Yesteryear: Our New Home and Store

My maternal grandmother, Iris McFann Woodard, was a gifted historian and storyteller. Part of her legacy was her stories, both written and oral. They were created from her memories, recollections, and snippets of years past. Many of her stories were about simple country life in the Lesage, West Virginia area.

“Remember that our family’s history is not merely a narrative of bygone years, but an ongoing event in which you and your family are living participants. Should I fail to preserve what I know to you and yours, then generations to come along will be deprived of all of this … Time moves swiftly on! The names of the people with which you now associate may, in a few short years, be no more than vague names in the future. I toss the pen to you! Hold up your family traditions. Keep moving on! “
Iris McFann Woodard    March 23, 1984

Iris McFann Woodard collected family memorabilia and keepsakes, made several family albums, documented family historical data, and preserved the family unit that we now celebrate. Her life was a treasure chest filled with family mementos, and her ability to gather, preserve, and share family history enriched the lives of family, friends, and even strangers.

Here is one of her short recollections, writiten in 1985:

Our New Home and Store

Dad saved the money he earned while working for the Clarks. After my birth in 1905, he and Mother pooled their cash and they acquired land from the Cromleys who lived near the B&O Railroad depot as Lesage. Dad and Mother constructed a long building which was erected near a very large boulder. They lived in one end of the building and kept their store merchandise at the opposite end.

We used lamps for our lighting. The store had counters on 3 sides and we had wooden oiled floors. One long shelf was for medicines and tobacco. We used a tobacco cutter, as there were no cigars or cigarettes. Our canned goods and coffee were in another section. Coffee was sold as whole beans. Flour and meal on the floor under the counters. One section was for shoes, artics, socks, and dry goods.

There was also a ware room to store items such as flour, meal, or sugar. All of these were bagged in large cloth sacks. Brown sugar was cheaper and so it was more popular. Vinegar was stored in a 50 gallon wooden barrel. Other supplies kept in the store were kegs of nails, plow points, hoes, rakes, brooms, baskets, and rope. The store in this building was small, since living quarters were included.

The front room had a bed for Mom and Dad. There was a second bedroom, and a kitchen. A cretonne curtain on a wire was the dividing line. All in all, 3 rooms: store, front room, and a second bedroom and kitchen.

The First Year Was Hardest
Dad and Mom worked hard, but they were almost forced to close their doors that first year when the farmer’s crops failed and they couldn’t pay their bills. In fact, they made preparations to close on a Monday morning. Dad worried and worried. Then on Friday morning, around 2am, while Dad, in his worried state, was walking along a dirt road, he spotted a lantern.

“Good morning, is that you, Bill?”, he heard.

“Yes,” Dad responded.

A customer, Mr. Mitchell, said, “Will you unlock the store for me?” He gave Dad over $600 which he owned. Crop failure had forced him to go to the Logan, West Virginia area to the coal mines so he could work and pay off his debts.

Dad was jubilant. He awakened my Mother, then on Monday, they caught the B&O train and went to Huntington. He paid off four bills. Then he bought more supplies and filled his vacant shelves. In truth, he and Mother began all over again.

Dad made his purchases at these Huntington stores:
Hagan Ratcliff & Sehon, Stevenson …. groceries
Gwinn’s Mill …. flour and meal
Emmons Hawkins …. hardware
Jeff Newberry …. shoes and boots
Watts Ritter …. pants, shirts, linens
Henking Bovie in Gallipolis …. produce and livestock

His purchases were delivered by the B&O railways, or by an Ohio River packet boat that came to our landing.

Dad used a horse and sled to transport his purchases from the packet boat, across the field and up the bank to our store.

Accidents Happen
Living so close to a store as I did, there was always some sort of excitement. Sometimes, excitement was in the form of an accident.

Pepper was kept in a large bucket with a tin cover on it. Dad had me with him since Mom was getting sister Faye to sleep. I was walking, and my drawers came off. I sat on the bucket and the lid came off. The pepper burned the skin on my bottom-side. Dad grabbed me up out of the pepper bucket and then Mom had to doctor my burns from the pepper.

A few years later when I was still a youngster, I fell from the high store porch and broke my right arm.

My broken arm was set late at night. Our local doctor, Dr. Sanns had to wait for Dr. Williams from Huntington to come by horse to administer ether to me.

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