I’m sure my dad loved my mom very much.  He just wasn’t the kind to go out and buy her a Valentine every year.  In fact, he wasn’t the kind to go out and buy much of anything unless it was new tires for the car or maybe new golf balls.  I don’t  think he was “cheap” per se, just loving in other ways.

I was looking through some old papers yesterday and found this “Valentine” Dad ‘made’ for Mom in 1988. It’s kind of sweet in an innocent sort of way. Mom must have liked the sentiment since she kept it. Probably because he put the hearts on it and said he loved her.

That’s my parents in about 1953, going by my age and size.  They were “newlyweds” of about nine years when this photo was taken.

They were married today (February 5) in 1944.  Both of my parents are deceased now, but I know they’re somewhere together today celebrating their 66th anniversary.  I plan on doing a follow-up story about their wedding too, so stay tuned! 

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No relatives were located for these military veterans who died here in Kitsap County, but their passing won’t be unrecognized or forgotten. These are their names:

Daniel Leeds, 61, died in 2002.

Marine veteran Ron Losinger, 62, and Edward Howell (age not disclosed) died in 2006.

Jens Hanson, 64, was a resident of North Kitsap when he died in 2004.

Two of the veterans lived in the Bremerton area and died in 2004 — David
Hagen, 54, of Tracyton and John Jay Knox Sheldon, 77, of Bremerton.

Please read the full story at The Port Orchard Independent website.

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I have a question about traveling with priceless family heirlooms. The heirloom in this case is a Civil War diary written by my ancestor John W. Breedlove during his years in the Army. He started out writing it with pen and ink, but during hard times, when supplies were likely non-existant, he resorted to using berry juice. One of my cousins has custody of the diary and lives across the country from me. He is going to be flying here next summer, and when I talked to him the other day about the trip to visit the west coast, I asked him if he would consider bringing the diary along with him. His quick reply was that he didn’t think he could bring it with him because he was afraid to take it through the x-rays at the airports.

I realize that even asking him to bring it with him is somewhat selfish, but this might be the only way that the rest of us descendants would get to see it in person. A good majority of us live here in Washington, and it would be cost prohibitive for us to fly to Florida. We have asked him to take pictures of some of the pages of the diary, but he hasn’t done it yet. What really tugs at my conscience too is that he has told us there is a list of men who were hanged as deserters in the diary.

So, the question is, would the diary be safe going through security if he hand carried it from Florida to Washington? What’s your opinion?

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Roane County, Tennessee

“Polk”, as he was called by his family, was born to parents Miles and Deborah Holmes Yates in Roane County, Tennessee. Without proof, I can only cite my Great Aunt Martha’s memoir in which she says that Miles Yates was a “dandy and a fop” and had deserted his wife Debbie and their child by 1844. Gauging by Debbie’s age given in later censuses, she was likely very young when she met Miles and married him. In fact, we have not been able to prove they were married, other than their 28 August 1840 marriage record on the books for Roane County. It notes “no return”, and so we don’t really know when and if they were joined in holy matrimony. It was said that Miles came from Nashville, but there is no other mention of him, and he is my brick wall.

As with much of the United States in the early settlement of this country, the Yates family were farmers and owned land near Ten Mile, Tennessee. The Yates family still live on this land, just up the road from Ponders Gap Old Time Gospel Church., but they are no longer relying on the land for their sustenance. 

In 1850, the Federal census shows JKP Yates living with his mother and step-father, William Deatherage Morrison in Roane County, and he is listed with his younger half-siblings, Gideon and Margaret. “Polk” is listed as having the surname Morrison, but this is a mistake. Miles Yates is not found in the Roane County, TN census in any subsequent years. 

By 1860 JKP Yates is found “batching it” with his grandfather John Holmes, then age 73, his two uncles John C. and James Register Holmes, and is erroneously listed as JKP “Homes”. His name was never at any time changed though, and this is just another mistake (assumption) by the census taker. John’s Holmes (senior) wife Lydia had died some years before in 1857. 

No doubt, the topic of the impending war was a pressing subject on all the men’s minds as the citizenry always know a conflict is coming long before it is declared officially. I can imagine the discussions the Holmes young men (ages 23 and 26) had with their nephew, as well as their father. A later letter written by John Holmes in 1872 states that the Civil War “divided” his family. In Civil War records I have checked, many of our family connections joined the various units for the Confederate side. Our cousins and their spouse’s families include the surnames, Morrison, Deatherage, Edgmon, and Hendrix, to name a few. A practice that has since been abandoned, many times, all brothers would be in one unit. Polk Yates was in the Confederate Army. He was a Private in Co. D, 16th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment (CSA). He applied for a state Confederate Veteran’s pension. He is listed as J.K.P. Yates, application # S4309.

The end of the war brought healing, to the land, and to the battered minds and bodies of those who fought in the Civil War. No one came out unscathed in our family. Even Polk contracted smallpox that in later years affected his eyesight.  Work still had to be done though, and here you can see him with his cousins making sourgum. I always joked that it was a still, but that turned out to be a later generation.

JKP Yates and the Edgemons making sorghum

Soon after the war had started, JKP Yates had married on 21 July 1861 Miss Mary Kelsey and she gave birth to my great grandfather, James William Milburn Yates 27 September 1862. Always a family who cherished their religion, Polk Yates became the singing master at the Ponder’s Gap Old Time Gospel Church. The original church is no longer standing, but this c. 1870 picture has been given a place of honor in the church and shows Polk with some of his students. Going by the proximity of the boy to Polk’s left in the picture, I suspect that is his son James W. M. Yates. The original photo is much larger, and shows many more people. I have asked that my cousins in Tennessee go to the church and see if they can make a copy of the photo, or even just take a picture of it, but so far, that has not happened. This is as good as it gets for now.

James Knox Polk Yates

Polk’s first wife, Mary Kelsey, died after 1868, and by 1871 Polk had married again, this time to Elizabeth Catherine Abstan on 26 November 1871. Their first child, Thomas Theodore Yates was born in 1872. Two more sons would follow, Gideon born in 1879, and Walter J. born in 1886. Gideon was most likely named after Polk’s half brother, Gideon Morrison. It’s sad to say, Gideon Yates only lived a short time into his adulthood, as evidenced by this photo documentation.

JKP Yates and son Gideon

Polk himself lived to the ripe age of 76, most likely after suffering a stroke that left him paralyzed. His wife “Kate” had pre-deceased him and at the time of his death he was living with his son Tom near Sweetwater in Roane County.

JKP Yates with son Walter's children c. 1915

This story might seem a little stilted, and I apologize for that. I don’t have much personal knowledge of their everyday lives and can only rely on my documentation. I hope you enjoyed it for the most part.

I feel very fortunate to be the caretaker of the original photos shown here. Please do not copy or distribute them as your own.

© Carol Yates Wilkerson – 2008; all rights reserved.

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