Samuel Whetson Kesterson
1894 - 1962 (67 years)
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Name Samuel Whetson Kesterson Birth 16 Jul 1894 Clinton, Anderson, Tennessee, United States 
Gender Male Census 1900 Civil District 06, Anderson, Tennessee, United States Census 1910 Civil District 8, Anderson, Tennessee, United States Census 1920 Civil District 9, Anderson, Tennessee, United States Census 1930 District 9, Claiborne, Tennessee, United States Census 1940 Anderson, Tennessee, United States Death 2 Jul 1962 Harriman, Roane, Tennessee, United States Burial New Hope Cemetery, Oak Ridge, Anderson, Tennessee, United States 
Siblings4 Siblings Person ID I11521 Main Tree Last Modified 3 Sep 2022
Father Masten Tate Hill, b. 2 Dec 1855, Clinton, Anderson, Tennessee, United States d. 13 Jan 1940, Clinton, Anderson, Tennessee, United States (Age 84 years) Relationship Birth Mother Eliza Jane Dunn, b. 11 Aug 1870, Knox, Tennessee, United States d. 30 Jan 1931, Clinton, Anderson, Tennessee, United States (Age 60 years) Relationship Birth Family ID F1892 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family Mary Ann Cox, b. 30 Sep 1898, Tennessee, United States d. 12 Nov 1983, Harriman, Roane, Tennessee, United States (Age 85 years) Marriage 19 Nov 1916 Clinton, Anderson, Tennessee, United States 
Marriage Record: Kesterson, Samuel and Cox, Mary Children 1. Grace Evelyn Kesterson, b. 6 Mar 1918, Peabody, Campbell, Tennessee, United States d. 30 Sep 2008, Oak Ridge, Anderson, Tennessee, United States (Age 90 years) [Birth]2. Rev. Paul Carter Kesterson, b. 6 May 1921, Oliver Springs, Roane, Tennessee, United States d. 24 Dec 1985, Cape Memorial Hospital, Wilmington, New Hanover, North Carolina, United States (Age 64 years)3. Dorotha Elizabeth Kesterson, b. 18 Aug 1923, Oliver Springs, Roane, Tennessee, United States d. 25 Nov 2011, Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, United States (Age 88 years)4. Martha Mae Kesterson 5. Jesse Monroe Kesterson, b. 23 Dec 1929, Coalfield, Morgan, Tennessee, United States d. 20 Jan 2008, Coalfield, Morgan, Tennessee, United States (Age 78 years) [Birth]6. Helen Lou Kesterson 7. Ruth Isabell Kesterson 8. Samuel Luther Kesterson, b. 24 Nov 1938, Oliver Springs, Roane, Tennessee, United States d. 27 Nov 1938, Oliver Springs, Roane, Tennessee, United States (Age 0 years) [Birth]Photos 
Kesterson Family
Children of Sam and Mary Kesterson (except Paul). From left: Helen, Martha, Ruth, Jesse, Grace and Dorothy.Kesterson Children
This says "at Clairfield" but I believe it was made in Elza Gate where the Kesterson's used to live (Lupton's Crossroads). They are Paul, Grace, Dorothy and Martha Kesterson with the to far right girls unknown.Albums Kesterson (1)
Descendants and relatives of Sam Kesterson of CoalfieldLast Modified 3 Jul 2009 Family ID F4308 Group Sheet | Family Chart
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Event Map 
Birth - 16 Jul 1894 - Clinton, Anderson, Tennessee, United States 
Census - 1900 - Civil District 06, Anderson, Tennessee, United States 
Census - 1910 - Civil District 8, Anderson, Tennessee, United States Marriage - 19 Nov 1916 - Clinton, Anderson, Tennessee, United States 
Census - 1920 - Civil District 9, Anderson, Tennessee, United States 
Census - 1930 - District 9, Claiborne, Tennessee, United States 
Census - 1940 - Anderson, Tennessee, United States 
Death - 2 Jul 1962 - Harriman, Roane, Tennessee, United States 
Burial - - New Hope Cemetery, Oak Ridge, Anderson, Tennessee, United States = Link to Google Earth
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Photos Kesterson, Samuel Whetson
Sam Kesterson, husband of Mary Cox and son of Eliza Dunn
Kesterson, Samuel W. and Mary Ann (Cox) 
Kesterson, Samuel Whetson 
Kesterson, Paul and Sam
Photo is of Sam Kesterson (right) and his oldest son, Paul. Made in the 1950s. It was made either at the Kesterson farm in Coalfield or at Jesse's house in Back Valley.Kesterson Family
Notice Mama has her hand on Jesse and Helen has her hand on Daddy. We were usually touching one another in photos taken of the family. That watermelon must have been really good tasting!!Possibly at New Hope church--Kestersons
Sam Kesterson, Paul, grace over Paul;s shoulder, Charlie McNew, Granny, Lucille, Helen, Martha and Alvin. — with Ruth Kesterson Lackey. Ruth Kesterson Lackey This was made in the New Hope Cemetery, in Oak Ridge, TN, in the mid '40's. I was there that day but had heard the Govt. was strict about photos being made on the property so I didn't get…
Documents 
WWI Draft: Kesterson, Sam Whitson
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Notes - Sam was a miner. One year he mined at his property in Coalfield, TN.Jesse remembers that the mine was behind what is now Judy Solis'house.
When the Kestersons moved from Oak Ridge to Coalfield.....
Sam Kesterson purchased 96 acres, the former Davis property, inCoalfield in 1943. They sold the property in 1954 and moved toHarriman.
When Eliza Dunn and Thomas Kesterson married, Sam, who was 7, waslilving with an uncle (Dunn). Sam and the youngest daughters of Elizamoved with the newlyweds to their new home.
Mary Cox Kesterson told that Sam went to Montana because his motherdidn't want him to marry Mary. Sam mailed Mary a wedding ring.
Samuel Whetson Dunn was given the Kesterson name so Eliza could drawThomas Kesterson's pension according to some people, particularlyBarbara Kesterson. There are no facts to support this.
Samuel Whetson Kesterson became acquainted with Mary Cox when hissister married Mary's only brother, Sam Hutson.
The Manhatten Project
From the Knox News - By Kelly Norrell community@knoxnews.com Posted June 3, 2009 at midnight
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/jun/03/novel-shares-story-families- displaced-manhattan-pr/
Kelly Norrell is a freelance contributor to the News Sentinel.
In October of 1942, four Kesterson children - Martha, Jesse, Helen and Ruth - came home from their Anderson County schools with surprising instructions: Don't come back. That's because their schools, Scarborough School and Robertsville School, were closing. Life as they knew it was grinding to a halt in their farming community, Lupton Crossroad, and on all the other farms in the roughly 60,000 surrounding acres.
Soon a letter arrived informing the children's parents, Sam and Mary Kesterson, that the family had two weeks to move. They were among about 900 Tennessee families displaced by the Manhattan Project, the U.S. government operation that would develop the atomic bomb and found what became the city of Oak Ridge.
Rebecca Carroll, the daughter of Jesse Kesterson, has released a novel inspired by the family's experience. "Milk Glass Moon" is about a 14-year-old girl's experience of being displaced by the Manhattan Project and her gradual understanding of what the government was doing. "I wanted people to know the pre-Oak Ridge story and to know about the people who had to leave. They did their part and their story was never told," said Carroll, who now teaches English at Pellissippi State Technical Community College.
The move itself became the grist of family legends. On New Year's Day, 1943, a horse-drawn wagon with livestock plodding alongside moved chickens, furniture and a cast-iron cookstove to a two-story house in Coalfield, 20 miles away. The Kestersons, like all the displaced families, had combed areas like Deer Lodge, Harriman and Oliver Springs for housing. Carroll described her family's feelings as mixed. "My dad was eetheart and they had three children.
In a cruel twist of fate, her father, who worked at three plants at Oak Ridge, developed myelofibrosis, a cancer associated with beryllium used in one of the plants. He received a settlement, but died of the cancer when he was 78.
Life was not easy for Carroll either. She and her husband divorced, and then she remarried and divorced again. In 2002, she enrolled in the master's program in English at the University of Tennessee. There she took creative writing for the first time and it changed her life. "I took courses from Michael Knight and Allen Wier (both on the creative writing faculty) at UT. Milk Glass Moon was my creative thesis. I had never really had anyone critique my writing. They taught me a lot about writing, about showing and not telling," she said.
Carroll wrote the book in the summer of 2003. "I had done the research, and then I sat down and wrote the book very quickly." In the fall, she submitted the finished work to Knight and Wier. "Michael was director of my committee. I was really worried as to what Michael would think. I was afraid he would give it back and say it was garbage." Carroll said she ran into Knight one day on campus. "He said, 'I've finished your book.' I said, 'What did you think?' He said, 'I like it.' I about fell over." She said he suggested a number of changes, which she was willing to make.
She said her father liked the manuscript. "My dad said, "You got Mama good." Carroll's father did not live to see the book published.
- Sam was a miner. One year he mined at his property in Coalfield, TN.Jesse remembers that the mine was behind what is now Judy Solis'house.