As most of you know, when you click reply on a message you are replying ONLY to the SENDER of the message. Most replies should go to the List members. That is the: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com address. This is mentioned in the instructions. Please be attentive when you reply. Don't send them to ME ONLY. Others are interested to. Of course there are some message about the List that should go only to me. BUT replies should go to everyone. Thanks a bunch. -sysop, eddie

I asked my husband(former submarine vet) about this term; he says it was WWII vintage: MM was machinist's mate; MOMM was Motor Machinist's Mate (this person worked on small engines) and the 2 is second class. Sue

Does anyone know if there was destruction in Russell County, VA during the Civil War? I am specifically interested in destruction in the Castlewood area.

Margie, I guess it is possible, but usually the headstones that list US Navy are people who served in the Navy. Is it a headstone that was issued by the Veterans Adm. or just a regular headstone with that inscription? The Vet. Adm. headstones stand out, as they are usually flush with the ground, are a bronze color, and list name, rank, and branch of service. If it is the Vet. Adm. headstone, he most likely served in the Navy. My dad had the MM2, MM1, etc on his discharge papers from WWII and it was Master Mechanic second class, Master Mechanic first class, etc. I think if you check with a Veterans website, you can probably find the exact listing for it. Another thing would be to contact the Veterans Adm. closest to your area and just ask what that would mean for a Navy Vet. If they can't tell you, you could maybe find out how you could get copies of the person's discharge papers and it would list full rank on that. I'll check dad's papers again tonight and see if there are any other abbreviations on his list of ranks, and if I can match up one with the MOMM2. Lisa Check out my website at: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/7502/index.html -----Original Message----- From: Margie Phelps <MargiePhelps@worldnet.att.net> To: Lisa Craven <lcraven415@atomic.net>; SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com <SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Friday, February 19, 1999 8:13 AM Subject: Re: Headstone inscription >Could this actually be a member of the Merchant Marines, my father in law, >was in wwii adn he served in the war in ships that were run by MM, and they >fought right along side each other. I'm just guessing. >Margie >-----Original Message----- >From: Lisa Craven <lcraven415@atomic.net> >To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com <SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com> >Date: Thursday, February 18, 1999 9:42 PM >Subject: Re: Headstone inscription > > >>Becky, >> >>The MOMM2 would be their rank in the Navy. Not sure what they all were but >>it would be MOMM second class, (with the 2). >> >>Lisa >>Check out my website at >>http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/7502/index.html >>-----Original Message----- >>From: Becky <beckyb5@ibm.net> >>To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com <SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com> >>Date: Thursday, February 18, 1999 7:26 PM >>Subject: Headstone inscription >> >> >>>Does anyone know what MOMM2 means with WWII US NAVY on a headstone. It >>>is obvious they were in WWII and in the Navy but no one in the family >>>knows what MOMM2 means. >>>Thanks, >>>Becky >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>==== 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 >>> >>> >> >> >>==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== >>#1 When you have a new email address please UNSUBSCRIBE from the >>old BEFORE you lose it; and SUBCRIBE from the NEW address as soon >>as you get access to it. If you fail to do this please send the >>old and new address to: ehoward@conknet.com and the Mailing List name >>-sysop >> > >

Could this actually be a member of the Merchant Marines, my father in law, was in wwii adn he served in the war in ships that were run by MM, and they fought right along side each other. I'm just guessing. Margie -----Original Message----- From: Lisa Craven <lcraven415@atomic.net> To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com <SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Thursday, February 18, 1999 9:42 PM Subject: Re: Headstone inscription >Becky, > >The MOMM2 would be their rank in the Navy. Not sure what they all were but >it would be MOMM second class, (with the 2). > >Lisa >Check out my website at >http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/7502/index.html >-----Original Message----- >From: Becky <beckyb5@ibm.net> >To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com <SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com> >Date: Thursday, February 18, 1999 7:26 PM >Subject: Headstone inscription > > >>Does anyone know what MOMM2 means with WWII US NAVY on a headstone. It >>is obvious they were in WWII and in the Navy but no one in the family >>knows what MOMM2 means. >>Thanks, >>Becky >> >> >> >> >>==== 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 >> >> > > >==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== >#1 When you have a new email address please UNSUBSCRIBE from the >old BEFORE you lose it; and SUBCRIBE from the NEW address as soon >as you get access to it. If you fail to do this please send the >old and new address to: ehoward@conknet.com and the Mailing List name >-sysop >

Pam and Nancy Morrison: Interesting stories! And Pam, you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned "marked babies." I was one of those marked newborns. This is what I wrote in a family story entitled "Room At The Foot Of The Bed": I was born with a special feature that none of the other 12 siblings could claim. It attracted lots of attention from Mama's ladyfriends. I was a marked child! I was born with several large rosy-red birthmarks. One was on my hip, two on my right thigh, and small ones were grouped on the inner thigh. The whole neighborhood soon heard the news. Superstitions and eccentricities expressed by the neighbors could certainly alarm a mother, especially when someone constantly called attention to the birthmarks. The ladies were continually asking Mama what caused the baby to be marked. Finally, she came up with a story that satisfied their curiosity. She remembered a day shortly before I was born when Daddy came home from rabbit hunting. His pockets were filled with rabbits for Mama to clean and cook. While standing at the kitchen sink skinning the rabbits, she got blood on her hands. Mama had a habit of swiping her hand down the side of her apron, and in an effort to remove the blood from her hand, she did just that. She wiped her hand on the right side of the apron. Three of the birthmarks were shaped like rabbits, that is, if you have a vivid imagination. The story satisfied her friends and they no longer questioned her about my birthmarks, except to remark, "Isn't she lucky they aren't on her face?" (Yes, those birthmarks are still there, and they got bigger as I got bigger!!!) Nancy, I could almost swear you described my grandfather and his family. Here is a short segment describing the Rowlett farm that bordered Lee Co, VA, and Claiborne Co, TN. My mother was 94 when she gave me this description. To think she could remember all this and I had to tape it to remember it! "The Rowlett farm was one of bounty as well as beauty. Large gardens grew at the top of the hill on flat acreage, producing every kind of vegetable that would grow in the dark, fertile soil. The Ladies' Birthday Almanac was considered the farmers' Bible. Crops were planted according to the astrological signs.... Four apple orchards grew at the top of the hill behind the house bearing apples of several varieties. One variety was called the Limbertwig. It was a large, red, juicy apple. Mitchell apples, watercore apples, rusty, white, and sheepsnose apples grew in the orchard. The sheepsnose acquired its name because it was actually shaped like a sheep's nose. Amanda (my gr'mother)preferred them for making jelly. The raspberry apples had a flat shape. There were apples for drying and others for making applebutter. Another variety of apples grew to the size of a small grapefruit. They grew on a single tree in the middle of the fenced horse pasture. Since they were not good eating apples, they were fed to the horses and were called horse apples." Her description of the farm went on and on. Mama said when the youngest sibling was old enough to hold up two fingers, the toddler joined the others in the gardens, planting two kernels of corn to a hill. (Man! Is this modern day generation spoiled!!) Pat

Hi, I enjoyed Pat Oneal's story about her grgrandmother seeing "blood in the mealbox"... And this too is a part of our family heritage... And speaking along these lines..have any of you heard about what was called "Marking Your Babies" ?? As it was told to me there was a certain time during a women's pregnancy where she had to be very careful because that was the time that she could "Mark her baby"... Example: There was such a women who was at this critical time in her prenancy and she went out to feed the pigs.. well two pigs began to fight around her over the food and there was blood all over.. she got very upset but didn't give it much more thought..and when her baby girl was born it had the nose, ears and hands of a pig... My own mother feels she 'Marked " my oldest brother in this way..there was a neighbor child who had died suddenly..the baby's family was very poor and since the mother of the baby was very distraught, the father asked my mother if she could get the baby ready for it's buriel...my mom washed the baby and put a little outfit on it she had and got the baby ready for the funeral..Mom went to the visitation, which was in the parents house(very common back then) and happened to notice that whoever had laid the baby in the coffin had got his feet crooked..it bothered her alot and she couldn't get that off her mind..and when my brother Jim was born his feet were EXACTLY like that babies feet in the coffin... Some of these old stories or "wives tales" as some might call them seem utterly nuts to us in today's time but our ancestors lived their lives with them and these things were signs and warnings, etc.. they took them very seriously.. In my opinion they add alot of flavor to who we "came down" from... we get to see more than just names and dates and places...this is what made them who they were and some of what we are... Food for thought.....Pam

http://www.netusa1.net/~hartmont/medicalterms.htm

In The Story of WISE COUNTY Virginia by Luther F. Addington there is a statement that "even after grist mills became common, people grated grain into meal in the autumn before it was mature enough to be gound. This oftentimes had to be done because the old corn had become exhausted and there was an immediate need for bread". I suspect that corn that was not "mature enough to be ground" was called "shortcorn." JackDale 2/18/1999

Becky, The MOMM2 would be their rank in the Navy. Not sure what they all were but it would be MOMM second class, (with the 2). Lisa Check out my website at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/7502/index.html -----Original Message----- From: Becky <beckyb5@ibm.net> To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com <SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Thursday, February 18, 1999 7:26 PM Subject: Headstone inscription >Does anyone know what MOMM2 means with WWII US NAVY on a headstone. It >is obvious they were in WWII and in the Navy but no one in the family >knows what MOMM2 means. >Thanks, >Becky > > > > >==== 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 > >

RE: Homes/looms/outhouses, during 1800s. Have you ever looked closely at one of those looms? They're BIG, require a full room of their own. Homes in SW VA in mid 1800s: My mother said my Dad's grandfather's house had 12 rooms. He had 19 children. Owned lots of land. Mom said he had what they called "starter houses". When one of his children married, the couple moved into a starter house (about 3 rooms) on the farm until they were able to buy their own home. It was the first time I'd ever heard of a starter house. My sister was born in a 3-room log house where my dad was born in 1896 in Lee County, VA. He was the youngest of 11 siblings born in the house. If you'll check homes dating back to the early 1800s on the historic register, photos show some of them as being Brick houses and most of them were large, two-story homes. Those belonged to the wealthy landowners. Since it was available, some were built of stones, much like the stone fences that went for miles. My gr-grandmother sold her house to my grandparents about 1903. It had a breezeway (dog trot) between the main house and a Meal Room. My grandfather added 2 upstairs bedrooms, and built living quarters for grgrandma where the mealroom was. (This was the mealroom where she supposedly had a vision. The story goes that she went into the mealroom one night to get flour/meal for use next morning. When she opened the mealbox, she said she saw Red. It looked like blood. She quickly returned to the mainhouse, told her husband, "There's going to be a war. I saw blood in my mealbox." Shortly thereafter, the Civil War began.) Just another old-time story! She also had the root cellar where canned goods and root vegetables were hidden from soldiers who ransacked her home. Soldiers did not find the cellar. Entrance was under the handbraided rug that lay before the open fireplace. My grandfather had a blacksmith shop/gristmill across the road from the main house. Barn was several yards from house. Mom said house was built of battenboards and grandpa cut the shake shingles for the roof. Every farm had henhouses, large barns, and if there was a spring nearby, you could always find a Springhouse like the one below my grandparents house. It was hid deep amid the undergrowth when I saw it in 1949. On a day when temperatures were in the 80s, you needed a sweater when you went to the Springhouse. It was built of stone. Water from the spring was ice cold. My knowledge of 'homes' comes from stories told by my mother who died last July at 101. Pat -----Original Message----- From: Edgar A. Howard <ehoward@conknet.com> To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com <SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Thursday, February 18, 1999 2:28 PM Subject: Re: loom house Ruby, <I don't think it was a question that the loom business was so large, it required its own separate building, but the loom took up a lot of space.> I didn't mean the _business_ was big, but that I didn't know the loom, etc. took up so much space. Or that each, or most, families owned one. <<I went through one of the plantation homes last summer here in NC, and there was a separate building where the loom was situated. One room with the loom and a cot and a small table and chairs, and that was the whole house.>> There were few plantations in SW VA/Russell Co. We are talking about two different things. I'm sure they were large farms/plantations that had loom houses but I don't think the average/small farmer had one. They probably had a barn and corn crib. Just my thoughts. -eddie -----Original Message----- From: Edgar A. Howard <ehoward@conknet.com> To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com <SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Thursday, February 18, 1999 10:39 AM Subject: Re: homes <<The kitchen, and loom house were separate buildings and outhouses probably did not refer to outhouses as we know them.>> I had not heard of a loom house. I didn't know it was such a large operation to require a separate house. The census list many spinsters. I didn't know spinster was an occupation. I thought it was a marital status. <lol> There is a joke there somewhere. <g> I have heard that slaves were making bricks in Scott Co. by the War but I can't document it. There were stone houses but I don't know when the first would have been. Most likely after the War. -eddie There were no brick houses mentioned, a situation common in most parts of Southwest Virginia at this time. In addition to houses, most had a barn, stables, and corn houses (cribs). Many had spring houses, kitchens, smoke houses, and loom houses. There were a few blacksmith shops, one straw house, and a hen house. >From the Tax records of Russell County, VA. Rodden Adderson (Addison), one farm on Indian Creek, 80 acres having thereon one dwelling house of wood, one story, 21 feet by 18 feet, one stable, one kitchen, and one corn house, valued at $160. Russell County, Virginia, pioneer Rodden Addison was born about 1780. His wife was Susannah Keen, daughter of John Keen who along with his brother Israel came to Russell County from Henry County in the year 1801. As the family grew, they continued to increase their land holdings in the Belfast Mills area of Virginia. My wife and I located the original tract of land that Elizabeth and Rodden owned and it is still fairly well undeveloped. We used the car's odometer to measure the distance that the road took us through the original tract and the odometer gave us a total of 1.3 miles across. There are probably not more than 12 to 15 houses on this area today with the rest of the land being pasture and forest. I hope this gives an insight into the "normal" homestead of that time. Until later, good hunting, Jerry in Kingsport, TN ==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== #1 When you have a new email address please UNSUBSCRIBE from the old BEFORE you lose it; and SUBCRIBE from the NEW address as soon as you get access to it. If you fail to do this please send the old and new address to: ehoward@conknet.com and the Mailing List name -sysop ==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== #9 As of 2/7/1999 we have 475 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 ==== #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. ==== 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

I just read Pam's reference to "head monkidie monks" and had to chuckle at the regional differences in speech. Around here they are called muckety-mucks. What does this have to do with genealogy, you ask? A lot. It is a reminder that census takers frequently wrote what they heard, thus accounting for some of the variety of spellings we encounter in our family names. Just last night I saw the given name Lardious (fem.) for the first time. I was almost sorry I saw it, for it explained the funniest name I've ever encountered on a census. A Carter County KY census lists the wife's name as Larda_ _! I had had a huge laugh imagining this old fellow telling the census taker that was his wife's name. Sue McN.

I agree it was a great question. :-) My 4th great grandmother was Jenny Wiley of Indian capture fame. Jenny Wiley b. 1760, d. 1831 In discussing Jenny Wiley, p. 21/22/23 of The Founding of Harmon's Station, William Elsey Connelly says: 'Before going on with the work in hand it will be profitable to note a few features of backwoods life. The pioneers were their own tanners, harnass- makers, and shoe makers. They built their own houses and made their own furniture and agricultural implements. Salt and iron were indispensable and had to be brought in upon pack-horses from the stations or older settlements where they were purchased with skins, furs, dried venison, and ginseng. Both were used sparingly. Often a cabin was completed without there being a single nail, bolt, or spike used in its construction. Flax and cotton were grown by almost every settler. These with the wool from the few sheep that escaped the wolves furnished material for cloth which was woven in looms in the pioneer homes. The feathers of ducks and geese furnished beds which found so much favor that they have not been discarded to this day. Clothing for the women was home spun, home woven, and home made, coarse, but substantial and comfortable. That of the men was of the same manufacture and often supplemented with skins, dressed and not dressed. The fringed hunting-shirt and leggins, fur cap and moccasins, made a picturesque garb, and for the scout, guide, hunter, trapper, explorer, or any other dweller in the wilderness it was the most appropriate that could have been devised. For food the pioneer depended upon Indian corn, his hogs, and the fruits of the chase. The cornfields surrounded every cabin. Bacon was the favorite meat. Vegetables and fruits grew quickly and of fine quality; many edible fruits were found growing wild. Coffee was unknown, and tea was unheard of; substitues were made from spicewood and sassafras. Chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese were found about most cabins. The division of labor was not so distinct as it is now. Women often worked in the field, plied the axe, sheared the sheep, pulled the flax, plucked the feathers from the geese and ducks and frequently did effective service with the rifle. These things were in additon to their ordinary work of preparing food, spinning and dyeing thread and yarn, weaving cloth therefrom, making the clothing, and attending to many other affairs amid all the cares and anxieties incident to rearing large families on an exposed and dangerous frontier.* * The manner of living here described had not entirely changed in Eastern Kentucky even in 1875. Many of the features here described remained in the home of my grandfather, Henry Connelly, Esq., who lived on the Middle Fork of Jennie's Creek, Johnson County, until his death in 1877. Most of the cloth for the clothing of himself and his family was made by my aunts from cotton, flax and wool produced on his farm. I often assisted in this manufacture as a child. I could spin on the 'big wheel,' fill the 'quills,' for the shuttles used in weaving, and I have 'reeled' thread and yarn, much against my will, sometimes, I must say, until my arms ached. My grandfather raised on his farm his own bacon and dried and cured his own beef. He manufactued most of the agricultural implements used on his farm. He had large orchards. For more than forty years he made his own sugar from the maples growing on his land. He manufactured his own cheese. He was an industrious and independent American citizen, and his manner of life was the best. A return to it by the people would solve many serious questions now troubling the Republic.' p. 25 'My great grandmother, Mrs. Susan Connelly, knew Mrs. Wiley well; she told me that Mrs Wiley had very dark hair, was tall, handsome in form and face until old age made her heavy and slow, very intelligent, kindly disposition but firm and determined, and a devout and earnest Christian.' Nancy Sparks Morrison

My Thoughts: One of my gggrandfathers bought a small farm, about 100 acres, a couple of months before he married and agreed to pay for it with meat and produce at Abingdon market prices..He managed to pay for the farm and before he died, gave his three daughters goodly sized farms, 400 to 600 acres..built a large brick house..about 1860..and gave his two living sons about 1000 acres of prime farm land in washington Co. Va....I don't know how he did it...but I suspect he was a hard worker and good manager...The "trickle down" theory hasn't worked for me however...one of my brothers was rebuilding an old house for a lawyer in Abingdon...the lawyer asked an old lawyer, jokingly, what he knew about the Hearls...the old man said," I've known them all my life, none of them ever had much, they are too honest to have anything"...I'd rather have that said about my family than to be rich!" G. Lee Hearl...Abingdon, Va...

I am looking for information of the FARRIS FAMILY, I have information that said GIEDON FARRIS settled near Damascus, VA about 1768. Who were his parents and where did he come from. He was my GGG Grandfather. I would like more information on his ancestors and how they got to SW Virginia. All information will be greatly appreciated. Wilmer Grubb Abingdon, Va. willie@naxs.com

I am searching for information on Dr. Henry M. JOHNSON, my great, great grandfather, born in 1794, in Lynchburg, VA. I need to know who his parents were and where they came from. Our family tree seems to start with Dr. Henry M. JOHNSON with no prior information passed down to the family. I do know that Dr. JOHNSON later ended up establishing a practice in Fincastle, VA, and perhaps attended the U. of Maryland medical school. If anyone has an idea how I can get in touch with the U. of MD medical school that would have old records, I would appreciate your help. Dr. Henry did not go to med school until he had reached his 30's and had experienced the death of his wife, Hannah LEWIS. Dr. JOHNSON was the father of Dr. John Lewis JOHNSON who was born in Philadelphia and attended Wilson Medical College there. He was an assistant surgeon during part of the Civil War and a pharmacist in Raleigh, N.C., for the rest of the war. Any help with this family would be appreciated. Thank you. Beckie

My relatives in Southwest Va today would rather be known as poor destitute people than as the wealthy people they are. My ancestors in SW VA have for many years been wealthy land owners, but I have never known of them being braggarts. There is something in the Appalacian persons that says we must not be rich or richer than others, and we must certainly not let others know we have $$$. Among the older people, there is honor in working the soil with the finger nails and reaping no rewards except for enough to fill a table full of food for any who drop by at any hour. I don't know if this is Appalacian or "anywhere America", but the idea is prevalent among the people I know. SueBee

-----Original Message----- From: Edgar A. Howard [SMTP:ehoward@conknet.com] Sent: Thursday, February 18, 1999 3:04 PM To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com Subject: White Trash & the Rich Thanks a bunch. Great documented post. We should have a prize for the best post of the month.<g> But wait a minute. Most of my ancestors could carry their belongings <I love that word> on their backs and only a few of them were white trash. <lol> Some of those people had more money than they had sense. <g> That brings up a subject that is marginal and could get out of hand, but very interesting to me. As I grew up in SW VA in the early 60s there was a clear backlash against the rich. The rich had to be humble and rich farmers played down there wealth. They dressed plain but had a pocket full of money. Snobbery was a cardinal sin. There was little or no envy of the weathy. The Rich were respected only if they were humble and respectful of all. Was this unique to the Southern Appalachians or rural America?? -eddie Theodsia Barrett, deceased, noted Russell County historian wrote the following in her book PIONEERS ON THE WESTERN WATERS, page 21: "In the early 1800s, a man's social status was determined by his possessions. The plantation owners who lived in big houses, had many featherbeds, owned slaves and many horses and cattle were the elite or big folks. Merchants and business men were big folks, if their houses contained 6 or more rooms. Craftsmen or laborers were common people. The ones who owned small tracts of land and lived in one room cabins with a sleeping loft and a lean-to shed were one horse farmers. The white trash could carry all their belongings on their backs when they moved from one settlement to another" Not my words, just quoting the book. Descendant of the common folk and one horse farmers of Russell County, Grace Vance Dotson ==== 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 ==== 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] You know we have talked about this subject in my family for years..we can't figure out why it was always "not good" to be wealthy or educated. My Mom referred to those people as "head monkidie monks". Being succesful or wealthy meant that you must have cheated someone or got that way by "ill-gotten means". It was something that you just didn't want to be..because then you were looked at differently..negitively... Eddie you spoke of being "humble" in your wealth..it was like you almost had to go around apologizing for your good luck or smart management..I think in our family it was a lack of self-esteem or something..but everyone I ever knew all talked the same way about this..sure does limit a person...don't it.

Thanks a bunch. Great documented post. We should have a prize for the best post of the month.<g> But wait a minute. Most of my ancestors could carry their belongings <I love that word> on their backs and only a few of them were white trash. <lol> Some of those people had more money than they had sense. <g> That brings up a subject that is marginal and could get out of hand, but very interesting to me. As I grew up in SW VA in the early 60s there was a clear backlash against the rich. The rich had to be humble and rich farmers played down there wealth. They dressed plain but had a pocket full of money. Snobbery was a cardinal sin. There was little or no envy of the weathy. The Rich were respected only if they were humble and respectful of all. Was this unique to the Southern Appalachians or rural America?? -eddie Theodsia Barrett, deceased, noted Russell County historian wrote the following in her book PIONEERS ON THE WESTERN WATERS, page 21: "In the early 1800s, a man's social status was determined by his possessions. The plantation owners who lived in big houses, had many featherbeds, owned slaves and many horses and cattle were the elite or big folks. Merchants and business men were big folks, if their houses contained 6 or more rooms. Craftsmen or laborers were common people. The ones who owned small tracts of land and lived in one room cabins with a sleeping loft and a lean-to shed were one horse farmers. The white trash could carry all their belongings on their backs when they moved from one settlement to another" Not my words, just quoting the book. Descendant of the common folk and one horse farmers of Russell County, Grace Vance Dotson ==== 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

I'd like to add that there is a very good book called "Albion's Seed" by David Hackett Fischer ISBN# 0195069056 that has a great deal of information on housing and building practices, along with other customes and folkways of the British in America. I am reading it now and recommend it highly. The information is too extensive to post here, but if you are patient I may be able to paraphrase some of it. Regards, Regina >Hello swVA researchers, > >The question was asked: > ><< Does anyone know what the average homes were like in Russell >Co, VA in the 1810-1850s? Were they cabins with dirt floors or more >like a 2 story home with wooden floors? >> ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com