r (/
) 6; &
f,):;'-~
ANDREW JACKSON WOOD, PICTURED WITH HIS
wife. Jane Henderson Wood. noted in his "autobiography"
wriUen in 1906 that he "raised R children, 6 boys and 2
girls." The children are not listed in that article which is
reprinted in the Knowing Jackson column on the editorial
pag.,. This photograph is courtesy or Jesse C. Smith or
Tuckasegee, who listed Lhe eight children as Margaret
(who married Marion Owen), Polly Ann In -,"the 'Mo ' ery ._
4- ca lled ." Youn g a-nd Mo nt- ter ..···Per m·el ia . bor n'; 1796, . seclion': wil
found ..the
: gomery t FamJIi.es . of .~ th e married a Bennett: a" ncestors ': families"'. Ellison
Lucrec ia " of
':- Soutp:.'~:,~; ,,/,~ of ...the 'Ben'netts ' of. ' Macon; " :Gibson ' a nd , Eleanor Ellison
" 0;':' Many_ of) he .qlder: recor~ J ackson ~\la inC~u ~"tiesl '~ ' McCa ll ~~rr: f7.!10 ' The late J .P .
•,were ga thered' by th e author's .... son 'J ohn ' Young born 1801 Brady was a descenda nt of
·{1gr·e~~ gr~~d~otE~: M~·~ ~r ied ' ~isa ~eth fph.iJli ps:;•• e the .r~mily.· ,con tai n ma ny' ve ry old
Ma nilla Crisp Wood for about
~".!hirty y~ar:s; prio~ t,o her dea th
~. 3:n~ ) he , res~a rc h ~. ha~ been
of Thomas Rogers Sr,.·a nd
wife, -~a ne Young, _bo.rn 'ca-'
pictu res. ".
1770, thei ~s~n.1 iv_ep ,h~ax Holly·I ~', S I O .~ 'per,: copy and orders
.
~ r e .pub l ic a ti,on price- is i
_ co~!inu~." .by I.Lawrence fo! Sp~ings;la nd a:~a ~ge s~c~i0!.l is ',-,,\ m~y :~...be., ¥?dressed to Law· '.
· · ~bou t twenty fiv~ years ., _ ~e~oted SC? th~: desc~ '1da~!t '~~i'~ . ren~e ~ E , ,\~O?d, , Rou te 5, ' ~
Family Hislory
,.- The. .¥oung . . . . . . ,
' . . .-.....
ire .
Ma tthew.Russeli Sr. and.... W . a).~. Fra .. n. N.C. ,~ . .. ~ ',' . '
',.- , .• " ,'l.t--It "1'\' , _ ~.
nkli 28734 r
~~~~~~{~;5": 6~~i~a~h!~, ~:r~
~Or l,,}lme ..... they -..y!e~~ '1C!llled
!s
-'. :s.¢~,,~ g~J~1i~ ~~ t~~l'h~$l.cgntio :' ,
">I..,. r
.,.". .. :,~' .. .,. •• .,~:.i ~
, __ ,,; "1'; J" ,.;. co t '.1'
.J.'y2.~r.g -§tuarts r...!to!V~,ver ip . The Soil COr'ls~rv~ tion Ser= SCS a'nd locai project sponsors
~ J18§,/ ~t~~ .;:.n~rn~ .l ~~a rt , w'!J v ic~~ (SCffi). w.ll.l~ ;~u~ r~ tl;a} 5? not only control erosion put "
drop~.;.f.t.:1!'" :~'fJ' .JI·'\' ''C'" percent of ~e a!e~ lJpstrear;t '-.aiso vemphasize ' wa ter , con.
~ ·T~,~ ~e . ~! ,?+ '!.,:,.~~ r e?s of . -+
f~p~ a ': Pr 0.p~see-planned ' - :;'.but 9 t - •no
r
• descendants e W!.lham ,-young r~ea rch a,:d.. Jea.~call qn.J . a n~ ....Wactually in plaFe.., :-' prior to :. ~
· .!>o~n abQut.·.l ?72 a '}d _ ~ary'. ,nounced todruary 1, 19'V'.: · .- , In a written tribute to
s the .' · MentaT~ealth . Nu'r se, severa l member s of the" Joe Palmer
in the ..:~ $10 ,300 .'00"-' per'.,,:year; . Men tal
:- family, . special tribute was
.
li n . by He~JU~.: ~~r.se Sup:r'y~sor, paid to the late Mary Ann For State Sinate . ,
-' $11,300.00 .:~r year; Occupa· Rogers .of the Bethel section, a
• '.1' J lion; l Th~rapist, $10,800 .00 per ~ granddaughter of Jane "Young
' Year; '- Nurse, General Duty,
..$665.00 Per month ; Clerk·Typ-
Rogers. -;. Mary Ann ' 'was
described as a,living Sa'int by
im A.
.• ' •ist III,'; $7,000.00 per year; one who remembered. •her. She
,
-" . • Mental Health Aide, $5,400.00 . was' a faithful member of the
I • Per year; Practical Nurse, . old Bethel M E Church- S.outh:·~
$700000 per..year. • she always shouted at Churc;h,
H ' ~:- ':
_
. ,.
'. For more information
please contact the Employ-
The ones' coming the longest
d'i stance for the reunion were
~ .','
- --: ment. Security CO.!p.mission '" Mr, and Mrs: Everett Clark.of
'::.' ,,' Job SerVice' in the Macon .TaUequah. Okla . • He is a
~, ". ·
County ·C OUT th ouse, ' R ~om ' " . -great-great-grandSon-.of Jane••_ ~
, ) IZI-A. , or.. •
. '.
W. i' ...
, ' y
-
,
ne-of-a~kind'
•
Macon·loses ~ 't · ,', .
By Jeff Redlllan Rhodarmcr.
In an interview two weeks
The deaUI of Lawrence Wood
before his death. Wood told
lasl week signaled nOI only Ule
about how he spent a 101 of lime
passing of a "one-of-a-kind"
sav ing 'Ultiques from being
person. bUI also lhe passing of
des troyed. The saddlebags. he
Macon Counly's preeminent his-
torian. said. caused a scuflle when his
brother. Lawson. wanted to cut
"He knew more aboul Macon
them apal1. He said lhey ended
County UI'Ul anyone else." said
up LUgg ing Ule saddlebags back
Barbara McRae. vice-president
ami fonh until his brolhcr gave
of lhe Macon County Historical
up.
Society. "He's a treasure Ulal is
gone." As a young man. I-Iall said.
A native ·of Macon County. Wood had an car for Ule old-
Wood was very involved in timers' stories. whicll helped
researching local family his- him develop his encyclopedic
lories. He did gcneolog ical IUlowledge of Ule county.
research for lhe MCHS. of "He listened to what Ule older
which he was a member. and Ule members of his family passed
Scottish Tartans Museum . along." Hall said .
"He lived in lhe pasl a lat." Hall added lhal Wood was
said MCHS Prcsident Waller somewhat superstitious. even
,. Hall. "That was just hi s thing." being careful not to look at a
house ncar to his Ul at he thought
A trip to Wood 's house in Ule
Cullasaja community would was haunLcd.
easily confillll his love of his- "He was almost a Ulrowbaek
tory. . Items in his home date to a superstitious time uf black
back to lhe 19th century. I-Iang- cats and umbrellas." lIall saitl.
ing just inside the door of his Fortunately. Wood put some One of lhe last projects Lawrence Wood (center) worked Oil was the .
90-year-old home are U.S. Post- of his knowledge illlo a handful restoralioll of lhe former AME Zion Pleasant Hill Church on Snow.
al Service saddlebags. In a bed- of books before he di eli. Hall lIill Road. (Photo ~y JelT Redman) ,
room is tile deed to hi s land - said Wood helped research the Evcn in dcaUl Wood's work
signed by a rcprcsentative of Ule Macon County Heritage book. lives on for posterity.
Cherokee Indians. and was looking forward to "He was a one-of-a-kind per-
''The things he ret'lincd arc working all Ule second edition. son ... an invaluable resource ... ·
amazing." said Macon County Hall had heard lhat Wood McRae said. "We'll miss him a
Historical Museum Director Mia kept research notes at hi s home. lot." I->ress I:J - S .en
.'
1
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o ""A;;- 'Ill 0 , "".r~: S" _:1 rn!llll!l
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had moved from Tennessee and Grandfather Wood went to school - C:I C:I >"1 "'" w - "-ctlC/JctI
' ~o~ ·~t:I , "1tsS~S= g ., 3.ctI~ . 00
01-1>0 S ~ ~
; ~ g;~ , _
divided up among the Jolley chil-
dren. The son Marshall had got this
hard.
"Farther on up, on Fishhawk
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... :=,roC/Q c... ' !;.CIlEi"
• "0 5t:1~ 3 ::rg~~~::r tIJ :·~!Jlqo
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part where I live. The Jolleys had Mountain at the head of the creek, ~.., ~, -,-' 13 "'~"" 0 ~O' c. c _5
over a hundred acres. there was a soapstone mine that the ~~ffi~a[g~~.F~ 'g, ,ctlro ::J ', ••
"And then it was sold to various Cherokee Indians had worked and I ~ ..... 0 ;:l 1-1> \' , ..~ I ., ~~
ones - the Cabes and the Londons. remember when I was a boy folks '" ""'
U)0 tIJ ' , CD t )
" ~a~ . -
-Will London built a sawmill over
I acrosS the creek from where my
,turned up pieces of pots and pottery
made of soapstone by the Indians. i" ' [ ~\"":)
~"'iS t:O....
0 0
~~
i-;jJ --
~g;;! ~ ~ '~
:;:r
house sits. He also had a grist mill. "And then on the right fork 'bf
"".'" = ",
About the turn of the century he-
sold the two mills to James Watkins
or ''DOC'' Watkins, as he was called.
the creek up here, on what they caU
Matt Branch but was named for my
great-grandfather Mathinson
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He ran the sawmill and the ' corn "Matt" Crisp, the Dills family had F~
mill and had a general store.
"Martha Dills had a hat shop on'
settled about 1850 and started the
Dills cemetery there in 1852.
, 'j"
' ::il~~' ' 0 ._ ' .~
,OQ!;;.;i5 "'::O~OQ ctI o . ro t:jtIJ ~~ ; ,~
"untll Aunt Louisa, Tom's wife, got
' Most of the families who have ! .~ ~ ~ l::I ~ 5l §. ~ Q g- ~- ~ 0 J5" E 'l . r~
\
w
• •
' tired, of cooking. They used it later lived here on the Wood place de-. t .. "'!:l,' r.; S SO J.'"' ~I
1:5 ~ 'g cr".l§ ". [;;.g,,'so ~-.l. ~J
" "On '!;lie second poor there WCl'll twO 'great grandfathern - James L.
, .... g..!nctl
co c.a n ::z::.e.§f.iie.c;,.,g.$\)ctI~s ~ _ ~ .. ,
W
c..::rc.a _ g:::1ct1 0"' .
, bedrooms and ' a Jarge living ,roqrn. Strain and · N elson Wood - 'were c.O _"'1 '=;1' c.a flI."o "'1-Sl1ct1~ ~UI --S-tt:~
~
I:':'-ro
(t> " c.. ~ ~ ,
EO~ctI Q)l-t. ~~
g, 0 \"":) , ctI 1-& UI _j§ o
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There 'were also bedrooms of the Confederate soldiers. . Cr.! c; S" Z I:S Ct- 1-1> S E:: c;,., 0'" ~ (Q ~ .... '-. ~
third floor .""' ~ "~ g- c. 0 0 ~ cl ~ t-f ~
-
Wood ."ud th~~ his nephew,
' . ''!'he original grants for the old
homestead property still e'xist,"
., fl s!" '" ~
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'tl '" "'Fn/i'SOE9! -ctl .. , .,...
tn. ctI C'D ....
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Glenn HolliindJ w~ose gr!I!Jdfather Wood said. "It's a place with ghosts "' I1l ~rn >~c..
." r:I$\)~w
0.r8~·' \!l 'SO,,~~4tiJ~ 'iH ~,
C'D e:o En' to ples to ity, light came frDm a kerosene
was always kind, generous with make .one of .dried. Then he lamp. We trimmed the tree wjt!l
praiSe when it was warranted, went on to share a wonderful strings of white popcorn. We :
genUe in his cQrrectiQns when ' story about :rim.' During ihe didn't have 'cranberries, but
they were necessary. . Civil War, a hapless Yankee .: Mother strung holly berrieS' . l
raider made the mistake .of _ and large blue berries from a ..
I write about hiStDry, but' .... ~alIing" on ~r, She caught " ceitain type .of cedar tree. :,.
Wood lived it. Though he' was hiI,ll rpbbing ,h~~ ..h~n. house, " ' j J There were chains 'and twisted _
ju~:~.i.fii}\~~rly 60s when he locked l)im j.n~ iIIldre~S!-:d}o ~~ ropes of cre~ paper, an~ . :.\'(
di r.~,'.he gre~ up in another . let him Dti.! fo~ I)!lUTli,.,. :., .. , sycamore balJs and ~«oms that,
time ~' His family had kept the :,Wood pad ~ ~een SeI!~ p.fc I'. had been 'died in water' and .;.
old ways. He I,lIust have been a ' humQr and a trove .of humDr":;., then flour to IDOk like sno~,; ~
. litilt; 'spOl;tge:'gro~ing up. He ". I DUS tales from''ihe''i:ourlty''s 'J~ , balJs"This may seem v~ry Od,d'
:absDrb¢d .and retairied ·hun- ,~, ,. pai£ The ias(time I talked with to YDung n;aders, but ~e savell
dreds' (thousands?) of siO\i~~ .~ . hini~ he 'told .of the 'Iittle boy '·. . bits .of fDil from chewing gum
that kept the old folks and .old . who decided to' play it joke on " wrapper.; d I've made it, too. What you dais" .
dyes. ' . .. with doing it. I ttjed it and finally , around the yard and around the take a baked potato; scoop out the meat and mash it up -
. And they used dyed eggshells to mak~ Eas~r " •. .wounll up' using ~ knitting needle . house. . . _" with a fork and put powdet:ea sugar it .and work it' uP:. . - .
play-pretties for their children and grandchildren and ' ana making a bigger hole and stir- "When my father W'dS a boy, . ,. : ':Into this mix you stin'ed in shreap~d cOconut to · " .
to decOl'at" the living room in their homes at j;;aster- ' . ring the egg out of the 5\>,,11. It.mage boys 190k their colored eggs to Sun- 'make a coconut cream ~ndy or used black waJnut".; : '. -
tide. '. . . '. . a mess. But Grandn:>~ Strain and day School on Easter and 'pecked ; , meats to make ",..!nut candy. The !"'J1dy is white and ..
"My g,.eat-grandmother Mary Jane YoUng Strain, Aunt Annie Str!,in and my mother _ eggs.' 'tw o boys, each with an Eas- tastes II\uch like the store bought,c ream .candy." " ~: ' . '
born in 1837," said Lawrence Wood, a Macon County all made it look easy, and for them it . tel' egg in his hand, would knock the , ~'Another thing, which was a custOm in our family '
genealogist-folklorist-historian, "made her dye for col- was. " -, " .two eggs together. The one whoSe . 'vas haVing two cake~' for easter: ~ hOmemade white : .
oring Easter eggs out of broomsedge, onion skins, and "Mother said that her Grandma r., egg cracked first was tl\e loser and . 'pound cake that Grea!rgrandma Strain.called 'snow', . - . '
beet juice. . Strain every year started blowing had to give up his egg to the winner. cake, and a homemade yellol" pound cake. Eleven ' :"': .
"The broomsedge made a yellow, onion skins from eggs out of their shells'just after _ . :- . "Many an unsuspecting littie . • whites of eggs were put in one and 11 yolks in the oth~ . '."
a tan to a yellow, and beet juice reddish purple-looking. " Christmas so that she would have " ROAMING THE -
MOUNTAINS _ boy first introd¥ced ta 'egg-pecking' er," he said. • : . . ....: .': ' . ':
She would mix different colors, mother said, and have the shells dried and dyed for Eas- I. .. . . lost all of his eggs a~ost within ~ . ' "Same old-tilT~ers here in the mountains'usect to ': . '. .
various shades. . tel'. ' . _. _ .. . '. wink of an eye when some boy used a gumea egg which ' say," Lawrence sald, "to remove ~ baby's birthmru:k, :.. ,
"And she blew eggs out of their shells and dried I "She woulp let the childre,\ play with the dYr d egg was,harder than a hen egg and couldn't .be cracked by a .. ' rub the mark everi.moi-ning for.nine mornings \vith a
the shells and dyed them for Easter: My mother re- shells on Easter Sunday. Mother reJ;llembered taking hen.egg. Boys caught using a guinea egg weren't al- · ; fresh hen's egg and bury the egg under the doorstep:
membered watching her do it when she was sLx or sev- them out under the bushes al'ound the house and play- lowed to do any more 'egg-pecking' and were shunned They said that a goiter can be removed the'same ,l"a'y: . "
en years old. And she herself cal1i ed on the custom ing with \hem. ; . by all the other boys.'" "To dream of eggs means good luck; or riches, 'Or a :
. when she got married and had children: "And gr~at-grandma Strain also threaded some ' When Lawrence was growing up, his folks 'made wedding. To dream of a lapful of eggs betokens liCbes .. ..
"A hole was made in each end of the egg with a and strung them about the mantel shelf in the house E aster egg candies with baked Irish potatoes. To dream of broken eggs portends a lo~e,rs' quarrel.:'. ~.
.'
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~--:-..- •• >
ASHEV.ILLE CITIZEN·TIMES
.,
•
, Sunday
. April \ 1996
*****: :
)
r: ,1 ,
Annie'Stram cooked the wedding breakfastfor~the.,'m~n, whomiertted
• • • '>-; .j-. ..- ' , " • , '. . ' '"t ~ '-4"-.; .y~';-~.:- -"A: " . f: _ .' , '- ~'~~'; ••. '~i~~ ,~y ~ -t- •• ••( " ,_ -!~. ___ -. .~-~: ~~
IGHLANDS - Annie Strain, a mquntaln woman buttennilk bISCUlts and fixed them ' 01 Muru~followmg undergJ:adJl"'iI· 'b:g,D ot .¥:andle. and Mrs..Ralph Sargent61f.~g1¥.aIids,
H ~vhose magi: with the skillet niad~ her a legend
In her own,time, cooke.d ~he wedding breakfast
for the man who Invented p~ea wheat.
fried cou~try ham and red·eye
&",avy, gl'lts and eggs and I don't
remember what else.
' .,...::t\':J rudy.,at ,t he 'Qrnversi,ty,0f !'fu!;~~ ~!!#8o~'s da.lll\ht,er, '~~to~c~'w!;il~~r~~,\riS El
"",n'lS9ta: ' .'1.; , " .0:. .. ":t, . ,:, pel1!Il~nt}ltation lajJ~n the,tliird ~R0;,:oq;:iII~an .Hal
1 .;-. 'WhIle'at Clem:son, he ""ught;, ".,he ac;cJ6entally ,d r.opped a pa!l'of qce.!lr?JIlS.,',l'he lID- ,
"She was my great aunt," Lawrence Wood said a "She said that Mrs. Anderson "qtany.and served as a reseru:ch~ «'p~~-,;fthe'j':" ;';i 'c: .,,' .'
"It was the summer of 18~8'that the invent!". of the be held she got to crying and they '. C' And during that time, accord- ,;,.'. "l)iscove'ry of the rY!ethOd Us~p , o:pliff cereal
t
puffed \yheat cereal, Alexander Pierce Anderson, son of . had to hold up the ceremony a lit- ' . ' • ing to the June 1978 editioQ of thi!. '. ·g'l;ains' actually.came a feW short'monthsaf!,er An
immigrant Swedish parents, and Lydia McDougall ::; tie while so they could fix her face . John ParrIs magazine Clemson World pub- ' ::son l!lit Clem§on for Qolumbia1jnivefSltY'jn"'-~ v A_t-
Johnson, a girl of Swedish descent from Glasgow, Scot- before they went on '~vith it. So it R'OAMING THE MOUNTAINS :'lished by the University, Ander- "He fi!led six test tubes - threev!lth core ,
land, were married here and later h ad a home that was made the breakfast a little later ' . . s~n expe\imented with the. ef(ects a1Jd tl!fee with wheat floUr -'ru)d hea!¢ them to 400
one of the showplaces of Highl"!'ds. " , than they meant to have it." , . ~ "f ' • • of c'?,nfi1)ed heat on s!'!Fch grall- !fegreesi t)leywere pl~ced.insidea p,-Q.~e wire
"Aunt Annie cooked the b1 1dal party breakfast. Anders on had come to Clemson CoDege, Just down f ules,'an lDterest he developed ill Germany. ' . '. ~creen and cracked WIth a hammer,. 'l'Iiere was a sharp
For their breakfast, I remember she said she made the way in South Carolina, in 1897 from the University I '.:~~('th! legend .goes;' th,e magazine said in an article . ' . ',' .~. .) 8ei'Pill1is on' page 4B
~ \.. . " . :1;. .~. I ':.il~-)~ . ." i .j. V • -. ti
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' .... ',J , '.
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"
Parris
: . . " ' ~
-
(. Continuedjrom page 18
," - .
explosion lmd the starch became a
great, pUffed mass JO,times its orig-
!nal siz.e." -"
The article went-on to say that
j\nderson pei'sonally participated in
commercial development of the pro-
c!",s with the Quaker Oats, Compa-
n
" y, "in which the ,grains were liter- '
..ally shot from gun,type m~Chanisms ,
- thus the slogan, /The dereal ~hot
",-From Guns.'" "~
," "= ", ."
, " Anderson's lifelong ' association
",with" the . Quaker Oal§ Company , "
,-made him a wealthy, man, and his "
lIighlands home, which ~,tood across -
from the post office for many years,
was one of the showplaces here: An,
derson died in 1943 at the age of 80, "
his wife in 19~ " "
, "
Annie Strain never forgot that
it was slie who "cooked the wedding
breakfast for the man who invented
"puffed wheat'andhis biide,
"She cooked for several people
in Highlands and for hotels in AI-
~ansas_ and OregoQ wh~e sh,e ,was
well known for' the stuffed peppers
she made," La~nce Wood saig. ~I.'I
guess the only ' hotel stiU standing
she cooked in was' Central House
here, It's_the old Ed,vards Inn and
Central House Res'bll!,-ant." " ' \
l \
.1'_
1
(j...) (,j\) C) , L Cl.-Wv (I'\.e..c.. ,
,"
Many old-time apple varieties:
,have,loq' since disappeared ;
g
' .
EEKS CREEK-,Therewas
' . '. . J. '
preserves"
r
P an apple called None Such
. " and'~nother called 'Great
Un)rnoivn that used to grow on here
f
"'1)le Great Unknown apPle
' was,a large, light' gre, n' apple with a
e
'~!;tle yellow tint. It was a litUe
in the hills of Macon County, bigger than a Rome Beauty 'and '1
' Tl)eywere ~mong 28 old·time " made r eal good apple sauce, '
~arieties ghJ\vn by Lawrence ';"","Ani5ther~ppl~ my granddaddy
Wood's grandfather at his old ' grew'waS the Cullits;lia: that was !
ho~~pl?ceon the upper reaches of , John Parris ' local to the area and'was naIDed for '
Peek Creek back when every " the Cullasaja River and the
farmstea' make one bushel ;
Great Unknown, the Cullasaja and of dried apples, " ,
' the Peek, he had the Red June; \. y:j.!'Il'here was an old mountain '
Striped June', OatStack, Pear Maln, saying that t,o eat gn apPle without~
Buff, Early Harvest, Mountain rubbing it first is to challenge the
Sweet, High Sweet, Hog Sweet, Ci· devil, and ,another one that a bad ;
der Sweet, Wine Sap, White Jelly woman carl't ' make applesauce' (it'
, Apple, Red Jerlly Apple, Nortltern gets mushy). .. ' :
Syy, Wolf River, Limber 1\vig, ' "It used to ~~ th~'{olkS ate ,~ ,
Horse, Rusty ~weet; Gril)'les .Gold· lot of apples. I guess it was because '
en, Ben Davis, Sheep Nose"Winter they grew their' oWn: But the men'
Queen (present Bay 'Rome Beauty)," folkS could ,always be found sitting ;
, and Winter John, , , arolind wi~ their pOcket kitife anil ;
,''There was one apple in his or- peeling an ~pple for eating, on the ,
chard," Lawrence said, "that no one spol aack then 'a knife was called
., .. ,. .. t. ... "'... i-l. ... #, ......... :"r Tt _, •., .. ., Q" 1"",,,,1,,,_,,,,,,,,,,1,,, ... '" ~
I· ' .
a ..rlS
ir ' f"om the State Archives in Raleigh
i D and an Archives in Washington.
~; . '" ,'.; :.. ,, "For several years I wrote a
: ;e;.~lr" ).,'.' • column called 'Moun'tain Memories'
(> Continuedfrom page IB ' .on these early families and their lin-
eage for the weekly newspaper, The
" . J Highlander, in Highlands."
.' ~As a s,?all boy learning to Lawren.ce .lives by hims.elf here
read, I poreel' over these records. I at the old homeplace. He has trunks'
. would ask my mother '?bout the dlf- " and drawers, ,all neatly arranged,
ferent name~,and. sh~ ~vould tell !"e with files of his work. : .. ..' ',. '
about them and the thmgs they had. The old house, with its two fire-
done. places, is a museum of family
,t .; ';:By th,e time I was in my teens, heil'looms.' _,
mama became crippled with artlui- . About the living room fireplace, ,
tis and couldn't walk, and when I where his grandmother once '
wasn't at seliool I spent all my time cooked, hang the skillets and pots
with her and helping tak~ care of and pans of her upbringing.
things around the house, like cook- "My .. grandmother's ,yedding
• ing arid cleari'ing up. ," ", cake ,~as. baked in that thle~-I~gged '\
-t· "I -remembe!: one day in scho~1 .skillet," he pointed out, "1\ belonged
somebody, aillsed about Corpor:i), to my great-great-great-grand-
White ;who had been killed in the mother Hannah Sharpe Strain. And ,
fight With " the . Indians at my grandmoth'e r Crisp cooked in
Sugartown, I knew that my great- them for years: .
I
great-great-granddaddy Bryson . "That pot-hanger .' there . be-c"
, - had been in that battle, And I told longed to my great-great-grand-
' the~ what my mother had told me mother Young,"
,aboutil, . . , ' . On the mantel, a clock that is
''B~t it was not until 1955, when more than 140 years old ticks away
I w.s )? years old; that I ,b~came the time as it had done for his
ser!pusly ~ngaged in genealogy re- great-g,'andfather Crisp, . "
~earch, I began ~ting folks all And sitting close by it is a set of
9Y ltlj~ , ,country for family Bible ' . candle molds that his great-g,-and-
,er
records that would give me inform a- ' mother and grandmother and moth-
.,tion OJi fam ily connections, er.used to run tallow dip candles:
:-' "I chased down every possible All around him are the ghosts
le~d ..Every time ! saw a meaningful 'of the past .as helps folks 'search for .
name in -the newspaper I would .' their roots'. . ... . ,: . .'- ." , , .
write 'them' and see if I could con- .•'-:-:--=-:-:-:--:-_ _ _.:.....,'--,,-
.. I\e~t ~.e.m uP" .,:... .' Jp'hn Paryis' .cf?l'lt?n~~ ~ mi)u1.~~ci!n f
1 '
mation trom oldeensus records and aiuf:MmutO.y. : - . .-'
" 't,
'1 ..
"
ASHEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES
I
• , ,- .'
.. ,,
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ -----1
Fireplace Cooking His Link To Past
By JOHN PARRIS tender, I took them out and peeled them, then sliced them
PEEKS CREEK - Lawrence Wood, a 41-year-old and rolled them in corn meal and fried them, Very few peo--
mountain man with an affinity [or the old ways, keeps the pie like parsnips, but I could almost eat them three times a
pioneer past alive with his fireplace cu<''''
He likes nothing better than " By the time I was six years old, I was making biscuits, ' .:
preparing a meal on the hearth in cookies and cornbread and cooking all kinds of vegetables. I ,:::- j
the heirloom iron pots and skillets could cook most anything. ~- _-
used by his great-great- " We had a wood burning cook stove, but we cooked on the : -'~ ,1
Jf grandmother in he r baking, boiling hearth too. Part of the time 1 would cook on the bearth and _ .~
and frying. part of the time on the wood stove. When I was 10 years old. ~ ,~-~ ~'l
J "If I had the time for it." he we got an electric stove and got rid of the wood stove. .
said recently, .'I'd do all my "Like my mother and those before her. I didn't use a'
cooking on the hearth. Somehow standard measure in cooking, I used a pinch of this and a. "
food seems to taste better when pinch of tha t and a dollop of Ihat. Cooked by taste and by· :.- ;
cooked over an open fire." cooking. I still cook that way. -
He lives with his SI-year-old "I made my first cake when I was 10 years old. Made
father here in the Ilills beyond yeliow layers and put old·fashioned white icing on it. I ,
Franklin. Except on his days off covered the lop with little red candy hearts I got at the
from his job at Tate's Supermarket PARRIS store. .' ,..'
in Highlands, he hardly ever gets to cook on the hearth. "Mother got sick when I was 12 years old and had to give .:_,-: ~_
But sometimes when he comes in from work, he will take up cooL ng. I was the only one of the children at home and all' .::.-:
the time to bake a pone of cornbread in the fireplace. the cooking fell to me. She died 13 years later and I've been -::-
"I cook most of our meals on the electric stove when cooking ever since for me and my father. ~,
I'm working," he said. "I've been cooking for the two of ''I'm not much for fancy cooking, I prefer just plain ' ., .~
us ever since my mother died in 1962. cooking. But I have made wedding cakes and I do make a few .
"But I learned to cook when I was Quite small. As a fa ncy things on occasion. But J hold to the traditional mOtln~
,
i
matte!" of fa ct. I was just i:l little bit over three years old tain cooking,
'when Mama s,tarted me out cooking. O
" I cook beans, C "n, cabbage, potatoes, greens of all
"The first thing I really remember cooking was pars- kinds, and make vegetable and tomato soups. Dad likes bean . ~.
nips. I cooked them on the fireplace. Boiled them In an Iron SOUD and I have to have that now and then, but I never have ' - ~
.il
pot 5wung from a pothanger over the fire. When they got . - Turn To Page Four'A '~ '-' '!
,~";.~. ,- ': . - ',; - .. ',' _: ': ..~ ',.';'" .. ,:",.:,,_.-.:-~.f.rl:~~~ ~':"~
'--' ' - ' ~ ..!Ul..JlA:&. 6 A;::J .h....UJ..l A .I. U r as (:
-;"'C~?tinued From Page One made ~ ~ake never to let anybody else sti r the cake batter.
cared fo r it. She s3Jd It would cause it to fa ll. She never would let anybody
: ::{'And I make biscuits two or three times a week. Don't stIr the batte r, Neither would my grandmother nor my
~ak.e them .every morning since! have to leave so early for
great'grandmother. And I won 't either.
IT'!Y. JOb at Highlands. But I make cornbread every night. , "There '~ ~nother thing, too, in mixing a cake by hand,
:O.ll never stJ!' It two ways. You always stir it one way, I stir
: ~ : !'When I'm going to be home all dav I cook on the
~ir-ep.lace. Cook bread, meats, beans, co~ , potatoes, or mIne .clockwIse, Even with a mixer, I never switch it from
whatever we wa!)! to eat. . one Side to the other. I keep it going in one direction.
. - "i\:tother always said a cake would fall if vou stirred it
: "1\I105t things take longer to cook on the hearth. But you two ways. She said you had to stir cake batter like you stir
can bake biscuits faster than you can on the stove. I bake lye soa p, one way. '
!hem in a Dutch oven, the kind that sits on three legs and has "She learned me too never to make fudge ana rainy day.
a Jid that you put hot coals on. They bake real fast. It won 't set."
: "Sometimes I bake chickens on the fire like my grand- Bes~des his cooking, Lawrence d'oes a lot of canning and
mother did. She had two ovens the same size and she would preservmg.
put a chicken in one and turn the other oven upside Over it ''I've canned ever since I can remember," he said.
and put hot coals on top of it. "We've always had a garden and there's never a year that
'. 'lAnd sometimes I bake pies in the fireplace. Mother goes by that I don't make jellies and jams and preserves and
said tha t her mother would seldom bake pies in the stove. put up corn and beans, tomatoes and squash. And I make
Said she liked them better baked in the fireplace. She made relishes and pickle onions and cucumbers and beets.
all sorts I)f pies that :o;ety - oumpkin. ':lOole. rye?ch. c:;eriv .. ! ltl
'" ' '10 1 ;01 'I f c!:;cri . .... ; .. 0'0: .~ ,... T ~ 1.~· .",,, : : ...... ~: ... ,..l
,'.. ,
.1,
/
COOPERATIVE EXTENSION WORK
IN
NORTH CAROLINA STATE C01.L.EGE OF AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS EX T E NSI O N SERVICE
AGRICULTURE AN D ENGINEER IN G.
NOR TH CAROL.INA COU NT IES A ND
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA H O ME DEMONSTR A TI ON WORK
AGR IC U L.TU RE COOPE R AT IN G
Fr~.dclin, if. C.
DeccI,hlcr 1, 1955
Dear Club i!e;',Jbcr :
You uill lTi:'. nt to att cn(~ yOUI' Decer.Ibe r club r, tcot i ng ui1cn
F;;r.lil~' Lifo l ea(:e rs c'isc c:ss " Ch~'ist::Jas is Morc Than a
Date 11 - uhcn you have your Cllli stmns iJo.rty - and have
+ the ha;)pi est til,le of cll thc year at
+
10:00 a . m. December 6, 1955
HI'S . Fred "lood, hostess .
,
,
........
, drs . Cen-l Sl2.810 gives us this prD.yer lor our Chri stl.12.s
sc ':)'s on:
II J u st for to(~D.Y ) L or(~ , g~·c.nt us ti1C grncc c.n(~ the
"ill
To thi nk only of vi rtue anc~ kincCncss .
~;.ay l!C f orGot QUI's el ve s l onr; 0110Ueh t o l'CC
tilC favol's ue have fo r gott en;
The beauty He have bcem too blind to ~e rc e ive .
-... .... , t j, r;
. Quiet uitirin our heart s reCl!rr0nt q\le s tions
c..n
that no m CD.n aLlS11G r.
-~ .'
. J:'" /.... ~ .".".~
,
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Lcr..vc us to uanc.a r in the vcllcy of pcc:!cc) just
for t ocl2.Y . 11
~,,', ".\ l<'2/"
'-:"!:;: £j
,
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\' Olive Bnxr
"Tlle Spil1Pin g Hhcel "
OUR CIDIST,l/IS Gllbb'TIHG TO YOU
!lOY your j oy be e '.eep,
i iny your peace be l"'2.c'.iant)
~iDY your love be fvlfilling ,
i=ny the Spil"it 1.)0 rcncHcc:
1!1.thin you
As y ou ce l oll!'c.te tho b irth of
Christ 'i;his s ens on.
+.9.{YUNV~S'£, Sherrill
Florence .
~JJ
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) ussie 1:) . C<.bc
7:'\' .,(~~ --v~ . /o.;.'",-"'J
ijabcl R. SUD11
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