Page 44 - Discover SPRING 2022

Family Tree CONTINUED

Needless to say, the divorce became moot, he intended to surrender.

and the Witchers were put on trial. Since
On that same land, there is a grave,
the witnesses’ accounts of the incident varied
cordoned off by a split rail fence, of a man
considerably, the judge dismissed the case.
named Sweeney, who is credited with adding
Naturally, the Clement family was determined
the 5th string to the banjo. He was a member
to hold the Witchers accountable, but to no
of Jeb Stuart’s unit, and frequently entertained
avail. They held a grudge for generations.
Stuart’s entourage with his musical stylings.
This feud reared its ugly head, probably
Joe and Lib delighted in telling me the
for the last time, in 1967. When Emmett
story of how their grandparents met. She had
Jefferson sold his farm, he made an offer to
gone to school in what is
purchase some property
now known as the Holland
on which to build a house.
Duncan House, which
As it turns out, that land
today houses the offices of
had previously belonged to
The Stanley Law Group.
the Clement family. One
After completing her
of the current trustees
education, she stayed on as
expressed reservations
a teacher.
about selling land that

had once belonged to the At first, it may seem
Clements to a descendant scandalous to report that
of the Witchers, but she eventually married one
eventually agreed to the of her students, but not in
sale. the context of the late 19th

century.
Joe speaks a bit more
fondly of his great- “Of course, Granddad
grandfather, William didn’t go to school except
Tazewell Jefferson, who in the middle of winter,

participated in Pickett’s Charge at the when there was nothing to do on the farm,”
Battle of Gettysburg. He was one of the Joe explains. “They’d send him over there for a
few survivors, and eventually attended the month or so.”
Confederate surrender at Appomattox. Molly
They happily completed the story by
Graves, his daughter, was Joe and Lib’s great-
explaining that both of their grandparents
aunt. She and her husband Frank bought
were in their 30’s when they married. For
property that was part of the grounds where
Joe Jefferson and Lib Walker, it’s just a small
the surrender had taken place in Appomattox.
sample of their rich family heritage.
A historical marker on the old property
designates the spot where Robert E. Lee was
stopped by his men, to ask if it were true that

42 Discover Smith Mountain Lake SPRING 2022