I. Pariss Sims, 1750-1833.
II-1. Robert Sims, 1783-1842.
III-11. Matthew J. Sims, 1816-1890.

IV-19. Shields (Hartwell Ebenezer John Shields) Sims, the oldest child of Matthew and Dorothy Greeson Sims, had four given names but signed his name as S. Sims. The Hartwell in his name was for an uncle, Hartwell (Hart) Greeson.

He was born Dec. 18, 1838; died Jan. 26, 1927, in his 89th year, from an injury to a foot, caused by a frisky horse he was trying to mount to go after his mail at a RFD box, a mile from his home. He married Edith Melinda Caroline Youngblood, daughter of Josiah Youngblood and Mary Horton, Sept. 1, 1859. She was born Aug. 20, 1842; died April 22, 1915. See Sims-Youngblood Family, Chapter Four.

The Horton family, originally of North Carolina and of English ancestry, came to Wayne County from Bedford County, Tenn. Isaac Horton, the grandfather of Mary Horton, above, was a Revolutionary War soldier, with the troops of Virginia. Mary's mother was part Cherokee Indian and her father was William Horton, son of Isaac who is believed to have been a brother of Daniel and Joshua Horton of North Carolina. They were with Col. John Sevier at the Battles of Cowpens and King's Mountain, during the Revolution. Both were early Watauga settlers in Tennessee, then North Carolina territory. While at the Watauga Settlement, they explored lands toward the Ohio River, in the Kentucky Wilderness, beyond Cumberland Gap.

Goodspeed's History of Tennessee, published in 1886, contains, in the Wayne County Section, the following biographical sketch of Shields Sims:

"Shields Sims was born in Wayne County, Tenn., Dec. 18, 1838, son of Matthew J. and Dorothy (Greeson) Sims, natives of North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively. His father was one of the early settlers in Wayne County and before the (Civil) war was a farmer by occupation. Since the War he has been engaged in the merchantile and tannery business in connection with farming.
"Shields Sims was reared on a farm and secured a good common education. At the age of 21 he began doing for himself, and in 1863 was enlisted in Company H, 2nd Tennessee Mounted Infantry, Union Army, and served as first sergeant (He first joined Grant's Army in Kentucky in 1861). After he returned home, in 1865, he resumed farming, and soon established a tan-yard which he operated for four years. Besides his home place of 290 acres he owns another 300 acres (1886) and has an interest in another 160 acres near his home. He has farmed and raised livestock on his present farm since 1865 and has met with good success.

"In 1859 he married Edith M. C. Youngblood, daughter of Josiah Youngblood, who was born in Rutherford County, Sept. 29, 1818, son of William and Edith (Reed) Youngblood. William was among the early settlers of Rutherford County. He was a farmer and died in 1844; his wife died in 1875. Josiah has farmed for himself since 1837, the same year he wed Mary Horton who died in 1879.

"Mr. and Mrs. Sims became the parents of eight children. He is a Republican, was a magistrate in his district for six years and is now (1886) a member of the Board of School Commissioners. He and family are members of the Baptist Church, and he has been a Mason since 1868; joined the Union League in 1866." See picture.

Shields Sims was a large, tall, broad shouldered man with black hair, characteristics of his mother's family, the Greesons. His five brothers were also large men. He wore a cropped beard most of his life, and was a man of great stamina, strength and convictions; always active and interested in the welfare of his family, better farming methods and improvement of his community. The inscription on his tombstone reads:

"He was a kind and affectionate husband, a fond father and a friend of all."

The injury to his foot no doubt shortened his life a few years. Gangarene started from an injured toe, crushed by the hoof of the horse he was trying to mount. When his condition-he had been trying to doctor his foot himself-was discovered by a son, he was rushed by ambulance to a hospital in Columbia, Tenn., some 60 miles distant. At the hospital it was found that the infection had spread throughout his body, making it needless to remove his foot in an effort to save his life. Three days later he died quietly, back at his home where he had spent more than 60 years of his life.

When he had reached the hospital, his sons were anxious to know how he had stood the trip. His answer was: "That was some of the finest wheat country we came through that I have ever seen in my life." That was Shields Sims, interested in life and his surroundings, to the end, in his 89th year.

As to his physical strength, I remember seeing him carry huge backlogs into the house, for his fireplace, that would have taxed the strength of a strong man, many years younger-he was then in his 80s. The fireplace was about seven feet wide and some five feet high. I remember hearing him speak of the time when he saw his first match. In the early days of his marriage all cooking was done in the fireplace and he never got over having a fire smoldering there, even during the summer months.

He was always interested in new ideas, new inventions, better methods of farming and new developments, such as electricity, the automobile and the airplane, all of which came into use during his life time. He had the first riding plow and wheat binder in the community; the first Home Comfort cooking stove, the first Seth Thomas calendar clock, the first telephone and the first Edison Gramophone (phonograph) which I played by the hour when I was a boy.

In his early 80s he decided he wanted an automobile. A grandson was living with him at the time. His idea was to have the car for the grandson to drive him to church, to town and other places he might want to go. The two of them went to town with a neighbor and Grandpa bought a Ford Touring car. Despite the fact the grandson had never driven a car, they climbed in and headed for home. The road was rough, mostly dirt, and there were several steep hills. Going down one of the hills, a wheel slid into a deep rut, the grandson lost control of the car and over they went. Grandpa jumped, and tumbled fifteen or twenty feet down a steep slope, into the bushes, landing against a fallen tree. The grandson rushed to him, as Grandpa got to his feet:

"That consarned thing would kill a fellow, if he's not careful," he said grinning.

The car dealer sent for the car, repaired it, and, after some practice in driving in a pasture field, Grandpa and grandson were soon going places.

He bought his home place, 290 acres on Waterfall Branch, from his father in the 1860s and built a one room log house with a lean-to shed and a stone chimney with the big fireplace. After the War he added another large room, leaving a wide hall (dogtrot) between the two; added a porch across the front, a back side-room and another stone chimney. Still later, weather-boarding was added to cover the logs. In the 1930s the old house, still in the family, was modernized by his son, John S. Sims. The wide hail was converted into a living-room; the house was painted and electricity and running water were added, making it a neat, comfortable home.

Grandpa and Grandma moved into the place in the Fall of 1860. Grandma told me she could never forget the day he brought her there on an ox-cart, piled high with the few household goods they possessed. She lived there with a small daughter, born in 1861, while Grandpa was away in the army, during the Civil War. Their second child, another daughter, born Sept. 2, 1862, died four days later, and, was the first person to be buried in the Sims burying ground, on the hill above his house.

Grandma told me many stories about her hardships during the War. Soldiers of both armies, passing through the area, would come to the door, all times of day and night, asking for food and other things. Once they took her axe and sold it back to her, later, for $5.00. "I had to have it to cut wood for the fire for cooking," she said. After that she kept the axe hidden in the house. They would rip open feather beds looking for hidden food and money, "but they never tried to harm me," she said.

Grandpa joined Grant's army in Kentucky in October 1861, when Grant had started his move toward Vicksburg, Miss., a few months before the Battle of Shiloh. He was at home on leave when the Battle of Shiloh opened on Sunday morning, April 6, 1862, at Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River, some 35 miles away. He had gone to one of the back fields, in a hollow, to see about a mare that was due to foal-Grandma had hidden her from soldiers and thieves passing through the area-when he heard the big guns (cannon) open up at Shiloh.

"That's how I come to miss that big, bloody battle," he told me.

By 1863, Grandpa was first sergeant in Company H, 2nd Tennessee Mounted Infantry. In 1864-5, he was on duty with the Federal troops at Clifton, Tenn., guarding the Tennessee River against passage of Confederate gun boats. This closeness to home, about 15 miles, made it possible for him t0 get leave, now and then, to visit his young wife.

Once, when he was home on leave, he set out to walk over the ridge to his father's place on Dry Creek. He was crossing the ridge, near the present Sims burying ground, when a guerilla in Confederate uniform tried to bushwhack him. Grandpa was climbing upon a rail fence when he spied a gun barrel, aimed at him from behind a tree. He threw himself backwards off the fence, breaking his collar-bone in the fall. He had seen that the gun was a muzzle-loader. Jumping to his feet, he saw the man running away into the woods. He gave chase and got close enough to recognize him as a boy he had grown up with in the community. The fellow had first joined the Federal army, deserted, then joined the Confederate army from which he had also deserted. Grandpa was unarmed but he chased the man until darkness settled over the hills, keeping close enough to his heels so he couldn't stop to reload his rifle.

"I guess I was foolish, doing that, but I was so all-fired mad I wanted to beat the daylights out of him," he told me. "I vowed then and there I would get him if I ever laid eyes on him again; him trying to bushwhack me like he did, causing me to break my collar-bone. I sent word to his people that I was going to get him and they sent word back that he was after me because he thought I had reported him as a deserter."

Grandpa said he never heard of the man again until the War was over. Then, he learned he had settled in Giles County, some 60 miles away. "I made up my mind that I would go after him as soon as I got my crops planted. Early in May, 1866, I saddled my horse and rode to Giles County looking for him.

"I found him plowing corn with an old gray horse in a field near a woods. I slipped through the bushes to a rail fence, put my gun barrel through a crack between the rails, squatted down and waited for him to come into range. I had made up my mind to get him like he had tried to get me. My broken collar-bone had given me a lot of trouble and I couldn't get over the fact that he was the cause of it.

"As he came closer, plowing a row of corn directly toward me, it suddently came over me that I could not bushwhack a man. I decided I would show myself, tell him what I was going to do, kill him, get on my horse and take to the woods, back home.

"When I raised up from behind the rail fence, with my gun drawn on him, he let out a blood-curdling scream, dropped to his knees, face and hands raised to the sky, and started praying. I had never heard such praying in all my life. I couldn't shoot a man praying like that. I told him to stop it; to get to his feet. The more I talked the more and louder he prayed; begging for mercy, for my forgiveness, crying like a child. I began to feel sorry for him, pleading praying and crying like he was. Finally, I got him to talking, went to his house with him for dinner, shook hands and returned home, happy it had ended as it did."

In the 1870s Grandpa caught the western fever. An aunt, Sally Sims Lawson (10), was then living at Muskogee in the Oklahoma Indian Territory; a brother, Taylor (23), had moved to Choctaw, Oklahoma and Sam (24), another brother, had settled in Texas. After crops were laid-by in July he saddled a mule and rode out to visit them, a 2,000 mile trip, there and back home.

"After that trip I never again had any thought of leaving this place," he told me in 1925, when he was 87. Another trip he made with neighbors, when he was in his teens, was to New Orleans by flat-boat, down. the Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi rivers. After the produce was sold they walked home, some 500 miles, following the old Natchez Trace as described in Chapter Four.

When his travels were over and his long useful life was spent, they laid him to rest beside his beloved wife in the Sims burying ground on the hill above his home, in the presence of a great host of relatives and friends.

V-28. Genettia Josephine (Josie) Sims, born Jan. 19, 1861; died May 27, 1902. See Sims-Nowlin Family below.
V-29. Mary Melinda Sims, born Oct. 23, 1863; died June 26, 1936. See Sims-Nowlin Family below.
V-30. Dorothy Jane Sims (Johnson), born Feb. 3, 1866; died Jan. 12, 1932. See Sims-Johnson Family below.
V-31. Matthew Josiah (M.J.) Sims, born July 22, 1868; died Dec. 2, 1951. See Chapter Seven.
V-32. Sarah Elizabeth (Bessie) Sims (Davis), born May 8, 1870; died April 24, 1950. See Sims-Davis Family below.
V-33. John Shields Sims, born July 25, 1879; died April 18, 1958. See record of his family below.
V-34. Frances Harriet (Fanny) Sims, born Feb. 16, 1882; died May 4, 1908. See Sims-Davis Family below.

John Shields Sims (33) above, married Effronia Beckham of Hardin County, Dec. 12, 1900. She was born Feb. 19, 1877; died Dec. 29, 1912. Re was in the timber business for a number of years after which he purchased the old home place of his father, Shields Sims (19), on Waterfall Branch where he died in 1958. He was a successful farmer and livestock raiser, and, was Tax Assessor of Wayne County for eight years, being succeeded by his son, Homer Shields Sims, who held the office for 12 years. Some time after the death of his wife he married Ethel Williams, a school teacher who lives at the old home place. They had no children.

John Shields and Effronia Bechham Sims had two children, a daughter who died in infancy, and a son:

VI-35. Homer Shields Sims, born Oct. 17, 1903. He married Gladys Lindsey July 12, 1931. She was born May 16, 1904; daughter of Marion Lindsey, a magistrate for many years and owner of the Abraham Martin Sims (17) farm, location of the old Sims, Tenn., Post Office.

Homer is a prosperous merchant, truck line operator and farmer. He has a feed, seed and fertilizer business in Collinwood, where he lives, and operates two farms, including the old home place on Waterfall Branch and the King farm at the forks of Waterfall and Dry Creeks. He was Tax Assessor for the County for 12 years. He and Gladys Lindsey Sims have one daughter:

VII-36. Kathryn Jean Sims, born March 11, 1938. She married David C. Crawford of Kansas City, Mo., Dec. 15, 1962. He is a Jet pilot in the U. S. Navy Air Corps. Kathryn is a graduate of the University of Alabama and for a time was a teacher in Jones College at Jacksonville, Fla.

 

Geniettia Josephine (Josie) Sims (28) married William T. (Billy) Nowlin and they had eight children:

VI- Fanny Bell Nowlin, born Jan. 5, 1883. She married Charley Downing, October 4, 1904 and moved to Longview, Washington State. Children:

VII-Nona Joice, Norma, Edith and Ernest Downing.

VI- Roxie Nowlin married Henry Martin and moved to Milan, Tenn., where they had a family of which I have no record.
VI- Mallie Nowlin married Luther Middleton and moved Missouri. Children:

VII-Mary, Brown and Lillian Middleton.

VI- Ethel Nowlin-See Nowlin Yeiser Family below.
VI- Floyd Nowlin. He was married three times but had no children.
VI- Carl Nowlin married Ruth Olds and moved to Detroit, Mich. Children:

VII-Marie and Nadine Nowlin.

VI- Lemma (Lem) Nowlin married Atrell Morris Oct. 6, 1934 and they have daughters:

VII-Minnie Josephine and Gennie Sims Nowlin.

VI- Clemma (Clemmie) Nowlin, a twin of Lemma, married Henry Clay Sherwood of Spokane, Wash., and had four children:

VII-Earl, Ruby, Dorothy and Jack Sherwood.

 

Ethel Nowlin, fourth daughter of Josie Sims and W. T. (Billy) Nowlin, was born March 22, 1888; died Nov. 6, 1953. She married Jay Yeiser Jan. 23, 1910. He was a son of Dr. E. R. Yeiser, born Aug. 20, 1885; died July 4, 1954. Dr. Yeiser was a prosperous farmer, our family doctor and a relative by marriage to a daughter of Jackson (Jack) Davis, a brother of my grandfather J. N. Davis, as mentioned in Chapter Seven. He had two children by his first wife, Jay and Muriel. After her death he married her sister, Emily Davis, and had a large family of boys and girls. James B. Davis, who married Sarah Elizabeth Sims (32), a sister of my father M. J. Sims (31), was a brother of the wives of Dr. Yeiser. A daughter, Alma Yeiser, was the second wife of Frank Davis who first married Frances (Fanny) Sims (34), a sister of my father. See the SimsDavis Families, later in this Chapter.

Jay Yeiser was a business leader and official in the Bank of Waynesboro for many years. He and Ethel Nowlin Yeiser were the parents of the following children:

VII- Emmett Warren Yeiser, born Nov. 12, 1910; married Catherine Elizabeth Hartup, June 12, 1936- She was born in Muncie, Ind., Oct. 2, 1906. He has been in the automobile business in Savannah, Tenn., for a number of years. They have two children:

VIII-Catherine Hugo Yeiser, born Aug. 1, 1939; married James David Ross, Corinth, Miss., April 6, 1956. Children:

IX- Catherine Hugo Ross, born July 7, 1958.
IX- James Yeiser Ross, born March 3, 1961.
IX- Louise Hanison Ross, born March 26, 1964.

VIII-Emmett Warren Yeiser, Jr., born Oct. 23, 1940. He is a lieutenant, junior grade, in the U. S. Navy.

VII- Mary Josephine Yeiser, born April 13, 1913; married William Bruce Thompson, Jonesboro, Washington County, Tenn., Dec. 23, 1934. He was born May 8, 1910 and is a successful farmer in the Nolichucky valley. Children:

VIII-Lena Jo Thompson, born Aug. 23, 1937; married Jack Andrew Gardner of Hilton, Va., Sept. 10, 1958. They live in Erwin, Tenn. Children:

IX-Mary Josephine Gardner, born in 1964.

VIII-William Bruce Thompson, Jr., born June 5, 1943. Charles Jay Thompson, born Dec. 1, 1954.

VII-Robert Jacob Yeiser, born Jan. 28, 1915; married Mavis Lee Kerns, April 10, 1942. She was born at Rectortown, Va., Sept. 27. 1919. Robert is a leading dentist in John-City, Tenn. Children:

VIII-Judith Lee Yeiser, born Aug. 12, 1945. Robert Jay Yeiser, born Jan. 28, 1947. Thomas Sims Yeiser, born April 13, 1950.

VII-Clara Nelle Yeiser, born Oct. 13, 1919; married Henry Clay Phillips, Jr., Waynesboro, Tenn., Feb. 1, 1943. Children:

VIII-Henry Clay Phillips, 3rd, born Oct. 5, 1944, Atlanta, Ga.
VIII-Jay Yeiser Phillips, born Dec. 14, 1946, Hazlehurst, Ga.
VIII-Warren Watt Phillips, born Feb. 2, 1950, Columbia, Tenn.

VII-Dorothy Anita Yeiser, born Dec. 13, 1921, died May 24, 1922.

Mary Melinda Sims (29), second child of Shields and Melinda Sims, was born Oct. 23, 1863; died June 26, 1936. She married James S. (Jim) Nowlin Nov. 1, 1883. Children:

VI- Clyde Nowlin, born July 11, 1884. He married Freedona (Doria) Townsend, Jan. 11, 1906, and was for many years a merchant at Collinwood. Their children:

VII- Ralph Nowlin, born Oct. 18, 1906; married Eva Parker, daughter of Ed and May Sims Parker-daughter of Henry Clay Sims (22), Chapter Five. Ralph is president of the Shull Truck Lines at Waynesboro. Children:

VIII- Eva Linda Nowlin, born Dec. 2, 1939; graduated from the University of Tennessee in engineering; now teaching in California.

VIII- James Ralph Nowlin, born Feb. 19, 1945; attended the University of Tennessee; married Lynda Kilburn.

VII- Clara Nowlin, born Feb. 22, 1908; died Jan. 1, 1944; married Neil Clendenin in 1933; had two daughters:

VIII- Catherine Ann Clendenin, born in 1934; married Holland Greer. They live in Lauderdale County, Ala., and have three children:

IX- Catherine, Melaine, and John H. Greer.

VIII- Clara Sue Clendenin, born Dec. 25, 1943; married Jerry S. Cofield. They live in Alabama and have one child:

IX- Adrienne Ann Cofield, born in 1962.

VII- Mabel Nowlin, born in 1912; married William Marvin Robinson in 1931. Children:

VIII- John Clyde Robinson, born Aug. 11, 1932; married Ellen Brown. Children:

IX- Jan Elizabeth, Mary Ellen and Stacy Lynn Robinson.

VIII- William Rodney Robinson, born in 1934; died in infancy.
VIII- David Nowlin Robinson, born 1941, married Juanita Jane Strange:

IX- Stephen David Robinson, born in 1964.

VIII- Sandra Louise Robinson, born in 1944.
VIII- William Marvin Robinson, Jr., born in 1951.

VI- Walter Nowlin, born Dec. 16, 1886; married Parlie Shelton, Nov. 26, 1908 and made their home in Collinwood, Tenn., where he died Nov. 30, 1962. Children:

VII- Frankie Nowlin, born a twin March 17, 1910-her twin died in infancy. She married Clarence C. Barnette of Camden-on-Gauley, W. Va., Jan. 26, 1929; now live at Goshen, Va. He is manager of Appalachan Wood Preservers. Children:

VIII-Bobbie Sue Barnette, born April 21, 1933. She is a graduate of Madison College, Harrisonburg, Va.; now a history teacher. She has prepared an excellent record of the Nowlin family which has been of great help to me in preparing this record of the Sims-Nowlin family. She married James Thomas Henry of Buena Vista, Va., June 17, 1956. Children:

IX- Margaret Anne and Sarah Elizabeth Henry.

VIII- Anna Ruth Barnette, born Sept. 26, 1935; graduate of Madison College and was a Home Demonstration Agent until her marriage in 1961 to Walter Cunningham Berry, Jr., of Mint Springs, Va. They live at Staunton and he works in the Chemical Department of DuPont at Waynesboro, Va. Children:

IX- Donna Lee and Linda Sue Berry.

VII- Marie Nowlin, born Sept. 25, 1911; married Ollie Shands, Nov. 21, 1926. Children:

VIII- Earl Shands, born Sept. 1, 1927; married Delphine Throgmorton of Waynesboro, Tenn., Dec. 30, 1850. Children:

IX- Sharon Gail, Joseph, Olivia and Angelia Shands.
IX- Mary Ann Shands, born April 12, 1930; married Billy Nation, Dec. 23, 1948.

VII- Lucille Nowlin, born Jan. 27, 1914; married Homer Gillis, Dec. 8, 1934. He was a son of Ira Gillis, sheriff of Wayne County for several years, and Maud Catherin Johnson Gillis, a granddaughter of Henry Clay Sims (22), Chapter Five. Children:

VIII- Mary Joyce Gillis, born Sept 18, 1935; died Feb. Feb. 27, 1938.
VIII- James David and John Daniel Gillis, twins who died in infancy.

VII- Walter Nowlin, Jr., born April 30, 1920, first married Bertie Powers-no children. He served in the Fourth Marine Division in the Pacific Area in World War Two; married his second wife, Lena Stults, Dec. 22, 1946. Children:

VIII- Allen Stephen Nowlin, born Dec. 15, 1947.
VIII- Jerry Lane Nowlin, born July 8, 1849.
VIII- Stella Louise Nowlin, born Dec. 21, 1951.
VIII- Judy Katherine Nowlin, born March 13, 1956.

VII- Billy Eugene Nowlin, born a twin, May 29, 1931; married Winnie Fay Horton, Feb. 20, 1954. He served on a Navy minesweeper during the Korean War; now works for TVA at Johnsonville, Tenn. Children:

VIII- David Eugene Nowlin, born Dec. 3, 1954.
VIII- Billy Daniel Nowlin, born July 29, 1956.
VIII- Patricia Faye Nowlin, born Aug. 11, 1957.
VIII- Pamela Jane Nowlin, born March 10, 1960.

VII- Betty Jean Nowlin, twin of Billy above, married Lemuel Eugene Edwards, Nov. 26, 1952. He works for the Southern Bell Telephone Co. Children:

VIII- Martha Lynn Edwards, born Jan. 9, 1956.
VIII- Brian Lee Edwards, born July 16, 1957.
VIII- David Vern Edwards, born Feb. 13, 1962.

VI- Clara Nowlin, born July 5, 1889; died Oct. 28, 1890.
VI- Buelah Nowlin, born Aug. 18, 1891; died June 8, 1954; married Abraham Bromley, Jan. 31, 1910. He died in 1949 and both are buried at Durant, Okla., where they lived. They had two daughters:

VII- Louise Bromley, born Dec. 7, 1910; married Robert E. Hatcher who died in 1955. One son:

VIII- Robert Earl Hatcher, born in 1944, now attending college in California.
Louise is now a teacher at Pittsburg, Calif., where she married Henry Powell.

VII- Mary Joyce Bromley married Rainey Arnold who at one time was sheriff of Durant, Okla., and was a member of the State Legislature, 1949-50. They now live in California-no record of children.

VI-Lula Nowlin, born Nov. 26, 1893; died May 9, 1930; married Eldred Bryant. March 3, 1912. Children:

VII-Herschel Bryant, born April 7, 1913; married Beatrice (Bea) Ragland of Gainsboro, Tenn., Nov. 18, 1950. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, in Civil Engineering, and lives in Nashville, Tenn. Children:

VIII-Kaye and Jane Bryant.

VII-Edith Bryant, horn in 1915; married Noah Legg, now deceased; had two children.
VII- Era Bryant, born Dec. 16, 1917; married Claude Gober; had three children.
VII- Eva Nell Bryant married a man with a Polish name which sounded like Nowlin, so they changed it to Nowlin and they have two children that bear that surname.

VI-Lester Nowlin, born March 25, 1896; died June 15, 1922, unmarried. He served in the Army in France and lost his life in a saw mill accident after returning home.
VI-Nina Nowlin, born Nov. 12, 1898; died April 4, 1954. She married Don Y. Parker, Nov. 25, 1917. He died Jan. 11, 1954 and both he and his wife are buried at Fall Brook, Calif., where they lived for a number of years. He was a son of Ed and May Sims Parker-May Sims Parker was a daughter of Henry Clay Sims (22), see Chapter Five.
VI- Pearl Nowlin, born Oct. 9, 1901; married Robert Scott. Both were teachers and Robert was at one time Highway Commissioner for Wayne County. Children:

VII- Helen Scott, born Sept. 20, 1924; married Marvin Paul in April 1945. Children:

VIII- Suzanne Paul, born May 22, 1951.
VIII- Joe Scott Paul, born Oct. 31, 1953.
VIII- Laura Beth Paul, born Sept. 22, 1959.

VI- Mary Ruth Nowlin, born March 5, 1906; married Enlo Farris, June 20, 1926. Children:

VII- Emma Nola Farris, born July 16, 1928 married Stancil Mize, July 18, 1946 and has three children:

VIll- Cynthia Louise, Bobbie and Randy Mize.

VII- Dorothy Dell Farris, born Oct. 22, 1935; married Bobby J. McDonald, July 15, 1953 and have son:

VIII- Jeffery McDonald, born Oct. 15, 1954.

Mary Ruth is now married to Gus Gregory. They live in Florence, Ala., and have one daughter:

VII- Wanda Gumell Gregory, born Dec. 4, 1947.

 

Dorothy Jane Sims (30), third daughter of Shields and Melinda Sims, was born Feb. 3, 1866; died Jan. 12, 1932; married J. T. (Tom) Johnson of Factory Creek, Wayne County, Jan. 16, 1887. He owned and operated a part of the Matthew J. Sims farm at the forks of Dry Creek and Waterfall Branch. They had four children:

VI-Zella Johnson, born Dec. 9, 1887; married William J. Townsend of Cypress Inn, Tenn., Sept. 19, 1909. He was & brother of Dona Townsend, wife of Clyde Nowlin, and at one time was a member of the Tennessee Legislature; worked with the Federal Bureau of Census from 1922 to 1933 and was later a merchant and farmer at Cloverdale, Ala. Children:

VII-Gladys Trene, Pauline Avis, William and Oma Lorene Townsend.

VI-Eldred Johnson, born March 30, 1890; married Claudia Rinks, Feb. 28, 1915. He worked in the lumber business and was a hardwood flooring inspector and grader for several lumber companies, now retired. Children:

VII-Avis Johnson, born Dec. 30, 1916; married Capt. P. M. Kenyon, U. S. Army, Nov. 6, 1932.
VII-Ralph Johnson, born July 3, 1921. He attended the University of Tennessee; worked in the War Department, Washington; in Merchant Marines during World War Two; married Inez Dixon, Nov. 23, 1944 and became a Methodist minister. Children:

VIII-Sandra Johnson, born Jan. 8, 1947.

VI- Pearl Johnson, born Jan. 15, 1895; died Mar. 2, 1938; married Maynard Martin in 1916. Children:

VII-Verna, J. T., Ola Mae and Mary Jane Martin.

Martin died in 1929 and Pearl married Tommie Tacker in 1930 and had two children.
VI- Roy Johnson, born Nov. 12, 1902; died March 13, 1938; married Icy Hollis, Aug. 10, 1924-no children.

Sarah Elizabeth (Bessie) Sims (32). fourth daughter and fifth child of Shields and Melinda Youngblood Sims, was born May 5, 1870; died April 24, 1950. She married James Branson (Jim) Davis in December 1895. He was a son of Jack Davis and a cousin of my mother-See Davis Family, Chapter Eight. Soon after marriage they moved to Ardmore, Okla., where he was a U. S. Marshal in the Indian Territory for several years. In the early 1900s he broke up a notorious horse stealing ring, operating out of Kansas City and St. Louis, with a hide-out in the Territory. He was a salesman for a carriage company when he died March 17, 1909. He was born June 14, 1866. Children:

VI- Gladys Caroline Davis, born Sept. 15, 1897. She married Harry T. Conway, June 20, 1918. He was with the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., and they lived for a time in Baltimore, Maryland. He was with the International Department of the Cook Paint Co., when he died, July 28, 1960. He was born Aug. 6, 1893. They adopted a daughter:

VII- Caroline Jean Conway, born Aug 17, 1937; married Charles L. Walters, May 10, 1956. He was born June 2, 1936. They Live in San Diego, Calif. Children:

VIII- Tara Marie Walters, born Feb. 28, 1957.
VIII- Frances Elizabeth Walters, born April 7, 1958.
VIII- Daniel L. Walters, born July 20, 1959.
VIII- Michael C. Walters, born March 17, 1962.

VI- Cecil N. Davis, born Sept. 20, 1898; first married Vernon Binion in 1919 and had one daughter:

VII- Shirley Jane Davis, born Oct. 29, 1921. She married Alfred E. Spencer, MGM motion picture director of Hollywood, Calif., Jan. 18, 1947. They were divorced in 1958. Children:

VIII- Steven Alfred Spencer, born May 13, 1949.
VIII- Jeffery Edward Spencer, born Feb. 9, 1953.

Shirley has a position as a secretary in Beverly Hills and lives with her sons in Sherman Hills, Calif.

After separation from his first wife, Cecil Davis married Gladys Marion Yadon, Nov. 14, 1931, and they live in Kansas City, Mo. He was connected with the Skelly Oil Company for a number of years; now retired. Children:

VII- Kay Marilyn Davis, born April 16, 1935; married David Lee Windsor, April 27, 1957. Children:

VIII- Sean David Windsor, born June 10, 1962.
VIII- Susan Kay Windsor, born Jan. 11, 1964.

VII- James Harry Davis, born Nov. 1, 1937; married Jane Louise Holt, Dec. 31, 1960. He is an officer in the Navy Air Corps. Children:

VIII- Timothy James Davis, born July 16, 1961.
Heather Anne Davis, born Aug 13, 1963.

VI- Bessie Sims Davis married Edwin D. Morrison in October 1927. He was advertising director of the R. L. Polk Directory Co., and they traveled a great deal. He died in 1937 and she made her home in Denver, Cob., until she died in 1950.

Frances Harriet (Fanny) Sims (34), born Feb. 16, 1882; died May 4, 1908; married John Franklin (Frank) Davis, a brother of my mother, Jan. 23, 1902. See Davis Family, Chapter Seven. He was a farmer and was trustee of Wayne County for two termseight years. Later he engaged in the real estate business in Lawrence County where he died in 1955. Children:

VI- Ruby Davis, born April 27, 1903; married James T. Critchton of Florida, Dec. 24, 1939. He was in the real estate business in Tampa at the time of his death in the early 1960s. Children:

VII- Nancy Melinda Critchton, born March 22, 1941.
VII- Margaret Anne Crichton, born Aug. 17, 1942.
VII- Elizabeth and Marion Critchton, twins born Oct. 21, 1943. Marion died, Oct. 25, 1944. Elizabeth married Joseph Berio of Tampa in September, 1864.

VI- Nancy Davis, born Jan. 5, 1905; married George W. Brown, May 25, 1951. They were married at sunrise in the garden of the Oak Hill Chapel, Nashville, Tenn., by Dr. Walter Courtenay, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. So far as known, she is the only one of the family ever married at dawn, which was planned in accordance with her wishes. He operates the Brown Construction Co., and is farm supervisor for the T. S. Hassell Co., at Clifton, Tenn., where they make their home. They have no children.

Several years after the death of Frances Sims Davis, Frank Davis married Alma Yeiser and they had three children:

VI-Frank Davis, Jr., a rural mail carrier at Lawrenceburg; Mary Emily Davis, and Edwin Davis who was an electrician and was accidentally killed while working on a highline.

Footnote: Roman Numerals indicate generations; Figures are Sims identification numbers.

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