Thomas Louis Presley (1883 - 1941)

Born 5 Mar 1883 in Gibson, Tennessee, USA

Ancestors

Husband of Gussie Octavia (Graves) Presley — married 5 Mar 1910 in Madison County, Tennessee, USA

Husband of Minnie Krider — married 28 Jun 1924 in Madison County, Tennessee, USA

Husband of Ella Joy (Langford) Yates — married 29 Jan 1929 in Jackson, Madison, Tennessee, USA

Descendants

Died 10 Jun 1941 at age 58 in Jackson, Madison, Tennessee, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Patricia Presley [send private message]

Biography

My grandfather, Thomas Louis Presley, was born 5 March 1883 in Gibson^[1], Tennessee, USA to Wesley Presley and Cordelia Turner^[2] His father was a farmer; his mother was the daughter of a preacher.

He died over 20 years before I was born so I never knew him, and my father did not tell many stories of his parents or his childhood. All I know is that the family was poor, and existing records support that reality. What I don’t know is why. Although Tom’s father and grandfather were not what I would call prosperous, Tom’s mother, Cordelia Ann Turner Presley, was the daughter of a prominent area preacher and landowner, David William Turner, who is said to have owned a plantation… and slaves. But Cordelia was one of 15 children David would have with his two wives, and all but one of those children would outlive him, so a 1/14th share was likely not enough for her to raise a family with plenty.

Tom’s third wife, my grandmother Ella Joy, had also come from a prosperous family. Her father, Atlas Clay Langford, owned a substantial amount of property around Jackson, along with a restaurant at one time. But Ella was also one of 12 siblings (all by one wife!), and again, her inheritance did not translate into a life of ease for herself or her family.

So Tom’s story is one of a fairly poor man, a sharecropping farmer who never owned property of his own, who in later life took up work in a cooperage, making barrels. He would work his way through three wives, but only 8 children, and four of those children would die before he did.

Early life and first marriage

The first time we find Tom he is already almost grown. In the 1900 federal census, taken on 7 June 1900, Tom is found at home with his parents in Civil District #16 in Madison County, Tennessee.^[3] He was 17 years old and working as a farm laborer. They lived on a rented farm.

Tom was probably the fourth child of nine (before 1900, Wesley and Cordelia had a child who never lived long enough to be counted in a census), and the first son born to the couple. He was one of eight children in total, having four sisters and three brothers; though born almost in the middle, he would be the first of the siblings to die.

Tom’s mother Cordelia is believed to have died by December 1908, a year when Tennessee did not yet mandate death certificates. Family stories told by Tom’s siblings say that she, and later her husband, Wesley, was buried in an unmarked grave at the Antioch Cumberland Presbytery Cemetery. Cordelia’s father was a preacher in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

The first born of all her siblings, she was also the first of the siblings who lived to adulthood to die. She would have been 50 years old; her youngest child, Tom’s sister Susie, would have been just 10 years old.

On 10 December 1908, Tom’s father Wesley was made a guardian to his minor children (Jessie Lee, Susan Ann, and Howell Bernard (then named James A)) in order for them to receive their inheritance from their mother’s estate, which was $19.86, or $6.62 cents each. (Madison Co. probate records, Po-Py, 1840-1950, image 1177 to 1182 of 1549.) This means Tom would also have inherited $6.62 from his mother’s estate around this time, which is around $185 in 2019 dollars.

On 5 March 1910^[4] Tom was married to Margaret Augusta Graves, called Gussie, the daughter of John Madison Graves and Matilda Barnett. W.D. Osborn served as bondsman, and the wedding was solemnized by M.V.B. Exum, a justice of the peace. The marriage was solemnized on the same day the license was issued.

Gussie’s paternal great-grandfather was William Turner (his wife’s name is unknown). William Turner and his unknown wife were Tom’s great-great grandparents, making Tom and Gussie second cousins once removed.

And Gussie’s maternal great-grandparents were Hugh and Nancy Barnett… who were Tom’s maternal great-great grandparents. So Tom and Gussie were second cousins once removed on this line as well.

This means that their children, Nunnery, Rube and Ruth, who you’ll meet shortly, were each their own third cousins once removed… twice. And that, my friends, is what we call pedigree collapse.

In the 1910 federal census, taken 6 May 1910, Tom is found in Civil District #10 of Madison County, Tennessee^[5] with his wife, Gussie. They are living on a rented farm, and he is working as a farmer.

Tom and Gussie’s son Nunnery Lee Presley was born on 10 September 1911 in Jackson, Madison, Tennessee. The date and place are determined by Nunnery’s obituary^[6], printed in the Jackson Sun newspaper, on 30 June 2003.

Tom’s father, Wesley Owens Presley, is believed to have died in May 1913. This was yet another year in which Tennessee did not record death certificates. If the date is correct, Wesley was 64 when he died. Seven of his siblings had already died; only three would have been left alive to mourn his death.

On 7 November 1914, Tom and Gussie sold to J.F. Reece their 1/5th interest in 48 acres of land land in the 10th civil district of Madison County for $250.^[7]. This was Gussie’s share of land inherited after her father’s death in 1893, kept aside as her mother’s dower interest, her mother having died in 1913.

Just a year later, Tom and Gussie became parents to twins when Ruth Merle and Rube Earle were born 14 August 1915 in Tennessee.^[8]

At some point between Nunnery’s birth in 1911, and 1918, Tom and Gussie had moved to the area of Finley, in Dyer County, about 51 miles northwest of Jackson, where Tom would work as a sharecropper on Aaron D Craig’s farm, located just outside of Finley on the Finley/Richwoods Road. Given his later work making barrels, and his use of the W.A. Coleman Heading Factory in Jackson as a permanent address on his draft registration (see below), it’s interesting to note that the W.A. Coleman heading factory was almost completely destroyed by fire on 15 June 1911.^[9] (A heading factory, for making barrels, is a dry kiln.) It’s possible that Tom left the area to find work while the factory was being rebuilt.

World War I began on 28 June 1914, with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, but the U.S. did not enter the war until 6 April 1917. Tom would have just turned 34, but it does not appear, with three young children, that he felt compelled to join in the war effort.

On 11 July 1918, Tom’s wife Gussie died^[10], at just 25 years of age. I have not found a death certificate for her so don’t know a cause of death. It’s possible she died due to pregnancy complications, but we also know that various epidemics often killed off the young and strong in those days, including the “Spanish Flu” epidemic, which lasted from January of 1918 until December of 1920. The couple were living near Finley, in Dyer County, at the time, and her body was shipped to Humboldt, to be buried at Bethel Springs, with services at the Bethel Baptist Church. Aaron Craig (see draft registration for Tom) signed on to share the expense of burial. Aaron’s farm, which Tom was sharecropping on, was located on the Finley-Richwoods Road. Bethel Baptist Church is in Madison County, but the church cemetery is located just over the county line in Chester County, Tennessee.

On 12 Sep 1918 Tom registered for the draft (World War I)^[11]. He was a farmer, working a share crop with Aaron Craig in Dyer County, but gave the W.A. Coleman Heading Factory in Jackson, Tennessee as his permanent home address. He listed his son, Nunnery Lee, living at RFD #3 in Bells, Tennessee as his closest relative as his wife, Gussie, had already died, even though Nunnery would have only been 9 years old. Nunnery was then living with his maternal uncle, Lynch Graves.

Tom was described as having brown hair and brown eyes, and was of medium height and medium build.

An interesting court case

On 1 December 1919, the Madison County court^[12] recorded the curious case of Tom Presley et al vs. William Graves et al.

I call this a curious case in part because I have not yet found the origin of it; in part because the “et. al.’s” in the case amount to 67 people as plaintiffs and 76 as defendants; in part because the list of the people included under the et.al. umbrella shows that Tom Presley and his siblings were suing, among others, his own children by his wife Gussie Graves (that is, Nunnery, Ruth and Rube); and in part because this case never really ended: instead, the cause was retired on 10 June 1961, with the proviso that it can be picked up by any of the parties interested “upon application to the court.”

But the truly curious thing about this case was discovered when I began to place that list of almost 150 people, some of which I recognized, into my family tree… because the ancestor they have in common is Tom’s mother Cordelia Turner’s great-grandfather, the Reverend David Gordon. This dispute must have to do with property he left after his death… in 1836!

I have to pause for a minute of admiration for the anonymous genealogist who was employed by attorneys in 1919 to identify these scattered descendants.

The case of Presley vs. Graves originated, it seems, some time in 1919. Although the original filing has not yet been found, my belief is it arose out of the death of one Sirena Fisher Gordon Baker, who died in Tennessee in June of 1918. Cyrena (or Sirena) and her husband, Lewis Baker, had no children, meaning the property she had been gifted from her father, the late Samuel Gordon (1801-1884), son of David Gordon, was divided among her aunts and uncles.

Close to 150 people were parties to the case; the vast majority of them were descendants of the Reverend David Gordon, who died in Gibson Co., Tennessee in 1836, while a few of them were descendants of Sallie Turner, who had married William Lynch Graves. Sallie was a daughter of the William Turner who was the revolutionary patriot referred to in the original DAR application.

Cyrena Fisher Gordon Baker, who died in 1918, was the granddaughter of David Gordon on her paternal line, and the granddaughter of Sallie Turner Graves on her maternal side. Cyrena died with no heirs, and the property belonging to her estate was ultimately left to her aunts and uncles; that is, the children of David Gordon and his two wives on her paternal line, and the children of Sallie Turner Graves on her maternal line. One decision in the case allowed for a greater portion of the inheritance to go to the aunts and uncles on her paternal line.

Tennessee intestate (meaning died with no will) succession law states that if you have a spouse but no descendants, the spouse inherits all marital property. Property a spouse has inherited or received in their own person, however, is not considered to be part of marital property. In this case, Cyrena’s siblings should have inherited, yet by 1918, all of her siblings were dead, and none had left any children. This left only her aunts and uncles to inherit, as her parents were also dead. The case of Presley vs. Graves was the attempt to distribute this land amongst the heirs. Read the full story here: https://tennesseepresleys.wordpress.com/2019/12/27/the-complicated-court-case-of-presley-vs-graves/

A second chance at marriage

In the 1920 federal census in Madison County, Tennessee,^[13] taken 21 January 1920, Tom is found as a boarder in the home of Norman Rogers, the father-in-law of Tom’s brother Bernard, who was also living there.

The house was located at 267 ½ E. Preston Street in Jackson’s ward #3. He was working as a primar at the heading factory. His twins, Ruth and Rube, are not living with him, and have not been found on the census; Nunnery is still living with his maternal uncle Lynch Graves.

On 22 November 1920, a partial settlement was made in the Presley vs. Graves land case.^[14] Two tracts of land, one of around 101 acres and the other of around 122 acres, were sold for a total amount of $12,100—almost $156,000 in today’s money!—with the proceeds to be divided among the various plaintiffs… Tom and his kin. With 76 of them, Tom’s share would have amounted to around $160, or about $2,000 today, minus the sums paid to attorneys and for various court costs. There is no evidence as to how Tom might have tried to turn this $160 to his benefit, but no deed has been found to suggest he used it to purchase a few acres of land of his own.

The description of the land matches closely to that of the land set aside for Cole Ann Gordon Turner’s dower right after the death of her husband, Alexander Turner. Cole Ann, who was David Turner’s mother and Cordelia Turner’s grandmother, would have inherited this land from her father, the Rev. David Gordon, at his death. It should have remained solely hers to be held in trust for her children, but it seems the property she owned became part of her husband’s estate. Or perhaps it was because she owned this land that it was the part of their plantation set aside as her dower right. It’s hard to know for sure, given that land surveys of the time included such boundary descriptions as “… thence south 114 poles 20 links to a stake with walnut pointer in Ed Goodrich's north boundary line…”. Not to mention that I’ve rarely come across a parcel that wasn’t shaped like some oddball irregular polygon. It would be complicated to trace how “Ed Goodrich’s north boundary line” in 1920 compared to a given piece of property a hundred years prior. Somehow, of course, these surveyors managed.

Land law can be pretty complicated at times.

On 27 June 1924, Tom was married to Minnie Crider in Madison County^[15]. T.G. McBroom served as bondsman, and the wedding was performed by L.A. Cunningham, a Minister of the Gospel. The marriage took place on the same day the license was issued. Minnie Crider’s family is unknown. A Thomas Jefferson Crider and his family moved to Madison County in the 1920s, but Minnie is not listed on any of the censuses with that family. Tom and Minnie had no known children.

In the October term of court in 1924, just four months after the marriage, Minnie had apparently filed for divorce, but the case was dismissed.^[16] But it seems Minnie was an “if at first you don’t succeed” kind of gal, because she filed for divorce again and this time it was granted, on 6 June 1925.^[17]

Third time's a charm?

Then on 29 January 1926 Tom married Ella Joy Langford in Madison County, Tennessee.^[18] C.B. Mobley was bondsman, and the marriage was performed the same day as the license was issued by C. L. Skinner, a Minister of the Gospel. Ella was the daughter of Atlas Clay Langford and Lucy Stroud.

Tom and Ella’s first child, their son Thomas Lamar, was born 23 January 1926 in Jackson, Madison, Tennessee.^[19]

On 9 Jan 1927, Thomas and Gussie’s daughter, Ruth Merle, died from lobar pneumonia at the age of 11.^[20] The family was then living at 132 Theus Street in Jackson, and she was buried in Bethel Cemetery. The Bethel Baptist Church is located in Madison County, but its cemetery is just over the county line, in Chester County. It’s likely she is buried by her mother.

On 9 February 1929, Tom and his siblings each sold their 1/8th interest in a 1/12th interest in 61 acres of land which they received as an inheritance given the death of their mother, Cordelia Turner Presley.^[21] This was land that had belonged to Cordelia’s father, David William Turner; by the time his estate was fully settled, Cordelia had already died. The land was sold for $1,440, giving them $120 (as a 1/12th share) to split, meaning Tom would have received $15 from this sale (around $225 in 2019 dollars).

When Tom and Ella’s son Edward Leroy was born on 29 February 1928^[22] the family was living at 573 E. Chester, not far south of Theus, a home they shared with many members of Ella’s family. Today, there’s an old gas station standing in that spot, which by its style probably replaced whatever building was here in the ’30s some time in the 1950s.

On 16 December 1930 Tom, Ella Joy and Ella’s siblings sold their interest in a parcel of land located at Chester and High streets—likely the property above—to Ella’s father, Atlas Clay Langford.^[23] This is property the children would have received after their mother’s death in 1925. Atlas and his wife, Lucy, had borrowed money against this property, and Atlas agreed to pay off that loan in return for the property itself. The deed recorded stated the children also received “other considerations” in return for the land, without naming them. Perhaps they had been living there without paying rent, or would do so in the future.

Edward was my father. And while he told me very little about his childhood, he did tell me a few stories. Most seemed to emphasize that his family lived in extreme poverty. Of course, the Great Depression began in August of 1929 and lasted through 1933, which covered Dad’s years before going to school. But for the Presleys of Jackson, like many others, those ‘depression’ times lasted long after the federal government began to institute programs to help the destitute.

Dad told me one of his earliest memories was following the coal trucks through town as they made their deliveries to homes. He would gather any pieces of coal that fell off the truck to take home to his family, who couldn’t afford to buy much, if any, coal for heat.

He also told me about getting in trouble for stealing watermelons out of a neighbor’s garden. That might have been the beginning of his ‘career’ in stealing things… one he kept up until finally sent to reform school.

And he told me he once tried to skip school, and was caught by his father, who was in a wheelchair at the time. Tom, said Dad, tied Dad to the wheelchair with a rope, and took him in to school.

What Dad never told me, however, was anything about what his father was like, what his mother was like, or any of his siblings and half siblings who died before I was born. He never even told me about Nunnery, even though Nunnery lived 15 years longer than my dad did, and his home in Jackson was only 45 minutes from where my family lived in Ramer.

On 9 February 1929, Tom and his siblings sold, to John Graves, their share in 61 acres of land that should have been inherited by their mother, Cordelia Turner Presley, after the death of her father, David William Turner.^[24] In total, the siblings had a 1/12th interest in the land, divided among 8 of them, which they sold for $120. Tom would have received $15, almost two months rent at the time.

Given the wording in the sale, this land was part (or all) of David William Turner’s second wife’s (Emma Mathis Turner) dower property right. Emma did not die until 1932, and she would have held the right to all use in the property until her death. Only after her death would title fully vest in David’s children and, as Cordelia had died in 1908, her share would have gone to her children.

On 25 February 1929, Tom and Gussie’s son Rube Earle was sent to stay at the Tennessee Home for the Feeble Minded in Donelson, Davidson County, Tennessee, because he was an epileptic. (See Rube’s death certificate.)

Later called the Clover Bottom Developmental Center, which closed in 2015, it seems to have boasted all the worst aspects of these types of institutions. According to an article in the 2 January 2016 Tennesseean, “Clover Bottom’s closing brings to an end a troubled chapter in Tennessee’s history of caring for people with disabilities. When it opened in 1923, children with disabilities such as Down syndrome and autism — who today typically grow up with their families — were sent to the institution at young ages. In the 1970s, a federal lawsuit brought an end to forcing some residents to work without pay. In the 1990s, federal investigators found widespread and shocking cases of abuse and neglect. A federal lawsuit in 1996 has brought increased oversight.”

In the 1930 federal census, taken on 7 April 1930, Tom and Ella are living at 573 E. Chester Street in Jackson;^[25] also living in the home are Ella’s brothers, Atlas, Earl, Laverne, and her sister Gladys Langford Stroud, along with their families. Tom paid $8 rent.

Sometime between 1930 and 1940, Tom and Ella’s son James Leon was born and died.^[26]

On 18 July 1933, Tom and Gussie’s son Rube Earle died from epilepsy.^[27] He was 18 years old, and still a patient at the Tennessee Home for the Feeble Minded. He was buried on the hospital grounds.

There has been no information in the records, or in our oral family history, to suggest that Tom and Ella had any money; in fact, quite the opposite. Nonetheless, it is incredibly sad to think of a young man sent to live so far away from his family, at a place where he likely did not receive quality care, and then to die there so young and not even be returned home for burial.

On 19 March 1934, Tom was arrested for public drunkenness.^[28] It is the first of only two arrest records I’ve found for him (so far), but alcohol was a problem for Tom’s father and grandfather, and would be for his sons as well.

A week and two years later, Thomas and Ella’s son Windell Owens was born 27 July 1935 in Jackson, Madison, Tennessee. (See death certificate already cited.)

And on 18 Jan 1937, Windell Owens died from bronchial pneumonia at the age of 1 year, 5 months and 22 days.^[29] He had been under a doctor’s care for 8 days. Of the eight children Thomas would father, he would watch four die before he did.

The family was living at 623 Madison Avenue in Jackson when Windell died. Madison Avenue no longer exists today.

On 21 August 1937, Tom is arrested for public drunkenness again.^[30]

Tom and Ella’s son Charles Leonard was born 26 August 1937 in Jackson, Madison, Tennessee.^[31]

On 18 January 1940, the Madison County juvenile court ordered that Tom and Ella’s son Edward, my father, be taken from the home and put into foster care, given his ‘incorrigible’ nature and repeated thefts.^[32] Edward was eventually placed in the home of Cecil and Jessie Prince in Ramer, McNairy, Tennessee.

Although Dad doesn’t seem to have lived with them long, he would remain close to his foster family for the rest of his life. Cecil and Jessie were pretty much the only grandparents I ever knew.

In the 1940 census, taken on 15 April 1940, the family is living at 515 Day Street in Jackson, Tennessee.^[33] They indicated they lived at the same house in 1935, which clearly they did not given their address when son Windell died. Tom had only completed four years of school. He was listed as not working, with no income. Ella is listed as having a private source of income—likely her family. That address is an empty field today… it seems that none of the homes my father lived in as a child managed to last through the next 70 years.

A cousin and friend discovered through genealogy work gave me some insight into Day Street, where my family lived, and with his permission I share this:

Your daddy and his family lived on Day Street. I knew Day Street. For awhile in the early 50’s I had a job collecting for The Jackson Sun, the daily newspaper (except Saturday) in Jackson. I dreaded Day Street. Few people took the paper, but the street was “rough” and you never knew what might happen when you went onto Day Street. A few people subscribed to the paper, but most put me off and often threatened me. It was an alien world for me. I was fourteen years old and had never seen anyone drunk in my life. It was a common sight on Day Street. Some people were mildly threatening, but I just pedaled my bike harder and got away. No one ever directly threatened me, but there was a feeling of threat that just hung in the air. Day Street seemed like a place nobody cared for. The people there were just written off with phrases like “no account,” “trifling,” “a bunch of drunks.” I just went to the houses where I was supposed to try to collect and got out of there.

Near the end of his life, Tom was in a wheelchair, as told to me by his sons Edward and Charles. Uncle Charles said he thought it was due to “the sugar diabetes.”

Tom died 10 June 1941 in Jackson, Madison, Tennessee, USA (25).^[34] He died from endocarditis. According to the Mayo Clinic,^[35] endocarditis is generally caused when bacteria somewhere on your body enters the bloodstream, infecting the inner lining of your heart and valves. If caught and treated early, it can generally be cured today with antibiotics. But the first time a patient received penicillin was not until 1942; it was a year too late for Tom. High blood pressure was listed as a contributing cause, though of course it was likely not. At the time of death, the family was still living at 515 Day Street in Jackson.

Tom’s obituary ran in the 10 January 1941 Jackson Sun. It reads:

Thomas Presley Dies Today at His Home Here

Thomas L. Presley, 58, died this morning at 11 o’clock at his home, 515 Day street, after an illness of nine weeks. He was an employee of a local cooperage company.

He was born and reared in Madison County, and was a member of the Baptist Church.

Surviving are his widow, Mrs. Ella Joy Presley; four sons, Nunnery, Thomas, Edwin and Charles Presley of Jackson; three brothers, Vernon Presley of Jackson, Frank Presley of Medina and Jesse Presley of Paducah; four sisters, Mrs. Fannie Finch, Mrs. Susie Layman, and Mrs. Witty Graves of Humboldt, Mrs. Etta Gaither of St. Louis.

Funeral services will be held Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the chapel of Griffin Funeral Home by the Rev. Burns and the Rev. Hart. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery.

Pallbearers will meet at the funeral home at 1:45 o’clock. They are Tom Kirk, Tommie Joner, Charles Puckett, Freeman Burns, Jack Graves and S.L. Finch.

It is worth noting some of the mistakes in this obituary. His third son should have been listed as Edward, not Edwin; he did not have a brother named Vernon. The brother still alive and living in Jackson was Howell Bernard; his third sister listed should have read Mrs. Willie Graves, not Witty.

According to records from Griffin Funeral Home,^[36] Tom was buried at Riverside Cemetery in Jackson, Madison, Tennessee. A volunteer for Findagrave searched for his grave in 2019, but it was not found. It’s likely he was buried in an unmarked grave in the pauper’s section of the cemetery.

Although it’s not known where, Tom lays at rest somewhere in this peaceful, ten acres, alongside many of the early founders of Jackson.

Written by Trish Gannon, Thomas’ granddaughter, December 2019

== Sources ==

1. ↑ Birth certificate of his son, Edward, states his father was born in Gibson County, Tennessee.
2. ↑ Parents names on 1900 federal census, and Thomas’ death certificate.
3. ↑ 1900 federal census for Madison County, Tennessee. View at https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSCV-68Y
4. ↑ Marriage book #4, Madison Tennessee. View at Family Search https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9V6-H9TB
5. ↑ 1910 federal census for Madison County, Tennessee. View at https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MGX6-9ZL
6. ↑ The Jackson Sun, 30 July 2003, at http://www.newspapers.com/clip/14970276/30_july_2003_the_jackson_sun/?xid=637&_ga=2.23836732.729166340.1574951421-1065687516.1573825516
7. ↑ (Madison Co. deed book #85, p. 256
8. ↑ Date was determined from Ruth’s death certificate. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NS3H-YXW
9. ↑ “The Packages” at Google books https://books.google.com/books?id=OAZZAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA122&lpg=RA1-PA122&dq=%22Coleman+heading+factory%22&source=bl&ots=jjLIGvn8KD&sig=ACfU3U3nass8wWQYliUrkzxMmq7Kp0ia-g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjt5arwiKLmAhVrGTQIHQTYCrkQ6AEwAHoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Coleman%20heading%20factory%22&f=false
10. ↑ Curry Funeral Home of Dyer County, Tenn. Records online at http://www.tngenweb.org/dyer/funeral/curry-p.html
11. ↑ World War I draft registration. View at Family Search https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZ6J-K1F
12. ↑ Madison County court minute book #28, p. 637
13. ↑ 1920 federal census for Ward 3, Jackson, Madison, Tennessee. View at Family Search https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNR9-FFB
14. ↑ Madison Co. Deed book #98, pp. 104-106
15. ↑ Marriage book #7 for Madison, Tennessee. View at Family Search https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9V6-C39K
16. ↑ Madison County Civil Executions v. 6, p. 242.
17. ↑ Madison County Civil Executions v. 6, p. 26
18. ↑ Tennessee marriage records. View at Family Search https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9V6-CSRN?i=493&cc=1619127
19. ↑ Birth date from the Social Security Death Index at Family Search https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V347-ZP6?treeref=KJC1-GTQ
20. ↑ Tennessee death record #1295 View at Family Search https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NS3H-YX4
21. ↑ Madison Co. deed book #114, p. 408
22. ↑ Tennessee birth certificate #9083 View at Family Search http://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/23518065?p=8011464&returnLabel=Edward%20Leroy%20Presley%20(LDTH-759)&returnUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.familysearch.org%2Ftree%2Fperson%2Fmemories%2FLDTH-759
23. ↑ Madison county deed book #118, p. 196
24. ↑ Madison County deed book #115, page 408
25. ↑ 1930 federal census for Madison County, Tennessee. View at https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SPHQ-3XZ
26. ↑ As told to me by Thomas and Ella’s youngest son, Charles.
27. ↑ Tennessee death certificate #16094. View at Family Search https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N9YK-D54
28. ↑ State executions, Madison, Tenn. v. 13-14 1931-1935, page 75
29. ↑ Tennessee death certificate #3796 . View at Family Search https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N9RF-WQG
30. ↑ State executions, Madison, Tenn., v. 15-16 1935-1938, p. 59
31. ↑ Birth date from Social Security death index at Family Search http://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JT6T-N6D?treeref=L6PY-KMK
32. ↑ Madison Co., Tenn. Juvenile Court Minute book #2, p. 78
33. ↑ 1940 federal census for Madison County, Tennessee. View at https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4ZW-3JX
34. ↑ Tennessee death certificate #13921. View at Family Search. http://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NSHV-GHP?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=LZZ4-C93
35. ↑ Mayo Clinic information on endocarditis, online at http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/endocarditis/symptoms-causes/syc-20352576
36. ↑ Record of Funeral Expenses from Griffin Funeral Home, online here: www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/22669323?p=8300391&returnLabel=Thomas%20Louis%20Presley%20(LZZ4-C93)&returnUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.familysearch.org%2Ftree%2Fperson%2Fmemories%2FLZZ4-C93