Family Secrets VI

Thanks to anyone who has actually been following this blog. It's hard to imagine it's been so long since not only making a family entry, but skipping months in addition: both signs that life has been a little intense. The following is the next segment in the real life family secrets handwritten tome by my grandfather's sister.

"I must say a few words about my youngest sister Agnes Batten she and her husband Earnest Batten reared one son Clarence E. Batten. he and his fine wife Evylen live at Smithers W.Va. at present they have two fine little girls. he drives one of those large tank TEXACO oil trucks. speaking of trucks I forgot to say that Gilman has been truck driver for the Applachain power co for over 20 years he recieved his 20 year pin with 4 real diamonds in it. one diamond for every five years this is a wonderful company and have sure been grand to him. I cant thank them enough for their kindness to him. Oh yes I forgot to tell you about my moving sister Ella. of course I think she takes it after our mother you remember I told you how she liked to move. Well Ella is a chip off the old block. she has moved so much, she is ashamed to call and have her utilities changed again I hope she will stay where she is for a while now. here is hoping so anyway.

Well getting back to my relatives I forgot to say I had another uncle Will Wees. he is younger than I believe uncle John well anyway, he married Ida Waters and they reared a family of children too. there was Bettie Grace Charlie and Elsia then he and his wife seperated. and some time after that he went down on Paint Creek at Morton, W. Va. and met a Mrs. Blizzard and married her. they were both good Christians and were very active in church work. but has now passed on. but they always lived away from us so we couldent visit very much with them. as I said be-fore I had an Aunt Susan and Uncle Tom Holt. he came from Ill. to these parts as a school teacher. so he and Aunt Sue got married. they also reared a family Ida, Lizzie, Clara Tommie Bessie and Vivian. they are the ones that lived on my mothers old home place high up on a mountain in the country. so this was always heaven to me to get to go up there and visit with them they always made you feel so welcome. I will always remember the good old days we spent to-gether when we were young. Clara and I are about the same age. Lizzie was older, she weighed over three hundred pounds. she died of dropsy. she was never married. Ida the oldest married Meltz Wiltshire. Clara married Grover Pack. Bessie married Ed Beasley. and Vivian married Basil Hinkle. I forgot who Tommie married. but he has passed on now too. Well enough of that I will now say a few things about our moving around. as I said when Dock and I were married we started house keeping on Sherwood Hill. there used to be a double row of houses on top of that hill. then there was a large company store along there where Mrs Carter lives now. but when the mines worked out the store and all those houses on top of the hill were torn down. and took away We moved off the hill down close to the mines. and here is where I lived when Gilman was born. in Mar. 5, 1911. Well we lived there until he was eight weeks old then we moved to Oswald. we lived there for some time then we moved to Price Hill then and from Price Hill to Skelton, then back to Price Hill. In the mean time Dock had a good friend that he ran around with. by the name of Charles Renick at that time Mrs. Renick was book keeper for New River Co. he owned two lots down at Dunbar W.Va so got to talking to Dock to buy one of his lots. he asked $5,00.00 for the one lot Well we talked it over and desided we would take it. he let us have it $10.00 down $10.00 per month, so after we had paid $150.00 on it we found out we couldent build a house on it under $2000.00 so he had a chance to sell his contract to a man for $250.00. so he sold it and then, he was talking with Mr. Garret at that time he was Squire Garret. he is Pat Garretts Dad - so he told Dock he had a house for sale. he told him he would sell it to him for $650.00 $100.00 down and $12.50 per month until he got it paid for. so that was the deal. we bought it and then in the mean time we had moved to another house at Price Hill. so we moved into our own house for once in a life time. it is now that old two story house back of a beer joint on the corner at the stop light. Well as I said we moved in after we got it cleaned up. A colored woman by the name of Lil Hill had lived in the house be-fore we moved in so it was a mess. full of filth and cockroaches well anyway we finally got it live-able so we lived there for eight years. we had very fine neighbors and a host of friends Mr. and Mrs. Ambros Lemasters, Charley Perry and wife Dachie Gus Pinson, and Maggie but it seemed Mrs. Lemasters and us were very close friends. I love her as a sister. and her Grand son as my own child. Clarence Wray was his name he and Gilman grew up to-geather they were just like brothers to one another Clarence's mother, Hazle. they always called her (Cat). was Mr. and Mrs. Lemasters only child. so they were very crazy about her. so she went to school here in Mt. Hope and she and her boy-friend eloped to-gether they went to Charleston and were married she wrote a letter right back to her parents tell them about it. they boys name was Clarence Wray a real fine boy. he worked in the mines at Derry Hale. they went to house keeping there. it hurt Mr. and Mrs. Lemasters very much. after they went to house keeping, Mrs. Lemasters would go down to see her most every day. then she rode the K. GJ and E. train. but her dad never did go. then they had been married a month or two when he was killed suddenly in the mines. A kettle bottom fell from the roof of the mines. so she got to come back home. she was pregnant with Clarence when the girl grieved and worried so much over her husband, her folks were as good to her and her baby as they could be. but she came down with T.B. and when Clarence was 15 months old, his mother died. so they buried her in Wild Wood Cemetary in Beckley W.Va. so Mr. and Mrs. Lemasters reared Clarence and was always good to him. he had a good home. he soon grew up and found him a mate by the name of Virgie Patton they were married. thier first child was born dead. but they have reared four more children. Carrol Hazle Clarence and Patty. Carrol is now married and lives in Texas-poor Virgie had a nervous break down and is in Ill. at present Clarence has to be Mother and Dad to the children. but after all they have made it. I think he has done a pretty good job after all I only hope and trust that things will turn out good for all of them. well enough of this."...

April Fool: Unoriginal Title, Original Content

It's always an indicator if I don't make 'blog day' it's because there's so much going on I'm literally incapable of remembering what day it is, even if I thought of it earlier in the day. This time, I got in early evening after staying up almost all night without food in order to upgrade to a better dwelling on schedule. There is some peace of mind now that having been in a flood zone in the wake of Hurricane Sandy with another evacuation warning during hurricane season just the year before is really no longer an issue now.

I'm thankful and grateful having survived another displacement; there have been benefits, though not without stress. There are others who had it so much worse; we were still among the fortunate. And there were lessons learned, about the generosity of others not previously experienced in an area not well known for its compassion or hospitality. I wanted to leave New York, and ended up on Staten Island. Despite all that's happened, it's been a mixed blessing to have been here during and after the "superstorm". Even though the trauma of having lost everything more than once before was temporarily reactivated, the coping and recovery were more bearable because of so many dedicated as volunteers who traveled from across the country and staying for months on end until their assignments were finished. Most are scheduled to return home at the end of the month: the six month mark from the day after the storm.

It was not only those from elsewhere who gave generously of their irreplaceable time and other resources; it was also the nicest of New Yorkers: the true New York's Finest, as well as a few NYPD officers who actually fit the description that has referred to them in the past. There are nice native New Yorkers, they're just much fewer and further between than say, West Virginia, where typical New Yorkers who go there experience a reverse culture shock. The first state under the Mason Dixon that marks the beginning of 'the south' is known for its hospitality. To a New Yorker, people who say 'hello' to strangers and are 'nice for no reason' are almost impossible to tolerate.

In the northeast, and especially in 'the city', unless one is of the few generous-hearted who surfaced and stepped up in the wake of a 'superstorm', such behavior in their experience only happens when something is sought in exchange. Not so for West Virginians, and volunteers who displaced themselves for the better part of a year to be available and assist others who lost everything. I can only hope to be in a position in the future to do the same, or something similar. Meanwhile, the family secret saga resumes next month, about some native West Virginians two generations ago of the same blood as this author, authored by my grandfather's sister.

It is being copied from less than a hundred pages of hand written notes; and now more than half complete here. More will unfold as the story continues, woven into what has become our lives today. I don't remember ever having met my grandfather's sister, though I did know her offspring. One I didn't know was such until after their death, and it was just as well. Had I known then it may not have made a difference, though the effects of those contacts have affected more than one life forever.

I don't know how many others were also hurt; I only know when I heard grandpa's nephew had passed I was not sad. Only until I read what his mother had written did I know we were related, many years later, relatively recently.

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" [...]

'Family', continued (again, as written)

"I was almost 22 years old when I met my husband Frank M. Tucker we went together six months. and were married. in the mean time his younger brother Silas was dateing my younger sister Minnie. soon they were married. in July 2nd 1908. in August 27 1908 Frank and I were married. [2] Brothers married [2] sisters. this makes our children double first cousins. some mixup. just one of those things. Well Frank and I had two children. my first was a girl we named her Florence Louise. then we had our boy. we named him Gilman Emeory. Louise grew up and married Elmie W. Hill. they have three children two girls and one boy. His name is William Clegg Hill. the oldest girl Freda May married Don C. Lilly. and Hazle married L. D. Hartwell. William married Jo Richards. of Beckley WV. a very sweet girl. and of course the girls got fine men too. My son Gilman met and married a very sweet Scotch Lassie by the name of Hellan. We called her Pat frome patrick she was working in a sweet shop when he met her. to this union is one fine GrandSon Frank Matthew Tucker. we are very proud of him. he has been serving his country for almost four years. his time will be out in March. we sure will be glad to see him home again. In the mean time. he was dating a very sweet girl by the name of Shirley Jackson of Mt. Hope W.V. they have been married over three years now so it will mean a lot to all when he gets home once more. we are going through a very trying time just now. Gilman has been sick for most three months and at present is in the Oak Hill Hospital he has a virus of some kind. Pat that is his wife goes to the hospital every day. will I have been going like a house on fire. and haven't got very far but I hope I have got a few things off my chest. I forgot to say much about my own family. I will say a few words about my brothers and sisters of which some is very sad.
My oldest Brother. William Fanning Cheek. was electrocuted accidentally and my youngest brother Victor Gay Cheek died of T.B. I only have one living brother at present. Walter H. Cheek. he lives here in Mt. Hope WVa. he works for the Blackburn Patterson Co. and my oldest sister Minnie Lee Cheek Tucker she died with Cancer my next Sister Ella Cheek Thompson who lives here in Mt. Hope at present she is a widow now. I have another sister Nell Cheek Stevens. she lives in Williamington Del. and I have another sister Gussie Rea Cheek Perry she and her husband Ronald live here in Mt. Hope WVa too. my youngest sister Agnes Cheek Batten. She died with Cancer also. My Father died in 1918 with Flue. My Mother died with cancer also. so it seems I am left here for some-thing. I do love to help other people and do what I can do for them. I am glad I have the Lord in my life. he helps me through so many trials and dark places. It has not been a bed of roses but you know we all have to take the bitter with the sweet. well getting back to my earlier days. I told you about my Father being a coal miner. he was a very devout union man. he held an office in the Local. and they sent him two different times to the miners convention in Indianapolis Ind. but you can just bet your bottom dollar. that as soon as there was any trouble about the miners. they always picked on my Dad." To be continued.