The Thomas House: A Haunted House?

Eva Grace Thomas married Charles Oakes in 1949. They grow up several miles apart in the knobs of Monroe County, right on the McMinn county line. Eva lived on Ridge Road in an old farm house that set down the hill from Ridge road on the west side of the ridge. The Thomas family bought the land and the house some time after the Civil War from a Hawkins family. Until recently it belonged to the family. This was the house that Eva grew up in. Eva can remember that the house was known for some strange things. Items that you would place in one location in the house would sometimes be moved and no one would know how they got moved. Most eerie of all were the doors that would open by themselves. Sometimes they would hear the latch rattling and then the door would swing open gently. At other times a door would just burst open as though someone had forced it open. Eva's Uncle Jake and Aunt Sally Howell came to visit one time. Their two small children, W.P. and Hazel, stayed in the back bedroom. One morning they came screaming into the kitchen saying that the door had flown open in the bedroom and that they had seen a shadowy figure in the room. They refused to go back into the room again. Their mother and Eunice Culberson (another aunt) say they have heard the sounds of dragging chains. Charles and Eva have slept there many times and report that they would hear noises in the walls and in the ceiling. Charlie remembers hearing the latch on the door to that room start to rattle and then the door swinging open. Aunt Sally Howell wouldn't go in the house unless the family was there. One evening she came to the house with her husband. As she walked up to the house the lamp in the living room came on and then went off again. No one was home. This scared Sally so she and her husband sat out front in the car until the family came home. No one knows what caused this strange things to happen. Speculations centered around the tradition that a man had hanged himself in the back bedroom in the days just after the Civil War before the Thomas' owned the house. Eva said that she and her family just got used to it and it didn't bother them much. Several years back this house was torn down and has been replaced by a new farm house almost in the same location.

No. 4 Luther Oakes

No. 4 The children of Jacob (Jake) M. Oakes and Matilda Elizabeth Coile Oakes

In this session we want to introduce you to the children of Jake and Elizabeth Oakes from Jefferson County, TN. As mentioned in the previous two blogs, both Jake and Elizabeth passed away in 1908 and 1916 respectively. During their life time they had 14 children but only four seem to have survived to adulthood. We know very little about those that did not survive. In most cases we don’t even know their names as they may have died within a few days or weeks of their birth.

Of the 14 children, we only have information on six. These are Samuel, Luther, Emma, Edgar, Andrew and Elmer. Over the next few blogs we’ll feature those children who survived into adulthood. Before we do this here are two of the children that did not live into adulthood but for which we do have names but no information:

• Samuel was the first of the children that seem to have survived very long after birth or for which there is any record. He was born in November 1879 when Elizabeth was 27 years old. We know nothing more about Samuel other than that he probably died before 1902 as he does not appear in the 1902 family photo. See this photo in this blog with Jacob and Elizabeth seated with four children: Luther (tallest), Emma, Edgar and the baby is Elmer.
• Andrew was the fourth of the children that seem to have survived for a few years. He was born about 1893 when Elizabeth was 41 years old. He died on 22 April 1899 at the age of six.

Of the four remaining children, all lived to adulthood. Today we want to feature the second of the children for which we have a record:

Luther Monroe Oakes

Luther was born on 6 September 1885 in Jefferson County, TN. I have very little information about “Uncle” Luther. He was raised in Rocky Valley Community near Strawberry Plains. He married Nettie Reed and they lived there lives out in the same area. As best as I can tell they lived on land that they owned or on land that they sharecropped. Luther lived all his days in the same community. I have an old picture of Luther sitting out front of his house. He is in his overalls and has a hat that was common to many farmers of the day. Luther and Nettie had seven children. They are as follows:

• Wallace (born 1908 – 1966)
• Rachel (21 September 1913 – 1 April 2000)
• Odice (7 November 1915 – 6 September 1969)
• Trula (1 June 1919 – unknown)
• Marie (9 June 1923 – unknown)
• Ruth (unknown birth/death information)
• Margaret (15 September 1925 – 7 July 1989)

Charles Oakes remembers visiting his uncle Luther and family when he was a small boy. One of the things that he remembers most is the good food he ate while there. Many of us today wouldn't consider the opportunity to eat pork & beans as anything special but it was for Charles during the 1930's. Luther would send one of his children to buy pork & beans from a small country store near their home when Charles' family came to visit. It was a special treat.

I am including a photo of Luther, Lettie and Rachel. In this picture Luther is about 28 years old.