Biography of Joseph Houston Miser

The following information about Mr. Miser was published in 1923.

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Joseph Houston Miser was reared on the home farm and received his early education in the country schools. Subsequently he enrolled in Maryville College, and he began teaching at the age of eighteen years, teaching during the summer and fall months and attending college during the winter months. He was an instructor in the country schools of Blount county for six terms; for one year was principal of the schools at Maryville and active in a similar capacity at Eton, Georgia, for one year; he was principal in Dallas, Georgia, one year, and principal in Sardis, that state, for a period covering five years.

At Christmas time of the year 1918, Mr. Miser returned to Maryville and was soon afterward elected county superintendent of the Blount county schools, which important position he has since held. There are eighty-three white schools and seven colored schools under his jurisdiction. He is sincerely devoted to educational work and has brought the county schools to a high standard.

On the 3d of June, 1919, Mr. Miser was united in marriage to Miss Nancy Lee Broady and to their union one child has been born, Joseph Houston, Jr. Politically Mr. Miser is a stanch supporter of the democratic party and the principles for which it stands. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church and fraternally he is identified with the Junior Order of American Mechanics and the Masons. He is readily conceded to be one of Maryville’s representative and substantial citizens and he well merits the position he occupies among the leading educators of the county and state.

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Source: Moore, John Trotwood, and Austin P. Foster. Tennessee, the Volunteer State, 1769-1923. Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co, 1923.

Photo: Charles & Mary Boyd

Tonight, I was browsing the Volunteer Voices site and decided to do a search on the word “Maryville” to see what relevant Blount County items were included.   One of the items I found was this picture of Charles & Mary, last names not included, and I knew immediately who it was!

The picture is from between 1890-1920 and was taken by L.D. Fagg.  Well, because of past information I’ve gathered, I knew that his was a picture of Charles Boyd and his wife Mary.   I recognized Charles because of a picture of him published in the Spring 2004 issue of the Blount Journal. The article in the journal was a reprint of a newspaper article about him from the April 20, 1917 issue of the Knoxville Journal and it included the following picture of Charles

Since reading that article I’ve done a few blog posts about Charles and/or his family, including

• his obituary
• some info I’ve pulled together about his family
• a court case in which he was an eye-witness

How great to happen upon this picture! I’m definitely writing to the project team to see if they can attribute their last name correctly.

Wordless Wednesday: Hinton/Byerly Family

Amanda Hinton Byerly & children. Picture shared by M. Slack

Amanda Hinton & William Byerly & children. Picture shared by M. Slack

This family, originally from Blount County, migrated to Kansas in the late 1800s.  Descendant M. Slack has more information on her Ancestry.com tree if you have a membership.

Moses Gamble House

Today on Flickr, I found a picture of the Moses Gamble house.

Moses Gamble House. Digital image. Flickr. WallandBoy, 13 Oct. 2009. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallandboy7777/4007879348/>

The Moses Gamble House is located in Maryville, Tennessee.  It was built in 1892 and one of the original owners was Moses Houston Gamble (1871-1934).  They have a great website that I only just learned about while putting together this blog post, so it is worth checking out.

Tombstone Tuesday: Mariah Harris

Ruth Carver and her brother recently photographed tombstones in Harris Cemetery on Roddy Branch Road. This is the tombstone for Mariah Harris, wife of Andrew W. Harris.  She lived from 1811 – 1845.  Visit FindAGrave to see the other headstones in the family cemetery.  Thank you Ruth for sending in the information!

New Deeds Added

Thanks to researcher Alice  Foster Blevins, some new deeds have been added to the Deeds page.  Namely, the following:

• Nicholas & Caroline Blevins to Wm. McTeer
• I.H. Farr to D.G. Farr
• Abraham & Martha Lane to D.G. Farr
• J.M. & Mary T. Rose to C.T. Cates

Search William Keeble Book at Google

Back in June 2008, I posted about the availability of a new book about William Keeble of Bounty County.  In that post, I also pointed out another, smaller book about him; this one titled William Keeble of Blount County, Tennessee.  I recently discovered that this second book is searcheable over at Google Books so go check it out. You may find something of interest.  The book index begins at page 83.

Index to Estate Settlements (1872-1915)

New on the Wills page is the following index to the book Estate Settlements in Blount County, Tennessee Naming Heirs.  This book by Albert W. Dockter contains extracts from

• Execution Book, II, Chancery Court  Feb 1872-Feb 1893
• Execution Book, II, Chancery Court Apr 1893-Feb 1915
• Workbook of James A. Greer, Clerk and Master Chancery Court 1885-1890

If this is of interest, you can order the book from the Blount County Genealogical Society for $16.  Ordering information is located on their website.

If you are unable to purchase the book, check with a library that holds it for their policies on providing photocopies of specific pages.
Index to Estate Settlements BlountCounty, Tennessee

Index to 1795-1819 Deeds

New on the Deeds page on the Blount County TNGenWeb site is the following index to Blount County Deeds from 1795-1819.  This book contains abstracts gathered by Jane Kizer Thomas and is published by the Blount County Genealogical Society.  Of note is that each of the numbers refer to DEED numbers, not page numbers.

You can purchase the book from the Society for $20.  Further information is available on their website.

If you’re not able to purchase the book and would like to obtain the information in it, check with a library that may have the book for their policies on requesting photocopies of specific deeds.

Index to Blount County, Tennessee, Deeds: Deed Book 1 – 1795-1819

Blount County Articles from TN Genealogy Society

The Tennessee Genealogical Society has recently placed online a handy index to articles that have appeared in their journal that is arranged by county.  The list can be access by going here.

Articles concerning Blount County are as follows:

• 1795-1800 Will Book I, WPA index, Vol. 19 (1972)
• 1795-1820 marriage bonds, Vol. 27 (1980)
• 1795-1834 misc. court records, Vol. 35 (1988)
• 1799 petitions to GA (164 names); three 1813 petitions (150 names), Vol. 38 (1991)
• 1801 petitions to GA, Vol. 39 (1992)
• Land on top of Smokies sold for unpaid 1839 taxes, Vol. 44 (1997)
• 1816-17 penitentiary petition list, Vol. 50 (2003)

To access these articles, you can either order the full issue from the society using their order form or request the article via your public library’s interlibrary loan departmet.