08/21/2026
This photograph was taken on August 3, 1923, in New Providence Church Cemetery during a ceremony dedicating the bronze standards placed at the grave of Jesse Wallace (1767–1854). Wallace served in the Continental Line during the Revolutionary War and later became an attorney. Members of the Mary Blount Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution attended the ceremony.
From left to right are Maj. William A. McTeer, William S. Wallace, James W. Post, John A. Wallace, and William E. Parham.
Maj. William Anderson McTeer (1843–1925) represented the Society of the Sons of the Revolution and served as master of ceremonies. During the Civil War, McTeer enlisted as a private in Company A of the 3rd Tennessee Cavalry Regiment in the Union Army. He later wrote a history of New Providence Presbyterian Church, published in 1921.
William Sumner Wallace (1869–1937) was a Maryville businessman who owned a farm near the intersection of Montvale and Farris roads. He was raised on the farm of his father, Capt. Theophilus Fletcher Wallace (1841–1923), located off Blockhouse Road. During the Civil War, Capt. Wallace served in the 2nd Tennessee Cavalry Regiment in the Union Army. William Sumner Wallace’s great-great-grandfather, John Wallace (1750–1793), was killed at the Battle of Hightower—sometimes called the Battle of Etowah Cliffs—during the Cherokee–American wars near present-day Rome, Georgia.
James William Post (1860–1929) was a great-grandson of Jesse Wallace. His father, Dr. John Calvin Post (1803–1873), married Martha Thompson, a daughter of Rebekah (Wallace) Thompson (1789-1845) and William H. Thompson. Martha was raised in the Thompson-Brown House, which stands across Lamar Alexander Parkway from what is now Prisma Health Blount Memorial Hospital. The historic residence is now occupied by the Cades Cove Preservation Association. Post managed the Morton Butler Land and Timber Company, which conducted operations in the Great Smoky Mountains.
John Ashley "Johnny" Wallace (1878–1967), a son of Joshua Landon Wallace (1842–1908) and Nancy M. (Butler) Wallace (1855–1887), lived off U.S. Highway 411 on part of a farm that his paternal grandfather, John Wallace (1803–1863), purchased from John Fruit Hannah (1797–1868) in 1837. He was a second cousin of William Sumner Wallace. Initially a farmer, Wallace became a real estate developer when U.S. Highway 411—then known locally as New Niles Ferry Road—was constructed around 1930.
Wallace’s daughter Muriel (Wallace) Huddleston McCulloch operated Travelers Restaurant (currently Dairy Queen is on lot), which flourished during the 1950s and 1960s and introduced Kentucky Fried Chicken to Blount County. In 1960, part of Wallace’s farm was developed as Wallace Hill Golf Course. His son-in-law Robert Homer “Pete” Hitch (1909–1980) managed the course. Hitch was married to Wallace’s other daughter, Kathleen Wallace (1909–2002), affectionately known as “Mama Hitch.” In 1990, Mama Hitch sold the golf course to developers who created the Royal Oaks community. The golf course at Royal Oaks closed in 2018.
William Edmund Parham (1860–1946) was a manufacturer, educator, banker, public official, and, most notably, a historian. He came to Maryville from Knoxville in December 1865, shortly after the Civil War. He attended Maryville College and played on the college’s first baseball team.
In 1877, Parham entered business with his father, William Thomas Parham (1833–1922), who operated a woolen mill near the present-day Los Amigos Restaurant. The mill property also encompassed the present site of the Blount County Public Library on what was sometimes called Parham Hill. Parham helped incorporate the People’s Telephone Company and also worked for ALCOA.
He represented Blount County in the Tennessee Senate from 1909 to 1910 and authored the first compulsory school law enacted by the Tennessee General Assembly. He also served as a Blount County justice of the peace, a position now known as county commissioner. Above all, Parham was a dedicated historian. He wrote numerous newspaper columns under the pen name “Tab” and compiled genealogical information on many Blount County families. At the time of his death, he was described as the “Map of Maryville.”
