Then there was Uncle Ray Guthrie, he was also a school teacher and farmer, he married Rea Frankhouser, I liked her, she was short and fat, and laughed a lot, she wasn’t a very good cook or housekeeper, she did what she had to do, as quickly as possible, we had a lot of fun with Aunt Reav. She played the piano at church.
Aunt Rea and her brother Oak Frankhouser owned the farm, which was next to my dad’s farm. When Uncle Ray and Aunt Rea got married Uncle Ray moved in with Rea and her brother, and took over the farming, as Aunt Reas brother Oak was so fat he couldn’t get around very well, although he did his share of work. Uncle Ray taught school in Winter and farmed in summer, he had a car and a radio, we used to go over to Uncle Rays and listen to Amos and Andy on the radio, Uncle Rays radio was thirty inches long had six or eight knobs on it that had to be adjusted just right, it had a twenty inch speaker that looked like Gabriel’s horn, and the radio operated on a car battery.
The news always came on the radio at seven oclock, and Amos and Andy at seven thirty, Uncle Ray always liked for us to be at his house and seated in the living room before seven oclock, he always made a big deal out of turning the radio on, it had to be just right, and NO one was allowed to speak once the radio was on, this nearly killed Aunt Rea, as she talked all the time.
I remember Uncle Ray built an ice house, that is a big building, with the door high up from the ground, it had steps inside and outside up to the door. The icehouse was filled with sawdust, every winter the neighbors would get together at the creek , they would cut the ice in big squares, load it on a sled and haul it to the icehouse, where they buried the ice in the sawdust, where it would keep all through the next summer. My dad always helped put the ice away, but we seldom used any, in fact the only time we got ice was when my mother made ice cream, which was about once a year.
My sister Dora and I, always rode to church with Uncle Ray as it was too far to walk, I remember one evening, I went to Uncle Rays to go to Church, he had a big brown crock setting on the porch, I noticed it had ice floating in some brown liquid, he asked me if I wanted some iced tea, I said yes as I was curious about the tea, the only tea I had ever drank was penny loyal or sassafras and it was always hot, I had never drank it cold. When I tasted the tea, I discovered it was neither of those teas, but a different, When I ask Uncle Ray what kind of tea it was, he said it came from China. When I went home, I looked it up in a book and read all about the black tea that grew in China. I’m sure I drove everyone nuts talking about Uncle Ray’s black tea. I still can’t understand why my mother never bought any black tea it wasnt expensive, maybe she didn’t know about the tea either.
Then there was Aunt Dessie Guthrie Matholthmew, she was also a school teacher, she was married to Cloyde Matholthmew, he was lazy, I never saw him do anything but sit on the porch swing, and smoke his pipe, Aunt Dessie would sit on his lap, and he would blow smoke in her face, she had two daughters, Agnes and Evelyn, Aunt Dessie moved to Seattle Washington, when I was about four years old, there she had six or seven more kids. She never came back to West Virginia until she was a senior citizen.
Grandpop Guthrie had one brother Harry Guthrie, he lived on a big farm next to Grandpop Guthrie and Uncle Ray.Uncle Harry had four sons, Ray, Lester, Walter, Hozia, and four daughters Effie, Laura, Alcinda, and Cora who died when she was young. Uncle Harry’s family were all grown up when I was a kid. Uncle Harry’s kids never got married except Effie who married Hock Frankhouser, a farmer Uncle Harry liked Hock Frankhouser because he was just like him, had a big farm and was greedy. Laura ran off and married Clark Spiker, who had a strong back and nothing else, she ended up with six kids and nothing, Uncle Harry never forgave her, for marrying Clark Spiker. Alcinda was tall, skinny, I never saw her wear shoes, she never got married, Uncle Harry’s four sons were weird, they never spent any money, their clothes were patch upon patch , and I don’t think any one of them ever had a bath. They were hard workers on the farm, in the winter they would build rail fences, they would make them sixteen rails high, why they did this I don’t know, as eight rails was all that was needed. Each son had their own farm animals, cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens, they all worked together for feed for their animals, which they sold, after Uncle Harry died, Roy and Alcinda bought a car so their mother could ride in style to church. The other sons of Uncle Harry wouldn’t give any money for the car so they were never allowed to ride in it. Uncle Ray taught Roy how to drive the car, that was a sight to behold, Roy ran over a gate, a fence, down over an embankment, it kept stopping, then would start out with a leap and then stop again.
Those discussed in this memoir, Rhuie Lena Frankhouser 1891-1944, Oak Fuller Frankhouser 1877-1937, Dora Guthrie McNair 1916-1982, Dessie Guthrie Bartholomew 1899-1986, Cloyde Bartholomew 1890-1968, Agnes Bartholomew 1924-2005, Evelyn Bartholomew 1927, Harrison “Harry” Guthrie 1858-1937, Lydia Faucett 1858-1938, Roy Guthrie 1892-1978, Lester Guthrie 1890-1974, Hozia Guthrie 1887-1954, Walter Guthrie 1896-1959, Effie Guthrie Frankhouser 1886-1958, Harrison “Hock” Frankhouser 1883-1966, Laura Guthrie Spiker 1889-1944, Clark Spiker 1886-1974, Alcinda Guthrie 1884-1962,Cora Guthrie 1883-1924
Another great story!