A Letter from My G G Grandmother

                                                         

Written in 1917 by his grandmother to my maternal grandfather in response to his request for family history:

Dear Huborn,

Just a few lines to thank you for your invitation to visit you. There is nothing I would enjoy more if my health would admit. I know I would have a pleasant time with you and Ruby but as I grow older I feel the need of staying at home. My health is very bad this winter-----Now these records I am sending are to the best of my memory. I do not remember dates. Now if this is not satisfactory please let me know & excuse all errors.

                                With a heart full of love for you both, as ever,

                                       Grammother Northcutt

Your grandfather J.H. Northcutt was the son of W.M. Northcutt who came with his father J.W. Northcutt from South Carolina and settled in Butler Co., Ala. Do not remember the date. J.W. Northcutt was a Methodist preacher. Your great grandmother Northcutt was a Miss Nancy Morrz (?) of Ahoobuta, Miss. who died when your grandfather was born. Don't know her parents.

Your great grandfather Benjamin Mason came to Alabama with his father Peter Mason from Savannah, Georgia. Do not remember their dates.

Your great grandmother Mason was Miss Margaret Mancil. Came from South Carolina with her father William Mancil during the trouble with the Indians. Do not remember these dates.

                                                   

As I was getting ready to post this, it occurred to me that possibly I was repeating myself (ah, old age!) And a quick search through this blog (now over 6K posts) told me that I'd already posted about this letter--and at considerably more length HERE

Too late to dream up another post . . . sorry.

Great Grand Parents

Yesterday I had a call from an Alabama cousin I'd never met  -- the grandson of Lillie Belle, one of my grandfather's sisters. He has some family information to share with me and I, in turn, sent him links to several blog posts I've done on the Northcutts. 

Re-reading this one, I decided to post it again. (Still no camera.)

William Benjamin Northcutt

Born just after the War Between the States

Into red clay Reconstruction Alabama.

A farmer and a farmer's son.

At twenty-two he married

Red-headed, eighteen year old Lucy Camella Glenn

And they moved from Forest Home to Evergreen.

Just over a year and their first child was born

My mother's father, Victor Huborn,

Who told me, how when he was young

His mother took him and his brothers and sisters

(John and Lillie Belle, William and Lallah)

To visit her parents -- a day's drive away.

Coming back at twilight, drowsy children wrapped in quilts ,

A storm came up and the creek they had to ford

Was running high and wild.

"The mules didn't want to cross it,"

The old man told me, leaning forward, his eyes ablaze,

"But that girl, she slapped the lines across their rumps,
Told those mules to 'Git up!'

And we all got home that night."

Eighty some years ago and the memory was so fresh

That I could see my great-grandmother -- 'that girl,'

Determined to get her brood home safe

And out of the wet Alabama woods.

Lucy Camella died when my grandfather was twelve --
And widowed William, no time to grieve
with six young children and a crop in the fields,
Married a  handy cousin. 
Minnie Lula Northcutt Northcutt
Gave him two more children.
But my grandfather, still grieving
Left home.

 

The Bride's Book ~ Sepia Saturday

My maternal grandparents were married on October 20, 1915 in Troy, Alabama. I've posted about them before -- when they were courting and pictures of my grandmother with her sisters. 

I have, stored away in a chest, my grandmother's wedding dress. One of her wedding slippers is on display in a cabinet of family treasures.

And I have her Bride's Book -- a true treasure! From its pages I learn that Ruby and Huborn first met on November 23, 1912 and that they were engaged on June 25, 1914.

Of course there's a picture of the groom . . .

And the First Baptist Church of Troy, decked out for the occasion . . .

And the bungalow that was their first home . . .

And a charming write-up of the proceedings . . .

But my favorites are the pages with descriptions of her trousseau -- complete with swatches!

Gowns for every occasion . . .

In later years, my grandfather spoke feelingly of the huge trunk (yes, I have that too) that accompanied them on their wedding journey, necessitating hiring porters to move it at each change of trains or hotels.

Go HERE for more Sepia Saturday posts.