THE GRESHAM FAMILY & PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON'S UNION PARISH ROOTS Contributed by Sherry Gritzbaugh ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ 1. William Jefferson Blythe Clinton was born 19 August, 1946 in Hope, Hempstead County, Arkansas. On the 11th. day of October, 1975 he married Hillary Rodham. 2. Virginia Dell Cassidy was born 06 June, 1923 in Bodcaw, Nevada County, Arkansas. She married William Jefferson Blythe III on the 3rd. day of September, 1943 in Texarkana, Miller County, Arkansas. Her second marriage was to Mr. Clinton. 3. Edith Vallie Grisham was born on the 2nd. day of November, 1901 and died on the 17th. day of January, 1968 in Hope, Hempstead County, Arkansas. She married James Eldridge Cassidy who was born on the 19th. day of August, 1898 in Parker Twp., Nevada County, Arkansas. He died 11th. March, 1957 in Hope, Hempstead County, Arkansas. 4. Lemma Newell Grisham was born 22 June, 1879 in UNION PARISH, LOUISIANA. He departed this life 28 Sept., 1954 in Hope, Arkansas. On the 27th. day of January, 1901 he married Edna Earl Adams in Hope, Arkansas. She was born on the 19th. day of April, 1878 in Hempstead County, Ark. 5. James Blan Grisham was born on the 18th. day of Feb. 1843 in the state of Tennessee. He died 19 Apr. 1915 in Parker Twp. Ar. He is buried in Shovers Spring Cemetery between Hope and Bodcaw. He married Harriet (also found as Hattie) Rebecca Mitchell who was born on the 22nd. day of January in Arkansas. She died 7th. June, 1912 and is buried in Hempsted County. James Blan Grisham was previously married to Margaret Ann Brantley before 1870. 6. Thomas P. Gresham was born 21 May, 1795 in Granville, North Carolina. He died 27 November, 1857 in Calhoun, Ark. He is buried in Tinsman, Calhoun County, Ark. He married Mary Hester 25 Aug., 1804 in the state of North Carolina. She died 20 Sept. 1885 in Calhoun, Ark. She is buried in Tinsman, Calhoun, Ark. in the Newton Cemetery. *7. James Gresham was born 11 August, 1759 and died near Trenton Church in Louisa Co. Va. He died 26 Apr. 1837 in Granville, N. C. on 1 Aug., 1782 in Granville, N. C. He married Jane Clark who was born ca 1763 or 1764. In a statement to receive his Revolutionary war pension, he moved to Granville County, North Carolina when he was about seven years old. Death date was given by his wife, Jane when she applied for bounty land. Portions of this information were printed in "Gresham Anyway You Spell It," dated April, 1995. Volume 10, No. 2. They had shown Moses Gresham as being the father of Thomas P. Gresham. * Mrs. Jack Grisham made the correction. She was able to prove Thomas P. Gresham was the son of James, the Revolutionary War veteran. ******************************************************* Gresham Blood Flows Through My Viens God said "let there be life" and I was born. It was Wednesday afternoon, nineteen hundred thirty six to be exact. My two sisters thought the stork got their baby mixed up as my Dad promised a brother. They did decide they better keep me so I became a full fledged member of the Gresham family. As a child I felt very close to Aunt Lillie Gresham Rea. She lived nearby and took care of Grandfather M. Allen Gresham. Each afternoon when my sisters and I got off the school bus, Aunt Lillie would have a nice hot baked sweet potato waiting for us. My sisters and I attended the Union Gin School which was near the Evergreen Community in Bernice, Union Parish, La. It was a long walk uphill to catch the bus each morning. Mother dressed us in long socks to keep our legs and feet warm. On the night before Christmas we draped our socks across a rocking chair or on my Mother's tradle sewing machine near the tree in hope that Santa would find them. On Christmas morning, as soon as it was light, my sisters and I would ask permission to go into the room with the Christmas tree and socks. Every year there would be an apple, an orange, some nuts and almost every year there would be an apple, an orange, some nuts and almost always a doll! I still have the aluminum eyes which I received in nineteen hundred forty one. My grandfather L. C. Bagwell also lived nearby. He had a sand yard which was swept every day. I remember well the fun we had playing under a spacious wisteria vine. I faintly recall walking through the virgin pine forest behind his home. I loved to go to visit as he was a very kindly soul with so many wonderful memories to share. I still remember most of his stories. In 1942, Union Gin had an outhouse. The school children would line up and wait their turn. This outhouse gave us a much better picture of typical examples of outdoor plumbing. Mrs. R. E. Jernigan, formerly Miss Edna Tabor, was my first grade school teacher. I can still picture her face and the wood burning stove we shared with the second graders. In my memory book, there are reading, penmanship and spelling certificates awarded to me in the first grade. They were signed by Irene Clark, Seth Tanner and Mrs. R. E. Jernigan. Mr. Tanner was our principal. It was also in January, 1942 that my Mother was awarded a certificate for meritorious achievement in having grown seventy five per-cent or more of the food necessary for the family, and for leadership in better living in the community and the state as was awarded and signed by Sam Jones, Governor of Louisiana and H. C. Sanders, Director of Agricultural Extension and Harry Wilson, Commissioner of Agriculture. By August of 1942, we moved to Minden, Louisiana but I shall always treasure...............the community of Evergreen with her hilly red clay countryside, fertile and beautiful. There,the tallest trees grew that I had ever seen with my wonderful memories so bountiful. ................................................................ FROM GEORGIA TO ALABAMA ON DOWN TO LOUISIANA Tradition has handed down many wonderful stories of how Great Grandfather, William Thornton "Bill" Gresham and family worked their way from Wilkes County, Ga. to Opelika, Ala. on to Dadeville as section foreman of the Old Columbus of Georgia Railroad. Wooden rails were laid from Columbus to Opelika, Ala. about a distance of thirty miles. The Gresham family lived at Smith Station, Alabama before moving and working their way to Dadeville. Smith Station is about sixty miles from Columbus, Ga. where many Gresham's still live. One night yankee soldiers were spotted in route to Great Grandpa Gresham's home. Great Grandmother Sarah Hammock Gresham hid their flour, meat and other supplies in the harth rocks with his powder horn and other valuables. The yanks arrived using vile language and took his black horse for their own. When CSA President Jefferson Davis arrived in Opelika during the Civil War he shook hands with Great Grandfather and congratulated him on a job well done. Family lore tells us that President Davis placed a kiss on baby M. Allen Gresham's head. No two train whistles were alike. Each engineer had his own unique style of sounding the whistle. Worker knew which train was pulling into the station and which engineer was on the train. It was after the 1880 census when my great Grandfather and his crew finished laying the rail from Georgia to Yellow Pine, Louisiana. Progress was slow. Often the rail was burned, not only by the yanks but also by the Indians. In 1861 Louisiana had left the union. By 1862 union forces had occupied New Orleans, It was not until after 1868 that Louisiana was re-admitted to the union. The reconstruction years of 1865- 1877 were formidable years in the state, parish, and local government as well as the national government. This was the time of newly freed slaves, scalwags and carpetbaggers. Perhaps this is why it took so long to lay the rail from Alabama to Louisiana. The railroad changed names several times before the forties and fifties when my own father, Ben Gresham worked for the Louisiana and Arkansas Railroad. When he died in 1977, some of his co- workers attended his funeral and even traveled to the Evergreen Cemetery located near Bernice, in Union Parish, La for the grave- side service. I still get homesick whenever I hear the sound of a train and its whistle. The Minden centennial newspaper did not include the history of this wonderful memory of the railroad which enriched my life so greatly leaving me with many fond memories of Minden. Great Grandfather Gresham lived in Minden about twenty years before moving to Union Parish, Louisiana where he died in 1914. He died at the home of his son, M. Allen Gresham in the Evergreen Community. Today, three generations of Gresham's are interred in the Evergreen Cemetery. Bill Clinton and I have two things in common. We both have Union Parish roots and Gresham/Grisham blood flows through our veins. # # #