We were a young couple, toting a 15 month old baby girl, looking forward to the Lord’s blessings in our new home. During our first 4 years of marriage we had lived in 4 different places and we would now celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary in our 5th house! This move, however, would be of a more permanent nature. During the next 20 years, this place would see not only our 5th wedding anniversary, but also our 10th, 15th, 20th and in three more months, our 25th! During that time, God increased our family to 7 members as He blessed us with 4 more children to be raised on this beautiful property.
Reflecting about our 20 year chapter in the history of this land leads me to ponder upon the previous chapters. I wonder what stories this piece of property could tell about the families of the past who have also called this land home?
Being interested in the past, I have dug out the old deeds from previous owners of this land. I know the names and dates, but only the land really knows the stories. In 1860 Isom Daniel passed away and his very considerable amount of land went to his heirs. He had 9 children; John, James, Catherine, Isom, Hettie, David, Sarah, Peter, and Wyatt. Peter and Wyatt got the land March 12, 1860 and paid the other siblings a total of $2,125 for their interests in the inheritance. In 1874 there was a division of land between Peter and Wyatt, with Peter keeping a considerable amount of land, part of which would become Pure Water Hollow.
Peter also had 9 children. Some of their names are a bit unusual to 21st century folk; Valentine, Isom, Farmer, John, Major, Ruthford, Louis, Samona, and Sarah. According to the 1880 census Peter was a 47 year old farmer in 1880. Peter lived a long life and owned this land for 54 years. Like I said, part of Peter Daniel’s lands contained Pure Water Hollow, but I don’t know exactly where on his lands his homestead was. I can only imagine how his family may have used the part of their land that we now call Pure Water Hollow. I would love to be able to see the kind of farm they had!
Peter Daniel passed away in 1914, at which time his lands were apparently divided into 9 lots, one for each of his children. They appear to have made 9 different deeds and deeded each other their respective interests in their father’s estate, dated January 28, 1914. Pure Water Hollow went to Major A. Daniel. This is the deed that contains the wording which has continued down through the decades to the deed we have now held for 20 years.
To commemorate our 20th anniversary of owning said property, I would like to record the description of Pure Water Hollow from that deed. I think it is rather interesting, even though it makes little sense to anyone a century later. I am also leaving the original spelling.
“Beginning at a beech near the county road about 25 poles below the mouth of the Sand Branch on the west side of Sandy River, it being a corner of the widow’s dower of the estate of the late Peter Daniels and being Lot No. 8 of the said estate and allotted to the said Major Daniels; thence to Sandy River and up the River to the out side line of the said Peter Daniels’ farm and with said to the top of the knob to a corner on said line, it being a corner of Lot No. 7 or John Daniels’ corner; thence with Lot No. 7 a straight line to a hickory corner in John Daniels’ former deed; thence reversing said John Daniels’ line to the line of land laid off for the widow’s dower and with her said line to the beginning, containing 35 acres, more or less.
Being a part of the same land conveyed by John Daniel, David Daniel, etc., to Peter Daniel by deed dated March 12, 1860 and recorded in DeedBook No. “D” at page 310.”
Major and his wife Brilla owned the land of Pure Water Hollow for 8 years from January 28, 1914 to June 10, 1922. According to the 1920 census, Major was a 50 year old coal miner and Brilla was a 42 year old house wife. At the time of that census they had 5 children living with them; Grey (18), Gladys(17), Jay(14), Arnolis(12), and Genna May(8), which means they were all born before Major inherited our property in 1914. I wonder if his family ever lived here or if those children ever hunted this hollow or explored the rock houses in the sides of the mountains? A neighbor of ours who is 86 says that some of her kinfolk named Daniel once lived here. She thinks their house sat where our garden is now. Maybe this was Major's family?
June 10, 1922 found this hollow being owned by a non-Daniel family for the first time in perhaps a hundred years when Major and Brilla sold the property to David O. and Maltia Johnson for $200. They evidently moved here with a 5 month old baby. Their first child, David Jr., was born on January 11th of the
same year they purchased the land. I have discovered that they had a total of at least 6 children with some decidedly, delightful names: David Jr., Dennis, Delmer, Donald, Delores, and Doris. We've been told that the Johnson's are the ones who moved this house that we are currently living in to it's current location, which is a fascinating story in itself.
David O. supposedly bought our house at an auction from the Consolidated Coal Company at the White House Coal Camp, which is a couple miles down river and on the opposite bank. It was one of the foreman's houses so it was much nicer than many of the other houses in the camp. They apparently put the house on skids and dragged it to the river, poled it up river on a raft, and then pulled it up the riverbank on skids again and up a hill and then across a good section of land to set it up where it is now.
I want to believe that the Johnson family had many wonderful times in this home and on this land, but their 22 years here are marked with two tragedies that I don't think I could bear. Their second son, Dennis, was born on March 20, 1925 less than three years after they bought the property. The first tradegy I speak of was when that baby died just a year later on August 28, 1926, not even seeing his 2nd birthday. Meanwhile, David Jr. grew strong and tall. I wonder if he enjoyed his childhood and teen years growing up with his siblings here at Pure Water Hollow? I wonder what he thought of the war in Europe calling him away from these sheltering hills? He was just 19 years old when the USA entered WWII after Pearl Harbor was bombed. I don't know when he went off to the war, but I know when he came home. He was killed in action in October, 1944, in a far off country named France. I wonder how such an event affected his mother, father, 2 brothers, and 2 sisters who were still here?
Less than two years later, on August 16th, 1946, David and Maltia sold their homestead here to Don Carlos Meek for $500 and they moved to Pike County. An interesting footnote to the Johnson chapter of our land is that the Johnson's are buried in the cemetary next to the house at Pure Water Pastures down the road from here. The graves of Baby Dennis and PFC David Jr are there, as well as both David O. and Malta.
David O. died in 1954 but Maltia outlived David by a considerable number of years and didn't pass away until after Lisa and I moved here in 1993, one month before her 95th birthday!
Don's many faults are detailed in the book. He and Willa Mae divorced after 23 years of marriage, which was unusual in the 1950s. Don deeded the property to Willa Mae on August 12th, 1958. I think it is interesting that during some good years in the late 40s Don Meek was a school teacher and taught in the community school that was just a half mile from Pure Water Hollow. He then changed jobs frequently, being a furniture salesman, running a sporting goods store in town, and then leaving our county to be a used car salesman in Barbourville, Kentucky during the week. (The Barbourville, KY connection is a strange coincidence, being Lisa's hometown. It is possible that her dad could have known Don Carlos Meek.)
Ownership of this land changed hands once again on February 16th, 1966 when Willa Mae Meek sold the property to Joe and Lockie Mae Pack. Joe was a lineman for the power company and he and Lockie raised two children here, both of whom still live within 5 miles of Pure Water Hollow. Lockie passed away in 1988 and before long Joe was ready to sell his old homestead. This brings us to the magic date of February 11th, 1993, when Joe sold the property to us after owning it for 27 years.
A few years after Pure Water Hollow became our homestead we had the honor of attending church with Joe when he started going to Baker Branch Free Will Baptist which was the church we belonged to at the time. I wish I had asked him more questions about his feelings about this land before he passed away. I know he had cattle on these hills once upon a time and he had some of the land logged in the early 80s. I wonder how else he may have made use of his homestead here?
So, over the years, many families have had the joy of being a part of this land. Some were here longer than others, but they all came and went. Isom Daniel owned this property in the early 1800s and he died; his son Peter Daniel owned and farmed this land for 54 years and he died; his son Major Daniel owned the property for 8 years and he is now dead; David O. Johnson had this land for 22 years and he is now deceased; Willa Mae Meek was here for 20 years and she is now dead; Joe Pack owned the land for 27 years and he has now passed on. I have been blessed to own this property for the past 20 years. Do I think I am really any different than the ones who came before me?
They each had their turn and are now gone. We are all just temporary stewards of earthly gifts such as houses and land that God allows us to have during our brief time here on His footstool. I desire to make the most of the chapter of my stewardship of Pure Water Hollow for the glory of God! We are now 20 years into it as of today, and this chapter could easily last another 20 years if the Lord tarries His return. But one thing is for certain: one day, I will not be here. If time continues on there will be another generation that will call this place home; there will be another custodian of this hollow and these hills that I love so much.
God's Word is so profound. Solomon knew all about this truth that I have been pondering. God led him to write about it many years ago in Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse 4,
"One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever."
I was going to end this post with that quote from Ecclesiastes, but Lisa pointed out that it could be regarded as a bit depressing to do that. I don't want to leave any doubt about the lesson my ponderings have turned into so I should go ahead and add that I agree with Solomon when he explains the most important thing in life:
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."
I love this land that the Lord has given into my trust, but I use the word love loosely. God has blessed Pure Water Hollow Homestead greatly during my time here, but I must not allow this land, or anything else, to become more important than loving and serving my Father in Heaven, as well as loving and serving my fellow man here on earth.
I have learned that I should be careful to not allow my attitudes towards this land (or any of the wonderful things I possess), to even remotely resemble the fool that Jesus speaks about in Luke 12:
15 Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consistesth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. 16 And he spake a parable unto them saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
I'm also reminded of the clear words of Jesus in Matthew 6:19-21,
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
I have some temporary treasures here on earth. I thank God for them, but they are not important at all in the eternal scheme of things. Will any of these treasures matter to me 100 years from now? My true treasures are laid up in Heaven!
May God bless all of you who are reading this, whether you be family, a stranger, or perhaps one of my decendents in the far off future; whoever you are, my prayer is for you to be with me in Heaven one day!
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