| Sources |
- [S112] Census, 1900.
Name: John M Williams
Titles:
Residence: Civil District 13, Sevier, Tennessee
Birth Date: Jun 1894
Birthplace: Tennessee
Relationship to Head-of-Household: Grandson
Spouse Name:
Spouse Titles:
Spouse Birth Place:
Father Name:
Father Titles:
Father Birthplace: Tennessee
Mother Name:
Mother Titles:
Mother Birthplace: Tennessee
Race or Color (expanded): White
Head-of-household Name: George Williams
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Single
Years Married:
Estimated Marriage Year:
Mother How Many Children:
Number Living Children:
Immigration Year:
Enumeration District: 0148
Sheet Number and Letter: 8B
Household ID: 138
Reference Number: 72
GSU Film Number: 1241596
Image Number: 00222
Household Gender Age
George Williams M
Harrett Williams F
John M Williams M
- [S112] Census, 1920.
Name: John Williams
Residence: , Sevier, Tennessee
Estimated Birth Year: 1895
Age: 25
Birthplace: Tennessee
Relationship to Head of Household: Son-in-law
Gender: Male
Race: White
Marital Status: Married
Father's Birthplace: Tennessee
Mother's Birthplace: Tennessee
Film Number: 1821762
Digital Folder Number: 4390948
Image Number: 00411
Sheet Number: 2
Household Gender Age
Harkless Ogle M 68y
Julia Ogle F 67y
John Williams M 25y
Maud Williams F 24y
Ben Williams M 5y
James H Ogle M 16y
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 20 Jun 2011.
Upland Chronicles: ‘Rooster’ made a name as an airplane pilot
by CARROLL McMAHAN
John “Rooster” Williams, seated, his wife, Maude (left) and his mother, Florence.
Frank Andre gave John “’Rooster” Williams flying lessons.
Rooster Williams, left, on the job at Little River Lumber Company. The other loggers are unidentified.
When 16-year-old Frank Andre of Knoxville landed a Standard Jenny in a cleared field, near the Little River Logging Camp in Elkmont, no one was more impressed than John “Rooster” Williams.
Before Andre returned to Knoxville, Williams had made arrangements to take flying lessons from the young pilot.
Rooster Williams, along with his wife and son, Maude and Ben Mack, came to Elkmont from the Oldham’s Creek Community, commonly known as Boogertown. A skillful log crane operator, Rooster was regarded as generous and good natured; however, acquaintances were careful what they said around him, especially when he had been drinking.
Williams traveled to Knoxville for weekend instruction from Andre, in a pasture on Sutherland Avenue that Andre and others used as an airfield. Andre spent several years teaching Williams to fly an airplane. The pair was known to try daredevil stunts, such as flying under the Henley Street Bridge.
While spending time around the airfield, Williams learned that Frank Bowers had purchased a quantity of Army surplus planes at auction in Americus, Ga. They were in wooden shipping crates and sold for $50 to $500, depending on the condition.
Rooster insisted on buying one and persuaded Andre to put it together. He bought a Curtis JN-4A Jenny with a water- cooled eight cylinder 90 horsepower OX5 engine. Irish linen was stretched over the fuselage and wings.
The plane and detached wings were shipped to Townsend on two railroad flatcars. Once Andre came to Townsend and put the plane together, Williams took a three-day leave from his job in Elkmont to fly paying passengers.
Rooster charged $3 per passenger for a ride which took off and from a field in the middle of Townsend. He hired young boys to sell tickets and haul five gallons of gas at a time in a wagon from the only gas pump in town. The boys’ payment was a ride in the airplane.
Rooster needed to get back to work in order to earn the money necessary to support his expensive hobby. He wanted to move his plane to Elkmont but was afraid to fly into the area between such high mountains. Rooster called on his instructor once more, asking Andre to fly the plane to Elkmont for him.
Many of his co-workers at Little River Lumber Co. wondered how Rooster could afford such an extravagant hobby on a lumberjack’s pay. Rumors were rampant that Rooster made whiskey and provided ample supplies of the homebrew to the bosses.
Remembering his landing in Elkmont a few years earlier, Andre was not easy to persuade though he finally agreed after much persistence from Rooster to fly the aircraft to Elkmont. Part of the agreement was that Andre would not be asked to fly the plane out again.
Excitement filled the entire logging camp in anticipation of the arrival of Rooster’s plane. By the time Andre landed, a large crowd had gathered to observe the activity. The crowd cheered and whistled when the plane safely landed in the area where Elkmont Campground is currently located.
Andre advised Rooster not to take off in the plane until he applied additional dope on the linen covering to make it tighter over the airplane and waterproof. Ignoring Andres’ advise, Rooster flew the airplane the following Sunday.
Knowing Rooster had been drinking earlier that morning, His wife and 13- year-old son were extremely apprehensive as they stood in the crowd to watch Rooster take off. However, realizing his temperament when drinking, they kept quiet.
Maude said that when Frank Andre gave Rooster flying lessons, it excited him more than anything she had ever seen happen to him. However, she was not about to ride with him or allow her son to board the aircraft. They watched nervously as Rooster jumped in the plane.
With assistance from several onlookers, Rooster started the engine. When his fellow loggers pulled out the scotches, he pulled back the yoke and took off. The crowd cheered as Rooster became airborne. The excitement quickly subsided as it soon became apparent that Rooster was not going to be able to ascend fast enough to avoid the large boulder at the end of the runway.
When the crash occurred, the engine died and Rooster emerged from the damaged aircraft unscathed. However, after years of bragging about his flight escapades, his pride was wounded terribly. Due the embarrassment in fount of his co-workers, Rooster disassembled the aircraft and sold the engine to a car dealer in Sevierville.
Sometime after the airplane mishap, Rooster was involved in a car wreck. His car left the road and soared into a creek at the lower end of Townsend. He was unable to walk for a while and the long suffering Maude nursed him back to health at their home in Elkmont.
A few years later, Rooster left Maude and moved to New Mexico where he ran a log loader on a ponderosa pine saw mill. He met a woman there and mailed Maude divorcee papers, claiming he had obtained a divorcee from her in Mexico.
A few years later, he wrote Maude again and told her he wanted to come home stating he was lonesome and wanted to see his family. Maude responded, telling him to come home.
Sadly, Rooster never made back home again. When he told the new woman in his life he was leaving her and returning to his wife and family in Tennessee, she shot and killed him.
When news of Rooster’s tragic demise reached his family in Tennessee, they attempted to have his remains sent back to here for reburial. Because it was such a rigorous and difficult process to have his remains returned to Tennessee from New Mexico, they felt they were forced to give up on the idea of burying Rooster in his native community.
— Carroll McMahan is the special projects facilitator for the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce. The Upland Chronicles series celebrates the heritage and past of Sevier County. If you have suggestions for future topics, would like to submit a column or have comments; please contact Carroll McMahan at 453-6411 or email to cmcmahan@scoc.org; or Ron Rader at 604-9161 or email to ron@ronraderproperties.com.
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