A SALUTE TO THE MEMORY OF THE TWO PEOPLE WHO ARE THE CAUSE OF US

William Henry Seacrist Sr. and His Wife, Margaret Van Allen Coleman,

Better known to friends and neighbors as Uncle Bud and Aunt Mag

 

I've been trying to remember some things about my grandparents because I think I'm about the oldest one here.  I believe Ethel Huffman Howell and I are the only ones left in our generation.  Gay Seacrist Smoot passed away just over a year ago, the three of us were near the same age, Gay the youngest of the three.                                                                                                                                                          

                I can barely remember Grandpa.  He died when I was very young.  I was 12 when grandma passed away.  I had missed school because I had a tooth ache the day before she died.  I spent the day with her, reading Heidi to her.  Strange how little things stay in your mind forever.   I'm not sure of the date but know it was 1941 the spring before WW2.  The next day when I came home from school the first thing I learned was that she had had a stroke.  She always sat in a chair right beside the grate fireplace and listened to soap operas on the radio.  One I remember was Stela Dalis, on this day I think it might have been about 10 am.  She slid out of the chair partly in the ashes.  Later in the afternoon I think it was Bertha, Uncles Lon's daughter, found her.  She lived for a short time.  The Dr. probably came to her house.  In fact she had made it clear, she was not to be taken away from there. The Undertaker came there and did whatever they did back then.

                Her house was just three rooms and a path, one of those was kept neat in case she had company.  The "front room" had two beds.  The big one where she slept Ethel usually slept with her.  Then, the small bed, that grandpa had called the "dog bed" [they never had a dog] it was made of corn shucks. That's where I slept when I spent the night.  The room was papered with newspapers.  We grandchildren, especially Ethel, Buddy and I played guessing games looking at the papers. Grandma loved to tell ghost stories and sometimes I would have to go home in the dark.  It was only across the narrow dirt road, but to me it seemed a long way.  I would be so scared.  Ethel and I loved to play “paper people" with pictures that we cut from Sears Roebuck Catalogs.  Grandma let us play as much as we liked as long as we put them under the bed for another day.  Ethel was not just my cousin she was my best friend.                                                                                        

                I might not get their children in the right order but my dad, Henry, was the oldest.  He quit school in the 3nd grade to work at the coal mines to help support the family.  I must say, without much formal education he was a very smart man.  There wasn't much he couldn't do such as building houses plus any type work to keep a family.  One thing he never learned was to drive a car. My dad and his brother, Alonzo married sisters, my mom Lydia Ann and Stella Johnson.

My parents were married at Gallagher [name back then was Mucklow] WV. The year 1901,they had 12 children 9 grew to be adults. Their first child, Virgie Ellen died of scarlet fever and meningitis when she was only 2 years old.  Charles Fredric was the next oldest.  I believe they were the only two that were born before they moved to the house that my dad built at Holly Grove that is still standing after about 112 years.  ,Next was Walter Alexander, William Harvey, Sylvia Carolyn, Brant Hamilton, Marie Van Allen, Everette Melvin [killed in an accident while playing], at about 11 years old, Kittie Katherine, Henry Clinton, Oral Edward died when he was 5 of Scarlet fever and meningitis, then it's just me, Lois Emma Seacrist Chrest Tyler Long, that is a story for another time.

    I don't know if I have the men in the in the right order.  After my dad was Alonzo [ Uncle Lon] and Stella their children that I can remember were  the girls, Bertha Crist, Reva Morrison, Ershel, Judy Green, Janis Crist and Gay Smoot.  The boys were Lonnie Bob, J.C. Sam, Clyde and Paul.

    Next [I think] of the brothers was John and his wife Jean, I remember hearing that as a young man Uncle John was rather active in the mine wars at Holly Grove.  The children that I remember were Mary, Martha and Elizabeth.  I  remember how beautiful they were, like their mother.  The sons were Johnnie, Thomas and Roy. I went to school with the younger two.

I knew Uncle Bert but don't remember a lot about him except he had a wife at one time [I think] named Lillian Griggs and a son Freddie who was just a little older than I.  Uncle Bert was known as quite a ladies man there at Holly Grove. All the Seacrist men were pretty darn good lookin'.

      Last was Uncle Aaron.  I don't remember where he lived, but know he had a wife and family.  I just saw him when he visited grandma.

     The Seacrist women were first, Amanda Neff, she had maybe 4 or 5 children and then gave birth to triplets.  As most of us know there have been lots of multiple births in this family.  However these babies did not survive and after staying in bed for so many days the way it used to be, when she did get up she also died, probably from a blood clot from not being active enough.  Not sure but think the next girl was Nancy Huffman.  She was a sort of reserved, stay at home, mind her own business kind of lady.  Since we lived next door to her and Uncle Ira, the two families were very close growing up together.  She didn't mind letting me know when I was doing something I shouldn't be doing. Her family was Herman Herbert, Louise, Kenner [Buddy] Aaron, Ethel, Homer and Juanita.  Then there was Flora Newcomer, the opposite of Aunt Nan, she was quite the "cut up" funny and didn't care what she said.  Her boys were Delbert, Denver, Dana, Dennis and Donald, her daughters that I remember were Laura, Ethel, Margaret and Katherine.  Pearl Bray was the youngest daughter, she had a son Everette Jr, one daughter and twin boys, Jimmy and Gene.

I can't swear about any of this, it isn't easy to pull all the things that I remember and many that I've only heard about from this old 89 year old brain. One person that has the sharpest memory about a lot of these things is Nancy Chappell, the granddaughter of Aunt Nan.

It is more than amazing to me to think of all of these people and their families that came from these two dear people, better known as Uncle Bud and Aunt Mag Seacrist.