One wild story of adventure has been passed down through the
family. Not the Huckleberry Finn kind of adventure of exploring up and down the
Mississippi encountering con men, slave traders and other interesting
characters. Not the Jim Hawkins kind of adventure searching for buried
treasure. Certainly not Ahab’s adventure seeking revenge on a great white whale.
It is a story of Indian capture and escape. It was
recorded in a letter written by Rosetta Meadows Eppard, granddaughter of John
Wesley Jollett, my 2X great-grandfather’s brother. The original was scanned and
sent to me by a distant cousin Jan Hensley in 2007. My transcription preserves the peculiarities
of spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.
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| Just the first page of 4 |
December 15, 1964
I am writing the true Story of the Jollett Boy the
Indians stold Back in the days whin the Indians would be passing through this
country thay would steal Boys and girls If thay could. So one day the Jollett
Boy my mother would tell us about she always called him Grand Pa’s little Boy
he was cutting down Bushes back of the house up on a Hill I don’t know the age
of the boy probley any whare from 10 to 13 years old. Any way the Indians taken
him he couldn’t help him self do nothing but go and whin thay got to there Indian
home and stayed a few days they wint on a nother hunting trip and taken him
with them and they would make him cary there wild game thay killed on his Back
until the skin would come off but he had to go every time thay wint. Thay lived
off of there wild game I don’t know what thay killed and eat but they didn’t
cook it but half done. But the Boy learned to eat that way. So one day they
were going such a long trip they thought he couldn’t make it and thay left him
with 2 old Indians he was then 21 years old he was with them a long time. Then
the 2 old Indians got to whispring so the Boy thought that were fixing to kill
him so one of them sed to the Boy he had grown up and was a man then and they
called him young man. And one of the old Indians sed young man would you like
to see your old Father and mother but he didn’t say nothing and thay asking him
again the same thing. Then he broke down crying. Thin thay sed we not going to
Kill you we are going to let you go home he ses I don’t know how to get home we
will tell you how to get home. You go out here Back of the house and get on
that little Branch and wait it until it emptes in the creak then you travel
fast as you can in the creak and don’t get out no more then you can help. Thin
if you should hear them coming get under a Brush pile or log pile the Boy sed
if that catch me they will kill me the 2 old Indians sed thay will Kill no to
thay all ways Kill the old Indians and we will soon die any way so thay fixed
him something to eat on his way and he left for home and he traveld fast as he
could for a bout 3 days then he heard them coming hollering there head offs
like the Indians holler but he had traveld in the water all he could and he
was clost to a Brush and log pile and he crawled back under the log and brush
pile the high water had washed and it wasn’t long until thay were on top of it
hollering and they would run down the creak thin up the creak back down all
over the Brush and log pile until thay give up and wint back thin whin the Boy
didn’t hear no more of them he wint on until he got to his old home. It was all
most dark whin he got thare and he nocked on the door of his home and his old
mother came to the door he sed I am awful tired I have walked a long ways –
could I come in and stay all night she sed yes indeed I never turn down
strangers that wants to stay all night so they wint in she fixed him something
to eat and while he was eating his mother set down at the table and she was
looking at him she sed to her Husband old man that was what she called him.
This young man looks like our Boy the Indians stold he has a scar in his
forhead just like our Boy had then he couldn’t keep from crying any longer he
ses I am your Boy the Indians stold. What a rejoycing time for him to get Back
home a gain and see his old mother and father and for thim to see there son
again back home. The story reminds me of the story in the Bible of the Prodal
son.
From Grandma Eppard
Let’s consider the players in this story:
“Grandma Eppard” was Rosetta Meadows Eppard, the daughter
of Matilda Jollett and Thomas Wesley Meadows. They lived in the Jollett Hollow
community along Naked Creek bordering Rockingham and Page counties in Virginia.
The community derived its name from the Jollett family who were early settlers.
Rosetta was 81 when she wrote the letter.
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| Tally Walter Eppard and Rosetta Meadows Eppard their children Ralph and Ethel photo courtesy Jan Hensley |
Rosetta says that her MOTHER, Matilda Jollett Meadows,
told her the story. Matilda says the “Jollett Boy” was “Grandpa’s little boy.”
But who was Grandpa? First of all, we must consider that “Jollett
boy” can be interpreted in two ways: either his last name was Jollett OR he was
simply a boy FROM Jollett Hollow. Furthermore, “Grandpa’s little boy” could
have been his own son or even a term of endearment for a grandson. Extending
that endearment further, “Grandpa” could have taken a liking to some child in
the neighborhood who was precocious and adorable or maybe did chores for him
earning him the designation as “Grandpa’s little boy.”
But back to the question of Grandpa’s identity. If
Matilda meant her own grandfather, then that was either Fielding Jollett OR
Manson Smith. If Matilda meant Rosetta’s grandfather, then that was either John
Wesley Jollett OR Mitchell Meadows.
Mitchell Meadows can be eliminated. He was killed during
the Civil War. His children were born in the 1850s, so even if any of them had
been kidnapped at age 10, they could not have been gone long enough for
Mitchell to have forgotten what they looked like in his lifetime.
John Wesley Jollett had 3 sons: Artubine, John, and
Charles. John and Charles can certainly be ruled out because they were enumerated
in every census. There is a cemetery marker for Artubine showing he died in 1862
at the age of 9. I considered that maybe that is when he disappeared and the
Jolletts simply THOUGHT he died. But surely they would have removed the marker
on his return. Thus John Jollett can be ruled out as well.
Like John Jollett, Manson Smith’s sons were all present
and accounted for at census time. I suppose it is possible one of the sons
disappeared and then returned between census years. If so, surely they would have
lived long enough to be enumerated eventually. There does not seem to be any NEW
Smiths or Jolletts to attach to these families.
Looking at Matilda’s grandfather Fielding Jollett, though,
there is one unusual tick mark in the 1830 and 1840 census records for males for
whom I cannot account.
1830 Rockingham Co Virginia
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MALES
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Age 5 – 9
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Emanuel and ?
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Age 30-39
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Fielding Jollett
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FEMALES
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Under 5
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Margaret, Lydia
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30-39
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Mary Ann Armentrout
Jollett
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The wife in the 1830 census was Fielding’s second wife,
Mary Ann Armentrout. His first wife was Ann Stoutemire. They had two known
children, Emanuel and Margaret. A second male between the ages of 5 and 9 suggests
maybe they had a third child. Ann died in 1828, possibly in child birth. In
1840, an unknown male in the household between the ages of 10 and 14 was about
the right age to have been kidnapped according to Matilda’s story as retold by
Rosetta. Fielding and Mary Ann both lived long enough for a child to return
years later unrecognizable except for a scar.
1840 Page Co Virginia
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MALES
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Under 5
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James Franklin
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5-9
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John Wesley, Henry
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10-14
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?
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15-19
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Emanuel
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40-49
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Fielding
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FEMALES
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Under 5
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Lucretia
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10-14
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Margaret, Lydia
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40-49
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Mary Ann
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But there are two problems with this theory. First of
all, surely the returning son would have been enumerated in a census
eventually. I have found no other Jollett men unaccounted for. Secondly and
most importantly, had my 2X great-grandfather James Franklin Jollett had a
brother who had been kidnapped by Indians, surely this is a story that my
grandaunts and grandparents would have told. It is too good a story for the
best storytellers in our family to have kept a secret.
The mystery of “the Jollett boy” remains just that.
Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy
bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story
or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”
Wendy
© 2019, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
