When West Tennessee was opened up to settlement, the high ground in what is now Henderson County was a favorite place for families seeking a family farm and relatively healthy living conditions. In the years 1818 through 1840 the hilly land was much more appreciated than the flat lands in West Tennessee.
About 1830, Temperance Murrell Threadgill (b. ca. 1785), accompanied by her step-son Joseph Henry Threadgill moved from Anson County, N.C. to Henderson County Tennessee. Temperance Murrell had married John C. Threadgill early in 1816. His former wife, Mason Kirby Colson Threadgill, had died after Dec. 1, 1815, perhaps following complications at the birth of Calvin J. (b. August 2, 1815.)
Temperance M. Threadgill cared for Mason's children and gave birth to three known children in the following years:
These last two children were listed in the household of their
grandfather, Col. Thomas Threadgill, in the 1830 census. There is no
record of them in West Tennessee.
In his will, written Oct. 16, 1825, John C. Threadgill named five
children but not his wife Temperance Murrell, which may indicate
an estrangement between the two but not necessarily. All the property
was left to be divided equally among the five children. The three
older children of John C. Threadgill all migrated to West Tennessee,
as well as Threadgill relatives from Anson Co., and Temperance and her
younger child, Lucy (b. 1830, d. Jan. 28, 1909) lived
with or adjoining Joseph Henry Threadgill and his son James Sykes in
the Crucifer Community of Henderson Co. the rest of their lives.
Exact information concerning events in the life of Temperance and the children of John C. Threadgill in the 1820's is lacking. Col. Thomas Threadgill evidently provided a home for the younger children as the older children and step-mother Temperance migrated west (N.C. 1830 Census). The will of John C. in 1825 indicated there was considerable wealth in slaves and land at that time. Harvey Gilbert (b. 1809, d. after 1869), Joseph Henry (b. 1814 d. 1899), and Calvin J. (b. 1815, d. after 1860) had been left one negro named Amy by their grandmother, Mary Kirby Lanier in her will of Oct. 2, 1821. The five living children were left eleven negro slaves, but they were not to be divided until Harvey Gilbert was twenty-one years of age, which would have been on Oct. 8, 1830. Evidently at approximately that time Harvey and Joseph Henry moved westward.
The indications of an early date in Tennessee are: 1) a daughter, Lucy, was born to Temperance in 1830 in Tennessee, 2) A deed granted only on Sept. 18, 1849, to Temperance Threadgill--87 118/160 acres in Henderson County, Range 3, Section 9, was surveyed Dec. 31, 1831. (Deeds and grants were often many years in coming for early settlers.) This location corresponds to the homeplace of Joseph Henry and his son James Sykes Threadgill (1867-1921).
Both Harvey Gilbert and Calvin J. also migrated to West
Tennessee but at different times than Joseph Henry and Temperance,
although it is very possible that they may have made the initial move
to Henderson Co. and then went elsewhere. Prior to the move it
seems that the three brothers lived in 1830 with their grandfather
Col. Thomas Threadgill.
Harvey was in Mississippi during part of the 1830's, where Sarah and
Joseph were born. In 1841 he was at Lexington, Tenn., and in 1850
Harvey and his second wife Elizabeth, (b. Oct. 24, 1820, in Tenn.)
were living in adjoining Carroll County, Tennessee.
Calvin J. Threadgill married Ann Smith (b. Dec. 27, 1820) on July 28, 1836 in Montgomery Co., N.C. In 1840 they lived in Henderson County, Tenn., in 1850 in nearby Carroll County adjoining brother Harvey, and in 1860 in Gibson County just west of Henderson County where some descendents still live.
Joseph Henry Threadgill married Frances Elizabeth Taylor (1822-1916) on Feb. 14, 1849 in Henderson County and they reared a family of nine children. All of his years in Tennessee seemed to have been lived on the farmily farm at Crucifer, which began with Temperance's eighty-seven acres but was enlarged to nearly three hundred acres across the years. They worshipped at the Nebo Methodist Church and buried in the Nebo Cemetery on the western border of Henderson County. A prominent settler in Henderson County about 1830, after appearing in the 1830 census in adjoining Madison County, Tennessee was George W. Threadgill, (b. ca. 1790-92 in Anson Co., N.C.) a first cousin to the John C. Threadgill who married Temperance Murrell [43, p. 29,].
We know that migrations were often fostered and stimulated along family lines and these cousins may have influenced one another. George W. was an older nephew of Col. Thomas Threadgill in whose home Joe Henry, Harvey and Calvin were living in early 1830.
Descendents of George W. have been influential citizens of Henderson County and its county seat of Lexington. They are also to be found in Memphis, Jackson, Brownsville and Nashville.
Temperance and her son Joseph Henry settled at Crucifer, Tenn., in the western part of Henderson County and the family stayed on the same farm there. In the fall of 1920 James Sykes Threadgill and his wife, Mary Etta Reid moved with their family to the Cedar Grove Community near Bemis, only three miles from the town of Jackson.
Joe Henry had raised his large family on the farm and so had James Sykes. Now the second generation were all nearly grown. In February 1920, two of their grown children, Zadie May and James Reid died of influenza and pneumonia. Two other children had died in childhood. Two others had wedding plans: Gertrude (Gertie) married Will C. Gilliam on September 15, 1920 and Roy married Opal Winslow at Christmas 1920.
The maturing family and the opportunities for high school education for the younger children, Ruby L., and James Sykes, Jr., may have helped promote the move. The family farm at Crucifer continued in the family until the 1960's, being farmed by a son, Joseph Ernest, for several years and then let out to tenants. As late as 1967 the old two room log house with a dog trot between the rooms was still standing. Here it was that Temperance, Lucy and Joe H. had lived for many years.
The Threadgill farm at Cedar Grove began with forty-six acres purchased from Bob Grove, a son-in-law of the Chester family. Additional acreage was purchased from neighbors Sam Fielding and John Jordan to make a total of seventy-two acres. This land was farmed by the family and by the youngest son James Sykes, Jr., until it was sold to Willard Brent after the death of both James Sykes, Sr. (d. 1921) and Mary Etta in 1948. James Sykes, Sr., died of typhoid fever after two months illness. James Sykes, Jr., inherited part of the farm and continued to live there and farm the land. When he sold the farm ca. 1950 he bought a home on South Royal Street in Jackson, Tenn., the city where his brothers Joseph Ernest and John Grady were also living.
The Threadgills at Crucifer worshipped at the Nebo Methodist Church near the Madison County line, on the road toward Beech Bluff. They buried in the Nebo Cemetery there and have continued to use that cemetery in Henderson County.
Through the patriarchal system of preserving the family name
only among the male heirs, the Joseph Henry Threadgill family has
been dispersed among Gilliams, Crowells, Milams, Crawfords,
Watlingtons, Morrises, Matthews, Townsends and others. The
surviving members bearing the name are L. Grady Threadgill of
Memphis, Tenn., son of John Grady; Robert York Threadgill, son of
James Sykes, Jr.; and two children, who now reside in Tampa, Florida.
But where the family lineage is known, most of the West Tennessee
Threadgills trace their lineage back to Col. Thomas Threadgill of Anson
County, N.C., his father John, and grandfather Deodatus who is the
first of the family lineage in America
-- Elton A. & Janice Threadgill Watlington