The parents of Patrick Pierce Nolen have not been determined to date, nor has his arrival date in America been discovered. His origin, however, cannot be disputed since he descends from the O'Nolan clan, an ancient and auspicious clan in Ireland. This clan ruled form A.D. 600 to the 16th century over territories called: Fortarta Fea, in Carlow County; Fortarta Chairm, in Wexford County; Fortharta, in northeast Kings County; Fortharta Oirthir Lifi, in Wicklow County; and Osneidech. These baronies were bestowed on Eocaidh Fionn Fortharta (O'Nolan) by his father-in-law, Cu-Corb, the king of the province of Leinster. An additional barony, Fortarta Loyen, was bestowed when Eocaidh Fionn Fartharta, and his clan, were at the forefront in the battle that drove the Munstermen from Leinster. Included in the O'Nolan clan is the genealogy of St. Bridgett, one of the three patron saints of Ireland. The O'Nolan clan is descended from Eremon, the first Milesian king of Ireland. He furnished more high kings of Ireland than any other line. The O'Nolans were known as Lords of Carlow and Princes of Forth.

Family legend is that Patrick Pierce Nolen was working on a railroad when he met and married Mary Jane Dever in Tippah County, Mississippi. No records have been found confirming the name of the railroad. Strong evidence points to it being the Mississippi Central that ran between Canton Mississippi and the Tennessee line. In 1850, Senators Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, and William R. King, of Alabama, maneuvered through the Congress of the United States the first land grant act aiding the building of a railroad. The bill was signed September 30, 1850 by President Millard Fillmore. It granted six alternate sections of land per mile of railroad to the Mobile and Ohio in Alabama and Mississippi, and to the Illinois Central in Illinois. In 1852, Judge Harvey W. Walter and Walter Goodman, both of Holly Springs, Mississippi organized a new line and proposed to build a railroad from Canton, Mississippi north to the Tennessee state line. President Goodman obtained some cash subscriptions and many subscriptions payable only in slave labor. With slave labor and English rails he slowly built the northern portions of the road that had become the Mississippi Central railroad. In 1858, there still remained the "Big Gap" of eighty-six miles south of Water Valley, Mississippi. An appeal was made to the Illinois central, in the north, for funds to complete the line. Former general George B. McClellan was sent south to inspect the line and his report was favorable in gaining financial aid from George Peabody of London. This made possible the completion of the Mississippi portion by January, 1860. The growth of business that was experienced by the connecting of the lines was soon snuffed out by the Civil War, and traffic between the Illinois Central and the Gulf cities ceased.

On January 9, 1861, the people of Misissippi, in convention, assembled, do ordain and declare as follows, to wit: That all the law and ordinances by which the said State of Mississippi became a member of the Federal Union of the United States of America, be, and the same as hereby, repealed; and that all obligations on the part of the said State, or the people therein, to observe the same, be withdrawn; and that the said State shall hereby assume the rights, functions, and powers which by any of the said laws and ordinances were conveyed to the government of the said United States, and is dissolved from all the obligations, restrains, and duties incurred to the said Federal Union, and shall henceforth be a free, sovereign and independent State. The Resolution was voted on at convention and carried with a 86-15 vote, and Mississippi became the second state, after South Carolina to secede from the union.

Two months and two weeks prior to the above Resolution, Patrick Pierce Nolen married Mary Irene Dever in Rites of Matrimony in Tippah County, Mississippi, 17 Feb 1860. He was 58 years old and she was 26. No record has been found that either had a prior marriage.

Mary Irene Dever was the daughter of Neal Charles Dever and Matilda Birdwell. Neal Charles Dever's lineage has been traced to Richard and Grace Gilbert Dever, who immigrated from Devonshire, England to Anne Arundel County, Maryland, in 1658. They settled in Old Herring Parish , later St. James Parish, and raised a family. The Parish records record the death dates of the couple, and they were buried in the church cemetery. Richard Dever's father was John Dever, of Totnes, Devonshire, England. He is believed to have descended from Hugh Dever, 14th Earl of Oxford. The given names, John, Richard, Gilbert and Hugh are used extensively throughout the Dever descendants.

Patrick and Mary Dever Nolen remained in Tippah County, Mississippi until around 1865, when he moved his family to Hardeman County, Tennessee. This was in the vicinity of Grand Junction where two railroad line came together and was an area to see much of the skirmishes of the war center around the area where two main lines of railroads came together. P. P. Nolen, age 58, born in Ireland, is found in the 1870 census of Hardeman County, Tennessee with the following family members: MaryI I. Nolen, age 36, born in Tennessee; S. M. Nolen, age 10, born in Mississippi; R. P. Nolen, age 8, born in Tennessee; T. J. Nolen, age 6, born in Missisippi; W. N. Nolen, age 4, born in Tennessee; C. A. Nolen, age 2, born in Tennesse; and G. Lee Nolen, age 4 months, born in Tennessee.

By 1880, Patrick Pierce Nolen, age 60, born in Ireland is found living in the 13th district of Fayette County, Tennessee with the following family: Mary Nolen, age 51, born in Tennessee; Sarah Nolen, age 17, born in Tennessee, Robert Nolen, age 15, born in Tennessee; Thomas Nolen, age 13, born in Tennessee; William N. Nolen, age 12, born in Tennessee; Christopher M. Nolen, age 10, born in Tennessee; George Nolen, age 8, born in Tennessee; Gertrude Nolen, age 6, born in Tennessee.

James Allen Nolen, the last child of Patrick and Mary Nolen was born, 13 Jul 1881, in LaGrange, Fayette County, Tennessee. Sometime after the birth of James Nolen, the family moved to Reverie, on Island No. 10, located in the middle of the Mississippi and claimed by Tipton County, Tennessee. The only town on the island was Reverie. Today the only way the area can be reached is by going into Arkansas. After the channel was rerouted, the island can be accessed by going over a bridge. The island, at present, has only a few households, but in the 1900 census of Tipton County, the island had 102 families living on it. In the 1900 census, two of Patrick and Mary Nolen's children were still living on the island. Sarah Matilda Nolen married John Stewart in 1884, and they migrated with her parents in the move to Tipton County. James Allen Nolen is recorded living in their household. Also living on the island was the family of Joseph Bone. His daughter, Florence, married James Allen Nolen in Reverie

Robert Pierce Nolen, oldest son of Patrick and Mary Nolen migrated to Crockett County prior to 1891. He married Lida May Babbs, 2 Aug 1891. In the 1900 census of Crockett County, he is listed living in the Foster Community, age 35, born in Mississippi; Lida Nolen, age 25, born in Tennessee; Edgar Nolen, age 7; Marvin Nolen, age 5; Myrtle Nolen, age 3; Myrene Nolen, age 1. One additional child was born to this couple, Robert Leo Nolen. Myrene Nolen died in infancy.

Thomas Jefferson Nolen remained in Tipton County, Tennessee and bought a farm on what was to become known as Nolan Road. This road is near the Mt. Carmel and Covington Road. He, his wife, Emma, and some of his children are buried in the Mt. Carmel Cemetery.

William Neal Nolen migrated to Crockett County sometime before 1894, when he married Cordelia D. Laman. He and Cordelia Laman Nolen had three children: Jesse Pierce Nolen, Lex Neal Nolen and daughter, Mary Irene Nolen, who died in infancy.

Christopher Nolen died at an early age, date and place not known and George Nolen died in the Asylum at Bolivar, Tennessee.

Gertrude Nolen married William Madison Watkins, 11 Jan 1893, in Tipton County, Tennessee. They had six children, two being twins. William Watkins died in 1908 and Gertrude Watkins, left with a farm to run and small children, married, sometime between 1910 and 1914, Abner Nelms. They had one child named Sadie, born in 1915.

James Allen Nolen married Florence Bone, in Reverie, Tipton County, Tennessee in 1901. The oldest children of Jim and Florence Nolen list their birthplace as Reverie. The 1920 census of Lauderdale County, Tennessee lists James Nolen living in District No. 10, age 45, with nine children.

The obituary of Patrick Pierce Nolen, written by Red Bird, follows: The death of P. P. Nolen, which occurred at his son's home near here, Tuesday evening, removed one of the oldest men of the county. He was born in Ireland, March 17, 1802, and removed to this county a number of years ago; having passed his 96th year, he was, up to a few days before his birth, a much more abler and stronger man than most his age. Mr. Nolen moved here from Tipton County, and has resided with his son, W. N. Nolen. ever since. He was a good man and will be greatly missed by the community. Funeral services were conducted at Cypress cemetery. His relatives have the sympathy of the entire community.

(Submitted by Margaret Nolen Nichol, Jacksonville, Florida)