Hello all and welcome back to the Hogue Connection! This post looks at very important contributions to our family history from a couple of our North Carolina cousins, Carl Hogue (1922-2013) (Uncle Carl from here on out) and FindAGrave memorial manager, Mountain Links. I sent Mountain Links (ML from now on) an internal message on FindAGrave in January and got back some great information via a series of emails. This info has made me rethink some of my theories in my article Red River Trails. I’ll present those ideas here.
ML is about a fourth cousin of mine or so, but I haven’t pinned down our relationship exactly. A long time member of FindAGrave, ML has found some people difficult to deal with over the platform, and therefore, would like to remain anonymous. I totally respect their wishes and will present their ideas here without divulging identities. ML manages about 1,873 memorials, about 100 of which are Hogues.
As far as Carl Hogue, goes, we know a lot about him, and that he was ML’s great uncle. Through a series of personal interviews, ML recorded much of Uncle Carl’s knowledge of our family’s western NC roots. ML always knew Uncle Carl’s mind was sharp right down to the end of his life, and relied on his recollections as truthful.
Uncle Carl Hogue’s Bio…
He was born John Carl Hogue on 14 Jun 1922 in the Nantahala Township, Swain County, NC, but always went by Carl. William G. Hogue and Hollin were Carl’s third great grandparents. His family tree looks like this (click on the names for their FindAGrave memorial):
William G. and Hollin Hogue
I
James Leonard and Lucinda Pendley Marcus Hogue
I
Rev. Henry Jackson and Mary Brown Hogue
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Riley William and Lottie Rose Hogue
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He graduated from Waynesville High School and the Navy Hospital Corps School, Bainbridge, MD. He graduated with a Certificate in Medical Mycology from the Center for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA. Carl married Jane Lovedahl in 1946. They had two sons and several grand kids together before Jane passed away in 1997. Carl was a US Navy Veteran serving in World War II as a Pharmacist Mate aboard the USS Wyoming. He retired from the VA Hospital in Asheville in 1977 as a Laboratory Technician. Carl was active in the Masonic Lodge for many years, built custom fly rods and enjoyed bee keeping. He passed away 12 Feb 2013 in Asheville, NC and is buried in the Sky View Memorial Park, Swannanoa, NC.
A Word About Decoration Day…
According to the Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English, a Decoration Day in Appalachia is “an occasion on which a family or church congregation gathers on a Sunday to place flowers on the graves of loved ones and to hold a memorial service for them. Traditionally this involved singing and dinner on the ground as well as a religious service.” For a nice article about the custom, go here. Appalachia is a large area, stretching from western Pennsylvania all the way down to northern Alabama and Mississippi. The Smoky Mountains and our old home land of Stecoah is a part of it. Dinner on the ground is, you guessed it, a potluck or picnic. Most of these customs sprang out of the need to memorialize the over 600,000 dead from the Civil War. Memorial Day eventually became a national holiday in 1966.
Uncle Carl remembers attending a few Decoration Days as a youth. He went back for the last time in 1939 after the death of his grandfather. He also went back a few times as an adult, but his memories of it as a youngster really stood out. Why is this important? Because he was able to pass his memories of these events on down to the next generations, through both oral and written statements. ML used Carl and his sister, Inez Hogue Capitini, to review the “Family Project” they were working on and verify many of the who’s, what’s and where’s of our family history. At least the later history in Graham County, NC.
Panther Creek Cemetery
Uncle Carl always believed that three generations of Hogues were buried at Panther Creek. We know his grandfather, Henry Jackson Hogue and his great grandfather James Leonard Hogue are buried there. Another generation back would be William G. Hogue himself. Remember that I have always been trying to pin down the exact spot of William G.’s (and Hollin’s) grave. I now believe it’s highly likely that they are buried here. ML has established memorials to that fact already and it makes perfect sense.
Panther Creek Cemetery is definitely close the old Hogue lands (both William’s and Leonard’s) near Stecoah Creek, also known as the Meeting House Branch. There is also Meeting House Mountain which lies between the cemetery and Fontana Lake. I went to quite a bit of detail about the creation of this lake and the TVA grave relocations in RED RIVER TRAILS. To reread that section, go here, and scroll down to section titled TVA Cemetery Relocation Records.
William G. Buried Here?
The land for the cemetery, according to a picture on the FindAGrave listing, was donated by Mandes Morgan (1798-1886). Manous Morgan (1792-1870) is buried there, along with his wife, Edith, but I can’t come up with a connection between the two. There are a couple of unknown graves listed with the FindAGrave memorials. Uncle Carl remembered that there were more unmarked graves than that. He thought that some of the graves were marked with fields stones that were later moved. It makes sense to me that William G. is buried here at Panther Creek Cemetery.
I proposed to ML that it might be possible that Hollin was buried near her daughter Percy Crisp in the Crisp Family Cemetery. This small graveyard is about 7 miles from Panther Creek. There are 13 unknown graves there. ML feels that Percy would definitely be buried by her husband and his folks, but Hollin and William would be buried closer to their own land. I’ll buy that explanation.
Thanks to ML and Uncle Carl!
I was glad to make the contact with ML and learn about their Uncle Carl. It’s so important to have this kind of family information to pass down through the generations. Much of ML’s stories relate to their branch of the family, but it’s exciting to know that I came across it via The Hogue Connection. I hope it’s only a matter of time before we connect with someone from our side with similar stories.
Thanks for coming to The Hogue Connection and reading my blog. We’ll be back soon with another story to tell. You can return to the home page here.