Talk:Joseph Alexander Mabry II

Joseph Alexander Mabry vs. Joseph Alexander Mabry Sr. vs. Joseph Alexander Mabry Jr. vs. Joseph Alexander Mabry III
I'm considering changing the name heading on this article, with a redirect, unless someone can give me an authoritative source that consistently refer to him as "Joseph Alexander Mabry Jr." It's confusing, and convoluted, but at least in that family, they didn't seem to consider these name suffixes to be permanent appendages. It's true that his father was also named Joseph Alexander Mabry, but he was killed when the younger one was only 11. That is, as an adult, this subject JAM was never known as "Junior" in any source I've ever run across. Contrarily, JAM II's son JAM, the one also killed in the O'Conner shootout, is named in every contemporary source as "Joseph Alexander Mabry Jr.," and is named so on his own grave marker. Some modern sources name him as "Joseph Alexander Mabry III, also known as Joseph Alexander Mabry Jr." I'd propose that the potential conflations are messy enough that it's better to say that "JAM Jr." is a name already claimed by someone else, and his father, who at the time was known as "Senior" if anyone felt the need to make a distinction at all, ought to be labeled as "Joseph Alexander Mabry II" for clarity. Archarin (talk) 14:48, 20 September 2015 (UTC)


 * I would just move it to "Joseph Alexander Mabry." Whoever created the article probably got the "Jr" from the Mabry-Hazen House's National Register entry (it's for some reason listed as the "Joseph Alexander Mabry, Jr. House").  Bms4880 (talk) 14:22, 21 September 2015 (UTC)


 * Well, since Mabry-Hazen House has adopted the distinction of referring to him as "Joseph Alexander Mabry II," we'll try that for now. Archarin (talk) 13:04, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

Mabry, and Bethel Confederate Cemetery
Though there are a number of inexplicable inaccuracies in the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture web reference, I feel justified in removing the reference to Mabry as he relates to Bethel Cemetery from this article without regard to them - that is, it's cited as a source for the misinformation in this article, but doesn't actually mention the questionable "facts" at all.

Because William Rule in his Standard History of Knoxville seems to have originated the myth that the Bethel Cemetery was donated by Joseph Mabry, I can at least explain how Rule is incorrect. 1. He says the cemetery property is four acres; it is in fact 2.4 acres. 2. He says the property was donated by Mabry; in fact, a simple deed search finds that the entirety of the cemetery property was deeded to the Ladies Memorial Association by Knox County, having subdivided it from the 6-1/9 acres of land it had purchased from Preston Blang for $611 in the 1850s (before which it was a part of the Bell farm - i.e. not even owned by Mabry in the decade before the cemetery was established). Archarin (talk) 14:49, 5 June 2013 (UTC)

Thos. O'Connor interment Comment
I have deleted Thomas O'Connor's interment in Old Gray because the only Thomas O'Connor in Old Gray was buried in 1861, when he died. There is a Thomas O'Connor in the Calvary Roman Catholic Cemetery (Knoxville) who died in 1882, but his date of death is given as 24May1882, which would make it difficult for him to be involved in all the gunplay later in the year. Tombstone engravings often incorporate errors: being 'written in stone' is often not as definitive as we would like. My feeling is that the latter may be the Thomas we want. It is even possible that he was moved from Old Gray at a later time. Until some clarity is achieved, I am being bold to delete the contradiction. Rags (talk) 23:31, 29 September 2014 (UTC)
 * I am going to revert myself concerning the interment in Old Gray Cemetery. It seems there ips some confusion as to the gentleman's name.  A "Major" Thomas O'ConnEr is buried in Old Gray, and the Knoxville sources I'm finding are indicating that "-er" is the correct spelling.
 * Rags (talk) 17:04, 30 September 2014 (UTC)


 * Thanks. He's listed at findagrave .  I think I have a photograph of the grave.  Bms4880 (talk) 17:08, 30 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Will revert, but I intend to leave this discussion here, as the spelling should be corrrcted on WP if good references can be located. I believe the marker and the FaG memorial to be correct, as spelling of this name, at least in Knoxville, usu. indicates whether a family is Roman Catholic or protestant, in my experience.  I will prob. have to charge battery before completing this, so bear with me.  Rags (talk) 17:19, 30 September 2014 (UTC)
 * O. K., I have found it. A woman by the name of Rebecca Hunt Moulder has written a biography of Maj. O'Conner ( who was born in Virginia in 1936: I have modified FindaGrave to add date-of-birth.  The FaG spelling was correct.)  If you Google the major, spelling with an "e," you will find among others, Blount County Democrat of 26Oct1882 has a mention of the shootout, with his name spelled with an "e."  Only more modern sources use the "-or" ending, leading me to believe that Mark Twain simply spelled his name wrong, and the spelling has metastasized from his most famous but erroneous use of the anecdote.  I will be correcting the spelling wherever I find it on enWP, unless someone beats me to it(which is o.k. with me: my online access is limited).  Rags (talk) 23:48, 30 September 2014 (UTC)


 * The e spelling looks to be correct. Searching old newspapers, I found an ad for the Mechanics Bank  and the story about the shootout in the Knoxville Chronicle .  Some newspapers used an "o" spelling in reporting the shootout, but they were all from outside the region.  Bms4880 (talk) 13:20, 2 October 2014 (UTC)