GIBSON COUNTY, TN - SKULLBONIA - Rebecca Jones Interview Gann, TN
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                   Rebecca Jones Interview Gann, Tennessee

Among the first settlers of this country was Mr. Billy Goodman.  He came from
Virginia and stayed with Mr. Belew while his house was being built and the land
was cleared to be planted.  A two-roomed log house was built with a brick
chimney.  This was the first brick chimney around and people from miles around
came to see the brick chimney.  The house still remains near where it was built
on the land that is now the Joe Robinson place, near Whiteway.  The house has
lately been moved several yards from where it originally stood and has been
remodeled.  It is weatherboarded and does not appear to be a log house to anyone
passing by, but it is the first house that was built on the place.

Right after the Civil War broke out a big picnic was held near the spring on
what is now Ernest Browning's place.  That day George Robinson and Bob Goodman
volunteered for the Confederate Army.

Mr. Neill had a negro hired to him after slaves were free.  The negro always
came to church at Walnut Grove with the family and stood on the outside near the
window.  He got out of the wagon one night and began talking rather sassy to
some of the white boys that were at church.  Some of the people asked Mr. Neill
to keep him away.  He remained at church but instead of going to the window as
usual, he remained in the wagon.  During the services he was shot and killed.
That night all of the young men of the community came up to the mourners bench. 
Many people believed that the preacher knew what was going to happen because
earlier in his sermon he had said that the devil would visit that church that
very night.

Fielding Goodman was a constable.  He was in Trenton and went in to hear the
cross questioning of a woman that was being tried.  It seems that the case was
very funny and everyone in the courtroom was laughing.  The court was called to
order and the judge said that anyone else who laughed would be fined.  Mr.
Goodman did laugh again and was fined ten dollars.  He said that paid for his
future generations so that they could laugh any time they wished in Trenton.

A TRUE INCIDENT FOR THE REPUTATION OF SKULLBONE

Mr. J.C. Terry, early one Monday morning was on his way to town and as he was
passing a neighbor's, the neighbor stopped him and gave him a pair of shoes to
take back to town.  The shoes had been picked up by mistake with some other
bundles and did not belong to this man.  When Mr. Terry took them into the store
they had been taken from; Felix Walker, owner of the store, said "We missed
those shoes when we were checking up Saturday night and I told the clerks that
if they went to Skullbone that they would be brought back.  If they went
anywhere else it was doubtful."

William Stone had just made a pair of shoes, picked up his gun and went over in
the creek bottom to get fresh meat for the family.  Before long he brought back
a deer...He tanned the hide for use and part of it he made into a billfold which
is now in the possession of Mrs. Claude E. Jones.

J.M. Terry went to a spring at a Mr. Thetford's to get water for his stock.  A
small daughter came down to where Mr. Terry was.  She kept repeating "50 cents
for a gobbler, 50 cents for a gobbler".  Her mother had just sold a gobbler for
50 cents and this was such an unheard of price that she came down to tell Mr.
Terry about it.  Usual price of gobblers then was around 25 cents.

A master and his slave were at a log rolling.  The master noticed that a very
large strong man was carrying the other end of the hand stick that his slave was
on.  He noticed the man, who was quite a bully was jerking the end of the stick
thus throwing the load on the negro and causing him to be overloaded.  Mr.
Bryant called for everybody to lay down the load.  He then walked over and told
the negro to stand back.  He told the man on the other end of the stick, "that
negro cost me a thousand dollars, this neck of mine cost me nothing.  If you wan
to jerk anybody, jerk me."

A bunch of boys were swimming at the creek where there was a whirl pool and were
trying to see who could swim through the pool.  A negro started through and got
caught in it.  The others noticed him bobbing up and down in the pool and pulled
him out.  By that time he was apparently dead.  As they pulled him out on the
bank feet first, they noticed that when they pulled his arms, water spouted out
his mouth.  They kept doing this for fun to see the water run out of his mouth
and pretty soon he began breathing.  By the time the boys got ready to go home,
the negro was all right.  (This was told by J.C. Terry who was in the bunch when
it happened)

One time a man was gone away from home on business and he left his wife and
three small children with his brother to stay until he returned.  When time came
for the man to return, who for some reason had been delayed, the woman, knowing
that things at home needed to be cared for, called for her horse to be saddled. 
She put two children behind her and the smallest in her lap, then asked for a
chunk of fire, as there were no matches then to start fires with.  Her brother-
in-law wouldn't allow the risk of her carrying the fire on the horse with the
children and sent a "darky" along to carry the fire for her.  The oldest of
those three children was John Marshall Stone who later became one of the best
loved governors of the state of Mississippi.

GOOD JUDGEMENT?

At a hog killing there were several hogs to be killed, some of which were rather
large.  The boys wanted to handle the largest first before they got tired, but
one man insisted that they start with the smallest so that when they got to the
largest they would be accustomed to handling the larger hogs. 

The notorious lazy negro slave of Skullbone was Roundtree's Joe.  When he was
assigned an easy task, he would sit around all day and if anyone said anything
to him about not doing it, he would tell them that there was plenty of time.
When it began getting late and the task was still not done he would answer
people who asked him about it with "Too late now, I can't get it done and
Massa'll whoop me anyhow".  When assigned a hard task he would start out by
saying, "No use to try, I can't do that anyhow".

TALES ABOUT ARCH AKIN, THE UGLY MAN OF SKULLBONE

A bet was gotten up between a local group from Skullbone and some outsiders over
which group had the ugliest man.  Someone of the group from Skullbone said,
"Stick your head out of the waggin', Arch."  When he did the other side wouldn't
show their man.

A teamster that hauled from Hickman, Ky., was in Hickman and a merchant gave him
a skillet to be delivered to a man about where Greenfield is now.  He was given
the name of the man and told that if he forgot the name to give it to the
ugliest man in the world.  The teamster delivered it to the correct man, but
when he was passing Skullbone he met up with Arch Akin.  When he did, he said,
"Whoa!  Hold on here, I've given your skillet to the wrong man.  I thought I'd
found the ugliest man in the world but I see I hadn't."

MISCELLANEOUS

F.G. Goodman was born February 8, 1809.

Billy Goodman came from Virginia to this county in 1813.  He lived, died, and
was buried on his own farm.

James Robinson came to this county from North Carolina in 1834.  He had a
tanyard.

Home of the Ku Klux Klan in Skullbone was Mr. Steve Frazier's. ( However they
had another Klan hall, or "home" as Mrs. Jones calls it, on the old Thetford
farm near the village of Skullbone.)