The Day I Discovered the Family Bible - Part 2

There were many mornings, when staying at Grandma and Grandpa Garrison's, that the house would start smelling good early in the day. It seemed something was always on the stove. The old pressure cooker would be hissing, with great smells filling the air. There were many mornings when bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy (sometimes made from coffee and ham drippings) were made and enjoyed by many.  But not my grandfather. I would see him sitting at the kitchen table eating oatmeal, with a dollop of applesauce added in. He would drink a glass of prune juice each morning, and he would pour his coffee onto the saucer to let it cool, and would then drink it right from there. I found it odd that he drank it that way but have since learned that was very common. I loved to watch him. I was only 11 when he passed away. I didn’t have near as much time with him as I would have liked.

Noon meals were a big deal at the Garrison house. It was the main meal of the day. There was always quite a spread, including lots of vegetables and several different kinds of desserts. Persimmon pudding was my favorite! I had never had it before Grandma made it for us. A batch was always made for us when we came to visit. Applesauce cake was another family favorite as well as fruitcake. Fruitcakes would be made for the holidays and some kind of liquor would be poured on them, like rum, and they would sit for weeks before they could be eaten. I still love fruitcake, much to the dismay of many of my friends!  Although not the same, Collin Street Bakery, in Corsicana, Texas, has the closet thing to Grandma's that I have had.  We used to receive one for Christmas each year from a friend out in Utah.  Needless to say, the year after he died, I was very surprised when the annual fruitcake was delivered to our door.  The tradition was carried on that year by his children.  

Whenever we would visit, there would always be a large pot on the stove, many times containing a bunch of field peas. I absolutely loved these little, brown, plump morsels of goodness and could just sit down and eat a big bowl of them and nothing else. I have not been able to find field peas like that outside of North Carolina.  There were a lot of "southern tradition" foods that I loved and don't get to experience, except when we're back there visiting.  Carolina barbecue is one of those foods. Vinegar based, sometimes spicy...nothing like it.  

We would all gather in the big dining room for meals. It had a big table that would seat a lot of people. The room was not large, so between the bulky chest freezer, a serving table, stairs to the second floor and the big table, there was not a lot of room to maneuver around. But some of my best memories are from when we squeezed around that table and shared a meal with our family.

Just outside the kitchen was the back porch and a door that led down to a root cellar. I really didn’t like being down there alone. I would either follow someone down or ask someone to go with me. And yet, I loved all the things that came out of that cellar. Home canned veggies, fruits, jams, etc. I really loved the jams and preserves! Pear preserves on buttered toast was my favorite. They were full of big chunks of juicy pear. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.  There is nothing like homemade! 

Have I made you hungry?  I think it's time for me to go find something to eat.  Whatever it is, I bet it won't be as good as Grandma's home cooking!  Stay tuned for more about the Garrison family in The Day I Discovered the Family Bible - Part 3!  

Today's Terri's Tidbit:  If you are an AARP member and are thinking about becoming a subscriber or renewing your subscription to Ancestry.com, you can get a 30% discount.  Click here for more information.

The Day I Discovered the Family Bible

I'm on a search...actually I think I have been on this search for more than 40 years.  A search for family members that I never had the opportunity to meet or only knew for a short time.  A search for my ancestors in the Hatch, Marley, Garrison and Hayworth lines.

I can remember the day the "genealogy bug" bit me.  I was sitting on my maternal grandmother's couch, when I was around 10 or 11, carefully holding a big family bible in which Grandma had written her children's names, all 12 of them, along with their birth dates, and in some cases their deaths too.  I was fascinated! Our family of five was small in comparison.  I am the oldest with two younger brothers.  Of the 12 children of Albert Hamilton and Mittie Ethel Hayworth Garrison, my mother was the youngest and one of only four girls.

I instinctively knew that what was written in that bible was very important information.  So much so that I copied all the names down that day, along with the dates that had been listed.  I kept that list all these years.  Part of it is shown to the right.  That was the beginning of my love for family history!

Grandma and Grandpa Garrison moved from High Point to West End, North Carolina  in the early 1920's.  My grandfather was a tobacco farmer and my grandmother, with the help of the older children, took care of the house, the little ones, helped keep all her family and the farm workers fed and helped on the farm when needed.  In 1925, William, the fifth born child and the fourth son, died at the age of three.  That had to be a very difficult time for all.  By the time my mother was born in 1939, my grandmother was just a few months shy of 45. My mother's oldest brothers were already married with children, making her an aunt from the time of birth.

Albert and Mittie Garrison's first house in West End, NC

Several of the Garrison children were born in High Point but many were born in the family home in West End,  just about five minutes down the road from Pinehurst.  Their home, shown above, was not much bigger than many people's living rooms, maybe smaller.  In 1935, a new house, shown below, was built across the street, which was two stories and had lots of bedrooms.  It must have seemed huge after living in the previous house.

Second home of the Garrison family.

There was a bathroom on the back porch which I always thought was a little strange but that was a relatively new addition to the house.  When the house was first built there had been an outhouse just down the path from the back door.  The bathroom on the porch would get so cold in the winter. It was not unusual to find a little portable heater in there to help keep the room warm.  I can't imagine having to trek down to the outhouse.  That must have been miserable.  I wish I could have been there the day they got the new bathroom.  I can just see everyone standing around in that tiny room, checking it out, flushing it over and over just to hear the sound.  It must have been a thrill!

I remember when I was growing up with my two brothers, we were always fighting to get into the bathroom.  Can you imagine how it must have been with so many family members and one bathroom?  An adventure, no doubt!  So many wonderful memories and stories!  I'll share some more  in the next blog.

Today's Terri's Tidbit:  I have learned so much about genealogical research by watching webinars that are available online.  There are so many websites that provide these for absolutely free. There is a huge genealogy based conference held in Salt Lake City each year called rootstech.  It just finished up this last week and they have a lot of the speaker's talks available to watch.  Click here to go to the webinar page.  I have watched several and found them helpful but was blown away by the tips I picked up in Thomas MacEntee's "Building a Genealogy Research Toolbox".   Check it out!