Mystery Monday: Taylor Brick Wall

I interrupt Military Monday: It Was the Worst of Times, to introduce you to my third great-grandparents.  I think.

As I have mentioned previously, one use for this blog is an organizing tool for my research.  You may not have noticed, but I go back one generation at a time on each line and share the most interesting information I have found so far on each person or couple, then sprinkle in other interesting (I hope) things in between.  Right now, I am on my great-great-great-grandparents, specifically my maternal grandmother’s maternal grandparents, more specifically, her father’s parents.  That’s a mouthful.  It looks like this:

Me

My Mother

Her mother, Wilma Watkins

Her mother, Juda Eva-An Taylor

Her father, David Mooney Taylor

His parents, Joseph (James?) & Barbary Taylor

Joseph & Barbary a very elusive couple.  It took me years to find them to begin with and then only through census records naming David as their son.  They are not listed on David’s death certificate.  I have had quite a bit of difficulty tracing David’s siblings because the family names seem to be repeated over and over again so numerous cousins around the same age have the same name and it is difficult to ascertain if I am looking at David’s siblings or not.  Regardless, I have not viewed any documents other than the census that link any of the children to Joseph and Barbary.  Their births were too early for records.  The marriage records I have found and determined were theirs did not list the parents.  And I have either not found death records or the parents are not listed.  I have searched wills, probate, and estate records on FamilySearch.  No luck.

Here’s what little I do know:

I found an 1850 census in Chimney Rock, Rutherford County, North Carolina listing,

• Joseph Taylor, 60, a farmer
• Barbary, 55
• James, 18
• Jane, 18
• Hayden, 15
• Hulda, 13
• David, 10
• Robert Sercy, 64, farmer, real estate valued at $600

All family members are listed as born in North Carolina.  This makes Joseph Taylor born about 1790 and Barbary 1795.  I feel confident this is David Mooney Taylor’s family of origin because his children are named after his parents and siblings.  At first I thought Robert was a clue to Barbary’s maiden name.  Perhaps he was her brother living with them.  However, he is the last person on this census page and I believe the enumerator made an error, not writing in the new household and family number because the next page begins a new family with a woman and children by the last name Sercy.

In the 1860 census, the family is enumerated in the Buffalo district of Rutherford County, NC.  Joseph is listed as James but I feel confident this is the family:

• James, 70
• Barbery, 55
• David, 21, laborer

The rest of the children have married and most are living nearby.  David will soon go off to the Civil War and marry afterward as well.  When my Mamaw gave him a Bible in 1914 to record his family record, I really wish he would have started with his parents.  That would have been so helpful.

Recently, I began looking at the cemetery where David was buried, Bill’s Creek Baptist Church in Rutherford County, NC on Find-A-Grave.  I pulled up all the Taylors and noticed Private Jonathan C Taylor who died during the Civil War.  I had seen records on Fold3 indicating David and Jonathan had fought in the same company during the War and wondered at the time if this was an older brother who was already out of the household by the 1850 census.  Looking at Jonathan’s Find-A-Grave memorial, I saw his father was also a Joseph Taylor born 1814.  This got me to thinking had I somehow skipped a generation?  Was it possible that this Jonathan was David’s brother?  That his father Joseph was David’s father and that the Joseph David was living with was his grandfather?  The Joseph I had was born in 1790.  This Joseph was born 1814.  Twenty-four years, enough to be a generational difference.  It could very well be.  I had often thought they were older parents or I was missing older siblings.

This search took me down a wildgoose chase because the new, younger Joseph and his wife were still alive and well in subsequent censuses.  I now have two theories on this Joseph.  He is my Joseph James’ brother, which seems highly unlikely since they share the same name.  He is my Joseph’s son.  This would make him David’s brother, making the Jonathan who fought and died alongside him during the War his first cousin. I did find a Joseph Taylor in Rutherford County going back to 1810 and there does appear to be more children who would have been older in the household so I think this theory is workable for now.

Interestingly, in the 1860 census (Joseph) James Taylor is enumerated as having been born in Georgia.  Having so many deadend leads I cannot even begin researching this.  However, when I began searching for those older censuses, more and more Taylors with similar names started popping up in Georgia.  This would be the earliest family on any of my North Carolina lines to start somewhere other than North Carolina.

This is the type of research I feel I cannot really delve into online and have to work on the old-fashioned way on location.  I am hoping to make a longer trip than usual to North Carolina this summer to accomplish some of these research goals and others.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Childhood Memories & Souvenirs

Last May I took a hiatus from the blog to go on a trip to see a wonderful friend in Germany.  She was a foreign exchange student who stayed with us my senior year of high school and has been back to visit many times over the years.  We had not yet been to visit her but had promised when she got married, we would book the trip.  A wedding invitation came and a flight was booked.  I talked my Mom into “traveling the world” with me and my two girls as long as we were flying over the ocean anyway, so along with my sister, we headed to Germany, Paris, London, and Ireland on a 3 week whirlwind trip.  We made memories to last a lifetime.

My friend kept asking what we would like to see and do in Germany and we said it was all up to her.  It is her country and we couldn’t wait to see it through her eyes.  “Show us what you like,” we all said.  One condition: we have to take Mom somewhere to buy a cuckoo clock.  I have to be honest here, I kept thinking this is an awfully stereotypical German thing to have to get as a souvenir.  There is more to Germany than cuckoo clocks, pretzels, brats, and beer.  Little did I know, I was in for another family story I had never heard.

We arrived in Berlin and enjoyed a few days there.  We passed a couple places that sold cuckoo clocks but there never seemed to be enough time or my friend said there was somewhere better she knew of in a different town.  Boy, is she good.  None of us ever caught on that we were being diverted for some other reason!

When we arrived in Bochum to visit with her family, we enjoyed dinner and a makeshift baby shower.  Yes, a baby shower.  She had gotten married early and they were already expecting.  We brought a suitcase full of presents!  So exciting.  Her parents also had a very special gift for my Mom.  A cuckoo clock.  And what did her dad say?  “It is a very stereotypical German thing, but you wanted it and we hope you enjoy it.” My mother sat there near tears.  I didn’t have to wonder much longer why she had wanted this clock so badly or why she was so emotional about it.  The story came pouring out of her.  She told them that when she was young, her Mamaw had a cuckoo clock that had to be wound up every night.  Mamaw had to pull a stool over and stand on it to do so.  Now my friend’s mom was near tears as well.  It brought them joy to see how much this clock meant to my Mom because of this childhood memory of her grandmother and she shared one of hers as well.

Mom’s Cuckoo Clock

At the family reunion this summer, we shared this special memory, which I had never heard anyone talk about before and everyone was suddenly saying, “Oh yes, I remember that clock.”  Many only remember Granddaddy winding it but Mom insisted Mamaw did.  We talked about where the clock came from.  One of the sons, I believe my Uncle JD, brought it home from Germany after World War II.  We talked about where it might be now.

After we came home from the reunion and Mom got in her organizing mood, we starting going through Granny’s family pictures.  I have been through these pictures more times than I can count.  It had to be there but I cannot remember seeing it before.  There, in the stack, was a picture of Mamaw, on a stool, winding the cuckoo clock.  I posted it on our family facebook page for all to enjoy.

Sibling Saturday: M. Doston Taylor, Eva’s Brother

M. Doston Taylor

M. Doston Taylor was born 9 March 1890 at Rumbling Mountain, North Carolina to David Mooney and Sarah E Grant Taylor.  He was the oldest child of their union and older brother to my great-grandmother Juda Eva-An Taylor.  His name in the family Bible is recorded Melger and he is also listed as Melger in the 1900 census.  All other records list him as Melvin and his daughter and grandson state this is the name he used but that he went by Doston or M.D..  I am able to share his story thanks to them.

Until I started this blog, Melger Doston Taylor was only another name in a long list of names in the Taylor family Bible that had been entrusted to my care.  I had read those names many times as a child, holding the Bible lovingly.  I remember looking through it with awe each time we traveled to North Carolina.  I wondered about the people listed even then.  I remember wanting to ask about them, but I knew Mamaw had not had an easy childhood nor one that was always with her family because of her mother’s early death.  Plus family history wasn’t something people talked about a lot then.  It seemed it wasn’t something people were interested in or took time for.  Now I wish I had asked Mamaw questions about her family, but for then I was (somewhat) content to look at the names and wonder.  First, the children from David Mooney Taylor’s first marriage to Elmina Halford: Maomah, Jonathan, Joseph, Caldonia, Larkin, Barbra, Amanda, James, Millie.  Then the names from his second marriage to Sarah E Grant: Melger Doston, Thomas, Juda Eva-An, Mary, and Mittie.

One of the wonderful things about blogging my family history is fellow family researchers-from almost all sides-coming across the blog in one way or another and reaching out.  Sometimes the connection is more distant, but at times it is quite close.  The very first person to contact me was a fellow researcher of the Taylor family, the grandson of Doston.  Through correspondence with he and his mother, my Granny’s first cousin, I have had the pleasure of learning a little more about Doston and some of Mamaw’s other siblings and received the pictures for today’s blog.  From Doston’s daughter, I learned that he delivered mail from Chimney Rock to Asheville on a mule.  He told her that one time he was camped out on a mountain with a mule full of mail when he heard a critter and it so scared he and his mule that they left the campsite and made it to Asheville.

Doston’s daughter says each of his sisters told her he raised them, but she was never sure what they meant by that.  In the 1910 census Doston lived with his older half brother, Fletcher, and his family and worked on a neighboring farm.  My Mamaw was also living with an older half sister, Amanda, at the time as well.  Doston married Ellie Eppley and they had one son, Sydney Charles.  Ellie died during childbirth.

Doston on the left

Doston served in World War I.  You can see him in his service uniform here.  Quite distinguished.  Doston’s daughter shared a story with me of his wartime experience:

“He was stationed at Camp Sockett, New York and never had to fight in Europe.  He didn’t talk much about his military service other than one little blip.  It seems when a soldier had to stand in formation he must NOT have a chew in his mouth!!  My Daddy said he forgot that and went out to get into formation and he said the officer came down the line asking all the men to open their mouths to show whether or not they had a “chew” or “chaw” as it was called back then.  My Daddy said he only had one option and that was to swallow the chew!!  He said after he was dismissed he got really sick and threw up like no tomorrow!! I so wish I had asked him loads of questions but I didn’t..”

Doston married Dorsey Viola Eppley and they had three sons, Edward Albert, Robert E Lee, and Clarence who died at age two years, nine months due to chicken pox and whooping cough.  In the 1920 census, Doston was living in Forest City and working in a cotton mill.  His daughter states he worked in a cotton mill in Forest City, North Carolina the whole time she can remember.  Many years later they had one daughter, my Gran’s first cousin who I am in contact with today through the help of her son finding this blog.  The 1940 census indicates Doston was working as a truck driver for retail lumber.

About 1952, Doston lost his hearing due to a stroke.  His daughter wrote me:

“When he was 62 he had a stroke that took his hearing and he never regained any at all.  That broke my heart when this happened.  He told me years later that he could only imagine what my boys talked with him and sounded like. He said then, I’ve never heard any of my grandchildren’s voices!  I still say he was such a kind man and never did I hear him ever complain because he had lost his hearing.”

Doston’s wife, Dorsey, passed away in September 1971, and he passed away 21 June 1972.  I am thankful to his daughter and grandson for sharing their story.

Treasure Chest Thursday: One Man’s Garbage

You learn new family stories all the time.

After seeing everyone else’s treasures at our family reunion this summer, Mom got in organizing and cleaning mode to find and put together any family treasures that had been put away.  It’s amazing what you forget you even have when you don’t see it for awhile!  A few months before, when working on a blog for my maternal grandmother’s grandparents, David Mooney Taylor and wife Sarah E Grant, I asked Mom if we had any pictures of them because I couldn’t remember.  I had forgotten about the tiny picture in a frame of their family though it still sits on the dresser in the guest room of my parents’ home.  We thought that was the only picture we had of them.  At the time, we had both forgotten about two other pictures until much later.

David Mooney Taylor &
Sarah E Grant family

Mom got on her organizing spree.  We ordered pictures by Poppy’s family and Granny’s.  We ordered by date as best we could.  We bought photo albums.  She continued to dig for more pictures.  It seemed every other weekend she was calling me telling me to come over and showing me some other wonderfully treasured photo we had seen before but totally forgotten about after years of it being put away.  I really haven’t worked on our genealogy in awhile! One week in particular she called me several days before and told me she found the best thing yet.  Now, you have to understand folks, for my Mom to get excited about something genealogy related, it’s got to be pretty darn good.  It takes a good story to peak her interest when I find a new story to share on the family tree.  I kept asking Mom to tell me what it was.  I told her it wasn’t fair to tell me and make me wait til the weekend like that.  But she wouldn’t hear of it.

When I arrived at her house that weekend, the suspense was killing me.  She made me close my eyes.  “Come on, Mom! How old am I?” I jokingly protested.  The moment I opened them, I gasped.  I remembered them and knew I was looking at my great-great-grandparents, David Mooney and Sarah Grant Taylor:

David Mooney Taylor

Sarah E Grant Taylor

After taking a few minutes to let the pictures sink in, of course, I started asking questions.  Where were these drawings that look like photos or photos that look like drawings?  Why were they somewhat damaged?  Mom said my Mamaw always had these framed on the wall in their home.  After Papaw passed away, when Mamaw moved out of their home, some  things got left behind.  “Why on Earth would Mamaw leave her parents pictures behind?” I asked.  “I don’t know,” was her reply.  A cousin of Papaw’s moved into the house and put things in the trash out back.  Apparently, my Poppy kept telling my Gran to go over and check to make sure there wasn’t anything she wanted.  Granny didn’t want to, but Poppy kept on about it.  She finally did and I’m glad or these would have been lost forever.  They had been taken out of the frame and put in the garbage, therefore slightly torn and damaged.  Granny was upset about this and put them away for quite awhile but I remember them being out when I was young.  Then, as more generations came and more pictures were taken, things got put away.

Recently, as I prepared this blog post I started thinking again how these pictures, which I’d always thought of as photographs because the likeness is so real, really look more like drawings.  My 10-year-old daughter and assistant budding genealogist and I looked them over.  “They do look more like drawings, Mommy,” she said.  David’s mustache definitely looks drawn on as well as his collar.  Their hair looks drawn as well, but still they look so real, I thought.  It’s hard to imagine simple country folk in North Carolina sitting for a portrait at that time.  I couldn’t even think of a time we do that today unless it is at a carnival or amusement park.  I thought only the well-to-do sat for portraits then.

With this post almost complete, I decided to post a request at Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness to see if anyone could identify what type of photo they were, if they were photos at all.  In my description, I explained that they look like photos drawn over and that they are on thick but not currogated paper similar to cardboard but appear to be right on that not on a separate sheet and attached to the board.  The volunteer who was kind enough to help me told me she sells and collects vintage photos.  I sent her jpg’s of the photos along with the description and their birthdates of 1837 and 1867.  She identified them as charcoal portraits and stated she will attempt to help me date them as soon as she has some time.

In the meantime, I called Mom to let her know this and she reminded me that there are negatives that appear to be these same pictures.  So the question is was there originally a photograph and someone drew a charcoal portrait of it?  If so, who?  It makes me wonder if it was at some type of fair or if there was someone in the family with artistic talent.  That gene didn’t get passed to me!  Or were negatives somehow made later of a charcoal portrait?  And what would the pictures look like if we went and got the negatives developed? Mom and I both wondered.  We’ll have to find a really good photographer to do that.  Now I feel like I want to take these and the negatives on PBS’s Antique Roadshow or somewhere to see if we can learn anymore about them.

Obviously, I still have a little more work to do in regards to these portraits and I will update you in a future post if I learn more about them.  I am just so glad we even have them to wonder about today.  To think they could have been lost forever.  I’m happy Poppy kept bothering Gran to go check and I’m glad that she did.  Regardless of the damage, they are still a wonderful treasure that I am so glad is not lost to our family forever.

Do you have a family treasure that was almost lost?  Are there things that have been put away and forgotten about?  What stories do they tell?  Maybe it’s time to get them out, organize, and tell the stories to the next generations so they don’t forget where they came from.

Wedding Wednesday: Gus Watkins & Eva Taylor

Gus & Eva Taylor Watkins
Wedding Photo
14 Jan 1914

The photo above is my great-grandparents Augustus Samuel Watkins and Juda Eva-An Taylor‘s wedding photo.  I apologize that I have done everything I can think to make the photograph larger and have been unsuccessful.  I must admit, they do not look terribly happy for their wedding day.  All I can think is it was a tough life back then. Don’t worry though.  The letter below and many grandkids can attest to their love for each other and many happy times!

I would like to share another letter from Gus to Eva when he was working in Spindale and she was in Vein Mountain, North Carolina.  I have transcribed it below.  From October 1917:

“Spindale N.C.

Oct 16 1917

Dear Eva will write you a short letter to let you hear from me

This leaves me very well

Truly hope you all the same

Well I got home alright Sunday

Say did Mamie Sue cry when she woke up Sunday

I hope not

Would like to see you all now

Maby sometime it we’ll be so that we can be together all the time

Think I will be ready to move the next time I come home

Well Eva I haven’t got any news to write

Just thought I would write and let you no how I was

I will have to close and go and mail this letter before the store closes

Hopeing to hear from you soon

Your boy an ever Gus

xxxx”

I love the kisses at the end!!

Eva’s Mother: Sarah E Grant

David Mooney Taylor &
Sarah E Grant family

Sarah E Grant was born 15 May 1867 to Thomas and Juda (Hill?) Grant.  Her father was thirty and her mother was twenty-five at the time of her birth.  Before her they had Joshua about 1857, Jane about 1859, and Andrew about 1863.  In 1870 her family was living in Broad River, McDowell County, North Carolina where her father was a farmer.  On this census, they now had John born about 1868.  In the 1880 census, now living in Chimney Rock, Rutherford County, they also have William Judson born about 1872, Augustus F born about 1874, Margret E born about 1876, and Roy Vaughn born about 1879.

When Sarah married widower David Mooney Taylor in 1888, she was thirty years younger than him.  He had nine children, his oldest daughter being one year older than Sarah.  By the 1900 census, they have added five more children to the family: Melger Doston born 1890, Thomas Harril born 1892, Juda Ev-An born 1895, Mary Sue born 1897, and Mittie Seabright born 1900.  The family is living in Chimney Rock.

When I was searching through family photos, I came across a small, old photograph in a frame which I vaguely remember Granny telling me about but had honestly forgotten who was in the photo.   Mom said she was pretty sure that it was Mamaw’s (Eva’s) parents and Mamaw.  I carefully took the photo out of the frame.  It is taken from another larger photograph as you can see people cut off on the right.  The back of the picture gives a company name and address to send your photograph to and receive twelve copies like this one.  Are there eleven more still surviving somewhere?  On the back of the photo, written in David Mooney’s hand from his Bible and letter to Eva, is written: “D M Taylor.”  Judging by the ages of the children, this would be David and wife Sarah with three of his older children from his previous marriage standing behind them, probably Maomah and Caldonia, the oldest two daughters, and one of his oldest sons, either Jonathan or Joseph.  If you look closely at the photograph, the shoulders of people cut off on the right look tall enough that they would be from his first marriage as well.  Therefore, based on age, I would guess the child standing next to Sarah is Melger Doston, the child on David’s lap is Thomas Harril, and the baby on Sarah’s lap is Eva.

Sarah passed away 20 February 1904.  I do not know where she is buried, only that Mamaw tried to visit her grave once at a family cemetery and was unable to find it.  Perhaps it is Bill’s Creek Baptist Church where her husband was buried.

Sarah Grant Taylor’s children

Sometimes when you research family history, you run across distantly related relatives who are able to share information on the family and a picture or two.  This was the case recently when the grandson of Eva’s brother Doston contacted me.  He was able to share this photo of Sarah’s children.  Eva is on the right, Doston next to her with his daughter, two sisters, Mary and Mittie (unsure which is which), and Mittie’s husband, Grady Elkins.

Eva’s Father: David Mooney Taylor

David Mooney Taylor was born 15 April 1837 in Rutherford County, North Carolina.  The only records I have been able to find of his parents so far are the 1850 and 1860 census on which he appears with them.

On the 1850 census, David’s family is living in Chimney Rock, Rutherford County, North Carolina where his father is a farmer.  His parents are listed as Joseph and Barbery Taylor.  Older siblings are also in the household:  James and Jane, both 18, 15-year-old Hayden, and 13-year-old Hulda.  Robert Sercy, 64, is also living in the household, farming the land with his dad.  Is it possible this is a brother of his mom, which would indicate her last name?  Further investigation into his parents is needed.  On this census, David is listed as ten years old.  There is an age discrepancy here.  It is possible he was born in 1839 or 1840.  The 1837 date comes from his death certificate, tombstone, and family Bible.

On the 1860 census, David is listed as 21, the only child still living with his parents.  He is now farming the land for his father.  The family is living in Buffalo, Rutherford County.  This could still be the same place as the Chimney Rock home of the 1850 census.  I have not yet checked any information on the land they lived on.  Place names fluctuated and changed at times.  David’s older brothers, Joseph and Aiden (Hayden from the 1850 census) are living nearby farming neighbors’ land.

On July 14, 1862, David Mooney Taylor enlisted in the 62nd Regiment, Company F of the North Carolina Infantry.  He was present at the July – August 1862 muster roll, but listed as “deserted” on the September/ October 1862 roll.  However, he re-enlisted September 1, 1863 but was “sick in hospital in Asheville NC” for the December 1863 muster roll.  This is all that is available of his service record so it is difficult to know what his wartime experience was like.   His regiment did participate in the Battle of Cumberland Gap September 7-9, 1863, a Union victory in which over 2,000 of the 2,400 Confederate troops surrendered.  Descriptions of the regiment state they were very poorly armed with little ammunition.

Upon returning home, David married his first wife Elmina Halford on 11 May 1865.  By the 1870 census three years later, they had 4-year-old Maomah called Omy, 2-year-old Jonathan Fletcher, and 5-month-old Joseph.  By 1880, they have added 7-year-old Caldonia, 6-year-old Larkin Randolph, 2-year-old Barbra called Barbrey, and 3-month-old Amanda. In 1884, they have James and on 18 July 1886, they have Millie.  Elmina passed away 18 January 1888 and daughter Millie, 29 May 1888.

On 18 April 1889, 52-year-old David married 22-year-old Sarah E Grant, my great-great-grandmother.  At the 1900 census, 16-year-old James from David’s previous marriage was living with them.  They had added to the family 10-year-old Melger Doston who later went by Melvin, 7-year-old Thomas Harril, 5-year-old Judie E (my great-grandmother), 2-year-old Mary Sue, and 3-month-old Mittie Seabright.  On 20 February 1904, Sarah passed away.

On 24 September 1905, David married his third wife Celia Gibbs Mills.  They had no children.

On 10 August 1910, David’s then 15-year-old daughter Eva presented him with the gift of a Bible in which are listed family births, marriages, and deaths:

Taylor Family Bible

On 20 June 1917, David wrote Eva  the letter below, mentioning her brother Doston and his wife visiting.  Based on the similarity in handwriting it appears he is the one who made the entries in the family Bible.

Letter from David to daughter Eva
20 June 1917

On 8 September 1923, at the age of 83, David Mooney Taylor passed away in Henrietta, North Carolina.  He was buried at Bill’s Creek Baptist Church Cemetery.  I do not remember ever visiting there myself and would like to place flowers on his grave someday.

Bill’s Creek Baptist Church
Rutherford County, NC

In June 1929, when his father’s grave was still without a marker, son Doston applied for a headstone for a veteran.

It’s Funny How a Memory Comes

Memories often come through an experience, a sight, a conversation, a sound, or a taste.  For many, including me, they come through smells.  Whenever I eat half runner grean beans, recall Sunbeam bread, or smell a peach, I think of summers in North Carolina and all the family there.

Four Generations: My Mom, Mamaw holding me, Gran

As I have begun researching the family
lines again, I have been waxing nostalgic.  This leads me to singing old hymns because there were many times at the end of family get-togethers that we ended up with a great-aunt playing piano as different family members came and went from the room singing old hymns.  The other day I was singing a hymn and suddenly to my remembrance came the fact that “In the Garden” was the favorite hymn of my great-grandmother, Juda Eva-An Taylor, whom I previously wrote about in a blog simply titled Mamaw.  I believe “In the Garden” was played at Mamaw’s funeral.  Unfortunately, we do not have a recording of the family singing it.  However, we do have this recording of them singing “Standing on the Promises” in 1976.

Mamaw

Juda Eva-An Taylor

My great-grandmother, or Mamaw, was born Juda Eva-An Taylor of her father-David Mooney Taylor’s-second marriage, to Sarah E. on 28 Jan 1895.

On the 1900 census, she is listed as 5-year-old Judie E living in Chimney Rock, Rutherford County, North Carolina.  Also in the household were both parents, her 16-year-old brother James A from her father’s previous marriage, 10-year-old Melger D, 7-year-old Thomas H, 2-year-old Mary S, and 3-month-old Mittie S.

In February 1904, when Eva was 9 years old, her mother passed away.  I was told many times by my Gran that Eva then went to live and work for another family.  By the 1910 census, 15-year-old Eva was living in High Shoal in Rutherford County with her older sister Amanda, from her father’s first marriage.  On this census she is listed as Judie E, sister-in-law to the head of the household, Henry Biggerstaff.  It is noted that Henry works at the cotton mill along with his 14-and 12-year old sons who are both doffers.  Two households away lived her future husband, 15-year-old Gus Watkins, also working as a doffer.

Eva and Gus married 14 Jan 1914 in Caroleen, Rutherford County, North Carolina.  The next year they welcome Mamie Sue into the world, and in 1917 Eva is living in Vein Mountain in McDowell County while Gus is living in a boarding house in Spindale for work.  He writes to her in September:

Letter from Gus to Eva, Sept 1917

By the 1920 census, they are listed in Green Hill, Rutherford County down the road from Gus’s father and brother.  By this census, they have added Mildred and J.D. to the family.  On the 1930 census they are living in Brackett, where Gus was born near Vein Mountain and have added Charles, Lois, and Wilma, all but their youngest child to their family.  Granny often told me her mother was told by the doctor that she would not survive if she had any more children after Lois, yet she went on to have two more children and live to age 89.

Eva outside the S&W Service Center

By 1940, Eva and Gus had added their last son to the family and moved into town-Marion, North Carolina.  It appears they moved here sometime between 1930 and 1935 as the 1940 census states they had been living in the same place in 1935.  While Gus had been a farmer at Vein Mountain, he was now a proprietor of a grocery store in Marion.

In the mid-to late-1960’s, Gran was onhand with a tape recorder, trying to get her Mama to talk.  When she couldn’t, my mother interviewed her about dinner at McDowell House and a picture her great-grandson had done for her.

Fiftieth Anniversary celebration of Eva & Gus Watkins

In 1964, the family had a fiftieth anniversary celebration to honor Gus and Eva Watkins.  Almost seven years later, in December 1970, Gus passed away.  Eva lived fourteen more years, passing away 11 January 1985.  I was nine years old and hers was the first funeral I attended.  I will never forget the day my Mom and Poppy got the call while Gran was at work at Higbee’s Department Store and them telling her her beloved mama had passed away that evening when she got home.  It was the only time I ever heard my Granny cry.

When Eva passed away, her children buried her at Green Hills Cemetery in Asheville, North Carolina and arranged for their daddy to be moved from the family cemetery at Macedonia Baptist Church on Vein Mountain to Green Hills Cemetery with her.  Granny told me this was because Mamaw went to her own mother’s grave in a family cemetery once and could not find it because of the overgrowth of grass and bushes in the cemetery.  She did not want the same to happen to her own grave.  I understand this but I much prefer the quiet and peace of the small family cemetery at Macedonia.

My memories of Mamaw are those of a young child.  Others had many more years to make memories with her.  Three things first come to mind when I think of Mamaw:

• She sat in a chair in the corner by the window at Aunt Mickey’s every day at the same time watching traffic at rush hour.  I wonder if she was thinking how much faster life was now.
• She was very afraid of spiders.  Once when she and I were home alone, I saw a spider inside the lampshade by her chair.  When I told her, she jumped out of the chair and just about begged me to kill it.  I remember being surprised by this because I didn’t like spiders either and never had an adult ask me to kill one.  She said something like, “Oh no, I’m not killing it.  You get it!”
• She played a triangle peg board game a lot AND she wrote down her moves so if she beat it she could memorize how and beat it every time.

I’m sure others can share many more wonderful memories of Mamaw as well.

Gus & Eva Watkins