History of the Kinsey-Kenemer Cemetery [Guest Post]

Looking at knoll from cabin (NW)
Looking at knoll from cabin (NW)

I’m pleased to present the very first guest post here at Jordan’s Journey. Today’s article and photos are by Lynne McGehee Cabe. Lynne is not only a fellow descendant of several of the earliest Armuchee Valley families but a Scoggins descendant too!

Trained as a professional social worker and public administrator, Lynne became interested in her heritage through a maternal family lineage project in graduate school. She developed a keen appreciation for the profound importance of family history to future generations. Lynne’s maternal grandparents were lifetime residents of the West Armuchee Valley. She is currently employed as a Quality Improvement Specialist with Lookout Mountain Community Services, a public behavioral health agency serving Northwest Georgia.

Lynne is particularly interested in the Cherokee, and I am fascinated by her work. I’ve wanted to explore the Cherokee connection to my ancestors more in-depth, but it’s a very difficult topic to research. Lynnne’s history of the Kinsey-Kennemer Cemetery and its Cherokee origins is a valuable step toward documenting Armuchee Valley’s Cherokee history.

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The Kinsey-Kenemer Cemetery is located in the East Armuchee Valley of southeast Walker County, Georgia. East Armuchee Valley is a small, rural, agrarian community nestled between John’s Mountain on the east and Dick’s Ridge on the west. The villages of Villanow and Subligna mark end points on the north and south respectively. The area is a good example of the rolling hills of the Southern Appalachian ridge and valley topography.

The Kinsey-Kenemer Cemetery is situated on a “knoll” (a small, natural hill) which rises up independently of the nearby ridges. Tucked away on private land, the cemetery was unknown to the Walker County Historical Society when members surveyed and documented the cemeteries in the County in the 1970s and 1980s. The cemetery is described similarly by different sources. Dr. Norma Tompkins writes that “Lucinda (Kinsey Brock) was buried on a tree-shaded knoll overlooking the Indian village which had been her first home as a young bride” (Walker, Heritage 103). Mary Kennemer’s records state that “Elender Kinsey married Needham Kennemer (whose [sic] grave and stone markings are on the high ridge in a cemetery at East Armuchee” (Estus). Rosa Peterson Orr wrote that “Kizziah Smith, mother of Union soldier Asa D. Smith, and mother-in-law of Mary Clementine Brock Smith, was buried at the foot of John’s Mountain” (Orr, Personal).

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School Days: Villanow School, circa late 1930’s

Villanow School, late 1930's
Students at Villanow school, late 1930s. Collection of Mary Pope Jordan.

Today I have another entry for the School Days series. This time, I present a photo from the Villanow School, which stood in Villanow at the opposite end of the valley as the Subligna School photo I shared last time. The Villanow school was among the last one-room schoolhouses in the area. The school originally opened, judging by various references in the Walker County Messenger, sometime in the 1880’s. It operated until 1952 when the Armuchee Valley School opened.

This photo is from the late 1930’s or possibly very early 1940’s. It contains three close family members: my grand uncle Guy Adam Pope, my uncle Robert Jordan, and my aunt Mary Earl Jordan (though some of the others in the image connect in my tree as well). The writing on the image is by Uncle Robert.

In March 2012, Guy Pope was able to identify almost everyone else in the photo for me.

Front Row (L to R): Robert Jordan, Reba Eakers, Guy Pope, Raymond Carpenter, Davis boy, Bob Stansell, Betty Eakers, Mary Earl Jordan, Davis girl, Louis Roper, Elizabeth Morrison

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Concord Road [video]

Today, I present the second history video on Jordan’s Journey. The first video, Suttle’s Mill, was just a short teaser to get things started. This new video, Concord Road, takes the concept a bit further.

Concord Road is one of the more minor roads in the East Armuchee Valley. It’s not a main thruway, and most of the road has never been paved. My Pope family ancestors lived along this road—and some of the other Pope descendants still do today. The video above should give you a good idea of what things are like in the Armuchee Valley. There’s probably much more history surrounding Concord Road than I know, but this is just one part of my effort to preserve the area’s history (not just my specific family lines). If you have any interesting tidbits, please let me know.

Take special notice of the music in this piece. I asked my friend Michael Harren to compose music for my Jordan’s Journey videos using Sacred Harp as a creative springboard. His score for this piece more than exceeded my expectations. The music is forward-thinking yet explores the past interestingly and creatively–which is exactly what Jordan’s Journey is about.

Thanks to Tammy Bartlett and Christy Bartlett for their assistance in making this video. You were a lovely crew to work with!

What kind of videos would you like to see in the future? I want to continue documenting the history this way, so hit me up in the comments below and let me know what you want to see. And if you have any old video footage of Villanow, Subligna, or anywhere in the area, please also get in touch.

Little Country Church: Memories of Music at East Armuchee

Hymnals from East Armuchee Baptist Church, Villanow, Georgia, USA

If you were to ask me what are the most important things to me, music would certainly be one of the top items on that list. Looking back as far back as I can remember music has always played an important role in my life. If you’ve been reading this blog, you know music has even played its part in my family history research.

Not long ago I asked my mother, “Do you think you have any audio tapes of music from East Armuchee back in the day?”

“No,” she responded. “I don’t think we ever recorded anything like that.”

I was disappointed but told her to ask around to see if anyone might have a recording. I wanted more than anything to redisocver the sound of that rural country church from my childhood. She didn’t think anyone would have anything, though.

I have so many music memories from that church. It wasn’t a particularly learned environment for music. There were no professional musicians and no formal choir… just like Scared Harp. It was a “do-it-yourself” sort of aesthetic, and I think that influenced me a lot in life in ways far beyond music.

For most of my childhood, East Armuchee used the Christian Praise hymnal, published in 1964 by Broadman Press. Christian Praise is a shaped note hymnal and relates to the Sacred Harp in that way. But out of 471 pieces, it contains only a couple of songs actually from The Sacred Harp hymnal. We always referred to this book as “the red hymnal.” These books contain bookplates at the front indicating who donated money for that hymnal, and to whose memory it was dedicated.

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Forever Young: Mapping Connections Between Armuchee Valley Families

Young Cemetery, West Armuchee, Walker County, Georgia, Feb 2012

This past week, I visited Young Cemetery in West Armuchee in Walker County, Georgia. I always enjoy old cemeteries, particularly those in the Armuchee and Dirt Town Valleys. Young Cemetery is overgrown. It’s challenging to navigate through the graves, and I got stuck by more than my fair share of briar branches… but hiking through the brush makes it that much more my kind of adventure.

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Pope Pedigree: Henry Morris Pope

Even though I descend from many generations that mostly lived and died in the same general area where I grew up, many people in my extended tree had more adventurous spirits and planted family roots elsewhere. I enjoy exploring those lines and stories, contemplating the way some of us take different paths and ultimately lead very different lives than even our closest family members.

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Armuchee (ᎠᎽᏥ)

ᎠᎽᏥ is Armuchee in Cherokee

When I tell people I grew up in East Armuchee, they almost inevitably say, “Ar-what?” If you spell it out for them, they say, “Ar-MU-chee?” It’s hard to make people understand the way we say it: Ar-MUR-chee. Yes, it’s weird, I know that. But it’s the way we say it. It’s like how in New York we say “How-stun” Street instead of “Hew-stun” like the city in Texas. If you say “Hew-stun Street” in NYC, we’ll look at you as if you have three heads, just like if you say “Ar-MU-chee” back home.

Armuchee (ᎠᎽᏥ) is a Cherokee (ᏣᎳᎩ) word. Cherokee is an endangered language, but tech companies are doing their part to help preserve this valuable part of our world heritage. You can use Cherokee on your iPhone  or search Google with the language (Murph; Google). Despite this, no one knows precisely what “Armuchee” means. There are various interpretations, including “land of beautiful flowers” and “much water” or “much fish” (Armuchee). In the words of Larry Salmon, “perhaps the real meaning was lost on the Trail of Tears” (Salmon).

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Ridges and Valleys and Streams… Oh My!

View from John's Mountain
Looking west over East Armuchee Valley towards Dick’s Ridge

The area of northwest Georgia where I grew up is part of the Valley and Ridge region. This region comprises “long northeast-southwest-trending valleys and ridges that give the region its name” (Geology). The area is not unique to Georgia and “extends continuously from New York to the edge of the Coastal Plain (fall line) in Alabama” (Chowns). This expansive area is undoubtedly filled with numerous communities and fascinating genealogies. Generations of my family are nestled deep in these valleys in Walker and Chattooga counties in northwest Georgia–and that is where the meat of Jordan’s Journey takes place.

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