photo #8690765

Theodocia Baxter Ramsey. Docia, as they called her, was born in the Emerts Cove area of Sevier County, Tennessee, just a few miles east of Gatlinburg. This is where she would spend the entirety of her life. Docia was known in Emerts Cove as a healer, or a granny witch. People would come from across the county to see her, and according to the local lore, most of the folks left as satisfied customers. The Baxter women were known for generations as a group of ladies who could tap into that old time granny magic. People said that when they would come to see Docia, she was most often spinning wool, and that she was always humming the old folk tune, “Barbara Allen”. By the time they left, whatever ailment they had been experiencing would be on its way to resolving. Legend has it that she was also sought after for her wisdom and foreknowledge. Before the great flood of 1875, Docia had a premonition of what was on the horizon, and organized the people to move their livestock and belongings before the flood came. From this point on, people referred to her as the Matriarch of Emerts Cove. She would go on to predict several more major floods in her lifetime. Docia’s husband, John Ramsey, died in 1907. She would outlive him by 15 years, continuing on as a leader in her community. She would join him in death in 1922 at the age of 82.