THOMAS AUTREY WILEY, the youngest child of William Richmond Wiley and Martha Autrey, was born January 14, 1850 in Forsyth County, Georgia. When he was six years of age, the family moved westward to Cherokee County, Alabama, near the town of Coloma. There, Thomas's father, William R. Wiley, had purchased approximately 80 acres of land for farming. A few years after the move, when Tom was nine years old, his mother, Martha, died of what was then termed apoplexy [stroke] on November 1, 1859 and was buried in nearby Gnatville. When the Civil War broke out two years later, Thomas was too young to enlist but he participated in several "salt missions" to support the war effort. At the age of 17, he married Mary LeCroy on the 18th of November, 1867. Mary gave birth to a son, whom they named William T. Wiley. Sadly, Mary died two days after giving birth and the baby survived only a week longer.

        Two years later, Thomas Autrey Wiley and Nancy "Annie" Elizabeth Smith were married on October 20, 1870 in Centre, Cherokee County, Alabama.  Two weeks after their marriage, Tom and Annie set out for Texas in an ox drawn covered wagon with his brother, Ransom Alexander Wiley, Ransom's wife, Louisa, and their two small sons, John and Miles. Their sister, Mary Elizabeth Tabitha Wiley had married Annie's brother, G. W. L. Smith, and Tom's father, William Richmond Wiley, retired from farming by this time and perhaps in ill health, lived with the Smiths near Plano, Alabama. The two Wiley families worked and camped all along the way to Texas, crossing three states and several major rivers, a journey of over 600 miles that took almost two full months. They arrived in Bowie County, Texas at the end of December of that year.  Ransom kept a log in his Civil War journal of their stops along the trail and carefully noted expenditures for food, fodder, and ferry tolls for both families.  Copies of this log still survive, although the journal has been lost.   Soon after arriving in Texas, Tom and Annie settled near Hardy, in Montague County, Texas, where he established a mercantile business.  The family moved to Saint Jo, Montague County, Texas, in 1889 where Tom entered the a grocery business. Later, he was associated with the cotton yard and his son, Doddridge, became a well known cotton broker. In 1907, Tom began a lumber business in Saint Jo and owned and operated Wiley Lumber Yard there until his death March 31, 1947 at the age of 97. His granddaughter, Libby, later recalled that during World War II he was without help in the lumberyard, but neither the labor shortage nor his health was as much a problem as the shortage of quality material available on the open market. This proved to be a major problem in those years of chronic shortages, but it was well known that "T.A. Wiley could not be fooled by a truck of inferior lumber."

         The Wileys had six children, three dying at an early age as shown in the Family Bible.  The three reaching maturity were: James R. Wiley, Doddridge W., and Esther Lee. James R. married Julia Phillips, Doddridge married Ola Donnell and Esther Lee married James Fleming.

         The Wileys were active in the Methodist Church and contributed significantly towards the building of the United Methodist Church in Saint Jo. Tom was an active member of the Masonic Lodge and Annie the Order of the Eastern Star.  Mrs. Wiley died in 1941 at which time they had been married for more than seventy years. Upon the occasion of their 67th wedding anniversary, when asked if they ever quarreled, Tom remarked that they often held differences of opinion but that they "had never had what you would call a fuss in 67 years of married life."

      Children of  Thomas Autrey Wileyand Nancy Ann Elizabeth Smith are:

              i. JAMES ROBERT WILEY, b. January 01, 1872; m. JULIA CAROLYN PHILLIPS; d. April 05, 1966.

             ii. NANIE H. WILEY, b. February 18, 1874; d. September 28, 1875.

              v. ESTHER LEE WILEY, b. April 06, 1883; m. JAMES MADISON FLEMING; d. February 11, 1973.

             vi. COKE SMITH WILEY, b. December 15, 1885; d. August 18, 1887.

Sources:

    1.  Montague County Historical Commission. The Story of Montague County, Texas: Its Past and Present,
         1989.
    2.  T.A. Wiley Family Bible, publisher unknown, in possession of Miss Elizabeth "Libby" Fleming, Saint Jo, Texas.
    3.  Obituary of T. A. Wiley, the Saint Jo Tribune, Vol. 49, Saint Jo, Montague County, Texas, nd.
    4.   Marriage License of Thomas Autrey Wiley and Nancy Anne Elizabeth Smith, Centre, Cherokee County,
            Alabama, 20 October 1870.
    5.   Census of 1850, Forsyth County, Georgia, Microfilm M432, roll 69.
    6.   Census of 1860, Cherokee County, Alabama, Microfilm M653, roll 5.
    7.   Census of 1870, Cherokee County, Alabama, Microfilm M593, roll 7.
    8.   Census of 1880, Montague County, Texas, Microfilm Publication T9, roll 1320.
    9.   Census of 1900, Montague County, Texas, Microfilm Publication T623, rolls 1659-1660.
    10. Census of 1910, Montague County, Texas, Microfilm Publication T624, roll 1579.
    11. Census of 1920, Montague County, Texas, Microfilm Publication T625, roll 1835.

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