Johnny Cash Birthplace

Johnny Cash Birthplace. . , The man known to the world as Johnny Cash was born near here, in the home of his grandparents, John Lewis and Rosanna Hurst Rivers, on February 26, 1932. The family doctor was not able to arrive in time for his birth, so a midwife, Mrs. Grace Easterling, performed the delivery. Sometime later, when the doctor arrived, Ray and Carrie Rivers Cash had only agreed on the initials “J.R." for their newborn son. A few days later in the Cross Roads Community Section of the Cleveland County Herald, was the following announcement: “Born, to Mr. and Mrs. Ray Cash a 11 pound boy, February 26. He has been named John R.", Also born at the Rivers home were Johnny's siblings: Roy, Louise, Jack and Reba. Even though the children were born at their grandparents' home, Ray and Carrie lived on the 500 acre farm of Ray's brother, Dave Cash, which was located to the north near the Saline River. From that location one could hear the trains as they crossed the river on the old Cotton Belt Railroad Line. During the Great Depression, in 1935, Ray and Carrie moved the family to the Dyess Colony in Mississippi County. Over the years, Johnny would often return to this area to visit with family and old friends.