Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family
history through old photographs.
This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt featuring a man
surrounded by children inspired me to take another look at this photo:
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| photo courtesy John and Janet Thompson Back: Thomas Shiflett, Henry Timber Frazier, Mickelberry Roach, Nora Roach, Della Frazier Center: Maggie Shiflett in the white hat Front: Lewis Frazier, Delmus Frazier, Alex Frazier, Unknown, Mary Shiflett, Elzie McCauley, Othel Frazier |
Not only is the man surrounded by children, they are all
wearing hats too, save the little girl atop the fence.
This is Henry Timber Frazier - my first cousin four times
removed - with some of his grandchildren and the grandchildren of some of his
brothers. Henry Timber was the third of eight children born to Miley Frazier
and Virenda Jane Shiflett in 1849.
At the age of 24, Miley married Eliza Lawson, 19, of
Rockingham County. Together they raised about 14 or 15 children. Built-in
farmhands, you might say. And they needed every hand. Henry Timber and his
father Miley amassed over 1000 acres of farm and mountain land along the Blue
Ridge Mountains in Albemarle and Greene counties.
Obviously the day this photo was taken was a happy day
for the Frazier clan. It was probably about 1920, roughly ten years before the
fall of the American economy, roughly ten years before the government put
people to work in programs like WPA and CCC, roughly ten years before the
Fraziers and their neighbors were forced off their land by the government to
make way for the creation of Shenandoah National Park and the Skyline Drive.
Some families to this day are still bitter about the way
their grandparents were treated by the government. Others have found a way to
honor them. The Blue Ridge Heritage Project is a grass-roots effort to develop
a monument in each county where land was acquired to create the park. Through
the monuments, living history presentations, exhibits, and demonstrations,
volunteers hope to educate visitors about the lives and culture of those who
lived in the mountains before the park.
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| Chimney from the former Haney farm in Greene County, VA |
The monument is in the form of a chimney. Anyone who has
driven in the country has no doubt spied a lone chimney in a field, or maybe even
opposing chimneys. When houses burn or fall to decay, chimneys remain. Chimneys
- where fireplaces once provided warmth and a place to prepare the family meal.
Chimneys - the hearth and heart of the home. Chimneys remain as reminders that
people once lived.
In each of the 8 counties, families have donated stones
from old chimneys of homes that once stood on their property. In Greene County,
most of the stones are from an old Haney farm.
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| This is the monument in Stanardsville, Greene county. The quilt covered the plaque prior to the dedication ceremony. |
In Rockingham County the stone comes from the home of Peter
Wyant, my 4g grandfather, whose family lived in the Beldor community just
outside Shenandoah National Park. A visit to this chimney will be especially
meaningful for my family.
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| photo courtesy of Jan Hensley The Peter Wyant cabin in Beldor, VA |
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| Chimney under construction using Wyant stone Elkton, Rockingham County, VA |
To bring this story full circle, Henry Timber Frazier had
a distant connection to the Wyants. His wife’s aunt Elizabeth Lawson was married
to David Wyant, son of Peter Wyant.
Names of families displaced from the mountain will be
remembered forever because they are engraved on brass plaques attached to the
front of each chimney. But the Frazier name is also memorialized in another
way: The Frazier Discovery Trail. A short trail along the Skyline Drive takes hikers along the pastures that once belonged to Henry Timber Frazier and his
father Miley.
Grab the kids and hike on over to Sepia Saturday. Don’t
forget your hat!
Wendy
© 2018, Wendy Mathias.
All rights reserved.
What a lovely way to honour past residents of the land with a chimney as a monument.
ReplyDeleteMickleberry, Othel, Delmus are all new names to me. With so many kids, I guess they had to be creative. There's something phoenix-like about the monuments made from the chimneys. As usual, a most interesting post.
ReplyDeleteSuch unique and memorable monuments! They remind me of the Irish Hunger Memorial in New York City, in which a donated Irish stone house was re-constructed to show a typical home before the Famine. How wonderful to have a family photo connecting your heritage to the historic Blue Ridge Mountains region.
ReplyDeleteThat's great that the chimneys have become monuments...though built at convenient places where folks can visit, rather than on the foundations which often still exist. I am glad that a few that do still exist around here are known to those neighbors who drive by, and they can say, "That was the home of the original owners of the land that we built our home on up the mountain...they farmed tobacco."
ReplyDeleteThat's a terrific idea to commemorate old family times. It's a universal feeling that the hearth is the home, but what will future generations use? The microwave 3-D food printer?
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of making chimneys into memorials. Fireplaces and chimneys are a sign of life having been lived beside them.
ReplyDeleteI love it. You do what I love best of all - you take an old image and preserve it in history. It is a kind of hymn in praise of old photos. Sepia Saturday at its best
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Two summers ago, my uncle took me to the little town where he grew up and showed me the lot where my great-grandparents had their home. I didn't climb through the barbed wire fence and with the overgrowth, I almost missed it - the chimney of their house still stands. So glad I took a second look before we drove away.
ReplyDeleteOh Wendy you have quite the eye! Bravo I like how you took this! Great captures too!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely fascinating Wendy. I had no idea. I know some of my husband's ancestors had to give up their land so a dam could be built at the back of the Gold Coast. In previous droughts, when the water level has dropped, you can see the rooves of the old houses.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fantastic idea for a monument. And it reminds me of what whole neighborhoods look like around here following the fires of last October. You drive through blocks and blocks and all you see are chimneys and burned trees. It still looks like a war zone so many months later.
ReplyDeleteI love the old chimneys! And I love how you tied it into your Sepia Saturday post. Well done!
ReplyDeleteA fascinating story linking family history and local history - I had no idea about the land grabs that took place then, and congratulations to the local community to ensuring this will not be forgotten with their unique Chimney Monument. I love the distinctive names of the children - is there such a fruit as a Mickelberry and what is the origin of Delmus and Othel?
ReplyDeleteWhat an imaginative way to remember the former residents, and especially poignant given one of those families was your own.
ReplyDeleteI knew nothing of this terrible displacement.Such acts were simply wrong & it's good that these acts are remembered & passed on as a warning.Government is supposed to represent people,not dictate.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to family reminds me of Scotland's Clearances
I always learn something from geneabloggers but this was a real eye-opener. I always assumed that National Parks were wilderness areas, how disappointing. I am glad that the descendants are making their ancestors known.
ReplyDelete