The Turnbo Manuscripts
by Silas Claiborne Turnbo
1844-1925
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By. S. C. Turnbo
George W. Hathcock brother of John Hathcock the present assessor of Ozark County, Mo., furnished me the following on the 2ed of December 1907. "My father and mother John Hathcock and Martha (Hollis) Hathcock moved from middle Tennessee to Ozark County Mo. in 1856 and settled on the east side of Big North Fork 3 miles from St. Ledger, where I was born February 18, 1860. My father lies buried in the grave yard on the old Jobe Teverball Farm on Big North Fork known now as the George Price land. He died in 1874. I remember the first religious services I ever was at which was soon after the close of the great Civil War. A man of the name of Clinton preached. How I remember this so well is that after meeting broke I saw a young man bare footed and his breeches rolled up almost to his knees ask a young lady who was also bare footed permission to accompany her home and with her consent they left the school house together. This school house where this occurred was called the Crane Creek Church House. Nathan Reynolds taught a school at this same house when I was 7 years old. My recollection of war times is very aim. My parents were Union people but my father did not serve in the army. One morning when I was a little over 3 years of age a party of armed men rode up to our yard gate when my father was absent. Our dog which was the only one we possessed and a very watchful dog commenced barking at the men and they fired a valley at him and several bullets struck him and killed him instantly. He was a yellow dog and if I mistake not his name was Bull. When they shot the dog I and my mother and my four sisters Meelu, Elizabeth., Nancy and Lucy ran out of the house to the dog for we all thought a great deal of him. Mother was very angry at the men for killing the dog without a lawful excuse. They wanted to know who lived there and when my mother give them my fathers name, they said you are Union people and they wanted to compromise with her and pay for the dog, which my mother refused to compromise for she said "You killed that dog to show your authority and thinking it looked large of you to do. I would not have taken $500 for that dog and you had no right to kill him. You leave here. I do not want any of your money." and they rode off.
In a short time after this two men who lived on Bennettes Bayou and who were relatives of ours come to our house one night while I was upstairs asleep and I did not know they were there until the following morning when I heard some men talking in the yard when I crept out of bed and looking out of a window, and seeing the two men I yelled out "Oh mamma, there is some more of them old Jay Hawkers come back". After I discovered who they were I felt much embarrassed at what I said about them.
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