History of Karns High School
PAGE 6
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THE SMOKER CEMETERY
In the early 1900s. the Cobb family gave a tract of land for the building of the new Karns High School. The Cobbs had bought the land from the Smoker family and the Smoker family cemetery was on this tract of land. The graves were removed to the Concord Mennonite Church Cemetery at the intersection of Lovell Road and Dutchtown Road in West Knox County. It is not known exactly how many graves were located here, but we have the names from three which were moved. This research was done by Robert McGinnis in 1986.4 John Smoker 1803-1888; Susanna, wife of John Smoker 1806-1893; Susan (Lapp), wife of Aaron Smoker 1838-1910.
THE GRAVES - BY CLASSMATE JANE BYINGTON WILLIAMS
Behind the old mill which was next to Beaver Creek near my childhood home, were graves of early settlers. When the school was built these Pennsylvania Dutch graves were moved. The caskets were stored in the Cobb barn across the road, then transported elsewhere. My sister, Amanda, and I had to walk by that barn in order to get to the Cobb house to buy milk. Even though the bodies had been moved many years before, we were afraid of ghosts.
BIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS CONNER KARNS (1845 - 1911)
Karns High School was names for Thomas Conner Karns. He was an educator and was born in Knox County. His parents were Charles W. and Nancy E. Karns. He was graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1872 and began that year as a reporter for the Knoxville Chronicle. The following year he was reporter and associate editor of the Chattanooga Herald. In 1873, an improved school law went into effect and in April Karns was elected for a 2-year term, as the second superintendent of Knox County public schools. Schools were organized in every district; one hundred for white pupils and twenty-one for Negro children. On January 21, 1875, Superintendent Karns contributed an article, "Free Schools in Knox County" to the Grange Outlook. After that Professor Karns, as he was known for years, was connected with the Cleveland Masonic Institute, was principal of the Chattanooga High School, Superintendent of Union City schools, held a professorship in Carson-Newman College, then for many years was a member of the faculty of the University of Tennessee. His last years were spent on his large estate at Powell in this county where he wrote for agricultural papers and conducted a farm page for the Knoxville Sentinel. He sometimes used a nom de plume, "Uncle Zeke"5
4 Robert McGinnis Cemetery Records
5 Mary V. Rothrock, Editor, French Broad - Holston Community. Knoxville, Tennessee: East Tennessee Historical Society, 1946.| Previous Page | Next Page |
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