Memories of the March 1937 Flood

 

Here is an interesting first hand experience of remembering the flood in 1937, shared with us by our local Crittenden Countian, Helen Carter Springs.   Helen passed away several years ago, but her story is still remembered.  The Tom Carter family home was located on the Hebron Church Road, where Tommy and Evelyn Carter lived for many years and who still own the farm. The Ohio River was located directly behind their home.  Helen wrote these memories in April of 2011, when another historic flood and hit Crittenden County and surrounding counties as well.

 

Helen as a young girl and later in life when she shared these memories.

MEMORIES OF THE 1937 FLOOD, by Helen Carter Springs.

The new year of 1937 came in at a very rainy time in January. I had received a work-study scholarship to Murray State beginning the second semester. Before time for me to go to Murray State it began raining, and rained for days, so much so that the rivers and creeks all overflowed and the routes to Murray were closed. 

 

The radio stations were playing the newly released song, “Pennies from Heaven,” People were calling in to the stations to “please stop playing that song.”

 

While I was at home with my parents, Tom and Ruth Carter near Fords Ferry, waiting to be able to go to Murray, I watched the river get higher and higher. Our house was on a hill, but all of the barns were not. It rained so much the water got up to the barn loft floor. Dad loaded bales of hay from the loft onto his boat and then rowed it to the hills. He also carried bags of corn from the cribs that way.

 

He put some bags of corn in the screened porch on our house but the cows, who were on the hills, sensed it was there and searched for it. One cow even came in the kitchen after the bags of corn that Dad had dragged in to get out of their reach. It was a scary sound to be awakened to the sounds of a cow's hoofs in the kitchen.

 

My brother Jimmy and I would stand at the waters edge, about half way up the hill, and try to hit the rats and mice who were flooded out of their homes. They were swimming toward us and we would strike at them with rocks and boards. We never killed one. Our house became their refuge. All night we could hear them running between the walls and upper floor. We never got used to it.

 

The radio kept saying how fast the water was rising, but Dad under estimated its speed and we went to church thinking it would alright. When we returned the cows were standing on high peaks in the bottom fields all surrounded with water. Dad got on his horse to try to herd them off and to shore. His horse was swimming and his foot became tangled in the unseen covered fence and stumbled, Dad fell off in the icy waters. He tried to grab the horses tail but couldn't. He kicked off his heavy water filled boots and swam toward shore. His strength gave out on him and he let go thinking this is it, but as luck was on his side his feet landed on the soft warm mud underneath. That warmth gave him strength to continue to way to higher ground. 

 

Our Mom was at the waters edge urging him on and when he got to where she could reach him she practically dragged him to the house where she put his feet in a tub of water and wrapped him in blankets.

 

We would watch buildings float past our house. We saw a pretty yellow house with white trim go by. Jim and Jake Darnell would go out in the boat and try to catch them with ropes but the current was too swift. They were only able to catch a small shed and drag it to shore.

 

The Crooked Creek came up across one end the road and we could not get out that road., (this section of the road lead to the Dam 50 road), Grandpa Cook's ponds were full and across the other road toward Hebron and Hwy. 91 N, thus Hebron Church Road was closed. The only way anyone could get out was by a canoe. They stationed the boat on one side of the water, so we could row across and tie the boat until time to come back. Then this process was repeated in reverse. Neighbors would sometimes plan on times to come and go.

 

It finally stopped raining and the flood waters subsided enough for Greyhound Buses to roll again. I was on one going to Murray to begin my college career. As we passed though Paducah I could see the houses were all muddy from the high water of the muddy Ohio – even up to the second floors.

 

Now the 1937 flood, seems so long ago, but it lingers only as a memory.

Old Sayings I Remember Growing Up and Weather Lore

 

When some of us older generation get together, it's not long until we start to reminiscing  and comparing things that we remember from our childhood days, school memories, games we played, even old sayings that we remember that were used by our parents and grandparents.  And many are stilled used today.  I know I use some of them most every day.

Northern people tease us about the words “you all”, and insist that we use it in the singular way, applying to just the one person to whom you are talking. They refuse to believe we use it in a plural form, meaning “you and all your family come.” Can anyone find a more hospitable word? I do not think we should ever forget to use it.

It is fun to think of all the phrases and beliefs that we grew up with, and no doubt, to people not from here, are strange sounding and make no sense at all. But they are a part of our heritage. Some examples include:

• A coon's age - meaning a long time

• Limp as a rag - weak feeling
  

• Plum tuckered out - tired
  

• Bone warry - tired
  

• Down in the dumps - discouraged or depressed

• Rant and raving - discussing something emotionally or angry

• Smell a mouse - suspicious about something or someone

• Its just a whoop and a holler - a short distance to some place

• Don't give a hoot - not interested.

• Very poorly - not feeling well

• Fast - meaning an immoral or flirtatious person

• If it'd been a snake it would have bit you - it was right in front of you

• Rode hard and put up wet - someone or something that looks pretty rough

• Slower than molasses - meaning someone that never gets in a hurry

• Waited on hand and food - taking care of sick or lazy people

• It's just a whoop and a holler - short distance to someplace

• You let the cat out of the bag - told the secret
  

Weather Lore and Superstitions. Since the beginning of time man has found various ways to predict the weather.  From this have come superstitions, old wives tales, and cultural stories passed from one family member to the next in each generation.  It is a way of controlling the environment by knowing what to expect from the coming season.  It is impossible according to scientists, - and reliable according to those who know how to read the signs they have learned.  

There are a lot of predictions for rain. 

• Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.

• Owls will hoot more at night if rain is on the way. 

• Cobwebs in the grass mean rain. 

• Pink clouds in the west at evening time means rain.  

• If Easter comes in late March, that is a sign there will be an early spring.

  We all know the moon has a certain control over the ocean tides.  But according to weather lore it also predicts weather patterns and how plants will grow.  Many people believe in planting according to the moon, they watch it for the next rainfall, harvest fields by it and predict major storms coming their way just by watching for shape, season, color and location. 

 

Native American belief is if the moon looks like it is tipped on its back, it is holding water that will not spill. If it is tipped forward the water will spill from it in the form of rain. 

 

Animals seem to have a built in weather system and can predict hard winters more easily than any human will ever be able to.  When their fur comes in thicker than normal during the fall it means there is going to be a hard, cold winter.  But this applies to animals that live in the outdoors all the time, not your well pampered house pets. Horses, goats and other barnyard animals that need extra protection from the season are provided for by nature with an extra layer of hair or fur.

 

Beavers are a great predictor of the winter season to come.  They build their homes to protect them from the cold and weight of snow.  If a beaver dam is built thick and heavy, blocking a larger portions of water mass than in years past, you can be sure the winter will be a hard one.   

 

Other predictors of a hard, cold winter are when nuts and berries hang on the branches after the last of the leaves have fallen.  When the oak tree still wears his leaves in October, it will be cold, hard winter. 

***

True enough, the only sure way to predict the weather is to wait for it to arrive and then look out the window.  Some of the superstitions and lore seem to be right on, while others serve as entertainment to the world.  But if you want to find out the truth keep your own weather journal to create a new generation of predictors and family stories.   I've kept a weather journals for more than 30 years, they are very interesting to look back on and compare the weather through the years.

March Woman's History Month #2

 Second lady for Women's History month is Mrs. Cleo Croft, Teacher

Mrs. Cleo Croft Retires in 1973

A face familiar to most of the students who have attending Crittenden County High School during the past 23 years is leaving the Crittenden County High School faculty this year. Mrs. Cleo Croft is retiring from school teaching after 37 years in the teaching profession.

 

She had taught is no many and so varied school she has difficulty remembering them all. For Mrs. Croft, school really began at Lola. After graduating from Lola High School and receiving her bachelor of science degree in English and geography at Murray State University, she returned to Lola to begin teachings.

 

She has taught in one-room schools and two-teacher schools as well as high schools. Among schools she has taught at are Lola Elementary, Sisco’s Chapel, Pleasant Grove, Shady Grove Elementary and Tolu Elementary and High School. Mrs. Croft was principal of the Tolu school during World War II. 

 

Concerning her tenure at Crittenden County High. "I started with the new building in 1950, she said. While at CCHS, she has taught both English and Geography.

 

Of course, a lot of things can happen in 37 years, especially in the teaching profession, and Mrs. Croft has her share of tall tales to tell.

 

She says that in the old days in the smaller schools, teachers did double duty as janitor. She remembers building fires in those old potbellied stoves on many cold mornings. 

 

And one of the incidents from her teaching career that still stands out in her mind concerns one of those stoves. While she was teaching at Tolu, the stove needed new pipes. A student agreed to replace the stove pipes over the weekend but failed to do so, and, when the class arrived the following Monday morning the room was quite cold. Although adept at building fires in the stoves, Mrs. Croft says she wasn’t able to replace the pipes. Finally some boys in the class did install the pipes for the stove.

 

Another of her memories concerns the time she was principal at Tolu. During that time she served as basketball coach. She says, I wasn’t really the coach. There was usually some boy form town who would guide the team. We didn’t win many games while I was supposedly the coach, but win or lose in her capacity as principal and coach, Mrs. Croft did travel with the team to all ballgames, both home and away.

 

Mrs. Croft is currently faculty sponsor for the Future Teachers of America club and the Rockette, school yearbook. She has been yearbook sponsor for the past eight years. She has also been sponsor for numerous class plays and fun raising campaigns. 

 

Students as well as teachers change in 37 years, and Mrs. Croft feels that a lack of respect for property and authority that some students have today has been the greatest change she has noticed in the years she has been teaching. She attributes this to a change in home life.

 

Since she’s not going to be coming to school anymore after this year, Mrs. Croft says, I’m going to do as I please and quite punching a clock. I’m going to quit sitting up late grading papers, and I’m going to sleep late. She adds that she would like to find the time to travel a little after retirement.

 

When asked what she felt Kentucky teachers today need most, she listed, adequate salaries, good buildings, adequate supplies, smaller classes and a better understanding between parents and teachers.

 

In summing up her career, she said, I guess one reason I’ve continued teaching all these 37 years is at the end of the year, I seldom remember the bad things that happen, but I try to remember the good things and hope I’ve been a good teacher to each of my students. (This article appeared in The Crittenden Press, May 24, 1973)

 

Cleo V. Foster Croft was born Sept. 27, 1912 in Lola, Livingston Co., Ky. She was the daughter of Russell and Nora Thompson Foster. She died May 27, 1995 and is buried in the Lola Pentecostal Cemetery in Lola.

March is National Women's History Month

 

March is National Women’s History Month. I always enjoy sharing some past articles and history about some of the fine ladies that contributed to the history and lives of Crittenden County. At the time they were just trying to do their best at their jobs and doing something worthwhile for the town and county, but in doing this, they helped shape the minds and futures of all generations.

***

Founder of the Crittenden County Public Library

Jessie Croft Ellis, the founder of the Crittenden County Library, was born near Salem on September 10, 1891. She was the middle daughter of George Croft and Margaret Ellen Cox Croft. She was raised by her mother following the death of her father when she was six.

 

 

Jessie, a graduate of Marion High School, was sent to finishing school at Sayre College in Lexingston, Kentucky. There she married Cecil B. Ellis, who was on the football team.

 

By 1924 both her mother and her husband had passed away, and Jessie was faced with the task of earning a living and raising her son alone.

 

The family farms were no longer profitable at that time, so Jessie took the big step of moving up North to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and enrolling in the University of Michigan to get a teacher’s license. Upon getting the license she got a job in the high school at Alma, Michigan, teaching American History. 

 

But Jessie found she didn’t like teaching. So she talked her way into a job in the library of the University of Michigan and began taking classes for a Master’s degree in Library Science. She had carefully chosen her new job to be in a university town, where her son Cecil, Jr. could go to college at home. 

 

Jessie Ellis stayed at the University Library in Ann Arbor for many years until her retirement, but she always knew that she was a daughter of Marion, Kentucky, and when she retired she instantly returned home.

 

She bought a house on the Bellville Road out of town, with money from the family fluorspar mines which had now become profitable, but she didn’t sit at home to knit.

 

Jessie Ellis had to do something for the people of Marion. What she knew best was library work, so she went to all the leading people of Marion and badgered them continually for money and space to start a library for the town. 

 

Finally the state appropriated $2,900 for the organization of a library in Marion, which was matched with $300 by the fiscal court. Many plans were made and April 6, 1953 was the date set for the opening of the new library. She worked very hard to select and catalog books to be ready for the opening. The first library was housed in a small office space on a first floor in the heart of downtown Marion. In less than a year, it had outgrown the building and it was necessary to find a new location.

 

In March 1954, the library, with approximately one thousand volumes, moved to a new location on North Main Street (located where Johnson’s Furniture warehouse is today). The library’s next move was to a building on W. Bellville St. across from the courthouse.

 

The library kept growing and needing more room, after the old jail was torn down, the present library was built on that location where it stands today. We can give thanks to this determined lady, Jessie Croft Ellis, from years ago, that Crittenden County was able to have its first library.

 

But Mrs. Ellis finally wore herself down, and the last fifteen years of her life were spent in hospitals and a nursing home near Salem. She died in June 3, 1975 and is buried in Mapleview Cemetery with her family.

 

 There is a plaque in the library that says "Honoring Mrs. Jessie Croft Ellis, Librarian and Founder.

***

Doing Our Part for World War II

 Marion and Crittenden County doing their part to help with the shortage of items during World War II.  Thankful we have the old Crittenden Presses on mirco-film to learn of these past historic events that took place in our town and county, or they would be lost forever.  I hope there are still a few of us that appreciate these old history items.

May 14, 1943

Salvage Drive For Fats And Hosiery Opens

Mrs. C. A. Hollowell, county director of fats and hosiery, is to open a campaign to collect the needed materials today. County community heads will be announced soon with the block plan of collection to be used in Marion.

Stores in Marion receiving fats and grease are Aubrey Grady and Co., C. W. Grady & Son, Krogers, Red Front, Easley, Small, W. T. King and Hillis Hunt. County stores to receive the same will be announced in a short time.

Mrs. Hollowell said that four cents a pound will be paid by the stores for the grease or fats which are to be used in manufacture of explosives by the nation. Either sweet or rancid fats are acceptable as are tallows. Place in tin cans and do not use glass containers.

Mrs. Hollowell said that housewives had been asked to discontinue making of soap at home in order that the fats and greases required may be used for extraction of glycerine content. Fats taken from cooking of cabbage or greens is an excellent source of salvage. Strain before taking to stores and save an average of one teaspoonful daily.

Mrs. Hollowell said that the state director had indicated that unless more fats were saved present allotments of lard, shortening and other greases may be reduced for retail purchases.

Hosiery

Silk and nylon hosiery are also included in the campaign with boxes for collection purposes being established at Taylor & Co., Kentucky Theater and H. V. Stone in Marion, and McDaniels & Co. Salem. The cast-off hose are to be used for purposes of making waterproof powder bags.

 

May 14, 1943

Soldiers Smokes Campaign By YBM Club Here

Each cigarette package to bear name of sponsoring organization and city – Milk Bottle Campaign in Stores to collect funds.

Young Business Men’s club is to open a drive today to secure funds for purchasing of cigarettes for men in foreign service of armed forces. J. H. Jones, director, said yesterday that representative of Camel cigarettes had met with the organization and plans were perfected for having the "smokes" mailed promptly to all foreign fronts. The contract with Camels calls for reduction in rate for the purchase.

Milk bottles properly designated will be placed in each store in Marion for purpose of collecting funds by popular contribution in addition to that of the sponsoring club.

Orville Grady said that containers for coins would appear tomorrow in Marion and later in other portions of the county if necessary.

No amount has been set as goal but all moneys so collected will used for purpose of buying the cigarettes. Jones said that each package would bear tag of Marion, KY., in order that the recipient may know, as to whom the donor might be.

 

SOME HISTORY THROUGH ADS

They tell us a lot.

CRITTENDEN ACADEMY - 1849

The Crittenden Academy, is a part of Crittenden's lost history.  One lone flyer found back in March 1922 told of the Academy and what it offered to the would be students. 

Crittenden Academy.

At Marion, Crittenden County, Kentucky.

Mr. James W. Primmer, Principal of the Male Department.

Miss Harriet M. Cary, Principal of the Female Department

The first Session of this Institution commences on Monday the 5^th day of November, 1849, and will continue 20 weeks. The Teachers are recently from New York, and have in their possession the most satisfactory evidences of their experience and accomplishments, as teachers, and of their perfect success in their profession, which they will gladly exhibit to any person who may favor them with their patronage.

 

The school will be conducted in the most prompt and efficient manner, and no diligence will be omitted, necessary to make the Crittenden Academy fully equal to any Eastern Academic School.

 

Particular attention will be paid to the morals, manners and habits of the pupils.

THE TERMS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

• For Common English Branches, including Reading, Writing, Antithetic, Grammar, History, Geography, Philosophy, &c. $6.00 per session

• For Higher English Branches, including Botany, Rhetoric, Chemistry, Algebra, Geometry, Astronomy, &c. $8.00 per session

• For Latin, French, German, Greek, &c., extra $5.00 per session

• For lessons on the Piano Forte, $15.00 per session

• For use of the Piano and Music Books, $5.00 per session

• For lessons on the Melodian, with use of instrument, $15.00 per session

• For Drawing, Painting, Embroidery, &c. $3.00 per session

This School is arranged in two departments, Male and Female, each Teaching taking charge of their respective department; the academy building being constructed with a view to such an arrangement.

 

The location of this academy is in the most healthy portion of the Green River country, and from its close proximity to the Ohio and Cumberland rivers, (ten miles) possesses all the advantages of a river town, and at the same time is free from all the objections – such as epidemics, diseases, and a continuous changing population, &c., necessarily common to all river towns.

 

The Teachers of this school, from their intimate acquaintance with the system of instruction pursued in the New Your State Normal School, are peculiarly fitted to give instruction to those who may design themselves for teaching; and they would give assurance that particular attention will be given those who may desire instruction in this science.

 

Food board, in excellent private families, can be obtained for, from one dollar twenty-five, to one dollar fifty cents per week, including washing, lights, &c.

 

The second session of this Institution will commence on the second Monday in April next.

 

All communications respecting this Academy, addressed to James W. Primmer, Marion, Crittenden County, Ky., will receive prompt attention.

Marion, Oct. 30, 1849

**********************

Although the flyer gave a sketchy location, it never was known where it was located.  In March 1922 after the flyer was found, the Crittenden Press put an article in the paper asking for any information about the school and it's location.    No one ever came forward with any information.  Even in 1922 it had been 73 years since the academy's flyer had been published.  We have no way of knowing if it ever became a reality or just someone hopeful plans for a wonderful school.

But it is another part of our forgotten passages of time. 

Here is copy of that flyer.

 

Weston In The Saddle

Lets take a ride with the Press agent, John A. Caldwell, on one of his trips in the county to sell the subscriptions for The Crittenden Press. This time his destination is the busy bustling river town of Weston. We learn of the people, times and happenings along the way over 140 years ago.

 Imagine if you will, saddling up on a cold winter day in February from your office in Marion, and riding your horse to Weston.

Feb. 23, 1881

I took the road, if road it can be called, for there is no rougher one in the county, to Weston in company with Cal Elder, who was visiting tobacco growers in the interest of his firm. I saw a five-mule team badly stuck in the mud and only one hhd of tobacco and assisted the teamster to unload and get out of that snap and the need of good roads again impressed me. 

Next we came to M. G. Gilbert's the boss tobacco farmer. Uncle Mike is getting old but he is a determined farmer and was busy at work. Then on to John Gilbert's another one of our good farmers, who raises tobacco with the many other crops, such as grasses, corn and wheat.

 

 

We soon arrived at the town of Weston, we were the guests of the Weston Hotel, kept by J. L. Hughes, and no one knows better how to care for the wants of the weary and hungry, his table is supplied with the very best of eatables, his rooms comfortable and neat, and beds with snowy linen and elder down. You at once feel that you are at home. Connected with this well kept Hotel is a good table, a grocery store where staple and fancy groceries, as well as the choicest wines and liquors, cigars and tobacco are kept.

Weston is a very unpretending little place, but is surprising at the amount of goods sold there, all lines of goods are very well represented and no complaint of dullness in trade, all the merchants assuring us that trade was very good. Our your friends the Haynes Bros. are going to increase their business by adding groceries to their neat drug store.

 

Otho Nunn and Son intend building a storehouse soon to accommodate their growing trade. They carry an assorted stock of general merchandise. Lambeth Bros. are doing a thriving business. Billy is going to Cincinnati soon and if you will read the Press when he gets back you will see what he has for sale.

John Nunn and Co., has a nice lot of hardware, saddlery, furniture, plow, and field seed for sale. They keep the best line of cooking stoves I have ever seen in the county, and they sell for prices to suit the times. The store is presided over by the junior member, Bob, that enterprising, modest and gentlemanly young man, will charm you and you will be pleased and sure to go again.

Our Marionites will be surprised to find the trade leaving their town, but low prices and good stock, with liberal advertising will win, and our Weston merchants understand this.

Here we met old friends we knew in Marion years ago, Dr. Cain and Charley Higginbotham. The Doctor gets a good practice and is the same kind, worthy, noble hearted friend of old.

Charley keeps a hotel and it is useless to tell you that he knows his business, he entertains and supplies his table with the best the markets affords.

Weston is one busy river port town; steamers and placket boats keep the port busy with their dockings. 

All kinds of merchandise for Marion are brought to the Weston dock to be picked up and hauled to their destination in Marion. Here, also, are local goods loaded and sent to other destinations. T. R. Johnston is loading a boat with potatoes to send down south. G. R. Jenkins & Co., have shipped a large load of lumber to St. Louis.

The H. T. Dexter steamer passed up this morning plying her way for Evansville. Several folks boarded the steamer, Joseph Williams, on their way to Pittsburgh. R. C. Hill, W. E. Lambett, and Ed Hubbard, all went to Evansville on the Josh V. Throop.

Captain Walt Cook arrived during the day on the job boat Oil City bringing a barge loaded with tobacco.

The Pittsburgh from St. Louis laid up at the Weston port nearly all day and put off Cave-In-Rock- freight.

After visiting with friends and watching the river traffic, we struck out for the Bells Mine country. 

Street Names Carry On Our History

 

Many of our streets and roads today still carry the name they were given over 100+ years ago. Many of them were named after the families that owned the land, or prominent businessmen of the time, and a few named for businesses that were located on them, such as Mill Street.

From the archives of The Crittenden Press we learn some of this history.

April 23, 1934, Corum Brothers, of Madisonville, have completed spreading a rock surface on the highway from Tribune to the high school building beyond Shady Grove. With efficient men and ten modern trucks they have demonstrated what can be done in highway building, having done about eight miles in less than twelve days. 

We are informed by highway officials that the balance of the highway to Providence will get a rock surface this year.

 

Of the many splendid people who live on, or do business on Belleville Street, in Marion, we doubt if there is a score of them who could correctly answer the question, Where did the name Belleville, originate? (Sometime later the 'e' was left out of the name)

 

The story goes back perhaps a hundred years or more, to a time when a Mr. Bell established a trading point on Tradewater, about three miles west of Providence, near where Belleville bridge now stands.

 

A village grew up about him, which was called Belleville, in his honor. A state road was established which led out west from here across Tradewater bottoms and up into the hills, and on to, and down Big Piney Hill across Piney Creek and thence up and down the hills toward Marion.

 

This road then, and for many years afterwards, was known only as the "Belleville" road. It led on to and through Marion and later the name of the Tradewater village, Belleville, was also applied to the street.

 

Mr. Bell, long years ago, passed on and this once thriving little village in now but a name; the old Belleville road has earned a rest and is now superseded, mainly, by a new state highway. However, may the name, Belleville, continue to be honored in the future ages, by as fine a people, whom it shall serve, as those who work and abide on it today.

 

Belleville Road and the small Belleville area are still remembered today, they are still listed on the maps of Webster County.

 

If you would like a scenic drive through our beautiful Crittenden County countryside, take Hwy. 120 to Shady Grove, turn left at the Stop sign onto SR 1917, then turn right onto Providence Rd. 

 

As you travel along this road through some beautiful countryside, you will pass by Tradewater Baptist Church, which is now a family dwelling, and on your right will be the Hood Family Cemetery, where Chastine Hood is buried, one of our early Crittenden County pioneers. Continue following the road and you will come into the area in Webster County which is the village of Belleville. 

 

West Bellville Street as we know it today, was then called Salem Street.  In the first days of Marion it was expected to become the principal business street of Marion, but by 1902 the Main Street in front of the Court House had became the main avenue of shopping and business houses.

Bits of Information from 1894

 In a Special Illustrated Edition of The Crittenden Press, dated August 9, 1894 here are some "Bits of Information" that was published about our town and county.  Today, Feb. 3, that was 131 years ago.

• In 1893 we produced 2,315,070 lbs of tobacco.
• We have a church for each 289 inhabitants.
• The county has 76 acres of land for every voter.
• We have 6,668 white voters and 154 colored.
• The average price of land, as listed for taxation, is $6.50.
• We have sulphur and chalebyate water in great abundance.
• There are three saloons in the county, only one to every 4,520 people.
• Forty of the teachers in Crittenden have first class, first grade certificates.
• Last year we had 8,481 acres in wheat.  The '93 corn crop amounted to 600,000 bushels.
• There are six Masonic in the county; Marion, Shady Grove, Mt. Zion, Hurricane, Liberty and Dycusburg.
• The Ohio Valley rail road runs diagonally across the county, a distance of twenty two miles.  It has six stopping places in the county
• Crittenden has had one legal execution; that was forty years odd years ago, and one man has suffered death at the hands of a mob.
• There are 67 school houses in the county.  If they were all collected into a village and people with the four thousand children who annually attend school, wouldn't it be a merry time?
• While the Ohio river forms our entire northern boundary, more than twenty miles, the Cumberland affords ample shipping facilities on the south west, and Tradewater navigable part of the year, takes out coal, and other products on the east.  These water high-ways affords the cheapest transportation in the world.
  
• There are forty-eight churches in the county, divided among the denominations as follows:  Fourteen Missionary Baptist, four General Baptist, one Primitive Baptist, eleven Southern  Methodist, four Methodist, two Campbellites or Christian, eight Cumberland Presbyterian, three Presbyterian and one Universalist
• Recently coal has been discovered in two places within three miles of Marion, and if the veins prove profitable we will have very cheap fuel, although our coal now costs but little.

 One of the best evidences of the fact that we have a good county, is the return of so many who go out to grow up with country. 

• Early in the spring a party of twenty went to California, all are now back except one family.
•   Two years ago Manuel Stephens, Charlies Haynes, Sam Thurman, J. M. Cain and Ed Haynes, young men, all sought the Eldorado of the golden gate; all are not back in good old Crittenden except one.  
• Ex-circuit clerk, W.J. L. Hughes, went to Kansas and remained some years, he is now happier in Crittenden than he was in Kansas. 
•  Silas McMurry went west to come back and is now a prosperous citizen of Crittenden.  
• Mr. C. S. Nunn went to the State of Washington to locate.  You will see his handsome face in this paper as an admirer of our plain, good old county. 
• H. M. Cook sought a fortune in Tennessee, but somehow he was pleased to get back to Marion.  
• Then there is Mr. R. E. Pickens, after a sojourn of six year in Texas, he again became a good citizen of Marion.  
• Mr. S. F. Crider got back from Kansas a few years ago, completely broke; now he owns one of the best farms in the county. 
•  Then we might mention W. D. Haynes; he went to Kansas with his family, but he didn't stay by a large majority.  
• W. B. Yandell, the dashing chairman of the Republican county committee, spent a few years in the northwest, came  home and married and settled down in God's country. 

 Scores of others might be mentioned, but these stand as living monuments, epistles to be read by all men, testifying to the worth of our county.

Phillips Family - By James F. Price, 1931

 

                    Noted Pioneer Families

The pioneer settlers of Crittenden County mostly came to this section from 1795 to 1806. The majority of them came from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Here is a short history of the Phillips Family, just one group of our noted families. (They still have many, many descendants living in Crittenden County even today.)

 

The Phillips family of Crittenden County are from pioneers who came within its borders in 1806. They are descended from Robert Philips, who was born in Ireland, and his wife Jane Edgar, a native of Scotland. They were married either in Ireland or Scotland and emigrated from there to North Carolina. Their son, John, was born on the voyage across the Atlantic, August 12, 1769.

 

The family located in Mecklenburg, N. C., near Charlotte. There John Phillips grew to maturity and married Mary Stewart. The became the parents of five sons, viz: William E., Thomas Stewart, Samuel H., John Tate, and George H. The birth dates of these five sons range from December, 1790, to November, 1801. 

 

Mary Steward died in Mecklenbureg County prior to 1806, for in March of that year John Phillips and his five motherless sons started from North Carolina to what is now Crittenden County. Here he later, (Feb. 8, 1809) married a widow, Mrs. Jane Morrow Black, and to that union were born Robert Black Phillips, Maxwell Pope Phillips, Mary Stewart Phillips and Daniel Brown Phillips.

 

Starting in March of 1806, in addition to the Phillips family, the group of pioneers included the families of Ezekiel and Samuel Porter, and possibly others. En-route they fell in with the Hodge and Coleman families who also came to the same locality.

 

The route was across the Blue Ridge and the Cumberland Mountains. At that early date the roads were little more than trails and there were no bridges over streams so that slow progress was made and many hardships endured. Indians still occupied part of the country traversed but gave no trouble to the travelers. The caravan reached what is now Crittenden County in early May of 1806. 

 

John Phillips and his sons made a crop that year on a place subsequently known as the Drury Allen farm, near Tribune. Later they moved to where the Garland Carter and Peter C. Stephens farms were developed spending about three years there.

 

About 1810 they moved to land on Piney Creek near Deanwood, the farm afterward known as the Ephraim Hill place. They spent perhaps twelve or fourteen years on that farm, till most of the sons were grown up. Later part of the family moved to land along Hood's Creek near to Nunn's Switch. John Phillips is probably buried at the family cemetery on land where his sons resided. Three of his sons for many years occupied farms in that immediate locality. 

 

John Tate Phillips, (son of John and Mary Stewart Phillips), who furnished the information on which these notes are written said that when they came into this locality in 1806 there was only one road official established, the Flynn's Ferry Road from Princeton to what is now Weston. It became a pioneer road for emigrants going to Illinois and Missouri. Farms were yet very few and small.

 

Among the families in this locality about that period he named those of "Squire" Miller, the Travises, Nunns, Prices, Clarks, Cains, Stewarts, Truitts, Walkers and also one branch of the Hughes family.

 

Mr. Phillips also made mention of early religious activities at Piney Fork where he was converted and united with the church in August 1820, during one of the camp meetings for which that sacred spot was long so justly famous.

 

The above has been written with the joint purpose of giving some pioneer history and of awakening the descendants of those pioneers to an interest in gathering up and preserving information about their worthy forbears.

I have not known finer people in any locality than were many of them, "The Salt of The Earth."

***

 

The family of Maxwell Pope Phillips. By ages of some of the children in the picture, it must have been made in the latter part of 1869.

Back row: 1. Maxwell Pope "Mack" Phillips, 2. William Edgar Phillips (son), 3. John Thomas Phillips (son), 4. William Daniel Shaw (nephew), 5. John Mack Phillips (nephew), 6. John Lamb (son-in-law), 7. William Joel Hill (son-in-law)

Front row: 8. Richard Black "Dick" Phillips (son), 9. Robert Gustavus "Gus" Phillips (son), 10. Eva (Shaw) Phillips (Mack's wife), 11. Ellen (Walker) Phillips (dau-in-law), married to William Edgar, 12. Sarah Ann Shaw (niece), 13. Margaret Shaw (niece), 14. Maria Phillips (daughter), 15 .Polly Jane (Phillips) Hill, daughter, married to William Joel Hill, 16. Mack Hill, (born Jan. 1869) in lap of his mother, Polly Jane, 17. Sarah Ann (Phillips) Lamb, daughter, married to John Lamb, 18. Isabelle "Belle" Phillips (daughter), 19. Evalina "Lina" Phillips (daughter).

*******************

John Phillips, (1767-1851), of this noted family is buried in the cemetery known at the McKinley-Phillips Cemetery located in the Nunn Switch community. The cemetery is located on top of a bluff that looked over the old railroad track. Several members of this Phillips family are buried there. John Tate Phillips, that wrote the above notes on his family, died sometimes in the 1870's and although they has no tombstone, it is thought that he and his wife, Nancy Walker Phillips, are buried here.

This little family cemetery had laid untouched for many years and had gotten quite overgrown. In the spring of 2001, a family clean-up day, spear-headed by the late Debbie Phillips Rogers, and joined by other members of the Phillips family, cleaned up this cemetery and also had a chain-link fenced set to enclose the site. Although I haven't been back since this time it's hoped this historic cemetery is still in good condition.

Marion Methodist Church Memory Garden in 1933

 

The Crittenden Press – April 21, 1933

MEMORY GARDEN DEDICATED LAST WEEK

The Memory Garden at the Methodist Church was dedicated by appropriate services on last Thursday afternoon. Mr. John A. Moore and Judge C. S. Nunn were the speakers. The dedicatory sentences were pronounced by the pastor, Rev. Charles A. Humphrey.

• The Beautiful Bird Bath in the center of the grounds was donated by Mr. and Mrs. Maurie Boston and was dedicated to the memory of their deceased son, John Richard Boston.

• The English Juniper was dedicated to the memory of Judge Thomas Nunn, for many years Judge of The Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

• The French Juniper was dedicated to the memory of Mrs. J. N. Boston, and three Irish Junipers to Mrs. S. B. Tucker, Mrs. Nannie R. Cochran and Mrs. Victoria Deboe, respectively.

• Two Pyr. American Arborvitae were dedicated to Mr. Hollis Franklin, for sixteen years the Superintendent of the Sunday School, and to Mr. J. A. Stephens, twenty four years Treasurer of the Sunday School.

• Two American Arborvitaes were planted, one for the Kiwanis Club and one for Mr. and Mrs. N. R. Rochester.

• Three Norway Spruce Trees found a place for Rev. Charles A. Humphrey, Mrs. James T. Hicklin and "Billy" Yates.

• Two Pfizer Junipers were honored by the names of Miss Nell Walker and her sister, Mrs. Dave Moore. Four Golden Arborvitae stand gloriously for Charles Warren Yates, Ted Frazer, Jr., Louise Lee May, and three Johnston children, Kenneth Pasco, Jean Margaret and Phillip Gilchrist.

• The Marion Public School Facility have three Japanese Cherry trees.

• Gardenia Roses were planted for Charles Edward Guess, Mrs. McConnell's class, Mrs. Hobart Franklin's class.

• Mary Wallace Roses represent, Rebecca Cochran, World Friends and Rev. C. G. Prather. Umbrella trees were planted for all former pastors: Rev. Arthur Mathew, Rev. J. S. Chandler, Rev. H. R. Short, Rev. W. P. Gordon, Rev. G. P. Dillon, Rev. L. K. May, and Rev. B. M. Currie. A Chinese Compact was planted for J. T. Given's Jr., and two Globe Arborvitae for Judge Charles Wilson, and Mrs. Clara Carnahan.

• An arborvitae was included for the Cora Charles Circle, and one each, for Thomas Stephens and Mary Charlotte Nunn, the wise leaders of the procession that marched from the old Methodist church to the new one on the day of dedication twenty years ago.

• Mr. and Mrs. Lester presented the pergola, and Mr. Templeton gave the clematis, also the magnolia tree.

• Miss Clara Nunn donated the seed for three flower beds; canna bulbs were furnished by Mrs. Doyle Vaughn, and Red Buds by Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Bourland.

• Lily bulbs found a setting by Mrs. Wm. Yandell for Miss Nell Walker. Herbert Cochran and Irene Cochran are represented by eleven native cedars, while Martha Ann Adams has a hydrangea to her honor.

• Charles Arthur Gillette has an Althea, C. A. Daughtrey, a Mock Orange, and Mrs. C. A. Daughtrey, an American Beauty Climbing Rose.

• Mrs. A. H. Reed has two lilacs, Mrs. Gray, a group of hollyhocks, C. W. Haynes, three Cherokee Roses, Mrs. F. W. Nunn a Pussy Willow, Rev. W. F. Hogard, a Pussy Willow, and Neil Guess, gold fish and water plants.

• Mrs. Maggie Johnson planted a rose, Mr. Sam Gugenheim and the Illinois Central Railroad furnished large areas of bluegrass sod. Mrs. H. C. Moore gave water plants, and Mrs. John Cochran larkspur.

• Much of the labor was furnished by the R. F. C. and we would take this opportunity to say thank you to each and every man who worked on the project. These men were capable, interested, willing to work, and pleasant to deal with, many of them placing shrubs and trees to their own loved ones.

• A Formosa was brought from Union County by Mr. Conyers. Mr. Roberts and Mr. Easley furnished stone for the driveway. So with a willing mind everyone worked and the garden was completed. Provision for other plantings may be arranged through the pastor, Rev. Charles A. Humphrey.

"Memory Garden" is a thing of beauty, and an object of civic pride. It is created for the pleasure and enjoyment of all our citizens.

*****************

The garden must have been beautiful in its day.  With the addition on the back  of the church built in 1955 and through the years, there is not a single thing left from this garden on the grounds of the church today.  I wonder anymore if there are many of us left that even know what a beautiful thing a Memory Garden is.

Miracle Recovery of J. D. Grimes from the Ohio River in July 7, 1963

 

 In this week's Crittenden Press, January 9, 2025, we see the obituary of our local citizen, James D. "J.D." Grimes.  In the article it mentions that J. D. was resuscitated from drowning by Leroy Hodge, when he was 16.  Such an incredible story.  Here is the first hand report of this miracle from The Crittenden Press, July 11, 1963.

The Crittenden Press, July 11, 1963

Youth’s Drowning Narrowly Averted Sunday; Found on Rope

A sixteen year old Crittenden County youth narrowly escaped drowning last Sunday afternoon in the Ohio River at the head of Rankin Island, just a few hundred yards above the Cave-In-Rock Ferry landing.

J. D. Grimes, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Grimes, was wading in water about waist deep, on the channel side of the island, when he stepped in a hole in the sand over his head. His struggles were immediately noticed by George Hodge, who swam to the youth, who could not swim, and tried to pull him back to shallow water. Frantic efforts of the boy to save himself prevented Hodge from towing him to the bank.

George Hodge’s brother, Sam, was towing another man, Jewell Myers, on water skies nearby and heard George Hodge’s cry for assistance. Sam pulled the boat towing Myers in close to the two in the water and attempted to pull both George and the Grimes youth into the boat. George, exhausted from struggling with the youth, lost his grip on the boy and he slipped under as Sam pulled his brother from the water.

With George lying safely in the boat, Sam drove into the water and searched for the youth until he was exhausted and then returned to the boat. Myers, meanwhile had swam to the boat and as Sam pulled in the tow rope Myers had been using, he could move the boat downstream, he felt a heavy weight and as he continued to retrieve the ski rope, he surfaced the Grimes youth with the rope under his arm pit.

With the unconscious boy in the boat, the three raced to just above the ferry landing where they beached the boat and sent bystanders to call for an ambulance.

Waiting for the ambulance to make the 11 mile trip from Marion to the river, artificial respiration was begun by Otis Millikan, a bystander. Millikan failed in his attempted respiration and Leroy Hodge, nephew of the other two Hodges, began mouth-to-mouth respiration he had learned at a scuba diving school recently. When the ambulance arrived the youth had begun to show signs of life. With oxygen being administered on the way to the Crittenden County Hospital the youth momentarily regained consciousness, then lapsed again.

Physicians said that the mouth to mouth artificial respiration given by Leroy Hodge was responsible for saving the youth’s life.

The Hodges said that they estimated that the Grimes youth had been under water a little less than five minutes and showed no signs of life when efforts were begun to restore his breathing. His extremities had already discolored.

The happy youth was discharged from the hospital Wednesday morning, little the worse from his experience.

 

What an amazing story.