I have been told by my father that we are somehow related to this man that is mentioned in the Wabash Cannonball,... the final verse. The ancestry of the Acuff's knew Daddy Claxton (as he was called) quite well, and had a lot of respect for him. I am still looking in to finding out more about the history of this though. My dad is 72 now. I am going to pick his brain some more to see if he can tell me more and how & why he was told this... and by whom... in the Claxton tree.

I believe I remember hearing that Daddy Claxton was indeed transported back to his homeland, or home town maybe, on this train after he died.

Like I said, I have more homework to do on this subject. Incidentally, even though Roy's middle name may be Claxton, I have consistently heard that the reference to "Daddy Claxton" in this song is to a man by the last name of Claxton. Maybe, as another commented on here, Roy was named his middle name after this man his father admired so much. More people did that kind of thing in the late 1800's & into the turn of the century. Middle names were given in honor of a person by using the honored person's last name as a middle name in a newborn.