THE GENEALOGICAL HISTORY
OF THE
WASHBURN FAMILY
OF NORTHWEST TENNESSEE
THE MIGRATION TO WEST TENNESSEE
Eli Washburn (1796-1875) (17)
Wife: Jane Mackey, b. 1798
Children:
- Mary Ellen Washburn (Johnson)
- Robert M. Washburn, b. 1825
- Eli Edgar Washburn, b. September 15, 1828, d. July 24, 1857
- Augustus H. Washburn, b. 1832, ancestor of our Washburn lineage
- John W. Washburn, b. 1836
- Reuben Hale Washburn, b. 1837
Eli Washburn, born on December 8, 1796, in Canterbury, Connecticut, was the first Washburn of this lineage to migrate to West Tennessee. Early in adulthood, Eli moved from his birth home in the State of Connecticut to the State of Virginia, where he married Jane Mackey in Halifax County, Virginia, according to marriage records in the county courthouse there. Eli is listed in a census index as residing in Halifax County, Virginia, in 1830. From Virginia, Eli and his wife moved to Perry County, Tennessee. He is listed on the land tax list for Perry County in 1840.
After arriving in Perry County, Eli professed faith in Christ and united with the New Prospect Baptist Church in that county. He was baptized by church elder E. Autrey. While in Perry County, Eli was licensed to preach the gospel and was in due time ordained to the full work of the ministries by Elders J. C. Martin and J. P. Hill. He subsequently moved to Henderson County between 1840 and 1850 settling in the area of what is currently known as Jack’s Creek near the Reagan community. Eli was a pioneer of the Baptist in the hill country of Decatur and eastern portion of Henderson Counties. It was written that he visited the remote neighborhoods and preached to the people in log schoolhouses, in their crude dwellings, and frequently under hasty constructed bush arbors. The January 21, 1981 edition of The McKenzie Banner, McKenzie, Tennessee, had an article about early Baptist ministers submitted by the Carroll County Historical Society. The article stated that Eli “has many seals in the field of his labors; many churches were planted and nurtured by him and are the living memorials of his self sacrificing devotion to the cause of Christ.”
Eli and Jane Washburn had six children, one daughter and five sons. They were Mary Ellen Washburn, Robert M. Washburn, Augustus H. Washburn and Edgar Washburn, all born in Halifax County, Virginia; and John W. Washburn, born in 1835, and Reuben Hale Washburn, born in 1837. The latter sons were born in Tennessee according to family records. They also raised their grandson, William (Billy) Daniel Washburn, the son of Augustus H. Washburn, after Augustus’s wife, Mary Daniels Washburn, died shortly after the son’s birth in 1859.
Family legend has it that Reuben was the only son of Eli and Jane to come back from the Civil War. Robert, a member of the 10th Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry (DeMoss’), was reported killed at Knoxville, Tennessee. Augustus died as a prisoner at Camp Douglas, a Union civil war prison in Chicago, Illinois. John, a member of the 27th Regiment, Tennessee Infantry, was reportedly killed at Meridian, Mississippi. Reuben was a private in “I” Company of the 1st Confederate Infantry. All four sons fought for the Confederate Army.
One son, Eli Edgar Washburn, died of typhoid fever on July 24, 1857, prior to the start of the Civil War. Edgar married Barbara Bailey around 1852 and they had one son together, J. R. Washburn. Barbara married E. C. Winfree after Edgar’s death. This husband died in the Civil War. She was buried next to her first husband at Union Hill Missionary Baptist Church cemetery following her death on January 14, 1914. She was born on August 17, 1831. Their son, J. R., died at about 50 years of age.
Reuben Hale Washburn died in Gatesville, Texas, on May 16, 1919. He married Nancy “Nanie” Louisa Reed on February 14, 1867, in Henderson County, Tennessee. Nancy Reed was born on September 2, 1849, in Henderson County, Tennessee and died in Gatesville, Texas, on October 18, 1925. According to Census information, Reuben and his wife were living in Coryell County, Texas in 1880. During the 1870 census, Reuben and his wife were listed as having one child, Mary L. J. Washburn, who was seven months old at the time the census was taken.
Eli was a member of the Masonic Friendship Lodge 229 located at Jack’s Creek, having joined the Masonic Lodge during its’ charter year in 1853.
In 1865, Eli was listed as owning 132 acres in the 12th Civil District of Henderson County, Tennessee. The land was valued at $714.
Eli died on October 13, 1875, at his residence near Jack’s Creek at 78 years of age. He and his wife, Jane, are buried at Union Hill Missionary Baptist Church located in proximity to the intersection of Highways 22 and 100 in Henderson County as are numerous other Washburns of this lineage. Union Hill Missionary Baptist Church was one of the early churches that Eli preached at during his ministry. A history of the church relates how Eli and his grandson, William D. (Billy), assisted in the construction of a one-room pine building sometime after the church was formed in 1863. Billy is said to have held the lantern while men of the community, who were mostly farmers, worked on the building at night. The gravestone at the cemetery refers to Eli as “Rev. Eli Washburn.”
It is interesting to note that Jane Mackey Washburn’s father, Dr. Robert Mackey, also served in the American Revolutionary War as a surgeon in General George Washington’s army. Dr. Robert Mackey married Ann Bradley, who was the daughter of Lord Bradley, then governor of Virginia. When the American Revolution started, Ann Bradley was reported to be 12 years old and lived in Petersburg, Virginia. Ann Bradley Mackey applied for and received an American Revolution soldier widow’s pension and was living in Perry County, Tennessee at the time of the pension application.
Augustus H. Washburn(1832-1863) Civil War Veteran—Cox’s Calvary, C.S.A. (18)
Wife: Mary Daniels Washburn
Children:
- William (Billy) Daniel Washburn, born in 1858, ancestor of our Washburn lineage.
Augustus H. Washburn was born in 1832, in Halifax County, Virginia. He moved with his father and mother, Eli and Jane Washburn, to Perry County, Tennessee, from Virginia and later settled in Henderson County in the area of what is known as Jack’s Creek near the Reagan Community. He married Mary Helen Daniels and they had one son, William (Billy) Daniel Washburn, born in 1858. Mary Daniels Washburn died in 1859, when William was only 11 months old. She is buried at Union Hill Baptist Church Cemetery in Henderson County, Tennessee.
Augustus, a farmer, enlisted as a member of Cox’s Tennessee Calvary Battalion, Company “C” during the American Civil War at 30 years of age. Company “C” was organized on October 8, 1862, at Linden in Perry County, Tennessee. The Company was comprised of men primarily from Decatur and Hickman Counties, although Augustus was reported to have been residing in Henderson County at the time of his enlistment. Augustus was listed as a private on the muster rolls of Company “C”.
Major Nicholas N. Cox first organized Cox’s Tennessee Cavalry Battalion as a battalion of Partisan Rangers by authorization of Tennessee Governor Isham G. Harris, a native of Henry County, Tennessee. The battalion operated along the east bank of the Tennessee River, between the mouth of the Duck River and Savannah, Tennessee, making raids across the river whenever opportunity presented. The most important of these was the capture of an Illinois Company of the Union Army at Henderson Station on the Mississippi and Ohio Railroad on November 25, 1862.
When famous Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest organized his first raid into West Tennessee in December 1862, Cox’s Battalion was mustered into Confederate service and ordered to cross the Tennessee River and join Forrest. Just prior to action near Jackson, Tennessee, the battalion was assigned the duty of destroying the bridges and culverts on the railroad from Jackson to Bolivar. Two days later, on December 20, General Forrest, with his escort and Cox’s Battalion, charged into Trenton, Tennessee, and with the help of some artillery support, captured the town and some 800 Federal prisoners. After the raid on Trenton, Forrest accompanied by Cox’s Cavalry moved on toward Union City and were involved in a skirmish there on December 21, where he bluffed the Union Captain into surrendering his garrison. The cavalrymen did not tarry long in Union City as they were trying to avoid Union troops in pursuit of them. Soon after the skirmish in Union City, the horse troopers moved into southwest Kentucky before moving back into Tennessee and back east to Dresden, where they destroyed a railroad trestle over the Dresden-Gleason road on Christmas Day 1862. The troops used axes scavenged from local farms to cut the timbers of the trestle. One of the iron ax blades apparently used to chop down the trestle was found by Carmon Pritchett of Dresden in the 1970’s in the old dirt roadbed of the former Dresden-Gleason Road located on the Pritchett farm. Ironically, Augustus H. Washburn in December 1862 possibly tread on ground that now comprises a farm owned by his great-great grandson Jeffery T. Washburn located about a quarter-mile from the previous railroad trestle that was destroyed by Nathan Bedford Forrest and Cox’s Battalion in Dresden. Forrest’s cavalry soldiers camped in Dresden near the trestle on Christmas Day night and moved out toward McKenzie on December 26, 1862.
Near the end of Forrest’s raid into West Tennessee, the Battle of Parker’s Crossroads occurred on December 31, 1862. Major Cox and nearly 300 of his men were captured at this battle. Major Cox was exchanged following the battle probably for a high-ranking Union officer. However, the fate of the 300 cavalry soldiers that were members of the battalion was far less fortunate as they became prisoners of war of the Union Army.
On February 25, 1863, by order of General Forrest, Cox’s Battalion was consolidated with Napier’s Battalion to form the 10th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment, of which Major Cox became the first colonel, assuming command after he had been exchanged.
The exact fate of Augustus H. Washburn after he joined Company “C” of Cox’s Cavalry is a mystery. Family legend has it that Augustus died at the Battle of Shiloh. However, this would have been impossible since the Battle of Shiloh was fought on April 6 and 7, 1862, and Cox’s Cavalry was not organized until October 1862. More interesting is that A.H. Washburn was not officially listed on the muster rolls of Company “C” after the battalion was consolidated to form the 10th Tennessee Calvary Regiment on February 25, 1863 thus leading to the conclusion that he must have been captured prior to that date.
Private A.H. Washburn more than likely became one of the 300 Confederate soldiers that were members of Cox’s Calvary Battalion captured at the Battle of Parkers Crossroads after a surprise attack from the rear by a Union Army brigade commanded by Colonel John W. Fuller. Cox’s Cavalry Battalion was engaged as dismounted cavalry at the time of the initial battle at Parker’s Cross Roads against a Union brigade commanded by Colonel Cyrus L. Dunham. Forrest had sent Dunham a demand for unconditional surrender after Forrest’s troops had the brigade surrounded on three sides. However, during the lull awaiting the surrender, Fuller opened up on the Confederates from the rear with artillery catching members of Cox’s Calvary in a deadly torrent of fire. Artillery shells fell among the dismounted cavalrymen killing many of the battalion’s horses and men assigned to hold the horses in the rear while the remaining troops faced off against the enemy. Without their horses, the stranded cavalrymen of Cox’s Calvary could not escape after Forrest and the remainder of his mounted cavalry troops were forced to fight their way out from between the two brigades of Union forces. The Confederate soldiers of Cox’s Cavalry Battalion were thus captured and made prisoners of war of the Union Army.
It was during the Battle of Parker’s Crossroads that Forrest was attributed with the famous command “Charge ‘em both ways” given after he was confronted with Union troops on both his front and rear.
The fate of Augustus H. Washburn remained a mystery until a letter written by one of Reuben Washburn’s daughters to one of her nieces relating the family history as told to her by her father led to further investigation. According to the letter, Augustus (Gus) died in prison in Chicago during the Civil War. Further research revealed that Augustus had in fact died while being held as a Confederate prisoner of war at Camp Douglas, originally constructed at Thirty-First Street and Cottage Grove Avenue near the shores of Lake Michigan in the City of Chicago, Illinois. Camp Douglas first received Confederate prisoners following the capture of approximately 7,000 Confederate troops after the fall of Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River near Dover, Tennessee, and the defeat of the Confederates at the Battle of Island # 10 on the Mississippi River early in 1862. Between 1862 and 1865, Camp Douglas housed about 26,000 prisoners in temporary, wooden barracks. It was known as the northern prison camp with the highest mortality rate of all Union Civil War prisons. Some historians even refer to Camp Douglas as the “Andersonville of the North”. Conditions at the camp were horrible and it is reported that one in five prisoners within the walls of the camp died either from rampant diseases including small pox, pneumonia, dysentery, freezing to death as a result of being deprived of blankets during the bitter winters, or starvation due having an inadequate supply of food.
As a result of harsh treatment at Camp Douglas, an estimated 6,000 Confederate troops died at the camp during the three and one-half years that the camp housed prisoners. Confederate soldiers who died at the camp were initially buried in unmarked pauper’s graves in Chicago’s City Cemetery, located at the southeast corner of what is now Lincoln Park in Chicago. Those who died at the camp’s smallpox hospital were buried on the grounds of the prison camp. In 1867, some two years after the end of the Civil War, the remains were removed from the city cemetery and camp grounds and reburied at Oak Woods Cemetery, about fives miles south of Camp Douglas. When the bodies were moved in 1867, they were placed in concentric circular trenches in an area of the cemetery that had been purchased by the federal government. In July 1893, southern veterans and citizens of Chicago erected a monument over the remains at Oak Woods Cemetery. President Grover Cleveland dedicated the monument in 1895.
Bronze tablets on the 46 foot tall monument at Oak Woods Cemetery list some, but not all, of the names of dead Confederate soldiers buried in the Camp Douglas Confederate Mound at the cemetery. Among the names listed on the bronze tablets around the base of the monument is the name of A. H. Washburn of Company C, Cox’s Tennessee Battalion. Thus, there is no doubt that Augustus Washburn died while a prisoner of war at Camp Douglas in Chicago, Illinois, during the Civil War. Records from the camp show that Augustus H. (A.H.) Washburn died on March 18, 1863; some six weeks after he is believed to have arrived at the camp near the end of January 1863. It is a wonder that the exact date of his death is known at all because official records of deaths and burials were poorly maintained, if kept at all, by the Union Army troops running the camp particularly after mortality at the camp got out of control early in 1863. In fact, the Union Army ceased reporting the total number of deaths at the camp after February 28, 1863. Official records of deaths at Camp Douglas in the National Archives discovered in 1997 show that 748 prisoners died between January 28 and April 27, 1863. For the period January 28, 1863 through July 1863, a total of 792 prisoners had died including Augustus H. Washburn. The primary causes of death during this period were listed as smallpox, fevers, and pneumonia. The death toll was an unbelievable 20 percent during the first half of 1863.
The only mystery remaining is how Private Augustus H. Washburn became a prisoner of war and one of the approximately 6,000 unfortunate victims of Camp Douglas. The most reasonable explanation is that Private Washburn was one of the 300 Confederate troops captured at the Battle of Parker’s Crossroads. If this indeed happened, then Augustus and his fellow prisoners would likely have been marched to the Tennessee River some 40 miles away and placed on “Yankee” riverboats, which transported them down the Tennessee River to the Ohio River and from there to Cairo, Illinois, located where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers intersect. At Cairo, prisoners would have been placed aboard freight cars of the Illinois Central Railroad, which had a terminal at Cairo. From Cairo, the prisoners would have traveled some 300 miles north by rail to Chicago, Illinois. In the early months of 1863, the trip would have been in extremely cold weather conditions in unheated box cars. Most of the scrappy farm boys that comprised the Confederate conscripts captured by the Union Army during this period were poorly clothed for such frigid conditions. Upon arriving in Chicago, the prisoners would then have been paraded through the streets of Chicago as they were force marched approximately two miles to Camp Douglas. For Augustus H. Washburn and 20 percent of the arriving prisoners early in 1863, the forced march was truly a death march to a place from which they would not leave alive.
William (Billy) Daniel Washburn (1858-1941) (19)
Buried: Union Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Henderson County, Tennessee
Wife: 1st: Nancy Cornelia Bailey
Children:
- Mary Lee Washburn, b. 6/3/1879, girl
- Hubert Adkins Washburn, b. 11/4/1880, boy
- Elector Ardel Washburn, b. 5/10/1883, girl
- Arby Cleveland Washburn, b. 4/15/1886, girl
- Lucy Tennessee Washburn, b. 12/4/1888, girl
- James Edward Washburn, b. 10/27/1893, boy
2nd Spouse: Mary Helen Linton, b. 1870, d. 1948
Children:
- Maggie Correlia Washburn, b. 11/1895, d. 8/18/1983; married Albert Thompson
- Hattie Ethel Washburn, b. 4/5/1897, d. 6/1897, died of pneumonia
- Nancy Lillian Washburn, b. 7/9/1898, d. 2/9/1984; married James (Jim) Kennedy
- Willie Lerah Washburn, b. 7/26/1900, married John Thompson
- Vester Arden Washburn, b.1/13/1902, d.12/17/1984, married Ardel Ross
- Edner Mae Washburn, b. 8/30/1903, married Famous Morris
- Otis A. Washburn, 8/8/1905, d. 5/29/1925, married Nora Jordan
- Hessie Edith Washburn, b. 12/24/1909, married Bob Kelley
- Dessie Eathel Washburn, b. 12/24/1909, married Doskie Austin
- Ruby Mackey Jane Washburn, b. 10/31/1911, married Dewey Thompson, who is the father of her children. After his death, she later married Dee Davis. The Jane portion of her name was added after her birth reportedly after her great-uncle, Reuben Washburn, told her he would give her a brand new red dress if she would add Jane to her name. She already had Mackey as a middle name given at birth. Reuben’s mother’s name was Jane Mackey.
William (Billy) Daniel Washburn was born in 1858 in Henderson County Tennessee, the son of Augustus H. Washburn and Mary Daniels Washburn. His mother died in 1859, some 11 months after his birth. William’s father, Augustus H. Washburn, served in the civil war and died in a prisoner of war camp in Chicago, Illinois, after being captured during the war.
As a result of the untimely deaths of his parents, his grandparents, Reverend Eli and Jane Washburn, raised William. He married twice during his lifetime and fathered 16 children. His first marriage was to Nancy Cornelia Bailey, with whom he had six children. His second marriage was to Mary Helen Linton and they had ten children together, eight daughters and two sons. One of the children of the second marriage, Otis A. Washburn, died at the age of 19 years and nine months from a stomach and intestinal disorder.
William, a farmer by profession, was a devout member of Union Hill Baptist Church and is buried in the church cemetery beside his second wife, Mary, who was also a devout member of the church. One of their daughters, Dessie Eathel Washburn Austin, once related a story of their participation during a large revival at the church. Mrs. Austin said, “One summer, I recall a revival was held in a big tent near the church. My father (William) killed a lamb, goat and had pork to help feed the company we had during the revival. My mother (Mary Helen Linton) often fed 40 to 50 people for both dinner and summer, which also included her family of ten. She would start her meal around 3 a.m. preparing from five to six chickens beside other meat, vegetables, cakes and pies. She was quite famous for her chicken and dumplins. We also had an orchard and we kids would fill up on fruit and then we were not too hungry when meal time rolled around.”
Mrs. Austin further related, “We went to church in wagons and often my twin sister, Edith, and I rode horses to church. My father (William) would start picking people up all along the road until by the time we arrived at church, the wagon would be filled.” Mrs. Austin said, “My father said to me before his death, ‘Eathel, I want you to always see to it that the church has preaching services.’”
Mary Helen Linton Washburn and William (Billy) Daniel Washburn are shown seated in a photograph taken about 1924 or 1925 in Henderson County, Tennessee. Standing behind them is Dovie Ardell Ross Washburn and Vester Arden Washburn. Vester is holding their oldest son, Fred Arden Washburn, who was born in 1923.
Vester Arden Washburn (1902-1984) (20)
Wife: Dovie Ardell Ross (7/24/1907-9/05/1982), married 1922.
Children:
- Fred Arden Washburn b. 1923
- Wayford Otis Washburn b. 1925
- James Lloyd Washburn b. 1927, d. 1985
- Leo Franklin Washburn b. 1930, d. 1932
- Arlene Washburn b. 1933
- Billy Junior Washburn b. 1935
- Helen Louise Washburn b.1938
Vester Arden Washburn was born on January 13, 1902, in Henderson County, Tennessee, the eleventh child of William (Billy) Daniel Washburn and the fifth child born during the second marriage to Mary Helen Linton. He was one of sixteen children fathered by his father during the course of two marriages.
Vester was born and raised in the area of the Jack’s Creek community in the southern portion of Henderson County, Tennessee. At 20 years of age, Vester married Dovie Ardell Ross, who in 1922 was only 15 years of age. During his lifetime, Vester often boasted that he stole his bride.
Like his father before him, Vester was a farmer and the “Hill Country” of southern Henderson County was not especially suitable for profitable farming operations, particularly in the period during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. In October 1938, Vester and Ardell moved to Carroll County in an old truck. During the move the boys rode in the back of the truck and used a lantern to generate heat to keep them warm. At the time of the move, their youngest child, Louise, was only three weeks old.
After arriving in Carroll County, the family first settled in what is now the south side of Carroll Lake located between Huntingdon and McKenzie, Tennessee. Lakeside Retirement Center is currently located near their first home in Carroll County.
Vester was a sharecropper, meaning that he farmed ground for a landowner for a share of the crop that could be sold for cash. As was common in those days, the entire family was required to be involved in the farming operations. He later moved the family to a house and farm known as the Bateman farm located near the present day McKenzie Elementary School, where the family also sharecropped some land. They resided there until the children were nearly grown. In January 1947, the family moved to a farm near the McKenzie-Como Road known as the Eulas Pickler place, where they milked cows and farmed. During 1947, they purchased the farm where they were residing, which was approximately 145 acres. They resided there until their deaths in the mid-1980’s.
Ardell died of cancer at the hospital in McKenzie on July 24, 1982. Vester died at the family home on December 17, 1984. Both are buried in the Caledonia Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery on the McKenzie-Como Road near McKenzie and the farm on which they lived out their lives. Many other members of the Washburn family are buried at the cemetery as well. One child of Vester and Ardell, Leo Franklin Washburn, was born in 1930 and died at two years of age in 1932. He is buried at Union Hill Baptist Church cemetery in Henderson County, where a great many of the Henderson County Washburns are buried.
CHILDREN OF VESTER AND ARDELL ROSS WASHBURN
Fred Arden Washburn (1923- ) (21)
Wife: 1st spouse: Florence Nell Reeder, b. 1925
Children:
1. Linda Jane Washburn, b. 1946, d. April 1998
Married: Thomas Allen
Children:
1. Kenneth Wayne Allen
2. Bradley Edward Allen
3. Brian Thomas Allen
Children:
1. Maria Allen
2. Jimmy Arden Washburn, b. May 19,1948, d. April 21, 2003
Married: Chris Hotzy in 1969 in Germany.
Children:
1. Kevin Washburn
2. Jenny Washburn
3. Stephen Washburn
3. Cathy Lou Washburn, b. 1949
Married:
1st Spouse: Dallas Barnett
2nd Spouse: Danny Pinson
Children:
1. Jason Eugene Pinson, b. 1971
3rd Spouse: Chuck Leach
2. Joshua Ryan Leach, b. 1981
4th Spouse: David Jacobs
4. Janice Kay Washburn, b. 1951
1st Spouse: John Martin Harper, b. 1948
Children:
1. Sandra Kay Harper, b. 1969
Married: Darin Dale Faux, b. 1966
Children:
1. Magan Kay Faux, b. 1988
2nd Spouse: Richard George Rodgers, b. 1949
2. Jessica Sara Rodgers, b. 1977
3rd Spouse: Ron Quick
4th Spouse: Kenny Jester
5. Jerry Wayne Washburn, b. 1954
1st Spouse: Mary Jane Upchurch
Children:
1. Jeremy Wayne Washburn, b. May 1972
2. Sherry Jane Washburn Hall, b. December 11,1975, d. November 2, 1999
2nd Spouse: Mary Alice Mendoza, b. September 13, 1960, married 12/03/1983
3. Alexandria Esther Mendoza Washburn, b. June 12, 1992
6. Larry Gene Washburn, b. January 22, 1960, d. September 25, 1962
7. Michael Fred Washburn, b. December 17,1963
1st Spouse: Tracey Malray, b. May 31, 1964
Children:
1. Jarred Michael Washburn, b. March 27, 1982, June 1, 1998
2. Bethany CathrineWashburn, b. December 5, 1984
Married: Charlie Roberts
2nd Spouse: Tina Evans, married 1993
3. Cody Arden Washburn, b. March 29, 1993
3rd Spouse: Jeanne Lydia Smith, b. June 24, 1963, married August 3, 1996
4. Jacob Owen Washburn, b. November 28, 1997
5. Ethan Michael Washburn, b. April 26, 2001
2nd Spouse: Hazel Fay Jones, married December 5, 1984
Wayford Otis Washburn (1925- ) (21)
Wife: Alice Marie Kirksey Washburn, b. January 28, 1931, died October 12, 2005; married June 30, 1947
Children:
Wayford Otis Washburn, Jr., b. July 23, 1949
Married: Frances Ann Drewry, August 21, 1970, b. December 31, 1952
Children:
1. Sherry Lea Washburn, b. March 20, 1973
2. Sarah Ann Washburn, b. July 25, 1975
Married: Brandon Clark Moore, August 24, 2002, b. March 3, 1977
3. Charles Marshall Washburn, b. October 12, 1979
Married: Charissa Dionne Muston, April 17, 2004, b. January 25, 1979
Wayford Otis Washburn is the second son of Vester and Ardell Ross Washburn. He was born in Henderson County on July 21, 1925 and moved to Carroll County, Tennessee, in 1938 with his family. He joined the Army near the end of World War II and was stationed in Yokahoma, Japan, at the end of the war as part of the American Occupational Forces. Following the end of the war, he returned to McKenzie and married Marie Kirksey on June 30, 1947. He became a successful farmer like his forefathers and became well known in the McKenzie area both as a farmer and a part-time bus driver for the McKenzie schools. He was elected and served as a Constable for Carroll County, Tennessee.
James Lloyd Washburn (left) and Wayford Otis Washburn (right) are shown in their United States Army uniforms in a picture taken about 1946 while stationed in Japan.
James Lloyd Washburn (1927-1985) (21)
Wife: Ramona Mae Kemp, b. October 1, 1932, married May 22, 1948
Children:
- Jeffery Thomas Washburn, b. September 24, 1954
- Joel Trent Washburn, b. January 26, 1957
James Lloyd Washburn was born on September 5, 1927, in Henderson County, Tennessee, the third son of Vester and Ardell Ross Washburn. He moved to Carroll County, Tennessee in 1938 with his family and assisted in the family’s farming operations until joining the military in 1945. James attended the McKenzie school and graduated from the eighth grade. He dropped out of school after the ninth grade to help the family farm, which was a common practice in those days.
On November 29, 1945, he was inducted into military service at Fort McPherson, Georgia. Following basic training, he served with the 40th TC Squadron, 317th Transportation Corp. Group. After being stationed in Yamato, Japan with the American Occupational Forces after the end of World War II, he was transferred to E Squadron of the 1377th Army Air Force Base Unit and was stationed at Westover Field in Massachusetts. He was honorably discharged from the Army at Camp Stoneman, California, on June 29, 1947. During his enlistment in the U.S. Army, he was awarded the World War II Victory Metal, Army of Occupation, Japan. After being discharged from the Army, he returned to McKenzie, where he joined Company G, 117th Infantry Regiment of the Tennessee National Guard. James was discharged from the National Guard on January 19, 1951.
James married Ramona Mae Kemp on May 22, 1948, about the same time that he began his newspaper career. James started working in the newspaper business on the G.I. Bill as what was known in those days as a “printers devil.” He would arrive at the newspaper office in McKenzie thirty minutes early during the winter months and build fires in the coal burning stoves to warm the plant prior to the other employees arriving. He rose from an apprentice printer to shop foreman. In 1968, James and Karl Barlow purchased the McKenzie Banner and Dresden Enterprise newspapers from J. Frank Barlow, thus becoming co-owner and co-publisher of the two newspapers. In 1980, James purchased Karl Barlow’s interest in the two newspapers and became the sole owner and publisher. In January 1982, he transferred an interest in Tri-County Publishing Company, Inc., which owned the newspapers, to his two sons, Jeffery T. Washburn and Joel T. Washburn. He was active in publishing the two newspapers and operating the commercial print shop until the day of his hospitalization for brain surgery in November 1984. He never recovered from the surgery and died at McKenzie hospital on February 18, 1985 after a three year fight with a brain tumor. He was buried on February 20, 1985, at Carroll County Memorial Gardens located between Huntingdon and McKenzie, Tennessee.
James was instrumental in the formation of Associated Publishers, Inc. in Huntingdon, Tennessee in 1973, which printed a total of nine weekly newspapers at the time it was formed on a modern web offset printing press. He served as manager and President of Associated Publishers until his hospitalization and death a short time later.
The Washburn family purchased the Tennessee Republican newspaper in Huntingdon on June 17, 1988 after James’ death, and later sold the newspaper to Dennis Richardson, who published the other weekly newspaper located in Huntingdon.
James joined Caledonia Missionary Baptist Church in 1948 and served as church secretary for a period of time while a member there. The family began attending McKenzie First Baptist Church in 1960 and he was ordained as a deacon for the church on September 17, 1967. At First Baptist Church, he additionally served as a Sunday School teacher, Training Union Director for young boys, and also drove the church bus for many outings.
James was very active civically in McKenzie and Carroll County. He was a Charter Member of the McKenzie Jaycees and served as the organizations president and as chairman of many projects conducted by the group. He was a member of the McKenzie Chamber of Commerce and was instrumental along with Bob Greene of Huntingdon, publisher of the Tennessee Republican newspaper, in forming the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce.
The Webb School Alumni Association of McKenzie honored James as an Achiever on September 5, 1976, for his work is assisting the organization and providing publicity for the organization’s annual reunion.
James was active in McKenzie Boy Scout Troop 78 while his two boys were members of the scout troop. He served as Scoutmaster of the troop for a period of time.
James was a lifetime member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4939 of McKenzie. He was a member in the McKenzie Rotary Club and was honored with being named a Paul Harris Fellow in July 1982.
He served as a member of the McKenzie Industrial Bond Board and other city and county committees during his lifetime.
James, although dropping out of school in the ninth grade, was a self educated man with the ability to learn complex skills in addition to understanding and performing intricate business tasks. He was remembered as a person who dearly loved his city, county, state, nation, and fellow man and worked each day to improve the standard of living for everyone.
James Lloyd Washburn (right) is shown with United States Army friends Marcus Westbrook (left) and Bill Rochelle (center) while stationed in Yomato, Japan after the end of World War II.
Leo Franklin Washburn (1930-1932) (21)
Leo Franklin Washburn was the fourth son of Vester and Ardell Ross Washburn. He was born on August 10, 1930 and died on July 7, 1932. He is buried at Union Hill Missionary Baptist Church in south Henderson County, Tennessee.
Arlene Washburn (1933) (21)
Husband: Carl Edwin Davis, b. April 23, 1928, d. April 23, 1971
Children:
- Steven Lynn Davis, b. September 5, 1952
- Gary Eugene Davis, b. September 9, 1954
Married:
1st Spouse: Debbie Allen
Children:
1. Michael Bradley Davis, b. May 4, 1974
2. Kimberly Dawn Davis, b. October 27, 1977
2nd Spouse: Teresa Choate
3. Karl Eugene Davis, b. December 5, 1981
3rd Spouse: Patty Baker, married December 11, 2002
Step-Children:
4. Penny Allen
5. Michael Moeller
3. Carla Dianne Davis, b. August 12, 1959
Husband: Ray E. Erhardt
Arlene Washburn was born on January 14, 1933 in Henderson County, Tennessee, the fifth child of Vester and Ardell Ross Washburn. She moved to Carroll County, Tennessee, in 1938, when the family moved from Henderson County. She married Carl Edwin Davis and they had three children together. Carl drowned on a fishing trip at Kentucky Lake on his birthday on April 23, 1971.
Billy Junior Washburn (1935) (21)
Wife: Alice Jane McCain, b. September 30, 1942, married June 24, 1961
Children:
- Alicia Dawn Washburn, b. August 24, 1965, d. August 26, 1965
- Timothy Craig Washburn, b. October 21, 1967
- Kecheia Annette Washburn, b. November 4, 1971
Billy (Bill) Junior Washburn was born on August 8, 1935, in Henderson County, Tennessee. He moved with his family to Carroll County from Henderson County in November 1938.
Helen Louise Washburn (1938) (21)
Husband:
1st: Curtis Melvin Pugh, b. July 13, 1929
Children:
1. Curtis Melvin Pugh, b. October 21, 1954
Children:
1. Erica Pugh, b. March 3, 1987
2. John Gray Pugh, b. October 25, 1957, died 2003.
Wife: Glenda Taylor Purcell, August 25, 1990
Children:
1. Brianna Pugh, b. February 2, 1991
2. Lacy Nicole Pugh, b. July 15, 1992
3. Stepson: J.D. Purcell
2nd Spouse: Fred Moore, b. October 7, 1925, d. January 25, 1997
Helen Louise Pugh was born on October 28, 1937, in Henderson County, Tennessee. When she was three weeks old, she moved with her family to Carroll County, Tennessee. During her lifetime, Louise was a cosmetologist owning a beauty shop for a number of years in McKenzie.
GRANDCHILDREN OF VESTER AND ARDELL WASHBURN
Jeffery Thomas Washburn (1954- ) (22)
Married:
1st Spouse: Ruby Jean Latimer, March 27, 1973, b. August 15, 1954
Children:
1. Jeremy Thomas Washburn, b. March 22, 1977
Married: Kimberly Britt Moreland, b. August 30, 1980, married September 30, 2000
Children:
1. Audrie Nichole Washburn, b. February 2, 2000
2. Anna Grace Washburn, b. November 19, 2002
3. Addison Claire Washburn, b. October 10, 2006
2. Amanda Jean Washburn, b. February 13, 1979
Married: 1st marriage: Joe Fazzari; 2nd marriage: Kent Guthrie
Children:
1. Alivia Marie Fazzari, b. December 13, 1999
2nd Spouse: Pattie Diane Crawford, b. March 25, 1964, married May 6, 1987
James Russell Washburn, b. April 11, 1990
3rd Spouse: Jennifer Hope Brewer Butts, b. August 8, 1957, married March 2, 1996
Step-Children:
3. Britne Hope Butts, b. February 28, 1978
Married: Shannon Bone, b. June 2, 1976, married June 16, 1997
Child:
1. Isabella Hope Bone, b. March 3, 2005
- James Christopher Butts, b. January 28, 1980
Jeffery Thomas Washburn was born September 24, 1954, in McKenzie, Carroll County, Tennessee. He is the oldest son of James L. and Ramona Kemp Washburn.
Jeff attended school in McKenzie and graduated from McKenzie High School in 1972. He was graduated summa cum laude from Bethel College in McKenzie in 1998 and received the Doctor of Juris Prudence degree from Nashville School of Law in 2003. He graduated second in his law school class and was named as a member of Cooper’s Inn honor society at the law school for graduating in the top ten percent of his class.
Jeff began working in the newspaper business at the nine years of age by sweeping floors and emptying the trash at the McKenzie Banner. At age 13, he began working in the newspaper’s print shop after school and during the summers. During high school, he started reporting sports news and doing photography work for the newspaper. In February 1974, he was named as Editor of the Dresden Enterprise and still works in the newspaper business. He currently is one of the stockholders in Tri-County Publishing Company, Inc., which publishes the two newspapers. He is also a stockholder in Associated Publishers, Inc. in Huntingdon and sits on that corporation’s Board of Directors.
Since November 2003, Jeff has practiced law and currently is the managing partner in Washburn & Hutcherson Law Firm located in Dresden, Tennessee. He currently is serving as City Attorney for the cities of Dresden and Sharon and the County Attorney for Weakley County, Tennessee.
Jeff has been active in a number of civic organizations during his adult life including the McKenzie Jaycees, Dresden Lions Club, Dresden Rotary Club, and Weakley County Rescue Squad, serving as Commander of the Rescue Squad from 1980 to 1987. He currently is a lifetime member of the Rescue Squad.
Jeff has served as a member of the Dresden Municipal-Regional Planning Commission, the Dresden Zoning Appeals Board, Dresden Park Commission, and Dresden Industrial Board. He also has served as a member of the Weakley County E-911 Board as well as other civic and governmental committees and boards.
Jeff was instrumental in organizing and forming Weakley County Ambulance Service, Inc. in 1983 to provide ambulance service to Weakley County, Tennessee. He served as part-time administrator of the service from 1983 to 2003 and currently is the Chairman of the Board for the non-profit corporation that operates the service.
Jeff is an Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America and has served as an assistant scoutmaster with Dresden Boy Scout Troop 40 since 1978. He is also a Vigil member of the Order of the Arrow, which is the honor camper organization affiliated with the Boy Scouts.
Joel Trent Washburn (1957) (22)
Wife: Teresa Brawner, married April 1981
Children:
1. Brittany Mae Washburn, b. November 26, 1985
Joel Trent Washburn was born on January 26, 1957, the younger of two sons of James L. and Ramona Kemp Washburn.
He attended school in McKenzie, Tennessee, and was graduated from McKenzie High School in 1975. He graduated from Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, in 1979. He is a former trustee of Union University.
Like his brother, Joel began working in the newspaper business in early childhood by sweeping the office floors and emptying trash at the McKenzie Banner. He also sold newspapers at a local factory each week on the afternoon that the paper was published. Joel began working in the newspaper full time after graduating from college and worked as a reporter for a number of years until his father, James, began treatments for a brain tumor in 1982. Joel then began assuming day-to-day management responsibilities for the McKenzie Banner until the time of his father’s death in February 1985. Following the death of his father, Joel became editor of the McKenzie Banner. Joel became one of the shareholders of Tri-County Publishing, Inc. in 1982, when his parents transferred shares of the corporation to the two sons. Joel additionally is a stockholder in Associated Publishers, Inc. of Huntingdon and serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for that corporation. He is a trustee of the Tennessee Press Service, Inc., of Knoxville.
Joel has also been active civically in McKenzie during his adult life. He previously was a member of the McKenzie Lions Club and served as president of that organization in 1983-84. He currently is a member of the McKenzie Rotary Club. Joel is a 1991graduate of the WestStar leadership training course and served on the WestStar board of directors.
Joel was a charter member of the United Way of Carroll County and in 1991-92, he served as chairman of the Carroll County United Way Campaign. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Carl Perkins Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse in Carroll County.
Joel was president of the county-wide Carroll County Chamber of Commerce for two years from 1996 to 1998. In 1997, the Chamber of Commerce constructed its first chamber-owned headquarters in Huntingdon at a cost of $300,000 under Joel’s administration. He was named Carroll County Chamber of Commerce Business Person of the Year in 1992. He was founder of the Chamber of Commerce’s youth leadership development program, Youth Leadership Carroll County.Joel served as president of the McKenzie Band Parents club for McKenzie High School in 2002-2003. He additionally had previously served as a trustee for Union University located in Jackson, Tennessee for six years.
Joel was elected to serve as a County Commissioner for Carroll County, Tennessee, in August 2006 representing the district in the McKenzie area.
Introduction Early Family History The Immigration to America The Migration to West Tennessee
Descendants of Robert Washburn Ties to the Savior of Europe Ties to the Ross Family