Memories of Nina Duckworth

My Childhood Visits to My Grandparents' House: Nina Duckworth Sturdivant's Recollections of Aden C. and Dorcas Ellen Duckworth and Their Children

Here I will enter the little history that Aunt Nina wrote about her recollections of her girlhood visits to "Grandpa's House": [Entered by Barbara and Ramon Bentsen.]

Going to Grandpa Duckworth’s, what a heavenly experience! I adored my grandfather and it was a joy of my life to visit him at least once every year and sometimes twice. I always stayed three weeks or a month and once, when mamma was sick and had to have an operation, I stayed three months. I was only three at the time but my aunts said that I never got home sick.

My very earliest memory of going to grandpas was when I was a little past four years old. It was only a flash
and just one little scene but it has stuck in my memory through the years.

Grandpa had come to town to get us and take us out to the farm for Christmas. He was driving the horses hitched
to a large sled, the bed of which was full of straw and with blankets and hot bricks to keep us warm. I remember nothing of the trip except the very last few minutes as we were going through the lane.

Mamma said, "Crawl down into the straw and cover up and we will tell the folks we forgot to bring you." I very gleefully did so and remained hidden until everyone got out. My aunts were hovering about and asking about me. When I popped up from my hiding place they were much surprised.

What I did not know at the time was that in the same sled with me was my first really good doll and carriage. The doll was a beautiful brown-eyed, real blonde hair, bisque head and jointed body even to jointed ankles and wrists. She could close her eyes and sleep. I named her Gracie and kept her until I was married without her ever getting broken.

I was not allowed to play with her all of the time for she was something special. When I tired of playing with my other dolls and asked for Gracie, Mamma would tell me to wait until I heard the passenger train at the station. Then in a little while I would find her with her extra clothing sitting just inside or outside the door. Of course I thought she came on the train and she always departed in the same way.

I must tell you about the rest of the family. As far back as I can remember grandpa had snow-white hair and a long beard. He was fifty-nine years old when I was born. Grandma Dorcas Ellen (Wilt) was an invalid and had to sit in a chair. A rheumatic or arthritic condition had paralyzed her from the waist down and she could not even use crutches. She died when I was about five years old. First came Uncle Floyd, then Aunt Rebecca, next Charles (my father) and then Frances, Jeannette and Minerva. (Becky, Fannie, Nettie and Minnie). I was the first grandchild and the adored darling of every one. Bet I was really spoiled.

I enjoyed brushing Aunt Minnie's hair, which hung clear to the floor when she sat in a chair. I was the flower girl at her wedding but this event I do not remember.

Uncle Floyd was superintendent of the Sunday school and we never missed a Sunday. If the weather was pretty we walked and if it was muddy we rode Bess, Nigger or Pete. The church was named Aaron's Chapel and was a mile from home, a seemingly long distance to me. I was allowed to pass out the colored cards with the next Sunday's lesson on them.

They had no organ at that time and Uncle Floyd led the singing. "When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder" really rolled out and it was the first hymn I ever learned along with "Bringing In The Sheaves." He was superintendent until his death. By this time he was married and had a son who vied for attention from the Aunts and caused some jealousy with his Mother because I was still the favorite.

Grandpa sold butter and eggs and all kinds of farm produce to regular customers in town. One of the pleasures of visiting was the weekly Saturday trip to Westernport in the spring wagon or road-wagon if there was a heavy load. He had a large market basket with a double lid in which he carried the fresh cold rolls of butter packed between layers of wet rhubarb leaves.

At every home of a customer was a cheery greeting, cookies, candy or fresh fruit for "your little grand-daughter." When we got home there were all the mysterious and appetizing packages in the market basket to be opened.

Before I was born the four girls begged their father to bring them home a baby to take care of and love. One day he came home and handed the basket to one of the girls. It was pretty heavy and inside was a black-haired baby boy. The father of the baby had deserted the mother, a young English girl, and she was unable to take care of it. It was half-starved and sick and needed a lot of care for a long time. He must have been around eighteen when I remember him. He could make a fiddle talk and many evenings he and Uncle Floyd played their fiddles while I danced (jumped straight up and down) until I was exhausted.

Before going to bed each evening there was always family worship. Grandpa read from the large family Bible and then we all knelt in prayer.

If the girls ran out of soda or salt or needed some little article from the store, grandpa would take me up behind him on old Bess's back, (there was always a young Bess or old Bess) and we would take a short cut through the orchard, down over the hill to Bloomington, Md. On the way we had to ford the Big Savage River below where the large dam is now located. He used to tell me the story of the fellow who would come riding a big horse and ford the river. The peculiar thing about him was that he carried his head under his big cape. I always kept an eye peeled and if I hugged grandpa a little tighter he probably thought I was afraid of falling into the river.

After I grew old enough to read for myself I found that he was telling me his version of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow.

One of the best times of the day was milking time at the big barn. There were so many cows to be milked and it was my job to keep the cats away from the filled milk pails.

In the mornings the cows were started down the lane toward the pasture fields. They didn't need to be driven for they followed a path around the fenced fields.

The milk was carried to the house and down the hill to the milk house. The cold sparkling spring water flowed out from under the roots of a sugar maple tree and through the troughs in the springhouse. The water was the best in the world and tasted so good when dipped from the spring in a half coconut shell used as a dipper.

The spring was the source for the drinking water for the house though a little unhandy to carry up hill. There was a well near the barn but it had to be pumped and was a little further from the house.

Incidentally in these trees above the spring was the only place that I ever saw flying squirrels.

In the evenings we had to go after the cows but I was never allowed to go alone. Sometimes they would be as far away as the church, one mile. After my cousin Carl got old enough to go and my brother Keith was visiting too, we three were allowed to go sometimes.

There was a little stream called Aaron's Run that we crossed and re-crossed either on stepping-stones or waded if we were barefooted. We did not often go barefooted because of snakes.

One day we three went after the cows and met a large snake in the path. We ran and the snake and its mate chased us. We ran into the cabin of a timber cutter, who was cutting timber on the farm, and his wife came out and killed one of the snakes, a black racer, but the other got away.

The pungent smell and taste of pennyroyal always remind me of going after the cows.

Grandpa had three large fruit orchards with the finest varieties of fruit of that period. Bellflowers, Maidenblush, Russett, King of Tompkins and Grimes Golden, to mention just a few of the apples.

Grandpa, Uncle Floyd and a hired man or two always handpicked the finest apples, stored them in barrels and sold them during the winter. Many families would buy a whole barrel of apples at one time.

They had long ladders to reach the tallest branches with hooks on the end of the ladders to hook over the branch and hold it securely. They filled baskets with the apples and lowered them to the ground to be emptied. That is where I often came in handy to help empty them and pull the basket back up. Every apple had to be handled carefully as a bruised apple rots and one rotten apple could ruin a whole barrel.

One-day grandpa made a misstep and fell out of a Grimes Golden tree. When we reached him he was unconscious and had a long gash in his forehead. One of the men rode to town for a doctor and in a few days he was all right and picking apples again.

I must tell you a little about the school. It was called Aaron's Run school and was at the far end of the farm so the children had nearly a mile to walk. It was built of logs and had wooden benches until the more modern desks were being used. Buckwheat cakes were one of the main dishes for breakfast in winter. Just before the children left the house for school they would each take an extra large hot cake in their hands and keep their hands warm through their mittens until they got to school.

Dad was very good in mathematics, mainly because he said that, if they didn't get their problems, the teacher would give them a whipping and then explain the solution. That way it was really impressed on their minds through the seat of their pants.

None of the family had any more schooling than they got in this country school except my dad. Uncle Floyd and he had their choice of going to business school or having a good driving horse and buggy. Uncle Floyd decided that he would rather be a farmer and I suspect he was courting pretty heavy, so dad went to Bryant-Stratton Business College in Baltimore took a business course and later taught school.

I haven't told you anything about the house and surroundings. The house was built of logs and was pretty large for a log house. It had a large outside chimney made of stone and a wide fireplace in the parlor. Before I can remember the logs were covered with weather boarding which made it more modern in appearance and much warmer. The inside of the house was paneled with wood. A porch extended across the whole front of the house.

Going through the front door we were in the parlor. It was a large room with a steep staircase in one corner. To the right was a good-sized bedroom with two double beds, dressers and etc. From the parlor we stepped into the combination dining room and kitchen. This with a large pantry on the end, extended clear across the back of the house with a side porch on the kitchen end. Upstairs over the front rooms were three bedrooms, one large room with two beds and two small rooms. Before the steep stairs were built inside there was an outside set of steps up by the chimney and through one of the small rooms. Snow, rain, hot or cold weather, the ones who slept upstairs had to use these steps. Below the house was a long row of beehives that I stayed away from unless someone else was along. One of the three orchards was below the house.

In the front yard extending clear across from on end to the other was a long grape arbor covered with several varieties of the best grapes, including the Concord. It made a long shady walk when the sun was hot and a partial protection from the rain when going to the barn.

The kitchen garden was below the grape arbor at one side of the house. The large garden was above the grape arbor and besides vegetables it was ringed all around with various kinds of berries.

Across the lane was the blacksmith shop and another orchard. Out behind the big garden was the large bank barn that is the upper floor was entered on the level of the bank above. The machine shed and the corncrib were alongside the barn. The lower level of the barn was divided into four parts, the horse stalls, and the cow stalls with stanchions for the cows, in between a passageway and steps to the floor above. Beyond the cow stable, the sheep shed and a smaller shed for the calves. When outside in the barn yard the animals could take shelter under the over-shoot of the barn.

After Uncle Floyd got married he built a new house beyond the barn at about the same distance as the old house.

I must include the pleasures of feeding chickens and gathering the eggs, riding the horses to the watering trough, helping in the hay-fields and flailing grain on the barn floor.

All of the family got married and had families except Aunt Becky who stayed single and kept house for grandpa. He died when I was thirteen and he left the farm to Uncle Floyd and the old home and gardens to Aunt Becky. The rest of the family received cash. She kept the home for several years alone and then married a widower with a house full of children to whom she was a well-loved mother.

Aunt Minnie Nicola was the youngest of the family and is the only one of the family alive.

Now we will come to a little history of the Duckworth family. Not too much is known about the early history of the family. The one person who could tell all about it back to the time the first Duckworth came to America did not write it down and neither did her children, so it died with her.

The first Duckworth came from Wales and settled on the site of what is now one of the largest cities in New Jersey. That name has escaped us too. From then until my great-grandfather [John Duckworth] came to live in Garrett Co. near Barton, Md. from somewhere in Allegheny Co., we have little knowledge. At that time it was also part of Allegheny Co. until my great-grandfather Thompson aided in having Garrett Co. split off the end of it.

[Great-grandfather John Duckworth] had a family of ten children and lived there [near Barton MD] for a long time and then moved what was left of his family to Addison, Pa.

His brother Alton lived below Western Port. My grandfather, Aden married Dorcas Ellen Wilt and they moved to the farm that he had bought and built the home.

One daughter Rebecca married a Coleman and lived near West Union, W.Va.

One son, Henry Clay, and maybe Zepthaniah, came to Doddridge Co. and married, settling at what is now called Duckworth Summit. At one time there was a Seminary to train teachers at Duckworth Summit.

There are many cousins living in and near West Union and in Parkersburg.

Katie married a Ross and lived in Western Port.

Louise married a Miller and lived in Western Port.

Harriet married Jerry Augustine and Asenath married Joe Cornell and they lived in Pennsylvania.

Sarah married P. T. Garthright and they lived in Mt. Lake Park where he ran a thriving store.

Aunt Mahala never married and lived with Aunt Sarah.

Baronet, Sir John Thomas Duckworth, an Admiral in the British Navy, was supposedly an uncle of my great grandfather. He died in 1817 not long after great grandfather was born.


Verbatim information from the Duckworth family Bible -- Bracketed notes added by Barbara Bentsen

(Page 1)

John Duckworth [Possibly John W. (William?) Duckworth, Son of William and Catherine (Dewire) Duckworth, b. 1802, On-screen p. 4, Descendants of William Duckworth]

Asenath Trollinger [Possibly a sister or near relative of Sine Cenea Trullinger (m. John Simeon Duckworth, b. 1800), On-screen p. 11.]

John and Asenath married between 1828 - 1830 [Possibly abt. 1829, about the same time as the marriage between Sine Cenea Trullinger and John Simeon Duckworth.]

Ten children:

Katie Ross
Westernport, MD

Rebecca Coleman
West Union, WV

Aden Dorcas Wilt

Louise Miller
Westernport, MD

Harriet - Jerry Augustine
PA [Possibly near Addison, PA.]

Asenath - Joe Cornell
PA


Sarah Garthright
Mt. Lake Park, MD [P. T. Garthright]

Mahala" " " "
Henry Clay - DeHaven
West Union, WV
Zepthaniah- Jacobs
West Union, WV


(Page 2)


Aden C. Duckworth (born Feb. 9, 1834)
[Middle name possibly was Charles. Possible confusion and merging of the individuals and families of Aden C. Duckworth and Alton C. Duckworth, and identity of dates makes misidentification possible. See Descendants, p. 50.] Married 1858 (?) to Dorcas E. Wilt.

Dorcas E. Wilt (born Oct. 13, 1839)

[Middle name was Ellen]

Floyd - Nov. 27, 1859
married Eva Fazenbaker
[See p. 50, Descendants of William Duckworth]

Rebecca E. - Dec. 12, 1860 married W. Wilkinson
[a.k.a Becky]

Charles E. - Dec. 12, 1865 married Ida Susan Thompson

Frances - Mar. 21, 1869 married Simeon Grove
[A.k.a. Fannie]

Jeanette - Jan. 10, 1875 married William O'Brien
[A.k.a. Nettie]

Minerva - Jan. 19, 1877 married Bruce Nicola
[A.ka. Minnie. See Descendants, pp. 50-51, for confusion of


sources and identities of family members.]

(Deaths)

Dorcas Sept. 12, 1898
Aden Mar. 28, 1905

Floyd Sept. 24, 1915

Fannie Nov. 14, 1937

Rebecca Nov. 5, 1938

Nettie April 15, 1942

Charles E. Feb. 18, 1947

Minnie Jan. 2,1961


(page 3)

Theophilus Wilt
[Probably the father of Dorcas Ellen, married unknown spouse, or his spouse was also named Dorcas.]
Dorcas, married ? ?


Marriages

Eliza Wilt [Unmarried, or married another Wilt?]

Wesley Kooken – Dorcas Duckworth

June Miller - William Broadwater

Salem Broadwater

Peter Crow
Thomas Durat

George Vance – Martha Rounds

Thornton Wilt [Unmarried, or married another Wilt?]



Charles Edward Duckworth Feb. 12, 1865
[Birth dates.]
Ida Susan Thompson
Dec. 18, 1867
Married Dec. 24, 1891

Nina Ellen - Oct. 25, 1893
married - Burton B. Sturdivant
May 4, 1915
[Marriage date.]

Henry Keith - July 2, 1897
married - Marie Hymes

Jannie Kirstine - Dec. 27, 1899
married - Norman Wallace

Vivian Elizabeth - Sept. 5, 1902
married - Autstin F. Schwartz
June 20, 1922 or 1923

Dorothy Maywood - May 8, 1906
married - Byron Moon [Born November 24, 1904; Married October, 1935]

(Deaths)

Ida Susan Duckworth - Feb. 12, 1912

(Second marriage) Sophronia E. Thompson Hilleary
born - April 12, 1867; married July 27, 1916

(Deaths)

Sophronia Eliza Mar. 5, 1942

Henry Keith - Jan. 9 1947

Charles E. Duckworth - Feb 18, 1947

[Minerva (Minnie) Duckworth Nicola d. Jan.2, 1961]