JOHN LOUIS AMONETT

     

                             JOHN LOUIS AMONETT

“All stories are powerful. Our stories help us make sense of our lives, give us hope that we will sustain and overcome, and help us predict a better future.” (Robyn Fivush- phd. Professor of developmental psychology at Emery University.)

The story of John Louis Amonett is one such powerful story worth sharing.

John was born in Pickett, Tennessee on May 16, 1862 to Reuben Hutchison Amonett and Cynthia Cross, the third born in a family of five children. John had french blood in his veins. His great, great, great grandfather, Andre Amonnet, was born in Paris France. The family religion at the time was Huguenots,( reformed protestants and followers of John Calvin.) To escape religious persecution the family soon fled to America. John no doubt was proud of his french heritage but equally proud of his Tennessee roots.  On July 21, 1821, at the age of 19, John married his sweetheart, Louverna Katherine Boring and together they would have 11 children. The seventh, a beautiful daughter, Susie Esther Amonett is my grandma Wade. Grandma Wade said of her parents, “ who were to me just a little better than any other parents in the world.” John was very religious and a student of the bible. His study of the bible left him dissatisfied with his cambellite church. He knew that Christ’s church was led by prophets and apostles but where to find such a church ? He hadn’t a clue.

One day in the spring of 1894, while John was away, two young men, Heber C. Iverson and H.L.Hunter, knocked on their door and introduced themselves as missionaries of The  Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or mormons. John’s wife had never heard of the mormons but never turned away a stranger. Knowing there was more room at John’s mother’s home, she took their brochure, suggested they come back when John would be home and sent them down the road to John’s mother’s house where they would be fed a good meal and housed for the night. On John’s return, he picked up the brochure from the table and quickly read it.  John asked Louverna where the brochure had come from. Louverna explained that two young missionaries had left it. “Where did they go?” He asked.  Louverna explained that she had sent them to his mother’s home where there was more room. John immediately left and soon returned with the two young men.

John was intrigued when the missionaries told him of the restoration of Christ’s church with prophets and apostles. He later said that he “felt that the Book of Mormon was true as soon as I held it in my hands.” John and Louverna were taught through most of the night and felt the Holy Ghost testifying to them that all they were being taught was indeed true. John and Louverna accepted the invitation to be baptized so before the missionaries left, some say it was the very next day, on March 1, 1884, they became the first members of the church in that part of Tennessee.

(Graandma Wade said that she was a baby when her parents joined the church but if their baptismal date, as recorded, is correct, she would not have been born until about 9 ½ years later on October 5, 1893.) John was well respected in the community and even though the church underwent terrible persecusion in Tennessee, the missionaries knew they were always safe when stopping at the Amonett home.  We can only extrapolate but probably not many years after the turn of the century, (1900) John was logging, as he often did and enjoyed. On this occasion however, John suffered a terrible injury when he was struck in the head by a large falling limb. He was so severly injured that his ears would often bleed and the pressure on his brain was so intense that he would suffer periods of insanity! John loved his wife and children but feared for their safety during his episodes. It had to have been a heart wrenching decision for John and Louverna but for the safety of his family, John would spend the remainder of his short life in a mental institution in Knoxville, Tennessee. Mercifully, the lord took him back home as he passed away on September 2, 1915, at the ripe old age of 53.  Had John lived in our day, he no doubt could have had some type of brain surgery to relieve the pressue and fix his problem but no such proceedures were available back then. Mental institutions were not what they are now and we can ony reverence and admire a man of the integrity and calibre of John Louis Amonett, who loved his family so much that he would willingly suffer, not just from his head injury for the remainder of his years, but who would allow himself to be seperated from his family for the rest of his life, because of his Christ like love for them!

May God bless the memory of our amazing Patriarch- John Louis Amonett !

Much love- The Grandparent Chronicles

 

PS- I must acknowledge my thanks to all my amazing loved ones who have contributed to the “Family Search Memories” of John Louis Amonett and Louverna Katherine Boring. The source material for that which I have shared.  I encourage all to read their contributions! My Thanks to- Brian Slagowski, Gene and Joy Wade, Joyzelle Curtis, and our sweet grandmother, Susie Esther Amonett Wade.  Thanks as well to my amazing Aunt Leotha Slagowski for information recorded in her autobiography.   Love to you All!

PPS- Through time and various record keepers, Amonett has be spell many different ways. Some have added double consonates, or added an “ e” at the end. Earlier spellings had only one “t” at the end which according to my knowledge of the French language, changes the pronunciation  phonetically speaking from ending in  “et” to “ay “.