[Granville-Hough] 3 Sep 2009 - Aunt Banie
Trustees for Granville W. Hough
gwhough-trust at oakapple.net
Fri Sep 8 05:57:58 PDT 2017
Date: Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:42:07 -0700
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: AuntBanie - 3 Sep 2009
In my discussion of colorful relatives, I do believe I have left out
Aunt Banie (Arender) Ainsworth. Of course, Great Grandma Nancy (Bowen)
and Sampson Arender had 14 children, 10 sons and 4 daughters. Aunt Banie
being the youngest daughter and also the youngest child . Aunt Banie
was just a little older than my mother, Elizabeth (Richardson) Hough,
and her childhood playmate. However, Aunt Banie reached sexual maturity
at a precocious age, and began looking for a husband, which she found in
a woodsman, Singleton Ainsworth, nine years her senior. They then
proceeded to become parents of 17, 19, or 21 children. Uncle Tom
documented 17, ten of whom survived I only personally knew three,
Gathel, Herman, and Gladys.
When Aunt Banie was being interviewed by a reporter from a local
newspaper, she was in her nineties but keen of mind. After they
discussed the number of children she had had and other facets of her
life, the reporter asked: "Is it true that you married while you were
still 13?" Now, Aunt Banie could see where the conversation was going
so she answered the next question as well, "Yes, that is true, BUT I did
not become pregnant until I was 14." Late in her life, she depended on
son Gathel to provide details which he did from having heard them over
and over.
Uncle Sang Ainsworth and my father, Elisha Hough, were partners in
shingle and stave making operations. They worked at the same pace and
got along very well. In their operations, you went on the open range
and selected a longleaf pine tree that looked as if it would split well
and true, cut it down and tried a bolt. If it split well, you cut it
into bolts of suitable length, then began, with fro and mallet, to make
shingles or staves. My father also partnered at times with the Arender
boys or the Myers boys. He spoke highly of Uncle Sang as the best
partner he ever had.
Uncle Sang and Aunt Banie lived until Gathel wanted to modernize
their home with running water and an indoor toilet. Uncle Sang objected
absolutely. The very idea of having an outhouse inside your own home
was so repugnant, he said he would never use it. Just leave the old one
where it was so he would have a place to go. Then, after some cold,
rainy days, Uncle Sang would tell one and all what a convenience it was
for those occasions. Some folks even called it a "bath room,:" or "rest
room," but that is not the name he used.
Cousin Gathel Ainsworth was the oldest son, and he took care of the
old folks in their declining years. Gathel was a natural woodsman who
could remember roads, byways, houses, and bridges long since gone. He
served as Smith County Sheriff several terms, I believe. There is one
anecdote from his time as sheriff regarding Sullivan Hollow
bootleggers. The state authorities who planned raids on bootlegging and
moonshine making sites had a custom of making courtesy calls to the
local county sheriff. As long as they made calls to Gathel, he would
meet them at the rundevous and lead them to the location for the raid.
There would be nothing there, no booze, no moonshine operations, though
there might be signs of recent activity. When the state authorities
decided they would not notify Gathel and trust to luck on finding the
site, they began to have more success.
Cousin Herman Ainsworth was the youngest son,just two years older
than I, and his sister lived a couple of miles north of us in the Shady
Grove Community. He would sometime stay with her during the summer work
season and come visit us. He would give my mother all the news about
his parents and siblings. He was a great conversationalist. I believe
he went to Whiteoak High School, and the girl he married lived across
the county line in the Rocky Hill Community. I think she was my
classmate at Magee High School, but I am not sure of that. Herman was
killed in Europe in WW II, a great loss to the community and to his family.
Cousin Gladys Myrtle (Ainsworth) Martin lived in the Shady Grove
Community and later on the eastern edge of Magee. She and my brother
Clifford were both avid gardeners and exchanged produce for years and
years. She was also a good conversationalist and knew just about
everything you could grow in a garden..
It seems that each member of this family was of great natural
intelligence and congeniality. I am sorry I did not know them all. Grampa.
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