Typed as spelled and written
- Lena Stone Criswell
Articles submitted by
Mr. Howard T. Livingston
(Newspaper name and date not
identified)
"UNCLE
BILLY" CARRIED 1776
GUN TO FALLS
CHILTON--SPL--The memoirs of "Uncle Billy" Nelson
tell of the early days in this community. He came here from Blount
County, Alabama, bringing with him his rifle which his grandfather, Billy
Nelson, carried in the Revolution of 1776.
He arrived here before the first store was built, "when you couldn't get a
match to light a fire, or a bit of groceries, or anything else between
Mooreville and Marlin."
Mr. Nelson remembered the building of the first store which L. B. Chilton and
his partner, Capt. deBardeleben, opened in 1876. It stood on the hill
above the present site of Chilton where the John Macdecy place is now.
Mail was not brought any nearer than Landrum until 1883 when Captain
deBerdeleben was appointed postmaster. Then the mail was brought to the
store twice a week from Marlin in a buggy.
When the railroad came in 1888 the store was moved to the road paralleling the
tracks and the town became Chilton, officially.
Uncle Billy remembered attending a Democratic convention under the big oak tree
which now stands in Dr. T. D. Baxter's yard. It was at this convention
that the late Judge S. S. Scott, launched his political career. He
describes Judge Scott as a "husky young man." Judge Scott died
in Waco in 1937.
When Uncle Billy became too old to run his blacksmith shop he was elected
justice of the peace. He died in 1938.
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