Sunday, September 20, 2009

White Family Stories shared by Brother Davis

White Family Stories
As told by Edwin M. “Brother” Davis
Letter to L.F. “Bud” Hammond dated August 10, 2009


Thrashley E. White was born October 25, 1805, in Westfield Community of Chesterfield County, South Carolina. (He) died April 8, 1880, age 75, in Westfield Community of Chesterfield County, South Carolina.

Eliza Ann Jones, daughter of Reverend Wiley Jones and Sara (last name may be Bell?), was born December 12, 1827, Buffalo Community, Kershaw County, South Carolina. Her mother, Sara, was Indian either full or 1/b blood. This is very obvious by all the dark complexion cousins we have, also she told her grandchildren that her mother was Indian. They did not think or care to ask if Sara was full blood or ½ blood.

Buffalo is a cross roads, store, fire department, school, and Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church about 3 miles south of Kershaw, South Carolina. Reverend Wiley Jones was pastor of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church in the Buffalo Community and is buried in the Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church cemetery. Sharon Freeman Corey has been to his burial site.

Rev. Wiley Jones came to the Westfield Community, Chesterfield County, South Carolina, around 1850-1851 to hold a revival bringing with him his daughter Eliza Ann Jones who was around 22 – 24 years old. While here she met Thrashley White, many, many years her senior, fell in love, married him and to the best of knowledge never went back to Kershaw Buffalo Community. She and Thrashley had 7 or 8 children. The youngest Ellison Thrashley White, my grandpa that we all called “Dee”.

When Thrashley died in 1880, Eliza Ann Jones White came to live with several of her children as she and Thrashley owned no land. Thrashley lost his land, 202 acres more or less because of debt and taxes. His property was sold at the court house in 1844.

Sometime around 1906 Eliza Ann Jones White came to live with her youngest son Ellison Thrashley White, his wife Alice Mae Eddins White and their two daughters, Myrtle and Ethel. Myrtle White Davis is my mother and Ethel White King my aunt.

Oral Family History from Brother Davis

Things Eliza Ann Jones White told her Granddaughter Myrtle White Davis
Who In Turn Told Her Son Edwin M. “Brother” Davis.
Reference: Letter from Brother Davis to L.F. “Bud” Hammond dated August 10, 2009 and reprinted below as received.

Here are things my (Edwin M. "Brother" Davis) mother told me that, Eliza Ann Jones White, her Grandmother told her:

1. Thrashley White could cure the toothache. People came from all abound seeking relief. He never told anyone his secret.
2. Grandmother, Eliza Ann Jones White, was called “Mu” by her children and most grandchildren.
3. Grandmother, Eliza Ann Jones White, would tell my mother Myrtle and Aunt Ethel, “children let us go to bed early tonight cause we are going to get up early tomorrow morning and walk to Kershaw to see our kin fold”. This scared my mother and Aunt Ethel to death. Just the idea of walking 35-40 miles with “Mu”.
4. During reconstruction after the Civil War* the Yankees were destroying any and everything. The Yankees came through the yard of Eliza Ann Jones White, and her young children and their garden. One of the children hallowed, “Mu, dem, damn, Yankees are pulling up all our onions!” Scared all to death as every one was more afraid of the Yankees than a snake. You remember the story of the pet rooster that Eliza Ann Jones White and children hid in the loft of the home when the Yankees came by then pulverized that the rooster would crow while the Yankees were in and around the house. (See the blog note from Emma Rae Hammond Eskridge for more information.)
5. Eliza Ann Jones White walked from the Westfield Community to where the Yankees were camped at Sneedsboro on the Pee Dee River, to pick up kernels of corn that the Yankees horses dropped while eating. She then walked 3 – 4 miles back home to cook the corn making corn meal and etc.
6. The Whites were great fish eaters and dearly loved to fish.
7. No doubt about the Indian blood. My mother had the olive complexion and several of my 1st cousins are real brown. Carl White, Jr., son of Carl White, Sr., son of Heyward White, son of Eliza Ann Jones White and Thrashley White, our cousin who lived in Fayetteville, North Carolina, made all White Reunions except the very first one before his death. He had a sister, Vivian, who was Miss North Carolina in the Miss America Pageant. Carl said she was very dark skin and when she walked across the stage in Atlantic City for the Miss America Finals he jumped up and called her by her pet name. Seems the whole family used her nickname.
8. My mother said she never remembers any one coming to visit Eliza Ann Jones White, “Mu” while she lived with them from the Thrashley White side of the family. Strange because Eliza Ann Jones White with all those children and no brother or sisters from the Thrashley side came to visit.
9. There is a Polly Sowell near Buffalo who is kin to us. Polly Sowell is a retired school teacher and my mother and I went to visit her and her mother several years ago. They came to the White Reunion about 30 years ago seeking information on Wiley Jones and Sara. They have no more knowledge on Wiley and Sara than we do. Polly Sowell is alive as of August 4, 2009, but not in too good of health. Wiley Jones and Sara would be her great grandparents and Eliza Ann Jones White, her great aunt.
10. On the farm of Ethel Lee Short, daughter of Ira B. Lee, son of Sara Jane White Lee, daughter of Eliza Ann Jones White and Thrashley White, there is a spring known even today as the Lemons Spring. Ethel told me several times where it is located but I never went to the location. The land today is owned by Ethel Lee Short’s daughter Jackie Short White who lives in Rockingham, North Carolina. Ethel and I think it is behind the house of Jane and Jim Lemons who Thrashley White was living with in 1850. Several people had mentioned in to me and probably Danny Lee could show us where it is. I am sure I know about where Eliza Ann Jones White and children lived.

Edwin M. “Brother” Davis

* I, Bud Hammond believe this event took place when General Sherman’s US Army moved through Chesterfield County in February 1865. Reconstruction was started after the Civil War ended.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

A Good Friend Is Gone

The first post on this blog was about a story told to me by Edgar Rivers. Edgar died on September 8. He had been cared for by Hospice of about the past 10 days, and the family had been just waiting.

Edgar was born on September 15, 1912, and would have been 97 on his birthday. He was a great friend of the White family and a personal friend of many of us. He was a WWII veteran, a retired postal worker, an avid outdoorsman.

He had an encyclopedic knowledge of Chesterfield and the people in it. He will be sorely missed in our community.

You can go to the Miller Rivers Caulder Funeral Home website for a complete obituary and other information.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Eliza Ann Jones White & the Union Medical Doctor

Louroue Sutton Lee told the following story to Bud Hammond during a phone call on Friday, July 31, 2009.

General Sherman and his army came through Chesterfield County in March 1865 destroying everything as they passed. A Union officer while passing the Thrashley White farm noticed that Eliza Ann was pregnant and her delivery date was obviously close. The officer asked Thrashley if he would like a Union Army Medical doctor to call on Eliza, and offered the doctor’s services should Eliza go into labor. Thrashley took the offer to Eliza. Her response passed down through the years was, “I’d rather die than have a damn Yankee doctor work on me.”

Our records show that William Franklin White was born on April 27, 1865 and I might add without help from a Yankee doctor.
[The Lineage: Louroue Sutton Lee’s husband was Richard Rudolph Lee, the son of Perdie Ellison Lee, the son of John William Lee, the son of John Thomas Lee who married Sara Jane White.]
Submitted by: Leon F. (Bud) Hammond Jr.

Sherman and the Bantam Rooster

My Aunt Emma Rae Hammond Eskridge relayed the following story at the White Family Reunion July 26, 2009 at Pine Grove Church. Aunt Emma Rae heard this story directly from her Great Aunt Sara Jane White Lee, the daughter of Thrashley White and Eliza Ann Jones. Sara Jane White Lee’s birthday was June 7, 1854 and Aunt Emma Rae’s mother Lissie Arie White Hammond’s birthday was June 7, 1894. Sara Jane and Lissie Arie shared the same birth day, June 7th. Aunt Emma Rae remembered Momma Hammond (Lissie Arie White Hammond) having Aunt Sara and Uncle Thomas Lee over for dinner on June 7th for many years to celebrate their joint birthday. Aunt Sara Jane told many stories but the one Aunt Emma Rae remembered was one about the bantam rooster and Sherman’s troops. Prior to the Civil War, Chesterfield held one of the first secession rallies in the South, encouraging the state to secede from the Union. Sherman remembered this in March 1865 as he marched through the uplands of South Carolina and viewed the event as an act of treason justifying retribution. Sherman’s troops burned barns, destroyed crops and gardens, killed livestock, plundered, and ate anything they wanted included chickens. Sara Jane was 10 years old when Sherman came through and she had a prized pet bantam rooster. She was afraid the Union troops would catch and kill her pet rooster. Her dad, Thrashley White removed a board from the ceiling of their house and put the rooster into the attic to hide him from the troops. The troops entered the farm and they destroyed the early spring garden, destroyed all they could, but did not find the bantam rooster. Sara Jane was afraid the rooster would crow and give away his hiding place but he remained quiet. The rooster survived the close call and was retrieved from the attic healthy and whole. Aunt Emma Rae remembers seeing Uncle Thomas and Aunt Sara Lee drive up in their bright yellow car. Aunt Emma Rae said she remembered this story because she also had a pet bantam rooster at the time.
[The Lineage: Thrashley White & Eliza Ann Jones White – James Heywood, Sara Jane, John Ervin, Henry Wiley, Lucy hardy, William Franklin, Ellison Thrashley. Henry Wiley & Emma Hudson Eddins had 8 children one of whom was Lissie Arie White. Lissie married Absalom (Bub) Hammond and they had 5 children. One was Emma Rae Hammond who married Ernest Randolph Eskridge; Lissie and Bub had 3 sons. One was my dad Leon Fay Hammond]
Submitted by: Leon F. (Bud) Hammond Jr.
August 2, 2009

Friday, July 31, 2009

Frankie White on the Reunion

I was so pleased with this year's White Reunion. The attendance was the best it had been in several years. I have been worried that the reunion would die out from a lack of interest, but maybe this year started a turnaround. I agree that we should give Anne Amos and Betty Hurst a hearty word of thanks for all they've done. Also, let's thank Bud Hammond for bringing copies of his research and for making such an interesting talk. Bud has done a great deal of research into the family genealogy, and as a good historian, is careful to document.

I always enjoy the White Reunion and have been to all but two of them.The reunion gives me an opportunity to see far-flung relatives that I so seldom get to see, and I always learn something new about the family. And then there's the food... Lord, the Whites can cook! I ate so much I was miserable most of the afternoon, and there were desserts that I didn't even get to sample. Not that I didn't want to, but I simply could not hold another bite of anything. Nobody can make a tomato sandwich like Bobbie Freeman. I don't know what she does, but hers tastes better than any I make. Someone once said, "I'd just as soon have one of Bobbie's tomato sandwiches as strawberry shortcake," and I agree.

My brother, Michael, makes the best chicken 'n' dumplin's. I thought they were especially good this year. As one cousin dipped in the pot, he said to me, "This is my third helping." And I can always count on some okra cooked in the old-timey way just as my grandmothers' used to cook. Someone brought a bowl of potato salad that was about the best I've ever tasted. I believe it had homemade pickles in it.

The only think lacking to make it a true White dinner was fried fish and catfish stew, but since I don't like fried fish — how can I be related to the Whites?— and since catfish stew doesn't rank high on my list of favorites, I'm willing to let them pass in favor of another potato casserole rich with cheese and sour cream or another plate of deviled eggs dressed up with paprika.

I guess my assessment of this year's reunion can be summed up in the old adage, "... and a good time was had by all."

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Reunion Today

The White family reunion was today, and had better attendance than was expected. Without knowing the specific number, my estimate is that approximately 50 people attended. A few people were there for the first time - from the Sara Jane White Lee branch of the family. The reunion will be held at Pine Grove Baptist Church again next year - Linda and Wilson Polson are making arrangements already. I think attendance will always be better at Pine Grove. I said in an earlier post that Pine Grove is the heart of the White family - so much history and so many memories are there for our family.

I could write a long post about the people who were there, but I'll save that for another time. I do want to mention a couple of things that are important.

We should all be thankful for the years that Anne Amos has served as President. Seven years is a long time and now her father is somewhat ailing and she is worn out from carrying the load. I know she will continue to be involved. Michael White and I have taken some of the administrative duties off her and Linda and Wilson will be doing some of the logistics for the reunion also. Thanks Anne!!!!! Your service to the family will always be remembered and our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family - especially your father.

Betty White Hurst has been the Treasurer for the family since the reunion's beginning. We could have found no better or more loyal family member to serve in this post for the past 30 + years. Apart from her long service, Betty is one of the sweetest, kindest people I have ever met. On August 4, Betty will be undergoing a very serious heart operation. I would ask that anyone who reads this post to remember Betty in your prayers for the next few days as her operation approaches and for the next weeks and months as she recuperates. Betty is a very special member of our family.

Thanks to all who attended and for those of you who missed this year, we hope to see you at the reunion next year.


Jackie Hammond

Friday, July 17, 2009

White Family Reunion

The White family reunion will be held on Sunday, July 26, at Pine Grove Baptist Church. The reunion will start at 1:00. As most of you know, Pine Grove is the center of the universe for the White family with too many members and memories to count attached to the church and the cemetary.

Friday, June 5, 2009

I Think it Works

One of the main reasons I wanted to start this site was to provide a touchstone for people looking for information about Thrashley and Eliza. I hope that someone will have information that we don't have and will add it to our knowledge base.

IT IS WORKING.

I googled "Thrashley and Eliza White," and through the magic of Google's spiders, our site has become the top listing for that search. Our site also pops up in the top 5 or ten of almost any search combination of those two names.

Every time someone googles/searches for information about our common ancestors, they will see our site and have the opportunity to come here, read, and add information through comments. That is a good first step towards gathering more information.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Frankie White's Comments

I took the liberty of copying Frankie's comments to a full post. This is such a good post, I thought it needed to be a "headline" post. Frankie's comments start below.......

I remember looking at the tin-type when I was a boy and Aunt Ella lived with Uncle Thurman and Aunt Letha (or was it spelled Lethea?) She always said it was her grandmother White. Didn't she live with her son, Henry? I have a small copy of the picture the Brother Davis has of Grandmother Eliza White, and it looks almost as if it were taken from or at least the same time as the tin-type. The only differences that I can discern are that her right arm is clearly distinguishable and not hidden behind a child as in the larger photograph that Brother has, and it seems to me that she is looking more directly into the camera than in the tin-type. In both pictures she's wearing what appears to be the same pin -- maybe she didn't have but one. Could we get her image edited and enlarged like the picture of Aunt Lissie? That way we could make better comparisons. The buttons on her dress, which, by the way, appears to be made of some heavy material such as wool, stand out noticeably.

My grandfather John White loved to head to the front porch at the first sign of an approaching summer thunderstorm, a trait that I inherited. His either going to the porch or refusing to come into the house would aggravate my grandmother, Minnie. Granddaddy White would say that his father was afraid of thunderstorms and that his grandmother White would say, "Put your trust in the Lord, Henry, put your trust in the Lord." Granddaddy would say that he trusted in the Lord, and Granny would counter with, "Yeah, but you don't have to tempt him by being out on the porch where you could get struck by a pop of lightning."

Some of my favorite memories of my grandparents and Uncle Thurman's houses on Scotch Road are of the front porches and all that took place on them. My grandparents all but moved to the front porch on summer evenings, often shelling beans or peas, and often about dark, my grandfather would say, "I think we ought to have a churn of ice cream. Minnie, go make it up and I'll go get some ice." Granddaddy's favorite kind was banana and it seems we had it 98% of the time. I'd beg for peach or strawberry, but banana usually won out. On Sundays, when there would be more family, Granddaddy would borrow Uncle Thurman's churn. It was a five-quart churn; Granddaddy's held only four quarts.

I'd love to go back, but only for a short time. I wouldn't trade air conditioning for all the ice cream that's ever been churned!

Monday, May 25, 2009

Spiritual Guidance Momma Hammond gave her son Fay in December 1943

Leon Fay-Bud- Hammond, Jr. has a New Testament that Lissie White Hammond gave Leon Fay Hammond, Sr. as he was leaving for Military Service in the US Navy in World War II. She had underlined select scriptures. Those scriptures are included below.

Scriptures Momma Hammond Highlighted for Daddy
As he departed for WWII
Christmas 1943

1. Matthew 5:16, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
2. Matthew 5:44, But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
3. Matthew 5:48, Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
4. Mark 2:5-7, (blasphemy written in the margin) When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee, But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?
5. Luke 12:31, But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
6. Luke 12:34, For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
7. Luke 12:40, Be ye therefore ready also; for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
8. Luke 13:3, I tell you, Nay; but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. A (Acts) -16:31, And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
9. John 4:14, But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
10. Acts 16:31, And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
11. Romans 3:23, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (R. 5-6)
12. Romans 5:6, For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Luke 13:3)
13. Galatians 5:26, Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
14. Galatians 6:2, Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
15. Galatians 6:4, But let every man prove his own worth, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
16. Galatians 6:7, Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
17. Galatians 6:9, And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Momma Hammond's Love of Christmas

Momma Hammond's Love of Christmas: (Lissie Arie White Hammond)
The one holiday that Momma Hammond loved was Christmas. My Dad, Fay Hammond shares a story that Momma Hammond told about her childhood and Christmas. She was a young girl, perhaps 5 or 6 years old. Christmas was coming and excitement was in the air. Momma Hammond with all her heart wanted a doll baby. She had her heart set on a doll, and believed that Santa would leave her a doll. She got up in the wee hours of Christmas morning, before anyone else was up, and crept into the main room to see what Santa had left in her Santa Box. There she found a pair of shoe strings. She was so disappointed that she went back to bed. When her brothers and sisters got up with excitement to see what Santa had brought them, Momma Hammond stayed in bed. She recalled how Aunt Ella came to her and tried to convince her to get up, but she already knew what was in her Santa Box, and it was not a doll. We believe that event had a lot to do with how Momma Hammond treated her own children at Christmas, and why she went to such great lengths to ensure there were cakes, pies, ambrosia, and presents for all. I recall her house being fully decorated for Christmas. Granddaddy Hammond's brother Dewitt and his wife Marie, and other relatives loved to spend Christmas with Granddaddy Hammond and Momma Hammond. I recall Granddaddy Hammond saying he was still paying off the Christmas bills in July. Momma Hammond’s love of Christmas was successfully passed down to my father, Leon Fay Hammond, and to me, Leon Fay Hammond, Jr. Santa boxes remain a tradition in our family, including my grandchildren. Thanks Momma Hammond!

Letter from Lissie White Hammond to her husband Absalom, June 22, 1915

Below is a letter my grandmother Lissie Arie White Hammond wrote my grandfather Absalom Hammond when he was working in Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia. A little background will help the reader understand the letter better. Absalom Hammond and Lissie White married November 7, 1913. Their first child, a son Wilbur White Hammond was born August 4, 1914. Momma Hammond was just over 20 and Granddaddy Hammond was almost 25. The next child was a daughter Sarah Louise born June 21, 1920 some 6 years later. During these interim 6 years between ~1914 and ~1920 Granddaddy Hammond worked for a time at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia and at the shipyards in Wilmington, NC. Based on the letter's content I suspect Granddaddy went to Newport News looking for a good paying job. The opening of the letter implies Granddaddy's first letter home had just arrived, and Momma Hammond's attached letter was her first to him in Newport News. Momma Hammond wrote the letter when Wilbur was about 20 months old. Jack and Fred are mentioned in the letter. Jack is Andrew Jackson White, Momma Hammond's youngest brother, born April 27, 1902. Jack was 13 years old when the letter was written. Fred is Fred Lee White, Momma Hammond's immediately younger brother. Fred was born May 13, 1896 so he was 19 years old when the letter was written. We can understand how Jack and Fred could have an influence on young Wilbur.
As information Mildred Bacot Hammond has the original letter.

Saturday evening
June 22, 1915

Dear Bub,

Your letter rec'd today.
You can guess how I felt when I got it. We are both getting along fine so far. Wilbur is getting meaner every day he lives. He goes with Jack and Fred everywhere they go and says everything he hears them say. I have just got back from home. Everything is just like we left it. Ella went with me. We got some beans and ripe tomatoes. Must I sell it now or wait a while? Bertha ask me about it today. She said Jim Erby had joined the army since he left. They have moved May Sellers to a camp in Kentucky. He left today. Jim was going to see him tomorrow and carry him some cake, but he was too late. Are you working in a ship yard? You did not say. Write and tell me all about it. You know I am always interested in you. Tell me how you like up there. I am afraid you won't like it. Do the very best you can and don't get homesick. I will write often. I want to come to you if you can find us a place, and make enough to board us all. I feel so much better since I came here. The water is so good, and so much fresh air to be in all the time. I got me a bottle of Tarrlac, am taking it now. Pa has been a little sick today. They went to Juniper yesterday and caught a nice mess of fish. He ate too many for supper last night. I thought of you all the time while we were eating them. I saw Aiken this evening. He said they were all well.

My glasses have not come yet. I am going to write to Dr. Lewis about them. I wrote King about them goods. I sure put it on him. Boss sent a telegram for me to come and stay with them a while. Alma is a little sick. I thought I would go and stay a few days with them. Thurman is going to carry me Tuesday or Wednesday. I have no idea of staying but two or three days. The kids will be so bad together. If I go I will write you after I go there.

The plaster came off Wilbur's head. It is well now. His finger is right bad, where he mashed them on the car door. I have been painting them with iodine. He said to tell "Dad" to hurry and make some money and come get him. He wants to see you so bad and he is not by himself. It seems so long since I saw you, but don't worry. We are alright. Yet if you have a good job I would not give it up as long as I could help it. We will come when you get ready for us.

Bub, I want you to go clean and decent. If your clothes is dirty, buy you some more till you can get them washed. Did you give Uncle Anderson any money, for that pig, or must I pay him?

I thought I would get that check from Mr. Davis yesterday but he was in the market all the time, so I did not get to speak to him. Johnnie is going to stay on with his Daddy he told me today.

I have not spent any money yet, except what I had with me at Cheraw that day. I got a bottle of fig syrup and some ice cream. We came home as fast as we went. We thought the cloud would catch us before we got here, but it did not.

I'm finishing my letter today. I was so sleepy that I could not finish last night. Ross Rivers is here today. He came from Sunday School with Fred. How I wish you were here too, or I were there. How would you like to have some pudding, and plums. We are going to cook some to send you and John. When you want anything let me know. They are sessing (assessing) the people with war stamps. Mr. Hammond's sessment is 250 dollars. Aikens is 70. Pa's is 100 and Thurman's is 100. Your name was not in the paper. I don't know what yours will be. Some people is sessed as high as 1000 dollars. All the Rivers men are. They say it goes hard with Bob too. It must be paid by the first of December. Most every body says they are not going to pay all they are sessed to pay. It seem like it is too much. Old Pusser has to pay $1000.

When you write again tell me whether to move the things or wait a while longer. If you are getting good wages try to stay there. If you like the place, you may like it better the longer you stay. I want to go to you just as soon as I can. Don't you wait to get my letters before you write, for I want to hear from you as often as I can. Do you want me to have the advertiser changed to you? Mr. Davis wants to State. Bub, Mrs Walt Davis called me today and ask me if I had heard from you. I told her I had. She ask me if you said anything about Frank Deberry. His wife is sick. They wanted to send him a telegram. He has not wrote a word to her, and they didn't know where he was. I told her just what you told me in the letter. Walter Teal is going to hunt you to try to get him a job. Pearl told me this evening about it. She thinks Charlie is going to hunt him one before long so if you have a government job, you sure better hold it if it is not too hard. There are so many people hunting them.

Well I wrote last night, and all day today when I would get a chance, so I better close for this time. Don't forget to be a good boy. I will try to be the same till we meet.

Lovingly yours
Lissie

PS. Write me at Pa's if I go to Boss's (Lissie's brother William Henry White was nicknamed "Boss".). They will send it to me.

Friday, May 22, 2009

A photograph of the first Pine Grove Baptist Church

I had no idea that you and I had so much in common. I love cemeteries and Pine Grove Baptist Cemetery in particular.

This photo of the first Pine Grove Baptist church was copied from an original loaned to me by Charles Ray and Maxine White.

As children growing up out in the country we didn't have a whole lot to do especially during the summer vacation months. So, at least once or twice a month we would walk to Pine Grove Baptist Cemetery, walk around looking at all the gravestones while Aunt Ella would tell us who these people were and we would sample the Honeysuckle that grew in the ditch beside the road around the cemetery. This is another one of my fondest memories about Aunt Ella and my youth and childhood. I think between all the visits to Pine Grove Cemetery and having Aunt Ella living with us and telling us stories of the old days formed me into who I am today.

After my husband, Blake and I moved back to Chesterfield County in 1993, I began visiting the library and court house to do research, talking with some of the older family members to gather their history and memories, and going to the family cemeteries to clean them up. I kept running into some of the same people at the library and court house, so one day we came up with the idea of starting a genealogical society. Maybe this was a good idea, but it ended up taking up all of my time with the day to day business and I no longer had time for my own family history.

When we were first forming the genealogy society though, I was also taking my second course in Genealogical Research. It was a very in depth home study course offered by the National Genealogical Society that took me almost two years to complete. One of the lessons in the course was about local church and cemetery records. I had to find a church that actually still had some of its earliest history and had kept its cemetery records. I went to three churches, first Friendship Methodist, then I think Shiloh Methodist, before ending up using Pine Grove Baptist for my lesson. I called around to the local church members and located some of the written history. Borrowed this photograph of the old church that also served as a school and compiled the cemetery survey. I did all this only a couple of months after my Dad died in October of 1999. It turned out to be the most rewarding lesson in the course. It was very educational as well as somehow comforting and soothing.

During the course of my surveying the cemetery which took three days, Rev. Routan came out to ask what it was that I was doing. In explaining to him about the course that I was taking and the lesson that I was working on, he asked if the church could have a copy of the survey when I was finished. I gladly complied and made sure that I did my absolute best on this lesson. I am sure there are mistakes, but I still have several copies of this survey as well as a hand drawn plat of the locations of each grave numbered. If anyone would like a copy, just let me know where to send it to. As another part of this lesson, I found out that the Pine Grove Baptist Church history and minutes had not yet been microfilmed by Furman Baptist University for their Special Archives. At that time Furman was offering this service for free for Baptist Churches, but charging a fee for the other denominations. Now every church is charged a fee. Anyway, I wrote a letter to the Deacons of Pine Grove explaining the process, giving them the contact information and asked that they please have this done for the future safekeeping of the rich church history that Pine Grove had which included almost all of our Eddins, White and Rivers families as well as some of my Freeman family. They readily agreed that this would be a good thing and now they have a copy of this microfilm as well as the copy that is held at Furman University Library.

I started a committee in the genealogy society to encourage all the church in Chesterfield County to have their records microfilmed, but it was very timeconsuming and not an overwhelming success. Mrs. Sarah Norwood Campbell was, without a doubt, the best and hardest working member of this committee.

By the way, I am sorry about the photo that I added of Jack and Dollie Eddins. I could not remember how to add it to my post and now it is just up there without all the information. If you could tell me how to add it to the post/comment and delete it from where it is or if you can do this, please do or tell me how. I would greatly appreciate it.

One more thing . . . I called Charles Ray and Maxine yesterday to invite them over to our home for Memorial Day. I had to leave a message. Maxine called me back last night to tell me that Charles Ray was in the hospital since this past Tuesday with a fast heartbeat. They actually shocked his heart to get it back into rythem which is what they have had to do to my mother's heart several times. He is hoping to come home from the hospital today, but if you want to call him he is in the Myrtle Beach Grand Strand Hospital.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Pine Grove Cemetery

I posted a link to the Pine Grove Cemetery listing that was compiled by Sharon and submitted to SCGENWEB in 2000. It is a very useful record and tool.

For the Henry White branch of the Whites, Pine Grove is sacred ground. Henry and Emma are there as well as her parents and grandparents. Most of the children of Henry and Emma are there with their wives/husbands and some of their children. Other parts of the family and many, many friends are there as well.

When I was a boy, Grandaddy Hammond was one of the leaders of the church at Pine Grove. I can't count the number of times I went with him to mow the cemetery and care for many of the graves there. He was not a "big talker," but he would talk a little, and by the time he died in 1971, he had schooled me on the connections there, who they were and little bits about them. Those are valuable memories and they are a strong part of who I am.

The care that Grandaddy Hammond took of the cemetery and Mama Hammond's grave was a natural extension of the love that he had for her during her life, and little way of honoring and reconnecting with her and others who had gone before him. My Aunt Emma Rae Hammond Eskridge has faithfully placed natural flowers and arrangements on their grave on every important day in the same way that Grandaddy did before he died, and it is comforting to ride by and see her mark there.

A few years ago, I took daffodil bulbs and planted them between the foot markers of Grandaddy and Mama Hammond. They both loved flowers so much, and every Spring, the flowers bloom, and for a day or two they are a fleeting symbol of who they were and how they flowered for a little while.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

How Quickly Time Passes - Lissie White Hammond


The photo on the left reminds me of how quickly time passes. The little girl on Emma White's left with her hand on her mother's knee is my grandmother Lissie White Hammond. The photo on the right is the same image of Mama Hammond edited in Microsoft Photo Editor. What a beautiful little girl she was.

A few early memories of her are all that I have. She died in June of 1955 when I was not quite three. Fortunately, I have a very vivid memory of the last time I saw her. She was convalescing in the front room of the house on East Main St. and my father took me and my sister, Sherry, in to see her; A few days later, she was gone.

I say that to say this. I would pay any amount of money, give anything that I have, to have a collection of her memories, her recollections about her family and how they lived. That can never be realized. That memory, that recollection of experience is lost.

What can be realized, what can be left behind, are the recollections and memories that are still here. That is my vision for this site - that over time more and more family members will come here to leave anecdotes and memories about our common ancestors.

Please share this site with others in the family.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Photo of Edgar Rivers?

This is the photo I mentioned in my comments about the Edgar Rivers post. This photo was in Aunt Ella's photograph and memorabilia collection that I am so fortunate to have now. Over the past year or so I have been scanning these photos and I have created a Kodak Album of some of these (all that was allowed for one album) and I hope to have another album finished by the end of this year. I gave my mother and Aunt Betty a copy of this album as well as my brothers and sister. I am doing this with Don's family photographs as well and this project is very time consuming. Anyway, I am not positive that this is Edgar Rivers in this photograph, but there is something about the hat and the way this man is standing that make me think it is him. I always wanted to get Edgar on videotape telling his stories about our White family members, but he never would allow it, but I did get some of his stories on audiotape. He came over to my Aunt Betty's home probably in 1993-1995 and my mother, Aunt Betty and I asked him many questions and I taped his responses. Unfortunately the responses were barely audible due to the quality of the machine I was using and/or Edgar's scratchy voice. This was not too long after Johnny Cash had visited with Edgar in Chesterfield and this is mostly what he wanted to talk about.

When Blake was still in school and before he got his Driver's License, he would give a long, loud sigh whenever we saw Edgar around in town because he knew that I was going to be standing there talking with him for at least an hour and many times more than an hour. One of the stories that I remember most because Edgar would tell it almost every time I saw him, was about a homeless stray dog that my grandfather, Thurman and Aunt Ella found. They gave it a home and a bath and Edgar must have been visiting with them at the time because he remembered so well that after they had bathed the dog, Aunt Ella said "now look at him shine!" So, that is what they named the dog, "Shine."

I will try to locate this audiotape that I made of Edgar. I will make some copies of it if I can find it for anyone that would like to have one.

Friday, May 8, 2009

An Edgar Rivers Memory - Henry and Emma White

Yesterday I saw Edgar. Most of you know he is nearing 100 years old and has been a lifelong friend of our family. He is also connected to us through the Thurman connection (Dorothy Thurman Eddins). Long ago, he told me a story about the funerals of Henry Wiley and Emma Hudson White that bears retelling.

Emma died on January 11, 1918 and as a boy, Edgar remembers the driving snowstorm that was occurring when the horse-drawn hearse attempted to climb the hill between what is now Highway 9 and Pine Grove. He told me how his Dad and some other men used the spokes in the wheels of the hearse to turn the wheels and help the horses pull the hearse up the hill to the church and the cemetery.

Henry died on December 21, 1935. Edgar was a young man by then and he thought it was strange that the clouds began to gather on the day of the funeral. By the time the hearse, motorized by 1935, headed to Pine Grove, several inches of new snow were on the ground. This time, it was Edgar and some other young men who left their cars and pushed the hearse up the hill to the church.

My father remembered that the pallbearers carried the casket on foot from the church to the cemetery, and in the time that it took them to walk across the road, 2 or 3 inches of snow accumulated on the top of the casket.

Note: With Emma dying in 1918, I am curious if any of you have seen her death certificate? Was there a link to the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic?