Willard Sexton

Willard Sexton

Male 1914 - 2000  (85 years)

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  • Name Willard Sexton 
    Birth 7 Sep 1914  Buffalo, Scott, Tennessee, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Death 6 Aug 2000  Oak Ridge, Anderson, Tennessee, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 

    • U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 about Willard Sexton
      Name: Willard Sexton
      SSN: 408-44-1883
      Last Residence: 37762 Jellico, Campbell, Tennessee, USA
      BORN: 7 Sep 1914
      Died: 6 Aug 2000
      State (Year) SSN issued: Tennessee (Before 1951)
    Burial 10 Aug 2000  Jellico City Cemetery, Jellico, Campbell, Tennessee, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Siblings 4 Siblings 
    Person ID I12085  Main Tree
    Last Modified 16 Aug 2014 

    Father John Sexton,   b. 9 Oct 1877, Scott, Tennessee, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 11 Mar 1968, Back Valley, Coalfield, Morgan, Tennessee, United States Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 90 years) 
    Mother Ida Potter,   b. 25 Dec 1888, Helenwood, Scott, Tennessee, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 8 Dec 1968, Back Valley, Coalfield, Morgan, Tennessee, United States Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 79 years) 
    Marriage 11 Feb 1907  Scott, Tennessee, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • Ida taught 3 or 6 terms of 5months each before she and John Sextonwere married on February 11, 1907. They were married in Harriett'sbedroom (later Dad and Mom's bedroom). The door was shut. I don'tknow how long they were married before Granddpa (Potter) found out.Dad bought 2 licenses. The first in Campbell Co. Mother wouldn't gowith him to Campbell County. It wasn't legal (the license) in Scottco. so he bought another. After Grandpa found out, their bedroom wasupstairs over DaDad and Mother's dining room in later years. One nightDad blew out the kerosene light. It caught firel. He had gone to bed.He got up, brabbed a quilt off the bed and smothered it out. Thescorched wall was still there when I stayed with Harriet and when Ruthbought the place (in the 1970s or 1980s).
      Another source lists marriage date as February 10, 1907 per Ancestry.com Family Trees. No documentation attached.
      John and Ida Potter Sexton lived in Buffalo at one time--before they moved into Judge Potter's home in Huntsville after his death. The land they lived on was part of the property of Thomas Chambers, one of the first settlers of Scott County, who walked across the mountain from Campbell County with his wife, Margaret, and her father, Isham Sharp. According to Ida and John Sexton's oldest daughter, May Sexton McGlothin, the land was later purchased by Judge William Henry Potter. This has not been proven, however. May McGlothin said Judge Potter gave each of his children, 4 daughters and one son, a piece of property when they got married.
      In the very late 1970s, Judy Kesterson Smith Spradlin was a reporter for the Harriman Record in Harriman, Tennessee. A member of the Harriman Republican party asked her if she would like to go to him with the Rockwood (Morgan County) airport t to pick up Howard Baker. He was coming to Roane County to address the Republicans. I (Judy) was thrilled. We rode to the Rockwood airport and picked up Howard Baker and his pilot, Ron. I can't remember Ron's last name. Ron and I rode in the back seat and Howard and the man who I came with (I can't remember his name) rode in front. I was sitting behind Howard Baker and asked him some of the usual reporter questions. He was rude, asked the driver why I was there, and eventually told me he got car sick on the curves down Rockwood mountain trying to turn around and talk to me.

      Ron tried to soothe it over by striking up a conversation with me. He was very nice. I told him about my great-grandfather, John Sexton, living in Scott County. He asked me which John? I asked what he meant. He said there was many John Sexton's in Huntsville so they were given nicknames. He asked about several, but when he asked about Honey John, it struck a cord--not because I'd ever heard the name before but because I knew that my great-grandpa John Sexton raised bees.

      As soon as I had a chance, I called Grandma McGlothin and asked if Great-grandpa Sexton had a nickname and what was it. She said, "Honey John". What a thrill it was for me to hear that tidbit of information!

      Later, I learned from reading great-grandma Sexton's journal of settling the estate of her father that the Bakers "raped" the estate, charging for this and that and more this and more that until they took all the money that Judge Potter had. I think it was some sort of vendetta against Judge Potter, who had passed the bar and got his license to practice as an attorney without going to law school. That was allowed back in his day.
    Marriage Record:  Sexton, John and Potter, Ida m.1907
    Marriage Record: Sexton, John and Potter, Ida m.1907
    Photos
    Sexton Family 1931
    Sexton Family 1931
    The Sexton family of Scott Co TN posed for a photo in 1931. They were living in Buffalo (Scott Co) at that time on the farm that was part of Thomas Chambers' homeplace. Thomas was the first Chambers in Scott Co, which was not Scott Co at the time he crossed the mountain from what is now Campbell Co. in the 1700s. In the photo is (front from…
    Albums  Sexton (0)
    Descendants of the Sexton line of Scott County, TN, with relatives in Coalfield, TN
    Family ID F4201  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Grace Baird   d. 8 Jun 2014, Jellico, Campbell, Tennessee, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. Deborah Sexton
    Last Modified 24 Jun 2009 
    Family ID F4568  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 7 Sep 1914 - Buffalo, Scott, Tennessee, United States Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 6 Aug 2000 - Oak Ridge, Anderson, Tennessee, United States Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - 10 Aug 2000 - Jellico City Cemetery, Jellico, Campbell, Tennessee, United States Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Notes 
    • Willard Sexton
      Birth Year: 1914
      Race: White, citizen (White)
      Nativity State or Country: Tennessee
      State: Tennessee
      County or City: Scott

      Enlistment Date: 15 Jul 1941
      Enlistment State: Georgia
      Enlistment City: Fort Oglethorpe
      Branch: Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
      Branch Code: Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
      Grade: Private
      Grade Code: Private
      Component: Selectees (Enlisted Men)
      Source: Civil Life

      Education: 2 years of college
      Civil Occupation: Teacher
      Marital Status: Single, without dependents
      Height: 69
      Weight: 149

      Source = Ancestry Military Records
      National Archives and Records Administration. U.S. World War II ArmyEnlistment Records, 1938-1946 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: TheGenerations Network, Inc., 2005. Original data: Electronic Army SerialNumber Merged File, 1938-1946 [Archival Database]; World War II ArmyEnlistment Records; Records of the National Archives and RecordsAdministration, Record Group 64; National Archives at College Park,College Park, MD.


      U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca.1775-2006 about Willard Sexton
      Name: Willard Sexton
      Service Info.: TEC 5 US ARMY WORLD WAR II
      Birth Date: 7 Sep 1914
      Death Date: 6 Aug 2000
      Cemetery: Jellico Cemetery
      Cemetery Address: Jellico, TN 37762

      Uncle Willard Sexton was a great story teller, just like his father, John Sexton.


      Two of his tales that I remember bits about were (1) Finding a huge ruby in WWII in Germany. I used that as a basis for a book I wrote for young people in the 1980s.

      2) Was his story of hiding from the Germans by entering an ice cold creek and breaking off reeds that were hollow and using them to breath. They successfully escaped the Germans!

      You never knew how much of Uncle Willard's stories was the truth and how much was embellishment--same with Great Grandpa Sexton.