William C. Culp, 18811924 (aged 42 years)

Name
William C. /Culp/
Birth
Birth of a sister
Birth of a brother
Birth of a brother
Birth of a sister
Birth of a brother
Birth of a brother
Birth of a brother
Birth of a brother
Birth of a brother
Birth of a brother
Census
Birth of a child
Death of a child
Source: Headstone
Text:

"Willie-Amanda Culp Infant"

Death of a mother
Source: Headstone
Death of a maternal grandfather
Text:

Wayne County, Tennessee Cemetery and Death Records, recorded February 1987

Birth of a daughter
Birth of a daughter
Birth of a son
Birth of a son
Death of a paternal grandmother
Death of a paternal grandmother
Birth of a daughter
Death of a brother
Census
Death of a brother
Source: Headstone
Birth of a daughter
Burial of a father
Burial of a mother
Death
1924 (aged 42 years)
Burial
Family with parents
father
18531932
Birth: September 10, 1853 28 22 Tennessee
Death: March 29, 1932Scotts Hill, TN
mother
18581906
Birth: December 12, 1858 34 34 Tennessee
Death: July 12, 1906Scotts Hill, TN
elder sister
20 months
elder brother
2 years
elder sister
18791949
Birth: August 21, 1879 25 20 Tennessee
Death: about 1949Jackson TN
2 years
himself
18811924
Birth: October 24, 1881 28 22 Tennessee
Death: 1924Decatur Co. TN
3 years
younger sister
18841970
Birth: August 7, 1884 30 25 Tennessee
Death: about 1970Statford, AZ
2 years
younger brother
18861959
Birth: September 11, 1886 33 27 Linden, TN
Death: August 6, 1959Memphis, TN
17 months
younger brother
18881968
Birth: February 7, 1888 34 29 Tennessee
Death: March 1968
2 years
younger sister
1890
Birth: January 27, 1890 36 31
2 years
younger brother
18921976
Birth: May 19, 1892 38 33 Tennessee
Death: May 15, 1976Memphis, TN
2 years
younger brother
18961917
Birth: July 14, 1896 42 37 Tennessee
Death: July 12, 1917
Family with Amanda Caroline Butler
himself
18811924
Birth: October 24, 1881 28 22 Tennessee
Death: 1924Decatur Co. TN
partner
18881953
Birth: February 16, 1888 32 27 Tennessee
Death: October 11, 1953Decatur Co. TN
son
child
19051905
Birth: 1905 23 16
Death: 1905
4 years
daughter
19081991
Birth: about 1908 26 19 Tennessee
Death: 1991
3 years
daughter
19101936
Birth: October 18, 1910 28 22 Tennessee
Death: March 2, 1936
2 years
son
19121982
Birth: about 1912 30 23 Tennessee
Death: July 1982
2 years
son
19131980
Birth: 1913 31 24 Tennessee
Death: March 1, 1980
4 years
daughter
1917
Birth: March 12, 1917 35 29 Tennessee
6 years
daughter
John Henry Moore + Amanda Caroline Butler
partner’s husband
18761947
Birth: September 19, 1876 21 Tennessee
Death: July 26, 1947Decatur Co. TN
partner
18881953
Birth: February 16, 1888 32 27 Tennessee
Death: October 11, 1953Decatur Co. TN
Marriage MarriageOctober 27, 1926
14 months
partner’s son
19271927
Birth: 1927 50 38
Death: 1927
Name
Citation details: 421
Shared note

Neely Culp was the grandfather of Willie Culp:

Civil War Story (source: Kennith Culp)

Story of William Neely Culp or "Neely" or "W.N. Culp" b 1825 - d 1863? and his wife Julia Emory (1831-1914). See end of story for children of Neely and Julia and verification of parts of story. We do not know for certain but speculate that Timothy Culp is Neely's father.

Family stories have him at Culp's chapel in Perry County, Tenn [which is still there as I visited this place and have a picture of it]. I don't know if he was married then, but the story starts with him going to California for the Gold Rush (Circa 1849-1850) and returning to Tennessee with considerable wealth, enough to afford as many as 100 negro slaves [note: the records I saw never showed more than 7 slaves, but the ruins of his plantation house do indicate wealth]. It is said he worked his slaves in the farm fields during the day and had them chip native rock for building purposes at night. He constructed a large underground cellar, three chimneys, cistern, well and rock fences for his house and farm. The house was a large double log, two story home built on the "Dog Trot" log style of the day [owned by the town doctor Dr. Brooks in 1930's when it burned down]. The cistern was on the back porch or an extension which connected the dining-kitchen rooms to the main structure.

Neely Culp was said to be a "master carpenter" and included new or innovative features in his home and other area structures he helped build. Being a slave owner and a Southern sympathizer, he chose NOT to fight in the Civil War and by necessity had to hide out during the civil war from the soldiers (Union?) and local renegades [my grandpa Burren Culp remembers his dad (Joseph, son of Neeley) saying he was on the "home guard"]. Allegedly, his gold was hidden about the property. Beliefs as to his wealth apparently led to his murder by a local gang. An earlier story by Granny Culp [later Emily E. Kelley] had him hiding above the stairs during one raid by bushwhackers and fatally shooting one of the marauders from the stairwell [I remember my grandpa saying this too, "shot in the head"]. A negro house woman was told to drag the body across the orchard to the garden and cover it with one of grandma Culp's good quilts. The dead man's family later moved the body by wagon.

Another story related the passing soldiers taking good quilts for horse saddle blankets. On occasions grandma and the children would hide out in the graveyard to avoid marauders.

One account of Neely Culp's death had him cold, wet and tired from hiding and coming home to get food, supplies, and rest. He was lying in front of the fire when sounds of horse hoofs of several riders were heard approaching the house. Apparently too much for those present, the gang overpowered the Culp family and rode off with Neely tied to his own horse. The story goes that the gang killed him in efforts to make him tell where his gold was hidden. The gang dumped and hid his body across the Tennessee River in the old community area. Disposition of the body was communicated many years later to a family member of the guilty gang. Culp's body was never recovered or found.

Old omens of the day - Granny Culp felt she knew he was dead when a flock of buzzards descended near the house, requiring her to fight them off with a broom [this notion was confirmed by my great Aunt Artie of Memphis, Tenn who was a spouse to Riley Culp, Joseph's son. Tales have it that some gold was later found, but through many years rumors persist that gold still remains buried on the home place. It was said that Neely Culp gave the land for the cemetery and church building and possibly helped build the church structure. The present building does look over 125 years old [there are some heavy quarry blocks in the foundation which I photographed in 1983]. Ernest Pevahouse was the custodian of the chapel in 1978 [per Charles H. Yabro] and remembers staying the night in the old Culp house. Pevahouse reports that Dr. Brooks built a doctor s office between the road and the house. Also in existence, but rotting away, is a log smokehouse near the house, believed to be a Neely structure [I saw this in 1983]. To the west and slightly near the rear of the house, past an old orchard, is an almost perfectly preserved portion of a rock wall and a square rock well.

The Neely Culp information is available in the U.S. Census for 1860, Wayne County, Tenn and there was also a Schedule of Slaves. Interview also (by Charles H. Yabro] from Mrs. Lillian Thompson Vise of Decaturville, TN on December 27, 1971 when she was 96 years old, she died May 16, 1972. Parts verified by Burren Culp (of Scott s Hill TN), my grandfather who died in 1976, and also by an interview with Artie Culp of Memphis, TN (Burren's brother Riley Culp's spouse). My address is: Dr. Kennith Culp, 170 Ironwood Circle, Iowa City, IA 52240-4474. I also found old Grandma Culp (Julia grave (Neeley's wife) in the Scotts Hill, Tenn cemetary under Julia E. Kelley. Her date of death was Sept 19, 1914 and the stone says "aged 83 years, 3 months, and 7 days".

I would welcome any comments or further verification of this account from those interested!

Family listed in Wayne County, TN Census 1860 #1164 under W. N. Culp. born 1825. I would LOVE to hear from any of the descendants of his children, which include:

  1. Joseph Culp (b 1853) married Fannie Culp (maiden name Culp too, b 1858)
  2. Sarah (Sally) Ann Culp (b 1854) who married James Andrew Pitts Thompson
    Descendants include Thompson, Vise, Pickens, Smith (Alsonson B. Smith)
  3. Walter (b 1857)... NOTHING KNOWN about descendants..
  4. Dora Ellen (b 1860) who married Dr. Jim Alston descendants: Swift, Yabro

Kennith Culp,
170 Ironwood Circle
Iowa City, Iowa 52240-4474
e-mail: ken-culp@uiowa.edu