LAWRENCE COUNTY, TN - HISTORY - Marcella Falls Woolen Mills --------------¤¤¤¤¤¤-------------- Marcella Falls Industries Marcella Falls Woolen Mills, Marcella Falls, Tennessee 1845-1883 Owned and operated by: Benjamin WILLIAMS; William Janway NOWLIN; and Alfred Ogilvie WILLIAMS. Manufacturers of Wool for clothing, bedding, Lumber products, Leather and Shoe manufacturing, and Flour. Data compiled by Scott O. Fraser Descendant of Alfred Ogilvie Williams September 22, 2004 Sofraser@aol.com Sources Written data: 1. Letters written by Dr. C.D. NOWLIN, grandson of William J. NOWLIN, a former Columbia dentist, to Mrs. Millred Benson. Mrs. Benson trying to authenticate Marcella Falls History and home of A.O. Williams for historical preservation. 2. Dr. John A. ROBERTSON, Lavelland, Texas, and Chesley ROBERSON of Ostella, Tennessee. Grandsons of Alfred Ogilvie WILLIAMS. These men are the last known living, closely related member of those related to the founders of Marcella Falls Industries. 3. "The History of Marcella Falls", Paper written by Mary Ann Truitt for an American History Class at Columbia State Community College. 4. "Civil Order, Tennessee : One Man's Empire", Marshall County Historical Quarterly, Volume III, Fall 1972, Number 2, from family of Rev. James WILLIAMS compiled by Beulah Williams Howland. 5. "History of Lawrence County", Tennessee, by Bobby Alford 6. "From the Old Courthouse Attic", by Laura Lou White, Published by the Democrat-Union 1974-1976 for the Buffalo River Chapter DAR during their Bicentennial. 7. "Bensons Enjoy Beautiful Marcella Falls", The Daily Herald, Columbia, Tennessee, Saturday, October 18, 1969. 8. Excerpt from the Lawrenceburg Press, June 13, 1883, Jacob Leamon, Editor and Proprietor. 9. "Marcella Falls, a 19th Century Industrial Center" Marcella Falls History Marcella Falls is located about ten miles northeast of Lawrenceburg near the boundary line between Lawrence and Giles Counties. The waters from several large springs converge at that point and fall approximately twenty feet from the Highland Rim into the Central Basin of Middle Tennessee. There is no community there now, but from about 1840 until the coming of the railroad in the last part of the 19th century, there was a thriving industrial community at Marcella Falls. The falls provided the necessary water power for the operation of a large woolen mill, a tan yard, a shoe factory, several sawmills, a furniture factory and a flour mill. Marcella Falls Woolen Mills was the name under which products from these operations were marketed. Clothing, shoes, furniture and other items were hauled by wagon by means of oxen and loaded "Saratoga's" to Nashville and shipped by water to New Orleans and other far away markets during the 19th century. Originally the woolen mills, flour mill and tanning business were owned an operated by the Powell family on the Duck River near Caney in Marshall County. In the early 1840's James Williams, resident of Civil Order, Marshall County, bought the business and operated it for a short time. In the later part of 1840 he would give the business to Alfred Ogilvie Williams and his daughter Martha Matilda as a wedding present. A.O. Williams and his brother Benjamin moved the entire operation to the beautiful falls in northern Lawrence County. Later, William Janway Nowlin bought Benjamin Williams out and assisted Alfred in the operating of the business. Marcella Falls was named for Marcella Paine (or Payne), the daughter of a Columbia attorney. Miss Paine was a well educated person who was in ill health. She was asked and accepted the job of governess to the Alfred Ogilvie Williams children in the hopes of regaining her health. The springs feeding the falls contained mineral waters that were considered to be healthful. A.O. Williams thought the name "Marcella, which means "most beautiful," was a suitable name for the beauty of the falls and named them, and his entire business enterprise, for Marcella Paine. When the Civil War came in 1861, the Woolen Mills were at their peak of manufacture. The War took its toll on the Marcella Falls business community. At the start of the war, the company provided most of the clothing requirements for the 600 men in the 23rd Tennessee Infantry Regiment, a unit made up of men from Lawrence and surrounding counties. The Mills also produced its own currency as legal tender. Before the end of the war, the mills unintentionally provided the Federal Army with supplies. The Yankee army simply moved in and helped themselves to wagon loads of shoes, boots and all the clothing they could find. Old Nelson, a sixteen year old slave gave eye witness account - "I was about sixteen then and was forced to help load the wagons." His estimate was that there were about 100 wagon loads or raided material taken. Before the army left they burned all the deeds and tax receipts to the property. After the war, when property ownership could not be proven, carpetbaggers sold over 4,000 acres of the estate for less than $3,000. Alfred Ogilvie Williams made application to the Federal government for the damage done and goods taken by Federal troops to the Marcella Falls business. Papers were filed, witnesses given. His application was rejected. He would have to sell out because of the tax burden. He would move to nearby Maury County. Marcella Falls had a serious decline in both production and profit after the war. The coming of the railroad in 1883 and new industrial methods that did not require water power hastened the decline and fall of the manufacturing operations. By the turn of the century, all the operations were gone except the lumber and sawmill businesses. By 1915, they had disappeared and Marcella Falls would follow the same fate. Alfred Ogilvie Williams Alfred O. Williams, owner and superintendent of Marcella Falls, was born in Marshall County, son of William Williams and Elizabeth Allison. He died November 20, 1885 in Maury County. He was a natural born hydraulic engineer, mechanical genius in many directions C. D. Nowlen states. He gives the following examples of his ingenuity: "His chimneys were not properly constructed to give a good draft to the smoke, so he invented and put into use what he called "smoke jacks." These smoke jacks were anchored to the top of the chimney and worked on a swivel. They would change direction as the wind changed from one compass point to another. They looked like wide fans of an electric fan, when the wind blew; they spun in a merry circle and sucked the smoke out as if a blower were under the fire below. Uncle A.O. liked things neat. He was very bothered with the rock around the fireplace and would become irritated by its chipping out. He drew plans and had cast-iron fireplaces fit into the chimneys, and also had cast-iron mantels and jams cast. All these were well finished at the foundry and held a beautiful coat of paint - the first home in the area to have such. He also rigged up ceiling fans, powered by a belt connected to a water wheel down to the falls. They were primitive air conditioners; he called them "shoo-fly- fans." They lowered the temperature dramatically in the summer." (C.D. Nowlin) Alfred Ogilvie Williams Home The Alfred Ogilvie Williams is still standing and has been remodeled by the Benson family. C.D. Nowlin remembers the following: "It was a two story home, the upper story was lighted and ventilated with dormer windows. The upper story was lighted and ventilated with dormer windows. The architecture differed from grandfathers, in that the building faced east, while the other faced west. There may have been more than two large rooms and a wide hall in that portion, but I do not remember that. The hallway was enclosed; there was an ell running west from the north room, with two or three rooms, and a wide "L" porch running completely along the western side, both the main house and the ell. On the back porch of each home was a trolley wire running down to the same spring, on which each drew the necessary household water. The drum that drew up the cabled bucket was as large as a wagon wheel, to increase speed of the upcoming buckets. Windows were approximately the same in each home. Chimneys were brick and metal roofed. Both were painted white, with green window blinds." "I note your mentioning a rail fence in your front yard: that's plenty antique, but the original yard fence I remember was made of dressed red cedar palings, with diamond shaped tops: the posts were six inches taller than the others; the whole fence was painted white, as was the house, which has green painted blinds for contrast. Uncle A.O. and his girls loved flowers, and the whole yard was a flower garden; the walk was made of brick and about seven feet wide, and I remember the girls eternally fussing because they couldn't keep weeds and grass from growing up in the walk." (C. D. Nowlin) William Janway Nowlin William Janway Nowlin was the first son of Jabus Nowlin, fourth generation of Nowlins from Ireland..coming to Tennessee in the late 1700's. William Janway was born in Bedford County, Tennessee, November 9, 1815, and died October 21, 1865, at Marcella Falls. His home stood across the ravine, west of A.O. WILLIAMS. He was married to Sarah Williams, sister of A.O. Williams. C. D. Nowlin has to say the following about William J. Nowlins home: "I am assuming that the first structures for establishing their business, Uncle A.O. and grandfather first built homes for their families. Presumably, grandfather's was the first, as he already had a large family. That home stood on the hill, across the ravine and almost west of the Williams home. Each of these homes had a water system the sameā€¦both from the same spring that furnished water to turn the Marcella Industries. On the back porch was a large winless wheel which sent a bucket down a steel trolley to the spring for water: grandfather, had a duplicate of that wheel in his home, feeding from the same spring. His home was two and half stories high, with dormer windows in the roof. Four rooms and wide hall on the two lower floors; two ells..having two or more rooms, one story..one running east and one south. As was then the custom, those rooms were spacious with high ceilings. A metal roof: brick chimneys and medium sized windows having a dozen or more small glass panes." (C.D. Nowlin) Other notes by Dr. C.D. Nowlin: A.O. WILLIAMS, and William WILLIAMS, who were, before coming to Marcella co- owners of several thousand acres of cotton land in Tishomingo County, Mississippi. While in Mississippi Grandfather NOWLIN and his brother-in-law WILLIAMS built what was known as the Charleston and Memphis Railway with their own slave labor in order to have a shipping outlet for their cotton. This railroad finally became a part of the Southern Railroad, which follows approximately the old survey. Grandfather served as Commissary clerk in Captain W.B. Moore's company, taking his second son Jabus with him. ___________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Scott Fraser SOFRASER@aol.com ___________________________________________________________________