MEMORIES OF JESSE FRANCES GRAHAM BURCH
This was submitted by Chery Fodal, and was written by her
grandmother about her memories of life in Potomac Manor in 1910.
The year of our Lord 1910
My mother Margaret Darr Graham and my father Douglas Grey Graham
moved our family from our place of birth, Lonaconing Maryland, to
Potomac Manor, West Virginia. The house was painted white and was
built of clapboard. We had no beds, But my motherdid not let this
daunt her, She bought lumber and built bunks along the wall for her
big family.
We were about 1 to 2 years apart in age. First there were, to name
them in rotation, Douglas Darr, my oldest brother, William Henry 2nd,
Richard Darr 3rd, Albert Hudson 4th, Thomas Leroy 5th, Sister Nellie
Virginia 6th, Jesse Frances 7th (me) Brother John James, Mary
Catherine Sister, Robin Baby Brother, Mother named him that for a
very good reason, He was a very sickly child, When we migrated to
West Virginia he was only 9 months old.
Our house was only the second one in that particular location,
until the North American Coal Co. built a store. And the Western
Maryland Railroad built an open old fashioned station.
The passenger trains only stopped there once on the run, to
Elkins, West Virginia one at 10 am and on the return at 6 PM
everyday. That was the high spot of our lives, Everyone would put on
their best to meet the train, Especially the one returning from
Elkins, West Virginia enroute to Cumberland Maryland, 6pm.
We lived near the beautiful Potomac River, And we kids all taught
ourselves to swim like fishes. We did not have suits, we wore
anything which we could spare to cover us.
I remember once my brother John who by the way was only separated
by age from me by 15 months, was nearly always my companion, Swimming
or walking about 8 miles in the mountains to get apples or go nutting
for Chestnuts especially, which was abundant at that time and for
years. I remember we had one tree we guarded from all kids who moved
into this little coal town after we had, which was a beautiful
Chestnut we had it and an Oak, which we could call our own on account
of the coal dust, which made it almost impossible to grow even grass.
But we had a big field across the railroad tracks we did our hide and
go seek, Played, Run Sheep run, Cheese it which were some of the
games and we also played baseball, we did not have a bat but we used
our coal shovel we used to shovel coal out of our coal bucket like
everyone up there in those days had, But we were the only ones who
had the nerve to take it from home to use in that way.
We had friends by the name of Helmick. Father, Mother dead sons
Bill who was a true trapper, Logger too, who lived in the West
Virginia Mountains about 8 months of every year, Who had a Raccoon,
skunk rattlesnakes a deer, all tame and loved him and they had 4
beautiful dogs, How we loved to go down to their place. Spring house
and spring water all the time. His wonderful Dad made a lot of pan
cakes, They would have a pile in the cupboard all the time, we were
always welcome to them and fried potatoes too, How good they tasted
to us. Bill had 2 brothers Edward who had a terrible Goiter and a
brother Jason who was my brother Roys best friend who when Jason
enlisted in the service of the first world war, enlisted with him and
went through the whole war with him and fought side by side in the
trenches in France. Argonne Forest too. God bless them, Bill had an
only sister Mary who was beautiful and when we had a big square dance
out in the Field, where they built a dance floor and had fiddlers,
She sure was popular. That big Bill her brother who was 6 feet 4 in.
tall used to come in from the mountains for this was how we
celebrated the wonderful 4th of July, I'd be dancing, and he would
laugh because I didn't like it when he would lift me so high I know
everyone could see my petticoat as they were called in those
wonderful days, Bill also called square dance numbers, We only had
one fiddler, whose name was Turner who had a daughter by the name of
Irene, We my brother John and I would go berry picking with in the
rock bound hills when in season, She never ate hers like we did, and
one day we had not had very many in our buckets because of the
habitat mentioned above, When we John and I stepped on a big flat
rock and dislodged a hornets nest, we got away with out a sting but
we sure laughed a lot at Irene because we were always jealous of her
never eating her berries. She always went home loaded, But we only
had a small amount as usual, The bees stung her I don't remember how
many times, when the first ones stung her up went her two full
buckets in the air all of the berries were left for the bees, For she
never stopped running until she got home, after she got out of sight
of he & I, we went back since the bees were either chasing her or
had gotten back to their nest, we didn't care for we picked up her
berries and took them home, The only time I could remember having a
bucket full to take home and it was the easiest time and never a
scratch, I guess I was too mean at that time for a bee to ever sting
me, I can't say that for John, for he was the gentlest gentleman from
boyhood to manhood, and still is. Oh what good times we had, swinging
in the trees in our school yard, when we attended, by the way, we did
only when we wanted to, or when we had shoes fit to wear. John used
to wear my bigger brothers suit coats, He would turn up the cuffs a
few times, the bottom button on the coat usually buttoned at the
knees, the first one at about his navel. We didn't care for there was
love in our hearts.
No bad words nor no sex in our lives, We were a lot of innocents
played together, slept together. When I see the things that are being
done in this the year of our Lord 1971- I always thank God we raised
ourselves like we did. We had a little Red school house 2 rooms 4
grades in one 4- in the other. Some times we had the ringing the
bell, And thought that was, and it was a wonderful feeling to do it.
I would hang on that rope till the last sound in the hills echoed. We
had grape, wild swings in the woods where our school was located, we
built logs up but never got the roof on, But we would dream of one
day having a log home and love in it too.
We had an old fashioned organ and an old piano. All the girls and
boys in our small mining town would come over to our house, all the
time weather we were home or not, for no one had a lock on any door
that I knew of, never ours. We would come home and almost always
someone was playing either. we sure all sang and made fudge and have
taffy pulls, No one drank much in those days except my grandfather he
had to have a nip on Saturday night but very few people we had as
friends drank. But my grandfather and my father both came from
Scotland. My grandfather and he were both born in Hamilton Scotland.
My grandfather had a beautiful Kilt, And he sure looked wonderful in
it. My fathers mother was named Mary Stewart Grey, Maiden name. Born
in Edinburgh Scotland in the year of our Lord, June 10th 1847-They,
My grandfather and grandmother, My father who then born 1868-June 9th
in Scotland, migrated to America, He, my father their first of 12
children. Brothers and sister's of my father James, John, Robert,
William, Bruce, Sisters who lived Jess, Nell, 4 sisters died in
infancy, do not know their names. My fathers mother is buried in Oak
Hill Cemetery in Lonaconing Maryland. His dad is buried in Rose Hill
Cemetery in Cumberland, Maryland
Keep this, The things that happened to me, And this what I
remember of some of the happenings of my childhood. Love from mother
Grandmother, Great-grandmother
Jesse Frances Graham Burch. Date 12-28-79