Greeneville Visit, April 12-13, 2015

(John Clinard, April 15, 2015)

You Can Never Go Home… but you can go back for a visit. This would be about our 50^th visit to Greeneville in the last 50 years, and none has been finer.  This was an occasion to remember because of the company that we (John and Lil Austin Clinard) enjoyed in our group. There was Tom Morgan, our friend and relative of Gen. John Hunt Morgan, Carolyn Rosen, a Tellico Village friend and companion of Tom, and Richard Lyon Austin, Lil’s first cousin who has become my history partner. The reason/excuse for the visit was to explore Greeneville, its history, and the particular history of John Hunt Morgan and his family with a focus on his death in Greeneville. Confederate Gen. Morgan was killed there in 1864 during the Civil War. He had spent his last night at the Dickson-Williams Mansion, corner of Church and Irish Streets, one block up the hill from the Episcopal and Cumberland Presbyterian (CP) Churches.  Gen. Morgan was connected to the Williams family of Greeneville.

Now all the irony and complexity of our own personal histories in Greeneville begins to kick in. Here are just a few starter facts:

John, Lil and Richard grew up in Greeneville attending the schools and churches we would revisit on this trip. All three of us eventually left Greeneville, returning many-many times since our HS graduations of the period 1964 (John), 1965 (Lil) to 1967 (Richard). Lil and I were HS sweethearts, in a romance interrupted by her family’s moving to FLA before her HS Junior year. Our love was not to be denied as we recombined at UT in Knoxville in 1966 and married in Greeneville in 1968 at Lil’s Church with my father officiating.

My father, Turner Clinard, was Minister of the Greeneville CP Church for 13 years (1952-1965).

Lil’s and Richard’s fathers, brothers Frank and Tom Austin, were important business men in Greeneville, working with another brother Robert and with their father Clyde Bernard Austin in the family tobacco business, Austin Leaf Tobacco Company.

John and Richard studied history in Greeneville High School under Richard Harrison (Dick) Doughty, the man who would later be personally responsible for the restoration of the Dickson-Williams Mansion. Dick Doughty was an historian, writer, teacher, and antique collector, and along with his brother and sisters (Bill, Nancy and Kit) Dick was a member and patron of the CP Church. He sang in the choir with my mother Dot Clinard. Often Lil’s great aunt Maime Bitner would play the fine old pipe organ during the CP services while Dot and Dick sang. I also sang along as best I could. Lil attended the First Presbyterian Church just across the street and up ½-block from the CP Church, both Churches on Main Street.

Cousin Richard Austin lived across the street from Lil Austin on N. Main. I lived around the corner in the CP Church manse on Montford Ave.  All of us had siblings, and we all knew each other quite well. Next door to Richard: on one side was the home of grandfather Clyde B. Austin; on the other side was the home of Richard Harrison Doughty and his three siblings. Only one of the four, Kit Doughty Hickerson, ever married.

Cousin Richard Austin was a member of the Episcopal Church for many years. Richard also worked at the Austin Tobacco Company for many years, and he was a history teacher at Dobyns-Bennett High School in Kingsport for many more years. I don’t need to give our actual ages, but we are no longer spring chicks, and most of the individuals we will talk about here have passed… many buried in Greeneville. On our 1^st afternoon in Greeneville we visited three cemeteries: Andrew Johnson National where Lil’s dad is buried; Shiloh in Tusculum where my dad is buried; and Oak Grove where Lil’s mom and Dick’s mom and dad are buried.

But many ironies remain that must be explained. When Turner Clinard was Minister at the CP Church, the family of Beverly Randolph Williams and wife Frances Lyle with sons Beverly Lyle and William Dickson Williams joined the CP Church and became quite active supporters and members. Beverly Randolph Williams was the great-grandson of Dr. Alexander Williams and wife Catherine Dickson. Though the fact was not known to me until recently, Catherine Dickson’s father, William Dickson, built the Dickson-Williams Mansion for her as an 1822 wedding present.  Small world… you bet!

Son William Dickson Williams (Dick Williams) played HS basketball with me. Dick was a football star athlete who would attend UT in Knoxville graduating one year after me and in the same class as Lil. Dick Williams and I would become members of the same fraternity (Sigma Chi); and it was my honor as Consul of Sigma Chi to initiate Dick. Beverly Lyle Williams, Dick’s older brother, transferred from Clemson to UTK when Dick became a UT football scholarship player. Dick Williams and his wife Susan Richardson now live in Knoxville in Gettysvue Golf & Polo Club where Lil and I were members for about 10 years. Susan Williams was a TVA Board Member and past President of the East TN History Society.  Beverly Lyle married Wilhelmina Clemmer, daughter of our Greeneville HS Principal. Beverly worked in the dairy industry outside TN for many years before retiring to Chucky in Greene Co.  Now Beverly and Wilhelmina are genealogists and history gurus and tour guides for “Main Street Greeneville”. Guess what?  They both lead tours of downtown Greeneville with specific attention to the Dickson-Williams Mansion. It makes good sense to me.

But another great irony that I have yet to mention is that my Tellico Village golf buddy, Tom Morgan, who spent most of his working years in CA announced to me one day a while ago that he was related to Gen. John Hunt Morgan. “Really?” I said. “Really!” he said. This of course set up the necessity of a Greeneville visit with housing at the General Morgan Inn (formerly the Brumley Hotel) a fine hotel and restaurant just down the hill from the Dickson-Williams Mansion where Gen. Morgan was to spend his last night alive in 1864 and the Inn’s being across the street from the First Presbyterian Church where Lil and I were married in 1968. It was an obvious trip from Tellico Village for the four of us, Tom and Carolyn, and Lil and John.

Only when I, also a “genealogists”, started to do a little homework before the trip did I realize that Tom Morgan was indeed related to Gen. Morgan. Only after a discovery telephone conversation with friend Dick Williams did I learn that Beverly and Wilhelmina Williams were Greeneville tour guides and our obvious choice for help. Gen. Morgan was closely acquainted with the Williams family. I needed to discover just how this was. Beverly would know.

Richard Harrison Doughty, the man who taught us history, who attended the CP Church under my father, and who was instrumental in restoring the Dickson-Williams Mansion had also written a book about Greeneville, 100 year Portrait (1775-1875). Funny that Lil & I could find neither of our two copies of Doughty’s book in order to do our homework, and we had to quickly purchase yet a 3^rd copy on the internet.  There were many accounts of Gen. Morgan’s death, and no two agreed.  When we finally received and read Doughty’s book we discovered he had more than three accounts of his own.  He took each cum grano salis (with a grain of salt) finishing his Morgan story with words of wisdom that the reader would have to decide for him/herself. My favorite account was that Lucy Rumbough Williams, wife of Joseph A. Williams, another child of Dr. Alexander Williams, and the great-granduncle of Beverly Lyle Williams our tour guide to be, was the betrayer of Gen. Morgan. Lucy had connections to the North, and did not care for Morgan. And, not to be eclipsed, Dick Austin came up with an account that involved a woman jilted by Gen. Morgan who then used Capt. Robert Carter, Lil’s and Dick Austin’s 2^nd great-grandfather, who lived on the Rogersville Road near Greeneville, to alert Gen. Gilliam, leader of the Federal troops in Bull’s Gap, 18 miles away, that Morgan lay almost unprotected at the Dickson-Williams Mansion in Greeneville. There was treachery at hand, no matter which account was to be believed. Morgan, a CSA General and hero of earlier battles, would be a wonderful prize for the Northern troops, no matter if captured or killed. Certainly all accounts end with his death just yards down the hill in the front yard of the Dickson-Williams Mansion. The day was September 4, 1864. The place of his death was just out back of today’s General Morgan Inn where we five visitors to Greeneville (John, Lil, Tom, Carolyn and Dick) were comfortably enjoying the accommodations of the Inn and the wonderful food of the Brumley Restaurant. We refused to allow Morgan’s murder/demise to be a downer to our wonderful visit to Greeneville.

When we visit the General Morgan Inn and Brumley Restaurant we always run into a few people that we know well. The first person we saw there for Sunday brunch was Sam Miller, Greeneville businessman, my fraternity brother and older brother of Dan Miller who was in our wedding. For lunch on Monday we ran into Gregg Jones, Publisher of the Greeneville Sun and very good friend of Dick Austin.

But, onward to our two Monday tours, the 1^st being the morning City Walking Tour for the five visitors.  It was very difficult for Dick Austin and me to hold our tongues during this walk through familiar times and familiar territory. Lil, too, knew way too much to stay totally silent. In addition, while walking through Greeneville we kept running into old acquaintances and friends. All this probably worked against tour guide Beverly Lyle’s intended storyline based on facts and history. The three of us, Dick, Lil and I, wanted to share personal experiences, and so we did. The walk took us to the Doughty-Stevens Furniture Store, the CP (Canon Ball) Church, the Big Springs (Richland Creek), Roby School (“We are very proud of You”), Greeneville Town Hall, Old Harmony Cemetery of the Presbyterian Church, Andrew Johnson’s Tailor Shop, Town Jail, Town Courthouse where there are monuments to both the Northern and the Confederate Soldiers, early Post Office, law offices of Main Street, the Capital Theater, old stores of Main and Depot, and back to the General Morgan Inn. On the walk we encountered both Bill Hickerson, banker, nephew of Dick Doughty and my fraternity brother, and Kidwell King, Greeneville lawyer and my fraternity brother… plus others. It is a small town and literally impossible to remain unseen or anonymous. I’m sure that Tom Morgan and Carolyn Rosen have much to add… but I don’t have room here since I’m verbose like Dick Doughty.

Now to the afternoon tour of the Mansion with both Beverly and Wilhelmina as guides. What a gorgeous restored home!  It is a tribute to Richard Harrison Doughty as well as to all those who gave/give money, furniture, time and support. It makes Greeneville a proud town. There is too much for me to cover. I’m simply happy to have been included in the tour. All five of us found it fascinating. What a great job by both Beverly and Wilhelmina. Greeneville is certainly full of history; and the Dickson-Williams Mansion may be the centroid of that history.

It is sad that Gen. Morgan had to die there in 1864, but he was a soldier, and he died as a soldier.  It’s interesting to note that John Hunt Morgan’s final resting place, Lexington KY, was his home and that of his grandfather and Lexington founder, John Wesley Hunt.

Again, I wish to thank Beverly and Wilhelmina for their help and hospitality. I also want to thank Dick Austin for contributing so much information from his vast stores of Greeneville history.

In closing I wish to quote Dick Doughty: “Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story”.  Greeneville TN is full of good stories.