James Franklin Stalls is my Great-Great-Grandfather. And until now he has been a mystery to the family. Actually, he still kind of is!
According to census records JFS was born in Tennessee, though I can’t really say where in Tennessee. I will assume, for now, that he was born in Stewart County since a plethora of Stalls lived there and he was in some census records there.
A Stalls Bible gives his date of birth as August 29, 1857. The same bible record gave his death as November 19, 1889, yet we had nothing else to go by for that date. However, after researching, and searching, I finally found his obituary.
The Life of James Franklin Stalls (as is currently known)
James Franklin Stalls was born August 29, 1857 to James ML Stalls (1831-1912) and Georgia Ann Manning (1835-1918) in Tennessee. At some point he and his family moved to the Clark’s River area of Paducah, Kentucky.
The next documentation I have on JFS, after census records, is a marriage bond/certificate for him and Miss Mary J “Annie” Bondurant, daughter of Joseph Bondurant (dates currently unknown) and Elizabeth Francis Brewer (dates currently unknown). JFS and Annie Bondurant married in Paducah, Kentucky on April 30, 1888. According to the bond/certificate JFS was living in Obion County, possibly the town of Obion, in Tennessee and he was in the lumber business, presumably a sawmill worker.
The presumption has always been that JFS’s son, James Paul Stalls, Sr (June 12, 1889-January 21, 1951) was born in Obion County, Tennessee because JPS’s death certificate had states that (as informed by Evelyn Mozelle Fitzgerald Stalls, 2nd wife of James Paul Stalls, Sr). However, my Granddaddy, James Paul Stalls, Jr, always said that his father was born in Kentucky. Because Obion County was unable to find anything concerning either JFS, Annie or JPS I turned my attention back to Paducah, Kentucky. As of today I still haven’t found any documentation other than his death certificate as to whether JPS was actually born in Tennessee or Kentucky.
One of the family stories, that has yet to be disproven, is that an accident of some sort happened to JFS at a sawmill. Whether or not that meant he had an arm chopped off or was killed, we didn’t know. For all we knew it could have been another Stalls that had the accident. We do know now that he didn’t die directly of a sawmill accident, if he had one at all.
I finally have in my possession his obituary. James Franklin Stalls died at 4:30 in the afternoon on November 19, 1889 of pneumonia. I believe he was still living in Obion County, Tennessee, at least part time, because the obituary states he is from Obion and that his body was sent to Paducah for burial in Oak Grove Cemetery. I’m wondering if it is possible that he was in Obion for work, yet returned often to Paducah to be with his bride, and then bride and child.
I currently have two lovely ladies at the parks department in Paducah that oversee Oak Grove Cemetery on the case trying to find out exactly where JFS is buried. he is not listed on their interment list.
All I know is that if the newspaper that printed his obituary had spelled his name correctly then the family would have had this information long ago. I don’t know if the newspaper had a telephone at the time, but it is possible that if his death was called in then errors were bound to happen.
If anyone else has any information about James Franklin Stalls, please feel free to let me know! I would almost hope that a long lost relative or the descendent of a neighbor that has stories would be wonderful!