Oggie Jane Fulton Baker

Oggie Jane Fulton was the daughter of John Fulton and Rosa B. "Rosie" Adams. Rosie would ride sidesaddle over the mountain to sell milk, eggs and farm produce.


This is Rosie on her horse.

Oggie married James Walter Baker. She continued this work as is shown by her picture.

Here is an article that was written by Mabel Kiser and printed in the Mountain Eagle about Oggie and her life and work:

Mrs. Baker is a good old-fashioned mother

This is Odgie Fulton Baker, in a photo made around 35 or 40 years ago, in
front of her home on the Right Fork of Millstone Creek. Mrs. Baker, widow Jime (sic) Baker, rode this horse on side saddle across the hill and down Goose Creek to
Neon where she sold milk and butter and eggs. Sweet milk was 25 cents a gallon
and butter milk was 20 cents per gallon. Eggs she sold for 30 cents per
dozen.

She and Jim had 12 children. Still living are Opal of Charleston, W. Va.;
Tilda Craft and Ottie Reynolds, both of Millstone, Nettie Coleman of Pikeville,
Jesse Baker of Deane, Bill Baker of Knoxville, Bradley Baker of Irvine, Henry
Baker of McRoberts. Elijah Baker, Herbert Baker and Maybelle Meade and an infant are dead.

The horse, Old Dock, belonged to son, Bill, who was in the Army when this
picture was made. It was later sold to Dr. Skaggs (the old doctor) of Fleming
and taken to Florida. Mrs. Baker was always a jolly and active lady and we all
loved her.

Mrs. Baker is still jolly and tried to work like our mothers always had a
way of doing, but time has slowed somewhat her footsteps. But she is still a
beautiful lady and young at heart. She had a heart condition and has been in the
hospital for several days now. Get well wishes go to this grand lady. She is a
roommate of my mother in the Whitesburg Hospital this week.

Mrs. Baker is one of our good old fashioned mothers, who believed in keeping the home fires burning, stayed home with her children, until they were all grown and gone into homes of their own. She still keeps the home fires burning in the old home place. Her husband, Jim, has been gone a long time; she has had many storms in her life, but has weathered them well. Her children still adhere to the
teachings of thier father and mother, and all are honest, upright men and women,
children she can be proud of, and she is. this family is a close-knit family,
the grandchildren all are close to their grandmother and to each other. Solomon
of old described mothers like Mrs Baker in Proverbs 31 verses 10 thru 20
"Strength and honor are her clothing: and she shall rejoice in time to
come."

Watson Craft - WWII

When I was little my mother would occasionally get out pictures that she had collected of movie stars. She kept them in a thin little box with a blue lid that was about 5x7 inches. I remember Myrna Loy. They were all black and whites. She gave those pictures to my sister, Kay. I have no idea what she did with them.

Every once in a while I will come across a picture in the family and it will remind me of the style of those pictures. Watson Craft is in one of those movie star pictures.

I told him the story of my mother's pictures and how his was in that style. He told me the story of that picture.

Watson showed me a wall where his memorbillia for his time in the Navy hung. He was on a submarine. He had a map which showed where his submarine had been when he had been on it and what hits they had made of Japanese ships.

One ship they put down had been part of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The captain of the ship had taken a picture that was made from a photograph that had been taken from the periscope of four ships which were hit by them and had a painting made of it. It was all on Watson’s wall.

At one time they had run out of food and nearly starved. He got down to 85 pounds. When they got supplies they first fed them fortified jello and then solid foods. After they had gained weight back they had their pictures taken. The one I call his “movie star” picture was taken at this time.

Watson Craft, movie star

Watson was a quartermaster on the ship. One of the jobs would be for three people to be on watch. One watched the front half ninety degrees to the east and five degrees past the center of the ship west, another the other half west and five degrees past the center east. The third watch was of the back 180 degrees sky and sea. They were near Japan and got word to head south at full speed. Watson was on duty and had the front and offered to help the fellow in the back watch telling him to choose either the water or the sky and he would help him with the other. They saw a bright light that was brighter than anything they had ever seen in their lives. They were about sixty miles from Nagasaki. They reported what they had seen, but it was two days before they realized what it was. They had seen the bombing of Nagasaki.

Interview with Watson G. Craft

Watson Craft is the youngest child of Archelous Columbus Craft and Pricy Adkins and a grandchild of Chunk and Polly Ann Caudill Craft. I met him in person in October of 2007 with his wife, Manerva. This is what Watson had to say in that interview:

I am not sure if you know it, but you may find Crafts on both sides of your
family. The first Craft who came into Kentucky was Archelous Craft. His son was
James Craft. One of James’ grandsons married a Mullins.

My dad was Archie or A. C. Craft, Sr. His dad was Enoch Craft. His dad was Preacher Arch Craft. His father was James Craft, the oldest son of Archelous. Arch’s father was James. Beyond there I do not know the family. I don’t know of anyone who has found the ship manifest, but we know that they came into New York. We have relatives in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Alabama. The family basically split in New York part going south and west and part going north and west.

The family that went north and west became the Kraft Food Company. One of them was hired by the merchants to take a team and go to the ships on the Great Lakes and pick up the goods principally cheese for the stores. He got the idea to buy the cheese from the ships and sell it to the merchants. That was the beginning of Kraft Foods.

Once, a lady in Ohio was researching the Backs, my wife’s family. We looked in the two volume Backs books we had and found that she had at least three first cousins who married each other. I told my wife to let her find that out herself.

I had always been told that my mother was one quarter Cherokee Indian. I really had my doubts about it, but my oldest daughter had heard me say it and called me about it. She said that if my mother were one quarter Cherokee then she would be eligible for a tax free loan for Native Americans. I told her it shouldn’t be too hard to find out since we would only need to go back to my mother’s grandfather, Peter Adkins. I found that though they had many characteristics which looked Indian that they were probably melungeon blood.

The first Adkins family was from Tennessee. The brother and son of my Grandfather Adkins looked very melungeon.

I remember the first time I ever saw a Melungeon. I was very small. I had gone with Dad to Whitesburg on the train at the mouth of Millstone. A black man got on the train. He had no characteristics of a black man except color. He was tall. He did not have full heavy lips. He spoke perfectly. They made him ride in the Negro car. He protested, but they made him ride there.

There were two trains a day – one in the morning and one in the evening. It stopped all along the way, at Thornton, then Ermine then Whitesburg. They were called milk runs.

I did not know your grandmother, Lettie. I was born after she died. I knew Rachel who was the oldest child and married an Adams.

I did find out what Grandpa Chunk did by reading a book about the life of Fess Whitaker. I think it was called the Life and Times of Fess Whitaker. They were bivouacked in Tennessee on land that was owned by a man who was sympathetic to the south. They were ordered not to touch any of his property. They were starving, but the strict orders were not to bother his livestock. They saw one sheep who was really fat. One night Fess got some guys to steal and slaughter that sheep. He says that the cook, Chunk Craft, cooked that sheep. That’s how I found out what he did in the Civil War.

I knew my grandfather, Chunk, for about eight years. He was a kind,
fatherly person. He would talk with anyone – children or grandchildren—not in a
lecturing way.

I remember as he got very old I would tie his shoes. I would stop on the way to school and tie his shoes each day.

Chunk and Grandma’s house was painted yellow and white.

I remember that she fell and had a broken hip. They thought she was going to die and they called all the children in. The children came. When they got there Grandpa told Dad and Uncle Ben, “you boys come with me.” They were fully grown men, but he called them boys.

In the house there were two rooms downstairs and two rooms up. Grandpa and Grandma lived in one of the rooms downstairs and Aunt Sairy and Uncle Ben’s family lived in the rest.

When Grandpa told the boys to come, I was nosey so I went along. He had them removed the hearth, which was a big piece of slate rock. He told them to dig there. They found a cast iron teakettle. They brought it out. It had a lid. They carried it to Grandma. She got out twenty dollar gold pieces. They were wrapped in tissue paper like you would find in a box of shoes. She gave each child one of the gold pieces, and then they put the lid back on the kettle. I never saw it again.

I used to tell people that we lived on one twenty dollar gold piece in the depression. That was about a ten year period and they could not understand how I could say
that. Dad would take his gold piece and trade it in to Jesse Holbrook at his
store. Jesse would hold the gold piece. We would work as hard as we could until
we paid that twenty dollars off. Then we would do it again. Dad did that over
and over always insisting that he be given back the same gold piece. The last
time I saw it, it was in Dad’s house when he died. I suppose that Morgan got it
since he moved into the house after that.

Grandpa made his own liquor. He made it as long as he was able. He made straight corn liquor. Grandpa distained people who added sugar to corn mash. He would sit at the head of the table. If anyone was visiting he would take a glass and pour moonshine into it and offer it to them. Some would apologize and say they did not drink. He would say, “Take a little dram for the stomach’s sake.”

When he made a batch he would always come to mom with a cane in one hand and a half gallon jar in the other. She kept bitters. If the house is still standing and the mantle is there, I could show you exactly where they sat. The bitters were made of roots, plants and tree bark in a juice. She would add half of the jar of the liquor to her bitters and put the rest away. When she had a headache she would take the jar down, unscrew it and drink from it. She was the only one who used it. I did taste them, but she was the only one who used them.

I never thought about what happened to the rest of that liquor. I think my mother must have drank it.

How often would Grandpa make his liquor?

Prohibition was in effect. The revenoorers came and inspected what he had. They sampled his liquor. There was no penalty. You could have six gallons for your own use, but you could not sell it.

Did you ever meet Bad John Wright?

No, he was gone before I was around. There were bitter feuds fought right near your Grandpa Bentley’s place.

As for Dad’s brothers and sisters, Rachel was the oldest. She lived in near Ashland. I remember seeing her twice. It could have been when Grandma died. Maybe the other was when Grandpa died.

Sarah, we called her Aunt Sarey, lived with Grandpa and Grandma.

After the service I spent a year at Blackey. I went to Berea College and got my degree. I first taught in Mason County and then in Boone County.

You know when you lived in St Louis you were near a lot of family. There
was a ridge there that was full of names you would have known.

I was a teacher. I taught agriculture at Blackey. When I was in Mason County I started going to U.K. in the summers. I just started taking things I thought I needed to know. It got to the point that I had so many credits that they said I needed to decide on a major, so I got a masters in Agriculture.

I was teaching at a small county school in Maysville. I taught there two years. They consolidated four schools into one big high school in Florence. I taught there fifteen years. Then I thought I wanted to go into administration so that meant another degree. I went back to U.K. for more classes and got a masters in administration and supervision. I was principal or assistant principal the last part of my working career. I liked doing both the teaching and the administration. I was ready to move on to administration when I did and ready to leave administration when I retired. I was ready to quit.

What made you leave Millstone?

(He points to Manerva.) She was teaching at Upper Millstone. She and her first
cousin, Gaynell Back. Once I met her, I wanted to be where she was.

Manerva Back Craft

Enoch Collier would pick up the mail and deliver it to Lick Fork. I think your family would know him.

The Crafts did not think much of Joe Hall. Aunt Lettie caught him with another woman and killed herself. He was a traveling salesman and when he returned home she found silk stockings in his coat pocket. She was suspicious for a while and then caught him with another woman. She went to the barn and hung herself.

I told him that I had looked through weeks of Mountain Eagles and had not found a mention of her death. I said I wanted to go to the court records to see her death certificate and see what it said her cause of death was.

It wouldn’t have been in the paper and I doubt you will find a death certificate.

A. C. Craft went to Greenwood College in Greenwood, Virgina before he was married. He attended classes for two years. I have one of his algebra textbooks. It has a date in it of Januray 5, 1892.

Dad taught school. It was contract schools then. It was for whoever wanted to pay for the length they wanted. He might teach in someone’s home for their children and the neighbors’ children. He might stay with them. It could be for four months or whatever time period the contract called for.

I remember a story about Aunt Sarey. There was a quilting party. Well it wasn’t a party, they just called them a quilting. We raised sheep. Mama had fixed mutton. Aunt Sarey was about as wide as she was tall. She would eat some of the mutton and loosen her belt and say, mmmm that was good. I shouldn’t eat more, but it was so good. She would loosen her belt some more.

When we killed a sheep we would always kill a hog, too. Then we would have Aunt Sairy, Uncle Ben, Grandpa and Grandma to supper. Uncle Ben would never touch the mutton which is why we always killed a hog. This happened over and over. Well, the women got together and said they were going to make Uncle Ben eat mutton. It was mother and Grandma and Aunt Sarey. They said “Ben Franklin will eat mutton today.”

When Grandpa and Grandma came to dinner Dad would give up his place at the head of the table and Grandma would sit at his right where Mom would usually sit. It was the only time I ever saw Dad give up his place at the table. I can see them at the table, Grandpa, Grandma to his right, then Aunt Sairy and Uncle Ben.. They would put a bowl of lamb between Grandpa and Grandma and a bowl of pork between Aunt Sairy and Uncle Ben. On this day they switched the bowls.

Uncle Ben put in a fork into the lamb and ate a piece. He got a second piece and ate it. When he went for the third piece Aunt Sairy stopped him and said he was going to eat all the lamb and she wasn’t going to get any. He said he thought it was pork.

I asked about them sitting at the table together.

We always sat together. Sometimes I would take a plate and go to the porch, but we sat together when Grandpa and Grandma came to dinner. It was only when the church came to Sunday dinner that we would eat in shifts – men first, then the women and last the children.

Did you know of any KKK activities?

I heard about them whipping people. There was a man below the Millstone Baptist church. That fellow planted his corn across the street on the hillside, but he didn’t hoe it. The Klan wrapped a bunch of switches up and put them on his porch with a warning to get the hoeing done in a week. That cornfield got hoed.

I also heard of a loose woman who got whipped with saw briars.

I mentioned I had heard a story about some Bentleys who left the county in coffins to escape being punished for Klan activities.

I don’t know about that, but mentioning coffins and being carried out reminds me of Morgan Reynolds. He was in trouble with the Klan. They aimed to kill him. This was before the Spanish American War. He was hoeing corn. The Klan was laying at the end of the field waiting to kill him. He was dressed in his mother’s clothes and her hat. He hoed til noon all the while they were waiting to get a shot at him. He came out and got on a mule and rode to Pound to join the Army. He went to Texas and fought in the Spanish American War.

He was in Brownsville, Texas when someone recognized him. They yelled
out “Hey Morg!” He kept going and they ran after him calling, “Hey Morg!” They
kept on and when the man following him came around a corner Morgan was waiting for him and caught him by the throat. He told him, “If you ever utter Morg Reynolds again, you are dead.”

Morgan came back after the war and became sheriff of Letcher County and made a good one. He brought in Bad John Wright on an outstanding warrant. Bad John would move over to Virginia when things got hot for him here and then come back to Kentucky when things were bad over there. I don’t think he served any time, but Morgan brought him in.

We had an Adkins relative of Mom’s who left the county because he killed a man. Actually, he killed two men. The first man was stealing corn. The corn crib would be open. He would find the door open. He could see the front of it from the house. One night he waited up and saw a man come around the corner. He let him get about half a load of corn and then shot him. That’s the way they found him in front of the corn with half a sack. He didn’t get indicted because he was protecting his own property.

Later, he had some men digging a well for him. He was down with the rheumatism. He probably had a strained back. He hired men to dig the well. They got into a fight and one of the men went home to get his gun. When he came back he couldn’t find any of the men. He came into the house and asked where they were hiding. He said, what do you mean, I hired you to dig the well. The man
said he was going to find them and shoot them and if he couldn’t find them he
would come back and shoot him. He kept a gun hanging at the bedpost.
He took it down and put it under the covers. The man returned to shoot him and
he shot him from the bed. He went to the state of Washington, Chahlis Washington and worked in the logwoods.

He was afraid the powers that be would send him to jail since there had already been one killing on his property.

There was a good story about Enoch Collier in the Kentucky Explorer last winter.

Drusilla wrote a good story of her memories. She was the middle of seventeen children. The older girls were married and gone by the time Druscilla came along. Sarah was in the household, but she would have nothing to do with chores or housework. She would go out in the fields and plow, garden and do what was considered man’s work. A lot fell to Druscilla because she was the only girl for much of the time.

Sometimes families can argue over things that don’t mean a whole lot. I remember a time when Dad and Uncle Ben argued over a piece of property. It was just a tiny piece of property, but Dad thought the line was on one place and Uncle Ben another. They didn’t speak for about five years. Grandpa was the one who gave them the land and he even showed them where the line was, but that didn’t settle the argument. Dad and Uncle Ben made up before Uncle Ben died, but they were mad at each other for a long time.

Did Grandpa Chunk speak to you about the Civil War?

He didn’t speak much about it. I do remember he when it would come up he would say, “That was a terrible time.” I wasn’t interested enough at the time to ask questions. I let it pass. He was one of John Hunt Morgan’s raiders in the Civil War. Later, I read every book I could get my hands on about the Civil War period. I read all I get on John Hunt Morgan.

Grandpa Chunk was in the Kentucky 13th. It went by several names. First it was the 5th Mounted Infantry. Then it was the 13th Calvary. It ran thru 13 names during the Civil War. They started at the mouth of Sandlick. Grandpa, his brother, A.C. and an uncle were with Ben Caudill who organized them.

Sandlick is West Whitesburg. Grandpa Archeleus helped start the Indian Bottom Church Association. It was originally at Blackey on Arch Cornett’s property. Later it moved to Colley. Arch Craft was a founding member of three Old Regular Baptist churches. He was a member of the Roaring River church in North Carolina before he came to Kentucky. In 1829 he helped start the church at Blackey. It was the first Old Regular Baptist Churches in Kentucky. He was a founding member of the Sandlick church, which was an arm of the Indian Bottom Association at Blackey. Then he helped found the Thornton church. It was quite a ways to go to Blackey from Colley for church. He would have to go on Friday and come back Monday so it was four days to go to church.

Arch was appointed as a delegate for the Indian Bottom Association. He was also a delegate at Sandlick. The church at the mouth of Colley Creek was just out of the Colley and to the left so it was very close for him. He and his son “Preacher Arch” were both delegates for the Colley church. I found all this in a book about the United Baptist Church of the U.S.

There were no land grants for rebel soldiers. Now Arch Craft had a land grant in North Carolina. He got it from being in the Revolutionary War. He had land in Boone, North Carolina. They could have it and keep it if they improved it. How they improved it was to put up a house and have a garden. They asked him to go to Kentucky and he said no, his house was built and he did not want to leave. He finally agreed to go when the State of Virginia gave him another land grant. He and James Caudill, Stephen Adams and some others all came together. They were headed for Bryan Station. When they reached Pound they traveled all day and got as far as Camp Branch. They stayed their first night there. The next morning they woke up to snow. They had their families with them. They stayed there the whole winter. There was plenty of game, fish and they just decided to stay.

I don’t know where Preacher Arch homesteaded, but Grandpa Chunk bought all his land.

Nelson Craft, one of the first postmasters at Craftsville. He was Grandpa Chunk’s brother. The only post office in Craftsville was in A.C. Craft’s kitchen. Millstone was a separate post office where the train came in. Watson delivered mail by horse on Saturdays and Holidays when he wasn’t going to school.

Watson Craft and his wife Maneva Back Craft were one of the most hospitable and interesting people that I have met in all my years of
gathering family information.

Archelaus Craft

Archelaus Craft was born on December 25, 1749 in North Carolina. He married Elizabeth "Betsy" Adams on December 1, 1785.

He was a Revolutionary War Soldier. In his pension application he states that he was born on the Roanoke River in North Carolina on Christmas day, 1749. He served three tours in the North Carolina Militia. He first volunteered in 1778 for three months and marched against the Indians while assisting the British. In 1780, he volunteered for nine months and took part in the Battle of Hanging Rock and fought at Eutaw Springs. In 1781, he volunteered for three additional months after which he was honorably discharged at Saulsberry, N.C.

He migrated to Upper Kentucky River Valley in 1804 and is recognized in a Highway marker two miles east of Whitesburg, Kentucky at Ermine, JCT KY 119 & 2034. He was a founder of the Indian Bottom Church.

In the 1850 census for Letcher County, Kentucky Archelous was listed as 96, a farmer born in North Carolina. He was living with his second wife Scena who was 80 and a 15 year old Harvy Pritchet, the grandson of Charity and Harvey Pritchard.

A bicentennial article in the Greenup County paper reports that Archelous split 100 rails on his 100th birthday. He lived to be 103.

5,000 Attend Adams-Craft-Webb Reunion in 1937

While I am waiting for my laptop to be returned I have been going through the 350 news clippings that I found which mention James Taylor Adams name in them. I haven't found another on our family members. Some are interesting stories, but not the kind of thing I write about or would include here. I found this little clipping that I thought was interesting. Where in the world would you hold a reunion in Mayking that 5,000 people could attend?

Middlesboro Daily News
Middlesboro, Kentucky
July 12, 1937, page 5

5000 Present for Reunion

Jenkins, Ky. – Nearly 5,000 persons trekked to Mayking Sunday for the old Adams-Craft-Webb reunion. The families are three of the oldest in the mountains, whose ancestors made the first settlements in Eastern Kentucky.

Dr. Wily J. Adams, Oklahoma City, Okla., was one of those present who came from a distance to honor the families.

Dr. Adams responded to the address of welcome by Prof. Watson Webb. Dr. Joseph D. Webb, Lexington; James Taylor Adams, Big Laurel, Va., and Prof Kearney Adams of Richmond State Normal spoke on the family histories. Dr. Adams gave data on the first John Adams buried in old cemetery here. Others traced the career of BenjaminWebb, first of the Webb family, a Revolutionary War hero and descendant of Daniel Boone.

Many counties of Kentucky were represented at the reunion.

Seldom Wright Price

Joel and Susannah Wright's daughter, Margaret, never married. She did have a daughter named Sidney. The father is unknown. Sidney had a son by William Luntz. That son was William S. "Bill" Wright. He married Letty Bates, the granddaughter of John Wallis and Sarah Waltrip Bates. Her father was James Bates who was murdered by the home guard during the civil war. Her mother was Bessie Adams. I just put that in to tie in others I have already written about. Bill and Letty had 11 children.

One of them was Samuel J. Tilden Wright. He married Lydia Margaret Craft. They had nine children that I am aware of so far.

I was looking though the pictures I took at Green Acres Cemetery. When they are digital they are all named DSN001, 002, etc. When I put them on the computer I change the names to something a bit more meaningful like Samuel J. Tildon Wright 1878 1974 tombstone. I was renaming some of those pictures today while my dad slept and when I got near Samuel Tildon, Jr's I had a laugh. Near or next to his grave was that of his sister, Seldom Wright Price. Seeing is believing.

I didn't have much time to work on them, but I found that Seldom was born on May 27, 1918. She married a Price, of course, and died on September 30, 2006. She was living in Florida at the time of her death. I don't know her husband's name. He may still be alive. I can only imagine the sense of humor that Seldom must have had in her life.

I don't remember in which family, but I know I ran across one relative who had 18 or 20 children and he named them from the encyclopedia. Two of the girls just had awful names. They never married. I always thought their names had something to do with how their lives turned out. When I come across them, I will defintely put them in a blog.

Seldom had five older brothers: William, Nicholaus, Harvey Charles and.......... Commonly. After Seldom were brothers Hilliard and S. Tilden Wright Jr. and sister Hennie Wright.

Samuel S T Wright, the father, was a Baptist minister, a farmer, a real estate dealer and a contractor for road construction. At least that is what I picked up from the census records and a few other tidbits I found.

Seeing Seldom Wright just made me giggle.

James W. Craft mystery

I was doing a search to see who had today as a birthday and I came across two James W. Craft's who shared today 100 years apart.  I thought it would be interesting to see how the two people who shared the same name lived.  Then I figured out that the second James was an input error and was actually the same person as the first.

I didn't have much on him, but thought I would do a bit more sleuthing to see what I could find.  What I found was a mystery.

James W. Craft was born July 26, 1841 to Joseph B. Craft and Martha Irby Bates.  He was the fourth of twelve children.  Many folks have in their research that James died at birth or in the same year he was born.  I found him in the 1850 census with his parents:

• Craft, Joseph, 32, Farmer KY
• Martha 32, VA
• John H. 15 KY
• Sarah 14 KY
• Druscilla 12 KY
• James W. 9 KY idiotic
• William R. 6 KY
• Martha Manerva 4 KY
• Mary 2 KY
• Joseph 6 months KY

This would discount those who said James died at birth, but it presents new information saying he was "idiotic".  This is not the mystery.

In 1860 the census went like this:

• Joseph Craft, 43
• Martha 43
• James 18, Idiot
• William 16
• Martha 14
• Mary 12
• Joseph 10
• Eliza  7
• Nancy 4
• Robert 3 months
• All born in KY except Martha who was born in Virginia.

So again, James is there and he is marked as an Idiot.

In the 1870 Census Joseph and Martha are listed with Joseph, Elizabeth, Nancy, Robert, and Morgan.  No James.  My first thought was that he had died.  I looked and could not find a death certificate.  I started looking at what others had in their research on ancestry.com.  I found that those who did not show him as dying as a baby had his death listed in Laurel County (London), Kentucky.  I still couldn't find a death certificate.  But here is the mystery -- they have him listed with a daughter, Sarah Pearl Craft.

Sarah was listed with a birth year of 1869 and a death date of September 15, 1947 in London.  She was listed with a husband, George Lucas.

If James died in 1898 I should at least be able to find him in the 1870 and 1880 census records. I tried James, Jim, Craft, Croft, Kraft etc and no one fit in Letcher or Laurel County.

I found a death certificate for Sally Pearl Lucas.  Her birthdate was listed as July 1, 1868 in London.  Her husband was listed as Dr. George Lucas.  Her parents were listed as Granville Pearl and Elizabeth Adams.  Aha! I thought.  Here she is and the researchers have it wrong.  She didn't have anything to do with our James W. Craft.  And then I saw the informant's name on the death certificate:  James W. Craft, Jr.  Sigh.  What was her connection to James W.

Searching for the Pearls, I found Granville and Elizabeth in 1870

• Pearl, Granville 50
• Elizabeth 29
• John 9
• Helen 8
• Sallie 5
• Baker, W. P. Druggist, TN
• Ann 23
• Charlie A. 1
• Kerr, Martha 25, mullato, domestic servant
• John 2, mullato
• Barnett, Robert, 15, black, laborer of all work

Then in 1880:

• Pearl, Granville, 61
• Elizabeth 39
• John 19, printer
• Helen 17
• Sallie 14
• Christopher 6

I found a death certificate for Christopher Pitman Pearl.  He died of a stroke.  His parents were listed as Granville Pearl and Martha Elizabeth Adams.  The informant was Martha Adams.  His wife was Mary Catherine Farris.

I found the death certificate for Helen Pearl.  She married E. H. Harbey.  Her parents were listed as Granville Pearl and Elizabeth Adams.

I left out what I read on Sallie's death certificate. She had another disease to do with senility.   She died of arteriosclerosis heart disease after spending seven years, seven months and thirteen days in Anchorage, Jefferson County, Kentucky at the Pleasant Grove Hospital.  Oh no, another mental case, I was thinking.  But so far, all I have found out about the hospital is it is for drug and substance abuse.  She was returned to Laurel county for burial.

Was she hooked on drugs?  A closet drinker? What was her connection to James W. Craft?  Why do people list him as her father?  Why was James W. Craft the informant on her death certificate rather than her husband George Lucas or someone in the Pearl family?

I can't imagine James with a life of his own after being listed as idiotic on the two census records.  However, Margaret Wright was listed that way and the family says it was because she didn't speak English and the census taker marked her that way because he couldn't understand her. 

I wonder about James and Sallie and their relationship.  And where is James in 1870 and 1880?  Where is his death certificate? 

WWI Postcard to Pricy Craft

When I met Patty Craft McHone, she had retired from working at the Post Office in Millstone. The original post office for Millstone had been in her grandfather's kitchen. Patty had been spending the time since retiring going through things at home and doing a bit of downsizing.

About two weeks before my visit she had sent a packet of pictures to her uncle Watson Craft. She had another envelope of pictures she had gathered which were mostly mystery pictures to her. She let me take the pictures to copy. I hoped that someday we would be able to identify some of them. Patty, not knowing anyone in the pictures, found them useless to her, but thought that maybe her Uncle could identify them and would appreciate them.

In the mystery packet of pictures was a post card picture. I have found the post card pictures were common in the old pictures from the 20's through the 40's. My oldest Mullins pictures are in that format. I could barely read the writing. I took a magnifying glass, used bright lights, did everything I could to try to read that post card. It took me several hours, but finally I figured it out.

It said:

• "This is not very good. Will have more taken some time. But remember wherever I go and whatever happens I will try and face it like a man. I go into this willingly to help protect you and your children and my country from Devils across the sea. Peter "

After I transcribed the post card then it was a matter of identifying who Peter was.

Pricey's grandfather was named Peter, but he was too old. I kept searching and found a Peter Adkins who was the right age, but he was living in the state of Washington. I found his WWI draft registration which said he had been born in Kentucky. Then I found Lewis F. Adkins, also in Washington. I didn't know enough about the Adkins to know if this were the right ones even with the Kentucky birth.

I love these draft cards because they give you a birthdate, a physical description and you get to see their handwriting. Peter is described as medium height, slender build, brown hair and black eyes.

I took the post card to Patty and gave her the transcription. I told her that it would mean more to whoever she gave it to as a momento. She said that some of the Adkins had moved to Washington state. She remembered some of them visiting Kentucky at one time. She said the post card wasn't going anywhere now that she knew who it was and what it said. I would imagine that having her brother so far away from Kentucky that it had been a special picture and post card to Pricy when she received it during WWI.

That's why it is so important to identify our old pictures so they don't become meaningless to the ones left behind. But that's another story.

Drew Cilla

I have a story in mind about two of our Drusilla Crafts and explaining which one was married to Joe Hall. It got me to thinking about how many Drusillas there are in the family and where the name came from in the Craft family. I did a search and there are 20 Drusillas out of the 17,256 individuals that I have input into the family tree so far. Six of them are Crafts.

The earliest Craft I have in my family tree is Henry Craft. He was born in England. His son James Craft was born in North Carolina and married Sarah Hammons. His son Archelaus Craft was also born in North Carolina and married Elizabeth "Betsy" Adams.

Archelaus & Betsy had a son name James Washington Craft. He married Drusilla Hammons. She is the first Drusilla I have in the family. It is a Hammons name that has been passed down. James and Drusilla had 7 children: Archelous Columbus, Joseph B. Mahala, Sarah "Sally", Elizabeth, Benjamin and Nehemiah. Five of the seven children named a daughter Drusilla. Archelous Columbus named his first daughter Druscilla. Joseph names his second daughter for his mother. His first daughter was named Sarah after his wife's mother, Sarah Waltrip Bates who is my G-G-G grandmother. Mahala named her second daughter Drucilla. Elizabeth named her third daughter Drucilla. I don't think I have done enough work on Benjamin and Nemiah Craft. It may turn out that they had Druscillas, too.

It was custom at that time to name your children for your parents and your siblings. That's why it gets hard trying to figure out who people are when all the siblings are marrying at roughly the same time and they begin having children with the same names born at the same time or very close to each other. That's why you get all the nicknames, people going by their middle name or even a Junior when the father is another name but the child was named after an uncle who lives near to him.

Archelous Columbus Craft married Lettie Webb. They had nine children. Two of them, Nelson and Enoch Arden "Chunk" Craft both had daughters named Druscilla.





Nelson's Druscilla was born December 19, 1861. Chunk's Druscilla B. Craft was also born in December on the 4th in 1874. These girls were first cousins. On September 12, 1878 when Druscilla B. was only 4 years old, Nelson's Druscilla married Miles Mayo Adams. They had two daughters, Eliza Jane and Lettie Adams.



Chunk's Druscilla didn't marry until August 4th, 1893. She married Ison Sergent. Together they had nine children: Enoch Andrew, Sarah Elizabeth, Samuel Calvin, Benjamin Emory, Archie Columbus, William Hiram, Joseph, an unknown baby, and a month before Isom died their last child Isom Sergent, Jr.

1880 Census



Nelson's Drusilla is with Miles M Adams as follows: Miles 24 works on a farm, Drusiler 19 is keeping house and Louisa J is 9 months old born in September 1879.

They are living next door to her grandparents Arch & Letty Webb Craft. Arch & Letty's son, Wiley is listed as 24 and married, but in their household. I noticed, too, that he dies five years later so now I will be hunting to see what happened to him. A few houses down is another Druscilla Craft. This one is the daughter of Arch & Letty Craft who has married Ephraim Thomas Hammons. She is a sister to both Nelson and Chunk Craft.















Meanwhile, just down a few more houses in Chunk's household it reads: Enoch A. 38, Polly Ann 33, Rachel 12, Arch 10, Lettie 9 (our grandmother Lettie Craft who married Joe Hall), Drusilla 5, Watson G. 3 and Benjamin 7 months born in September 1879.

Since the 1890 census was destroyed by fire, we have to move 20 years ahead to 1900.

1900 Census

Nelson's Druscilla has moved to Rockhouse. Druscilla has had a second child, a girl named Letty in 1881. Neither child is living in their household in 1900. It is only Miles Adams 45 and Drewcilla 31.



The Sergents are also in Rockhouse. Isham Sergent 36 married 6 years, Drewciller 22 has had 3 children all three living, Enoch A. 4, Sarah J. 3 and Samuel C. 3 months.









Druscilla Craft Sergent's sister, Lettie Craft has married a widower, Joe Hall, and is found in the census as Joseph Hall 36, Lettie E. 28. His children by Sarah Caudill listed as: Minnie 18, Anzie 16, Isabella 14 and Alven 12. Then their children are listed as Polly A. 9, Leonard B. 8, Rachel V. 5, Enoch M. 3, and our grandmother Nancy A. 1.

Joe Hall and Lettie Craft

Miles Mayo Adams dies in 1905.





Lettie Craft Hall dies on March 27, 1905.



1910 Census



Joe Hall has married his wife's cousin, Druscilla Craft Adams, the widow of Miles Mayo Adams.

Joe Hall & Drusilla "Siller" Craft Adams

They are living in Camp Branch, Letcher County, Kentucky. It shows Joe Hall married a second time this one five years (though we know it is Joe's third marriage). Cillar is also shown in a second marriage and that she has had two children, both living. (Remember how many children Druscilla and Isom Sergent had?) Living with them are Joe's children Enoch Maylen 13, Nancy Alice 11 and Basil 8.



Lettie Craft Hall's sister, Druscilla, who married Isom Sergent is listed as: Isom Sergent 45, married 17 years, Drew Cilla 36, had six children all six living. Enoch Andrew 15, Sarah Elizabeth 13, Samuel 10, Bennie 8, Archie 5, and William 2.



We know that Joe was a marrying man. Sarah and Lettie, his first two wives, both die. But after that his wives outlive him.







1920 Census







Isom Sergent, 56 with Drusciller 46, Samuel C. 19, Benjamin 16, Archie 14, Willie 12 and Joseph 8.





Living with Chunk and Polly Ann is his sister, Druscilla Craft Hammons (Picture 1 above). Next door to Chunk and Polly is a widow, Druscilla Adams, age 58. This is Chunk's niece, the daughter of Nelson Craft.







Joe Hall has married Dianah Webb in 1916, Martha Tackett in 1918, and remarried Dianah in 1919.







The census that year was taken in January. Isom Sergent has a son, Isom born in April of that year and a month later, father Isom dies of pneumonia. Isom's widow, Druscilla Craft, daugher of Chunk & Polly Craft and sister to Lettie Craft, never remarries. In 1930 she is living next door to Chunk and Polly.

Druscilla Craft Sergent and her son, Isom.

Druscilla Craft Adams Hall remains alone, too. Though she went by the Adams name in 1920, she goes to her grave as Siller Hall.













Joe Hall did marry a relative of Lettie Craft, but it was not her sister. It was her first cousin.