This text and letter written by Edith Ratliff Gunn, a grandaughter of Ruth Gearhart Hudspeth, came from Tessy McMillan in a message to me dated January 31, 1998. It's a bit long and not really suited for the mailing list. Tessy gave her permission to post it here. Connection to the TURNERs is through Exonia PACKWOOD, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth TURNER PACKWOOD. Details are in the letter. Chris Gaunt ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Exonia and Larkin could be twins. She was buried 100 yards east of the house in Celina, Overton Co., TN. In 1924, Edith Ratliff Gunn, daughter of Jennie Hudspeth Ratliff, visited the old homestead and located a little fenced off plot in that location. It evidently had a grave in the center of it but had no marker. On their second visit, several years later, a four lane highway covered up the spot. What happened to the grave was not determined. Letter from Mrs. W.B. Gunn from Amarillo Texas dated Aug 3, 1975 addressed to Mrs. Albert Koll( Blanche McCutcheon Koll, grandaughter of John Packwood McCutcheon) Dear Mrs. Koll, I learned of your interest in our common Packwood line through Erma Smith (Mrs. Kern) of Carlsbad, New Mexico. She sent me a copy of your 20 June 1972 letter to her, which I found to be very interesting and informative. Erma Smith learned of my Packwood ancestory through D.A.R. as my mem- bership in that organization is through Samuel Packwood' Revolutionary War service. At first, I knew much more of our Packwood and Gearhart forbears than did Erma, but since 1971 she has "carried the ball" and has added a great deal to these lines. She is a competent and thorough genealogist. I had the pleasure of having her visit me in 1973 and we have talked via phone and carried on extensive correspondence. My connection with Packwoods is the same as Erma's. Valentine and Exonia (Packwood) Gearhart had 7 sons and 2 daughters. My line is through their son, William Gearhart, born 1809 in Franklin County, VA and hers is through their younger daughter Ruth. Valentine and Exonia left VA. to move to Overton Co., Tenn. about 1816 and their youngest children were born in Tenn. I have visited Rocky Mount, VA two times to search the records--also Stuart, VA (Patrick Co.), where I found the records of most of the marriages of Samuel and Elizabeth Turner Packwood's children. I was thrilled when I found the original will (1802) of Peter Gearhart (Valentine's father) in the court house at Rocky Mount. It was copied in the Will Book, but when I asked to have a photocopy made, I was told that thier machine would not copy it because the volume was bound so tightly. It could not be flattened. But the clerk said there were some old wills in a safe and ther she found Peter Gearhart's original will. One of the things that interested me in your 1972 letter to Erma Smith was the fact that your grandparents, John Packwood McCutcheon and Mary Freeman moved to Cooke Co., Texas about 1874 and that your father George Lafayette McCutcheon was born there in 1876. My grandmother, Ruth (Gearhart) Hudspeth--grandaughter of Valentine Gearhart and Exonia Packwood-- went to Cooke Co., Texas in 1871. They were married in Jackson Co., Tenn (taken from Overton) in 1867 and in 1871 with a baby girl made the trip by wagon train of 36 persons to Texas. After a year or two, because of "homesickness" trecked back to their former home in Jackson Co., Tenn. Then 5 or 6 years later and three more babies they returned to Cooke Co., Texas--- this time coming by train most of the way. My mother, Jennie (Hudspeth) Ratliff was only 6 weeks old when Ruth and Thomas Jefferson Hudspeth made their second trip. ............(illegible) in Cooke Co., Texas there and moved to Amarillo, Texas in 1903. My grandparents lived on a black land farm 8 miles west of Valley View, Texas which is about 10 miles south of Gainesville, the county seat. My grand-mother died in 1919 and unfortunately I was too young to ask questions about family, so I do not know if she knew that she had a Packwood cousin living in the same county until about 1900 when your grandmother, Mary, moved to Oklahoma. This is their relationship as I have it-- Samuel Packwood m. Elizabeth Turner Exonia m. Val. Gearhart 11 Mar 1802 Eady(Edith) m. John McCutcheon William(b.1809) m. Sarah Roberts John Packwood McCutcheon 25 Dec. 1833 Jackson Co., TN (b. 1829) m. Mary Freeman Jan. 1869-70 Coffee Co., Tenn. Ruth Gearhart (b. 1842) m. Thomas Geo. Lafayette McCutcheon Jeff. Hudspeth 10 Jan. 1867 born in Cooke Co., Texas 1876 in Jackson Co., TN; moved to Cooke Co., TX 1st in 1871, 2nd in 1877 Jennie Hudspeth m. John Beasley Ratliff in Cooke Co., Texas 7 Dec. 1895 So my William Gearhart and your John Packwood McCutcheon were 1st cousins and my grandmother, Ruth (Gearhart) Hudspeth and your Geo. Lafayette were 3rd cousins? or 2nd cousins once removed? I never can remember the correct way to reckon cousinships ! I visited my grandmother in Cooke Co. as a child, every Christmas time until her death and do not remember her ever speaking of any relative except immediate family. Like you I did not become interested in genealogy until too late to ask and receive information from the older generations. I found out after my mother's death, when breakin up her household, that she had done a little research and had several papers stored in an old chest, and there started me on my interest in ancestor searching. My mother and my step- father of 20 years were killed in an automobile wreck in Phoenix, Arizona in 1956, they lived in Amarillo but went to Arizona for the winter months. My grandmother, Ruth, had a beautiful old walnut chest made by her gr. grandfather, Peter Gearhart in Pa. before he moved to Franklin Co., VA ca 1779. In it she kept many mementos, one of which was Valentine Gearhart's 1825 will. I was fascinated by this will as a child because his 2 daughters bore the names of Ruth and Edith which are the names my parents gave their 2 daughters. Really, I suppose I was named for your ancestors, Edith (Packwood) McCutcheon. She was called "Eady", but as a child I was called "Dee Dee". I would like very much to learn what you know of your Cooke Co. McCut- cheons---- in what area did they live, where your John Packwood McCutcheon is buried, etc. In 1924, my mother asked her Uncle Benjamin Franklin Gearhart of Celina, Texas (named after their old home town of Celinia, Tenn. to write a history of his Gearharts and Packwoods. Benjamin was the younger brother of grandmother Ruth. He did this and this has been circulated all over the U.S. and certainly has helped many people in their ancestory search. My husband and I have visited the Celina, Tenn. on two of our trips east and in a limited time spent there, I was able to locate Valentine Gearhart's grave and probably Exonia's. The first visit, I located the old Gearhart homeplace and great-Uncle Ben Gearhart in 1924 had written that Exonia was buried about 100 yards east of the house. We found a little fenced off plot in that location which evidently had a grave in the center of it but had no marker. On our 2nd visit, several years later, a fou r lane highway covered the spot. On inquiry we could not learn whether or not a body was removed and placed elsewhere or whether Exonia (Packwood) Gearhart lies under the pavement. Sad, but progress has to go forward. I regret very much not determining , if possible, if this was truly Exonia's grave and if so, not having her placed in the old cemetery beside husband Valentine's. I have gathered much data on Samuel Packwood's descendents, especially on those that migrated to the n-w. They were an interesting and hardy breed. One old newspaper article says that a "Packwood can do anything!" and that the women were all good c ooks. The last statement is certainly true in my branch of the family. Do you give any credence to the old legend that the name "Packwood" came from the foundling child found in a ____ region in Va., the lone survivor of a settlement, being able to "pack" so much "wood" . I do not believe it but many do. I have written too much but I get interested in a subject and seem unable to stop. Any Packwood information which you have found since your letter to Erma, I would be happy to have. I do so want to learn the identity of our Sam- uel's parents. I have searched extensively for the unfortunate Packwood who was captured by the Chillicothe Indians on the Greenbrier River and was "burned at the stake" while 2 sisters and their husbands looked on. The Conneticut Packwoods could be our line but no proof has been found that I know of. I hope that you have been more successful than I have in furthering our knowledge of the identity of our first ancestor in America. Sincerely, Edith Ratliff Gunn