The
following is a series of articles written by Mrs.
Minnie Davis Parsell relating her life history and
her memories. Mrs. Parsell was 100 years old on
December 19, 1976. She was a native of Bland County
and also lived in Wythe County. The articles were
published in the Wytheville paper, THE ENTERPRISE.
Mrs. Parsell died at the age of 105. While I never
knew Ms. Minnie, I’m sure my mother, Lorine Updyke
Wagner, knew her. My mother taught school for many
years on Little Creek, and all of the “Little
Creekers” became her family. Ms. Minnie's picture is
attached.
Minnie Bell Davis (1876-1982) d/o
Henry & Margaret Stoots Fowler Davis. On 16 Jun 1891
she married Tobias Daniel Parsell (1869-1940) s/o
John William Parsell, Jr. & Mary F. Coleman Parsell.
Their children were: Visa Alma, Nina Leecester,
Earnest Victor, Elsie Virginia, Zula Bell, Lester
Guy, Laura Elizabeth, John Henry, William Dailey,
Lewis Russell, Tobias Daniel, Jr. and Paul Mason.
Ms. Minnie came from a family of eleven children,
born from 1864-1884. Their names were: James Edward,
William Thomas, Fabious Victor, Louisa Virginia,
Comie Albert, Charles Clinton, MINNIE BELL, Bertha
J., Alice Gray, Henry Hampton and John Jasper.
A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIVIN’ - PART ONE
“I am
Minnie Bell Davis Parsell. I was born December 19,
1876, making me over one hundred years old. I was the
daughter of Henry Davis and Margaret Fowler Davis. My
Daddy was born March 7, 1841 and my mother was born
May 5, 1844. Both were born in Carroll County.
In my sunset years I have decided to write this
history of my life, family, and Bland County. During
the Civil War, my Daddy worked in the Old Shot Tower
at New River in Wythe County helping make shot for
the soldiers.
My parents were married February
28, 1863. Sometime after this they moved to Bland
County and bought a farm. As I remember, the house
was hewed logs, a large one-room, two story house
with a bedroom to one side and a large kitchen, big
fireplace and hearth on which to cook. There was a
big porch along the three rooms and you came out the
door of the big room on to the porch, then walked to
the far end and into the kitchen all winter and
summer. There were bannisters all around the porch.
Mother and Daddy raised eleven children and they
never buried a child. There were seven boys and four
girls. I was the seventh child. I remember my mother
was expecting her tenth child, but it turned out to
be the 10th and the 11th. I slept upstairs and the
next morning I awoke and came downstairs. Low and
behold! There were two babies in bed with Mother.
That was March 12, 1884. They were identical twins.
It seemed the whole household was gleeful with joy
because of the two babies.
Now, it seemed that
Mother thought she needed more things than she had
before. Several days passed by, then Daddy came from
his sawmill carrying on his shoulder a large, extra
long cradle. He put it down in the floor and told
Mother to make a bed in it. She folded blankets and
things for the present. Daddy told her to put one
baby at one end and the other one at the other end.
He said for her to look at the ends of the cradle.
When she did, on one end was written, “John Jasper”
and on the other end “Henry Hampton.” Daddy said that
the babies were named and for her not to change them
until they learned their names and could tell them
apart. Mother took one hair of the top garment and
made a “J.J.” on front and on the other half an
“H.H”. Mother would take one baby up and bathe and
dress him and put him back in the cradle and then
take the other one up and bathe and dress him. She
kept their clothes marked until they could walk and
talk. The family learned to tell them apart, but the
neighbors were a long-time learning. If one was
called the wrong name, he was quick in saying, “Me
John” or “Me Henry”. Even after they were young men
and married, it was hard to tell them apart when they
were both together in a crowd. John got a thumb cut
off which sort of identified him. John’s wife, Julia
King Davis, is still living in Los Angeles,
California, in a Salvation Army Senior Citizens’
Home. She will be 89 on February 6, 1977. Mother
hired a woman most of the time. Her name was Surrilda
Whittaker. She paid her 50 cents a week.
You’ve heard the song, “I’m My Own Grandpa”. Brother
Comie and his first wife’s son married his last
wife’s sister. What kin where they? You figure it
out. I’m too old!!
[TO BE CONTINUED...]
A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIVIN' - PART TWO
Electricity came to Little Creek in 1948. That was a
happy day for the folks of the valley. At the head of
the Creek there is a church called Strader’s Chapel.
This church was dedicated about 60 years ago. Rev. J.
T. Strader was the pastor and dedicated this church.
He will be remembered in Wytheville as he and his
family lived there. Strader’s Chapel’s doors have
been closed for several years.
Oh, there has
been so many changes! My mother died May 15, 1906.
This brought about a settlement between eleven
children. Robert Kitts became Postmaster and he
bought everyone out that would sell their part. He
had a big farm. He still carried on the post office
and store. He and his wife, Bertha, built a big
square two-story house with a porch around two sides
of it. He stocked his farm with cattle. When he was
71, he was forced to retire from the post office
after serving 39 years as Postmaster. He drew a
pension from the government for the rest of his life
and died at the ripe old age of 87. After his wife
died, he still ran the store for pastime and lived
alone.
In 1892 the water power ran its course,
so Daddy had to buy a steam engine. He sawed out two
boundaries of timber and also used this mill for his
meal and flour grinding.
My father never put
any money in the bank. He kept it in a little square
table in his bedroom which had 2 drawers with locks
on them. He kept his silver dollars and coins stacked
neatly in one drawer. I loved to watch him count and
stack his money. The bottom drawer was for his paper
money and also his tax tickets, etc. He still drove
his one-horse buggy to look after his business.
Long ago Little Creek and Spur Branch were very
thinly settled. Now it is thickly settled with nice
brick homes, pretty white houses, and several
trailers. Everybody is neighborly and it is just a
wonderful place to live. Nearly every family now has
telephones which were put in in 1969. Their
telephones are listed just like Wytheville. All
Little Creekers are listed in the “Little Creek”
section.
There never had been a Post Office on
Little Creek or a mail route. Daddy told Mother he
was going to get up a petition for a post office. He
went out with a paper and came back and said everyone
had signed it. He sent it off and soon it came back
and he had a post office. A 2-cent stamp sent a
letter and a postal was 1-cent. He needed a
Postmaster and a place for the Post Office. He went
in his mill and upstairs to the store and at the end
of the counter he set up his Post Office. It was very
private. This was in 1865. Jack Carr worked the year
around for Daddy for 25cents a day and his board. He
made him the mail carrier. There was just mail on
Saturday. He had to carry it on his shoulder. He
walked about two miles up Spur Branch, then across
Big Walker Mountain. There wasn’t any road across the
mountain, just a walking path.The mail was carried to
Mechanicsburg and back. The post office was named
Larton. The mail was carried like this for several
years. A little way from the mill Daddy built a good
size store house. He moved his merchandise here and
the post office was established in the corner of the
store where it remained.
My father hired a
young man by the month. His name was Robert Kittts.
After a year or two, he and my younger sister,
Bertha, were married about 1899. He worked on for my
Daddy as long as Daddy lived. He must have been a
very reliable man because in 1906 Daddy made him
Assistant Postmaster and the clerk in the store.
Robert and Bertha lived in a house near the mill and
store, and he became the wealthiest man on Little
Creek at one time.
They changed the mail route
to go down the creek to Poplar Hill and the name was
changed to Long Spur, Virginia. This route had five
fords to cross. My brother, Comia, took the mail on
horse back a long while and then he used a horse
buggy until the cars came in. Even then they still
had to ford the water. In about 1930 all the fords
across the creek were bridged. This route went down
the creek about 25 or 30 miles where the two
mountains almost come together. Little Creek makes a
curve to the left and runs through Big Walker
Mountain and empties into Big Walker Creek.
[TO BE CONTINUED]
A HUNDRED YEARS OF
LIVIN' - PART THREE...
My brother, Fabious
Davis, served his country in the Spanish-American
War, but came home safely. He received a pension as
long as he lived. He married a Tennessee girl and
settled on Little Creek. They had a large family, but
she died before she was old. Fabious stayed at the
home for some years and then sold and bought a farm
in Claytor Lake. When they build the Lake, he
received a large sum of money for his farm. He lived
among his children for several years and then at the
age of 84 the lovebug bit him and he married a lady
several years younger. She was always good to him.
They moved to Belspring. Her name was Nita, and he
was always full of fun. When a meal was ready, he
always said, “Come on, Nete, let’s eat.”
Brother Henry Davis, the twin, lived in West Virginia
and worked there for several years. He married a
widow who had twin sons. She was Victoria
Vandergrift. She and Henry had two sons of their own.
They moved to Wythe County, bought a farm in the head
of the Cove. She had heart trouble and was not able
to do much. Henry could make the best biscuits of
anyone. They were preparing for their eldest son’s
wedding to Miss Thelma Hamblin of Long Spur. The
wedding was right on hand when Victoria had a heart
attach and died. After the funeral, the wedding went
on as planned. Henry lived with his son and wife, and
then he married Miss Ida Parsell, niece of my
husband. Raymond, the son, built them a home on the
farm. He was a Forest Ranger in Wythe County and
stayed in the Watch Tower much of the time. He was
well known, but is deceased now.
My husband,
Tobe Parsell, was born in Franklin County on May 26,
1869. They moved to Bland County probably shortly
after his birth because his mother was a mid-wife. I
have heard my mother say that Tobe’s mother, Mrs.
Parsell, came and delivered me. My husband said he
remembered the night I was born. That would have made
my husband seven years old when I was born. Some
people say marriages were made in Heaven. It seemed
ours was made there.
In a way life has seemed
long, and in a way, it has been like the Bible says,
“just a vapor that descended from the earth and is
soon passed away.”
I wish I could go back to
the days of use to be and relive all the happy times
when my heart danced with glee, back to youthful days
when hopes were high and faith was burning bright,
back to the time when all the world seemed wonderful
and right. Those were priceless golden days that I
cannot forget for they are fresh in memory and linger
with me yet. But only in the lad of dreams can I
relive the past and even as I dream my dreams, the
time is flying fast. Oh, how I wish I could go back
to times now far away for in my heart it seems as
though they were but yesterday.
[TO BE
CONTINUED.]
A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIVIN' -
PART FOUR....
Our family had some very dear
friends who lived near us. They were the Samuel Davis
family. The mother, Elizabeth, became ill and died in
1882 at the age of 50. She had a lingering illness
and before she died, she could not speak or raise her
hands. She was very weak for several days, but as she
was dying, she threw up her hands and shouted praises
to God. The family had twins who where about nine
years old when their mother died. When the twins were
about fourteen years old, Edward became sick with
typhoid fever and lived only a short while. We kids
all missed him so much. He would often come and play
with us. Eddy came on Sunday afternoons. When the
weather was bad, we all sat around the fire and
popped corn and ate apples. The father, Samuel
Caddell Davis, married again. I do not know when.
They called her, “Aunt Polly.” Sammy Davis had four
children who settled in Wythe County. One was Edna
Doan who married Samuel Cassell of Wythe County and
lived on a farm on the Fairview Road. They had three
children.
Then there was Jerome Bonie who
married Lou Halsey of Wythe County. They lived on a
farm n the Fairview neighborhood. They also had three
children. A great tragedy came to their family. Their
son, George, who was born in 1885 was working on the
N. & W. Railroad out of Bluefield. He was at
Coaldale, West Virginia when the boiler engine blew
up, severely scalding George. He lived a few days.
This was February 7,1910. He was 25 years old.
Samuel C. Davis married Josie Halsey of the Cove
section and settled in the head of Crockett’s Cove.
They had a large family. Josie died before her
children were grown. Sam married again to Miss Effie
Smith. They had two sons.
Another daughter,
Permelia Ann, married my brother of Bland, W. T.
(Billy) Davis. They moved to Wythe County and raised
ten children.
I have visited Wythe County many
times. I visited my two brothers, Billy and Henry,
and their families. After they were gone, I still
visited their families. We visited Billy’s oldest
daughter, Roxie, and “Little Henry” so much at the
old home place. Roxie died and the old home place was
torn down as Interstate 77 went right over the old
home. “Little Henry” was left alone. He built him a
new modern, beautiful home down a piece from the
highway.
We all go back to “Little Henry’s”
most every year for our Homecoming when relatives and
friends gather to have a day of fellowship together
and to eat of the wonderful food that is brought in.
[TO BE CONTINUED]
A HUNDRED YEARS OF
LIVIN' - PART FIVE.....
After the Post Office
was moved, the mail began running two days a week for
some time, and then three days a week for several
years. The late Claude Davis carried it several
years. On January 10, 1955, my late brother Coma’s
son, began carrying the mail every day. On August 3,
1963 the run to Poplar Hill was discontinued. The run
then went from the Long Spur office to the Dublin
Post Office and back. Then finally Long Spur was
discontinued. The mail began coming from the Dublin
office to the head of the creek and up Spur Branch on
December 6, 1963. It is carried daily except on
Sundays and holidays. The mail carrier says it’s 85
miles round trip. It is now Star Route with box
numbers, Dublin. The carrier goes down the creek and
crosses Cloyd’s Mountain. At the foot of this
mountain is the Gap, Highway 100 combines with the
Cloyd’s Mountain road. Highway 100 comes from
Princeton, West Virginia and the West Virginia
Turnpike. There is a nice, big restaurant and filling
station here. The restaurant serves wonderful food.
The interior is of knotty pine and very beautiful. My
late brother, John’s granddaughter runs this
restaurant.
This is a very scenic route. You
can just stop your car on top of either mountain and
see the “Garden Spot of the Universe.” My niece of
Wytheville sent me the article from the ENTERPRISE
entitled, “Southwest Virginia is Where God Built His
Cathedrals.” It mentions Bland, Wythe, Tazewell and
Giles Counties. These seemed to have been where God
built this Cathedrals. This article was written and
sent to the ENTERPRISE by Robert W. Lawson, Jr. of
Charleston, WV. He is a prominent attorney of that
city.
This article said that in Bland County
in particular there was some of the most majestic
scenery he had ever seen and it unfolds before your
eyes. The mountain streams cascade out of the hills,
reminding me of the one hundred and fourth Psalm. I
agree with him. All four seasons have so much beauty
to offer. I agree God could have placed his finishing
touches, and seeing that it was good sat down in
Bland County to keep the Sabbath Holy.
All
farmers use to raise wheat for their own use and also
some to sell. Today there may be two of three that
still raises some. About 30 years ago there were 15
or more sawmills in the valley. Today there isn’t a
single one in operation.
[TO BE CONTINUED.]
A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIVIN' - PART SIX.......
I will just write a miniature history of some of
my dear brothers and sisters by beginning with the
oldest. We were all so fortunate to have lived to
raise our families and have homes of our own.
The oldest, James (Jimmy) married Ollie Byrd and
settled at Poplar Hill. He had 4 children. He was a
cab (jitney) driver, as they were called in those
days. He drove at Pulaski. His son, E. V. Davis,
drives a cab in Pulaski and has for years.
William, (Billy) married Permelia Ann Davis. They
lived in Pulaski until after their seventh child was
born. He bought a farm at Altoona about nine miles
from Pulaski. He worked as a Fireman on the railroad
at Pulaski and rode horseback to and from work every
day. He decided to make a move and bought a farm in
the lower section of the Cove in Wythe County. Three
more children were born, making 10 children. Billy
farmed, hauled wood to town to sell most every day it
was fit. He also raised watermelons and sold them by
the wagonloads. It was about seven miles to town from
where he lived.
My sister, Louisa, married
Charles Davis. They lived on a farm on Little Creek
and had several children. Louisa had a stroke and
didn’t live long. Charlie then married Miss Visa
Millirons. She is still living on Little Creek with
her unmarried son. They had four children and one of
the daughters, Mrs. Mildred Matz, teaches school at
Scott Memorial in Wytheville.
Coma, another
brother, married a Miss Carron July 13, 1893. There
were 8 children born to them. She passed away, and he
married again to Miss Edna Davis in 1914. They also
had 8 children, so he had the largest family of all
of us. Coma was in the sawmill business and also
carried the mail a long while.
Brother Charlie
married Miss Willie Davis and lived on Little Creek
for years. He was a good surveyor. They had several
children. They finally moved to Pulaski where he went
into the grocery store business and Willie kept
boarders.
My sister Alice married Edd Ritter
and settled in Parrott, on a farm. They had a large
family, and he worked in the mines there. He was
finally killed in the mines. They also had a boy,
James, who was killed in World War II.
John,
one of the twins, married Julia Bell King and they
made their home in Beckley, West Virginia. He had six
children. He worked with the mines there. When he
died, his wife soon sold out and moved.
I have
written before of my sister, Bertha, and her husband,
Robert Kitts. They had a terrible tragedy in their
family. Born to them were nine girls and one boy. Two
of the girls died when they were small. Alfred, their
only son, was 28 years old. He was married and had
two children. He was logging, dragging logs to the
sawmill out of the mountain, when the horse ran off.
Alfred fell and got his feet and legs tangled in the
chains, and the horse dragged him to his death. This
was a very sad occasion. This was in 1936.
All
my brothers and sisters have gone down the “valley of
death” but me. I realize I will soon follow them.
[TO BE CONTINUED]
A HUNDRED YEARS OF
LIVIN' - PART SEVEN.....
We lived between Big
and Little Walker Mountains. Here between these
mountains is a very long valley called Little Walker
Creek. In my father’s day transportation was sure
different than it is today. It took him all day long
and after dark to go to Pulaski and back with a
two-horse wagon. He would go to buy a plow or some
piece of hardware for the farm. The roads were full
of ruts and very hard on the horses in cold, wet
weather. There were also deep creeks to ford. Now the
mountain roads are so good and beautiful. The curves
are so nice that the cars just glide around them. I
look around at everything and this world is a
different world from the world I was brought up in.
Mother said she sat out and patched the first
children’s clothes by moonlight. They sheared their
sheep, washed the wool, dried it, and carded it into
rolls. Then they spun it into yarn. From it Mother
knit stockings and socks for the family. She would
knit by the light of the fireplace. She could tell
when she had dropped a stitch and would tell us to
punch up the fire. When it was blazing, she would
pick the stitch up and knit on. She would also weave
her blankets and dress material to make us children
school clothes. Mother dried all kinds of fruits,
even blackberries. Here between these mountains, we
had our work to do and happy times together. There is
nothing like a big family for fun.
My mother
made her candles of beef tallow and a string. She
cooked by the fireplace.
I think of the good
old days when we sat around the fireplace and popped
corn in the oven pit and ate apples. Sometimes Daddy
would play the fiddle or the Jew harp and sometimes
read the Bible and pray. How different from today!
There is no conversation carried on. People are busy
watching television. They don’t even have time for
Bible reading and family prayer. The thing that goes
the farthest toward making life worthwhile, which
costs the least and does the most, is just a pleasant
smile:
The smile that bubbles from the heart,
That loves its fellowman Will drive away clouds of
gloom and coax the sun again. It’s full of worth
and goodness, too, With human kindness bent,
It’s worth a million dollars…and It doesn’t cost a
cent.
[TO BE CONTINUED]
A HUNDRED
YEARS OF LIVIN' - PART EIGHT
Back in the
1880’s and 90’s I knew a preacher. His name was
Robert Sheffey. He was born in 1820 and died in 1902.
He was a Methodist, but was not in the Conference. He
just obeyed God. He rode horseback at all times and
was a peculiar man in many ways.
Wherever he
went he made himself at home. When he rode into a
neighborhood, he would tell the people to send out
word to everyone that he was going to preach for them
that night. He told them to come and bring their
candles or lamps or whatever they had. When he said
there would be a meeting, the people came. If he saw
a little ragged boy along the road side, he would
take up an offering to buy that boy some clothes.
I have heard him preach many times, and he sat at
my father’s table and ate many times. He loved honey.
When he finished eating, he would tell us that he was
going to fill his mouth with honey and go pray. He
said it made him happy. He went out behind the house
and got on his knees and prayed and shouted. The ford
across the creek was in plain view of our house and
every time he rode across this creek, he would get
off his horse and put his sheep skin down and kneel
and pray. Along this part of the creek were nice flat
rocks. He lingered around these rocks writing on
them. When he left, we children would go see what he
had written. They were all Bible verses.
He
was a very merciful man to everything. If he saw a
puddle of water that was about to dry up and had
tadpoles in it, he would spread his handkerchief and
pick up the tadpoles. He took them on his
handkerchief to ponds which had plenty or water.
Daddy always kept a bell on one of his cows. They
were in the meadow grazing one day when Brother
Sheffey was passing by. He turned around and came
back and called my mother out. He told her that the
cow’s collar was too tight and for her to have the
men folks loosen it.
Brother Sheffey was more
a man of prayer than he was a preacher. He was a
shouter because when he was happy, he wanted to shout
and his religion made him happy. When he prayed
things generally happened. Singing was dear to his
heart. They say he wrote snatches of hymns upon
objects along mountain trails where he travelled and
on walls of homes where he stayed. I just wonder if I
am the only person living that has seen and heard old
Brother Bob Sheffey.
[TO BE CONTINUED]
A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIVIN' - PART NINE....
My father’s land was right in the very heart of
Little Creek. His land ran from the Little Mountain,
to the end of Pine Spur and Spur Branch came down and
emptied into Little Creek. He had a saw mill and all
the mill works were run under the power of Spur
Branch water. The mill had a large shed over it. Just
a little way from it he built a large two story
building where had had a mill to grind corn. A little
later he put in mills to grind and bolt wheat to make
good flour. These buildings were large and tall. A
stairway went up one side. Later on, he decided he
wanted a store. He went upstairs, boarded off a room
in one corner and made a counter around two sides. At
the left end he made a trap door. He could raise it
to go in and let it down. Not one else ever went in
there.
Daddy sawed lots of logs into lumber.
He kept two teams of horses and wagons on the road
most all the time. Up the creek about two miles the
road divided. The right road went on up the valley.
The left one was called the turnpike which crossed
the mountain to Crockett’s Cove and on into
Wytheville. This road was very crooked and narrow.
It’s still at the same location and still crooked and
narrow. It’s the only road I know of that has never
been improved. Daddy loaded the wagons late in the
evening so he could start early the next morning. He
took feed for the horses and food was prepared for
the drivers. They made preparations to stay over
night and get an early start back. They got home in
time to load for the next day. He did this year in
and year out. Daddy had seven boys and he put each
one of them to driving at a young age. The farm work,
plowing, etc. was done by oxen.
He had one
horse buggy to drive to take care of his business and
take his produce to town and bring his merchandise
back to the store. Wytheville was his shopping point.
My mother furnished lots of things to take in and
sell. She knitted socks and gloves. She raised
chickens, gathered the eggs and sold them. He paid
5cents per dozen for eggs and sold them for 6cents a
dozen. She also had great flocks of geese there on
the creek. She picked the geese and sold the
feathers. She fried apples. I have seen her send 10
or 12 two-bushel sacks in to sell at 3 cents a pound.
Daddy built her a drying house for her apples. It was
the only one I ever saw.
Daddy sold coffee for
10 and 12 cents a pound. There were two grades of
coffee. It was whole green bean. We took it home, put
it in a pan in the stove and parched it brown. It was
then stored in a container and ground as we needed
it. We had a little coffee mill on the kitchen wall.
He kept some dry goods too. Calico was 4 and 5 cents
a yard. High price cloth, such as wool and one-way
cotton, was 25 cents a yard. Women’s dress shoes were
$1.00 a pair. Both sides behind the counter were
shelved and all packed with different items. The
produce was all brought from the neighborhood folks.
[TO BE CONTINUED]
A HUNDRED YEARS OF
LIVIN' - PART TEN.....
When I was a child, the
sick was never sent to see a doctor. The doctor came
to see the sick. He rode horseback and had leather
saddle bags he carried his medicine in. When he came,
he would bring his saddle bags in and set them down.
He always asked how you were and then he would sit
down by your bed and tell you to stick out your
tongue and say, “Ah.” He took out his pocket watch in
his left hand and took your pulse on your right
wrist. Then he would pick up his saddlebags and lay
them across his knees. He would get some white paper
out, take his pocket knife and cut the paper into
little squares, lay them on his saddlebags. He then
would take a bottle out of his saddle bags and with
his knife blade take a substance from the bottle. He
would get all that would lay on his knife blade,
dosed it out on each piece of paper, and you were to
take it as he instructed. He would then give you some
calamus and tell you to take it and follow it with a
dose of castor oil. He said this was to clear off
your liver. He would then give you a little vial and
tell you it was tincture of iron and to put twelve
drops of it in a little water and take it through a
quill. He always warned not to let it get on your
teeth. He would say, “Now I think you will be all
right.” And he was gone.
We would have to find
a big goose feather, cut the quill off and take the
iron. Sure enough, in no time our appetite was back
and our cheeks were rosy again. Of course, different
cases required different treatments, but time and
space will not permit me to write it all. When the
doctor came to see someone who was real sick, he
would raise up their eyelids and look into their eyes
and feel of their pulse in their temple. We knew that
was a serious case.
As the doctor rode along
the road and someone had the toothache, they would
get to the road real fast and tell him they wanted a
tooth pulled. The doctor would get off his horse, get
his forceps out of his pocket and out came the tooth.
There wasn’t any pain killer in those days. He would
put his forceps back in his pocket and ride on. It
wasn’t long though until the people had to pay 25
cents to have a tooth pulled. Compare that price to
what we have to pay today! Back then, there were no
dentures. There were no old folks’ home. The children
were glad to take care of their dear old fathers and
mothers as long as they lived. There weren’t any
hospitals, except in large cities. Neighbors and
friends would sit up night after night with those who
were real sick. Many friends died in the arms of
neighbors who sat with them.
When a woman died
in those days, the women of the neighborhood came in
and washed and laid out the corpse, made a shroud and
put on her. They took two boards, laid the ends on
two chairs, put a folded sheet on this and laid the
corps on it. A sheet was spread over her, but first
they folded a white cloth wet with camphor, and laid
it on her forehead and face. They made their own
camphor. They took a cake of gum camphor, crumbled it
in a big bottle, then filled it with good brandy. It
would eat up most of the camphor. Some fragments
would be left in the bottom of the bottle. The cloth
was kept wet and on the corpse. The bed and bed
clothing were carried out into an old out building
and after the funeral, some of the neighbors came in
and helped wash the bedding and brought it back into
the house. All the women came to help in times of
death, none of the women had jobs in those days and
had time to be more neighborly.
There was an
old man, John McCoy, who had a little saw mill run by
water power from Spur Branch, who made the coffins.
He had a planer and turner lathe. He made furniture
also. He had his boards dried out and dressed. When
someone died, the men folks got a long straight limb
or stick and measured the body, took this to Mr.
McCoy and he made the coffin. He lined it with white
cloth, and made the pillow with shavings. He stained
the coffin a dark color. The adult’s coffins were
$25.00, babies and little children’s were $5.00.
After he finished the coffin, that was all he had to
do with it. Mr. McCoy went out of business before
very long. The men put the corpse in the coffin and
onto the wagon to be taken to the grave. The preacher
read scripture and hymns were sung. When the
undertaker came into existence, it took a lot of work
off the men and women too. Aurelis Vest at White Gate
was making coffins at that time. When I was fifty
years old, I wanted my husband to take me and go to
Mr. Vest and get us both a coffin made of black
walnut. He kindly agreed, but we never did it. Mr.
Aurelis Vest has long been gone, but there is still a
fine funeral home in White Gate owned by Vest and
Sons. The first undertaker and hearse came to Little
Creek in 1912.
We know someday the Homecoming
here will end, but let us all live so that we might
gather at the Great Homecoming in Heaven. I have read
the ENTERPRISE so much and I think it is a wonderful
paper and deserves all the awards and trophies it has
won. I could write much more, but must take care of
my eyes and get my rest.
Hope everyone who
read this history from a hundred-year-old woman
enjoys it and will drop me a line. I love to get
mail.”
[TO BE CONTINUED....NEXT IS THE
BIRTHDAY PARTY !]
A HUNDRED YEARS OF
LIVIN' - PART ELEVEN...
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
This comes a little late. It was the week of my
one hundredth birthday. The rest of my history is
already at the ENTERPRISE and most has been
published. December 19, 1976 the day of my birthday,
the staff writer of the Chapel Hill paper, Mr. Jim
Beamguard, came out to interview me. It goes as
follows:
At one hundred her best day is still
in the future, she says. “I eat hearty and sleep
good,” Mrs. Minnie Parsell said as she waited for her
100th birthday. The birthday party she is having
today with friends and relatives is the climax of a
year of parties and reunions, most of them in
Virginia. She has been a widow for 36 years and lives
with her son, Paul Parsell at Route 2, Box 475,
Chapel Hill, N.C.
Her eating and sleeping
habits did not lead to her long life, rather they are
possible because of her excellent health, which is a
blessing given her by God she said. “It’s not work I
did, God purposed it,” she said of her health. “The
Lord has healed me many times and kept me well.”
Until last summer she was sewing her own clothes and
writing her own letters. Now her hands tire easily
and she doesn’t do much sewing. “I don’t have a stiff
joint in my body,” she said, opening and closing her
hands. She walks easily with a cane. She said when
she was 70 years old, she had arthritis and could not
lift her arms to comb her hair. She said her doctor
asked her what made the several problems go away. “I
was at a little prayer meeting,” she said. She told
him, “The Lord healed me.” The doctor asked how long
it took. To show how she answered, she clapped her
hands together loudly. He healed me, “Just like
that.” The doctor didn’t ask any more questions.
She has 4 living sons out of 11 children, 37
grandchildren, 93 great grandchildren and 25 great
grandchildren. In 2 or 3 more months I may have 30
more, she said of the great category. She admitted
she did not know the names of all her children’s
children, children’s children.
She said there
was a lot of changes in the 1880s and 1890s. There’s
going to be more changes in the 1980s and 1990s than
you’ve ever seen. I see them coming according to the
reading of God’s Word. It’s not going to get any
better. She says she tries to base everything she
does on the Bible. It was God she said who taught her
to read and write when she was 30 years old. Like the
cure for arthritis her education came instantly. She
said she couldn’t read everything in the Bible, only
the passages the Lord chose to teach her.
She
had an answer from the Bible that could relate to any
question ask her this week. The birth control, the
word says, the fruit of the Womb is God’s
inheritance. If any destroy the fruit, you’ve
destroyed his inheritance. On women’s liberation, she
says, the third chapter of Isiah says that when a
woman rules, she will destroy the paths of
righteousness!
Her favorite food is corn meal
mush. She gave the recipe: let the water come to a
boil, salt it to taste, stir in meal until it gets
thick, let it set a few minutes, eat it with butter
or milk.
In her hometown area of Wytheville in
Southwest Virginia, she remains very popular. She has
written a history of her younger days in that
community and Bland County. It is being published in
the local newspapers, The ENTERPRISE and the BLAND
MESSENGER. Her favorite pastime is telling others
about the Bible. She thinks of herself as a local
missionary. “I get to talking about the works of the
Lord, and I don’t feel old at all.”
Her cheeks
are rosy and her dark eyes are bright. There is one
way to keep from getting old she said and this is to
die. She calls old age a “dear old friend.” She has
written what she calls a “Formula for Old Age,” and
to everyone that writes her she answers and send them
this formula. In this formula, she advises welcoming
the “Dear Friend” and looking calmly forward, rather
than backward to youth.
[TO BE CONTINUED]
A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIVIN' - PART
TWELVE.....THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
Her party was at
her son’s home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. There
were forty guests present. Some from out of town came
in the morning to spend the day. The last departed at
eight o’clock.
A lawyer, Mr. Mosley, from
Chapel Hill came for a couple hours. He enjoyed most
Mrs. Parsell telling of her school days. She told him
that back then the children didn’t need a gym to get
their exercise!
A great granddaughter from
Long Island, New York, Mrs. Elizabeth Kacprowski,
arrived on the 17th for the event.
Rev. Tommy
Ramsey from Alum Spring in Pulaski County with two
car loads of friends of Mrs. Parsell’s came. Other
guest was from Goldsboro, Graham, Durham, Aberdeen,
Hillsborough, and a great nephew and his wife, Mr.
and Mrs. Leonard Hamblin of Greensboro and other
local people.
Rev. Ramsey brought his singers
and music. The music was grand says Mrs. Parsell. The
day was enjoyed by all who attended with much
singing, testimonies and Brother Ramsey giving a
wonderful message. Mrs. Parsell certainly enjoyed the
day chattering with one and then the other.
Mrs. Elizabeth Kacprowski helped Mrs. Paul Parsell
serve lunch. Aunt Minnie received a large colorful
arrangement of flowers from a great-granddaughter,
Mrs. Fay Levine of Columbia, Maryland. She also
received many gifts and cards. One of the gifts was
the book about Brother Robert Sheffey, “The Saint in
the Wilderness,” from the author, Jess Carr of
Radford. He said it was for her birthday. He also
told her there was a Baptist preacher in Radford who
preached every week and he was 106 years old. He rode
horse back by the side of Brother Sheffey.
Among the many birthday cards were three from the
White House with President Ford’s personal signature
on them. She also had a card from an undertaker in
Pulaski, one from a great nephew and his wife and
son, SGM and Mrs. Ronald W. Davis and son of Italy.
She received over one hundred cards from seventeen
different states.
Mrs. Parsell says 1976 was a
wonderful year for her. She wishes to thank the
ENTERPRISE and all its staff and also all those who
wrote her. She says the ENTERPRISE must be widely
circulated as she heard from so many different cities
and places." THE END
