Year: 2017

Bobby Phillips

Robert Wayne Henderson, Sr.

May 30, 1995 my father Bobby Henderson took me on a memorable drive with his older brother John Dayton Phillips that changed my life. We toured five family landmarks.

My father was adopted, I learned, about this time. His birth mother Gertrude (Gertie) Henderson Phillips died just two days after dad was born. Robert Wayne Phillips, was the fourth child of Gertrude* and John Korman Phillips. To make matters worse, he was born with the near fatal condition of infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (projectile vomiting). In 1926 this was usually fatal. His uncle, William Eugene Henderson (W.E.), stepped in and provided for a recently developed life-saving surgery procedure in Nashville. W.E. and his wife Jean subsequently adopted him from their brother-in-law (the original terms of this adoption have been contested by some of the Phillips I have spoken with).

Following her mothers death, the oldest J.K. Phillips sibling, Lucile Phillips (Ceil), was separated from her father John to live with her grandparents: Bettie and Robert Hatton Henderson at the Malone-Henderson home. According to Dayton’s wife Thelma, the 13 year old Lucile desperately wanted to raise her infant baby brother (the photo above breaks my heart). The two other boys, Ed and Dayton, remained with their father Johnny, who eventually remarried and had three more children.

*My paternal grandmother Gertrude, has two marked grave sites: one next to her husband John, in the Roselawn Cemetery in Murfreesboro, and the other in the Malone-Henderson Cemetery on Powells Chapel Road.  The latter is where she is interned.

Growing up in Nashville, I had no knowledge of my Phillips ancestory. In 1995, I was moving to Denver, and my father took me out to meet them for the first time in my life. This video captures that experience. It’s a priceless record of family history from Uncle Dayton, Aunt Ceil and my father.

All three parts were shot May 30, 1995.

Part 1 – The Preston Henderson Cemetery on Puckett Road in Norene (formerly Henderson Crossroads) Tennessee. Bobby Henderson and Dayton Phillips:

Part 2 – Lucile Phillips Johns at her home on Mercury Boulevard in Murfreesboro, TN Aunt Ceil displays several family antiques and their history.

Part 3 – The Old General Store. As I recall, this was on Mona Road somewhere. I don’t think it’s still standing. There is a short clip of  Eulalia Hewgley at the old Malone home on Powells Chapel Road.

The featured photo is at the Malone-Henderson Old Homeplace: right to left: Ed, Lucile, Bobby and Dayton.

by Categories: Cemetery, genealogy, travel Leave a comment

Family Cemetery Tour 2017:

Tour 11 family cemeteries from Walter Hill to Watertown:

Watch some of the tour we did yesterday to raise public and private awareness of the need to protect family cemeteries in Rutherford and Wilson County, Tennessee.

Stop #1 –  Hoover Cemetery – Water Hill, Tennessee

Stop #2 – Malone-Henderson Cemetery – Powell’s Chapel Road

Stop #3 – The Old Homeplace – Powell’s Chapel Road

See a 360 virtual tour here.

Stop #4 – Charlton Ford Cemetery – Dinky Lane

Stops #5 & #6 – Patrick and William Short Cemeteries – Powell’s Chapel Road and Mona Road

Stops #7 & #8 – Williams Cemetery (Cainesville Road) and Preston Henderson Cemetery (Puckett Road)

Stops #9, 10 & 11 – John Phillips Log Cabin, John Phillips Cemetery (Hale Road) and David Phillips Cemetery (Bass Road) – Watertown, Tennessee

See more virtual tours here.

Family members: I am researching 2nd Lt. George Malone of the 18th Tennessee. I will look for his grave in Atlanta this month when I’m down there. My guess is that he was killed in the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. His regiment was at the Dead Angle, ironically right next to my GGF 2nd Lt. Walter Scott Bearden of the 41st Tennessee. Additionally, their General Joseph B. Palmer was wounded a few days later in the Battle of Jonesboro where my GGF was severely wounded too during the last fight of the Battles of Atlanta.

by Categories: Cemetery, genealogy, Historic Preservation 3 Comments

A ride in the country

Rutherford and Wilson County Family Cemeteries:

“We all feel our fathers could not have chosen better women for our mothers than they did, could they have had all the advantages of our modern household arrangements.”…
“I have seen much of the world since I left you seventeen years ago [1862*]. I have lived in five different states of the Union, and visited many more, and know the average standard of morals and of the public conscience in a great many large communities, but I have never yet found the community so nearly free from moral defilement, and with so high an average of moral worth and so high a standard of duty, where manhood and womanhood have fewer stains upon them, than right here in Wilson County, within a circle of five miles from this point as a center.”
– Rev. David Waters – 1879
Watertown, Tennessee

Caravan tour of cemeteries and home sites of the ancestors of Tab and Hattie Henderson: Phillips, Waters, Cummings, Bass, Malone, Oakley, Peyton, Short, Williams and more.

Friday, November 24, 2017 • The day after Thanksgiving
Organizers:

• Billy Pittard: (310) 880-7276

• Bob Henderson: (615) 477-0737

9:00 AM – Meet at Walterhill Church of Christ 7277 Lebanon Rd, Murfreesboro, TN 37129 The church is about a mile north of the intersection of Lebanon Road (US 231) and Jefferson Pike. 9:15 – Caravan hits the road!

https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=18OprmbUtUJSt5YXQPq-ZhlT-ewLcFPv-

*in 1862 David Waters two brothers joined the 5th Tennessee Union Cavalry. Their father Wilson Turner Waters was a staunch Unionist.
#savingcemeteries

by Categories: Cemetery, genealogy, Historic Preservation, Uncategorized 1 Comment

Cousin Dick

Richard Henderson (jurist)

Richard Henderson is the cousin of my GGGGG Grandfather Samuel Henderson (1737-1820). Samuel was my first Henderson to live and die in Tennessee.

“Richard Henderson (1734–1785) was an American pioneer and merchant who attempted to create a colony called Transylvania just as the American Revolutionary War was starting. 

In 1775, a treaty was held between the Cherokee and a delegation of the Transylvania Company, headed by Richard Henderson. Under the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals (or the Treaty of Watauga) at present day Elizabethton, Tennessee, the Transylvania Company purchased a vast amount of land from the Cherokees, including most of present-day Kentucky and part of Tennessee.

The treaty was technically illegal since the purchase of land from Native Americans was reserved by the government in the Proclamation of 1763 (the British, the governments of Virginia and North Carolina, and, later, the United States, all forbade private purchase of land from Indians).

After the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the organization of the state government in North Carolina, he was re-elected judge, but was prevented from accepting that position by his participation in a scheme organized under the name of the Transylvania Compact.” – Wikipedia

Hendersonville, Tennessee is not named for Richard, it was Captain William Henderson, no known relation.

– Bob Henderson

by Categories: genealogy, history Leave a comment

Smart Phone Airdrop

Samsung Galaxy S5 Phone Drops 1000′

A few weeks ago, my brother Blake Henderson was filming a World War I Curtis JN-4 “Jenny” flying near the Bowling Green Regional Airport in Southern Kentucky. The phone bounced out of his hands due to severe turbulence.

This was not staged, and we have the meta data to back that up. The only editing was condensing the time lapse between the scenes. The original video is 11 minutes long, and is on YouTube also. This version, I cut down to about 3 minutes.

“This ain’t my phone” © Blake Henderson 2017

UPDATE: 12 August 2017

– #38262 Curtis Jenny crashed on a golf course in Bowling Green …read more

FullSizeRender (1)

#airdrop #smartphone

by Categories: aviation, humor 5 Comments

Washington Oaks Gardens

Washington Oaks Gardens State Park – Palm Coast, Florida. Located on A1A just south of Marineland.

I have driven by this hundreds of times. I finally paid the $4 admission, and it was well worth it. This is the real Florida. Check out the 360º’s below:

https://roundme.com/embed/169162/430476

“The heart of the Park consists of a coastal scrub community that transitions into lush hammock where towering live oaks, hickory and magnolia trees offer their welcome shade.  Bordering the hammock are the scenic tidal marshes of the Matanzas River.” …read more

“In 1818, Jose Mariano Hernandez, a St. Augustine native, bought and owned the property and named it “Bella Vista.”  He was a citizen of a Spanish colony owning land granted by Spain.”  more history

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Sugar Mill Ruins

The Oldest Sugar Mill Plantation in the United States

Bulow Plantation Historic Park

Part of the Seminole War History, burned in 1836.

3501 Old Kings Road • Flagler Beach, Florida 32136

© Bob Henderson

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Battle for the Battlefield

Imminent Development of Fort Negley Park:

The Old Greer Stadium – Vote is May 16, 2017 at 6:30PM | Davidson County Courthouse, 1 Public Square, 2nd Floor, Nashville, TN

photo by: Blake Henderson

Besides the tourism/historic value of this American Civil War icon, why is the city wanting to decrease public green space downtown? There is too little of it now. This 16 acre parcel has been in the public park inventory since the 1920’s. Half of it is proposed for commercial development by the Metro Council. That could be 8 acres of public downtown Green Space! As downtown explodes in development, we need more, not less, open space!

Key Points

  • Fort Negley is the largest Civil War stone fort (inland)
  • Few Civil War sites remain in Nashville
  • African American Contraband Camps were located here
  • A former cemetery of over 11,000 Union soldiers – some of which could still be there
  • Water run-off issues
  • Less green space
  • More trafic congestion
  • Monarch butterfly habitat
  • Rare fossil site

If you live in Davidson County, Tennessee please contact your council person here.

Download the Friends of Fort Negley Plan

@savingplaces #thisplacematters #fortnegley

by Categories: civil war, Historic Preservation Leave a comment

SOUTH PARK & BACK – PART 3

Fort Delaware to Chancelorsville

Continued from SOUTH PARK & BACK – PART 2

Day 4: Fredericksburg, Virginia. The visitor center was very helpful finding David’s position on the battlefield. I learned that they fought hard, standing their ground when two regiments to their immediate left broke and ran away. This opened up a huge hole in the line which filled with (ironically) Pennsylvania troops. The 7th held firm, despite fire coming in from 3 sides.

This is the precise position of Archer’s 7th Tennessee on December, 13 1862. It’s listed as Prospect Hill on the driving tour.

David Phillips was promoted to 3rd Lieutenant two months after Fredericksburg, probably because of his actions in that victory. A few months later, during the Battle of Chancellorsville, he would make 2nd Lieutenant. In that daring battle, Robert E. Lee’s finest hour, the 7th was sent straight up the middle towards a key primary objective: Fairfax. They were the tip of the spear here:

David Phillips went on to fight in many more battles. At Gettysburg he went straight up the center in Pickets Charge, captured at the Stone Wall. The 7th Tennessee lost 43% of their men in the assault. Out of the original 800+ men, they surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse with only about 50 of them.

My itinerary from Chancellorsville, was to Gen. Johnston’s surrender site in North Carolina, and then to Kings Mountain, SC where my 5th great grandfather, Captain James Maxwell fought with is son William, my 4th great grandfather. Based on the run of luck I was having, I decided to cut the trip short.

Later that rainy night, a semi blew a tire as I was passing it. It sounded like a cannon blast –  that loud. Cousin Billy said that the yankee ghosts were after me. #3 out of the way. 😉

The End

by Categories: civil war, genealogy, history, military 1 Comment