----- Original Message ----- From: joyce bynum To: Joel Palmer Sent: Saturday, January 28, 2006 8:46 PM Subject: Palmer stories Joel - I can't thank you enough for those wonderful stories.!!! My great grandmother, Martha Palmer Stegall (born 1832 in Cobb Co., Georgia, died 1927 in Texas) who was your ancestor's first cousin, was a great story teller. (She lost two brothers during the Civil War - one was named Hezekiah Sherwood, after Hezekiah Palmer and Sherwood Camp, the grandparents.) My father told me she would gather the children in the corner of the cabin when it was really dark and the wind was blowing, making spookey noises. And then the story she told went something like this: "Hit was a dark, dark night, and the wind, hit was a-blowin' and the owls was a'screechin', and we was already skeered, when we heerd a sound way off, a-gettin' closer and closer and closer, and then all of a sudden, thar was a clompin' on the front steps, a-gettin' louder and LOUDER, and then the door, hit jest FLEW open, and THAR WAS A YANKEE SOLDIER!" (By this time, the kids were really shivering from fright.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another story of hers that she told on herself, many, many times (I believe my great grandfather suffered from what we call "sleep apnea"): "One night, in the middle of winter, when hit was a-freezin', the ole feller stopped a-breathin', yes, he did! Jest like that! Well, what was I a-gonna do? Hit bein' the middle of the night, freezin' outside, and the nyearest neighbor a mile away. And so I said to m'self and to him, "Well, ole feller, if you is dead, you can jest stay dead 'til mornin'," and I turned over and went back to sleep. Do you know, the next mornin' he warn't dead at all, but as alive as you and me!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's another one of hers that involves the belief that you have to "cuss" your peppers to have a good crop - and of course, she didn't know many "cuss" words: "One day I went out to my gyarden to plant some peppers. And oh, I do love peppers. So after I planted them, I went to the gyarden gate, and I then turned around and pointed my finger straight at the place where I planted the peppers, and I said, "Now, DASH ON YE, GROW!" And do you now, I had the best crop of peppers I ever had. Y'see? Hit's GOOD to cuss the peppers, when you plant 'em." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- She was also a faith healer, and had quite a following among the Primitive Baptists in East Texas. She would go around to the big revivals and camp meetings and heal people. From what they told me, at first she went to these revivals in a horse and buggy, but then her son got a car to drive her, and the old car gave out, and they couldn't afford a new one. And of course, she started to get old. Both she and my grandmother had "second sight" - they predicted the future sometimes, and could almost read people's minds. Have you heard of this among the Palmers in your line? More later, cousin. Joyce Bynum