John Hopson Tiller (CSA) headstone application

Application for military headstone for Capt. John Hopson Tiller, CSA by his grand-daughter-in-law Mae Bell (Clark) Callaway (Mrs. Hugh Thomas Callaway) 1 Nov 1949. Hugh Thomas Callaway was the son of Mattie Tiller, daughter of John Hopson Tiller.

Application for Headstone or Marker Upright Marble Headstone, Christian Emblem Enlistment date: March 4, 1862 [checked] Discharge Date: April 26, 1865 [comment--not shown] State: Georgia, Rank: Captain, Comapny: Echol's Light Artillery Regiment: Captain Tiller's Co., Ga. (Echol's Light Artillery), CSA Name: Tiller, John H. [Capt. scratched through] DOB: 6-2-1827 [comment--not shown] DOD: 2-1900 Name of Cemetery: Clarke Cemetery, Lexington, Georgia Ship to: Mrs. H. T. Callaway, Lexington, Georgia Freight station: Crawford, Georgia Application date: 11/1/49 Verification: 21 Nov 1949, Tate Ga. 1 Feb 1950 7959412

Interview with William Jarrell Looney, 5 July, 1982

Notes from Interview with William Jarrell "Bill" Looney, Marietta, GA July 5, 1982 by Teresa McVeigh. He recounts his father's life, his early life and time in the Army during World War II.

(After his mother died) Mortimer Looney was raised by old maid aunts--the kids were split up.

Earl Mortimer Looney came there [Lexington, GA] as a school teacher. He taught all age boys--math, English, and literature. He specialized in math. When they got married he was 30 and she was 20. He was born and raised in Fayetteville, AR. He got a business degree from a business school in Arkansas. His father moved to Lexington, GA.

Father and mother married and lived in Lexington. Hogan Jackson, a wealthy shyster, had a chance to open a bank in competition with a Dr. Horseley’s bank. The money was from Dr. Horseley and his brother ran it.

Father ran the bank in Boaz--he was head cashier. The bottom fell out of the cotton market (about 1921) . The tragedy was that the owner wanted all mortgages foreclosed and people put out on the street. Father refused to do that. Hogan Jackson fired him. The family moved to Atlanta where he got into the real estate business and sold real estate in Florida. Earl and Elizabeth got jobs in Atlanta. Carrie Tiller Jarrell lived with the family. It was the only place she could go; her brother wouldn't take her in.

The real estate boom in Florida busted. Dad moved back to Atlanta and he had cancer. (He had worked in a bank in Atlanta before Boaz.) They moved back to Boaz because Carrie wanted to live there. Dad wanted to die there; he was unable to work by then.
He had cancer of the prostate. It was too far gone when they found it about three years later. He was 57 when he died.


(After Mortimer Looney died) Carrie [Tiller Jarrell], Mary, Bill, and Dobby Looney came to Atlanta and lived with Earle and Elizabeth Looney. Earle was working at the Federal Reserve Bank--he had a banking degree from a business college. Elizabeth was working at Texaco bookkeeping. They didn’'t move right back to Atlanta--they stayed in Boaz [AL] for a while. Carrie had dizzy spells. She fell trying to catch a baby chicken and broke her hip. They had to stay there two years--Mary nursed her. Then they moved to Cornelia because Uncle Henry [Jarrell] said he'’d help look out for Carrie. She lived with him in his two story house. He was a dentist. The children went to grammar school and Carrie always had to walk with a crutch after that. Dobby went to Snead Seminar in Boaz [Alabama]--a "Yankee sponsored college for poor Southern people."

Henry drank a lot, smoked a lot, and chased women. Carried died and was buried in Cornelia in Hillcrest Cemetery on Level Grove Road. (Uncle Henry is buried there, too.)

They moved to Atlanta in with Elizabeth and Hal Daniell, (Myrtis Jarrell came to live with them) in a big house in Ansley Park, right below the Governor’s mansion. Dobby went to business school. Bill went to Boy’s High. Then Bill went to Boaz to live with Aunt Mary Tiller (Luke’s wife) and he finished high school there. The teacher was a friend of the family there. Mary was at Elizabeth’s being the housekeeper for the whole crowd. Earl was at the Federal Reserve Bank for about 23 years. He and Irma married about 1935 or 6. Elizabeth had a good job at the Sewell Hat Company. They moved to Red Oak, GA, then they built a house below College Park.

Bill went into the Army in 1942. He went to Ft. McPherson for induction and basic training in College Park, Atlanta, GA. It was the Ordinance Battalion Co. S. 4th Battalion 302 Ordinance Battalion. Then he went to Camp Sutton in North Carolina for training.

He shipped out to Casablanca on the Louis Pasteur, a French luxury liner. It had marble staircases, marble swimming pools, and brass rails. The pools were full of cots. The ship was packed solid with the 4th Battalion and all its trucks. They crossed the ocean alone with no escort. It was a 7 days crossing.

In Casablanca they lived in a pup tent city until they went to Italy. They were winding up the desert war--Rommel was about beat. That area was cleared. Rommel was in Oran, in Saudi Arabia.

A Liberty Ship--an old bucket type ship with no name--took them to Italy. They stopped in Sicily. They didn'’t fight--the war was already past there. At Anzio--they fought there. General McAuliffe was in charge. He was demoted and sent somewhere else. Patton may have taken over then and several British officers. They took Rome. Bill toured Rome thoroughly because he was there a good while. He saw the Coliseum, St. Peter’s, the Monument to King Victor Emanuel, the Doge’'s Palace, Renaissance paintings and sculpture. Anzio was a terrible battle, then it was a rough ride to Rome. They stayed a while in Rome in tents to recoup. Then they followed the troops up to Caserta, a small outpost.

They later went to Germany.

Jesse and Hettie

Jesse Booker Rusmisel and Hettie Elizabeth Jordan were married in Staunton, Augusta, VA 27 Aug 1902:

Marriage License of Jessie B. Rusmisel and Hettie E. Jordan
Date of Marriage: August 27, 1902 Place of Marriage: Staunton, Virginia
Husband Wife
Name: Jesse B. Rusmisel Hettie E. Jordan
Race: White White
Age: 24 26
Single, widowed, or divorced: Single Single
Birthplace: Highland County, Virginia Bath County, Virginia
Parents: Jno. H. and Eliz Rusmisel Jno. H. and Maggie Jordan
Occupation: Farmer
Ceremony performed by Wm. M. Scott
Reported by: not listed
Clerk of Circuit Court, Bath Co. Virginia, Line 26

According to his daughter Letha, Jesse had stayed at home to look after his parents. Hettie was a "nurse."  Letha (Rusmisel) McVeigh said that when he and Hettie were married he was a caretaker at a hunting club named the Pimrod Inn [sic--should be Nimrod Hall] on the Cow Pasture River and she was a nurse at a hospital in Staunton. A Rusmisel Cousin, Rick Armstrong, who has done a lot of research, found a reference to him being there in Sep 1905.  [Rick says, "The place is Nimrod Hall. In the early part of the 1900's the place was a hotel and later a summer camp for children. The old buildings are still there and seem to be in fairly good repair."- Dec. 3, 2002]

They moved to Clifton Forge around that time since Chertsey was supposedly born there 12 April 1905.  After the death of her husband, Jesse's mother Elizabeth E. Rusmisel remained on the farm. At some point, she deeded her property to her son, J. B. Rusmisel, with the understanding that he would pay her burial expenses and other debts. She later became dissatisfied, and asked for the property to be returned. J. B. Rusmisel had not recorded the deed and complied with her wish. He stated in September 1905 that his brother Harrison Rusmisel had gotten her dissatisfied and convinced her to give the property to his wife, Mary C. Rusmisel. Maybe his mother didn't like him marrying Hettie.
According to daughter Letha, between 1903 and 1905 they moved to Clifton Forge. Jesse was working as a railroad mechanic in shop repairs. Chertsey Brooks Rusmisel was born Apr 12, 1905 when they were living on Church Street and was named after a nurse who worked with Hettie. About 1907 John Rusmisel was born, but he only lived a few hours. On Feb 19, 1909 Maude Moore Rusmisel was born on Hospital Hill and was named by Hettie's father John Jordan. All of the children were baptized in the Presbyterian Church in Clifton Forge. Jesse was Lutheran until his marriage, but Hettie was Presbyterian, so they went to the Presbyterian Church. Hettie became ill with "TB or Black Lung." The children stayed a while in Millboro with their grandparents Jordan for a while, then later Hettie put them in the Presbyterian Orphanage in Lynchburg. Hettie died in Clifton Forge and was buried in Staunton.

In Clifton Forge, Jesse may have worked in the coal mines according to Letha. He was also a mechanic in shop repairs and "car repair" on the railroad (1910 Census). Hettie's death certificate (1913) says he was a "House mftr, contractor and carpenter." Hettie's death certificate says she died of tuberculosis.

Certificate of Death, Hettie Rusmiselle
Place of Death: Alleghany Co., State of Virginia
Bureau of vital Statistics file No. 27956
City of Clifton Forge
Full name: Hettie Rusmiselle
Sex: Female, Race: white, Married
Date of Birth: 1865, Age: 38
Occupation: House Mfr
Birthplace: VA
Name of Father: John H. Jordan
Birthplace of Father: VA
Name of Mother: Margrette Brooks
Birthplace of Mother: VA
The above is true to the best of my Knowledge: J Rusmiselle
Address: Clifton Forge, VA
Medical Certificate of Death:
Date of Death: Nov. 23, 1913
I hereby Certify, that I attended the deceased from Nov. [20?], 1913 to Nov. 23, 1913, that I last saw her alive on Nov. 23, 1913, and that death occurred , on the date stated above, at 12-5 am, cause of death was as follows: Tuberculosis (Pulmonary). Signed: B.B. McCutcheon, MD Nov. 23, 1913, Address: Clifton Forge, VA
Place of Burial or Removal: Millboro, VA
Date of Burial: Nov. 24, 1913
Undertaker: [illegible] address: Clifton Forge, VA
Filed: Dec. Rept. Local Registrar: W. M. Revercomb?

After Hettie's death the girls were in the Orphanage in Lynchburg, VA and Jesse went to Charleston to work in the shipyards. Letha said it was cold and awful like in the book Jane Eyre [but other sources say it is actually quite nice--it is still there]. She said they had single beds but would sleep together to keep warm. They were there for about 6 years, when Letha was about 11 to 16.


Letha left the orphanage first about 1919 and went to Charleston. There she worked as a messenger and then as a file clerk. Maude and Chertsey went to Ohio to stay with Hettie's sister Carrie Jordan, who had married Joe Pearce. Chertsey met Floyd Carswell  and they were married. Maude came to Charleston.

Letha said that during World War I the spelling of the name was changed to make it less German sounding--from Rusmisel to Rusmiselle. They told people it was a French name.
Letha met Norman McVeigh in Charleston, SC, when he was stationed there during World War I. They met while dancing. He had been dating Chertsey and Letha was dating a doctor. Chertsey had a temper and the doctor was too jealous. Letha was working at the Ferscott Store, a ready-to-wear. John, Henry, and Norman McVeigh were all in the Navy together. Their sister Ora had come to Charleston to visit so Letha had also met her. Letha and Norman went for a vacation to Waynesville, GA to meet the rest of the McVeighs. Letha was 18. They were married at First Methodist Church in Brunswick, July 23, 1921.

About 1920 (after the Census on Jan. 22) Jesse married a widow, Jeanne Drucilla "Jennie"  (Oxner) Harmon, who had a child named Mary Ellaphine Harmon. 
After the war Jesse went to live in Ohio near his daughter Chertsey where he worked as a contractor and a carpenter. He also worked as a contractor in SC and GA. He came to stay with Norman and Letha McVeigh in Waynesville because he couldn't get work. Jennie and Elophine came, too. They also stayed in Charleston and Lexington, SC, where Ginnie's folks lived. Jesse and Norman McVeigh built the first McVeigh store in Waynesville.

Jesse died 30 Jan. 1942 in Waynesville in an accident with a gun.  He is buried at Highsmith Cemetery in Waynesville. Jeanne Oxner Rusmisel  died 8 Jan. 1985 in a Claxton, GA nursing home. She is buried in St. John's Lutheran Church Cemetery in Lexington, SC.