The weather outside is.....

simply lovely. I love winter. The brisk air, the cool dry wind brushing against my face. I'm in love with the cloudy overcast sky and lack of sun. Yes I'm a winter wonderland resident.

Some people might not like winter weather. The workers at the new VA call centre. I noticed last weekend that the wind had blown down almost all of the chain link fence around the parking lot. I was surprised as I did not think the linkage would offer enough resistance...but it did.

My moms front yard most definitely does not like the weather. We had parked my '79 3/4 ton Suburban truck there during new years and due to the rain we had to spin the wheel and create two nice deep furrows across her yard. That Tennessee red clay soil is slicker then boogers.

The last few weeks have seen broken pipes, see Chips 'fun' right before Christmas, and other cold related fun issues. (why does twitter ask us to sign in when we pull your page up chip?).

The one problem is that the weather and holidays have made me feel worn. I'm returning and hope to post more often. Honest.

School Project

Today I went and had an interview with Frank Johns of Frank Johns Realty. The Johns family has a long history in Smyrna that goes back to the founding of the town.

He also is a developer and has named many streets for family members. There are several streets in town that are named for children, his grandchildren to be specific, that are still in elementary school, still infants, and in high school.

My column for this week came out and I have gotten some good feedback in comments online and in emails. This project has hit the fancy of many here in Smyrna.

For those interested here is my Smyrna AM column.

Sam Davis is the “Boy hero of the confederacy” and Sam Ridley was once the mayor of Smyrna and because of that, streets are named after them. It would seem logical that influential people would have streets named after them.

But looking at a map of Smyrna, you come to realize there are a lot of streets named after people you don't know. Late last year, I asked a simple question: Who is Ken Pilkerton? I asked because Ken Pilkerton Drive is off of South Lowry between the Jack in the Box and Kroger. That is when I realized how many streets were named after people I — and likely you — don't know.

As part of my degree at MTSU/Regents Online Degree Program I had to choose a finishing project. I decided to try to connect the people to the streets.

I called Town Council member Mary Esther Reed and she got me in touch with her dad Kenneth W. “Coon” Victory. He and a group of older residents – wait, more seasoned residents – met with me in the Smyrna Public Library and talked for an hour about the streets and people of Smyrna.

John Hager, John Moore, Martha Ann Morgan, Tillie Hager and MC Steele joined Coon and I in discussing the people streets are named after. John Hager told about his grandfather Sam Hager, after whom Sam Hager Street is named.

They told me that the previously mentioned Ken Pilkerton was a long time employee of the town codes department and ran a Western Auto where Johns Appliance is now. He was originally from the Memphis area.

When Smyrna a.m. editor Taylor Loyal, who was raised far from Smyrna first got his job here, his grandmother told him her cousin William DeLacey, a colonel and highly decorated commander of the 839th Air Division at Sewart Air Base, had a street named after him.

In the last 25 or so years Smyrna has doubled in size and most of the new residents do not have a strong connection to the history of our town. We are about one generation away from losing a lot of historical details about the people who made up the early part of Smyrna, one street at a time. These details need to be saved and with that said, I need your help.

Does Steve Roberts Drive have meaning to you? Does David Collins Drive bring to mind certain memories or do any of the numerous other streets in Smyrna have connections to people? If so, comment on this blog and share your stories with the rest of us.

I will be posting writeups on some of the streets as I construct them and any feedback from you will be welcome.

Hello All. This week in Smyrna looks like a calm end of the month edition so I'll get down to business.

The town government has in line two meetings this week.

Next Town Council Workshop is: September 30, 2008 - 5:00 PM
Planning Commission: October 2, 2008 - 7:00 PM

A small note on the bottom of the meeting page said this.

Pursuant to the provisions of Article V, Section 5.05 of the Charter of the Town of Smyrna, the meeting time of the September 30, 2008 Town Council Work Session has been changed from 7:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., the welfare of the Town demanding it. The meeting will be held at Town Hall, 315 South Lowry Street.

In local events we have a lot to keep you busy if you wish.

Political 1

State Delegation Election Debate
September 29, 2008
Conducted at the Rutherford County Courthouse on the square in Murfreesboro in the County Commissioner Chambers. The Candidates for Senate 16th District and House 34th District and the live audience will be asked to be in place by 6:15 p.m. and the forum will begin at 6:30 p.m. The Candidates for House 48th District and House 49th District will be asked to be in place by 7 p.m. and the forum will begin at 7:15 p.m. For more information, contact the League of Women Voters at (615) 260-7550.

Political 2

City Council Election Debates
October 02, 2008
Conducted at the Rutherford County Courthouse on the square in Murfreesboro in the County Commissioner Chambers. The Eagleville City Council candidates and the live audience will be asked to be in place by 5:45 p.m. and the forum will begin at 6:00 p.m. The La Vergne Alderman candidates and the live audience will be asked to be in place by 6:30 p.m. and the forum will begin at 6:45 p.m. The Smyrna City Council candidates and the live audience will be asked to be in place by 7:15 p.m. and the forum will begin at 7:30. For more information, contact the League of Women Voters at (615) 260-7550.

Dead Things

Widows, Weepers and Wakes: Mourning Customs Exhibit
October 01, 2008 - October 31, 2008
Held at Oaklands Historic House Museum, 900 North Maney Avenue, Murfreesboro. Victorian mourning customs will be explored. Contact: Oaklands Historic House Museum, (615) 893-0022

Music 1

The Music Man
October 02, 2008 - October 05, 2008
Held at the Lamplighter's Theatre, 14119 Old Nashville Highway, Smyrna. The Music Man is one of the most beloved musicals in American history. Recommended for ages 5 and up. Tickets: Adults-$10, Seniors (55 and up)-$8 and children 4 to 12- $5.Contact: (615) 534-0148

Music 2

Main Street's Friday Night Live Concert Series
October 03, 2008
Held on the Public Square in Downtown Murfreesboro. Free admission, food vendors and more. Bring your lawn chair! 6:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Contact: Main Street, (615) 895-1887

Knowledge

Introduction to Microsoft Excel: 10 a.m. to noon, Smyrna Public Library, 400 Enon Springs Road W. Free, advanced registration required. Call 615-459-4884, www.linebaugh.org.

Well that is it for Smyrna. If you have something you would like me to add please email me and I'll get right on it.

General Order № 11

A small bit of history to make you think. We have all heard of General Grant, but few have heard of General Order No.11 issued in 1862. Seems a black market had grown in the war torn states. To fight this black market the general issued an order with this part included.

General Order No. 11 decreed as follows:

The Jews, as a class violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department and also department orders, are hereby expelled from [the "Department of the Tennessee," an administrative district of the Union Army of occupation composed of Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi,] within twenty-four hours from the receipt of this order.

Post commanders will see to it that all of this class of people be furnished passes and required to leave, and any one returning after such notification will be arrested and held in confinement until an opportunity occurs of sending them out as prisoners, unless furnished with permit from headquarters. No passes will be given these people to visit headquarters for the purpose of making personal application of trade permits.

General Grant issued an order that all Jews in the areas controlled by the Federals in Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky were to be forced out.

When Abraham Lincoln found out he ordered Grant to revoke the decree.

The civil war was a most unusual time in our nations history
MORE>>>

Those who left

During the depression a new word entered the daily vocabulary of the American populous. Migrant. Used by some as a derogatory term and some as a title for the poor masses, the victims of an economy in decline. No matter what term was used, the life of a migrant was tough.

In that period when a person became a migrant, many times their family joined them. Here are some of the children of the migrants from Tennessee, and the places they ended up, sometimes just for the season, sometimes permanently.

Here are the children of Tennessee in far flung places.



The son of a migrant family from Tennessee, Belle Glade, Florida. 1937 Jan.


Wash day. The daughter of a migrant fruit worker from Tennessee, now encamped near Winter Haven, Florida. 1937 Jan.


Migrant family from Tennessee camped in field on outskirts of town, about two blocks from water supply. Berrien County, Michigan. 1940 July


Part of the family of a migrant fruit worker from Tennessee, camped near the packinghouse in Winter Haven, Florida 1937 Jan.


Two children of a migrant fruit worker from Tennessee, standing before their temporary home. This family of eight is camped in a field near the packinghouse at Winter Haven, Florida. 1937 Jan.


The family of a migratory fruit worker from Tennessee now camped in a field near the packinghouse at Winter Haven, Florida. 1937 Jan


Oldest child of migrant packinghouse worker's family from Tennessee fixing supper. Her mother and father both work during the day and sometimes until two and three in the morning, leaving the children alone. Belle Glade, Florida. 1939 Jan


Woman migrant packinghouse worker from Tennessee with four children and two relatives eating supper. Belle Glade, Florida. 1939 Jan


Daughter of migrant Tennessee coal miner. Living in American River camp near Sacramento, California. 1939 Jan.

This last image is almost haunting. Tired, or just emotionally wornout?

Tennessee as it once was.

During the harsher days of the depression life was not always good for the residents of Tennessee. Here are a few photos to give you an idea of what the poorer people had to endure.

While we today think a house has to get a certificate of occupancy from the government, some were just happy for a basic roof over their heads.

A one-room hut houses a family of nine in an open field between Camden and Bruceton, Tennessee, near the Tennessee River. The hut was built over the chassis of an abandoned Ford. Photograph by Carl Mydans, 1936

While their living quarters were rough, the basic necessities of life were even more sparce for the true poor.

The mother in a family of nine holds her baby. The family lives in a field on U.S. Route 70 in Tennessee, near the Tennessee River. Photograph by Carl Mydans, 1936

If you click on the image it will go to a larger image. Note the flour sack skirt.

In a way I'm surprised at this image. Note that her skirt is made of an unpatterned flour sack. Flour sacks were available in nice patterns to make clothing out of. Due to my age I touched upon this lifestyle just one time. When I was an infant in Kentucky, my mother was visiting my grandmother. In her life they wore a lot of cloths made from flour sacks. My grandmother made me a single one piece jumper out of some flour sack material that she still had in a chest. She got bothered with my mom when she took me to town in it. After all a lot of people could still recognize the old patterns back then, and it might have looked "poor".

With no WalMarts back then the general store was what you got everything at. And I do mean everything.

October 1935. View of the L.F. Kitts general store in Maynardville, Tennessee.

As all other states there were rich and poor. One of the historical events to effect the people of Tennessee was the TVA.

We went from this kitchen for the truly poor:

A 12-year-old girl in a family of nine cooks a meal in a rude, open lean-to hut in Tennessee. The family lives in an open field near the Tennessee River.
Photograph by Carl Mydans, 1936

To having this style of kitchen available:

A modern kitchen in a Tennessee Valley Authority house. Kitchen equipment for one of the new demountable houses, which the TVA is building for defense workers in the Muscle Shoals area in northern Alabama, includes electric range, water heater, and refrigerator. Photo from the Farm Security Administration Office of War Information Photograph Collection, 1941

A lot of history in our state.