Poplar Ridge School “S till Standing After A ll These Years” 1858 - 2008 CELEBRATING 150 YEARS A smattering of history in SE Madison County 5th Edition Poplar Ridge School “Still Standing After All These Years!” 1858 - 2008 Celebrating 150 Years A smattering of history in SE Madison County By Priscilla J. Scott Secretary Poplar Ridge Homemakers 3 The Author Twenty Five years ago, my family moved to New Hope, Alabama, from Franklin, Illinois. My husband’s job had been eliminated in Springfield, Illi­ nois, and the opportunity came to be a part of the Space Shuttle Program in Huntsville, Alabama. John and I came down for his first two weeks training, and to find a place to make our new home, and thanks to Margaret Earl Mann, we found 854 Old Gurley Pike, New Hope, Alabama! It was certainly NEW HOPE! that we needed. While Margaret Earl was finalizing the loans, closings, etc., she men­ tioned that New Hope had a football game at Brewer on Friday night and why didn’t we come and meet some of the people! She already knew our two High Schoolers would be in the band. Our home school didn’t even have football, but we didn’t have anything better to do, so...we went! We called the movers on Monday, to finish packing, and went home the next weekend to gather up the three kids and say our goodbyes, and were back in New Hope to register for school on Wednesday of the third week. Six weeks after we moved in, I went to my first “Home Demonstration Club” meeting! I’ve held several positions through the years, in the club, which is now “Poplar Ridge Homemakers”. Currently, I am back in the position of Secretary, and so I am: Respectfully yours, Priscilla J. Scott, Secretary Poplar Ridge Homemakers 5 Poplar Ridge School “Still Standing After All These Years” Table of Contents Acknowledgments 7 Foreword 9 Why is it called Poplar Ridge 10 “Land Sales of October, 1830 - Poplar Ridge and Vienna” 11 Map of Range 2 East Township 5 South 12 Land Deed Certification 13 Where the Benefactor and Trustees lived in 1860 14 Genealogy of Land Benefactor: Seanah Smith 15 Trustee: Dickson Cobb 21 Trustee: James H. Poor 31 Trustee: Canada Butler 35 Dated list of teachers at the school, pictures and history. 41 Newspaper articles 47 Pictorial Poplar Ridge 54 School Memories 67 Poplar Ridge Homemaker History 77 Index 99 7 Acknowledgements Big Thanks to: -Members of the Poplar Ridge Homemakers who have tried to be patient with me. -Doris McGee, a sounding board to help fill in the gaps and correct me. -John Ed and Cornelia Butler for their vigilance in keeping us aware of things needing to be done at the school. They have answered many questions and provided a few pictures. -Nellie (Moon) Martin, who also keeps an eye on the school up the road, and has spent much time listening to my questions and answering with her lore, and who lived where, and was related to whom. -Charley McPeters has a wealth of information that he has absorbed from stories his Moon and McPeters relatives have handed down. He provided pictures also. -Wyona Moon for writing the Moon book, that helped me visualize this one. -Louise Brockway Thedford has been an inspiration to me. She has gathered an unbelievable amount of Genealogical information, published a number of local family genealogy books, and made them available to the Elizabeth Carpenter Public Library for reference. She even took the information that she didn’t use for her own families, and put it on a CD Rom titled “Pioneer Families” for others to be able to use for making their own family trees. With her permission, I printed out the indexes of names for the families on the CD Rom, and put that notebook in the reference department at the library. I have spent many hours searching in www.dimplesattic.net and the searches there have helped with this book. -Teresa Ballard, who knows all the tricks of researching on the internet, to how to find ways to get around the roadblocks. She introduced me to Madison County Records Center! - Kudos to Rhonda Larkin, and all the volunteers who make the information from the Madi­ son County Records Center available to the rest of us out here. -All those who work in the Heritage Room at Huntsville-Madison County Public Library. -Lou Ann Poole, and her mother, Syble Whitaker. If they don’t already know it, they know where to find it. If not, call Teresa! -Mr. William Sibley researched in old newspapers for Poplar Ridge headlines, and provided a couple of teacher pictures. -Buddy Hilliard, who has written several Cemetery books for the local area has assisted me also. I attended the Hayden Cemetery Walk off Poplar Ridge Road, Saturday before Moth­ er’s Day, and got to know some of the people in this book, dead or alive, a little better. - Bertie Faye (O’Neal) Preston furnished the Branum pictures. I didn’t even use half of what she had available. I hope she will get a Branum book made. To my knowledge non exists. -The men and women at the New Hope Senior Center have helped to keep me straight about who is related to whom, and where they live or lived. - Bobbi Keene and Gerry Brown and fellow volunteers at the Elizabeth Carpenter Public Li­ brary at New Hope, for putting up with me doing my own research while I was supposed to be on duty, as well as loaning out books that aren’t loanable! - Many others who answered their phone, having no idea what I was talking about, but fur­ nished what information they could. I’m sure I've left out more than I included, but this has definitely not been a one person job! 9 Foreword The idea for this book really began when I started to put together the materials from the Dedication Day for the Historical Plaque at the Poplar Ridge School, in October 2003. We wanted to donate the information to the newly formed Historical Association in New Hope. Someone noticed that the school started in 1858, so, this would be the 150th year. The next Poplar Ridge Homemakers meeting, we decided to have a Sesquicentennial Celebration on July 12, the closest Saturday to the signing of the deed 150 years ago. It’s my thought, with this book, everyone will have something to take home with them as well as spark an interest in creating their own “Family Tree”, if one does not already exist. The books and family files presently in the library, make me wish there were more, and so this will make one more. I have truly enjoyed working with everyone digging up historical rec­ ords and finding the information herein. There has been some frustration also, when there seemed to be no source to make a connection, but I’ve tried to make a connection between the benefactors of the land and the trustees named, to their descendants that still live in the area. When we first moved to New Hope, I was warned to be careful who I talked about, because everyone was related! This project has really shed a light on that truth, and yet, I find, it’s amazing how many Cobbs aren’t even related to each other!! I neglected to say in the Acknowledgements, that Lou L. Sam s website “THE COBB FAMILIES OF MADISON COUNTY, ALABAMA” helped me not only with the Cobbs, but with the reality of the need to dou­ ble check everything and somehow keep track of your sources. I had not done that, and therefore, in this book I have just listed places I looked and found information, but a lot of this material is word of mouth, and I didn’t always record whose mouth it was! I’ve tried to prove as much as possible, and even removed some information I had because of a sniggle of doubt. I hope you will read to enjoy, but check and double check, if you want to use it to prove your genealogy. The sale of the George Taylor Moon property in the Poplar Ridge and Cherry Tree Road area was a strong impetus to make me aware that nothing is forever except God and our soul. Houses get torn down and roads get moved and whole families move in and out through the years. What was bought for $1.25 per acre, in the 1830’s can bring up to $12,000 per acre. If you the reader, see any discrepancies, please feel free to post a note or contact me in some way of the change needed. Thank you for letting me share in your lives. Priscilla J. Scott Secretary, Poplar Ridge Homemakers [email protected] 256-725-4397 or 256-655-4105 To start at the beginning, I had to ask, "Why is it called Poplar Ridge?" Teresa Ballard put me onto a book right there in our own library shelves, titled, "On the Occasion of the 150th anniver­ sary of the State of Alabama”, a Valley Leaves special edition. December 1969. It is a book well worth the read, if you're interested in the real history of Poplar Ridge, and in fact the whole area. Starting in the middle of that book is a section titled, "Later History of Madison County, And, Inci­ dentally, of North Alabama", written by "a Reliable Scribe". I'm including here, from Chapter IX - New Madison (written March 27, 1884), page 76, part of the closing descriptive paragraph, that an­ swers my question, and baits my curiosity for even more searching.