Family Secrets, Another 'Chapter'

"Well I will have to tell you about my oldest brother Bill when he was a young man he and another fellow decided they would take a trip out west and out west they went. but they were as glad to get back to W.Va. as they were to go. they sure got a lot of expereance while they were gone. According to thier tales it was about as rough as it is pictured, but any way they never wanted to go back out west. that is enough of that. Bill got married after he was back for awhile. he married Alma Wilkerson. they were parents of 4 sons and 2 daughters. Woodrow Clarence Willard and Billie Madeline and June were the girls names. Well as I told you be-fore Brother Bill as accidentally electrocuted while at his work. his wife Alma is living with the youngest daughters June Bledsoe. Well now I will have to say something about my brother Walter he is my hunting brother. he loves to hunt more than he loves to eat. and is he good at it. he loves to hunt bear, deer, rabbit squirrel grouse or anything. and he does this anually - he married Ella Smith a very sweet girl and wife they have three fine children. two sons and one daughter. Harry and Arthur are the boys name. and Mary is the girl. she is well learned in her books and music. at present in high school. Harry is married and lives in England with his fine wife Margie and thier son and daughter. Then there is Arthur. he is going to Bible School in Florida at present. my brother Walter works for the Blackburn. Patterson Co. at present. My sister Ella Thompson is like my-self a widow. she and her husband Ramond. had two sons. Maxwell was the oldest. he died in service in Frankford Germany. and then the youngest was Jean he married Ruth Gubalin a very fine girl and they are the parents of two fine children. Mark and Susan. he works for Bell Telephone Co in Rantorel Ill. my sis live alone and a lonly life. then there is my sister Nell Stevens she and Emory Stevens were married they didn't think they would have any children of thier own. so they went to the Davis Child Shelter and adopted a 3 weeks old red headed baby boy. they were very fond of him. in about a year after they had adopted Jack. they discovered she was going to have a baby of her own. so she had two boys and two girls. the boys were Gaylan and Jimmie who is passed away. The girls are Nancy and Patty. they now live in Del. then there is my sister Gussie she married Ronald Perry. A fine boy they have one fine daughter Montana they gave her a good education. sent her to Beckley College. later she came in-to a good job. but with all this the love bug bit her so she and her Lover took off to Va. and got hitched - to Mickie Romins - so at present they are living in Ill. they sure were missed a lot and we hope some time they will be back in this neck of the woods. it hurt her mother and Dad a lot. but this is just one of them things. Well I must say something about my youngest Brother Gray. he was such a fine boy he stayed at home and took care of my mother after my father died for a long time. then he met and married Millie Brackman. a very fine young woman. he and she were real good Christians. Active in Church work he was Deacon of Sun Dial Church at the time of his death. he had that dreadful thing T.B. so this meant a great loose. to us all. Millie was book keeper at Birchton Co Store. and he worked at the Hoist. untill he got disable to work they owned a nice home but. After he was gone she came up here to Mt. Hope W.Va. and at present is living with her mother and Dad Mr. and Mrs. Brackman. she is working as book keeper for New River Co. Well I must say something about my Oldest Sister Minnie who married Silas Tucker. as I said she was called away by that old dreadful deisease Cancer they raised six children. Lillian. Roy. Chleo, Gertrud. Ronald. (Tucker) he is now gone. also Chleo. Bill. Roy and Bill married Sisters. so also their children are double first cousins. well this is just one of them things that happens. they live in Oak Hill at present. Writing all this may be crazy of me. but I feel much better since I have been going back in those bye gone days to write these few de-tails. because I doubt very much that any of the rest of my folk will remember I know they will remember some of these but some don't. so I think they will enjoy reading this. it will no doubt be a blessing to them I have wrote this with a very heavy heart. but it has helped me not to be so lonesome. As I am here by myself so much. for as I started to say my son Gilman has been in the
hospital in Oak Hill for two weeks with a case of the Flu and Bronical trouble. I have prayed so hard that the Lord will touch his body and let him be at home with us soon again. Pat his wife has been with him evry day since he has been there. so this is a reliefe to me to know she is with him and I always hear evry night as to how he is getting along so while I have been here at home alone I have been digging back in the ages to drag out some of these old moth eaten items to write about. I just like to write anyway. so I thought as I had my corrosponding caught up. I would jot down a few lines. We have been having about two weeks of rainy weather and what I mean real blue days but I guess we well have to take the Ground Hogs advice for a few weeks yet. I guess we can take it."

Now past the 'halfway' point...

Family Secrets IV

Continuation from September, as promised:

"After I was married; Though first I must tell you my Husband's name was Frank McGee Tucker. The McGee was after Dr. McGee. so his family always called him Dock after the Dr. Well anyway. Dock worked at the Sheerwood Mines. he had a three room house rented and our furnature in it two weeks be-fore we were married. we were married on Wednesday night. then we went to our new home Thursday morning. our house hold goods cost us $127.50. Dock got them from the Company Store. we made $10.00 monthly payments on them. they consisted of one bedroom suit. one extra iron bed stead springs and mattress and bed clothes. one straw matting for the bedroom. I scrubed the kitchen hall and extra bedroom. with a brush. we had a real fine #7 Torch light stove. I was just as happy with my new home and evry thing as if I had a mansion. I would polish my stove every saturday. it shined. I had a glassed doored safe a cook table. and an eating table and 6 hard chairs. and two Rockers and some other odds and ends - these were my happy days - Dock run a moter in the mines. he was making $2.25 per day when we were married but on this amount we lived payed our rent and made our $10.00 monthly payments on our furnature. and then our pay days were once a month but he never missed drawing money and we had been married six months he got a .25 [cent] raise we sure was glad to know he was getting $2.50 per day. but then our living was so different from what it is now. I could go to the co. store and buy a basket ful of groceries. for $2.00 but them days are gone forever I am afraid. but let me tell you they were good ones and I'll never forget them. Well its like this in about 10 months. we had our first baby a girl Florence Louise. she was a very sweet baby. and kept me busy with all the rest of my house work. but I sure enjoyed it. and when she was 21 months old. we had our Boy baby Gilman Emory. so I really was kept busy from then on. but I made it and this is all of our brood - we were both very proud of our children and they were good to mind. I always taught them to mind their Daddy he never whiped eigher of them I was the one that made them mind. I don't think they either one hold anything against me for the way I brought them up. I only did what I thought was right. when they got old enough I took them to Sunday School and Church and tried to do the best I could for them to the best of my ability. At all this time I can say I enjoyed my family. Although like many other people my heart was burdened and very heavy many many times through my life but who does not have these same things happen to them. so I count my self lucky after all. I am glad it was through these hard trials I found the Lord and learned to let him help me with my burdens and trials he is our present help in trouble I learned that a long time ago. when our son Gilman came down with Bronical trouble when he was 4 years old with our care and work he out grew it. and then when he was a larger boy he had an enlarged heart. but he seemed to out grow that to a certain extent. it is things like this that makes us seek the Lords help.
Well he has grown up and married now and has a married son of his own. now he is almost through surving four years work for Uncle Sam - My Daughter Louise wo is older than Gilman is now married and as I said before the mother of three children she lives at MacArthur W.Va., so since I am a widow. I just try to divide my time be-tween my two children and my two sisters and one brother and I have a host of friends. and I go out and stay with sick people who need help. it helps me to help some body that I know needs my help. so here I have rattled along with a lot of things that may not be of any interest to some people but I have been impressed to do this and that is why I have started this and I don't know just how far I will go" [...]