Tag Archives: Mississippi

On This Day in 1890

Posted on by Lori Crane

On This Day in 1890, my great great grandparents were wed.

plaque in Lauderdale Co Court House in MeridianThomas Gilbert Lafayette Keene was born 20 Apr 1859 to Green Keene and Sarah Tabitha Keene and grew up in Mississippi. According to records, I believe his parents died during the Civil War. He is shown living with them in the 1860 census, along with his siblings John (1849-) Martha (1851-) Minerva Ellen (1852-1914) and Mary (1855-). He was only an infant. In the 1870 census, he and his sisters are shown living with a woman named Elizabeth Keene (not married) and an 80 year old man named Gilbert Keene. I believe this is his aunt and his grandfather who is Gilbert senior. There is also a Gilbert junior in an earlier census born in 1815.

He more or less disappeared from records until his marriage in 1890, and the next record of him is the marble plaque that is in the Lauderdale County Court House in Meridian, Mississippi showing him as the County Treasurer 1904-1907. (For you “Stuckey’s Bridge” fans, check out the top name – JR Temple, Sheriff.) Later census records list TGL as a member of the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors, also as a farmer and a Justice of the Peace. He died 26 Sep 1921 and is buried next to his wife at Oak Grove Baptist Cemetery in Bonita. His death certificate lists no parents.t g l keene headstoneTGL Keene death cert

 

 

 

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Sarah Elizabeth “Bettie” Brown was born 19 Nov 1862 (my birthday also) to William Lafayette Brown Jr and Sarah Ann Elvira Dollar Brown in Lauderdale County, Mississippi. (Right is the transcribed family Bible.) There were ten children in her family, seven boys and three girls, one of whom died at birth. Five of the children were born just before the Civil War began, and her father was a sharp shooter guarding the railroad bridges at Chunky, Mississippi, so her mother was home with a handful of children under the age of eight at the start of the war. When her father returned from the war, the next child was born in 1865. They wasted no time!

At the age of 18, Bettie married John Thompson 16 Nov 1881 and had one daughter, Fleta S (1885-1923). I don’t know what happened to Mr. Thompson, but in 1890 Bettie married TGL Keene. They had seven children: Eunice Tabitha (1891-1964) Isaac (1893-1894 infant who is buried near his parents) Essie Mae (1895-1981) Ernest Grady (1895-1947) Benjamin Blaine (1898-1960) Eula Ouida (1899-1981 my great grandmother) and Earl Vandorn (1901-1939). Bettie outlived her husband by five years and died on 18 Jul 1926 at the age of 63. Brown Sarah Elizabeth Bettie Brown Keene

TGL and Bettie lived in the Tunnel Hill area until 1910, when they show up on the census records as living in Meridian.

Happy Anniversary TGL and Bettie!

 

Brought to you by On This Day available at Amazon.

The Creation of a Creepy Trilogy…by accident.

Posted on by Lori Crane

Stuckey's cover_webLast year, I wrote “The Legend of Stuckey’s Bridge.“ If you haven’t read it, it’s based on an old Mississippi legend and is the story of an inn keeper who murdered his guests, confiscated their wealth, and buried their bodies on the banks of the river. When a nearby bridge was rebuilt years later, the workers began uncovering bodies, and Old Man Stuckey was eventually found out. I had a blast getting inside the head of a serial killer and writing the story. While creating the tale, I decided Old Man Stuckey couldn’t be alone with his thoughts throughout the entire story, so I had him run across a young boy named Levi. I guess being in psycho mode at the time of writing, young Levi became quite a creepy character himself.

Following the book’s release, I received a bunch of emails and messages asking me what the deal was with Levi. Apparently, he captured everyone’s attention.

 

unnamedSo, I gave it some thought and penned the second book in the trilogy, “Stuckey’s Legacy: The Legend Continues.” It was released May 2014. In that book, which takes place a decade after Old Man Stuckey paid for his crimes, young Levi is 22 years old and living off the wealth of the Old Man. He’s hobnobbing with the rich and famous on Jekyll Island off Georgia’s coast. When he meets the beautiful and mysterious Penelope Juzan, he is mesmerized, and an intense game of cat and mouse begins.

In the great state of Mississippi, not far from the real Stuckey’s Bridge, lies the black, swampy waters of Lake Juzan. It is surrounded by its own legend of an inn keeper who murdered his guests, confiscated their wealth, and buried their bodies in the depths of the lake. Well, who wouldn’t grab that and run with it? 🙂

 

stuckey Gold Cover smallThe legend of Lake Juzan became the basis for the third in the trilogy, “Stuckey’s Gold: The Curse of Lake Juzan.”  Penelope Juzan’s great grandfather was Lake Juzan’s inn keeper and the original holder of the trunk of gold that made its first appearance in “Stuckey’s Bridge.”  When all is said and done, Old Man Stuckey and Levi are only bit players in a story that is far darker and more sinister than even they could have imagined.

“Stuckey’s Gold” is the tale of four generations trying to escape the curse that is Lake Juzan.

Lori Crane Books at Amazon

 

Stuckey’s Bridge on News Channel 12

Posted on by Lori Crane

Stuckey's cover_webI got a call from this reporter a couple weeks ago about my book and the making of this segment, but I was nowhere around the county to do a live interview, so alas, no publicity for me. It’s a cool story none-the-less. My book “The Legend of Stuckey’s Bridge” is based on this story.

Click here to see the video segment – Channel 12 WJTV Jackson, MS – The transcription below is from their website.

In Lauderdale County, no one knows what “Stuckey’s” first name is but people know where to find his bridge over the Chunky River. Now it’s mostly used for a Halloween party spot but local legend holds it’s also the site of Stuckey’s lynching and haunting. NEWS CHANNEL 12’S Jacob Kittilstad looks for signs of ghosts -where dozens have been reported – in this week’s MYSTERY MONDAY.

Wayne Smith said he lives (with his dog Joe) on the property Stuckey is said to have owned in the mid-1800’s. “Everyone that comes here that does see something, They’re frightened by it. And they’ll tell you that they’re frightened,” Smith said. “Murdering people, disposing of their bodies, gold buried along the banks of the river,” Smith said – shortly summing up the story. “We have found through the years of talking to people that he was probably a serial killer,” Smith said.

Legends tell that “Stuckey” operated an inn where he killed as many as 20 people who were waiting to ferry across the Chunky River. After the bridge was built and his crimes discovered, locals held a Kangaroo Court and made an example of the former Dalton Gang member, according to local legend.

“They hung the man and his helper from the bridge. Left him and come back after three or four days to cut the bodies down. And they splashed into the water of the river,” Smith said.

Some people say they can still here that splash nightly (although beavers are the suspected noise-producers). But it’s the other sounds and sighting that are more disturbing.

“It’s more mist-like with a silhouette of a human being or you’ll see a mist with a face in it,” Smith said.

“There have been people who have heard women screaming. And it normally occurs at night,” Smith said.

Paranormal Investigation groups have shared what they call evidence of violent spirits online but some neighbors dismiss the videos as staged. Then there is also the fact that the bridge was built after that story would have taken place. At that point, the legend starts to fall apart but the myth carries on. 

(Note from Lori: the bridge was built in 1901, REPLACING the original wooden bridge built around 1850.)

“People come here and they see, well, we have had some sightings here. One as recent as this weekend,” Smith said. “You have to live here to see what we see and hear what we hear because when we first come here we were skeptical. There’s something here that people are seeing and feeling and when we come to the bridge, We feel it,” Smith said. “I haven’t seen anything but we feel it,” Smith said.

Other neighbors tell NEWS CHANNEL 12 that they have actually met relatives of “Stuckey” who claim their ancestor was accused of murder after a dispute over a hog. But, again, the evidence is lacking.

October Ancestry Challenge – Hays Rodgers

Posted on by Lori Crane

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 The October Ancestry Challenge 2013

23 posts – 23 days – 23 ancestors.

 Ancestor #18 – Hays Rodgers

 

 

Rodgers Hays SrHays Rodgers was my 4th great grandfather. He was married to Marey Ann Scott and had 14 children: Lewis, James, Allen, Jackson, Susannah, Stephen, William, Mary Ann (heroine of my book Okatibbee Creek and my 3rd great grandmother, ancestor #17), Timothy, Hays Jr, Wilson, John W, Elizabeth and Martha Jane. Geez, how can you even remember all those names. I call my two dogs by each other’s names.

His sons, Stephen and William, died in 1834 at the ages of 8 and 10. His son, James, died of typhoid in Nov of 1862. Between 1863 and 1864, his sons, Timothy, Wilson and John W,  all  died during the Civil War. Timothy and Wilson died of illness. John died of a gunshot wound to the stomach in Jonesboro, GA. Fortunately, Hays was not alive to witness the soldier’s deaths as he died of typhoid in Dec of 1862, a couple weeks after his son James.

He was born 1 Feb 1783 in Greene County, TN to James Rodgers and Elizabeth “Elly” Hays (heroine of my new book Elly Hays). He was the eldest son of 12 children. At the age of 18, he moved with his parents to Clarke Co, AL which was part of the Mississippi Territory at that time. Alabama didn’t become a state until 1819. He and his brother, Absolom, signed up for the Mississippi Militia in 1814, and were assigned to Capt Evan Austill’s company of volunteers in Maj Sam Dale’s Battalion to fight against the hostile Creek Indians. Hays remained in the Militia until Oct 1818, but was only called out once for a two-month tour.

MS Cemetery 076On 11 Dec 1816, he married Marey Ann Scott, who was from Georgia. In 1818, following the end of his military service, he, Marey, and 1st born Lewis, moved to Copiah Co, MS (what later became Simpson, MS). He started buying land and farming. He built the “Ole Stennis House” in 1857 at the age of 61 (with the help of 13 slaves). In 1860, the U.S. Census states Hays owned 13 slaves, a 640 acre (square mile) plantation, 2 horses, 3 mules, 10 cows, 4 oxen, 16 sheep, 60 swine, and $600 in farming instruments, for a total worth of $8400. However, most of his wealth was tied up in slaves, as they were worth about $1000 each – that’s probably a million bucks in today’s money.

Upon his death in Dec 1862 in Lauderdale Co, MS, he owned 690 acres of land and stock in the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, which was sold and divided between his heirs. His wife died three months after him in March of 1863, also of typhoid.

His property was sold in 1869 at public auction on the steps of the Meridian Courthouse to Major Adam T Stennis, hence the name “Ole Stennis House.” It remained in the Stennis family for 100 years until 1970, then sat abandoned for two decades. It is now owned by the Hover family who have restored it as you can see by the photo above. Right before the property was auctioned in 1869, Hays Jr, who was the only son to return home from the war, albeit with a useless arm and a wilted spirit, sold his farm and moved to Alabama to be near his wife’s family. He sold his farm to a black man named Tom Stennis. Tom Stennis was a former slave to Major Adam T Stennis.

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