming of panthers, growling of bears, yelping of turkeys, and hooting of owls.
When spring came, they built a cabin about a hundred yards above the spring, cleared a patch for corn and other vegetables and thus made preparations to live.
My father, Asa Lovelady, married a daughter of Henry McWhorter, and was one of the early settlers on Peyton's Creek, where he continued to live until 1837 or 38.
Success to you in writing the history of my native county."
http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/13453629/person/-64082679/story/7890cc91-56de-42b0-8aee-b7d515046f3e?src=search
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