A friend of Hayslope recently sent me a photograph of the house taken in its glory – probably after the restoration in 1937 by Escoe Thomason. The house is simply beautiful, surrounded by shrubbery and trees (and chickens!). I’m working to learn when that photo was taken, but I’m also drawn to its source: A family history written in 1965 by Irene Reid Morris called “Thru the Years: Family Records of Ila Venable Brown & Other Families of St Helena Parish Louisiana.”
Ila Venable Brown had connections with the Roddyes both directly and through the Leas, two of whom married Roddye daughters, who moved with them and considerable other members of the Lea family to Mississippi. One Roddye, James Jr, moved to St Helena Parish, and Brown, in 1965, “owns a camp in St Helena Parish which is the original home in Louisiana of the Roddys.”
She also supposed had a photograph of the spring at Hayslope and describes a large-ish building that was used to store the property’s alcoholic spirits.
The book also offers a little more information about our man James’s brother William, via a letter written by a descendant of James to a descendant of William, saying that brother William got a land grant in what’s now Blount County.
The book does contain some of the “facts” we’ve since learned aren’t so factual, and it’s also offered many a clue to my own research.
While I still don’t know what happened to son Thomas Roddye, who inherited that land that would become known as Hayslope, there are two letters included in this book, written by Thomas, that offers a few glimpses into the family, including his father’s death.
In a letter in April 1822 to his brother in law James Lea in Mississippi, Thomas writes that he’s been traveling for “two months through the Southern State” and is about to go there again.
In this letter, we learn that Rachel Roddye Majors’ husband “has still pursued the same evil course of conduct until he has brought his family to poverty and disgrace.” This letter appears to indicate that Rachel is still living and did not die in 1812, as we previously believed.
As for the patriarch James, Thomas writes:
“I am desired by my father to tell you that it gives hi great pain that his infirmities will not permit him to comply with your affectionate wishes. It is altogether out of his power to write at all and has been for some length of time; he is unable to shave himself or attend to any kind of business.”
Thomas closes the letter by declining some business opportunities James Lea apparently mentioned to him in Mississippi, saying, ” I cannot for a moment think of neglecting my aged parents in their declining years. Therefore, at lest for some length of time to come I may assure myself that I am permanently located in Tennessee.”
In January 1823, Thomas wrote again to James Lea, acknowledging the death of his sister Elizabeth, who was James’s wife. And then he writes:
“It now falls to my lot to give you the painful intelligence of the death of my Father, who died on the (?) day of October during my absence to South Carolina. After an illness of about ten or twelve days he sank quietly to rest without a struggle. I must leave the subject to yourself without any comments as your own feelings will at once give you a lively picture of ours on this melancholy occasion.”
Thomas says he’s going to send a letter to his brother James about their father’s death and tells James Lea how the Lea family figures into Roddye Sr’s will. Then he asks James Lea to “come to Tenn. next spring and spend the summer with us.”
Thomas says he’d received a letter from his brother John, that’s he’s heading to Baltimore the next day, and that “Mother desires to be affectionately remembered to you and the family.”
As we know, Lydia Roddye soon left her son Thomas in Russellville and went to live with family in Rhea County, where she lived until her death just a few short years later. Thomas and his family – wife Lydia Nenny and son Patrick Nenny Roddye – remained at the old homeplace. Whether Thomas left the homeplace immediate upon selling it to cover his debt to the Nenny’s in 1829 isn’t known. After 1830, Thomas and Lydia had four more children – Thomas, Mary, James, and Elizabeth – and then he vanishes from the record in about 1844.
But wait, there’s more
One other letter is included in the book – from Luke Lea Jr to his brother James, who tells us Colonel Roddye had travelled to “upper Louisiana” and returned in “good health”:
“I am told he likes the country exceedingly well and intends moving there as soon as he can dispose of his property in this county, which I am informed he is now doing. I have not been able to learn whether John intends going with him or not.”
At first I thought this was our man James, but I’m not so sure. Luke Lea’s letter was written from Knoxville, and as far as I know, James didn’t have property there. Luke further says that this Colonel Roddye intends to run for senator “in the district in which he lives.” I’m wondering now if this was William Roddye, James’s brother, who was also called dubbed “colonel” and who had moved much closer to Knoxville early on, when he got that land grant in Blount County. There do appear to be William Roddye descendants further west …
Nice summary of letters containing interesting information on the comings and goings of the Roddye family not available anywhere else. Thanks for sharing.
I’m fairly convinced that there must be more things like this in private collections or maybe even state or local archives that we just haven’t yet run across.