Pylant Geneology

OWEN'S CROSS ROADS, MADISON COUNTY, ALABAMA (written by Thelma Spivey, 1962)
Surrounded by mountains, forests, the winding Flint River and wild life, especially noted for quail, with the trails left by the Cherokee Indians, little was known of the area until about one hundred and fifty years ago. Pioneers drifted in from Tennessee, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and also Georgia. Some of these families were Jack Wood, Nat Parker, Ezekiel Craft and the Branon family. Out of this group was Thomas H. Owen from Virginia who with his slaves and family established a home. He with a few others named succeeded in getting a post office and the name Owen's Cross Roads was chosen. Owen for the first settler and cross roads for two roads which crossed at right angle. The mail came in on a star route from Huntsville to Guntersville on horse back by one of Owen's slaves, Monroe Owen, who made his home in Owen's Cross Roads. After the slaves were freed, he was a very good citizen. Many squatters came in and soon several log houses were built and clearing of land began. The first business house was a large frame building in the north east corner of the road crosssing. It consisted of the post office, general store and a blacksmith shop. That building, with nail kegs for chairs and with a salon nearby operated by George Mapp, was the center of attraction for several years. Mr. Owen died and the family moved away after the War Between the States. Newcomers flocked to the area, some settling for a house, others moved on. Frank Whiterd, Frank Maples, and W. O. Carpenter followed in the mercantile business. The first school was a log cabin (pioneer type) one mile southeast of the road intersection with about twenty pupils, later moving a little farther south toward the place called Biggs Chapel. About 1900 the school was moved to the intersection of the roads. It was the second story of a big frame building with the lower floor used as a church. It was still a one teacher school until about 1910 when a four room frame building was erected with a large campus a few hundred yards in the southeast corner of the intersection. This was the center of school and community activities until 1949 when a modern block building was erected and the community added a gymnasium. Additions of rooms have been made and in 1962 the building consists of 13 classrooms, library, laboratory and lunchroom. The first churches of the area were two Baptist churches, one about 3 miles east of the intersection and the other about 3 miles south. A Methodist church and a Church of Christ were located within a few hundred yards of the intersection. Later years the Holiness church was established about 3 miles northeast of the intersection of the roads. A well with a cover, benches around it, and a large water trough was constructed in the south east corner of the road crossing. This was another center of attraction. With its wooden bucket with gourds as dippers, later replaced by tin dippers, it furnished water for the school, the gossipers, the travelers and most of all a place where romances brought about several marriages. The only transportation for shipping in and out was by water at Hobb's Island on the Tennessee River; from here to there was by wagon or horseback. A few small boats came up the narrow Flint River. The roads were rugged from clearing stumps and rocks, with deep ruts. No bridges across the streams; the trails led to the most shallow places where the stream could be easily forded. As settlers moved into the area commissioners were appointed and supervised free labor with wagons. This smoothed the roads a little and gravel was used. This tided the transportation over for a period of years. A. H. Ellett, a merchant, was another man who played a big part in making the village grow. He came from Gurley and followed the older ones in the merchantile business. His sons are still in the business. The soil was very suited for farming. Other than farming, the industries consisted of a grist mill run by water made possible by a dam called the old mill dam. Across Flint River a few hundred yards from the intersection of the roads, a two story frame building housed the mill. Wheat was ground upstairs and corn on the first floor. A saw mill and one of the first gins using horsepower was operated by Alex Craft. These industries were helpful to people for miles away. Located in the Tennessee Valley with its projects, new inventions, diversified farming and Redstone Arsenal, today finds the village thriving with beautiful homes, large grocery stores, one large modern store of furniture, hardware, electric appliances, and building materials. Several filling stations . There are still 3 old landmarks treasured by the people. A two story house built by one of the early settlers still stands in the center of the village. The old river bridge yet needs to be replaced. It was the first steel bridge in Madison County. The beautiful great oaks left on the roadside by early settlers marks a beautiful drive on the main street.

(Daily Ardmoreite newspaper, Ardmore, OK)

MRS. ADDIE V. HOWARD
Services for Addie Viola Howard, 87, will be at 4 Friday afternoon in the Harvey Chapel. Dr. Richard Hopper, First Baptist Church, and the Rev. Ivy Henson, Western Heights Pentecostal Holiness Church, will officiate. Interment will be in Hillcrest Memorial Park. Mrs. Howard, 910 Moore SW, was born June 27, 1885 at Tuscaloosa, Ala. She died Wednesday evening in a local hospital after a lengthy illness. She was the widow of Doc L. Howard who died in 1928. Mrs. Howard had been a resident of Ardmore since 1929, moving here from Healdton. She was a member of the Western Heights Pentecostal Holiness Church. Survivors include 2 sons, George L., Oklahoma City, and William O., San Bernardino, Calif.; 3 daughters, Mrs. Gwen Brown, Fall River Mills, Calif., Mrs. Ferne Magar, San Diego, Calif., and Mrs. Gladys Miller, Ardmore; 14 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Bearers will be Charles Meyers, Marvin Gentry, Wilton Cook, Don Jackson, the Rev. J. R. McBride, and Neal Rock.

(Ted's note) GRANDMA HOWARD LIED TO ME!! When I'd visit grandma while she was in the nursing home, we'd sometimes talk about family. She had told me about being an only child and that after she got married and left home her father had married his housekeeper, Nettie, and they'd had a family together. I said , "Well, grandma, if your father married again he must have divorced your mother". You'd have thought I'd hit her in the face with a dead fish!! "Oh, no, no, no," she adamantly exclaimed, "there was never a divorce in our family! My mother died before my father married again". I believed her because grandma was the type person who wouldn't drink root beer because of the name. Years later I was doing research in the courthouse in Gainesville, Cooke county, Texas and happened upon the divorce proceedings. Grandma had hired a lawyer to represent her mother, Mattie, who was still in the mental institution in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The divorce was granted 24 May 1915 and Mattie got nothing of George's $15,000 estate. I had looked in the Cooke county records for George and Nettie's marriage record but couldn't find one. When I located George and Nettie's only surviving child, Christine, she told me that they'd married in Wise county, Texas. George married Nettie on 11 Mar 1915 and his divorce from Mattie wasn't effective until 24 May 1915 so I guess my great-grandfather George Mapp was a bigamist for two months.