Picking Roses In Eastern Kentucky On Thanksgiving Day 2024!

 

Yesterday, Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 2024, my wife Candice and I chose to travel to Prestonsburg, Kentucky, for the Thanksgiving Day Buffet at Jenny Wiley State Park Lodge rather than cook a Thanksgiving dinner for the two of us.  When we are away from the house and have the time, I nearly always try to walk or hike somewhere while Candice waits for me in van at a safe parking area and reads.  Since it was fairly cool and damp, I chose to not hike in the woods near the lodge. There are several fairly good hiking trails in the park and I have used them quite a bit over the last few years. We have also attended other holiday dinners at the lodge with members of my extended family over the years. I went to Big Sandy Community and Technical College to walk on their paved walking path near the Big Sandy River instead.  I have walked there numerous times and actually enjoy that walking path since it is mostly paved with an unpaved gravel loop around a grassy area near old US 23 or North Lake Drive.  The paved area is a big loop with one fairly good uphill which overlooks the river.  Between the river and walking path, there is also a fairly large, relatively flat grassy area which can also be used for walking if it isn't too wet.  There is also a consistent population of black squirrels in the trees around the walking path and along the river bank.  I only saw two squirrels yesterday while I was there and never clearly established that either of them was black since both were on the ground near trees and probably at least a hundred yards away when I spotted them and they immediately ran up the back side of the trees.  

 

I only saw one other walker while I was there yesterday and he only made one loop before disappearing.  He was wearing shorts and the temperature was only 40 degrees or so.  I suspect that he might  have not been enjoying the shorts.  But, to my amazement, I spotted a few late fall roses blooming on some plants which are situated at a little memorial rock garden between the college parking lot and the hiking path.  The rock garden is dedicated to some former employee whose name I don't remember.  There were also some beautiful flowers on several small shrubs at both the rock garden and near a swing which is situated at the opposite end of the grassy area in the center of the walking path.  Since it was already only forty degrees with a subfreezing forecast, I chose to cut one of the roses and several of the other flowers for Candice who was waiting for me in the van.  It was a pleasant surprise for both of us to learn that all these flowers were actually still in bloom on Thanksgiving day.  It also amazes me  how many people choose to totally ignore signals such as these flowers about the fact that global warming is very real and very dangerous for the planet.  

After my walk, we drove up old US 23 from Prestonsburg to Allen where I showed Candice some of what is left of Allen.  Then we returned to the lodge for the buffet.  It was acceptable but a bit overpriced.  There was ham with pineapple served in thin slices, fried cat fish which the lodge serves at nearly all of their major events, turkey served sliced and/or shredded, some turkey dressing which I chose not to try, some fairly good shoe peg corn and carrots, and banana pudding, pecan pie, and pumpkin pie for desert.  The lodge was fairly crowded with what was almost universally an older crowd. It was an enjoyable day all things considered. 

The Big Sandy River Influence On American Culture

 

The Big Sandy River Influence on American Culture

The Big Sandy River has had an amazing amount of influence on American Culture over the last 100 years with a number of musicians, educators, writers, folklorists, and politicians coming out of the region which is in great contrast with the total population of the area drained by the river.  Formed by the Tug River and the Levisa Fork along the Kentucky, West Virginia border it drains Boyd, Lawrence, Johnson, Floyd, Pike, and part of Knott counties in Kentucky and Wayne, Mingo, and McDowell counties in West Virginia.  The region in both states contains only about 300,000 people and the population has been in flux at various times as outmigration has often taken place in conjunction with ebbs in the coal business which has been the primary economic driver in the region.

Yet, this region has produced an astounding number of important figures in American history including many of the country’s most popular musicians, a significant number of educators with national reputations, and several significant politicians.  The list from Boyd County includes The Judds including the actress and social activist Ashley Judd, Billy Ray Cyrus, and the Goins Brothers who were not natives but spent most of their lives in the region.

 Lawrence County has produced Ricky Skaggs and the multi-media artist Nyoka Baker Chapman who is also an official of the Huntington League of Women Voters.  The great Appalachian educator and writer Cratis Williams for whom the graduate school at Appalachian State University is named was also from Lawrence County. The former Chief Justice of the United States Fred Vinson was born in the Lawrence County Jail while his father was jailer there.  He also was a major economic officer in the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt during the recovery from the Great Depression prior to his appointment to the court.  Former Kentucky Governor Paul Patton was also born in Lawrence County and was county judge executive in Pike County. He also served a term as lieutenant governor and was a major driver of the expansion of the University of Pikeville as both president and board member.

Johnson County has produced, and continues to produce an astounding number of important musicians including the Webb sisters, Loretta Lynn, Peggy Sue, and Crystal Gayle; Hylo Brown; Chris Stapleton;  and the minor Bluegrass band Five Miles From Nowhere.  Few Americans realize that the actor Richard Thomas of The Waltons is the son of a New York ballet dancer who grew up in Johnson County and Thomas often spent his summers with his grandparents in Paintsville.  The country singer Tyler Childers was born in Lawrence County and grew up in Johnson County.  Brett Ratliff, an old time musician and singer, also grew up in Johnson County. John Pelphrey who is a well known basketball coach and a member of the University of Kentucky team referred to as The Unforgetables also grew up in Paintsville, Kentucky, and has since been a head coach at the University of Arkansas, South Alabama University, and Tennessee Tech University where he still coaches today.  

Floyd County produced one of the greatest collectors and publishers of folk songs and folk tales, Leonard Roberts, who produced a half dozen books of his collected songs and stories from Appalachia and was a professor at Pikeville College until his death before it achieved university status.  Dwight Yoakam was born near his grandparents’ home in Betsy Layne in Floyd County and often refers to his Eastern Kentucky history despite having spent most of his childhood in Ohio.  Floyd County also produced the founder of the band Goose Creek Symphony, Charlie Gearheart.  The famous Bluegrass singer Tommy Webb is also a native and resident of Floyd County. McDowell in Floyd County produced the significant Appalachian painter and art professor Tim Sizemore who taught for many years at Prestonsburg Community College. The well known artist Russell May lived his entire life Floyd County.  In Wheelwright, Kentucky, Carol Stumbo and her English students produced the significant literary journal “Mantrip” for ten years along with the assistance of Albert Stewart, a highly admired poet and editor from Knott County. Floyd County also produced the man who is generally conceded to have been the best high school basketball player of all time, Kelly Coleman.   

Pike County is famous for having produced Patty Loveless but lesser known for having been the home of the early country singer Molly O’Day. The former Kentucky Poet Laureate Lillie D. Chaffin was also born in Pike County, spent most of her life there, and was a professor at Pikeville College.  The country musician, song writer, and night club owner Marlo Tackett grew up in Floyd County and ran a well known night club in Pike County for many years.

Although Knott County is not fully drained by the Big Sandy River, a significant portion of it is and the Floyd County Times in Prestonsburg was, for many years, the primary newspaper serving Knott County.  Due to the small size of Hindman, the county seat of Knott County, most people on the northern side of the county did their business for many years in Floyd County and students from that area were also bussed to Floyd County schools for many years due to the lack of paved roads in the county.  Knott County has produced Albert Stewart, the poet who founded “Appalachian Heritage” magazine and taught for many years at Alice Lloyd College.  Knott County also produced Verna Mae Slone who became a best selling author in her late 60’s. The most important writer of Wiccan books, Jessie Wicker Bell, was raised at Mousie in Knott County and produced her literature under the Wiccan name Lady Sheba.  Her ashes were scattered in the Wicker Family Cemetery at Mousie.  The county was also home for many years to James Still and Mae Stone, both connected to the Hindman Settlement School, both widely read authors, neither of whom grew up in the area.  Similarly, William Howard Cohen, a poet and professor at Alice Lloyd College came to the area and produced significant works while there. Cohen was also chosen as a Cultural Delegate to the 1968 Mexico City Olympics where he read his poetry and later produced a book of poems about the experience. 

I have not studied the important cultural figures from the West Virginia side of the Big Sandy River drainage as extensively as I have the Kentucky side but the Appalachian author Lee Maynard grew up in Crum, West Virginia in Wayne County and wrote extensively about the region.  In fact, his “Crum Trilogy” refers several times to the border conflicts which sometimes occurred between adolescent natives of the two states across the watery boundary.  Fannie Belle Fleming, known more widely as the burlesque star Blaze Star, was born in Wayne County. 

McDowell County West Virginia produced two very important Appalachian authors, Denise Giardina and Homer Hickam. Giardina is a liberal political activist in her spare time and made an unsuccessful run for governor. Hickam spent his career at NASA as a scientist after he and a group of other high school students won a national science competition.   

It is truly exceptional that such a small geographic area in what is sometimes disparaged as a struggling region could have produced so many influential and successful individuals.  There are also a large number of these people who grew up just outside the environs of the Big Sandy but were significantly influenced by the culture of the area.  Those include Keith Whitley, Don Rigsby, and his brother John Rigsby all of whom have been important musicians who grew up in Elliott County.  Don Rigsby also was Director of the Center for Traditional Music at Morehead State University for a time.  Tom T. Hall, one of the greatest song writers in the country as well as an important novelist and short story author, grew up in Carter County and worked for a time as disc jockey in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, on the Big Sandy.  Magoffin County also produced the Bluegrass singer and attorney Charlie Sizemore who played with Ralph Stanley for several years before quitting to go to college at Prestonsburg Community College and on to law school.  Magoffin County also produced Tom Whitaker who was a significant Appalachian artist and art professor at Prestonsburg Community College.  Magoffin County also produced the minor country singer Rebecca Lynn Howard and two Lexington, Kentucky, television weather forecasters, Chris Bailey and Jim Caldwell. The country singer Gary Stewart grew up in Letcher County and often played in Pike County in his early career.  All of these people, while not directly growing up in the Big Sandy River area, grew up within a few miles of the river and were influenced by the culture of the river basin. 

"Kentucky's Last Frontier" by Henry P. Scalf--Reflections On The Book

 

Henry P. Scalf was a newspaperman, genealogist, and Appalachian writer who lived from 1902 until 1979.  For many years, he worked for the "Floyd County Times" in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, and wrote on nearly every subject that a small courthouse town newspaper might cover.  He was also an avid student of the history of Eastern Kentucky and wrote and published several works which ranged from several pamphlet sized works including one about Jenny Wiley, an early Eastern Kentucky pioneer woman who was captured by and escaped from a band of native Americans, and about a half dozen genealogical books during his lifetime.  Much of his writing, documents, and books are in the Special Collections Department at the University Of Pikeville Library which I have used more than once in my research. I own one of his dozen or so self-published genealogical books about the Stepp-Stapp Families of America.  His best work was done in the fields of newspaper writing and genealogy.  Most of his books and pamphlets were self published in small editions and can be difficult to locate on the open market.  

I was able to purchase an autographed copy of the book we are discussing here, "Kentucky's Last Frontier" which was self published as a hardback in 1966 with a foreword by the eminent Kentucky historian Thomas D. Clark.  My copy of the book was part of the estate of another Kentucky newspaper writer, Helen Price Stacy and I was lucky enough to buy several works by other regional writers from her collections after they had passed into the hands of a friend who buys and sells antiques.  The book covers a "12-county area, centered by the Big Sandy, Licking, and North Fork Kentucky rivers...With a few southeastern counties of the state, it constituted "Kentucky's Last Frontier."  My copy is, sadly, not in great condition but due to the difficulty of finding a copy in any condition, I was glad to find it.  The book covers a large segment of the history of Eastern Kentucky from the times of early settlement to about 1955 or so.  It is possibly, at least partially, derived from earlier newspaper articles written by Scalf.  While the book is a wonderful resource for the student of Eastern Kentucky and Appalachian history, it does have several weaknesses including Scalf's unique style of documentation of sources and inclusion of notes.  Many times in the book, quotations are not clearly identified in the text and there is a section of notes which covers 109 pages in the back of the book and the notes are not cited in the text by any currently recognized system.  But these issues are offset by the fact that the Bibliography is 6 pages long and well documented.  Any reader with the desire to read all those documented sources would have a strong background in the history of the region up to the time this book was published.  

The book is composed of 25 chapters which are presented chronologically from an opening chapter about the geologic and prehistoric origins of the region to the final chapter about, in part, the widespread coal, oil, and gas extraction in the region which has served to greatly damage the beauty of the land.  There is a fine discussion of the consequences of the 1957 flood which devastated the region and, until the recent Eastern Kentucky flooding of the summer of 2022.  While the book can be a slow read, it is well worth the effort to find and read a copy if you are a student of either Eastern Kentucky or Appalachian History.  I know that there are copies in both the University of Pikeville library and at the library of Big Sandy Community and Technical College.  I suspect there might also be a copy in the collections of the Johnson County Library in Paintsville since they own a large, publicly available but non-circulating regional books.   I hope you can locate a copy if you are interested in the area which it covers. 

The Death Of Janet Lee Messersmith & Its Connection To The Ashland Sanitary Milk Company

 

A few days ago, I stopped at a small yard sale one of my neighbors was having and the only thing I found to buy was an antique milk bottle from a company called Ashland Sanitary Milk Company in Ashland, Kentucky.  I had grown up in a country store in Knott County within and hour of Ashland but I had never heard of the company.  I got home and dug into the internet to see what I could learn about the company.  The only thing I could find other than one or two other such bottles which had already been sold on E-bay or Amazon and this story about a judgment from the Kentucky Court of Appeals in 1930 which involved the death of a young girl, about 11 years old, named Janet Lee Messersmith.  I read the judgement of the court and I was touched by the story of the needless death of the little girl.  Next I went to the wonderful website Find A Grave, where I regularly do volunteer work and research and quickly found the grave of Janet Lee Messersmith.  But she has no obituary on the website and her memorial there does not list her parents by name.  Oddly, their names are not listed in the judgement of the court of appeals either. I have also been unable to locate an obituary in the newspaper archives of the Big Sandy region. It all makes the kind of interesting story which you find if you do research into the lives and deaths of people who have been long dead.  It is a shame for stories like this one about Janet Lee Messersmith to be lost forever.  Please help me remember it and pass it on into the future. 

The gist of the story told in the Court of Appeals judgment is that Janet Lee Messersmith had gone shopping with her mother who was driving a car and returned to their home on Blackburn Avenue in the city limits of Ashland.  The mother parked the car with "the right wheels of her machine over the curb so as to leave it parked with as little of the machine out in the avenue as possible. According to Mrs. Messersmith, she alighted from the car by the door at her left and stepped into the street, and then assisted her daughter to alight through the same door."  The mother said she started across the street toward the house and her daughter was standing on the sidewalk when the truck struck her.  Oddly, the driver of the truck is named in the court's judgment despite neither parent being named.  Claude Ireson, the driver of the truck, had stated in the courts in Boyd County that "When he got within 10 or 11 feet of where they were, the child darted across the street. Her mother screamed, and he tried to avoid hitting the child by cutting his car to the right, thinking the child would go back. If he had been 6 inches further over he would have missed her. His left front fender struck the child."  Regardless of what the truth was, Janet Lee Messersmith had been killed brutally and suddenly literally in front of her mother.  Elwood Blair, a neighbor, had testifed that he heard the noise of the trucks brakes and went to his window where he saw the truck approaching and he corroborated the mother's testimony that the truck was going about 40 miles an hour which Claude Ireson, the driver, had disputed.  In any case, the Boyd County court rendered a judgment of $15,000 in favor of the family.  The judgment of $15,000 was, in the middle of the Great Depression, a very sizable award in any sort of civil suit regardless of the circumstances.  The Ashland Sanitary Milk Company appealed the ruling of the court to the Kentucky Court of Appeals.  It could be surmised, that even in 1930, the legal fees could have cost the company a large portion of any judgment, $15,000 or otherwise.  Thus the case of Janet Lee Messersmith came before the Kentucky Court of Appeals.  The court ruled in favor of the family due to what it determined to have been two technical errors by the court and upheld the judgment of the Boyd Court.  

But, from my point of view, the story is the real issue of interest.  A little girl, about 11 years old, having what can be assumed to have been a happy day shopping with her mother was suddenly killed in a somewhat unusual way by being hit by a milk truck owned by a company whose products this mother most likely used on a daily  basis.  It is likely that the last glass of milk Janet Lee Messersmith ever drank, probably within a few hours of her death, was sold by the company who truck would kill her later that day. What I would most like to see come of this story is the following: 1) that someone who reads this can tell me who Janet's parents were; 2) that we can find their memorials on Find A Grave and edit all three so her parents are connected to her memorial; and 3) that the name and horrible death of Janet Lee Messersmith will not be forgottn.

 Below, I have cut and pasted the entire judgment of the Court of Appeals.  

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Decided November 18, 1930.

Appeal from Boyd Circuit Court.

R.D. DAVIS and WAUGH HOWERTON for appellant.

GEORGE B. MARTIN and MARTIN SMITH for appellee.

OPINION OF THE COURT BY JUDGE CLAY

Affirming.

On June 29, 1929, Janet Lee Messersmith, a girl about ten and a half years of age, was struck and killed by a Dodge motor delivery truck belonging to the Ashland Sanitary Milk Company, and driven by one of its employees. This action by her administrator to recover damages for her death resulted in a verdict and judgment in his favor for $15,000. The Ashland Sanitary Milk Company appeals.

Janet Lee Messersmitn lived with her parents on the south side of Blackburn avenue in the city of Ashland. Blackburn avenue runs east and west, is a paved street, and is about 20 feet in width from curb to curb. It has no sidewalks, but a level space of about 5 feet has been left on either side for that purpose. The Messersmith lot is 40 feet in width and is higher than Blackburn avenue. The entrance to the house, which is about the center of the lot, is by means of a concrete walk about 5 feet in width. Traveling from the west on Blackburn avenue toward the Messersmith residence there is a descending grade for a considerable distance. The accident happened about 4 o'clock on a bright afternoon. Accompanied by her daughter, Janet Lee, Mrs. Messersmith had driven her Dodge sedan car downtown to do some shopping. On her return she had a lot of groceries and provisions in the machine. On reaching a point in the street opposite her residence, she ran the right wheels of her machine over the curb so as to leave it parked with as little of the machine out in the avenue as possible. According to Mrs. Messersmith, she alighted from the car by the door at her left and stepped into the street, and then assisted her daughter to alight through the same door. She then started across the street. When she got to the middle of the street she saw the truck coming about 200 feet away. She had driven an automobile for nine years, could look at a car and tell at what speed it was going, and she judged that the truck was going between 40 and 45 miles an hour. Her daughter was standing on the sidewalk when she was struck by the truck. At the time she was struck the truck was going pretty fast, but. the driver had his foot on the brake and had probably reduced the speed to some extent. Elwood Blair, a mechanic who worked for the American Rolling Mills, was in bed at the time, and his attention was attracted by the noise of the brakes on the truck. He then went to the window, and in his opinion the truck was running about 40 miles an hour after the brakes had been applied. On the other hand, Claude Ireson, the driver of the truck, testified as follows: He first saw the little Messersmith girl and her mother when about 150 feet away. The mother was standing at the car, seemed to be getting something out of it, and the child was standing just slanting back from the mother. They were both on the north side of the street and on his left. When he saw them he raised his toe off the accelerator. At that time they were making no effort to cross the street. When he got within 10 or 11 feet of where they were, the child darted across the street. Her mother screamed, and he tried to avoid hitting the child by cutting his car to the right, thinking the child would go back. If he had been 6 inches further over he would have missed her. His left front fender struck the child. When within about 30 feet of the child he put his foot on the brakes. At that time he was going between 18 and 20 miles an hour. He did not know that the child was going across the street. At the time of the accident the car was slowed down to about 15 miles an hour. The reason he took his foot off the accelerator about 150 feet back was that he was afraid they might start across the street, and there might be danger of hurting some one. He could see the child and he thought that they would see him. At the time he put on the brakes he was between 10 and 15 feet of where Mrs. Messersmith was standing. Running at 15 miles an hour he could stop within 20 or 25 feet. He cut in toward the telephone pole for the purpose of stopping. His main purpose was not to hit the child. Russell Rose testified as follows: He and some other children were playing in an open field about 100 feet north of the point of accident. When Mrs. Messersmith drove up, she got out, started up the steps, looked back and told Janet to stay there. Janet came right on. He then looked over at the milk truck and it hit her. The front fender struck her first. Janet was in the street and was carrying groceries across the street. The truck ran about 20 feet after it struck her. The witness concluded his direct examination as follows:

"Q. 40. Did you see the little girl get out? A. Yes, Sir.

"Q. 41. Which side did she (decedent) get out? A. She got out on — the opposite side her mother did.

"Q. 42. When the little girl first got out where did she go? A. She went around back of the car.

"Q. 43. Back of their car? A. Yes, Sir.

"Q. 44. After she came around behind the car, how soon was she struck by this car. A. I just don't know how long it was — just."

The first error relied on was the failure of the court to give an offered instruction presenting the sudden appearance doctrine. In this connection it is insisted that appellant was entitled to such instruction not only on the evidence of Ireson, the driver, but on the evidence of witness Russell Rose. Whatever may have been the view of the court in years past, we have been inclined in recent years to confine the sudden appearance, in so far as infants are concerned, to cases where the injured infant leaves the sidewalk or emerges from behind another vehicle or other obstruction, and appears on the highway in the path of the on-coming vehicle so suddenly that the driver thereof in the exercise of ordinary care could not have prevented the collision with the means at hand if he had been running at a reasonable rate of speed. Metts' Adm'r v. Louisville Gas Electric Co., 222 Ky. 551, 1 S.W.2d 985. Whether, in view of the driver's evidence that he saw the child standing by her mother in the street when 150 feet away, we would hold that the sudden appearance instruction should have been given if the witness Rose had actually testified that the child came from behind her mother's machine and rushed suddenly in front of the approaching truck, we need not determine. As a matter of fact, he did not say how long it was after the child came from behind the car before it started across the street. Thus there was no evidence tending to show that she was not standing by her mother in full view of the driver, as he repeatedly testified, when she started across the street. Clearly the circumstances were not such as to call for a sudden appearance instruction. The street was only 20 feet in width. The mother and child were standing in the street on the south side of the car in plain view of the driver of the truck, and only a short distance away from the path of the truck. The situation was such that the child might be expected to move in the pathway of the truck at any time. Notwithstanding this fact, no warning of the approach of the truck was given, and just before the accident the speed of the truck was about 15 miles an hour according to the driver of the truck, and from 40 to 45 miles an hour according to other witnesses. It would be a harsh rule were we to hold, in the face of such clear evidence of negligence, that appellant could escape liability on the theory that the child appeared so suddenly in the pathway of the truck that the driver could not have avoided injuring her if he had been running at a reasonable rate of speed.

Another error relied on is the alleged misconduct of counsel on the voir dire examination of the jurors. The facts disclosed by the bill of exceptions are these: Norman Berry, who was on the list, was asked to state his occupation. He answered that he was in the real estate business. Thereupon counsel for plaintiff inquired of him in the presence of the remaining members of the panel whether he wrote any insurance in connection with the real estate business, and he answered that he did not. John S. Hager, another member of the list, was asked if he had any connection with the Ashland Sanitary Milk Company. He answered that he had no connection with the company other than it was a customer of his, and he bought milk from them. He was then asked by counsel for plaintiff what kind of a customer it was of his, and he answered, "Insurance." Counsel inquired what kind of insurance he wrote for the defendant, and he answered, "Fire, theft and casualty." Thereupon counsel for plaintiff called counsel for defendant, and also the prospective juror, John S. Hager, to the desk of the court, and there privately, and not in a tone to be heard by other jurors, inquired of Hager if he was on this particular risk through any policy of insurance in any of his companies. Thereupon counsel for the defendant moved the court to discharge the entire panel of eighteen because of counsel's reference to insurance in the interrogation of the two jurors, which motion was overruled. In the case where we condemned the practice of interrogating prospective jurors with reference to accident insurance, the jurors were asked whether any of them owned any stock in the insurance company which carried the indemnity policy on defendant's mine, and on objection the attorney for plaintiff stated that he had been informed that the coal company carried insurance in a company that would pay any loss that might result to the defendant on the trial of the case. W. G. Duncan Coal Co. v. Thompson's Adm'r, 157 Ky. 304, 162 S.W. 1139. It will thus be seen that counsel for plaintiff in that case not only brought directly to the attention of the prospective jurors the fact that defendant carried accident insurance and that the loss would fall on someone else, but inquired whether or not any of them owned any stock in the insurance company which carried the indemnity policy on defendant's mine when it was wholly improbable that such was the case, thus evincing a lack of good faith in propounding the question. A different situation is presented in the case under consideration. Naturally counsel for plaintiff would not want on a jury any one who had written indemnity insurance for the defendant, or any other insurance that would place him under obligation to the defendant. As real estate agents generally conduct an insurance business, it was not improper to ask Berry if he wrote insurance, and so far as he was concerned the matter ended with his answer in the negative. As Hager conducted an insurance business in the city where defendant's plant was located, the preliminary questions were not out of place, and as counsel for plaintiff was careful not to ask in the presence of the other jurors whether he carried the particular risk, we see no reason to doubt counsel's good faith in the matter. We therefore hold that the trial court did not err in refusing to discharge the entire panel.

Another contention is that the court erred in admitting the photograph of the deceased. It is insisted that its admission was prejudicial, in that it presented to the jury a very beautiful young girl, and was thus calculated to excite their sympathy and prejudice. It may be conceded that the admission of the photograph without proof of its accuracy by the photographer was technical error, but in view of the fact that the health, strength, mental capacity, and personal appearance of the child were fully discussed and presented to the jury by other witnesses, we are not inclined to hold that the admission of the photograph was prejudicial.

Still another contention is that the court erred in not granting a continuance on account of the absence of the witnesses, Hobart, and Aderine Pope, for whom subpoenas had been issued and returned, "Not executed," with the notation that they had gone to Arizona. In the affidavit it was stated that if the witnesses were present they would testify that they lived on Blackburn avenue across the street from the home of the deceased and within a few yards of the scene of the accident; that at the time of the accident they were playing in a field about 100 feet north of the point of accident where defendant's truck struck deceased, that they heard the brakes of the truck go on and that they looked up immediately and saw the truck, and that it stopped almost immediately after the brakes went on; that it went only a few feet after the brakes were applied; and that the deceased was struck while she was in the street and not on the curb. It was further alleged that defendant had had no opportunity to take the depositions of the witnesses because he did not know that the witnesses had left the jurisdiction of the court; that if the case were continued to the next term of the court defendant could either have them present in court or take their depositions as it desires one or the other to be done. There was the further allegation that the true and proper effect of the testimony of the witnesses could not be had without their personal presence in court. It being alleged in the alternative that defendant could either have the witnesses present at the next term of the court, or take their depositions, it is at once apparent that there is no showing that their actual presence could be had. That being true, the only way to secure their evidence was by deposition. Rarely, if ever, is the evidence of an absent witness taken by deposition as strong as that contained in an affidavit for continuance. In view of these considerations, and of the fact that the affidavit for a continuance was permitted to be read as the depositions of the absent witnesses, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse a sound discretion in refusing the continuance.

Lastly, it is insisted with great earnestness that the verdict is excessive. The case is not to be determined by decisions of the long ago. Within recent years the purchasing power of money has decreased, and the courts are inclined to uphold larger verdicts than they were accustomed to approve years ago. The deceased was sound in health and of fine mental attainments, with all the opportunities that are now open to the members of her sex. In a case of this kind it is the province of the jury to assess the damages, and our duty to give effect to its finding unless we can say the verdict is so excessive as to strike us at first blush as being the result of prejudice or passion. This we cannot do.

Judgment affirmed.

Whole court sitting.

Ashland Sanitary Milk Co. v. Messersmith's Administrator, 236 Ky. 91, (Ky. Ct. App. 1930)

 

 

"The Big Sandy" by Carol Crowe-Carraco--Book Review

 This book is a bit dated and only covers the history of the Big Sandy River Basin from about 1675 to 1978, about a year before the publication date in 1979.  The book was one of about two dozen books published by The University Press of Kentucky in order to offer wider documentation of Kentucky history.  The author, Carol Crowe-Carraco, was a distinguished professor of history at Western Kentucky University and has an impressive list of publications in the field of Kentucky History. The book is well reserched and has a very useful six pages of notes which, while they do not comprise a true bibliography, can be utilized as such.  The book also lacks an index which would be very useful to the average reader.  

I read the book as a part of a much more sizeable project in which I am currently involved about the Big Sandy River Basin and its place in American History.  While I am certain this will not prove to be the best or most important book I read as a part of this project, it has been useful and I can recommend it to the average reader who is interested in the history of either the Big Sandy River Basin in particular or Kentucky History in general. For my purposes, the book was particularly informative about the history of the river with regard to navigation, the involvement of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers in the history of the river, and the history of early steamboat usage on the river prior to the coming of the railroads.  As a person who grew up in the headwaters of the Big Sandy on Right Beaver Creek in Knott County and walked to and from grade school for 7 years along the railroad of the C & O, it was particularly interesting in its discussion of the building of the railroads.  The book also can be informative for the average reader in the area of the coming of the coal camp towns in the river basin.  But as one who has spent his life living and working in the region and also studied coal camp towns extensively, the book did not offer anything new to me in that area.  For the average student of the coal camp towns, it would be worth reading.  

Professor Crowe-Carraco writes well in a professional matter but her prose is not the kind that leaves a reader awestruck.  It is geared more toward students of history who often prefer more staid, dry fact statements than any form of flowery literature.  That is not a fault in this type of book.  I simply offer it as a way for anyone considering buying and reading the book to determine if they are likely to enjoy it.  The bottom line of the entire impression the book made on me is that, even with its one or two minor faults from my point of view, it is a book worth the time and money to spend on it.  It has legitimately piqued my interest in reading more of the Kentucky Bicentennial Bookshelf publications.  It might do the same for you.    

"Tales from Sacred Wind Coming of Age in Appalachia" by Cratis D. Williams--Book Review

Williams, Cratis D., and David Cratis Willams and Patricia D. Beaver, Editors. Tales From Sacred Wind Coming of Age in Appalachia (Jefferson, NC, McFarland & Co. 2003)

For my regular readers over the past month or so, it is no secret that I love this book.  Some of the most popular and easiest written blog posts I have ever done have been about particular segments of issues which Cratis D. Williams discusses in the book.  I have written about Death, Dying, and Burial Practices In Appalachia; Croton Oil And Cratis Williams; Traditional Appalachian Children's Games; and One More Short Lesson From Cratis Williams.  I had also written a much earlier post about some reading of his work which I had one under the title Responses To Some Reading Of Cratis Williams.  All of these posts were very easy to write and well received by my readers.  Cratis Williams was the Dean of the Appalachian State University Graduate School and taught there for several decades in addition to being one of the most influential scholars in all of the field of Appalachian Studies.  I have said repeatedly that I never met Dr. Williams and I regret that a great deal.  He was erudite, well read, incredibly funny, and one of the best experts on the culture of Appalachia, especially in the early twentieth century.  

This book was edited by his son, Dr. David Cratis Williams and Dr. Patricia D. Beaver who had been one of his professional colleagues at Appalachian State University.

Cratis D. Williams--Photo by the Williams Family

It was published eighteen years after his death.  It is basically a memoir of the first twenty or so years of his life.  It is assumed that he intended to complete a comprehensive memoir of his entire life and simply did not have the time during his academic career to complete and subsequently did not live long to complete the work after his retirement. That is a tragedy since this book is one of the finest books ever written about Appalachian Culture in the early twentieth century, especially the culture of the Big Sandy River Valley and Eastern Kentucky.  This book was published as the eighth produced in the Contributions To Southern Appalachian Studies Series from McFarland & Company in Jefferson, North Carolina.  The series is now comprised of roughly forty books and still being expanded regularly by the publisher.  They cover numerous areas of interest in the greater field of Appalachian Studies.  Although I have not read anywhere near the entire series, I am sure the majority of them are well worth reading.

Now, to get back to "Tales From Sacred Wind...", I am sure that most people tend to think that the name Sacred Wind for the post office in the community on Caines Creek in Lawrence County must have been rooted in religion.  According to Williams, it was not remotely rooted in religion.  He relates the story of how the first postmaster had been tasked with naming the post office and wanted to find a particularly meaningful name.  He had struggled with that effort and was sitting on his porch one day with a friend talking about the effort when the friend passed gas loudly and demonstratively and said, "Name it after that." which is exactly how the postmaster arrived at the name of Sacred Wind.  

The book covers numerous areas of Appalachian Culture including those I have written about and numerous others such as feuds, family strife up to and including patricide and pedicide, the United Baptist Church, one room schools, education in general, farming, child birth, midwifery, and many others.  The book is well written but, if there is one area in which to critique it, the quality of the writing is variable, at times well above average and, at other times, the quality drops a bit.  The book was apparently written over several years in small to medium segments or sections each on a particular topic.  After his death, Cratis Williams' son and Dr. Beavers edited the manuscript and McFarland published it.  I am sure that it does not have the same level of consistency and quality that it would have if Cratis Williams had lived to fully complete the work to cover his entire life.  But the work is well worth reading and I certain that many of my regular readers on this blog will attest to that fact also.  It is well worth the money, time, and effort to buy and read it.   

One More Short Lesson From Cratis Williams and "Sacred Wind..."

Reading "Tales From Sacred Wind Coming Of Age in Appalachia" by Cratis D. Williams has been a real pleasure for me and, based on page views of the other blog posts I have written about it, many of my readers on this blog agree with me.  My posts about "Traditional Appalachian Children's Games" and "Death, Dying, and Funeral Rites In Appalachia" have been some of the most well received posts I have ever written on this blog.  I appreciate the interest in both my writing about his work and about the work of Cratis D. Williams. 

Cratis D. Williams--Photo by the Williams Family

He was one of the early founding fathers of the entire Appalachian Studies movement and he deserves that respect.  I am nearly through the book and will write a longer, more traditional book review of the book in a few days when I finish it.  But I just came across another story of a completely different nature in the book which I want to discuss at length here because it reflects on an important cultural and moral value among Appalachian people which I believe has vanished to a great degree in much of the region.  

In the section to which I am referring, Cratis went to the home of some school friends during a school year break when he going to high school in Louia and living in the home of some relatives because his home on Craines Creek was twenty-five miles away, too far in the 1920's to live at home and go to school. At the time, it was a full day's ride on mule back or in a wagon. As he relates the story, during his time in the home of these friends, he could hear sounds coming from somewhere in the house and could not account for the person making the sounds since everyone he had met was in sight of him at the time.  As Williams begins the story: "I kept hearing hearing a moan and chatter followed by high pitched laughter coming from somewhere in the house.  Nobody said anything about it and the Boggses talked on as if they heard nothing."  For nearly anyone, such an occurrence would cause a lot of thoughts, possibly some worry and fear.  But, as it turned out, there was no cause for any concern, worry, fear, or other negative emotions.  But Williams goes on with the story: "During the first night I was there, I could hear that curious moaning and high pitched laughter from time to time all through the night.  But, the next morning, Cratis Williams got his answers about the moaning and laughter when the mother of the family asked one of his friends "...to bring Hettie to warm and to be fed by the fire.  Two of the boys disappeared.  In a few minutes, they returned carrying a high chair in which was strapped a badly deformed little girl with a misshapen face."  As Cratis Williams relates the story, he was then told that the father of the family had been out and about in the community one day when he had heard noises coming from what appeared to be an abandoned house.  He went to the house, looked in the curtainless window and saw two small children in the empty house, one dead, and the other, Hettie, still alive but very weak crawling in the floor. The man then went to the closest neighbor for help and they entered the house, rescued the living child, and reported the events to the authorities in Louisa.  As it turned out, the two severely disabled children were orphans whose parents had been first cousins and that consanguinity resulted in their severe handicaps.  The parents had died and left the children to another sibling and her husband who were not handicapped.  But these caretakers had abandoned the two children and "...left the country.  No one knew where they had gone."  The community had buried the dead child and the county had allowed this family to take care of the severely handicapped little girl, a job which they had accepted freely at a time when there was no such things as welfare, kinship care, child support, foster care, or food stamps.  This family had seen a human being in need, unable to care for even her most basic needs, and had taken on the responsibility of caring for her for the rest of her life, no matter how long that might be.  Williams does not relate that the authorities were ever able to locate the two adults who abandoned the children.  But, in light of the limited ability of police agencies in that time to locate fugitives, it is unlikely that anyone ever heard from them again.  

This story, while not absolutely common in Appalachia, does point out a tendency among native Appalachian people in the early twentieth century to see a need and step up to address it in whatever way seemed best at the time.  We are people of compassion, honesty, honor, and willingness to provide for those who cannot provide for themselves.  I have written in several places on this blog about the "Appalachian Values" of Loyal Jones, another of the early fathers of the Appalachian Studies movement and someone I have known.   I have never known of a story exactly like this one in my life in Appalachia.  But I have seen a few occasions when an elderly person without close relatives has been accepted into an unrelated home to be cared for until death. Some Mennonite friends of mine cared for an older woman until her death and are now caring for an elderly man about the same age.  I have known several instances of families having disabled members, both children and adults, who have been cared for and protected admirably by their family.  In my own family in another state, a niece and her husband have a severely handicapped daughter whom they care for with love, respect, and compassion that is admirable anywhere.  It is sad that such a story could have been true in Eastern Kentucky in the 1920's but such stories are not completely unheard of anywhere.  What is to be learned from this story is that in Appalachia, people usually have tried to do the right thing in nearly all circumstances and still do today.   This is one of the most moving stories in the Williams book and it is well worth reading. 

"Jenny Wiley Pioneer Mother and Borderland Heroine" by Henry P. Scalf--Book Review

Scalf, Henry P. Jenny Wiley Pioneer Mother and Borderland Heroine (Prestonsburg, Kentucky. Prestonsburg Publishing Company Press, 1964)

The story of Jenny Wiley and her capture by and escape from Native Americans on about October 1, 1789, in what is now Johnson County Kentucky has been told, retold, exaggerated, blown all out of proportion, and moved from fact to legend to myth over the intervening 220 years.  It has resulted in at least one musical theater production which has been a regular and now intermittent production of the  summer musical theater named after her along with the state park in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, where this little 16 page pamphlet was produced by Henry P. Scalf in 1964.  Scalf was a newspaper writer, author of several such pamphlets and about a half dozen genealogical books during his lifetime.  Much of his writing, documents, and books are in the Special Collections Department at the University Of Pikeville Library which I have used more than once in my research. I own one of his dozen or so self-published genealogical books about the Stepp-Stapp Families of America.  His best work was done in the fields of newspaper writing and genealogy.  This Jenny Wiley pamphlet was produced about 10 years after the formation of the Jenny Wiley State Park The date of this pamphlet coincides with the formation of the Jenny Wiley Summer Music Theater in 1964 and was likely an attempt by Scalf to capitalize on that event or, perhaps, to help support the push to form the theater.

Late in this work, Scalf states that "Ever with the Wiley story have been stories of the unusual, the strange and fanciful.  Some of these were added by descendants and other mountain folk for the tale of her captivity penetrated deeply into the consciousness of a people, becoming after the lapse of many decades an important element of their folklore."  Scalf was absolutely correct to make that statement and much of the general public opinion about the Jenny Wiley story today in Eastern Kentucky, Western Virginia, and Southern West Virginia is nothing more or less than folklore.  While it is a fact that Jenny Wiley was captured by and successfully escaped from her Native American captors after witnessing the deaths of her brother and children, much of what is frequently accepted as fact in the region today is nothing more than myth, legend, puffery, and prevarication.  It has long been impossible to differentiate the truth from the fiction.  But this woman has become a solid and permanent part of the historical beliefs in the region.  Harry Caudill wrote a terrible novel, "Dark Hills To Westward",  about the Jenny Wiley story and there have been nearly a half dozen other highly fictionalized books about her.   A highly fictionalized, but enjoyable musical play was written about her and performed to rave reviews hundreds of times in the theater at Jenny Wiley State Park.  Her grave on a ridge near River, Kentucky, is frequently visited by her descendants and total strangers who are enamored of the tales of her privation, grief at the deaths of her children, and her miraculous escape. I have to admit that I have visited her grave once myself.  This is an interesting little pamphlet to read if you can find a copy.  It will hold your interest.  But do not automatically assume that every word in it is a fact.  It contains no references to any historical documents and no professional method of crediting sources was used. At the time of the events not a great deal of documentation took place due to a variety of factors including the harsh conditions under which the people lived in the area, the high rate of illiteracy at the time, the persistent need for everyone to devote nearly all their time to survival and self-preservation, and the simple fact that paperwork was not a daily task of anyone.  The story was told by the people who were parties to it, passed down over more than 200 years through the oral story telling tradition, and has grown out of all proportion to the bare truth at the time the events happened.

Jenny Wiley lived until 1831 and died at the age of 71 more than 40 years after her capture.  The area at the time was genuinely on the edges of white civilization in America.  My own third-great-grandfather, Aulse Hicks traveled to Prestonsburg, Kentucky, sometime between 1790 and 1810 and we do not have a single historical document about his life.  I wonder if he might have known the Wiley family.  I have always admired the courage and fortitude of anyone who would pick up what little they could pack onto a horse or mule and a draft ox which might have also doubled as a milk cow, and stride off westward into Eastern Kentucky from the relative safety of much more heavily settled Western Virginia in the time of Daniel Boone and Jenny Wiley. 

I would also say that if you are doing genealogical research related to the Big Sandy and Tug River valleys the Scalf papers at the University of Pikeville Library are well worth a visit but you should contact the library archivist first to schedule a visit and access to those papers.