Thursday, October 11, 1951
VISIT BACK HOME
On August 19, 1951, in company with Mr. and Mrs. B. E. Kelley, the latter being my niece and a daughter of Squire G. W. L. Doyle, we left Elkins at 10 a.m. and motored to Marlinton. There, we stopped and ate a delicious dinner at the City Restaurant.
Leaving Marlinton, we started out for Spruce Flats, not knowing about the good road that had been built up there, we thought it well to inquire if we could make the trip in the Studebaker. On getting out to inquire of the first person we met, we were surprised to find it was our old merchant and friend, Winters McNeill. After telling him I was expecting to see an older looking man, and asking if he could still spit as big as he used to, we let our inquiry be known, and he assured us that we could drive right up to the old homeplace, which was once known as the Claiborne McNeill place and was first occupied by my father and mother, the late Benjamin Randolph and Mary Jane Beverage Doyle. On arriving, we found that the place is now owned by Harry Whiting, who has built a nice home on the place and has also built a home on what was then known as the Dave Loudermilk place, and where he now lives…
There were a few spots that looked natural to us. The old house had burned down. Some of the rock from the chimney was still there and Mr. and Mrs. Kelley brought one back with them, which they hope to put in their new home, which they are expecting to build in the near future. We walked out a few yards from the spot where the house once stood, and took a drink out of the old spring and got some delicious apples off one of the old trees.
As I walked around there it brought back sweet to me. Our home was a very humble one, no running water, no electricity, no radio, no comic books, but a Bible was there and a family altar where the word of God was read and prayer was made night and morning and it was there that I learned something this world cannot take away from me and once again I felt I had been walking on sacred ground.
Well, on our way back, we drove to Buckeye and visited a while with Winters McNeill and his good wife, Etta, who, with her brothers and sisters, were our good friends and school mates.
The only thing that was wrong, our time was too short, and we had to be moving on. How we did enjoy our visit with them. The weather was perfect and with the grandeur of the mountains, it seemed that I could see God in every tree.
Well, we stopped near Edray to visit a few minutes with our good friends, Mr. and Mrs. Rader. How glad we were to meet with them again… We motored on over to Mace, then took a secondary road down what is known as Dry Branch. After driving a few miles, we came to the home of my cousin, Zannie Doyle. He is the son of the late Gilbert and Georgia Mace Doyle. There he and his good wife gave us a hearty welcome and made us feel like we would like to have spent a week with them. …
From there, we drove on down to Blue Springs and stopped a few minutes at the home of Zannie’s brother, Jesse. There we found the same hospitality and sure enjoyed our short stay with them. Driving on through Monterville, we came back on Route 219 at Valley Head, so we drove up the valley to Uncle Hanson Doyle’s, where we found him and his happy little companion all ready to go to church, and as usual just full of the praises of God.
When we drove back to Elkins to the home of my brother, Squire G. W. L. Doyle, where I make my home at the present time, it was 8 p.m. and I was very tired but felt like I had seen the close of a perfect day.
Ada Doyle Bible
FIELD NOTES
James Workman of the Levels brings in a hand full of native chestnuts. For seven or eight years, he has picked chestnuts from a tree east of Greenbrier River. It is now of good size and shows no signs of wilt. Naturally, I am hoping this is the one tree in the many billions which may prove immune to blight.
Two years ago, I found a nice thrifty chestnut tree over in the Buckleys. It carried a nice lot of burrs filled with nuts of good size. No signs of blight then, but a visit the other day found the tree just a total loss. The blight spores had found lodgment in bark cracks as soon as formed.
The word comes of a chestnut tree at the Higgins place on Spruce Flat with a good crop of nuts. Its height is guessed at 30 feet, and thickness of six inches. No sign of blight is reported to have been noticed on this tree.
WEDDINGS
Announcement has been made of the September 29, 1951 marriage of Miss Madaline Joy Doyle, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Elmer L. Doyle, of Frankford, to Randall H. Price son of Mrs. Nannie Price, of Lewisburg, and the late A. W. Price, in the First English Evangelical Lutheran Church in Richmond, Virginia.
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The Hillsboro Methodist Church was the scene of the pretty wedding of Miss Ruth Naomi Hill to Charles Richard Whiteman on Monday, September 3, 1951. The bride is the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George P. Hill, of Hillsboro. The groom’s parents are Mr. and Mrs. C. K. Whiteman, of New Martinsville.
BIRTHS
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hickson, of Cass, a son.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Dean, of Hillsboro, a son.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Westfall, of Hillsboro, a daughter.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Earl Lambert, of Boyer, a daughter.
DEATHS
Cletus Kelly aged 82 years, died at his home on Browns Mountain Friday; burial on Monday afternoon in the family cemetery. The deceased was a son of the late William Kelly
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Mrs. Myrtle Bussard Gorrell, aged 52 years, widow of Bernard W. Gorrell, died at the home of her sister, Mrs. Eva Mae McCollam, in Wheeling. Funeral service from the Marlinton Methodist Church with interment in Mt. View Cemetery. She was a daughter of the late Ellis and Minnie Sharp Bussard, of Knapps Creek.
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William Edward Jackson, aged 74 years, of Renick’s Valley. Funeral from the home with burial in the Cloonan Cemetery. Mr. Jackson was held in high esteem and will be sadly missed by the community.
