freestateofpatrick.com blog

Floyd and Elizabeth Hobbs with their great-grandsons Robert and Adam Pennington circa 1974. Courtesy of Ann Dozier.

Floyd Thomas Hobbs passed away twenty-two years ago when I was fifteen years old. He was born in the nineteenth century and died in the bicentennial year of 1976 in his sleep at his home at 1815 Fenwick Street in Augusta, Georgia. Outside his bedroom window, there were roses and azaleas everywhere. Cuttings from some of these plants are still in my mother’s yard as he was her father and my maternal grandfather.

I drive my mother to Augusta, Georgia, to visit her sister, Kathyrn, who continues to experience the short-term memory loss of Alzheimer’s. I listen to the conversations between the daughters of Floyd Hobbs and learn something new every single time. I drive them out to the countryside in Jefferson and Warren County, where my grandparents grew up and lived before moving into the “Garden City” of Georgia.

His father David Thomas Hobbs descended from several generations in Warren County, Georgia. I recently discovered they came from North Carolina all the way back to Edenton, North Carolina, in the 1750s. He never talked about his family and his mother. I am sure there is some story there, but that is for another day to investigate.

I have very good memories of him, but not as many as I wish. I remember he took me to Burger King up the alley, Barnes Lane, from his home. He drove me around town. Once he got a ticket for running a red light, which was very embarrassing for him having his youngest grandchild in the car. I was his only naturally born grandson (Uncle Ed and Pat adopted Jack) and I can imagine what he felt as only a man can about a grandson.

Before World War Two, he worked at many places such as at Fury’s Ferry on the Savannah River, where the bridge on Highway 25 is today in the fashionable northern end of Augusta up in Evans. He worked on the locks at the Augusta Canal at the northern end of that body of water that supplies Augusta’s water and is now a National Heritage Area. He and my grandmother Elizabeth Prescott Hobbs moved to Augusta and back to the country then back to Augusta with the depression, jobs and other factors affected their lives. She worked in textile mills along the Augusta Canal and at Bailey’s Frame Shop downtown. He was too old to serve in World War Two, but he contributed to the war effort as a carpenter and electrician. He worked at Fort Gordon, shipyards at Savannah and Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.

These are some of the facts about my grandfather, but here is the kind of man he was. Every time he went to visit his father-in-law Jesse Prescott, he always carried them fruit. During the war, he never passed a walking soldier along the roads between Savannah and Wrightsville Beach without picking them up. When his sister-in-law, Pearl and her husband lost their son to a blood disease and her husband Restey became disabled he made sure they had food. Pearl said they would have starved if not for Floyd.

Floyd and “Momma Lizzie” lived on Fenwick Street when I knew them and before in Harrisburg area on Hicks Street. He worked as a mechanic at Eastern Motor Company and other dealerships fixing cars such as Oldsmobiles. He was hit by a car crossing Broad Street while working at one of these dealerships. For the rest of his life he could not turn his neck to the left to see and you always had to tell him if anything was coming before he pulled out while driving.

My main memory of him is tending his flowers. Roses and azaleas bloomed all around the little house on Fenwick Street. He tended them as if they were children. His grass was perfect and he watered every day all around his house. It is the image of him that always comes to my mind. I visit his grave every time I go to Augusta and spend some time in the shade of a gigantic pine tree in the cemetery. Nearby are azaleas.

I spent many Friday evenings in the broadcast booth with Ronald Johnson at Wallace Shelton Stadium in Mount Airy watching football as my father and Johnson broadcast the games. They did this for over thirty years getting both of them in the Mount Airy Sports Hall of Fame. Ronald died this week. Above is a photo of Ronald with my father at the Hall of Fame marker. Read the story in the Mount Airy News by clicking here.

http://www.mtairynews.com/articles/2008/08/05/news/local_news/local01.txt

“Of all the games created by the mind of man, it is a game that is truly universal,” John Claxton said recently. “There is strategy in chess. There are tactics.” Claxton runs Mayberry Chess, a group that meets regularly at Mobys Coffee Shop on Rockford Street. The group holds rated tournaments that draw players from Mount Airy, Pilot Mountain, West Jefferson, Kernersville, Elon College, Wytheville, Va., and more. “It discriminates against no one,” Claxton said of the game. “An average person can work hard and work to the level of master.”

John Claxton was my boss at Insteel Industries in Mount Airy, North Carolina, at a very important time in my life. I was working on computers during the day and saving J. E. B. Stuart’s Birthplace the rest of the time. He supported my efforts to do that and when still have a very friendly relationship. So I was glad to see this story about him in the Tuesday, July 29, Surry Messenger.

http://www.surrymessenger.com/Archives/07-29-08.pdf

If you are interested in playing chess contact John at

mayberrychess@yahoo.com

http://main.uschess.org

The Bassett Historical Center building fund is now at $400,000 towards $800,000 to expand our regional history library. Although as a rule, I do not believe in asking for government assistance believing that if people want to raise money they should do as I did to save the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace get out there, beat the bushes, and “beg for money.” Many months ago, Pat Ross asked me to contact Congressman Virgil Goode about funding for the library expansion. So with Ronnie Stone (Chairperson of the Building Fund) drove down to Danville for an enjoyable afternoon and met with Virgil. On July 29, 2008, Virgil and Congressman Rick Boucher presented the Bassett Historical Center Building Fund $98,000 from a HUD (Housing and Urban Development) Grant I would like to share the comments I made that day on my blog. After pointing out to Rick Boucher that for me to be in long pants and a golf shirt took an “act of congress.” I usually wear t-shirt, shorts and sandals while working at the library. We will have another symposium on October 4. Arcadia Publishing will release Images of America: Henry County Virginia in March 2009 with all proceeds going to the expansion of the library. As I do not only talk the talk I put my money where my mouth is and I think that will put my efforts for the Bassett Historical Center over $100,000. It is nice to be on a winning team.

http://www.bassetthistoricalcenter.com/

Above, photo of Rick Boucher, Virgil Goode, Judy Mattox and Tom Perry, who with Ronnie Stone contacted Goode originally about funding.

The Bassett Historical Center will present a second symposium on October 4, 2008. Proceeds from this event will go to the Building Fund. Tickets are $25 in advance; $20 in advance for senior citizens and students. At the door: $30; senior citizens and students are $25.

The schedule is as follows

9:30 a.m.

R. Darryl Holland

“24th Virginia Cavalry”

10:45 a. m.

James W. Morrison

“Bedford Goes to War: The Heroic Story of a Small Virginia

Community in World War II”

Noon – 1:30 p. m.

Lunch

1:30 p. m.

Julie Williams Dixon

“Melungeon Voices”

2:45 p. m.

Tom Perry

“William J. Palmer: The Man Who Didn’t Burn Martinsville”

Julie Williams Dixon is a native from Southwest Virginia, though she has been living in North Carolina since the early 80s. She earned a degree from Virginia Tech in 1981 and acquired a graduate degree from UNC Chapel Hill in 1985. Residing in Raleigh with her husband and two sons, she is the owner of “words and pictures” where she splits her time between scriptwriting, video editing and still photography. Her clients range from multi-national corporations to small non-profits, museums and schools. Her film “Melungeon Voices” began in 2000 and she says that it is still a “work in progress” and may never really be completed though it has been shown several times to much acclaim. “I’ve written and produced hundreds of programs in my career, but nothing has ever been as difficult to capture and explain as the story of the Melungeons.”

James W. Morrison is the author of “Bedford Goes to War: The Heroic Story of a Small Virginia Community in World War II.” He is retired from the Department of Defense, having served 3 years as any Army officer and 27 years as a civilian executive in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. A graduate of Indiana and Columbia Universities and the National War College, he also served as a visiting fellow at the National Defense University, where he wrote two short books on international affairs. He volunteers at the National D-Day Memorial giving tours.

R. Darryl Holland is a life-long resident of Henry County. He is a graduate of Patrick Henry Community College, holds a degree in Animal Science from Virginia Tech and has a Masters in Agriculture from Texas A & M. The “24th Virginia Cavalry Regiment” is his third book, and while Agriculture is his profession, history is his love. Darryl and his wife, Lillian, live on the family farm in Horsepasture near Spencer.

Thomas D. “Tom” Perry will be speaking on “If Thee Must Fight, Fight Well” The Life of William Jackson Palmer: The Man Who Did Not Burn Martinsville. Palmer, a Brevet Brigadier General under George Stoneman on the April 1865 Raid at the end of the War Between The States occupied Martinsville on the night of April 8 and left the next day when Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox. Palmer, born a Quaker grew up in Philadelphia, fought in the Civil War receiving the Medal of Honor before making a fortune in railroads in Colorado.

http://www.bassetthistoricalcenter.com

The Bassett Historical Center’s building fund received $98,000 in federal funds thanks to a bipartisan effort by U.S. Reps. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, and Virgil Goode Jr., R-Rocky Mount. Both Goode and Boucher were at the center Tuesday to present the federal appropriation that will help pay to double the space and add amenities such as a meeting room and an audio/visual station at the center. The expansion also will include new display cases and shelving to house materials, said Boucher, who represents the 9th District. “The shelves are running over. We have books that are not able to be put up” because the shelves are overflowing, said Ronnie Stone, chairperson of the building committee. The center is in the 4,100-square-foot space that formerly housed the Bassett Public Library. The library now is across the street, and the center are branches of the Blue Ridge Regional Library system. The historical center “is the repository of items such as histories of Bassett and Henry County” as well as Patrick County, Boucher said. Goode, who represents the 5th District, said not all of its users are from the Henry, Patrick and Franklin county areas. Visitors “come from all over. … I don’t know how much tourism has increased because of this center, but I know it’s been a lot,” Goode said. According to Stone, visitors to the center stay in local hotels, eat in local restaurants and buy fuel to travel to areas of interest. In 1992, the center logged 420 visitors, Stone said, and at the end of fiscal year 2007, that number had risen to 7,667 visitors, including 964 from Virginia. “A lot of those people were not from Henry County or Patrick County,” he said, adding that visitors from each of the 50 states and seven countries have visited the center. And with good reason, Goode said. The center preserves unique historical items, some of which “you can’t even find at the state library in Richmond,” Goode said. Manuscripts and family memorabilia also are housed at the center, which “has become an often-visited attraction … and a significant resource for those interested in genealogy,” Boucher said. Students, authors and amateur genealogists can find help with research at the center, he said, and “visitation to the center has increased by 125 percent for each of the past five years.” “Most of the people who live” in the region now may have ancestors who lived in this area before traveling west, Stone said. “They lived here for a while, and when things got a little crowded, they moved on west.” Information about their time here is cataloged at the center, included in the 11,900 reference and/or family books or listed in the more than 9,500 family files or more than 2,800 local history files, Stone said. The renovation is expected to cost a total of $800,000. Besides the federal funds, Henry County has contributed $25,000 and committed to contributing another $25,000 next year. Private donations total nearly $250,000, Boucher said, and “that is a remarkable accomplishment.”

http://www.bassetthistoricalcenter.com/

Photo of Rick Boucher, Virgil Goode, Judy Mattox and Tom Perry, who with Ronnie Stone contacted Goode originally about funding.

Cover To Cover
Blue Ridge Regional Library’s weekly television program on Henry County’s BTW Channel 21 (Comcast Cable)

Airtimes:

Missed an episode or not a Comcast Cable subscriber? You can view the program from the website. You may also subscribe and receive the next available episode when it is posted. Please tune in to BTW Channel 21 at one of the above times or this website to view our broadcast.

http://www.brrl.lib.va.us/covertocover.htm 

My episode in sixth from the bottom, but there are many other local people interested in books to view.

http://brrltv.blip.tv/#213065

I recently spent an entire week in my mother’s hometown visiting her family. During these visits I immerse myself in family history talking to my mother and her sister Kathryn including visits to the country outside Augusta, Georgia, to Jefferson and Warren counties. I always come back knowing much more about my family history and the history of Georgia and Augusta. The “Garden City” has spent millions of dollars on history to induce tourists to visit and preserving history within the city including the restoration of the Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson, the Augusta Canal is a National Heritage Area including museum, boat rides and walking trail along the banks of the canal, a Riverwalk along the Savannah River downtown, a History Walk on the grounds of Augusta State University that was once the Arsenal for the United States and the Confederate States of America and the Museum of History downtown that at the present time has exhibits on James Brown and Baseball from Ty Cobb to Cal Ripken, the latter recently bought the minor league team in town the Augusta Greenjackets, a yellow jacket wearing a green coat like a winner of The Masters’ golf tournament would wear. I am going to write a series of blogs about the history I discover to go with blogs already written from previous trips. I will call it Sundays at Augusta paying homage to the golf tournament and the lazy summer days, I spent every summer in my youth. I spent two weeks every year with my grandparents Floyd Thomas and Elizabeth Irene Prescott Hobbs at their home at 1815 Fenwick Street. During these visits, I stay at my cousin Kathy’s while my mother stays a few blocks away with her sister. I get lots of work done during these trips reindexing all of my first four books while researching my fifth Notes From The Free State Of Patrick. Now Kathy’s only child is Amanda Marion Warr, who at this writing is a very pregnant architect in Raleigh, North Carolina, but she is a very good artist and I make jokes about staying at the Amanda War Art Museum. The subject of all the art is Amanda and being a self-absorbed only child, I can relate to this, but she is very good working in all sorts of media from paints to photography. Above is Amanda in her “Blue Period.” While staying the week of July 4, I found myself watching the television one night after a week of watching the entire HBO movie on John Adams and Ken Burn’s The War I came across The States marathon on the History Channel. The show included a segment on Kansas and there was the voice again. Deb Coalson Goodrich, formerly of Patrick County now Topeka Kansas, is talking about the Sunflower State with a particularly Patrick County accent. Deb shows up as a talking head on many documentaries these days and I enjoy seeing someone from Patrick County “doin good.” If it could not get more ironic, right after The States went off, History Channel’s Reel to Real at the movies comes on with Tombstone starring Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp. Now I know this is one of Deb’s favorite movies and mine too. Filmed just after Gettysburg the cast includes many of the same people such as Sam Elliott as Virgil Earp in one and Union General John Buford in the other. Stephen Lang is George Pickett in Gettysburg and Ike Clanton in Tombstone. Other in the cast include Powers Boothe of Deadwood, Billy Zane before Titanic and Dana Delany after China Beach, but before Desperate Housewives. All in a good night at the movies with Charlton Heston in possibly his last movie and narrated by Robert Mitchum. I do not know if the history is correct in the film, but the Shootout at the OK Corral is a favorite movie subject on mine from Henry Fonda in My Darling Clementine, Kurt Douglass and Burt Lancaster in Shootout at the OK Corral, and Kevin Costner’s Wyatt Earp, which came out about the same time as Tombstone. So there I sat the Amanda Warr Museum laughing aloud at Val Kilmer’s performance as Doc Holiday “I’ll be your huckleberry.”

“Well, I came to your house the other day
Your mother said you went away
She said there was nothing that I could have done
There was nothing nobody could say
Me and you, we’ve known each other ever since we were sixteen
I wished I could have known
I wished I could have called you
Just to say goodbye, Bobby Jean

Now, you hung with me when all the others
Turned away, turned up their nose
We liked the same music, we liked the same bands
We liked the same clothes
We told each other that we were the wildest
The wildest things we’d ever seen
Now I wished you would have told me
I wished I could have talked to you
Just to say goodbye, Bobby Jean

Now, we went walking in the rain, talking
About the pain that from the world we hid
Now there ain’t nobody, nowhere, nohow
Gonna ever understand me the way you did
Maybe you’ll be out there on that road
Somewhere in some bus or train
Traveling along in some motel room
There’ll be a radio playing and you’ll hear me sing this song
Well, if you do, you’ll know I’m thinking of you
And all the miles in between
And I’m just calling you one last time
Not to change your mind, but just to say I miss you, baby
Good luck, goodbye, Bobby Jean”

– Bruce Springsteen 

Bobbi Lynne Ramey July 10, 1965- November 20, 2002