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Preface
Between
1914 and 1922, the state of Tennessee sent to its soldiers a Tennessee Civil
War Veterans Questionnaire giving them an opportunity to share their
perceptions of the Old South, the Civil War, and the post-bellum world. There
were 1,650 respondents. Each of the questionnaires constituted a short, uniform
autobiography, and included questions about the soldier, his family, his parents, how they lived, etc. For the most part, the
questionnaires were completed by the soldier himself and in his own handwriting.
Two of Jesse Corn’s descendants responded to this questionnaire:
·
Thos J Corn b Jul 4, 1843<John A. Jr<John A. <Jesse
·
Wm J Corn b Sep 10, 1843<John W<Wm
<Jesse
The
following pages are from a transcription of the Civil War Questionaire
for William Jefferson Corn. The transcriber of the original document has marked questionable words to so indicate.
On the transcription, a small portion of the right side of several pages
was lost in the copy process. Words that were questionable in that portion of
the pages have been italicized to so indicate.
Several
conflicts were found in William’s response as to question 9. He states “John W.
Corn's grand father came from Scotland to Virginia, Halifax co. called themselves Scotch-Irish”. This would imply that Jesse, Sr. came from Scotland and
the family first resided in Halifax Co, VA, both of which are in conflict with
other known facts and our current understanding. William also states “Eliza
McCutcheon grandfather came from Wales called themselves Welch Irish came to
Virginia and with the Corn's came to Tenn. in 1828”. Eliza’s grandfather may
very well have come from Wales, but the name “McCutcheon” is typically Scotch,
although a number of references list it as Irish. Thus, the grandfather
referred to would very likely not have been a McCutcheon. Regarding their
arrival in Tennessee, it may be that the McCutcheons
first came to Tennessee in 1828 and joined the Corns there, but John W Corn is shown
“age 45 born TN” in the 1860 census, which implies that the Corn family was in
Tennessee 13 years before the McCutcheons.
It would be most helpful to know if further information is available regarding the above conflicts. Thoughts and views by readers would be welcomed, as to these issues.
CORN,
WILLIAM JEFFERSON
FORM NO. 2
1. State
your full name and present post office address
William Jefferson Corn, Hillsboro, Tenn. Coffee co.
2. State
your age now
78 years 7 months 15 days (form dated Apr. 28 1922)
3. In what
State and county were you born?
State Tennessee, Franklin county
4. Were you a Confederate or Federal soldier Confederate
5. Name of your Company? Co. D-17th Tenn.
6. What
was the occupation of your father? Farmer
7. Give
full name of your father:___________________________________________
born at______________________ ; in the
County of__________________________
State of________________________ ; He lived at___________________________
Give also any particulars concerning
him, as official position, way services,
etc.; books written by him, etc.
John Washington Corn; his Father's home; Franklin co., Tenn.; he was
a prominent citizen, amont the formost
in all religeous and moral works.
8. Maiden name in full of your mother:_____________________________________
she was the daughter of:_____________________ (full name)_________________
and his wife:______________________(full name)____________________________
who lived at:__________________________________________________________
Eliza McCutcheon; Geo. W. McCutcheon; Jemmima
[Nicey is shown on all genealogies I’ve seen] Chitwood; her Father farm in Franklin county
9. Remarks
on ancestry. Give here any and all facts possible in reference to your parents, grandparents,
great-grandparents, etc. not included
in the foregoing as where they lived, offices held Revolutionary or other war service; what country
they came from to America; first
settled-county and State: always giving full names (if possible), and never referring to an ancestor simply as such without giving the name. It is desirable to
include every fact possible, and to
that end the full and exact record from old Bibles should be appended on separate sheets of this size,
thus preserving the facts from loss
John W. Corn's grand father came from Scotland to Virginia, Halifax co.
called them selves Scotch-Irish. There were three Corn brothers; Jessie, Peter
and George Corn; Jessie being my great grandfather. Eliza McCutcheon grandfather
came from Wales called themselves Welch, came to Virginia and with the Corn's
came to Tenn. in 1828
10. If you owned hand or
other property at the opening of the war state what kind of property you owned, and state the value of your property as near as you can:
No. I was in my 18th year at the beginning of the war.
11. Did you or your parents own slaves? If so, how many?
My parents owned 8 slaves
12. If your parents owned land, state about how many
acres
500 acres of land
13. State as
near as you can the value- of all the property owned by your parents, including land, when the war opened
Estimated about $18,000 to $20,000 dollars
14. What kind of
house did your parents occupy? State whether it was a log house or frame house
or built of other material, and state the number
of rooms it had
Brick house, with 4 rooms - 2 hall - two above and two below.
15. As a boy and young man, state what kind of
work you did. If you worked on a farm, state to what extent you plowed, worked
with a hoe and did other kinds of similar
work. (Certain historians claim that
white men would not do work of this sort before the war.)
While a boy, I went to school in winter, worked with the negores in the field in summer - my father also worked.
16. State clearly what kind of work your father did,
and what the duties of your mother were. State all the kinds of work done in
the house as well as you can remember
- that is, cooking, spinning, weaving, etc.:
My father was overseer or looked after his own business. My mother looked
after her servants, all cooking and house hold affairs and did the sewing and
mending for her family of twelve (12)
17. Did your parents keep any servants? If so, how many? 8
18. How was honest toil -as plowing, hauling and other
sorts of honest work of this class
-regarded in your community? Was such work
considered respectable and honorable?
It was essentiaual to good citizenship and
was considered respects and honorable.
19. Did the white men in your community generally
engage in such work?
they did
20. To what
extent were there white men in your community leading lives of idleness and having others do their work for them?
very few
21. Did the men
who owned slaves mingle freely with those who did not own slaves, or did slaveholders in any way show by their actions
that they felt themselves better than respectable, honorable men who did not own slaves?
they did. they
did not consider theyselves better than any honors
upright men.
22. At the
churches, at the schools, at public gatherings in general, did slaveholders and non-slaveholders mingle on a
footing of equality?
they did
23. Was there a friendly feeling between slaveholders and non-slaveholders in your community, or were they
antagonistic to each other?
Owning slaves had nothing to do with social standing more then any
other property.
24. In a political contest, in which one candidate
owned slaves and the other did not, did the fact that one candidate
owned slaves help him any in winning the
contest?
not at all
25. Were the opportunities good in your community for a poor young man, honest and industrious, to save up enough to buy a small farm or go in business for himself? yes
26. Were poor, honest, industrious young men, who were ambitious to make something of themselves, encouraged or discouraged by slaveholders? encouraged
27. What kind of school or schools did you attend?
3 months free school in the fall. the rest
of the time subscription school
28. About how long did you go to school altogether?
about 3 years
29. How far was it to the nearest school?
about two miles
30. What school
or schools were in operation in your neighborhood?
one literary school - all branches up to latin were taught
31. Was the school in your community private or public? Public
32. About how many months in the year did it run?
Ten (10) months school
33. Did the boys and girls in your community attend
school pretty regularly?
They did
34. Was the
teacher of the school you attended a
man or woman?
We had both
35. In what year and month and at what place did you
enlist in the service of the Confederacy or of the Federal Government?
1861 near Estill Spring, Franklin co., Tennessee
36 After enlistment, where was your Company sent first?
to Camp Trousdale
37. How long after enlistment before your Company
engaged in battle
----
38. What was the first battle you engaged in?
Fishing Creek - we fought under Zollicoffer,
who was killed –Critendone commanding.
39. State in your own way your experience in the War
from this time on to its close. State
where you went after the first battle - what you did and what other battles you engaged in, how long they lasted, what the results were; state how you lived
in camp, how you were clothed, how
you slept, what you had to eat, how you were exposed to cold, hunger and disease. If you were in the hospital or prison, state your experience there:
From Fishing Creek we went to Cumberland Gap in east Tennessee, from Comberland Gap we fought at Wil
Cat at Comberland Mountain, retreated from to
Corinth, Mississippi from there to the battle of Shilo,
from there we went with Bragg on his Kentucky camphane
to the fight at Murfreesboro, from there to Shilo,
Miss.
40. When and
where were you discharged?
at Richmond, Virginia after Lee's surrender
41. Tell
something of your trip home:
we were turned loose at Richmond without food or transportation, we took the
rail road a foot from Richmond to Knoxville subsisting on what rations we could
get from citizens and Yankee soldiers.
42. Give a
sketch of your life since the close of the Civil War, stating what kind of business you have engaged in, where
you have living) your church relations, etc. If you have held any
office or offices?. state
what it was. You may state here any other facts connected with your life and experience which has not been
brought out to the questions:
Farm work
43. What kind of work did you take up when you came
back home
I lived with mother on the farm twelve years after the war closed, helping
her to care for the family, the youngest being five of 8 living children
44. Unable to
determine the specific question asked here
----
45. Give the names of all the members of your
Company you can remember: (if you know where the Roster is to be had, please
make special note of this.)
two year ago I might have given you the names of most of my company but on
account of some eye trouble I had to have one removed and all very badly out of
the other. which caused my memory to be badly
impaired, especially as to remembering names. I was captured in front of
Petersburg, Va. June 1864 and sent to prison to Elmira, N.Y. was released the
last week in Feb. 1865 and sent to Richmond, Va. on parole - after the first
year of war we had mostly hard ships - while we were in Tenn. we were received
our clothing from home but after we left Tenn. we received very few from the
government, in the winter of 64 we went into East Tenn. marched from Knoxville
to Morristown, with many of the soldiers barefooted as an example of the army I
will give my own case, I had only the quarters of my shoes and for ______ of
had rags tied on my feet. Our clothing was in rags,
the roads froze at night and was sure rough traveling till thawed.
46. Give here the NAME and POST
OFFICE ADDRESS of living Veterans of the Civil War, whether members of your
company or not.
George W. Duncan Carlsbad, Texas
Polke Sims Hillsboro, Tenn.
Sam Gilliam Pelham, Tenn.
Elic Ursery Dechard, Tenn.
Linsey Jones Estell
Springs, Tenn.
Tom Gorsage Nashville, Tenn.
George Newman Hillsboro, Tenn.
Steven Roe Alto, Tenn
Mr. Talent Hillsboro, Tenn.