Adam J. Chessor

• General Notes
  • Adam was the son of Samuel Chessor and Evaline Coble and the husband of Lucy Ann Bates. His middle name was either James or Jason (probably James, which was the name of his grandfather, James William Chessor). Adam was familiarly known as "Ad." Although he was also a farmer and the owner of the first steam engine sawmill in the Sulphur Creek area, Ad ran a blacksmith shop (as did his brother, Jesse Chessor), shoeing mules and doing general repair of farm equipment. He died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 61 while sitting in his blacksmith shop, only 8 months after the death of his wife.
    
    Adam and Lucy were the parents of 13 children: Evelyn, William Robert, Sarah Fannie, Samuel Milton, John Wesley, Mary Mageline, George Washington, Minnie Lea, Charley Adam, Sallie Jane, David Armstrong, James Edward, and Noah Lafayette.
    
    The following poem was written by James Edward Chessor about his father:
    
    The Blacksmith*
    by James E. ("Uncle Jim") Chessor
    
    My blacksmith father used to cast
    The plowshare and the link
    Within his smithy's fiery blast;
    His hammer's strokes fell strong and fast
    Until the work was done at last -
    Clank, clank, clink!
    Clinkerty-clink!
    The harrow for the sturdy team,
    Of it I often think,
    Conjure its shape as in a dream.
    The shining rivets, how they gleam!
    Making secure the oaken beam -
    Clank, clank, clink!
    Clinkerty-clink!
    His word was stern, yet it was mild;
    He wished his son to think.
    As yet a placid, playful child,
    Avid for life, the fields, the wild;
    My father hammered on, and smiled -
    Clank, clank, clink,
    Clinkerty-clink!
    "Hold the sledge, my son, just so!"
    (Giving me a wink.)
    "See how I brad the rivet, slow,"
    (Swinging his great arm to and fro,)
    "This honest work is all I know" -
    Clank, clank, clink!
    Clinkerty-clink!
    Those shining rivets yet I see,
    As to the iron they sink;
    "One for honest work," said he,
    "One for the work's simplicity,
    One strong, to make folks think of me!" -
    Clank, clank, clink!
    Clinkerty-clink!
    
    *This poem, which was written in 1942, is taken from "My Valley and My People: Poems of Country Life," by James E. Chessor, published by Vaughan Publishing Company, Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, Copyright 1948.
    
    This poem was also printed in "Uncle Jim's War Letters" in 1945. In Letter No. 20, dated March-April, 1945, Uncle Jim printed a letter that he received from his sister,
    Minnie Chessor Goodman, in which she comments on the poem:
    "Dear Brother: I received your newsy Letter 19, and enjoyed every word of it. The anvil you drew looked very much like the old anvil there in the shop on the farm. When I read your poem it seemed I could almost hear the sound of the hammer, and Pa calling one of you boys to 'hold the sledge, or blow the bellows.' He was a good man, a good father. . . . Your sister, Minnie Goodman, 4015 Baldwin, Detroit, Mar. 2."