* "Cora was a soft-spoken, gentle, and attractive woman. She was of medium height and later in life gained weight. Her hair hung nearly to her waist in one long plait. She kept the plait of hair pinned up attractively in a bun, secured with fancy combs and pins. Sunday mornings before church, she dressed in her best clothes and donned her favorite hat.
She took great pride in her vegetable garden and had a true green thumb when it came to flowers. Her peonies lined her walk in beautiful white, pink, and red blooms. She loved all farm animals, but was especially fond of her laying chickens because of the eggs they produced, some of which were speckled eggs.
Alfred and Cora were my grandparents. Grandpa passed away before I was born. When I was a child growing up I loved to visit with Grandma. Thanksgiving and Christmas were two special times. The whole family would gather at her house, all the aunts and uncles and cousins. Not one would be missing from all her children and grandchildren.
Grandma had a big two story house that Grandpa built himself. The house had high ceilings, with lots of woodwork. It had two fireplaces, one in the living room and one in the kitchen. Upstairs were two unfinished rooms, filled with furniture and objects from days gone by. The dark attic was fun place to explore with cousins. The rooms upstairs were not used or cleaned so it was a perfect place to play away from the watchful eyes of the grownups downstairs. When the first cousins and I got bored, there was always plenty to do outside. We were chased out of the flower garden, the barn, the work shop, the tool shed, the garden, and sometimes the pasture if the cattle and horses were near us. I think the adults were concerned we would injury ourselves, or damage something. There was always at least one spanking at those family gatherings. It was necessary to keep order, with so many children around. Actually the kids never minded the spankings. They expected it. It taught them their limits and reassured them that their parents would not let anything bad happen to them.
Grandma would tell me about her life as a child, and when she met Grandpa, how they courted, how much she missed and loved him. He passed away fifteen years before she did.
Alfred and Cora had seven children; Edith Erah, Blanche Burah, John Calvin Dewitt, Alfred Washington, Lillian, Cecil Woodrow, and Iza Opa.
In the year 1918, Alfred gathered up all the live stock, horses, cattle, chickens, dogs, and his wife and seven children. With a small train of livestock, they traveled in covered wagons, one driven by the older children and one driven by himself to Ada, Oklahoma. One of the children, usually Blanche or Dewitt, rode a horse behind the livestock and wagons to keep everything moving. It took them eighteen days to make the trip. They camped out every night. Grandma would cook over a campfire, while Grandpa and the children took care of the livestock. It was a true adventure. Grandma said, "We were all exhausted and relieved when our wagon train pulled in to the small settlement of Ada, Oklahoma."
This was in the midst of the first World War, and times were hard. People were moving from different parts of the country. There was a great demand for cotton. That is one reason Alfred moved his family to Oklahoma. The prairie was more suited to grow cotton than the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. They stayed in Oklahoma for three years, growing cotton, and doing general farming. Opal, the baby, and Grandma got sick while they were there. Then the bottom fell out of the cotton market. Alfred lost money on the cotton he sold. His family wanted to go home. So he shipped what cotton was left, several bales, and all the livestock, and the family boarded a train for Heber Springs, Arkansas. Grandma said, “All of us were so glad to get back to Pine Grove."
I treasure the memories of my wonderful Grandma. Alfred and Cora were laid to rest in the Miller Cemetery at Pine Grove, Ark."
(book, Founding Families of Ida Arkansas by Erleene Fletcher, 1998)