Tiptonville’s Strand Theatre, 1981

As luck would have it, I had purchased my first really good camera, a Nikon FM, just prior to my last visit to Tiptonville, Tennessee. I was all caught up in learning to use the fully manual camera, and indulged myself by taking all sorts of “artsy” photos. In the process I managed to capture at least a glimpse of the town as it was in 1981, considerably different than today. I loved this view of the former movie theater, so much so that I used it as the basis for an oil painting a few years ago. (which I’ll be happy to share… if I can find it!)
The Strand Theater was built in 1915, and owned by Utra Burton for an unknown period of time. It closed in the mid-to-late ’60s, at which time it became the Harmony Lodge, used by the Masons until just a few years ago. I couldn’t find much else in the way of historical information, but I did pick up some interesting stuff from the website, Cinema Treasures. According to posts on that site, Harry Houdini performed there early in his career, signing the wall backstage. (since painted over) It is currently being transformed back into a theater, and will be used for plays, concerts, beauty pageants, as well as movies. Does anyone have further information about the theater? I’d also appreciate any photos of The Strand taken when it was in operation.

Aquarena Springs

I’d imagine that most people, particularly those of my generation and before, have fond memories of family vacations, in particular those that are today often called “road trips”. It’s funny to hear younger people refer to driving vacations that way, because during my childhood most all vacations were road trips, so no such descriptor was needed. My childhood vacations frequently centered around Tennessee and Ohio, my parent’s original “stomping grounds”, although we did hit Disneyland a couple of times. But sometimes a shorter, less epic journey was in order, and Aquarena Springs filled the bill nicely. Located in San Marcos, Texas, just a little over 200 miles from our Fort Worth home, Aquarena Springs was the sort of amusement park that was commonplace in the 1950s and ’60s. Unfortunately those parks, and the values that made them so popular, are all but extinct today.
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William Parker Caldwell

Boy, I didn’t see this coming: I’ve learned that my great, great grandfather, William P. Caldwell, was a member of the United States House of Representatives. My knowledge of mom’s family, limited as it was, had told me only of their farming background, so this came as quite a surprise. And when I learned that my great grandfather Fred J. Caldwell (William P.’s son) was also an attorney, it’s become clear that agriculture hadn’t always been the predominant family business. So who exactly was my great, great grandfather?
William Parker Caldwell was born on November 8, 1832 in Christmasville, Tennessee. After having practiced law in Dresden and Union City, he represented the state’s 9th congressional district from March 4, 1875 to March 3, 1879. He later practiced law in Gardner, Tennessee and served in the Tennessee Senate from 1891 to 1893. He died in Gardner on June 7, 1903.
I’ve been unable to find any details concerning his career, but did learn that two of his sons, Fred J. (my great grandfather) and John A. Caldwell, followed in his footsteps by also practicing law. Another son, Luther W. Caldwell, became a physician practicing in Tennessee. While I can’t confirm it, at least one document could indicate that Luther relocated his practice to Hunt, Texas after the year 1900.
Once the exhilaration of these discoveries began to wane, a question came to mind. What prompted my grandfather, Fred J. Caldwell Jr., to forsake such gentlemanly occupations as the study of law or medicine for the respectable, but certainly more physical, life of a farmer? Genealogical research can uncover a wealth of information, things such as names, dates, events and places. But that sort of data doesn’t convey the thoughts and motivations of an individual. It’s too bad, as that’s certainly where the real story resides.

Progress Report: Delving into Genealogy

My initial foray into genealogical research has proven to be both productive and frustrating, just as I suspected it might be. So where does one begin? A bewildering array of tools are available to the family historian, the website ancestry.com being the most popular and the most useful. As is the case with other mega-websites (Google and eBay come to mind), ancestry.com has grown to a level of undisputed dominance in their field, and is universally considered to be the genealogy resource. A subscription is required for its use, so my natural instinct (cheapness) kicked in, prompting me to investigate other options. But after surfing the free sites for a couple of days my decision was easy. I signed up, made a pot of coffee and got to it.
Once I signed up with ancestry.com, I started by creating a family tree from the information I already had. Building a family tree on ancestry.com is easy and rewarding, with “hints” popping up next to family members as you enter them. Following those hints, and doing your own searches through the extensive database of records, is the fun part. But this isn’t shooting fish in a barrel, as you have to view whatever you find with a skeptical eye. How many Homer Stevens’ do you suppose resided in the state of Ohio in the late 1800s? Lots, and figuring out which one you’re related is often far from obvious. It’s easy to latch onto a snippet of data, thinking that you’ve found that next generation into your past, only to discover down the road that something just doesn’t mesh. Genealogy is a learning experience, every step of the way. Read the rest of this entry »

Fort Worth: The 1949 Flood

My folks recounted more than once the story of their moving to Fort Worth just in time for the “great flood”. The city had experienced floods before, in 1908 and 1922, but the most devastating by far took place in May of 1949. The deluge began around 6 p.m. on Monday the 16th and lasted until almost 3 o’clock Tuesday morning, the intense, slow-moving storm dumping as much as 11 inches. On Tuesday the levees along the Clear Fork of the Trinity River began to fail, causing extensive residential and commercial property damage. The Fort Worth water treatment plant, located within the boundaries of the flood plane, was contaminated. Ten lives were lost in the flood, bringing further attention to the urgent need for preventive measures. Within a few years Benbrook Lake was created, primarily to avoid such flooding in the future. Read the rest of this entry »

Mom’s Hometown

My mother, Ellen Virginia Caldwell, was born to Fred Caldwell Jr. and George Ella Caldwell on April 4th, 1921 in Tiptonville, Tennessee. Situated in the northwest corner of the state, the community is largely agricultural, and cotton farming was the family business. It’s probably the contrast between rural Tennessee and my own suburban upbringing that is the source of my fascination with Tiptonville. It shares little with the metropolitan setting to which I’m accustomed, and my memories of the place, not visited by me since 1981, are of an idyllic setting that exemplifies what America once was. The community has a fascinating history, far more than I can cover here, but I would like to touch on a few points of interest.
Tiptonville, population 2,439, is in Lake County, the smallest county in Tennessee. The town, situated along the New Madrid Fault Line, is near Reelfoot Lake, which was said to have been formed as a result of the earthquakes of 1811-1812. According to several accounts from the time, the quakes split the earth open, the Mississippi River flowing backwards to fill the void. The filling process was said to have taken anywhere between 10 and 24 hours. Read the rest of this entry »

What motivated this project?

It’s a realization that comes to most of us at some point: I should have paid more attention to things over the years. It’s just so easy to get caught up in the drama of ones own affairs, finding one day that the people who you knew would always be there for you aren’t there anymore. Loosing my mother in 2004 and my father in 2007 prompted much reflection, as I suppose the loss of ones parents always does. It occurred to me that not only were my parents gone, but so too was a priceless window into the history of our family. They knew facets of the family history that were known to no one else, and that information was now gone forever. I should have paid more attention, asked more questions. I should have listened.
Having lost Dad (Doug Stevens, or “Pop” as I affectionately called him) a little over a year ago, I decided that I needed to make up for my previous indifference to the family history. This goal was further encouraged by the Hopson Family Reunion which, unfortunately, I was unable to attend. (Hopson’s are on my mother’s side) But thankfully my sisters, Carol Miller and Gail Aguilar, made the trip to Tiptonville, Tennessee and brought back with them a tremendous amount of information as well as contacts for further genealogical study. Additions to this site will be frequent, and I welcome any information that might be provided by fellow historians/relatives. I can’t guess how much time this project will require, but it will certainly be measured in years. I’ll be right here, plugging away at it.

- Mark Stevens