William Newton & Rosa Caroline (Green) Gentry

    “Newt" Gentry was born in Meigs County , Tennessee on April 10, 1870 . His parents were John Wesley (British/Irish) and Ellen Jane Capps Gentry (Irish/Cherokee Indian). He was one of six children. His brothers were John, James, and Charlie. His sisters were Laura and Florence .

       On September 19, 1900 Newt married an Irish lass named Rosa Caroline Green, daughter of Rev. John Franklin and Polly Milburn (Young) Green. They were married in Bakewell , Tennessee but later moved to Sale Creek. They had nine children: Gertrude Rosetta (1902-1935) who married Charles Roscoe Gann, Lola Virginia. (1904- ) who married Herbert Harold Hogue, John N. (1906-1976) who married Sarah Bell Adkins, Ruth Aster (1908-1910), Thomas Franklin (1911-1973) married Lois Anglin Middlebrook, Anna Mae (1913-1936), Emma  Jane (1917-1917), Edna Hazel (1919­who married Jack Geer, and Jessie Green (1921-1944) who had married Glenn Martin.

            Newt was a craftsman of wood. He built wooden caskets from fine poplar as did his brother-in-law, Will Jones. Years ago, funerals and viewing of the deceased was in the deceased's home. A couple of caskets were always kept ready for use. After the caskets were hand-planed and finished, the ladies, Mammy (Rosa) Gentry and Florence (Gentry) Jones, would line them with cotton batting and covered it with linen cloth.. After the viewing, the lids would be screwed on. The body would then be transported to the cemetery by wagon (later by truck) and placed in a hand-dug grave. The grave was then filled by men with shovels. Papa was known for his fine workmanship. When resting, he just sat down and leaned against a tree-and whittled.  He enjoyed whittling cedar and made rolling pins for his daughters or granddaughters. He had also made a play house for the kids.

       His occupation for many years was to "fire" the boiler for steam driven sawmills and lumber planers. He worked for Pat Hoffman, a local lumber mill owner. He was an expert at the job and even built a cabin in the mountains, insulated it with sawdust, and stayed for days at a time. When the crew arrived for work early in the morning, Newt would have the boiler at a "full head of steam ready for sawing.

       Papa had one problem; he liked to imbibe in the “spirits. I understand he contributed to the success of a local man who had no visible means of support-except moonshine. When he got paid he dropped by the “shine” dealer, and proceeded to get to the bottom of the jar. Then he took a nice long nap.  He kept a bottle of “cold” medicine handy and often felt too many cold symptoms coming on while firing the boiler. He became a safety liability, so he was fired for his own protection. He was fired as many times as he was hired. The next morning, planer operations could not commence since no one could fire a boiler like Newt. Pat would travel over to their house and ask Newt to come back and "fire the boiler". He did.

       Now, before you start getting too self-righteous, consider the facts. First of all, Newt was of Irish and Cherokee Indian extraction. The Irish are known for tipping the bottle. Papa did not want to give the Irish a bad name so he carried on in traditional Irish fashion. Indians were notoriously poor drinkers. They are known for not being able to “hold their liquor (Fire Water). So, poor Papa just couldn’t win-but he did his best to uphold the positive attributes of both ethnic groups.

       His drinking caused Rosa many hours of heartache but she never complained. She would put him to bed and let him sleep it off. She was a very patient lady. She sat in the dimly lit bedroom sewing while he slept. One of his daughters, Anna Mae, was not as tolerant as Rosa . Once she threw a hot sweet potato at him and hit him in the head. Poor Papa!

       Newt was not a bad man by any stretch of the imagination. Newt was an active Freemason and was Past Master of Sale Creek Lodge #280, F&AM. His picture hangs on the wall of the Lodge today. He had a good head on his shoulders.

       Newt was a short man and nice looking in earlier days. He, like many others, wore a felt hat and he had a mustache. He liked dogs. They had a little bulldog named "Ming". I faintly remember Papa; I was only 11 years old when he passed away on November 27, 1949 . The viewing and funeral was at their home. Rev. Roscoe Scott preached his funeral. He was laid to rest in the Welsh Cemetery in Sale Creek near MING! That's right, Ming is buried right there in their plot along with the rest of the family.

       This vignette is not meant to cast any shadows on his character; rather, it just paints a picture of the real man. Papa was an important part of my family tree and I’m proud of him.

  August 20, 1999

PS. In 2002,          I visited the cemetery plot in 2002 and found that someone had removed the homemade marker for MING

Compiled and Submitted by Rexford C. Alexander
rexcalex@bellsouth.net