| Sources |
- [S104] Cocke County, Tennessee, and its People, Cocke County Heritage Book Committee, (Walsworth Publishing, 1992), 17.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 3 Mar 2006.
Louie Irene Gregg obituary
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 16 Apr 2008.
"I crawled on my knees through the fields picking beans" Charlie Gregg reminisces on his 98 years
Duay O'Neil
NEWPORT-The year was 1910. America's entry into World War I was several years away. America's largest President, weighing in at plus-300 pounds, William Howard Taft, sat in the White House. The airplane industry was in its infancy. Plenty of Civil War veterans and former slaves were around.
Here in Cocke County, a four-year high school was nearly a decade away. There was no hospital. Dozens of one- and two-room schools dotted the countryside. Less than a dozen automobiles chugged down the pike. Four churches-First Baptist, Methodist Episcopal, South, Methodist Episcopal, and Presbyterian-called worshipers to their downtown locations every Sunday. Commencements, ballgames, and traveling programs were held upstairs over today's Men's Den in the Opera House.
And down toward Bybee, Wade Gregg and his wife, the former Dessie Green, welcomed a new baby boy to their home on April 11 and named him Charlie.
Last Friday, Charlie Gregg celebrated his 98th birthday with family and friends dropping by Wellington Place during the day to wish him well.
The Gregg family eventually numbered seven children-five boys and two girls: Edgar, Joe, Cindy, Jr., Charlie, Edith, and Isa B.
They're all gone now, except for Charlie.
In 1916 the Greggs moved to Old Town, where Charlie would remain until a year or so ago when a broken hip necessitated his move to assisted living.
The children attended O'Dell School, which stood on the hill above the Warren Denton place off Hwy. 160. It was a one-room affair.
"My first teacher was a man," said Charlie. "I don't remember his name. The rest were women."
"They were a bunch of us in that one room," he continued. "We carried wood in from the woods out back and water, too. They had little outhouse toilets."
Fellow classmates included Lynne Ealy,, Joe Golden, Hazel, Add, and Y. W. Gregg "There were more Greggs than anything," Charlie laughed.
Edom Kendrick lived close by.
Charlie's dad farmed, working at one time on the Jim Huff place toward Bybee. "He was also a constable for years," said Charlie.
Charlie's first job was farming, too. "I worked many a day for 50 cents a day," he recalled. "I picked beans for Stokely's for that. I crawled through those bottoms on my knees."
Beets were also harvested by Charlie and his fellow workers. "We'd get two cents a crate for all the beets we pulled," he remembered.
Stokely's provided the transportation for the workers. "They'd come by in a wagon," said Charlie, "before daylight and haul us to Dutch Bottoms or Rankin-wherever they needed us. And we'd work until dark."
Pleasures were few, but did include attendance at the old Appalachian Fair, held yearly on the site now home to Newport's City Park.
"Clarence Scott and Garth Thomas worked the gate," said Charlie. "Whenever Clarence worked, he'd let me in without paying. I did enjoy the horse races."
He also remembers the first airplane to land in Cocke County when one of the new-fangled flying machines paid a visit to the 1918 fair.
Some time later, Charlie's eye was caught by a Parrottsville girl.
Louie Barger, raised over near Harneds Chapel, was working at Graden Blazer's store earning $5.00 a week.
After a courtship, which included church services at Lindsey's Chapel in Northport, the couple married and remained together for 74 years until Louie's death.
Charlie eventually left Stokely's bean and beet fields and went to work in Stokely's can shop, where "I did a little of everything," he explained. "I'd feed a corn shucker, case cans, whatever they told me to do."
He also spent about ten years at Unaka Tannery, operating a machine which took the flesh off hides brought in for tanning. "It was a nasty job," said Charlie. "Sometimes there were maggots."
In the 1940s, Charlie and Louie joined the exodus of Cocke Countians heading north for better paying jobs.
They settled in Cleveland, where he worked for U. S. Aluminum and Raydex Wire until World War II ended.
"I liked living up there as long as I was working," Charlie said. "On my days off, there was nothing to do. The pay was a whole lot better up there than down here."
Louie also worked at another aluminum plant as well as at a local store. "She finally quit because she couldn't understand the people-what they wanted," Charlie said.
Charlie and Louie returned to Cocke County in 1949 and settled in permanently in Old Town.
Charlie's family were staunch Republicans. "If my dad ever voted for a Democrat, it would have been Albert Stuart. They worked together for years collecting debts," he said.
He doesn't have much faith in the present election. "I won't vote for anybody I don't know. It has to be somebody I know before I'll vote for them."
Charlie's first car was a Model T. "I had about half a dozen of them, and I also bought several cars from Lacy Myers."
Charlie drove almost every day until his fall.
Good friends Mitch Turner and Terry Mason took him for a ride once in a transfer truck down toward Sevierville. "I did enjoy that," he said.
He's operated on hard work and little medicine for nearly a century. "I could work good until I fell and broke my hip," he said. According to friends, Charlie and Louie's gardens were legendary, with the couple taking great pleasure in sharing their bounty.
Now Charlie enjoys the company of family and friends and looking back over nearly a century of living.
- [S112] Census, 1930.
Name Charlie H Gregg
Event Type Census
Event Date 1930
Event Place District 06, Cocke, Tennessee, United States
Gender Male
Age 19
Marital Status Single
Race White
Race (Original) White
Relationship to Head of Household Son
Relationship to Head of Household (Original) Son
Birth Year (Estimated) 1911
Birthplace Tennessee
Father's Birthplace Tennessee
Mother's Birthplace Tennessee
Sheet Letter A
Sheet Number 5
Household
Role
Sex
Age
Birthplace
John W Gregg Head M 52 Tennessee
Manda B Gregg Wife F 43 Tennessee
Joseph D Gregg Son M 26 Tennessee
Charlie H Gregg Son M 19 Tennessee
Sidney R Gregg Son M 19 Tennessee
Wade J Gregg Son M 9 Tennessee
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 10 May 2009.
Mr. Charles Holland Gregg, 99, of Newport, passed away Sunday, May 10, 2009, at Wellington Place.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 74 years, Louie Barger Gregg; his parents, John Wade Gregg Sr. and Dessie Green Gregg; four brothers, Edgar Gregg, Joe Gregg, Sidney Gregg, and John Wade Gregg Jr.; two sisters, Isa B Wilson and Edith Webb.
Survivors include several nieces and nephews.
Family and friends will meet at 10:45 a.m., Wednesday, May 13, 2009, at Resthaven Memorial Gardens Mausoleum Chapel for the 11:00 a.m. graveside service. Chaplain Mike Sledge will officiate.
Entombment will follow in Resthaven Memorial Gardens Mausoleum.
Family will receive friends from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Tuesday evening at Costner-Maloy Funeral Home.
The family would like to say a heartfelt thank you to the staff of Wellington Place and Smoky Mountain Home Health and Hospice for all the special care and thoughts, both on the job, and off.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations, in memory of Charlie, be made to Smoky Mountain Home Health and Hospice.
Arrangements by Costner-Maloy.
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
Name Wade Gragg
Event Type Marriage
Event Date 10 Nov 1901
Event Place , , Tennessee, United States
Gender Male
Marital Status Married
Spouse's Name Dessy Green
Spouse's Gender Female
"Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9TN-GSKD-X?cc=1619127&wc=Q633-MQG%3A1589264474%2C1589372269 : 21 December 2016), Cocke > image 181 of 804; citing Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville and county clerk offices from various counties.
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