James Henry Jackson was born in 1862, in the middle of the Civil war, as the third son of John and Peggy Jackson. He was raised working on the farm next door to Peggy’s parents. James left home early though and, as mentioned in the last post, was married in 1879 to Sarah Malinda Chandler. He was 17 and Sarah was just 15 years old, but they soon established their own household and James became a farm worker. Neither James nor Sarah could read or write and they rented their home as they would continue to do for the rest of their lives.

James was tall with red hair, while Sarah was of medium size with dark hair and blue eyes. As typical of families in earlier times, they proceeded to have 12 children over the next 18 years. As chance would have it, 6 of the children had red hair and 6 had dark hair. By 1900 the family had moved a little south to Greene County, TN. The reason is unknown, but perhaps it was to find better work since James had become a day laborer. They already had their first 10 children, and it seems the family had fallen on hard times.  The three oldest teenage sons were also working as day laborers,  and they were forced to let their oldest daughter, Myrtle, work as a hired servant at only 12 years of age.

Then around 1905 the whole family, including the 5 adult children and spouses, all moved 50 miles west to Campbell County. What was the reason for such a major event?  Well, evidently, it was to obtain employment in the coal mining industry in that general area. With the single exception of James himself, all the men became coal miners. The first to move seems to have been the oldest son, John, who married Melda Roberts in Campbell County in June 1904. Others soon followed and by 1910 all were living in the Jacksboro area.

My mother, Helen Derrie, remembers her grandfather being known as Jim rather than James. It is not clear why Jim didn’t become a coal miner also, but it may have been because he was already in his 40s by the time of the big move. He became a farmer worker again and settled down in Caryville. He lived another 30 years until he died at age 75 in January 1936 from a cerebral hemorrhage. Sarah lived even longer and died in February 1944 from complications resulting from a fractured left hip received in a fall. She was I month short of her 80th birthday. Jim and Sarah are buried together in the Harness Cemetery in Caryville on a hilltop overlooking Cove Lake.