The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1921-02-25
Early History of Obion.

My fathers name was Johnnie
Cloar, who married Mary Turner, and
the names of his brothers were Billie,
Elijah and James. His sister, Mary
married Bynum Ferrill and they lived
in Sumner County at Blitzer's Lick,
on Cumberland River. They built fiat
boats and carried their farm produce
and livestock and walked back from
New Orleans nineteen times before
the steamboats, came to Sumner Coun-
ty.
In 1924 they came in a fiatboat to
Hickman, then called Mills Point,
and settled on Reelfoot Greek, on
Troy Hickman road, miles from
Hickman My father was the eldest
son. He had one brother, William,
and two sisters, Patsy and Betsy. The
latter married Tom Doherty and had
two two daughters and a son, j. T.
Doherty who was in the Civil War.
Patsy married Majors and lived in
Graves County. My father, Abb
Cloar, married Susan Hubbard and
raised large family. His four old
est boys went to the war and three
were killed and l was wounded. Eli
jah's son, Johnnie, married a Hub
bard. His three oldest sons went to
the war and two of them died.
Calvin Cloar, oldest son of William
Cloar, raised large family and his
eldest son went to the war.
Bynum Sheriff. settled at Combs
Springs. There were four daughters,
Harriet, Elizabeth, Mary and Ma
thilda, and son, James, and anoth-
er, l don't remember. Harriet mar
ried Jesse Tams and lived near Hick-
man Jess Cloar, a brother of John
Cloar, also moved to this county
about the same time. His oldest
daughter married Dick Mosier and
raised a large family Uncle Elijah
Cloar came to this country later on
and settled in the same neighbor
hood. He had two sons, Green and
John, who were in the Civil War
four years and were fortunate
enough to get back home. Green
Cloar is still living in this county, is
ninety years of age and in good
health.
When my ancestors came to this
country there were no mills, no roads
nor churches, so they and the other
people that were here, went to work
and built churches and school houses.
They sawed the lumber with whip
saw and made houses out of what is
called "hewed" logs, with stick and
dirt chimneys.
There were no threshers at that
time, so what little wheat they raised
they tramped it out with horses and |
famed out with sheets and carried |
it to a little horse mill which my
father built on the Troy and Hickman
road, and had it and their corn
ground. They never had biscuit but |
once q week, and that was on Sunday |
morning. They had no place to trade,
with the exception of Hickman.
They made most of their shoes from
leather they tanned themselves. The
women spun on spinning wheels and
wove their cloth on an old fashioned
loom and made their clothes. No one
idled away time. They all worked.
They cut out road from Troy to
Hickman, one from Dresden to Hick-
man, all running in a northwesterly
direction. These roads were called
the public highways, and they were
three notched roads, that is, they put
three notches on a tree so when
man got on the highway he knew he
was on the road to Hickman, or to
one of these towns. They also cut a
road from Reelfoot Lake, running
across these three roads, crossing the
Troy road by the White place, and
running down by Old Republican, and
out here by Brevard's Crossing, the
road forked and the right hand went
10 Jacksonville and the left hand
went to Moscow, KY. These were
.wo-notched roads, and second class
roads. All the little roads running
INTO these roads were one-notched
'oads, SO a man could travel in those
lays without any trouble. Old Re-
publican Church, near this city, was
he first church organized in Obion
County. 1t was organized in 1928,
md the deed was given for union
church and a school house. Those
grand old pioneer preachers, Finley
Bynum, Gid Bransford, Wade Frost
John Ward, William White,
preached here. So this church went
IN as a union church until they split
lp, one wing going to Beulah, near
JniCn City, and the Glovers, Grays
md Towards built Mount Olive
while the Methodists and
Cumberland Presbyterians built
church called Shiloh, on Hickman
md Troy road, afterwards building
what is now known as Antioch
church. JERRY A. CLOAR.
February 10, 1921.