My friends - Today, we are beginning a new series of excerpts from the self-written memoirs of a man born in Calloway County. Some introductory material is in order. Joseph Oren Holland was born in Calloway County 17 July 1868 and died in Amarillo, Texas on 22 December 1952. He was the son of George Marion Holland(son of William Marion Holland and Mary Jane Miller) and Margaret Ann Nix(daughter of Riley Franklin Nix and Mary Ann Alexander). Oren Holland married Pearle Hays in 1893. I was acquainted, in a small way, with one of Oren Holland's sons, who operated a successful clothing store here for many years. In 1950, Oren Holland began writing his memoirs, from which the excerpts I will be posting come. A copy of these memoirs, entitled, "One Life" came to me years ago through the efforts of my late cousin, Mary Holland Lancaster, who performed much invaluable research on the Holland and Hay(along others) families, to which she and I both are related. As we go along, I will post excerpts from Oren Holland's remembrances from his time in Calloway County. While not as all-encompassing as Gordon Wilson's folksy narratives, Oren Holland's remembrances paint a good portrait of how life was in the last half of the 19th century. As is now customary, there will be no data posts per se tomorrow or on the weekend, although, if time permits, I may return with another miscellaneous file offering. I will be departing again, late next week, for the Jackson Purchase region, as my wife and I continue to slow process of preparing for our relocation to our acreage in Calloway County at some point next year. -B ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "One Life" -Memoirs of Joseph Oren Holland "I was born in a double log house on the east side of Calloway County, Kentucky on the 17th day of July 1868. At the time my father was engaged in the mercantile business in partnership with my grandfather [Riley Franklin] Nix in the little village of Newburg onthe banks of the Tennessee River. He rode horses back a distance of about five or six miles to and from his place of business each day. When I was some three or four years old, my father built a two room 'box' house on the hill overlooking the log school house of 'Hickory Flat', and it was there that I first began to 'remember things'. Our new home was about a mile or a mile and a half from Father's place of business, but he left early in the mornings and usually returned late in the evenings. People in those days worked hard and lived harder. There were no eight hour days and five day weeks with time and a half for overtime. Neither did there exist any of the simple things as common with us now and luxuries were simply unheard of. Only the barest necessities were obtainable, and even these were few and far between. I remember one evening Father brought home some 'fresh beef' - round steak - and just enough for one meal as there was no way of keeping fresh meat in warm weather except by cooking it immediately. Mother cooked the steak for our evening meal and I stood and watched her, and the smell of that fresh cooking meat was most tantalizing.I had never had 'fresh' steak before and I have never had one since that tasted half so good. Occasionally Father would bring home a 'buffalo' fish from the river and I would watch him skin and clean it, and all the time my mouth would be 'watering'. I was so hungry for something fresh and different. Although Father was in business, we were poor. Everybody was poor and everybody economized to the limit. The commonest things we have today would have been luxury beyond comprehension in those days. May people still used 'tallow dips' for light - when they had a light - but we did have 'coal oil' lamps for the rare occasion when we had company, but for 'home use' we had 'star candles', which, at most, were dim and uncertain. We, also, being in business, enjoyed 'Alligator' matches which were sulphur matches and stunk when lit like the eternal lake of fire and brimstone." ~to be continued~ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++