Historic Memorabilia

What's In Your Attic?

An old copy of the play book for Chucky Jack: The Story of Tennessee.

Beautiful 100 year old post cards.

A comic book, Chucky Jack's A-Comin'.

An original land deed signed by John Sevier.

Newspapers and clippings of Sevier related articles.

These are some of the things that Sevier cousins and friends have wrote to tell us about. Things that give clues to the lives of family members who came before us. Just how many other treasures are out there among boxes and old junk in the closets and attics of our Sevier cousins?

A cousin wrote me with descriptions of the play book from the play Chucky Jack: The Story of Tennessee, put on by the Hunter Hills Theatre • Gatlinburg In-The-Smokies and half a dozen wonderful, 100 year old, postcards she had. Then she sent photographs, a couple of which I've included on this page. The postcards were written at the turn of the 20th century and include one to Mrs. H.W. Sevier from her son away at college. There's a Gatlinburg newspaper with a front page headline that reads, "Sevier Family Reunion Opens June 29." There's also two miniature images of General John Sevier, the jewels of this collection.

A comic book? That's right! A few months ago I bought a used, green cloth-bound, first edition (there was only one edition) of Sevier Family History: with the Collected Letters of Gen. John Sevier from a bookstore in Memphis. The previous owner (I'm not sure exactly who) had left a 1958 comic book inside the book along with genealogical research notes and a letter. He had penciled corrections in the margins of this brightly illustrated educational pamphlet, Chucky Jack's A-Comin' by Bill Dryer. The comic book is signed (by the author?) "To George May."

The Author/Artist, who at the time was an cartoonist for the Knoxville News-Sentinel, said:

"In order to draw a booklet of Chucky Jack's life, all I had to do was let history tell its own story. I only supplied the pictures, releasing the imprints which have been etched on my mind since boyhood."

Reading the comic book and Bill Dryers comments made me realize that the history of the Revolutionary War, the South and Early Tennessee had much more to do with who I am and why I ended up being born in San Diego, California than the history of Spanish missionaries and explorers like Junipero Serra and Cortez that I learned in grade school. What other revelations are waiting for those of us who explore the few items that remain from our common family history?

The original deed of sale for the land that became downtown Nashville, signed by Tennessee Governor John Sevier. Is the prize possession of John Sevier, co-owner with his brother Robert of Sevier Brothers Automotive in Nashville.

Historic newspapers and clippings of Sevier related articles. Including news from the re-interment of John Sevier, June 15, 1889. The body of General John Sevier is brought from Fort Decatur, Alabama to the courthouse lawn, at Knoxville, Tennessee and re interred beneath a monument erected in his honor. A special train carrying the body, was escorted by the governors of Alabama and Tennessee. An estimated 30,000 people attended the ceremony.

Just what we can learn from this historic memorabilia, I'm not sure, but I do know that we won't learn anything if they are thrown away before they are shared. Caught in the current down-turn of the economy, the cousins with the postcards and other items are looking to sell them. If you're interested in contacting this cousin to possibly purchase these items we will be glad to introduce you. Connecting Seviers to each other using the World Wide Web as a tool is certainly something that we are eager to do. How much memorabilia will be lost as current and future generations, naturally concerned with the cares of daily life, clean out that old junk?

by Lance Sevier