Remembering Carl “Cedar Buck” Cabbage (1918 - 1987)

Author's note: Cedar Buck Cabbage, who died on Dec. 10, 1987, would have been 92 today April 18, 2010. He may be gone, but his broad grin and those bright blue eyes have left an indelible print on those of us who spent a lifetime appreciating his special charm. Happy Birthday, Cedar Buck, wherever you are!

Family vacations when I was growing up in Detroit, Mich., were spent in Lone Mountain, where my mother, Louise Yoakum Marchio, and many of her forebears lived and died. If we arrived in the summer, we knocked off the long, dense cobwebs and cleared out the dead chimneysweeps in my great-grandfather Mr. J.W.D. Hill’s old house, vacated when the family moved to Michigan for badly needed war jobs. But if we traveled in the winter, we always stayed with my Aunt Dallas and Uncle Ed Jennings. They lived on the old Jennings farm where Joe Davis later built his auto recycling empire, called simply a junkyard back then.

On those frosty mornings at Aunt Dallas’ farmhouse, a little girl used to central heating would be acutely aware of the temperature difference under the quilts and outside them. I soon learned the practical habit of leaving my day’s outfit within reach so I could quickly if awkwardly dress under those covers. But, most of all, I was grateful to the man who had patiently built a morning fire in the living room. That man was Carl Lee Cabbage, who became my friend as a child but who had already been my mother’s companion for decades.

Carl, born on April 18, 1919, was the son of Dallas Gose Cabbage Jennings. His father, James Lafayette Cabbage, had been a teacher. The Cabbage family tradition says that two Revolutionary War soldiers came to this part of the country and never left.

Thanks to first family reports written by my sister Nell Marchio Quesenbery of Lone Mountain and printed in the Claiborne County Progress back in the 1980s, I have also developed an interest in genealogy. Through the Internet, I discovered some interesting facts about the Cabbage family.

Carl’s ancestor was the Revolutionary War vet John Cabbage, who was born on Feb. 24, 1758, in Chester County, Pa. In John Cabbage’s pension application papers filed on March 11, 1834, in Campbell County, Tenn., he states that he served the Virginia militia. Also filing in Campbell County was James Cabbage, whose military papers were never located. John Cabbage died on Jan. 8, 1852 in Union Co., Tenn.

Carl descends from:

(1) John Cabbage’s son, Jacob Cabbage, born in 1794 in Grainger Co., who married Frances Ann Bolton on Dec. 7, 1818, in Grainger Co. Frances, born in 1789 in Virginia, was the daughter of Thomas and Jemima (Hammack) Bolton. She died in 1865.

(2) Russel T. Cabbage (Jan. 19, 1825 TN - May 7, 1907) married Rebecca Ann Haynes (July 17, 1835 - May 5, 1905 Union Co., TN), daughter of Carlisle and Mary (Williams) Haynes. Mary Haynes was the granddaughter of William and Polly (Pennybacker) Williams.

(3) Carlisle Marion Cabbage (March 19, 1860 TN - April 17, 1940 Knoxville, buried in Cabbage Cemetery, Grainger Co.) Carlisle married Martha Ann Reagan (July 22, 1861 TN - Jan. 25, 1940 Knoxville, buried in Cabbage Cemetery, near the Black Fox church, Grainger Co.) on Feb. 29, 1880 in Grainger Co. Their children were:
1. Caltha Cabbage (1881- ).
2. Victor Cabbage (May 3, 1885 - Dec. 1, 1968 Knox, buried in National Cemetery, Knoxville.).
3. James LaFayette Cabbage (1887 Grainger - 1922, Aberdeen, Wash., burial Gose Cemetery, Lone Mountain, Claiborne, TN).
4. Thomas N. Cabbage (born 1889, Grainger).
5. Jesse Mae Cabbage (July 5, 1896, Grainger - March 25, 1928. Killed by a streetcar in Aberdeen, Wash., burial Cabbage Cemetery, Grainger).
6. Doris Irene Cabbage (April 14, 1901 - June 17, 1941, Grainger, burial Cabbage Cemetery, Grainger).

Young James Lafayette Cabbage was a personable schoolteacher when he married Dallas Gose. The West called to the newlyweds, however, and they traveled to Aberdeen, Wash., where “Fate” was a manager in a lumber company. A baby with the bluest of blue eyes was born to this handsome couple in Aberdeen. They named him Carl. Little Carl was hardly 3 when family tragedy struck. The hotel where Fate was staying caught fire and he was killed when he tried to jump to safety from the second-story. The grieving widow Dallas and her son escorted his body back Claiborne County and he was buried in the Gose cemetery, near Bear Creek, on a hilltop above the old Gose farm.

Lou Dallas Gose was born about 1895 to a prominent family at Walker’s Ford, which was on the main road to Knoxville until it was drowned by Norris Lake. Her father was John R. Gose (born about 1849), who married the widow Manila Walker Smith about 1880.

The death of Manila’s first husband, James Smith (brother of the Rev. Ballard Smith) is recorded in Mary A. Hansard’s “Old Time Tazewell.” Manila was the daughter of James Walker Sr., who lived on a farm on Bear Creek that eventually became the property of John Gose, son of Stephen Gose of Straight Creek. When James Walker died, his wife, the former Mary Ann Campbell (daughter of Barnie Campbell of Cedar Fork) was left with three children: Ewell, Clementina and Manila. The youngest daughter, Manila, married James Smith and lived on the Walker homestead with her mother for several years. Around 1890, however, her husband was killed by Burnside Yoakum in the heat of “political excitement caused by an election.” According to Hansard, James and Manila Smith had children, but I could not discover who they were. The children of John Gose and his wife, Manila Walker Smith, were (1) Charlie “Fat Charlie” C. (born around 1891, married Hattie H. (L.) Lewis, daughter of William Lewis and Mary Ann Shumate), (2) Ethel M. (Mary Ethel) (Jan. 6, 1892 - March 25, 1911 and buried in Gose Cemetery in Claiborne Co.) (3) Lou Dallas (about 1895) and Robert C. (born about 1898 and married Ruth Lewis, daughter of William Lewis and Mary Ann Shumate).

The immigrant ancestor of the Gose (or Goss as it was spelled in German) family arrived in Pennsylvania about the same time as the immigrant ancestor of the Cabbage family. This earliest Gose, 14-year-old Stephen Gose, arrived from Rotterdam on the ship Brothers at the port of Philadelphia on Sept. 22, 1752. Family history also says the Goses were from a fairly wealthy family in Strasbourg, on the Rhine River, where the province of Alsace, France, is today. Researchers have traced this family from Pennsylvania to North Carolina and into Cripple Creek, Wythe County, Va., where Stephen Gose died in 1799.

Dallas Gose’s grandfather (John Gose’s father) was also named Stephen Gose, but the Stephens don’t stop with the ancestor and this descendant. The Tennessee Stephen Gose’s father was also named Stephen (married to Anna Reynolds). The latter Stephen was the son of Christopher Gose (who married Elizabeth Litz), son of the immigrant Stephen.

Sometime in the 1850s, the “Tennessee” Stephen Gose (born Aug. 6, 1832 in Russell Co., VA, and died in Claiborne Co., TN, after 1910) married (1) Mary Avalee Burch, the oldest daughter of John M. Burch and Celia Thompson of Virginia. The old Burch farm was nine miles west of Tazewell on the old Knoxville road not too far from where Straight Creek used to hit the old road. Stephen and Mary Burch Gose owned and lived on part of this homestead, which was passed on to the heirs of Wiley Burch and Stephen Gose.

Stephen and Mary Gose had 11 children. Mary Avalee died in Claiborne Co., TN on 17 May 1887; she was buried in Head of Barren Cemetery, Claiborne Co., TN. Stephen is buried in Straight Creek Cemetery.

About 1888, when Stephen was 55, he married (2) Susan Ruth Laws in Claiborne Co., TN. Susan was born on June 16, 1839, in North Carolina and died in Claiborne Co., TN. She is buried in the Burch/Straight Creek Cemetery in Claiborne Co., TN.

The children of Stephen and Mary Avalee Gose are:

(1) Sarah Jane Gose (Sept. 24, 1854 - Oct. 23, 1895), who married Abner Christian. Hansard Jr. in 1872 and died in 1895, also leaving nine children.

(2) James W. Gose (1855), who married Melvina Jackie Stump of Virginia and lived on Straight Creek. They had a farm on Straight Creek.

(3) George W. Gose (July 16, 1855 - Aug. 28, 1915), who married Sarah Rebecca “Sallie” King, daughter of the Rev. David King and farmed in Union County near Walker’s Ford. They moved to Knox Co.,TN, when Norris Lake was built. George W. was buried in the Butcher Cemetery, Union County, TN. That burial was relocated to Big Barren Cemetery in 1935 by the TVA. According to one of George’s descendants, Roger Lynn Edmondson, who obtained the information from a handout at a 1961 Gose Family Reunion at Cedar Grove Park in Claiborne County, the children of George and Sarah were:

(a) Orlander C. Gose (born 1875 or 1877) who married L. Loy. Orlander. Their children were: 1. Maggie M. Gose (Oct. 2, 1896 - Sept. 23, 1969) married Robert Dewey Edmondson (June 3, 1898 - Feb. 16, 1992); 2. Herbert Gose (born March 25, 1903); 3. Ulesse Gose (born Aug. 6, 1904); 4. Ellard Gose (born Dec. 21, 1905); 5. Curtis Gose (born Sept. 31?,1906); 6. George C. Gose (born Sept. 6, 1911); 7. Cecil Gose (born Oct. 24, 1916; and 8. H.M. Gose (born June 8, 1919). All these Goses but Maggie died in Knox County, TN.
(b) Arthur Gose (Oct. 12, 1878 - June 18, 1941), who married L. Grubb. Child: Cloud W. Gose, owner of Norris Homes Mobile Home Plant.
(c ) Charley M. Gose B. Dec.31, 1888 D. Oct.6, 191 ?
(d) Clayton Gose B. Abt.1900 D. 1953 Gunshot M. Unk D. 1953 Gunshot Murder/ S Knox Co., Tn.
(e) Roy Gose
(f) Fred Gose

(4) John R. Gose (Nov. 28, 1858 - May 30, 1916), who married Manila A. “Mandy” Gose Smith.

Ann's note: In an April 2010 interview with Mary Alice Larue, Jean Gose Campbell gave this further information: Mary Avalee was born Sept. 30, 1833 (100 years before me, notes Jean) and died May 17, 1887. She mentions three children of John and Manilla: James W. Gose, George W. Gose and John K. She gave John’s middle name as “K” (not an initial and no period). John K and Manila Gose are buried in Gose Cemetery on Bear Creek in Claiborne County. Two sons of John K Gose married two sisters. Charles Cleveland Gose married Hattie Lewis and had sons John K and Bill Gose. Robert Clayton Gose married Ruth Lewis and had the following children: Frank, Sam, Alfred, Joe, Jean, Linda, and Mary Lou Gose. Dallas Gose married (1) Fate Cabbage and had son Carl Cabbage; and (2) Edd Jennings and had daughter Betty Ann Jennings.
(5) Celia A. Gose (Born Aug. 15, 1860), who married Robert Cole (born 1859) and lived near Straight Creek.

(6) Martha C. Gose (born Nov. 10, 1861), who married Dexter S. “Dee” Owens of Virginia. He was a teacher when they emigrated to Texas, where Martha died several years later. He returned to Straight Creek with their three children.

(7) Thomas J. Gose (Oct. 14, 1863 - Jan. 31, 1942), who married Sarah Alice Hodge, daughter of Granville Hodge of Lone Mountain and widow of Albert Atkins (son of Sam Atkins) of Union Co. They also farmed near Walker’s Ford.

(8) Sterling Price Gose (March 23, 1867 - Aug. 27, 1940), who married Susan Isabelle “Belle” Herrell (Oct. 20, 1870 - June 18, 1941), daughter of Noah Herrell and widow of John Carr, son of David Carr of Sandlick.

(9) Andrew “Andy” Grant Gose (Oct. 4, 1868) - died young.

(10) Charles H. (Oct. 14, 1871), a farmer. About 1888, he married Mary D. Greenlee, daughter of Jesse M. Greenlee and Martha Margaret Wells. Mary D. was born in Feb 1870 in TN and died at age 79 at her daughter’s in Maynardville, TN, on June 25,1949; buried in Skaggs Cemetery, Union Co., TN. Charles and Mary’s children listed prior to 1900 included: Walter, Lottie E., Lulu M., Hopson, Lillie M., Lizzie and General G. At Mary’s funeral, her surviving children were listed as: Mrs. J. T. Edmondson, Mrs. Glenn Edmondson, Mrs. Ott Ousley, Mrs. Claude McPhetridge, all of Maynardville; Mrs. F. L. Walters of Corryton; sons Walter F. and Dee Gose of Maynardville; Hop Gose of Monroe, Mich.; Grant Gose of Toledo, Ohio; 26 grandchildren, 42 great grandchildren; four brothers and two sisters.

(11) Arlie, M. (October 1879 in TN). About 1899, he married Lervona, who was born in January 1881 in TN.

Carl Cabbage was still a young boy when his widowed mother married my great-Uncle Ed Jennings of Lone Mountain. Ed had also lost a spouse, Mary Johnston, who died during the flu epidemic of 1918. Ed and his first wife had two children, Clyde Jennings, who became first a teacher in Lone Mountain and later a dentist in Memphis, and Paul Jennings, who ran a grocery store on the Lone Mountain Road. Ed and Dallas Jennings also had a daughter, Betty Ann Jennings, who married Ed “Red” Williams. Red taught math for years at East Tennessee State University and Betty Ann taught English at ETSU until she retired.

Carl Cabbage, my mother Louise Yoakum Marchio and Carl’s future wife, Anna Lee Jennings (daughter of Lucy Phelps and Jeff Jennings, Ed Jennings’ half-brother) were all about the same age and grew up together. They remained fast friends their entire lives. Carl and Ann had a son, James Richard Cabbage, named James for Carl’s father and Richard because it was Carl’s favorite name. Richard, who married Judy K. Baker, earned a medical degree and went on to become a missionary for 12 years in Africa and four years in Scotland. Today he is a dean at a branch of St. Leo’s College in Savannah, Ga. His wife adds a master’s degree to the family treasury of education, and their daughter, Mary Ann, is a talented musician and singer, having studied piano, organ, violin, flute and guitar. She works closely with the church and offers private lessons as well.

A younger set of Jennings and Goses also grew up together. They were Betty Ann Jennings (Carl’s half-sister) and Nell Marchio Quesenbery (daughter of Louise Yoakum Marchio, who married Dennis Marchio of New York City). Nell and Betty Ann also played with the children of Dallas’ brother, Robert Gose - Mary Lou, Alfred and Frank. Robert married Ruth Lewis, sister to Mark Lewis, who started the Citizens Bank.

For years before moving to Knoxville, Robert lived on the old Gose farm where he was born. Dallas’ husband, Fate Cabbage, had bought this farm. Dallas sold the farm to Clarence Payne, son of A. and Byrd Payne. Then it became the farm of John and Iris Ruth Mitchell. Iris Ruth, a Leabow descendant, still lives there.

I only recently learned how Carl got the nickname of “Cedar Buck.” Ann Cabbage said Ed Jennings used to watch how his young stepson took off through the woods like a young deer. “Cedar Buck,” Ed called him and the name stuck.