Wickham's Way
A tribute to my grandfather by Joe Schibig
Great people don't really die--they live on in our memories
On the left is a 1930s photo of E. T. and his oxen, and the right photo shows E. T. aboard a reconstruction of his old wagon pulled by his team of oxen (late 1960s photo).
My grandfather was born in the little community of Palmyra, Tennessee in 1883. He was toughened by the hard work imposed by a farming life style and personal losses such as the death of his father, Robert L. Wickham, in 1892 when E. T. was only 9 years old.
A gloomy day in 1892 for the Robert and Elizabeth Wickham Family. This old photo was made at the Wickham home place shortly after the death of Robert L. Wickham. In the center is Elizabeth holding a picture of Robert. The children from left to right are E. T. (Tanner), Wayne, Walter, Hardin, John, Bell, Ada, Minnie, and Emma. (Photo provided by Frankie Sellas and Nancy Ledbetter)
A brighter moment in the life of my grandfather is reflected by the wedding photo below. In the early 1900s, he married Annie Yarbrough and established a family that would eventually include five daughters and four sons.
This photo was made in Clarksville, Tn. in 1905; from left to right are Annie Wickham (E. T. Wickham's wife), E. T. Wickham, Minnie Wickham and Charley Wickham..
My grandfather preferred to be called Tanner or E. T. All of us grandchildren called him grandpa. He was an important mentor in my life -- he taught me how to make statues, tend a garden, hunt, and survey land.
I present this page to the public so people can see how his statues looked when they were in mint condition. His statues still stand, but after 30 years of neglect most are now in poor condition.
When my grandfather retired from farming he was in his seventies, he had raised 9 children and tons of tobacco. He and his wife, Annie, left the Wickham home place in a sleepy hollow near Palmyra, Tennessee and moved into a small cabin which my grandfather built himself on Buck Smith road in the early 1950's. I believe he moved to this site because it was closer to a "main" road where he could better display his statues to the public. He was poor in income but rich in ideas and land (he owned hundreds of acres). He led a simple life in the fresh air of the country far from the noises and stresses of city life.
E. T. Wickham by his cabin he built in 1952. The logs, which he hewed himself when he was 15, were taken from a stable. Notice the bird made of concrete atop a pole; its wings were cut from tin. He always kept hunting dogs and was an avid hunter. Also note his tool box. He was a resourceful carpenter who used no electric tools, but could build most anything he dreamed of. His original chimney was made of small logs mortared with mud. He later replaced it with a concrete block chimney. You can see pine trees in the background. He planted thousands of pines on his property. Photo taken in late 50's or early 60's.
Although my grandfather only had a sixth grade education, he was very intelligent, creative, and resourceful. He had personality flaws like all of us but his unquestioned honesty was respected by all who knew him.
During the 1950s and throughout the sixties, he built life-size statues of animals, relatives, religious figures, prominent Tennesseans and other famous Americans. He was a self-taught artist who made them out of concrete using pipes and wire as reinforcement. He used stove pipes as molds for making the pillars to the monuments. He inscribed captions at the base of his monuments. Most of the statues were placed in a row in clear view of people passing by on Buck Smith road.
Countless people saw these statues and were awed by them. Most of us relatives, accustomed to seeing his works, thought his making statues was an interesting and unusual hobby, but nothing terribly earthshaking. My grandfather enjoyed talking with his visitors. He would always halt what he was doing to talk at length with those who stopped by.
There were dedication ceremonies for most of his statues. Many people, including General Westmoreland and Estes Kefaufer, attended one or more of these dedications.
Photo on the left is of John and his wife Fannie; this photo was made in the early 1900s, and was provided by Nancy Ledbetter. The photo (made in mid 1960s) to the right is of a statue of Dr. John Wickham, E. T.'s brother, on horseback. John graduated from Vanderbilt University and was a medical doctor and legislator, but was killed by three gunshot wounds in 1915 (see link to article below).
From left to right: Sergeant York (now kept in the art building at Austin Peay State University), A world war II soldier (inspired by the death of E. T. Wickham's son, Ernest), Andrew Jackson atop a horse, and E. T. Wickham riding a bull headed out to the wild west. (mid 1960s photo)
E. T. by his statue of Andrew Jackson. He made the horse's hind legs unusually powerful and used a steel pipe to support the weight of this heavy statue. (early 1960s)
Building statues was hard, grueling work, especially for a man in his eighties, but my grandfather single-handedly built each of these statues. Each of the larger ones took about 6 weeks to complete. The statue of Andrew Jackson was the most difficult one to build. Occasionally he got a little help from his grandchildren.
E. T. working on a statue of Judge W. D. Hudson. Other statues from left to right: Estes Kefauver, Patrick Henry, and John F. Kennedy. Real people from left to right: my father, me, and my grandfather. (photo, 1965)
My brother Rick by a longhorn bull. My grandfather put wiring in this statue and inserted red light bulbs into its eye sockets. At night the bull had a fierce look with its glowing red eyes. Photo was taken in the early sixties; red eyes were added digitally.
The Schibig brothers, Rick, Joe, Arlen, and grandfather Wickham are sitting on the perimeter of what my grandfather claimed was the largest sundial in the world. (early 60s)
The above photo is of E. T. sitting on an ox with his son, L. D., in the foreground. Grandpa asked L. D. to sit on the other bull, but he respectfully declined. Back in the 1930s my grandfather took his oxen and wagon into Palmyra to get supplies. That was a bit antiquated since most people had cars or mule-pulled wagons at that time. My mother remembers her brother, Ernest, taking the oxen and a wagon load of walnuts into Palmyra where he sold them for six dollars which was pretty good money for the Depression years. (photo made in late 1960s)
E. T. Wickham and his children. From left to right: E. T. (deceased), L. D. (deceased), Harvey (deceased), Betty, Sister Justina, Iris (my mother), Mary, Rita. In the background are a covered wagon and a series of statues he made in the mid to late 60s. Photo taken in late 1960s.
A photographic portrait of Tanner Wickham made in the mid to late sixties by artist Ned Crouch who is now director of the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center in Clarksville, Tennessee. My mother said she was at Austin Peay State University in the 1960s and saw this picture. She asked Ned Crouch if she could purchase it, but when he learned that she was Tanner Wickham's daughter he said he would give it to her.
An angel looks over the tombs of E. T. Wickham, his son, Ernest, and his wife, Annie. My grandfather made the angel with concrete and chiseled the three tombstones out of limestone. Photo made in the 1970s.
After my grandfather's death, no one was around to guard his statues. In time they were ravaged by the weather and vandals, mostly by the latter. What a shame--he was a hard-working creator, but the vandals and the elements were and still are relentless destroyers. Due to the efforts of Ned Crouch, a few of his statues were moved to the art building at Austin Peay State University where they are on display, but most are still standing in a degraded condition where my grandfather placed them over 34 years ago. Ned Crouch considers E. T. Wickham's concrete statues to be among the top seven folk art works in the country.
On his statue of himself riding a bull, he wrote "remember me boys while I'm gone". Most people are soon forgotten after they leave this world, but my grandfather was a folk art giant. His 40 concrete statues represent two decades of laborious but enjoyable artwork. He could have made money off his statues and he could have sold some of his land and had a bigger more comfortable home, but he was content to live in the house he built and to produce statues to express his creativity and to commemorate the people who he deemed important. Now, with this webpage, I pay tribute to E. T. Wickham. He was one of a kind, he did it his way, and he made his mark on the world. Long live E. T. Wickham!
To tour E. T. Wickham's Stone Park, go to this website
constructed by my brother, Arlen Schibig:
For visitors already on
tour from Wickham Stone Park , continue
touring the Wickham Statues Today.
http://wickhamstonepark.com/survey2005/TopSurvey.htm
John Allen has posted a fine story on the life and works of E. T. Wickham at http://www.jonra.com/blog/wickham.shtml
Photos from Dean Anderson of the Wickham statues as they were in 1973; click on: Snapshots in Time
To see more photos of Tanner Wickham's statues, click here: More photos
To see the before and after pictures of the Wickham statues, go to: Works of E. T. Wickham, Then and Recent
Some Wickham family photos: Wickham Family
To view 1960s Clarksville newspaper articles on E. T. Wickham, click: Wickham Articles
To see a Clarksville newspaper article on the mysterious death of John W. Wickham: John Wickham
To view his statues in their more recent condition go to: http://www.interestingideas.com/roadside/wickham/wick2.htm
To view some 1973 photos of Tanner Wickham's statues
submitted by Helen Davis go to:
concrete statues
His life and works were recently celebrated at the Customs
House Museum in Clarksville, Tennessee:
http://www.customshousemuseum.org/wickham/
http://www.simplephotographs.com/wickhamshow
My grandfathers obituary: http://www.tngenweb.org/montgomery/wickham/wickham4obit.jpg
Authored by Joe Schibig-- email address: joe.schibig@vscc.cc.tn.us
Most Photos were provided by Iris Schibig and Joe Schibig. Where photos came from other sources, the providers are named. You may freely download any of these photos for inclusion in your own personal photo album, but if the photos are to be reproduced for other purposes, obtain permission from the owners of these photos.
Visits Since Nov. 15, 2002
