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From: Tom Pennington <>
Subject: Re: From Dr. Godbey's Diaries - 2/23/1912
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 14:48:36 -0500


Hi Everyone;
Yes it is indeed Baalam Skaggs, he lived near Lark Burnett and Berry
Davis in the vicinity of the Chestnut grove school.I always thought his
name was Garland Skaggs, now there may have been a Garland and a Baalam.
But my source only shows a Baalam.The old doc was a ways from home, his
home, but was right in the area that I remember .
A bit of trivia, there was a man named Roy Meredith, a neighbor to
Baalam Skaggs, that came to our house riding a horse, to see how my
father ,who was ill, was doing.After he left, it was just getting
dark,my mother heard a low moaning sound, and went out to check on it.
The poor fellow had rode into our clothes line, was dragged from his
horse and hit his head on a stone in the yard,. I remember him leaving
with a big bandage around his head.But I don't know how badly he was
injured.One of the bad things about the ,"good old days". Tom

wrote:
>
> >From Dr. Godbey's Diaries
> Friday, February 23, 1912
>
> Clear and pleasant. Visited Baalam Skaggs this evening to set arm of his
> little girl. I stopped in to see Ed & Mrs. Ed Lock's 3 weeks old infant son,
> one I was called to see yesterday evening. Baby is doing very well. I called
> on Tavas (or Tavis) Johnson, Viance (Vance) Gardner, Belle Gardner & John
> Henry Bransford. NG. Bro. A. Cooper paid 1.00.
>
> My comments:
> I am not at all sure about the spelling or accuracy of Baalam Skaggs, but that
> surely is what it looks like. Wasn't Baalam some sort of false god in the Old
> Testament? I also don't know if the Gardners are separate, or a couple. I
> have no idea what NG means, unless the good doctor was calling on these people
> to collect bills, and NG means No Good. Most of these people have been
> mentioned by the doctor before, but I still know nothing about them.
>
> M. Dean Hunt
> Louisville, KY

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