R367

Husband: Jacob Simmons
First wife: Mary (Douglas) Simmons

Children:
(Girl, died in infancy)
Joseph Simmons
George Simmons
Robert (Bob) Simmons

Second wife: Sarah (Nicely) Simmons

Children:
James Simmons, m. 1st Minnie Gilliland (dau. of Shepherd Gilliland
    [R303]), 4 children; 2nd Nora Birch, 5 children
Mary Katherine Simmons [R358]
Mattie Simmons, m. Jeeter Estes, 1 child
Hattie Simmons, m. John Mason, 8 children
Gertrude Simmons, m. Will Ross, 6 children

(1996) A taped interview with Janis LaRue, 8/1993: “...my grandfather, Jacob Simmons, who married Nancy Elizabeth Nicely, had slaves. And when I was a small child, I played in the slave quarters. They were made of log and whitewashed white. There was one room and a loft in each one, with a large fireplace, and there was a wooden mantle. They were built on stilts, with steps up to the front. As I remember, they faced each other down an alley, but they were staggered: they didn’t face directly. One was built not opposite the other. When I knew them, they were used to store grain and old furniture, and things that you would find stored on a farm. There were at least twelve of these buildings, all built exactly in the same fashion. They were burned, oh, at least—they were burned when I was a very small child, of an accident from making soap or apple butter over one of the fireplaces...the fireplaces were used for warmth in the winter, and also used for cooking; they each were equipped with a long metal arm for hanging pots. They had stone hearths, but the floors were made of pine. My thought is, they were made of pine. They were bare floors, not painted. They had a window in either side—there was a small window, and the roof was shingles. Shingle roofs. And whitewashed inside as well as out. They were [made of] hewn logs. Not round. They were hewn logs that were chopped to fit snugly at the corners. Beautiful cabins. Today—they would still be standing today, had it not been for the fire, I’m sure, because they were well preserved in those days. Stone chimneys at each end...”

Source: [S007]