Mary South wrote: > > Diane, > My father-in-law from W. Tn told me about 'sugar tits'. I never tried it > on my son though. Whenever he cried, I just nursed him. > > Mary South > msouth@ic.net I did the same with mine, Mary. I think this must have come from the days when a baby just had to wait until all the farm workers were finished and the mother had time to sit down and nurse, don't you? Kept the baby from getting too hungry and too fussy. dt

RE: Maple Syrup/Cane sugar/Sugar Loaf: I made reference earlier to the treats my mother carried to school each day. They were called sugarcakes. Grandpa Rowlett would insert spigots in the maple trees. (We've all seen that sticky syrup that runs down the trunk of a tree.) Buckets were hung under the spigots to catch the syrup that drained from the trees. Sometimes the syrup would turn to sugar. Grandma would pat the sugar into small cakes, put them in a pantry to set and dry out. My guess is, the sugarloaf was either that, or brown sugar that had hardened. Brown sugar came in large barrels. When it hardened, the grocer couldn't sell it, so in my neighborhood, he chipped it off with an ice pick and gave it to the kids. What a Treat!!! Speaking of the old 'ice pick', did you ever have a treat that tasted better than a piece of ice chipped from a large block of ice by the Ice Man? Our ice man was Mr. Lee. When he parked the ice truck, the neighborhood kids bombarded his truck to search for loose chips. Sometimes he'd chip us off a big piece. Wrapped in newspaper or an old wrag, we licked it, winter and summer, with our hands freezing and water dripping from our elbows. Pat

<This wasn't remedy related, but my grandmother used to I'm told, make a treat by tying sugar into a piece of cloth for the kids to suck on, and they were called (pardon the Word) sugar tits.>> So that is where that word came from. That phrase was used alot to mock a lazy person or immature crybaby. -eddie ==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== #4 Chain letters, gossip, non-genealogical notes, commercial ads, pleas for help, etc. are PROHIBITED on this List. Violators will be promptly locked out. -sysop Feminism AIN'T ladylike

I can document anything from a book, but it was my understanding that cane came to the Carolinas and VA about the time the dirty Yankees plundered the peaceful South. It came from Cuba or the Bahamas. Surely the pioneers could "depend" or do without since there is no cane in New England and they still work the maple trees. Of course they have sugar in the stores. If you are lucky they even have molasses. I don't know if that wild cane is the same as bear grass or bull rushes. Someone should research sugar cane and its arrival to SW VA. Surely that would earn the "post of the week" award.<G> -eddie On SUGAR & CANE: Daniel Boone bought loaf sugar at a trading post in southwest Virginia. Does anybody know wht "loaf sugar" was? Maybe brown sugar? My great great grandfather had a large sugar maple grove on his farm, with large pans and boiling kettles where he made syrup and sugar..but from the reports I have read concerning the amount he made, I don't believe the pioneers could have depended on maple sugar for their needs..I believe the pioneers probably made molasses which turn into sugar after a while if they are made thick....I helped restock a cane mill a couple of years ago which looked like it was brought over on the Mayflower!! The creeks and other places with "cane" in the names were probably named for the wild cane which grew in low areas when the first Longhunters and explorers came..I don't know if it had syrup juice in it or not..Cattle and horses could eat it.. G. Lee H... ==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== #4 Chain letters, gossip, non-genealogical notes, commercial ads, pleas for help, etc. are PROHIBITED on this List. Violators will be promptly locked out. -sysop Feminism AIN'T ladylike

Regina wrote about banding babies' belly buttons so they wouldn't rupture. I was one of those babies who was banded, but I remember Mama saying that they placed a nickel or a quarter on the naval before banding the baby. The coin helped hold the naval in so that it would heal properly. My daughter was age five when I noticed an egg shape near her 'private parts'. Doctor said if I hadn't called attention to it, he would never have discovered it in examination because she was lying flat on the table and the rupture didn't show. Her rupture was one that would have blocked the bowels. He said her rupture was unusual for a girl because it was the kind boys had in the groin area. Pat

I am passing this on to the BOONE list, as there is a couple that is pretty much up on their food and their clothes, maybe they can help you. Sheila and Arlie are you guys out there reading this , I hope Margie -----Original Message----- From: G. Lee Hearl <glh@naxs.com> To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com <SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Saturday, February 27, 1999 6:20 PM Subject: Re: King's Mountain >On SUGAR & CANE: >Daniel Boone bought loaf sugar at a trading post in southwest Virginia. >Does anybody know wht "loaf sugar" was? Maybe brown sugar? My great great >grandfather had a large sugar maple grove on his farm, with large pans and >boiling kettles where he made syrup and sugar..but from the reports I have >read concerning the amount he made, I don't believe the pioneers could have >depended on maple sugar for their needs..I believe the pioneers probably >made molasses which turn into sugar after a while if they are made >thick....I helped restock a cane mill a couple of years ago which looked >like it was brought over on the Mayflower!! >The creeks and other places with "cane" in the names were probably named >for the wild cane which grew in low areas when the first Longhunters and >explorers came..I don't know if it had syrup juice in it or not..Cattle and >horses could eat it.. >G. Lee H... > > >==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== >#4 Chain letters, gossip, non-genealogical notes, commercial ads, pleas for help, etc. are >PROHIBITED on this List. Violators will be promptly locked out. -sysop >

Hominy with scrambled eggs were a must in my childhood days. Now it is Hominy & Pork (ribs of any kind) cooked in a liquid seasoned w/Gebhardt's chili powder (none else gives it the right flavor), onion, a dash of oregano leaves and my kids like to add a squeeze of lemon (which I can't acquire a taste for though) and this is like a soup. My grandchildren haven't really acquired this taste yet but my kids loved it. Antoinette waughtel@oz.net Bill and Sue McNaught wrote: > Lawsy, I love that meal gravy. When Granny or Mother fried pork chops in > that indespensable iron skillet they would make meal gravy in the same > skillet. We also serve it with fried green tomatoes. > > Has anyone else heard of Black Sop? When Granny fried sausage she poured a > little water in the skillet, stirred and served in a bowl. This was > spooned over an open buscuit, or the buscuit was dredged (sopped) in it. > > How about Soak? That was buscuit soaked in coffee. My 89 yr. old mother > has me feed her that for breakfast. She has also made me learn to cook > Mush and Egg Custard. In her infirmity she has gone back to the comfort > foods of her childhood. Caring for her has also taught me that hominy and > parsnips are good! > > Sue McN. > > ==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== > #7 "Roll Calls" or such by other names are to be called > by the SYSOP ONLY. NO WARNINGS!! Each member is free to post their > SURNAMES anytime they please. -- Researching: Alkire, Breckenridge, Burton, Cann, Claypool(e), Denton, Daugherty, Dunbar, Evans, Gorrell, Hagan, Jimenez, Keel, Keith, Kern/es, Ladner, Lawler, Leffler, Littell, Merrifield, Norris, Pettyjohn, Ponsler, Robertson, Robinson, Rogers, Sinex, Sinnickson, Stiddem/Stidham, Tossawa/Tussey, Vantreese, Wachtel/Waughtel, Walker, White, Wilcox, Winfield

My favorite cure: Being a young mother of 20, want to take the new baby to see the family. We drove from Fl to Bristol in a day. The man from the diaper service suggested these new paper diaper for the trip. We thought they were wonderful, until my blue eyed blond child with very fair skin, turned bright fire engine red on the behind. By the time we got to granny's house he was real fretful. She sent me to the store for something, a ruse get me out to the house. When I returned the baby was content, when I went to change him next, his bottom was covered with a tick covering. Grandma quickly explained that it was Crisco cause my Uncles would not bring her lard any more. She said lard was all she ever used on her 12 and it was much cheaper and worked 10 times better than any fancy store stuff! We still use Crisco in our family for diaper rash now a total of five generations later. Teresa jatsh@msn.com Hughes, Clark, Capwell, Bennick, Schaub PA/FL Anderson, Horton, Herron Jeter, Snapp, VA/TN/FL

Sugar tits, was also a remedy. Butter, and sugar were creamed together and a couple of drops of paragoric were added. The mixture was shaped into the proper shape and wrapped into a peice of linen and tied. The baby who was cranky or cutting teeth was given the sugar tit to suck on. The benefit was two-fold. The paragoric to the gums was numbing and stopped the pain. The paragoric that got into the system put the baby to sleep. While we now know that the paragoric wasn't good for the baby, at that time and until not too long ago, you could get paragoric over the counter. Then for a while in VA, you could get it, but you had to sign the pharmacists chart and I don't even know if you could get it by prescription now. It is supposed to be highly addictive. But it sure was good for easing all sorts of pain. <smile> Nancy S

My grandpa fed me 'soakens' ( his term) when I was just a wee one. My mother caught him and said, 'Pop, don't give her any of that coffee.' He said, 'Ahhh, it'll make her eyes black,' and it did!!! :-) Grandpa took a biscuit and pulled the insides out of it. This he ate with his meal. He took the crusts and put them in his saucer and sprinkled them w/ a little sugar. He poured coffee which he took w/ real cream over the crusts and let it set for a few moments. Then dug in. I still occasionally think abt how good that used to taste!!! Grandpa was James Glen Mayo b.Nov. 28, 1878 in Wayne Co. WV. His father was James Tyler Mayo b. 1839 Cabell Co. VA, his father was James G. Mayo, b. 1776 place unknown. If anyone can help on this Mayo line, I would really appreciate it. Nancy S

On SUGAR & CANE: Daniel Boone bought loaf sugar at a trading post in southwest Virginia. Does anybody know wht "loaf sugar" was? Maybe brown sugar? My great great grandfather had a large sugar maple grove on his farm, with large pans and boiling kettles where he made syrup and sugar..but from the reports I have read concerning the amount he made, I don't believe the pioneers could have depended on maple sugar for their needs..I believe the pioneers probably made molasses which turn into sugar after a while if they are made thick....I helped restock a cane mill a couple of years ago which looked like it was brought over on the Mayflower!! The creeks and other places with "cane" in the names were probably named for the wild cane which grew in low areas when the first Longhunters and explorers came..I don't know if it had syrup juice in it or not..Cattle and horses could eat it.. G. Lee H...

This wasn't remedy related, but my grandmother used to I'm told, make a treat by tying sugar into a piece of cloth for the kids to suck on, and they were called (pardon the Word) sugar tits.

Lawsy, I love that meal gravy. When Granny or Mother fried pork chops in that indespensable iron skillet they would make meal gravy in the same skillet. We also serve it with fried green tomatoes. Has anyone else heard of Black Sop? When Granny fried sausage she poured a little water in the skillet, stirred and served in a bowl. This was spooned over an open buscuit, or the buscuit was dredged (sopped) in it. How about Soak? That was buscuit soaked in coffee. My 89 yr. old mother has me feed her that for breakfast. She has also made me learn to cook Mush and Egg Custard. In her infirmity she has gone back to the comfort foods of her childhood. Caring for her has also taught me that hominy and parsnips are good! Sue McN.

Bet the lard is what does the trick. The lard would keep the chigger from getting oxygen and it would die and stop itching. We always used nail polish to cover chigger bites. And mother always kept some clear polish around for that purpose. But one day I was doing a project for school and made a small salt map and decided to color it and then used the clear nail polish to seal it. Made a good looking job of it. That evening daddy went down on the river bank to fish and got into a bunch of chiggers. Mother found the clear polish gone and so she used what she had; a bright vermillion red. I heard her laughing and walked into the bedroom w/o knocking - a real no, no, but I just as quickly retreated. Not before however, that I saw what she was laughing at - Daddy was stretched across the bed face down and his backside was painted with bright red polka dots!!!! Still laugh when I remember it! He was a good sport abt it tho. Just said, 'remember to knock before entering!!!' Nancy S

Once when young, I came down with "the creeping eruption" and I had to sleep with a mixture of bacon grease and salt rubbed all over my back. For an ear ache my grandmother would boil urine and when warm put it in the ear. I wasn't fond of that one! Mary South msouth@ic.net

-----Original Message----- From: Pat Oneal [SMTP:peon@icx.net] Sent: Saturday, February 27, 1999 11:52 AM To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com Subject: ALL THOSE REMEDIES & CURES Pam and Sue McN. I love your entries. I've decided if I follow everyone's remedies and cures, I'll not be sick for at least 7 years. I might die, but I won't be sick! Rock candy and whiskey was a common cure at my house. Mama used to put whiskey on cotton for a toothache. She also gave us Casteroil-the worst tasting stuff in the world. A big tablespoonful! As far as I know, it was the cure-all for everything, especially worms. Keep in mind, my mother just died at age 101, so she went way back. I was hoping she'd make it to the Millineum so she could say she'd seen 3 centuries. Very alert! Great stories! (Think she'd understand this Y2k talk?) Speaking of FLUX: My sister died at age two of Flux. Another newborn sister was on hand that had to be cared for by older sisters. No medical cures, no penicillin, etc. She had eaten green grapes from our backyard, and Mama applied that as her reason for having Flux. Neighbors made the small pine coffin. Folks, my mama suffered thru floods, flu epidemic, deaths husband, 6 children, 2 gr'children, and all of her 12 siblings and their spouses. The list goes on. She could make something from nothing, and when company came, she just added more water to the gravy, and more flour to the biscuit dough, and fed the whole crowd. They went away satisfied. Strong lady! Of all the remedies I've seen, there were never any home remedies that cured my motionsickness. I tried 'em all-except one! (Can you imagine drinking your own urine? I'd probably have died!) I was the one of nine who "always" got carsick. My dad had no patience with such things. "It's all in your mind!" Those narrow roads in KY were hairpin curves, especially Booger Mtn, with no place to pull off the road--Mtn on one side, river below. Twenty miles from home and I was asking Daddy to pull over. I was gonna throw-up. His answer was always the same. "Sis, can't ya' wait'll we get there?" I got the seat by the window. Winter or summer, that window was wide open so that I could breathe fresh air. My siblings hated me on those trips. Just another story in my family history! Pat Note: Does anyone know anything about a Gitney Bus (about 1915)? You car enthusiaists? ==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== #3 Support the fight against unrequested junk e-mail (SPAM). Visit the webpage at: http://www.cauce.org/ -sysop [Pam Moehling] Pat you talk about getting car sick...when we first moved from Kentucky/WVa in the summer of 1953 to Chicago (can't you just picture that one) every single Friday night after everyone got off work we would all head back for Ky...just could not pull ourselves away from the Mountains..my parents would get so homesick they couldn't hardly make it until the next Friday night trip..And folks back then that trip took about 14-15 hours of hard driving..down the old River Road passed Cinncinatti..oh yeah I forgot where this was headed..anyway my Mom would take a big ole coffee can in the car because as soon as we hit Huntington I started heavin'..and I mean all the way into Blackberry (Ransom) Ky.. people go on such fancy vacations now a days (and that's o.k. too) ..but for us a vacation was back home...and I would'nt have traded those trips and vacations for anything...my sister makes fun and teases me cuz I was the youngest of the 7 children and was 3 when we moved to Chicago.. she says that out of all of us I shouldn't feel Ky is home...but Illinois has never been HOME to me...I would have loved to have bought my Aunt Bea Scott's house when she passed away a few years ago..don't know what I would've ever done with it...but it held the best memories of my life.... My mom says to tell everyone (regarding signs) that you could never wean a calf away from it's Mama until the signs were in the feet....if you did it under any other sign the calf would ball it's head off and be just miserable....she's got more I'll pass on later..I wrote them down.. And Pat you spoke about your Mom and her strength...I've already told you about my oldest brother's feet being marked when he was born..well it's hard to imagine but picture a baby's feet attatched backwards if you can...his ankle's had to be broken in order to help him get better....nothing to put the little guy to sleep either..My Mom had to hold him while the Dr.'s broke his ankles...I can't even type this one withourt crying..As a Mom I can't fathom having to do this..it just breaks my heart to even think about it..Mom says that of all her hardships in life this had to be the worst one she ever experienced...she said it had to be done or he never would've been able to walk..but what an ordeal..I'm sorry if I put a downer on anyone..sometimes the things our folks had to do would seem impossibilites to us today..in many ways we've gotten alot wiser and softer..Happy Ending tho..my brother Jim just retired..he's 66 now and having a ball.. Later, Pam

Edward Boggs wrote: This wasn't remedy related, but my grandmother used to I'm told, make a treat by tying sugar into a piece of cloth for the kids to suck on, and they were called (pardon the Word) sugar tits. >From what I have heard from a generation or two back, this actually was used as a "remedy" sometimes. I remember hearing about it being used to soothe and quiet a baby (like a pacifier). Diane

-----Original Message----- From: Edgar A. Howard [SMTP:ehoward@conknet.com] Sent: Saturday, February 27, 1999 11:51 AM To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com; Pam Moehling Subject: RE: Old Home Remedies << the Rocky Candy desolved in whiskey for chest congestion... My father suffered with asthma almost all of his life and he would make this and keep it in the medicine chest.>>> My father too had asthma and he would drink whiskey and honey. The honey was optional. <g> . . . get a life. Eternal Life! [Pam Moehling] <<I see I need to check my typos before sending..I meant Rock Candy.. you know Eddie we always teased my dad about his Rock Candy mixture too..I've always wondered if it was really for medicinal purposes or he just liked the stuff alot...<g> <g> Pam

"Edgar A. Howard" wrote: > > <<The question is, did the Watauga Settlements really have maple syrup > to mix with their corn? I'm sure there are maple trees in TN, but I've > never heard of the syrup being used by the pioneers.>> > > I learned this a few months ago. Cane did not come to SW VA > until about the War to Enslave the Southern Citizentry. Before that it > was sugar maple. Note the place names with sugar in it. Sugar > Hollow, Sugar Grove, etc. John Preston Arthur's "A History of Watauga County" cites a man named Ollis hiding out during the Revolutionary War and, "as did Samuel Hix", "ekeing out his simple fare with maple syrup and sugar from the maple trees which had made this section their home...and give its name to Sugar Mountain." Also, not far to the south in Mecklenburg Co., NC, several of my STARNES ancestors settled in the 1760s and evidently cultivated cane along Cane Creek. It would not be surprising to find that some, albeit modest, amount of sugar cane cultivation had made its way to SW VA well before the War to Defend the Southern Plantation Owners' Practice of Enslaving Blacks and Stealing Land from Native People and Poor White Farmers. At least six of my STARNES ancestors fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain against the British and American loyalists. Because so many American loyalists joined with the British, I think it is fair to view this as a preliminary bout in the Less Than Civil Wars of the Less Than United States of America. The irony in my family, as I suspect in most of yours, is that the descendants of these "unified" (STARNES) ancestors wound up killing each other in the 1860s. Recent events and inflammatory rhetoric suggests that we have learned the lessons of history rather poorly. Charles Ed Starnes

Don't know how or why it worked but know it did - when my daughter was teething and crying my father - in - law dug dock root and my cut it into beads. My mother-in-law strung them into a necklace and put them around her neck. As long as she wore the necklace she didn't cry while teething. But if I took them off her - as I did when I took her to the doctor - she would cry. When I put them back on the crying would stop.