Excerpts from a recorded interview with Mrs. Rhoda Peeks Motychak at her
house in Watauga, Tennessee in June 1967. Present at this, the second of two
interviews that month with Mrs. Motychak, were Mrs. Geneva Hammon, Mrs.
Mary Porterfield Scalf, Mr. Gene Barker, and Mr. Fred R. Scalf Jr. Information
recorded from the earlier interview and repeated in this has been omitted.
David (Dave) Scalf's children were:
Solomon David Scalf (Bud) was the oldest [Ed note: Sarah & Nancy were older]
William Scalf (Will)
Sarah Scalf
Nancy Jane Scalf
Elizabeth Scalf
Nancy Jane Scalf married Eli Peeks (my grandfather). Their children:
Jerry Peeks (my Daddy) was the oldest [Ed note: Lorene (Renie) was older]
Athie Peeks
Lorene Peeks
Texana Peeks 3 girls and 2 boys in all!
David Peeks
Lorene's children:
Lena (Lena Turner; was in the hospital in June 1967. She had 9 boys & 1 girl)
Georgie
Ellie
Bernice
Nell
Betty
Lilly
Robert - was drowned in the Tennessee River at Knoxville
Addie [living with Levi & Sarah Taylor in 1880 census] married John Emmert, the
brother of Sarah
Jane Ellen Emmert (Solomon David Scalf's wife). Addie's boy was
Jessee. Addie had a brother
named Ike (Isaac) and they were Benjamin's children.
David Peeks married a Bowers. Their children:
Ellerds
Harold
June
Rosella
Novella
Cristal - has 4 red-headed boys
Ike (Isaac) and Addie (living with the Taylors) were Ben's children. Ike's youngest boy
was
McKinley and he lived at the homeplace in Watauga for several years. McKinley
married a Walker.
During the Civil War, Malachi and his boys Bill (William J.) and Jim were on
the North (the
Yankee side) and Dave was on the Rebel side. They were fighting
at South Watauga. The Yankees
had their artillery on Bogart Knob. Actually,
Mac was too old to do much fighting and his wife was
in bed. His daughter Tilda
was a young girl of 15 at the time.
Jim (Pete or Skipper's daddy) saw Uncle Dave and said "Uncle Dave, you better
run, I'm
gonna shoot you." He said that Uncle Dave did run and that "he cut the bushes
for him to run by."
One of his friends asked if he would have really shot his uncle and
he replied, "Sure, he was on the
wrong side."
Dave came into the house and had Tilda fix him some food to put in his haversack.
Mac was
there and so were Bill and Jim. Dave said to Mac, "Every one of 'ems dead".
Mac asked him how
he knew and he replied that he'd been down there watching and
"every one of 'ems dead". Mac
asked, "How in the _____ did the last one die, did he
kill himself?'.
One day Dave came in to find Bill and Jim sleeping by the fireplace. He told his
wife to get
them out of the house. She told Dave they were tired and they were
kinfolks, let them sleep. He said
he did not care, to get them out, they had been trying
to kill him all day.