Late Updated
5 March 2006
Talitha Stories
These stories were given to me by June Kaul. - Bobbi Stockton
Notes: for TALITHA CUMI SPEAR
Rambling thoughts of Mrs. T. C. Masters: (This was jotted down by her son, Ambrose, as she was speaking of her childhood days. Every date was later checked and it was found that she had every date exact. ) A reference to her having "one son living" indicates the finalization of these notes occurred after the death of Ambrose O. Masters in 1941. Published in the Christian Leader January 19, 1943. |
Mrs. T. C. Masters was born (as Talitha Cumi Spear), near Captina in Belmont County, Ohio on October 25, 1840 and moved with her parents to Monroe County about three miles west of Clarington when she was about two years old and lived there until she was sixteen. She then moved to Fifteen (NNW of Dalzell) to live with her sister, Mrs. E. J. Howell, her mother, Mrs. Andrew Spear having died June 29, 1851. She lived with her sister for about a year and then moved to Noble County near Caldwell in the spring of 1875 and lived there a year and a half.
She was married to John Stotlar on November 4, 1858 (at the age of 18). Three children were born to this union. She recalls having only one bedsheet during the Civil War, and one dress, as money was very scarce. Muslin was fifty cents a yard and coffee was fifty cents a pound. She went to the woods and cut branches of trees with heavy foliage to sweep the floor. Her wash tub was made from a barrel with wooden hoops sawed in two in the center and holes bored near the top for the fingers to fit into to lift the tub. Her wash board was made by cutting grooves in a board to rub the clothes on. Her husband died during the Civil War on February 18, 1864--having been in the service about five months. (May it be said here that through the account of the soldier who lay in the adjoining bed in the Army hospital that Mr. Stottar died not of a wound nor physical illness but of a broken heart - his last words were the muttering of his wife's name. "Tite".)
She was united in marriage to Joseph P. Masters on May 3, 1868 at (the age of 28); five children being born to this union. Her second husband died August 22, 1891. She has been a widow for more than fifty years. Of the eight children, one is still living. She has at this writing, 17 grandchildren, 41 great-grandchildren and 4 great-great-grandchildren. She has helped to do all kinds of farm work such as clearing land for cultivation, planting and hoeing corn and potatoes, cutting and husking corn, setting tobacco, hoeing, worming, stripping, and stringing tobacco; helping harvest wheat and hay, milking and caring for cows, feeding pigs and numerous other chores. Her first husband made shoes for her and the children and when he was called into the service he had one shoe completed for a child and the mate cut out, so she finished it ready to wear. She has carded and spun many fleeces of wool into yarn and then knit them into stockings and sox for the family and the neighbors. She has made corn meal by grating it on a homemade grater made after the style of a nutmeg grater only much larger.
During her first widowhood one of her neighbor's house burned down so she moved in with her sister and let the neighbors move in her home until they could get a new house built. She also took care of her neighbor's little daughter so the parents could have full time to work on their new home. That little girl is now a gray-haired grandmother and lives at the present in Whipple, Ohio. Her name is Mrs. J. J. Warren. After the death of her second husband, she took washings to support herself and the family and to pay the rent. In 1901 her widow's pension was renewed and she retired from hard work but was busy helping her children and neighbors. She says her hardest job in life was when she was forced to quit work entirely because of failing eyesight. She also recalls the freeze that came on the night of June 5-6, 1859. The wheat froze and the price of flour went up to $11.00 per barrel, so cornmeal and buckwheat flour was used as a substitute for wheat.
Her school teachers, 1. Griffin; 2. Harris; 3. Winters; 4. Green; and 5. Reese. She recalls the school house was made of round logs with a fireplace that extended across one entire side of the room. The seats were made of split and hewed logs with holes bored and pins driven in for legs, no backs of any kind. For a writing desk, holes were bored along the entire side of the house and wooden pins driven in, sloping down from the wall and a board hewed to lay on the pins. A bench also full length of the house formed a seat to sit on to practice writing. The pen used was made of a goose quill. The boys used one end and the girls the other. The small scholars used some kind of a reader and the older scholars read the New Testament. She also recalls the large boys locking the teacher out of the school for not giving a treat at Christmas Holidays so the teacher went after one of the school directors, a Mr. David S. Sykes (called Six then) to help get the door open, but he got on the opposite side of the house from the teacher and told the boys not to let him in unless he agreed to treat them. The men of the neighborhood cut trees and hauled them to the school house and then the large boys cut the logs into lengths that fit into the large fireplace so fuel bills were small. She made candles by dipping rag strings repeatedly in tallow and that was her only light.
Her first experience in cooking and baking was done on an open fireplace as only the well-to-do neighbors could afford a cookstove. There were no envelopes to send letters and they used a square piece of paper folded in such a way that it made a small sticker about the size of a dime and was called a wafer. Matches were very scarce, so if their fire went out in the night some one of the family had to go to a neighbor's and borrow fire. The bread was baked in what was called an overn--a large deep skillet with a tight fitting lid--a bunch of hot coals put on the hearth, then the oven placed on the coals with the bread inside and more coals put on top of the oven and left until baked.
She lived on a farm all of her married life. She moved to Marietta in the Spring of 1895 and lived in different parts of the city until she moved to Cleveland on October 18, 1918. She lived with her youngest daughter until June 4, 1933 when her daughter died. Then she moved with her son, James, in Bedford, Ohio, where she has since made her home. She was granted a pension the second time on April 13, 1901, as a result of the Act of Congress of March 3, 1901. She was baptized into Christ the first part of November 1858 (age 15) by Brother Ashley. Her father was an elder and preacher for several years at Dalzell, Ohio. She says Brother John Gregory started that congregation in 1868 and her second husband, Joseph P. Masters hauled most of the lumber for the present house which was built in 1881. She recalls riding to church horseback when the roads were too bad for a rig.
***
1850 Census, age 10, with parents and family, in Salem Twp., Monroe Co., OH
1860 My guess, this family was in WVA near the Stotlers. George C. is shown as born in Red House, WV
1870 With Joseph P. Masters, Martha Adelaide Stotler, Lucy and Ambrose Masters. (No mention of Geo. C. No record shows George near his mother until 1898 in Marietta, OH.) (See Geo. C. Stotler notes.)
1880 with Joseph P Masters and her and his and her children, Liberty Twp., Washington Co., OH (No mention though of Geo. C. Stotlar!)
1900 Census, TC, age 59, living with dau. Louisa Rumbold and Louisa's husband, Ike, in Marietta Twp., Washington Co., OH. In 1898 the Marietta Directory places T. C. at home at 213 Knox St. and her daughter, Louisa J. at the same address. Louisa J. was wed in 1898.
1910 Census, (not listed living with Louisa in this census. See H.I. and Louisa Rumbold)
1912-Post Mark Sep 12, 1912, address 127 Franklin Street, Marietta, Ohio
1920 Unable to locate either Henry Rumbold family or TC (as of this writing have not yet checked the area around East Liverpool, OH. for T.C. and James.) 1930 Talitha, age 89, can be located in 1930 census in Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co. residing with her daughter Louisa Rumbold, husband Henry Rumbold and their children.
1933-1943, age 92-102+, she resided with her son, James near Cleveland, Ohio.
A complication has shown up concerning one (or two) child's birth. Read notes for daughters Sarah E and Louisa for my speculations based on what I was able to find. A major source of information is from notes given me by Robert W. Masters. I know his work and that he tried very hard to get accurate data. He would have it no other way. I hope my speculations do not let him down. (BJMK) We have no record of death for Lucy's twin and no identity of who was the eighth child or the death of that child.
I love stories that show the hardships and events in the everyday lives of our Ancestors. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did. - Bobbi Stockton
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