The Red Flannel Rag

Battle of Bull Run. She told the story many times. “He was fighting for the confederate

army, and when he saw the water in Bull Run flowing red with blood, he ran to the west

and ended up in Hopkins Gap. He had a wife and many kids in Greene County; but he

never went back to see them.”

From my own research in the U.S. Census, I discovered that Grandma Molly had

confused some of the details of Banks’ life. I found that Banks Shifflett left Greene

County between 1880 and 1890. He had left his wife, Elizabeth Collier Shifflett and

their ten children to live with the Simean Crawford family in Greene County. Banks

took up with their daughter, Frances Crawford, and had two children with her. John

Austin, my paternal grandfather, was one year old in 1880. Soon thereafter, another

son, Warnie, was born to Banks Shifflett and Frances Crawford. By the 1900 census,

Banks Shifflett was living at Feedstone Mountain in Hopkins Gap with a third woman,

Ellen Crawford. He had two daughters by Ellen — Rebecca and Victoria. Simean

Crawford had also migrated to Hopkins Gap and Frances and her children, John Austin

and W arnie Shifflett were again living with Frances’ father, Simean Crawford.

Frances Crawford had a younger sister, Matilda, who had one child out of

wedlock. The child was named Molly Frances Crawford. She grew up and married John

Austin Shifflett, her first cousin.

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