KERNODLE LINE: “The Lawman: Sheriff Robert Thomas Kernodle”

I knew it would happen. That is, I knew that my new passion for genealogy would trigger my passion for art. So this is my first tribute in art to my ancestry. This is a portrait of my great, great grandfather, Robert Thomas Kernodle.  Robert Kernodle was Sheriff of Alamance County, and one of the wealthiest landowners in the area of his time.

I just finished reading my cousin Jimmy’s “Ancestors of Levi Empson Walker,” and was deeply moved at many points in the reading. Jimmy is my mother’s cousin, and his study of the Walker, Kernodle, and Graham lineage is wonderful. Jimmy’s writing is superb, and his reflections speak to the heart. What I find most compelling about Jimmy’s work are the stories. I know that this theme will resonate as I study the Myers, Bass, Bryan, and Line family trees. I see Jimmy doing what I have been doing as I have studied our family history. Namely, reflecting on the facts uncovered. The most moving example of this I share below, as Jimmy reflects on our great great grandfather Anderson Walker’s journey to Tennessee* to retrieve and marry his brother’s widow:

“I searched the internet to see what civil war troops ate during the war. Staples included hard tack (white flower cracker, sounds a lot like a thin hard, cold biscuit), rice (probably not available in central NC), cornmeal, Johnnie Cakes (beef and cornmeal fried with bacon grease), dried beans or peas, molasses, and fresh vegetables.

I know that Grandpa Empson Walker grew a lot of sweet potatoes, so I’m assuming that AB would have also had sweet potatoes. When we grew up, everybody had a couple of pigs. They were the garbage disposal, and provided meat in the fall. And salted pork wouldn’t spoil. Since AB was a miller I presume he had flour and cornmeal. So I suspect he took what was available to him to eat. My guess is that he took cornbread, baked at home; baked sweet potatoes; and perhaps some ham or fatback. He would have picked up fresh vegetables where available along the way. That may not seem like much, but I don’t see many additional options.

I’m less sure about provisions for the return trip. I presume that AB, Henrietta and Aunt Ben Anna would have been able to re-stock. But the cart would have been more heavily loaded for the return trip. Remember that Great grandma Henrietta would have been bringing all her possessions with her back to North Carolina. We owe a debt of gratitude to these ancestors who lived far more courageous lives than we could have imagined.”

Amen, Jimmy. The other lovely thing about Jimmy’s account is that we see history through the eyes of his father, our great uncle Claude. To thank Jimmy, I will next be drawing a portrait of Claude from this striking portrait:

Now let us turn to Sheriff Kernodle. Sheriff Kernodle is, as I mentioned above, our great, great grandfather, through momma’s grandmother, Ida Kernodle Walker. Sheriff Kernodle is one of the only grandparents that our grandfather Walker would have known growing up, as his grandfather Anderson Walker (same Anderson Walker referenced in the story Jimmy related above) died in 1895.

Sheriff Kernodle was Sheriff of Alamance County through 4 terms, the last two of which were separated by 10 years. The people of Alamance wanted him back! Sheriff Kernodle was known as “Sheriff Kernodle” to his grandchildren. He was apparently a good lawman, and had the respect of his fellow citizens. However, he made his fortune as a landowner, owning over 2,500 acres of good farmland. He was the first person to give Elon College $5,000 at one time, and according to cousin Jimmy, the good Sheriff “counted the $5,000 out in gold and gave it to W. A. Harper, President of Elon College.” I wish there was more information about his time as Sheriff, but most of the information known is about him later in life, as a grandfather and a wealthy landowner. 

I would like to say the following before going forward with my favorite stories about Sheriff Kernodle handed down to us by cousin Jimmy: Drawing this man, I could not help but hope that he sounded exactly like Sam Elliott.

Cousin Jimmy relates the following stories about Sheriff Kernodle, either passed down by Great Uncle Claude or by posterity:

“To our parents, Sheriff Kernodle was Grandpa. He was the only grandpa they knew. He obviously was quite wealthy. Aunt Frances said that he lost $90,000 in the stock market crash in 1929. That was a lot of money in those days. He simply said he wasn’t going to worry about it, and that he was going fox hunting.”

These two are my favorites, because they remind me of my father-in-law:

“Daddy (Great Uncle Claude) said that when he was building his house, Sheriff came by and told him that he should insure it. Daddy responded that Sheriff had never insured anything in his life, to which Sheriff responded, “right, but I never owned anything I couldn’t replace.””

“When Sheriff Kernodle was approached by someone wanting to rent a farm, he would always go and look at the prospective tenant’s woodpile. If he didn’t have a good pile of wood he wouldn’t rent to him, having the philosophy that anyone who wouldn’t work for himself, wouldn’t work for anyone else.”

Sheriff Kernodle with our Great Uncle John Robert Walker, his grandson

*More on this story later