"We are the chosen. In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve." ~ Author Unknown
The kids are all back in school and with my most recent botox treatment making many tasks feel impossible these days, I have found myself back in the recliner scouring the Internet for any more tidbits on my ancestors that I have yet to uncover. My favorite thing to search are old newspaper articles. It gets a bit tricky though because there are often so many typos and spelling errors.
There's a great free newspaper archive from Texas Tech University, I've mentioned it before. They changed their website a while back and I couldn't get to the newspaper search, but I was finally able to get it to work a few weeks ago. Today, of course, as soon as I start to type my blog, it has become glitch-y. We will see how far I get before deciding to come back another day....
This time I'm searching the Foard County News for any records on my NALL/FOSTER ancestors.
Today I found where my great grandmother Willie Belle competed in the County Interscholastic Meet and won second place in arithmetic. There of course was a typo and her name was given as Winnie Belle, but I'm 99.99% sure it's her. Claytonville was a very small rural community. Grandma would've just turned 15. The article is from March 1930.
I also found where in May of that same year, Grandma, portrayed the Mother, in Walter Ben Hare's 1917 play "An Old Fashioned Mother". How fitting. I know she was the great matriarch of our NALL family. I was actually able to find an online copy of the play. Just click on the title to take a look at it yourself.
I'm not certain when this picture of Grandma was taken, but I imagine it was close to 1930. If you were wondering what she looked like back then.
Just to give you an idea of the severity of the typos, below is the Birth Announcement of my grandfather, Willie Belle's first born, Charles Bryant Nall, who was born 13 May 1935. To Willie Belle (Foster) and Benjamin Rufus Nall. There is a town called Benjamin, where my grandfather attended school, so I think that part is right.
I'll go ahead and wrap this post up. I'll come back and add direct links to the newspaper articles, if the Texas Tech website ever comes back up. It really is a great resource when it's working. The trick is getting past all those typos.
I wanted to do a quick post with a few snippets from yearbooks past involving my family.
I'll start you off with this page from the 1975 Prairie Grove Yearbook, mentioning my paternal grandfather, Charles Nall, for being on the school board.
This next one is pretty precious to me, because I don't have many pictures of my dad when he was young. Here he is in his 6th grade photo. The first year he was in Prairie Grove.
Here's another one showing my dad and step-dad both being members of the 1975 Letterman's Club
Another one from 1975. Dad was voted 'Best All Around'
1976 Mom was in FTA (Future Teachers of America) and Library Club
1983 my step mom Dawna was in Drama and Basketball
Today I want to write briefly about my step mother's maternal great grandmother, Mattie Minerva Dillahunty Moore Cravy. I've written a bit about her first husband and children here.
Mattie must have been a strong woman. She endured so much loss in her 94 years on this earth. She buried her parents, siblings, two husbands, and six of her eight children.
When I think back to her story, I think about a post I once read on Facebook about our inner crone.
IN PRAISE OF THE INNER CRONE!
OK, we all know about the "inner child", right? The innocent being who still lives inside of us, who needs and deserves love and care, and whom we sometimes have to channel in order to learn self-compassion?
I'm a big fan of the notion of the inner child. It can be a really healing construct. Once, when I was going through a particularly dark season of self-loathing, I taped a sweet photo of myself (age 2) on my mirror, and taught myself that any harm I did to me, I also did to HER. It made me kinder and more tender to myself. Imagining other people's inner children makes me kinder and more tender to them.
So the Inner Child is a good thing.
These days, though, I spend less time thinking about my Inner Child lately, and more time focused on my INNER CRONE — the old lady who lives inside me, whom I hope to someday be.
Because she's a serious bad-ass.
The really old ladies always are bad-asses. I'm talking about the real survivors. The women who have been through everything already, so nothing scares them anymore. The ones who have already watched the world fight itself nearly to death a dozen times over. The ones who have buried their dreams and their loved ones and lived through it. The ones who have suffered pain and lived through it, and who have had their innocence challenged by ten thousand appalling assaults...and who lived through all of it.
The world is a frightening place. But you simply cannot frighten The True Crone.
Some might consider the word "crone" to be derogatory, but I don't in the least. I honor it. The crone is a classic character from myth and folklore, and she often the bearer of great wisdom and supernatural power. She is sometimes a guardian to the underworld. She has tremendous vision, even if she is blind. She has no fear of death, which means: NO FEAR.
I keep a wall of photos of some of my favorite crones, for inspiration. The photo below is of a Ukrainian Babushka who lives in (get this) Chernobyl. There are a group of such women — all tough elderly peasants — who have all recently moved back to the radioactive area around Chernobyl.
You know why they live there? Because they like it.
They like Chernobyl because that's where they came from. They are natural-born farmers. They hated being refugees.They resented being shunted off their land after the catastrophe. They hated living in the shabby and crime-infiltrated and stress-inducing government housing in the city, and they much prefer the independence of living off the land in the most contaminated nuclear site on earth. They have formed a stupendously resilient retirement community there, in what some would call the world's most terrifying landscape.
Is it safe? Of course not. Or, whatever. After 90 years of hard living, what does "safe" even mean? They drink the water. These women plant vegetables in that radioactive soil and eat them. They butcher the wild pigs that scavenge around the old nuclear power plant, and eat them, too. Their point is: "We are old. What do have to fear from radioactivity? At this age? Who cares?"
All they want is their freedom. So they take care of themselves and each other. They cut and haul their own wood. They make their own vodka. They get together and drink and laugh about the hardships of World War II and the evils of the Stalin years. They laugh about everything, then they go outside and butcher another radioactive boar and make sausage out of him.
I would put these women in a Bad-Ass Contest against any cocky young alleged Bad Ass you've got going, and I guarantee you — the Chernobyl crones would win, hands down.
We live in a society that romanticizes youth. We live in a culture where youth is considered a real accomplishment. You look at a seriously powerful classic crone like the woman in this photo and you see foolish we are — to imagine that the young offer much for us to aspire to, or learn from. No wisdom like the wisdom of survival. No equanimity like the equanimity of somebody who plants a garden right on top of a nuclear disaster and gets on with it.
So these days, when my Inner Child gets all fluttery with the panic of living, I just ask myself: " WWMICD?"
"What Would My Inner Crone Do?"
Ask yourself that same question. See what she tells you.
One thing I can promise you she will never say? She will never say: "WORRY.
She will more likely tell you this: "ENDURE."
Hang in there, all you future awesome crones!
Who better to imagine than one of your ancestors? So for my sister, and stepmom, I hope when you read about Mattie, and if you ever fall on difficult times, you picture her as your inner crone. As you go through the life, I hope you are able to endure with all the strength of those who have gone before you.
Mattie was born in Sebastian County, AR 9 September 1886/87. She was the 7th child born to Mr. Adolphous Dillahunty and Emily P. Williams. She married James Walter Moore in June of 1902 and they lived in and around Greenwood, Sebastian County, Arkansas, for about 20 years before moving to Webber Falls, Muskogee, OK. Mattie experienced a lot of personal loss in the 1930's burying her husband and several children. She ended up living in Tulare, CA with her sons Adolphus, Leon and Clyde by 1935. After living in California for about 5 years she remarried a man by the name of Mose Pierce Cravy around 1941.
Once again in looking for answers as to who Mattie's first mother and father-in-law might have been, I ran across a few articles, some even includes Mattie's picture! I wasn't able to find the answers I was looking for as far as who Walter Moore's parents were, but I did think the articles below were very interesting.
I hope you guys enjoy the articles and if you need to enlarge them, you should be able to click the caption below each article to be taken to the file where there is a ZOOM option.
When I was growing up my Dad had the green table in the bottom left corner. I don't remember the chairs. I remember he had wooden folding chairs instead.
This was the first bicycle I had at my Dad's house. I remember having a harder time learning how to ride it than a larger one that I had at my Mom's. But I loved Strawberry Shortcake.
Today marks what would've been my maternal great grandparents Newell and Zula Stepp's 96th Anniversary -- April Fools Day. What an odd day to get married. He was 26. She was 19.
A few years ago I stumbled across an article in the Madison County Record about their Golden Anniversary and as they described what Grandma wore, I knew I had the picture to go with it.
My cousin, Carmel, the Mrs. Vernon Sitton from the article, recalls that the story goes that at this Anniversary celebration is the first time their children saw them kiss.
Marriage often isn't about the mushy displays of affection. It's about having a partner you can depend on in sickness and in health. Who will do the hard part of life with you as well as the easy.
Three years ago my grandmother gave me a letter that Grandma Zula had written to Newell while he was in the VA hospital sick with gall-stones.
I will spell things exactly as she did. As you read it remember her accent. And it will make perfect sense. I love that it is written phonetically or using "dialect writing". It makes it come alive and is much more special.
June 3, 1955
Dear Newell, I will ancher your card we got yesterday. Was Glad to her from you and you war better this leves us all just fine and hope you the same. Wish you could see the chickins som of tham ways over 4 lb Miller said we wood sell tham som tims next week. Well John ploud this corn tuesday and wensday mornin then we went up hom me tooter boby doug and Elzada plowed the corn by the orchid but we hant going to plant the others for we hant got time. John plowed the Big corn up thar with his team while Boby (can't read because of folds and fading) corn grown. John is workin in his hay now me and the kids have been bizy most all the time dug and reba went home to tend the thangs. Me tooter wasked then we hoed peanuts and millans Bobby ploud both the gardens tusday Art said for me to try to get the Acord boys to bale the hay I gess will if I can for John said he sure wood had his hands full with both crops to plow do you have eny idy how long you will haft to stay Joe Wilama and Don come up and stad a while last nite and Jean opal and ther kids come up too we need another rane jjohn throd up 4 sweet potato riges and we put out som but thout we wate for it to ? to set the rest. Did Virgle and Loice come to see you and Sherlie thay sad thay was the kids wants to come down thar to see you but we can't come now till we sell the chickins maby Bill and Argie can brang us when thay come home thay will come after them Will thay let kids come up thar Gye said thay wooden. Reba said 1 of the heffers come in up home with a little calf. I'll try t get john to plow the corn across the creek some time next week. I got (... can't read much of this line because its on a fold....) thay said thay was ame to write you so I gess you herd from them well today hant nothin excite to write about so I hush and got feed the chickens so tack care of your self and we doo the best we can about the crops and rasin chickins. Don't no yet whether I put back or not the kids said Hi Dad and they wood luft to see you that goes for mom to so ancher soon love to you from mama and kids."
The Stepp's observed a total of 64 years of marriage before Grandpa passed in 1987.
They lived a remarkable life and raised six remarkable children to carry on their legacy. May we remember them and in doing so, love each other well in sickeness and in health. In the good times and the bad. When it's easy and most especially when it's not.
When I was growing up I can remember my Mammy making lye soap on one occasion. I wasn't there while she was making it, but I remember her telling me she used lard or suet from McClellan's. And I can remember it sitting in the laundry room curing. I also remember she had a large cast iron scalding pot that stayed outside that she said she used in making it. Maybe rendering the lard? I only ever remember her using that pot one summer to boil beets and then for fun adding in some white laundry to dye it pink.
Fast forward to my mid twenties. I had started breaking out badly--- much worse than my teenage years. Nothing I tried worked. Then in 2009 I ended up purchasing several bars of plain lye soap from Silver Dollar City when we went on vacation that year. It helped tremendously. From then on I would stock up on homemade soaps from The Cats Meow that would frequent our local Dogwood Festival. But in the back of my mind I always wanted to learn how to make my own.
In late 2016, when I moved into our RV at Chigger Haven, there was a lot of downtime. I remember reading an article in Backwoods Home or Mother Earth News about making soap and making your own lye to make soap. I knew right then I wanted to start learning how to master certain 'homesteading' skills that I did not already possess. I had already learned how to make jelly, can vegetables and had started raising chickens. Thanks to a Christmas gift I had learned how to cook on a wood stove. I had been raised bed gardening for a few years. But making soap still scared me a bit. Then, this year (2018) for Christmas, the hubs bought me everything I needed to make my own soap: lye, a mold and cutter, and an immersion blender. I still need to try making lye from scratch!
Another homesteading skill I conquered back in 2015 was rendering lard (the easy way) in my crockpot and putting it in mason jars to freeze for later use. My Dad is always good to give me some pork or beef when he has one slaughtered and I asked for the lard so I could try this. It was really easy -- though it does tend to make your house smell a bit.
The hubs and I watched several videos on YouTube on how to make your own soap and ironically we felt like the video from Becky's Homestead (posted below) was the easiest to follow. Here is her recipe:
40 oz. lard
5.4 oz lye
13.5 oz water
.33 oz or 10 ml of essential oil *optional* --- I later discovered this is a bit misleading since most essential oil bottles are 10 ml bottles. When making soap ALL MEASUREMENTS ARE BY WEIGHT NOT VOLUME. I have also started learning how to use SoapCalc -- an online calculator that lets you make your own recipe and tells you how much lye you should use and how much of each oil and how much fragrance . For Becky's recipe it recommends using .5oz WEIGHT fragrance.
Now for the steps:
For safety use gloves and goggles
Measure out all your ingredients first.
The lye always goes into the water, not the other way around. This solution will be VERY hot. And the fumes will knock you down. I always do this step outside.
You should also keep vinegar around in case of spills or contact to skin.
Warm lard to room temperature about 80° F. Before adding the lye solution to the liquid lard wait until the solution has cooled to 100° F The cooling process can take forever so it's best to mix the lye and water first and then you can measure and melt your lard and gather anything else you might need while waiting for it to cool down. Like I said, I do this step outside and its been in the 30's each time and it still takes about 30 - 45 minutes, if not longer.
Once the lye solution is cooled and the lard is warmed, *read this article* add lard to plastic or stainless steel bowl and then add the lye solution. Mix with spoon until thoroughly mixed then use your immersion blender beating in 20 second spurts until you see a "trace" or it looks a bit like pudding.
At this point add essential oil if you're using it. Mixing it in well. Then, pour into molds, cover with lid and wrap in towels. Leave it alone for 24 hours. Then you can cut into bars and let cure for 3 weeks.
This was my first batch -- Patchouli Sage. I sprinkled the top with dried sage from my herb garden.
There's a learning curve to cutting straight bars.
I didn't have enough lard from the hog Dad gave me to make another batch. So we contacted two of our local slaughter houses and were told they couldn't give or sell us unwanted lard because they weren't licensed to do so. So I learned another homesteading skill -- bartering. My husband belongs to several Facebook groups and posted in a few local homesteading groups that we were wanting lard/suet to make soap. Several people were willing to sell it to me, most often for more than I could buy already rendered at Walmart, but then one lady said she would gladly give me hers for a bar of soap. I gave her a bar of my patchouli sage and threw in a jar of honeysuckle jelly I had made. She sent me a message later telling me how much she loved my soap and couldn't wait to try the jelly. And then later that day her nephew contacted me to give me his lard. I think I'll be set to make at least 4 more batches of soap.
Becky's video:
There is a Soap calculator that lets you plug in what kind and amount of oils you will be using in your soap and it will tell you how much lye and water to use. I've made the above recipe 3x without much issue other than inconsistent gel phase on the last two batches (I wonder if I even had gel phase at all on the first batch). When I put it into the calculator it tells me to use 15.2 oz water and 5.36 oz of lye. I've also joined a group on Facebook for beginner soap making and was informed that less water makes it harden faster, quicker to cut, easier to unmold, and gives less soda ash.
To combat the gel phase issues I was advised to set my oven to 170* and to set my soap once in the mold into the oven. Wrap it in a towel like normal, shut the door, and turn off the heat. Leave it overnight -- I plan on trying this method soon. The last 3 batches I didn't wrap it in a towel at all. I just set it inside a small cardboard box, set another piece of cardboard on top for a makeshift lid and closed the box. I haven't had any inconsistent gel phase doing this method.
Fragrances
I'm still learning how to combine the right essential oils for the best scents. I've learned that
30% of a blend should be Top Notes
60% of a blend should be Middle Notes
10% of a blend should be Base Notes
That means if I stick to my recipe above using 10mL that means
3 ml should be Top Notes
6 ml should be Middle Notes
1 ml should be Base Notes
Top Notes
Middle Notes
Base Notes
Basil
Bay
Peru Balsam
Bergamot
Black Pepper
Cassia
Cinnamon
Cardamom
Cedarwood
Clary Sage
Chamomile
Cinnamon
Eucalyptus
Cypress
Clove
Grapefruit
Fennel
Frankincense
Lemon
Geranium
Ginger
Lemongrass
Hyssop
Jasmine
Lime
Juniper
Myrrh
Mandarin
Lavender
Neroli
Neroli
Majoram
Oakmoss
Verbena
Melissa
Patchouli
Orange
Myrtle
Rose
Peppermint
Nutmeg
Rosewood
Sage
Palma Rosa
Sandalwood
Spearmint
Pine
Valerian
Tangerin
Rosemary
Vanilla
Tea Tree
Spinenard
Vetiver
Thyme
Yarrow
Ylang Ylang
This is a great free EO blend resource where others share their blends: EOCalc
Below are a few scents I want to try based on diffuser blends.
Scents (repeat combinations until you have at least reached 10 mL )
Take A Hike: (5) Cypress (2) Tea Tree (2) Cedarwood (1) Bergamot *Made 2/25/2019*
