My 2x’s great-grandmother, Melissa Jane Sutton (nee Wolfe but really Bray). Thanks to my third cousin, Betty Turner, for sharing this photo with me. I remember the first time I saw a slightly different version of this photo. It was hanging in my great-uncle Jack Sutton’s old farmhouse in Telephone, Texas. My dad loved to load us up in the car to make the 4-hour drive from Oklahoma City to Telephone so we could visit his uncle. I loved to prowl through his house looking at the old photos hanging on the wall that were framed in lovely antique wood. When I asked Jack who she was he didn’t seem to know. For years I thought she was Martha Epperson since a photo of James Nelson Epperson hung next to her. He was my 2x’s great-grandfather and father of my great-grandmother Allie Jane Sutton (nee Epperson). I was fortunate to connect with a second cousin, Susie Clarke (nee Kelley), through Ancestry.com who knew her identity and has shared many family photos with me. I love seeing my ancestors.
Why, you may ask, would I like to meet Melissa? She was born and raised in east Tennessee near Sneedville. It is the county seat of Hancock County that was formed in the 1840s from parts of Hawkins and Claiborne counties. At the time of her birth in 1827, this area was still Hawkins County and the state of Tennessee was only 31 years old! She grew up in the Appalachian Mountains near the Clinch River. It is a beautiful area that is filled with churches and lush with greenery, mystery, violence, and moonshiners. Oh the stories I have found in my family tree.
What is so mysterious? Well, these parts are known for a group of people called the Melungeons who are supposedly a mix of European, African, and Native American heritage and much has been written about them and DNA studies have also tried to confirm their ethnic composition. Was Melissa a Melungeon? No, I do not believe she was as I have already identified some of her ancestors in my previous blogs and they don’t seem to be one of surnames often mentioned in Melungeon studies. At any rate, I love this photo of Melissa as you can see dark hair and eyes that many of her descendants have inherited. I also notice a long neck, and those hands! I have these hands with the long slender fingers. I study her face and wonder how she handled the many challenges of life during this time? Her home would have no running water and would be heated with a wood stove. Luckily, these items were in abundance on the farm where she lived. She would have also been responsible to cook and clean for a large family.
She married James Sutton on March 2, 1847. This union was blessed with 10 children so they had many farm hands to help out on the 200 acres on which they lived. I am quite sure she was of the Baptist religion as many of my east Tennessee ancestors were members of this denomination. Hopefully, she enjoyed life for the most part and dealt with strife as a peacemaker because East Tennessee would become divided during the Civil War and many years thereafter. None of Melissa’s children were old enough to serve but she had at least two brothers who fought for the Union. Yet her own husband, James, entered the Confederate army but never served due to illness. I believe this fueled some of the family feuds that are well known in the area.
Moving forward, I look at her face and wonder when was this photo taken. I believe it is several years after her husband died. She is nearing the end of her life and was widowed around 1872. I know this because she was listed as a widow in Peter Wolfe’s probate paperwork. The probate paperwork also reveals that her mother had recently died. A dark time for her but it appears that her son, McHenry Sutton, became the head of the household by 1880. The household includes Melissa and his wife, Sarah Sutton (nee Wilburn), brothers – Peter, James, and Noah (my great-grandfather) – and his sister, Margaret. I am hopeful that she was well taken care of toward the end of her life. She was buried in the Wolfe Cemetery located in Hancock County near the Providence Baptist Church in the year 1888 (according to her Find A Grave memorial). Perhaps she died before my great-grandfather’s friend and neighbor, John Barnard, shot Henley Sutton in 1889. Henley lived nearby and was a nephew. John Barnard was a cousin to my great-grandmother, Allie Epperson. Oh, yes, I do have more stories to share and can’t wait until I travel to east Tennessee again so I can visit Melissa's grave.
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