My Mayflower Lineage

     My grandmother, Marguerite Geniveve Kelly, was born on May 15, 1916 on Utah Hollow in Sissonville WV. She spent her youth near Kelly's Creek Rd on the land settled by Aaron Kelly (who was her great-great grandfather). She attended the one-room schoolhouse on Martin's Branch until the 6th grade (which was all that was legally required in the county at that time). I have been told one story about my grandmother's childhood, and it was about her time at that school. Apparently, the teacher locked her in the outhouse for some reason or another. My grandmother had one sister, named Virginia, who came home that day and told their mother that she was still locked in the outhouse. Their mother, in a rage, stormed down to the schoolhouse to get her daughter and 'whip' the teacher. 

     Marguerite married John Hamilton (1913-1938) about 1932, but the actual marriage record has never been found. She was listed as his widow on his probate records. He died of pneumonia at the age of 25.

     Marguerite married Donald Brewer Proctor on April 4, 1943. Donald was born on September 29, 1918 on the 'other' Kelly's Creek Rd in Ward, West Virginia. Donald was a fraternal twin boy born to Tyler Proctor and Aice Elizabeth Stone. His older brother, Ronald Snewer Proctor, was always happy to remind him that he was older than Donald by several minutes. I've never heard stories about where he went to school. He frequently was kept out of school by his father and required to work. He only managed to finish the second grade. The family moved from Ward to Charleston in the 1920's. This was the beginning of what we now call The Great Depression. They lived in one of the ramshackle riverboats along the Elk River where the poor had made a small community. My grandfather had an older half-brother named Delawayne 'Dell' Proctor and he had been born out-of-wedlock to Alice Stone and John Wesley Hackworth, who was her brother-in-law. Tyler and Alice were married a few months later and Dell was raised as a Proctor. Dell's newborn son, Haskell Lee, was left too close to the fire on the houseboat, his bedding caught fire, and he was killed. My grandparent's lost two infants: Jeanett Sue Proctor died June 24, 1946, on her 1st birthday. My grandparents thought she had a fever from teething and tried to lower her temperature by giving her ice cream. My grandfather did not have a car at that time, and he got on the city bus with his sick daughter. Sadly, she died in his arms on that bus, but he carried her to the doctor's office anyway. Their daughter Charlotte Marie died at the age of four months of pneumonia (likely caused by whooping cough) on October 4, 1951. They raised four children and a fifth was taken from them by Donald's sister while my grandmother was in the hospital. I often asked why they didn't do more to get him back and my answer was always that they were poor and uneducated and didn't know how.

     Donald died on March 17, 1976, after suffering his second major stroke. He had spent years treating his high blood pressure with garlic because they were very poor and had no health insurance. His first stroke paralyzed one side of his body and affected his speech. I have no memories of my grandfather because he died when I was very young.  

     My grandmother smoked for most of her adult life, and she developed emphysema as a result. She died on March 10, 1986, from pneumonia, in part because her lungs were too weak to combat it. The things I remember about her: She has thick, wavy, almost white hair, that I would brush for hours. She drank a pot of really hot black coffee every day. She played solitaire by laying the cards out on the couch next to her and I remember she played all the time. She watched her tv "serials" (or soap operas as we call them) religiously. She cooked a large pot of pinto beans a couple of times per week. She loved chocolate stars from The Peanut Shop and banana pudding. We only had a shower in our house at the time, and she hated it, so she opted to take a "sponge bath" everyday instead. She also hated the vacuum cleaner, so she would sweep the carpet with a broom.

     Marguerite Geniveve Kelly was the daughter of James David Kelly and Effie Carrie Bailey. I don't know much about them outside of what anyone could find in records. James David Kelly was born October 23, 1875, on Kelly's Creek Rd in Sissonville WV. His parent's names were Phillp Pleasant Kelly and Lucinda Frances Bailey. He died on October 30, 1947, at the house of his daughter, Virginia Frances Williams, of heart failure caused by a combination of high blood pressure and kidney failure. James David Kelly married Effie Carrie Bailey on July 3, 1913. 

     Effie Carrie Bailey was born December 5, 1892, near Doc Bailey Rd in Cross Lanes WV. She was named after her mother, Euphemia (whose nickname was Effie). Effie's mother died of puerperal fever seven days after giving birth and she was raised by her aunt Mary Frances Thomas Gabbert. Effie died on July 12, 1941. The likely cause of her death was a heart attack since the cause listed on her death certificate was angina pectoris (which is not fatal by itself). The story passed down to us was that James was so devastated by her death that he swore he would never marry another, 

     Effie Carrie Bailey was the daughter of Robert Hudson Bailey and Euphemia Ann Elizabeth Thomas. Robert Hudson Bailey was born August 26, 1860, on Doc Bailey Rd in Cross Lanes. He married Euphemia Ann Elizabeth Thomas on March 17, 1886. Robert died March 28, 1943, at his home in Poca of Senility caused by chronic bronchitis which is probably code for cognitive impairment caused by loss of oxygen due to COPD. 

     Euphemia Ann Elizabeth Thomas was born January 26, 1863, on Martin's Branch in Sissonville WV and she died at her home on Doc Bailey Rd in Cross Lanes. She was the daughter of Elliott Roberts Thomas and Sarah Ann Goff. Elliott was born in 1836 and died September 1878 of diphtheria at the home of Leonard Goff, who was his father-in-law. Apparently, his tongue has swollen, turned black and threatened to suffocate him so they split it down the middle to open his airway. It sounds like a horrible way to die, and I hope he didn't suffer too long. Sarah Ann Goff was born June 10, 1839, near Rocky Fork, WV to Leonard Goff and Sarah Ann Rust. She died in 1913 near Tyler Heights, WV.

to be continued.......