Grandma Stella Smith and Chickens

Hatching Chickens

My Grandmother, Stella Smith somehow knew when a hen was ready to set. She also knew which eggs were fertilized and would put the eggs under her. I guess Grandma knew all about the science of chickens hatching. She would watch the hen and the eggs. If any of the chickens were having trouble getting out of the egg, Grandma would help them a little bit. She would have my sister and me come over to where the hen was sitting and the chicks were being born. We would watch along with Grandma very quietly. Thinking back on it now, it was all so miraculous. 

Once the chicks were old enough, they would be released into the chicken pen. Grandpa would buy special food for them but we also fed them scraps from the table. It was fun watching them grow up but we knew that they would someday be food right from the start. They would either become food or they would produce food.


Getting Ready for the Table

At one time, my Grandma was a very large woman but she was always on the move and always working. Grandma would kill the chickens as a first step for getting them ready for the table. The way she would do it was to wring their necks which would break them. I remember Grandma getting out in the chicken pen with a chicken in each hand. She would swing her wrist around in circles until the chickens necks broke. Sometimes, she would do this to several young fryers so she could prepare them for the freezer in order to have chicken for the winter. I remember chickens flopping all around Grandma in the chicken pen.


Time to Pluck

I loved my Grandma so much that I wanted to be just like her and do everything that she did. She took care of my sister and me when our parents worked which was a lot. I followed my Grandma around everywhere she went and slept in the same bed as her often. 


When Grandma killed the chickens and plucked them, so did I. I remember that I was probably about 4 to 6 years old and I was helping Grandma to pluck chickens. My baby sister was almost exactly two years younger than me and I don't remember her doing any chicken plucking. If she was 2 or 3, I can see why she wouldn't or even 4 or 5. Tudy and I were different. Maybe she was hanging out with Grandpa but he was still working in the fields at that time so maybe she was taking a nap. I just don't remember her being there. I do remember helping Grandma to pluck chickens 2 or 3 times.


I remember that this chicken plucking took place when the house was still two rooms. Grandma would heat a big pot of water on the stove. She would give me a small aluminum tub and she would have one. She would dip a dead chicken into the water to soften up the feathers to make them easier to pull out. Then she would put the dead chicken legs in my little hand and I would go to plucking. I loved plunging my hands into the feathers and I was being just like my Grandma. I know that I must not have done a great job of plucking but Grandma told me that I did. Once all of the chickens were plucked, she would clean them, and burn the pin feathers off by holding them above the burner on the stove. She would then cook some up and freeze the others if she had killed a bunch of them. 


Fast Forward to Today 2023

Please Do Not hand me a dead chicken now to pluck!!!

Tudy and Her Bottle

Looking for Tudy's Bottle

I remember when my baby sister was about 18 months old, my Mom and my Grandma Smith were trying to put my sister down to sleep. 

They were putting her down in the bed in the room that served as the kitchen, dining room and bedroom. The front room served as living room, and bedroom for Grandma and Grandpa. That was when Grandma and Grandpa only had two rooms to their house.

Anyway, Tudy would say she wanted her bottle.  Every time Mama would give her the bottle she would throw it and cry for the bottle again. Tudy wanted to go outside to get her bottle.  So we all went outside (except for Grandpa) with the flashlight looking for Tudy's bottle. We get out there and what does Tudy do?  She crawls under the house and comes back out with one of Grandpa's wine bottles!

That was back when Grandpa still drank alcohol. He would drink wine and beer.  Grandma never allowed anyone to bring alcohol into the house so Grandpa would drink outside and he hid his wine bottles under the house.  Tudy must have been watching Grandpa and decided she wanted to try out some of the stuff Grandpa was drinking.  The house was up on blocks so there was space under the house.

Of course Tudy wasn't allowed to have any of Grandpa's wine but leave it to her to have us going on a wild goose chase right from the start.  Never a dull moment with that girl, I tell ya even when she was a baby.

Unexpected Genealogy Gift

A Gift From A Cousin

My husband Frank and I flew to Dallas a couple of weeks ago to attend our nieces wedding.  As we arrived, there was a very bad thunder storm with lots of lightning.  For safety reasons, all of the ramps had been closed down.  We had to wait for about an hour and a half before we could collect our luggage and our rental car and be on our way.

While we were waiting, I checked my email and my Facebook.  One of my cousins that lives in Oklahoma and who is from my Smith line had sent me a photo of my Grandma and Grandpa Smith that I had never seen before.                                                 

Left to Right is my Grandpa Fred Burke Smith, his sister Augusta Caroline (Callie) Smith Butcher, and my Grandma Stella E Marie Holland Smith

I was extremely close to my Grandparents and they practically raised my sister and me until I was eleven and she was nine and we moved from Poplar, CA to the San Francisco Bay Area.  We would still visit them frequently and spent a month every summer with them.

I couldn't find a date on the photo, but I believe it was taken sometime in the 1960s so that would have put my Grandparents somewhere in their early 60s.  This photo was taken when they went back to Oklahoma to visit relatives.

This is how they always dressed for most of my life.  Later on Grandpa started wearing striped overalls sometimes.  When he went outside, he would wear a straw cowboy hat.  Near the end of his life, he would wear slacks, a shirt, suspenders and a dude hat when he went to the doctor.

Grandma told me that when they met, Grandpa was known as that big eyed Smith boy.  Grandpa did have big eyes...big blue eyes.  One of his eyes had a little bit of brown in it though.  My Grandma had very, very, deep blue eyes....almost purple or violet at times.  They were a beautiful shade of blue.

Thank you so much, cousin Medessa Cook Montgomery for the lovely gift that you shared with me.    It turned an otherwise somewhat challenging day into a wonderful, blessed day!  It also gave me one more photo to share with my other Smith cousins.  Medessa's Grandmother was my Grandpa's sister, Aunt Callie.

I heard a lot about Aunt Callie.  My Grandma would talk on the phone to family members and would relay the conversations to my Grandpa who wouldn't hardly ever get on the phone. 

I miss them both so much and think about them every day, sometimes, I think about them several times a day.  They didn't have much money and they didn't have much formal education, but they taught me so much, and gave me unconditional love.  That was priceless!!!

Transgressions of Charity and John Hollon/Holland

Background

Before I start filling you in on Charity Brewer and John Holland, my 4th Great Grandparents, I would like to remind you about my background and upbringing.

My Grandmother was Stella Holland Smith.  Grandma was very strict with the girls.  She didn't want our hair cut, we weren't allowed to wear shorts, and we weren't supposed to notice if a woman was pregnant and if we did, we weren't supposed to mention it or even know what it meant.  Grandma wouldn't even wear a dress with any red in it, when I was growing up, because only women of the night wore red.  She relaxed a little later in life and started wearing more colorful clothing.

Grandma came from a large family.  Two of her sisters had their own churches.  Aunt Rosie had a church in Stockton, CA, and Aunt Nellie had a church in Poplar, CA, (my home town). 

I attended Baptist and Pentecostal Churches.  My Grandpa Smith's family were mostly Baptist, but Grandpa didn't go to Church.  My Grandma's family were Pentecostal.  I was raised more in the Pentecostal faith.   Although, if you ask me, I can't see a big difference.  But then again, I'm not a religious scholar. 

Anyway, we weren't supposed to do anything that was fun, like going to dances, movies, etc.  Women weren't supposed to wear pants or makeup.  Women weren't supposed to do anything that might make themselves more attractive to the opposite sex either. 

I think you all might be getting the picture.   But, I had a little Mama, that liked to break the rules, so she didn't enforce any of that.  I guess you could say, Rosie Mae Smith Johnson was a little Hell Raisin' Holy Roller.

Even with being brought up in such a rigid religious environment, I still have a very strong faith that has helped me through many bad situations throughout my life.

I also must tell you that I had the best Grandparents ever.  They gave my sister and me so much love, I don't know where I would be today if I had not had them in my life.


Speaking of Hell Raisers.  Since John and Charity were my 4th Great Grandparents, they were my Mom's 3rd Great Grandparents.   Oh and here is the good part!  They were my Grandma Stella Holland Smith's, Aunt (Reverend) Rosille Holland Snow's, and Aunt (Reverend) Nellie Holland Snow Ozner's 2nd Great Grandparents.

Oh, I almost forgot.  Their other sister, Argie Alice Holland Simpson Robinson, used to tell me all the time when I was growing up, that the devil was going to get me.  I don't know why she would tell me that.  I might be playing outside or going around in circles getting dizzy, and all of a sudden, Aunt Argie would be telling me that the devil was going to get me. She may be right about that since I can't help but enjoy the story I'm about to tell you.

Below are two photos.  The first photo is of Aunt Nellie and my Grandma.  I did think that the other person was Aunt Argie but it isn't. I think the other woman is their sister in law. 
                                            

Nellie Holland, Stella Holland, and Sister in law, I think.

The next photo is of my Grandmother, her Father, John Wesley Holland who is sitting in the middle, and her siblings. 


                                                  

Back row, left to right.  Rosie, Argie, Nellie, Stella.  Sitting in the middle is John Wesley Holland, their Father.
In the front are the brothers.  One of them is probably Clift and she had another brother named Claud Orville.  I'm not sure who the extra guy is.  To the left in the background, it looks like it is either Jr. or Don.  One of my Grandma's sons.

The photo above was taken after they came to California from Arkansas and Oklahoma, I think.

S  C A  N  D  A L 

There are many tales, and family legend surrounding Charity Brewer and John Hollon.  If you google their names, you will come up with tons of info.  Not all of it is true, however, some of it is.  Several book articles and newspapers articles have been written about them.

Lets get started.  First let me tell you a little about John Hollon and Charity Brewer each.

John's surname is found on records spelled as Holland, Hollon, and Hollin. John Hollon, my 4th Great Grandpa, was born April 24, 1777 in Montgomery County, VA.  That part of the county is now Grayson. 

There are several different versions, according to family legend, John was betrothed to Charity Brewer, who was born September 26, 1777, in what is now Ashe County, North Carolina.  It is just across the border from Grayson County. 

It is believed that Charity was the daughter of Ambrose Brewer, (she named a son Ambrose, so I believe this to be true) who was the brother of Lewis Brewer of Grayson County.  John Holland's aunt Agatha married Lewis Brewer.  There is a good chance that John and Charity knew one another as children.

John ordered a survey of land in Grayson County in October, 1799, on Middle Fork Creek, but withdrew the survey.  Instead, he went to the Kentucky wilderness to stake a claim.  He planned to return and marry Charity. 

When John did not return at the appointed time, family convinced Charity that he was dead.  She married another man, with the surname of Maynard.  They were married long enough for Charity to give birth to a child.  When John Hollon returned alive and well, she left her child and husband behind to go to Kentucky with him.

Their home site was in present day Wolfe County, Kentucky.  Charity gave birth to the first white child in the region about 1804.  One of the family legends says that Rebecca was born in the cave on Holly Creek, since their cabin was not finished yet.  Please see photo of the Cave below.

                                              

Cave where John and Charity lived while cabin was being built and where their first child was born

John and Charity had 9 children and over 100 grandchildren. Their children were Rebecca, William, Fannie, Ambrose, Lucinda, Phoebe, Andrew Jackson "Jack" (my 3rd great grandpa), Hiram and John Jr.  Many of their descendants hold reunions each year in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Texas.  At one point, over 3,000 descendants had been identified.  I don't know what the count is up to now.  I'm sure Timothy J Barron has a better idea than I do what it is.  He is a distance cousin of mine from the Holland line.  He is also the source for much of the information in this article.  

Here is the Scandalous Part

 

A marriage record from Floyd County, Kentucky, shows that John Hollon and Charity Mains (should have been Maynard) were married May 21, 1820, by Daniel Williams.  This means that their first eight children were born out of wedlock.  Charity may have still been married to her first husband.  Furthermore, she was about seven months pregnant with their ninth child, John Jr., at the time of their marriage.  

John and Charity are honored as the founders of Wolfe County in the County Historical Society in Campton, Wolfe County, Kentucky.
                                                

    John and Charity are buried together in the Hollon Cemetery on top of a hill in Hollonville, Wolfe County, Kentucky.  They are buried in cairns which is an unusual design in Kentucky. 

                                                     

Story about Charity's First Child

Timothy J Barron proved that the legend of Charity having another child that she left behind is true.  His DNA matched with a descendant of Mahalia Maynard Brewer, Charity's first born that she had with her first husband, Shadrack Maynard. My DNA also matched with a descendant of Mahalia's at a later time.

The articles written to date....

1958 Book article about John Hollon & Charity:  "Hollon and Related Families in Wolfe County" written by Clay Hollon, appeared in "Early and Modern History of Wolfe County" pages 115-116

1958 Book article about John Hollon & Charity:  "The First Hollon to Settle in Wolfe County" written by Capt. James I. Hollon, appeared in "Early and Modern History of Wolfe County", page 128

1961 Book article about John Hollon & Charity: written by Clay Hollon, appeared in "Fragments of Knowlege from Around the Globe"

1967 Newspaper Article about John Hollon & Charity: "Cave House on Holly Creek Birthplace of First white Child Born in Wolfe County" written by Steve Swango, appeared in unconfirmed newspaper.

1979 Book article about John Hollon & Charity:  appeared in "The Pence Genealogy: Early Pioneers of Wolfe County, Kentucky including Pences, Hollons, Brewers, Banks, Tomlinsons and many others and who was who," by Sally Singleton page 15

1989 Newspaper article about John Hollon & Charity: "The Saga of Charity Brewer"  written by Athelene (Jackie) Genge of Spooner, Wisconsin appeared on March 3, 1989 in the Wolfe County News from Wolfe County, Kentucky. 

1995 Book article about John Hollon & Charity:  "John Hollon and Charity Brewer" written by Sandra Lake Lassen, appeared in "Bicentennial Heritage Grayson County, Virginia" page 246

So there you have it.  Charity and John created quite a stir, and were a scandalous couple.  I'm not exactly sure when the Hollands got religion.  Maybe John and Charity had religion but I haven't read anything about it, if they did.

Tudy and Me

This is Tudy (Doreena) and me at our Grandma and Grandpa Smith's house on Rd 198 in Poplar, Ca.  I was about 7 or 8 here and Tudy was 5 or 6.  We were born almost exactly two years a part.

The house was still two rooms at this time.  The front room served as a living room/bedroom combination and the back room served as the kitchen/dining/bedroom combination.  Our Grandpa built the house himself.

Tudy and I spent more time here than we did at our own house since Grandma took care of us while our parents worked.  I thought it was the most wonderful place in the world and felt very safe and secure there.

As you can see, our skin was tanned from playing outside so much.  Tudy would always get much darker than me since she inherited the skin tone of our Father.  I would burn first and then get a little tan.  In the summertime, it would get so hot we wouldn't stay outside for too long unless we were in the shade.  We would run around in the  sun a bit, back in the shade, and back into the house to cool off.

Grandpa only had a swamp cooler in the front room that had to be sprayed down with water from the outside periodically, but it did a pretty good job of keeping us cooled down.

I don't know how my parents, Grandpa, and other family members stood the heat to work in the fields to support us.  Thinking about it now, I have a whole new respect for them and what they had to endure.

We Lost Uncle Lloyd

Gone But Not Forgotten Uncle Lloyd

Uncle Lloyd McKay was from my Mom's side of the family.  He was married to my Mother's oldest sister, Thelma Irene Smith.  I loved my Uncle Lloyd so much.  He passed away last week at the age of 93 1/2. 

When I was young, we lived in Poplar, CA until I was 11 years old.  I only had one sister who was younger than me by two years.  Aunt Thelma and Uncle Lloyd lived in Stockton, CA.  They had a large family of five girls and two boys.  I used to love it when they would come to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Smith.

My sister, Tudy and I were at our Grandparents house more than we were at home.  Grandma took care of us while our parents worked. 

Uncle Lloyd loved kids.  When he came to visit, he always gave me a lot of attention.  He didn't play ball, or run with the kids like my Dad did.  Uncle Lloyd was a talker.  He loved to talk and he loved to know about people and how they were doing.  Uncle Lloyd always made me feel so important!  He made me feel that way until the day he died.

My Uncle Lloyd always drove a station wagon when his kids were growing up.   I loved to pile into the station wagon with all of my McKay cousins and my sister.  We never had any money so we would mostly just go to Church or to the grocery store.

After my family moved from Poplar and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, my sister and I used to stay a week or two at a time with Aunt Thelma and Uncle Lloyd.  They had a small house so we would crowd into bed with our cousins.  I would sleep with Carol and Fay, and my sister Tudy would sleep with Pam and Kathy.  It was lots of fun because we had lots of kids to hang out with even if it was at their house.

Uncle Lloyd was a doer and a helper.  He was always helping someone out by mowing their lawn, taking them to the doctor, helping them work on their house, etc.  When my grandparents got older and needed more help, he would drive up and down the 99 several times a month.

After Grandma died, Uncle Lloyd and Aunt Thelma brought my Grandpa Smith home to take care of him.  Uncle Lloyd helped him to bathe and do that sort of thing after Grandpa reached that point.  They took really good care of Grandpa with Aunt Thelma doing the cooking and Uncle Lloyd doing the physical part of the caring until Grandpa passed away.

Their oldest child, Lloyd David got a brain tumor that was terminal.  They brought him home.  Uncle Lloyd took care of his oldest son until he passed away.
Aunt Thelma developed several health issues.  She was totally bedridden, couldn't talk and was fed through a tube in her stomach for a couple of years.  Uncle Lloyd was right there with her taking care of her.

After Aunt Thelma could no longer talk, Uncle Lloyd used to call me to keep me up to date on the family comings and goings and the latest gossip.  Uncle Lloyd would also plant okra just for me.  It is hard for me to grow it in my area so he would grow it for me.

Uncle Lloyd loved his family.  He was a wonderful family man, a good Christian, and a great human being!  Because he cared so much about others, he was a natural at being an outstanding Father, Husband, Grandfather, Great Grandfather, Son in Law, Father in Law, Uncle, and Friend.

I know that he is in Heaven with Aunt Thelma and they are having a wonderful time. 
His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant