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Regarding my ancestry on the Tharp side of the family, I’ve been granted two nuggets of information over the years.
The first nugget is that my great uncle used to play basketball with Fess Parker.
I know, that’s not really a valid ancestral claim. For what it’s worth, I went to school with a guy who played baseball professionally during the steroid era (or error, take your pick) in those years following the 1994 strike.
According to the internet, which never lies, Fess grew up in Tom Green county here in Texas. I’m given to understand that my great uncle spent a better part of his life in the same region, so I have no reason to doubt that.
For those of you playing the home game, Fess was an actor best known for his role as Davy Crockett in various efforts Disney undertook in the 50’s.
Keep that one in mind, as I’ll be circling back to it.
The other nugget involves a lineage that intersects with that of Ty Cobb. Granted, being related to the baseball player has always been a sidenote in the stories I’ve heard. The primary story is that the grandfather (also a Cobb) of my paternal grandmother was a Confederate general.
Now I’ve found several Cobbs in the Confederate army, however I’ve yet to find the one I’m related to. The search continues on occasion when my hand cramps up from my ongoing effort to learn a new method for solving the Rubik’s Cube.
That’s right people. Apart from replacing the stickers or taking it apart, there are at least two other ways to solve those things.
Speaking of Davy Crockett, I started reading a book about ‘Merica’s westward expansion and its various battles and wars with Indians during the 19th century. That’s the 1800’s, y’all.
The first conflict discussed in the book involves Andrew Jackson’s pursuit of Red Stick (aka William Weatherford) and his faction of the Creek Nation around 1813. Crockett is mentioned because he was among the Tennessee volunteers who joined the campaign.
That brings us back to Fess Parker and his portrayal of Davy Crockett.
It goes without saying that the actual events of the Creek War were completely different from what was depicted in the Disney movie about Davy Crockett.
I think it’s going to be easier to verify that my great, great grandfather was a Confederate general than it will be to believe that Davy hit Stonewall Jackson with an anachronistic pun.
