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Archiver > NEWGEN > 2000-01 > 0946753451


From: Antoinette Waughtel Sorensen <>
Subject: Re: [NEWGEN] My seceret ancestor. Long but the obit is interesting.
Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2000 11:04:11 -0800


Yes, I love those old time obits too. If anyone wants to check out a couple on my
website please feel free to do so -- one is for Flora West and one is for Samuel
Marsh -- that I enjoyed the most and both of Indiana. There may be more interesting
ones but these two stand out in my mind. Flora West was my 3rd great grandmother
and Samuel Marsh was the father-in-law of my great uncle James Waughtel Jr (wife
Zelphia Marsh/great aunt by marriage). They can be viewed at
http://www.fortunecity.com/millenium/savannah/252/obits.htm
and then scrolling to their name.
Antoinette



Bunny Malinky wrote:

> Hi Sandy......
>
> Thank you for sharing the obituary. You have lots of pertinent info from it.
>
> Too bad they don't write them in a similar manner these days. Gives you more of
> an idea what the person was like.
>
> Bunny
>
> wrote:
>
> > This Lady is my most wanted ancestor or her parents are anyway. I thought you
> > might enjoy reading this obituary about her. It is interesting as it tells
> > how some of the everyday things that people did during their lives at that
> > time. Martha's son John is my great grandfather. I have not been able to find
> > anything on her parents or siblings.
> > If anyone could help I would greatly appreciate it.
> > Sandy
> >
> > OLDEST CITIZEN GOES TO REWARD
> > Mrs. Martha Dickerson Hulsey Dies at Asvanced Age of 104 years.
> >
> > Remarkable Character
> >
> > Remembered When Stars Fell,
> > Preserved Wonderful Vitality
> > Past Century Mark
> >
> > BORN NEAR SPRINGFIELD
> > _____________________________________________________________
> > Nashville's oldest citizen, Mrs. Martha Dickerson Hulsey, died yesterday
> > afternoon at 6:30 o'clock at the home of her daughter Mrs. J. A. Elliott, 132
> > Spring Street. Family records which there is no reason to question, show that
> > she was 104 years of age. She has lived for the past twenty years in
> > Nashville, and for four years has made her home with Mrs. Elliott, where the
> > daughter and three granddaughters, Misses Ruth, Malinda and Modenia Elliott,
> > have soothed her declining days with every tender ministration that affection
> > could suggest.
> > This remarkable woman was born near Snady Spring, in Robertson
> > county, Tennessee Nov. 5, 1814. At that time, the sky had but lately been
> > reddened with the glare of the burning capitol in Washington, when the
> > British captured the city; and the booming of the guns at Fort McHenry,
> > Baltimore, amid whose thunders Francis Scott Key composed " The Star Spangled
> > Banner," had scarcely ceased to echo, but little more than two months after
> > wee Martha's eyes first opened to the light of the Tennessee frontier, Andrew
> > Jackson and his Tennessee pioneers inflicted the ever memorable defeat upon
> > Packenham's veterans at New Orleans.
> > The section in which her childhood was passes was but sparsely settled,
> > and from infancy she was insured to the hardships of backwoods life. At the
> > age of 13 she professed religion, and for ninety-one years lived a consistent
> > member of the Methodist church.
> > Even in girlhood, Martha Dickerson Showed remarkable skill in weaving.
> > At that date every well-to-do family had its hand loom, which produced not
> > only carpets for the floors and blankets for the beds, but practically all
> > the cloth that entered into the family apparel. Like Arachne of old, pretty
> > Martha could spin a finer thread and weave a more perfect pattern than any
> > other maiden of her circle. This fact was so well known that the pioneer
> > housewives for quite a distance around were glad to employ her services in
> > weaving. She thus early became an important factor in the support of the
> > family.
> > When 23 years of age she married Calvin Hulsey, who came here from
> > Alabama to Robertson county when a small boy. To them were born six
> > children, three of whom are now living- John Hulsey of St. Louis, Mrs.
> > Ellender Hulsey of Filmore, Cal. and Mrs. J. A. Elliott of this city. She is
> > also survived by fifteen grandchildren, a large number of great grandchildren
> > and one great great grandchild.
> > Soon after Mrs. Hulsey passed the century mark a gradual failure was noted
> > in her physical strength and her faculties. She kept up, however, until six
> > month ago, when she was compelled to take her bed and never was able to leave
> > it again. Day after day her strength grew more feeble, and her mind, more
> > and more, dwelt in the realms of the past. Often she would call and
> > apparently speak to those she had known in earlier life, who were long gone
> > from earth; and frequently, sometimes in the lone hours of the night, she
> > would sing the songs of her youth.
> > Up to the full rounding out of her hundred years Mrs. Hulsey's bodily
> > strength and mental facilities were wonderfully well preserved. Her memory,
> > especially, was very clear, and the writer has often heard her tell most
> > interestingly of things that happened in the long ago. She would grow
> > animated in these recitals and often laugh heartily over amusing incidents.
> > In her young days, she said, all the girls walked to church barefooted,
> > their shoes tied up in a handkerchief, and often carried by the owners
> > "beau." Arrived near the church, the shoes were put on and worn till the
> > walk home was begun.
> > She recalled the "falling stars" of 1833, saying "They looked like snow
> > coming down, but none of them ever reached the ground."
> > Her recollections of the civil war were vivid. Her husband was one of the
> > first to enlist under the stars and bars. When he was ordered to the front,
> > at Fort Donelson, their youngest child, a baby, now Mrs. J. A. Elliott was
> > ill with typhoid fever, and the soldier marched away with a heavy heart,
> > believing he would never see his child again.
> > During the four days' fight at Ft. Donelson, every boom of the cannon could
> > be heard distinctly in Robertson count, and, as Mrs., Hulsey expressed it, "
> > The women hardly had sense enough to cook a meal." Small wonder, when they
> > knew that any one of the countless reports they heard might be the deathknell
> > of one dearer than their own lives.
> > An aged aunt of her husband's came to stay with Mrs. Hulsey during the
> > war, and upon these two women devolved the care of the family through those
> > long years of hardship, danger and sorrow.
> > "Aunt Nellie" stayed at the house and kept the children while the mother
> > toiled in the fields to make a crop sufficient for their scanty subsistence.
> > But there was no certainty of enjoying the fruits of their labors, after the
> > Federals overran, the country; for the foraging parties of soldiers often
> > took whatever of human food or stock feed they could find.
> > Very different from last Monday's triumphal homecoming of Nashville's
> > soldiers was the return of Calvin Hulsey from the war, and most clearly did
> > the aged woman recall it. On the morning of his arrival she was busy with
> > some weaving when the large dog that had been their companion and guard since
> > his master left suddenly sprang up, sniffed the air and ran off down the road
> > and disappeared.
> > "Then Aunt Nellie turned to me with a white face, said Mrs. Hulsey,
> > speaking with much animation, "She said to me, Calvin is dead, Martha- that
> > dog is telling you his master is dead!
> > "Just then two men came around the turn in the road, the dog with them,
> > They came up to the yard fence, and the man in front called out: "Can you
> > give two hungry soldiers some breakfast?
> > Of course I never turned off a hungry Southern Soldier; but that time I
> > was so disturbed over what Aunt Nellie had just said that I hardly realized
> > what I was saying, So I answered; No I haven't time to fix anything.
> > The one who had spoke came up to the gate and asked; Haven't you time to
> > cook a bite for us, Martha? Then I looked again and saw the man at the gate
> > was our old neighbor, Mr. Hanes, and the one trying to hide behind him was
> > Calvin, So I cried; No, I haven't time to cook for coming to meet you, and I
> > ran to the gate, where Calvin caught me in his arms, But Aunt Nellie fainted
> > for joy." And the faded face grew radiant with the joy of living that moment
> > over again.
> > The remains of Mrs. Hulsey will be interred Thursday in the family
> > burying ground on her old homeplace, eight miles from Springfield, Tenn. The
> > body will be taken on the train leaving for Springfield at 7:15 o'clock
> > tomorrow morning, I. F. Elliott, A. L. Parrott, Wess Farmer, E. Kleiser,
> > James Dickerson and B. Y. DeWitt will act as pallbearers.
> > Funeral services will be conducted at the grave by the Rev. A. L. Parrott
> > of Clacksville.
> >
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