Life History

Notes

• "John 'PerJohn' Mack Clevenger (son of Alexander Clevenger and Elizabeth Free) was born 1836, and died date unknown. He married Rhoda Davis on 1860, daughter of Elias Davis and Julie Belle.  John Mack Clevenger, b. 1863, d. Abt. 1928."
  --  Shell's Genealogy, http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/l/e/Shell-Mack-Clevenger/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0145.html
  
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  John McClure "Mack" Clevenger
  Born Sep 1836 Tennessee
  Died 10 May 1910
  Buried Free-Clevenger Cemetery, Cocke County, Tennessee
  
  Father Alexander Clevenger, b. 1814, d. 8 Feb 1876 (Age 62 years)
  Mother Elizabeth "Betsy" Free, b. 1818, d. 1868 (Age 50 years)
  
  Wife Rhoda Davis, b. 1844, Tennessee d. 4 Jul 1868 (Age 24 years)
  --  Smoky Mountain Ancestral Quest, http://www.smokykin.com/tng/getperson.php?personID=I86866&tree=Smokykin
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  The Free or Clevenger Cemetery is an abandoned cemetery with many damaged and missing stones.
  
  Free Cemetery
  Located on property of Rome Sisk, off the Cosby Road behind the home of Floyd Brannam.
  There are over fifty graves in this cemetery. The majority are marked with only plain rocks. The cemetery was first called the Hollaway, then the Clevenger, then the Free.
  Buried here without markers are George Free and Jane Free. George was a brother of Salley Free. There are also some Negro slaves buried here.
  --  Ms. Ollie Epley, Newport, RootsWeb, http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=kirkseydatabase&id=I23058
  
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  Free-Clevenger Cemetery
  Newport, Cocke County, Tennessee  USA
  
  This abandoned cemetery is in a remote wooded area just south of Newport, Tenn., (about mile southwest of Lowe's "big box" store) on property owned by Carl "Duke" Sisk. The earliest burials here around 1805-1810 were Holloways, mostly children in graves without permanent markers. So it was known initially as the Holloway graveyard. Most burials over the next century were Frees and Clevengers. I first visited the site on April 13, 2013, with Duke's guidance.
  
  There are at least 50 graves here, most unmarked (some marked only by sinking below ground level) and 2 dozen or more marked with fieldstones. Some of the stones have chiseled inscriptions that are unreadable due to more than a century of aging. Some headstones have been smashed by fallen trees, such as the one that spared Abagil Clevenger's grave marker. (Near the end of an online posting by Kirksey Database are notes on this cemetery.)
  --  Gene Bryant, Find A Grave Cemeteries, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GSln=Clevenger&GSiman=1&GScid=2492661&CRid=2492661&pt=Free-Clevenger%20Cemetery&
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  "My greatest find has not been online, but with discovery of the long-forgotten and neglected Free-Clevenger Cemetery. Here I've found many missing links in my Clevenger lineage. And here, much to my elation, I've found the Civil War memorial stone for my Great-great-grandfather Sgt. Alex Clevenger, who was among the very few Cocke Countians to serve in the Union Army." [The marker says "Sgt A Clevenger  Co A 3 Tenn Cav"]
  --  Gene Bryant, Find A Grave Profile, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=mr&GRid=49445351&MRid=47986115&
  
  One record compilation reports J Mack's parents as William Clevenger and Mary Huff, rather Alexander Clevenger and Elizabeth Free.
  
  Family Data Collection - Individual Records
  John Clevenger
  Parents: William Clevenger, Mary Huff
  Birth 1836 Cocke, Newport, TN
  Death 10 May 1910 Newport, Cocke, TN
  
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  John McClure "Mack" Clevenger
  Birth Sep 1836
  Death May 10, 1910
  
  Parents:
  Alexander Clevenger (1814 - 1876)
  Elizabeth Free Clevenger (1818 - 1868)
  Spouse Rhoda Davis Clevenger (1844 - 1868)
  Children:
  Isabella Clevenger Hall (1859 - 1936)
  J Mack Clevenger (1863 - 1928)
  Zebulon Clevenger (1865 - 1939)
  
  Siblings:
  Isaac Clevenger (1838 - 1900)
  William Clevenger (1838 - 1920)
  Alexander Clevenger (1840 - 1895)
  James Clevenger (1841 - 1917)
  David Clevenger (1846 - ____)
  Martha Clevenger (1853 - ____)
  Archibald Clevenger (1856 - 1903)
  
  Burial Free-Clevenger Cemetery, Newport, Cocke County, Tennessee
  
  Created by Dale Snapp Jun 19, 2009
  --  Find A Grave Memorial #38532705, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=38532705
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Sources

• 1. Smoky Mountain Ancestral Quest
• 2. Genealogy.com Trees
• 3. Family Data Collection - Individual Records
• 4. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
• 5. Find A Grave Profiles
• 6. 1920 Federal Census, Cocke County, Tennessee
  • 16 January, Civil District 4, Enumeration District 45, Page 7B, Hse/Fam #132
• 7. Tennessee, Death Records, 1908-1958
• 8. Virginia, Death Records, 1912-2014