Early Settlers Personal History

1.  J. T. Odom

2.  Russellville, Ark.

3.  Retired

4.  Farming, Bakery and Drug Store

5.  February 20th 1856

6.  Dyersburg, Tenn., Dyer County

7.  Mary Albright, November 25th 1880, Dover, Ark.

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10. 62 years

11. We came to Arkansas by wagon. It took us twenty days on the road from Tennessee to get to Arkansas.

12. I had two boy friends, who went to Kansas, and they wrote me to come out there, so I was on my way to Kansas and stopped in Dover, Ark., locating there. This is the reason we came to Arkansas.

13. My early home was a small log house in Obrian Co., Tenn. It had upstairs and was four logs square. The chimney was made of stick and dirt. They would mix crop grass with dirt for the chimney to hold, and when it rained the chimney was real green.

14. We moulded taller candles. The fat lamps were made in moulds. Strings were placed in and lard poured over the strings. Then it was ready to light.

15. The first electric lights used when I moved to Russellville, Ark. about 1901.

16. Wood

17. The food was beef, hogs and vegetables. Game was plentiful. At one time, I remember fourteen wild deer came near us, and there were lots of wild turkeys.

18. The clothes were spun and woven at home. All we had to wear were made at home, even our straw hats.

19. One thing pertaining to courtship – I was in love with a girl, and we were going to be married, but she died. I couldn’t stay there any longer, which was one reason why I left Dyersburg, Tenn. and came to Arkansas.

20.We bought barrells of sugar and molasses, but I cannot compare prices of today.

21.We always shared food in time of common need, and my father always had plenty of meat. He would give to anyone, who was in need.

22.The early cultivated crops were cotton, corn, and wheat. The way the cotton was gathered, we would pull up the stalk in the field, take it to the house, and then at night, we would pick off the stalk and throw the stalk in the fire for light. My father took the cotton to town and got .22 cents a pound in the the seed. The wheat was cut with a hand sickle and lay on the ground. It was then tied in bundles and taken to a large circle at cross roads, where the horses would go in circles and tramp it. This was the means of thrashing. The domesticated animals were oxen, horses and cows.

23.The early farm implements were horse ploughs, bull tongue and harrows. These were all home made.

24. Farming

25. We used mullein, walnut bark, elm bark and all sorts of bark for dying clothes, and we used corpus to set the color. We had friends, who planted Indigo, and this was used for bluing. We used sassafras root, paw-paw apples and poke salad.

26. I recall going to a friend’s house, who lived four miles from us. They had twelve negroes, and they would come and shuck corn and sing all the time. When they were leaving, they would wave shucks to us, as they didn’t have handkerchiefs to wave.   In the hog killing, log rolling and wheat thrashings, the neighbors would go help one another. I attended dances after I was grown. We called it the “Hugging Dance”, but this was the square dance.

27. The methods of combating forest fires, we would find out at night from the light in the sky. We fought with branches, would take brush and sweep leaves back to keep fire from other parts.

28. We lived at foot of hills and Obion River in Dyer County, Tenn. about two miles away.

29. There were boat landings all along Obion River, Dyer County, and my grandmother came on boat from South Carolina.

30. My early school days, I had to walk four miles through creek bottom to school. The building was small log house, and I know then I had the best teacher that I ever had.

31. The location of the school was in Dyer County, 12 miles from Dyersburg, Tenn.  I was about thirteen years old.

32. My teacher was Katie Craig

33. All of the schools were on the tuition basis.  My father paid about $1.00 a month.

34. The school books used were Blue Back Speller, the first and only book I had until I was grown, then I used the McGuffey’s Reader and Dictionary.

35. No reading matter only the Bible.

36. The first telegraph station about 1875.

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38. The first automobile seen was in Russellville. A Mr. Saverman built it.

39. The first train was in Gibson County, Tenn. at Rutherford Station. I was about eleven years old.

40. The first airplane was in 1919 in Russellville.

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46. In Dyer County, Tenn., the feud my father told me was at the close of the Civil War. Tom Mays was the desperado. They would run the Union men out, and once when they spent the night in a home, three horses were gone the following morning. When they could find no more horses, they would kill dogs, chickens and everything about the place. When night was coming on, they started shooting, and one of them fell to the ground, raised up and shot the Union man. They finally shot Tom Mays, then went off and left him.

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48. There was a lynching in Dover, Ark., and they tried to get the man out and couldn’t, so they killed him in jail and drug him to the gallows and hanged him on the one that was made for him. He was on the gallows all night, and they cut him down the next morning. He had been sentenced to be hanged. The Governor commuted his sentence and gave him life, but the public was determined to lynch him. He had killed a woman in Logan Co. They hanged a Mr. Barnes according to law at Dover, Ark in 1886. He had killed a man from Plumerville for his money. He had thought the man had more money, but there was only about $14.00. This man was running a “wheel of fortune” at a negro picnic that day, and this was all he had with him.

49. I remember when the Yankees came to our house. There was a red hill near, and when we looked up, the hill looked blue from the soldiers in the distance. Papa and Mamma were coming from the lot, and we all were so excited. We started to leave the house. Mamma left her money at the house and went back for it. One of the Yankees said, “Will swap horses with you”, so he swapped, and the Captain told him to leave the blind one there. They robbed us and took quilts and told Mamma if she would, cook supper for all of them, which numbered about one hundred men. She cooked it on the fire place. They were so hungry, some couldn’t wait until cooked and ate some of the sausage raw. We had sausage sacked up and had plenty to serve them. This was at the close of the war. I remember during the Civil War, my father went to St. Louis to buy many things. He bought a trunk up there and filled with calico, came home and sold it for $1.00 per yard.

50. The battle I recall was on Island No. 10 in the upper end of Mississippi River. We were about fourteen miles away and could hear the cannons roar. My friend, Mr. Geo. W. Walker was in this battle.

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53. Methodist Church

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57. Nine descendants

58. Sons and Daughters:

 William Marvin Odom, San Antonio, Texas

 Edna Odom Ehrenburg, San Antonio, Texas

 Reece Odom, Ft. Smith, Arkansas

 Jinny Odom, Russellville, Arkansas

 John Odom, San Diego, California

  Burl Odom, Los Angeles, California

59.  Grandchildren –

 Jinny Odom, Marvin Odom, Mary Odom

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Transcribed by Rachel Skerbitz, Class of 2011