Annie Starkey

An article in the files of the Polk County Historical Society Library, written by former county historian J. D. Clemmer, says Kit Lowery shot and killed Annie's father, John Starkey after an all day shooting match held on the north side of the Hiwassee River at the mouth of Spring Creek. " . . . after the day's match, they started home. Starkey and another one of the boys crossed the river first in the bateau. When they landed, Starkey yelled back across the river that he was not going to let Lowery across, to which Lowery declared he would shoot Starkey if he didn't come back for him" - and he did. John, Milly, and the children (Anna, Elizabeth, Malinda, Thaney and Mahaley E.) are listed as Duggans in the 1850 Polk Census, and then they all go by Starkeys from 1860 on. Why he goes by two different surnames is not clear. It says he was born in North Carolina. John's widow, Milly Clayton, daughter of Elijah Clayton and Betsy Webb Roach, appears in the 1860 census of Polk County, Tennessee with children Ann, Betsy, Mary, Thanie, Mahaly, James, Robert, and Florence. Names in the 1870 are Elizabeth, Malinda, Emeline, James, Robert, and Florence, so the middle name of the girls may be used here. Since the last child was born about 1855, we can conjecture that John was killed 1856-'58. There is no record that we know of as to where John is buried, but considering the difficulty in crossing the Hiwassee River in a boat with a casket, family, and mourners, it is assumed he is interred in the closest cemetery to where he lived, which would be the Hiwassee Union Cemetery, later called the Reliance Community, accessed without crossing the river. That burial ground is known to have at least 150 or more graves either marked with fieldstones and no names, or no markers at all. If other information becomes available we will gladly move the memorial, but feel it important that he at least has one.

 

Note: The article says that Kit Lowery left that night and was never heard from again. The only Lowery who lived in that neighborhood appears to be a fisherman, Christopher and Matilda Lowery from Jefferson Co., GA who are in the Polk 1840-1850 census. Whether him or related is not known, but it did say he lived on the south bank of the Hiwassee on what was later called Hiwassee Beach, and there are remains of an old rock house right there on Lowry Branch.

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Annie passed away due to known reasons in 1913 and is buried in Lone Oak Cemetery in Robbinsville, North Carolina beside his wife, John, and son, James Thomas Davis.