The School!
Paulette Elementary
Week 7
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First I want to thank several people for helping with this week's article. First, the Roy Acuff Museum who had no idea who I was talking about (My mistake not their's, I'll get back to that in a moment). Second I would like to thank Mary Beth Kitts at the Register of Deeds Office. She took what little information I had and traced a piece of property back 100 years. I had my search narrowed down to three individuals. And finally to County Mayor Larry Lay. Now let me explain what I was up to: As of this week the old store building has met its final resting place beneath ground. I thought it fitting to remember it. Unfortunately, I had no idea what kind of store it once was or who owned it. The quest began! |
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 I
must say I am no amateur when it comes to research. I collaborate on
several websites with Rootsweb and also Ancestry.Com. Some of my
research has been quoted in books, I generally know what I am doing.
But I walk into the Roy Acuff Museum and proclaim to the man I need the
history of a building. Now it never occurred to me I did not know the
name of the business or even the man who owned it when it started. I
had made a rookie mistake! I skulked out quite embarrassed by what I
had done.Next I decided to go back to the basics. I knew that the Board of Education now owned it so I decided to stop by and see my friend Mary Beth Kitts. As many of you know Mary Beth is the Registrar of Deeds, but few of us know just how detailed her records are. In a few moments she had traced the school property all the way back to a Watson who owned it in the 1800's. Barely two hours into the search and I was making headway! I had three parcels of land that could possibly be the store building. Three parcels with three names. Now all I had to do was figure out which of these three individuals was a store owner in the mid 1900's. As I started to leave the courthouse Larry Lay was standing by the door. Casually I asked, "Who was the man who started the store that the school system just tore down?" He replied without hardly looking up, "L.J. Hurst."  Now
why didn't I ask him two hours ago? I am not sure I even thanked him,
so here is a public thank you to our County Mayor who had in his head
the information that eluded me, a museum and even a computer could only
narrow it to three names.Alright I had a name! What could the museum tell me about this man? I ran back over, now armed with some information to start the search. A museum and records depository can be so much more helpful when the guy that comes through the door knows what he is looking for. Anyway here is what I have: On week seven at the site I found a huge hole dug in the ground. In this hole were being piled blocks of concrete from the old store building. Now when I say hole I mean something probably thirty feet deep. This was an area that had to be dug out and filled in and the slabs of concrete were serving well. The area that the building is buried in is at the far north end of the property, not near any construction. As I watched the dozer operator he was not merely pushing in the rubble, he was actually sorting it. I saw him move concrete blocks aside as well as roots and such. I asked one of the workers what the deal was and was told that such things were unsuitable for burial. I thought anything could be buried. It seems that anything that can leave air pockets or will rot can not be buried. These items were to be disposed of in another way. What impressed me most was the dexterity in which he maneuvered the big machine. But also I was impressed that I was there to witness the end of an era. How many times have we driven through there and just taken the old building for granted? It was there when that little lane in front of Milan Church was the main road. This building witnessed the  old B Model Mack trucks dragging Roadway Freight toward Kentucky. What had this old building actually seen?I remember it as the Dragonfly Diner, and more recently the auction house. But it had once been so much more. In 1843 a Luther John Hurst was born. He would later marry a Cynthia Ann Lay and have several children. One of these children was to be named Attie.* Attie Hurst ran a sawmill in our county at the beginning of the 20th century. In fact I can find him running the mill as late as 1923. Attie was to have a son and as was common at the time named his son after his grandfather. Attie's son was born in 1921 and named Luther John in honor of his elder. ** Luther John, or L.J. as the community knew him was named after his grandfather who in all likelihood was named after his grandfather who was also named John Hurst or "Long John" as he was called. Long John Hurst appears to have come from Wythe County Virginia. *** I can't tell when Long John Hurst died possibly someone researching the family can fill me in. I know he probably died before there was a Union County as his will was probated in Claiborne. I have a transcribed copy of it. **** But why am I telling you all of this? Maybe it is just me but I stand in awe of all that happened to get us to this point. At some point during the 1800's a family made its way down the Clinch River to settle in what is now Union County. At no point could this family have an idea just how many people their roots would touch. In those days major travel was by wagon or river. In just a couple of generations this family would help Union County achieve a 21st century school full of fiber optics. Possibly some graduate of this school will go on to do something that changes the world, thus extending the fabric of time from this pioneer family on to the future. No doubt the modern day L.J. Hurst sat in his store front and watched traffic drive by. He probably made an impact on his community, as my dad tells me he was a good man. (I guess I should have asked my 78 year old dad who owned that store too). But as I stood there and watched that building being buried thirty feet deep I wondered just how many lives our own lives touch. This seems fitting for our new school. The video depicts the use of the pan to move the huge blocks of concrete to their final resting place. Figure 1 - Depicts the operator of the backhoe digging the footers. Figure 2 - Depicts the site of the building from the high point that will eventually be the ball field. Footnotes: * Our Union County heritage Volume 1 ** Our Union County Heritage Volume 2 *** Rootsweb.Com **** Ancestry.Com Archives |
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