William Lawson Mabry Collection

The Mabry family came to the Montgomery County area in the 1830s from Virginia as tobacco farmers. They also operated a sawmill on their property. The land that they settled, Poplar Hill, would come to be a part of what is now Fort Campbell. John Mabry’s and Thomas Lawson Mabry’s ledgers contain the financial records of the farm during the mid to late 19th century.

Anna Mabry Barr, otherwise known as Stockade Annie, was born in 1877 on the family’s Poplar Hill property. In the early 1900’s, she married John Christy Barr – a Presbyterian minister – and moved to New Orleans. After his death, Anna returned to Fort Campbell, where she would go on to ask the commanding general on post for a stockade pass. She handed out Bibles donated from local businessmen to the incarcerated soldiers, and she also provided a morning service to them on Sundays. Anna spent 25 years seeing to the needs of incarcerated soldiers. She also wrote several poems, including “Consider the Lilies of the Pond,” “Hidden Oasis,” and “Vanished Flyers.” Anna died at Fort Campbell on September 26th, 1969.

Iris Mabry was a dancer who performed solo concerts on Broadway in New York in the 1940’s and 1950’s. She majored in philosophy at Smith College and attended two dance schools: the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City and the Bennington Summer School of the Dance in Vermont. She was married to David Mayer on May 9th of 1940. Iris’ debut was in 1946 at Times Hall in New York, performing solo dances that she composed herself.

Descendants of the original 19th century Mabry settlers continue to reside in Montgomery County as of 2024.