John Robert Dyer and Barsheba Tharpe (Part 5)

Valley of the Terrapins, Slow and Steady Wins the Race

adapted from a manuscript by Nancy Mildred Beals DeWitt

(Part 5)

Charles McKinney Dyer was born to John Robert and Barsheba in 1849. He married Jerusha Jones 24 December, 1872.

When Aunt Jerusha, or Aunt Sis as everyone called her, was about twelve years old, she went to stay all night with a friend. The confederate soldiers in the civil war came through and hanged her friend's mother and her friend. They started to hang her, but someone said, "Oh! she doesn't belong here, let her go." She ran and hid until the soldiers left. She came out of hiding and cut down her friend and her mother and saved their lives.

Uncle Charlie and Aunt Sis only had one child. They named her Malissa Cordelia. She was nicknamed Cordie. Aunt Cordie told her children about the negro mammy they used to have in Tennessee. She was real good and they thought a lot of her. When they would sit down at the table, they would ask her to come and eat with them. She would say, "Oh, no, no you wouldn't like this old black face sitting with you white folks. No, I will eat here in the kitchen." And she always did.

Cordie also told her children about when she had typhoid fever. She was about 14 or 15 years old there in Tennessee. She had been awfully sick but was getting better. She was still quite weak and shaky. She said her father had a garden and had some beautiful tomatoes. One day she saw her mother had picked a big basket full of tomatoes and was taking them to the store house. She asked if she could have some. Her mother answered, "Heavens no! They would kill you."

Cordie said they looked so good and she was so hungry, that later she slipped with a salt shaker and went down to the store house. She ate three or four big tomatoes. Just as she was finishing the last one, her mother walked up. She said, "Oh! You will surely die! What have you done?" Aunt Cordie said that she never felt so good in all her life, with her stomach full of tomatoes. They never hurt her. In fact, she said that was what made her well.

Uncle Charlie and Aunt Jerusha and Cordie left Tennessee with the rest of the folks in March of 1889 on the train. When the railroad forked at St. Louis, they came on to Pima, Arizona. Uncle Charlie had a store there. They never had any more children but Cordie grew up and married Squire Enoch Reynolds. They raised a big wonderful family. There is only one son left, Lincoln Reynolds. Their other children were Alfred Rufus and Annie, Esther and Ruth.

They also have a great posterity of Grandchildren. Some of them are Dr. Earl and Sandra Bleak who just returned from Tarpine Valley, Tennessee. They visited Ira and Ernestine Luster who were cordial as ever with fried chicken and all of the trimmings.

John Robert Dyer and Barsheba Tharpe (Part 1)

Valley of the Terrapins, Slow and Steady Wins the Race

adapted from a manuscript by Nancy Mildred Beals DeWitt

Part 1

It is with great humility that I am trying to compile the history of my Great Grandparents. I have prayed earnestly and humbly for my Heavenly Father to help me with this assignment. The latest research I can find shows John Robert Dyer was probably born in Greensboro, N. Carolina between 1813-1818 and Barsheba Tharpe was born on 8 Sept. 1813. We think her father's name was John or Robert Lewis Tharpe but we are not positive. We think his mother's name was Sarah or Sara Taylor.

John Robert and Barsheba were both orphans. They met when both were working, where they fell in love and got married. They started housekeeping in a one room log cabin with a dirt floor and not a stick of furniture. They gathered some fresh pine needles and piled them in the corner for a bed.

It took a brave woman to go into the forest with her man and raise a family. She faced odds that would frighten most people, like the quiet of the forest with no neighbor close to talk to or give the assurance of help in an emercency or sickness. There was no one to have a little womanly talk with as the long days went by. The only sounds were those that came from the forest, a panther's scream at night, a wolf's howl, or an owl's hoot. My Grant Grandmother Barsheba was one of those brave women. She had neither a parent nor an inlaw to turn to, no one but her husband.

Since Great Grandpa John Robert was a farmer, history tells us he would have been busy clearing the land, making a crop, hunting the meat in the forest, making a shelter, and protecting his home.

People in those times did not have too much time to think about educating the children. In fact the schools were so far and few that many of the backwoods people did not learn to read and write. There was a lot to learn about life and survival that couldn't be learned in books, however, and this kind of education was important as "booklearning" in thos dayes, if not more important.

Later, roads were built and the community grew until there were close neighbors. The soil was virgin. The trees were big and the forest stretched so far it was more than a man could do to clear his land. He had to girdle the trees with an axe and let them die, then cut the trees and roll them into a heap and chop them to burn during the winter to keep warm. This took strong, courageous men. This is the kind of a man my Great Grandfather, John Robert Dyer was. It is said that the name Dyer is an occupational name from the old English word Deagre meaning "dyer" -- one who either processes the dye or one who dyed the cloth. The motto on the Dyer Crest means "I do not Fear. I will not affright." Our ancestors were poor in the things of this world, but there was no poverty of spirit.

They kept the fields fenced with split rails, the cows, hogs and sheep ran outside in the woods for pasture. In the spring they would round up the cattle except the milk cows and sheep. They usually let hogs run wild in the mountains. They would take the sheep and cattle to the mountains for summer pasture, going out about every two weeks to give them some salt and check on them.

They grew corn as a main crop, pulling the blades from the stalks in the fall and tied them into bundles and put them in starks or in the barn for winter feed. They grew their own potatoes, cabbage and beans and the produce they used on the table. They dried apples, dried green beans, dried pumpkin, made kraut, made hominy, then they gathered the herbs for their medicine, all for the winter use.

They went to the spring or a branch to wash clothes, boiling them in a big iron pot, beating the dirt out with a "battling" stick, and washed with home made lye soap. They carded wool to weave cloth for clothes for all the family, and knit all the stockings from wool. The shoemaker took tanned cowhide and made shoes using wooden pegs to hold the soles. They made quilts from lindsey wool cloth and wove all of the blankets.

A big fire was kept in the house all winter, if they had two chimneys they kept a fire in both, one to cook on. The children went to school about one month in the winter when it was too cold to work on the farm. They had school in the church house or log house by a fireplace, then later a "pot bellied" stove.

When a preacher would visit the community to preach, they would go to church. Mostly in the summer time they would have a "Protracted Meeting" after the crops were "layed by" for about a week in each church. They never thought of going to the store for anything but things they could not grow or make on the farm: coffee, soda, salt, sugar, some medicine, turpentine, salts, linament, camphor ice to make a bottle of "Campfire" with whiskey to sit on the "fireboard" for use when aches or pains came on. All the family worked six days a week after about six years old, no time for play or foolishment."

Andrea's Promise

Andrea saw this photo during her recent visit and told me that there was a story behind the photo. She promised me that if I posted the picture, she would tell us the story. Andrea, the photo is posted, and we are anxious to hear your story.

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Such a cute little Girl I was! :D The other's were cute too! ;-)

Well, I did see this picture while Dad and I were playing on the computer, and I did say that I would post a story about my memories riding in the back of that yellow blazer, not really this particular picture, but the memories that I have of being a city girl, roughing it with my country cousins! You know the City Mouse Country Mouse kind of story! Marcy always reminds me, that I came from the City and they were tougher because they were from the country! I'd beg to differ, but.... ;-) Robert and I always LOVED to be with our Country Cousins from Alamosa!

Anyway, I remember riding in the back of this yellow blazer many, many times! Over the many visits it was modified to fit our many needs and their ever growing extended family. We would often visit the Sand Dunes and the Don Vance family had their vehicle modified this one particular time with the benches that were NOT bolted in the floor of the blazer lined up against the windows for the adults to sit on, while us kids sat on the floor in the middle, on blankets, sometimes us kids were lucky enough to sit on benches while Uncle Don drove up and down the sandy hills of the Dunes to find just the right spot to let us rugrats out to run-a-muck; to play in the water; burry ourselves in the sand; and basically wear the tar out of us so that we'd sleep well when we got back to the Don Vance Family castle.

I think I still have lumps on my head from when we'd hit a bump or two and the benches that were NOT bolted down would fly up, bringing us with it to knock our mellons on the ceiling of the blazer. Little sacrifices we dealth with to enjoy the company of our family and enjoy the Valley sun! I always though Uncle Don was a wild and crazy driver, and that was cool because we wouldn't have been on half the adventures we were in if he didn't take the risks he did!

That was the one particular memory I had of this blazer showing our fun loving cousins, Danette, Cory and the RKent Vance Family offspring, Andrea and Robert. I WOULDN'T TRADE THOSE MOMENTS FOR ANYTHING!

~I better get back to work for now! If I think of other memories of this blazer, I'll post more later!

There you go! :D

Our Family

I have wanted to add more but have had a hard time getting on the post. After Marcy was added to our family, we got Danette, She has been a great joy to me. then Cory, he was our first grandson. Andrea and Robert and Shandi and Emery J, came along, Arlo, Craig, Brian, Julie, Monica, Anita, John Henry, Debra, and Eric, When we got Betty, we got Brenda and Ed. This is all of the grandchildren that belong to Arlo and Me. My grandchildren are my pearls. I love every one of them.

Treasures

Today has been an emotional day for me in a really good way. I have been working hard at packing our office and trying to sluf off some of the rubbish that has collected in desk drawers and in book shelves. It's been hard to decide what to keep and what to discard.

Among the treasures unearthed today were three letters. The first was a letter to Andrea and Robert that was never mailed telling of my love for them and the frustration of not being able to see them. Another was a letter to Betty to reasure her of my love as she prepared to go through the temple with her Mom and Dad without me because I was not worthy to go with her. The third treasure was a letter from Larry at a time in my life that I was really hard on myself because of the poor choices I had made. These are three treasures that I'll always keep. It has been good to remember those times and realize that I have made progress in my life.

The love of my family has made all the difference in the world.

I didn't get all of the packing done that I had hoped to do today, but it has helped me realize that the greatest treasure I have is the love of my family. That is something you can't pack in a box or store in the cupboard. Althought I can't hold it in my hands, it can be mine forever.