Granny was doing some cleaning out and found this old flyer. It doesn’t have a date on it, but she guesses it’s from the 50s.
Rev. William Thomas Truett was Granny’s grandfather. She really loved him and was very close to him since he lived with her family in his later years.
Back from left: Harrison, Henry, Gertrude; Front from left:
Hardy, Thomas, Pearl, Amanda holding Byers, and Gazzie (Granny’s mother)
Granny was a little girl when her Grandmother Amanda died. She said Amanda was a sweet kind old lady that everybody loved. I asked her what she died from and Granny said “She was just worn out. Having all those kids and having to raise them up just did her in.”
Granny’s mother, Gazzie, was the oldest of Thomas and Amanda’s children. Granny said Gazzie promised her mother when she died she’d take care of Thomas for the rest of his life and she did.
Once Amanda passed away, Gazzie and her whole family moved in with Thomas.
I thought maybe Thomas was sickly, but Granny said no he was in good health when they moved in. She went on to say “Grandpa went all over the country preaching. Preachers didn’t retire back then they just kept going till they couldn’t go no more.”
Eventually Thomas did become frail. Granny said he ate oatmeal three times a day because he had trouble eating anything else. Granny gave me some of the small dishes that came in his oatmeal containers.
I wondered aloud at the task Gazzie took on by moving in with her father, after all she had nine children of her own to take care of.
Granny said “Why Mama was so tough she could do anything. She helped Grandma with all her babies until the last one. She would have helped with that one, which was Kate, but she had Fay on the same day. Can you believe that—mother and daughter giving birth on the same day.”
Thomas died in 1965 the same year Pap and Granny had their first child, my older brother Steve.
Granny has been tickled to death over finding the flyer. She had copies made to share with family.
I was surprised to see they held two church services each day through the revival and that they knew ahead of time that it would last two weeks. Impressive that they had the flyers made during that time frame. I’m curious as to how they made them—maybe the Cherokee Scout printed them? I don’t guess I’ll ever know but I sure am glad Granny found it because it has brought her great joy.
Last night’s video: Onions Are Important in Appalachia: Food, Medicinal, & Language (Our Favorite Multiplying Onions).
Tipper
Subscribe for FREE and get a daily dose of Appalachia in your inbox
I think Granny Gazzie has such a nice ring to it. It would be a great name for a character in a fiction piece. She favors both her mother and father, don’t you think. I loved seeing the picture and the flyer. Also, your bringing up the glassware that came from Crystal Wedding Oats brought back memories to me of when I was a little girl and excited to see what came in my own Grandma’s box! Lovely week to you, my lovely and talented friend. God bless you and yours even more!
That is a true treasure to of have found for all your family. I would start a scrapbook with pictures and notices, also write down all the information granny can remember for you and your grandchildren.
I’m so glad Granny found this treasure! I love looking back at family history, especially photographs, where I can put faces to names I’ve heard.
I’m curious as to why the apparent gap in age between Gazzie and the rest of the children. My MIL was married a month before her mother gave birth to the last child.
Just precious.
Love memories full of rich family history like that.
We are grateful you share with us!!
cc
How neat! That’s a keepsake for sure!
Wow! People back then were such hard workers, not retiring and doing their very best until they just couldn’t any more. That’s really inspiring. ❤️
Tipper l bet you couldn’t pry the smile from her face when she uncovered that wonderful old piece of history. I love it when you have her on talking about her family and the old days. Is anyone left from paps family you could interview about his family that would be really great! Have a good weekend.
My husband said his grandmother and her daughter had babies at the same time.
At my church back in the 50 and 60’s during the week of revival (7 nights) it was common for the visiting preacher and regular preacher to come and eat dinner (noontime meal) with a church member. My grandparents were always one of the members. I tell people I was a drug child, ANYTIME there was a service at my church I was drug to it by my parents. Unlike with some children that would be dropped off, my parents would be right there with me. Now when I think back on my life, I say a short prayer and thank God for my Godly parents, grandparents and other Saintly people that have been an influence on me in my life.
Somehow I was at my grandparents one time when the preachers were eating with them. One of the preachers was eating a pod of hot pepper and said something like “Annie ( my grandmother’s name) every time I take a bite of this pepper, I see hell fire run up the dinning room wall.” That shocked the drawers off of me to hear a preacher say hell. I couldn’t get over him saying that. I knew my mother would have beat my rear end to a fare thee well if I had said something like that. In other words it wouldn’t have held shucks when she got through beating it.
Tipper, what a great find for Granny, I am so very thrilled that Granny came across that article.
She will cherish the article forever. Thanks, Tipper, for the awesome post today, I love the family picture to. May the Lord be with each one of you and keep you safe and well.
I am glad the flyer was found, and it will be treasured. She should have it copied to acid free paper and framed.
I find the flyer interesting that they had service twice a day. The only church I know of that still has service twice a day during revival week the first week in August each year is the one my husband grew up in Newton County, Arkansas. Our descendants did come from the Appalachia Mountains so traditions are still being carried on here.
So wonderful !!! Thank you for sharing!!!
That is a great find and I’m so glad for Granny. Such finds make the past come alive again. I looked at the perpetual calendar and if I read it right, 1955 (my birth year) is the only year in the 50s when March 20 is a Sunday. 1949 works too.
I enjoyed reading about Granny’s historical find and looking at the picture of her family. They had big fa.ilies back in the day. The number of people attending church then was amazing! Puts our age to shame. Granny is sure amazing. I love to read about families back in the day. Also. when I see an old home, sitting in decay, I wonder about the family who lived there , how many children they had. in my minds eye I can imagine how their day went and what they did. I had two children. I look back and laugh at our Sundays which were chaos getting everyone up, fixing breakfast, getting the kids dressed and trying to get out the door to get to church. I miss those days. It’s only me now. Having a large family, like your grandma’s and my grandma. whew they were strong women. Thank you for sharing the story and photo. God bless you, Tipper, and your sweet family. I follow your girls on utube and you & Matt..such a delight.
great find Granny—I would be just as tickled as her if I had found a piece of family history such as that
What a lovely legacy of faith!
I’m so happy Granny found this wonderful piece of history! That is great to have had a revival with two services that lasted for two weeks. Sure sounds like your great grandfather was a mighty fine man.
It may be even earlier – a quick internet search turned up some history on the Randger Babtist website stating, Rev. Truett served full-time until he took another church part-time in 1950. He resigned as pastor in 1954. Very interesting. Thank you for sharing.
What a wonderful find, especially for Granny! I love the story about her family. I think women in general were tougher back then than now.
March 30 was on a Sunday in 1952.
Whoops! Apparently my 1955 eyes can’t tell the difference between 20 and 30. Thanks for the correction.
The family picture would have been taken about 1919-20. Byers was born in 1917 and looks about 2 or 3 years old in the picture. Grace Evelyn was born in 1920 but isn’t in the picture and neither Lillie Kate, born 1923.
Who has the original? It has value too!
Laminated! That’s the word I’ve been trying to think of all morning. It needs to be sealed from air and sticky fingers and kept out of sunshine. It is valuable to Louzine now but will increase as time goes by. I’m not talking of monetary value but of historical value to all his descendants and to all the people who found Jesus at his church services and revival meetings.
March 30th fell on Sunday twice in the 50s, 1952 and 1958.
An interesting look at the olden days…
Preacher Tom baptized me and some friends in Caney Creek 1955. He was pastor at Antioch Baptist Church Union County GA.
Yes, people these days don’t take care of their elders like they used to for whatever reason. I go see my 98 yr old Mom, who is in Assisted Living, everyday unless something happens. A nurse there told me that so many of the residents don’t ever have any family members visiting them nor do they call them or check on them. How sad! They just mail the monthly fee in & that’s all. I think one reason folks don’t take care of their elders anymore is that people are living longer & their kids are old too & can’t take care of them. I wanted to take Mom home with me, but my siblings objected, saying I was too old & broke down to do it. I often wonder what is going to happen to me since I don’t have the money to go into an assisted living (Mom pays $4,000 per month at her assisted living). I have only one daughter now that my son got killed & she is busy all the time & I seldom see her & she is 25 minutes away from me. I miss the good old days!
It was before my time but it was once common to have day and night services during revival. Some few churches have revived the custom in recent years because they “see the day approaching” and want to “strengthen what remains” so as to “not be ashamed before him at his appearing”. I recall well my father-in-law preaching in the 1960’s that the day might come when we would look back on the 60’s as a better time for the church. And indeed it was, though few could see it then. What a treasure to have that flyer. Now if there were someone who could recall the year …. I expect there are some folks who could, most especially those saved and baptised then. I recall preacher Silvers and the year was 1966. Maybe you will get the answer here. I hope you do. That answer and a copy of the flyer would make a dandy framed heirloom. Nowadays there would be businesses that would not display one if asked.
such a sweet and interesting find!
Tipper, when I was a young girl and would be down south at my Grandparent’s home, I would always be going to Revivals. I don’t remember there ever being two services in a day though. I sure think Katie resembles your Granny Gazzie. She has her smile and looks like strong gumption!
What a blessing to have pictures like that of the whole family when the children were young.
Always wonderful to find pieces of family history when cleaning out. And, old pictures and negatives. That flyer is truly a treasure.
How wonderful to have this piece of family history, Tipper. I enjoy looking at pictures of our family, but unfortunately there are not many of them. My mother’s mother was the only grandparent I had growing up in Ohio, she lived in Ky. I saw her once a year usually and hardly knew her. She died when I was nineteen, shortly after my marriage. Grandpa had died when my mother was sixteen and daddy’s parents died when he was a little boy. Mom has one pic of her daddy, and daddy’s oldest brother had a pic of his parents. Otherwise, that was it in the way of family pictures. The small Baptist church I attended used to have revivals with two meetings over a one-week period. I agree with Randy that more people seemed to be interested in the church than now. I can’t remember the number of people, but we had a lot. Many were saved and baptized and joined the church. I missed out growing up around my grandparents, I guess that was why I chose as a nurse to take care of the elderly back in my 30’s. I enjoyed being around them so much.
What a wonderful treasure of family, community and spiritual history she found. Think about how many in that community accepted Jesus as their Savior during those two weeks or those already committed in their faith were encouraged and fed God’s word to help them get through daily life. It’s a blessing to me just thinking about it. I can’t imagine a mother and daughter having their babies on the same day, now that’s something that I’ve definitely never heard of, but back in them days with such large families it did. Thank Granny for us for letting you tell her found treasure, family picture and stories with us.
1952
Check your e-mail.
What a wonderful find of family history.
Mamaw and Papaw came to live with us the year I turned 10. It was both sad and happy for me. I was sad because Papaw was too poorly for them to live alone any more and it meant the end of my summers and weekends in the country. But I was happy to have Mamaw’s cooking every day and I could come home after school instead of to a sitter’s until Mother got off work. My family moved back in with Mother when she needed open heart surgery so that I could take care of her, so my kids had the pleasure of living with their Mamaw, too. I’m sorry she had serious health problems but I wouldn’t take anything for those years of us all being together.
Wow, I can see why Granny is so happy to have found the flyer! This is a great keepsake for the entire family.
Oh I really loved this one!
Tipper thank you for sharing this piece of Granny’s family history. Although I am not a religious man I find the flyer fascinating and love to see the pictures of Grannies family
and to hear about her family history. It is after all not only your family’s history but the history and stories of the people of Appalachia.
Such a treasure for Granny to find! It brought an even better treasure with it: the sharing of family history and stories with you an, in turn, with us. Daddy used to talk about those 2 week revivals when he was a child/growing up. They had shortened to week long revivals by the time I was growing up. Occasionally, Daddy would be asked to go preach a revival for his preacher buddies. I remember those weeks were so long waiting for him to come back home. Thanks for sharing with us! Imagine how many people were brought to Christ through those revivals!
I loved this blog. What a sweet memory for Granny, and what amazing ladies Gazee and Amanda were!
My Mama and my Granny Enoree had babies in the same year. My Grannys last and my Mama’s first. My Mama was 18. My Granny had ten children, my Mama had six.
I remember helping Moma print things for Meeting (Quaker term for church) in the 1950’s with one of these: “The hectograph, gelatin duplicator or jellygraph is a printing process that involves transfer of an original, prepared with special inks, to a pan of gelatin”. Pressing one sheet of paper on the “jelly” and removing it covered with writting as if by magic!
When I started school the older classmates told us that the principal had a spanking machine in the room next to his office, and you could hear it running when he was punishing a student. Actually it was a Mimeograph machine that made a clanking noise when running. (“A mimeograph machine is a low-cost duplicating machine that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper.”) Later we learned the distinctive sweet smell of the alcohol and ink used in the Mimeograph machine and knew that meant someone was having a test that day. And if it was strong when you walked in your classroom it was your class!
I can still remember that smell. Hadn’t thought of it in years. The first thig many of us did when the teacher passed out the paper test was hold it to our nose and enjoy the sweet, almost intoxicating smell before begining the test.
Could one of these have produced the flyer?
Roger-I’m not sure that might have been what made it. I love the spanking machine story 🙂
Roger I remember the mimeograph papers in the 1960’ when I was in grammar school. I started first grade in 1960, there was no kindergarten. I loved the smell of the freshly printed papers and blue ink.
That is a wonderful piece of family history to have!
We found weekly Sunday bulletins from our church when going through some of Mother’s things after she died. I have went to this country church all of my life. I remember the church having a lot more people at the 3 weekly services than we do now. One bulletin from 1963 stated the attendance for the week before was about 140 for the Sunday morning service, 110 for Sunday night (training union) and 80 at the Wednesday night pray meeting. I think church was a lot more important for people back then than it is now. My Granddaddy lived with us after Grandmother died. I think in past years, it was a lot more common for families to take care of their own , now they get sent to a nursing home and in many cases forgotten about. I do realize the lifestyle and working schedules now for many makes it almost impossible to take care of them, but there is still no excuse for not occasionally visiting them in these homes.
Such a wonderful family legacy to honor our parents in this way as the Bible teaches! We were fortunate to have cared for my in-laws and my mother till the end of their days but then they were willing to live with us so that helped so much.
Randy, I wasn’t able to read yesterday’s blog until late last night, but I will be praying that you get good news. Take care.