George Washington Terrell Ladd
of
Ladds Cove, Tennessee
by Joyce Taylor
1991

I will write what I know about George Washington Terrill Ladd. Most of what
I know about him was told to me by my grandmother Leitha Jane (Ladd) Tate and
her sister, my great Aunt Jennie - Virginia L. (Ladd) Tate.
Aunt Jennie was young when G.W.T. died and Leitha was not yet born, but they
have heard about "Turl" (as it was pronounced by family members) all of their
lives. He seems to have quite a reputation, as being ornery and hard to get
along with. The first time I ever heard of "Turl" was when I was about 13
years old. I was visiting my cousin and she was fussing with her younger
brother and she called him "Turl." He got really mad about being called that
name, and I didn't understand why. I didn't find out about "Turl" until I
started working on my family tree.
Granny and Aunt Jennie told me that Ladd's Cove in Marion County is named
for G.W. Terrill Ladd, because he owned all of it at one time. They believe
he owned land all the way down to Hargis Cove which is below Martin Springs.
They say he worked very hard. They also say they have heard that sometime he
was mean to his wife and his slaves. They have heard that sometimes he would
get on the "warpath" and his wife Sarah, would hide in a cave near their home
and stay there til he cooled off. The slaves would bring food to her. They
say she stayed there one time til she got sick and they had to carry her home.
Of course all of this is hearsay - so it may be blown out of proportion.
Granny & Aunt Jennie told me that Terrill's son Balis was a real likeable man
and was always loaning items and signing notes with people. Several times he
ended up paying off the notes for them. Terrill could not understand why
Balis kept signing notes - so he offered to pay Balis a sum of money if he
would promise not to sign anymore notes. Balis replied, "No, Shoo dern it! I
will not sell my liberty to no man! So he kept signing notes and loaning his
property. Granny said he (Bailis) bought himself a new spring wagon and he
vowed that he's let no one borrow it. Next thing you know, a neighbor asked
to borrow his wagon. He said "well, be sure to grease it good!"
Granny and Aunt Jennie said that Terrill Ladd lived in a log house in Ladd's
Cove. In my lifetime Aunt Jennie lived in this house and it is still
standing. Aunt Jennie's granddaughter lives in it now. Her name is Donna
Cardin White. Aunt Jennie said Terrill bought the house from Jim Jackson. It
is a two story log house with a chimney in the center. At one time, they say
it had no windows, but windows were cut in later years and wooden siding added
to the outside. Terrill lived there in his old age and died there in the
living room. He lived there alone and one day a relative went to check on him
and found him down - he could not get up and had difficulty speaking (stroke).
This person ran down the road and brought Elisha Tate (my great great
granddaddy) to see about him. Elisha was a home doctor. He managed to
communicate to Elizha, that he wanted to be buried in the suit he had on and
that the money in his pocket was to be used for the burial. Elisha told him
he would see to it. G.W. Terrill was buried in the Ladd cemetery near Sarah,
his first wife. I noticed the inscription on his tombstone says "A Loving
Husband, A father dear, is buried here." I don't know how the transaction
took place, but at sometime he Turl Ladd's property became the property of
Elisha Tate. Perhaps he sold it to Lish before he died. Lish lived only a
short piece down the road. Before Elisha died, he divided his property among
his children - one of which was David Tate who married Jennie Ladd.
The Terrill Ladd homeplace was given to Dave and Aunt Jennie (Ladd) Tate.
Aunt Jennie owned it til she died. it now belongs to her daughter Irene (I
believe). They say some of the logs used in building the house are huge and
you can see some of the logs in the bedroom closets. I've been in that house
many times, growing up, but never paid any attention to its construction
because I did not know the history of it at the time.
It was rumored that Terrill Ladd had a lot of money hidden somewhere in that
house but no one has ever found any,. Aunt Jennie said that some man
(relative) stayed there for a while one time and took up the fireplace hearth
looking for the money but as far as she knows, he never found it. I don't
think Aunt Jennie believed there was any money.
Aunt Jennie and Leitha say they have heard that Terrill married a 2nd time,
but they could not remember the lady's name. They say Terrill and his 2nd
wife moved across the Tennessee river and lived for a while but his 2nd wife
left him and he moved back to Ladd's Cove. They believe his 2nd wife probably
left him because he was so hard to get along with.
Aunt Jennie told me one time that she didn't want people to know how mean
Terrill was. Aunt Jennie was Terrill's great granddaughter and she was a very
fine person. She worked hard and always helped her neighbors when she could.
That is about all the personal recollection I have about Terrill. I think it
is very interesting and makes an ancestor much more real if you can get
something about them besides statistics. I try to record any personal
recollections that I can get about my ancestors.
They say that Balis Ladd - son of G.W.T. Ladd was very easygoing, likeable
and neighborly. His byword was "Shoo dern it" Granddaddy Isaac Evans told me
Balis used to walk down Ladd's Cove on Sunday mornings and stop by Elisha
Tates house. Then the two of them would walk down to the Episcopal Mission
house and go to church. Granddaddy said you could always hear him coming down
the road, because he would be picking up rocks and throwing them out into the
creek. They say when he went to Monteagle, he would take a hoe with him and
dredge out the ditches on the side of the road. They say he was a real hard
worker.

Submitted by: Charles Ladd.

Feb 19, 1998

G.W.T. Ladd was the son of Amos & Anna (Stone) Ladd of South Carolina and
Tennessee.