1869 Diary - Continued - Page 2
John Henry and Louisa Jane Kerr Dancy had ten Children:
-John William 'Willie' Dancy
b. 10 may 1857, Dancyville, Tennessee
d. Circa 1949, Stanton, Tennessee
-Mary Frances 'Fannie' Dancy
b. Circa 1859, Dancyville, Tennessee
d. 4 Sep 1942, Forrest City, Arkansas
-Ella E. Dancy
b. 1 Mar 1861, Dancyville, Tennessee
d. 8 Oct 1946, Stanton, Tennessee
-Albert Sidney Dancy
b. 16 Sep 1862, Dancyville, Tennessee
d. 4 Mar 1916
-Alexander 'Sandy' Dancy
b. Circa 1865, Dancyville, Tennessee
d. Circa 1916, Texas
-Isaac Bradley Dancy
b. 14 Feb 1866, Dancyville, Tennessee
d. 28 Sep 1952, LaGrange, Tennessee Buried: Methodist Cemetery, Dancyville
-Loula A. Dancy
b. 25 Sep 1867, Dancyville, Tennessee
d. 6 Jul 1950
-Lillie Belle Dancy
b. 12 Oct 1869
-Emma Reed Dancy
b. circa 1872
-James Henry Dancy
b. 13 Feb 1874, Dancyville, Tennessee
d. 9 May 1967, Los Angeles, California (note: taken from California death records)
John Henry and Louisa Jane Kerr Dancy are buried in the Methodist Cemetery, Dancyville.
See: Goodspeed on John Henry Dancy.
Bibliography
šThis profile is based on the 1869 Journal of Louisa Jane Kerr Dancy. The original is housed in the Archives of the Memphis Conference, Lambuth University Library, Jackson, Tennessee.
The conference does not know how the Journal came to be in their possession. They do believe the Journal could have come from one of two collections:
The Rev. Robert V. Taylor Collection, Taylor's Chapel Church in the Somerville area.
Rev. Taylor's nephew, Leed Estes, was the Conference Historian when Rev. Taylor died
and he brought all of Rev. Taylor's office materials and artifacts to the archives.The Rev. Amos B. Jones' collection.
Rev. Jones was a long time President of the Memphis Conference Female Institute. His
daughter, Bell Henron of Trenton, gave many of his artifacts to the College in the 1950's.
The original Journal is written in an ordinary journal book, about 7 inches tall. The cover is gray hard back, with a dark red spleen cover. On the inside of the front cover is written "Book bought $1.00. On the next (flyleaf) is written, " Lou J. Dancy, Journal, 1869". The entries are in black ink. The entries end on December 20th because all the journal pages had been used. It is speculated that Louisa used loose pages to complete the entries through December 31, 1869. This would follow her pattern of an entry for every day, up to that point, even on the day of her delivery of her eighth child on October 12th. Should anyone, in the Haywood, Fayette County areas, find loose leaf documents, with personal entries for December 21 through 31, that appear they may be the final pages of the journal, they are encouraged to contact the Archives Room of The Memphis Conference or this web site.
A very excellent transcription, of the original Journal, was made by JOY G. ROSSER , Somerville, Tennessee, 1994.
˛Source: A History of Joyner's Camp Meetings 1893-1993, by SARAH RHEA MCNAMEE, published, 1993.
The dates and other data on the children are from the Dancy Genealogy.
On a personal note, there was something special, in being able to examine the Journal, written by my great-grandmother, 130 years ago. I will forever be indebted to ANN PHILLIPS, Retired Archivist for The Memphis Conference, Lambuth University, Jackson, Tennessee, for making that possible. jd
Additional Information Regarding Louisa Jane and John Henry Dancy:
Mildred Ethlene 'Mil' Dancy Duck (Aunt Mil), granddaughter of Louisa and John Dancy has provided the following information:
When the Yankee Carpet Baggers came South stealing, raping and killing, John Henry made a sword, for Louisa to protect herself, in the event they came to her house. The sword (which actually sounds more like a Bowie style knife) had a foot-long, two edged blade, and could be worn strapped to her waist, under her apron. After Isaac Bradley inherited the sword/knife it was kept in a space between the wall and the top step of the hall stairs in the Dancy Home Place. (Aunt Mil also related, as a young girl, she would tie the knife around her waist and pretend she was attacking and 'cutting the Yankee heads off.')
Aunt Mil remembers that when John Henry's sight failed, Papa Bradley, John Henry's son, moved him from the farm into Dancyville. He lived in the little house located beside what is now D. C. Crawford's 'Dancyville Store'. John Henry had a rope tied from his gate to Papa Bradley's Shop and would follow the rope back and forth between the house and the shop.
Aunt Mil quoted her father, Isaac Bradley, " John Henry had constructed coffins for both he and Louisa but by the time he (John Henry) passed away his coffin was so badly deteriorated it could not be used for his burial."
Aunt Mil's father, Isaac Bradley Dancy, told her, " Louisa died from Flux." Flux is defined in the common dictionary as, " an excessive discharge of body fluids, especially from the bowels."