52 Ancestors #20: The Moonshiner

Ancestor Name: Lacy F. HATHCOCK (1910-1995)

Distilling whiskey is intimately tied to the history of the United States. As a way to pay down the debt of the newly independent country, Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, pushed through legislation which taxed domestically produced distilled spirits. He believed it was a "luxury" tax and would not cause much consternation. It became the first federal tax imposed on domestic produce.

Instead, farmers in western Pennsylvania, long accustomed to distilling their excess grain, revolted. President Washington called out the militia and 13,000 troops from several states began marching to Pennsylvania with Washington leading them. The rebels went home before the Army arrived. The incident indicated the federal government had the will to enforce its laws. However, illegal distilling, called moonshining when taxes are not paid, continues to this day.

Moonshiners; photograph courtesy of the Efficient Drinker

Even after Prohibition ended in 1933.

Lacy F. Hathcock, my fifth cousin once removed, was a married 26-year-old man when he was arrested in Franklin County, Alabama, for distilling. He was sentenced to one year and a day to 18 months and day and began serving his time on 13 November 1936. He was paroled on 9 November 1937 and from all accounts went on to lead a productive life.

Lacy Hathcock's Alabama Convict Record; courtesy of Ancestry.com

Name: Lacy F. Hathcock
County: Franklin
Distilling Fee Paid: 12/9/36
$50
Alias:
Received: 11/20/36
Serial No: 36206
Race: White
Sex: Male
Age: 26
Court No: 8073
Tr. Book: 107, page 226
Crime: Distilling
Sentence Began: Nov. 13, 1936
Term: 1 yr. 1 day to 18 months 1 day
Max. Time: May 14, 1938
Min. Time: Nov. 14, 1937
Max. Time: Oct. 29, 1938
Min. Time: Apr. 29, 1938 [illegible] out
Escaped:
Recaptured:
Date of Death:
Cause and Place:
Discharged: Paroled 11/9/37 [illegible]
Temporary Paroles: 45 days on 3/30/37 Ext. to 9/1/37 on 5/22/37 Ext. to 9/15/37 [illegible] 9/1/37 or 9/9/37

Lacy was born on 12 December 1910 and was the oldest child of Bennett Moland and Sarah Caroline "Callie" (Barrett) Hathcock. By 1930 he had married Mamie Bolton and lived with her parents on their farm in Prentiss County, Mississippi. He worked there as a farm hand. He and Mamie had two children.

In 1945 he was drafted into the U.S. Army and entered military service at Fort McClellan, near Anniston, Alabama. His wife died in 1989 and Lacy died in 1995. They were interred at Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Belmont, Mississippi.

This is my entry for Amy Johnson Crow's 52 ancestors in 52 weeks challenge optional theme Black Sheep.

TVA and the Hathcock Family

TVA and the Hatchcock Family

I ran across the Hatchcock family when I was researching a DNA match With a descendant of my fives times great grandfather, Adam Beard (1725-1777).

Sarah Caroline Barrett, known as Callie, was born in Colbert County, Alabama, on 13 August 1889. The county is in northwest Alabama. The terrain is quite hilly as the southern slopes of the Appalachian mountains reach into the county and the Tennessee river bisects the county from east to west. Callie came from a farming family and on 26 December 1909 she married Bennett Moland Hathcock, who also farmed. By the time the Great Depression cast it global shadow, Bennett and Callie had eight children.

Soon after Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected president, Congress enacted the TVA Act of 1933. The Tennessee Valley Authority was a very different kind of government agency. Roosevelt had asked Congress to create "a corporation clothed with the power of government but possessed of the flexibility and initiative of a private enterprise." The organization was responsible for providing navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region deeply affected by the the Depression.

Erosion of Alabama farm land during the Depression; photograph
courtesy of the Library of Congress

During the 1930s nearly 30 percent of the population of Tennessee suffered from malaria; the average family income was $639 a year; and much of the land had been farmed for too long without resting the soil through crop rotation. TVA not only built the dams that enabled power generation, it taught Tennessee farmers the latest farm management techniques. But not without cost. In order to provide low-cost electricity to these rural families, TVA displaced 15,000 families by condemning their land.

Ben and Callie Hathcock's family was one of those 15,000 families. They were renting a farm near Cherokee from George Hurd and had done so for about a year. Ben and Callie had six of their children still at home. Eventually, Ben and Callie secured land in Mississippi from their landlord and relocated to Mississippi on 26 January 1937. However, I sense a bit of impatience in the TVA removal case file about the length of time it took:

A TVA dam under construction in Tennessee c1940; photograph courtesy
of Wikipedia

"5 Nov 1936: This home is located on the tract belonging to George Hurd, which has recently been condemned by the Authority. It is located on the highway leading from Margerum to Riverton and about half way from Margerum to Iuka Bridge across Bear Creek.

HOME
The home is a four room frame building of box construction. It is in a fair state of repair. The interior is modestly furnished, and was clean at the time of the visit.

FAMILY
The family consists of husband, wife, and six children, all of whom are in good health and present no known physical handicaps with the exception of Uzell a fifteen year old son who is a cripple, having been afflicted with infantile paralysis.

HISTORY & EMPLOYMENT
Both Mr. and Mrs. H. are native of Colbert County, having been reared and lived most of their life in the Middle Creek section and moved to their present location a year ago. Mr. H. is engaged in farming, and he has followed this occupation all of his life. One son, Estel is employed by the TVA in the Reservoir Clearance Division.

RESOURCES
The family is a third and fourth tenant. Mr. H. owns two head of work stock. He has thirty-five acres in crop, eighteen of which is cotton and will yield nine bales. These resources together with the employment of the son should be adequate for the family to care for themselves and maintain the present standard of living.

PROBLEMS
No definite plans for removal have been made, and as stated above the family despairs of being able to find a suitable place for relocation. 

3 Dec 1936: This family has been contacted twice since the original contact. At the time of the last visit, Mr. H. informed the worker that he secured land for another year from Mrs. R. H. Hurd near Burnsville, Mississippi, and would remove as soon as it was possible for them to build a house for him.

6 Jan 1937: This family was contacted on the above date, and the worker was still informed that they were waiting for the house to be completed in order that he might move. Again on 15 January, the family was contacted, and the worker was advised that the house had been completed, however, the condition of roads and weather made it impractical for them to move.

26 Jan 1937: Mr. H. and family removed to their new home site today. This relocation is considered as satisfactory

CASE CLOSED"

Page 2 of the Ben Hathcock TVA case file; courtesy of Ancestry.com

Killed Twice?

Nathaniel D. Riggin was the second son of my space alien, three times great grandfather, Alfred Riggin and his wife, Sarah "Sally" Piper. He grew up on his parents' farm in what became Jarvis Township in Madison County, Illinois. At the age of 22, he married Sarah A. Matlock on 12 March 1859.

He was soon caught up in the Civil War, serving as a Private in Company I, 7th Illinois Infantry Regiment. He had one of the skimpiest muster roll files I have ever seen -- two general index cards which listed his name and military unit -- both undated. So I have no idea when he began his service.

Company I was originally formed from men mostly from Springfield, Illinois. Perhaps Nathaniel and Sarah had moved to the state capitol? The city had become the state's third capitol city in 1839.

Color Bearers of the 7th Illinois Infantry Regiment; photograph courtesy of
the Illinois State Historical Library

The 7th saw plenty of action near and in Alabama in 1863 and 1864. I do not know exactly when or where Nathaniel was captured, but he was. The Illinois Adjutant General issued a history of the regiment's wartime service. It included the following description of fighting:

"Arrived at Pulaski Feb. 27, 1864, where the regiment was mounted, and left for Florence, Alabama, 90 miles distant, to patrol the Tennessee river and watch Forrest's command, which were just leaving Tuscaloosa, Ala., on the memorable raid on Paducah and Fort Pillow. The regiment was divided into three detachments - four companies at Florence, two companies at Sweetwater, and four at Centre Star.

April 8th, Col. Rowett returned to the regiment, whose headquarters were at Florence, Alabama, and again assumed command, having been relieved from the command at Camp Butler, at his own request.

On the morning of the 7th of May, General Roddy's rebel brigade crossed the Tennessee, between Sweetwater and Centre Star, and attacked the companies at Florence and Sweetwater. After six hours severe fighting against ten times their number, the companies were obliged to retire with a loss of three officers and 32 men wounded and captured. On the 13th of May, the 7th returned with the 9th Ohio Cavalry, under command of Colonel Rowett, and drove the rebels across the Tennessee, capturing a number of prisoners. Was engaged in patrolling the river until June 14th, when the regiment was dismounted and ordered to report to the Brigade Commander at Rome, Georgia. Arrived at Chattanooga, Tennessee on the 17th of June, and was ordered to Tilton, Georgia, to patrol the railroad from Dalton to Resaca, which was then threatened by rebel Cavalry. On July 7th was relieved by the 18th Wisconsin Infantry, and proceeded to Rome, Ga., and went into camp on the south side of the Etowa river. On the 29th of July the non-Veteran officers and men were mustered out by reason of expiration of term of service. Capt. Hector Perrin was mustered as Lt. Colonel, and Capt. Edward S. Johnson as Major. On the 3rd of October 1864, the 4th Division, 15th Army Corps, (to which the Seventh was attached) commanded by Gen. John M. Corse, was ordered to Allatoona Pass to assist in the defense of that important station, then threatened by Hood's army. The 3rd brigade consisting of the 7th, 50th and 57th Illinois, and 39th Iowa, commanded by Col. Rowett, reached the Pass on the morning of October 4th. The railroad being destroyed after the passage of this Brigade, the rest of the Division failed to reach its destination. On the morning of the 5th the Pass was attacked by Gen. French's rebel Division, numbering six thousand men. The 7th, armed with the Henry rifle, (or 16 shooter,) did gallant and fearful work -- successfully repelling four separate charges made by the desperate and hungry enemy on the line occupied by them -- its torn and bleeding ranks told at what a fearful cost. Its colors, under which fell many a gallant bearer that day, were never lowered."

It is possible it was during this period of fighting that Nathaniel was captured. He ended up at a prisoner of war camp in Cahaba, Alabama, at the confluence of the Alabama and Cahaba rivers not far from Selma. It was also known as Castle Morgan. The prison opened in 1863 and used a existing cotton warehouse as the main building. It was originally intended to house 500 prisoners but by October 1864, 2,151 Union soldiers were imprisoned there. Despite the unsanitary conditions and lack good water, it had one of the lowest deaths among prisons on both sides. Records indicated between 142 and 147 men died there.

Castle Morgan; drawing courtesy of Wikipedia

On 16 November 1864, Nathaniel D. Riggin joined that statistic. He died of variola smallpox. His mother received a pension for his service on 26 September 1882.

All of the records seemed pretty definitive until I went to the Illinois State Archives website and found this on Nathaniel's record

Death Remarks on the record index at the Illinois State Archives for
Nathaniel D Riggin

There was a riot at the Charleston, Illinois, courthouse in March 1864 where some soldiers and civilians were killed. It was thought the Copperheads had instigated it. But I have not yet found a reference to mob violence in Springfield a few days later, though those arrested in Charleston were transported and held in Springfield.

So when and where do you think Nathaniel D. Riggin died?

_______________
I usually leave the sources on my family tree and just tell stories here, but the conflicting sources are part of the story:

Illinois State Archives, Illinois Adjutant General's Report, Regimental and Unit Histories, containing Reports for the Years 1861-1866, online: https://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/databases/reghist.pdf
National Archives and Records Administration, General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934. NARA T288. Held by Ancestry.com
National Archives and Records Administration, Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1860 and 1900, compiled 1949, documenting the period 1861-1942. NARA T289. Held by Fold3.com
National Archives and Records Administration, Registers of Deaths in the Regular Army, compiled 1860-1889. Records of the Adjutant General's Office. Record Group 94. ARC ID: 1226156. Held by Ancestry.com
National Archives and Records Administration, Registers of Deaths of Volunteers, compiled 1861-1864, Records of the Adjutant General's Office, Record Group 94. ARC ID: 656639. Held by Ancestry.com
National Park Service, Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, online http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/
Northern Illinois University, Illinois Copperheads and the American Civil War, http://www.lib.niu.edu/1996/iht319615.html (accessed 6 March 2015)
U.S. Federal Census, Year: 1850; Place: Marine, Madison, Illinois; Roll M423_119; Page: 561A; Image 462. Held by Ancestry.com
Wikipedia, Charleston Riot, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston_Riot (accessed 6 March 2015)

Did Widow Riggin Remarry?
Who's Your Daddy, Alfred Riggin?