when Sherman and his men came to town.
Here is a Granny Dollar quote from the Pro-
gressive Farmer article: “I was about 35 years old
when the war broke out. My father had to go. He
was a very brave soldier and was in the army two
or three years before the big battle of Atlanta and
Excerpt of credits from
finished book.
Sherman’s march to the sea. I remember mighty
well the day the army got to Atlanta. Father had
sent me word not to come for goods, but to stay
home and help with the children. The cannons
30 miles away roared so I shall never forget it,
though I should live another 100 years. Father
was killed during the siege. The city was burned
and Sherman went on cutting his way through
our cornfields, which were in roasting ears.
So making the living all fell on me. I had been
promised to marry to Thomas Porter. He had
been killed in the army, too. I was so broken up I
remained single 40 more years.”
There isn’t a lot of information about Nancy in
those 40 years. At the age of 79, she met and mar-
ried Nelson Dollar and moved back to DeKalb
12 | SPRING 2020
County. She never had children. “Granny” was
just a term of endearment. Many years after
Nelson passed away, Granny Dollar found herself
homeless at the age of 100. She stumbled onto
the Master’s School for needy children, which is
near Desoto State Park on Lookout Mountain.
The young boys, mesmerized by her, put her up in
one of the cabins on the school grounds. She lived
there until her death in 1931.
She was buried by Nelson at the Little River
Baptist Church Cemetery, but the money she had
set aside for her tombstone was stolen during her
burial. Annie Young, a librarian at the DeKalb
County Library in Fort Payne 1958–1985, rem-
edied that in the 70s. She organized a fundraiser
to finally have a tombstone erected for Granny
Dollar. It reads: “Nancy Callahan ‘Granny’ Dollar
1826–1931 Daughter of the Cherokee.”
I was very happy with the finished novel, and
it has done very well in the two years since its
release. People often ask me about the cover,
wanting to know where I got a color photo of her.
For that I actually used a technique on Photoshop
I think I invented. Going by the actual B&W
picture taken of her for the Progressive Farmer
articles, I searched the internet for any matching
features. I found eyes from one person, nose from
another, hands, ears, hair, etc. It took about 20
pictures of dogs to recreate Buster. When it’s all
pieced together, it’s just a jumbled mess. Using a
tool on Photoshop called “Oil Paint,” I adjust until
it all blends together. Then touch up a few rough
lines, and voilà.
It was quite a life lived by quite a woman. I’ll
leave you with another of her quotes: “The trouble
with the white race is that they lay up so much
for old age that they quit work at 50 and 60 years.
When they stop working, they get out of touch
with nature; all wear shoes in summer which
keeps them from God’s good earth; then they
begin to fail, and soon they are dead.”
CULLMAN COUNTY SENIOR MAGAZINE