The Story of Bartow Jones

And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

    Matthew 8:20 ESV

   In the coldest darkest nights as I lie awake in those last moments before sleep overtakes me, with branches clawing at my windows to escape the endless winter wind I think of them. The lonely ones. The tent under the overpass, the single shoe by the highway, the tattered discarded sleeping bag on the edge of some forgotten road all speak of the desperate struggle of a person with nowhere to lay their head. 

   This is the story of one such person whose name comes drifting back to us in clouded fading memories. Always on the fringes leaving mostly questions and fewer answers we find the man Bartow Jones.

   His name came to me in a message on our facebook page from Susan Bowman. She asked us:

"Does anyone have any information about a man, possibly named Bartoe, in the 1950's that died under Oak Hill church, off of 18 going toward hwy 77? I would like to hear the story or any info". When asked about her interest in the man Susan wrote:

 "My mothers family use to have Williams Family Reunions there, and my Aunt had mentioned it, when I took a picture of the church. And told how he use to come to the 

reunions, and how he ate and went under the church to lie down, and he died. They never

 really knew if he was related, or a crasher."

   At the next regular meeting the question was brought up and discussed. One of our members MariAnn Pope took up the challenge. Over the following weeks a tale began to emerge from first-hand accounts, pictures, and local legend. The first person interviewed was Mr. Coy Bolton whose father was a founder of Oak Hill Baptist Church. Though the church is now inactive, Coy still tends the grounds and does what he can to take care of the sacred space his family helped create.

   Coy remembered Mr. Jones well and recounted the man living in this house for a time in the 1940's with a Mr. Chester Williams.

The large two-story structure speaks of a level of affluence rare in the region during the 1940's particularly in rural Clay County. It was in a lean-to behind the house (shown below) that Mr. Jones took up residence for a short time:

Mr. Bolton remembered the man Bartow, and the story of his death but recounted that no such incident had ever occurred at Oak Hill. Although the church, like many in the area, had regular singings and dinners-on-the-grounds the construction of the church building made it extremely difficult to crawl beneath and therefore very unlikely that someone would've rested there after a meal.

   Not dismayed by this dead-end MariAnn pressed on with her search and after some questioning of locals was referred to two sisters who knew the man and his story well, Alene Welcher and Irma Wesley. Both confirmed that the incident had taken place but not at Oak Hill. The women explained that it was at Hatchett Creek Baptist Church that the man was found dead.

The front of Hatchett Creek Baptist Church

The front of Hatchett Creek Baptist Church 

Back of Hatchett Creek, note the large crawl space below.

 Wesley was there that day for the dinner-on-the-grounds and recalls seeing Bartow Jones, but staying mostly to herself, lost sight of him as everyone retired that evening into the church for the singing after the meal. Irma's cousin, Thompson Pitts (former preacher at Hatchet Creek), provided some insight saying that Bartow Jones had in fact died that day under the church at the all day singing and dinner. When found, Bartow was taken to a local doctor in the area who explained that the man had "ate so much it killed him". 

   Whether that was the actual diagnosis given  or simply hearsay, we know today that it is extremely unlikely that Mr. Jones "ate so much it killed him" although he was known throughout the community to frequent any event that offered free food. The possibility of any man eating himself to death is unrealistic. 

    Most who remember him recall he would eat as much as possible not knowing where or when his next meal would come. It is likely that Bartow died from any number of conditions that commonly effect the homeless from infection, food or water-born illness, or   internal wounds from some previous injury.

   We may never know what ended his life but his story stays with us. Woven now into the ever growing layers of urban legend and myth. His story reminds us of the fragility of life and the shared experience we have as we step out each day to make a living knowing that we too, like countless others, face the dangers of losing all that we hold dear. Bartow Jones inspires us to never take for granted all of the simple luxuries in life; a warm meal, conversation with loved ones, a roof above to keep out the rain. In his story and countless others we see ourselves no better no worse; all of us people with our own stories to tell.

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

    Matthew 25:35

The Finley Family Photo

“A photograph is usually looked at- seldom looked into.” 
― Ansel Adams

According to Yahoo, an estimated 880 billion photographs will be taken next year.  Already, more than six billion photographs are uploaded to the social media site Facebook every month. What this means is that folks are taking more pictures than they ever have, and the kinds of pictures they are taking are changing just as much. The more technology and culture change, the more Ansel Adams' words ring true. We owe it to ourselves to take time and look into photographs not simply look at them for they have as much to teach us about ourselves as they do about others. At our last meeting, a very interesting photograph was presented:

At first glance many would see this picture and pass it by, not recognizing the people seated, but looking into the picture we see more than faces, we see stories. And thanks to the work of Mrs. Irene Gordon Berry Haynes and Dr. Wayne Finley we are able to know those stories. There are three generations pictured here. Seated in the back row on the far left is Reverend B.W. "Bennie" Mathews, beside him on his left is his wife Sarah Jane "Sally" Ingram Mathews, to her left is her daughter Jessie Elizabeth Mathews Crews with her husband Jesse B. Crews. In the foreground we see her daughter Sara Will Crews Finley with her husband Wayne House Finley and their son Randall Wayne Finley. This picture, with it's proud subjects in their dapper attire speaks of more than period clothing and time gone by, it speaks of the bond of family; the sacred connection we have both to our past and our future. 

   Looking into the picture even farther we begin to hear their stories take life:

[Back row, left in photo]

 Benjamin William "Bennie" Mathews (July 31, 1871-July 2, 1968) married Sarah Jane "Sally" Ingram (October 18, 1874-March 20, 1971) on September 9, 1892. They were the parents of five daughters and one son. They moved to Lineville from Delta, Alabama in 1900. His parents were William Benjamin "Billy" Mathews and Mary Carolyn Smith, her parents were Francis M. Ingram and Martha Buzanne Smith. 

   Bennie attended high school in Lineville and later attended Lineville College. He obtained a teacher's certificate by examination and taught school in Clay County for only a few years. he was ordained as a Baptist minister and pastored several churches in Clay, Randolph, and Cleburne Counties. Bennie was popular as a minister and pastor. He held many revivals, baptized more than one thousand people, performed several weddings and conducted many funerals. He also farmed and sold produce. 

   Sally was a devoted wife and homemaker. She was devoted to her six children, all of whom grew up in Lineville and resided with their families in the area. 

[back row, right in photo]

   Jesse B. "J.B." Crews (Dec. 7, 1903 - Dec. 13, 1996) married Jesse Elizabeth Mathews (Nov. 11, 1907 - Aug. 18, 1996) in 1926. They were parents of two daughters and one son. The son died a few months after birth. J.B. came to Clay County as a young man from Randolph County. Jesse was a Lineville native. His parents were Lewis Pearce Crews and Eliza Ayres Crews of Randolph County. 

   J.B. was a graduate of Cleburne County High School. Initially he was affiliated with a service station in Heflin and then moved to Talladega where he worked in a drug store. He elected to be a  businessman and was able to obtain the local Gulf Oil distributorship. He retired from the distributorship after forty-seven years (1929-1975).

   J.B. and Jesse were both active community leaders and dedicated members of the Lineville Baptist Church. J.B. served his church in many capacities. He also served the City of Lineville on a number of boards and committees including the City Council, and School Board of Trustees. Jessie was dedicated to her two daughters and her extended family. She was a member of a number of civic clubs and was routinely a hostess. They took great pride in their hometown of Lineville.

[In the foreground]

Wayne House Finley (b. April 7, 1927) married Sara Will Crews (Feb. 26, 1930 - Feb. 20, 2013) on July 6, 1952 in Lineville. Their children are a son, Randall Wayne, and a daughter Sara. His parents were Byron Bruce "B.B." Finley and Lucile House Finley. Bruce was a native of Chambers County but his family moved to Clay Co. in 1903 when he was a young child. Lucile was a native of southern Clay Co. 

From Reverse: O.A. Champion-Baker, B.B. Finley in the barber's chair
the south of Ashland Square, Ashland AL.   

1923 or 1924
O.A. Champion-Baker
B.B. Finley in chair
South Side of Square in same building as drug store

   Wayne was born in Goodwater where his father was a school teacher. Later the family moved to Millerville in southern Clay Co. where Wayne graduated from high school. The family moved in 1947 to Lineville where his parents resided for the rest of their lives. Wayne's college days at Jacksonville State Teachers College (now JSU) were interrupted by military service. After graduation, he entered the University of Alabama for graduate study in education. Following another tour in the U.S. Army, he enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Alabama Medical Center in Birmingham. he and Sara were married while she was a medical student and he was stationed at Fort McClellan, AL. After service he obtained a PhD. degree in Biochemistry and then entered medical school. 

   Sara grew up in Lineville, attended Lineville Public Schools and entered the University of Alabama as a Pre-Med student in 1947. She received her MD degree at the Medical College of Alabama in Birmingham in 1955. After an internship at Lloyd Noland Hospital in Birmingham, she had research fellowship training in the Department of Pediatrics at the medical college. 

Wayne and Sara Finley honored with a portrait by UAB Medical School

   Wayne and Sara were the recipients of traineeships at the University of Uppsala in Sweden during the year 1961-1962. They spent the year in Sweden studying medical genetics. Their children were preschool age. Sara's sister, Janice, postponed college for a year to spend it in Sweden with the Finley's.  Wayne and Sara returned to Birmingham and accepted faculty appointments at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. They established the first medical genetics programs in the southeastern U.S. which consisted of diagnostic laboratories, a genetics clinic, and training facilities. They worked together for thirty-five years before they retired. Sara retired as a Professor Emerita and Wayne as Professor Emeritus. They both individually and together received a number of awards and honors. 

***

Randall Wayne "Randy" Finley, [seen in the top photo at one year of age], was born in Birmingham while his father was a first year medical student and his mother, Sara, a research fellow in pediatrics at the Medical College of Alabama. Randy attended the public schools in Mountain Brook, AL. His undergraduate degree was from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. he obtained his MD degree at UAB and completed a residency in radiology at the Baptist Hospitals in Birmingham. He and his family reside in Vestavia Hills, and he is in a private practice group in Birmingham. 

   Randy's sister, Sara J. Finley (almost four years younger than Randy) attended Mountain Brook public schools. She received her undergraduate degree at the University of Alabama where she received a number of awards for her scholarship. She attended Vanderbilt University Law School. She currently is the General Counsel for CVS Caremark and resides in Nashville, TN.    

   ***A very special thank you to Mrs. Irene Gordon Berry Haynes (July 29, 1886 - April 14, 1971). Mrs. Haynes, daughter of George J. Berry and Elvira Germany, compiled the scrapbooks which were made available by her Grand-Nephew, Dr. Wayne Finley. 

   George and Elvira Berry moved to Clay County, Alabama near Cleveland's Crossroads between 1870 and 1880 from Chambers County, Alabama. George had served in the C.S.A. 34th Infantry during the Civil War. He became a successful farmer. Mrs. Haynes lived various places but during her latter years was a resident of Clay County. Mrs. Haynes was a sister of Dixie Berry House, wife of Anthony Crumbley House, Jr. and grandmother of Dr. Wayne Finley (noted above). 

George J. Berry pictured on his farm in Clay Co. AL. 

Reverse of George Berry Photo:
Geo. J. Berry Born 11-25-1836
Died 6-27-1926
? Alabama
Please return Photo to Dr. Wayne H. Finley
3412 Brookwood Road
B'ham, AL. 35223
His maternal Great-Grandfather
moved to 34th Ala. Infantry
b. in ? Chambers Co. 

   

      

One Man, One Room, 125 Children

An Ashland Legacy: Or Remembering Professor Vaughan

By Kathleen Vaughan Prude

   From his obituary dated October 5, 1948, headlined "Educator Dies in Talladega" I learned my eighty-six year old grandfather, David Loomis Vaughan, was born in Chambers County, Alabama. However, for all the years I knew him, with the exception of a few preceding his death, he resided with my grandmother, or Olive Elizabeth Strickland Vaughan, on Church Street in Ashland, Alabama, about one mile from the Clay County courthouse on the town square.

   The Family of Professor Vaughan, or Papa (as I called him), had within it many professionals and was well respected throughout the community. His father, John Allen Vaughan, was a physician. My daughter Karen Johnson, who at one time was married to a plastic surgeon, inherited his medical library consisting of two leather-bound volumes containing the medical knowledge of his day. Papa's half brother (same mother but different father) W.C. Griggs, was Superintendent of the Mobile City School System where there is a school named in his honor. Two of Papa's five children were long  time educators. Claudia, his oldest child who never married, taught the second grade at Northside School in Talladega for thirty-five years. For approximately the same length of time, Jewel Comer (J.C.), the older of his two sons (married to Mildred Bozeman an elementary school teacher of Lineville, AL) taught math at Murphy High School in Mobile. Papa's other two daughters, Grace and Louneal, settled in Talladega. Grace, who remained single, was a saleslady at Goldberg and Lewis, and Louneal (who married Nunis Riddle of Talladega) was a stay-at-home mom with their two children Jean and David. 

   

   Insofar as I know, none of Papa's five grandchildren or thirteen great-grandchildren became teachers. However, his great-great-grandson, Hardy Johnson (my grandson),  whose wife is an elementary school teacher, is a professor of finance and research at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. My father, Papa's youngest son, William Charles (married to Ottis Brown of Talladega) attempted to follow in the family's teaching tradition but gave up after a brief trial run because, in his words, he was "afraid he might kill a kid". He was employed as Chief Clerk to the Road Master (maybe because of his love for trains) at Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Co. in Birmingham, Alabama. In addition to my mother and I, his family included two sons; the older William Charles Jr. (who died at the age of three with pneumonia), and Donald Brown. 

 

   As I was growing up in Birmingham before the days of fast cars and interstates one did not zip over to Ashland in an hour. My family managed to make only a few annual week-end trips to visit my grandparents. However, after I became school aged, I made longer summer stays, and it was during those visits I came to know Papa best.

   These times of getting to know my father's family were special ones for me and I looked forward to them. One contributing factor could have been an incident that always occurred on the road to Ashland. My brothers and I, riding on the back seat, anticipated it by grinning and preparing to give each other a big punch. As soon as the dome of the Clay County courthouse came into view my father would begin whistling a joyful tune. His happiness was probably contagious. 

   Physically he would not have stood out in a crowd. As someone once said, he did not take up much space. He was not "tall, dark and handsome" but with his silver gray hair, well groomed mustache (which he sometimes shaved off), and pipe he made a dignified distinguished appearance. Although slightly short in stature, he could not have stood taller in things that really mattered: character, integrity,  and intelligence. He also held a deep and abiding love for God, family, country and friends. I remember him as being unassuming, reserved, serious and soft spoken. Although I'm sure he must've been at times, I never saw Papa mad or upset nor heard him raise his voice. He must have been tender-hearted and caring. Always as we said goodbye at the end of our visits he had tears in his eyes sometimes trickling down his cheeks. He never dressed casually but always wore a dark suite, white shirt and black bow tie. I was especially fascinated by his curly hair. He tried to straighten it but allowed me to comb and brush it into ringlets for as long as I wished while he carried on adult conversations with whoever happened to be present. He especially delighted in discussing world affairs, current events, Clay County happenings (not gossip), Alabama history, and politics (two of his favorite subjects).

   Sometimes I accompanied my grandfather on his daily walks to the Ashland Post Office to pick up his mail and newspaper and converse with his neighbors. On these occasions I carried a big stick to rub along the iron fence enclosing the Baptist church cemetery. I liked the noise it made. Probably to Papa it was an annoying one, but being a patient person, he never once scolded me, suggest I stop or confiscated the stick. I held onto it for a repeat performance on the walk home.

   Although Papa was serious by nature, he possessed a good sense of humor. Once, when I asked him why some Vaughan families spelled their name Vaughn, he told me that back in the family history there were two brothers. One became a notorious "black sheep" who was kicked out of the family and forced to drop the last "A" from the family name. I liked his answer and have reapeated it at times when I have been asked the same question. 

   Professor Vaughan rightly earned the title of "walking teacher". For thirty-eight years, having never owned an automobile, and not wanting to leave his beloved Clay County, he walked many miles or rode horse-back to his one room rural school houses where he taught not just the required "three R's" but all subjects for grades one through twelve. There is in existence a photograph thought to have been made in the early 1900s of Papa and his 125 pupils standing in front of the old Lystra schoolhouse near Ashland. It was reproduced on the front page of the Thursday, October 29, 1987 issue of The Ashland Progress by the courtesy of Guin Robinson. The article was one of a series being feautured asking for identification which I did by a letter to the editor. Four of the students are Papa's own children and whether in the photo or not I understand the he once taught Hugo Black who became a Supreme Court Justice of the United States. Imagine one room, 125 students of all ages, all subjects, no assistants, just Papa for almost forty years!

Lystra Schoolhouse with Professor Vaughan pictured with students at left

   Not only were Papa's teaching efforts wide spread, influential and effective, they were also appreciated. On one occasion, my father was in Hot Springs, Arkansas undergoing treatments for severe back pain.  His attending physician, Homer K Wright was an Ashland native. When my father was dismissed he went by Dr. Wrights' office to pay his bill. He was handed a statement on which was written in doctor scrawl across the back "Paid years ago by your pappy when he rode horse-back in the rain to Bluff Springs to teach something into my stupid brain". 

   As his obituary stated, Papa died in Talladega where, because of old age and illness, he had been under the care of his family. As the hearse and family cars moved slowly along the highway between Talladega and Ashland for his funeral service at the Ashland Baptist Church (followed by burial in the church cemetery), other vehicles pulled over to the roadside and stopped. Pedestrians did too. Those wearing hats or caps removed them and held them over their hearts. I realize they were showing their respect for the dead but I like to think it was for Professor Vaughan personally, one of Clay County's early leading educators.