Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1917-11-07

the iuSBeu ToauS, 8iOnS the IOOtQlllS
Of the Blue Ridge to the foot OF the
mountains between here and Wal
halla; and from there here they made
their road as they came, moving their
four and six horse wagons along after
| the work. s
Speaking Of the fortitude it took
to face such move, we should, not
forget that, considering the roads,
the mode of tfavel, the time and ex-
pense of such move, Cashiers VAL
ley, at that time, was further from
Surry county than Cashiers Valley is
to-day from San Francisco. Truly,
then, it must haye seemed like a
move to a foreign land-so foreign
at least that none Of them ever re-
turned there, so far as know, unless
1t was one or two Of the boys.
And when they landed here, in q
country almost uninhabited, in the
wild woods, with no roads, no
churches, no schools, no friends, no
neighbors, no society: with but scant
| shelter and a meager sustenance,
more than 25 miles from the nearest
store, and equally as far from the
| nearest post Office, Is 1t any wonder
that poor old grandma went back to
the little log cabin and wept bitter
tears? Is 1t any wonder that the
fortitude which had so sustained her
through the trying ordeal should give
way when she faced the appalling
prospect before her, realizing as she
did, prompted by her mother instinct,
the. responsibility of raising her chill
dren, and preparing them for the
battle of life amid such environ
ments?
But with renewed energy, and a
fortitude such as am persuaded we
know but little Of, they began life
over again. But what prospect!
What trial! Corn for b. ad and
other necessities to be packed more
than 2O'miles over Indian trails on
horseback, with the grocery store in
Augusta, Ca, and the means of pur-
chase in the hams Of the wild deer in
tho mountains. Think, will you, of
the distance between the dollar and
the doughnut!
But with brave front they met
the trial before them. They main
tanned and raised their fourteen chill
| dren to manhood and womanhood,
t,~
equipped than most Of us, in point of
character and Intelligence. OF the
eight Zachary uncles and all the un-
cles by marriage, which of you ever
heard Of one of them having a per-
sonal alteration with one of their
fellowmen, getting drunk, gambling
dollars worth or swearing an
oath? never did.
They lived to see grandchildren in
fourteen families; they lived to see
the valley approached by passable
roads from every direction; they
lived to see a number OF their sons
and daughters settled in comforta-
Bile homes in the valley around them,
they lived to see abundant fruits of
the husbandman's toll; they lived
to see their grandchildren, by the
score, start out'on Sunday morning,
dressed in their tidy homespun,
to attend Sunday school,. they lived
to see regular church service and
good schools in their vicinity; they
saw their children settled in COM
parative comfort, but they had wit
messed their endurance of many
hardshihs.
The trials did not all fall on the
two originals, but their children
were the recipients of many, as
might be expected. in country so
primitive. My father married 20
years after they settled in the valley,
and even then he and my mother
came from Asheyllle, by Waynesville,
Webster and up Cullowhee, because
there was no road from the valley to
the head of the French Broad.
On hearing that her mother was
very sick, my mother got on horse,
took her baby in her lap, and with
her sister on another horse, they rode
from here to Joshua Briant's, at the.
head Of the French Broad Valley. a