Alleghany Historical-Genealogical Society, Inc.

P.O. BOX 817, Sparta, N.C. 28675

President: Wilma R. Foster			
Vice President: Peal Reeves
Secretary-Treasurer: Lou Reid Landreth

Vol. 4, No. 4		 	              December 1982 		BULLETIN NO. 13

From the President:

	HAPPY NEW YEAR! And may 1983 be the very best ever for each of you.  May it be filled with happiness and prosperity.

	I want to give special thanks to our past president, Mr. M.O. Zimmerman and vice-president, Mr. Robert Andrews for their untiring service to the Society.  It is such a pleasure to know that they will continue with the same dedication and zeal to aid the new officers.  We could not get along without them.  Thank you very much, Zim and Robert, as well as all the officers and members of our Society.

	It is such a thrill and pleasure to be able to report that the untiring work of a few has really paid off and that the “Alleghany County Heritage” is well on its way to being a “real thing”, a real book, to be published for the many families who count Alleghany as something very special in their lives.  It goes without saying that without the long, devoted hours of hard work and encouragement already done by Lou Reid Landreth, June Zimmerman, and M.O. Zimmerman, this book would never have gotten to the drawing board.  There is no way to thank them for all they have done, but let’s keep trying.  No doubt we have all been interested and many have helped, many have written articles and many have hoped it would become a reality, but also there have been many of us who have spent a lot of time procrastinating.  Thanks again to June, Lou Reid and others who refused to give up.  Now, please, let’s all get together and help to see this very worthwhile project turned into a book we can be proud of.  There is much work yet to be done.

	The first of the year brings a lot of reminders of things to be done.  Don’t forget to renew your membership and this year, go a bit further—sign up at least one new member.  We need to encourage membership and meeting attendance.  Let’s make 1983 the greatest year ever.

	Also, remember that you can still buy an “Alleghany County Heritage” book at the pre-publication price.  Now is a good time to do just that.  

	Right now we will probably be putting more of our time and effort on completing the book, but that does not mean in any way that we are letting down on the many other facets of our endeavors.  We want to encourage each Committee to really get to work on their projects, i.e. Museum, Cemetery, and all others.  We hope to have a permanent sport for the museum before long and start a real drive for building it up, as well as our other projects, and new ones which we will be getting into during the year.

	Now, let’s make a New Year’s resolution to go forward with great zeal for our own Alleghany Historical-Genealogical Society, Inc.

	Another special thanks to Lou Reid for remaining as Secretary-Treasurer. 

From the Committees:

HISTORY: Last minute response to our pleas for family histories was overwhelming: We have exceeded our goal for five hundred sketches by nearly two hundred.  Now, it’s time for proofing, editing and indexing, which we expect o be working on furiously for the next six weeks.

	In the meantime, we also must get our Community items together so they can be organized while the publisher is working on galley proofs of the family histories.  

MEMBERSHIP: It’s that time of year again—to remind everyone to renew memberships for the 1983 calendar year.  If possible, renew your membership at one of the higher rates.  The annual dues for the Society are 
1.	Individual members, $2.00
2.	Contributing members, $5.00
3.	Business, institutional or professional members, $15.00
4.	Sustaining members, $50.00
5.	Life members, $100.00

New members since our last Bulletin are as follows:

	Ruth Bruce						Mr. Alfred B. Hurt, Jr.
	Olympia, Washington					Newark, Delaware

	Richard Lee Caudill					Louise S. Knight
	Mountainview, California				Kamiah, Idaho

	Mrs. Rebecca O. Choate				Mrs. Verna Miles
	Sparta, North Carolina				Sparta, North Carolina

	Beatrice Holbrook					Mrs. Herbert Osborne
Traphill, North Carolina				Piney Creek, North Carolina Margaret Smith
INQUIRIES: 

	New member Richard Lee Caudill, Mountainview, California, is looking for information concerning his great-grandfather, Mark Caudle (aka Caudill).  The U.S. Census of 1860 shows the family living in Gap Civil, in Alleghany County.  Mark is listed as being 20 years old and his father as being a Baptist minister.  In 1861 Mark married Angelina Musgrave.  Mark worked in a copper mine in the area until 1869 when he took his family to Greenfield, Ohio where he worked as a farm hand.  He had a younger brother named Calvin.  Anyone having additional information about this family please contact Richard at the above address.

Mrs. Juanita Olsen, Salisbury, N.C. wants information on Jesse Hanes and Nancy Jane Bartley.

	On the following pages we give you a tale as told by Alton G. Landreth entitled “Doc and the Ferry” as well as an article entitled “Prathers Creek Mill” which was submitted by Mrs. Nina Brown of Darlington, Maryland.  These are examples of the interesting materials to be included in our “Alleghany County Heritage” book.

	We feel that it is important that this type of historical information be preserved for future generations.  We are thankful for these two articles as well as the many others that we have received.

	Please use the form below to renew your membership for 1983 if you have not already done so.  Or use it to enroll a new member!

DOC AND THE FERRY

TALES TOLD IN THE VERNACULAR

by Alton G. Landreth
Taped by Becky Landreth Mayes

	Once during a rainy spell Doc got a call to come down to the lower end of the county toward Galax where someone was sick. It had been raining so that the old country roads were in terrible shape.  We had to stop to or three times and put rails under the car and back up, and go through fences or detour to get there.  Worst mud I ever seen, no paved roads then, and very little gravel in those days.  We got there and he done the doctoring, whatever it was, I forget what the case was.
	Doc said “I tell you right now there ain’t no way we are going back to Sparta the same way we came down here.”  I said “well, let’s just go around through Roanoke and come in that way.”  He said “Gosh, no.  We can make it easier than that, that’s too far, we will just go down here next to Galax and if we can catch that man who runs the ferry he can just set us across (New River)’ and we will ht that better road over there in the edge of Virginia.” I had never been through there—I guess that is still the only trip I ever made through there.  He knew the road and everything.  He said “We’ll just try it and see.  He will either be there or the ferry will be on this side of the river.  If it is on this side of the river, we will just set ourselves across.”  I didn’t like the sound of that much, but there wasn’t much I could do.  We got stuck in the mud a time or two before we got to the river.  When we got in sight of the river and looked down, he said “Yeah, the ferry is on this side.  I don’t know where he is.” (I forgot the man’s name).  “If he is not there we will just take the ferry and go on across.”  E got down there and nobody was there.  The Ferry was all tied up and everything, so Doc said “Just drive right on out here on it, about the middle.  So I drove on out in the middle of the ferry.  I had never been on a ferry before and I didn’t know how to operate the thing.  I figured he did.  He said “Untie that thing and shove ‘er off and we will be gone.”  He seemed in a hurry.  He knew that river, had been across several times and h ought to know better how to set the ferry for going across. Well I untied the line and shoved her off.  You see it had been raining and that was why it was so muddy.  As soon as it was out about twenty feet from the bank that current caught that thing and it was going across the river straight, if you know what I mean.  In place of the back or front being up and down, it was just like a dam across the river, straight across it and chained to that ferry was a little windlass that you had to turn and then lock it to pull the front end up and let the back end down.  This had to be change every time you crossed the river because you wanted the back end of the ferry to be down the hill a good little bit so the water would run of it and not pond up.  That would help pull it across.  Well, we got out there and the currently caught it and it was flat straight.  No water was shedding off of it at all, so there we was.  We couldn’t poll it at all and it looked like the water was going to run over the top of it in spite of all we could do and, Buddy, I was ready to swim. I told Doc “Now when that water hits the top of this, old Eck’s going to hit that river.”  Doc says “Oh, we’ll make it.”  He was just poling to beat the band.  
	Well, we did make it but I tell you right now, it was awful close.  We couldn’t move either one of the windlasses.  There was too much pressure on it.  You had to wind them up and throw that little catch down so you could unwind it.  I guess we done the best thing we could, just to keep paddling it.  Took us a long time to get over there.  We got on the other side and I jumped all over Doc.  I said “As many times as you have crossed the river and been doing this all your life, you ought to know better. You might have drowned us and lost the automobile and everything in this river.”  And he said “Well, I just didn’t think—yeah, I knew how to set that thing (windlass)”. I said “Well, you sure didn’t do it.”  I just hit him all the way home about that.  But we made it and that was what counted.  
(Doc was Dr. Leff Choate. When Alton was a teenager he was driving some for Dr. Leff and helping him on the farm or with cattle or whatever needed doing.) 

PRANTHERS CREEK MILL

	When Ella Pasley married George Kenneth Caldwell she was given, by her father Wiley Pasley, the grist mil and about thirty acres of land.  While it had no formal name, being known only as the Prathers Creek Mill, it was literally the life blood of the community and a large section of the County as well.

	George Kenneth Caldwell was a carpenter by trade and a farmer.  His father, “Andy” was a miller and shoe maker.  “Grandpa Andy” took over the mill with his son’s assistance and they did a thriving business.

	The mill could be a great story in itself.  It was a large building, sturdy and strong, for it was built to withstand the elements of one hundred years.

	There were two mill stones on opposite sides of the building with large hoppers made to hold several bushels of grain.  One was used to grind corn, the other one for wheat and buckwheat.  The hoppers were built like huge square funnels.  The grain flowed down from these onto stones, to be crushed.  The ground grain then ran out in a wooden chute and into a large bin.  From there it was dipped up with a wooden paddle, worn smooth as glass by years of use.  

	White bags, which the customer brought with him, were used for the finished product.  One side of the bag hooked over two nails.  The other side was held open with the left hand while the bag was being filled.

	Sometimes, the grain was brought to the mill on horseback, one or more sacks across the saddle.  Most often, a horse or oxen drawn wagon would be piled high with full bags.

	Some people had to come from a long distance and would have to wait for a long time for the grain to be ground.  There was a room in the front of the mill, complete with a stove, benches, and a cot.  A lot of stories were told around that old stove.  “Uncle Andy” as he was called, was a great story teller as were a lot of others in those days.  Car games and generous drinks of apple brandy also helped to pass the tedious hours.  
	
The huge hoppers would tae about two hours to empty, only to be refilled once again until all the grain was ground.  Quite often, they would work all night, using coal oil lanterns for light.

	The wheat passed through a process of several screens which removed some of the rough bran.  The finished product was a rough version of our molasses, home churned butter, and homemade sausage.  This tasty fare severed many a good meal.  Who among us can still remember that special aroma and flavor? It has gone unsurpassed by “storebought” brands of today. 

	The cornmeal was hauled home just as it came from the mill. E very housewife had her own sieve.  Shaking it back and forth over a pan to remove the coarse bran used for fed; the cornmeal was then used for bread.  

	The miller was paid one gallon of grain per bushel by each person who used his services.

	Unfortunately, the flood of 1916 was the beginning of the end of Prathers Creek Mill.  “Grandpa Andy’s” house was washed away at this time, and there was never sufficient power to operate as it once had.  Despite the fact that it was partially repaired, it was never the same after that flood.

	Shortly after that, gasoline-run mills began to make their appearance.  Obviously, this was much faster and more convenient to the people.  This marked the end of a once prosperous and thriving business, bringing to an end forever the glory of the grist mill—once such an integral part of the community.

							Mrs. Nina Brown