Family Information
Samuel Larkins was born in Dickson County, Tennessee around 1823. His father, John Larkin, Jr., died after 1832, while Samuel was still a young man. He and his brothers, John III and James, moved to Humphreys County about 1840. Samuel married Mary Cooley about 1847. She was the daughter of William Truitt Cooley and Margaret Crockett. The couple resided with the then widowed Margaret Crockett Cooley on a tract of land located in the Civil District 3.
Here they raised a family. The surviving children were Margaret Larkins who married Ezekiel Warren and moved to Pollard, Arkansas; Ewin Larkins - no information has been found on him; Wilson Alexander Larkins, who married Katie Estelle Burtashaw, born in Dawson, Georgia and raised in Sumter County, Florida; Tera Larkins, who married Henry Mitchell Loggins and moved to Newbern, Tennessee; Mary Willy Larkins, who married Wylie O'Gwin of Humphreys County, she died here in 1896.
The property of Samuel Larkins was located in what was then known as the "Big Bottom," or Duck River Valley. The land was fertile and rich: agriculture was his business.
This is the same Samuel Larkins that J. D. Howard (Jesse James) wrote about in a letter to Henry Warren on January 12, 1879 saying, "I will see them (Mr. M. Box and Sam Larkins) in Hell before I will ever pay them one cent." J. D. Howard softened by April and was planning to settle his debt.
Wilson, Samuel Larkins' son, was 17 when he shared his horse with J. D. Howard. They rode double from Box Station to the Howard home, which was near the Larkins' place.
Wilson moved to Sumter County, Florida and married there in 1888. Samuel wrote to him during this time. On June 21, 1891, came a letter telling of the weather being hot and dry, crops "worse here than I ever saw them at this season . . . old corn is selling from 3.50 to 4.00 per bbl and not much to be had at that . . . grasshoppers here by the wagon loads eating up the corn . . . we have a large peach crop here, but not many apples."
In '92, Samuel wrote Wilson that they had had fourteen inches of snow on the 17th of March, and were then, in April, having such heavy rains that, "the bottoms are all covered in water and still rising very fast. It will put farming back very late . . . we had three deaths in the neighborhood . . . Chris Young's wife is not expected to live long."
Samuel Larkins died in April of 1893, he was buried in the cemetery located near the Hustburg Road now on T.V.A. property. he left his widow, Margaret Haley, who was his third wife. Mary Cooley had died in 1868; she was also buried in the Larkins Cemetery near Samuel.
Margaret Larkins and Ezekiel Warren had three daughters: Alma Ethel, Euphie, and Sammie.
Wilson A. Larkins and Essie had eight sons and three daughters: Samuel E., Mary M., John G., Michael, Patrick, Maggie, Vance, Alex, Lillian, Charles, Horace. Four babies died young or at birth.
Tera Eala Larkins and Henry Mitchell Loggins had eight children: Thomas Hugh, Mary Ethel, Maggie, Reuben Wilson, Rice Pierce, Katie Pearl, Annie Pauline and Lellie Tucker.
Mary Willie Larkins and Wylie O'Gwin had two sons: Samuel and Bowen.
Wilson A. Larkins raised his family in a village he founded in South Florida, which was named for him - Larkins, Florida. In 1926, this village had grown, was incorporated, and the name was changed to South Miami. Wilson was Postmaster of Larkins for a total of sixteen years and owned a general merchandise store for 28 years, which he operated in the same location as the Post office.
By: Patricia Larkins Fenner.
[Source: Humphreys County, Waverly, Tennessee: A Collection of Historical Sketches and Family Histories Written by the People of Humphreys County. Paducah, KY: Turner Publishing Company, 1979, pages 246-247]