All joking aside (I hear a few daily it seems like - either between Obama, Swine Flu or climate change), it boggles my mind knowing there are folks scattered around this colorful planet unable to appreciate racial equality for all. Just interring my third decade on life, it’s hard for me to fathom that I attended a predominantly all white school (98%) in Giles County, Tennessee (where the Ku Klux Klan originated) after graduating from an all black preschool in the crossroads of middle Georgia. Furthermore, it interests me that these two schools are still open today serving only the main races they served twentyish years ago when I attended them. Is this because we still can't appreciate racial equality and mix as one America? Sadly, there's some folks that can't appreciate (eQual) equality for all and there always will be. All this while knowing that my great-great-great-granddad (Freeland (Freelin) Crabb ) (The original 160 year old musket used by Freelin is still in my family and there are photos of it by his name below.) entered the Civil War in Pulaski, Tennessee under Major Daniel W. Holman in the Battalion of partisan rangers which later became the 11th Tennessee Calvary ran by Nathan Bedford Forrest (the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan).
Candy (my twin) and me born in Perry, Georgia, resided there until the early 1980’s. During summer-break in Perry, we relocated to Minor Hill, Tennessee. Minor Hill is just a few miles south of Pulaski. Relocating to this area of Tennessee and learning the history of it and history of my descendants is why I can express admiration for those that I attended my preschool years with at the Houston County Child Development Center.
My grandma (Mary J. Crabb) and her five brothers and sisters were born and raised in Giles County and all resided there throughout their entire lives but her – Mary J. Crabb. My great-grandmother’s full name is Sammie Jane Davis, also born in Giles County (Sammie married Arthur Crabb). Sam Davis (His parents are Charles Lewis and Jane Simmons Davis) and Susan Lawrence Davis are relatives from the Davis side of my family. It’s not advertised much on monuments erected honoring Sam Davis that he was alongside Major James Crowe when they were captured by Union troops in Minor Hill in November of 1863 and taken to Pulaski and jailed. Mr. Crowe was released from jail a few days after the arrest and became one of the six founding members of the Klan two years later. This arrest is found in a book that was co-authored by J. C. Lester in 1884 called “Ku Klux klan: its origin, growth and disbandment” (Book at this link here - look on page 20.) Lester was also one of the six founding Klan members. Sam Davis and James Crowe were captured about a mile from where my grandma (Mary J. Crabb) was raised.
The father of Susan Lawrence Davis is Lawrence Ripley Davis who was from Limestone County, Alabama (Limestone and Giles County meet at the Alabama and Tennessee state line) was an original founding member of ‘The Klan’ and was involved in the second Klan Den that opened just south of Minor Hill in Athens, Alabama. A 316 page book was written called “Authentic History of the Ku Klux Klan 1865-1877” by Susan Lawrence Davis and published in 1924. This book is “Kinda Pro-Klan” and I wouldn’t take the time, money or efforts to read it.
1986 is the year my twin sister and myself finished third grade and moved from Giles County, Tennessee back to Perry, Georgia. The year 1986 is easily remembered by me. The first nationally celebrated Martin Luther King Day was on January 20th, 1986. It took until January 17, 2000, for the first Martin Luther King Day to be officially observed in all fifty states. The holiday is observed on the third Monday of January.
I love my family in Giles County, Tennessee; it’s just some of the history of the area that I wish didn’t exist. - Brandy Baxley
Mary J. Crabb is my grandma on my mom's side of my family. She was born in Pulaski, Tennessee in 1928. At this link there are a few photos of my grandad (b. 5/30/1913 d. 3/19/1969) with one of him sitting by the Sam Davis monument at the Pulaski court house in the 1950's. My grandma will be 83 this year (2011).
Arthur Arnold Crabb,(b: 11/28/1897 d: 7/22/1950) Arnold is my great-grandfather. He was married on 1/27/1918 to Sammie Jane Davis (b: 4/12/1894 d: 5/14/1974). Her mom and dad's names are Mary Elizabeth Davis and Thomas Calvin Davis.
Noah Albert Crabb, (b: 2/12/ 1867 in Tennessee d: 3/27/1946 in Giles Co. Tennessee) Noah is my great-great-grandfather. He married on 12/1/1887 to Mrs. Willie Ann Buffalo - American Indian. (b: 4/5/1871 d: 9/8/1942) in Giles Co. Tennessee
Freeland (Freelin) Crabb,(Burial listed at : US Department of Veterans Affairs) - (b: 12/23/1826, White County, Tennessee – d: 2/26/1894 Burial: Maplewood Cemetery, Pulaski, Tennessee (Capt. John C. Lester and Maj. James R. Crowe, two of the founding klan members were both born in Giles County and are both buried at Maplewood in Pulaski)). Freeland is my great-great-great-grandfather. He was a Confederate Soldier and served under Major Daniel W. Holman's Battalion of partisan rangers that formed in Giles County, Tennessee in September and October of 1862. This Battalion later became part of the
11th Tennessee Calvary ran by General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Freeland was with Forrest at the last small Civil War battle in Tennessee, located at Sugar Creek, south of Minor Hill, just a few miles to Freeland’s home. Freeland married on December 5th, 1846 (AL. Marriage Record Index from AL Archive, Montgomery, AL) to Mary Elizabeth Snipes (b: 3/1/1829 d: 7/6/1919). Mary's burial: Maplewood Cemetery in Pulaski, Tennessee. I have one original photo of Freeland, Mary Snipes, Freeland's mom Mary Thompson and two others taken after the Civil War that will be in my memoir, if ever finished. Along with his will, wrote in 1893, and his property tax papers from 1861 to 1890's. You will have to see them there! :)
Stephen Crabb (b: 1778 in Berkley Co., VA, d: 1858 in Limestone Co. AL) My great-great-great-great-grandfather – Married Delila Daniel on 8/18/1798 in Rutledge, Grainger Co. TN. Delila died that same year. Stephen then married Mary Thompson in 1808 (Mary was born in VA in 1793 and is mother to all of his 11 kids, Napoleon Bouneparte Crabb was the first born in 1808). Stephen & Mary sold land to James Moore on March 11th, 1857 - NE 1/4 of NW 1/4 of Sec 3, Township 1, Range 6, containing 40 acres for $125 (Limestone County, Alabama). And they both sold 15 acres to Freeland Crabb NW 1/2 of NW 1/4 of Section 1, Township 1, Range 6, for $95.00.
Joseph Crabb,(b: 1749 in Va, d: 11/26/1798 Grainger Co. TN) My great-great-great-great-great-grandfather married Mary Green. On March 15, 1773, he sold land, about 720 acres, located in the lower Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia to General Horatio Gates according to 'deeds of lease and release' per William and Mary Quarterly Series. This land was then named by General Horatio Gates as Traverler's Rest according to a book titled 'George Washington' By Frank E. Grizzard (the land was in Berkely County, Virginia but that area of Berkely is now named Jefferson County and is located just northwest of Washington D.C.). The fall of 1779, Joseph Crabb moved to Grainger County, Tennessee where he lived until his death on November 26, 1798.
**Read the last paragraph on page 48 below which starts with “3. Deeds of Major General Horatio Gates”.
Candy and I, which are in the 2nd grade, are located in the top center row of these photos.
Giles County - In 1985, Candy was a "Cheerleader" and I was "The Water Boy" for the Minor Hill Wildcats. GO Wildcats!
Backwards Plaque - hopefully one day - it will be forgotten.
This "backwards plaque" is still on the wall of Judge Thomas M. Jones' law office in Pulaski. With praise the plaque was turned over so the wording cannot be read in 1990. This decision made national news. The plaque was originally placed there by Capt. Kennedy's widow, a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, which was unveiled in May, 1917 after Capt. Kennedy died as the last of
the six founders.
The plaque, which can't be seen (I prefer the smooth side, myself) today, reads "Ku Klux Klan organized in this, the law office of Judge Thomas M. Jones, Dec. 24, 1865" and then listes the names of the six founding members.
"Homecoming '86" - book of Giles County
Below is an article on page 67.
The war was over in 1865 but the aftermath in Giles County was almost as bad as the fighting. The radical William G. Brownlow was governor of Tennessee and he was determined to punish the Rebels. All loyal southerners were disfranchised and a strange compound of civil law, anarchy, and military despotism existed. Lawless characters had drifted into the county and they and the Negroes, who had been given their freedom along with all political rights, were in charge. On the other hand many former soldiers were left with nothing but their land and no money to get a new start. They were not allowed to meet publicly to discuss their plight or to engage in social pursuits.
And thus it was that Calvin Jones and his friends, John C. Lester, John B. Kennedy, James R. Crow, Frank D. McCord and Richard R. Reed met in secrecy in the law office of Calvin's father on Christmas Eve 1865, to celebrate the coming holiday. They had such a good time that someone suggested forming a club. After much discussion they decided on a name "Ku Klux Klan", one that would have no military or political connotation.
The Klan might have died that night had Thomas Martin not engaged John Kennedy to stay at his house on Second Street while he and his family made a business trip to Mississippi. With a fine house at his disposal Kennedy invited his Klan friends in and they decided to defy the town officials with Halloween type pranks. They found that they could use their mysterious organization to restrain the unruly element in the town. Later boyish pranks were cut out and the society grew into perhaps the most powerful and extensive organization of its kind that ever existed. In less than a year it had expanded from Virginia to Texas. Though tied to Pulaski by tradition, each group acted on its own.
By 1867, it had become a selfstyled band of regulators and there was violence in Giles as well as other counties and states.
In Pulaski, Tennessee, 1867, more than 1200 Negroes were marched to the polls by radical party workers,and military men. Care was taken that they got the right ballot and equal care taken that they marked it correctly. The Klan was used to "persuade" them not to appear at the next election.
Governor W.G. Brownlow emphatically urged the Legislature to pass a law making membership in the Klan punishable by death and subsequently, he declared martial law in nine middle Tennessee counties, including Giles. Fortunately, when Gov. Brownlow resigned to accept a U.S. Senate seat in 1869, a less radical D.C. Senter became governor.
Within a month, Grand Wizard N.B. Forrest disbanded the Klan under the organization's Prescript (charter) which said the Grand Wizard's decision was final.
The modern Ku Klux Klan, organized in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1915 is not a continuation of the original Klan and has no right to claim Pulaski as its birthplace. The only real relation between the two organizations is that the modern organization has usurped the name.
With the election of D.C. Senter as governor and the adoption of a new state constitution, the ExConfederates were returned to full citizenship.
"Tennessee town struggles to move beyond just `birthplace of the KKK"
Web posted January 20, 1997
By Marta W. Aldrich
Associated Press Writer
PULASKI, Tenn.
- People in this hillside community have learned to live with being the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan. More than that, they have fought its stigma.
Pulaski served as a battlefield in the 1980s after the U.S. government created a national holiday for slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
The Klan responded by marching in Pulaski every year to protest the holiday. And though the white supremacy group hasn't shown up for the last two Januarys - and there's no sign it will be here Monday - Pulaski's image as a Klan town still lingers.
``We've come a long way, but there's still a lot of frustration out there,'' said Martha Potter, a black businesswoman who complains that no downtown stores in this city of 9,000 has hired black employees.
Mayor Dan Speer recalled the City Council meeting when a Klansman from Alabama - Pulaski is 15 miles from the Alabama border - announced his group would march in town in January 1985.
