Triple Cousin, Lifelong Teacher: The Legacy of Oscar Roy Ashley

Discovering a cousin who connects to your tree thru multiple lines is not that rare on my paternal grandmother's side of the family.  I always like to map out the lines.  This one was a really great find even though he didn't leave any descendants, he left much more.

Oscar Roy Ashley (1906–2001) is my cousin thru 3 ancestor couples: James Morrow & Margaret Sutton, James Jakes & Nancy Harger, and James Knox & Elizabeth Craig. Born in Bedford County and raised in Murfreesboro, Oscar never married or had any known children. Instead, the record trail shows a life completely dedicated to literature and education. Oscar pursued his love for words at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, graduating in 1927 with a BA in English. The census records map out his decades in the classroom:

1930: Back in Bedford County, working as a local schoolteacher in Shelbyville.

1940: Relocated to Chattanooga, where he joined the faculty of the prestigious Baylor School.

1950: A brief stint in New York City working as an instructor before returning home to Tennessee.

He also served in the US Army Air Forces  during World War II

He spent decades mentoring young minds, eventually retiring in Chattanooga where he lived to be 94.

While Oscar left no known descendants to carry on his name, his final act ensured his passion for education would live on. In his will, he left his estate to his alma mater to establish the Oscar Roy Ashley Graduate School Fellowship at UT Knoxville. Today, this permanent endowment funds a $4,000 annual fellowship for talented, returning graduate students who show exceptional academic performance.

From the UT Knoxville Website  https://gradschool.utk.edu/ 

Also see the Oscar Roy Ashley Papers

The census records simply list him as "never married, but Oscar’s legacy is clearly written in the fellowship that still bears his name.

Sources Consulted:

Oscar Roy Ashley Graveside services for Oscar Roy Ashley, 94, formerly of Murfreesboro, who died Monday, July 16, at his home in Chattanooga, will be 2 p.m. Thursday at Chattanooga National Cemetery. The Rev. E. Lane Alderman Jr. will officiate. He was the son of the late Edgar Leander and Mary Elvira Stephenson Ashley.

The Daily News-Journal, July 18, 2001, Page  11. image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-news-journal-oscar-roy-ashley/197716870/ : accessed May 17, 2026).

1910 United States Federal Census: Civil District 1, Bedford County, Tennessee. Status: Single, Son.

1920 United States Federal Census: Murfreesboro Ward 1, Rutherford County, Tennessee. Status: Single, Son.

1930 United States Federal Census: Shelbyville, Bedford County, Tennessee. Status: Single, Boarder; Occupation: Teacher.

1940 United States Federal Census: Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee. Occupation: Secondary School Teacher.

1950 United States Federal Census: New York, New York, New York. Status: Never Married; Occupation: Instructor. 

Tennessee, Delayed Birth Records, 1869–1909: Confirming birth on September 26, 1906, in Bedford County.

U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880–2012: Documenting his education, including his 1927 graduation from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936–2007

U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935–2014

The Daily News-Journal (Murfreesboro, TN): Obituary published on July 18, 2001, page 11.

U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938–1946

U.S., WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940–1947: Showing his employment at the Baylor School in Hamilton County, Tennessee, dated October 16, 1940.

U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s–Current: Documenting his burial at the Chattanooga National Cemetery in Hamilton County, Tennessee (Memorial ID 64920975).

Surnames of Jacob Sutton's Descendants.

 Today I worked with my Thruline™ of Jacob Sutton.  I looked at the DNA matches and noted the names of the ones which had known Sutton cousins as Shared matches.  The purpose of the exercise was to become familiar with the surnames carried by Jacob's descendants.  Sometimes we get so wrapped up in finding the common ancestor surnames that we forget that our DNA cousins surnames change when daughters marry etc. and these are names we might not recognize unless we study the entire family.  I've been acquainted with researchers who only study their direct ancestor.  That's something I've never understood because it really limits your research and causes you to miss out on so many opportunities for discovering other records. 

I could have collected the info and arranged it any number of ways:  a spreadsheet, notebook, index cards etc.  I chose to save it as an image file.  I used Awesome Screenshot extension in my Chrome browser to capture the list view and add surnames. 

Info from the Obits of Mr. & Mrs. Robert Jakes

I've pulled the information from two obituaries that were posted in the Nashville newspaper in March 1938.  Robert Jakes Sr. was my double 1st cousin 3 times removed.  He died one month and one day after his wife.  I've added some notes(shown in parenthesis below) using information known to me from my research of our families over the years.  I've also included a chart I made showing the intermarriages which it's essential to know when working with DNA matches from that side of my family.  These are all from my Paternal Grandmother's Dad's lines but there are Jakes who marry into the Frizzell family(other than my two lines of Frizzells) which are from my Paternal Grandmother's Mom's lines.

There are additional Jakes/Harger and Morrow/Sutton siblings
which I have not included here so that I could focus on these couples.

Mrs. Robert Jakes(Clementine Pearson Jakes)
Age 78
Place of Birth:  Bedford Co. TN
Parents:  John & Mary Pruett Pearson
Wife of Robert Jakes, Sr.(President of Jakes Foundry Co.)
Died Monday, Feb. 28 1938
Residence:  3509 Gillespie Ave. Nashville, TN
Ill for 3+ years
Member of Nashville Methodist Church for 40 years

Survivors
Husband:  Robert Jakes Sr.
4 Daughters:

• Mrs. H. M. Goodloe of Nashville(Bertha Lee Jakes)
• Mrs. Nannie C Ring of Nashville(Nannie Clementine Jakes)
• Mrs. Tom C Ashley of Valdosta, Georgia(Mary Margaret Jakes)
• Mrs. Tom McDonnough of Richmond, Kentucky(Ophelia Jakes)

6 Sons:

• J.W. Jakes of Nashville(John William Jakes)
• E.F. Jakes of Nashville(Edward Franklin Jakes)
• Robert Jakes Jr. of Nashville
• P.W. Jakes of Nashville(Percy Warner Jakes)
• C.B. Jakes of Nashville(Claud B. Jakes)
• J. T. Jakes of Newport, TN(James T. Jakes)

Sister:
Mrs. George Jakes of Nashville(Sarah C. Pearson--Geo Jakes was brother of Robert Jakes)

Brother:
Hiram W. Pearson of Weatherford, TN

18 Grandchildren & 3 Great Grandchildren.

Funeral March 2, 1938 (10:30 am)
Officiating:  Rev. John W. Estes with Rev. N. Burch Tucker assisting
Burial:  Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery

"Mrs. Robert Jakes," The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee) Tuesday, 01 Mar 1938, p. 3, col. 6, ; image copy, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 6 May 2019).


Mr. Robert Jakes, Sr. 
President of Jakes Foundry Co. he established abt 50 yrs ago
Age 79
Wife Clementine Pearson Jakes died a month ago(a month & 1 day ago)
Died Tuesday. March 29, 1938 at home of daughter Mrs. H. M Goodloe
POD: daughter's residence--3520 Byron Ave Nashville, TN
Ill for 3 months
Born in Bedford Co. TN Sept. 22, 1858
Member of Knights of Pythias and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics
Active member of West Nashville Methodist Church.

Survivors
4 Daughters:

• Mrs. H. M. Goodloe of Nashville(Bertha Lee Jakes)
• Mrs. Nannie C. Ring of Nashville(Nannie Clementine Jakes)
• Mrs. Tom C Ashley of Valdosta, Georgia(Mary Margaret Jakes)
• Mrs. Tom McDonnough of Richmond, Kentucky(Ophelia Jakes)

6 Sons:

• J.W. Jakes of Nashville(John William Jakes)
• E.T. Jakes of Nashville(Edward Franklin Jakes--middle initial wrong in obit)
• P. W. Jakes of Nashville(Percy Warner Jakes)
• C. B. Jakes of Nashville(Claud B. Jakes)
• Robert Jakes Jr. of Nashville
• J. T. Jakes of Newport, TN(James T. Jakes)

Brother: 
A. D. Jakes of Nashville

18 Grandchildren & 3 Great Grandchildren.

Funeral March 30, 1938 (3:00 pm)
Officiating:  Rev. J W. Estes & John R. Stewart
Burial:  Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery

"Jakes Funeral Planned Today," The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee)Wednesday, 30 Mar 1938, p. 10, col. 4, ; image copy, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 6 May 2019).

Will of Shem Cook--Carroll Co. GA--1862

Will of Shem Cook
(Beginning on page 58)

Georgia
Carroll County

In the name of God amen I Shem Cook
of said state and county being of
advanced age and knowing that I must
shortly depart from this world deem it right & proper
both as respects myself and my family that I should
make a disposition of the property with which a
kind providence has blessed me.  I therefore make
this my last will and testament, hereby revoking
and annulling all others heretofore made by me
Item First--I devise and direct that my body be buried
in a decent and Christian like manner suitable
to my circumstances and condition--my soul thus
shall return to rest with God who gave it as I
hope for eternal salvation through the blessed Lord
& Savior Jesus Christ whose religion I professed and
humbly trust enjoyed for 30 years.

Item Second--I desire and direct that all my just
debts be paid without delay by my executors hereinafter
named as I am unwilling my creditors should be
delayed of their rights especially as their(sic) is no necessity
for delay.

Item Third--I devise and direct that William Sutton
my son in law shall take my wife Temperance and
keep her, her lifetime and be paid for the same out
of my estate and if he fails to comply that arrange-
ments be made for the same.  Paid for out of my
effects.

Item Fourth--I give and bequeath to my son R.B. Cook
five dollars.

Item Fifth--I give and bequeath to Solomon West's
children that he had by my daughter Ann, five dollars

Item Sixth--I give and bequeath my negro property
to my sons James B & A.J. Cook and daughter Elizabeth
Sutton and Penelopy Yarber to be divided according to
valuation by lot, not sold.

(Page 59)

Item Seventh--I direct that all the rest of my property
be sold and equally divided between James B. and
A.J Cook and Elizabeth Sutton and Penelopy W.
Yarber, after paying my just debts and provid-
ing for the support of my wife and paying
the other legatees their five dollars

Item Eight-- I will and direct that the prop-
erty that I give to James B & A.J. Cooke  & Elizabeth
Sutton & Penelopy W. Yarber is for them to hold
their lifetime then to their children.

Item Ninth--I constitute and appoint my sons James B. & A.J. Cook and William Sutton executors to
this my last will and testament This January
28th 1862   Shem (x)  Cook

Signed sealed declared published
by Shem Cook as his last will & testament in the
presence of us the subscribers who subscribe our
names hereto in the presence of said testator and
of each other This January 28th  1862
G.W. Burson
S.H. Hand
John L. Fletcher

Carroll Court of Ordinary
April Term 1862

Personally appeared in open court James B Cook &
William Sutton Executors of the last will and testa
ment of Shem Cook late of said county deceased
and produced before the court the last will
and testament of the said deceased and the
witnesses to the said will to wit G. W. Burson,
S.H. Hand and John L. Fletcher. The said
Burson and Hand being sworn say that they
saw the testator Shem Cook sign seal declare
and publish the paper now presented as his last
will and testament freely voluntarily and of his own
accord and without any compulsion or influence
whatever and at the time of executing said
will said testator was of sound & disposing mind
& memory that deponents signed the said will
as witnesses in the presence of the testator and in
the presence of each other
Sworn to & subscribed in open
court 7th April 1862

George W Burson
S.H. Hand

Source:
Carroll County, Georgia, Will Book A 1852-1896 : 58, Will of Shem Cook. 28 January 1862; imaged in "Georgia, Wills and Probate Records 1742-1922," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8635/ : accessed 15 January 2019) > Carroll > Wills 1852-1922 > image 64 of 506.

An Important X Chromosome segment match

While there are those that feel that the X Chromosome matches are not too useful, I respectfully disagree.  It can be helpful in certain situations.  Females who share a Dad will share a full X chromosome(the copy that their PGM gave their Dad)  In my case, it was a bit different.  I'm not sure why I checked to see if I had any new large X matches at GEDmatch Friday, but i did.    It was a rather large match around 34.3 centiMorgans.  So I marked it as PGM since it was also in common on my Paternal Phased Kit.  This match who is a Male also shared some Autosomal DNA.  So I checked and his match was along a segment that I share with about 10 other groups.  I say groups because there are about 25 individuals who share this segment which  match me in a range from about 18 cMs to 22 cMs.  I have never been able to identify which of my lines it came from although I was able to narrow it as coming from my PGM side because my sister and I don't match along this Paternal segment.  Dad gave her a segment from our PGF on this portion.  With the new information from the X Match,  I could further narrow down the possibilities among the PGM lines.  Looking at my lines I narrowed mine down to Frizzell, Kennedy, Knox, Sutton or Weaver.  This new match had no pedigree at GEDmatch or FTDNA and only the name and location of his Surname in the Ancestral Surname section at FTDNA.  I sent him a short email listing the possible surname connections and mentioning Tennessee as a possible area of connection and also mentioning that the large X match would indicate that our match is from his maternal lines..  I heard back the next morning.   He didn't know much about his Mom's lines but he did give me the name of his grandfather. To my surprise when I  checked on that...it led to the grandfather's Mother's maiden name---Sutton.  But how did these Suttons connect to mine?  They were in Bedford County Tennessee which was the area where mine had lived.  I traced them back to about the mid 1800s and then things start looking really familiar.  I share a set of 3rd Gr Grandparents with his Mom and we also share a Morrow line as a sibling of my direct Morrow line married downstream into his Suttons.

That match had been at FTDNA for six months.  I hadn't noticed the new match at FTDNA because the automal match segment is not terribly great and so it was pretty much buried there by those who match me at larger amounts.  I never would have noticed it had I not checked the X matches at GEDmatch.  I also would not have likely noticed it at all had he tested at AncestryDNA.  Sure the smaller segment might have shown up in my Distant Cousins matches which I don't check much.  I'm almost certain that if you match someone exclusively on the X and no other chromosome you can only see that without great effort(and on some sites maybe not at all) but you can at GEDmatch.  At least using the interfaces at the site.  You might notice if you download and use a spreadsheet to manage your matches.  I think at FTDNA you would really have to dig thru the matches.  At AncestryDNA I don't think you would even see it because if I remember this correctly the algorithm that AncestryDNA uses to generate your list of matches doesn't consider the X.  If I am wrong on that, someone please correct me in the comments

I've got a good deal of the Bedford Co TN books in my personal library so I'm going to be going thru the land and court records looking for additional information.

Incredible luck on an X Chromosome match

Several days ago while I had my One-to-Many Comparison tool results open for my kit at GEDmatch.com , I decided that it might be nice to know who I shared the largest segment matches with on the X Chromosome.  This led me to do a sort by largest on my results.  Of my results, I could tell that 3 were results for one person who had tested with 3 companies and uploaded, the top one along with two more on down the list all appeared to be managed by the same person given the contact email.

I went and looked at those three kits using the Chromosome browser to see if they matched me on the same segments.   They did despite not having any Autosomal relationship at the given perimeters of  7cM / 700 SNPs.  I figured there would be no harm in emailing the person who managed the accounts and asking to give me a little background on their ancestors and noted that mine were mainly in TN by the time it became a state and prior to that NC, SC and VA.  Best experience ever contacting a potential cousin!!!  Today I received an email with a note letting me know that she did indeed manage the 3 kits and that the kits were those of her grandmother, her grandmother's sister and the son of another of her grandmother's sisters.  She also sent me a guest invite to her file at Ancestry and within 5 minutes I knew how we were connected.  Our Most Recent Common Ancestors are my 5th Great Grandparents, James Knox and  Elizabeth Craig Knox.  The Knox, Craig, Eoff, Jakes, Sutton and Morrow families seemed to have moved in clusters from the early 1700s on til about 1900.

While the X chromosome inheritance pattern is known(it differs depending on the gender) there seems to be no set rule for what it does.  I am still learning after having only been at this for less than 2 weeks.  This X match segment is from my Daddy and yes it is his Mom's that she received from her Dad...and that her Dad received from his Mom who got it from her Mom who got it from her Mom...who got it from either James Knox or Elizabeth Craig Knox.  I could never just say "I found a 6th cousin once removed"  I have to tell you how.