Simrell Family History...Getting Started.

Simrell Family History

by John William (Bill) Simrell and others.

December 2010

The earliest Simrell that I can trace back (thanks to others) is James Simrell, Born 1775 in White County, Tennessee.  Also, several Simrell’s from our family came from the Carolina’s, in particular York County, South Carolina.  However, as previously mentioned, I am going to focus on the Simrell’s that my father John B. Simrell remembered and talked about the most.

One thing we all have in common is that Henry P. Simrell was either our Great Grandfather (in most of our cases) or in some cases for the younger folk, your Great, Great Grandfather.

Henry P. Simrell            Born Jan.25, 1852     Died Aug. 17, 1880 (28 years old)

Married: Nov. 2, 1868

Roxie Ann Clark             Born June 22, 1853    Died 1921 (68 years old)

Henry P. Simrell was a farmer and lived in White County, Tennessee. He lived in a small community known as Spring Hill. It was known as a Baptist neighborhood. There were several Simrell families living in that part of the country at the time.  He owned his own farm and it was said to be one of the best and most fertile farms in the community.  He married Roxie Ann Clark on Nov. 2, 1868. He was 16 years old and she was 15 years old when they married.  They had a family of four sons and one daughter.

William Joseph Simrell   1869-1956

Margaret (Maggie)          1871-1899 (age 28)

Daniel Lafayette             1873

Reese Browder              1878-1955

Robert Francis               1880

Henry P. Simrell died at the age of 28 with pneumonia. This was the year he made his first crop.  He is buried in a private grave yard in White County, TN (site unknown to me). However, there is knowledge that the tombstone still stands.

 
Roxie Ann Clark Simrell later remarried a Mr. Helton from Warren County, TN

First Born:

William Joseph Simrell               1869-1956

Married:                                    September 29, 1889

Sarah Emma Cashdollar             1876-1950

William was known to my father, my family and others simply as Uncle Will.  Roxie Ann (Will’s Mother) tells the story of how Will meet his wife Sarah.  Seems that there was a church revival being held at the Shady Grove Methodist church in White County, TN. and Will along with several other older boys, rode their horses to the revival each night to help the preacher set up chairs etc.  This is where he met Sarah E. Cashdollar and the romance started.  Sarah always said her first impression was that she thought some of the other boys were more attractive but Will had something in his personality that the others did not have.  They married September 29, 1889.

Will and Sarah moved to Warren County, TN. When they moved his three brothers Dan, Reese and Bob went to live with them, along with a young black boy named Alex whom they looked after.

Will and Sarah had nine children:

Myrtie (Pearl) Simrell                  July, 7 1891 - Dec.1, 1969

James Luther Simrell                  Nov. 23, 1893 - March 30, 1962

Samuel Henry Simrell                 July 7, 1896 - Aug. 9, 1972

Rytha L. Simrell                         Dec. 23, 1898 - Sept. 8, 1977

Robert Cashdollar Simrell           Sept. 29, - Feb. 15, 1963

Zola Simrell                               Nov. 7, 1903 ?

Reese Lafayette Simrell              Aug. 16, 1907 ?

Clara (Lady) Simrell                    Jan. 15, 1910 - 1987

William Clyde (Blue) Simrell        Jan. 15, 1910 – 1979

Note: Clara (Lady) and William Clyde (Blue) were twins

Sarah’s Father, Samuel A. Cashdollar was a farmer who purchased his first track of land 46 acres for $1300.00 in 1853.  Throughout his life, he amassed over 450 acres of prime farm land and was said to also build coffins on the side. Samuel married his first wife, Sarah Elizabeth Glen on Nov. 8, 1853. They had four children, she died in 1862.  Samuel A. then remarried Margaret Jane (Knowles) Cashdollar (Sarah’s Mother) of the Shady Grove community.  They had five children. Margaret Jane (Sarah’s Mother) died in 1888.  Upon Margaret’s death the estate was divide between the nine children leaving Sarah with quite a bit of money for the times.

Will and Sarah had lived in White County, TN for seven years. They had two children Pearl and Jim. They had accumulated a good start.  The neighbors kept saying, “Go West young man”  so they with a few other families, chartered train box cars and took their livestock, household goods and money to Texas.  The women went by train as immigrant passengers and the men rode in the box cars to tend to the livestock.  They settled near McGregor, Texas, after five years of droughts, sickness and two more children, Henry and Bob, they realized it was a mistake.  Sarah contacted Typhoid fever and nearly died.  The doctor advised them to move. A neighbor in Texas wanted to loan them ten dollars for the trip home but they refused because they knew they could not pay him back.

Their new home became a covered wagon and the long six week journey back to Tennessee began.  Jim, recalls his father Will doing all the cooking, stopping along the roadside pulling up old fence post to use for firewood to cook their evening meal.  They finally made it back to Warren County, TN. They had lost all their money and possessions.  While in Texas, Sarah said she did not write to anyone back in Tennessee because she did not have the two cents for the stamp.

Sarah had a half brother, S. Sam Cashdollar who had moved to West Tennessee to teach school. After teaching at two schools, Zion and Bradshaw schools, Sam went into the general store and farming business at Lane, TN. in Dyer County.  Upon learning of his sister’s misfortune he paid her a visit and suggested they had nothing to lose if they moved to West Tennessee.

Zola was born in Nov. 1903, and in Jan. 1904, the family made their move to West Tennessee. All the children at the time had the measles but this did not alter their plans.

Things got better in West Tennessee; Will became manager of the famous twenty-seven hundred acre farm owned by a Doctor Arnold. Sam Cashdollar soon moved Will, Sarah, and the children to the Horner place, a farm closer to the school and this is where Reese was born.  Sam’s wife died so they again moved to a house closer to the store Sam owned.  Sam needed Sarah to help keep his small child Raymond; also she was in charge of feed the drummers, boarding the school teachers and keeping the help he had in the store fed. 

On Jan. 15, 1910, Sarah gave birth to twins; Clara (Lady) and William Clyde (Blue) Simrell.

Will continued to manage the Arnold farm while Sarah prepared meals to sell to the drummers and teachers for 20 cents per meal. Along with, keeping boarders and raised her family.

Pearl, Jim and Henry would walk four miles one-way everyday from Lane to Cloverdale to attend school.  A farm became available one mile South of Cloverdale known as the Kelly farm.  Will decided to buy the farm so Sarah would not have to continue keeping boarders and fixing so many meals.  So, in 1914, on a bright January day, the wagons were loaded with their cook stove some firewood along with what little furniture they owned and they made their move to Cloverdale, TN.  Will and Sarah lived on the farm, raised nine children and were very well respected throughout the community until they died.

The above history on Will and Sarah was written by their daughter Clara (Lady Simrell) Blevins and was passed on to my father John B. Simrell, in 1982.  The historical dates and names on the Cashdollar side were compiled by Mr. Freeman Ward, Vice-President “The Ward-Cashdollar Association” Both were combined by Bill Simrell. 

My Personal memories of Will & Emma:

My father John Bailey Simrell, would take my brother, mother and me on a sojourn each summer from Chicago to Tennessee for a visit with our (as we say in the South) kin folk.  I remember the big white house, the porch and especially, the side porch where the well was and how anytime they needed water they had to prime the pump and then pump the water up from the well.  The porch swing, the big trees surrounding the house, the chickens, livestock and the farm in general.  It was a wonderland for two little boys from the big city of Chicago, back in the early 50’s.  Except for the night a skunk crawled under the house and the men folk tried to chase it away, only to alarm the critter and he sprayed the ground and subfloor under the bedroom we had to sleep in each night for a week.  To this day, every time I smell a skunk I think of that night.