The Stovall Family of West Virginia
The Stovall Reunion is always the fourth Sunday in July. This year I attended that reunion which was held at Camp Creek State Park near I-77 in southern West Virginia. The occasion brought back many memories of my grandparents.
Charles Alonzo Worth Stovall was born in 1872 and died in 1968. His wife, Mary Jane (Moye) Stovall was born in 1873 and died in 1960. They had two children, Arley, who was ten years older than Ethel, my mother.
When given a choice of properties, grandpa chose about 100 acres of hillside property on Nubbins Ridge over perhaps 30 – 40 acres of bottom land near Lake Shawnee. According to some, Nubbins Ridge got its name because the corn that grew there would only make little nubbins.
About 1910 when my mother was three years old, the family moved from Stovall Ridge to their property on Nubbins Ridge. There my grandparents made their living by farming the hillsides.
Grandpa always had a team of horses. It was a little scary to see him on a mower, rake, or wagon on the steep ground. I never heard of him turning over which to me was a marvel. He was a mild mannered man but would show a different aspect of his character when working the horses. However, he would never use the Lord’s name in vain or use any curse words beyond “dad burn” or “darn”.
When Model-Ts first appeared in the county, they would often get stuck in the very poor “road” system that existed at that time, and grandpa was often called with his team of horses to extricate these horseless carriages. Grandpa worked his horses until he was well past 80 years old.
They had a telephone system with perhaps twenty families on one line, each with their own distinctive ring. Electricity came to our area much later. The Rural Electrification Act (REA) brought electricity to rural southern West Virginia in 1939. Up to that time, we had no radio, but our grandparents had a battery powered one. The greatest treat for the five of us kids was to stay with Grandpa and Grandma on Saturday nights. We were sent upstairs to sleep on straw mattresses and listen to The Grand Old Opry through the door to the upstairs which was left open to allow the music to float up and also heat in the wintertime. We drifted off to sleep with the sad tunes of Roy Acuff and the harmonious songs of The Sons of the Pioneers. Bill Monroe with his Blue Grass Boys and Minnie Pearl were also favorites.
After Sunday School and Church, Arley’s family of eight and Ethel’s family of seven often went to Grandpa and Grandma’s house for dinner. Only ten could be seated at the table. After a short prayer, the six older folk plus the four oldest grandchildren would eat first. It seemed like a long wait before the seven youngest kids got their chances at the table.
Grandma kept the coffee percolating during the meal time on the wood burning stove. Fresh grounds were occasionally added on top of the old. Grandpa would pour his coffee in a saucer, raise it carefully to his mouth and sip it. Since we were not allowed to drink coffee at home because “it would stunt our growth”, it made us feel grown up to drink the very dark strong coffee offered to us by grandpa.
For water, a long slender pail was lowered into the well on the back porch, allowed to fill and raised hand over hand. A trip mechanism released the water into a two and a half gallon bucket. The water was kept by the kitchen stove and a long handled dipper was the common server to drink from, one and all. The water contained a lot of iron and it stained all the buckets and utensils. A bathroom was never installed, and so they depended on an outdoor toilet about 50 yards from their house.
Since they never owned a vehicle nor learned to drive, our grandparents were dependent on the families of their two children to bring them supplies and to take their produce to the market or mill.
Grandma was the more high-spirited one of the two. She was always more vocal and caustic in her criticisms She made grape juice which was generally allowed to become wine before it was sealed. She would proudly have us all have a big glass full, but the moment her back was turned, it rapidly disappeared. Both grandparents were generally against alcoholic drinks of any kind, and they never bought any.
They had several hives of bees. We only knew the words bee gum for a hive. A hive was made by using a three foot section of a hollowed out log from a sour gum tree. Why it had to be sour gum, I don’t know.
A piece of tin served as the lid. Grandpa would rob the bees with out protective clothing using only a smoker.
My mother decided that her 80 some year old parents were unable to care for themselves. They were asked to move to her house. Grandpa quickly adjusted but Grandma was never satisfied. She decided she no longer wished to live and although apparently healthy, she refused to eat and she died at the age of 89. Grandpa lived to be 96.
Those that knew them well will never forget these dependable, loving, courteous and hardworking mountain folk. Each night Grandpa would kneel by his bed and pray for the sick Smith child up Shoot Holler , the destitute family on Nubbins Ridge, and the family in trouble at Camp Creek.
Even when Grandpa was not feeling well, and neighbors would ask him how he was, he, with a smile on his face would answer, “Tollable well, thank you.”
– Percy