Blog no. 22

Mary Lizinka Polk was born on July 23, 1900, in Maury County, TN, to Horace Moore Polk Jr. and Mary Louise Campbell. She had 4 siblings, and their names were Campbell Polk, Allen Campbell Polk, Horace Moore Polk Jr., and Alice Ophelia Polk. Mary and her siblings were 2nd cousins 3x removed to the 11th President of the United States, James Knox Polk.

On April 19, 1930, in Maury County, TN, Mary married Millard Franklin Mitchum. They had two children. Their names were Alice Ann (Mitchum) Fitts and Millard Franklin “Bud” Mitchum Jr.. 

Mary’s family has been a huge part of Grace Episcopal Church, established in 1878, in Spring Hill, TN. Her parents had been married at the church, her mother’s siblings were the first children to be baptized at the church, and her brother Campbell was the first funeral held of a child at the church. Another thing about Mary and the church is that before her, the church kept its doors unlocked. The city of Spring Hill, TN has on their website a story about Mary, her son, and the church. This is the story. “For most of its life, Grace Episcopal Church left its doors open around the clock. That is, until Mary Polk Mitchum, while preparing the communion, noticed the communion wine was disappearing and that there would be a mess in the sacristy. She sent her son, Bud Mitchum, to the church one evening to set up a trip wire with noisemakers in front of the steps to the alter. The thief arrived, tripped the wires, and then Bud walked him south on Main Street to McLemore Avenue to the City Hall jail cell. Thereafter, the church doors were locked.”

In the book Spring Hill Everybody Has a Story, Mary’s daughter Alice wrote two stories. One about her education and growing up in Spring Hill, TN. She mentions her teacher, Rose White Cheairs, who was the grandniece of Maj. Nathaniel Cheairs, a person a past blog of mine is about. She also wrote about in the same story that she wrote to her cousins overseas during World War II (John McCoy Campbell and Argyle Campbell,) and that “Miss Scottie” McMeen, her Aunt Alice Polk, and herself made bandages for the Red Cross during that same time. In the second story, she talks about her Aunt Patsy Pointer and the telephone operator, Gladys Watson. You can read her stories on page 25 and 234 of the book and check out a copy of the book at the Spring Hill Public Library in Spring Hill, TN. 

Sadly, on January 29, 1983, in Columbia, Maury County, TN, Mary died. She was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Columbia, Maury County, TN. Mary’s church, Grace Episcopal Church, still stands and still has services to this day.