Spring Cleaning: Old papers to Crockpots & Log Cribs

Spring cleaning! A good thing...some times a very revealing thing. I enjoy STARTING....I just have a big problem STAYING ON TRACT. How about you?

I find that I start on a project with great vim/vigor....suddenly come across something VERY intertesting...more interesting than the PROJECT!!! And Zap....I am off and running...totally in another direction and LOVING IT. HA HA

Last week I decided that I needed update a lot of our 'family legal matters' of our so called 'SAFETY DEPOSIT BOX'. (not the Banking type...just a big Walmart box in a shed...haha) You know the Living wills, wills, house/car/business/insurances, etc.etc.etc.---all VERY important but also the easiest to 'put off and not look at...because it's not all that pleasant ....tho necessary, especially at our age and time in life. (Every days newspaper OBITS reminds us constantly of this fact---we are rapidly losing our friends and heaven is getting more of our friends as residents)

Based on the above...I started out quite well. But deeeeep in the bottom of the box I came across two different folded up xeroxed rolls of papers----from the CIVIL WAR. Shock.

Yes, I remember when and where I got the data..when I copied some of it at work, hummm.....but it was back during my years of working and during those years that my life was on OVER LOAD with work/kids/schedules and certainly no time for a 'deep love of my heart'....my beautiful heritage from BOTH my mothers and daddy's side of the family and their lives. I have always GATHERED/KEPT virtually ANY THING of the past....and a STORED away everything.

But this particular day....I stopped dead in my tracts and read my GREAT GRANDMOTHERS handwriting and her story about she and my GRANDMOTHER'S life during and after the Civil War.

Tears and an aching heart burst easily from me as I read and VISUALIZED the unbelievable....but obvious...truthful/horrible experiences that they and all our pioneering forefathers went through in order that we all today can relax, enjoy and yes, abuse all those most TREASURED freedoms that our grandparents and my parents did not have. (these papers were copies of official government Confederate Widows pension documents.)

And to think that in some ways....others had it EVEN WORSE than my grandparents. Lord God, have mercy, forgive us for not knowing or appreciating the sacrifices of others...of our own families of the past and most of all... the REAL and additional reasons of Jesus going to that cross for those back then and for each of us today ....that we sometimes walk in ignorance.

I was sharing with one my friends the above and since she is a blog reader but not writer, she asked that I write about some of things that I found, because these are things that quickly humble our hearts in our world of 'goodness and blessings today....and we all need to praise God MORE! So, whatever I share here about my heritage...may it honor all those who have gone before....especially my own beloved loved ones .....some...that I never even knew but have always been so proud of....and most of all, honor to our Lord and Savior, who brought them and brings each of us through each days challenges.

We have traced our Maternal heritage (my Mom) all the way back to 1648 AD in England/Germany and my Dad's side back to 1752 AD Prussia.. I think this is so awesome and such a neat blessing..... Yet some is not....we have 2 grandfathers who served Napoleon Bonepart, one became one of his top 12 Generals and his name is on the Arch of Triumph in France. (we have an actual letter about this Grandfather serving with Napoleon at war in Prussia (now Berlin, Germ) when Napoleon gave him the orders to Stay/Lead his legion of soldiers there....while Napoleon chose to leave... to win the 'worlds greatest victory' and actually met 'his Waterlou" death. Recorded also in WB Brittanica.

Our family members that love researching our heritage... the sad, bad and success of our background....are so thrilled to have the documented facts and yes, like all families...there's good, bad & ugly....even sillies... ha ha Nothing in life is perfect. ha

But the papers that I found/have are about my Great Granny Permelia Bullard-Culp...I think is so heart rendering and documented. She and her family were originally from Tennesee, moved to Neosho, Missouri when she was a child. She and her sister Martha (older) married two brothers.

Their husbands, Caswell and Daniel Culp (along with their 2 sisters and 4 other brothers) were born in North Carolina but also moved to McDonald County Missouri, close to the Bullard family of 12 children. The Civil War was brewing.

Great Granny Culp said that Caswell and Daniel (& friend RL McGee) were "mustered'' (made to serve) in the Confederate Army in Washington County, Arkansas, where they were all working, shortly after they each had married the Bullard sisters.

Great Granny Permelia wrote in these papers that she and Caswell married April 16, 1857, she had 3 little girls, my grandmother Emma, Laura Jane (whom I was named after as my mothers favorite Aunt) and infant Clara C. The two families lived together in Daniels and Martha's house during the war in Neosho, Missouri.

The two brothers and best friend, R L McBee (later lived in Waco, Tx. and verified all government documentation of events for the family on these papers that I have)----were all captured and put in a Yankee prison, which was horrible because there was no food for any one during the wartime, lastly were war prisoners. Finally the men were released in March of 1863 and allowed to go home. (the Civil War began April 12, 1861 and ended April 9, 1865).

On the way home...according to Granny's story to my Mother...the brothers and other men were riding horses back to Missouri and Caswell (my great Grandfather) was riding towards the end of the line of horses on the narrow trail in woodlands and hills. The men all arrived at the home of Daniel. Granny realized quickly that her husband was NOT with the group. However his dog was...and it was constantly barking. The men all said he had been barking for a while as the men walked the trail. It was late in the evening, so the tired men welcomed rest and being home & out of prison...but knew something had obviously happened to Caswell in their ride home.

Early the next morning they got up, saddled the horses and started back down their old trail. The dog still constantly barked and seemed to be trying to get the men to follow him. The dog led them to his master...not far from their home.... was Greenville Caswell Culp laying dead by the side of the trail. It was debatable whether he was killed by Yankees, bushwhackers, robbers or popular 'carpet baggers'. Those were crazy times Granny said, sometimes whole families were slaughtered and it was not the Yankees but people sometimes just went crazy from the horrors around them. Everybody grabbed for anything of value. Morals were few.

Granny and her 3 little girls continued to live with her sister and brother-in-law, Martha and Daniel and their children, but the war was getting worse and the Confederatacy seemed to be losing. The original Culp family lived nearby and all of Caswells brothers (Edmund, Valentine, John, George and two sisters, together decided that it was safer and wiser for all the women to 'GO TO TEXAS' for the land grants and freedom. The men said they would come and join the women in Texas after the war was over. (*they all did but Caswell)

My Granny and her 3 little girls, age 6, 2, and infant, along with Martha and her 3 children and 4 other women and children packed a wagon in Autumn of 1864 and headed for Texas, alone. All women..with little babies and children.

Granny said that 'winter set in early that year and the snow was unbelievably horrible. The wheels would barely move and they often had to dig their way out. They finally ran out of food. They were scared to death, freezing cold, the kids were starving and they had no choice but to CROSS the horrible-most feared, Mason-Dixon Yankee line and beg for food and help from the nearest Yankee Fort.

Granny constantly told my Mother and her sister, my Aunt Jewel, about how scared they were of the "Yankees' because 'all they had ever been told were horrible, morbid stories of torture, rape and death.'

She remembered vividly seeing the Yankee Fort from the distance and being so scared of what was going to happen to them... but they had no choice. No food, starving and their children had to come first, regardless what happened to them as women.

They tore the bottom off of their petticoats to make 'white rags' to waved them at the Yankee Fort, hoping the Yankees would know that they 'came in Peace'...giving up. Granny said she could easily see the Yankee soldiers standing at the top rails of the Fort with their rifles and gun pointed directly at her and Martha on the front of the wagon seat. She said no one can describe the feeling until they live it. It was horrible beyond words.

The women just kept waving the white rags. Finally the soldiers SAW that they were 'just women and kids' and they allowed them to come inside. They opened the big wooden gates and brought them inside to a big camp fire that was built in the middle of the Fort. Granny said nothing ever felt better than that warm fire and just seeing people. They told the soldiers that they were headed for Texas and that her husband had been killed in the war. The soldiers just looked at them with pity because they knew they probably would never make it...as women and kids traveling so far and in the winter weather. The Yankees were very, very kind to them. Granny & Martha couldn't believe the soldiers were so nice to them since they were really part of the Confederacy.

The Yankees fed them a big supper and breakfast the next morning. They also didn't have a lot of food at the Fort for the their own soldiers but they kindly gave Granny and the women one large bag of Flour and 2 small bags of corn meal...which was all that they had to spare. Again, after a nice exchange between everyone, the Yankees soldiers wished them safe travel to Texas.

Many things happened along the travels but yes, they DID make it to Greenock Community for their land grant in Texas ( NE of Valley Mills). 1866....and built their log cabin 1868...later their house of one room house and a fireplace----which each still stand today, March 2007, almost 140 years. My Mother told me that Granny (who lived to be nearly 90 years old) said they used mules and dragged the 'logs from East Texas to build the cabin."....but as Mom said...however who knows WHERE and what they called East Texas??? (not much telling)

Granny often told Momma that the worse thing about moving to Texas was the Commanche Indians. She repeatedly told my Mother and Aunt Jewel as little girls, all about the massacres that the Commanches did nearby...in the early days of Texas... by scalping the hair off of the heads of the whole family of farmers, killing their pets...especially those on the isolated farms. Plus the Indians always stole all their livestock, animals and household things and then finally would burn down their houses and barn before leaving.

Momma said that she constantly had screaming 'nightmares' because of Granny's awful stories throughout her childhood...but she dearly loved Granny (they always lived together) and Momma was with her when she took her last breath in their family home in 1923. Seven years later, Momma also held her own mother, Emma, as she passed away in the same house. (this is part of the reason I treasure my childhood home/life...because my Mother and I were both born in the same house, same room, SAME BED....40 years a part....on top of the above awesome history and story of success and sorrow)

My Mothers Daddy...my Grandaddy, Madison Earl Bryant, in 1904 (when my Mom was 4) added/built 2 more bedrooms (16x16 Ft same size as the main room), a large hallway and beautiful porch onto to Granny's house. He hand carved all the little 'ginger bread' shingles for the front porch and trimmings. He hand carved the fireplace front from one rock, 6-7 inches by 2 ft by 5 ft. He and my Grandmother Emma planted 10 Hackberry trees in the front yard in perfect formation (most have died in last 30 years). He was a Baptist preacher (2 years as a Circuit Rider Preacher-his twin brother, Nelson, was a photographer, traveled with him taking photos of early schools/children). Grandaddy was a writing and music teacher, blacksmith, farmer of huge orchards and raised TOBACCO...seeds/training from old South. ha ha (remember smoking was an OK thing back then...) I can remember one of his orchards and riding the old wagon Packed with bushel baskets full of awesomely delicious peaches---except I hated peach fuzz...and still do. ha ha I can still remember the awesome Smell of fresh peaches as Momma peeled them for the old Crock pots (not modern day electric) true Crock pottery pots used for canning. (I have one on my patio...but sad to say ...today it is still together...but it is so old that it is a real CRACKED CROCK pot. ha ha But I love it anyway.)

And oh yes...the old log cabin...it still stands! Roof blew off some years back. We have used it as a 'corn crib' all through the years. We all dearly LOVED the Log crib. The logs became the home of 100's of Cedar bees (they look like Bumble Bees but do not sting). My brothers and I dearly loved to catch the cedar bees when friends came by because everybody always THOUGHT they were Bumble bees...they would always run like crazy.... scream bloody murder in fear of being stung..,..while we would laugh and then finally... show them that they were OK. The Cabin had a south door, East door and a top west window that was awesome to use as a 'look out' when the crib was filled with corn. My brother and I used to Race to see who could CLIMB up the logs to the top window the fastest! As a child, you quickly learned exactly where to put your hands/feet between each log to get to the top. As said...we treasured Great Granny's " Log Crib".

Well, I guess this is enough for one walk down the PATH of the PAST. Humbly, I just want to knee down to thank God for being there... for them....for us....for anyone who will allow it. Have a blest day, today and everyday. In His love, honor and praise, always, Gloria