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COUNTRY LIVIN' By Ova H. Tolley
Quite a few Dunbar people were born in the country, but I bet a dollar to a doughnut that very few were born in any rougher country than I was. Nothing but hills and not enough flat land to, as they say in the country, whup a cat. Hills and hills. You would have to level half a dozen to build a decent airport.
I was born and raised in a community called Belgrove, Jackson County, West Virginia. Belgrove was on a sizeable creek call Bear Fork which flowed from Roane County almost to Ripley, a distance of about fifteen miles.
My parents, Gird and Birdie Coon Tolley were married in Roane County in 1912 and settled in Belgrove, where Grandpa Tolley and Dad had a country store and the post office at Belgrove, where Dad was the Postmaster.
Bear Fork had several branches extending from both sides. The first one is Laurel Fork. About one half mile up the creek from Laurel Fork was located the store and post office. There was a large two story house across a small gulley from the store. Then about another half mile a small creek called Lower Big Run, took off from the right. Up Lower Big Run about another half mile, two more branches extended, one to the right and the other to the left, forming kind of a cross. My grandfather and his second wife and family lived about the center of the cross, my parents and family lived on the right branch about one hundred yards from Grandpa. Up the left branch lived the Crihfield (pronounced Critchfield) family.
Straight on up the creek, my Uncle Ernie Tolley lived with his wife and family. Uncle Ernie and wife had six children, the Crihfield's had a whole house full of boys and one girl, Dad and Mom had six children born on Lower Big Run (one baby boy died in infancy of pneumonia) and Grandpa and Grandma Tolley had four boys and two girls. So altogether, it was quite a community itself on that creek with all our family. Grandma Tolley was really a step-grandmother, but she was the only Grandmother I ever knew. Grandma was a very small woman and lived to be almost a hundred years old. She could do more work than any two other women. Cooking, canning and taking of a large household seemed to be very easy for her.
Our Grandfather Gilbert Tolley died in 1927 and was buried in the Harpold Cemetery at Gay, Jackson County, along side our real grandmother, Mary Harpold Tolley. Grandmother's parents and grandparents were buried there also. A few months ago, I, along with my daughter, Jane, granddaughter, Joanne, and two great grandsons, Andrew and Nicholas Ralstin, visited this cemetery. There was seven generations in that cemetery that day, living and dead, at the same time. I thought that was a very rare occasion.
Most of the Crihfield boys were grown and had already gone out on their own. The rest were kind of happy go lucky sorts. The parents were Willie and Jane. Willie had some sort of ailment, like asthma, and was more or less home bound. He spent most of his time buying animal furs. The first money I ever made was from a skunk I caught in a steel trap and sold to Willie for fifty cents. From handling furs Willie and Jane's sitting room had an aroma which most modern day housewives wouldn't tolerate. But in the country that was accepted and nothing much thought about it. Willie and Jane were the grandparents of John and Ron Crihfield, who are prominent vendors at the Capital Farmers' Market in Charleston.
Uncle Ernie's children were: Virgil, Romie, Pearl, Effie, Howard and Earl. Grandpa Tolley and Grandma Jane had: Jennings, Raymond, Woodrow, Gilbert, Gladys and Glady. Dad and Mom had: Shirley , Ova, Edith, Oral , Carl, Gertrude, whom all were born at the homestead; Maxine and Gird, Jr. were born at the store. Ralph was born in Dunbar. The Crihfields had a big house full of children, but most of the older ones had already left home. Those that we saw most were: Rob, Charley, Dan and a daughter, Mattie.
Belgrove was wide spread and contained dozens of other families. A Parson family lived at the mouth of the creek, where we lived. A Haynes family lived down our creek a piece. There were at least ten Casto families scattered about. Other families within the bounds of Belgrove were the Carpenters with several children, two or three Rhodes families, Cobbs, Skeens, Slaughter, Westfall, Taylor, Hatcher, Cummings, and Hutton. Altogether, we had enough children to fill the schools.
Occasionally, a tragic event would happen in the community. The Mr. Hutton mentioned above loved horses. One day he was riding his favorite horse, when a severe lightning storm came up. The lightning struck and killed both Mr. Hutton and the horse. At another time, on the day that Maxine was born, another lightning storm struck the barn of a Mr. Skeens and burned the barn and killed several cattle. Then at another time, a severe rain storm raised Bear Fork to flood level. The water rose and swept the Carpenters' house off it's foundation. It also swept Dad's store off its foundation as well as the Falling Water Church. All had to be moved back. Fortunately none were killed.
As soon as a boy was able to hold a hoe in his hand, he was expected to be able to work on the farm. With all the boys in the community, the farms were well taken care of. My most usual job was carrying drinking water from the well at Grandpa's house to the worker in the fields.
The children went to school at White Pine school which stood about a mile away at the mouth of Beech Fork which ran from the left some distance above Lower Big Run. We were able to reach school by going down the creek a piece then climbing a small hill, go round the hill a piece, then cross Bear Fork on a swinging footbridge. White Pine was a one room school for awhile, then another room was added. I attended this school thru the eighth grade. We attended everyday of the school term, rain, sun or snow, even if the snow was up to our knees. Kids wore knee high rubber boots called gum boots. There were no snow days then. The term had not yet been coined.
White Pine school was located at the junction of Beech Fork and Bear Fork. As you go up Bear Fork, Beech Fork runs to the left. The Taylor and Cummings families lived on Beech Fork. The White Pine Church was about a mile up the creek. Our grandfather, Benjamin H. Coon, is buried in the cemetery at White Pine Church.
We attended church at Falling Water United Brethren church, which was located a short distance below Dad's store. While living at my birthplace, we either walked to church or rode in a two seated buggy. One time when I was about six years old, I was riding in the back seat of the buggy. The buggy hit a large stone and I fell out. The rear buggy wheel ran across my belly. There was no hospital or doctor to go to, so my parents couldn't do much but pray. I gasped and panted all day and scared most everybody to death. Needless to say, I survived.
When I was about nine years old, the Westfall family who lived in the big house beside the store, which Dad owned, moved. Mr Westfall died suddenly, so his widow and children vacated the house. Dad and Mom moved our family down to the big house and we lived there until 1928, when we moved to Dunbar. I stayed behind and finished one more school year. I lived with my teacher and family, then came to Dunbar in 1929. Life in the house at the store was more exciting than the old house. We saw more people and more exciting things happened. All kinds of salesmen came to the store selling their wares. Since most of the time they rode on horseback, they would stay at our house overnight and we got to hear more of the outside world.
Life in the country eighty years ago was kind of rough, but we didn't have anything to compare it with, so we didn't complain. There was no electricity, no gas, no running water, no radios, no washing machines or driers. Women boiled water in large kettles outside and washed clothes in a wash tub with a washboard. We were happy with what we had.. There was always plenty of food, all of the homegrown variety. We often had some store boughten food, such as oatmeal, cornflakes, etc. We had several orchards around the farms, so we had plenty of apples, peaches, and plums. There were plenty of blackberries, huckleberries, grapes, walnuts, hickory nuts, etc. Things weren't too bad.
Grandpa Coon used to come to Belgrove quite often. He first had an auto called a Baby Overland. It was a two seated touring car with a canvas top that could be lowered. Then he had a Ford Roadster that had the body removed, leaving nothing but the steering wheel and windshield. It had a wooden box setting over the gas tank. All the cars back then had the gas tank under the front seat. Grandpa Coon called the vehicle a "skeeter". He let Shirl and me drive it up and down the road a piece. We both learned to drive when were about twelve or thirteen. We would take Dad's truck down on Laurel Fork to cut down a tree, saw it into firewood and haul it back to the house.
Uncle Harley came out one time and brought a victorola to us with a few records. We sure thought that was something.
One time when Dad was away for the day, Mom went down the road a piece to Mrs. Slaughters to get her hair cut. Mom had been wearing her hair long in a bun. Mrs. Slaughter bobbed Mom's hair that time. Dad raised quite a fuss about, but soon quieted down.
Moving from the country to town was quite an experience. Most of us had been to Dunbar to visit, but living here was very different. After entering school and getting acquainted with the other children here, everything in our life was a lot easier.
*This was written by my Father in January, 2001. He has just celebrated his 86th birthday on January 9th. Dad recently got a new computer and has taken an interest in writing. He just completed his first book, "The History of Dunbar" , which is at the printers. He also writes articles for "The Scoop", a monthly newsletter put out by the city. He wrote this article for his Great-Grandchildren, so they would know what life was like in the early days compared to their lives now. We love you Dad and Grandpa.
Mary Jane Marks
January 27, 2001
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West Virginia Pioneers
1915 - 2003 (88 years)
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