Tag Archives: Tennessee

Mormon history

Relic of an Old Tragedy

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The 1884 “Cane Creek Massacre” in Tennessee took the lives of two missionaries, two local members (brothers to each other), and one member of the attacking force. The mother of the two brothers was maimed for life, and proselyting in the immediate neighborhood of the massacre ceased for a period of years.

I have blogged once about this event, and BruceC has blogged a number of times about his recent researches into (for him) local history – he has been uncovering a number of documents – including photographs – in Tennessee sources that have never been used by those writing from the Mormon perspective, and has been exploring the genealogical connections of some of those involved. If the Cane Creek tragedy is of interest to you, or if you’d like to undertake researches into your own local history but aren’t sure how to start, I recommend BruceC’s site (click on the “Cane Creek” label to pull up all his relevant posts). Continue reading Relic of an Old Tragedy →

Mormon history

A Good Word for the Elders, 1884

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[I have to read so much anti-Mormon rancor in my work that I’m a real sucker for any kind word someone had for us in the 19th century.

Thomas J. Berry, born at Lee Valley, Hawkins Co., Tennessee, in 1844, was a farmer and sometime Justice of the Peace. He married Cornelia Trent in 1881, and they became the parents of at least three children, one of whom, George Leonard, a free-thinker like his father, was a labor activist in the pressmen’s and railroad workers’ unions, served with the rank of major in World War I, was appointed by Woodrow Wilson as a member of the American Commission negotiating the peace treaty at the end of that war, and was appointed by Tennessee’s governor to serve out the term of a senator who died in office. Continue reading A Good Word for the Elders, 1884 →