Other Events and Attributes:

• _UID: 7DD1A0A503CE41B29F12B5EA57C11411E418

Other Events and Attributes:

• _UID: 454F574131524057A3DEE77AC0BA57BFB8F2

Joseph married Sandra Sandy. Sandra was born in 11 Aug. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• _UID: E672FE1A774C456CB91011766743607DBB28

Other Events and Attributes:

• _UID: CF4686BD550C433EADA24205BC4F9CDA51AD

Notes:

Harry C Padgett was born May 29, 1912. I presume this to be in Kentucky since he lived there when he and Dorothy married and he was buried in Kentucky. See Figure 1 below.
In 1941 he was living in Waynesboro (Waynesburg?), Kentucky and his wife-to-be, Dorothy Kesterson, was living in Clinton, Tennessee. See Figure 2 below. They were married in Anderson Co., Tennessee on October 15, 1941, by Rev. J.L. Smith. Dorothy?s mother, Mary Kesterson, was a witness. See Figure 3 below. There is no evidence of Harry C Padgett serving in World War II. It is likely he did not as his tombstone is NOT of the style given to Veterans. See Figure 4 Below. Veteran tombstones are flat against the ground. Harry C Padgett?s tombstone is upright and large. Harry died May 21, 2001. His residence at the time was in Corbin, Whitley County, KY. He was buried in Corbin, Kentucky at the McFarland Cemetery. His tombstone is on FindAGrave website. See Figure 5. Another Harry Padgett lived in Hamilton Co., Tennessee. He was also married to a woman named Dorothy. He was older than our Harry C. Padgett. And had two children, Jean and Patrick, by the time the 1940 census was taken. Familysearch.org, a website maintained by the Mormon Church, lists a Harry C. Padgett as living in Corbin, Kentucky in July 2001, which was two months after his death. See Figure 6. It was likely his home or the home he was living in at the time of his death. It is interesting that Harry was issued a social security number from the state of California, which tells he was in California and probably applied for a job, therefore needing a social security number. See Figure 1.
I have not found a Harry Padgett in the census records. But I did find a Harold Padgett. It is possible that this is our Harry Padgett as Harry is often a nickname for Harold. See Figure 7. However, I cannot say with any certainty that Harold Padgett and Harry Padgett are one and the same.

Harry and Dorothy Padgett had two sons:
Joseph Paul (Little Paul to his aunts and uncles) and Elvis ____.
Paul was born:
Elvis was Born:
Figure 1 SSN Record

Figure 2 Marriage License

Figure 3 Marriage Record

Figure 4 Harry's Tombstone

Figure 5 Information from FindAGrave for Harry Padgett

Figure 6 Residence in July 2001

Figure 7 Harold Padgett in 1920 Census



According to records from McNeil Island, Washington State, Harry Cecil Padgett born 29 May 1912 was accepted for incarceration on December 28, 1935 after being convicted of Impersonating a Federal Officer. He was sentenced on December 5, 1935, after being convicted in San Francisco, California. With good behavior, he was set to be released on September 24, 1936. He was 23 years of age. Documentation is attached to this record.

Harry married Dorotha Elizabeth Kesterson on 15 Oct 1941. Dorotha (daughter of Samuel Whetson Kesterson and Mary Ann Cox) was born on 18 Aug 1923 in Oliver Springs, Roane, Tennessee, United States; died on 25 Nov 2011 in Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, United States; was buried on 12 Feb 2011 in New Hope Cemetery, Oak Ridge, Anderson, Tennessee, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• _UID: 48A5672C3F174ACDB9AC78405666D816B4EF
• Census: 1930, District 9, Claiborne, Tennessee, United States

Notes:

Memories by Judy:

Granny and Grandpa Kesterson moved from Coalfield to a community near Harriman TN. The road they lived on was an inverted "U" and granny and grandpa lived at about 11o'clock on that "U". Aunt Martha and Uncle Hubert lived about 3:00 on the "U" and I used to go through the woods between the two houses when we would visit with Granny. I was probably not more than 5-6-7 years old. Aunt Dorotha and Uncle Harry Padgett lived in a small, silver mobile home in the woods. One day I was r running through the woods towards Granny's house when Uncle Harry stopped me. He stooped down to my level and told me he was leaving. I don't remember anything else he said or how long I stayed there, just that he stopped me and told me he was leaving. He may have told me I'd never see him again--I don't precisely remember any other details.

The only other memory I have of Harry is several years later when I was in my teens. Mother was going to Oak Ridge to shop and had several of us children with her. We were in Oliver Springs, getting near Oak Ridge, turning the curve just before the intersection of Highways 62 and 61. Mother told us not to look a certain direction, that she thought that Uncle Harry was on a motorcycle and he would want to come to our house if he recognized us. She was trying to avoid him.

I never heard anything else about Uncle Harry after that.

Judy Kesterson Solis 03-03-07

Mary Cox Kesterson told her granddaughter, Judy Kesterson Carter, that her mother died a few days after Dorothy was born and Mary didn't get to go to her funeral because of that. She also said they were planting sweet potato slips when Dorotha was born and that she would come to the house and run tepid water over her wrists to cool down her body before she breast-fed Dorothy.

Mary's mother was buried in the White Oak Cemetery in Campbell County. Her son, Jesse, and granddaughter, Judy, went to the cemetery and tried to find her grave. It was not marked and we did not find the grave.

Judy Kesterson Carter Spradlin

Birth:
May have been born in Claiborne Co. Per her sister Ruth, Dortha's daughter, Teresa, has 3 birth certificates for Dot listing 3 different places of birth.

Died:
Dortha Elizabeth Kesterson Riggs of Dayton, Ohio, went home to be with the Lord on Nov. 25, 2011, in her home.

Mrs. Riggs was born Aug. 18, 1923, in Anderson County, Tenn.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Sam W. Kesterson and Mary Cox Kesterson; her eldest son, Joseph Paul Padgett Sr.; three brothers, infant Samuel, Paul and Jesse Kesterson; and a sister, Grace Sweet.

Mrs. Riggs is survived by her husband of 52 years, Jack Riggs of the home; sons, Elvis Padgett and David Riggs; daughter, Teresa Pierce and her sons, Jacob and Jeremiah Behnken; granddaughters and Melinda Padgett Smith, Treva Padgett, and Joseph, Jeff, Tim and Chris Padgett, Paul's children.

She is also survived by three sisters, Martha Hill, Harriman, Tenn., Helen (Mrs. Oliver) Christopher, Petros, Tenn., and Ruth Lackey, Coalfield, Tenn.; 15 nieces and nephews and their spouses, and a host of extended families and friends.

A private service was held Dec. 2, 2011, at New Hope Cemetery in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Other Events and Attributes:

• _UID: 488CF2A2C17F4AC4A07AFD5324170B48AE89

Elvis married Bertha May Thompson. Bertha (daughter of Josiah Saul Thompson and Martha Susan /Logston /Logston Logsdon) was born on 16 Jul 1893; died on 11 Jul 1917 in Hamilton, Ohio, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• _UID: 488CF2A2C17F4AC4A07AFD5324170B48AE89

Other Events and Attributes:

• _UID: 6AA731B91E1541CDB267AB615EABCF9FD888
• Census: 1900, Civil District 06, Anderson, Tennessee, United States
• Census: 1910, Civil District 8, Anderson, Tennessee, United States
• Census: 1920, Civil District 9, Anderson, Tennessee, United States
• Census: 1930, District 9, Claiborne, Tennessee, United States
• Census: 1940, Anderson, Tennessee, United States

Notes:

Sam was a miner. One year he mined at his property in Coalfield, TN.Jesse remembers that the mine was behind what is now Judy Solis'house.

When the Kestersons moved from Oak Ridge to Coalfield.....

Sam Kesterson purchased 96 acres, the former Davis property, inCoalfield in 1943. They sold the property in 1954 and moved toHarriman.

When Eliza Dunn and Thomas Kesterson married, Sam, who was 7, waslilving with an uncle (Dunn). Sam and the youngest daughters of Elizamoved with the newlyweds to their new home.

Mary Cox Kesterson told that Sam went to Montana because his motherdidn't want him to marry Mary. Sam mailed Mary a wedding ring.

Samuel Whetson Dunn was given the Kesterson name so Eliza could drawThomas Kesterson's pension according to some people, particularlyBarbara Kesterson. There are no facts to support this.

Samuel Whetson Kesterson became acquainted with Mary Cox when hissister married Mary's only brother, Sam Hutson.


The Manhatten Project

From the Knox News - By Kelly Norrell community@knoxnews.com Posted June 3, 2009 at midnight
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/jun/03/novel-shares-story-families- displaced-manhattan-pr/
Kelly Norrell is a freelance contributor to the News Sentinel.

In October of 1942, four Kesterson children - Martha, Jesse, Helen and Ruth - came home from their Anderson County schools with surprising instructions: Don't come back. That's because their schools, Scarborough School and Robertsville School, were closing. Life as they knew it was grinding to a halt in their farming community, Lupton Crossroad, and on all the other farms in the roughly 60,000 surrounding acres.

Soon a letter arrived informing the children's parents, Sam and Mary Kesterson, that the family had two weeks to move. They were among about 900 Tennessee families displaced by the Manhattan Project, the U.S. government operation that would develop the atomic bomb and found what became the city of Oak Ridge.

Rebecca Carroll, the daughter of Jesse Kesterson, has released a novel inspired by the family's experience. "Milk Glass Moon" is about a 14-year-old girl's experience of being displaced by the Manhattan Project and her gradual understanding of what the government was doing. "I wanted people to know the pre-Oak Ridge story and to know about the people who had to leave. They did their part and their story was never told," said Carroll, who now teaches English at Pellissippi State Technical Community College.

The move itself became the grist of family legends. On New Year's Day, 1943, a horse-drawn wagon with livestock plodding alongside moved chickens, furniture and a cast-iron cookstove to a two-story house in Coalfield, 20 miles away. The Kestersons, like all the displaced families, had combed areas like Deer Lodge, Harriman and Oliver Springs for housing. Carroll described her family's feelings as mixed. "My dad was eetheart and they had three children.

In a cruel twist of fate, her father, who worked at three plants at Oak Ridge, developed myelofibrosis, a cancer associated with beryllium used in one of the plants. He received a settlement, but died of the cancer when he was 78.

Life was not easy for Carroll either. She and her husband divorced, and then she remarried and divorced again. In 2002, she enrolled in the master's program in English at the University of Tennessee. There she took creative writing for the first time and it changed her life. "I took courses from Michael Knight and Allen Wier (both on the creative writing faculty) at UT. Milk Glass Moon was my creative thesis. I had never really had anyone critique my writing. They taught me a lot about writing, about showing and not telling," she said.

Carroll wrote the book in the summer of 2003. "I had done the research, and then I sat down and wrote the book very quickly." In the fall, she submitted the finished work to Knight and Wier. "Michael was director of my committee. I was really worried as to what Michael would think. I was afraid he would give it back and say it was garbage." Carroll said she ran into Knight one day on campus. "He said, 'I've finished your book.' I said, 'What did you think?' He said, 'I like it.' I about fell over." She said he suggested a number of changes, which she was willing to make.

She said her father liked the manuscript. "My dad said, "You got Mama good." Carroll's father did not live to see the book published.

Samuel married Mary Ann Cox on 19 Nov 1916 in Clinton, Anderson, Tennessee, United States. Mary (daughter of William Lincoln Cox and Elizabeth Jane Foster) was born on 30 Sep 1898 in Tennessee, United States; died on 12 Nov 1983 in Harriman, Roane, Tennessee, United States; was buried in New Hope Cemetery, Oak Ridge, Anderson, Tennessee, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• _UID: C0A2A84EC9CC4C198FDCB7D87D4FCB1BFE3D
• Census: 1900, Civil District 01, Morgan, Tennessee, United States
• Census: 1920, Civil District 9, Anderson, Tennessee, United States
• Census: 1930, District 9, Claiborne, Tennessee, United States
• Census: 1940, Anderson, Tennessee, United States

Notes:

A tape recorded conversation with Mary Kesterson by her granddaughter,Judy. Date unknown, but probably in early 1980s.

Mary's grandmother and grandfather were Joshua Foster and ParleyUnderwood Foster. Parley possibly died the summer before Mary wasborn in September.

Levi was called Uncle Lee and was Jane Elizabeth Foster's brother.Jane Elizabeth or Elizabeth Jane Foster was Mary's mother.

George Washingon Foster was called Uncle Wash.

Fred and John

Uncle Wash took his family to Missouri in a covered wagon. They gotthere and John Brown sent him with horse and sled to get wood to burn.The wood was on a creekbank. The sled turned over and they found himon the ice. He had been drinking and had frozen into the ice.Sarah's boy, John, apparently went with them.

The snow would bank up to 10' against the fence sometimes. John wouldrun back and forth from the house to the barn so Jane could go to thebarn to milk the cows in the barn. Jane's parents raised him.

Mary remembers her mother telling stories of her childhood inMissouri. It is possible that Elizabeth Jane Foster lived in Missourifor awhile.

Mary doesn't remember many of her cousins.
Uncle Lee's wife thought Mary Kesterson was named after her and gaveMary a pretty piece of cloth one time with anchors in it. It was greyand red with white ahcnors.

Ernest, son of Levi Foster, was the father of A.B. "Salty" Foster.Salty was Mayor of Harriman for several terms and died in 1982.Another of his children, Victor Foster, was responsible for the familytree through 1800 and Enoch Foster.

Joshua, brother of Jane, went to college in Middle Tennessee. Maryis not sure he graduated, but he was called the "professor". Theclover threshers came and grandma (Jane's mother) said she wasn'tgoing to let them stay long. Jane told her Jot may be begging(thumbing?) his way through from MT right now,"you'd better let them stay". And She let them stay just becauseMommy told her Jot might be on his way to come home.

Jane Elizabeth married George Hudson (1) had Sam. "Lord how I lovedmy brother. He was the greatest person in the world. I'd go meet him at the store and he'd set me up on the counter and say 'Nowwhat do you want?'" "Sunbeam Candy" It was an oblong piece of candy"wrapped up in paper that looked like the sun, real pale, soft candy,hard center, only candy I loved"

Jane married (2) William Lincoln (Link) Cox. Samuel WhetsonKesterson's mother was married to a Pruitt at sometime or another.
Daisy and Lizzie were Hudson's
Johnny and Fanny died before Mary was born

Sam, Jane's brother, took Jane to parties when they were young, suchas barn dances and socials. They enjoyed dancing very much.

One of her brothers lived in East Fork Valley and was bringing a bridein (home) and there was a big snow on the ground. They were cominginto Kingston (via ferry?) and I don't know, must have been coming ona boat. Momma and others went to meet them and her riding skirt wasfrozen plumb to her waist. They rode horses, the whole wedding partywent to meet them. They got wet in the snow while riding. Could havebeen the one that married a Fox.

Uncle Wash. When I was 14, I spent the night with Uncle Wash. He wassick. They lived in East Fork Valley. Mary and her mother went tothe home as was customary when someone was dying.

Deal Bailey - Ruth and Granny went to seen them in Oliver Springs andRuth sneaked meat off her stove. If she hand known Ruth had of been(was) hungery, she'd given her something off the table. side of bacon stacked up on a plate on the kitchen stove.

"I can just see Uncle Lee sitting in the holler when Paul was 3or 4 (1924-1925). Lee had a mustasche. We rode a buggy up there witha cheastnut hourse."

"Bob's wife is one I was on the horse with and I fell off backwards,off the horse's end onto the ground. I was 14. It was the last horseI ever rode. They hadn't been married long. It was when Uncle Washwas sick. He died after that.

Uncle Jot went to college and possibly was a professor

Cousin Lee moved to Andersonville.

Uncle Enoch worked in a bank at Coal Creek. Lost his mind. The bankwent broke and he lost his mind.

Jane (Mommy) died in 1925

Mary's great grandmother was a cherokee indian and her grandfather wasa "Farmer". They lived in bear creek valley where she and a baby waskilled by a bear. Granny said her grandparents were Fanny and MartinCox and that Fanny lived to be 106. Her great grandmother was acherokee indian and great grandfather was ??? farmer. Fanny andMartin had a daughter, Kate, and sons Will and Tom.

Her mother's parents were Joshua Foster and Parley Foster Underwood
Her mother was Elizabeth Jane Foster, born in East Fork Velley anddied at her sister's house at Morley" and William Cox, a miner. Shewas buried in White Oak graveyard above Westburn, above Catula, AboveLafollette. William was buried around Peabody.

Grandma and Grandpa Cox were Fanny and Martin Cox. Fannie waspossibly a Farmer and lived to be 106 per Mary. Fanny also had adaughter named Kate.

Mary thought she remembered her mother telling her that her mother'sparents, Joshua and Parley Foster, owned slaves

*****
September 2006. Jesse,Mary's son, and Judy, Mary's granddaughter,tried to find the grave of Mary's mother, Elizabeth Foster Cox, at thegraveyard at White Oak and didn't find anything that would indicate agrave was hers. There were other Cox graves there, however, and manyunmarked graves. J SOLIS
*****

Mary Cox Kesterson talked about her wedding day to her granddaughterJudy. Mary said it was her first time to wear nylons. Sam mailed herwedding ring to her. Sam's mother wouldn't let them get married soSam hoboed on a train to Montana. Later he mailed the wedding ring andcame home to marry his love (His sister was there at the time.) Sherode in a taxi to the wedding. Mary said Sam's sister stole herbrother Sam whom she loved better than anything. Mary told her newsister-in-law, Minnie Dunn, that since she stole Mary's brother, Marywas going to steal HER brother.

Sam used to play hopscotch with Mary and she told him she was going tomarry him.

Mary once said to Judy, her granddaughter, that Sam Kesterson's (Dunn)mother was hateful, that she had a heavy burden to bear. Mary wouldnot discuss that burden.

Mary said that if she had her life to live over and could be anythingshe wanted to, she would be a detective!

Her memory of when one of her children was born was that they wereplanting sweet potato slips after the baby was born. Mary would go tothe house to breastfeed the baby and would cool her wrists with waterand feed the baby and go back to helping Sam plant sweet potatoes.

Mary Cox had only a 4th grade education. She was often sick with asore throat and would miss so much school that she fell behind.

Mary's mother knitted her a pair of stockings that Mary absolutelyhated. Mary would leave the house wearing them, stop at a rock andtake them off and hide them under the rock and put them on again whenshe came home from school. This might have contributed to herfrequent sore throats!!!

******************************************************************************
Mary Cox met Samuel Whetson Kesterson when Mary's brother marriedSam's sister. Mary was only 5 years old when her brother married andleft home. This is how Mary told her granddaughter, Judy Kesterson,about her brother and husband in an interview in the late 1970s.

"I told Minnie I didn't like her taking my brother away from me. Shetold me, "I've got a brother, his name is Sam." I told her, "Thatbrother ofyours will be my man someday."

Minnie went on to change the spelling of her name to Hutson fromHudson because of a neighbor with a similar name, according to Mary.Minnie and Sam Hutson lived with Elizabeth and Will Cox (Mary'sparents) for a few years after they were marriedd. When they moved outon their own, they moved to Westburn and Mary would visit with themoccasionally. It was during one of the visits, whehn Mary was 13,that she first met Minnie's brother, Sam. Sam was 15 when they metand was boarding at his sister's home while he worked in the mines.

According to Mary, she and Sam became good friends, seeing each otherevery day. Sam played in Mary's playhouse and made hopscotch squaresfor her. Mary recalled that the two of them wore out their shoeskicking a block back and forth on the hopscotch board.

Mary said that their friendship developed into a courtship eventuallyand they made plans to marry. Neither of the parents wanted them tomarry. Mary told Judy that she thought her mother's main reason foropposing the marriage was her mother's fear of being left with no oneto do the housework. "She liked to have went crazy after I left,"Mary said.

According to Mary, Sam's family was alos opposed tot he marriage. Samwas upset and sold some property he owned (no documentation for this)and left for Melstone or Milestone Montana, where his sister Cora wasliving at the time.

Mary said Sam hopped a freight train, hobo style, although he had themoney for a ticket. He told her later that the freight train carriedlumber and he got splinters in his backside from riding on top of thelumber.

Sam corresponded with Mary and eventually sent her a wedding ring byregistered letter. Mary said it was a pink gold band. He also senther a pair of yellow gold earrings.

Sam stayed in Montana 2 years and 3 months. Mary said that when hereturned to Tennessee, they went ahead with their wedding plans.

He returned and they were married on November 16, 1916, at Sam'ssister's home (Ethel) in Clinton, TN. Thye man who married him wasJudge Wallace, a distant relative of Mary's through her mother.

OBITUARY - Mary Kesterson.

Mrs. Mary Kesterson,87, of Harriman, died Saturday, November 12, 1983.
Her daughter Grace (Mrs. Clarence) Sweet lives in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Mrs. Kesterson was the widow of Samuel W. Kesterosn. She was a member of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church in Oliver Springs.

Survivors in addition to Mrs. Sweet are another daughter, Dorothy (Mrs. Jack Riggs) of Dayton Ohio, Martha (Mrs. Hubert) Hill of Harriman, Helen (Mrs. Oliver ) Christopher of Petros, Ruth (Mrs. Boyd) Lackey of Lawton, OK, sons, Paul Kesterson of Wilmington, NC., Jesse Kesterson of Coalfield; 18 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren.

Services are being held today at 2:00 p.m. at Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church, Oliver Springs. The Rev. Milford Ely is officiating. Burial will be in New Hope Cemetery, Oak Ridge. Sharp Funeral Home in Oliver Springs is in charge of arrangements.