Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Terry Lea Webb Buchanan: August 11, 2011



The following historical memoirs are written by Terry Lea Webb Buchanan (shown here in a recent photo with her mother Nancy Webb) and on the 1962 day of her wedding to 4-year Air Force Veteran and college lab partner, Ellis Buchanan.

Terry never lived in David. Our coal-camp connection is however, real and strong. Cora Ruth Wright Hughes is another girl (from West Prestonsburg) who didn't live in David, but to whom I'm strongly connected. We all sang in the Patsy Teenagers, a company sponsored singing group and we all went to Prestonsburg High School together. As a young girl, I wondered why Cora and Terry Lea were in our group, until I learned that their fathers were also underground coal miners who worked alongside Daddy, deep under those hills in the narrow valleys of which, our little coal camp nestled. There, Terry Lea's father was a victim of a horrible mining accident that crippled and damaged him for life, ultimately killing him. My father worked 34 years underground and died young of black lung complications. Cora's father ended up putting in 50 years in those dark dungeons. It's important that we David natives acknowledge the sacrifices of our coal mining ancestors and acknowledge their important contribution to our lives today.

Terry's Mother, Nancy was left with 4 small children to support. Many of you will remember Miss Nancy Webb as a Prestonsburg Grade School teacher. She was firm, required excellence, but was so loving of her students, says my brother John Bussey, to whom she gave relentless attention to keep him interested in school. Miss Nancy took him home with her to have dinner with her family, when he may have needed a good meal. She checked on him if he was late or absent from school. She walked the long way to school, herself, just to go by Johnny's to see what he might be up to after Karen had gone to the high school and Daddy had gone to work. I digress. That's a story of a time when my younger siblings lived in Prestonsburg, after our parents' divorce--a story that will be written elsewhere.

Miss Nancy is legendary for disobeying the principal's orders and taking her entire class to the funerals of their classmates who perished in the 1957 school bus disaster. They wanted to, and she felt they should, honor their classmates. That disaster, in which 27 students and their driver drowned, is still noted as the worst school bus disaster in U.S. history. Miss Nancy's students were intent upon going so, they marched in dignified peace and quiet, as instructed by Miss Nancy, out of the school and back in again later, without notice. I wonder if the principal ever found out.

I also have history from Cora Ruth, as well and will post it another day. Today's memoir is of Terry Lea's East Kentucky heritage and her links to some important historical figures.

Terry Lea married Ellis Buchanan, a Scot from another EKY county-Harlan, Breathitt, or Knott, I believe. Today, in addition to honoring their Appalachian heritage, they honor their ancestors from Scotland. Both hold leadership roles in the National Scotish Association, in Texas. The Association serves to keep their ancestral traditions alive. I loved discovering this cultural connection to Terry and Ellis. The Dawson & Nova Hicks Bussey siblings of David also have ancestors from Scotland through both parents. A maternal ggg grandmother, Sally McKinney and a paternal, ggg grandfather, Alexander Godbold Rollo, came from Scotland. McKinney to East Kentucky and Rollo to the Carolinas and Alabama.

I'm not a genealogist, but these indelible bonds clarify my own life, my roots and heritage, and help me and other David natives pay tribute to all the coal miners and their wives, the surrounding rural population, and all who worked to bring life into our little village in another place in time.

A Brief Personal History by Terry Lea Webb Buchanan
Virgil A. Turner Webb, born March 30, 1911 married Nancy Watts Powers, born June 6, 1919 Married March 17 ,1939 (St. Patrick's Day). Dad was the son of Dr. Tobius Turner Webb, who was the son of Jacob & Nancy Auxier Webb. Nancy Auxier was the Granddaughter of Samuel & Sallie Brown Auxier.

Samuel was a Revolutionary War soldier & a spy for Gen. George Washington. He was placed on Gen. Cornwallis' staff at Yorktown and sent vital info back to Washington, that helped win the battle at Yorktown. President Washington gave Samuel Auxier a land grant of 3000 acres in what was, then, Western Virginia, for his service to this country. The land is the site that runs from Auxier to Porter Elementary School in Johnson Co, East Kentucky.

Samuel died at 41 or 42 from a fall from a horse. He lingered for several days. Sallie lived until she was 99. She was blind at the end & lived with son Enoch & his wife Polly Van Hoose Auxier, Nancy's parents. Sallie received one of the first Revolutionary War widow's pension, which was $99 a year.

As a child, we still had 300 of the original acres & the Webb Family Cemetery. The land had virgin timber on it. Dad cut it down & sold it to pay for mine & Stephen's college tuition. Had we known, we wouldn't have let it happen, but it was after we had graduated that we found out where the money came from. Now all that is left is the 5 acres the cemetery sits on. It is on a knoll over looking Porter Elementary . School. The school sits in the middle of Jacob & Nancy's cornfield. The field where Jacob died a horrible death--another story for another time. The old farm is history, but the stories remain so with Judy's help & encouragement, I'll write out a few of them.

I still have the original deed to the acres signed by Washington & each of my ancestors from Samuel on down to my father. Each signed it as they inherited the land. When my grandfather got it, there were still 2800 acres, during his life time he deeded parcels of land to the tenant farmers who had been farming the land for the family. He only kept 300 acres.

The family home and the acreage surrounding it back to the mountain top. The old home stood until 1954 ,when my great aunt Martha went into the hospital & died. The night she died someone backed a wagon up to the porch, removed the antiques & burnt the house to hide the theft. The home stood on a knoll over looking the Sandy River and the events had been witnessed by someone across the river.

There were no roads into it from the Prestonsburg side of the River so we would go to East Point & row a boat across to visit Aunt Marth, just as she had to do to go to a store. Sometimes, we would drive, instead, to Van Lear & walk in across the mountain on an old logging road. When the weather was bad or the river up, that is how we checked on Aunt Marth. Dad worried about her, but she wouldn't leave the home place. The attic of that old house was a treasure hunt for me--clothes from long ago times were still in trunks waiting for their owners. Each wrapped loving in tissue paper or cheese cloth & packed away. Aunt Marth allowed me to play dress up as long as I repacked them carefully. Old letters , receipts, newspapers, a buffalo rug with "D. Boone" burnt into the under side. A newspaper with a report of George Washington's last days before his death. All thought to be burnt.

Hopefully, who ever took the furniture also saved some of those historical papers & other items. I'll never know. But I'll always grieve for their loss. I was 12 yrs. Old. Thankfully, Aunt Marth, before her last illness had put some of my favorite family items in a shoe box tied with a blue satin ribbon. Written on the lid, please give this to Terry Lea when she is grown. My aunt gave me that box in 1984, I guess I had finally grown up enough to have it. Inside were the following items: a small Bible, carried by Jacob during the Civil War & his capture & time spent as a prisoner of the Civil War. A letter he wrote his bride of 6 months when he was captured, he wrote the letter in 1862. Sewn to the letter was Nancy's reply upon receiving his letter in 1864. The original deed to the farm place signed by each who had inherited it. There in the box were also pictures, samples of Aunt Marth's handwriting as a school girl, a picture of my great-great aunt Lizzie Walker, who was the first female Methodist minister circuit rider, and served rural East Kentucky from 1916 to 1928 when she died. The old shoe box also contained the Death Memorial cards of my Great Grandmother & grandfather & great uncle Buddy. She had placed some buttons & some blue satin ribbon, items a small girl would love to hear about, in with the important papers.

That box is my greatest inheritance of worldly items. Each one now carefully preserved for the next child to receive when she is grown up enough. I just wish The old place still stood so she could experience it as I once did. I' ll do more on Dad's side later & get to mother's.

Our connection to Daniel Boone came because his sister Mary Boone married Squire Webb. They travelled with Samuel & Sally Auxier to view their land, Daniel guided his friends & helped them build a block house for protection before he left. While with them, Boone explored the area called David & found the saltlicks from which he supplied the Auxier's new settlement with salt to preserve their meat for winter. In fact, as Judy wrote, Daniel Boone spent the winter of 1768 on the creek where David, her childhood coal camp home, would be built alongside the new underground mines @172 years later. Judy quoted Carrico's citation from Boone's journal that, "the steep ravines and harsh climate made the area [Middle Creek's site of David] unfit for human habitation guess the rural farmers, the rugged coal miners and their children, proved Boone wrong on this one. Boone remained friends with Samuel until he died. Samuel named two sons to honor this friendship, Daniel & Nathanial Auxier. The Nathanial is for Daniel's brother & a son.

Enough for now, you probably didn't want this much.

Miscellaneous comments from Terry Lea Webb Buchanan
I remember my Grandmother Powers saying to someone she had invited to stay with us, "Come on, it won't be any bother, we'll just put another nail in the wall for you to hang your clothes up." I always laughed when she said it, but she meant ...it, it seems. That big old house had many rooms, but few clothes closets. The ones it did have were small. Trying to remember back to that time I can only count three in the whole house. The house was built soon after the Civil War, but in our family it was Amma's new home. Amma was my Great Grandmother Amma Alice Callihan Carter, my mother's grandmother. We lived in that old house until I was 10 years old. The old home stood on Court Street, in Prestonsburg, just below Bud and Gwen Wells Alexander's home. We moved into the house she lives in after my Great grandmother's death, in 1950, 3 months before my 10th. birthday. Mother was expecting a baby, my sister, Janey Carter Webb Moser, who was born 2 weeks before my tenth birthday.

They tried to tell me she was my birthday present, since Stephen & I hadn't been asked if we wanted a baby. We said in unison to take the baby back & get us a puppy. Unfortunately, we really said it & that story has haunted us at every family get together from then on. Someone just had to tell the story, putting Stephen & me on the spot. Not sure if Janey ever forgave us. She brings it up occasionally, herself. When Dodie came along we were older & wiser ( we never did get that puppy. We had to wait until we grew up.

Terry Lea Webb Buchanan comments to Cora Ruth Wright Hughes on the friendship of their brothers, Johnny Wright and Stephen Webb.
"She I remember that well. They sat in the hall on the floor laughing & talking to each other for sometime. They sure blocked what ever the boys were up to that night. They enjoyed each other's company as much as we did & Steve & Johnny did. We had many good times together through grade school & high school. During those long days when we were waiting for the Air Force to bring Steve home for the last time, I had managed to hold it together in public until Johnny walked in. When he hugged me, I finally broke down & cried, he just held me & cried with me. Seeing him without Stephen in tow, made it all too real for me.

Up to that point, I had been able to tell myself, it was a mistake, Stephen wasn't dead, I'd imagine. He'd come home & clear the mistake up. But seeing Johnny alone, made me face reality that day, & quit holding on to false dreams. They wouldn't let me see him, when they did bring him home, my husband, Ellis Buchanan, made the official identification for our family. Dad never got over Stephen's death. He blamed himself, because he had always talked to Stephen & to all of us, about his days flying, testing planes during the War, barnstorming, his & his pal Jim's crop dusting business in the mid west, how he landed his plane in the field near a school. Met the young teacher, who brought her class out to see the plane & meet the pilot. ( that young teacher was our Mother, Nancy Watts Powers). We always thought the story of their first meeting so romantic!

Stephen would have been a pilot, I believe, without Dad's stories. He loved planes. He jumped at the chance to learn to fly helicoptors. To this day I can't get into a helicopter. I get sick at my stomach. I've tried-once to tour the outlying islands in Hawaii-but I didn't go. Just could not get on board. I kept seeing Stephen as I had seen him last before the crash. Same thing happened in Europe, so I quit trying to get in them. I knew it wouldn't happen. Janey, Dodie, even Mother have flown in them since. I just can't shake the horrible feeling I get when I try. Give Johnny our love when you talk to him next time. Take care my friend".
Terry remarks on her wedding (see photo above) to Ellis Buchanan on August 19,1961

My Granny Powers helped me make my wedding dress, as she did most... of the clothes I wore. She'd show me my mistakes & help me correct them. I was very proud of that gown. A lady in Martin my grandmother knew made my veil. My daughter Maurya, wore it when she got married. She has packed it away in case Tabby or Emma want to wear it. My sister bought her gown from Priscilla of Boston. But times were different then, (15 yrs later) I think I would still tried to make it even then. I enjoyed sewing, then & now. I made clothes for my girls & for my granddaughters. I don't now because the use of my arms is not like they were then. I'll ask My daughter if she minds if I put the picture of her in my dress up. I was proud she wanted to wear it, we offered to buy one of her choice, as we did for her sisters, but she had made up her mind. We did have a new veil made,I wanted her to have her own. All three of the girls got to decide the details for their weddings. We had 3 very different weddings,thankfully they spaced them 2 yrs apart-'90, '92, and '94. I don't believe Ellis could have stood them any closer. He didn't like giving his little girls away. He's told Matt & Larry he is glad the next weddings are theirs.

Dad grew up in Weeksbury. His father was the company doctor in both camps. When Dad left Berea HS he took his college money & bought an airplane the went to flying school in Lincoln,Neb. Instead of college, like his father hoped. He & a buddy from the flying school started a crop dusting business out west. They earned extra money doing stunt flying at local fairs. On a trip back to Wheelwright to visit his family & friends, he landed his plane in the field next to the school. A young teacher brought her class outside to see the plane. Dad was 27 then, Mom only 19 yrs. He went back to his business, the war effort was gearing up, so 8 months later he & Jimmy D. Tossed a coin to see who went in the Army military & who went to test planes for the war effort. Dad said he lost the toss, & took the job with Martin Aircraft co. In Md. He went back to Weeksbury & asked Mom to marry him. They married on St. Patrick's Day 1939. A few months before Mothers 20th birthday. Dad was 28. They left for Baltimore, Md.

I know that Judy and Wonnell Bussey Godsey are first cousins, daughters of brothers, Dawson and Otis Bussey, who were among the pioneer miners at the new Princess Elkhorn Coal Company deep mines in David, Kentucky. Otis and my Dad were friends from their Weeksbury & Wheelwright Days-then of course during the time of Dad's critical, life-altering accident in the David mines.

Dad stayed in touch with his friends Otis and Ora Bussey, who were there for our family when Dad was hurt in the David mines. They were waiting for Mom when Mr. Dixon got her to Dad. They went with her the next day when he was flown to Lexington. We owed them more then we could ever repay. Wonnell was always so good to talk to me & listen when I needed to talk then.

Someday I'll write more details of Dad's mining accident, in the David mines, that changed our lives forever.

Until Then, In Scot,
Moran Taing (Thank you)
Slainte' & Dia Beannauht Leat (Health and Good Luck to you)
Terry Lea


2 comments:

  1. Judith, I would love to get in contact with you about Samuel Auxier. I'm a descendant as well. I found your story of his service so interesting. I know some about it, but this adds more to what I know. Also, the land. I'd love to see a copy of the deed. Maybe that's on ancestry, I don't know.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Or rather, Terry's memoirs. :)

    ReplyDelete