Dr. Walter H. and Mrs. E.J.M. Drane

I haven't found a family connection between the Moran and Drane families but they were definitely friends.   Here is an article I found among Moran family papers posted in the Nashville Banner June 10, 1934.

WERE CLARKSVILLE LEADERS

Clarksville, Tenn., June 9--(Special)

Prominent surgeion and physician, Dr. Walter Harding Drane was one of Montgomery County's philanthropists and leading public spirited men.  Dr. Jane and his wife, Mrs. Eliza J. McClure Drane, were both descendents of leading families and their descendents are today playing important roles in the life of this community.

Dr. Drane was a leader in the movement to build the old Hopkinsville Turnpike and the covered bridge at Ringgold.  He advanced $20,000 for the construction of the old covered bridge and when the tolls failed to pay dividends the span was finally deeded to him.  He sold it for $2,500 to the late H.C. Merrit who in turn sold it to the county which freed it.

Dr. Drane not only aided by his influence the building of the Louisville & Nahsville Railroad, through Clarksville, but paid $10,000 in cash to the enterprise.

In 1843 Dr. and Mrs. Drane moved to the beautiful county home the Hopkinsville Turnpike which is still standing today, though time has dealt unkindly with it.  In addition to being an outstanding surgeon of his day, he had extensive connections in the tobacco business, holding large stocks both her and in Europe.  It was in the tobacco business that the bulk of his fortune was made.

Walter Drane was born in 1798 and died in 1865.  During the Civil War he  was Surgeon of the 14th Tennessee Infantry Regiment, Confederate States of America.  Eliza J. McClure Drane was born in 1808 and died in 1889.  They are both interred at Greenwood Cemetery in Clarksville, Tennessee.

Mary Kay Killebrew Conaway, The Dresden Connection

We think it's possible that the Confederate Officer is Thomas Leroy Killebrew and the man on the right could be his
son William Thomas Killebrew

These pictures did not come out of Moran Place in Dresden but from an estate sale in Memphis. However they do have a Dresden, TN, connection and now reside in our home, Moran Place Redux. :)  We hope you enjoy this discovery as much as we do and one we are still researching.

In case you hadn't noticed, Kent and I like history and genealogy.  A lot.  That means we frequent estate sales almost every weekend. Sometimes, just like the people in Northwest Tennessee who visited the estate sale at Moran Place we go just to see the interior of homes we would never have the opportunity to see.  We always go looking for bargains just like everyone else and sometimes we find them, sometimes we don't.   But we always go with an eye toward historical items and on random occasions serendipity occurs.

Yesterday, such a "fortunate happenstance" came into play when we visited 440 S. Greer St. in Memphis.  I noticed a drawer with pictures and some empty frames.  I sat down on the floor and pulled the drawer out hoping to find something of interest.  My first find was a tintype of a baby and it was annotated on the back "Bill Killebrew" with the following information: "Connie Lodice, P.O. Box 2563, W. Helena, AR. 3 Print to Prints from orig."   The Killebrew name piqued my interest.  I came across three other pictures of interest: 1) a framed copy of a Confederate Officer in uniform, two stars at his collar and carrying a sword, 2) a loose copy of a post-civil war man, possibly the same man who is in uniform and 3) a framed picture of an unidentified man ca 1880-1900.

We know this is "Bill Killebrew" but which "Bill Killebrew?"  We think this baby picture is of the man in the red
oval frame.  We think he might be William Thomas Killebrew.

I asked how much for the pictures and was told "we don't usually sell pictures, we sell frames."  Um, yes you do sell pictures, we attend estate sales all the time by this company so we know they do sell pictures.  But I wasn't going to argue so I said how much for the frames??  He didn't know which made me laugh.  We wandered down to ask the check out person and was told he could go $8, I said how about $5?  He said no but then promptly knocked off $2 on another item we bought.  Go figure.

Could this be William Thomas Killebrew, son of Thomas Leroy Killebrew and grandfather of Kay Killebrew Conaway?

A quick search of property records told me that Lawrence S. Conaway owned the bungalow style home built in 1920.  My next search was marriage records for Shelby County which told me that Lawrence Stephen Conaway married Kay Killebrew (bingo!) on March 10 1967, the service was performed by Loyal O. Hartman, Jr.   A google search for Kay Killebrew Conaway led me to the obituary of her brother, William Kenneth Killebrew Sr who was born January 4, 1938 in Dresden, TN!!    According to his obituary, their parents were William Thomas "Captain Bill" Killebrew and Marie Buckley Killebrew of Memphis.  This branch of Killebrews moved to Memphis in 1943.  Kay was born June 17 1941 and passed on November 20, 1005 per the SSDI.

Is the perhaps the Confederate Officer in a post-war picture? 

Kay Killebrew's grandparents were William Thomas Killebrew (1869-1943) and Alice Ruth Moore (1877-1862), both interred at Sunset Cemetery in Dresden.  We believe that the "Bill Killebrew" in the baby picture might just be Kay's grandfather, William Thomas Killebrew, and to us, the baby picture bears a resemblance to the man in the red oval frame.  Kay's great-grandfather was Thomas Leroy Killebrew (1839-1907).  He married Martha Ann Kennedy (1841-1928).  They are also interred at Sunset Cemetery.

We believe there is a strong possibility that the Confederate Officer is Thomas Leroy Killebrew. There are two stars on the officer's collar which indicates he was a lieutenant.  Thomas Leroy Killebrew served in Co. H, 33 Reg. Tennessee Infantry. He was promoted from Brevet Lieutenant May 8 1862, to 1st Lieutenant.   Killebrew tendered his resignation January 12 1863 however he appears on a roster for Jan and Feb 1864 as a a private and teamster with Co. H 33rd Infantry. Oddly enough, in May 1864 he appears on a register of patients at Ocmulgee Hospital at Macon Georgia with chronic diarrhea  His rank was Captain at that time.

Initial research leads us to think this just might be Thomas Leroy Killebrew, Co. H 33rd TN Infantry

A search for person named on the back of Bill Killebrew's baby picture, Connie Lodice of West Helena Arkansas turned up the following information.  She is the daughter of Peggy Craig and Raymond Eugene Tucker.  She married Thomas Joseph Lodice.  Connie's sister, Pamela Jo Tucker married Stephen M. Conaway who, if I'm correct, is the son of Lawrence and Kay Killebrew Conaway.   I am still researching the Conaway family

If I've mangled any of the family information let me know and if anyone can confirm our suppositions regarding the identity of the men in the photographs we'd like to hear from you.

Major Samuel Sharp (CSA) and Family

Major Samuel Sharp

Today I'd like to present Major Samuel Sharp and his grand-daughter Ida May Sharp. He was the son of Henry Raiford Sharp and Mary Chambers. Major Sharp served in the Confederate States of America and was in the same unit as John W. Moran, the 31st Tennessee.  He was born in McNairy County Tennessee on February 20, 1838 and died in St. Louis Missouri on December 16, 1906 at the home of his daughter, Ida Lee Sanders..  His wife was Mary Jane Idotha "Dosh" Fulghum.  Samuel and Dosh had five children:  Ida Lee Sharp 1867-1945, William Raiford Sharp 1875-1878, Elmer Clinton Sharp 1877-1942, John Benjamin Sharp 1879-1912 and Thomas Jefferson Sharp 1881-1913.

His grand-daughter, Ida May Sharp, is the daughter of his son Elmer Clinton Sharp and Edna Browning Sykes.  Her step-mother was Louise L. Sharp.  According to information on ancestry.com Ida May was born September 3, 1905 and died May 23, 1996 in Jackson Mississippi. She married Leon White Burton.   The picture we have is signed and dated 1911, Corinth Mississippi.

There may be another connection between the Moran and Sharp families.  Samuel Sharp's son, John Benjamin Sharp had a son named Carl MORAN Sharp 1901-1984.  He in turn named his son Carl MORAN Sharp Jr. 1933-2004.  In the obituary below another son is listed as Kenneth MORAN Sharp but according to Sharp family sources Kenneth's middle name was Darwin, not Moran.

Sophia E. Ezzell and John Williamson Moran
about 1905

Are the Sharps related to the Moran's or did they give them the Moran name in honor of the friendship between Major Samual Sharp and Captain John W. Moran?   It seems most likely that the Sharp's used the Moran name because of the friendship and military connection of Samuel and J.W.  I am presuming that the reason we have Ida May Sharp's picture is because the two men both had grand-daughters about the same age and they probably exchanged pictures as proud grand-parents like to do!  J.W. Moran's grand-daughter was Sophia Eleanor Ezzell, 1898 - 1995.

Ida May Sharp

Here is the obituary for Carl Moran Sharp Jr:

CORINTH - Carl Moran Sharp, 71 died Friday, July 23, 2004, at his home.  He was born April 6, 1933, to Carl Moran Sharp Sr. and Maude Mahar Sharp.  He was a retired accountant for the Richards Medical Company.

Services will be at 2pm Wednesday at the Corinthian Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev Ralphp Culp officiating.  Burial will be in Henry Cemetery.

Additional services will be at 10 am Saturday in the chapel at White Station Church of Christ in Memphis.

Survivors incude a son, Jeffery Lynn Sharp of Memphis; a daughter, Laurie Anne Sharp of Pflugerville, Texas; two brothers, Billy Fred Sharp of Memphis and Joseph Franklin Sharp of Cleveland, Tenn.; six granchildren.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Anne Robinson Sharp; his parents; a son, Steve Sharp; and two brothers, James Logan Sharp and Kenneth Moran Sharp.

Confederate $10 note

The Civil War devastated the nation in ways that cannot be imagined.  However it was easy to see the financial devastation left behind.  John W. Moran had just begun his clerking career in Hickman when war was declared. He came back home and with his younger brother Jimmie he enlisted in the Army of the Confederate States of America.  Jimmie Moran died a hero's death at the Guntown Battle Dec. 2, 1864.  John Moran was injured at the Battle of Franklin and taken off the battlefield by his friend W.H. Hilliard.   At the end of the War John Moran went back to his home in Dresden to begin his life again.  He married, had five children and became a successful merchant and banker and was considered very well off when he died in 1912.  

We don't know if this $10 Confederate note was all he had at the end of the War or if he simply kept it as a souvenir and threw the rest away.  All we do know is that he valued it enough to keep it as a treasured memory of the War between the States.  

Brief History, CSA 31st Reg. Tenn. Volunteers Battle Flag

John Williamson Moran served in the Civil War and was a 1st Lieutenant, 31st Reg. Tenn Volunteers.  The following is what appears to be the draft version (including strikethroughs and mispellings) of a letter written by him to an unknown person at the Capital in Nashville.  The letter is undated but we do know it was written sometime between 1900 and 1912.  The letterhead is from the Dresden Bank which was owned by the Moran family.




"I see in the last Veteran an account of the Casing of the Confederate flags at the Capital under your supervision.  I am very much interested in one I saw on the left wing of A.P. Stewart's Brigade at Perryville when the bearer and every guard was shot down and half the regiment killed and wounded but it was carried billowing against the 2nd Ohio and the 24th Illinois driving them from the field capturing the flag of the latter regiment.  I saw it again under Stewart at Murfreesboro when it was first to pass through the guns of a federal battery.  I saw it again at Missionary Ridge under Brig Genl Strahl on the right wing waving proudly as ever and again at Missionary Ridge when it was"














"the last regiment to leave the ridge on the left wing of the army calling forth the remark from Genl Stewart to Genl Bragg as he looked upon it "my old brigade is yet intact".  It always waved in the front from Resaca to Jonesboro.

I again saw it in battle for the last time as it disappeared in the smoke over the breast works by that brave Sergeant William Belew who was made prisoner there but he tore the flag from its staff and concealed it in his bosom for six months in prison.  This flag belonged to the 31st Tenn Reg and was commanded by Col F.E.P. Stafford a"















"braver and truer man never lived. He fell in the ditch with Strahl at Franklin.  He was standing in the ditch dead with his men around him.   He was killed at Franklin in the ditch near where Genl Strahl fell.  He was standing dead with his brave boys piled around him.

This flag is now in the custody of G.W. Nowlin of Greenfield Tenn who will write you in regard to placing it in the Capital.

J.W. Moran"












The letter was prompted by an article he read in the Confederate Veteran regarding the preservation (casing) of Confederate flags in Nashville.  In the letter he talks about his recollections of the war and most specifically about the battle flag of his unit, the 31st..  He mentions the battles of Perryville, Missionary Ridge, Resaca and Franklin.  He talks about the bravery of the men who fought and died for the South and of William Belew who saved the flag from being captured and/or surrendered though Belew himself became a prisoner.  At the end of the letter he says the battle flag was in the custody of G.W. Nowlin of Greenfield, Tennessee.  According to J.W. Moran, Mr. Nowlin was going to contact the recipient of the draft letter in regards to placing the battle flag of the 31st in the Capital with the other flags.  That never happened.

In 2006, Heritage Auctions put up Lot 25479, The Confederate Battle Flag of the 31st Tennessee Volunteers, "The Western Stars".  It was listed under the 2006 December Signature Civil War Auction #642. The flag, which should have been placed in the care of the Tennessee State Archives, was sold for $119,500.00 to a private collector,  forever removing it from the public.

History belongs to us all, or it should.   The Confederacy lost the war, but the Battle Flag of the 31st Tennessee Infantry won its place in history and it deserves to be housed where people can view it, the Tennessee State Archives.

Here is the description from the Heritage Auctions page linked above:
The Confederate Battle Flag of the 31st Tennessee Volunteers, "The Western Stars". A Confederate battle flag that was never surrendered or captured is a rare find indeed.  This flag is just such a rarity.  An Army of Tennessee pattern, it was probably delivered to Company A of the 31st Tennessee Infantry when the regiment wintered in Dalton, Georgia from 1863 to 1864 since this pattern is known to have been issued at the Dalton Depot.  Ensign William BELLEW daringly carried this flag through every battle until the ill-fated Battle of Nashville in December 1864 where he was captured by federal troops.  BELLEW stripped the flag from its staff before the Union forces could take it from him, concealing it inside his coat under the cover darkness.  Taken to Camp Chase, Ohio as a prisoner of war, he quickly quilted the flag into the lining of his coat.  Released in June 1865, he returned home to Gibson County, Tennessee with the flag still secretly sewn inside his coat.

BELLEW's mother is responsible for the flag being transferred out of the family's hands.  When Dr. George W. NOWLIN, a medical doctor who had been the hospital steward of the 31st during the war found out that Mrs. BELLEW had been flying the flag in her garden to scare off marauding birds, he sent for the flag to keep it secure.  The flag has descended to its present owner throught the NOWLIN family.

Measuring 35" on the staff and 51" on its fly, the flag is made of hand-sewn red wood traversed by a 5.25" wide dark blue bunting St. Andrew's cross edged on each side with a 2 " wide strip of white cotton.  The cross bears thirteen white cotton e.25" diameter five-pointed stars set at 8" intervals from the center star.  Accompanying the flag is a 24" cotton strip stenciled with the words "Co. A 31 Reg. Tenn. Vol.".

Company A, called the "Western Stars" of the 31st Tennessee regiment of the Confederate Infantry was formed out of Weakley County, Tennessee and organized with the regiment in Gibson county at Camp Trenton in September 1861.  Under the command of General J.P. McCown, the regiment moved to Columbus, Kentucky and on to Fort Pillow and by April 1862 was in Corinth, Mississippi.  Passing through Tupelo and Chattanooga, the regiment saw action at the Battle of Perryville where it lost 100 men.  A contemporary account by a Federal soldier at the battle stated that the 31st Tennessee attacked "with death-defying steadiness, uttering wild yells until staggered by the sweeping crossfire of our artillery..." And the regiment would suffer for their bravery, the casualties only multiplying throughout the rest of the war; 250 at Chickamauga, 300 at Franklin in one day, 600 dead within fifty yards of them.  Just two weeks later William BELLEW would carry the same flag that he waved in these actions into the Battle of Nashville.  His quick thinking on the battlefield combined with the wisdon of Dr. NOWLIN and his descendants have preserved this unique treasure from the Civil War.

Noted conservator Fonda Thompson has framed the flag with archival quality which comes with the accompanying research volume.  Renowned author and Civil War expert Howard Madaus has authenticated the flag and a copy of his research is provided as well.  A 500-page leather bound volume along with a photograph album tracing the 31st and their path during the war is included with the banner, documenting the history of the regiment and the flag.  This historic flag has been the subject of much press coverage and is used in many academic texts as an example of rare Civil War flags, unique in every way.

~~~~~
Updated April 3, 2013
The following information is published here with permission.  It was originally posted on the Moran Place Facebook page by Roland Reid.

I just found your blog while researching the CSA 31st Reg. Tn. Infantry.  I was disheartened to learn the fate of their flag.  85 members of the regiment, including F.E.P. Stafford, came from a community my family has called home for the last 187 years, Providence, in NW Madison County. These 85 men organized as the "Knights of the Forked Deer" on Sept. 19, 1861 at Providence Church.  The church property was given by my great-great grandfather, Beverly M. Williamson.  After a bounteous dinner the men traveled to nearby "Jones Station" where they boarded the train for Trenton.  The next day they joined the Confederacy.  In a clipping from R.T. Chambers (Dyer, Tn. March 6th 1917), he stated only 10 members of the original 85 remained at the time of surrender April 26th, 1865 in Greensboro, N.C.. I have the names, as best he could remember, of the original men and survivors.  The names of the survivors are R.D. Williamson, B.W. Dougan, W.J. Shaw, J.C. Paisley, W.D. Fletcher, R.E. Crutchfield, J.J. Rooks, J.B. Tassel, Joe Chambers, and B.T. Chambers.

Thank you Roland for adding more information about the 31st!