Grandpa and Grandma Baker
Thyrsa Margie Shuff was born at home, the second child of Henry Smith Shuff and Sarah A Victoria Eveline McClellan.
Their first child was a boy that was either stillborn or died at birth. He had red hair and she named him Shelby Ardith Shuff.
Sarah Shuff was very strict with her girls. She, herself, had run away with a man without being married when she was a young school teacher. She wanted to make sure her girls did not make the same mistake.
Thyrsa started school at the age of four. She lived almost at the top of Shuff Hill. The school was a long way down the hill, up a road, and across a creek. Thyrsa walked alone. It wasn't until years later that she learned that her poppy followed her to make sure she was okay.
School was much different when Thyrsa was a girl. There was only one room. One teacher taught all the grades. I don't know who her first teacher was, but her favorite teacher was Mr. Parsons. He was a little short man with a big hump on his back. He was very kind.
I wants a piece of Calico To make my doll a dress, I doesn't want a big piece A yard will do I guess.
I wish you'd fred my needle and find my fimble too, I have such heaps of sewing I don't know what to do.
My Hepsie tord her apron In tumbling down the stairs, An' Caesar lost his pantaloons, He needs a nuzzer pair.
My Maude must have a bonnet, She hasn't none at all. Fred must have a jacket, His ozzer one's too small.
I want to go to Grandma's, You promised me I might, I know she'd like to see me, I wants to go tonight.
She lets me wipe the dishes, And look in Grandpa's watch. I wish I had a penny, To buy some butterscotch.
I need some newer mittens, I wish you'd knit me some. My fingers alomost freezes, They leak so at the fum.
I wore them out last summer, Pullin' George's sled. I wish you wouldn't laugh so, It hurts me in the head.
I wish I had a cookie, I'm hungry as can be. If you haven't got a large one, You'd better bring me free.
I wish I had a piano, Won't you buy me one to keep? Oh dear, I'm so tired, I wants to go to sleep.
School recitals were a big deal back then. There wasn't a lot of entertainment, so people from miles around attended. I believe that is the first time that Leslie E Baker ever saw Thyrsa. He told his brother, "I'm going to marry her someday."
At recess, the boys ran and played outside. The girls sat and played lady-like games. One Thyrsa liked was called "Grandmammy Greenbrier". One girl would start out saying, " Grandmammy Greenbrier sent me to you. This is what Grandmammy Greenbrier wants you to do. " The girl would then start a motion, such as rocking. They next girl would repeat it, start rocking, then add another motion to it, as well as the one the previous girl had started. Then the next girl added to it, and so on.
Occasionally the boys would have a baseball game against another school. The girls made up cheers. One Thyrsa remembered was, " Chew your tobacco! Spit, spit, spit! Fourmile team, thinks their it!"
Bloomers became the style for awhile. They were like long, poofy, underwear that showed below relatively short dresses. Thyrsa even knew a girl that wore some to school. Her mommy said they were shameful.
Sarah never dressed her girls in stylish clothing. Their dresses were loose, long, and very modest. She made all of her girl's clothing. Their dresses all came down below the knees. She taught her girls to be very modest in their actions, as well as in the clothing they wore. Thyrsa never wore them any shorter. She said the knees were the ugliest part of the body.
Thyrsa went to school to the eighth grade. She would have liked to be a school teacher, but her mommy had other plans. She wanted Thyrsa to get married.
Thyrsa also started hoeing corn when she was four. They raised a lot of corn to feed the animals, as well as corn to eat. It was hot, hard work. She told her poppy that the sweat bees were stinging her. He replied, " They only sting lazy people. " She said that she worked and worked as hard as she could, so that they would stop stinging her, but it didn't work.
Her parents believed the Bible, and raised their children accordingly. They did not "spare the rod and spoil the child". If they needed correction, they got whipped with a switch.
Once when her dad, Smith Shuff whipped her, Thyrsa said, "Oh, Poppy, that hurts!"
"I meant for it to," he replied.
While she was small, Thyrsa got blood poisoning in her legs. Her uncle, Tom McClellan, was a doctor. He wrapped her legs in cotton and soaked it with a red medicine. It burned like fire. She cried and said "Poppy, it burns so bad. Please! Throw me in the well!" She just wanted the well water to cool her. Smith rocked her in his arms and cried.
Smith Shuff raised sheep. Sarah carded the wool into yarn and knitted stockings for her family. Thyrsa hated them. They made her itch, and she'd scratch the blood out of her legs. She complained. Her poppy told her she didn't have to wear them anymore. Her mommy got angry and said, "I'll never knit you another pair!" She never did, and that suited Thyrsa just fine.
Thyrsa had two grandmothers, and she loved them both, but Maw (Martha Ellen) McClellan was her favorite. Maw started teaching Thyrsa to cook when she was four. She taught her first to make biscuits.
Maw told her stories about her life as a child, growing up on a plantation in Virginia. She told her that they had slaves. When they ate in the dining room during the summer, the slave children stood beside the table. They pulled on a rope that moved a big fan over the table to keep the flies off of the food.
Thyrsa asked her why the children weren't sitting at the table, too. Her maw looked shocked and answered, "That just wasn't done!" Thyrsa was confused. Her parents occasionally took in boarders. Some of them had been black. They sat at the table with everyone else.
During the Civil War, Maw said she would have to take the horses and cows and hide them in the woods anytime anyone spotted soldiers near. The soldiers, Union or Confederate, would take the horses if they saw them. They might kill and the the cows if they saw them, because they didn't have enough food and were always hungry.
Once the family was out in the yard making sugar. They had just spread some out to dry when some soldiers came by. They were very polite and ask if they might have some sort sugar to eat. They were very hungry.
The family gave them some. After they ate it, the soldiers thanked them. They warned them that more soldiers were coming and that they should hide the rest. They did.
The Shuff's were very protective of their girls. Thyrsa and her three sisters knew very little about the world. Chickens found their eggs. The animals were always fighting, then later finding babies. The doctor or midwife deleivered babies, taking them to the mothers in the little black bag they carried.
Thrysa loved her mommy, but they were never close. She always felt like her mommy resented her a little because Shelby died and she lived.
Leslie Baker made good on his vow he made when Thyrsa was four. He started courting Thyrsa at her home. He was encouraged by Sarah.
They would sit on the couch in the living room. Her parents would sit in the summer kitchen. They could see the young couple, but were far enough away for them to whisper privately.
Once while they were courting, Leslie reached down and put his hand around Thyrsa's ankle. She removed his hand and said "I'm not that kind of girl."
Her poppy didn't want her to get married yet, but her mother insisted. She said she wanted Grandma to be well set up in a home of her own, so that there would be someone that could take care of her in her old age. It may have really been so her daughter could not repeat her own mistakes.
They were married on October 19, 1921, in the living room of her parent's home. She was fourteen years old. Her mommy was very happy. Her poppy wasn't. He cried.
After the wedding, Sarah gave Thyrsa "the talk". She said, " You are Leslie's little girl now. You do whatever he tells you to do."
Sarah did not believe in washing your hair. She had been taught that washing hair caused people to catch lice. She believed only nasty people washed their hair. Instead, every night they oiled their hair and combed it with a fine toothed comb. Thyrsa had never had her hair washed until after she married. Leslie ask her to.
Leslie and Thyrsa went to live with his father, brothers, and sisters. They had one large bedroom in the loft. Everyone slept there. That's where they spent their wedding night.
Thyrsa's first child was born the next year. She had the baby at her parents house. Her Maw McClellan was a midwife. She delievered the little boy that they named Garnet. Her first prayer when she saw him was, "Please, dear Lord, don't ever let him kill anyone."
The next year she had a baby boy and named him Hollis. About a year later she had another baby boy that she named Cebern. Three babies in diapers at once.
They lived out on top of a hill at Lickcreek, in Wayne County, West Virginia. The log cabin and farm was bought off Thyrsa's Paw and Maw McClellan.
Thyrsa cooked, took care of the babies, helped Leslie in the fields, cleaned house, and washed clothes. The cooking was done on the wood cook stove. She washed their clothing and the diapers by hand on a washboard and hung them on a clothesline. She churned butter by hand in a churn with a wooden churn dasher. She scrubbed the hardwood floors on her hands and knees with sand until they were white.
They raised corn and hay for the horses and cows. They raised a big garden for themselves. Sometimes they sold some. Mostly they preserved the food for themselves. They raised chickens and hogs for meat. Very little was wasted. Thyrsa made sausage. She cooked the hogs heads and made souse.
Thyrsa canned fruits and vegetables. She dried apples and shuck beans. She pickled vegetables in large stone crocks. She made pickles, sauerkraut, pickled beets, beans, and corn. They made hominy. They didn't have an icebox. Everything was stored in the cellar.
Shuck beans are made by stringing beans on a string with a sewing needle. Then they are hung up and allowed to dry. In the winter, you rinse them off and cook them in water with salt and pork until they are tender. Some people put vinegar on them. They are also called leather britches.
Hominy is made from dried corn. It is soaked in lye water until it swells up and the hulls come off. Then the lye water is drained off and it is rinsed off well. It's then ready to cook.
Leslie didn't work outside the home. Neither did Thyrsa. Times here hard and there wasn't much money. Thyrsa never let anything go to waste. Glass jugs, tin cans, paper, boxes were all saved and reused. Feed sacks were sewed into sheets, pillow cases, towels, diapers, and clothing. She sewed by hand and on a treadle sewing machine. Baby boys wore dresses in those days and she made all their dresses. Scraps of material was saved and made into quilts. Very little was thrown away. Most of what they bought came from catalogs. Then they were saved for toilet paper.
On Thyrsa's 20th birthday, she had a daughter and named her Hollena. She later had another daughter, and named her Palmaneda.
She had another son. When she was in labor with him, she had trouble. It was January and there was a big snow on the ground. Leslie had to ride his horse for miles through the snow to get Dr. Brown.
The baby was breach. It was a boy and she named him Challis Brown Baker. Brown was after Dr. Brown who traveled so far in the snow to deliver him. Challis was a kind of material that Thyrsa had seen in a catalog and thought that the name was pretty.
The doctor told them that it would be dangerous to have another baby. He was their last child.
Leslie and Thyrsa traveled everywhere they went either walking, riding a horse, in a wagon, or by sled. Thyrsa was a Christian before she married. Leslie became one sometime after their marriage. They attended the United Baptist Church.
World War II started. Garnet had attended some college. He joined the navy. They told him he wouldn't have to leave for two weeks and he would have time to say his goodbyes.
Before the two weeks were over, Garnet received a letter. He had been drafted into the army. He had to go.
Garnet and his family wrote a lot of letters, back and forth. Thyrsa probably wrote the most.
One day Thyrsa went to the mailbox. It was a long way away from the house. She was all alone. There was a letter in the mail from the government. It said Garnet had been killed. It was the worse day of her life.
They said she practically lost her mind. She remembered the prayer she had said after Garnet was born. She had ask God to never let him kill anyone. His commanding officer said he never did, that he was killed by a Japanese sniper, unloading from the boat at Leyte Island in the Philippines. She always blamed herself. She couldn't hear a patriotic song without crying as long as she lived. Although she tried to be a Christian lady all of her life, she couldn't help being prejudiced against the Japanese.
Hollis and Cebern served in the navy in World War II. Both came home without injuries.
Once while out in the field, Thyrsa found a very large, silk weather balloon that had landed in the field. She used the material to make pretty dresses for her teenaged daughters.
One by one the children started to marry. Grandchildren started being born. Leslie and Thyrsa got electricity, and a refrigerator.
Hollis took his parents to New York City to see the Empire State building and the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty seemed to have been the most memorable part of the trip.
Challis joined the navy during the Korean War.
Leslie bought a farm on the McClarity Fork of Four Mile Creek, in Lincoln County. It was across the creek from Shuff Hill, where Thyrsa was born.
They still had their two horses, Nig and Ned, one cow, and a bunch of chickens. At some time Thyrsa acquired three geese.
Times had changed. They had electricity. They lived in a valley, instead of at the top of a hill. Thyrsa gradually got more conveniences. She had a gas cook stove, gas heat, hot and cold running water, an inside bathroom. She still churned her own butter, but she had an electric churn. She got a wringer washer, an electric iron, and an electric sewing machine.
Their groceries and animal feed was delivered to the house every week, by truck. When the grocery man came, they always had a list of things for him to deliver the next week.
Early every morning, Leslie and Thyrsa got up. While Leslie milked the cow and fed the horses, Thyrsa made breakfast. Leslie would bring in the milk, and Thyrsa would strain it and put it away. Leslie started doing the dishes after meals.
They still raised a big garden. The cellar was always full of good things to eat. It became habit to give food to some of the less fortunate families in the area. They weren't rich, but they had what they needed. They received a small check every month from the government, because of Garnet's death.
Their yard was full of flowers. The house was too. They stayed busy all of the time. Whenever Thyrsa sat down to rest, she sewed, shelled peas, or would string beans. She said , "Idle hands are the devil's workshop."
I lived with my Grandpa and Grandma Baker off and on throughout my childhood. Grandma was like a second mother to my sister, Sharon, and I.
Grandma and Grandpa Baker taught me to make the animal sounds, like, the dog says, 'bow-wow' when I was very little. They liked to tell me that story.
No matter what time of night we got there, Grandma and Grandpa would be on the porch with the light on, to welcome us. Grandma's house always had it's own smell. I loved that smell. It was like home.
There was always plenty to eat. Grandma had two refrigerators full of leftovers. There was always biscuits, cornbread, or both on the table under the copper colored cake saver. She always had a dish of cooked apples.
Grandma had her own bedroom and always kept it locked. It was like a big treasure chest to Sharon and I. One of our favorite pastimes was to go in there with Grandma and 'prowl'. We both loved to sleep with Grandma. She told us stories. Sometimes Bible stories, sometimes other stories. We sometimes would lie on our backs, with our feet up in the air and pretend we were riding a bicycle. She taught me to say the "Lord's Prayer".
Grandma and Grandpa were always up early in the morning. While Grandpa was outside doing the chores, Grandma cooked breakfast. She usually made drop biscuits, fried apples, gravy, and sausage or bacon. She taught me to make drop biscuits and cornbread when I was about 3 or 4 years old. She said that was about the age that her Grandma McClellan taught her.
Grandma taught me to sew by hand and to sew on the sewing machine. She was always making things. She made bonnets for Sharon and I. She also made us little dresses out of feedsack cloth that the animal feed came in, not because we really needed them, just because she liked to do it.
Grandma was very good at making do with whatever resources were available to her. She recycled EVERYTHING that could be recycled. Very little was thrown away, until it was completely worn out. She saved all her boxes, tin cans, jars, paper, rags and scrap material, and plastic containers. She washed and saved all her plastic bags, aluminum foil, wax paper, and styrofoam trays. Water from the spring was put into bleach or milk jugs. They also became Easter baskets and other cool things. Cans became cups and bowls for picnics, and flower pots. Styrofoam trays became great picnic plates. Unused paper, after Grandpa was gone, was put between the rows in the garden to prevent weeds.
The most important thing that Grandma and Grandpa Baker taught me was about God and Jesus, and how to pray.
As far back as I can remember, Grandpa and Grandma took me to the little McClarity Baptist Church, down on the McClarity Fork of Four Mile, in Lincoln County, West Virginia.
I can remember sitting, or lying, on the hard wooden pews. There was an old coal stove in the center of the room, for heat in the winter. We used hand-held paper fans during the summer.
Almost all of the men sat on the right side of the church. They all hung their hats on nails in the walls. The women and young children sat on the left.
There was no running water. Aunt Alma Sanders carried a bucket of fresh water from the well at her house all the way down to the church house. It had a dipper in it to drink from. (Grandpa and Grandma brought our own, in a bleach jug, with empty tin cans for each of us to have our own.)
Out back, on the left side of the church yard, stood an outhouse for the women. On the right was one for the men.
Our church only had one room. On Sunday mornings we all went to our assigned pews for Sunday school, so we could have our own little groups. There were a couple of adult classes that sat in their own assigned pews. They all had Sunday School books. All of the children, irregardless of age, sat together. Our teacher was Aunt Alma Saunders. She gave us each a little card, with a lesson on one side, and a picture on the other side. We loved our cards. There was a chart on the wall with our names, and we each got a shiny gold star by our name every time we attended. I think Uncle Ligie Adkins may have been the one to start the church service. Some of the details are a little fuzzy. I know he kept the church books and usually led the songs.
Now Aunt Alma and Uncle Ligie were not even related to me, but we were taught to call our elders, Aunt and Uncle, as a term of respect. Our church had song books, but most of the members did not believe in musical instruments in the church, not even an organ. We didn't have a choir. Anyone could go up front and sing on the podium, or take song books back and sing in the pews. Uncle Ligie often chose the songs, but anyone could request a song, or they could volunteer to sing one of their own. Not all of the singing was good, but all of it was always full of the spirit.
Our preachers started out quietly, reading a few verses that held the message they wanted us to hear. Before they were through, they were usually so caught up in the spirit, that they were shouting. It would have been hard to sleep during their sermons. They preached 'hell fire and brimstone', but it came straight out of the Bible. They would never have even have thought of suggesting that God was different than what the Bible taught. It would never have occurred to them to question whether the stories in the Bible were true. They told it like it is. The churches were always full of 'Amens' and 'hallelujahs'. Now and then, someone would start rejoicing. That didn't disrupt service, it just added to the spirit. I'm blessed to have had such a wonderful introduction to the Lord.
I remember when we were there on Easter. Grandma Baker made Easter bonnets for my sister, Sharon, and me. She would take plastic jugs, cut off the tops, and help us make Easter baskets. She kept the plastic grass from year to year, and lined our baskets.
Grandma boiled and colored a lot of eggs. Some she didn't have to color some of them. The chickens laid some that looked blue, some green or aqua, some looked sort of pink, and some were in different shades of orange. She also boiled and colored a few goose eggs. They would just about fill up her big picnic basket.
We got up on Easter Sunday, ate breakfast, and went to church. There was no talk of Easter bunnies. We all knew why we celebrated Easter. We all knew that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins and rose again after three days. After church, Grandpa and the other men, hid the eggs outside, then turned us all loose to hunt. We got to take home whatever eggs we found. Anyone that found a goose egg received a small money prize, probably less than a dollar. Money went a lot farther those days, and kids didn't expect as much.
I loved going to church on Sundays, Wednesday night prayer meetings, and to revivals. I liked when we visited other churches. My favorite services were homecomings. We would have church and Sunday School first. When we broke for lunch, there were a lot of tables pushed together outside, covered with almost any kind of food a kid could want. I always ate a lot of fried chicken, dressed eggs, green beans, tomatoes, and corn on the cob. I then would over stuff myself on cakes, puddings, fruits, and pies. After lunch we went back inside for a few more hours of preaching and singing.
I remember when Grandpa Leslie Baker sold the horses, Nig and Ned.
I was there. He didn't tell Grandma he was doing it. The men came to get the horses and wagon. Grandma was very upset. Actually, she was downright mad, but there wasn't anything she could do. The man was the head of the household. She said, "If they're taking the horses, they might as well take the dog, too." They did. The dog trotted along with the horses. That was a sad day.
I remember one year when we were staying with our Grandpa and Grandma at Thanksgiving. My sister and I begged Grandma to fix a turkey for dinner. They were good Christians and would not tell lies, but they were good at being evasive! When we asked about a turkey, we were told to "wait and see." Grandma had a chicken house full of chickens. They got up really early in the mornings, so that is probably when they killed their biggest chicken, cleaned, and plucked it. When dinnertime came, Grandma carried in a steaming bird on a platter with stuffing oozing out. We were so excited. That was our first turkey. We ate it and never knew the difference. Nobody told us it was a turkey, but nobody told us it wasn't!
Their first child was a boy that was either stillborn or died at birth. He had red hair and she named him Shelby Ardith Shuff.
Sarah Shuff was very strict with her girls. She, herself, had run away with a man without being married when she was a young school teacher. She wanted to make sure her girls did not make the same mistake.
Thyrsa started school at the age of four. She lived almost at the top of Shuff Hill. The school was a long way down the hill, up a road, and across a creek. Thyrsa walked alone. It wasn't until years later that she learned that her poppy followed her to make sure she was okay.
School was much different when Thyrsa was a girl. There was only one room. One teacher taught all the grades. I don't know who her first teacher was, but her favorite teacher was Mr. Parsons. He was a little short man with a big hump on his back. He was very kind.
At her first school recital, four year old Thyrsa held her little china doll and recited Mattie's Wants and Wishes.
Maggie's Wants and Wishes
Maggie's Wants and Wishes
I wants a piece of Calico To make my doll a dress, I doesn't want a big piece A yard will do I guess.
I wish you'd fred my needle and find my fimble too, I have such heaps of sewing I don't know what to do.
My Hepsie tord her apron In tumbling down the stairs, An' Caesar lost his pantaloons, He needs a nuzzer pair.
My Maude must have a bonnet, She hasn't none at all. Fred must have a jacket, His ozzer one's too small.
I want to go to Grandma's, You promised me I might, I know she'd like to see me, I wants to go tonight.
She lets me wipe the dishes, And look in Grandpa's watch. I wish I had a penny, To buy some butterscotch.
I need some newer mittens, I wish you'd knit me some. My fingers alomost freezes, They leak so at the fum.
I wore them out last summer, Pullin' George's sled. I wish you wouldn't laugh so, It hurts me in the head.
I wish I had a cookie, I'm hungry as can be. If you haven't got a large one, You'd better bring me free.
I wish I had a piano, Won't you buy me one to keep? Oh dear, I'm so tired, I wants to go to sleep.
School recitals were a big deal back then. There wasn't a lot of entertainment, so people from miles around attended. I believe that is the first time that Leslie E Baker ever saw Thyrsa. He told his brother, "I'm going to marry her someday."
At recess, the boys ran and played outside. The girls sat and played lady-like games. One Thyrsa liked was called "Grandmammy Greenbrier". One girl would start out saying, " Grandmammy Greenbrier sent me to you. This is what Grandmammy Greenbrier wants you to do. " The girl would then start a motion, such as rocking. They next girl would repeat it, start rocking, then add another motion to it, as well as the one the previous girl had started. Then the next girl added to it, and so on.
Occasionally the boys would have a baseball game against another school. The girls made up cheers. One Thyrsa remembered was, " Chew your tobacco! Spit, spit, spit! Fourmile team, thinks their it!"
Bloomers became the style for awhile. They were like long, poofy, underwear that showed below relatively short dresses. Thyrsa even knew a girl that wore some to school. Her mommy said they were shameful.
Sarah never dressed her girls in stylish clothing. Their dresses were loose, long, and very modest. She made all of her girl's clothing. Their dresses all came down below the knees. She taught her girls to be very modest in their actions, as well as in the clothing they wore. Thyrsa never wore them any shorter. She said the knees were the ugliest part of the body.
Thyrsa went to school to the eighth grade. She would have liked to be a school teacher, but her mommy had other plans. She wanted Thyrsa to get married.
Thyrsa also started hoeing corn when she was four. They raised a lot of corn to feed the animals, as well as corn to eat. It was hot, hard work. She told her poppy that the sweat bees were stinging her. He replied, " They only sting lazy people. " She said that she worked and worked as hard as she could, so that they would stop stinging her, but it didn't work.
Her parents believed the Bible, and raised their children accordingly. They did not "spare the rod and spoil the child". If they needed correction, they got whipped with a switch.
Once when her dad, Smith Shuff whipped her, Thyrsa said, "Oh, Poppy, that hurts!"
"I meant for it to," he replied.
While she was small, Thyrsa got blood poisoning in her legs. Her uncle, Tom McClellan, was a doctor. He wrapped her legs in cotton and soaked it with a red medicine. It burned like fire. She cried and said "Poppy, it burns so bad. Please! Throw me in the well!" She just wanted the well water to cool her. Smith rocked her in his arms and cried.
Smith Shuff raised sheep. Sarah carded the wool into yarn and knitted stockings for her family. Thyrsa hated them. They made her itch, and she'd scratch the blood out of her legs. She complained. Her poppy told her she didn't have to wear them anymore. Her mommy got angry and said, "I'll never knit you another pair!" She never did, and that suited Thyrsa just fine.
Thyrsa had two grandmothers, and she loved them both, but Maw (Martha Ellen) McClellan was her favorite. Maw started teaching Thyrsa to cook when she was four. She taught her first to make biscuits.
Maw told her stories about her life as a child, growing up on a plantation in Virginia. She told her that they had slaves. When they ate in the dining room during the summer, the slave children stood beside the table. They pulled on a rope that moved a big fan over the table to keep the flies off of the food.
Thyrsa asked her why the children weren't sitting at the table, too. Her maw looked shocked and answered, "That just wasn't done!" Thyrsa was confused. Her parents occasionally took in boarders. Some of them had been black. They sat at the table with everyone else.
During the Civil War, Maw said she would have to take the horses and cows and hide them in the woods anytime anyone spotted soldiers near. The soldiers, Union or Confederate, would take the horses if they saw them. They might kill and the the cows if they saw them, because they didn't have enough food and were always hungry.
Once the family was out in the yard making sugar. They had just spread some out to dry when some soldiers came by. They were very polite and ask if they might have some sort sugar to eat. They were very hungry.
The family gave them some. After they ate it, the soldiers thanked them. They warned them that more soldiers were coming and that they should hide the rest. They did.
The Shuff's were very protective of their girls. Thyrsa and her three sisters knew very little about the world. Chickens found their eggs. The animals were always fighting, then later finding babies. The doctor or midwife deleivered babies, taking them to the mothers in the little black bag they carried.
Thrysa loved her mommy, but they were never close. She always felt like her mommy resented her a little because Shelby died and she lived.
Leslie Baker made good on his vow he made when Thyrsa was four. He started courting Thyrsa at her home. He was encouraged by Sarah.
They would sit on the couch in the living room. Her parents would sit in the summer kitchen. They could see the young couple, but were far enough away for them to whisper privately.
Once while they were courting, Leslie reached down and put his hand around Thyrsa's ankle. She removed his hand and said "I'm not that kind of girl."
Her poppy didn't want her to get married yet, but her mother insisted. She said she wanted Grandma to be well set up in a home of her own, so that there would be someone that could take care of her in her old age. It may have really been so her daughter could not repeat her own mistakes.
They were married on October 19, 1921, in the living room of her parent's home. She was fourteen years old. Her mommy was very happy. Her poppy wasn't. He cried.
After the wedding, Sarah gave Thyrsa "the talk". She said, " You are Leslie's little girl now. You do whatever he tells you to do."
Sarah did not believe in washing your hair. She had been taught that washing hair caused people to catch lice. She believed only nasty people washed their hair. Instead, every night they oiled their hair and combed it with a fine toothed comb. Thyrsa had never had her hair washed until after she married. Leslie ask her to.
Leslie and Thyrsa went to live with his father, brothers, and sisters. They had one large bedroom in the loft. Everyone slept there. That's where they spent their wedding night.
Thyrsa's first child was born the next year. She had the baby at her parents house. Her Maw McClellan was a midwife. She delievered the little boy that they named Garnet. Her first prayer when she saw him was, "Please, dear Lord, don't ever let him kill anyone."
The next year she had a baby boy and named him Hollis. About a year later she had another baby boy that she named Cebern. Three babies in diapers at once.
They lived out on top of a hill at Lickcreek, in Wayne County, West Virginia. The log cabin and farm was bought off Thyrsa's Paw and Maw McClellan.
Thyrsa cooked, took care of the babies, helped Leslie in the fields, cleaned house, and washed clothes. The cooking was done on the wood cook stove. She washed their clothing and the diapers by hand on a washboard and hung them on a clothesline. She churned butter by hand in a churn with a wooden churn dasher. She scrubbed the hardwood floors on her hands and knees with sand until they were white.
They raised corn and hay for the horses and cows. They raised a big garden for themselves. Sometimes they sold some. Mostly they preserved the food for themselves. They raised chickens and hogs for meat. Very little was wasted. Thyrsa made sausage. She cooked the hogs heads and made souse.
Thyrsa canned fruits and vegetables. She dried apples and shuck beans. She pickled vegetables in large stone crocks. She made pickles, sauerkraut, pickled beets, beans, and corn. They made hominy. They didn't have an icebox. Everything was stored in the cellar.
Shuck beans are made by stringing beans on a string with a sewing needle. Then they are hung up and allowed to dry. In the winter, you rinse them off and cook them in water with salt and pork until they are tender. Some people put vinegar on them. They are also called leather britches.
Hominy is made from dried corn. It is soaked in lye water until it swells up and the hulls come off. Then the lye water is drained off and it is rinsed off well. It's then ready to cook.
Leslie didn't work outside the home. Neither did Thyrsa. Times here hard and there wasn't much money. Thyrsa never let anything go to waste. Glass jugs, tin cans, paper, boxes were all saved and reused. Feed sacks were sewed into sheets, pillow cases, towels, diapers, and clothing. She sewed by hand and on a treadle sewing machine. Baby boys wore dresses in those days and she made all their dresses. Scraps of material was saved and made into quilts. Very little was thrown away. Most of what they bought came from catalogs. Then they were saved for toilet paper.
On Thyrsa's 20th birthday, she had a daughter and named her Hollena. She later had another daughter, and named her Palmaneda.
She had another son. When she was in labor with him, she had trouble. It was January and there was a big snow on the ground. Leslie had to ride his horse for miles through the snow to get Dr. Brown.
The baby was breach. It was a boy and she named him Challis Brown Baker. Brown was after Dr. Brown who traveled so far in the snow to deliver him. Challis was a kind of material that Thyrsa had seen in a catalog and thought that the name was pretty.
The doctor told them that it would be dangerous to have another baby. He was their last child.
Leslie and Thyrsa traveled everywhere they went either walking, riding a horse, in a wagon, or by sled. Thyrsa was a Christian before she married. Leslie became one sometime after their marriage. They attended the United Baptist Church.
World War II started. Garnet had attended some college. He joined the navy. They told him he wouldn't have to leave for two weeks and he would have time to say his goodbyes.
Before the two weeks were over, Garnet received a letter. He had been drafted into the army. He had to go.
Garnet and his family wrote a lot of letters, back and forth. Thyrsa probably wrote the most.
One day Thyrsa went to the mailbox. It was a long way away from the house. She was all alone. There was a letter in the mail from the government. It said Garnet had been killed. It was the worse day of her life.
They said she practically lost her mind. She remembered the prayer she had said after Garnet was born. She had ask God to never let him kill anyone. His commanding officer said he never did, that he was killed by a Japanese sniper, unloading from the boat at Leyte Island in the Philippines. She always blamed herself. She couldn't hear a patriotic song without crying as long as she lived. Although she tried to be a Christian lady all of her life, she couldn't help being prejudiced against the Japanese.
Hollis and Cebern served in the navy in World War II. Both came home without injuries.
Once while out in the field, Thyrsa found a very large, silk weather balloon that had landed in the field. She used the material to make pretty dresses for her teenaged daughters.
One by one the children started to marry. Grandchildren started being born. Leslie and Thyrsa got electricity, and a refrigerator.
Hollis took his parents to New York City to see the Empire State building and the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty seemed to have been the most memorable part of the trip.
Challis joined the navy during the Korean War.
Leslie bought a farm on the McClarity Fork of Four Mile Creek, in Lincoln County. It was across the creek from Shuff Hill, where Thyrsa was born.
They still had their two horses, Nig and Ned, one cow, and a bunch of chickens. At some time Thyrsa acquired three geese.
Times had changed. They had electricity. They lived in a valley, instead of at the top of a hill. Thyrsa gradually got more conveniences. She had a gas cook stove, gas heat, hot and cold running water, an inside bathroom. She still churned her own butter, but she had an electric churn. She got a wringer washer, an electric iron, and an electric sewing machine.
Their groceries and animal feed was delivered to the house every week, by truck. When the grocery man came, they always had a list of things for him to deliver the next week.
Early every morning, Leslie and Thyrsa got up. While Leslie milked the cow and fed the horses, Thyrsa made breakfast. Leslie would bring in the milk, and Thyrsa would strain it and put it away. Leslie started doing the dishes after meals.
They still raised a big garden. The cellar was always full of good things to eat. It became habit to give food to some of the less fortunate families in the area. They weren't rich, but they had what they needed. They received a small check every month from the government, because of Garnet's death.
Their yard was full of flowers. The house was too. They stayed busy all of the time. Whenever Thyrsa sat down to rest, she sewed, shelled peas, or would string beans. She said , "Idle hands are the devil's workshop."
I lived with my Grandpa and Grandma Baker off and on throughout my childhood. Grandma was like a second mother to my sister, Sharon, and I.
Grandma and Grandpa Baker taught me to make the animal sounds, like, the dog says, 'bow-wow' when I was very little. They liked to tell me that story.
No matter what time of night we got there, Grandma and Grandpa would be on the porch with the light on, to welcome us. Grandma's house always had it's own smell. I loved that smell. It was like home.
There was always plenty to eat. Grandma had two refrigerators full of leftovers. There was always biscuits, cornbread, or both on the table under the copper colored cake saver. She always had a dish of cooked apples.
Grandma had her own bedroom and always kept it locked. It was like a big treasure chest to Sharon and I. One of our favorite pastimes was to go in there with Grandma and 'prowl'. We both loved to sleep with Grandma. She told us stories. Sometimes Bible stories, sometimes other stories. We sometimes would lie on our backs, with our feet up in the air and pretend we were riding a bicycle. She taught me to say the "Lord's Prayer".
Grandma and Grandpa were always up early in the morning. While Grandpa was outside doing the chores, Grandma cooked breakfast. She usually made drop biscuits, fried apples, gravy, and sausage or bacon. She taught me to make drop biscuits and cornbread when I was about 3 or 4 years old. She said that was about the age that her Grandma McClellan taught her.
Grandma taught me to sew by hand and to sew on the sewing machine. She was always making things. She made bonnets for Sharon and I. She also made us little dresses out of feedsack cloth that the animal feed came in, not because we really needed them, just because she liked to do it.
Grandma was very good at making do with whatever resources were available to her. She recycled EVERYTHING that could be recycled. Very little was thrown away, until it was completely worn out. She saved all her boxes, tin cans, jars, paper, rags and scrap material, and plastic containers. She washed and saved all her plastic bags, aluminum foil, wax paper, and styrofoam trays. Water from the spring was put into bleach or milk jugs. They also became Easter baskets and other cool things. Cans became cups and bowls for picnics, and flower pots. Styrofoam trays became great picnic plates. Unused paper, after Grandpa was gone, was put between the rows in the garden to prevent weeds.
The most important thing that Grandma and Grandpa Baker taught me was about God and Jesus, and how to pray.
As far back as I can remember, Grandpa and Grandma took me to the little McClarity Baptist Church, down on the McClarity Fork of Four Mile, in Lincoln County, West Virginia.
I can remember sitting, or lying, on the hard wooden pews. There was an old coal stove in the center of the room, for heat in the winter. We used hand-held paper fans during the summer.
Almost all of the men sat on the right side of the church. They all hung their hats on nails in the walls. The women and young children sat on the left.
There was no running water. Aunt Alma Sanders carried a bucket of fresh water from the well at her house all the way down to the church house. It had a dipper in it to drink from. (Grandpa and Grandma brought our own, in a bleach jug, with empty tin cans for each of us to have our own.)
Out back, on the left side of the church yard, stood an outhouse for the women. On the right was one for the men.
Our church only had one room. On Sunday mornings we all went to our assigned pews for Sunday school, so we could have our own little groups. There were a couple of adult classes that sat in their own assigned pews. They all had Sunday School books. All of the children, irregardless of age, sat together. Our teacher was Aunt Alma Saunders. She gave us each a little card, with a lesson on one side, and a picture on the other side. We loved our cards. There was a chart on the wall with our names, and we each got a shiny gold star by our name every time we attended. I think Uncle Ligie Adkins may have been the one to start the church service. Some of the details are a little fuzzy. I know he kept the church books and usually led the songs.
Now Aunt Alma and Uncle Ligie were not even related to me, but we were taught to call our elders, Aunt and Uncle, as a term of respect. Our church had song books, but most of the members did not believe in musical instruments in the church, not even an organ. We didn't have a choir. Anyone could go up front and sing on the podium, or take song books back and sing in the pews. Uncle Ligie often chose the songs, but anyone could request a song, or they could volunteer to sing one of their own. Not all of the singing was good, but all of it was always full of the spirit.
Our preachers started out quietly, reading a few verses that held the message they wanted us to hear. Before they were through, they were usually so caught up in the spirit, that they were shouting. It would have been hard to sleep during their sermons. They preached 'hell fire and brimstone', but it came straight out of the Bible. They would never have even have thought of suggesting that God was different than what the Bible taught. It would never have occurred to them to question whether the stories in the Bible were true. They told it like it is. The churches were always full of 'Amens' and 'hallelujahs'. Now and then, someone would start rejoicing. That didn't disrupt service, it just added to the spirit. I'm blessed to have had such a wonderful introduction to the Lord.
I remember when we were there on Easter. Grandma Baker made Easter bonnets for my sister, Sharon, and me. She would take plastic jugs, cut off the tops, and help us make Easter baskets. She kept the plastic grass from year to year, and lined our baskets.
Grandma boiled and colored a lot of eggs. Some she didn't have to color some of them. The chickens laid some that looked blue, some green or aqua, some looked sort of pink, and some were in different shades of orange. She also boiled and colored a few goose eggs. They would just about fill up her big picnic basket.
We got up on Easter Sunday, ate breakfast, and went to church. There was no talk of Easter bunnies. We all knew why we celebrated Easter. We all knew that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins and rose again after three days. After church, Grandpa and the other men, hid the eggs outside, then turned us all loose to hunt. We got to take home whatever eggs we found. Anyone that found a goose egg received a small money prize, probably less than a dollar. Money went a lot farther those days, and kids didn't expect as much.
I loved going to church on Sundays, Wednesday night prayer meetings, and to revivals. I liked when we visited other churches. My favorite services were homecomings. We would have church and Sunday School first. When we broke for lunch, there were a lot of tables pushed together outside, covered with almost any kind of food a kid could want. I always ate a lot of fried chicken, dressed eggs, green beans, tomatoes, and corn on the cob. I then would over stuff myself on cakes, puddings, fruits, and pies. After lunch we went back inside for a few more hours of preaching and singing.
I remember when Grandpa Leslie Baker sold the horses, Nig and Ned.
I was there. He didn't tell Grandma he was doing it. The men came to get the horses and wagon. Grandma was very upset. Actually, she was downright mad, but there wasn't anything she could do. The man was the head of the household. She said, "If they're taking the horses, they might as well take the dog, too." They did. The dog trotted along with the horses. That was a sad day.
I remember one year when we were staying with our Grandpa and Grandma at Thanksgiving. My sister and I begged Grandma to fix a turkey for dinner. They were good Christians and would not tell lies, but they were good at being evasive! When we asked about a turkey, we were told to "wait and see." Grandma had a chicken house full of chickens. They got up really early in the mornings, so that is probably when they killed their biggest chicken, cleaned, and plucked it. When dinnertime came, Grandma carried in a steaming bird on a platter with stuffing oozing out. We were so excited. That was our first turkey. We ate it and never knew the difference. Nobody told us it was a turkey, but nobody told us it wasn't!
I have so many memories, but it would take a really long time to write them all down.
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