The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1896-04-10
a REMARKABLE FAMILY.
A Iountaineer Patriarch with Queer
SOciOlogic Tendencies.

Sociologic Tendencies.
speaking of family pride, remarked
the drummer to Star reporter, II
stayed all night at the house Of a noun
taineer in West Virginia last summer,
who had more pride ia his family than
anybody 1 ever heard of, and I've been
on terms with the puritans and cav
alters for 20 years. This old fellowwas
past 70, and was quite well to do, as that
| quality is known in the mountains. He
owned good house of six or seven
rooms, and could show clear title to
5000 acres of land, and was school
| trustee. He also owned store, and
went to see him to sell him some goods.
l had heard good deal of him and his
peculiarities, and made it convenient
to reach his place late in the day SO he
would have to keep ME over night, as
was his custom with strangers, for he
was hospitable old chap.
my scheme worked well, and when
/ left, the next morning, had his his
tory and that of his family, and an odder
one, think, you will confess you never
heard of. He was 72 years old, and had
been married four times, his first mar
.riage occurring when he was only 18.
His first wife was his cousin, his second
was a widow with five children, his third
was young woman, the daughter of
his sons wife Ga widow, and the last
one was the stepdaughter of the widow
his father had married. By these sew
eral wives he had % children, which.
added to the five stepchildren, gave him
family of SO boys and girls, including
three pairs of twins, and one lot of trip
let's. Two of his boys had married the
daughters of the widow whose husband
the old man was, and one of his daugh-
tiers had married one of her sons"
AT this point the drummer took q
paper from his pocket and read it over
carefully.
The writer looked his question.
''It's all right" he laughed Il haven't
learned it thoroughly yet, and was
just polishing up my memory. I've got
the whole thing written down here just
as he told me. The oldest part of it is
to come. The old man had in some way
ilnbibed peculiar notions from some
book or other he had found on sociology,
and had organized small society of
families thinking as he did. One idea
ii these people was that of the advant-
age OF early marriage, and when his son
vas only about IL years of age he mar
lied the boy to a girl of the same age,
Ind each year for several years after
hat one of these child marriages was
Their children, in turn, were mar
led at the same early age, and they
we're grandparents before they were
%. In fact, one couple at 26 handled a
'randchild on their knees, and at 40
hey were great-grandparents. The
anne story, very nearly, could be told
# the others, and some time before the
Id patriarch was 20 he could look back
yer four generations of posterity. And
was generous posterity, too, for all
yer the paternal acres the houses of
ne children and children's children
Gifted the hills and valleys. Of course.
mong SO many, death could scarcely
ct by without touching some, and
hen l was there there were only 90
the original 33 left, and even the old
ian couldn't tell how many grand.
[eat-grand and great-great-graHd chill
zen there were scattered about him.
hey were all excellent people, too, and
n above the general mountaineer
'erage of large families"
That's timber country, isn't it?''
ked the reporter, with apparent ir-
levanee, when the drummer stopped
get his breath.
Not any more, in that locality. The
st of it has been cut off,
'Um-eh," hesitated the reporter,
Thy doesn't the old man get mill and
I" up his family tree ?"-Washington
ar.