THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
John
Joseph Vandiver with sisters Sarah Vandiver and Della Vandiver.
All
three made the trip west with their parents about 1895 to settle there.
John Joseph Vandiver was the
fourth of
thirteen children born to John Floyd Eugene Vandiver and Rhoda Lucinda
Souther
Vandiver. John Joseph was born January
1, 1878 at his grandfather J. John Souther’s house near New Liberty
Church,
Choestoe District. In 1959 he wrote an
autobiographical sketch of his life from his home in
John Joseph Vandiver remembered his
grandparents, John Souther, who died
He recalled that the old homeplace was
willed to his mother. Consulting the
last will and testament of J. John Souther, this item indicates the
behest: “And behoof—8th: I give bequeath and devise to my daughter
Rhoda L. Vandiver, to wit – Lot of Land No. 161 in the 16th
District
and 1st Sec., valued at one thousand and fifty dollars; it
is my
will that this be deeded to the Church of No. 161 one acre of land
where the
Church House now sits – with the privilege of wood to lands belonging
to the
estate to have and to hold the same to her own benefit and behoof—“. J. John Souther’s will was signed
In his memoirs, John Joseph Vandiver
recalls life at the Souther place. “Our
living was meager. We had to grow all
that we had to eat on the farm.” Their
industry and prudence taught them to put up food for winter use: barrels of kraut and pickled beans and corn;
potatoes and cabbage buried in pits in the ground to protect them from
freezing; apples, green beans (called leather britches), shelled beans
and peas
and pumpkin were dried for winter use.
With such a large family of children
to provide for, his mother, Rhoda Lucinda Vandiver, was kept busy
knitting
socks and weaving cloth for clothes from the wool sheared from their
sheep.
About his early school days he
wrote: “We usually had about six months
of school in the winter with poor teachers who were paid about $25.00
per
month. A farmer and a Methodist
preacher, John Twiggs, was the best teacher we had, and taught us many
things. When I was about five, the
His parents continued to live on Land
Lot 161 until after his grandmother’s death in 1894.
Then, in 1895, his mother sold the house and
land to Elisha Townsend, father-in-law of John Joseph’s sister Cordelia
Jane,
called Delia, who had married Andrew Jackson Townsend on
Unfortunately, John Joseph Vandiver’s
memoirs do not include how his family packed up belongings and moved
west. By 1895, train service was available
from
John Joseph wrote: “In 1895 there
was a depression similar to
the one of 1929, and we had to work hard to live. Father
bought the old Lollard farm on Lollard’s
Creek about six miles from Drake’s Creek for $1,500.00.
As a lad of 18 or 19, I sometimes earned a
dollar a day making railroad ties. I
would take them eight miles across the mountain for another $1.10.”
Those moving to Drakes’s Creek,
Arkansas with John Floyd Eugene Vandiver and his wife, Rhoda Lucinda
Souther
Vandiver were children John Joseph, 17 at the time of the move; James
Harley,
age 15; Frances Rosanna, age 13; Marion Thomas, age 11; Della Lucinda,
age 9;
Sarah Evelyn, age 8; Nellie Mae, age 5; Hartwell Franklin, age 4; and
Callie
Buenaulsta, age 2. Two years after
they
settled at Drake’s Creek,
Death claimed the young Andrew Jackson
Townsend on
Note:
Rhoda Lucinda Souther (August 21, 1853 - June 24, 1947) married
on
January 9, 1872 to John Floyd Edward Vandiver (October 3, 1849 –
September 26,
1923) in Union County, Georgia, with Charles Crumley, Minister of the
Gospel,
performing the ceremony. Both were
interred in
[Next:
Another migration of the Vandivers from Drake’s Creek westward. Sources for this article:
Memoirs of John Joseph Vandiver written in
1959; will of J. John Souther; and “Souther Family History” by Watson
B. Dyer,
1988, pages 241-268.]
c2005 by
Ethelene Dyer
Jones; published February 3, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville,
GA.
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
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