Remembrance of Lorn Shelby Starnes by Grandson John Thomas Starnes

Lorn Shelby Starnes was born on November 5, 1879, as recorded in his Mother’s family Bible, at Albany, Seventy-six Community, Kentucky to John Anderson Starnes, born October 9, 1854 at Albany, Seventy-six Community, Kentucky, and Martha Ellen Piercy, born June 17, 1857. They married in 1874. His grandchildren knew him as "Paw". Martha Ellen was known by everyone as "Granny".

He grew up and lived in the Seventy-six Community and become a hunter, fisherman, tobacco farmer and woodsman. He lived in the Seventy-six Community until 1897 when his father, mother and eight brothers and sisters left the Seventy-six Community on a hand made, flat boat which was logs tied together with ropes. There was only room for the family, clothing and a few family treasures such as the family Bible. Granny, although she was considered illiterate, read and taught the Bible to all her children and grandchildren. My Daddy told me that he and his brother, Johnny, sat at Granny’s feet and heard and was taught the Bible every night before bedtime. The family Bible is in the possession of John Thomas Starnes. They floated down the Cumberland River and stopped at Clarksville, Tennessee and farmed for a year on the McQuarter farm. His brothers and sisters were:

Albert W. Starnes, born September 20, 1975

Mary Starnes, born September 25, 1877

Annie Starnes, born December 15, 1881

Cora Starnes, born June 24, 1884

William Van Starnes, born February 12, 1887

Sam Porter Starnes, born August 15, 1889

Martha Ellen (Mattie) Starnes, born March 16, 1892

John William Starnes, born November 21, 1895

Another brother, James Silas Starnes was born at Clarksville, Tennessee on August 2, 1898.

Albert W. Starnes married Dora McQuarter in 1898. The entire family moved on to Arlington, Tennessee in 1898. When they stopped at Arlington, they became sharecroppers on the Beard farm for several years. Then they sharecropped on the Williams farm until the death of John Anderson Starnes on June 24, 1913.

At the end of the sharecropping years William Van Starnes purchased a farm just behind the Arlington Grammar school which was very close to the town of Arlington, Tennessee.

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The entire family that was not married moved into the small farmhouse that was located on the farm. A couple of years later, William Van Starnes, built a house, for his family that was larger that the original house. The new house had electricity. That is light bulbs hanging from the ceiling and a few wall receptacles. The rest of the family remained in the old farmhouse.

Paw made his living farming in the summer and working timber in the winter. He became known as the best saw filer in West Tennessee. In the fall of 1915, he went to Yarbrough, Arkansas to work in the Arkansas timber. He met and fell in love with Mary Jane Panky George. Mary already had a son named Charlie George. Lorn and Mary’s first son, Johnny William Starnes, was born on August 3, 1916. Their second son, Thomas Claud Starnes was born on October 21, 1918. Mary died a short time later from birth complications. Mary’s two sons were left in Arkansas to be raised by Arkansas relatives. Paw returned to Arlington, Tennessee for his mother, Granny, to raise his and Mary’s two sons, Johnny and Thomas.

Paw continued to farm off and on, but lived most of his life hunting, fishing and following timber camps in West Tennessee up and down highways 70 and 79. Johnny and Thomas spent their time farming with the Starnes Clan on the Beard farm and attending school. After John William Starnes, Lorn’s brother married, Johnny William Starnes, Paw’s son, lived with his uncle Big John William Starnes from 10 years of age to 14 years old. Johnny William Starnes became Little John. I became John Thomas, as if it is one word, to cut down on the confusion of who is John Starnes.

Every ones knows about the Great Depression in the 1930s, but very few people are aware that the Starnes clan saved the entire town of Arlington one winter. Everyone ran out of food, no ration card to purchase food, and no money to purchase food if they had a ration card. After all the Starnes had gathered around Granny to decide what to do, Granny decided the only Christian thing to do was to share their food with who every was hungry. She said the Lord would provide. They gave away meat, vegetables, dried beans that were for spring planting, and other staples to the point that all they had left was corn meal to make corn bread and flour to make gravy. That is all any of the town of Arlington ate for two months and not one person died of starvation. My daddy wore one pair of pants everyday for over a year. Granny washed them by hand every night for him

Thank God for Granny.

Johnny married Elizabeth Atkins from Galloway, Tennessee in 1936 and Thomas married Ruby Clara Evans from Big Sandy, Tennessee while he was in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1938.

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John Thomas Starnes was born in Memphis, Tennessee on September 15, 1939. I knew I had a granddaddy that moved around periodically from timber camp to timber camp, but my first recollection of knowing him was right after my Daddy joined the Navy in the summer of 1944. Daddy moved us into a small house in the Town of Mason, Tennessee. We lived next door to the Lumberyard. Paw was close by somewhere because each night he showed up just before suppertime. While Mom cooked supper, he took care of my brother, Wayne, and I. When it started getting dark, he would tell us not to get far from the house, because the devil slept in the lumberyard at night. We would not get over three feet from the front porch. When Mom hollered, "Supper Time" we scampered into the house.

After a couple of months, Mom was very lonely because all of her family was at Big Sandy. She somehow got us a small apartment at Paris, Tennessee a few miles from Big Sandy. Paris is 100 miles from Mason. Mom got a job working in a restaurant to pay the apartment rent.

My first recollection of seeing Paw after we moved from Mason, Tennessee was after Thomas Claud Starnes, my daddy, came home from serving in the U. S. Navy in January 1946. We became sharecroppers on the Odie Timbs farm at Arlington, Tennessee in February 1946. My dad was having a 4^th of July celebration for our family. Paw showed up from out of no where and spent the entire day with us telling tall tales to me, my brother, Jimmy Wayne Starnes, that was born on October 31, 1941 at Galloway, Tennessee and my sister that was born at Routon, Tennessee on October 29, 1945.

Paw never owned a car. I still have no idea where he came from and how he got to our home that 4^th of July. No one in this family lived in a house with electricity or running water until 1950. No one in this family owned a car until 1950 when both my dad and Uncle Johnny purchased automobiles and made monthly payments.

My daddy, mother, brother, sister and I sharecropped two years with the Timbs. In 1948 we move to the Doc Billingsley farm at Rosemark, Tennessee and sharecropped one year. It was about a half a mile from John William Starnes 100-acre farm. In 1949 we moved to the John William Starnes farm and sharecropped one year. During the two years that we lived close to Big John he introduced me to fishing. He carried me fishing with him on numerous occasions during the two years. Now we had Big John, Little John and John. Don’t forget that Lorn’s dad was John Anderson Starnes. Believe it or not, John Anderson Starnes granddaddy’s name was John A. Stearns.

In 1950 William Van Starnes sold his farm at Arlington, Tennessee to my daddy, Thomas Claud Starnes. He kept four acres of land and a new house that his son had built him with electricity, running water and a bathroom.

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We were no longer sharecroppers. My daddy, mother, brother, sister and I started raising cotton, corn and all kind of vegetables on our own farm in March 1950. We canned over 800 quarts of vegetables and 200 quarts of fruit our first year and each year thereafter for six years. We made enough money farming the first year to make a down payment on a new, green, Dodge truck.

I knew I had two granddaddies but never got to be around either one of them. Granddaddy Evans moved to Cleveland, Ohio when I was very young. In the fall of 1950, Paw showed up from no where. He just came walking down the road, and asked daddy, his son, if he could stay a little while and help us farm. This was the beginning of a new experience for me. This little visit turned into a four-year joy ride for me.

Paw, Daddy, and I worked very hard in the fields from sun up to sun down, while Mother did double duty. She worked on the farm and worked at a Tavern in Millington, Tennessee from 4 p.m. until midnight, Tuesday through Saturday night. Even though Mom got home at 1 a.m., she was up every morning at 6 a.m. cooking breakfast for the entire family. Paw loved hot coffee, gravy and biscuit. Paw was never late for breakfast. Mom paid for the farm and truck from her tavern job.

It turned out that daddy was a carbon copy of his dad and now I am a carbon copy of both of them. I just came out a smaller model due to my Mother’s size. Black wavy hair, square chin, high check bones and hands that looked identical were characteristics of all three of us. Paw was 6 feet, 4 inches tall and he weighed 220 pounds. Daddy was 6 feet, 6 inches tall and he weighed 280 pounds. I am 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weigh 200 pounds. Paw wore a size 11 shoe, Daddy wore a size 12 shoe and I wear a size 10 shoe. All three of us wore a size 7 ¼ hat. They both had a dry sense of humor that was always a laugh. It would take a little while to understand their humor. Paw would keep a very serious face that turned into a big smile as soon as you caught his humor. Now I am the same way. Some times only my son, David Shane Starnes understands me.

They were always playing a practical joke on me and having fun even when we were hard working in the field. If there was a little cloud in the sky, daddy would say come on rain; I don’t want to work today anyway. Granddaddy would say come on down Raymond, we want to go home.

We started with one cow, one mule, one horse, one sow pig, and 100 baby chicks and in four years we had animals of all kinds. Paw had a way with animals and took care of all their needs. He made sure all the animals and fowls had plenty to eat.

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Paw would regularly cook up a batch of dough balls and talk Daddy into driving he and I down to the Looseahatchie and Old Beaver rivers. The two rivers merged just North of the bridge on the Millington/Arlington Road. Daddy would drop us off at the bridge and we would spend the afternoon on the Saturdays that we did not have to work in the fields. No matter how long Daddy took before coming to pick us up, it was usually three or four hours, it always seem to early for me. Granddaddy was always telling me something and showing me just where to fish and how deep to fish. Sometime he would fish for hours and catch only one fish. When the whole family went to the river, everybody swam but Paw. He always fished.

Oh, what a hunter he was. He was so patient. He would walk miles just to scare up one rabbit, but always got him with one shot. You should never waste a shotgun shell by missing your prey. He had an Eagle eye. He never wore eyeglasses. He could write his name and read a little bit, but not very often. He could set for hours and listen to the squirrels eat. Then, boom, they were dead. Quails and dove were the same way. He always got two with his old, trusty double barrel 12-gauge shotgun. We always ate everything we killed. He always said, if you can’t eat it, don’t shoot it.

His favorite past time was to lay under the old oak tree in our front yard and sleep on the hammock, especially on Sunday afternoons. Oh yes, this was before television. We listen to the radio each night just before we went to bed.

My younger brother, Larry Joe Starnes, was born on February 29, 1952. After that the house just seem to get smaller and smaller. Therefore, Paw had to move on. His little while had expired.

In early 1954, he bought a small, one-bed trailer with the money that Daddy had given him for helping us farm. Dad gave him about $30 a month.

He put the trailer in the back yard of his other son, Johnny William Starnes, at Galloway, Tennessee and continued his life as a hunter and fisherman. Paw, Daddy, and Uncle Johnny spent many a Sunday afternoon, after a full lunch of chicken and all the country trimmings, just siting under a shade tree talking, until July 1955.

In July 1955, Paw was out squirrel hunting in the woods about a mile from his trailer and had a heart attack. Paw managed to get back to the house, but Johnny was not aware that he had had a heart attach. He and his father-in-law drove him to Somerville, Tennessee to see the Doctor. The Doctor told them that he needed to go to the hospital in Memphis. My Dad met them at Arlington and they continue on to Memphis. Paw passed away before they could get him to the hospital. I was devastated. He had told me the previous week that his lifetime savings were $1000 and that he wanted his granddaughter and me to share the money. I thought I was going to be rich.

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Paw was taken to the Funeral Home at Brownsville, Tennessee the next day. The next morning he was brought to Johnny’s home for family viewing. That afternoon his funeral services were held at the Galloway Baptist Church.

He never owned any furniture, never drove a car, never had a checking account, never had a social security number and never had a worry about anything that I knew about

Paw never got over his first love that bore him two sons and died from giving birth to my daddy. He never had any interest in another woman and he never dated one.

Although the times and life was so hard for them, the love, devotion and protection of all family members permeated the family and that is the Best of Life. I strongly believe that this came from Granny’s devotion to God and her love for His Word.

Paw’s daddy and mother, John Anderson Starnes and Martha Ellen Piercy Starnes, are buried in the Arlington, Tennessee cemetery along with William Van Starnes, Willie Maude Marcum Starnes, and their son, William Floyd Starnes, Sam Porter Starnes, Martha Ellen (Mattie) Starnes Marcum, John William Starnes, Prudence Kelly Starnes and daughter Virgie Raymel Starnes Wells and Thomas Claud Starnes and Ruby Clara Evans Starnes.

Albert W. Starnes is buried in the Macedonia Cemetery at Macedonia, Tennessee. Lorn Shelby Starnes (Paw) is buried at the Galloway Cemetery at Galloway, Tennessee. His wife Mary Jane Panky George Starnes is buried at Yarbrough, Arkansas. James Silas Starnes is buried in the National Cemetery, Memphis, Tennessee.

I have no idea about Mary, Annie and Cora. I have been told about them, but never saw either one of them.

John Anderson and Granny also had a patriotic family that believed in their country, the United States of America, and its freedom.

Sam Porter Starnes served two years in the U. S. Army during World War I.

James Silas Starnes served two years in the U. S. Marine Corps during World War II.

Johnny William Starnes served two years in the U. S. Army during World War II.

Thomas Claud Starnes served two years in the U. S. Navy during World War II.

Thomas Claude Starnes served four years in the U. S. Naval Reserve.

John Thomas Starnes served twenty-three years in the U. S. Navy.

David Shane Starnes served twelve years in the U. S. Naval Reserve.

Jimmy Wayne Starnes served two years in the U. S. Naval Reserve.

Larry Joe Starnes served twenty years in the U. S. Navy.

Granny told everyone that her Uncle George Piercy served in the Civil War between the States in 1865.

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Please tell these remembrances of Lorn Shelby Starnes, son of John Anderson Starnes. Tell how he, his wife and eight children, Lorn Shelby my grandfather being one of eight children, came down the Cumberland River on a flat boat to Shelby County Tennessee from Seventy-six Community, Kentucky. Tell this to your generation and ask them to pass it on to their generations. Always remember Granny and her love for her children, grandchildren, and the Holy Bible. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Rev.22:21.

John Thomas Starnes

December 18, 2002

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