The Buttercups Are Up

By Angela Stout – March 2022 

March is always such a welcoming month because it signals spring is right around the corner.  The weather is warmer, grass is getting greener, trees start budding out, birds start singing and the happy Buttercup blossoms come out in all their beauty!  Some people call these happy blossoms Daffodils but people around here call them Buttercups.  Many “old-timers” call them March Roses.  Besides showcasing their beauty, these Buttercups sometimes are the traces of homesteads past that are long gone except for the blooms. Sometime during the lifetime of Joseph Roberts’ children and grandchildren (2^nd / 3^rd generation), families started planting Buttercups around their homesteads and cemeteries.  With the homesteads gone, we can often know the approximate location of a homestead based on the Buttercups that still bloom today!  

Buttercups are a welcomed sight and such a cheerful bloom!

I live next to the biggest patch of Buttercups that I know of around in Roberts Switch.  I have Uncle Bill Austin (3^rd generation) to thank for this large display of Buttercups today.  

Hundreds of Buttercups originating from Uncle William “Bill” Austin homestead

Uncle Bill Austin bought the land on Roberts Road from R.J. Waller in 1917 and built a homestead on it.  Two of his granddaughters married Winfield Scott Roberts’s sons Virgil and Claude.  Effie Catherine Austin (1885-1957) married Virgil Paris Roberts while sister Bessie Mae Austin (1895-1960) married Claude Edward Roberts.  Later this land passed to Claude Roberts. 

Portrait of Uncle William “Bill” Austin

Bessie Mae and Claude Edward Roberts                    Effie Catherine and Virgil Roberts 

Just like Uncle Bill Austin’s Buttercups, other patches of Buttercups may tell you a story too!   

Sometimes you’ll see them just on the side of the interstate.  Other times you’ll be hiking in the woods and see a large clumping of them.  What you may be looking at is the traces of a homestead past.  My dad has helped me learn the location of different homesteads based on the Buttercups. 

The John Isaac Lindsey Sr (1863-1941) homestead is on Roberts Road going towards Mine Lick Creek.  On 13 Dec 1891, John married the daughter of Harmon Young Lee, Mary Marinda Lee (Joseph Roberts’ great granddaughter).  On 27 Jul 1905, Harmon Young Lee deeded a portion of his land to young John and Mary and they built their home there.  Later, their son John Isaac Lindsey Jr (1894-1976) owned this home. 

In front of the Lindsey Homestead, front row l/r: Cynthia Charlotta Lindsey, Mary Frances Lindsey, John Isaac Lindsey, Sr., William Leon Lindsey, Mary Marinda (Lee) Lindsey holding Jewel Hixie Lindsey. Back row l/r: George Lee (Brother of Mary Marinda), John Isaac Lindsey, Jr., Alma Young Lindsey, Ulah Salona Lindsey holding picture of Harmon Young Lee, father of Mary Marinda

Lindsey Homestead in summer and winter

Just this past week, my parents were hiking by the homestead and noticed the Buttercups that marked the Lindsey homestead.

Buttercups peaking out and marking the location of the Lindsey homestead

You don’t have to hike on Mine Lick Creek to see similar Buttercup traces.  Just take an interstate drive from Roberts Switch to Cookeville.  As you take Exit 276 ramp onto the I-40, the first clumping of Buttercups on the left marks the Fred Whitehead home.  Fred married Myrtle Annie Webb, great gnd-daughter of Violet (Roberts) Lee, d/o Joseph Roberts and Rachel Carter.  

Buttercups marking Fred Whitehead homestead that was bought out when the interstate went through

As you continue towards Cookeville, you will notice a large Buttercup field on the right in Scotty Roberts’ pasture.  Those Buttercups belonged to the Tom Mayberry homestead.  Tom married Pearl Ann Roberts d/o Poor Ole Uncle Hize, s/o Francis Marion Roberts. 

Buttercups marking the Tom Mayberry homestead

Further past the Lee Cemetery on the right are the Mark Brown Buttercups.  Further down are the Buttercups of the John Brown home.  Right as you are coming to Exit 276 from Nashville, you will see a clump of Buttercups off to the right.  Those Buttercups mark the homestead of General Vestal Herren (1900-1967). 

General Herren’s Buttercups 

Going down Old Baxter Road, you will see a beautiful display of Buttercups that were planted at the Walter McKinley and Vinnie (Lindsey) Roberts home.  Walter Roberts was a great grandson of Joseph Roberts through the John Harrison Roberts line.  Vinnie was gg-gnd-daughter of Marinda (Roberts) Lee, d/o Joseph Roberts and Rachel Carter.

Walter and Vinnie Roberts Buttercups 

We also get to enjoy the Buttercups of the Winfield Scott Roberts (1858-1918) homestead still thriving today!  Winfield’s great great grandson, Daily Scott Roberts, lives in the Scott House and gets to look at the Buttercups from his porch.  Yes, Daily is the 5^th generation of Roberts’ in this house. 

Buttercups blooming at the Scott House 

People also liked to plant flowers at cemeteries.  If you visit the Joseph Denton Roberts Cemetery in March, you will also get to see one of the best displays of Jonquils (a type of Buttercup) marking the location of the Joseph Denton Roberts homestead. 

This pretty flower smells so fragrant.  Maybe Uncle Dent enjoyed smelling them. 

Karen (Herren) Watts is the great, great, great, great granddaughter of Joseph Roberts and has a creative way to remember the flowers from the old homesteads…she has transplanted different bulbs originating from old homesteads along her fence line.  What a way to remember our ancestors!

Karen can tell you where each and every Buttercup came from! 

As I was visiting with Karen, she told me a recent story about Buttercups that happened with her.  Karen’s dog had recently died and her husband asked her where she wanted the dog to be buried.  Karen had a pet cemetery area in the back and asked Jimmy to move a stump that was there to bury the dog there.  Jimmy did so and later when winter came, Jimmy said to Karen, “Why are there green onions growing there?”  Much to Karen’s surprise, the entire place the dog had been buried was covered up with Buttercups!  She figured that ground squirrels had stored up Buttercup bulbs in the tree stump…so when Jimmy dug it up, it freed the Buttercups to start growing! 

Doosie’s grave covered up with surprise Buttercups! 

So as you are driving or walking around and see the beautiful Buttercups God has provided, remember that our ancestors must have enjoyed the same beauty!  And if you see a large clumping of them, maybe it was once someone’s homestead full of memories!