Harriet Parks Miller

“ Eppa Lawson Fort was born at “Riverside,” a picturesque homestead on Red River, three miles southeast of Port Royal, Tennessee, August, 1802. He was the son of a prominent Baptist minister, and a church goer, but strange to say, during a pilgrimage of nearly ninety years, never joined a church. He believed implicitly in God’s mercy, and when approached by friends, on the subject of religion, he would assure them that the Lord would manifest Himself to him in a way that he would understand, when He was ready for him to enter the Christian fold. ”

“ It matters not how small the deed of kindness done, it is the motive that dignifies the action.
“Providence permitting, I hope to visit Port Royal next fall, and meet once more in the flesh my friends and kindred there. If I come I will preach a sermon or two at Mount Zion. It is a dear old church to me, and the quiet spot near by, in which sleeps the dust of my father and two brothers, is dearer still. ”

“ It will be remembered that the offspring of a free born parent, either mother, or father, was also free, and after several sons, and daughters were given to Aunt Kitty, and Uncle Horace, they desired to be in a home of their own; Mrs. Carr having become a widow, she was administratrix of a very nice little estate, and Uncle Horace was one of her most valuable slaves, and when it was talked around that he wished to hire himself from his mistress, very few believed that she would consent for him to leave the premises. ”

“ Among the Carney colored people, none ranked above Betsy, Aleck’s sister, a fine looking yellow woman, who married Dennis Neblett, previously mentioned. No kinder heart ever beat in human breast than that of Betsy Carney-Neblett. She was a fine nurse, and would lay aside her home work any day to minister to the afflicted of her neighborhood, and when asked her charges for same, would say, “I make no charges for Christian duty.” ”

“ Most of the white citizens of the neighborhood contributed either lumber or small amounts of money, and when the crude little building appeared on the hillside, all eyes turned to Uncle Horace, as the good shepherd to lead the little flock of seventy odd members. ”

“ Brother Horace Carr enjoyed these camp meetings; I’ve heard him tell of some of the big sermons old Dr. Hanner, Dr. West, and others used to preach there, but somehow he was partial to Red River Church, above all the rest. It was through his influence that I, and a host of others joined Red River, and then when we were freed, and the Lord blessed us with a church of our own, we followed him to Mount Zion.
“If everybody that Brother Horace influenced to be Christians here on earth are with him in heaven today, he has a glorious throng around him. ”

“ We who love Southern soil, and cherish Southern [103] tradition, should pause now and then and pay due tribute not only to the worthy living, but to the faithful colored dead “who sleep out under the stars!” ”

“ An old colored man living down on the Clarksville road rejoiced when he saw the sun rise, and said, ‘Thank God, I know [53] the world is all right now, for the sun is rising in the same place!’
“I think Brother Robin Northington (at that time a young man belonging to Mr. David Northington) made more noise than any colored person in the neighborhood. In his young days he was inclined to be wild, and when he thought judgment day had found him unprepared, it was time to make a noise.
“It always seemed strange to me that Brother Robin was so late coming into the church. ”

“ While the lordly old masters have drifted away with the “days that are dust,” the posterity of a fine antebellum citizenship lingers yet with us to bless and beautify the hills and vales of dear old Port Royal.
[94] CHAPTER XI.
“THERE IS NO DEATH, WHAT SEEMS SO, IS TRANSITION. THIS LIFE OF MORTAL BREATH, IS BUT A SUBURB OF THE LIFE ELYSIAN, WHOSE PORTAL WE CALL DEATH.”
Of the four most prominent members of the Carr family, mentioned in the foregoing chapters, it is a fact worthy of note that each passed from earth from as many different States. ”

“ Too well I know, that my feeble words can do but scant justice to the life of such a departed sister, but I feel like we should hold high the light of such lives, that others may follow their brightness. ”

“ It is a noticeable fact, that the second and third generations of some of Mount Zion’s charter members, are at present among its best workers; as for example, Rev. John Fort’s son Dan, and grandson George, upon whose shoulders a father’s religious mantle has fallen.
Soon after the donation of land by Dr. Norfleet for Mount Zion Church; Mr. William Bourne, on an adjoining farm, gave land for a colored cemetery.
Mr. Bourne was a citizen of fine standing. He was the son of Ambrose Bourne, a prominent pioneer Baptist minister. ”

“ Bourne and the Wimberleys, I soon found him to be a man that would treat you right if you deserved it. He had his own curious way of farming, and no matter what price was paid for tobacco, he would not let a plant grow on his place. He had a very good little [79] farm joining the Royster place, and raised more potatoes than anybody in that whole country.
“I have heard him tell often of letting Elder Reuben Ross, the great Baptist preacher that came to this country from North Carolina over a hundred years ago, live in a cabin in his yard till he could arrange to get a better home. ”

“ Carney secured the release of Aleck, who gladly returned home and took up his work with Uncle Isaac in the blacksmith shop. Aleck is still in the land of the living; he [101] owns a comfortable little home on the Port Royal road leading to Clarksville, from which, by the assistance of his son, he conducts a successful blacksmith trade, and strange to say, in his shop may be seen many of the tools he bought at the Carney sale, some of which have been in use over a century. ”

“ There are many mature men and women in our midst today, who first opened their baby eyes under Aunt Kitty’s watch-care.
She and Uncle Horace were economical, and usually saved fifty, or seventy-five dollars, above his promised wages to Mrs. Carr.
On Christmas eve morning, of each year, after [18] moving to their home near Horse Shoe Bend, he would wend his way quietly back to the old Carr homestead, with his well earned $200.00 for Miss Nancy, who always felt safe in making her Christmas purchases a week or two ahead of the holiday season, knowing he would be true to his promise. ”

“ With whiskey out of the reach of a race having a lamentable weakness for it, it is highly probable that these figures will be greatly increased within the next decade. The truth is gradually becoming known to the world, that the South is giving to the negro the only square deal a white race ever gave to one of another color, living among them under the same laws.
Through the refining influence of the holy teachings of the Man of Galilee, the Southern white man is harmonizing with his “Brothers in Black,” to a degree that he is spending three hundred million dollars in their education ”

“ Uncle John was twice married, and the father of several highly respected sons, and daughters, several of whom still survive him. His second son by his first marriage, Rev. Burnett McGowan, is a Baptist minister of some prominence, and owns a nice little home near Adams, Tennessee. Uncle John was an expert broom maker, and during the last twenty years of his life he made a circuit of certain sections of Robertson and Montgomery counties about three times a year, delivering his brooms to his old customers, who would use no other make but “The John McGowan brand.” ”

“ Uncle Horace professed religion when quite young, during a revival at Red River Church, under the ministry of Elder Reuben Ross, a distinguished pioneer Baptist who came from North Carolina, to Tennessee, over a century ago. ”

“ Stand by Thy Missionary servants. Enable us all, to be living more from day to day, on Thy grace, to rely on Thy guiding arm with more childlike confidence, looking with a more simple faith to Thy finished work. ”

“ Throughout the excitement incident to the Civil War, they stood true to the post of duty, as the following incident will show.
Uncle Isaac Carney, the colored blacksmith on the premises, worked for the surrounding country and people of every type came to his shop. One day a man rode up to the door on a fine young horse, that was tender footed and jaded, almost to the point of falling in its tracks. ”

“ Rev. Horace Carr named the church he loved so well, from the New Testament. Hebrews 12: 22, in which Moses said, “But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,” etc.
[39] CHAPTER V.
“THE MAN WHO SPEAKS, MAY, IF HIS MESSAGE IS GREAT ENOUGH, AND GREATLY DELIVERED, RANK ABOVE THE RULERS OF HIS TIME.”
It seems that a love for the ministry, was inherent in the Carr family, and it is also a noticeable fact, that few, if any of them, have departed from the Baptist faith ”

“ Isaac Titsworth, and his brother John, with their families, moved from North Carolina to the Cumberland country. They intended locating on Red River, and on the night of October 24, 1794, camped at the mouth of Sulphur Fork Creek, near where the Indian had been shot by Manscoe. That night a party of fifty Creek Indians stole upon them, taking them completely by surprise. Seven of the party, including Col. Titsworth and his brother, and their wives were killed and scalped. A negro woman was badly wounded, but crawled off in the woods and escaped. ”

“ For the benefit of a younger generation of readers, I will state that patrolers were organized bands of white men, appointed in each neighborhood, for the purpose of going about at night and keeping order among a doubtful element of colored people who left home without passes, or written permission from their owners. ”

“ Along with the progress of colored churches within the past four decades, that of orders, and societies is worthy of mention.
Within a short distance of each other, they have, near Port Royal, both Odd Fellows and [69] Benevolent Society halls. Of the latter society I shall speak more in detail, from the fact that it is much older as an organization, in this community, and has done so much for its members. It was organized, October, 1872, in a little log school room, on what was called Sugar Camp Branch, on Miss Ellen Yates’ farm. ”

“ The news was quickly conveyed to the kind old master, who sent his son, the late Sugg Fort, to the scene of excitement. Young Mr. Fort approached the patrolers in a very dignified manner, and informed them that his father had sent him to tell them that their services were not needed on his premises. It was before the county line had been changed, Mr. Fort’s residence was then in Montgomery county, instead of Robertson, its present location, and the patrolers were from Port Royal. ”

“ Red River was past fording; he worked till late, and did not wish to risk the ferry after dark, so he “took time about,” as he called it, staying among the neighbors at night.
The night he spent on my father’s premises, I went after supper to Aunt Lucy’s house in the back yard, and asked him to tell me of a corn shucking before the war. He drew his chair up near the door, and began as follows:
“I think about the biggest corn shucking I ever went to was on Mr. Waters’ farm, between Mr. Billie Weatherford’s and Mr. John Powers’. Mr. Waters was a prosperous farmer, and a mighty fine man with it. ”

“ If somebody does not take it up, the old heads will all soon be gone, and there will be nobody left to tell the story.”
Among the older members of Mount Zion Church who have aided me materially in securing facts concerning its early history, I would mention Dan and Jerry Fort. While neither of them were charter members, they have been prominently identified with the church for many years. They have seen it rise from the little box house, with its seventy unlettered members of forty-three years ago, to a reasonably well educated membership of something over three hundred. ”

“ CHAPTER II.
“MARK THE PERFECT MAN, AND BEHOLD THE UPRIGHT, FOR THE END OF THAT MAN IS PEACE.”
Having given my opening chapter to an interview with Aunt Kitty, I will now tell of her husband, Rev. Horace Carr, who was born on the Aquilla Johnson farm, on Spring Creek, in District No. 1, Montgomery county, Tenn., 1812. By way of explanation, I will state that white children, in antebellum times, were taught by their parents, to call middle aged colored people Aunt, and Uncle; hence “Aunt Kitty,” and “Uncle Horace,” by the writer. ”

“ This first church building was also used for a school-room, in which was taught one of the first colored schools in Middle Tennessee, during what was termed the “Reconstruction Period;” in other words, the years immediately following the Civil War, when both races were adjusting themselves to the changed conditions brought about by the emancipation of the slaves. ”

“ William E. Dancy located near Dunbar’s Cave, but later moved to Florence, Alabama, carrying with him a number of valuable slaves, and a family consisting of his wife and three small children, Caroline, Elizabeth and John. It was before the day of railroads, and all the visiting between the Tennessee and Alabama relatives was done on horseback, covering a period of several days’ journey. During the 30’s little Caroline and Elizabeth had grown to young ladyhood and accompanied by a younger brother, they came to visit the Wimberlys. ”

“ Not keeping that amount of money at the shop in war times, the bill could not be changed, and the stranger persisted in going to the house for it. Knowing a timid woman would be frightened by the appearance of such a looking stranger, Uncle Isaac accompanied him, with his hammer in his hand. ”

“ Saturday night he came home, and after holding family prayers, and everything was quiet about the house, I told him of my vision—and listen, oh, it was joy to my soul! He told me that Dr. Norfleet wanted us to have a place of worship, and that he was willing to give us land on which to build a church, about an acre, on the hillside, between Mr. Bourne’s spring and Sulphur Fork Creek. And he said that many [32] other white friends would give lumber, and small sums of money. ”