Last week, we looked at the remarkable life of Dr. Roy Oliver Yeatts and his wife Helen Hambley Yeatts. This week, we will learn about Dr. Yeatts’ parents, Charles Tobias “Tobe” Yeatts and Susan “Stella” Barnard and his siblings.
Charles Tobias “Tobe” Yeatts was born in Patrick County to Henry Fielding Yeatts and Caron Aquilla Boswell Yeatts. Henry Fielding Yeatts fought for the Confederacy, but I can’t confirm which regiment. In his wife Caron’s pension application, Colonel Abram Staples and Haman Critz were listed as two of his comrades in arms. The application states that Henry Fielding Yeatts contracted measles while with the militia in Norfolk. Yeatts’ 2x great niece, Gerry Yeatts Scardo, stated that while he was in the hospital with measles, he had to drink water from a mop bucket. The Yeatts family took a wagon to the hospital where he was staying and brought him back home. Dr. John Bishop was in attendance at Yeatts passing. Henry Fielding Yeatts was survived by his wife, Caron and children Henrietta, George, John Henry, and Tobe Yeatts.
Tobe married Susan “Stella” Barnard on the 28th of September 1899 in Patrick County. Susan “Stella” Barnard was the daughter of John Jehu Barnard and Nancy Adeline Wood of Meadows of Dan. Stella had five brothers, Therides; John Tirea; Jehu Osmond; James Thomas; and William Alexander Barnard and one sister, Sarah Ellen Barnard Reynolds. When Stella’s mother, Nancy passed away in 1891, John Jehu Barnard remarried the following year to Virginia Alice Orander and they had five more children, Isham Juston; Alvin Meyric; Guy Garfield; and Jennings Burch Barnard and one sister, Missouri Lois Barnard Harris.
John Jehu Barnard had led a very interesting life. He served in the 50th Virginia Infantry, Company K during the Civil War. Barnard was captured at Spotsylvania Courthouse in May of 1864 and was held as a prisoner of war at Elmira, New York and Point Lookout. When the war was over, Barnard returned to Patrick County and served as a county surveyor for eight years, taught school, and was the first postmaster of Mayberry in 1872.
Barnard moved his young family to Pueblo, Colorado in the late 1870’s and was only there for a brief period of time. In the 1880 United States Census, Barnard, his wife Nancy Adeline, and children, Therides, age 7; John Tirea, age 5; Jehu Osmond, age 3; and James Thomas, age 2 were listed as living in Pueblo, Colorado, but by the time daughter, Susan “Stella” was born on the 19th of December 1880, the family was living back in Patrick County.
Stella and Tobe Yeatts first child, Roy Oliver was born the 2nd of October 1900 in Mayberry, Virginia. Foy Osmond Yeatts was born two years to the day after his older brother Roy, followed by May Agnes in 1904; Amy Maude in 1905; and Evy Venus in 1908.
In an interview with Tootsie Cassell Pilson in 1984, Dr. Roy Yeatts recounted what life was like growing up in Kettle Hollow near Mayberry Trading Post, “The section I grew up in was a mountainous area and the house I was born in was a frame building which boasted of a huge fireplace on one wall. All the cooking was done in the fireplace, and one of my fondest memories was corn bread baked in a Dutch oven over the fire.”
Dr. Yeatts further recalled, “When my mother made lye soap, it was my job to carry water from the spring to dip the lye. To make lye soap we used a 55-gallon oak drum with a number of holes in the bottom. The drum was filled with six inches of straw and filled the rest of the way with ashes from the fireplace. Water was poured over the ashes and dripped through the bottom into a large pan, this washed the lye out of the ashes. This solution was put into a kettle along with fat that was saved from the kitchen and that was taken from the animals we ate. This was cooked with lye until it was a soupy brown mixture and was used as household soap. At times, my mother would add salt to this soap turning it white, and this was cut into bars and used as hand soap.”
Dr. Yeatts recalled trips to the store, “Gathering chestnuts was quite a thing, and I remember when a large chestnut tree grew in our yard. We picked the chestnuts from this tree and sold them to the Cephus Scott store which is now Mayberry Trading Post. Many times, Mother sent me to the store with a basket of eggs. Back then, they sold for three cents per dozen.”
“I was six years old,” said Dr. Yeatts, “when my father hired Oregon Yeatts and two other men to build us a new home about 300 feet from our old home. Papa hired Winn Barnard to dig out a new spring close by. A new spring house was also built, and along with this a trench was cut out for the water to flow in. This was where we kept our milk and butter.”
Around 1910, Tobe and Stella Barnard Yeatts made the decision to move their young family to Montana. Two of Stella’s older brothers were already out there and writing glowing reports of vast, fertile farmland that could be bought from the Native Americans in the Fort Peck area. Tobe sold their new house and land to his brother, John Henry Yeatts and their livestock and furniture to other family members in Mayberry. The family traveled to Christiansburg where they sold their horse and wagon and boarded a train headed for Montana.
Upon arriving in Saco, Montana, the family purchased 1,000 acres of land north of the Missouri River near the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Shortly after arriving in Montana, little Evy Venus Yeatts died, she was only two years old. Tobe and Stella’s dreams were further shattered when cattlemen cut their fences and made threats against them. The couple decided to sell their land and move back to Saco.
Tobe and Stella welcomed their son, Ray Alexander Yeatts, on the 21st of February 1911. Ray was born at the Deaconess Hospital in Great Falls, Montana. Their daughter, Fey Ellen Yeatts was born in 1913, followed by Imy Mildred in December 1915. You have probably noticed by now that all of Tobe and Stella’s children’s first names are only three letters and spells out their initials: Roy Oliver Yeatts, Foy Osmond Yeatts; May Agnes Yeatts; Amy Maude Yeatts; Evy Venus Yeatts; Ray Alexander Yeatts; Fey Ellen Yeatts; and Imy Mildred Yeatts. Pretty clever!
During World War I, the town of Nitro, West Virginia was constructed to manufacture munitions to support the war effort. The town included a powder plant and chemical facilities as well as housing for workers, a civic center, and hospital. Tobe knew he could make cash money in Nitro, West Virginia, so he decided to move there in 1918, leaving his family in Montana. His intention was to earn enough money to take back to his family in Montana. Tobe was only there for a few months before he became a victim of the flu epidemic of 1918, passing away on the 2nd of December 1918. Charles Tobias “Tobe” Yeatts was only forty-two years old; his body was shipped to Mayberry in Patrick County, Virginia for burial in the family cemetery. Stella and the children were still in Montana and were unable to attend the funeral.
At the time of his father’s passing, Dr. Roy Yeatts was 18 years old, and it fell to him to support his mother and his younger siblings. Dr. Yeatts began teaching school in Saco, Montana and reported that he was paid $105.00 for a full year’s teaching. While school was on break, Dr. Yeatts worked as a bank teller. Once his siblings got older, Dr. Yeatts went to college and then on to California to medical school.
Stella never remarried and remained in Montana for the rest of her life, passing away in 1969 in Warm Springs, Deer Lodge County, Montana. Siblings Foy and Amy both settled in Chehalis, Lewis County, Washington with Foy passing away in 1972 and Amy passing in 1981. May passed away in 1989 in Hamilton, Ravalii County, Montana and Ray passed away in 1956 in Moscow, Idaho. Fey passed away in 2005 in Klickitat, Washington and Imy passed away in 2004 in Kelso, Washington.
Thank you so much to Tobe Yeatts’ great niece, Gerry Yeatts Scardo, for providing information for this story. Woody may be reached at rockcastlecreek1@gmail.com or (276) 692-9626.
