K
Kentucky Kache
Guest
THE FOLLOWING WAS TAKEN FROM NOTES MADE BY FLOYD GLENWORTH KEY, SON OF NICHOLAS RICE KEY.
Uncle Richard Dick Chilton was a well to do farmer, owning a good many slaves and lots of land up and down Cane and Lost Creeks. At one time, he owned most of the land from the John Rose property to the mouth of Wolf Creek, but as his children married, he gave them homes. James Leonard, one of his grandsons, owned the Sides place. I can just remember when he sold it to Uncle Ben Sides and moved to Texas. Uncle Jimmy C. Davidson, who married one of the girls, owned what is known as the Jeff Davidson place at the old Pleasant Field Baptist Church. There was Uncle Gabe Key, who lived further down Lost Creek.
After Uncle Dick died, his son, John, got the old home place. A few years after getting the home place, John pulled a crazy stunt which cost him the place and all that he had, just to keep from going to prison. John Chilton and Dick McGlathery, his brother-in-law, hewed out a big gum block and pressed it into the middle of a bale of cotton in his gin and sold it. It happened that this bale of cotton ended up in Mobile for export. As you may know, export cotton is always compressed to about half it's original size to save space on the ships. When this bale of Cotton went into the compress with this big gum block in the middle, it tore up the press. The big block of sweet gum wood was found in the bale of cotton, and it was easy to trace the source. John and Dick were in trouble. It literally broke them up to keep out of prison. This sounds ridiculous that grown men would try a thing like this for a few dollars, but it is true. John Davidson bought the place, then later Pa and Ma bought it from him. They kept the place that they had homestead and moved to their new home where they raised their family. Ma said that the Chilton former slaves would often come to see their old home, where they were born and raised. She said some of them would weep and talk of the happy days they had spent there. After all that was the only real home they ever knew and it grieved them to leave after they gained freedom.
The old home place had, and may still have, a legend of buried treasure. The story was told, that Uncle Richard had a lot of gold and when he heard the Federal's were in Walker County, raiding the surrounding country, he took his gold at night and hid it secretly, not telling anyone where he hid it. He was very old then, and became ill soon after hiding the gold, and died without ever revealing to anyone where he hid it. Pa never believed the legend. He said that Uncle Dick's boys got his money and everything. After Uncle Dick died, a lot of people believed that there was buried gold on the property. People came from everywhere, asking Pa for permission to hunt for the gold. Pa told me about going with some men, who came out of Birmingham with one of them divining rods, as they called them, to hunt for the gold. They were carrying it through the field over close to the graveyard, when all at once the thing pointed down. He said them fellows flew to digging like mad for they thought they had found the gold. When they had dug down about a foot deep, they uncovered an old iron plow point that somehow had gotten covered up. Pa said they were terribly disappointed.
Uncle Richard Dick Chilton was a well to do farmer, owning a good many slaves and lots of land up and down Cane and Lost Creeks. At one time, he owned most of the land from the John Rose property to the mouth of Wolf Creek, but as his children married, he gave them homes. James Leonard, one of his grandsons, owned the Sides place. I can just remember when he sold it to Uncle Ben Sides and moved to Texas. Uncle Jimmy C. Davidson, who married one of the girls, owned what is known as the Jeff Davidson place at the old Pleasant Field Baptist Church. There was Uncle Gabe Key, who lived further down Lost Creek.
After Uncle Dick died, his son, John, got the old home place. A few years after getting the home place, John pulled a crazy stunt which cost him the place and all that he had, just to keep from going to prison. John Chilton and Dick McGlathery, his brother-in-law, hewed out a big gum block and pressed it into the middle of a bale of cotton in his gin and sold it. It happened that this bale of cotton ended up in Mobile for export. As you may know, export cotton is always compressed to about half it's original size to save space on the ships. When this bale of Cotton went into the compress with this big gum block in the middle, it tore up the press. The big block of sweet gum wood was found in the bale of cotton, and it was easy to trace the source. John and Dick were in trouble. It literally broke them up to keep out of prison. This sounds ridiculous that grown men would try a thing like this for a few dollars, but it is true. John Davidson bought the place, then later Pa and Ma bought it from him. They kept the place that they had homestead and moved to their new home where they raised their family. Ma said that the Chilton former slaves would often come to see their old home, where they were born and raised. She said some of them would weep and talk of the happy days they had spent there. After all that was the only real home they ever knew and it grieved them to leave after they gained freedom.
The old home place had, and may still have, a legend of buried treasure. The story was told, that Uncle Richard had a lot of gold and when he heard the Federal's were in Walker County, raiding the surrounding country, he took his gold at night and hid it secretly, not telling anyone where he hid it. He was very old then, and became ill soon after hiding the gold, and died without ever revealing to anyone where he hid it. Pa never believed the legend. He said that Uncle Dick's boys got his money and everything. After Uncle Dick died, a lot of people believed that there was buried gold on the property. People came from everywhere, asking Pa for permission to hunt for the gold. Pa told me about going with some men, who came out of Birmingham with one of them divining rods, as they called them, to hunt for the gold. They were carrying it through the field over close to the graveyard, when all at once the thing pointed down. He said them fellows flew to digging like mad for they thought they had found the gold. When they had dug down about a foot deep, they uncovered an old iron plow point that somehow had gotten covered up. Pa said they were terribly disappointed.
