We love you MarthaJean!!!!
I'm posting her memoires again. Some of you might have forgotten or not gotten to read it the first time I posted. Enjoy!
Martha Jean Gawthrop - Recollections
My parents met when Mother was visiting her grandparents who were living in the farm house on Muddlety that we now own (the John Hill farm). Grandfather Gawthrop was superintendent of Opal Lumber Company that was at the end of Muddlety Valley road. Mother and Daddy met at a church picnic. Their first date was at the farm house, in the parlor that is now the downstairs bedroom. Grandmother Hill said the door must be kept open and she had her chair placed near the door of the present living room so she could hear all the conversation. To entertain Daddy, Mother had him look at the three dimensional scenes of the National Parks in America in the new view master. She walked to the front porch to say goodbye. Her Grandmother was furious.
The lumber mill moved to Richwood and Daddy went to a business school in Dayton, Ohio. He was a tele-type operator. He and Mother wrote to each other for two years and they were married in 1916. While living in Dayton, Mother had a ruptured appendix and nearly died. She was in the hospital several weeks and was so homesick. The doctor finally said she could go home if she had a nurse with her until she recovered. The nurse, Miss Weath, was the nurse who also cared for Orville Wright - one of the brothers who invented the airplane.
When Daddy and Mother were traveling on the train to Weston for the birth of Mary Louise, Daddy met Mr. Pete Eakins. He offered Daddy a job as superintendent, bookkeeper for the Eakin Lumber Company he was starting in Skyles, WV. That was the beginning of a happy relationship. We lived in Skyles from 1918 until 1927, when the mill moved to Fenwick.
Skyles
In Skyles we had no electricity or indoor plumbing. Oil lamps gave us good light. The outdoor toilet was across the dirt road behind our house. Radios were invented in 1920, the year I was born. We had an Atwater Kent and the only station we could get was KPKA in Pittsburg, Pa. Neighbors would come to listen. On Sunday morning they heard a good sermon from Dr. Kerr’s father.
Our next door neighbors were the George Dodrill family. They had six children. Myrtle was a year older, but we were in the same grade, because I started to school when I was five years old. Her younger sister Eula was my best friend when we moved to Fenwick in 1927.
My very earliest memory was at my grandparent’s home in Weston. Uncle Clyde’s wife died at childbirth. Her casket was in the parlor. There was a winding stairway to the upstairs where Mother took Mary Louise and me to bed. We could hear people crying and slipped out of bed to see what was happening. We didn’t know adults ever cried.
Uncle Clyde lived in the Kessler home in Cowen, a short distance from Arcola. He asked Daddy to do his bookkeeping, Post Office work and store work until he could find someone. We moved there for several months. One of the men working for Uncle Clyde had just bought a convertible car and was taking everyone for short rides. I begged mother to let me go and I sat on one of the men’s lap in the rumble seat. The car had a wreck and everyone was thrown out. No one was hurt but I was crying when a man carried me home. When Mother asked if anyone was hurt, I said “I was”!
Both of these events happened when I was four years old. We moved back to Skyles and the next year I started to school. I told everyone about the wreck and the things we did in Arcola. One day one of the Dodrill girls said something about Arcola and Helen Eakin said “It isn’t your Cola, it’s the Gawthrop’s Cola”!
When I was two or three years old, living in Skyles, I fell off the sewing machine and struck my head on a sharp leg of the table. Mother was making a dress for me and to mark where the hem should be, she asked me to stand on the flat top of the Singer sewing machine. A few days later we were visiting our company doctor, Dr Frame, who was a good friend. He had me on his lap and exclaimed “Where did this child get a fractured skull”? I’ve always used that excuse for myself for not being as bright as Mary Louise or Junior, Margie, Joanne and John.
When I was four years old, Mary Louise was just finishing her second year at school. On the last day, the school had a picnic, maybe a mile or less from the town. I begged Mother to let me go with Mary Louise. I wasn’t feeling very well but I never let Mother know it. It was a long walk and the picnic was in a large meadow. We played games and some of the older children said they would like to climb the mountain. Mary Louise went with them and enjoyed the wonderful view from the top of the mountain. When she returned, I was lying under a tree feeling terrible. She said I could ride home on her back. We passed a cemetery and could see the Sweet William Flowers were in bloom. Mary Louise thought Mother would love a bouquet so she carried me to the cemetery. She gave me a nice bouquet to take to Mother. When we finally arrived, I had a high fever and was in bed for several days. The flowers were completely wilted before we arrived home with my hot hand clutching them.
The next year, when I was five, I got to go to school. My first grade teacher was Myrtle Hollingsworth. Reading was my favorite subject. I remember the first page of the book was: Baby Ray had a dog: The dog was little: Baby Ray loved the little dog: The little dog loved Baby Ray.
I met a few students whose father didn’t work for the Eakin Lumber Co. Mary Perrine, a sister to Ralph Perrine, who bought a farm adjoining Hilacres. Ralph was grown and I don’t remember him at all. I went home with Mary to spend the night. She lived a long distance from the school. I remember how beautiful it was along the railroad track. There was a creek along the track lined with rhododendron and dense woods. They had a big family; at least ten children. They lived in a log cabin with a shanty adjoining for the older boys to sleep. The next year they moved to the other end of Skyles, also a long distance from school. Mary Louise and I went home with Mary and her sister Edra.
The Train Trip to Weston
One of the most exciting memories of living in Skyles was the trip we took to Weston on the train. It was just after Christmas and Daddy was too busy to go with us. Mother, Mary Louise, Junior and I rode the caboose of the log train to Erbacon, WV. There we changed to a B&O passenger train to Weston. The conductor, wearing a navy blue uniform, helped us up the steps and showed us our seats. They were covered with a deep green velvet upholstering. We could adjust the seats so that we sat facing Mother. The conductor would go through the train calling the name of each town we were approaching. The train stopped at Sutton, Flatwoods, Roanoke and other little towns. We kept asking Mother “How long will it be”? When we finally arrived in Weston, Grandfather was there to greet us. We had to wait until our luggage was unloaded then piled into the car for the short drive into the arms of our grandmother. She had a delicious meal ready. After dinner Mary Louise and I went up the street to see Uncle Morton Adler. He was usually in his office, so the clerks would tell him his girls were there. He came out and picked us up in his arms giving us a big hug. He made us feel we were the most special girls in the world. He was a Jew from Baltimore, although he did not practice their religion. Aunt Grace, Mother’s youngest sister married Uncle Morton when I was four years old. He owned the most exclusive ladies dress store in Weston (we loved him dearly).
After the visit with Uncle Morton, we went to see Aunt Ada and her family. Aunt Ada’s husband left her when their youngest son Danny was born. There were four children, Russell, Kathleen, Denzil and Danny. Grandfather brought them from Cowen to Weston and gave them a nice five room apartment over the Adler’s garage.
Aunt Grace and Uncle Morton had a lovely home and after the age of ten, I spent a week or two at their home every summer, until I finished high school.
After our visit with the relatives, Mary Louise and I went shopping at the 5&10 cent store. We browsed up and down every isle. There were so many things you could buy for a quarter. I bought a little celluloid doll (before plastic was invented) for 10 cents and a wrist watch (fake) with a nickel left for candy.
Every summer since I was ten years old, I spent one or two weeks in Weston with the Adlers. Aunt Grace had given me a dozen or more beautiful dresses the summer before I started high school. When Mary Louise went to Marshall, she took some with her and I had many left for me. Without a doubt, I was the best dressed girl at Richwood, Buckhannon and Gassaway and Mary Louise at Marshall. I was still wearing the lovely clothes when I was teaching at Calvin.
There was no man I loved more than Uncle Morton Adler. From the age of five years until he died, he showered me with love. I visited there every summer for two weeks. They had a maid that lived with them. She did the cooking and house work and Aunt Grace liked to work in the flower garden. Sadie (the maid) was like one of the family, but she never sat with the family to eat. Uncle Morton knew that Mother would never discuss sex with us. He gave me a book from his library to read how babies were conceived. When I began teaching at Calvin, Uncle Morton sent me clothes. Now I was making a big salary of nearly $100 a month, I insisted on paying for them. He would mark the price down. He had a heart attack when he was in his fifties and died. I still wear two of the beautiful night gowns Aunt Grace gave me. They were the most caring family in Weston. If Uncle Morton knew of a family in need - he was there to help them.
We visited Weston several times each year. Our grandparents had a large fourteen room brick house on Main Street. There was a nice front porch with a tile floor, a nice wide reed swing and several chairs and also an awning over the brick steps. Beveled cut glass windows surrounded the front door. You entered the reception hall that had a very pretty winding stairway to the second floor. A wide sliding door with more cut glass led into the parlor (which was seldom used). From the parlor you went into the sun porch on the right or into the formal dining room on the left side of the fireplace. I only remember the dining room being used one time. From the dining room you entered a large room with a wide built-in cupboard, a long table, buffet and a rocking chair where grandmother sat and knit bedspreads. There was also a china cabinet with her good china. The kitchen was not a very large room, but Grandmother cooked many delicious meals there. Grandfather’s office could be reached from the reception hall or from the family dining room. The patients entered the waiting room from the door at the side of the house. Grandfather’s desk was in the center of the room and there was a sofa and chair for patients. The room led off to an examining room and shelves filled with medicine; also a small restroom. Grandfather made many house calls and we often went with him and sat in the car.
There was a large garden in the back of the house and a double garage. Often when we went to visit, Grandmother would be in the garden working. She had a basement filled with shelves of canned food. They always had a Jersey cow that someone who had a farm took care of. He brought the milk everyday. Grandmother strained the milk and put it in the ice-box and churned her own butter (she was always a country girl).
Our most unexpected gift was a baby sister, Marjorie Lee! Daddy came to take us home and we were eager to show off our new baby sister. She was born New Year’s Day, January 1, 1925.
Fenwick
Now I will go back to when we moved from Skyles to Fenwick. When the Eakin Lumber Co. had cut all the good timber in Sklyes, they bought a huge amount in Fenwick, WV. They had to dismantle every building, railroad, and rebuild them in Fenwick. The boarding house and store were already there (in Fenwick) from a previous mill that had been there years before. Aunt Rosie and Uncle Willis Weese lived there (not relatives). We loved them as dearly as any relative. A lot of men lived out of town so Aunt Rosie cooked for them and kept their sleeping quarters clean. The dormitory was built beside their house. Anytime we would go to the store, we would run in the boarding house for a big cookie. It took several weeks to get the mill and houses rebuilt, but there were five nice company houses left from the previous mill. We had one of these houses and were thrilled to death with it. Mother took Junior and Margie to Weston when we left Sklyes and let Mary Louise and me stay at the boarding house in Fenwick.
Daddy went to Charleston and bought furniture for the nice large house. He bought rugs for the living room and dining room, a new sofa, chairs, a radio, a very nice table, china cabinet and buffet. He bought bedroom furniture for the guest room - which Mary Louise and I used when we were older. It was wonderful to have electricity, a large bathroom, a laundry room, three bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen and a wonderful big attic - also a wide front porch with a swing. In the back of the house was a nice cellar with thick concrete walls built into the hillside. Grandfather Kessler brought us a Jersey cow and we rented a pasture, probably one fourth of a mile below our house. When Mother came home from Weston, she had a very pretty baby girl, born on my 7th birthday (Joanne). Daddy was delighted with her. Her high chair was right by him and she could do anything she wanted.
You wonder how many women would want their husband to select the furniture for the house. Daddy would even buy a dress for Mother and silk stockings for us.
Daddy had a new floor put in the nice large attic and railing around the steps. He fixed it for a play room for us. He bought a moving picture projector with cartoons. We had so much fun.
The first few years we were in Fenwick, Mary Louise and I slept in the room next to Mother and Daddy. Junior and Margie were in another bed in the same room. We all went to bed early because Daddy went to his office at 7:00 AM.
Soon after we moved to Fenwick, Daddy’s sister Aunt Rhoda, who lived in Huntington, sent a piano to us. Mother heard of a piano teacher in Richwood for Mary Louise and me. We weren’t interested in practicing so the lessons stopped. We had fun playing chop-sticks and other easy tunes. I forgot to mention that along with the piano Aunt Rhoda gave us, there were many sheets of music. Mary Louise found a very nice prayer in a hymnal that we all sang before we went to sleep. The words were -
“Jesus tender shepherd hear me
Bless thy little lamb tonight
Though the darkness be thou near me
Keep me safe till morning light
All this day thy hand has led me
and I thank thee for thy caring
Thou has clothed me, warmed and fed me
Listen to my evening prayer
Let my sins be all forgiven
Bless the friends I love so well
Take me when I die to heaven
Happy there with thee I’ll dwell
Amen - Ah, Ah-men”
With Mother’s lovely singing voice and Daddy joining in, it sounded very good. You went to sleep with happy thoughts.
We had an Edison phonograph with records of all the popular songs. Mother had always sung in the choir so when we went to the ball games on Sunday afternoon, or picnics, etc., we all joined in singing the popular songs of the day. We knew all the popular songs of the day and the old ones. Daddy was a star player on the baseball team. Almost every Sunday afternoon during the summer, our family along with the five or six other families who had a car would go watch the games. Everyone brought food for a nice picnic.
Anytime we got in the car, we sang our family theme song - the words were:
Every morning, every evening
Ain’t we got fun
Not much money - Oh but honey
Still we have fun
There’s nothing surer
The rich get richer and the poor get children
In the meantime, in between times
Still we have fun
(Mother changed the word “poorer” to “children”)
Life in Fenwick was so happy. Mother was thrilled with all the convenient appliances we had. With her new washing machine and indoor plumbing, she had a wash on the line almost everyday. Since we almost always had a baby in the house, she had lots of diapers on the line. Her electric iron was in use a lot. I begged to let me iron some diapers. Soon I got to iron almost everything. Daddy wore a white starched shirt, which was dampened and carefully ironed. I was really proud when I got to iron them. We had a new gas stove in our kitchen. Mother filled the broiler with bread for toast. She would be busy with the bacon and nearly always scorched the toast. We awoke with the sound of Mother scraping toast.
She ordered a vacuum cleaner from Montgomery Ward since we had new rugs in our living room and dining room and electricity.
Mother ordered several magazines - Ladies Home Journal, McCalls and Women’s Home Companion. We got a daily paper and turned to the comic page the first thing. Mother was sure we had the paper put together before Daddy got home. The magazines began to offer samples of boxed cereals. Oatmeal was the only cereal we ever had in the grocery store, so boxed cereal was something new. I bought penny post cards and began ordering samples. I cleaned one drawer in the chest of drawers (the one in the large bedroom upstairs at the farm). Soon I had the drawer filled. I brought almost every girl from school to see my collection.
Mrs. Hinkle
Mother gave Mary Louise and me a job to do before we could play. Mary Louise cleaned the downstairs (living room, dining room and kitchen). My job was the upstairs. My friend Eula Dodrill came every morning after breakfast and helped me. We made the beds, swept the floors and dusted. Mother came up and inspected - then we could play. We had the wonderful attic to play in if it was raining or we could visit Mrs. Hinkle. Mr. and Mrs. Hinkle lived the distance of a block from our house. They had a three room house set away from every one. Mother and Mrs. Harrison both knew Mrs. Hinkle from Cowen. She had a (married) daughter who died during the birth of her third child and Mother thought Mrs. Hinkle lost her mind when her only child died. Mrs. Hinkle was in an asylum in Weston for several years. Mrs. Hinkle was just released from the insane asylum in Weston and her hair had been shaved off. It had grown to about an inch. One eye was crossed and it was hard to tell when she was looking at you. Eula and I were absolutely fascinated with her! Mr. Hinkle, a dear sweet man, worked for the Eakin Lumber Co. They had two grandsons living in Fenwick, David and Paul. David was in my class and the nicest, brightest boy in our class. David was my age. Paul was in Junior’s class. They lived across town from their grandparents. Their father never remarried. Mrs. Hinkle wore a long black cotton dress that was filthy - the same dress every day. Eula and I were fascinated with her. Eula and I always sat in the kitchen with her and watched her work. There was about four feet dug out of the hillside by her back door. She often left the door open and since it was level with the ground, the chickens could walk in. One time a chicken came in and messed on the floor (the kitchen floor was bare). I got up and picked up the broom to clean up the mess. She grabbed the broom and told me to go home if I wanted to sweep. I apologized and was afraid she wouldn’t let us come back. She had sheets tacked over every window. When we knocked on the door, she would pull the sheet aside to see who was there - then move the sewing machine that was blocking the door. There was a barrel shaped coal stove in the center of the room, an old chair and that was all there was in the living room. They had no closed ceiling in any room - just exposed rafters.
After three or four years she decided to have a birthday party for her grandson David. She invited eight to ten children, Mary Louise among them. Since the third room in the house was always locked, we were curious to know what the bedroom looked like. Mary Louise was very athletic so she said she could get on the sewing machine climb across the rafters to peep in. Mrs. Hinkle was in the kitchen getting the refreshments ready - so she thought she wouldn’t get caught. She was almost where she could see when Mrs. Hinkle came in. Of course she was furious and told her to get down and never come back. Soon after that time, Grandfather Kessler came to visit us. His home was in Weston where the asylum was. Before he went back to Weston, he thought he should go visit Mrs. Hinkle. He knew her when she lived in Cowen. She thought he had come to take her back to the asylum. The next time Eula and I visited, she told us to leave and never come back. From then on, our fun was teasing her. The dirt road in front of her house was just a few feet from where we had to walk to get to the tennis court or pasture where our Jersey cow was pastured. When we passed, she had a bucket of water ready to throw on us. I don’t remember anyone getting wet. She also gathered several rocks to throw at us.
More Fenwick
Now back to when we first moved to Fenwick. The Frank Harris family lived on the left of us and the Harrison’s on the right. Mrs. Harrison (Flossie) had lived in Cowen and Mother knew her. She had two daughters - Esther and Ernestine. Esther was in high school in Washington, DC with one of Mrs. Harrison’s sisters. Her daughter Ernestine (Teeny) was Mary Louise’s age (She married Franklin Harris after we moved away). Teeny was lots of fun. Mother was delighted to have then as neighbors. Mrs. Harrison was the only person I knew that called Mother “Mary” and that Mother called “Flossie”. She (Mrs. Harrison) had a wonderful sense of humor and was a talented seamstress. She played the organ at the church in Fenwick and taught the adult class. She raised a big garden and canned dozens of fruits and vegetables. The house was always a mess with the sewing machine in the middle of the living room and scraps of material on the floor. It was such a nice house to visit because it was full of laughter and fun. Mr. Harrison was the manager of the Company Store and such a grouch. Anytime I went to the store, I waited for Uncle Willis Weese to wait on me. He always gave me an extra piece of candy when I bought any. He made up a verse for me when we stayed at the boarding house before Joanne was born. My verse was “Martha Jean is long and lean - She’s always seen - Poor Martha Jean”. For Mary Louise he wrote “Mary Louise is full of fleas - They make her sneeze - Poor Mary Louise”.
The Dodrill family was some distance away but every morning when we weren’t in school, Eula came to our house after breakfast and stayed until lunch time. My job was to make the beds, dust and sweep the floors. Mother would come to inspect, then I was ready to play.
Mother was very particular who I played with. Eula was the only one that came every day. During the summer, the Eakin girls were there and I could play with Mary.
On my tenth birthday, Mother said I could do anything I wanted. We never got birthday gifts - nor did any of our friends. From the front porch, I could see all the shacks of the poor people across the river. One belonged to the Salons and Elsie was in my class. They were very poor. Their father was in the penitentiary for making home brew. Elsie’s older sister, Carrie, was very attractive and there were several younger children. Elsie was quiet and kept to herself. I told Mother I would like to visit the Salons. She thought that would be a nice thing to do. Eula and I went over and knocked on the door. They were at the table with hardly anything to eat - just a few dried beans, scarcely any furniture - cracks in the floor and no linoleum or carpet. The children were barefoot and so thin. It was shocking to me. They were very polite and asked us to sit down. We visited awhile then went home to tell Mother how desperately poor they were. She felt so ashamed that we - and all the people working for Eakin Lumber Co. had so much and a family so near was practically starving. Mother told all the neighbors and friends the sad story and they decided to donate food, clothing and furniture they didn’t need. Mrs. Marshall asked Carrie to come to her house after school to help with house work for two hours and longer on Saturday. She paid her well. Mother kept a close watch on them until we moved.
We had a wonderful happy life in Fenwick. We were only three miles from Richwood - a booming town with a large paper mill, tannery, lumber mill, clothespin factory, two hospitals, many churches - a high school and theater (I’m sure I forgot others). Daddy liked to go bowling on Saturday night. We all went along and sat in the car in front of the building that had the bowling alley on the second floor. We could hear the ball hit the pins and knew Daddy was winning. Many people were out walking. The first year we lived in Fenwick, the movies in Richwood had no sound - the dialog was written on the screen. We were so glad when they had sound - like they always had in Weston. Mother and Daddy belonged to the Baptist Church in Richwood. Dr. and Mrs. Tanner were the ministers. Both were well educated and had a large congregation every Sunday (the Tanners were from Kansas). Mary Louise and I were baptized in Richwood (along with the Dodrill girls). Mary Louise and I attended the little church in Fenwick a lot with our friends.
The paper mill at Richwood dumped their waste in the Cherry River that flowed past our house - at the foot of a steep hill. The water was black with a white foam floating on top. The many rocks in the shallow river were covered with a green, slippery, mossy substance. Mary Louise was playing a game of tag. A boy was chasing her and she leaped out on one of the rocks and fell. She broke her arm. They took her to a Dr. in Richwood and he put it in a cast. Mary Louise was very athletic. She was an excellent swimmer diving off the diving board and turning a somersault, landing in a graceful dive.
In Fenwick, during the summer, we had so much fun. We went swimming every afternoon in Little Laurel Creek. The water wasn’t over my head, but it was deep enough that Mary Louise could dive and turn a somersault, landing gracefully. All our close friends and neighbor children were there. In the evening, we all met at an old pump house to play a hide and seek game. On Sunday afternoons we sometimes played a hide and seek game in the lumber yard. The mill was closed on Sundays so we could walk up to the place where the logs were brought up to cut them into lumber. We walked through the mill past the big saw, onto the docks where they stacked the lumber. There was space between the lumber for it to dry. We could climb inside the lumber stacks to hide. We were never at a loss to find something to do. Mary Louise was the one who would plan the activities. One thing we enjoyed was hiking up the mountain to the “Devil’s Tea Tower”, a huge rock formation that looked like a table with a bench on each side.
When we moved to Fenwick, I was in the third grade (7 years old). The school was on a hillside across the river - a five room building. My teacher was Mable Bashaw. She lived in Richwood. I asked her if I could go home with her to spend the night. She said I could. I probably told Mother she invited me because she said I could go. Miss Bashaw had a sister my age and she was very friendly. She asked if I would like to go to the end of the street to see a blind girl. The girl was Lila Brown. Lila had been playing with a little boy who lived next door when she was five years old and they were pushing a curtain rod back and forth through the fence, when it struck her in the eye. It blinded her in both eyes. Her parents took her to Baltimore to John’s Hopkins but there was nothing they could do. She went to Romney, WV to the school for the blind and got a good education. It turned out she was Gilbert Milam’s first cousin. Her mother and Gilbert’s mother were sisters. We became the closest friends when I went to Milam’s to teach.
My fourth grade teacher was Miss Rowe. She had room and board with a family in Fenwick. My fifth grade teacher was Mrs. Morrison who lived in Richwood. Myrtle and I spent the night with her. Lena Carnifax was my sixth grade teacher. She lived in Fenwick. My seventh and eighth grade teacher was Mr. Mearns.
My first year in high school was in Richwood in 1933. I was thirteen years old. That year the great depression occurred and the Eakin Lumber Co. went bankrupt. The principal was Edgle Dean - a very good friend of Mother and Daddy. He sang in the choir with Mother at the Baptist Church. He was always so friendly and kind to me (when Gilbert was killed, he sang a solo at his funeral). The schedule in my freshman year was English, French, Ancient History, Mathematics (algebra), and physical education. Mary Louise was a senior in high school - only fifteen years old. Her eight grade teacher told her to she should skip the 8th and go to high school. She graduated at the top of her class. It was terrible to follow Mary Louise. I struggled with every subject (especially algebra). History was the most interesting. Mother had never read or heard too much about Greece, Rome, Egypt etc. so she had me sit with her and read my assigned lesson. I wish she could have toured all these wonderful countries with us.
Daddy bought a lot of books for us. Among them were good fiction stories I hadn’t read. “Jack the Giant Killer” was one of them. I always liked to read. Aunt Rhoda usually sent me a Bobsey Twins book every Christmas.
The summer before I went to high school, I was visiting the Adler’s in Weston, as I usually did. Aunt Grace gave me at least a dozen beautiful dresses. Mary Louise and I shared them all through high school (Mary Louise was a high school senior - but she shared them all four years at college).
Visits to Huntington
The years in Fenwick were very happy. Everyone had good health and it was a prosperous time. Grandfather Kessler had a brother in Richwood that was a car salesman (the only brother who wasn’t a doctor). Daddy bought a new Buick car every 3 or 4 years from him. The many baseball games we went to, with Mother cheering and the picnics that followed were lots of fun. We made one or two trips per year to Huntington to spend a weekend with Aunt Rhoda, Uncle Allie and Grandfather - and Uncle Ford and his family. The road to Huntington was narrow and winding until we got to Charleston. We passed many chemical plants. The Carbon-Carbide plant near Charleston was smelly with black smoke filling the air. Coke ovens were along the road between Charleston and Huntington. They looked like large bee hives with flames blazing through the little doors. There was no law prohibiting air pollution in those days.
We always drove to Aunt Rhoda’s first at 941 11th Ave. Grandfather had the house built - a nice red brick. Around the corner were two other brick houses to be rented. He left them to Daddy and Uncle Ford (but Uncle Ford didn’t want theirs). Margie and Sid bought both of them and have had renters using them for many years. They sold the other one. Grandmother Gawthrop died of cancer when I was two years old. I don’t remember her at all. Grandfather lived with Aunt Rhoda and Uncle Allie (Albert Walford). It was a sad situation when you think of Uncle Allie, a well educated Canadian dentist developing paralysis shortly after they were married. He was a handsome man and Aunt Rhoda had to shave, bathe, dress and feed him each day. He always wore a nice suit, white shirt and tie and he looked as though he could go to his office. He sat in a rocking chair in their bedroom or out on the porch. When he needed to go to the bathroom, Aunt Rhoda would rock him and with both hands pull him up. He could shuffle into the bathroom with Aunt Rhoda there to help. He liked listening to the radio for the hockey games, baseball etc. I couldn’t understand him at all, his speech was so slurred - but Aunt Rhoda could. She told him jokes and they laughed together. When the weather was nice, she took him for a drive every afternoon. She had him get out of the car and run for exercise. He lived until after I was married, with Aunt Rhoda’s patient care.
Uncle Ford, Daddy’s twin, lived ten blocks from Aunt Rhoda. Mary Louise and I went to their house as soon as we arrived. We had so much fun with our cousins. They had four daughters. We stayed at Uncle Ford’s - sleeping four in a bed. We loved the sound of a steam boat whistle on the Ohio River. Uncle Ford was a dentist. Aunt Iris said she wished we could come more often. She said it was the only time Uncle Ford laughed. He was just the opposite of Daddy.
When I was ten or eleven years old, our cousins (Catherine and Helen) were sitting on the steps at Aunt Rhoda’s with us. Catherine asked if we knew where babies came from. We, Mary Louise and I said, “Of course! A stork brings them”! They said, “No, they come from your mother”. We didn’t believe them. They told us to go get the Bible and it was in the 3rd chapter of Job. We were shocked to see they were right. I couldn’t wait to get home to tell Myrtle Dodrill. She would be so surprised. When I told her, she said, “I’ve known that all my life. I knew your mother would never let me play with you if I told you”.
While I have Myrtle in my mind, I will tell of the time when she came to spend the night with me. I was probably ten or eleven years old. We were in the bathtub getting ready for bed and Myrtle said she had a joke to tell me. “A little girl and boy were at a picnic with friends and they went to play in a sand pile. After a while the little girl said I need to go to the bathroom so she ran over to the edge of the woods and squatted and peed. Soon after that the little boy said he had to pee - so he ran over to the same area and peed standing. When he came back, the little girl said “That would be a handy thing to have at a picnic”!” I thought it was funny and laughed. I had a little brother and knew they were different. Mother was listening to this conversation on the outside of the door. She came in, furious, and told Myrtle to get dressed and go home. It was very dark and the road to her house was rocky and no street lights anywhere. Myrtle never came to our house again. Her younger sister, Eula, came every day.
Grandfather bought eight burial plots in Huntington. That’s where Mother and Daddy along with Uncle Ford, Aunt Iris, Aunt Rhoda, Uncle Albert, and Grandmother and Grandfather are buried.
Hilacres Farm Visits
When the baseball season was over, we spent weekends at Hilacres farm. The Hillacre farm belonged to Great-Grandfather John Hill. After Great-Grandfather Hill died, Great-Grandmother Hill went to live with her daughters - Aunt Viola Herold in Cowen and Grandmother Kessler in Weston. Hilacres farm house was vacant for some time but there was the original log house (where Junior built his house). A tenant farmer lived there. Daddy’s Uncle Brade Ervin and Aunt Laura bought the farm - the only time the farm ever left the Hill family. Their two children had graduated from college (Nellie and Dent). Uncle Brade had a large herd of Herford cattle, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. The big stone fireplace you see in the yard was in the kitchen where the sink and windows are today. There was a pantry on the right of the fireplace and a small counter with a flour bin on the left side. The kitchen-dining room was one long room with a small bedroom at the end of the room. A door to an open porch was where the present sun porch is. On the porch was a door that led to the living room and another door to the two large bedrooms upstairs. The steps to the upstairs were as narrow and steep as the cellar loft. There was a fireplace in the room to the right with a gas stove. Mother and Daddy always slept in that room. We were in the other room where there were two beds. We ran in our parent’s room to get dressed. One time when I was eight years old, I ran into their room and turned the gas higher. When I was dressed, I turned the gas lower and it went out. I tried to get it on but I couldn’t, so I left it and went down stairs. Mother woke up and smelled the gas. It was terrible to think how near I came to asphyxiating my parents.
There was no bridge for a car to cross to get to the house. A road led to the left of the present bridge and we drove through the creek when the water was low. There was a nice narrow foot bridge to walk across. There was a large barn with stalls for the two big work horses and stalls for the cows. We loved playing in the hay mow (loft), but I had many night-mares with the big bull chasing me and climbing the ladder to the hay loft to get me. In my dream I could fly - so I would fly toward the house and the bull could fly also. I woke and called to tell Mother I was having bad dreams. She always said “come and get in bed with us”. I got to the foot of their bed many times. Aunt Laura died when I was fourteen years old, living in Buckhannon, for Mary Louise’s first year of college. Tenant farmers had moved into the farm house and it was in terrible condition when Daddy bought it four years later - many window panes broken.
Back to the farm visits - A log corn crib was in the barn lot. There was space between the logs. A chicken house was behind the coal house where the shop (storage building) in the corner of the yard is located. The outdoor toilet was in that area. A large pig pen was just outside the fence. The pony, Jimmy, that we loved to ride when Uncle Brade lived there, was still living and John loved to ride him to school. One of our favorite things to do at the farm was hiking up Perrine hollow, the narrow valley above Junior’s house. It was a beautiful area with a small stream trickling over a stony bed. At the end of the hike were the ruins of a log cabin. Lots of rhododendron was along the stream and huge trees on the hillside. We went swimming at the “Grandaddy Hole” almost to the end of Muddlety Valley road. I never dreamed we would buy the farm six years later.
Little Birch River Saw Mill
When the Eakin Lumber Co. went bankrupt, Daddy bought timber on Little Birch River from three Smallwood brothers and had a mill built. Railroad tracks were made for bringing in logs on flat cars. A boarding house was built and Mrs. Eakins sister moved in to cook for the men who didn’t live nearby. Most of the crew ate and slept at the boarding house. Sutton was the nearest town, so groceries were bought there. Daddy was going to buy some things Mrs. Adkins needed. She gave him the list - and as he was leaving, she said “put tapioca on the list”. He bought the groceries on the list then went to the drug store. He waited until all the customers left, then said to the clerk (a man), “I want a box of tapioca”. He said “Frank we don’t sell groceries”. He laughed when Daddy told him he thought it was sanitary napkins.
We had a four room camp house built for our family to be with Daddy during the summers. There was a living room, kitchen and two bedrooms. Mother and Daddy and Johnny slept in one bedroom. Mary Louise, Margie, Joanne and I had a large double bunk bed. Margie and Joanne slept in the lower bed - Mary Louise and I slept in the upper one. Junior slept on an air mattress in a loft over Mother and Daddy’s room. He would climb up to the upper bunk then step across to the open loft over Mother and Daddy’s room. In the kitchen was a long table they built with a long bench on each side. We had a coal stove like the one in Skyles, no running water - we went to a pump by the boarding house. The Little Birch River was in back of our house, shaded by large trees. Mother got her wash water from the creek. The toilet was an out house, like the one at the farm. We were all very happy to be camping all summer with Daddy, but not looking forward to going to Buckhannon where Mary Louise would be a freshman at Wesleyan College.
Buckhannon
Soon after the banks all closed and Eakin Lumber Co. was bankrupt, we moved to Buckhannon, WV. We rented a house in Buckhannon so Mary Louise could begin her first year of college at Wesleyan. Daddy bought timber on the Little Birch River and had a mill there for four years.
Daddy was born in Upsher County and nearly all of his relatives lived in that county. Two of his mother’s sisters lived in Buckhannon - Aunt Gertie and Aunt Florence. Aunt Gertie was an immaculate house keeper and quick to criticize - just as Daddy’s mother had been. Aunt Florence was a seamstress. Her husband died shortly after they were married. She owned a large brick house and rented some rooms. She was the most loving lady and so happy to have us in Buckhannon. She was always busy sewing and altering clothes for many customers. She welcomed us with open arms (when Aunt Laura died, Uncle Brade went to live with her).
Uncle Walker, Uncle Baxter and Uncle Brice lived in Upsher County and Daddy grew up there. He was welcomed and loved by all of his relatives.
The nine months we were in Buckhannon were the most unhappy of our lives. Mary Louise was the youngest student in college and certainly didn’t fit in with the more sophisticated students. Even though Daddy was with us every weekend, we missed him so much. They decided to send Mary Louise to Huntington to attend Marshall College and live with Aunt Rhoda - Daddy’s sister.
Gassaway
We went back to our camp house at Little Birch for the summer and Daddy began looking for a house to rent in Sutton. There were none, so he went to Gassaway and found one. What a difference it was, after the miserable nine months in Buckhannon, now Daddy could come home every night. When the moving van arrived with our furniture, many kids our age were there to watch us move in. They were so friendly and wanted to know what grade we were in and what church we belonged to, etc. It was my third year in high school. I was fifteen years old. I was greeted kindly by all the students and teachers. I had the beautiful dresses Aunt Grace had given me and more self confidence.
One of the boys watching us move, Junior Bragg - lived out the street from us. He had graduated from high school the year before but was returning to get more science before he applied for a job. He was in love with a girl who had just moved to Clarksburg. They were going to get married when he had a good job. He asked me if I had ever kissed a boy. I was fifteen and had never had a boyfriend. He wanted to teach me how to kiss. Mother and Daddy were sleeping in the bedroom next to the living room. I’m sure they would have told him to go home if they had heard this. He kissed me gently on the lips - but it was at least two or three years before I got to try out my lesson.
Soon after we moved to Gassaway, a Honky Tonk was put in one of the vacant buildings on Main Street. All the teenage kids in town gathered there after school to learn to dance. The nickelodeon had a big selection of popular tunes of the day with a rhythm easy to dance to. None of us had danced before but we had seen enough movies that we soon learned quickly. Only a few boys would try to learn to dance, so the girls would dance with each other. The boys soon joined us. If you were dancing with a boy and another boy wanted to dance with you, he would tap your partner on the shoulder. He would let the boy dance with you and he would find another girl. Mother and Daddy thought it was wonderful to have a place to learn to dance and get to know everyone. I could go after school for an hour and on weekends; I could go in the evenings and dance until 9:00. One time they had a dance at a large building for a men’s organization (maybe Odd Fellows). They had an orchestra and everyone was invited. Parents came to watch us dance. We wore evening gowns and it was wonderful.
A larger house became available in the other end of town across the Elk River. We now had four bedrooms and a bath upstairs. In the kitchen was a refrigerator - the first we ever had. A short distance from us was the swimming hole (Elk River) where all the kids met during the summer. Some boy asked me to go for a ride in his boat. I was out in the hot sun in my bathing suit for two or three hours and was red as a beet. The next day we went back to our camp house on Little Birch. My back was blistered and I was in bed with a fever for several days.
That year the timber was cut and the mill closed. For the first time, Daddy was without a job. This was during the great depression and thousands of men were out of work. Daddy went to Charleston to find work. After a few weeks, he found an office job paying very little. He rented a room and was home only on weekends. Mother was very thrifty and got along with well under $10 or less a week. We still had our Jersey cow and plenty of good milk and butter. It’s a good thing we all liked beans and cornbread - also potatoes.
Glenville State Teachers College
and back to Gassaway
I graduated from high school that year, 1937, and was ready for college. I went to Glenville State Teachers College. Mary Louise was a senior at Marshall College in Huntington. My roommate was Arleen Workman, a girl I graduated with. She was a very nice girl and we got along well. The dormitory was for girls only and if you went out in the evening, you had to be back by 7:00. Miss Brand, our house mother, stayed at the front door to smell the breath of every girl entering to see if they had been smoking or drinking (I never heard of anyone drinking).
One weekend I went to Weston on a bus to borrow an evening gown for a dance. When I was returning, Miss Brand was on the same bus. She got up to say the blessing for our supper that night and she said she was horrified to see one of her residents on the bus without a hat! She told me to stand up so they could see how ill mannered I was. Of course the students all thought she was crazy. All meals were included and there was no reason to have money, but Daddy gave me $5.00 in case I needed to buy something. One day I went down town just to browse. A bakery had pecan pies and you could buy one piece just for a quarter. They looked good so I bought a piece. I thought it was the best pie I had ever tasted! Mother was a wonderful pie baker but pecan pie wasn’t in any of her cookbooks. The restaurant gave me their recipe and it was everyone’s favorite. At the end of school, the college had an orchestra come for a graduation dance. I asked Kent, Mother’s youngest brother, to go with me. He was the youngest of the Kessler family and a good dancer. It was a very happy year for me. I was completely unaware of how Mother and Daddy struggled to make a living and keep two daughters in college. Mary Louise graduated that year and was ready to teach any subject in high school. She was very disappointed there was no opening in the two Nicolas County high schools and you weren’t allowed to teach in grade school! She didn’t have a certificate to teach in the lower grades so she had to go back for that certificate.
Back to my life - The summer after my year at Glenville - As soon as I got home, I went to the Honky-Tonk with my friends. Bob Bennet asked to walk home with me. He had just graduated from high school and was older than I. He was the star basketball player and very nice. He kissed me good night - the first real kiss for both of us. He asked me to be his girl friend. I agreed, although I missed dancing with all the other boys. His cousin, Dick Bennet, told me not to be a serious girl friend. While Bob was very nice - his mother had the worst reputation in Gassaway. His father worked for the B&O railroad on the night shift. His mother was the town whore. She was always over in a beer joint ready to go out with any man who asked her. It didn’t seem fair for Bob to be judged because of his mother.
Daddy was still working in Charleston and home only on weekends. He was losing weight, not well at all. Mother insisted he go see Uncle Otis Hill (Grandmother Kessler’s brother a doctor in Camden on Gauley). Uncle “Oat” said he must get to a hospital in Baltimore immediately! He had encephalitis (Mother had put some hair dye in his hair that was beginning to get some gray. She was afraid that caused it). Uncle Morton Adler said he would go with him on the train and Mother went along, taking Johnny. She got a room near the hospital. He was there several weeks.
Mary Louise was in Huntington and Margie and Junior were out with friends and Joanne in bed early. Bob came to our house every evening. I only remember spending the evenings listening to him telling me how wonderful I was and how much he loved me. When Daddy and Mother came home from Baltimore, I could only see him at the Honky-Tonk. Not long after they were home, Johnny had Scarlet fever, a very serious illness. Our house was quarantined - a sign was on our front door to prohibit anyone from entering - except our family. Johnny was in the bedroom with Mother and Daddy and we weren’t allowed to enter. He was a dear little boy. I slipped in one day and kissed him. Very soon after that, I had Scarlet fever. I was in bed the rest of the summer. I went to Huntington with Mary Louise for my second year of college (Marshall). I was still terribly weak.
2nd Year of College at Marshall
Uncle Ford (Daddy’s twin) came every morning (to Aunt Rhoda’s) to bathe, shave and get Grandfather in his chair by the window. Grandfather Gawthrop lived with Aunt Rhoda and when he became senile - Aunt Rhoda and Uncle Allie moved to the second floor and rented the first floor. Grandfather was happy, going back to his childhood, reciting old nursery rhymes. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star had a lot more verses than the one I knew. Uncle Ford took Mary Louise and me to Marshall College each day. Aunt Rhoda was very good to us. Mary Louise and I had a nice large bedroom across the hall from Grandfather on the third floor. Aunt Rhoda’s husband Uncle Allie (Albert) was paralyzed soon after they were married. He was a handsome man from Canada - and was a Dentist. Aunt Rhoda took wonderful care of him. She shaved him every morning, kept his hair cut and dressed him in a suit with a white shirt and tie. His speech was so slurred that I couldn’t understand him but Aunt Rhoda knew every word. She took him for a drive every day when the weather was good. They would go out into the country and Uncle Allie would get out of the car (with her help) and run for exercise. Aunt Rhoda had a large home and rented the first floor to a family. They had a son our age. When we were at school and Aunt Rhoda was taking Uncle Allie for a drive - the boy down stairs went up to our living quarters snooping around. He told me Aunt Rhoda was opening all my letters from Bob and had several under the living room rug. She was going to show them to my parents. I told Bob to mail my letters to Coralie Hill, who was taking a semester at Marshall. Not long after that Mary Louise and I were on our way home. Mary Louise had finished five years at Marshall and was given the Little Creek School - one room school half a mile up from the Farm.
Little Gem School and the Milams
At that time there was no school for me. Daddy told me to go over to the farm where one of the members of the Board of Education lived and introduce myself, telling him I would be interested if there were any openings he would consider for me. It was a short time when I had a letter telling me I had a school near Calvin, WV - the (Little Gem School). Bill Hill was there when I got my letter. He was a distant relative who lived down at the beginning of Muddlety Valley Road. He had graduated from high school with a good friend who lived near the Little Gem School. He told me I should go to the Milams. They had a very large farm and one of his best friends was in charge of running it. I went over and met Mrs. Milam. She had a large house and an empty bedroom. She was glad to rent it. I think the rent was less than ten dollars a week, with all meals included. The school was a ten minute walk from her house and I would take my lunch with me every day. I was thrilled to death with my school and lodging. Mrs. Milam had two sons living at home. Gilbert was a year older than I, and Robert in his first year of high school. They were very friendly. Gilbert had a convertible car and took Robert and me for a ride. I hadn’t ridden in a rumble seat since the wreck in Skyles when I was five years old. It was lots of fun. Gilbert went out with a good friend, Walter Mullens, every night and they would take their girl friends to an open air outdoor movie or just somewhere to park with the girls. I was getting my daily letters from Bob. A short time after I was there, Gilbert bought a new green Ford car. He asked me to go out with him. We drove down below Summersville and parked near a fountain. He asked me to be his girlfriend. He kissed me and that was the beginning of our love affair. I wrote to tell Bob that I was dating Gilbert. It was hard to do because I knew he loved me very much. Bob asked his cousin to drive him over to the Milam’s to plead with me to stay with him. We were in the hallway and tears were in his eyes. He begged me to go to Richwood with him to a dance and talk. I kept telling him I couldn’t go. Finally Gilbert came in the hall and said I didn’t want to go, and I was now his girlfriend.
I never saw Bob again, but he married a very nice girl and was killed in World War II.
Mother and Daddy were thrilled to death that I was dating Gilbert. He went over to the Farm (Hilacres) and castrated the calves and sheared the sheep. Not long after that Gib told Daddy he loved me very much and wanted to marry me. Daddy thought we should wait a year to be married but he was so thankful I found a wonderful husband. After the first year of teaching at the Little Gem School we were married. Gilbert’s sister Dale and her husband, Don Miller, went to Kentucky with us just across the river from Huntington. In West Virginia you had to be 21 to be married (I was 20). We spent the night in a motel then went back to put up hay.
When I began teaching, a good friend of the family, Ellis Frame, asked me if I would like to buy his camp on Elk River - only a mile above Sutton, WV. I can’t remember the price but I’m sure it wasn’t over $100. The house had a large living room, two bedrooms with a double bunk bed in both bedrooms. There was a fireplace in the living room - not much furniture, maybe two or three chairs. The kitchen was a long narrow room with a table and benches and an old refrigerator (ice box) set over a large hole in the floor. A wide short window was above the wash stand. You looked out on the Elk River, just over the bank. There was an old canoe under the house but it had a lot of leaks. We had a huge yard and lots of privacy. The beds had a musty odor - in spite of the clean sheets and pillow cases we took.
I had only one girl in the eight grade, Bernice Mullens, a very bright girl. She was in the 4-H Club. She had to make something to take to the 4-H yearly celebration (above Cowen). I asked her to make curtains for over the kitchen sink at my camp. I got the muslin for her and she made a nice design and colored it with crayons. She put a cloth over it and the hot iron blended the colors perfectly. Soon after that I went with her to the 4-H camp above Cowen (Camp Ceaser). I was chosen to be a princess at the “Spud and Splinter Festival” at Richwood. My dress had to be a yellow checked cotton material (a lady in Summersville made it). They took trucks with long beds and covered them with fancy material and flowers. All the princesses sat on covered benches waving to the crowd as the parade went through Richwood. Bernice graduated that year and we had no more 4-H clubs, thank goodness. This all happened the first year I was teaching.
At least half the children in the room were double first cousins. Frank Mullins and Andy Mullins were brothers who married sisters. They each had large families. Andy was older and most of his family were grown and married - Bernice Lee was his youngest. Four of Frank’s children were there. They all were so nice - three sons and one daughter, Mary Francis, was in the first grade. A few years ago I was painting the front porch at the Farm when two cars drove up. It was the Mullens boys, some with their wives. I was thrilled to see them. Corky had his wife with him - he lived in Indiana. He hugged me and tears were streaming down his face. He was one of the brightest in the school. The youngest son, Ben, owns their farm.
