HENRY JACKSON FELL Born: 2-9-1881, Arab, Cullman Cty, AL D: 4-8-1981, Iuka, Tishomingo Cty, MS

Grandpa Fell at his 100th BD party!

My grandfather, Henry J. Fell, was born in Cullman Cty, Alabama on February 9, 1881, the son of Marcus and Martha Fell. He was still living with his parents on the 1900 census, in Franklin Cty, Alabama. He and my grandmother, Annie Rebecca Jane Kidd, were married in Lawrence Cty, Alabama on December 7, 1900.My father, their oldest son Elgen, was born in Lawrence Cty in 1903. I could not find them anywhere on the census records in 1910. I knew my father had attended school in Hatton, Alabama in 1912, but I searched and searched and could not find them anywhere in Alabama or Mississippi. Finally I just put his name in to search the entire country and there they were, in Montgomery Cty, Arkansas. I would never have thought to look for them there since I had never heard anyone talk about any moves they had made. I often wondered why they had moved there and then moved back. My Dad had died in 1973, and my grandfather in 1981, both long before I had started my genealogy search.
My grandfather had spent his last years living with my aunt and uncle.  I asked my cousin if he had ever heard the story and he remembered Grandpa talking about the trip. Some of their relatives had moved to Arkansas and sent back glowing reports of how wonderful it was. They decided, along with my grandmother's parents and siblings, that they would move.  They rented three boxcars in Sheffield, Alabama and left for the trip to Ft. Smith, Arkansas. They loaded all their belongings and livestock and left to go west.  When they got to Memphis, Tennessee they had a three day layover before they could cross the Mississippi River. They had to unload all their livestock to feed them and then reload for their trip.  When they arrived in Ft. Smith they had to travel by wagon fifty miles southwest to Montgomery Cty where they were going to settle.  Grandpa said the land was so bad that they spent the first year picking up rocks from the land just to build a fence. Apparently it was not what they thought or maybe they were just homesick but sometime between the date of the census in April 1910 and when my aunt was born in Alabama in December 1910, they made the long trip back to Alabama.
My grandfather never drove a car and always either sharecropped or logged.  They moved to Tishomingo County, Mississippi in 1922 settling on the Hubbard Homeplace in the Pleasant Hill Community.   That is where my Dad met and married my Mother. 
My grandfather and grandmother were members of the Church of Christ. My grandfather was a charter member of the Hopewell Church of Christ in Colbert County, Alabama where my grandmother's parents were buried.  When my grandmother died in 1956 she wanted to be taken back there for burial.  This is the information I found in a piece about the Hopewell Church and Community***************************information from Hopewell Community and Church information---Henry Fell is the oldest person buried in the Hopewell Cemetery. He died April, 1981 at 100 years of age. He was one of the first settlers in the community and lived here for a number of years.He and his family moved away but when his wife, Janie Fell, died in 1956 she was buried in the Hopewell Cemetery. Mr. Fell requested to be buried beside her.
My grandfather lived 100 years and 2 months. When he was born the only transportation was trains and wagons. He lived to see cars, planes and even space ships.  He was never convinced that man actually walked on the moon. He would argue with everyone that it was filmed by TV and movie people in a desert. We could never convince him otherwise.
He must have had such an interesting life.  I only wish that I had cared enough at the time to listen and to ask questions. It is amazing to think how just the least little thing in his life or my parent's life could have influenced my life and my descendants life.
RIP   Grandpa Fell

Marlar Cemetery, Sawyer, Kentucky

Recently I received a friend request on Facebook from a Marlar who lives in Kentucky just across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio. He had decided that he wanted to befriend as many Marlars on facebook as he could, and I am so glad that he did. He is my husband's fourth cousin and is descended from the one brother who stayed in Kentucky while the mother and other children moved to Mississippi in the middle 1800's. I had not been able to prove who the other was but he gave me access to his website which gave me lots of information and I am now in the process of adding it to my website on tribal pages. This was very exciting information but the strange part was that most of the deceased members of the family are buried at Marlar Cemetery near Sawyer, Ky, in the southern most part just north of Knoxville, Tennessee. This cemetery is located in the Cumberland Falls State Park and my husband has vacationed near there twice and did not know it was there. Several years ago we made a trip to Sterns with our friends, Bobby and Judy and last year we spent one night in Somerset, Ky, which is about ten miles from the cemetery!
When I found this out I immediately started planning a trip to go to this cemetery and another one near by. Two weeks ago Jim and I along with our daughter Michelle and her husband James made the trip, combining it with a trip to Gatlinburg.
While there we were able to make pictures at both cemeteries. I am sure we did not get pictures of all the Marlar graves as there were many unmarked graves. Some of the tombstones had deteriorated and some had been replaced with newer ones, leaving the old ones there also.
While we were there we also visited Cumberland Falls. This was the first trip there for Michelle and James. We had such a wonderful time. The leaves were beginning to turn, the weather was beautiful and we enjoyed being with family talking about older family members.
I make a lot of pictures for findagrave.com and I had noticed that there was a request for a picture of a grave that was not one of my husband's relatives. I made sure that I made a picture to post. I received the sweetest thank you. It was from a young man in the service and the grave was his father's. He was so happy to receive the picture and I was happy I could make it for him as he was protecting our freedom!
Hope you enjoy some of the pictures we made!!!

Knocking down a brick wall!!!

I love genealogy. I love knowing where I came from and also my husband. I have been doing research since 1995 and during that time I have found and knocked down several brick walls. It is so exciting when you are able to finally find that one (or several) people that you have been searching for, sometimes for years.
That was the case with my husband's Marlar family. We knew who the first Marlar was that came to Tishomingo County. She was Mary "Polly" Barnes Marlar and came here a widow with several children. We didn't know who her husband was or where he was buried, only that she came from Kentucky. I had searched but with no name or information to go on could not find any concrete information of any of the Kentucky Marlars that could be related.
Flash forward to two weeks ago. I received a friend request from William Marlar of Kentucky. He had looked and found about 500 Marlars on facebook and had decided to see how many he could befriend. I immediately confirmed him and sent him a message to ask if he and my husband could be related. When I received his reply I was so happy I could have danced around the room!!! Now not only do we know his great great great grandfather's name (Allen Rubin Marlar) but where is buried. William is my husband's fourth cousin and descended from the one child who remained in Kentucky.
The most ironic part of this story is that this cemetery is named Marlar Cemetery and located in the southern part of Kentucky, north of Knoxville and Oak Ridge, Tennessee and last year my husband and I took a weekend trip that area and were within ten miles of the cemetery! About 12 years ago we had also been on vacation there and spent the night about 20 miles from there. Now I am planning another trip there, hopefully this fall so I can make pictures and see all the graves for myself.
I am so happy to find William and although he lives further north maybe in the not too distance future we will be able to meet. If he had not decided to befriend me I might never have found the information that he has been able to give me.
You just never know where that one lost piece of info will be that will connect you to many family members. Always be on the outlook and never say no!!!!!
Thank you so much, William, for finding us and welcome to our side of the Marlar Family!!!!!

How old were you when your Grandparents died?

Henry Jackson and Annie Rebecca Jane Kidd Fell

Lena Bell Davis Frederick

William Penn Frederick

I love my grandchildren and I even have two great grandsons! I have been so fortunate that God has allowed me to live long enough to see my grandchildren grow into the fine young people they are today and to allow me to know my great grandchildren. I was not blessed enough to know all of my grandparents. I was a late in life baby and my grandparents were older when I was born.

I never knew my mother's mother. Her name was Lena Bell Davis Frederick and she died of cancer in 1927 when she was 40 years old and 14 years before I was born. I do have a picture of her and my mother and uncle that was made in 1907 when she was very young. Looking at this picture she already looks so sad, even though I think she is beautiful! I can only imagine what a hard life she must have lived as she made a home and gave birth to 14 children! My grandfather. William Penn Frederick, didn't remarry until 20 years later so I can remember him staying at our house a lot. After he remarried I would stay with him and his new wife and she became the grandmother I never had and her name was Betty and that was what I called her. One night in 1958, he and Betty were visiting Betty's sister and watching TV. My grandfather loved wrestling and during the wresting match he excitedly jumped up and had a heart attack and died at the age of 74 years.

In 1953 we moved from town to the country and when we did my Dad's parents moved across the road from us. My grandmother (Annie Rebecca Jane Kidd Fell) was a little tiny woman who now reminds me of Granny on "The Beverly Hillbillies". She believed in old wives tales and didn't mind letting everyone know. I was 14 when she died and I can remember several clashes we had about the things we didn't agree on. I was named after her, my middle name is Jane. My Dad's father, Henry Jackson Fell, lived to be 100 years, 2 months. He was a large jolly man. He had very little health problems until he was a hundred and until he was a hundred he would sit on his daughter's front porch and wave at all the people driving by. He loved soap operas and believed everything they did and felt like they were his friends, but you could not convince him that a man really landed on the moon. He would always say it was on a desert in California! On his 100th birthday he was featured on the front page of the local paper. When he was in his 90's he went to the store and bought a special suit that he wore to his birthday party and was buried in.