The only other name as popular as William in the Ayers families of Stinking Creek was James, and again middle names were often used to help separate individuals. James LaFayette Ayers married Elizabeth (Betty) Ayers who was Martin Ayers’ sister. They were second cousins. Although James and Betty are not bloodline ancestors, their tangled love story is worth telling.
Born in 1873, James was the son of William Bailey Ayers and Nancy Jane Douglas. He grew up on a farm, but as a young man he moved from Stinking Creek and became a teamster (a driver of a team of horses). He was 5 ft. 11 in. tall and had dark hair with blue eyes, and a big black mustache. He first married Sarah Boshears in 1892 and they had two children.
In February 1898, the mysterious sinking of the American battleship The Maine in the Havana harbor killing 266 sailors, quickly led to armed conflict between Spain and the U.S. Although the main issue was Cuban independence, the short Spanish-American War was fought in both the Caribbean and the Pacific. The Navy was ready, but the Army was not well-prepared. In the spring of 1898, the strength of the U.S. Army was just 28,000 men. The Army wanted 50,000 new men, but received more than 220,000, through volunteers and the mobilization of state National Guard units.
Although James Ayers had a young family, at age 25 he left home to be one of those who volunteered from Tennessee. He was probably seeking adventure. In July 1898, he mustered in as a private in the 6th US Vol Army at Camp Wilder in Knoxville, TN. From there the regiment was transferred to Camp Thomas near Chattanooga, TN which had horrific living conditions. The camp
had rapidly grown to a city of over 30,000 men with inadequate supplies and sanitation. Disease and illness were rife. The 6th would remain at this camp longer than any other unit, and while the regiment was there in August 1898, an armistice was reached between the U.S. and Spain ending the war’s fighting. Although the war ended abruptly, the 6th Volunteer Army was ordered to serve as an occupation force and raise the American flag on the newly acquired island of Puerto Rico. They served on that tropical island from October 1898 until February 1889 when they were ordered back to the continental U.S. Most of the men wanted to stay in the Army, but the whole regiment was mustered out on March 15, 1899 at Savannah Georgia, at which time James returned home to Campbell County.
Then his first wife, Sarah, died in 1902. Their children went to live with James’ parents. In July of 1905, James and Betty Ayers, one of Martin Ayers’ sisters, fell in love and were married.
Around 1908, James and Betty moved to Monroe County which is between Knoxville and Chattanooga, TN. The Babcock Lumber and Land Company that was formed in 1907 performed logging operations on more than one-quarter million acres in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina. A logging railroad was built, and James became a section foreman for a track crew. He and Betty also operated a boarding house for about a dozen railroad workers.
By the time he registered for the World War I draft in 1918, James was too old to serve. However, his registration shows that he was then working as a track foreman for the company in Blount County, TN. Also, in the 1920 census he and Betty lived together in Blount County. They had no children together. Then sometime after that, the family story goes that James just left the house one day and never returned. Betty never heard from him again and she sadly returned home to stinking Creek.
What happened to him? One the one hand, some researchers believe that James then married a widow named Elllen Riggs (Akins). However, there doesn’t seem to be any record of such a marriage, but she did change her name to Ayers by the 1930 census when she lived in Blount County with 2 children but no husband.
On the other hand, there is proof that James LaFayette Ayers was admitted into the National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers system (probably much smaller versions of today’s Veteran’s Hospitals). He was diagnosed with a number of seemingly minor disabilities such as hemorrhoids, muscular rheumatism, varicose veins, etc., but was accepted nonetheless. Perhaps his rheumatism was severe. He first was admitted at the Central Branch home located in Dayton, Ohio for the period from November 1921 to November 1925. He was readmitted a second time at the Mountain Branch home located in Johnson City, TN from March 1929 to Sept 1932. His papers show that he listed his wife as Betty Ayers. James died in August 1936 in Johnson City at age 63.
Did James Lafayette Ayers leave his wife Betty for the widow Ellen Akins or did he leave to go off to the Veterans Home without explaining? There is the very strong likelihood that he did both, and it is clear he spent over seven years in the Veterans Home. Whatever the real story, after he died Betty Ayers was able to draw a widow’s pension for his service in the Spanish-American War for the rest of her life until she died in 1959 at age 79.
Betty Ayers was a wonderful, caring woman and deserved better from her man. She lived out the rest of her life in the old log cabin on Walnut Mountain that she inherited from her brother Matthew
around 1918. She worked tirelessly in her garden and helped with Martin’s family when his first wife died. At times she had her father and mother and her sister, Lucy, live with her, but they all eventually moved on or died. She never seemed afraid to live there by herself….except for one instance. One of her neighbors had some cows wearing cowbells that must have roamed free, and they would come around at night and wake her up. So, one time she got up irritated in the middle of the night and went outside to shoo them away. After she got them moved on, she heard a panther scream nearby. She was so frightened that she couldn’t run back to the cabin fast enough! Scared her half to death!
Aunt Betty, as everyone called her, never had a family of her own, but she was remembered very fondly by her nieces and nephews. In the end, she died alone in her old log cabin.
Years later, a man named Harold Phillips, cousin to Frank Collingsworth, Geneva’s husband, went to considerable trouble to disassemble and rebuild Aunt Betty’s old log cabin down in LaFollette. He had an interest in old structures did the work mostly by himself. The only part worth saving was the kitchen half which is pictured below. Unfortunately, it is now being used only as a shed. No stashed away money was found.
