Just wondering if anyone's family had tales of ghosts from SWVA Or EASTKY. or just tales of unusual people from the area. Just curious related fun, of course. E.G. BOGGS

Mr. Crabtree, You gave a good explanation of the King Arthur festivals in CA, and how we southerners acquired our love for telling stories. To go a step further regarding customs: My parents and grandparents lived on farms on very mountainous terrains in SW VA. I was a teenager when I saw where the farms were located. I couldn't understand why my ancestors would settle in territory that seemed to be nothing but hills. Yes, it was beautiful, but I thought so impractical. The only flat land was at the very top of the hill. It wasn't until four years ago that I came to realize why they chose the area of SW VA and SE TN to build their homes and raise their families. I had the privilege of touring the lands of my ancestors. Traveling thru Wales, my dad's family's homeland, then thru northern England and Scotland, probably where my mother's ancestors lived, I was in awe of the rolling hills, stone fences for miles and miles, and the winding rivers and valleys--so much like those in VA and TN. Although the hills of Britain were mostly grazing lands, whereas, the southern hills were wooded, they were very similar. That gave me a better understanding of why my gggrandparents settled in the rolling hills of VA/TN. Just a little bid of their homelands, or better said, "a little bit of heaven." And it truly was! All of us have seen movies with Errol Flynn portraying Robin Hood. You may call me a dummy, but considering the forests I have seen with so much undergrowth that a person could hardly walk, I never understood how Robin Hood and his Merry Men's horses could travel through the woods and forests with so much ease. Well, I saw Nottingham Forest and it had the tallest, straightest trees I'd ever seen. And sure enough, you could see thru the spacious trees, and there wasn't any undergrowth. A person could ride horseback thru those woods. Just another story! Pat -----Original Message----- From: Robert Crabtree <crabtree@speedlink.com> To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com <SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Saturday, March 20, 1999 11:13 PM Subject: Celtic music and Bluegrass >Here where I now live in CA they have a Renaissance Fair each year. They sit up >a camp and dress and act the part of their character, a real person of King >Arthur's day. They are very serious about this. They also have jousting and >sward fighting. And you know what? One of their favorite past times is story >telling. Can you believe that? Now wonder where all these good people on this >list for the past few days got their desire to tell so many stories? Strolling >amongst these characters in their fancy or peasant dress and witness the bad >guys being put on public display in the stocks while listening to the dialect of >the time. It is easy to identify it all with our early hill folks back in SW >VA, TN, and KY and see where they were coming from. And their songs are not >unlike the ballads we have been discussing. Near San Francisco they had the >Blackwood Forest and a permanent village where these characters had their >festivals all summer long. Their serious research and accurate reenactment of >the times can easily put me back to Old Frederick Towne and Baltimore, MD where >my ancestors first lived in this country before moving on to Montgomery County >and then migrating to Wythe, Smyth, Washington and Russell Counties. >Robert Crabtree > > >==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== >#2 A large database of SURNAMES and the researcher's email address can be found at >http://www.fortunecity.com/millennium/quarrybank/194/swabc.htm >You may have your SURNAMES included by posting them and your address to the >LIST and NOT to the sysop/owner. > >

Yeah, I remember the welfare food too, when mom had to take care of 5 of us herself. Included also was what we thought was canned beef. ( I later found out that this was U.S.D.A approved buffalo meat).But the Lord provides.

While searching for something else, found this piece of information that I thought the list might be interested in. >From The Cumberland Gap Progress April 18,1888 During the past year $93,000 has been realized from cabbage shipped from Wythe Co, Virginia in car lots alone. In addition, it is estimated that the railroads realized about $24,000 from freight on these cabbage. That's a lot of "green" be it cabbage or cash. Gayle

Ed & All: I came up during the Great Depression and I remember one year we had to sell all our chickens to buy sugar and coffee. All we had left was a bunch of guenias (I never could spell that word) and we had to eat guenia eggs every day! Mama would boil three of those eggs and put them in a JFG coffee "poke" with a little salt for me to take to school for lunch..I got so tired eatin' them eggs..I almost started roostin' in the trees!! I figured I was the poorest kid in the whole school...so..one day I decided to "trade" lunch with somebody..At recess..I sneaked into the "cloak room" and picked out the heaviest lunch in there and "Swapped" it for mine..I didn't look in it..but I knew it was heavy..an I figured it had a big apple or orange in it..Lunch time came and I ran in there and got that lunch and sat down in my seat...The boy across the asile had my JFG coffee poke..when he saw those guenia eggs he began to smile..I looked in the bag I had and in it was three hickory nuts and a rock the size of my fist...That boy ate those eggs and smiled while I tried to crack those hickory nuts with that rock...I 'bout starved that day..and I never swapped lunches again!! G. Lee Hearl Abingdon, Va.....

They were coal miners in Harlan County until my grandfather got a job with International Harvester in Indiana and a lot of Ky. and Va's. came west in the 40's seeking work in Ohio and Indiana.

The Old Church Songs were sung the way that you described on the one liners at a time, with the preacher's saying the verse and then the congregation, repeating the song. This is still practiced in the Old Primitive Baptist Churches. There are no musical Instruments. You have never heard preaching feeled by the Grace of God until you have attended one of these services. Our Vance line and Lester lines were very active in the Church. Some of these old Church records relate to stories that are not possible to get anywhere else. Their Histories go way back. If you can find the Clerk of the Church you are looking for it is like looking in a Library for history. They usually kept track of where people came from, and what church they lettered up from. They even wrote why some members were turned out. For lying, stealing or bearing false witness against their neighbors. Usually if a problem could not be resolved between to brothers or sisters (in Church) the Church would appoint a mediator to go out with other representation from the Church. This in hopes would resolve any hardness that they had between the two. The Churches today still practice this way of singing and counciling each other. The Preachers are called Elder's. My Dad is an Elder in the Church in Paynesville, WV. The Old Regular Baptist is different from the Primitive Baptist Church. Some spring off of each other. Some People call the Primitive Baptist Churches no Heller's. But believe me they believe more in Hell then most people I know they just believe that the Hell is here on earth. Just not the burning after death kind. Well this is a little history on the Primitive Baptist Churches and why and how they do things. Kathy B.

When I was quite young, at times we lived with my grandparents from these areas and my mother recalls that we only ate two meals a day. Apparently there was no meal we know as lunch. Was this a common practice? For breakfast we always had gravy and bisquits (I still enjoy them!) and for supper they always had fried potatoes, beans and cornbread. (yum! the cornbread is still good!) This was in the late to mid 1950's. Once in a while there was chicken to eat. Later in life they had more selection of diet. Maybe it was an economic choice.

Here where I now live in CA they have a Renaissance Fair each year. They sit up a camp and dress and act the part of their character, a real person of King Arthur's day. They are very serious about this. They also have jousting and sward fighting. And you know what? One of their favorite past times is story telling. Can you believe that? Now wonder where all these good people on this list for the past few days got their desire to tell so many stories? Strolling amongst these characters in their fancy or peasant dress and witness the bad guys being put on public display in the stocks while listening to the dialect of the time. It is easy to identify it all with our early hill folks back in SW VA, TN, and KY and see where they were coming from. And their songs are not unlike the ballads we have been discussing. Near San Francisco they had the Blackwood Forest and a permanent village where these characters had their festivals all summer long. Their serious research and accurate reenactment of the times can easily put me back to Old Frederick Towne and Baltimore, MD where my ancestors first lived in this country before moving on to Montgomery County and then migrating to Wythe, Smyth, Washington and Russell Counties. Robert Crabtree

Hello Nancy, if you love dulcimers you should attend the Highlands Festival here in Abingdon. They have it the first two weeks in August each year. There are always dulcimers for sale that are hand made, plus lots of other antiques and crafts. Danny -----Original Message----- From: nancy hammes <nhammes@net66.com> To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com <SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Saturday, March 20, 1999 9:13 PM Subject: Re: Celtic music and Bluegrass >3/20/99 > >Dear All: Ive always wondered why I loved the hammered dulcimer and the >lap dulcimer!! It has to be my VA/Scottish/Melungeon(?)/Irish ancestors?!! > I also own 2 lap dulcimers, one was hand made for me from an old fellow in >VA. I got it many years ago when I went to Davis and Elkins College one >summer for classes on herbs. I love my dulcimers. And I sure love the >music. Nancy/Illinois > > > > > > > > > > >At 01:31 AM 3/19/99 -0500, you wrote: >>Dear List, >> Growing up in Kentucky I cared little for "hillbilly" music and even less >>for the "high lonesome" tenors singing bluegrass. The accoustic >>instrumentals of the post-Monroe groups I really enjoyed. I attended many >>festivals while living in Ohio and Michigan and it was there I met the >>hammered dulcimer. It was love at first sound. >> In learning to play this instrument I learned many, many Irish jigs, reels >>and ballads. I learned an equal number of fiddle tunes. There is no doubt >>in my mind that Bluegrass evolved from our Celtic heritage. >> >>Sue McN. >> >> >>==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== >>#9 As of 2/27/1999 we have 485 members. Traffic can get heavy so check your >>mailbox often. We should regulate traffic so it don't get out of hand. >>There is an average of ten members coming and going each week. >>-sysop >> >> > > >==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== >#5 It is YOUR responsibility to know how to SUBSCRIBE & UNSUBSCRIBE. It is done >by computer. Put the word SUBSCRIBE in the body of the message with nothing >else. The address is sw_va-l-request@rootsweb.com . or -d- for DIGEST mode. >All this is in the Welcome statement I ask you to save. -sysop > >

Sue McN., Why is it, every story you tell reminds me of one?? "Shall We Gather at the River." I've got a story for that one, too. My first baptizing at the cove of the river. Folks kept singin' "Shall We Gather at the River," the preacher kept pointin' at people to come out into the river, and I kept scootin' behind my mother's skirttail. I was 5 yrs old. I just knew that preacher was going to point his finger at me next, and push me under the water and drown me. I never wanted to gather at the river again!!!! Pat -----Original Message----- From: Bill and Sue McNaught <pp02570@email.kcc.edu> To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com <SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Saturday, March 20, 1999 9:04 PM Subject: "Sing me down, brothers" > Remembering the shaped note singers reminded me of the practice of >singing down the preacher. Anyone know what I'm talking about? > As a child visiting aunts in the country I attended many old regular >Baptist gatherings. These would last all day and a variety of preachers >would take the stump. They would preach until they were exhausted or until >the congregation sung him down. It was like he knew he was through, but >couldn't quite wrap it up. At that point the congregation would start to >sing and he could make a graceful exit. > Many of these preachers used a sort of sing-song style of preaching. I >remember so well one of them concluding by singing, "Sing me down, brothers!" > >Sue McN. >"Shall we gather at the river" > > >==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== >#6 HELP is available from the sysop/owner anytime at: > ehoward@conknet.com or swvaroot@swva.net > >

I too remember going to the OLd Regular Church with my Grandma. Sometimes the singers would "sing down the preacher" if he wasn't preaching to their likeing. I remember one time we had a" long winded preacher" (a preacher that preached to long). When the singers finally "Sang him down" , Grandma said to me "wished theyed a sung him down a lone time ago"(G). I love the way they sang, the preacher would 'line a song" (call out a line of the song in a sing-song way) and the singers would follow, this went on until the song was finished. Grandma said the reason for this was that they only had one song book and this was the way they all learned the words to the song. My Favorite was "Old Village Churchyard" Annette

3/20/99 Dear All: Ive always wondered why I loved the hammered dulcimer and the lap dulcimer!! It has to be my VA/Scottish/Melungeon(?)/Irish ancestors?!! I also own 2 lap dulcimers, one was hand made for me from an old fellow in VA. I got it many years ago when I went to Davis and Elkins College one summer for classes on herbs. I love my dulcimers. And I sure love the music. Nancy/Illinois At 01:31 AM 3/19/99 -0500, you wrote: >Dear List, > Growing up in Kentucky I cared little for "hillbilly" music and even less >for the "high lonesome" tenors singing bluegrass. The accoustic >instrumentals of the post-Monroe groups I really enjoyed. I attended many >festivals while living in Ohio and Michigan and it was there I met the >hammered dulcimer. It was love at first sound. > In learning to play this instrument I learned many, many Irish jigs, reels >and ballads. I learned an equal number of fiddle tunes. There is no doubt >in my mind that Bluegrass evolved from our Celtic heritage. > >Sue McN. > > >==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== >#9 As of 2/27/1999 we have 485 members. Traffic can get heavy so check your >mailbox often. We should regulate traffic so it don't get out of hand. >There is an average of ten members coming and going each week. >-sysop > >

Does anyone have any information regarding Maple Hill cemetery at West Graham, VA in Tazewell Co. Searching for information on Sherman and Mary McReynolds and Clyde Franklin Hanes that are buried there.

For those researching Henry SWORD and Michael SWORD, legendary founders of SWORD'S CREEK, VA in present day Russell county, the speculation as to Henry and Michael's relationship and time of settlement IS documented!!!!!! Rhonda Robertson extracted and posted the Surveyor's Records of Washington county, predecessor county of Russell, to the Washington county, VA GenWeb. Thank you Rhonda for this information: WASHINGTON COUNTY VA SURVEYOR RECORDS, 1781-1797 Page 52 - John Borem, assignee of Michael Sword...188 ac...Commissioners Certificate...on both sides of Clinch River, at the mouth of Swords Creek...Beginning by a path...January 23, 1783 - Michael Sword, heir of Henry Sword...400 ac...at the mouth of Swords Creek, includes improvements, actual settlement made in 1775...August 23, 1781 - Assigned to John Borem by purchase October 26, 1781. Signed: Michael Sword. Witness: Robert Preston Although the record indicates that Michael SWORD is the heir of Henry SWORD, Rhonda warns that she has seen records where heirs are nephews, brothers or other relatives. Michael's 1781 sale of the SWORD'S CREEK land he inherited from Henry, coincides with his return from Revolutionary War service. Does anyone know of John BOREM, the purchaser? Washington county records indicate that the court ordered the appraisal of the deceased Henry SWORD'S estate in November of 1777 and the inventory of the estate was recorded in January 1779. No names were mentioned in the inventory, only personal property. Later Washington county court records indicate that Philip SWORD, "a poor child about 10 years old the first of March 1778 be bound to Archilaus Dickenson". It is speculated that Philip SWORD (1768>1816) and Michael SWORD (1756/61-1846) are the sons of Henry SWORD. It is further speculated that Sarah SWORD (1772-1832) who married Francis BROWNING in late 1790's is the sister of Michael and Henry. I would enjoy hearing from other researchers of this line. Richard Soard Speculative descendant of Henry SWORD I rsoard@mindspring.com

Hi! I too remember some of the time spent in Big Stone Gap in the early to mid 50's. We also had a hearty breakfast whenever possible (gravy & biscuits, fried potatoes, eggs, etc.) The only time I remember having lunch was when I was old enough to go to school. Luckily, most of the time, we lived near a stream, and enjoyed the bounty that it gave (fish, ducks, geese, etc.) Even if we didn't eat the fish mom would sell them to a local diner so we could have other items. We always had plenty of fruits and vegetables. Mom worked some in an apple orchard and received some of the discards not sold. We also planted a large garden each year and mom canned a lot of the vegetables. She was a single parent for most parts trying to raise four of us. I remember also the welfare food when times got a little tough (powdered milk, powdered eggs, canned processed meat, etc.) Times were not easy, but we survived and are still going on. Cecil

The following information came from James Hubert Hamblin in the form of a Hamblin Newsletter and from the "History of Scott County" by Robert Addington, published in 1977 the Baltimore Regional Publishing Co. Henry Hamlin, my 4th GGrandfather, married Marry/Polly Dickenson. Mary/Polly was a sister to Henry Dickenson ( Deligate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention) Dickenson County was named in his honor . In 1776, Henry Hamlin built a mill and fort at Rye Cove, which was then on the frontier. Henry and Mary/Polly had the following children,,,,Fanny,1770,,,,Frank, 1774,,,,Charles, my ancestor, 1778,,,,,Champ,1780 ,,,,John,1782. In August of 1790, Mary/Polly was scalped and killed by Indians at Fort Blackmore. In the same attack, Champ was kidnapped and after 8 years found his way back home. Two of the boys, Charles and John, were saved from the Indians by a negro slave, a giant in stature and weighing 350 pounds. For this act the slave was given his freedom and a small farm six miles south of Jonesville. His name was Swan Hamilton. Henry Hamlin died at Fort Blackmore ,August 1815. I am going next month to Lee County area. I would very much like to find something of their past while I am there. Am I correct in remembering that Fort Blackmore is no longer there ? So far ,I have not been successful in locating a deed for Swan Hamilton. I have looked in Lee County. Could it have been in another county at that time ? I don't know how long after the attack he was given the farm. I have been told Champ's homestead is still standing, but modernized. I would be grateful to hear from anyone that knows exactly where that is. As I have mentioned in an earlier post, I have plans to visit the two Hamlin Cemeteries in Lee Co , hoping to find a familiar name. Thanks again for your directions on that, Eddie ! Any suggestions anyone might have in finding some of my family past would be appreciated ! Nancy Brown Santa Ana, CA

My neighbors won't leave me alone. <g> They keep coming by to introduce themselves and welcome me to the Narrows. Old people are constantly passing my window on their daily walks. A Mr. Jessee came today to say hello and invite me to go bicycle riding with him. He looked about 70. I was afraid I could not keep up. He says the local artist has sketched the old Jessee home in Russell Co. where the Jessee Mill was. The mill, house and all are gone now. He says there are copies available. This is Jessee Mill on Mill creek near Dickensonville. -eddie "Toto, I don't think we are in NH any more."

>From "Daniel Boone, Master of the Wilderness", by John Bakeless; Copyright 1939, Pages 243-245: "Early in 1780 he set off for Virginia to buy state land warrants, which had to be secured before surveys of new land claims could proceed. The original warrants of the Transylvania Company had now been worthless for some time, and all land would in future have to be held from the State of Virginia ....... Everyone in Kentucky wanted to get warrants as soon as he could." "Boone is said to have carried about twenty thousand dollars of his own money. Part of it he had raised by selling the Kentucky land he already owned to get funds to buy warrants for more land. Nathaniel Hart have him L 2946.10 .......... Many of his other friends gave him such funds as they could scrape together. Altogether he must have had in his saddle bags between forty and fifty thousand dollars. It was all currency. There was no way to get checks and bank drafts." "However skillfully he could elude the wily Shawnee, Daniel Boone was no match for the still wilier rogues of civilization. With one companion, he halted for the night at an inn in James City, Virginia. When the two men went to sleep, they carefully locked the door and placed the saddle- bags at the foot of their bed........." ".......When the two men woke in the morning the bags were gone, and the door was unlocked. Boone's papers were scattered about, his clothing had been thrown into the garden, and the saddle-bags had been dropped at the foot of the stairs." "A search of the inn revealed a little of the paper money hidden in some jugs in the cellar. None of the rest was ever found nor was it possible to identify the thief." "The victim himself always believed that the theft was planned by the landlord and actually carried out by an old woman who hid in their room before they entered and then crept out to rob them in the night. Presumably both travelers had been drugged. Otherwise it is hard to imagine why the alert woodsmen, used to waking at the slightest noise in the forests, failed to hear the movements of the thief." ******* Many years later the Continental Congress after much discussion granted "by special act of Congress, February 10, 1814" a total of 1,000 arpents of land to Daniel Boone. The award was signed by President Madison. On Page 382, Bakeless writes, "Securing the land didn't help much at that. Two or three Kentuckians who had read in the papers about the grant to Boone hurried out to Missouri. They wanted to be first with their claims. Wearily, the old man set to work to settle those demands. He sold the whole thousand arpents in May, 1815, and most of the funds thus raised must have gone to satisfy the creditors." "Last of all came another man with a clam that was too much even for the patience of Daniel Boone. Years before, in entire good faith and simply out of kindness, he had given a tract of Kentucky land to an orphan girl. Like so many of his other claims, it turned out to be worthless. Her husband arrived just after the other claimants. He wanted Boone to replace the gift land with money, after all these years. By that time Boone probably had no money left, or at least very little. It was too much. "You have come a great distance to suck a bull," said Daniel, inelegantly. "And I reckon you will have to go home dry." ***** Daniel Boone died September 26, 1820. Barbara Gill, Director The Boone Society Websites you might want to check about The Boone Society are: http://booneinfo.com/society http://booneinfo.com/society/compass1.html http://members.aol.com/BarForum/Bsociety.htm A source for information on the BOONE lineage: http://booneinfo.com/

Hi, Since I am new at this, I would like to tell you about myself. I am one of Virginia's baby's . from the town of Clintwood Va. Many happy memories of the log house my father built. A handy man could do any thing to keep his family going. And as the family grew another house was built 4 rooms instead of the 2 room log house . I remember the Grand old Opera every Saturday night .Dad didn't have a car so we walked wherever we went.There are so many good memories of that Beautiful State the Dogwood in the spring . They say you can never go back home, My sister is a poet, she wrote , If I ever feel the need to return back home I will do it in memories because Memories live on. We must always keep our memories alive. pass them down to our children, family, and don't forget to share them with friends T.W from Ohio