No. 10 Elmer Burchell Oakes

Elmer Burchell Oakes was born 6 April 1902 in Jefferson County, Tennessee. He was the last child to survive in the Jacob and Elizabeth Coile Oakes family. Elmer, my grandfather, grew up in Rocky Valley near Strawberry Plains. He is shown in a previous blog picture as the baby sitting on his mothers knee in a family portrait. Here he is shown with his older brother Ed Oakes. Your first thought is that this is a little girl. It isn't. It was common to dress little boys in dresses when they were toddlers. I have lots of stories about my grandfather and will tell many of these in future blog entries. For now I want to introduce him and hit the high points in his life. Elmer's parents died while he was still in the home. His father died when he was about six years old and his mother died when he was fourteen. After his mother died he went to live with his sister, Emma Oakes Palmer. At that time they lived in Loudon County. While living in the Pond Creek area he met and later married Hula Bryan Barr, my grandmother. They moved to Knoxville where he worked in the mill until the Great Depression forced them to return to Loudon County and farming near his in-laws. While in Knoxville their first child was born, Charles Elmer Oakes. While back in the Pond Creek community my mother, Margaret Genell Oakes, was born. In 1938 the family, along with the in-laws, sold the farm on Pond Creek and purchased a farm land in Monroe County. Elmer and Hula purchased the land next door to the Barr's and settled down. Over the course of a few years they bought some more neighboring land until they had an 88 acre farm on Kinser Branch. I spent week long vacations and one longer summer vacation on the farm in the summer. Most of my favorite childhood memories revolve around my visits to my grandparents. In 1980 Elmer had a stroke and began a gradual decline resulting in their having to sell the farm and move to Athens where he went into a nursing home and my grandmother purchased a house. On 29 January 1983 Elmer passed away. I remember receiving the sad news. I was a Captain in the US Army stationed in Mainz, Germany. Fortunately I was able to travel to Tennessee and be present with the family at his funeral. I have missed my grandfather so much over the years. I look forward to seeing him again someday.