My Grandmother Whitt, my father an' his sister Aunt Martha came from Virginia in a covered wagon the year after the Civil War closed. At that time after the war, they was a lot of robbers an' thieves that waylayed the trails an' roads that passed through the wild country. They had to travel in a wagon train. They had several wagons along an' they tied their horses together of a night an' sat up an' guarded. Part of the men would set up with their guns an' guard an' they'd take shifts through the night. That's the way they traveled. My grandmother had a cow that she thought a lot of an' she was gonna bring her through, let her graze of a night an' they'd have milk. They had a horse an' a mule with their wagon. The horse died an' they couldn't buy one right away because they couldn't find one an' they was gonna get left out of the wagon train, so she put the harness on her cow an' worked it to the wagon several days ' till she could find another horse. Anyway, they came through safe an' sound, but on the way they met the first Siamese twins there was any record of in the world. They was either bought or stoled over in Siam by some slave traders. They brought 'em to this country an' sold them to a circus show. They was two men grow'd together at the hip. They lived 'till they was pretty old. This show made so much money exhibiting them at the show, an' the man didn't believe in slavery too much anyway, so he freed these Siamese twins. He also gave 'em a quite a bit of money an' they bought a big plantation in Virginia. They lived there an' they married an' raised a family not too far from where my grandmother, father an' his sister lived. They'd never seen 'em however but they'd heard a lot about 'em. On their way to Kentucky, they met two men in a buggy. There was an ole colored lady walkin' along with my grandmother, an' when they met these men in a buggy, she stopped an was talkin' to 'em. She come on an' caught up with my grandmother, an' she told her that they was Siamese twins, an' that she used to belong to 'em. They had slaves of their own. After the had been slaves had been freed, they had slaves of their own. They were of chinese decent, they was Chinese people. That was one experience that they had on the road.
On further along, my grandmothers wagon was kindly off a little piece from the other wagons an' they had their horses all tied up an' men setttin' up guardin' 'em an' somebody come down close to their wagon an' went to screamin'' like a woman for help. They thought that all these men that was on guard would run down there an' they would untie the horses an' they would get away with them. Part of the men stayed with the horses an' part of the men came to investigate the wagon. They couldn't find anybody, they was all gone when they got down there.
Further on the way, my grandmother was comin' through the mountains an' they met a man in a wagon an' he was stopped an' wanted her to pull off over on the left hand side of the road. She said that she had a larger load in her wagon than he had an' the law was that each one went to the right, an' that's where she was a goin'. He told her that he would sit there all day if she didn't pull over. She had a pistol under her wagon seat, so she took her pistol out an' draw'd it on him an' told him to pull over an' be on his way, an' he did. Then she went on her way.
After they got over into Kentucky, they didn't have any sugar. Sugar was scarce. The South had been blockaded an' you couldn't find sugar or anything sweet to eat, so everyone was hungry for sweets. They kept a tryin' to buy some molasses. While they was a comin' through the mountains of eastern Kentucky, they bought some punkin molasses made out of sweet punkins. He said they eat 'em, but they was just about black as tar. They depended on buying their food along the road an' also feed for their horses as they came along. I don't remember how long it was, but it was a long time makin' the trip.
On further, I think it was in Logan County, they camped in front of a house one night an' they had a party in the house. Everybody from far an' near come in to this party or gatherin' or whatever it was. They all danced an' they got drunk an' fought. My grandmother sat up all night. She was afraid to go to sleep. Anyway they found out these people's names an' years after they settled in Kentucky, this man an' his son come to the church in their area an' held a revival meeting. My grandmother said that that was the roughest place that they found between Virginia an' here . I won't tell you the name because somebody might know the name.
They came down into Kentucky an' they camped in front of a house of an old man by the name of Harpding. He found out that my grandmother had come from Virginia, the same county that he had come from, so he had them come into the house an' sleep. He wouldn't let them sleep in the wagon. He was a pretty wealthy old man an' he had a farm up in Caldwell County close to Princeton. That was what she depended on was farmin' for a livin'. He told her that he had a farm up there that was good land an' with a good house on it. Nobody was a livin' there an' she could go up there an' stay as long as she wanted, an' he wouldn't charge her no rent. She had two brothers who lived in Livingston County, down about 15 miles from where she came. So the next day they made it down to my daddy's uncle. She told 'em about this man Harpding an' the deal on this farm an' she said she guessed that he didn't mean it. They said, yes he did, we know him an' he meant it. You had better take him up on it. so she came back an' stayed for three years on Eddy Creek in Caldwell County, an' made enough money to buy her a little farm, an' moved on down close to Frances. That's how come the Whitts come to Frances.
When they bought this little farm here close to Frances, there was a log cabin on it. My daddy was about fourteen years old an' he hired to work in a saw mill about a mile an' a half from where they lived. He drove the team an' hauled logs with oxen. They wanted to build a house, an' they had a lot of nice timber on their farm an' him an' my grandmother would saw a log after he got home from work. They would let him take the wagon an' oxen home with him of a night. They'd load that log an' he'd leave early an' get to the sawmill by work time an' they'd saw that log an' he would haul the lumber back home at night an' bring another log back until they got enough lumber to build a house. So they moved out of the log cabin when they built the house. That's the way they managed to build their house. They didn't have any level to level the floor. They had a long glass bottle. They filled that bottle almost full of water an' used it as a level to level the foundation.
