No. 6 Emma Oakes

Emma Myrtle Oakes was my grandpa’s older sister. Born in October 1888, Emma was a short in stature, a little heavy with sandy light red hair. She can be seen as a 14-year old girl in the family photo taken soon after my grandpa was born and included here. She was about 20 years old when he father passed away. Emma grew up to marry Henry Lafayette Palmer, a farmer and sharecropper. See the picture of them when they were young. This may be their wedding picture. They moved from Jefferson County to Loudon County. Over the years they sharecropped several farms in Loudon County. When her mother passed away in 1918 she took in my grandpa to live with her and her family. He was about 16 years old at the time. This resulted in his moving to Loudon County. My grandpa was always very fond of his sister Emma. In later years Emma and my grandpa’s families would visit back and forth between Loudon County and Monroe County. Charles Oakes remembers that she was always a very kind women. For a number of years they sharecropped in the Pond Creek Community of Loudon. This is where my grandpa met my grandma. Grandpa always had a funny way of pronouncing the Palmer last name. He would pronounce it “Parmer”, replacing the “l” with an “r” sound. We never knew why he did this. The only other story I have about Emma is from Charles Oakes who remembered that you almost always saw her with a pinch of snuff in her mouth and a spit can close by. I don’t know the dates of their deaths yet but believe that they passed away before the mid-1950's. I just know that Emma played a very important role in my grandpa’s life. Finally see a photo of Fate and Emma later in life.

“Fate” and Emma Palmer had five children:

· Ulysses

· Frank

· Robert

· Mary

· Lucille