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 1887 - 1975 (~ 87 years)
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| Name |
Shelby West |
| Birth |
0Jun 1887 |
Warren County, Tennessee  [1] |
| Gender |
Female |
| Occupation |
music teacher [2] |
| Death |
20 Feb 1975 |
Coffee County, Tennessee [2] |
| Burial |
Webb Cemetery, Bluff Springs, Warren County, Tennessee |
| Person ID |
I4466 |
The Hennessee Family |
| Last Modified |
5 Aug 2000 |
| Father |
St. Clair T(homas) West, b. 18 Oct 1858, Tennessee d. 6 Oct 1943, Warren County, Tennessee (Age 84 years) |
| Mother |
Ocie Potter, b. 23 May 1866, Tennessee d. 30 Oct 1898, Warren County, Tennessee (Age 32 years) |
| Marriage |
6 Sep 1882 |
Warren County, Tennessee [3] |
| Family ID |
F2105 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Notes |
- From "The Southern Standard", Wednesday, February 26, 1975, by Miss Bessie Gribble,
"Miss Shelby West was the last member of the S.T. West family who lived in Dibrell for several years...Miss Shelby taught piano lessons at Dibrell for several years."
Lucile Byars Hennessee remembers:
"...Now I will get to Miss Shelby West and my knowledge of her. I think she was the oldest of four children and never married. Eula married Dr. Fisher's only son and had 2 boys; Earl, Jr. and Gentry, their father got killed young and Mrs. Eula went to live the Fishers and taught school at Dibrell. Pauline married a Smotherman from Tullahoma and at one time was well-to-do.
They built an antebellum home and filled it with antiques. He was Smotherman-Womack Wholesale. I never knew Brother's name - that was what they called him.
Mr. West married the second time and moved to McMinnville, on Sparta Street, guess that's why Miss Shelby did not live with him.
Miss Shelby lived in two rooms of a house by the school and gave piano lessons to children who went to school at Dibrell, two times a week for $2.50 a month.
We moved from Dibrell to the Sullivan Farm (68 acres) which was across a creek and about a mile from the school. My mother never thought any job beneath her so in order not to ask Pop, my father, for money, she took in washing - how that hurt my pride - so Miss Shelby told her she would give me piano lessons if Momma would do her wash.
We did not have a piano but later Pop swapped a sow for an old upright. I never became a proficient pianist but I thank you, Momma, for that opportunity.
Miss Shelby was afraid to stay by herself so when the people in the house would be away she asked me to come and sleep with her. Bessie thought it was awful but it was a joy for me to get away from a houseful of noise.
Her house became a place I could stay when we had a basketball game. I had to slip to play as Pop thought the ball suits were too skimpy and would not allow me to play but I played anyway. I was a guard and never was all that good but enjoyed the trying and the last year, 1936, we won the championship for the district and played in Monteagle.
Such a thrill to stay all nite in someone else's home. After supper, I would walk about a mile to Miss Shelby's to spend the night. For breakfast she would fry sliced roast pork, gravy and exactly five dollar-sized biscuits. I was a young woman and could have eaten at least 10 more of those wonderful biscuits - my mouth still waters thinking of those breakfasts.
I learned my love of old things from Miss Shelby. She had a beautiful cherry bed and chest, a dresser and piano in the one room with two rocking chairs. I would ask her to play for me before we went to bed. When she got too old to live by herself, she went to live with Mrs. Smotherman in Tullahoma.
We had a life-long friendship. I would write to her and in the summer when we came to Tennessee, I would go see her. She belonged to the Church of Christ and was a kindly person who never gossiped."
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| Sources |
- [S13] 1900 Warren County Census, abstracted by Robert A. C. Hillis, Jr., p. 353 (Reliability: 3).
- [S5] Lucile Byars Hennessee (1918-2008) | Personal Knowledge | Interviewed 10 Oct 1999.
- [S1655] "Warren County,Tennessee Marriage Records:1852-1900", compiled & printed by Fred Clark,RR 1 Box 9-B, Ridge Road, Quebeck, p. 206 (Reliability: 3).
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