ADELICIA ACKLEN

Hi Ya'll

Here's a lady from Nashville who had a very full life................

Adelicia Acklen was born in Nashville on March 15, 1817 and became one of the
wealthiest women of the South. She was a cousin of President Rutherford B. Hayes.

At age twenty-two she married Isaac Franklin of Sumner County, a wealthy
cotton planter and slave trader. They had four children, none of whom survived childhood. After seven years of marriage Franklin died, leaving his widow an inheritance valued at approximately $1 million that included seven Louisiana cotton plantations, a two-thousand-acre farm in Middle Tennessee, and 750 slaves.Three years after Franklin's death, Adelicia married Colonel Joseph A. S. Acklen, a lawyer from Huntsville, Alabama, who signed a prenuptial contract giving his wife complete control of all her businesses, property, and assets. The couple began immediate construction of Belmont, a twenty-thousand-square-foot summer villa, now maintained as a house museum. The Acklens lived a sumptuous lifestyle, traveling between Belmont in the summer and their Louisiana plantations in the winter. The couple had six children, two of whom died young. Acklen, a superb businessman and plantation manager, had tripled his wife's fortune by 1860.

After her husband died during the Civil War, Acklen faced financial ruin when the Confederate army threatened to burn 2,800 bales of her cotton to keep it from falling into Union possession. Acklen boldly rushed to Louisiana and secretly negotiated with both sides to save her fortune. She secured Confederate promises not to burn her cotton, while the Union army agreed to help her move the cotton to New Orleans. Acklen ran the Union blockade and sold her cotton to the Rothschilds of London for a reported $960,000 in gold. Three weeks after Robert E. Lee's surrender in 1865, Acklen and her children left for Europe to retrieve the money made from this cotton sale.

In 1867 the fifty-year-old Acklen married Dr. William Archer Cheatham, a respected Nashville physician. Cheatham also signed a prenuptial agreement. The couple was married twenty years, spending most of their time at Belmont in Nashville. In 1886 Acklen sold Belmont, left Nashville and Cheatham, and moved to Washington, D.C., with three of her adult children. The exact cause of her separation from Cheatham is not known. Acklen died on May 4, 1887, while on a shopping trip to New York City. She is buried in Nashville's Mt. Olivet Cemetery in a family mausoleum with her first two husbands and nine of her ten children.

TENNESSEE - THE 14TH FASTEST GROWING STATE

Hi Ya'll,

See if you know any of this............

Tennessee is the 14th fastest growing state in the US and is ranked 17th by population. It is ranked 36 by total land area. In 1796, it became the 16th state to join the Union. The capital and second largest city is Nashville, with a 2008 population of 626,144. The Nashville Metropolitan Area is the state’s largest, at 1,521,437 people. Tennessee’s largest city is Memphis, with a 2008 population of 670,902 and 1,280,533 in its metro area.

Many major battles of the American Civil War were fought in Tennessee—most of them were Union victories. Ulysses S. Grant and the U.S. Navy captured control of the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers in February 1862. They held off the Confederate counterattack at Shiloh in April. Memphis fell to the Union in June, following a naval battle on the Mississippi River in front of the city. Capture of Memphis and Nashville gave the Union control of the western and middle sections; this control was confirmed at the Battle of Murfreesboro in early January 1863 and by the subsequent Tullahoma Campaign.

See ya' tomorrow. Take care

YOUR FAVORITE TENNESSEAN
EUNICE

BESSIE SMITH, JACK MASSEY, ROBERT CHURCH SR.

Hi Ya'll,

Greetings again from Tennessee! Today I have three people I would like to introduce to you. Although not very well known, they were all remarkable individuals.

Often known as the "Empress of the Blues," Bessie Smith influenced entire generations of blues, jazz, and rock musicians and was the highest-paid black entertainer of her time. Born in 1892 in Chattanooga, she was one of 13 children. To help raise money for her family, she and her brother performed on the streets of Chattanooga. In 1912 she was hired by a group of traveling entertainers known as the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, and the next year she formed her own act in Atlanta. After the release of her 1923 song Down Hearted Blues, Smith became hugely popular as a Columbia recording artist.
Bessie Smith died from injuries incurred in a 1937 automobile accident. By the way, rock singer Janis Joplin later donated money to pay for Bessie's tombstone .


You may not have ever heard of Jack Massey, but you’ve heard of Colonel Sanders,the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken. In 1964 Sanders sold his restaurant chain to Massey, a Nashville businessman, and a young lawyer named John Y. Brown Jr. Massey and Brown expanded the company, spent huge amounts of money on advertising and shifted the business into stand-alone locations (prior to that time Kentucky Fried Chicken had mainly been a menu item at sit-down restaurants). The chain grew and grew until it was the largest restaurant company in the world – larger, at that time, than McDonald’s. Massey later sold his share of Kentucky Fried Chicken and went on to help start two other large companies – Hospital Corporation of American, which owns hospitals, and Winner’s Corp., which at that time owned Mrs. Winner’s restaurants. Jack Massey, the Tennessean, thus became the only person in American history to ever take three companies to the New York Stock Exchange.

Robert Church Sr. was born a slave but by the end of his life had become the South's first African-American millionaire. Although he was born in Mississippi, after the Civil War, Church settled in Memphis and began buying and renting small apartments, eventually working his way to owning a saloon, restaurant and hotel. In 1899, a time when black citizens weren't allowed to go into most white theaters and parks, he opened "Church's Park and Auditorium." This quickly became the cultural center for Memphis' African-American community, and among the people who appeared at this facility were President Theodore Roosevelt, Booker T. Washington and William C. Handy, the "Father of the Blues." A few years later Church was one of several black leaders who founded the Solvent Savings bank and Trust Co., the first black bank in Memphis in decades.

And now you know about three more notable people who helped to shaped Tennessee.

I hope ya'll have a great weekend and I'll see you back here on Monday!

Take care.

YOUR FAVORITE TENNESSEAN

EUNICE

MAXWELL HOUSE COFFEE, DAMN THE TORPEDOES, OCOEE RIVER AND THE OLYMPICS

Hi Ya'll

Thanks for stoppin' by. I guess you'd like to hear a little more about Tennessee.

You’ve probably heard the line “good to the last drop” in advertising but do you know when it was first said, who said it, and what product they were talking about? Did you say it was one of the presidents?
You are exactly right. It was President Theodore Roosevelt. During one of his visits to Nashville, President Roosevelt had a cup of locally produced coffee at the Maxwell House Hotel. After drinking the coffee he coined the phrase “good to the last drop”. That’s all it took. The phrase stuck and it has been identified with Maxwell House Coffee ever since. Although this famous coffee is still enjoyed everywhere, the hotel where it got it name burned to the ground. It was served for the last time at the Maxwell House Hotel on December 25, 1961.

OK, are you familiar with the Ocoee River in Polk County Tennessee? The Ocoee was the FIRST natural river used for Olympic whitewater competition. It was used in July 1996 during the summer Olympics which was held in Atlanta, Georgia. The course designers had to re-channel the riverbed to create an Olympic course one-third the width of the original riverbed. This whitewater competition attracted over 15,000 visitors and more than 1,000 volunteers and staff.

I wonder how many people know the name of the person who is remembered for his famous rally cry "Damn the Torpedoes”? Yes, it was Admiral David Farragut from Knoxville. David Glasgow Farragut was born in 1801 and became an Admiral in the Navy on July 16, 1862....the FIRST Admiral ever in American History.

I bet most people don’t know that Tennessee was the FIRST state created out of federal lands. And that The Statehood Proclamation was signed by President George Washington in 1796 and is now on display in the Museum of Tennessee history.

Take care. See ya' next time!

YOUR FAVORITE TENNESSEAN

EUNICE

THE SEEING EYE DOG, WILMA RUDOLPH, BUTTERNUTS & GENERAL EARL VANDORN

Hi Ya'll,

Glad you could drop in! Here's a bit of information I bet you didn't know.

DID YOU KNOW that it was a Nashville man who introduced the Seeing Eye Dog to the U.S.? Morris Frank, who was blinded by two accidents, was a Vanderbilt student when a news vendor told him of a story by Dorothy Eustis which had appeared in the Saturday Evening Post. Dorothy owned an experimental breeding station for German Shepherds in Switzerland. Frank traveled to Europe for training and returned to the states in 1928 with his new guide dog, Buddy. Frank and Buddy proved to a skeptical American public that the blind could regain their independence through trained guide dogs.

In 1929, Eustis, Frank and others established The Seeing Eye, Inc. in Nashville, which later relocated to New Jersey.

Do you remember Wilma Rudolph? She was from Clarksville and following a bout with polio, scarlet fever and pneumonia, she was told she would never walk again. But she didn’t let that stop her. In the 1960 Rome Olympics she broke a world record and won 3 gold medals in track & field. She was amazing. I think this really proves the old saying that you can do whatever you set your mind to.


Butternuts was a nickname that was first given to Tennessee soldiers during the Civil War because of the tan color of their uniforms

And here’s something you won’t find in the history books. On May 7, 1863, Confederate General Earl Van Dorn died of a single bullet wound, but not in battle. He was killed in Spring Hill, Tennessee by Maury County Doctor James B. Peters. Van Dorn went down in history as the only general in the Civil War to be killed, in uniform, by a jealous husband. Sounds like General Van Dorn was in the wrong place at the wrong time don’t ya’ think? That’s really amazing that a doctor would do something like that.

Well, that's about all I have for today. I'll be back again tomorrow.

Take care,
YOUR FAVORITE TENNESSEAN
EUNICE

MOVIES AND FAMOUS PEOPLE FROM TENNESSEE

Hi Ya'll,

Monday morning.............back to the old grind. Let's start the day with a few movie facts. Here's a list of a few of the movies that were filmed in Tennessee.

“The Firm”, starring Tom Cruise was filmed in Memphis in 1993.

In 1997, “Wag The Dog”, starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert DeNiro, was filmed in Nashville.

I loved the movie “Rainman” with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. It was made in Memphis in 1997.

Also in 1997, the movie “Silence of the Lamb” was filmed in Memphis. Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins starred in this thriller.

Nashville was the city where “The Green Mile”, with Tom Hanks, was made in 1998.

Another Tom Hanks movie was “Castaway”. It was filmed in Memphis in 2000.

And who could forget the movie “Walk the Line in 2004”? The movie about Johnnie Cash was made in Memphis.

I don’t think we can stop without mentioning some music trivia about Nashville and some of the famous people associated with Music City USA.

The National Life & Accident Company founded the Grand Ole Opry in 1925 but it was originally called The WSM Barn Dance. WSM stands for “We Shield Millions” and that was the slogan for the National Life & Accident Company.

The longest home of the Grand Ole Opry was the Ryman Auditorium which is also known as the “Mother Church of Country Music.” It was at the Ryman Auditorium from 1925 until 1974 when it moved to the Opry House.

Do you remember what price was on the price tag of Minnie Pearl's hat? It was $1.98.

And check this out………Bill Monroe is known as the "Father of Bluegrass Music”, Roy Acuff was the “King of Country”, and Chet Atkins is known as “Mr. Guitar.”

Do you know who Jimmy Dean is? He rose to fame as a Country music entertainer in 1961 with his song “Big Bad John” which won him a Grammy Award for Best Country and Western Recording. He had several other hits in the ‘60s but then in 1969 he founded the Jimmy Dean Sausage Company with his brother Don.

And Dolly Parton (she is my all time favorite entertainer) first became famous as the featured female singer on Porter Wagoner's show. Today she is one of the most famous celebrities in show business now.

It’s been a long time ago but Randy Travis used to wash dishes at the Nashville Palace.

And lastly, portions of 16th and 17th Avenue South in Nashville are known as Music Row. Music Row is an area just to the southwest of Downtown Nashville that is home to hundreds of businesses related to the country musci, gospel music, and contemporary Christian music industries.

I hope I was able to give you a few facts you didn't already know.

Take care,
YOUR FAVORITE TENNESSEAN
EUNICE

NASHVILLE'S FOUNDERS, MOON PIES, MINIATURE GOLF AND MORE

Hi Ya'll,

Well, it's Saturday and a good day to kick back. I did want to give you a little more information before I take a break.

Listen to these facts. These are all pretty random.......but interesting.

There were more National Guard soldiers deployed from Tennessee for the Gulf War effort than any other state.

Nashville was founded on Christmas Eve in 1779 by James Robertson, John Donelson and a party of Wataugans. It was named after the American Revolutionary hero Francis Nash.

Dr. Myles Vandahurst Lynk was born in Haywood County, Tennessee in 1871 and on Nov. 18, 1895 helped organize and form the National Medical Association,

The only person in American history to be both an Admiral in the Navy and a General in the Army was Samuel Powhatan Carter who was born in Elizabethton, Tennessee.

Here's a list of some of the inventions that have come out of Tennessee. I think some of these will surprise you.

Good ole’ Cotton Candy was invented in Nashville in 1897. Yep, candy makers, William Morrison and John C. Wharton invented a device that heated sugar in a spinning bowl that had tiny holes in it. It formed a treat that they originally called "Fairy Floss." Morrison and Wharton introduced cotton candy to the world at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904.

And there’s the Dumpster. In 1935 a Knoxville inventor, George Roby Dempster, came up with the idea for the Dempster Dumpster. It was designed to aide in the pick up of used construction materials in order to transport them away. This new idea quickly turned into the first garbage collection system in the United States, with Knoxville, TN becoming the first “Dumpster City,” in 1937.

I have never used a tow truck before but it's interesting to note that it originated in 1916 in the city of Chattanooga, after Ernest Holmes, Sr. helped a friend retrieve his car with three poles, a pulley and a chain hooked to the frame of a 1913 Cadillac. After patenting his invention and he began manufacturing wreckers and towing equipment for sale.

We really don’t use this next item much anymore but the first typewriter ribbon was patented in 1886 by George K. Anderson of Memphis. The patent of the typewriter ribbon took place 13 years after the invention of the typewriter.

You see "Check Into Cash" everywhere nowadays. The first office opened in 1993 in Cleveland, Tennessee which is now Corporate Headquarters for offices located throughout the United States.

I'm sure everyone has played a game of miniatur golf at one time or another. But did you know that it was invented right here in Tennessee. Garnet Carter was the first person to patent a game of miniature golf which he called "Tom Thumb Golf" in 1927. The golf course was built on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, TN, to draw traffic to the hotel that Carter owned.

MoonPies have been around ever since I can remember. The Chattanooga Bakery in, of course, Chattanooga was founded in the early 1900's as a subsidiary of the Mountain City Flour Mill. The bakery's original purpose was to use the excess flour produced by the mill. By 1910, the bakery offered over 200 different confectionery items and in 1917, the bakery developed a product which was named the MoonPie. It was originally developed for coal miners to carry in their lunch boxes.

Well, that's all I've got for you today but now don't you feel just a little smarter on this Saturday morning? :)

Have a great weekend and we'll see you again right here........same topic......same blog.

YA'LL COME BACK NOW YA' HEAR?

YOUR FAVORITE TENNESSEAN

EUNICE