Day 19 - Victor Edwin Rhea

Victor Edwin Rhea is easier to write about. My cousin, Patty, and I had to good fortune to meet Sheldon Livesay and his wife, Linda, last year when we made a trip to Tennessee to find our “roots”. Sheldon manages “Of One Accord Ministry”, an outreach that feeds and ministers to those in need. It’s a great program and we were blessed to have the chance to see it in action. Sheldon is our 2nd cousin and Victor’s grandson.

Sheldon and Linda

Not only did Sheldon share the work he does, he took the time to show us where the family lived and all the places they would have been. It was a great experience. We were disappointed to find the Home Place gone but the foundation was still there. He showed us Victor’s home but the forest is reclaiming it too. We saw the river and the land they farmed. Sheldon also unearthed a treasure trove of photo's that Victor's daughter Jewelle had saved. It was a fantastic find and added so much to the research. 

Victor was the 7th child of John and Jane. He was born July 13, 1880. 

Victor was the son closest to Jane. Her letters to my grandparents were all about what Victor was doing. My grandmother wrote to him and told him after Jane died, that anything she had should go to him as "he has been faithful to his mother". 

Victor married Cornie Hutson when he was 35-years-old in 1915. She was 24. They had three daughters. I think it was to offset the seven boys Floyd had. 

Jewelle Leona Rhea was born in 1917 and passed away in 2002. Opal Olive Rhea was born in 1920 and died in 2002. Mossie Rhea, Sheldon's mother, came along 5 years later in 1925 and died in 1992. 

Cornie, Victor, Mossie, Opal, and Jewelle

Victor and Cornie's home

Victor's farm was not far from his childhood home. He and Cornie lived there until they were much older and then moved to Rogersville to live with Jewelle. 

Victor passed away in April 1973 and Cornie joined him in July of the same year. He outlived all his siblings and was 92 when he died. 

Cornie and Victor Rhea

Money – Day 19 of the Family History Writing Challenge

My great grandmother was money savvy. Martha had lots of money tips for her son, William, and his wife, Mellie. I covered those on Day 16.

In her letters, she also shares details about the people around her and their transactions. I took these snippets from her letters dated November 22, 1918 and January 1, 1919.

“King Hutson paid 3900 for that piece of land after Ans Mathis had bought a strip next to him for 500 dollars, making that piece cost 4400. King Hutson let Samps Henry and Levi Hutson have it. John Jaynes paid 3000 for that strip between then and George Baker.”

King Hutson was Cornie’s father. She married Martha’s son Victor. I don’t know what “Samps” is but Henry and Levi are Cornie’s brother. Cornie had a sister named Cora who married so she would not have inherited the property either. This bit of information sent me on a lengthy search for Cornie’s parents. I had read King Hutson in the letters and knew Cornie’s last name was Hutson and I thought they might be related. However, my information on Ancestry.com did not support that. I started over again today and found that King was indeed Cornie’s father. I also found that all the sisters and brothers I had for him were wrong and had to be deleted. He does have three siblings. Alice and Amanda were spinsters and lived with his family until they died. What I found even more interesting is he is the third child and his name is King Samuel. That’s from the Bible. Although his older sisters have what I think are normal names, his is different, and his younger sister is Queen Elizabeth Hutson.

Martha’s next portion of the letter talks about her holdings and crops.

"Wm you can hardly imagine what this farm will be worth in 4 years from now. The timber and ore. By that time the timber will be scarce and ours will be a price. You can mine your own ore have it crushed or sell it Raise poultry and vegetables. They are leasing to other companies so I am told.

The Suckers where we raised tobacco is green and blooming. I have enough green mustard in the garden for 20 families. lots of garden huckleberries.

Wm, there is scarcely any more logs run, The people saw crossties a run them but not half what they did 2 year ago. Timber nearly all used up. We all have the most timber I know of. Frank Rhea is sawing for the co for 3.50 per day.”

The co (or the mining company) fills a portion of the letters.

“The co has made Henry Hatfield’s land worth something. Henry wont sell. The CO have paid all the second payments. They claim the mineral is fine.

Wm. Times is dull here now, not much doing. The mining people is going slow. wages for common work is 1.50, carpenter 3 or 3.50. They have built 15 swelling houses and is building a large building for the machinery and a large store house. A man by the name of Coberly from Joplin, M.O. is here to setup their machinery. His family is here. They claim to have one million and quarter dollars worth of mineral in sight.”

She writes about the Hatfield’s. They were not only neighbors; her daughter Della married Mack Hatfield, the son of Henry. Mining was the biggest thing in town and one of the reasons my grandmother did not want to live there.

Martha worked hard for her survival but she did well.

Quilts - Day 5 of the Family History Writing Challenge

Today is a good day. Jeanne, the one who is identifying the graves in the Old Catholic Church in Golden, New Mexico, sent me a list of the family graves with names, dates, and photos. She is having trouble identifying the graves for the three named “Narcisco.” I will have my sister-in-law contact her. She should be able to tell them apart. It is so nice for a stranger to take an interest. The best is part is they don’t stay strangers for long and when we finally get to Golden, we have a date to meet.

Now I am back to Martha Jane. While researching corset covers, I ran across an article on quilts. I am a quilter so it is understandable that I got sidetracked. My son, brother, nephew, and former brother-in-law are all Civil War Reenactors in Missouri. That sent me on another search for Civil War quilts. Everyone in my family is getting a quilt for Christmas and I have started a few but wasn’t sure what to make for my son. When I found that the Log Cabin Pattern was pre-Civil War, I was delighted. Guess what he’s getting for Christmas?

I have quilts on the brain. A friend and I walked into our local Salvation Army Thrift Store a couple of weeks ago. I was looking for bed sheets to use as quilt backings. I found a lovely sheet that was more than I expected and was continuing down the line when I spotted what looked like a quilt. The closer I got, the more excited I became. It is an old, crazy quilt. It is completely hand stitched. Some of the pieces are frayed but that’s not a big deal. The crazy quilting is hand embroidered and each piece is tied in the back. I told my friend that I didn’t care what it cost; I was going to have it. When it came time to pay for it, the clerk said it was $8.00 but that all the bedding was 30% off. I paid $5.60 for the quilt. I couldn’t wait to get to the car. I felt like I had just stolen it because had it been in an antique store, it would have been out of my price range. Although it is too fragile to use as a blanket, I am not going to put it away. It was meant to be used so I will hang it to enjoy every day.

The back tied

The larger picture

Stitching detail

Fabrics used

So what does that have to do with Martha Jane? In her letter dated, Oct. 10, 1919, she writes,
“Cornie says she has her bean gathered in and now wants to do some sewing. Lillie says come out and help her quilt some evening and she will help next evening. She is quilting 2 and wants to quilt 3 more.”

Cornie is her daughter-in-law. Lillie is her daughter. She is still trying to get William (my grandfather) to move back to Tennessee. That theme runs through all five letters. At the time the letters were written, he had been gone for four years. Although they didn’t get to Montana until 1917, they spent two years in Missouri. I don’t know anything about the two year period other than my uncle was born there in 1915. My grandmother was from Missouri so it is possible they stayed with family, although, she didn’t like any of them. That’s a story in itself.

I can imagine Martha, Cornie, and Lillie sitting in the kitchen of the house Martha and John built before 1884. This picture is of my father and his cousins, Hugh and Howard taken in about 1970. They are three of Martha’s grandchildren.

The quilting was done by hand because the house did not have electricity in 1919. The letters are full of information about the family and neighbors so that is what would be the conversation while quilting.

“Mama, how’s your hand?” Lillie asked.

“The bruise and skinned place came near killing me. I swelled all over bad but I think I am nearly well of that”, Martha responded. “I have been gathering chestnuts the past week. I have 3 or 4 gallons, do you want some?”

“I’ll take some,” volunteered Cornie. “I have my beans all gathered in.”

“I have plenty of chickapins too,” Martha replied. “Do you hear the whistles?” The crusher and separator is running now. You can hear one of their whistles 40 miles. They finally got water at the mine. Roy and Sam are running trucks and they say they will make a road from the mines through Sterling Hollow to Lawson’s Mill.

“They have the road graded in 2 ½ miles of the county line,” Lillie said. “They say they will build another crusher there and one at Keeton.”

“I wonder if William will come here this fall,” Martha mused. “I want Ralph to hurry and help me with the chestnuts. Essie wants him to come and help her ate molasses. Floyd made 45 gallons molasses and Nelson is making some now. Floyd has a fine crop of tobacco and corn enough to do him. I think we will too.

“They called Della new boy Luke Michael,” Lillie said. “Another nephew for me to spoil and another grandson for you, Mama.” Did you hear that Frank Rhea has moved to the camps?”

“I heard that,” Cornie said. “You would think at his age, he would stay in the house. He just can’t seem to get away from the mines.”

“I’m glad William is not mining,” Martha said, “But I wish he would come home. I have looked for a letter for 2 weeks. Floyd says to tell him that they fear that letter he was going to write to them will be gray headed when it gets here.”

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