SIXTH GENERATION

196. Arissie Wilson ⁽¹⁾ was born in 1881 in Overton Co., Tn. ⁽²⁾ She died in Overton County, Tn. ⁽²⁾ Arissie Wilson Shaver and Mike Shaver had five children.

In 1915, Mike Shaver and Arissie Wilson Shaver bought a farm three miles east of Clark range and moved into Fentress County. Mike and Arissie lived there a short while and then moved back to Cliff Springs, in Overton County, TN.

Their third child was Thomas David Shaver.
Thomas David Shaver learned to do most of the work typical of the rural areas in the 1920's. He cut timer, made cross ties, and farmed to make a living. On 2 October 1932 Thomas David Shaver married Lona Ada Hall. She was the fourth child of seven born to James William Hall and Lucinda Miller Hall.

Lona was born 11 Apr 1910, on Big Hurricane Creek, what was later called Pumpkin Center in the southwestern corner of Fentress County.

After their marriage, Thomas and Lona lived at the Elijah Miller farm on Little Hurricane Creek. Here their first son, Ulis Owen Shaver was born, 1 Jul 1933.

When Olis was two years old, Thomas and Lona decided they could not make a living on the farm, so they moved to Isoline, TN, Cumberland County, where their second son was born, James Ralph, born 16 Jan 1936.

In 1937, Thomas and Lona Shaver bought the Old Mayford Phillips farm in southwestern section of Fentress County, about two miles west of the Campground Church and Cemetery.

Thomas went to work in the Wilder Coal Mines, and he didn't have a car and he walked five or six miles to catch the truck to work. He would then work eight hours and make the return trip home with the five or six miles to still walk ahead of him when he got off the truck. He did this every day, five days a week. He made $12 - $16 a week before deductions for insurance, powder, and supplies. It was on this farm that their third son, David Thealon Shaver was born on 27 Feb 1838, and died 3 Sep 1838.

The Wilder Mines were worked out by early 1942, and most of the miners were out of work. In Jul 1942, Thomas went north to Muncie, Indiana, looking for work. The second week he went to work on Green Hills Farms owned by Balls Brothers Plant, and the third week he sent for his wife and sons. He worked there for over a year and then went to work for one year in Ball Brothers Plant.

In 1914, he went to work for Warner Gear and remained there til 1955. When he worked at Ball Brothers he still did not have a car, and still had to walk six miles to work and six miles back. He worked twelve hours a day for for ten months and he walked twelve miles a day, six days a week, in order to make seventy one cents an hour.

Thomas Shaver got his first car, a 1934 Chevrolet, and the family was able to have electricity in their house. It was in this car, at the front door of the Ball Memorial Hospital that their last son, Paul Eugene was born, 29 Jun 1944.

In 1955, Thomas got sick for the old home place in Fentress County, and they moved back to the old farm, and Thomas sent to work in the Truck Mines. Coming home to Fentress County proved to be a bad move. Thomas could not make a living in the Truck Mines. Thomas and Lona tried farming in Florida, South Carolina, and Illinois. Finally, in 1962, they ended up in Dalton, Georgia where Thomas worked six years fro the Chenille Bed Spread Factory. He then worked six years at Star Finishing Carpet Mills. In 1974, he retired, and he and Lona moved back home to Fentress County.

When Thomas was courting Lona he would make cross ties all day. He would walk five miles to church in order to walk Lona home another five miles after services were over. From Lona's house it was yet another four miles back home. He would arrive home between two and four A.M. By six A.M. he was back in the woods cutting cross ties.

Thomas says, "the young people of today are saying they would like to go back to the good old days, but if they had lived in the good old days they would not say that."

Thomas suffered a stroke in 1979, which paralyzed his left side, but he still walks with one crutch. He loves flea markets and animals. Recently he came home from a flea market with a pony. At this writing (1986) Thomas is 74 and Lona is 76, and still lives on the farm that they bought over forty years ago.

She was married to Mike Shaver (son of Thomas S. Shaver and Belle Smith) on 23 Mar 1899 in Overton County, Tn. Mike Shaver⁽¹⁾ was born in 1881 in Overton Co., Tn. He died in Overton Co., Tn. Marriage info: Mike Shaver married Miss Rissa Wilson on 23 March 1899, by T. W. Nash, Minister, Overton County, TN. Found in LSD Family History Center in Overton County, Tn records. Arissie Wilson and Mike Shaver had the following children:

+313 i. Thomas David Shaver.

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