Last week, we started looking at the childhood memories of Edna Roena Reynolds Yeatts; the daughter of Ruth Eliza Barnard and Elam Owen Reynolds and the wife of John Henry Yeatts. We are so fortunate that Mrs. Yeatts took the time to record her experiences for all posterity because they provide a wonderful snapshot of life in 1890’s Patrick County.
After Mrs. Yeatts lost her mother Ruth Eliza at the tender age of ten, she longed for the comfort of a mother’s love. Two ladies in the community, Mrs. Harrell and Mrs. Webb, helped fill the void left from losing her mother. Looking at the 1900 census, Elam Owen Reynolds and his family lived near Malcolm Leonard Webb and his wife, Mary Jane Weeks Webb and David Kent Harrell and his wife, Martha Adeline Hopkins Harrell. I suspect these are the Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Harrell, to whom Mrs. Yeatts refers to so fondly.
Mrs. Yeatts, “Mrs. Harrell’s home was always so tidy and neat. I admired her greatly for that. She was kind, and she would sit and smoke her clay pipe and talk with us. She would give us apples and chestnuts. We considered a visit there to be a treat indeed.”
Mrs. Yeatts recalled her grandmother, “We also had a kind and sweet old grandmother who would come and clean up our home and patch our clothes when she was able. She always wanted to take us to church. One time she wanted to take us to Concord and our shoes were quite a problem. They were rough and unshined. She blacked them with the black from the dinner pot and we made the distance to and from, a distance of about four miles each way. I have always enjoyed going to church and worshipping my Heavenly Father. I wasn’t in style, with my calico bonnet and homemade shoes, but I know that God was aware of my presence and to Him, clothing is all the same. We would hurry to get to Mrs. Webb’s so that we could ride in their oxen-drawn wagon. I can still remember the oxen’s names: Sam and Short and though it was hardly like a fine automobile, they took us there and got us back safely.”
I was able to determine which grandmother came to visit and take Mrs. Yeatts to church because her maternal grandmother, Lucinda Eliza Scott Barnard passed away in July 1888, two years before Mrs. Yeatts’ mother, Ruth Eliza Barnard Reynolds died. The grandmother that Mrs. Yeatts spoke so fondly of was her paternal grandmother, Roxanne Shelor Reynolds, the daughter of John Shelor and Nancy Howell. Roxanne Shelor was born in 1822, so she would have been around 75 years old at the time she was helping her grandchildren. Concord is referring to the Concord Primitive Baptist Church that was organized around 1835 in Meadows of Dan.
Mrs. Yeatts reflects on her education, “Our schooling was cut short after our Mother died. We would get to go only for a few days now and then. Lots of times, I was bitter because I couldn’t go when I enjoyed going so well. My books consisted of one McGuffey’s speller and one McGuffey’s third reader. I studied the boys’ arithmetic books until I got to the multiplication tables. I had a few lessons in a borrowed Maury’s geography book. I had a craving for knowledge and reading. I borrowed all the books I could find. I read Uncle Tom’s Cabin several times and also Pilgrim’s Progress. I borrowed them from a good old uncle of ours whom we loved dearly.”
I am only taking a guess here, but suspect that the uncle she loved dearly was one of her mother’s brothers, John Jehu Barnard, a civil engineer and farmer or James William Barnard, a Primitive Baptist preacher.
Mrs. Yeatts recalls a favorite aunt, “One bright spot in our lives was to get to go visit our Aunt Sally. That was to us like a visit to Yellowstone Park would be today. She was a kind and sweet old lady and always had lots of apples in the wintertime. Her house was surrounded by lilacs and roses in the spring and summer, making it a beautiful place to us. The distance to her house was a right long way and we would walk fast in fear of meeting mad dogs.”
Aunt Sally was Sally Barnard Ingram, Mrs. Yeatts’ mother’s sister. Aunt Sally was born in 1839 and married John G. Ingram in 1859. Sally and John never had any children of their own. Remember last week when we learned that Mrs. Yeatts mother, Ruth Eliza Barnard was first married to German Wood and had two children, Flora and John T. Everett? Well, these two children were very close to Aunt Sally and her husband, John Ingram as witnessed in his will, probated in 1882. I am sharing the will as it provides wonderful evidence of where the Ingram home was located and also the close relationship between John Ingram and his wife’s family. Patrick County, VA Will book 8, page 100: Know all men by these presents that I, John G. Ingrum of Patrick County & State of Virginia, Being in common good health of sound and disposing mind and memory, do make and publish this my last will and testament hereby revoking all former wills by me at any time heretofore made and as to my worldly estate and all the property real and personal or mixed of which I shall die seized and possessed or to which I shall be entitled at the time of my decease. I devise and bequeath and dispose thereof in the manner following to wit: My will is that all my just debts and funeral expenses shall by my executor herein-after named, be paid out of any estate as soon after my decease as shall by them be found convenient. I give devise and bequeath to my beloved wife Sally Ingrum, all of my property both personal and real except my lawful heirs and also my wife’s lawful heirs one permanent dollar apiece, for my wife to have and to hold and dispose of during her widowhood and if it should be necessary for her to sell lands she shall consult my executor and he shall make deeds to all of her sales and his assignments shall be a good title. I give and bequeath to Jerman Wood’s heirs Flora C. Wood, John T. E. Wood, the following described land bonded as follows, Beginning in the back line known as the Gates line thence a straight line passing 60 yards above a house known as the Dalton house to a corner on the Glade Branch thence a straight line to the fork of Mayberry Creek below wagon road thence up said creek to a corner gum near or in their own line to five maples on said creek thence & 76’ West with the old line to the beginning, to have at mine and my wife’s deaths. My will is that James A. Ingrum shall not have but the one dollar above mentioned. I will at mine and my wife’s death the one half of my estate to be equally divided among the remainder of my brothers and sisters and also making Flora C. Wood and John T. E. Wood (the two) one equal heir with my brothers and sisters. My will is that my wife Sally Ingrum’s brothers and sisters have the other half of my estate equally divided except Ruth Eliza Reynolds and Polly A. Smith; their part to go through the hands of my executor to be given them as their necessity require it and if not needed in their lifetime Polly A. Smiths part to return to her brothers & sisters and Ruth E. Reynolds’ part to go to her heirs by her second husband. And lastly, I do nominate and appoint Wm Barnard my executor as an aid and friend to my wife doing her widowhood and at her death or marriage, I appoint the said Wm T. Barnard any sole executor and his assignments be a good title to all the lands sold by him or my wife during her widowhood, and if the said Wm T. Barnard should die before he winds up my estate I appoint John T. E. Wood as executor in said Wm T. Barnard’s place. In testimony whereof I the said John G. Ingrum have to this last will and testament contained on the one sheet of paper thereof I have subscribed my name and affixed my seal this the 11th of September 1882. Signed sealed published John G. Ingrum , declared by the said John G. Ingrum as and for his last will and testament in the presence of us who at his request and in the presence of each other have subscribed our names as witnesses thereto. Joel E. Marshall and D. L. Barnard.
I could write about Mrs. Yeatts and her connections to the community for months, but it is time to move on; there are more stories to tell. John Ingram’s will is a good segue to lead into next week’s story when we will look at his parents and siblings. Thank you to Gerry Scardo for sharing information about her remarkable grandmother, Edna Roena Reynolds Yeatts. Thank you to Shelby Inscore Puckett for having previously transcribed John Ingram’s will and thank you to Judy Ferring for the very nice letter to the editor this past week. Woody may be reached at rockcastlecreek1@gmail.com or (276) 692-9626.
