| Sources |
- [S104] Cocke County, Tennessee, and its People, Cocke County Heritage Book Committee, (Walsworth Publishing, 1992), 145, 148, 261, 263, 279.
- [S9] Smoky Mountain Historical Society Newsletter, Smoky Mountain Historical Society, Vol. XXVI, Issue 1, page 69, 2000.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 2 Jul 2006.
...
When I was sitting in the lobby of the law office, Gay Webb was talking with Dunn. Afterwards, Gay and I talked a little. He told me an interesting story of how well Tilde Webb, 97, has been doing after hip replacement surgery. She was up and walking after two days. His point was that older people should not be fearful of this surgery because it can improve their lives. She had tripped over a flowerpot and broke her hip.
...
Just Plain Talk
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 16 Mar 2010.
Cosby resident Tildy Webb celebrated her 101st birthday quietly at her home in Wilton Springs on Monday. She was born in a log house on March 15, 1909 in the Trail Hollow community of Cosby, a daughter of William Joel and Ida (Gilliland) Jenkins. She is the widow of Dewey "Zack" Webb. They were the parents of four children: Reva Dean Webb Bryant, Ida Ruth Webb Sutton, Gay Webb, and the late Larry Webb. She has 11 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, and 3 great-great-grandchildren. Several family members and friends dropped by during the day to share cake and ice cream with the honoree.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 18 May 2010.
Webb family honored at Cosby in the Park
(c) 2010 NPT Photo by Duay O'Neil
The family of Tilda Webb, second from left, and her late husband Dewey "Zack" Webb, were honored during opening ceremonies at the 11th annual Cosby in the Park celebration on Saturday. The Webbs were among numerous area families displaced by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. With Webb, age 101, are her daughters Ida Ruth Webb Sutton, left, and Reva Dean Webb Bryant, third from left, who were both born in what is now the Park. At far right is Webb's daughter-in-law Dorothy Webb, whose late husband Larry Webb was also born in what is now the Park.
Author: Duay O'Neil
COSBY-Saturday's eleventh annual Cosby in the Park festival once again brought together musicians, artisans, history buffs, and nature lovers for a day to celebrate the culture and heritage of Cocke County area now encompassed by Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Under blue skies and mild temperatures, attendees began arriving early at the Cosby Campground picnic pavilion and nearby amphitheatre for the event.
In keeping with tradition, the day kicked off with a special dedication to a person and/or family whose association with the Park is significant.
This year GSMNP Superintendent Dale Ditmanson and Cocke County Mayor Iliff R. McMahan, Jr. issued a joint proclamation honoring the family of Tilda Webb and her husband, the late Dewey "Zack" Webb, who were among the numerous families displaced from their home when the Park came into existence in the 1930s.
At the time, the Webbs and their three young children-Reva Dean, Ida Ruth, and baby Larry-lived in Do Well Hollow. Another son, Gay Webb, was born to the couple after they moved from the area.
Five generations of the Webb family were present when McMahan and Ditmanson dedicated Saturday's event in their honor, including Mrs. Webb, age 101, and daughters Reva Dean Webb Bryant and Ida Ruth Webb Sutton, and son Gay Webb.
In his remarks, Ditmanson said, "We're here to celebrate two things-the memories and history of this area.
"Upon becoming superintendent, one of the first things I did was to come to Cosby in the Park, where I met Mayor McMahan, a teller of tall tales. Since then your community and the Park have worked well together."
McMahan echoed Ditmanson's comments. Calling Ditmanson "a true friend and colleague," McMahan said, "It's been a privilege to work with Dale. He is a man of stature and high ethics."
Traditional Appalachian music resounded through the atmosphere. David McClary and Mountain Strings, The Green Family, and The Lost Creek Band were among those performing.
Jordan Costner, whose research into the life of his great-aunt Ella Costner, honored the late poet's life, was present with another display of family photos and documents. This year he added a board of information about his great-uncle Isaac "Tennessee Ike" Costner.
In early afternoon a hike to the grave of Ella Costner was among the opportunities for festival celebrants.
Quilting and blacksmithing demonstrations drew watchers, as did old-time games for children.
"We always look forward to this event," said Cocke County Tourism Director Linda Lewanski, whose office works with Park officials to promote the event. "Today's weather is the best we've ever had. We expect several hundred people join with us in this celebration of Cocke County and Cosby's heritage."
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com).
WILTON SPRINGS-Dozens of family members and friends paid tribute to Tilda Webb on Sunday at a party in her honor at Webb Baptist Church. The occasion marked the well-known Cosby resident's 100th birthday.
Born March 19, 1909, in a log house in Trail Hollow, an Upper Cosby community, she is the only surviving child of the late William Joel Jenkins and his wife, the former Ida Gilliland.
Christened Matilda at birth in honor of her ancestor, Matilda (Sisk) Jenkins, she was the fifth of nine Jenkins children, the others being Lilla Mae (Jenkins) Williamson, Thomas Oscar Jenkins, Bartlett "Bart" Jenkins, Carrie (Jenkins) [Sutton] Brown, Jesse Jenkins, Louvada (Jenkins) [Ball] [Smith] Warden, James "Jimmy" Jenkins, and Addie (Jenkins) Costner. Her full name quickly became shortened to "Tilda."
Early in her life, the family moved to Bluffton, a community alongside the Pigeon River, where her father operated a water-powered mill. "He ground corn and also sawed lumber," she recalls.
It was at Bluffton's one-room school that she began her education. Among her teachers was the late Miss Bernice Brooks, who also lived to be 100.
She enjoyed the community spelldowns and recalls the time the late Gay Valentine told her how to spell "rendezvous." Many years later she named her youngest son after Valentine.
Her dad worked with Valentine's father, Rodolph Valentine, and also with Ben Caton in the thriving lumber industry which turned nearby Hartford into a boomtown.
In 1920, shortly after her mother died, Tilda and Wilma Evans walked from Bluffton to Hartford to attend revival services at Pigeon Valley Baptist Church. "We made professions of faith," she remembers, "and were baptized in the Pigeon River. My mother's half-sister, Aunt Jane Johnson, was there and she tied my dress for me before I entered the water. Rev. Pat Davis was the preacher"
Her mother's death occurred when Tilda was 11, ended her school days and thrust her into an early adulthood. "My mother called us together shortly before she died," says Tilda, "and told us how she wanted us to live and act. And I've always tried to do that."
Helping the young girl-mother was neighbor Addie Evans. "She was married to Jesse Evans," says Tilda, "and would get books in town which she would let me borrow and read."
For many years Tilda believed that tuberculosis, known by many of the older generation as "consumption," caused her mother's death, but more recently she has wondered if the family's close proximity to the polluted Pigeon River didn't have something to do with the family's loss.
"There were several deaths in our community close together," says Tilda. "My mother, the Brown girls, a Henderson girl, and a Dorsey girl. That many right in that little community at about the same time seems odd."
Staying at home to help care for the youngest siblings, Tilda didn't return to the classroom until she was 65. After accompanying first a granddaughter and then a cousin to Adult Education classes, she accepted the teacher's invitation to join the class herself. "She wanted me to enter college," says Tilda, "but I didn't do that."
From her childhood, she has always had a deep interest in her community's families and their histories. "We played in the Evans Cemetery," she laughs, "and in a nearby older graveyard. My father always said it was where some of the 'old Jenkinses were buried."
Her memory of her dad's statement was proven true recently when one of her closest friends, Beth Freeman, and others worked to clean off the burying ground and found a piece of a tombstone with the name "Jenkins" on it.
As a young adult, Tilda moved to Newport to work in the old knitting mill which operated in a building just north of Jabo's Pharmacy, on property now part of ConAgra's plant.
"Mattie McGaha and I boarded together at Mrs. McMahan's (Iliff's grandmother)," she says. "Mattie, who later married Gray Sparks, worked in a store, and I worked at the mill."
Later Tilda's brother Bart came home from South Carolina for a visit and convinced her to return to the Palmetto State with him to work in the knitting mills there.
"I was dating Irvin Williams, and he took me to Cosby to see my sister Carrie, before we left," a visit that would change the course of the pretty brunette's life forever.
"Carrie was married to Bart Sutton," laughs Tilda, "and his cousin was there."
Bart's cousin was Dewey, better known as "Zack," Webb, a son of Luther and Margaret. "He had a car," she says, "and started taking me places."
Eventually Tilda's other boyfriends became history as the couple's courtship intensified. "He finally cried and begged me to marry him," says Tilda, which she did on June 8, 1928. Uncle Joe Costner married us. Zack's brother Alvin and my brother Jesse were witnesses."
The couple celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary in 2003 with a huge party. Zack died a few years ago.
The newlyweds moved into a "big, old house" in Do Well Hollow, an area now encompassed by Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Zack's granddaddy, Jack Sutton, owned the house.
Later the Webbs moved to another home where they remained until 1932 when they were displaced by the coming national park.
By this time Zack and Tilda's family had increased by three with babies Reva Dean, Ida Ruth, and Larry having joined the group.
"I don't remember how much the government paid us," she says, "but I do remember Zack saying it wasn't enough."
The year was 1932. As America sank deeper and deeper into economic woes brought on by the Great Depression, Zack brought the couple's money to Newport and deposited it in the bank. Later it failed and the couple found themselves without land and money both.
"We had a good place in Do Well Hollow," she said. "Zack's grandpa had left it to him and his mother. It was a good producing farm and had a log house with a kitchen."
Zack borrowed money from Elmer Denton and he and Tilda bought a farm in Guntertown, an area just a short distance from the Park. It was here that their youngest child, son Gay, was born.
"Later Zack and Ben Barnes went together and bought part of the Lillard place here in Wilton Springs," Tilda added. "After that Ben swapped his part of this place for our property in Guntertown."
Tilda now heads a five-generation family, completed by eleven grandchildren, fourteen great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren.
Sunday's party found nearly every member of the honoree's family in attendance, along with two surviving sisters-in-law, Geneva (Webb) Ball and Marjorie (Templin) Webb.
Two other special guests were Tilda's nephew Wintford Sutton, and his son, Bob Sutton, who traveled from their respective homes in Hatboro, PA and Louisville, KY for the event.
Her fondness for birthday cards was recognized by the guests, who filled a large, crystal bowl with beautiful greetings.
One hundred American Beauty roses, a gift from Webb Baptist Church, highlighted a table filled with family photos, including the first picture taken of Tilda, when she was 13 years old.
Members of the bluegrass band Eastern Mountain Time, composed of Keith and Dori McKinney, David and Amy Pitts, and Maureen Smith, provided music.
Looking not a day over 65, the guest of honor was pretty as a picture in a spring green pantsuit complemented by a pearl necklace which had belonged to her granddaughter, the late Penny (Sutton) Bible.
As she greeted her well-wishers by name, she smiled the afternoon away for the hundreds of photos taken to record the special occasion.
With excellent eyesight, hearing, and memory, she enjoys talking family history with friends and family and always looks forward to her Saturday morning trips to Sheila Sapp's beauty shop for her weekly "do."
"I don't know why I've been blessed to live this long," says Tilda. "No one in my family ever reached this level. But I'm grateful."
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 11 Mar 2011.
Tildy turning 102 on Tuesday!
Cosby resident Tildy Webb will celebrate her 102nd birthday quietly at her Wilton Springs home quietly on Tuesday. She was born in a log house on March 15, 1909, in the Trail Hollow community of Cosby, a daughter of William Joel and Ida (Gilliland) Jenkins. She is the widow of Dewey 'Zack' Webb. They were the parents of four children: Reva Dean Webb Bryant, Ida Ruth Webb Sutton, Gay Webb, and the late Larry Webb. She, her husband, and the couple's three oldest children-Reva Dean, Ida Ruth, and Larry-were displaced by Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1930.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 9 Mar 2012.
Happy 103rd birthday, Tildy
Tildy Webb will celebrate her 103rd birthday on Thursday. She was born March 15, 1909, in the Trail Hollow community of Cocke County. The former Matilda Jenkins, she is the widow of the late Dewey 'Zack' Webb, and the mother of Reva Dean Bryant, Ida Ruth Sutton, Gay Webb, and the late Larry Webb. She has numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. She will celebrate with family and friends at her home.
- [S112] Census, 1940.
Name: Tilda Webb
Titles & Terms:
Event: Census
Event Year: 1940
Event Place: Civil District 9, Cocke, Tennessee, United States
Gender: Female
Age: 31
Marital Status: Married
Race (Original):
Race (Standardized): White
Relationship to Head of Household (Original):
Relationship to Head of Household (Standardized): Wife
Birthplace: Tennessee
Estimated Birth Year: 1909
Residence in 1935: Same House
Enumeration District Number: 15-19
Family Number: 192
Sheet Number and Letter: 12A
Line Number: 23
NARA Publication Number: T627
NARA Roll Number: 3881
Digital Folder Number: 005461287
Image Number: 00596
Household Gender Age Birthplace
Head Dewey Webb M 31 Tennessee
Wife Tilda Webb F 31 Tennessee
Daughter Reva Dean Webb F 11 Tennessee
Daughter Ida Ruth Webb F 9 Tennessee
Son Larry Webb M 8 Tennessee
Son Gay Webb M 5 Tennessee
Lodger Talliver Jenkins M 61 North Carolina
Lodger Hilliard Costner M 31 Tennessee
- [S113] Manes Funeral Home, (http://www.manesfuneralhome.com), 17 Mar 2013.
(March 15, 1909 - March 17, 2013)
Matilda Jenkins Webb, age 104, passed away Sunday, March 17, 2013 at her home. She was preceded in death by her husband, Dewey Zack Webb; son, Larry Webb; and granddaughter, Penny Sutton Bible. She is survived by her son, Gay Webb; daughter, Ida Ruth Sutton; daughter and son-in-law, Reva Dean and W. J. Bryant; all of Newport; daughter in law Dorothy Webb of Cosby; grandchildren, Ricky Bryant, Jane Myers, Vicki Matthews, Vonda McKinney, Gayla Ann Webb, Jeannie Hurst, Dr. Susan Webb, Jana Johnson, Steve Bryant and Mitchell Webb; fifteen great-grandchildren; and four great-great-grandchildren; also many other family and friends.. The family will receive friends from 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm Tuesday, March 19, 2013 at Manes Funeral Home. Funeral services will be held 2:00 pm Wednesday, March 20, 2013 at Webb Baptist Church with Dr. Frank Bell and Rev. Scott Gorrell officiating. Burial will follow in the Webb Family Cemetery.
Family and friends may sign the great register on line at: www.manesfuneralhome.com.
Manes Funeral Home in charge.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 19 Mar 2013.
Tildy Webb, thought to be Cocke County's oldest citizen, dies at 104
Author: Duay O'Neil
COSBY-Matilda 'Tildy' Webb, whose life spanned the Presidential administrations of William Howard Taft to Barrack Obama, died shortly after noon on Sunday, March 17, 2013, two days after her 104th birthday.
She was born March 15, 1909, in a log house in Trail Hollow, a community in Upper Cosby settled a century earlier by her ancestors. She was the middle of nine children born to William Joel and Ida (Gilliland) Jenkins.
When she was a child, the family moved to Bluffton, a community alongside the Pigeon River, where her father ran a water mill with a race and sawed lumber.
She entered school at McMillan and shortly thereafter, when the family moved, transferred to Bluffton, a tradition one-room frame building. Her teachers included Miss Bernice Brooks, who also lived past her 100th birthday.
Her mother's death when Webb was 12 brought her formal education to an end, because of her father's need for her help caring for her younger siblings.
Over 50 years later, Webb returned to the classroom as a student in one of Cocke County's early adult education classes and earned her GED. Her fellow graduates included a granddaughter. Webb's teacher, impressed by her learning ability, urged the senior-citizen graduate to enter college.
- [S147] Find a Grave, (Memorial: 49048366).
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