When Dess was 21, she married Charles McClure Harris, age 36, on 20 September 1920, at Moundsville, WV. A short 12 years later, she became a young widow when Charlie died from a brain tumor on 15 June 1932 (see blog post dated 1/26/2011). Dess was left to care for two young daughters who were only 10 and 7 years old.
According to my father, Charlie and two of his brothers, James "Jim" and Oscar "Bones", had joined together to buy a farm on Brushy Ridge, off Fork Ridge. Both of the brothers' wives had died in 1916. The brothers' father, Samuel, became a widower in 1926 when his wife died. I haven't yet checked the deed to confirm this co-ownership of the farm, but the 1930 U. S. Federal Census does confirm that all of the following were living on the farm: Charles M., Dessie, and their daughters Eva M. and Alda L.; his brother James A. and son Lawrence J.; his brother Oscar L.; and his father, Samuel.
I've been told that Dess led a hard life on the farm - she was raising two girls and cooking for them as well as all of the men, caring for animals (chickens, sheep, dogs, cats), and no doubt helping on the farm in other ways (I'm not sure if they had dairy cows then). At some point, Dess operated a telephone switchboard out of her kitchen. One time she was using the switchboard during a storm when lightning struck it and knocked her to the floor. Mom always reminded us of that story if we were talking on the telephone anytime there was thunder and lightning!
Fast forward a few years, and Dess was still living on the farm with her daughter, Eva, and Eva's husband and three children. That is the time period I remember as I often stayed with them when I was young. Mom had a lot of health issues - anytime she was very sick or was in the hospital, I usually stayed with Grandma Dess, Aunt Eva, Uncle Cy, and my cousins.
Grandma Dess must have sensed that I would be the grandchild who would become really interested in genealogy as she gave me two photo albums of old family photos. Unfortunately, there are many unidentified photos - and I never really got into them until it was too late to ask her who the people are. I'm grateful that there were names written in one album which had been her mother's (it contains a note that it had been "Presented to Della McGary 1988 by J. L. Hood").
When Grandma Dess died in May 1986 with Alzheimer's Disease, she was being cared for at the Mound View Nursing Home in Moundsville (now the Mound View Health Care Center). Like many of her family, she was a member of the Fork Ridge Christian Church and she was buried in the cemetery there with her husband, Charlie. In fact, Dess was a Sunday School teacher of the church youth for many years.
2 comments:
If memory serves me right, mom said that Grandma Dess preferred working in the fields over working in the house. Does that sound familiar to you? I've always loved that picture of her, so beautiful. Do you know how old she was in the photo?
Mom also said Grandma never got over her fear of storms after being knocked to the floor. Can't say I blame her!
Did mom ever tell you about when she had a severe case of poison ivy? It was a hot, miserable night, in the days long before air conditioning, maybe before fans even. Grandma Dess stayed up all night, fanning mom to keep her cool so she wouldn't itch quite as much.
Hmmm ... can't say I remember Mom saying that - but I must have taken after Grandma Dess as I always preferred working outside to housework! Not sure how old she is in that photo.
Yep, I know the poison ivy story. And if I remember correctly, that was the time Mom got it from the smoke of burning poison ivy vines - and Grandma Dess also packed ice around her to relieve the itching.
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