[Granville-Hough] 14 Dec 2009 - Wests

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:21:07 -0800
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: Wests 14 Dec 2009

  Cousin Celia Ann West

13 Mar 1947 obit in Smith County Reformer states Celia Ann West died 12 
Mar 1947 after her 97th birthday. When I heard things about her in the 
1930 decade, she was alway referred to as "Aunt Celia Ann" West and much 
deference was given to her judgments about local affairs. She had seen a 
lot of life, and knew the gamut of the good and the bad and the ugly.

Pp 59-60, Chester Sullivan, SullivanÆs Hollow, repeats a story said told 
by Cousin Celia Ann West about her father-in-law, Rev. Wilson West. 
ôàPreacher West, an avid fox hunter, had made plans one Friday night to 
go hunting after he finished preaching his sermon. The sermon was on 
repentance, and he was doing some hard preaching and doing it pretty 
fast so he could get through. But his hunting partner, who hadnÆt come 
to church, decided that he would turn the dogs out and have a fox up and 
running by the time Preacher West finished. The dogs jumped a fox about 
two miles from the church and were running it as hard as they could 
right down a hollow toward the church. Everybody could hear them coming 
and the closer they came, the faster Preacher West preached. When the 
dogs came alongside the church, Preacher West couldnÆt stand it any 
longer. Stepping out of the pulpit, he said: æBrethren and sisters, you 
can all repent right now and go to Heaven - or donÆt repent and go to 
Hell! -- but IÆm going to the dogs!Æö
Cousin Celia Ann could smoke her pipe and tell stories with the best. 
She retained her faculties until her death at ninety-seven. As a matter 
of course, she was invited to all the parties and hoe-downs in the 
community. In her youth, when Preacher West was making his rounds to the 
backwoods churches, he brought his son Nathan along as choir leader. 
Though six years older, Celia Sullivan managed to win him; and they 
settled in the New Sardis Community. Then she outlived him by 43 years. 
She and Nathan had a Christian home, and Nathan stopped work each 
evening so the family could have vesper services. Aunt Joan (Sullivan) 
Richardson could recall that, before the long-leaf pine forest was cut, 
her family (Joseph, Jr, and Margaret Sullivan) could hear the West 
family singing every evening. Then after the timber was cut, these 
channels for sound through the tall trees disappeared, and they could 
hear the Wests no more. I have related in other stories how Elisha Hough 
would drive over 20 miles in horse and buggy just to hear his first 
cousin Nathan teach Sunday School. Nathan C. WestÆs sister, Mattie Jane 
West, married Loughton Sullivan, and they lived in Smith, Covington, and 
Jeff Davis counties. This family of Sullivan-Wests were school-teachers 
and ministers, and a grandson my age was Lt Governor Charles Sullivan of 
Mississippi.
An apocryphal story from Mitchel Sullivan might well be credited to Aunt 
Celia Ann. It seems the local minister tried a new approach to get his 
congregate to participate. He said: "I want you to rise and start 
singing when I mention a word." So, he mentions "blood," and several 
people rise and start singing "There is power in the blood..." The the 
minister says: "river" and several stood to sing "Soon we shall cross 
the shining river." Then the minister said "sex," and there was dead 
quiet and people wondered what if the preacher was in his right mind. 
Then, Aunt Celia Ann as a widow of thirty years rose and began singing 
"Precious Memories, How they linger..."
One story which seems to be out of place is that of the Original Tom 
Sullivan walking 15 to 20 miles to hear his favorite, Preacher West. I 
never heard any account of the original Tom Sullivan going to any church 
at any time. Perhaps he did. At any rate, he died in 1857, and 
Great-uncle Wilson West did not begin his ministries in SullivanÆs 
Hollow until after Tom Sullivan died. He preached his first sermon at 
Zion Hill on 10 Dec 1859. It is true that Elder Wilson West probably 
baptized more Sullivans than any other minister. From about 1859 for ten 
or more years, he was the minister at old Zion Hill Baptist Church, 
which met in some building near old Bunker Hill and Cohay Creek. Much 
later, Zion Hill moved to its present location south of Mize. Grampa