Chapter Fourteen
The Martin Sims Family
of Tennessee and Texas
I-Pariss Sims, 1750-1833
II-5. Martin Sims, the third son and fifth child of Pariss and Keziah Royster Sims, was born in North Carolina about 1790-see Chapter Three. He came to Giles County, Tenn., with his parents in 1807. From there he went to Bedford County where he purchased a large tract of land near Duck River in what is still known as Sims Spring Community, near the present village of Farmington, West of Shelbyville, and about 30 miles from his father's home on Lynn Creek in Giles County.
When Martin settled at the big spring and built his first log cabin, it was wild country, abounding in game of all kinds. He was a great hunter and it is said that he shot wild cats, panther and bear from the roof of his cabin on several different occasions. His closest neighbor was five miles away and the nearest trading post was 10 miles from him. I visited his old home place and the big spring that bears his name in 1964. His old home still stands on a knoll above the spring but the land he once owned has been sub-divided into several different farms. None of his descendants live in the community. Martin William Sims, his only child of which we have a record, moved to Texas soon after his father's death about 1880.
In clearing his land, a tree fell on him and broke a leg which caused him to limp for the rest of his life -- there was no doctor in the area to set the bone properly. In spite of this handicap, he walked to Wayne County, over 100 miles, to visit relatives before the Civil War. Again in the 1870's, when he was past 80 years old, he rode a mule on a return visit to relatives in Wayne and Lawrence counties. It is also said that he visited with the Matthew Sims family, the Baptist preacher who died in Putnam County. This Matthew Sims was a son of Abraham Sims, an older brother of Pariss Sims. See Chapter 18 for a record of his family. Martin Sims married, name of wife unknown, and had one son of which we have a record:
III-284. Martin (Mart) William Sims, born about 1820; died in Blueridge, Tex., in 1908. He was the writer of the letter to Mrs. Hallie Lee Royster in regard to his grandparents, as quoted in Chapter Three. He was a farmer and a rancher and was married twice. The information given below on the Martin William Sims family is based on the following letter, written Oct. 22, 1940, to Judge Joe Sims (175) by Melissa Sims, a great granddaughter, White Wright, Texas:
'Your letter to Fert Sims came to my brother, John Sims. You say you want to know about the Sims family and my brother said for me to write. My name is Melissa and I have brothers John, Oscar and Will. My father's name was William Edward Sims and his father's name was Mart (Martin William) Sims, son of Martin Sims. My mother said that they all lived together on my great grandfather's place (the Martin Sims place in Bedford County, Tenn.). Fert was a child of my grandfather's second wife by a former marriage and he went by the name of Sims. She says great grandfather (Martin) lived with them when he died. She says she knows that is the same old place (Judge Joe had written in his letter about a visit he had made to the old Sims place in Bedford County) for she had carried many a bucket of water from that old Sims spring. She is still living (1940) and if she lives to December 3, she will be 87 years old.
"We know you are some of our kin because you mentioned Matthew J. Sims, (11-Chapter Five) a relative, and the old home place where my great grandfather died . . . . my father is dead. He has been dead 13 years the 9th of September (1940), and grandfather died in 1908. He lived in Blueridge when he died and all his children are dead. John, Will, Oscar and I are all the grandchildren grandfather (Martin William Sims) has living - . . . I will be 56 the 10th of November (1940). John will be 60 the 5th of December, Oscar is 53 and Will is 43, and my sister Agnes would have been 63 if she had lived to the 18th of December (1940). Write soon to me or John, White Wright, Texas, Route 4."--Melissa Sims.
IV-285. William Edward Sims, according to the above letter by his daughter, was a son of Martin William Sims and his second wife. He may have had some brothers and sisters but the daughter does not mention any. William E. Sims married, name of wife unknown, and had the following children:
V-286. Agnes Sims, born Dec. 18, 1877; died before 1940.
V-287. John Sims, born Dec. 5, 1880.
V-288. Melissa Sims, born Nov. 10,1884.
V-289. Oscar Sims, born in 1887.
V-290. Will Sims, born in 1897.
All of the above, except Agnes, were living in 1940 but we were unable to contact any of them in the early 1960s, for a record of their families.
Footnote: Roman Numerals indicate generations; Figures are Sims identification numbers.
Modified: 5/12/02