Tazewell County, Virginia, History: Taborville, Tazewell County, Virginia, 1901-1908, Chapter 1 Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Karen Eagle Moman arizonaeagle1502@qwest.net ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities, when written permission is obtained from the contributor, so long as all notices and submitter information are included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Taborville, Tazewell County, Virginia 1901-1908 By Karen EAGLE Moman ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank John Homer Thiel for his support, patience and financial assistance. I also owe a heartfelt thanks to Nancy Gale (Tabor) Smothers, my first cousin, once removed, and James Allen 'Jimmy' Thomason, my third cousin, once removed, Phyllis Ann (Tabor) Tabor, my third cousin, once removed, Michael Otis Tabor, my fourth cousin once removed, Sarah Maxine (McKenzie) Scott whose help has been invaluable and whose sister, Margaret Elizabeth 'Libby' Mc Kenzie married my first cousin, once removed Donald Wilson 'Don' Tabor. A special thank you to three special individuals, Sonja Denise Moman, Sybrena René (Moman) Hughes, my daughters, and my son, Jacky Cleve 'Jay' Moman, Jr., for their love and financial assistance to defray the cost of all the many hundreds of hard copies I made from microfilm of the Clinch Valley News. I can not forget my mother, Hettie Marie (Shrader) Eagle, and a dear friend, Fannie Ellis Dickenson, my second cousin, twice removed, for their delightful stories and personal knowledge about our extended Tabor family, which they freely shared. Chapter 1 Taborville, a community in Tazewell County, Virginia Taborville was located near/between Falls Mills, Tazewell County, Virginia and Mud Fork, Tazewell County, Virginia, as well as I can determine. Falls Mills is nestled in the beautiful Appalachian Mountain range. The settlement was basically a cluster of farms where farmers grew corn and other crops, raised dairy cows and chickens, and occasionally went to work outside the community to earn spending money. Women raised large families. Children attended the rural school. The spring and summers are filled with lovely gardens, beautiful wild flowers, oak, maple, evergreen trees, rhododendrons, and wild honeysuckle. The temperature is almost never above 89 degrees. Some of the unwelcome intruders/pests which the local Taborvillians had to contend would have been floods (especially before the Falls Mills Dam was built), chiggers, buck flies, potato bugs, tomato blight, and leaf mold on vegetables and flowers which was caused by various elements. The winters were fierce and demanding of a person's energy. However, then as now, there are few scenes as lovely as Virginia in her winter finery. Hoarfrost made intricate filigree designs on widow panes whose beauty became mesmerizing when bathed by the sun. Taborville's winter wonderland would have included ice-skating and icicles hanging from trees, cliffs, and house's eave that sent prisms of color to please the eyes. LOCATION With the help of James Allen "Jimmy" Thomason, direct descendant of Richard Adam Tabor & Mildred Permelia "Milly" (Shrader) Tabor, Sarah Maxine (McKinzie) Scott, and Nancy Gale (Tabor) Smothers, also a direct descendant of Richard & Milly Tabor. I believe Taborville to be in the area where the Old Falls Mills wooden School stood, as late as the 1940's. This is opposite from where the dam is across the river According to Nancy Gale (Tabor) Smothers, Taborville was found along the route where the old Falls Mills Elementary School was located, near the Falls Mills Dam. To get to that location (coming from Bluefield toward Pocahontas and Yards, VA), you make the first left after passing the old Ken's Garage (owned by McKinley "Ken" Tabor - my uncle) right at a bridge - onto Virginia State Route 643. Today a "Lee's Cargo" stands at the former location of Uncle Ken's garage, on the left before you make the turn-off to Route 643. There is a bridge right where you make the left turn. The Route that you turn off of onto this Route 643 is Virginia State Route 102. Sarah Maxine (McKenzie) Scott knows the area as "The Second Bridge" This statement is in relation to what would have been its geographical location from the present Falls Mills, Tazewell Co., VA. James Allen 'Jimmy' Thomason says that bridge below the dam went to the left of the dam and around behind the dam and the first bridge that we know goes to the right of the dam and up toward where you (Karen Eagle Moman) used to live in the house where the Riffe families are now located. That encircles the whole dam area. Do you remember the Buckland house that used to sit there at the bridge? Across that bridge was a big rock house and it is still there, just below where the old Falls Mills School use to sit. LIFE IN TABORVILLE The early twentieth century was a time period of great changes. The Clinch Valley News brought national news to the residents of Taborville. The year 1901 began with William McKinley as the President. He had campaigned using the slogan "on the full dinner pail." Cuba and the Philippines had just been annexed after the United States won the Spanish American War. Americans felt prosperous and invincible. The assassination of McKinley in September 1901 in Buffalo, New York by an anarchist resulted in Theodore Roosevelt assuming the office to become the 26th President of America. Roosevelt was the youngest man to become president, but his youth did little to curb his aggressive foreign policy of "speak softly and carry a big stick." The next few years of Roosevelt's office saw the building of the Panama Canal, the regulation of trusts, and Roosevelt's 1906 Nobel Peace prize for mediation of the Russo-Japanese War. At the local level the citizens of Taborville paid 2 cents for a postage stamp, milk was being sold for 29 cents a gallon (although most Taborvillians had their own milk cows), a new home was in the range of $4,000 while the average yearly income was about $862.00. Local stores sold nationally advertised brands. Among these were Mica Axle Grease for wagon wheels, made by Standard Oil Company. This product was guaranteed to lengthen the life of wagons, thereby boosting profits. Products available at John E. Jackson's Drug Store in the community of Tazewell included Chamberlain's Pain Balm that was the "sure thing' to relieve rheumatic pains and make people sleep in more comfort. Customers were told this relief alone was worth many times its cost. Mr. Jackson thought of all aspects of the farm community when supplying his store. The customer was urged to give their chickens half a chance by buying Pratt's International Poultry Powders which would encourage the ambitious hens to become money-makers. The powder would keep up a hen's vitality all year so she could supply enough eggs for all seasons. The powder was to supply the fowl with the proper elements to keep the flock vigorous, handsome, and in perfect feather. I feel certain everyone in the little village of Taborville wanted handsome hens! Laxakola tablets was touted as the secret to be used for the complexion. It declared it would remove pimples, moth spots (I wonder what those were?), sallowness, clear up the complexion, and last but not least, it would put "bloom of youth" in the cheeks. Foley's Honey & Tar, the original laxative cough remedy. However, it was guaranteed not to contain any opiates, to be non-alcoholic, and good for everybody. The customer was given a color code, in the ad, declaring that it was packaged in yellow. And for the person to refuse substitutes. J. B. Meek of Burke's Garden was a breeder of Hereford cattle and he stated that he only had a limited number of young stock available implying an incentive for the customer to come and buy. Burke's Garden Cattle Company, under the management of W. B. Doak, provided Standard bred poultry and poultry supplies. This outfit also sold Standard Cyphers Incubators. Jno. S. Bottimore carried the "High Art" label of men's clothes. Botimore declared to his customers that they would be getting the work of the best tailors. The customer would also be getting clothes, linings, and trimmings equal to any that went into fine custom clothes. They were particularly proud of the $17.50 suits, in handsome patterns, that were tailored perfectly. Dr. Miles' Anti-Pain Pills cured headache, neuralgia, sciatica, rheumatism, pain in the back, distress in the stomach, and sleeplessness and were only 25 cents and left no side effects. Three sizes of Wick Blue Flame Oil Cook Stoves were offered. The product was clean, economical, gave the best cooking results, and would not overheat the Taborvillian's kitchens. It was also claimed that this type of stove was better than coal or wood stoves (I can see my grandmother scoffing at that remark), and it was fully warranted. Boyer & Harman told the customer, 'To Follow the Crowd and first thing you know you will be in Boyer & Harman Store looking at the pretty things that have just arrived. Now, don't be fooled, make your own selections, buy where you please, but above all things, look at our goods." The store offered dinner sets for $12.00 to $30.00 and toilet sets from $2.50 to $8.00. R. C. Chapman had a host of new wares that included 52 inch Hop Sack, black and colors, for 98 cents a yard; 98 inch German Prunella Cloth, black and colors, for 98 cents a yard; and 36 inch Trouser Stripes, all wool, for 60 cents a yard. Also listed as something the local ladies should not live without was R. C. Chapman's all-wool Venetian Suit with L'Aiglon style jackets with an Eton back, trimmed in satin bands and buttons and silk lined for the drop "dead price" of just $12.75. The genteel "Taborvillian Miss' could also purchase a woman's Pedestrian Skirt of double faced cloth, in gray, blue, or black with gore flare, finished with strapped seams and several rows of stitching for $3.98. The cost of the two items, for a lady, meant that if the "Southern Belle," of Taborville bought herself one, of each of these suits and skits, their family would have $845.27 left to live on for a year. However, if she was having an early 1900's shopping spree and went to Jno. S. Bottimore's and bought her husband a suit then this would have left $827.77 to spend. My grandmother, Margaret Rebecca (Sluss) Tabor, 1862-1844, the wife of Hugh Edward Tabor, was a wise, talented, and thrifty soul. She made her own fabric and sewed clothes for her family, including men's shirts and other garments. Harrison & Gillespie Brothers offered the "Southern Gentleman" and his "Lady" shoes for $3.00 and oxfords for $2.50 a pair. The shoes were advertised as being scientifically modeled and of high quality leather. The shoes were said to be fashionably elegant with foot comfort and to give excellent service. An overcoat called "The Tabasco' was offered that definitely had the desired "rakish swagger" for the discriminating gentleman. Miss Amy Mullin of Graham, Virginia , who was a daughter of Joseph Mullin and Margaret Ann McDonald, was a dressmaker whose advertisements for "Spring and Summer of 1901" listed such items as, specialty dress making, millinery goods of hats, trimmed hats, ribbons, silks, ornaments and mourning goods. Miss Amy declared she was pleased to accommodate her many customers. It will be remembered that in this era clothes of mourning were a social statement and those who failed to comply were not held in respect. Tazewell White Lime Works, Jon. W. Campbell, Proprietor, told the readers of the Clinch Valley News, that their company expected to make lime by the barrel and car- load by May 5th of 1901. Mr. Campbell declared he had analyzed his stone and it showed that it contained 98.20 per cent calcium carbonate and, 50 per cent magnesium which made it fully equal to 99 per cent Calcium Carbonate and was pure and clean stone. Lime was used to make mortar, cement, and to fertilize fields. Mrs. Belle Caudill had ladies, misses, and children's millinery that she thought would surprise those who selected from her stylish line. She stated that her products were far superior to any she had seen and she welcomed mail orders. Tutt's Pills an "Anti-Bilious Medicine" to stimulate the torrid liver, strengthen the digestive organs, and regulate the local's bowels was being advertised. The readers were urged to take no substitute. The Bluefield Inn, Bluefield Mercer Co., W. Va., Sloan & Marsh, Proprietors, offered rates of $2.00 per day and presented itself as an example of the European hotel and restaurant, the only first class restaurant in the coal fields. W. W. Williams of 400 Manhattan Ave., New York urged the readers of the Clinch Valley News, not to suffer any longer. He instructed them to send for his "Eczema and Pile Cure," for those who suffered from Piles (today called hemorrhoids), Eczema, Erysipelas, Salt Rheum, Mr. Williams promised each instant relief. Howard & Lawrence of Pocahontas at the intersections of Corner and Church Streets (just a short buggy, horseback ride, or long walk away from Taborville), had a sale in January of 1906, that offered a twenty-five per cent reduction on many overcoats that were said to make the buyer wondrously happy when they saw the price. Those ready for the after-Christmas seeker of bargains were several Cheviot designs (Cheviot is a woolen fabric with a coarse twill weave made in the Cheviot Hills along the border between England and Scotland). Tazewell Supply Company was offering every person, old or young, visiting their store from Monday, the 16th of December, 1907, until Christmas a big "Teddy Bear" free. A story popular during this time period was that Teddy Bears originated when President Theodore Roosevelt was on a hunting trip in Mississippi in 1902 and was offered a chained bear cub to shoot. Roosevelt refused and saved the cub's life, declaring the staged hunt unsportsmanlike. A cartoon alerted the public to Roosevelt's decision and was seen by the husband and wife, Morris and Rose Michtom, who owned a toy and novelty shop in Brooklyn, Massachusetts. They were so taken by the cartoon that they made a toy and displayed it in their store window. The general public loved the bear. The Michtom's wrote and asked President Roosevelt for permission to name the bear "Teddy," and the rest is history. There was rarely an edition of the Clinch Valley News, that did not carry and advertisement for Fletcher's Castoria. One person stated that Castoria was not a castor oil but a prune-flavored laxative for children with the ingredients being cascara sagrada, syrup of figs and extract of prunes. The product was manufactured by Charles Henry Fletcher beginning in 1871. The initial patent for Castoria included "senna, sodium bicarbonate, essence of wintergreen, taraxicum, sugar, and water." It was modified later to include other things like pumpkin, anise, and wormseed to improve the taste and make it more like root beer. For those who could not afford Castoria they might have received a good dose of Cod Liver Oil. Dr. King's New Discovery advertised that the product would kill the cough and cure the lungs and priced at 50 cents and $1.00 per bottle. J. B. Boyer & Company of Tazewell Co., VA carried "Keen Kutter" tools, tool cabinets, carving sets, pocket knives, and a selection of scissors. Also in his line of wares was the much needed double bottomed coal hods, brass fire sets, parlour coal buckets (we called them coal scuttles), Perfection oil heaters and Raye lamps. Star Milling Company carried what they testified to be the best line of fertilizers that could be bought. Their bone and meal came directly form Chicago, put out by Armour & Company. They also suggested, to the public, to send them their orders for grass seeds, flour, meal, mill feed and anything in the feed line that was needed by the gentleman farmer. The many new national brands and variety of goods, must have boggled the minds of the Taborvillian's, most all of them my collateral kin. The money they received from their farms, including selling eggs, milk, butter, and cheese, could be used to buy products from around the nation and the world. Little boys and girls could earn spending money by picking raspberries or strawberries in the summer, as I did in the 1940's and 1950's at Falls Mills, Virginia. Religion was important to Taborville residents. Sunday meant a trip to the local Baptist or Presbyterian Church. Preachers and ministers were paid through congregational donations. Sometimes a "Pounding" party was given. All the members of a congregation would designate a day and take a pound of anything to donate to their minister a pound of: butter, eggs, flour, any kind such as whole wheat, rye, buckwheat; fruit, any kind; meal; meat, any kind; corn, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, any kind of vegetable, canned goods, applebutter, jams, jellies, they also canned meats, grape juice, concord or white; handmade articles for the home, such as sheets and pillowcases; milk or buttermilk.(1) DOG DAYS Then, as now, the citizens, in the area, had to worry about the Dog Days of Summer, The following information is listed in The American Heritage Dictionary: "Dog Days is the name for the most sultry period of summer, from about July 3 to Aug. 11. Named in early times by observers in countries bordering the Mediterranean, the period was reckoned as extending from 20 days before to 20 days after the conjunction of Sirius (the dog star) and the sun. Sirius is a star in the constellation Canis Major, the brightest star in the sky, approximately 8.9 light-years from Earth. Also called the Dog Star. From the Latin seirios, burning." Dog Days is an event I remember from growing up in Tazewell County during the 1940's and 1950's. Over the years the subject of both events came up in conversation. Other parts of the country find this an unusual topic, and not a memory of their youth. Dog Days meant we were not to scratch bug bites or they would turn into what the locals called, "Fall Sores," known by the medical profession as Impetigo. I also remember being told that snakes were blind during that period and would strike without warning. That statement was fearful as the uncaring copperhead never gave any warning, but to think that Mr. Rattlesnake would attack without a signal was downright impolite. However, I do not know if the snake legend is true. Needless to say I traversed the farmlands, during that period, with a great deal of care. Bluefield, Mercer County, West Virginia, the sister city of the larger Bluefield, Tazewell County, Virginia, near what was Taborville, served free lemonade in the 1940's and 1950's while I lived in the area. If I am not mistaken I also drank a free serving of lemonade on the sidewalks of Bluefield, Tazewell County, Virginia when I was attending Graham High School. In an article from the Clinch Valley News on 9 July 1948: "LEMONADE DAYS" IN BLUEFIELD The temperatures soared passed (sic) 90 in Bluefield, W. Va., the air conditioned city, on Monday and the Chamber of Commerce, which is bound by a 14-year-old promise to give away ice cold lemonade on the streets every time the temperature tops 90 degrees, served free lemonade on Tuesday. This is the fourth time the mercury has passed 90. Other times were in 1939, 1941 and 1947." ENTERTAINMENT Local citizens would have entertained themselves and time for entertainment would have been little and precious, as the work demanded so much of their life. Some people were lucky enough to have gramophones, which were equipped to play cylinder type recordings by hand cranking the set. Checkers was a much enjoyed board game as were the hot new toys, for those who could afford them, the Ouija Board which had been invented in 1892, Teddy Bear craze beginning in 1902, and Crayola Crayons of 1903. They had ice cream suppers, box lunches where the packed lunch was awarded to the highest male bidder. In this event a young woman hoped the best looking available bachelor won her entry. There were Taffy-Pulls, in which the host made candy/taffy and the invited quest helped to pull the taffy. The pulling of the taffy was done with hands that had been lathered and rubbed with cow butter. Most all of the people churned their own butter in those days. The women had quilting bees but I would consider that more of a necessity, in that era, than a hobby or fun. The game of horseshoes was enjoyed by men and women. They would have used real horseshoes rather than those now bought in a store. I have an idea it was "unlady like" in that era for a young woman to win. Hayrides were enjoyed by the young people but probably not by the horses. The songs on their lips, played on their gramophones, would have been, "Carrisima" by Arthur Penn, "Daddy's Little Girl" by Edward Madden, "Dearie" by Clare Kummer, "He's My Pal' by Vincent P. Bryan, "I Don't Care" by Jean Lenox, "Kiss Me Again" by Henry Blossom and" Tammany" by Vincent Bryan. The music was enjoyed as they hummed while they worked in the fields, milked the cow (if "Old Jersey" thought the milker had a nice voice), churned the butter and made the cheese, hoed the garden, staked the beans, robbed the bees for honey, built fences, worked at the sawmill, made apple butter and molasses, slung the scythe in the hayfields, and gathered the eggs. In their reading enjoyment, Jules Verne was on the rise as a writer and would fascinate many, others he would frighten. Other books would have been, in 1901 Kim by Rudyard Kipling, 1901 Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington, in 1902 The Wings of the Dove by Henry James, 1902 Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, 1903 The Call of the Wild by Jack London. We must remember that many still read their bibles on a daily basis. OLD MILL DAM Near Taborville was an Old Mill Dam and that property would later be bought by the Norfolk & Western Railway. The Norfork & Western Railway built the dam, at Falls Mills, between 1908 but before March 1910. It will be prudent to remember that in my mother, Hettie Marie (Shrader) Eagle's, youth and many years before her birth there also existed a mill dam that was below the present Falls Mills Dam. I have a picture of the older dam area. My father, Darcie Ray Eagle, a son of Joseph Sethas Eagle and Louisa Mae Davis, and Hettie Marie Shrader, daughter of Henry Samuel Shrader and Ocie Lee Tabor, were "courting," and had their picture made on one of the outcropping rocks at the older Mill Dam. According to page 320 in Tazewell County, by Louise Leslie: " The stones for the construction of the (Falls Mills) dam were quarried from the quarry on Brush Fork." ITALY AND ITALY LEAKS Almost all the citizenry, of Taborville, were kinfolks, and many of them from the earliest of settlers in Tazewell County, Virginia. In the same period of time that Taborville existed there was a little settlement nearby that was known as Italy and Italy Leaks. This settlement contained many men who came from Italy to work as stone cutters in the quarry. There were also a few families, mentioned in the Clinch Valley News that had come from Tennessee to work in the stone quarry. From the 16 March 1902 issue of the Clinch Valley News comes this statement from the Italy Leaks correspondent: "After the chilling blasts of king winter and rushing winds of March have put out their summer costumes and all vegetation is springing up beneath our feet, so cometh your Italy correspondent, hope you will deal with him gently as he is a tender branch in the journalistic field. Italy holds within her grasp the main spring of industry throughout this section. There are over 200 employees engaged [at] S. Walton and Co.'s. Quarries at this place consisting of most all the nationalities except those from the oriental country." TABORVILLE'S FATE The little settlement of Taborville, as well as its neighbor Italy Leaks, melted into and became part of Tazewell County. Few people remember that it was once considered a separate community. While Taborville existed it was a busy thriving little community. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) Clinch Valley News, 19 December 1902.