From LORINE UPDYKE WAGNER’S Scrapbook…..

The following is a series of articles written by Mrs. Minnie Davis Parsell relating her life history and her memories. Mrs. Parsell was 100 years old on December 19, 1976. She was a native of Bland County and also lived in Wythe County. The articles were published in the Wytheville paper, THE ENTERPRISE. Mrs. Parsell died at the age of 105. While I never knew Ms. Minnie, I’m sure my mother, Lorine Updyke Wagner, knew her. My mother taught school for many years on Little Creek, and all of the “Little Creekers” became her family. Ms. Minnie's picture is attached.

Minnie Bell Davis (1876-1982) d/o Henry & Margaret Stoots Fowler Davis. On 16 Jun 1891 she married Tobias Daniel Parsell (1869-1940) s/o John William Parsell, Jr. & Mary F. Coleman Parsell. Their children were: Visa Alma, Nina Leecester, Earnest Victor, Elsie Virginia, Zula Bell, Lester Guy, Laura Elizabeth, John Henry, William Dailey, Lewis Russell, Tobias Daniel, Jr. and Paul Mason.

Ms. Minnie came from a family of eleven children, born from 1864-1884. Their names were: James Edward, William Thomas, Fabious Victor, Louisa Virginia, Comie Albert, Charles Clinton, MINNIE BELL, Bertha J., Alice Gray, Henry Hampton and John Jasper.

A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIVIN’ - PART ONE

“I am Minnie Bell Davis Parsell. I was born December 19, 1876, making me over one hundred years old. I was the daughter of Henry Davis and Margaret Fowler Davis. My Daddy was born March 7, 1841 and my mother was born May 5, 1844. Both were born in Carroll County.

In my sunset years I have decided to write this history of my life, family, and Bland County. During the Civil War, my Daddy worked in the Old Shot Tower at New River in Wythe County helping make shot for the soldiers.

My parents were married February 28, 1863. Sometime after this they moved to Bland County and bought a farm. As I remember, the house was hewed logs, a large one-room, two story house with a bedroom to one side and a large kitchen, big fireplace and hearth on which to cook. There was a big porch along the three rooms and you came out the door of the big room on to the porch, then walked to the far end and into the kitchen all winter and summer. There were bannisters all around the porch.

Mother and Daddy raised eleven children and they never buried a child. There were seven boys and four girls. I was the seventh child. I remember my mother was expecting her tenth child, but it turned out to be the 10th and the 11th. I slept upstairs and the next morning I awoke and came downstairs. Low and behold! There were two babies in bed with Mother. That was March 12, 1884. They were identical twins. It seemed the whole household was gleeful with joy because of the two babies.

Now, it seemed that Mother thought she needed more things than she had before. Several days passed by, then Daddy came from his sawmill carrying on his shoulder a large, extra long cradle. He put it down in the floor and told Mother to make a bed in it. She folded blankets and things for the present. Daddy told her to put one baby at one end and the other one at the other end. He said for her to look at the ends of the cradle. When she did, on one end was written, “John Jasper” and on the other end “Henry Hampton.” Daddy said that the babies were named and for her not to change them until they learned their names and could tell them apart. Mother took one hair of the top garment and made a “J.J.” on front and on the other half an “H.H”. Mother would take one baby up and bathe and dress him and put him back in the cradle and then take the other one up and bathe and dress him. She kept their clothes marked until they could walk and talk. The family learned to tell them apart, but the neighbors were a long-time learning. If one was called the wrong name, he was quick in saying, “Me John” or “Me Henry”. Even after they were young men and married, it was hard to tell them apart when they were both together in a crowd. John got a thumb cut off which sort of identified him. John’s wife, Julia King Davis, is still living in Los Angeles, California, in a Salvation Army Senior Citizens’ Home. She will be 89 on February 6, 1977. Mother hired a woman most of the time. Her name was Surrilda Whittaker. She paid her 50 cents a week.

You’ve heard the song, “I’m My Own Grandpa”. Brother Comie and his first wife’s son married his last wife’s sister. What kin where they? You figure it out. I’m too old!!

[TO BE CONTINUED...]


A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIVIN' - PART TWO

Electricity came to Little Creek in 1948. That was a happy day for the folks of the valley. At the head of the Creek there is a church called Strader’s Chapel. This church was dedicated about 60 years ago. Rev. J. T. Strader was the pastor and dedicated this church. He will be remembered in Wytheville as he and his family lived there. Strader’s Chapel’s doors have been closed for several years.

Oh, there has been so many changes! My mother died May 15, 1906. This brought about a settlement between eleven children. Robert Kitts became Postmaster and he bought everyone out that would sell their part. He had a big farm. He still carried on the post office and store. He and his wife, Bertha, built a big square two-story house with a porch around two sides of it. He stocked his farm with cattle. When he was 71, he was forced to retire from the post office after serving 39 years as Postmaster. He drew a pension from the government for the rest of his life and died at the ripe old age of 87. After his wife died, he still ran the store for pastime and lived alone.

In 1892 the water power ran its course, so Daddy had to buy a steam engine. He sawed out two boundaries of timber and also used this mill for his meal and flour grinding.

My father never put any money in the bank. He kept it in a little square table in his bedroom which had 2 drawers with locks on them. He kept his silver dollars and coins stacked neatly in one drawer. I loved to watch him count and stack his money. The bottom drawer was for his paper money and also his tax tickets, etc. He still drove his one-horse buggy to look after his business.

Long ago Little Creek and Spur Branch were very thinly settled. Now it is thickly settled with nice brick homes, pretty white houses, and several trailers. Everybody is neighborly and it is just a wonderful place to live. Nearly every family now has telephones which were put in in 1969. Their telephones are listed just like Wytheville. All Little Creekers are listed in the “Little Creek” section.

There never had been a Post Office on Little Creek or a mail route. Daddy told Mother he was going to get up a petition for a post office. He went out with a paper and came back and said everyone had signed it. He sent it off and soon it came back and he had a post office. A 2-cent stamp sent a letter and a postal was 1-cent. He needed a Postmaster and a place for the Post Office. He went in his mill and upstairs to the store and at the end of the counter he set up his Post Office. It was very private. This was in 1865. Jack Carr worked the year around for Daddy for 25cents a day and his board. He made him the mail carrier. There was just mail on Saturday. He had to carry it on his shoulder. He walked about two miles up Spur Branch, then across Big Walker Mountain. There wasn’t any road across the mountain, just a walking path.The mail was carried to Mechanicsburg and back. The post office was named Larton. The mail was carried like this for several years. A little way from the mill Daddy built a good size store house. He moved his merchandise here and the post office was established in the corner of the store where it remained.

My father hired a young man by the month. His name was Robert Kittts. After a year or two, he and my younger sister, Bertha, were married about 1899. He worked on for my Daddy as long as Daddy lived. He must have been a very reliable man because in 1906 Daddy made him Assistant Postmaster and the clerk in the store. Robert and Bertha lived in a house near the mill and store, and he became the wealthiest man on Little Creek at one time.

They changed the mail route to go down the creek to Poplar Hill and the name was changed to Long Spur, Virginia. This route had five fords to cross. My brother, Comia, took the mail on horse back a long while and then he used a horse buggy until the cars came in. Even then they still had to ford the water. In about 1930 all the fords across the creek were bridged. This route went down the creek about 25 or 30 miles where the two mountains almost come together. Little Creek makes a curve to the left and runs through Big Walker Mountain and empties into Big Walker Creek.

[TO BE CONTINUED]


A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIVIN' - PART THREE...

My brother, Fabious Davis, served his country in the Spanish-American War, but came home safely. He received a pension as long as he lived. He married a Tennessee girl and settled on Little Creek. They had a large family, but she died before she was old. Fabious stayed at the home for some years and then sold and bought a farm in Claytor Lake. When they build the Lake, he received a large sum of money for his farm. He lived among his children for several years and then at the age of 84 the lovebug bit him and he married a lady several years younger. She was always good to him. They moved to Belspring. Her name was Nita, and he was always full of fun. When a meal was ready, he always said, “Come on, Nete, let’s eat.”

Brother Henry Davis, the twin, lived in West Virginia and worked there for several years. He married a widow who had twin sons. She was Victoria Vandergrift. She and Henry had two sons of their own. They moved to Wythe County, bought a farm in the head of the Cove. She had heart trouble and was not able to do much. Henry could make the best biscuits of anyone. They were preparing for their eldest son’s wedding to Miss Thelma Hamblin of Long Spur. The wedding was right on hand when Victoria had a heart attach and died. After the funeral, the wedding went on as planned. Henry lived with his son and wife, and then he married Miss Ida Parsell, niece of my husband. Raymond, the son, built them a home on the farm. He was a Forest Ranger in Wythe County and stayed in the Watch Tower much of the time. He was well known, but is deceased now.

My husband, Tobe Parsell, was born in Franklin County on May 26, 1869. They moved to Bland County probably shortly after his birth because his mother was a mid-wife. I have heard my mother say that Tobe’s mother, Mrs. Parsell, came and delivered me. My husband said he remembered the night I was born. That would have made my husband seven years old when I was born. Some people say marriages were made in Heaven. It seemed ours was made there.

In a way life has seemed long, and in a way, it has been like the Bible says, “just a vapor that descended from the earth and is soon passed away.”

I wish I could go back to the days of use to be and relive all the happy times when my heart danced with glee, back to youthful days when hopes were high and faith was burning bright, back to the time when all the world seemed wonderful and right. Those were priceless golden days that I cannot forget for they are fresh in memory and linger with me yet. But only in the lad of dreams can I relive the past and even as I dream my dreams, the time is flying fast. Oh, how I wish I could go back to times now far away for in my heart it seems as though they were but yesterday.

[TO BE CONTINUED.]


A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIVIN' - PART FOUR....

Our family had some very dear friends who lived near us. They were the Samuel Davis family. The mother, Elizabeth, became ill and died in 1882 at the age of 50. She had a lingering illness and before she died, she could not speak or raise her hands. She was very weak for several days, but as she was dying, she threw up her hands and shouted praises to God. The family had twins who where about nine years old when their mother died. When the twins were about fourteen years old, Edward became sick with typhoid fever and lived only a short while. We kids all missed him so much. He would often come and play with us. Eddy came on Sunday afternoons. When the weather was bad, we all sat around the fire and popped corn and ate apples. The father, Samuel Caddell Davis, married again. I do not know when. They called her, “Aunt Polly.” Sammy Davis had four children who settled in Wythe County. One was Edna Doan who married Samuel Cassell of Wythe County and lived on a farm on the Fairview Road. They had three children.

Then there was Jerome Bonie who married Lou Halsey of Wythe County. They lived on a farm n the Fairview neighborhood. They also had three children. A great tragedy came to their family. Their son, George, who was born in 1885 was working on the N. & W. Railroad out of Bluefield. He was at Coaldale, West Virginia when the boiler engine blew up, severely scalding George. He lived a few days. This was February 7,1910. He was 25 years old.

Samuel C. Davis married Josie Halsey of the Cove section and settled in the head of Crockett’s Cove. They had a large family. Josie died before her children were grown. Sam married again to Miss Effie Smith. They had two sons.

Another daughter, Permelia Ann, married my brother of Bland, W. T. (Billy) Davis. They moved to Wythe County and raised ten children.

I have visited Wythe County many times. I visited my two brothers, Billy and Henry, and their families. After they were gone, I still visited their families. We visited Billy’s oldest daughter, Roxie, and “Little Henry” so much at the old home place. Roxie died and the old home place was torn down as Interstate 77 went right over the old home. “Little Henry” was left alone. He built him a new modern, beautiful home down a piece from the highway.

We all go back to “Little Henry’s” most every year for our Homecoming when relatives and friends gather to have a day of fellowship together and to eat of the wonderful food that is brought in.

[TO BE CONTINUED]

A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIVIN' - PART FIVE.....

After the Post Office was moved, the mail began running two days a week for some time, and then three days a week for several years. The late Claude Davis carried it several years. On January 10, 1955, my late brother Coma’s son, began carrying the mail every day. On August 3, 1963 the run to Poplar Hill was discontinued. The run then went from the Long Spur office to the Dublin Post Office and back. Then finally Long Spur was discontinued. The mail began coming from the Dublin office to the head of the creek and up Spur Branch on December 6, 1963. It is carried daily except on Sundays and holidays. The mail carrier says it’s 85 miles round trip. It is now Star Route with box numbers, Dublin. The carrier goes down the creek and crosses Cloyd’s Mountain. At the foot of this mountain is the Gap, Highway 100 combines with the Cloyd’s Mountain road. Highway 100 comes from Princeton, West Virginia and the West Virginia Turnpike. There is a nice, big restaurant and filling station here. The restaurant serves wonderful food. The interior is of knotty pine and very beautiful. My late brother, John’s granddaughter runs this restaurant.

This is a very scenic route. You can just stop your car on top of either mountain and see the “Garden Spot of the Universe.” My niece of Wytheville sent me the article from the ENTERPRISE entitled, “Southwest Virginia is Where God Built His Cathedrals.” It mentions Bland, Wythe, Tazewell and Giles Counties. These seemed to have been where God built this Cathedrals. This article was written and sent to the ENTERPRISE by Robert W. Lawson, Jr. of Charleston, WV. He is a prominent attorney of that city.

This article said that in Bland County in particular there was some of the most majestic scenery he had ever seen and it unfolds before your eyes. The mountain streams cascade out of the hills, reminding me of the one hundred and fourth Psalm. I agree with him. All four seasons have so much beauty to offer. I agree God could have placed his finishing touches, and seeing that it was good sat down in Bland County to keep the Sabbath Holy.

All farmers use to raise wheat for their own use and also some to sell. Today there may be two of three that still raises some. About 30 years ago there were 15 or more sawmills in the valley. Today there isn’t a single one in operation.

[TO BE CONTINUED.]

A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIVIN' - PART SIX.......

I will just write a miniature history of some of my dear brothers and sisters by beginning with the oldest. We were all so fortunate to have lived to raise our families and have homes of our own.

The oldest, James (Jimmy) married Ollie Byrd and settled at Poplar Hill. He had 4 children. He was a cab (jitney) driver, as they were called in those days. He drove at Pulaski. His son, E. V. Davis, drives a cab in Pulaski and has for years.

William, (Billy) married Permelia Ann Davis. They lived in Pulaski until after their seventh child was born. He bought a farm at Altoona about nine miles from Pulaski. He worked as a Fireman on the railroad at Pulaski and rode horseback to and from work every day. He decided to make a move and bought a farm in the lower section of the Cove in Wythe County. Three more children were born, making 10 children. Billy farmed, hauled wood to town to sell most every day it was fit. He also raised watermelons and sold them by the wagonloads. It was about seven miles to town from where he lived.

My sister, Louisa, married Charles Davis. They lived on a farm on Little Creek and had several children. Louisa had a stroke and didn’t live long. Charlie then married Miss Visa Millirons. She is still living on Little Creek with her unmarried son. They had four children and one of the daughters, Mrs. Mildred Matz, teaches school at Scott Memorial in Wytheville.

Coma, another brother, married a Miss Carron July 13, 1893. There were 8 children born to them. She passed away, and he married again to Miss Edna Davis in 1914. They also had 8 children, so he had the largest family of all of us. Coma was in the sawmill business and also carried the mail a long while.

Brother Charlie married Miss Willie Davis and lived on Little Creek for years. He was a good surveyor. They had several children. They finally moved to Pulaski where he went into the grocery store business and Willie kept boarders.

My sister Alice married Edd Ritter and settled in Parrott, on a farm. They had a large family, and he worked in the mines there. He was finally killed in the mines. They also had a boy, James, who was killed in World War II.

John, one of the twins, married Julia Bell King and they made their home in Beckley, West Virginia. He had six children. He worked with the mines there. When he died, his wife soon sold out and moved.

I have written before of my sister, Bertha, and her husband, Robert Kitts. They had a terrible tragedy in their family. Born to them were nine girls and one boy. Two of the girls died when they were small. Alfred, their only son, was 28 years old. He was married and had two children. He was logging, dragging logs to the sawmill out of the mountain, when the horse ran off. Alfred fell and got his feet and legs tangled in the chains, and the horse dragged him to his death. This was a very sad occasion. This was in 1936.

All my brothers and sisters have gone down the “valley of death” but me. I realize I will soon follow them.

[TO BE CONTINUED]

A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIVIN' - PART SEVEN.....

We lived between Big and Little Walker Mountains. Here between these mountains is a very long valley called Little Walker Creek. In my father’s day transportation was sure different than it is today. It took him all day long and after dark to go to Pulaski and back with a two-horse wagon. He would go to buy a plow or some piece of hardware for the farm. The roads were full of ruts and very hard on the horses in cold, wet weather. There were also deep creeks to ford. Now the mountain roads are so good and beautiful. The curves are so nice that the cars just glide around them. I look around at everything and this world is a different world from the world I was brought up in.

Mother said she sat out and patched the first children’s clothes by moonlight. They sheared their sheep, washed the wool, dried it, and carded it into rolls. Then they spun it into yarn. From it Mother knit stockings and socks for the family. She would knit by the light of the fireplace. She could tell when she had dropped a stitch and would tell us to punch up the fire. When it was blazing, she would pick the stitch up and knit on. She would also weave her blankets and dress material to make us children school clothes. Mother dried all kinds of fruits, even blackberries. Here between these mountains, we had our work to do and happy times together. There is nothing like a big family for fun.

My mother made her candles of beef tallow and a string. She cooked by the fireplace.

I think of the good old days when we sat around the fireplace and popped corn in the oven pit and ate apples. Sometimes Daddy would play the fiddle or the Jew harp and sometimes read the Bible and pray. How different from today! There is no conversation carried on. People are busy watching television. They don’t even have time for Bible reading and family prayer. The thing that goes the farthest toward making life worthwhile, which costs the least and does the most, is just a pleasant smile:

The smile that bubbles from the heart,
That loves its fellowman
Will drive away clouds of gloom and coax the sun again.
It’s full of worth and goodness, too,
With human kindness bent,
It’s worth a million dollars…and
It doesn’t cost a cent.

[TO BE CONTINUED]


A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIVIN' - PART EIGHT

Back in the 1880’s and 90’s I knew a preacher. His name was Robert Sheffey. He was born in 1820 and died in 1902. He was a Methodist, but was not in the Conference. He just obeyed God. He rode horseback at all times and was a peculiar man in many ways.

Wherever he went he made himself at home. When he rode into a neighborhood, he would tell the people to send out word to everyone that he was going to preach for them that night. He told them to come and bring their candles or lamps or whatever they had. When he said there would be a meeting, the people came. If he saw a little ragged boy along the road side, he would take up an offering to buy that boy some clothes.

I have heard him preach many times, and he sat at my father’s table and ate many times. He loved honey. When he finished eating, he would tell us that he was going to fill his mouth with honey and go pray. He said it made him happy. He went out behind the house and got on his knees and prayed and shouted. The ford across the creek was in plain view of our house and every time he rode across this creek, he would get off his horse and put his sheep skin down and kneel and pray. Along this part of the creek were nice flat rocks. He lingered around these rocks writing on them. When he left, we children would go see what he had written. They were all Bible verses.

He was a very merciful man to everything. If he saw a puddle of water that was about to dry up and had tadpoles in it, he would spread his handkerchief and pick up the tadpoles. He took them on his handkerchief to ponds which had plenty or water.
Daddy always kept a bell on one of his cows. They were in the meadow grazing one day when Brother Sheffey was passing by. He turned around and came back and called my mother out. He told her that the cow’s collar was too tight and for her to have the men folks loosen it.

Brother Sheffey was more a man of prayer than he was a preacher. He was a shouter because when he was happy, he wanted to shout and his religion made him happy. When he prayed things generally happened. Singing was dear to his heart. They say he wrote snatches of hymns upon objects along mountain trails where he travelled and on walls of homes where he stayed. I just wonder if I am the only person living that has seen and heard old Brother Bob Sheffey.

[TO BE CONTINUED]


A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIVIN' - PART NINE....

My father’s land was right in the very heart of Little Creek. His land ran from the Little Mountain, to the end of Pine Spur and Spur Branch came down and emptied into Little Creek. He had a saw mill and all the mill works were run under the power of Spur Branch water. The mill had a large shed over it. Just a little way from it he built a large two story building where had had a mill to grind corn. A little later he put in mills to grind and bolt wheat to make good flour. These buildings were large and tall. A stairway went up one side. Later on, he decided he wanted a store. He went upstairs, boarded off a room in one corner and made a counter around two sides. At the left end he made a trap door. He could raise it to go in and let it down. Not one else ever went in there.

Daddy sawed lots of logs into lumber. He kept two teams of horses and wagons on the road most all the time. Up the creek about two miles the road divided. The right road went on up the valley. The left one was called the turnpike which crossed the mountain to Crockett’s Cove and on into Wytheville. This road was very crooked and narrow. It’s still at the same location and still crooked and narrow. It’s the only road I know of that has never been improved. Daddy loaded the wagons late in the evening so he could start early the next morning. He took feed for the horses and food was prepared for the drivers. They made preparations to stay over night and get an early start back. They got home in time to load for the next day. He did this year in and year out. Daddy had seven boys and he put each one of them to driving at a young age. The farm work, plowing, etc. was done by oxen.

He had one horse buggy to drive to take care of his business and take his produce to town and bring his merchandise back to the store. Wytheville was his shopping point. My mother furnished lots of things to take in and sell. She knitted socks and gloves. She raised chickens, gathered the eggs and sold them. He paid 5cents per dozen for eggs and sold them for 6cents a dozen. She also had great flocks of geese there on the creek. She picked the geese and sold the feathers. She fried apples. I have seen her send 10 or 12 two-bushel sacks in to sell at 3 cents a pound. Daddy built her a drying house for her apples. It was the only one I ever saw.

Daddy sold coffee for 10 and 12 cents a pound. There were two grades of coffee. It was whole green bean. We took it home, put it in a pan in the stove and parched it brown. It was then stored in a container and ground as we needed it. We had a little coffee mill on the kitchen wall. He kept some dry goods too. Calico was 4 and 5 cents a yard. High price cloth, such as wool and one-way cotton, was 25 cents a yard. Women’s dress shoes were $1.00 a pair. Both sides behind the counter were shelved and all packed with different items. The produce was all brought from the neighborhood folks.

[TO BE CONTINUED]

A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIVIN' - PART TEN.....

When I was a child, the sick was never sent to see a doctor. The doctor came to see the sick. He rode horseback and had leather saddle bags he carried his medicine in. When he came, he would bring his saddle bags in and set them down. He always asked how you were and then he would sit down by your bed and tell you to stick out your tongue and say, “Ah.” He took out his pocket watch in his left hand and took your pulse on your right wrist. Then he would pick up his saddlebags and lay them across his knees. He would get some white paper out, take his pocket knife and cut the paper into little squares, lay them on his saddlebags. He then would take a bottle out of his saddle bags and with his knife blade take a substance from the bottle. He would get all that would lay on his knife blade, dosed it out on each piece of paper, and you were to take it as he instructed. He would then give you some calamus and tell you to take it and follow it with a dose of castor oil. He said this was to clear off your liver. He would then give you a little vial and tell you it was tincture of iron and to put twelve drops of it in a little water and take it through a quill. He always warned not to let it get on your teeth. He would say, “Now I think you will be all right.” And he was gone.

We would have to find a big goose feather, cut the quill off and take the iron. Sure enough, in no time our appetite was back and our cheeks were rosy again. Of course, different cases required different treatments, but time and space will not permit me to write it all. When the doctor came to see someone who was real sick, he would raise up their eyelids and look into their eyes and feel of their pulse in their temple. We knew that was a serious case.

As the doctor rode along the road and someone had the toothache, they would get to the road real fast and tell him they wanted a tooth pulled. The doctor would get off his horse, get his forceps out of his pocket and out came the tooth. There wasn’t any pain killer in those days. He would put his forceps back in his pocket and ride on. It wasn’t long though until the people had to pay 25 cents to have a tooth pulled. Compare that price to what we have to pay today! Back then, there were no dentures. There were no old folks’ home. The children were glad to take care of their dear old fathers and mothers as long as they lived. There weren’t any hospitals, except in large cities. Neighbors and friends would sit up night after night with those who were real sick. Many friends died in the arms of neighbors who sat with them.

When a woman died in those days, the women of the neighborhood came in and washed and laid out the corpse, made a shroud and put on her. They took two boards, laid the ends on two chairs, put a folded sheet on this and laid the corps on it. A sheet was spread over her, but first they folded a white cloth wet with camphor, and laid it on her forehead and face. They made their own camphor. They took a cake of gum camphor, crumbled it in a big bottle, then filled it with good brandy. It would eat up most of the camphor. Some fragments would be left in the bottom of the bottle. The cloth was kept wet and on the corpse. The bed and bed clothing were carried out into an old out building and after the funeral, some of the neighbors came in and helped wash the bedding and brought it back into the house. All the women came to help in times of death, none of the women had jobs in those days and had time to be more neighborly.

There was an old man, John McCoy, who had a little saw mill run by water power from Spur Branch, who made the coffins. He had a planer and turner lathe. He made furniture also. He had his boards dried out and dressed. When someone died, the men folks got a long straight limb or stick and measured the body, took this to Mr. McCoy and he made the coffin. He lined it with white cloth, and made the pillow with shavings. He stained the coffin a dark color. The adult’s coffins were $25.00, babies and little children’s were $5.00. After he finished the coffin, that was all he had to do with it. Mr. McCoy went out of business before very long. The men put the corpse in the coffin and onto the wagon to be taken to the grave. The preacher read scripture and hymns were sung. When the undertaker came into existence, it took a lot of work off the men and women too. Aurelis Vest at White Gate was making coffins at that time. When I was fifty years old, I wanted my husband to take me and go to Mr. Vest and get us both a coffin made of black walnut. He kindly agreed, but we never did it. Mr. Aurelis Vest has long been gone, but there is still a fine funeral home in White Gate owned by Vest and Sons. The first undertaker and hearse came to Little Creek in 1912.

We know someday the Homecoming here will end, but let us all live so that we might gather at the Great Homecoming in Heaven. I have read the ENTERPRISE so much and I think it is a wonderful paper and deserves all the awards and trophies it has won. I could write much more, but must take care of my eyes and get my rest.

Hope everyone who read this history from a hundred-year-old woman enjoys it and will drop me a line. I love to get mail.”

[TO BE CONTINUED....NEXT IS THE BIRTHDAY PARTY !]


A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIVIN' - PART ELEVEN...

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY

This comes a little late. It was the week of my one hundredth birthday. The rest of my history is already at the ENTERPRISE and most has been published. December 19, 1976 the day of my birthday, the staff writer of the Chapel Hill paper, Mr. Jim Beamguard, came out to interview me. It goes as follows:

At one hundred her best day is still in the future, she says. “I eat hearty and sleep good,” Mrs. Minnie Parsell said as she waited for her 100th birthday. The birthday party she is having today with friends and relatives is the climax of a year of parties and reunions, most of them in Virginia. She has been a widow for 36 years and lives with her son, Paul Parsell at Route 2, Box 475, Chapel Hill, N.C.

Her eating and sleeping habits did not lead to her long life, rather they are possible because of her excellent health, which is a blessing given her by God she said. “It’s not work I did, God purposed it,” she said of her health. “The Lord has healed me many times and kept me well.” Until last summer she was sewing her own clothes and writing her own letters. Now her hands tire easily and she doesn’t do much sewing. “I don’t have a stiff joint in my body,” she said, opening and closing her hands. She walks easily with a cane. She said when she was 70 years old, she had arthritis and could not lift her arms to comb her hair. She said her doctor asked her what made the several problems go away. “I was at a little prayer meeting,” she said. She told him, “The Lord healed me.” The doctor asked how long it took. To show how she answered, she clapped her hands together loudly. He healed me, “Just like that.” The doctor didn’t ask any more questions.

She has 4 living sons out of 11 children, 37 grandchildren, 93 great grandchildren and 25 great grandchildren. In 2 or 3 more months I may have 30 more, she said of the great category. She admitted she did not know the names of all her children’s children, children’s children.

She said there was a lot of changes in the 1880s and 1890s. There’s going to be more changes in the 1980s and 1990s than you’ve ever seen. I see them coming according to the reading of God’s Word. It’s not going to get any better. She says she tries to base everything she does on the Bible. It was God she said who taught her to read and write when she was 30 years old. Like the cure for arthritis her education came instantly. She said she couldn’t read everything in the Bible, only the passages the Lord chose to teach her.

She had an answer from the Bible that could relate to any question ask her this week. The birth control, the word says, the fruit of the Womb is God’s inheritance. If any destroy the fruit, you’ve destroyed his inheritance. On women’s liberation, she says, the third chapter of Isiah says that when a woman rules, she will destroy the paths of righteousness!

Her favorite food is corn meal mush. She gave the recipe: let the water come to a boil, salt it to taste, stir in meal until it gets thick, let it set a few minutes, eat it with butter or milk.

In her hometown area of Wytheville in Southwest Virginia, she remains very popular. She has written a history of her younger days in that community and Bland County. It is being published in the local newspapers, The ENTERPRISE and the BLAND MESSENGER. Her favorite pastime is telling others about the Bible. She thinks of herself as a local missionary. “I get to talking about the works of the Lord, and I don’t feel old at all.”

Her cheeks are rosy and her dark eyes are bright. There is one way to keep from getting old she said and this is to die. She calls old age a “dear old friend.” She has written what she calls a “Formula for Old Age,” and to everyone that writes her she answers and send them this formula. In this formula, she advises welcoming the “Dear Friend” and looking calmly forward, rather than backward to youth.

[TO BE CONTINUED]



A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIVIN' - PART TWELVE.....THE BIRTHDAY PARTY

Her party was at her son’s home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. There were forty guests present. Some from out of town came in the morning to spend the day. The last departed at eight o’clock.

A lawyer, Mr. Mosley, from Chapel Hill came for a couple hours. He enjoyed most Mrs. Parsell telling of her school days. She told him that back then the children didn’t need a gym to get their exercise!

A great granddaughter from Long Island, New York, Mrs. Elizabeth Kacprowski, arrived on the 17th for the event.

Rev. Tommy Ramsey from Alum Spring in Pulaski County with two car loads of friends of Mrs. Parsell’s came. Other guest was from Goldsboro, Graham, Durham, Aberdeen, Hillsborough, and a great nephew and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Hamblin of Greensboro and other local people.

Rev. Ramsey brought his singers and music. The music was grand says Mrs. Parsell. The day was enjoyed by all who attended with much singing, testimonies and Brother Ramsey giving a wonderful message. Mrs. Parsell certainly enjoyed the day chattering with one and then the other.

Mrs. Elizabeth Kacprowski helped Mrs. Paul Parsell serve lunch. Aunt Minnie received a large colorful arrangement of flowers from a great-granddaughter, Mrs. Fay Levine of Columbia, Maryland. She also received many gifts and cards. One of the gifts was the book about Brother Robert Sheffey, “The Saint in the Wilderness,” from the author, Jess Carr of Radford. He said it was for her birthday. He also told her there was a Baptist preacher in Radford who preached every week and he was 106 years old. He rode horse back by the side of Brother Sheffey.

Among the many birthday cards were three from the White House with President Ford’s personal signature on them. She also had a card from an undertaker in Pulaski, one from a great nephew and his wife and son, SGM and Mrs. Ronald W. Davis and son of Italy. She received over one hundred cards from seventeen different states.

Mrs. Parsell says 1976 was a wonderful year for her. She wishes to thank the ENTERPRISE and all its staff and also all those who wrote her. She says the ENTERPRISE must be widely circulated as she heard from so many different cities and places." THE END