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