It was during the winter of 1936 that Bond [Ashby's oldest son] stayed with us for a month and went to school to me. This meant that three generations went to school to me [Jennie, Ashby, and Bond]. I had a number of cases where a father and child and in one case where both parents and children went to me, but this was the only case where the mother, son, and grandson went to me. I also taught Johnnie [Elmo's son] to read. Very few teachers can say that they have taught three generations, but fifty years is a long time to teach. I’ll bet I don’t teach another generation.

This was a successful school although they had had lots of trouble for two years. I had no trouble of any amount. It was a large school. I had a large class in the eighth grade, and they all got diplomas. They were Beulah Combs, Edgar Gillespie, Juanita Gillespie, Harry Dillon, and some others I have forgotten.

Edgar had been having a lot of trouble, but I found him all right except a little lazy. When he got his report card, he came to me and wanted to know why he didn’t get a better report. I tried to dodge for a little. Then I looked at him and said, “If you will go to work, study some, and try to learn, I’ll give you a better grade.” He looked at me rather sour for a minute and then smiled and said, “I’ll do it, Mr. Randolph. I’ll answer every question you ask me.” From that time he studied well. When I gave him his next report card, he looked at it and grinned. I asked him how he liked it, and he said, “That’s better.” I encouraged him all I could, and he did fine. I do like to help a pupil who tries.

1937-38-Substitute Teaching and Lower Stone Creek School: The board gave the Bug Ridge School to Zana Hartley and gave me no school. The superintendent, Virgil Harris, got mad at Brady and so had it in for me. He tried to keep me from getting a school ever after, but only kept me out of a school one whole year.

The last of November I got a call to teach for a week at Baker’s Run. The teacher, a young man, went to Chicago with the 4-H club. Before I left, several of the pupils told me they intended to have me teach their school next winter.

On Friday after I got back I got a letter from Harris saying I had been given the Lower Stony Creek School to teach half time. If I would teach it, I should to be at his office Thursday and get my papers. I went right down and told them I sure would teach it.

Monday morning I headed for school. The snow was about 6 inches deep and cold as blazes. As I did not have to teach but half a day, I aimed to get there by noon. When I got there, cold and tired, I found nobody there and no fire. There was a family moving into the house right by the school house. They built a fire, and one of the children went and got four more children. So I had 7 the first day; the next day I had 11. I had over 10 on an average the first month. The average attendance for the whole term was 99 percent. Harris (the superintendent) tried to keep me from teaching full time, but the board gave me full time after the first month.

I failed to find any place to board. One place I had the children ask their parents for board, and the woman sent back word that there were 11 of them and they had four beds. I told the children I might be back and I might not. When I got to the mouth of Wolf, which was three miles from school, I was tired and it was getting dark. So I headed for Brady’s. When I got there, he wanted to know what I was doing there. I told him I was looking for a place to get out of the weather. He told me to stay there that week, and they would try to find me a place to stay after that. Alma got a camp for me to bach in about two miles from school. This made it very nice. Brady would take me part way to school of a Monday morning and bring me part way home of a Friday evening. For this I paid the rest ($150) back on the farm.

I had a very nice time as there were only 11 scholars and five grades. We had a Parent Teachers Association meeting, which was attended by several out of the district and was very good. Before school was out, they got up a petition for me to teach the next year, which was signed by everyone in the district and two or three outside who said they would send if I got the school. This would make 27 scholars to attend.

No School, 1938-39-Ashby’s Illness: When the board met, Frank Hosey (the member from Holley) told the board that he had promised the Baker’s Run School that he would send me there. However, it was a long way and they all wanted me at Stony Creek; so he would favor my going there. This was agreed to; then when all teachers were placed, Harris said they would not have any school at Stony Creek. Hosey knew this was a plan to keep me from teaching, so he asked the other members if I should have the school if it was taught. They all agreed. Brady was nominated for the board by a good majority at the primary (I worked for him at Wolf and got all the Democratic votes but nine, about 95%). At the next meeting Harris proposed another man for the school. Three of the members backed down, and I got no school.

This did not prove to be quite as bad as it seemed, for Ash took sick the last of August and sent for Mamma. Three days later Brady called me at 11 at night and told me to be ready in half an hour to go to Ash’s. Brady, Mary, and I went. Brady drove like John! When we got there, I didn’t believe he would live 24 hours. The next morning we took him to the hospital. They found he had double pneumonia, blood poison in the blood tubes, and some other troubles. Mamma stayed with the children till March, and Ruth stayed at the hospital with Ash. So you see there would have been no one to have looked after things at home if I had taught that winter. After losing one leg, Ash has been able to teach for the last ten years.

I was sure glad to see Mamma when she got home in March. I didn’t have so much to do, but it was lonely to be by myself for seven months. It was fine to have her back.

Cleveland School, 1939-40: One of the board members told me in the spring of 1939 that he intended for me to have the Cleveland School. Ed Davis got up a petition for me (I knew nothing about it), and every one in the district signed it. When Ed took the petition, they asked him if the teacher they had wasn’t all right. He said he was not complaining about their teacher but that they wanted me. Harris replied, “You had just as well understand that you won’t get him. Ed looked at Harris and said, “We will too, and you can’t help it.” I got the school, and Harris couldn’t help it,though he tried.

Stories About Mountain People

I think it will be well to tell two or three stories so everyone will get a better idea of these mountain people. These stories I take from Stories of the Elk (a number of stories written by Bill Byrne, who once had been prosecuting attorney of Braxton).

Victim of a Scam: Bill Byrne and Jake Fisher and several others (among whom was Squirley Bill Carpenter, who was noted as a hunter and fisher and as a teller of tall tales) were going down to Clay Court House. As there was a circus in town, they had to visit it before they could go. There was a doctor there, a fine fellow who lived out in the country; a man came to him and told him they made the best gate in the world and they wanted someone to handle it in Braxton. He said he had been told that the doctor was just the man they wanted and that the doctor would not have to do any selling. They would ship the gates to him; people would come and get them and pay him; and he would keep half and send them the other half. But to show his good faith, he must make a deposit of $25, which he did.

A little later he got worried and tried to find the man, but he couldn’t. Then he yelled for Byrne and wanted him to arrest the man. Byrne wanted to know where the man was and who he was, but the doctor didn’t know. So Byrne told him he couldn’t do anything about it. The doctor just raved, things were in a fine shape when an honest man could be cheated and nothing be done about it. A crowd had gathered and a boy called out, “Doctor, it ain’t a lawyer you need; it’s a guardeen.” The doctor looked at the boy a moment and then said, “Bub, I expect you are right.” That settled the whole thing.

A Big Fish Tale: They went down the river in a boat, and on the way Byrne gigged a very large Jack Pike. It began to rain as they came to an old mill, so they ran under it to get out of the rain. They began to brag on the pike. Squirley said, “I saw a lot bigger one. One day I was coming down the river just as we did today, and a rain came up just as it did today. I ran under here as we did today, and I looked down and there was a pike in the spillway. It was so long it couldn’t turn around. I ran and got my gig and gigged it. It was six feet long; I’ll swear to it on a stack of Bibles this high,” and he raised up on his toes and lifted up his arms and tipped into the spillway. The men all jumped down to help him out, but his son Squack never made a move to help. When the men got him out, nearly drowned, Squack looked at him and said, “Dad, if that fish had been one inch longer, you would have drowned in spite of Hell.”

Monk Dillon: Monk Dillon owned 200 acres on Bug Ridge, of which our farm was a part. He had a brother about 70 years old who stayed in Sutton during the summer and tended gardens and worked in livery barns or anything an old man could do. Then he would go up on Bug Ridge to his brother Monk’s, who always had corn bread, hominy, and sow belly (his neighbors said the meat didn’t all come from his own hogs). It seemed Monk rode his brother pretty hard. One winter it seemed he rode him harder than usual, but he couldn’t drive him from his corn pone and sow belly.

The next spring the old man saw Monk on the street talking to two men, so he went over to see if he could get even for the way he had been treated. Just as he got there, he heard Monk say, “I’ll leave it to you men, if being an honorable man I could do that.” This was the brother’s chance, and he said, “Honorable man, hell! Didn’t you shoot Mint Squire’s big gat sow?” The answer was, “What if I did? Didn’t you hep cad her in?”

Now Squire had lost a big sow (all hogs ran out in the woods), and he was going to have Monk indicted for stealing his hog. Monk paid for it to save himself from the law.

Monk had 10 or 12 children. The girls would run and hide when anyone came, even when they were grown. Monk raised lots of wheat. At threshing time the workers had to go inside the house and up some steps to put the wheat in a box in the loft. As a neighbor went in with a load of wheat, one of the girls took up the stairs; of course, the man followed her. Now the upper floor was laid with loose boards. As she ran across the floor, she stepped on a board that didn’t reach the joist. It tipped up; she went down right into the flour barrel. The flour rose right up and settled all over her.

The man was not immoral, but unmoral. A preacher told me that Monk said, when he was 80 years old, that he had never heard a sermon preached. So the preacher held meeting where Monk was and preached so he could say he had heard one sermon. It hardly seems possible anyone could be so ignorant in the last forty years.

Elmo and Madeline Married in 1937

In 1937 Elmo and Madeline were married and spent their honeymoon in a 4-H camp in New York. Madeline came down and stayed a while with us that fall. One Sabbath we went up to see Ozenia Bee and her sister Maggie. This was a very nice trip. We also went to the Homecoming at Salem.

My Final Years of Teaching

Back at Poplar Ridge, 1939-41: The winter of 1939-40 I taught on Poplar Ridge. This was quite a different school from what it was when I taught there in the 1920s. Then I had 59; this time I had 26. When I first taught there, they knew nothing about real study, and most of them would not talk and had no interest in going to high school. Now they were nearly all planning to go to high school; in fact, nearly half of them did go to high school. I feel that I had much to do with this happy condition. But there are still too many who will pick up things which belong to someone else. Still, I think many have changed about that.

Teachers Get Tenure: This winter the legislature passed the Tenure of Office Bill. Teachers no longer had to be appointed every year. This meant I had a school for some years to come, but I could retire at 65 (I was 67 then) and receive a pension. Retirement was optional with us until 1945, when a new law passed that a teacher must retire at 65 unless the State Board of Education agreed to his continuing.

Second Year at Poplar Ridge: The second winter I had trouble to get a place to stay. I tried to get a house of Dave Hosey. But his boy (Skip) would not move out till the last of October. So I boarded at Dave’s till the first of December. The boy did not move out, and Dave charged too much. Ed Davis was fixing a small building for me to live in till Skip moved out (I had arranged with Ed to move over there when Skip moved out). Dave found out about it and told me Ed could keep me till he got the house fixed. This proved very satisfactory, for the house was large enough and very comfortable. Ed’s were all very nice to me. In fact, it was one of the best winters that I boarded away from home. Dave was mad at me for four or five years, but one day I met him in Sutton and he came reaching out his hand to shake hands and was as friendly as ever. I was glad of this; Dave and I had been close friends, and I just don’t like to have folks mad at me.

Brady told me in the early fall that one of the board members said he intended to see I got the Bug Ridge School. I told him I didn’t want it, for I was sure it would not be pleasant. In February Brady told me again that the same member said he intended to see I got the school. By this time I had got tired of getting up by 6 a.m. and walking six miles through a foot of snow of a Monday to school and having Mamma stay by herself and do all the feeding five days a week.

This was my last winter at Poplar Ridge. These last two years, there were six eighth grade diplomas; in the six years I was there, there were 14 diplomas received. When you consider that in the 60 years before I went to Poplar Ridge there had been no diplomas and then in 6 years there were 24, I feel pretty good. The fact is that the school had been doing so poorly and the house was such a disgrace that the parents and children (though they did not know it) were ready for someone to come and teach a real school; I arrived at the opportune time. When I went up there to get votes for Brady, some of them said to me, “Of course we will vote for Brady for the work you did for our children.” All things work together for good, etc.

Mamma went to Alfred and stayed at Elmo’s for two months when Dan was born in July, 1941. I did very little while she was gone, for my ankles were hurting me badly and she told me to do nothing but the chores. The rest seemed to help me lots.

Bug Ridge School, 1941-45: In 1941 I had a large school. I had a good-sized eighth grade class to graduate this year. Among these were Thelma Combs, Gay Ellison, and a Stewart girl. There may have been others, but I don’t remember them. The Stewart girl started to school her first year at Upper Wolf and years later got her diploma at Bug Ridge. We had a fine school this winter with very little trouble.

At Christmas time we had a program. It was not extra good as we could not get the children to learn their parts well. I have always thought a good program was very valuable. In some schools I think it is of untold value. I think our programs at Poplar Ridge were of more value than several months of school. This was because the children were so timid and not willing to talk. They sure got over it before I left.

It was this winter that we got into World War II. They asked the teachers to get help and do the rationing. I got three women (Mamma and two others) to help, and we put in two days. Later we had to do a second job. The second year they asked for milkweed balls and scrap iron. We did fairly well with the weed, but we got a very fine lot of iron. In the fall of 1942 the government asked all schools to collect as much scrap iron as possible. The superintendent told all teachers to spend three days with their scholars and get all the scrap they could find. We got several tons-in fact, we were among the best in the county. We took an interest in everything the government asked us to do.

Each of the four years I taught at Bug Ridge, I had a class to graduate. The first year there were three, all girls – a Combs girl, a Stewart girl, and an Ellison girl. The third year Zeno Watts graduated. The last year I had two – Iolene Combs and the Ellison boy. Bob Combs took Iolene and me down [to the graduation ceremony]. I had not intended to go, but he asked me to go as a favor; of course, I went.

Two or three of my “friends” got sore and tried to get up a petition to get me out. When they talked to some of the others, they said I could teach their children and they were satisfied. This put a stop to the racket.

I told the superintendent that I was willing to teach to the end of the war as teachers were so scarce; he said they would like for me to do that. I told the children in the fall of 1944 if the war closed that year that I would resign at the end of the term. I decided early in 1945 that the war would end that year. Then I told Olta I was resigning so she had best look after her interests, and I wrote a letter resigning and told the children I had resigned. Olta went right down and got the school for the next winter. I was very glad of that. Although there were two or three that got out with me, I think everyone was my friend when I left. At least they have all been very friendly when we went back.

Pine Grove Church: I do not know the exact date (but about 1850) they called Ezekiel Bee (a minister of some ability but not ordained) to move to Berea and preach for them. He accepted the call provided they gave him a farm. There were two farms offered him (which shows the religious zeal of these people). He accepted the one then owned by Preston Zinn, which included all the land on which Berea now stands. I have never heard where the other farm was. He continued to preach here until old age made it impossible. He died in Berea about 1892 at 93 years of age.

This church was called “Pine Grove Church.” It was Seventh Day Baptist, but it never was accepted into the Seventh Day Baptist Denomination as the leaders-that is the Bees and Merediths in particular-had some very peculiar notions. For example, they would not wear clothing of cotton and wool or any other mixed material. Women would not wear artificials on their hats, nor ruffles on their skirts. If a boy who did not belong to the church took a girl home, she was to mention joining the church the first night. If he did not agree to join the church the second time, she was to fire him.

Besides this, they believed that the elders should manage all the temporal as well as the spiritual affairs of the church. For example, when a cow grew old, they would say to its owner, “You had best sell that cow.” The elders were to be absolute dictators (I don’t think they ever got it to work). Women were to have absolutely no say in anything; in fact, they were not to speak in meeting. If they wanted to know anything, let them ask their husbands at home (which I am afraid would never have made them very wise).

I don’t think they ever got this to work in the church, but it cost them some new members. In about 1865 Perie and Callie went to church intending to join the church one Sabbath. Perie overheard one of the elders ask the others if they should mention artificials, ruffles, etc. The others said, “No, wait till these young folks have joined, and then we will mention that.” The girls did not join.

The Ritchie Church: There were several Seventh Day Baptists who did not belong to Pine Grove and did not like their beliefs and practices but wanted to belong to the Seventh Day Baptists. So about 1870 to 1875 they organized the Ritchie Church and built a church on Otter Slide. Some of the early members were Jake Ehret and wife, William Jett and wife, E. J. Maxson and wife, Leve Stalnaker and wife, Father and Mother, Perie and Callie, some of the Kelleys and probably some others.

Adventists in Berea: Soon after the Ritchie Church was built (about 1879) an Adventist preacher by the name of Sanborn came to the Pine Grove Church and held a meeting for about six weeks. Before he left, they organized an Advent Church. They built a church in Berea the next summer. The principal members were the Merediths, the Lowthers, Charley Bee and wife and a few others. This left the Pine Grove Church so weak that they decided to unite with the Ritchie church provided we would hold meetings month about in the Pine Grove and Ritchie churches. Several of the members did not join the Ritchie church, so about a year later Marcus Martin (a Seventh Day Baptist minister of little ability) decided to revive the old church. So he filed a key to fit it and called a meeting and started the church again. It did not last long till they asked the Ritchie church to take it over, but all meetings were held in the Ritchie church except some union meetings.

The Advents continued to grow very slowly, but always trying to tear the Ritchie church down (especially every time we had a good revival) until the early summer of 1892, when a preacher by the name of Babcock came to Berea and preached for several weeks. He was a very glib talker, very well coached in the Advent doctrine but not an educated man.

The Advents told wonderful stories about him; one I will narrate. As a young man he was working on his father’s saw mill (which was running at full speed) when he accidentally fell into the saw. He grabbed the teeth and stopped it instantly. It cut off his thumb and cut his hip, but his great strength saved him. Elder Seager heard just how it happened. Babcock’s father had an edging which had the high tenser off so that the saw was merely turning over when he fell into it and cut himself. I am telling this so that you will know the faith they had in the man.

This was the first meeting, outside of our own meetings, I had ever attended to amount to anything. I would generally go three or four nights a week. One night the preacher told us that he would prove by the Bible the next night that the “Old Dragon” was pagan Rome and that the “Seven Horned Beast” was Rome after she became Christian- so I went to hear him. He soon began to prove his point by reading from Revelations. “The Red Dragon that old deceiver which is the Devil.” “Oh,” he said, “I read too far.” I have never had any use for the Advents since then.

This revival caused the Advents to decide to have their Camp Meeting there that summer. We had a new pastor by the name of Brown. Elder Hoffman (a man of great ability and greatly hated by the Advents) preached on Sabbath morning. He preached a very strong sermon against the Advent religion. He told them he had planned to stay at Berea for over a week but that he would have to leave Sunday. The Advents said he was afraid of them because their ministers would be there at the end of the week. After preaching that night he told them he heard they said he was afraid of then. He then said, “There is but one thing I am afraid of, and that is the Devil, and I don’t suppose he will be there.” He went on to say that he could come back at the end of the week and debate the issue for one day or a week with any of them or all of them (Sister White thrown in) if they would give him equal time, but at the end of that time he would have to go to Nebraska. They said no; but after he went West, they said they would debate.

I will now tell a little joke about their trip over from Pennsboro. Mr. Kildow (one of our members) had a fine team, and they hired him to haul some of their tents and fixtures over. When they got there, they found more people than they expected; so they asked Kildow if he would be willing to bring a load of people instead of tents. He said he would just as soon haul livestock as anything else. They talked about one of their preachers (Stone) who had gone to Virginia and went to keeping a saloon. They kept saying they didn’t see how he could, seeing the end was so near. Kildow got very tired, so when a little shower came up (it was in July and very hot and dry), one of the men said he hoped it was raining on his corn. Kildow replied, “I don’t see what difference it makes seeing the end is so near.” The man got so mad he got out and walked for a mile or two. This is 58 years ago, and I fear the man’s corn got rather dry if it hasn’t rained yet.

They had great crowds and took several of our members-our Pastor Brown, Dolph Bee and family, Ida Bee and some others. They bragged that they had destroyed the Ritchie church and that they would soon all join the Advent church. Uncle Nelson Bee told Ellsworth that they said he and Sarah would soon join them. Ellsworth replied, “Yes, they took a good plan to get us. They took our flour up there and thought we would follow.” (Someone took a batch of flour during the meeting.) I attended the meeting enough till I could preach most of their sermons as well as they could; in fact, when you have heard four or five, you have heard them all. One night the preachers said that everyone of the wicked were burned up except the Devil, and that he was to be punished forever and ever, day and night (which means he was to be burned up in a day and night). This kind of foolishness does not appeal to me.

The next summer many of the Advents sold out and went down to Newark, where they had started a school from where they went out to sell Advent books. They soon ran through with their money. They were taught that they should not eat but little. They were so nearly starved that when fever broke out the doctors said there was nothing to build on, so they died. Several families with mothers gone came back to Berea. Joe Bee’s wife, Davis Meredith’s wife, and Foggin’s wife died, and several children. Some of these had lost everything they had; and Joe Bee was badly crippled, lost his home and had two small children to raise. This greatly reduced the Berea church, and they never were so strong again.

More About the Ritchie Church: The fall after the Camp Meeting, Elder Seager held a meeting at the Ritchie church. This was in October, 1892. The meeting lasted for a month, and there were about 75 conversions. A large number of us young folks joined the church at this time, and it was much stronger than it had been for years. So the prophecy that it was dead was proved totally false, as often happens.

Many of the Sunday people in the neighborhood were troubled about the Ritchie church. They said it had been the center of religious thought; all the children for miles around had made a profession there; and it had done enough already so that it should live for years for what it had already done.

One winter our pastor (Riley Davis) and the pastor of the U. B. church (Rev. Steele) held a union meeting in the Pine Grove church. After two weeks, as there seemed to be but little interest and Pastor Steele had to go to another church to preach over the end of the week, they decided that Riley should hold the meeting Sabbath and Sunday night. There was quite a stir these two nights so that the meeting went on for two or three weeks longer. Many were converted, and it looked as if both churches would be greatly strengthened.

Seventh Day Baptists and Adventists Debate: I have often noticed after every great revival, Satan makes a very great effort to destroy the work done. So it was again. The Advents had been bringing in one of their ministers as soon as a revival ended to destroy the work that had been done. This time they brought in a man who was very abusive. One of our ministers, Elder McClarin (who was a very highly educated Scotchman), had written a pamphlet exposing many of their beliefs. He was hated by them like a snake. So Westworth (that was the Adventist’s name) told in his sermon that the pamphlet was like bad soap, more lye than grease. Later in the same sermon he said that McClarin was a “liar, rascal or fool!” and that they all knew he wasn’t the latter.

Our people had grown tired of this abuse, so Ellsworth and our pastor wrote to the Missionary Board to send McClarin down (he was in Rhode Island), and we would pay his way back. When he came, they sent for the Advent preacher to come over to Riley’s. There McClarin told him to go into the pulpit and show wherein he had lied and he would apologize publicly. This he refused to do, but in turn challenged McClarin to debate the thing in difference with the Bible as the only authority. This was to keep McClarin from bringing Mother White into it, as he had been president of their college in Battle Creek and learned all about her. This debate was intended to prevent McClarin from making a reply to their charges on the pamphlet as McClarin had told them that he had to go back on Monday and the debate was to be Sabbath night, Sunday and Sunday night.

The first subject was the “Sleep of the Soul.” McClarin had the first speech. When it came Westworth’s turn (he was the Advent speaker), he made fun of the soul and said, “How does God poke a soul into a child? Does He have a lot of souls made and stored up in heaven, or does He make a new soul every time a child is born? If He does, He is a partner in the crime every time an illegitimate child is born.” By the time the evening debate was done, there were a great many people (even the Sunday people) saying it was a disgrace and that Westworth ought to be egged.

People say many things without thinking, which they should not. In the evening debate Westworth accused McClarin of having been expelled from the college. McClarin said he would show them the next day how he was expelled. Westworth became more abusive, and McClarin called for order. Mart Powell, who was chosen by both sides as chairman, said he was out of order. But Cobb, the Advent moderator, jumped up and said, “My brother has not had a fair chance, and I intend to see he talks.” I was sitting in the back of the house by the side of a fighter who jumped up and started for the pulpit with me at his heels. Everybody jumped up and started for the pulpit with fire in their eyes. Just as a free-for-all was ready to start, Westworth said, “I’ll be moderate.” So everybody sat down.

The next day Westworth and Cobb came to hear McClarin speak on the pamphlet and what had happened while he was president. Some said the Advent preachers would call McClarin a liar while he was speaking. I said, “If one of them calls him a liar, I’ll knock him down.” Ellsworth said, “You must not do that.” But I replied, “I will anyway.” So they decided that Ellsworth, as moderator of the church, should take charge of the meeting. He told them that any appeal from his ruling would go to the Ritchie church, so they said nothing. They sat right in front facing the pulpit. Ellsworth said they made faces, stuck out their tongues and did everything they could to insult him. I told Ellsworth I would not have stood for it, but he said it did not seem to bother McClarin any so he let them go.

McClarin told that when the Advent leaders found he would not accept Mother White, they cut his salary so he had overdrawn his full salary already. A couple months later he met one of the leaders on the street and this man said to him, “How are you getting along without any money?” He replied, “That’s my business,” for he said, “I know when I’m insulted.” They made no effort to pay him, so he notified them Friday if they did not pay him his full salary before sunset that evening he would sue them. Before sunset he had his pay. He then showed us a paper over a yard long with over a hundred names of those who had come to his place as a surprise party and had given him $25 in gold to show their appreciation for the splendid work he did in the school. When he finished showing this, he said, “That’s a pretty nice way to be expelled, isn’t it?”

An Egging: The Advents proposed to answer McClarin that night. As I said before, some people (Sunday as well as Seventh days) had said they ought to be egged. So some boys (both Seventh day and Sunday boys) hid on a bank and egged them. Of course, this was all wrong, but I blame the grown folks more than the boys. Two men ran them down, caught them down on their farm (the Advents). They refused to let the boys go, and a fight occurred. Mounty Bee (an Advent) struck Hayse Bee (one of the eggers) on the head with a fence rail and knocked him out (in fact, he has never gotten entirely over it). He knocked Cnood Ehret down, and he lay there (afraid he would get hurt, I think). That only left one of the eggers, Roy Bee. He seemed to think they were going to kill him, so he slipped an old pocket knife out of his pocket and began to cut them down to his size. The noise of the combat brought reinforcements to the Advents from Berea, but Roy proceeded to cut them up, too. The boys finally got away and went home. Two other boys who were with the eggers got scared and ran before the egging began.

The Advents had the eggers indicted, but they found one of them would get a trip to the pen for hitting Hayse Bee with a fence rail and swearing he intended to kill him and wished he had. So they compromised it and made the sentences light.

Some good came of it, for the Advents said they wanted us to let them alone and they would let us alone. They have kept their word fairly well, for which we are truly thankful. Their church had been going down ever since the exodus to Newark soon after the camp meeting in 1892, which I have already told about. After this trouble they began to die rapidly. They have had no meetings for many years, and the church house is torn down.

Father and Mother: You can see from the above incident that Father was very set in his views. I will give a few more incidents about Father. Father and Mother were very much opposed to Emza’s marrying A. W. Coon for several reasons-she was not strong (in fact, she had T. B. and only lived about two more years); they considered him an old crank (he was about 70 years old) and not fit to marry anyone, much less an invalid. After they were married, Emza wrote; but her letter was never answered.

One other story will suffice to give a good picture of Father, except for his work in church and charity, which I will also mention. Perie spent a couple months at home the fall after she was married. They went to church meeting on Friday night and a good “Sister” got up and delivered a eulogy on Father. She told how honest he was, how truthful he was, how charitable he was. In fact, with one little change he would be just about perfect-if he just wouldn’t be quite so harsh in some of his statements. She thought she had put the “cleaner” on Father. When she sat down, Father got up and this is what he said, “I wish I could say as much for some other members of the church as has been said about me.” That evening at supper, Perie told Father that he should not have said that. Father’s reply was, “I know when I am insulted.”

I will also tell one story about the way Father paid on the church when they were building it. They were having trouble to raise the money to finish it, so Father offered to pay one-third if the rest of the church would pay the rest of the cost. This was subscribed but not all paid, so he had to help pay the rest. Someone reported Father had built the church and was going to use it for a hay barn, so you see that you can’t please some people.

Mother was every bit as liberal as Father and maybe a little more interested in the church and the church work than he.

About 70 years ago, Father was on a deal for a farm (known as the “farm with the brick house”) near the Seventh Day Baptist Church on Green Brier. Father had been out there; when he came back, he told Mother that they were trying to raise a salary for a preacher and got pledges for $13.75. Mother said, “You don’t need to buy, for I won’t go there.” The church is now dead.

Father and Mother were an ideal couple, for I have heard them each say that they never had a cross word (and I never heard them, either). There are not many couples like that!

Mother’s Sister, Rhoda: Mother had another sister, Rhoda, whom I have not mentioned so far. She had rickets when she was a child and was not strong mentally. She stayed at Grandfather’s (Doctor John) until I was about eight years old. Then it was reported that an old widower by the name of Tolls was planning to marry her for her money (he was past 70 and had very little himself), as she had about $1,000 that her father had left her. Mother and Uncle Elisha felt Tolls would use up her money and leave her with nothing to live on and no one to care for her but Mother and Uncle Elisha. So Uncle Elisha went out and got her and brought her to our place, where she stayed until some time after Mother’s death (about 8 or 10 years). Then Uncle Elisha took her to his place and kept her till she died, for which he got what she had (he surely earned every cent of it), which was a small thing for 15 years (or maybe 20 years) of care. She had a good home and good care; I am thankful.

One little incident happened while Aunt Rhoda stayed at our place. One Friday evening a spring wagon stopped at our place, and Toll and Uncle Joel came in. We knew at once that they were after Aunt Rhoda, so Ellsworth went after Uncle E. J. to come in and help prepare the strategy by which they hoped to win. It looked as if Father planned to take Aunt Rhoda in the buggy, but just before he got in the buggy (Aunt Rhoda was already in), Father told Uncle Elisha to get in the buggy and drive Aunt as he had forgotten to ask Mr. Tolls to go to church with us. So we all went to church. When we got there, the buggy was not there; and they saw nothing more of Aunt Rhoda. This was hard luck for Uncle Joel, for he was to have had $50 for the trip if he could have delivered her to Salem as planned.

Now what had happened was that Uncle Elisha had crossed the Deep Ford and gone up the river over to Pullman and on to Dan May’s (whose wife was Mother’s cousin) and left her there until the coast was clear. When they asked Elisha about her, he told them the last he saw of her, she was going West. They thought we had sent her to Uncle Nathan’s, who lived in Ohio. Toll tried to hire someone to slip her out and take her to Salem, but failed. So ends this beautiful romance in failure.

Some Stories About Alva: My brother, Alva, was by far the greatest squirrel and crow hunter of us, as he was a great shot with a rifle and had lots of patience to wait for game. He did not hunt rabbits or night hunt as he would rather read than to be out at night. One day he was down below the corn field when he ran into some young animals that he thought were young wild cats. He began to shoot; when he thought he heard the old cat, he began to yell for help. He got all three-they were young coons. One of them he got alive. These were the first coons (I was about 10 at this time) that I ever saw.

Some years later Alva was in a big woods back of our home farm when he saw a wild cat behind a tree. He could not see its head nor shoulders, so he shot where he could see. He was afraid to move for fear it would run, and he only had a rifle. When he shot, it fell over and scratched and screamed. He was afraid to go near it until he got the gun loaded; by then it had left. He followed it by the blood to a big fence. Every little bit he would see where it had fallen off the fence and had trouble to get back on the fence. He tracked it to a den but could not get it. Later it was found dead near the den. It had come out of the den to die.

It was rather difficult to get Alva to do chores about the house, so the girls would sometimes offer him special things to get him to do some of the things they wanted done. One day when Father had butchered a sheep, they offered to make some meat dumplings for some work they wanted done. Now Alva was very fond of meat, so he did the work. They made a nice batch of dumplings, but when Alva cut into one, he surely was sore and said, “There isn’t a bit of meat in them.”

I remember one more thing that I think I shall tell. All our clothes-pants, shirts, and under-clothing-were made at home. One night our hired girl (Tanie Hammond) gave Alva a new pair of pants which she had just finished for him and told him she would guarantee they would hold him. But she didn’t know what a test they would get. He got up and put his new pants on and hurried out. A little later he came out with a long face and said, “I put on my new pants and just filled them full! Isn’t that a shame?” I think so.

An Incident when Callie was Courted: I will now turn to some other members of this populous family. In the winter of 1881, Father and Mother went to Salem on a visit. While they were gone, Callie’s boyfriend (John Meathrell) came to see her and brought a black Indian pony, which he gave to her. Ellsworth didn’t like Callie’s sending for John to come see her when Father and Mother were away. So when he went upstairs to bed, he, instead, watched them to tease Callie. He soon grew tired of this and finally went to bed. Just as he went to sleep, Virgil jumped out of bed and said that he heard the shop door open. (Now, the shop door made a noise every time it opened by grating on the floor.) Virgil grabbed his pants, rushed out and called the dogs, with Ellsworth at his heels. But there was nothing wrong at the shop. When they got back, John was mad; he thought it was a joke on him until he found that it was Virgil who had heard it. He feared someone was trying to steal his horses. They went to the stable, but there was nothing wrong; so it left everything a mystery. Ellsworth always said it was an easy thing to settle-it was just that John kissed Callie. I expect that he was right! Anyone can see why John and Ellsworth never got along well. They never could have gotten along anyway.

Ellsworth and Steele Brake: I will now tell a little story about a school experience that Ellsworth had at Berea while Perie was teaching there. Steele Brake was about Ellsworth’s age and size. He made a business of getting Ellsworth down and beating him up very often. Ellsworth feared to resist; for Perie would not give one of us a fair deal. She feared people would accuse her of being partial. But Ellsworth grew very tired of being submissive.

So one day when Steele had him down flat of his back and pounding him just as he wanted to, he just reached up with his right hand (he was left handed) and pushed him up and poured his left fist into the pit of his stomach until Steele howled like a whipped hound pup. As soon as he could got loose, he ran to the house to tell how he had been treated. Of course, Perie held court to see who the criminal might be. The children all said that Ellsworth was no rougher than Steele had been. But Steele said, “Ellsworth was mad, and I wasn’t.” “How do you know he was mad?” Perie asked. “I saw the tears way back in his head,” Steele replied. The whole school yelled, and even Perie smiled. This settled the case, and Ellsworth got sweet revenge on Steele for all his bullying and didn’t get a whipping either.

A few years later, after Steele had quit school, he met Ellsworth one night as he came home from school and told him he heard he had been talking about him and if he didn’t quit, he would tan his dog hide. Ellsworth just looked at him and said, “There is such a thing as a ‘bull hide,’ and it’s mighty hard to tan.” This settled the whole argument.

I had a little trouble with one of Steele’s younger brothers when I was a boy in school. He was quite a hand with the girls, and one day at noon three of them told him they would like to kiss me. “Why don’t you?” he asked them. “We’re afraid of him,” they replied. He told them he would hold me. I just got up, took off my coat and put it on the fence. Wirt, that was the boy’s name, raved but did nothing. We became fine friends later. One evening when I was in his store where I traded, he told this story. One of those there asked him why he didn’t hold me. He replied, “I was afraid he’d whip me.”

Mr. Wasp: The common wasp used to build its nest in all the outbuildings. One day I went into one of the sheds, and a wasp was sitting on the wall. I just pointed my finger at him and said, “I am going to kill you.” Just then Mr. Wasp rose up and lit on my nose and stung me. Oh! How it did hurt! My nose got big, and Delvia told what I said and everybody laughed at me. Right here I will insert a few quotations from the Bible which I think will apply:

Let he who thinks he standeth take heed lest he fall (1 Corinthians 10:12, KJV)
Pride goeth before a fall and a haughty spirit before destruction (Proverbs 16:18, KJV).

Such is life!

Jip and Sheep: When I was about 8 years old, Father bought a yellow “bone-legged beast” from Harrisville. We called him “Jip.” Now Jip was a good rabbit dog and not much good for anything else. We let our sheep and lambs run out in the road early in the spring before the grass started in the field, as the grass would start earlier along the river than in the fields. Jip would get and run the sheep. Ellsworth took care of the sheep and didn’t like to have them run.

One evening we were at the barn doing the chores when we heard the sheep coming (one of them had a bell) with Jip after them as hard as he could run. Ellsworth picked up a two-inch cube which had been sawed off an oak scantling. The sheep went by as hard as they could run with Jip after them, grunting every jump. As soon as the sheep passed, Ellsworth leaped out of the shed door where he had been hiding and let loose with that left hand. The block took Jip square to the side of the head and knocked him over the bank next to the river. He got up, yelling like a possessed one, and ran to the house like Satan was after him. That was one dog who was broken of sheep-chasing, for Jip never ran sheep again.

Alva and the Sheep: Ellsworth had always cared for the sheep; but when I was 12 years old, Father decided that Alva should care for them that spring and summer. When grass came, Alva turned the sheep out in a field we called “Poverty Point” (which was in the far end of the farm a half mile from home and adjoining a big woods). We had a part of this field in corn and beans, and Mother went up to see it. When she came back, she said she could carry all the corn and beans up there in her apron (and this wasn’t so far wrong), so we called it “Poverty Point.”

The first time Alva salted the sheep, which was about twice a week, he said one little lamb was missing. In about two weeks he reported nine more lambs missing (they would have weighed from 40 to 60 pounds each), and he couldn’t find them. On search, the nine were found near the woods, partly covered up with leaves. Their throats were out and they had been partly eaten above the necks. They seemingly had been killed one each night. The sheep were moved to another part of the farm, and no more lambs were bothered; but Alva never took care of the sheep again. His mind was too much on books.

About two years later a neighbor (Ves Parker) killed from 5 to 10 cats. (The cat that I told about Alva’s shooting was in the same woods.) So the lambs were revenged!

The next fall after the lambs were killed, Father gave Delvia and me charge of the sheep; and we never had any more killing.

Cora went to school in Stonefort and later at Milton College in Milton, Wisconsin.  She taught school in rural schools around Stonefort.  Cora was a deeply religious person.  She was an astute student of the Bible, and was believed to have been gifted with spiritual powers.

She met her husband, Milo Green, at a Seventh Day Baptist Church Conference.  He was a farmer, and they were both very active in church affairs.  Cora married Milo Green on March 14, 1914.

Cora and Milo

She died Jan 30, 1966 and is buried at Joyner Cemetery beside Milo.  They had no children.

He became a diligent student of the Bible and soon manifested preaching ability.  This was soon noted by his brethren, and he was ordained to the ministry on the Cedar Creek Missionary Baptist Church in 1852.  He was also a farmer, schoolteacher and surveyor.  He taught in Reagan School, a log school which had previously been used by his father Samuel.  It is believed to be the first school taught in Johnson County, IL.  He taught 16 terms of school, and 1 term as County Superintendent.

During the early part of his ministry he farmed in summer, taught school in winter, and was pastor all the following churches: Cedar Creek, Mount Hopewell, Mt. Carmel, Spring Hill, Pleasant Valley Zion Hill, Tunnel Hill, Ozark and Corinth, serving all of them once a month.  He rode horseback to all of them.  He was full-time pastor of the Corinth church at the time of his death.

On Sept 15, 1855, he was married to Nancy Murthy.  Eight children were born to this union:

• Frank Lewis – never married
• Robert Lewis – married Laura Tramwell, called “Pope County Robert”
• Mary Lewis – married a Rhea
• Martha Lewis – married Reuben Stone
• Lizzie Lewis – married Harvey Boyd
• Charles Lewis – married Liza Miller
• Susan Lewis – married Andrew Atterbury
• Adelia Lewis – married George Griffin

Paste map here

Since out ancestors lived in Wales for so long, I thought it would be interesting to learn more about the culture and history of Wales over the years they lived there.  This may give you new appreciation for some of the highlights that influenced our ancestors’ lives over the centuries.

Wales is a mountainous country that proved hard for invaders to conquer.  It is about 160 mi long and 80 miles wide – roughly the size of Massachusetts.

When the Celts of the Silure tribe arrived in Wales sometime between 2,000 BC and 400BC, they entered land that was occupied by an earlier generation of native peoples.

The next wave of new peoples to come to Wales were the Romans.  In May of 43 AD, 40 years after Christ’s crucifixion, 40,000 Romans sailed to Britain.  Around 75 AD the Roman Second Legion was garrisoned at a fortress in Caerlon , home of our Howell ancestors, whose coat-of-arms is one of the four on the coat of our emigrant ancestor John Lewis’s grave.

There were thirteen Roman campaigns to subdue Wales between 48 and 79 AD.  Grain, which was needed by the Romans to feed their forces, was scarce in Wales, so it was difficult for them to eat and fight the Welsh..  The Welsh fought with guerilla tactics.  The Romans built many hill forts scattered throughout Wales to protect themselves, and over 100 of them survive to this day.

By 300 AD Christianity had more followers than the Celtic religion in Britain.  In 400AD all religions but Christianity were banned in the Roman Empire.

Around 410 AD the Romans recalled their forces home, ending the Roman Empire and their domination of England.  After the Roman departure, Angles and Saxons, both Germanic tribes, invaded and conquered much of Britain.  These Germanic peoples planted small kingdoms in South East Britain.  The 200 years after Roman withdrawal were formative years for Briton and Wales, but the written records are scarce and not at all clear.  There were many myths and fantasies, especially in the years 400 – 600.  One of the greatest is Arthur, hero of the Britons in their battle against Anglo-Saxon invaders.

There are at least two historical records of Arthur, and a handful of allusions to him from that time.  A monk named Gildas wrote in his book De Excidio that in year of his birth (believed 496 AD) there was a battle victory at Mons Badonicus, attributed to Arthur.  From 490 – 555 the Saxon communities spread, and Arthur was a leader in fighting them.

Hundreds of years later Arthur was elevated to a great hero, tied to noble chivalry in his kingdom of Camelot and the knights of the round table.   It is reasonable to believe a man named Arthur did exist, he was a leader of Brythonic (tribal Celts, early Britain) people, won a battle in 496, and died or disappeared in 515 after the battle of Camlan.  The fame of Arthur is a mystery in the history of Wales, as is the location of Mons Badonicus.  Nennius, writing History of the Britons a thousand years ago, states Mons Badonicus was one of many victories.  This suggests Arthur led mobile cavalrymen across Britain, which would be consistent with the many Arthurian traditions across Britain.

Another person of this era was Caradawg Freichfras, (Caradawg Strong Arm or Caradawg Brawny Arm).  According to Arthurian legend, Caradawg Freichfras was one of the main knights of Arthur, and his horse was named Luagor (Host -Splitter).  He is said to have died in the battle of Cattreath  in 546 AD where 360 of Arthur’s knights fought and only three survived.  In A History of Wales, Davies says Caradawg Freichfras was ………  We’ll see in the next chapter how Caradawg Freichfras fits in our family tree.

Caradawg Freichfras was the great-great grandson of Brychan, his mother being a granddaughter of Brychan.  Caradawg Freichfras became ruler of Brychenoig (early Brecon) through the right of his mother.  Breconshire is the ancient name for a section of Wales similar to a county, today part of Powys??.  It is famous for mountains called the Beacons, and contains the Brecon Beacons National Park.  These are all named after Brychan.

By 550 there were secluded monasteries in Wales.  They later dominant parts of Wales, both spiritually and materially (they controlled up to 25% of the land in Wales at their height), and were (taken over by King Edward?? in 15xx).

Llans (enclosures) were built as consecrated enclosures to bury the dead.  Later churches were built within the enclosures, and they were called llan, followed by the name of the saint or patron the church was dedicated to.  By 1200, there were over 60 churches dedicated to St David (llandewi), Teilo was #2 with 25 churches (Llantilio).  Towns and villages often took their name from the local church, which is why there are so many towns in Wales whose names starts with Llan.  Some locations of interest to our family are Llanelli, home of our ancestors for centuries,  Llandewi Rhydderch, the home parish of Emigrant John’s first wife Johanne, and Llantilio Pertholey, the church where emigrant John and his children were baptized.

There was a great plague in 549, much like the more famous Black Plague in 1349/50.  It is estimated that each plague killed about a quarter of the population of Wales.  The high percentage of people who lived outside towns probably accounts for the relatively fewer deaths in Wales compared to other parts of Europe that were more urbanized.

Approximately 600 AD the Welsh language began being written down.

Wales was divided into many small kingdoms, with much fighting between them over the centuries.  The kingdoms of Wales began being united by marriage starting around 800.

In 789, Northmen (Vikings) ravaged the coast of England.  The pagan Northmen had no respect for religion and plundered monasteries close to the coast.  By 911 the Northmen (Normans) possessed a large part of Northern France.

Around 950, Wales was wholly rural, without any cities.  People had summer (highland) pasture called hafod where they lived in huts called hafety. In the winter, the lived in lowland houses called hendre.  Their agricultural economy centered around pasturing cattle.  In later years sheep were introduced by the monks.  Grains were grown in the lowlands by this time, but raising grain did not represent the majority of the agriculture.

There were no coins in 1050 – you paid your bills in cattle.

A man’s right to own land depended on his status.  The Welsh law had a basic division between free and unfree people.  Free people included two groups – King and his relations, and a gentleman of ancestry.   Some unfree people had rights protected by law.  Others, the slaves, had no rights.  By 1300, over 50% of males were free, which was a fairly recent phenomenon.

One interesting insight into Welsh culture was galanus (blood money).  It was a fine that had to be paid to kindred if a man was killed (or paid to the owner if the person killed was a slave).  Murder was considered an offense against the family of the deceased, not a crime to punished by the state.  The amount of the galanus depended on the status of the deceased, and his status was largely determined by his ancestry.   This was spelled out in the Welsh Law, with the useful purpose of soothing anger and preventing retaliation.  Galanus was set for a male, and calculated for females.  A daughter had half the galanus of her brother.  A wife had one third the galanus of her husband.  At this time, a woman could neither own land nor transfer land to her children.

Welsh law treated marriage as a contract, unlike the Catholic Church which treated it as a sacrament.  The Welsh Law had provisions for how to distribute property in the event of divorce.  Catholics regarded Welsh Law as the “Law of the Devil” because of the way it addressed divorce.

The Norman Invasion of England occurred in 1099.  On Oct 14, 1066, William of Normandy had victory at Hastings, defeating the English King.  The Normans then spread out, conquering more land across Britain.  By 1110 the Normans built many shore castles like the one they built at Chepstow in 1086.  We will see later the Chepstow Castle played an important role in our ancestor’s decision to emigrate to Virginia.

The book History of Kings of Britain was written in 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth, 2^nd Bishop of St Asaph.  About a third of the book is about “King” Arthur.  When historians checked the book against other documentation, it appears most of the book was developed from Geoffrey’s imagination.  His descriptions of King Arthur were vivid, and seem to be the basis for many of the legends about Arthur.

The various kingdoms in Wales were engaged on nearly ongoing hostility over the centuries.  There had been many Kings in Wales, but by around 1200 there were only two Princes, others were “Lords”

The monasteries proliferated from 1140 – 1202 under Norman patronage.  They were large estates, containing thousands of acres.  Monks introduced sheep, and the Welsh woolen industry was pioneered at Stone Abbey?? around year???  Monks copied and preserved Welsh literature, and wrote its history.  DUPLICATE

The Welsh people were looked down upon by the English as a crude, rough people.  In 1159, the Archbishop of Canterbury said these things about the Welsh – “Welsh are Christians in name only”, “They are barbarians”, “They are a wild people who cannot be tamed”.

John signs the Magna Carta in 1215

The years following 1225 were considered a high point in Welsh history.  They were the age of Llywelyn, where the importance and power of the prince and state increased.  The autonomy of the community and kinship group declined.  Murder was now an offense against the state, not against kindred.  Money was in circulation by this point.

In 1282/3 the Principality of Wales was defeated by the army of Edward I, King of England.  In 1283 Llywelyn was killed, and the Welsh were subjugated.  Edward built many castles to help control Wales, the most famous of which is at Caernarfron. These new castles formed an “Iron Ring” around Wales that Edward used to control the land.

The Welsh revolted in 1294, and Edward led a 35,000 man army to Wales.  The revolt came to end March 5, 1295, and  five days later 500 Welshmen were slaughtered in their sleep.

By 1300, about 10% of the population lived in towns.  Before 1300 there is little evidence of trading.  By 1250 slaves were long gone as a class.  There was a smaller group of taeogion (not slaves, but not freemen either).  Most of the population were free men, bonheldwyr.

167 – Burgess??  Measure of self-government – legal and economic

172 – Welshmen in Edward II’s army were dressed in Green and White – perhaps the first national uniform.  Welsh were reputed to be troublesome soldiers -tended to get drunk, pillage and vandalize, killed prisoners rather than offer them for ransom.

180 – In the generation after the conquest, the Bardic order fell into decay

Black Plague of 1347 – 1350.  Probably about a quarter of the inhabitants of Wales died 1349 – 1350.

Welsh Law had land shared among descendents.  In 1350 the English Law system was adopted, and the oldest son got the inheritance.  Wales went from a community of fairly poor small landowners to a community of a few wealthy estate owners and a large landless proletariat

Dragon Banner was Britain’s symbol of victory in 1401

1530 – 1770 the Welsh were members of Episcopalian Church.  Wales was incorporated into England in 1536

1530 – 1770 was an era of gentry – a privileged few

Articles of Faith 1536.  Monasteries across Wales and the rest of Britain were vandalized for their wealth.  By 1539, the King had seized all property of monasteries.  NAME of King

Feb 1539 – Act of Union, listed new counties in Wales.  Established the boundaries of Wales that exist to today.  Welsh penal code was abandoned, Law of England was only law that was recognized.  In the eyes of the law, the Welsh were English.

English was to be the only language in the courts of Wales.  Those using the Welsh language were not to receive public office.  Implicit was the need to create a Welsh ruling class fluent in English.  Welsh was allowed to be spoken in church services.

2543, Second Act of Union

The New Testament was printed in Welsh in 1567.  By 1588 the entire Bible was translated to Welsh, with an updated translation in 1620 that was used for centuries.

Puritanism crystallized in 1570.  It was stronger in England, almost wholly absent in Wales.  John Perry, the first Welsh dissenter, was hanged in 1593.

Allegiance of most Welsh to the Church of England was superficial.  In 1577 it was reported that some clergy were saying mass in secret, and conducting baptisms and funerals by the Catholic rite.  People made the sign of the cross, cherished holy wells.

Morgan, Herbert, Turbeville were “members of some of the most distinguished lineages in Wales”.  They were prepared to offer protection to the Catholic loyalists who dwelt on their estates.

By the late 1500s the bards (poets) were in decline as a measure of social status.  The wealthy had more desire for family seclusion, and used books for enlightenment vs. poets reciting in large halls with guests.  The ways of expressing gentility were through coat-of-arms, grandiose tombs and extravagant expenditures.

By 1610 wool was increasing in importance, as many as 100,000 people were employed converting fleece to cloth

Gentry lusted for land – it provided substantial and stable returns

For 200 years after 1097 there were fights between King and Normans, Lords and Welsh.  Marsher Lords were loyal to the King, had border holdings (both sides of current border), and provided a buffer between the King and Welsh

Wales is a land of castles.  Unlike continental Europe where castles were homes of Kings and Lords, the castles in Wales were primarily military in nature.  The Romans constructed large garrison forts as well as smaller hill forts.  The Normans built many forts in their conquest of Wales.  King Edward I built a ring of castles around Wales to dominate the country.

1070 – 1135 there were 20 towns established in Wales, 60 by 1300

The Patronymic naming system was used in Wales though the early 1600s, making it difficult to conduct genealogical research.  A son whose first name was Mark and whose father was Harry would have the name Mark ap Harry or simply Mark Harry.  Instead of a surname that identified a family over generations like we have now, their last name changed every generation.  A daughter Ann, son of Glenn, who marked Mark Harry would be named Ann verch Glenn before marriage and Ann Harry after marriage.  Rather a confusing system by today’s standards, don’t you think?  But to the Welsh of that time, it made perfect sense.

One constant in identifying lineage of gentlemen in Wales was the Coat-of-Arms.  It was passed from father to son to grandson.  Arms were only borne by gentlemen, and you could only be a gentleman by birth.  Only individuals bearing arms could own land.  The use of the arms was taken very seriously – it was a crime punishable by imprisonment to use a Coat-of-Arms that was not yours.  Arms passed from father to sons, although upon marrying an heiress (oldest daughter whose father had no sons who produced heirs) a husband could add his wife’s coat to his shield. Wales was a land of economic inequality – most wealth was owned by a small percentage of population – and our ancestors were in that small percentage of wealthy landowners.

“The structure of Welsh society from very early times was essentially aristocratic, and it remained so until the destruction by Henry VIII of the legal concept that buttressed it.  The Welsh theory was that no one could be a freeman, inherit property, enjoy privileges, or be received into the community, unless he could prove an agnatic ancestry for a certain number of generations.”  {Heraldry and the Herald (1982), Rodney Dennis, p. 66.}  From these excerpts it is possible to understand that “bloodlines” were of the utmost importance to Welshmen of this period.

The flag of Wales is a red dragon on a background of white and green.  The dragon has been associated with Wales and our family since the Dark Ages.

Ashby Bond Randolph

Bond graduated from Bristol High School in May 1944. He had begun his freshman year at Salem College before his 18th birthday, so he got a deferment from military service until he completed that year of college.

Bond was drafted into the U.S. Army in July of 1945, and he married Ruby Oldaker on December 24, 1945, on his first leave from the service. He was sent overseas to Germany; then returned and was discharged in January of 1947. Ruby continued her previous employment at the Weston Glass Plant until April of 1947, when Bond obtained his first job.

Bond’s first job was as a truck driver on a strip mining coal operation in Weston at $1 an hour; he then became oiler on a shovel for the same company at $1.20 an hour. He became a bulldozer operator in August of 1949 and earned $1.70 an hour. By this time, they had three sons and Bond’s work was not always steady; but Ruby did not work outside the home.

In August of 1950 Ruby asked Bond to return to college on the GI Bill so they could have a better future for their family. He did return to college and graduated from Salem College on May 29, 1952.

With a college degree he found work as a janitor for the Hope Natural Gas Company at $7.49 per day. He did not enjoy this inside work and quit the company in March of 1953. He sold hospital insurance for a company for about three -months, and one policy he sold was to the son of a superintendent for the Hope Natural Gas Company. The superintendent was so impressed with Bond that he offered him a position with the company again as a field worker. Bond accepted and he worked as a casual laborer for the company until December 1954, when he was hired as a regular employee. He was promoted to Utility A classification in April of 1957 and chosen as a Trainee in Safety on May 1, 1958.

Bond became a Safety Engineer November 1, 1958, and was promoted to Safety Director for the company on July 1, 1960. From this time his work was in the administrative offices in Clarksburg, W.Va. The company merged with another company and became known a s Consolidated Gas Supply Corporation; and Bond was named Manager of Safety on March 1, 1965, the position he still holds today. The company recently reorganized and is now known as Consolidated Gas Transmission Corporation.

Bond and Ruby have four sons. Because he has always worked long hours and frequently been away from home, he did not want Ruby to work outside the home. She has been a life-long homemaker, a position she has always enjoyed. She likes to call herself a “Domestic Engineer.” She has done quite a bit of volunteer work; at one time she worked one day per week as a volunteer at the local Veterans Administration Hospital for a period of five years.

Xenia Lee Randolph Wheeler

Xenia Lee graduated from Bristol High School in 1945. She and Edgar were married that summer. Edgar graduated from Salem College in 1947. They, with their new daughter, Annita Marie, spent the summer in Florida working with Pastor Elizabeth Randolph holding two-week Bible Schools and evangelistic meetings in Palatka, Carraway, and Florahome, Florida. That fall the family moved to Plainfield, N.J., where Edgar got his college debts paid off by working as linotype operator at the Seventh Day Baptist Publishing House.

In April of 1948 Edgar began his first full-time pastorate at the Seventh Day Baptist Church in Hammond, La., while he attended seminary at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Edgar has served churches in Louisiana; Athens and Paint Rock, Alabama; DeRuyter, New York; Salemville, Pa.; Ashaway, R.I.; Denver, Col.; and Nortonville, Kans.

Xenia Lee enjoyed being homemaker, wife, mother, and grandmother, supplementing Edgar’s income at home as she typed, sewed, or babysat.

Alois Edmund Randolph

Alois graduated from Bristol High School in 1947. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, 1951-1953. He was in the 4th Signal Battalion of the 10th Corps and served in Korea.

After his discharge from the Army, Louie attended Salem College three years. Then he went to Columbus, Ohio, where he worked first at Lattimer-Stevens (a factory -making gauges) and then at Buckeye Steel. Then he worked at Westinghouse for 14 years, 12 of those as foreman. While he was still working at Westinghouse, he worked during vacations and other times driving truck and moving furniture. Since he quit at Westinghouse, he has been driving trucks and doing some office work for Harvey Pugh Trucking Company.

Louie married Mary Ann Young soon after he went to Columbus, and they have lived in that area since then. They lived two years in Columbus, four years in Shadeville, and for the past 23 years in Grove City. They have two daughters and three sons.

Elsie Mae Randolph Lewis Bottoms

Mae graduated from Bristol High School in 1948 and from Salem College with a degree in Secretarial Education in May 1951. That spring she married Harry Vernon Lewis, who was a freshman at Salem. Harry had spent four years in the Navy in World War II and had driven truck across country for one year before he came to college.

After Mae graduated, she and Harry moved to Carbondale, Illinois. Harry graduated from Southern Illinois University with a Bachelors in Elementary Education and a Masters in Education Administration. While he was in school, Mae worked a year as secretary in the Government Department at SIU. Harry taught junior high at Edwardsville, was principal and taught eighth grade at Percy, was principal of the Greenup Elementary School for four years, and then was principal of Cumberland High School one year when he died suddenly in April 1961.

After Harry died, Mae completed a Masters degree in Business Education at Southern Illinois University. She taught for two years at Johnston City High School in Illinois. In 1965 she moved to Almond, N.Y., and has taught in the Executive Secretarial Department at SUNY Agricultural and Technical College at Alfred for the past 19 years. For five years she was chairperson of the Executive Secretarial Dept., from 1974-1979.

In 1979, Mae married George Daniel Bottoms. He had just retired from a career in park work in the Chicago area. He had been superintendent of engineering for the DuPage County Forest Preserve. As such, he had done much work in the development of park grounds and facilities.

George and Mae bought a home with 4 1/2 acres at Phillips Creek, N.Y. (about six miles from Alfred). Here George has spent many hours growing beautiful flowers and marvelous vegetables, making improvements in their home and grounds, and fishing.

Edna Ruth Randolph Richards

Edna Ruth graduated from Bristol High School in 1950 and attended Salem College for two years. At the end of her sophomore year, she married Donald Richards, who graduated from Salem that year. He was in ministerial training, and they moved to Alfred, N.Y., where he attended Alfred Univ. School of Theology and graduated in 1955.

Don (with Edna Ruth as a helpmate) has served pastorates in Berea, W.Va.; Dodge Center, Minn.; Verona, N.Y.; and Marlboro, N.J. While they were in Verona, Edna Ruth cared for two mentally handicapped children who were placed by the State–Tina and Kathy. They had to leave these children when they left New York State, but Edna Ruth did not leave her interest in helping children with special needs.

Soon after they moved to New Jersey, Edna Ruth began working at Evanoff Guidance Center, where she worked with retarded children in preschool. She completed her degree in special education at Glassboro State College in 1976. Soon after completing her degree, she began working for the Shiloh School District, teaching special educa

tion for older children. She also was certified as a family trainer and worked with the families as well as the children. About Christmas time, 1978, when she went to the hospital for gallbladder surgery, she found that she had cancer in the liver. After trying various treatments unsuccessfully, Edna Ruth died at her home on January 2, 1980.

Rex Main Randolph

Rex graduated from Bristol High School in 1952. He attended Salem College one semester; then he married a neighbor girl, Phyllis McClain, the following spring. They have lived within a mile of both his and her parents most of the time since their marriage. In 1959 Rex built a new home on property between the McClains and Dad and Mom Randolph. Phyllis cared for her parents during their last years when they were not well. Both she and Rex have also done much to look after the needs of Mom and Dad Randolph over the years.

Rex has worked at several jobs in the Clarksburg area. He worked for Montana Lumber Company (making pallets) for one year. In 1954 he began work at Pittsburgh Plate. He worked in the tank department in shipping for three years, as a clerk for two years, and then in the machine shop. Pittsburgh Plate changed its name to TPG Industries and closed its Clarksburg branch in 1974. Rex was offered the opportunity to move with the company, but he declined. After 20 years with the company, Rex had lost all benefits and was out of work.

Since that time, Rex has worked as layout man for General Machines in Clarksburg. Phyllis has worked at various times caring for sick people in their homes.

Rex and Phyllis are both active in the Lost Creek Seventh Day Baptist Church, where Rex is a Deacon.

Cleo Elizabeth Randolph Boyd

Beth graduated from Bristol High School in 1956. She attended Salem College for two years. The following summer was spent in service to the S.D.B. Women’s Board, working in Bible Schools and camps. On Aug. 4, 1958, she married Joe Boyd, and they set up housekeeping in Salemville, Pa.

Joe drove tractor trailer truck for a little while and then went to help his dad on the farm. When his dad quit farming, he went back to driving truck. A back injury caused a change in occupation again. This time he went to work as custodian at a local grade school.

During this time Beth came to the conclusion it was time she get into the money-making act if they were to successfully raise four children. Since her children were top priority in her life, she decided to get into the school system as teacher aide. From there, she began taking college courses and substituting in the grade schools.

Finally, in 1973 she went back to Salem College and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. She has been teaching in the Northern Bedford County Schools ever since, except for a year and a half, which was spent with their new baby and caring for her while her hip was being rebuilt.

Joe tired of being a custodian in just a few years and went back to driving an 18-wheeler. He has worked for Smith Trucking in Roaring Spring now since 1972.

Beth and Joe are both members of the diaconate of the Bell Seventh Day Baptist Church at Salemville, Pennsylvania.

Before I could retire, I had to furnish proof that I was born and when and where. It was a difficult job to prove those things. I finally got statements from Salem College officials of their age records and Mother and Father’s Family Bible and other school records that allowed the Ritchie County Clerk to issue me a birth certificate as Ashby F. Randolph. Apparently, the death of my older brother, Harold, on the day I was born had caused Dr. Bee to forget to register my birth.

The getting of Social Security payments took a number of visits to their office in Clarksburg. It must have taken them six months to a year to get my payments straightened out. I got some extra checks but only had to give back one check. I do not remember the exact amount of the first check, but in January 1972 my Social Security check was $155.00 and my school retirement check was $306.34. Ruth got Social Security of $69.20 and no retirement for cooking. If she outlives me, as long as she lives she will get one-half of what my teacher’s retirement would be. Now, January 1982, my Social Security is $381.50, my school retirement is $416.06, and Ruth’s Social Security is $177.20.

Living on Retirement Income

You might wonder how we could live on our income. There are reasons and I will mention some. We own our home. We get 200,000 cubic feet of natural gas per year free because of a gas well on the original farm for this house site. We have only used more than the 200,000 cubic feet three times in our 53 years here. Two of the bills were under $3, and the other was over $11.

Another reason we can live on our income is because Ruth learned from her mother and my mother what they had learned from necessity about cooking and managing a household economically. Besides, she has learned a lot on her own.

You may have noticed earlier in this story that we kept pigs (one or two), two cows, and chickens. Before I was handicapped, we raised grain and meadow to feed our stock. It wouldn’t look it now, but we raised 2 1/2 acres of such things as corn, wheat, or soybeans; and I always either cradled or cut it with a scythe. Besides that 2 1/2 acres, we raised corn and Sudan grass on a 2-acre piece at the very head of our hollow. Then, of course, there was the 3 acre meadow in front of our house that I put up with horses or tractors.

After I was handicapped, Ruth tried to keep cows and take care of the hill meadow. She stacked one of the most beautiful haystacks on the hill that I ever saw. The cows were a pain in the neck (would be one way to say it). One of them (the beautiful Jersey that one of our very best neighbors, Bill Jarvis, gave us while I was sick) kicked so fiercely that Ruth had to tie her hind feet together before she could milk her; so we got rid of her. The other one got hurt. After much raising her up each day, she fell into the creek; so I shot her.

Ruth didn’t stop helping by a long shot. She has always raised two gardens of about one acre together. It is one of the best gardens in our region. She not only raises the garden, but she cans and freezes all that we can use and gives away the rest. We used to hire the gardens plowed and disked, but now she even does that with her Troy Built rototiller.

You might wonder what I do to keep out of mischief. I can’t stand to just watch Ruth work, so I try to help her all I can. I use my tractor to furrow the rows ready for planting; and I haul in her garden crops, water, fertilizer, lime, etc., with the tractor trailer. I also mow a good acre of yard, but Ruth does the real hard work–the trimming. I also do some leather craft such as handbags, billfolds, and belts. I have done some for pay (realizing about $2 per hour) but most for love for relatives and friends.

Visiting and Fishing in Rhode Island

This is enough about making a living during retirement. Now, maybe you would like to know of our pleasure–or you might call it recreation.

Our recreation mostly consists of visiting, fishing, playing cards and Aggravation, and watching television. The visiting and fishing usually go together.

We visited our daughter and son-in-law, Xenia Lee and Edgar Wheeler, in Ashaway, Rhode Island, for about a month in November 1966. Besides visiting their family, we visited and fished with our Salem College schoolmate, Everett Harris. We also visited and fished with Elsie and Kenneth Leyton. Kenneth and Elsie lived on the beach and had one of the best fishing boats we ever fished from. The four of us caught about 30 flatfish, and they gave us all they caught.

Each of the other days that the weather was the least bit fit, Ruth and I fished for flatfish at a salt pond of about 50 acres where Edgar kept his boat. We would go for about 3 or 4 hours and sometimes catch about 20 flatfish–sometimes 2 or 3.

November 21, 1966, Esther, our granddaughter (a really grand one), was born. We went back to their place when our grandson Ernie (and a really grand one he was) was born on February 1, 1968. Our fishing and visiting was about the same as when Esther was born.

Traveling through New York City.

Our trips through New York City were a real experience for us. On the first one we followed Route 1 from the Washington Bridge to Route 95 on the east side of the city. I remember going underground quite a way once. Another time I was blocked by heavy traffic from following our Route 1, and an obliging policeman helped us. We thought we could do anything after we survived that experience.

Before we went the next time, Joe Boyd, our son-in-law, told us how to go around New York City by the Saw Mill Road. We followed it a few years; then we started going by the Hudson River Parkway and the Merritt Parkway to I-95. That was beautiful scenery. On the far side of the Hudson were the steep Palisades, and on the river were boats and ships of all kinds. The Merritt Parkway was lined with forests, flowers, and rocks.

The last time we went that way, they played a trick on us. Beth was with Ruth and me, or we might not have made it. They had been directing us to the Hudson River Parkway until we got across the George Washington Bridge; then we could find no more signs saying we were on or how to get onto the Hudson River Parkway. Finally I stopped and tried to get Beth to get directions from people in another car that had stopped. But Beth noticed that the driver and probably his wife were having an argument about the same trouble. So we went on until we came to a pay station, where the collector told us that we weren’t lost; they had changed the name to Deegan Upstate Highway, and the Merritt was just a little way ahead.

Once after that we missed the way onto the Deegan Upstate and thought we would find it again, but we got lost at a dead-end road to a big estate. After wandering through all kinds of places (some of them scary-looking), we found a telephone crew working. The crew leader walked to show us how to get on a highway that led us onto the George Washington Bridge. After that, we always followed the Garden State to the Tappan Zee Bridge to the Merritt Parkway to I-95.

Fishing in Florida

The trip to Orson’s in 1970. In 1970 we decided to try our luck fishing and visiting in Florida. Ruth’s sister Susie Williams had been fishing with us often. She seemed to enjoy it so much that we asked her to go along. She was glad to go. A cousin, Lotta Bond, had retired; so we asked her to go along (which she was glad to do). The trip went fine until we got to Daytona Beach. We went by Cleveland, Tennessee, where ,my sister, Avis Swiger, lived. We stayed over night with Avis, Archie (her husband), and their family. What a visit we had before retiring. Archie and Susie especially kept us laughing so much that my sides were sore and I could hardly get to sleep.

About 9 p.m. we got into Daytona Beach and began hunting for 110 Azalia Drive, Holly Hill (which is a suburb of Daytona Beach). That was where Ruth’s brother Orson lived, and we were to stay at his place. We must have gone through Holly Hill three or four times, each time stopping at a different place near the corner of Mason and Ridgewood to get directions. Finally, after Ruth and Susie got hysteria, a man at a newsstand told us that Azalia Drive didn’t enter Mason Street but we would have to go back of the bowling alley, where we would find Gardenia Street, which would lead us to Azalia Drive. So, about 11 p.m., we found Gardenia; and Orson was there watching for us. All were happy at last.

Orson was living by himself, so we had a great time helping him celebrate his 80th birthday on March 7. We also fished off some of the bridges. Once we went on a large boat up the Halifax River; Orson and I both caught a few nice sea trout.

A trip to Ian’s in 1973.

In January of 1973, we went to Ruth’s brother Ian’s-who-had retired from being a medical doctor in Chicago and built a home in Ormond Beach, Florida. We were so glad that we easily located his home at 386 Military Boulevard. Orson and Ian were outside the house watching for us.

The house and the whole place were a dream retirement place. Pearl and Ian had planned the house the way they wanted it–spacious and handy kitchen with both a bar and a table for eating (so you could take your choice), a large sitting room with a cozy fireplace, and three bedrooms and two baths. Back of the house and yard was an orchard and garden (which Orson had helped plan) with a strawberry patch and different citrus fruits. We sampled them, and they were delicious.

We mostly went to a pier to fish. When Ian could, he went with us. I remember once he was with us when I was especially glad. I caught a blue, and the darned thing grabbed me between the thumb and the front finger with its sharp teeth. The more I tried to get it loose, the tighter it clamped down. Ian noticed my trouble and pried its jaws open with a doctor’s instrument that he carried.

Once Ian went with us on an ocean-fishing trip. Ruth caught about as many as we did, but she put in a lot of time on a couch in the cabin because of sea sickness.

After five weeks of fishing five days each week, going to the Daytona Seventh Day Baptist Church each Sabbath, and visiting on Sundays with such people as Mary and Kenneth Hulin and Kay and Lillian Bee or going sight-seeing with Ian, Pearl (Ian’s wife), and Orson, we packed our fish that were left and joyfully went home.

We kept up our trips to Florida each year until this year (1981-1982). We are staying home to write this life history. It is not easy.

Fish We Caught in Florida–and Where

I have been thinking that you might be interested in the kinds of fish and the amounts of them we caught in Florida. Maybe you would like to know where we caught them.

One of the most common kinds of fish caught off the piers of Florida is the whiting. We caught many of them. One day we caught 58–and most of them were between two and three pounds of extremely delicious meat. Many think they are the best-tasting salt-water fish. There were two older ladies from Ohio who caught two five-gallon buckets full–about twice as many as we did–that same day.

Another special day on this Ormond-By-The-Sea Pier, the blues were hitting on Sea Hawk plugs; Ruth and I caught 42 of them. They hit savagely about every cast. If one got off, another would strike–usually before you could get the bait in to the pier. One time Ruth thought she had a monster, but she landed two of them on one plug at one cast.

Fishing trip to Lake Okeechobee. Ian only fished with us two years in Florida because he died during an operation to repair a blood vessel that was in danger of bursting. The last year he fished with us, we had a special experience. Ian, Pearl, Ruth, and I went to Lake Okeechobee to try to catch bass over 20 inches long. (I had been trying for years to do that. I had caught some between 19 and 20 inches but none over 19 3/4 inches.)

We got adjoining rooms in a hotel at Clewston and arrived Sunday afternoon. We (Ian and I) hired for Monday a guide who we thought could get us the fish we wanted. Sunday afternoon we fished from the bank and caught a few bass. That night we played Rook until bedtime.

Monday morning finally came. Our guide outfitted us with three dozen six-inch shiners, and away we went in his power boat. At noon we had two channel cats about 20 inches that Ian caught, and I had one bass 21 inches. The girls had come back from sightseeing and shopping and had our dinners ready for us. We ate it in the park, and right back on the lake we went. I got two more 21-inchers, and Ian got one 18 inches. He had one on that jumped before it got under the boat and broke off (probably on the anchor rope). It seemed larger than any of mine. What a memorable trip!

Fish on the St. John’s River.

The first year Ian fished with us (the same year he saved my hand from that bluefish), we went crappie fishing on the St. John’s River. We paid $30 for that day and caught 14 crappies, each about 15 inches long. (The guide for the Okeechobee day cost us $50 besides the bait.)

Flagler Beach, Fall 1980.

The last year we went to Florida we stayed at a motel (Topaz Motel) at Flagler Beach instead of staying at Ormond Beach with Pearl. This Flagler Beach Pier was more economical. We paid $15 for fishing rights for the seven weeks (we had to pay $3 per day at Ormond Beach).

On the pier we filleted the fish and kept them on ice until we got them to the motel, where we put them in the deep freeze. Every other week we would take them to Pearl’s big freezer.

The number and kinds of fish we caught.

During the seven or eight weeks we usually-stayed in Florida, we would accumulate about 400 fish. The last year that we stayed with Pearl, we put 417 fish in her freezer. We didn’t bring them all back with us; we gave some to Pearl and other special friends (like Mary and Kenneth Hulin, Rev. Kenneth Van Horn, and Rev. Leon Maltby).

Some of the kinds of fish we caught besides blues and whiting were Spanish mackerel, jacks, drums, sheepheads, and sea trout. Others we caught and did not keep were hammerhead sharks, sand sharks, shovelnose sharks, occasionally a stingray, and many catfish.

Card Games and Other Recreation

For breaks, we play Aggravation and Rook. In playing Aggravation, we never aggravate each other unless there is no other possible move. When we play Rook, we use a dummy–we help each other keep Dummy from setting us. Also, we pass some time by watching television. There aren’t many programs we can stomach. The horror, supernatural, and crime stories are not for us. We do like news, Gun Smoke, Chips, and Little House on the Prarie, etc.

Sometimes we have mighty welcome company–all the company we get are extremely welcome!

I expect Rex, Phyllis, Bond and Ruby come most often. Others who come fairly often are Chris Boyd and her friend Laurel Sue Smith. Chris is a senior at Salem College this year (1982). Neighborhood children come to fish or sell something. All are very much appreciated.

I think these things will get us through this winter (1981-82) until we can catch trout–then go West to visit our in-laws and fish with as many as will go with us (especially our grandchildren and great grandchildren). Then back home to our garden, yard, and West Virginia turtle- and fish-catching.

{Note (inserted by Mae as this is typed in 1984.) Mom and Dad were not able to make the trip west in the spring of 1982 because Mom had hip-replacement surgery in April. She got along marvelously, and by July she was working in her garden again. The doctor said he had never had a patient improve faster than Mom did after this type of surgery.}

Bird Watching

I left out one of our most important winter entertainments. We feed the birds grain and suet in plain sight of our kitchen and TV room. Maybe you would like to know some of these entertaining friends that eat the food we put out in our grain feeder and the onion sacks with suet.

There are always downy woodpeckers, titmice, chickadees, and nuthatches at the suet. Sometimes hairy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers, and a carolina wren will eat at the suet.

More different kinds of birds eat at our grain feeder. I expect cardinals and slate-colored juncos are the most common ones. Sometimes blue jays, morning doves, red-bellied woodpeckers, song sparrows, tree sparrows, white-throated sparrows, vesper sparrows, and (about once a year) evening grossbeaks and purple finches visit our feed box. Also occasionally a fox squirrel or a ruffled grouse will visit us.

This fall one ruffled grouse came in our TV room at a north window and left by a south one. We were eating when we heard the crash. When we looked, there was glass all over the TV room, and just outside lay a grouse (which was delicious as a grouse pie).

Ruth’s Memories — A Fishing Trip to New Jersey

We took sister Susie with us to New Jersey. Her son James lived in Bridgeton, and Edna Ruth’s lived some six miles away across the road from the Marlboro Church. James was a “craft” teacher. At that time one of his former students owned a small boat. He agreed to take us fishing on the bay. James said he had a toilet on the boat so we did not need to worry about that.

Going out, the waves were quite choppy, reminding me of a short-loping horse. I thoroughly enjoyed that, for short-loping a horse was a childhood game I loved. The wind did not let up. By the time we got out a mile or so, the waves were tossing the boat about enough to make Susie and me both sick. He anchored the boat, and we tried to fish. Part of the boat had a flat bottom. The front end (where the toilet was located) was a foot or so lower than the rest of the floor. Ashby sat on the floor near the middle to help keep it balanced. I would fish a little while, then have to lean over the side to “york.” I had to take my teeth out first, for I did not want to lose them. Ashby hung onto my coattail so I would not fall overboard. I finally caught a two-foot shark.

Susie was sick, but she did not “york.” She did need to go to the restroom. The door was so low one had to almost crawl to get in. There was not room enough to turn around, so she had to crawl out and then back in. After all that, we decided to go back to shore since we could not catch fish anyway. They were preparing to send a boat out to search for us. I was fine as soon as I got on land, but Susie was sick in bed the rest of the day.

Our Last Trip to Florida, October 1983

I must tell about our last trip to Florida in 1983. Right now we do not think we will go alone again.

It took 1 1/2 days to get to Flagler Beach. We had an efficiency apartment for six weeks. We got there about noon, got the key to the apartment, unloaded the car, ate a bite, then got our permits to fish from the pier for three months for $15, and went fishing. Fish were not plentiful, but we caught enough for supper. Then we had to go 17 miles to Aunt Pearl’s to pick up a cart and some ocean-fishing equipment we had left there. On the way back we stopped and bought a supply of groceries. It was getting dark when we got back to our apartment, tired but happy.

I took a load of groceries in, unlocked the door and put the things on the table (including the keys) and went back for another load. The window had been left open; and while I was gone, a big puff of wind blew the door shut and it locked. There we were–in a strange place, knowing no one, and tired as fox hounds–locked out of our house. We both wished we were back home.

We decided to go to the pier. A restaurant was connected to it; we thought maybe they would know where the lady lived who rented the apartment to us. They were busy waiting on customers, so I waited what seemed a long time before anyone came to help me.

I noticed three men sitting at a table visiting after a late sandwich. I told the lady the predicament we were in, but she had no idea how to help us. Just then two of the men got up and came over to us. one of them said, “Did I hear you say you were locked out of your car?” I said, “Mr, it is worse than that! We are locked out of our house.” He said, “I am a locksmith, and this fellow with me works for the city. His job is unlocking doors.” The Good Lord was in control!

Our apartment.

I must tell you about our apartment. The living room, dining room, and kitchen were one big room. The refrigerator had a big freezing compartment, so we had room to take care of our fish. There was a TV, a nice couch, two comfortable chairs, dining table, stove, and nice cabinets–real cozy. There was a narrow hallway with two closets. The bedroom had a bed and chest of drawers, with just room for me to go between the foot of the bed and the chest. Daddy had to sit on the bed and scoot to the foot and get up again to go to the bathroom.

The bathroom must have been about six by six feet. The shower took up about three square feet. It was impossible to get a shower without getting your head wet. When Dad took a shower, he had to sit on a chair, then onto the floor and scoot in. When he got in, there was not enough room to get his foot in since his knee could not bend that much. I had to wash his foot.

We really enjoyed our stay there. We made a lot of new friends on the pier. One little old lady watched for us. She would always come and push the wheelchair. She had a home there and also one in Jacksonville. We missed her when she left.

Caring for the fish.

When we had the freezer about full of fish, we lined a cooler with four thicknesses of newspaper dipped in water, then put the packages of fish in as close as possible, covered them with more wet newspaper, and put the lid on. We wrapped the cooler in more wet paper and put it all in a plastic bag. We took it to Aunt Pearl’s where we could put the whole thing in her freezer and have it ready to take home. By the way, when we got back home, the paper in the cooler still had ice in it.

Maybe I should tell you that we cleaned the fish on the pier. We filleted them to save space and put them in a plastic bag in the cooler. When we got home, we washed them, put them in a large flat pan with paper towels in the bottom and on top to get them as dry as possible. Then we wrapped six pieces in a plastic strip, then in aluminum foil, and put them in the freezer.

A Trip -to North Carolina with Rex and Phyllis

We had a wonderful trip with Rex and Phyllis to Holden’s Beach Pier in North Carolina in May 1984 for a week. Fish were not too plentiful. One day we did get 28 blues, but we had a bad storm that night. The ocean was too rough to do any good fishing the next day or two. We did have some fish to bring home with us.

Conclusion

Just before Christmas ’83 Dad’s knee gave away with him after walking from the kitchen to the TV and almost back to the couch. He managed to fall on the couch, but he must have gotten his fingers caught in his crutches. Besides cracking the bone between his little finger and wrist on his right hand, all his fingers were bruised and swollen. It was weeks before he could use his crutches at all. He could manage with a little help to get from the wheelchair to the bed or into the rocking chair.

It is now July, and he still cannot walk alone with his crutches, and he can only walk a short distance with help. I can manage to help him to his tractor or to the car, into the boat and out again, when I have to. Usually some kind soul is glad to give us help.

We have two good-size gardens and a lot of mowing to do. Dad does the mowing except the hillsides–so what do we have to complain about?

Right now (July 3, 1984) we have Ed, Xenia Lee, George, and Mae with us. We are expecting Walt and Ruth and family this evening, Verne and Betsy De and girls in the morning, Beth and Betsy Jo on Thursday, David and Chris Friday evening, Mark before morning, Joe Sabbath a.m., and all of Alois’ family by noon Sabbath. We love every minute. Ann, boys, and Gary will get in sometime Sabbath. We will enjoy it all and look forward to having other members of the family whenever they can come. WE LOVE YOU ALL!!

You can surely see that we have had an interesting life with our friends, work, and recreation.

A little girl was the eighth child to join the Lee and Lenora Bond home (August 10, 1899). Ada, Orville, Orson, Lydia (Morrow was deceased), Susie, and Ian were there to greet her. Ian being the smallest was somewhat overlooked, but his turn finally came. He said, “Mama, I want to see that little cucumber.” She was named Ruth Content. They later said she should have been named Ruth Confidget since she never seemed to be still.

Early Childhood and Church — Description of a Home Place

My early memories are of a two-story house, two large rooms downstairs and two upstairs with a hallway between. A kitchen and dining room with a storage room were on the back side of the house with a shed-type roof. My father and mother started housekeeping in the two rooms and added on as the family grew.

Also close by was a shop with one large room and a smaller one. A buggy shed was attached to it. A corn crib left ample space to drive between it and the shop. A chicken house was close by.

A barn stood on one little hill back of the house; and a stable for the horses, on another hill back of the house. A smokehouse stood in the yard close to the house. Besides being a place to smoke the meat, it also served as storage space. It had an attic, which made a lovely playhouse, too.

A dug well stood in the yard. A large level garden was close. On the far side of the garden was the pig house and lot. The privy was along the path to the pig pen.

A cherry tree stood close to the house and always held a swing. The limb that held the swing was well padded to protect the tree. No one knows the hours I spent in that swing.

The road ran in front of our house. A rail fence paralleled the road. That made a good place to let trees grow. Some large white oaks grew along that fence, making an easy way to get to the limbs to climb into the tree. Ian must have taught me to climb, and I liked high places. I don’t remember this, but they say one day when Papa and Mama returned from Roanoke (one and one-half miles away), they found me in the very top of the white oak tree swinging in the branches. They were frightened but afraid of scaring me and making me fall. Papa finally said, “Ruth, don’t you think it is time to climb down?” I obligingly climbed down to safety.

Supplemental Income for My Parents

To supplement the meager income from the farm, Papa made brooms and Mama wove carpets and rugs. Most people around there grew broom corn and made carpet rags out of worn out clothing. Papa took pride in never having a broom come off the handle or unsewed. He did most of that work in the winter months. A Burnside stove kept the room nice and warm.

Mama used an old loom that one worked hard to weave five yards in a day. The time finally came when she got a “Fly Shuttle” loom. That was the time when children came in handy keeping the cylinders full of carpet rags. With that loom she wove 27 yards in one day and had other things to do part of the time. I don’t remember how much they got for their work, but it all helped out.

A Younger Brother

Main joined the family on Christmas Day after I was two years old. That made four boys and four girls. There were nine children in Mama’s family, and she had as many children as all the rest put together. I am glad–otherwise, six of us would not have been.

Spankings I Remember

We had a woodyard close to the shop, for we burned wood in the kitchen stove. There were lots of chips and soft ground there. One time Susie and Ian caught the turkey gobbler and decided to plow up some of the woodlot. They had him by the tail. Main had one wing, and I had the other. As he dug in, trying to get away, the chips really flew. We laughed so hard Papa, who was working in the shop, heard us and came to see what was going on. He did not think it was funny. As I remember, Susie and Ian got spanked; but Main and I were too small to know any better.

Don’t think I never got spanked or whipped. I had my share. One I well remember–I shot a bow and arrow one Sabbath p.m. up at Grandma’s with some of Uncle Everett’s children. Ian knew better, but I learned the hard way.

Sabbath Activities

Sabbaths were very special at our house. We got ready for them on Friday so no more work than necessary had to be done on Sabbath.

Uncle John Heavener was my first Sabbath School teacher. In the summer he would take us out under a shade tree by the church and tell us Bible stories and nature stories. He grew orchards of fruit trees. He compared a fruit tree growing up out in the pasture field where it had no care to a child growing up without going to church.

Uncle John Heavener was the song leader at church and Sabbath School. He loved music and loved to sing. Many Sabbath afternoons were spent at the church singing favorite songs and learning new ones. I have heard it said that Uncle John could not carry a tune when he was married to Papa’s eldest sister. He loved music, and she helped him to learn the notes and carry a tune. He made a good singing teacher. He bought the first organ in the community–also the first phonograph. Many Sabbath p.m.’s were spent there listening to him play records. He enjoyed it as much as we did.

Sometimes on Sabbath afternoons in the fall or spring the Heavener young folk and Bond young folk went for long walks over the hills. Usually we could find nuts that had survived the winter to eat. Or in the fall there was some kind of fruit. Chestnuts were a favorite, but a disease has killed them off. Sometimes we would find wild grapes and maybe swing on a grapevine.

Once a month, the first Sabbath, the preacher from Lost Creek came. He preached Sabbath morning and sometimes that evening, too. Our house was the first one he came to, so usually he stopped there. The first one I remember was H. C. Van Horn. I think Lost Creek was his first church.

Uncle John Bond lived about two miles from the church. They often came home with us for dinner on Sabbath. I loved to get him to tell about things that happened to him. His son Charlie and family used to come to our house a lot. Their older children were about the ages of Main and me, so we loved to have them come. Sometimes when Main and I were older, we would walk up there on Friday night and come to church with them on Sabbath.

Elementary School

I started to school after I was six years old. Russell Ramsey, Lela Heavener, Eston Bond, and I were all in the first grade and finished the eighth together. Brier Point was about one-half mile from home cross country but more than a mile by the road. Some of the fun times were ciphering matches, spelling matches, map matches, and question boxes. About once a year on Friday evening, we went to Roanoke or Conoe Run and had a spelling match and arithmetic match with them; and they came to our school. We won our share of the time–if not more.

At recess we played tag, base, drop the handkerchief, and baseball. We had a straight stick of wood for a bat, and the balls were made from the yarn of worn-out socks. The best balls had a little rubber ball in the center. These yarn balls had to be thoroughly sewed if they lasted any time. When the weather was bad, we would play hot hand, mumble peg, chop wood, and jacks.

4-H Projects

The last year I was in grade school, we had a district supervisor. He organized the first 4-H clubs in the county. Main and I were members. Main’s project was an acre of corn, I think; and mine was chickens. I think I “set” two or three hens on fifteen eggs each. They hatched very well; but after they were two or three weeks old, they got diarrhea. I lost all but seven of them. I did not know how I was going to tell the supervisor when he came to check on our projects. Main said, “Just tell him they got the trots.”

We were working Main’s patch of corn when the supervisor came. After greetings, he asked how my chickens were doing. I looked at Main, and he was looking at me. We both just giggled. I don’t think I ever did tell him what was wrong.

Recreation and Work on the Farm

The first day of May was a big day at our house. We could go barefooted for the first time that year. The first thing was foot races, Ian could always outrun me, but he liked a close race. So he let me get all the start he dared to make it close. Once in a while he made a mistake, and I won–not often. He did the same with a running jump and a broad jump. I could jump about as high as he could.

We did not play all the time. Papa took us with him to the corn fields, hay fields, and to cut the filth on the farm. His farm was the cleanest around. We had to do our work well. If one got a little behind, Papa would hoe a few hills in his row so we all kept close.

The summers at home were something special. We got up early and worked hard all day. I was usually helping with the farm work, whatever that might be. Supper was near five o’clock; and when the dishes were done, we were free for the evening. A large family had moved into the neighborhood, and all the young folk got together in the evenings and played folk games and sang until nine or ten O’clock. We kept the grass tramped down in their yard and ours, too. There must have been from twelve to eighteen of us.

Papa cut two apple trees out of the orchard close to the house to make room for a tennis court. We also had a croquet set. When there was a lesser number who got together, we played tennis or croquet. When cooler weather arrived, two or three nights a week Main and I got together with Harvey and Vesta Heavener and played Rook or Dominos. Most of the time they came to our house. No dull moments!

Picking Blackberries

Usually there were lots of blackberries to pick. We had to go to the neighbors to pick them since Papa would not let briers grow until much later. Usually it was the women folk who picked the berries, with help from the smaller children; the men had farm work to do. We would take the buggy, put a washing tub in the back, buckets for everyone to pick in, and larger buckets sometimes. The berries were canned or made into jelly or jam. Sometimes a twelve-gallon kettle of jam would be made outside. The best part was to pick a bucket full of the nicest berries we could find to eat with sugar and cream, along with bread and butter (a favorite meal with the family).

A Lost Ewe

Papa only had about fifty acres of land, so he often rented corn ground and pasture for his sheep and cattle. Someone had to take salt and look to see the animals were all right once each week. One summer we had the sheep about a mile from home. Main and I were sent to see that they were all right. One ewe was missing. We called and called, but she did not come. We went all over the hill looking for her and calling. I could hardly keep from crying, but I did not want Main to know it. Finally I glanced around at him, and there were tears in his eyes. We both sat down on a log and cried. That was the first time we had been sent to look after the sheep, and we had failed. I don’t think the ewe was ever found.

Raising Corn

Usually the corn ground was easy to work in. Papa believed in thoroughly preparing a seed bed. It was plowed, drug, and harrowed time after time until one could track a bird in it. There were lots of killdeer to make tracks as they hunted for worms and grubs.

Papa liked to let the corn ripen enough to shuck it on the stock. Then the fodder was cut and dropped in piles to be bound with a single stock of corn. About every twelve to twenty feet in the row four hills of corn were tied together by taking the opposite corners and tying them together with one of the ends. Then the bunches of fodder were placed around that and tied tightly with a stalk of fodder.

When the fodder shocks were well cured, it was hauled off the field and stacked around long poles secured in the ground. The bunches were stood up closely in a circle around the pole. When the circle got ten feet or so in diameter, a heavy twine was tied snugly around near the top. Then another row was placed on top of that (but not as big around). Usually the stacks were four or five tiers high when finished. Each one was tied at the top. That kept the fodder protected from rain and snow but made it easy to take out to feed the cows.

Later Papa bought a silo. Then the corn was cut after the grain was mature but before the stocks began to dry. With that process the corn had to be cut and dropped in neat piles so they could be loaded on a sled and hauled to the silo. There it was fed into a cutter that chopped it up and blew it into the silo.

Harvesting Corn with Uncle Lonnie

I remember one time we were short of help, and Papa got Uncle Lonnie to help cut the corn. He was very hard of hearing. He, Ada, and I were to cut and bunch the corn; Main was to haul it to the silo; and Papa took care of that end. We were cutting two rows each. I had the middle rows. When we got to the end of the rows, Ada was a few hills behind; and Uncle Lonnie twitted her about not keeping up. We had to walk back to the beginning of the rows so the bunches would be lying the same way to be easier to load. As we walked back, I said in a low voice to Ada, “We will fix him.” (Remember, he could hardly hear.)

When he was cutting in the row farthest from me, I was cutting in Ada’s row; and we were the first to get to the end. He just dropped his head and did not say a word as we walked back. The same thing happened again and again. Then he got to cutting a few hills at the end of his row so he could finish at the same time we did. At that rate we got so far ahead of Main hauling it in that Papa thought Uncle Lonnie could cut the corn, Ada could go to the house and help Mama, and I could work in the silo and keep it trampled and leveled. Some way it did not take too long until Main had caught up and I had to go back to cut corn.

A Surprise for Papa

Another time I well remember, Papa had gone to Orville’s to take care of his crop as he was in school at Morgantown at the time. We had a good size field of corn that Papa wanted shucked, cut, and hauled off the field so he could plant winter wheat. The moon was full, and not a cloud was in the sky. Main and I got up at 4 a.m. and went to the corn field. We raced to the end of the rows, shucking corn. Sometimes one won, and sometimes the other; but we raced every row. About six, we went to the house to eat breakfast and do the chores. Then we went back to the corn field and continued to race.

When the corn was shucked, we raced cutting it. He cut two rows, and I cut two. The fodder had to be piled in one row. He let me cut the right hand rows, and he had to reach across to put the fodder in one bunch. That gave me just enough advantage to make a tight race, and we raced until it was all cut. Then each of the bunches had to be tied. That was another tight race. Sometime along, we ate dinner and supper and did the chores again.

When we were ready to haul off the fodder, Ada drove the horses. Main would grab one bunch of fodder and I another one as we loaded it on the sled. The horses moved right along, and we kept up with them. Before dark came, we had it all off the field.

When Papa got home, he was as much surprised as we had hoped he would be. I remember that night I dreamed Ada got to running the horses and I got so tired trying to keep up that I just fell over on the sharp corn stubbles and thought that was the softest bed I was ever on.

Making Hay

The hay field was hot work, but no one seemed to -mind. We had a mowing machine pulled by two horses to cut the hay. Trimming had to be done with a hand scythe. The thick grass had to be turned with the fork and loosened up so it dried evenly. The hay was raked with a one-horse rake. Ada did that job when she was available.

The rows of raked hay had to be put into shocks. A long pole was “set”" in the ground on as level a place as could be found. Three fence rails were laid (one close to the pole and the others equal distance apart for rails to be laid crossways to make a foundation for the stack of hay.

The shocks were hauled to the stack by horse. My first job in the hay field was to ride the horse. A long heavy rope or a chain was fastened to the right trace. You rode the horse around the right side of the shock and backed it up to the shock, facing the haystack. Someone was there to hitch the shock. He would slip the rope under the edge of the shock to the back side, then put the rope on top of the hay along the back (stepping on the rope to firm it there), then slipping it under the hay on the other side, and securing it to the other trace. An expert could do that as fast as a horse could walk around the stack.

Usually it took two horses hauling the hay to the stack to keep up with the ones stacking–one on the stack tramping the hay and shaping the stack, the other pitching the hay up to him. The top of the stack had to be well tramped, and a rope of hay was wrapped tightly around the pole to prevent rain from soaking in. The loose hay was carefully raked from the top of the stack down so rain would run off.

I eventually learned to do all of the haying jobs.

Papering the House

Another time Ada and I were home alone. I don’t remember where Papa and Mama had gone. We decided to paper the hallway upstairs and down. She was a good paper hanger; I just helped out and did what I was told. We wanted to get that finished to surprise Papa and Mama. We worked so hard to get it all done that by evening we had both lost our appetites. So we decided to go to bed instead of fixing supper. That night I dreamed we had left the space under the steps. It was so real I had to look as soon as I got up–sure enough, it had not been papered.

Memories About My Mother’s Home

I was small when Grandma Rebecca passed on. I only remember seeing her one time. She was bedfast and asked me to bring her a drink of water. I went to the kitchen, and Aunt Antha gave me a glass of water. I very carefully carried it to Grandma. She called me her little woman. I was so proud.

I remember Grandpa visiting at our house some years later in the summer. Main was sitting on one knee; and I, on the other. He was a big man with a white beard. Some of the older ones had picked the strawberries growing on the hill. llama brought in a big bucketful of berries for Grandpa to see and eat what he wanted. Main and I joined right in and ate our fill, too. What an opportunity!

Grandpa had a big two-story white house with a big double porch on the front. A milk house was built over a good spring of water. That kept the milk and butter cold, besides supplying water for the house. He was a prosperous farmer and had a good apple orchard.

Uncle Tom, Aunt Bessie, Lotta, and Paul lived in Grandpa’s house after he was gone. I remember visits much better after they were there. The upstairs front porch made an ideal place to spread chestnuts out to dry. They were just right to eat on one visit. Also that same time Uncle Tom had a number of watermelons stored in a coal mine on the farm. (They dug their own coal.) No watermelon ever tasted better.

Perhaps on this same visit one evening we younger ones (Lotta, Paul, Ian, Main, and I) were playing in an upstairs room. Paul sat on the floor and challenged anyone to get him up. (He was a husky lad.) After Lotta and Ian had failed, I took my turn. I kissed him on the cheek, and he really came out of there. It was bad enough to be kissed, but it made him all the madder to realize that I had gotten him up. We laughed so hard that the older ones came to see what was going on.

It was a day’s journey from our home to Grandpa’s, although it was only about twenty miles. We liked the strip of road where the river was on one side and the railroad track on the other just as we were getting into Weston. Papa always whipped the horses to get through that strip as fast as possible. I liked to go fast! On the other side of Weston, a pipe carried water from a cold spring to welcome any thirsty traveler. We always stopped there. Grandpa lived on Hacker’s Creek, about 1 1/2 mile from Berlin. We always stopped to see Aunt Tamer Wolfe before we got to Grandpa’s.

Memories of Papa’s Home and Family

My paternal grandfather’s home was close to us since Papa built on his part of Grandpa’s farm. Papa was small when his mother died. Grandpa eventually married Eliza Crowell. They had Lillie, Everett, Jenny, and Lonnie.

My first memory is of Grandma, Aunt Jane ‘ (her sister), and Lonnie living in the home place. Uncle Everett, Aunt Darlie, Urcil, Oras, Eston, Novice, George, and Alta lived on the other side of Grandma from us. Uncle Sammie and Aunt Jane lived beyond Uncle Everett’s. The church was beside Uncle Sammie’s house.

On a branch road that went by Grandma’s house lived Uncle Mansfield Heavener. He was really a cousin to Papa (their mothers were sisters). His half brother, Uncle John, had married Papa’s oldest sister; and they lived at the head of the hollow. I only remember when Aunt Fronie kept house for Uncle John. One daughter lived in Clarksburg, and her oldest child was about my age.

Uncle Eddie lived on Indian Fork, maybe about fifteen miles from us. It was a treat to have them come or to go to their house. Papa had made his home with Uncle Eddie quite a bit of the time after their father died when Papa was thirteen. Uncle Eddie’s grandchildren were about my age and younger. The two families have always been especially close.

One time when we were something near 14 to 16, our parents let Main and me take a horse and buggy (also Beatrice and Walter Bond took a horse and buggy) and go to Uncle Eddie’s for the weekend. Since Beatrice and Walter had been there more than we had, Main rode with Beatrice and I rode with Walter so they could tell us who lived along the way. We felt real “grown up,” being permitted to go alone. We did not feel so big later in the evening.

Supper time came. Uncle Eddie had a long, drawn-out way of speaking; and when he was giving thanks, one of us (maybe me) got tickled and all of us giggled. We were all so ashamed of ourselves, but we just could not help it.

We spent most of the time at Uncle Eddie’s son Charles’ home since they had a girl and boy about our ages. We had a good weekend and did not disgrace ourselves any more.

My good friend, Pastor Harley Sutton of Little Genesee led the Worship Sabbath Eve in which I presented Statements of my Christian Experience and my Christian Beliefs. Following my statements, the Ordination Council “examined” me and voted to continue with my Ordination.

The following is my Statement of Christian Belief: (Each article was prefaced by reading that belief from the Statement of Belief of Seventh Day Baptists–to which I heartily subscribed.)

GOD – I believe we may discover and know God, and find Him sufficient for our every need, as we come to Him in honest faith and humble, thoughtful prayer. I am awed by the mystery and the majesty of God whose plans transcend all time and whose creation leaves man in wonder and amazement. I am impressed by the Law of God and I believe God uses His Law as a manifestation of his love to mankind.

JESUS CHRIST – I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He serves as the true example of God’s plan for all men. I believe the ruling principle of Christ’s life on earth was perfect love and that, as love never dies, Jesus can never die. I believe the power of God’s love, through Christ, is as strong for men today who will follow Christ, as it ever was. The complete sacrifice of self that Jesus made on the cross I believe is the supreme example that men of all time need for salvation.

THE HOLY SPIRIT – I believe that God has the power to enter into the life of men and that the continued presence of God with men is what we know as the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the all pervading presence and force which God in love uses to bring men unto Him. The Holy Spirit, I believe, becomes active in life as men seek after God and attempt to do His will.

THE BIBLE – I believe the Bible is our greatest reservoir of spiritual truth; that it contains the highest and the best that man has discovered in his search for truth; and that it witnesses to the capacity of man to grow in God’s grace to higher spiritual levels. The Bible, I believe, serves as no other book can to lead men into the way of eternal life and to show us the principles upon which true spirituality must be based. I believe we have yet to come into the full understanding and knowledge that God has for us in the Bible and that if man is to progress toward the good in any phase of his life it must be as he discovers and uses the principles of life that flow out of the Scriptures.

MAN – I believe that man, as the noblest creation of God, has unlimited capacity for growth toward the goodness of God. I believe that God has given man a free will, with the power of choice between good and bad in order that man may grow toward the perfect love of God. I believe that good has no virtue in itself except as man chooses it through the strength of his own will.

I believe that man may leave God out of his life, to his own destruction, but that God has the power and the desire to save every man through his infinite grace who will choose to know and serve Him.

SIN AND SALVATION – I believe that sin is any act or condition whereby we fall short of God’s purpose and goal for us. I believe that sin in all it forms is the result of man’s selfishness, and we are all so entangled in the snares of selfishness in every field of our existence that only through the unmerited favor and the forgiveness of God may we find salvation. I believe our salvation depends upon our confession of sinfulness and our active faith that love and truth can bring us into fellowship with God. I believe that God is interested in the soul and the salvation of every individual and that He has given His Son in sacrificial love upon the cross in order that men may catch the spirit of selflessness which alone can save us. Salvation, to me, is not a point at which I have arrived but a condition of life which I must constantly strive to achieve. I believe that as we come more and more into fellowship with God by revolting against all that is not high and true in our lives, and by seeking all that is good and strong and right we come into a knowledge and feeling of salvation. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, ever stands as the example we must follow as we seek salvation.

ETERNAL LIFE – I believe that God is infinite and that his love for man has no end in time. I believe that God’s final aim is to accomplish perfect and complete and universal fellowship of love with all men for all eternity. believe the Kingdom of God is with us in this life now in so far as we have caught the spirit of God as revealed in Christ. As truth and love can never die, so I believe that man, a he grows in fellowship with God, will have eternal life. I believe the physical body is the temple of the soul and that physical and spiritual union are necessary to our existence in this life; but I believe God has greater things in store for us than we have yet dreamed of.

THE CHURCH – I believe man finds strength and courage to face the problems of life as he shares that life with his fellow men. He finds peace and joy and happiness as he shares life with his fellow men and as he joins with others in the expression of his life. I believe the church is an organization, divine in its origin, yet using the corporate powers of men for the bringing of God’s Kingdom on earth. I believe the function of the church is to keep before all men the way of life that Jesus proclaimed; to give men the high privilege of worshipping God in the spirit of beauty and of truth; to offer an organization and plan for service to all men in need; and to bring all men into a universal fellowship of unselfish love. I believe that the church, because it is carried on by men, needs always to rediscover the plan of God, and act upon that plan in undying faith.

THE SACRAMENTS – The sacraments, to me, are the paths by which Christians are led to the “Mountain Top”" experiences of religion. There is in the experience of Baptism and Communion a closeness to God for the true worshiper that is not felt in the routine experiences of life. There is a divine mystery for me, in the sacraments that strikes the deeps of spiritual experience and lifts me away from all that is cheap and coarse and ordinary. Baptism, I believe, through the mysterious power of God, does cleanse us spiritually of our sin and does prepare us for a new life. Communion, I believe, is essential to continued spiritual growth as we join with Christians of all ages who have renewed their covenant by partaking of the bread and wine symbolic of Christ’s body and blood.

THE SABBATH – I believe the Sabbath is a gift of God to man and that the law of the Sabbath is a law of love given by a Father who knows the needs and the weakness of His children. I believe the Sabbath law holds for all time and that men suffer spiritually and physically today because they ignore its meaning and purpose in their lives. There is spiritual significance, for me, in the fact that the Sabbath has been a part of Gods plan since the dawn of religious history. I discover spiritual strength and power as I worship on the same sacred day that the Bible heroes helped to sanctify and glorify. I believe in the power of religious tradition so richly present in Sabbath observance. I am impressed by the importance of keeping God’s time, sunset to sunset, and I firmly believe there are great spiritual values to be obtained as we prepare for our day of worship and rest on Friday evening. lie have yet to learn God’s full blessing for us in true Sabbath keeping. Seventh Day Baptists, I believe, have a tremendous responsibility in spreading Sabbath truth and when we live according to what we believe, then surely the Sabbath of God will find its way into the hearts of many Christians who seek the Way of life.

EVANGELISM – I believe that men throughout the world are eager to discover a better way of life than they now have, provided they can be made to see how that life is better. I believe that the seeds of love will find soil in which to grow in the hearts and minds of men in all conditions of life if these seeds are planted in the spirit of love that we find in Jesus Christ. The task of every Christian and of every church, I believe, is to take the Good News of love and truth to all the world and make it so radiate from life that it will set the world on fire with the love of God.

Dean A.J.C. Bond preached the Ordination Sermon on Sabbath morning, August 12, 1939. The title of the sermon was, THE HELP THAT GOES BEFORE, using a text from John 1:48–”Nathaniel saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him. Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.” The full text of the sermon was published in the September 4, 1939 issue of THE SABBATH RECORDER.

In the concluding Ordination Service Sabbath afternoon a Charge to the Candidate was given by Reverend Walter Greene; Reverend Edgar Van Horn gave a Charge to the Church; and Reverend George B. Shaw–my former beloved Pastor-offered the Prayer of Consecration. Reverend Clyde Ehret extended a Welcome to the Ministry to the newly ordained minister.

Mrs. Lois Scholes planned and directed the special music for the services. On Sabbath Eve The Friends of Music sang. In the Sabbath morning worship the anthem was, The King of Love My Shepherd Is, (Shelley). Two anthems were sung in the Sabbath afternoon service: God Be In My Head, (Davies) and Thou Hast a Work for Me to Do, (Robson). The Rev. James L. Skaggs, Pastor of the Salem Seventh Day Baptist Church, offered the Pastoral Prayer in the Sabbath morning service. Paul Maxson, my friend and college classmate, gave the benediction Sabbath Eve and Rev. Emmett Bottoms had the invocation in the Sabbath afternoon service. Francis Palmer was organist for the services.

Awesome is the word to describe an experience that occurred after the Sabbath Eve Ordination service. Our family hurried up Hartsville Hill to observe the most spectacular display of Aurora Borealis (northern lights) I have ever witnessed. It was wonderful to have my parents and Madeline’s parents visiting us for my ordination to the Christian ministry.