Jack Who? Jack Tales What?
Thursday, September 4, 2008 at 04:23PM | Lynn Jack, the trickster, came to America with the first pioneers. He arrived in the minds of those who would tell about him.
No one knows the origin of the many stories that sprang forth. However, the Library of Congress recognizes the families who have lived on Beech Mountain, North Carolina as being pivotal in saving the stories that were handed down generation to generation since the mid 1700s. The Hicks, Harmon, and Ward families intermarried and became keepers of the Jack tales.
Council Harmon was the key figure in telling the stories all of his long life during the 1800s. Then his children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren became story heirs and carried forth family traditions including stories, ballads, and the art of instrument building. In the 1700 and 1800s no one dreamed the Jack tales would ever be written down. They were told in the same manner Aesop told his fables in ancient times.
These stories matter. Those told by Jane Gentry Hicks, Maud Long, R. M. Ward, Marshall Ward, Roby Hicks, Stanley Hicks, and Ray Hicks (all Council Harmon relatives) brought forth storytelling and helped preserve it as an art. Ultimately, these stories preserved much of Appalachian history. Learn more about the Hicks, Ward, and Harmon families in my forthcoming book, "Appalachian Jack Tales" (release date October 1, 2008). Learn more about Ray Hicks and Old Beech Mountain by reading "The Life and Times of Ray Hicks Keeper of the Jack Tales." It is available by September 15, 2008 in book stores everywhere and online.
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