Prof. W E F Milburn Seriously, If Not Fatally Injured by A Runaway

A Terrible Runaway Accident

Prof. W E F Milburn Seriously, If Not Fatally Injured by A Runaway

It is with feelings of distress that we are called to chronicle the particulars, as we gather them from Mr. Gaines Harrell, of the terrible accident which befell our friend Prof. W E F Milburn last Tuesday evening, and which, in all probably, cost him his life.

He had been to Rheatown on Tuesday in a buggy, and was returning home about dark and while driving along alone his horse suddenly took fright by some means or another, and becoming uncontrollable dashed away at a fearful rate throwing the rider out and mangling him up in a most frightful manner. His entire jaw, we are informed, was literally crushed into jelly and her was otherwise seriously injured. The buggy was also smashed to pieces.

The horse, however, became detached and ran on at almost lightning speed until he was stopped by some parties in the road. They suspecting some one had been hurt by the runaway went back until they came to the place of the accident, and there they found Mr Milburn in terrible condition.

His body was taken up and conveyed to his home, when the services of Dr Morley were secured and the wounds dressed. The doctor gave the opinion that it was almost impossible for him to recover. He was, however, perfectly conscious, and although from the condition of his mouth and jaw, he could neither speak, eat or drink, still he communicated with his friends through the medium of a pen.

The next paragraph is about a premonition of death attributed to WEF Milburn prior to this accident.

We have not heard of anything for a long time that grieved us more than this sad occurrence, for Prof. Milburn was a most estimable and worthy young gentleman. He is the son of Rev Wm Milburn of the Methodist Church and lived at Milburnton, Greene County. He is a graduate of the University at Athens (Tennessee Wesleyn) and has taught very successfully at New Market, Jacksboro' and other places. Although our information is that his chances for recovery are exceedingly doubtful, we earnestly hope that he may get over it. - (Source: Knoxville Chronicle (Union and American
(Greeneville, Tennessee), 30 Aug 1876, Wed • First Edition • Page 3)

Reading about my Snow family on a snowy night

Snow is falling and I am reading the inventory of my ancestor Nicholas Snow's estate and it reminded me of another estate inventory.  The estate inventory of Henry Byrom.

Henry Byrom came to Virginia in 1703 as an indentured servant .  He was a gunsmith and he was allowed to bring a servant with him (his brother Peter Byrom).  I am not all sure about the status of an indentured servant's servant because this is the only time I have seen this.

Henry did pretty well.  He married Frances Mills on December 10, 1702.  She was the daughter of Robert Mills and Jane Brown.  Henry died in 1717 and his inventory is the subject of this post.  One of the things listed is a brass divider.  I shared the inventory with another researcher and she asked me how Henry Bryom would have used a brass room divider in his small house.

Since my father was an engineer, I knew this was a tool that Henry would have used to measure the distance between two points. This would have been necessary for a gunsmith during this time because this was long before standardized sizes for for gun parts would be used.  Each gun was a single piece of art. 

An antique brass divider is both a beautiful piece of art and a useful too.  I could not find a photo of an antique brass divider, but trust me, they are beautiful.

By Glenn McKechnie - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link