The Quiet Zone

Reading "The Quiet Zone" gave us a good excuse to get back to Pocahontas County, the home of the Green Bank Observatory built in 1958 to search for extraterrestrial life. We stopped in Trent's Store where Governor Jay Rockefeller once had a charge account. The weather was perfect for a fall ride and picnic at Gaudineer Knob in the Monongahela National Forest.

October 2021
 

Legacy

 

We made our reservations for Holly River-Cabin 1-when checking out September of 2020. We've been staying at Holly River every summer since retiring and last year we stayed in the fall too. We love the woods surrounding the 1 room cabin, the wildlife and seclusion of rural West Virginia. 

June and September, 2021

To celebrate our 45th Anniversary we went to Johnstown Pa, the site of the 1889 Flood that took 2200 lives. We'd been to the downtown flood museum and the historic cemetery before. This visit we went to the top of the hill, 14 miles from town, where the dam for the South Fork Hunting and Fishing club lake broke.

2021 

Ree and Me

 On a trip home to West Virginia from Colorado, we made a side trip to Pawhuska, Oklahoma to visit Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman's Mercantile and Bakery. I'd read that the Drummond Ranch Lodge, where the Food Network segments are filmed, was open for tours certain weeks of the year. The Drummond Ranch is huge and we enjoyed the view. The 120,000 acre ranch is home to wild horses. At the Lodge, the hostess told us "Ms. Ree" has just cleaned out her props and set a table of ones she was giving away. I got the very pan she used on set! I loved seeing the kitchen at the Mercantile too.  2021

For more, check my food blog: http://cindyshealthymeals.blogspot.com.

Grain & Trains

As grain and train enthusiasts. we so enjoyed our first trip through Kansas. The scenery was spectacular. Ever town had a grain elevator, train yards and (at one time) hundreds of hopper cars filled with grain.l In Wilson, we ate Sunday dinner at a packed restaurant called "Made from Scratch".

 Jim Lawson at Kansas originals asked me to select 2 songs from his playlist. I chose "Blue Moon" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" He was a grain farmer and told me about the old days.

 
 

Mile High

 

When Greg and Michelle said they’d be visiting Denver from their home in Sweden, we packed up the car to go see them. What a fun time we had. We met them at their Airbnb and walked to Rye Society for lunch. After we splurged at a fancy donut store that looked like a gift shop. They walked to our hotel for dinner and we had a nice one at a nearby Greek Restaurant.

From our motel, we walked to the capitol the next day and posed for pictures at the mile high spot. We all enjoyed the cultural center and our lunch there too. Bob and I always gave leftovers to the kids to enjoy at breakfast. We watched James May in Japan shows and YouTube videos at their place.

On day 3 we met Michelle’s sister Christina and her new baby Samuel at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal for two fun trips along the 11 mile road. While we didn’t see buffalo, we did see mule deer and prairie dogs, not native to West Virginia. Another lunch at the Rye Society where the servers treated us like friends, then a fun trip to a Butterfly Pavilion.  There Greg and I took turns holding Rosie the Tarantula. We cooled off at dinner under a tent during a rain storm while Bob and I shared a Steak N’ Shake milkshake and they tested craft beers. What a joy it was to all being together.

July 2021

 

Abraham Johnson

 

Patterson Creek is a tributary of the North Branch Potomac River in West Virginia (then Virginia). George Washington and his surveying party entered the mouth of the creek, swam their horses over, got in canoes and traveled 15 miles up the creek to the settlement of Abram Johnson where they camped overnight,. Johnsons' original home was on the site of the present Kuykendall Farm house. His grave is across the road.

Abram was an official of the Ohio Company and proprietor of the first store in Ridgeley. "America's First Chain Store Corporation", funded by wealthy London and Virginia gentlemen established a chain of heavily constructed stores, later confiscated as forts, where settlers could exchange grain, hogs and tobacco for "blankets, red shroud, half thicks, liker and ches". The road surveyed and built by the company from upper Potomac Valley to Pittsburgh was the first east to west men traveled. 

During the French and Indian War, Johnson and family returned to New Jersey for a while when a friendly Indian warned him the Indians were planning to kill him. The friendly Indian protected Abram's home from being raided and destroyed like many others in the area. Throughout his life, Abraham was a prominent figure in Public affairs.

Abraham Johnson is our 6th great-grandfather. He is the father of Elizabeth, married to Aaron Duckworth. Buried here is Abraham, and wife Rachel, their son William and wife Catharine and grandson Okey with wife Nancy. Recent ground penetrating radar tests of the cemetery sited some 30 graves. The large stone is possibly one of a slave. Great grandchildren erected the large monument.

Abraham Johnson timeline:

• 1748-granted 293 acres and a mill on Patterson Creek.
• 1750-named proprieter to Ohio Company store in Ridgeley-stays there during the week.
• 1754-Hampshire County Tax Collector.
• 1758-goes to New Jersey to avoid hostile Indians.
• 1767-Colonial Virginia Justice of Peace.
• 1772-High Sheriff.
• 1782-Census taker.
• 1790-sells 219 acres and mill to Reese.
  

May Cemetery

 

May Cemetery in Maysville, WV (Grant County) was neglected and overgrown.

In search of Dad's maternal grandfather Millard Whetsell's grave, i was thrilled when I thought I found it. I did not. What I did find was the marker for Millard's mother-Mary Whetsell and her niece, Lillie E. Iman. Lillie was born the same year as Millard's daughter Mae and also died young.

It was Millard who erected the large stone for his mother and niece.

Mary lived with Millard in 1900. Mary and Lillie lived with Millard in 1910. After Mary died, Lillie was back with her parents (Frank and Rosa) and siblings in the same dwelling as Millard. At that time (1920) Millard was a postmaster in Emoryville, an unincorporated coal town in Mineral County.

Looks like Mary had 4 kids with husband Israel: Millard, John, Rosa and Albert.

I hope to get back to this cemetery again, maybe next spring when the leaves are not out on the trees and the light is better. Next time we'll park at the bottom of the hill across from the Fire Department and walk up the rut filled road.

Henry and Anna

 

J. Henry Fier was born in 1867. His parents came from Germany. He and Anna married in 1894. Henry lived in Allegany County Md. until 6 years before his death when he moved to Akron. He worked in the coal mines and farmed. In 1920, Henry worked as a janitor in the Public Schools.

Henry had red hair and brown eyes. He had 2 sisters. Carrie was the oldest and never married. In 1910 she lived in Woodland (near Frostburg) with Henry and family, then again with the family on Hammond Street. Henry's middle daughter is named Carrie.

Henry and Anna Fier had 8 children-5 boys and 3 girls.

Anna Ferrens Fier was born in 1870 and died in 1949. Her parents came from Scotland. Anna married Henry when she was 23.

Grandma Fier had brown hair and dark eyes. She was short and wore a lot of petticoats. Grandma made her clothes and her kids' clothes. She even made umbrellas. Anna was wiry-always on the move. She ate oatmeal everyday.

Mom stayed with her in Akron Ohio. Grandma Fier carried her groceries 6 blocks. On Sundays, she would not work. When it was time for the boys to go home she would say "Nighta".

When Henry died in 1930, their son Christopher was living with them in Akron. In 1940 Anna lived in Akron with her son James, his wife Nell and their son James.

Effie

The inscription on Effie Elizabeth's stone reads "Mother". She was 20 years old when Dad's Mom Mae was born. Son Harry came 2 years later. When Effie divorced Millard Whetzel in 1907, she married James Poland, a widower with children. Mae raised 4 step children (the youngest was 1 year old) with Mae and Harry, then had 6 more kids with James. James was a miner.

Effie and Millar's son Harry Whetzel worked as a laborer at the paper mill.

One of Effie & James' sons, John Louis, was in several battles of WW II.

Miller Cemetery is at the end of Stoney Run Road on a hill by what may be a reclaimed strip mine. It is not visible from the house at the end of the road. The only sounds heard here were those of the birds.

2021
 

The Squire

My 3rd great grandfather, Uriah Duckworth (1799-1891), was a Westernport magistrate for 50 years. While a magistrate, his decisions were rarely overturned in a higher court. He taught school in Lonaconing where many of his pupils remembered him with affection. He was a great hunter, always carrying a rifle and was a dead shot.

Uriah and his wife Nellie are buried in a small cemetery-Duckworth-on Stoney Run Road close to the Baptist Church.
 

Sinclair Family Graveyard

 

Bob's 3rd great, grandfather is buried here near Watters Smith State Park. On private land off Pooh Bear Road, Anna Sinclair was William Maddox' daughter.

William Maddox, born in Eastern Virginia, came to Clarksburg young and became part owner of the Old Point Mill. He married Sarah Gaston and settled on Duck Creek. In 1825, he erected a log house. William and Sarah raised a large family. There were farmers.

May, 2021

Back to Grasslick

 

When we visited the Grasslick Baptist Church Cemetery years ago to view the graves of Bob's great grandparents, we did not realize the 2nd great grandparents are buried here too.

During the Civil War, Thomas Maddock was a soldier who likely required medical treatment. He married Martha M. Goodwin in 1846. They had nine children in 18 years. He died on March 13, 1901, in West Virginia having lived a long life of 81 years, and was buried in Kenna, West Virginia. Martha and Thomas were farmers.

William Rufus Maddox and Rosetta Casto are Bob's great-grandparents, married in 1883. Like their parents, they were farmers. W.R. and Rosetta had seven children. 

2021

Webster Cemetery on Angel Ridge Road

 

Though the plot was just past Poverty Ridge, it was fenced and maintained with azalea bushes in full bloom. Elmore Casto (Bob's 2nd great grandfather) and his wife Phoebe Cunningham, who had 13 children together, are buried here. Elmore lived to the ripe old age of 92. His inscription is on the opposite side of the tall marker.

 

"Farewell my husband and children all

From you a mother Christ doth call

Weep not for me, it is in vain 

To call me to your sight again"

2021

Pringle Casto Cemetery

On a pretty spring day, we visited 3 cemeteries near Ripley WV where we viewed grave sites of Bob's 7 grandparents. This family plot was on a hill overlooking the Fairplain exit of 77 where we parked by a road we didn't want to navigate and walked. 

 

James Casto is Bob's 3rd great-grandfather. He served in the War of 1812 when he was 29 years old. In 1817, James married Sidney Kessel. They had 12 children. James died in 1866, having lived a long life of 80 years. There is no marker for Sidney though records say she is buried here too. Sidney was 18 years younger and died in 1883.

2021 

Sunset Memorial

 

Bob's paternal grandfather, Augustus "A.B." and A.B.'s mother Victoria are buried here. The map indicates the lots where he and his mother are buried. Victoria Mease Gay, A.B.'s mother, married Harvey Hanson after A.B.'s father, George, died. Victoria is buried with her second husband. No one knows why she was called "Queen Victoria" though the 1880 census lists a white servant in her house.

Victoria's sister Octavia and Harvey's brother Charles (pictured) had been married for 30 years when Victoria and Harvey married.  

A.B.'s father George W. Gay was born in 1844 and died in 1899. George was the first husband of Victoria Mease. He was a miner. George married Victoria Mease on December 29, 1869. He is buried at Littlepage Cemetery (now overgrown) in West Charleston.

 

Augustus

 

 

Bob's paternal grandfather, Augustus, was a lifelong resident of Kanawha County and owner of a Charleston trucking company. In his younger days, A.B. was a chauffeur for John Ringling of Ringling Brothers Fame in Florida. Bob's mother Maxine worked at Montgomery Wards in Charleston when she met her future father-in-law delivering furniture. A.B. is buried at Sunset Memorial Park in South Charleston.

Spring Hill

The 2nd of Bob's ancestry graves we visited during our Charleston (WV) trip was Spring Hill. Bob's paternal grandmother "Biddie", her parents and several siblings are buried there. That's Biddie on the left in the B&W photo. Bob tells the story of going there as a kid on Memorial Day with the lawn mower, then sitting around the site to remember the loved ones. I guess that's what we were doing (without the lawn mower). Biddie died in 1944 while Bob's Dad was in the service. He did get to attend the funeral.
 

Biddie, her Mom and Dad-Perry & Mary Given, Biddie's younger brother Hubert, older sister Mahalia and younger sister Nettie are buried here.

2021

Savor 68

 I savored every minute of my birthday trip to Charleston, taking all of my cards with me and reading the on-line wishes there. We visited Bobs' great ancestors graves, went through old neighborhoods and shopped for model train and paper supplies. And no (thanks to Spring Hill Bakery) I did not make my own cake:) These lovely flowers were waiting for me when I got home.

Past Lives

The first of 4 ancestry cemeteries we visited on our Charleston (WV) getaway is near the Yeager airport. Atha Mease is Bob's 2nd paternal great grandfather. He was captured during a civil war battle after attacking Custer's group in Virginia. A simple internet search led me to directions and contact info to the caretaker-who's great grandmother was Bob's great grandmother's sister. Oh what fun!

2021