Thursday, April 21, 1949
A heavy woven wire fence now protects the playground of the Marlinton Grade School on the 9th Street side. The little ones were always running after balls on this street of heavy traffic.
OLD NOTES
Friend Ed H. McLaughlin, of Browns Creek, recently brought in these notes on the weather and things, marked down many years since by his father, the late Hugh P. McLaughlin:
The year of 1906 will long be remembered as the rainiest season ever seen in this county. It rained in July, August and September. On October 10 was a snowstorm. No frost up to that time. Lot of grass was never cut. Roads were almost impassable. A great deal of oats and buckwheat rotted in the field. No seeding done by October 10. No threshing done in this section. Hundreds of bushels of apples froze on the trees. Big flood on November 19.
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The winter of 1908 was the worst winter since 1857. Snow fell on the 7th of January, 18 inches deep and drifted over fences; roads blockaded. March 15, snow drifts still in the roads, impossible to travel.
FIELD NOTES
Up at the Hevenerland Plantation, on Deer Creek, a red fox was seen going in a hole on a grassy hillside. Investigation proved it to be a den. Digging out, the old fox and a litter of eight little foxes were taken. This big family is being cared for and petted. Eight in a fox litter is just two beyond me; I never saw more than six. Checking up on red foxes in the book I see the families run from four to nine in a litter. They are born about the first of April.
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Farmer friend B. B. Shields, on the Greenbrier, down Denmar way, advertises sorghum molasses in the classified columns of this paper. I have a weakness for sorghum made in the right way, so he brought me a gallon. I tried it out on hot biscuits and toasted rolls, not to mention cornbread – both spoon and pone. It was plenty good. So, for whatever it is worth, this is my testimonial in commendation for Brent’s product. …
It is nature’s true restorer. There is more good doctor medicine to tune up the system in a gallon of sorghum syrup than in a whole bottle of physician prescription. Down through long ages, sorghum was on the job, teeming with vitamins. It kept the pioneer fit and strong to push back in the wilderness. Only in this generation has science separated such various life giving elements and called them vitamins…
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For the sake of the record let it be put down that the bloom of the service tree showed up white on the hills surrounding Marlinton on April 12, 1949. This is late by about 10 days from its usual appearance. In the east, the service tree is the shad bush, and in the far west it is the salmonberry. The bloom marks the time when shad and salmon run into rivers from the ocean.
BIRTHS
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Luther Dulaney, a son.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Dice Sharp, a son.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Gale Huber, a son, Gale Lee.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. James Jordan, a daughter named Connie Sue.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Jack, a son named Stephen Douglas.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Beecher Wilfong, a son named Denver Ralph.
DEATHS
The body of Sergeant Emil L. Grogg was returned to the United States and buried in the National Cemetery at Fort Scott, Kansas, Wednesday afternoon, April 20. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Grogg, of Greenbank.
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Mary Sydenstricker Friel, formerly of Hillsboro; widow of the late Craig L. Friel. Funeral service conducted from the Huntersville Methodist Church with burial in the cemetery nearby.
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Mrs. Guy Bratton Frame, wife of Dr. Ray I. Frame, of Sharples; burial in the family plot in Mt. View Cemetery. Mrs. Frame was a daughter of Mrs. W. A. Bratton, of Marlinton, and the late Mr. Bratton.
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Mrs. Sarah Hill McMillion, aged 79, widow of the late Wade McMillion, died at her home at Jacox April 17, 1949. On Tuesday, her body was laid to rest in Beulah cemetery, the service being held from Hill Chapel.
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Mrs. Hazel VanDevander, aged 48 years, died at Pocahontas Memorial Hospital, April 12, 1949. She was a daughter of the late Lee Ervin and Virgie Ervin. The funeral service was held from the Arbovale Church.
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Mrs. Eliza Jane Ruckman, aged 92 years, died at her home near Millpoint April 16, 1949. On Tuesday afternoon, her body was laid to rest in the Ruckman cemetery. The funeral was held from Marvin Chapel church. The deceased was a daughter of the late Dr. Pleas Smith, of Edray. She became the wife of Millard Fillmore Ruckman, who preceded her in death 35 years.
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Ralph M. Musser, aged 57 years, died at his home at Frankford March 8, 1949. A former county agent, the deceased was one of the best known and highly respected men of Greenbrier county.