The Reese Pickens Family

By Adele Pickens Murray

Reese Pickens and his wife, Elizabeth Neal Pickens, brought their family to Jacksonville from Alabama in 1850 and put down roots which still exist here.

Settling first in the Earle's Chapel community, just west of the present city, the pioneer couple reared thirteen children, eight lived to adulthood.

Five of their descendants still make their homes in the area, three of them within the City of Jacksonville. A granddaughter, Mrs. Eula Morgan, daughter of Cal Bolton and Mrs. Josie Pickens Bolton, is in her 90s and is presently the oldest living member of the city's First Methodist Church.

Two other granddaughters, Miss Mae Pickens and Mrs. Myrtie Pickens Saunders, make their homes in neighboring Frankston. Their parents were William K. Pickens and Mrs. Maggie Trantham Pickens.

Continuing to make their homes in Jacksonville are two great-grandchildren of Reese and Elizabeth Pickens, Mrs. Adele Pickens Murray and Wilson Pickens.

Mrs. Murray's grandfather, H. Taylor Pickens, migrated with his parents from Alabama at an early age. At the time of his death on February 17, 1927, he had the distinction of being the oldest Mason raised by the local lodge, having been made a Master Mason 59 years earlier at old Jacksonville. An engraved gold-headed walking cane, which had been presented him by the Masonic Lodge earlier, still is a proud possession of descendants.

Taylor Pickens, born in 1848, was a farmer and owned land where the W. W. Holman, Ralph Kesler and Carl Schultz homes now stand on Myrtle Drive in Jacksonville. He had a large peach orchard and grew many fruits and vegetables.

Married in 1871 to Miss Mattie Rountree, the couple had eleven children. Six of them lived to adulthood, including Fred L. Pickens, Sr., and Mrs. A. J. (Lula) Chessher, both of whom made their homes in Jacksonville until their deaths, and reared their families here. For a number of years, Fred Pickens operated a meat market.

First home for the Taylor Pickens family was a log cabin, located a few yards to the right of where the Holman home now stands. Later, a substantial frame house was built by the family on that site.

The family has for many years been active in the Methodist Church and Mrs. Mattie Rountree Pickens' father was a circuit-riding Methodist preacher.

When Taylor Pickens died just a few days short of his 80th birthday, he was esteemed as one of the city's most honored citizens, according to an obituary appearing in the local newspaper. Some of the city's most prominent men of that day served as pallbearers to escort his body to the grave.

Substantial frame home of H. Taylor Pickens family. Located on Myrtle Drive where the W. W. Holman later stood, house replaced Pickens' first home, a log cabin.

H. Taylor Pickens, left, hired hand Ed Spencer, and Fred L. Pickens, Sr., picking peaches in orchard owned by Taylor Pickens.