Amanda (Mandy) Moore Allen was born in Clay County on March 20, 1894. The Louisville Slugger was officially licensed the year Mandy was born. Mandy’s parents were George Moore and Nancy Jane Moore Moore. The fathers of George and Nancy Jane were half-brothers with different mothers. Mandy joined four-year-old brother Joby and two-year-old sister Mollie. Vague family stories seem to indicate that Mollie may have had a twin who died as a young girl. Twins do seem to be fairly common in the family, but I have not found Mollie’s twin. One story concerning Mollie’s twin involves a visitor and a knife. The story goes that the two twins were on the floor. The visitor threw a knife to the floor. One of the twins ignored the knife while the other reached for it. The visitor told the family that the twin who had ignored the knife would thrive, but that the one who had reached for it would have her life cut short. According to the family story, this twin died shortly after the incident. So the Moore family consisted of parents George and Nancy Jane, and children; Joby, Mollie, and baby Mandy.
Clay County, Kentucky
Mandy was born during a time of change and invention. A court case, Plessy v. Ferguson, would establish the legality of the idea of separate but equal. American society was having a difficult time integrating a group of previously subjugated people into a free society. This decision would make that integration relatively unnecessary. Segregation as long as facilities were “equal” would be legal.
An Italian gentleman by the name of Guglielmo Marconi would patent the radio in 1897. Initially, the radio signals could only be transmitted over short distances but by 1901 he was transmitting across the Atlantic. In the beginning, few folks would have a radio, but gradually radios would become more affordable and popular. One day, even Mandy’s family would own a radio.
The Spanish-American War would begin in 1898 as a result of the intervention by the United States in affairs involving distant places. This “interference” would lead to tensions and a war involving the United States and Spain. When this war ended, the United States would be established as a world power.
The assassination in 1900 of William Goebel, the newly elected Governor of Kentucky, would rock the state’s government for some time during Mandy’s childhood. I imagine that this chaos was noted by Mandy’s family but probably had little real effect.
The 1900 census was taken on June 7th, 1900. Sometime before that George Moore would die. I have found no record to indicate exactly when or from what. Again, rather vague family stories indicate that George may have succumbed to “bad air” while working inside of a well. The 1900 census does show Mandy, her widowed mother, and her siblings living with her maternal grandparents William P and Annis McQueen Moore on Island Creek in Owsley County, Kentucky.
William Philpot Moore
This census indicates that Mandy’s mother Nancy Jane had borne four children with only three living. Perhaps that missing babe was Mollie’s twin? The census seems to indicate that Mandy, Joby, and Mollie were not attending school. If they did, they would have attended a local one-room schoolhouse where all grades were taught in the same room. They would have walked to get there.
So in 1900 Mandy’s mother Nancy Jane would be living with her parents along with 11-year-old Joby, 7-year-old Mollie, and 6-year-old Mandy. Mandy’s grandparents farmed their land there on Island Creek. Mandy and her siblings would have been expected to contribute to the running of the household and the farm. They would have had myriad responsibilities. They would undoubtedly help raise a garden and help with the care of the animals that the family probably owned. I imagine that they had chickens, a cow, probably a hog or two, a mule. There would be laundry to help with; wood to fetch to heat the water hauled in order to fill the laundry tub. There would be lye soap to make to use in the laundry and for personal cleaning. There would have been meals to prepare, dishes to do, wood to gather, perhaps coal to dig from the hillsides. There were many chores to do, but there would have been some time for fun. Perhaps they played Red Rover or tag or other childhood games. They would probably not have had any toys as we know them. The toys they had were probably homemade and required greater use of imagination than the toys of today.
I am not certain when, but sometime between the 1900 census and February of 1902, Mandy’s mother would marry a widower, Nathan Arnold. Nathan’s wife Miranda Davidson Arnold had died leaving him with 6 young children ranging from 10 years of age to a few months old. In 1900 he resided in neighboring Laurel County with; 10-year-old George, 9-year-old Walter, 7-year-old Wright, 5-year-old Etta, 3-year-old Mary, and 5 month-old Cora. Somewhere along the way, Nathan and Mandy’s mother met and were married.
Mandy gained several step-siblings with her mother’s marriage to Nathan. A new half-sister Maggie arrived on Feb 4, 1902. Maggie’s death certificate indicates that she was born in Owsley County, Kentucky. A mid-wife probably came to the family’s house to help Mandy’s mother deliver Maggie. Perhaps one of Nancy Jane’s sisters, three of whom were midwives would have been the one to help. Most women back in those times were assisted by midwives rather than physicians.
In 1903, Mandy’s family would hear of great strides made in modes of transportation. The family and their neighbors would be used to travel by mule, horse, wagon, and on foot. In 1903, they would hear news of the Wright Brothers and their first heavier than air flight in North Carolina. Over the next few years, the Wright Brothers flight adventures would be increasingly covered in newspapers. The family and others across the country must have been awed by the idea of man flying!
Henry Ford would further revolutionize travel by establishing the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan in 1903. His method of mass production would revolutionize the manufacturing industry in general, but it would make the cost of purchasing a new car much more realistic for the average family. Mandy’s family would not own an automobile for years. Mandy would never own a vehicle herself, but other family members would.
The lives of most folks back during this period of time could be very arduous and filled with the everyday tasks of living. There were some attempts made on a world level, at least to have a little fun and entertainment. The World’s Fair was held in St Louis, Missouri in 1904. That same year, The United States would host its first Olympic games. The games were initially going to be held in Chicago, Illinois, but folks had enjoyed the St Louis World’s fair so much, the Olympics venue was changed to St Louis. Mandy’s family would not attend either event. I imagine they heard news of both and were awed, not only by the events but also by the fact that people could actually take time away from the chores of living to travel away from home to attend either event.
Christmas Eve 1906 would bring the first radio broadcast. The Christmas concert broadcast reached from Massachusetts to the crew of a fruit company ship in the Atlantic. Radio waves were being transmitted further and further. Eventually, Mandy would have a radio in her home. That radio would connect Mandy and her rural neighbors to news of the outside world as well as provide hours of entertainment.
Now back during this time and in the area that Mandy lived, most folks did not have electricity or plumbing in their homes. “Bathrooms” consisted of a small outhouse located a distance from the home. Hygiene involved; a periodic skinny dip in the creek, a sponge bath using a bar of homemade lye soap, a washcloth and a pan of warmed water or sometimes a huge metal tub could be filled with heated water and an actual bath could be had, but this was certainly not an everyday occurrence. Mandy’s family would probably “brush” their teeth with a chewed twig from a tree in the yard. Drinking water was drawn from a well or a spring. Folks would drink from a communal dipper pulled from a bucket. There was no refrigeration at this time. Food had to be eaten quickly or dried, canned, smoked, or cured.
Food and waterborne illnesses were not uncommon during this time. Diseases like typhoid could devastate families. Families often had to depend on each family member in order to survive. Disease could temporarily, and too often permanently, remove a needed person from the picture. Often more than one member would be affected. Gradually medical science was improving the treatment and prevention of disease but not before many had been lost.
Mandy’s mother would have another baby girl, Rachel in 1906 and a baby boy Andy would join the family in 1909.
Nathan Arnold holding Rachel Arnold,
Nancy Jane Moore Moore Arnold and Maggie Arnold
The 1910 census shows Mandy’s family farming on Turkey Gap Road in the Allen Community in Clay County. The family consists of Nathan, Nancy Jane, Maggie, Rachel, Andy, Wright, Etta, Mary and Mandy’s sister Mollie Moore. Stepbrother George is not present. Perhaps he has moved away to find work or perhaps he was in the military in 1910. His brother Walter was serving in the Navy at Fort William McKinley, Rizal, the Philippines in 1910. Stepsister Cora is not present. I imagine that she was one of the many children who succumbed to illness during this era. Mandy’s brother Joby is found residing with his mother’s sister Rosa Hobbs’ family in nearby Cavanaugh, Jackson County, Kentucky.
I have been unable to locate Mandy in 1910. I am uncertain where she was, but in 1910, nearby on Lower Teges Creek in the Allen community a man named Adoniram Allen lived with his elderly parents and his nephew Joby. Mandy and Adoniram, or Narm, as many knew him, lived in the same community. It is not difficult to imagine that they met on more than one occasion.
We know that they did indeed meet because Narm and Mandy would marry, probably sometime in 1912 or 1913. Their marriage was very likely a simple ceremony with a preacher or a justice of the peace to marry them in the presence of a couple witnesses.
Narm’s father Job would die from pneumonia complicated by ascites on December 16, 1912. Sometime after Job’s death, Narm’s mother Nancy Jane Baker Allen would move nearby to live with her daughter Lucinda Gross’s family. Narm and Mandy would live in the home Narm had lived in with his parents on Lower Teges Road.
News of the sinking of the unsinkable Titanic would reach the world and Mandy’s family in April of 1912. More than 1500 people would die in this catastrophe. The Titanic’s sinking would bring about changes promoting more safety in traveling by sea.
1913 would bring changes to the country, as well as to Mandy’s home. The Lincoln Highway was constructed and stretched from New York City all the way to San Francisco, California. The construction of this road would encourage the building of hotels, restaurants, and gas stations along its route. Soon more and more roads would be built. All of this would encourage folks to purchase automobiles. Mandy would gradually begin to know folks who had purchased an automobile.
That same year would bring great change to Teges. Mandy and Narm would have their first child Esther on October 18, 1913, in Clay County. As with her mother before her, a midwife probably assisted Mandy with the birth of her children. This midwife could have been one of her maternal aunts.
Adoniram “Narm” Allen and Mandy
Moore Allen holding Esther Allen
On May 6, 1914, Mandy’s stepfather Nathan Arnold would succumb to tuberculosis in nearby Estill County. The following year on January 8, 1915, Mandy would bear a son, John Allen. Death would once again become interspersed with life when Mandy’s 13-year-old half-sister Maggie Arnold would die from tuberculosis in April of 1915. On November 4, 1915, little John Allen’s Uncle John Allen would die from typhoid fever.
This was not an uncommon occurrence in those days. Outbreaks of disease could wreak havoc on families and communities. Homes did not have indoor plumbing or electricity. Drinking water was usually drawn from a well or a spring and folks usually drank from a pail using a communal dipper. It is not difficult to imagine how disease could spread quickly and with devastating effect. Narm’s brother John had never married and had no offspring, but his name lived on through his nephew. Once again, life went on. Another daughter Rachel would arrive on April 9, 1916.
World War I, the Great War would begin in 1914 when Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in Bosnia. The United States had tried not to become directly involved but the US joined the allies; Britain, France, and Russia to fight WWI on April 6, 1917. Mandy’s husband would register but had physical problems that disqualified him. It seems that Narm’s right hand was crippled and his left leg was broken. I am unsure of what caused these injuries, but Narm would not have to leave Mandy to fight. The couple must have known folks who had to go fight in the war. I believe that neighbor Spurgeon Murrell may have served during the Great War. I am sure that Mandy, her family, and her neighbors said many prayers on their behalf. The war ended in 1918.
During this period of time, advances were being made in medicine. Vaccines were being formulated to prevent diseases such as; smallpox, diphtheria, tetanus, and measles. Hospitals were becoming more common. Education for folks in the medical field was improving. Roughly 100 miles away from Teges, in Lexington, Kentucky was Transylvania University. Transylvania was one of the oldest and most prestigious medical schools in the country. One of Mandy’s future grandchildren, Fanny Nolen Sorkey would earn a BA Degree in social work from Transylvania.
Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky
Mental health was beginning to receive attention during this period also, and mental institutions were being built.
These medical advances were unable to do much when a terrible flu pandemic struck the world in 1918. As if the war had not been enough, a terrible flu hit the world, Over 650,000 Americans alone died due to the flu. Physicians, hospitals, and funeral parlors were overwhelmed with the sick and the dead. Businesses closed to prevent the spread of the disease. I do not know of any of Mandy’s family succumbing to the flu, but she probably knew folks who had been affected.
On a national level, in 1919, the 18th amendment prohibiting alcohol would be ratified. Drinking was a common pastime back in these days. Folks would not be willing to give up their drinking quietly. Prohibition brought about a period of lawlessness and violence which led to the repeal of the 18th amendment nearly a decade later.
The 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote was ratified in 1920. Mandy, her female family members, and female neighbors would now have a say in their government. This amendment would never be repealed.
The 1920 census shows Mandy and Narm’s family farming on Lower Teges Road. Forty-year-old Narm and 22-year-old Mandy can both read and write. Six-year-old Esther, five-year-old John and four-year-old Rachel have not attended school during that year.
Just as Mandy and Narm had contributed to the survival of their families when they were young, their children would also have responsibilities from a young age. They would be given chores according to their abilities. As they matured and their abilities increased, their responsibilities would also increase. They would help their parents in the garden, with household chores, and with the animals. I imagine that Narm would, as they grew older, take John and perhaps the girls out hunting with him. The children would help Mandy to harvest plants, both to eat and for medicinal purposes.
I can just picture Mandy with her young children around her walking through the forest, for the most part, shaded but with the occasional beam of sunshine streaking its way through the canopy to the forest floor. I can imagine the smell of rich earth and honeysuckle in the air. I can almost hear the musical sound of the creek beginning its trek toward the ocean. The drone of insects, the cheerful twitter of the birds, and the rustle of scampering squirrels provide background music for the voices and laughter of children as they follow their mother. I can almost see John point at a crooked stick and hear him jokingly tell his sister, “There’s a copperhead winking at you, Rache!” They follow Mandy and occasionally she will bend down and cup the leaves or the flower of a plant and tell the children what it is and how it can be used to cure some woe. Some of the plants are good to eat. Mandy shows the children how to harvest the plants and she places them in a cloth sack to carry home. In later years, when Mandy’s son John was visiting his wife’s parents in Owsley County, Kentucky, Mandy would often ask that he bring back certain plants for her so she could mix up some “cure”.
Teges Creek in Clay County, Kentucky
Mandy Moore Allen, Rachel Allen, Nancy Jane Baker Allen,
John Allen and Adoniram “Narm” Allen; Esther Allen in back.
Mandy and Narm would have another daughter on Nov 7, 1921. This daughter was named Alta. On July 2, 1923, the day after her 67th birthday, Narm’s mother Nancy Jane Baker Allen would die at the home of her daughter Lucinda Gross. Her cause of death was given as chronic paralysis. This leads me to believe that she had been having health woes for a period of time.
Mandy’s mother-in-law would be buried there on Teges. I am sure that her death cast a pall of sadness over the family, but life does not stand still for death. Another daughter Fanny would be born on July 3, 1924. Fanny would be the last child born to Mandy and Narm. Shortly after Fanny’s birth, on July 22nd, Mandy’s Aunt Lucinda Gross would die from pulmonary tuberculosis. Tuberculosis was a disease that would become all too familiar with this family.
In 1925, a trial that became known as the Scopes Monkey Trial sprang into the nation’s attention. A substitute teacher was charged with illegally teaching evolution. Mr. Scopes was found guilty, but this case was important in promoting the idea of separation of church and state across the country.
On a state level, 1925 saw the formation of the Frontier Nursing Service in Wendover, Kentucky. This service was founded by Mary Breckinridge. Mary had received midwife training in Europe. She founded the service as a means to better educate midwives thus making giving birth a less risky event. Mary’s service helped to decrease mortality for both mother and baby. Mandy’s future granddaughter Glenna Allen would one day work as a nurse in this service.
Transportation was improving during this time. Trains had been common in the mining communities of Eastern Kentucky as a means to transport the coal mined there. Kentucky’s Pan–American train would transport not only cargo but many passengers from 1921-1971. Automobiles were also becoming more commonplace as more roadways were constructed and more people were able to afford them.
For a while, Mandy’s family would continue on with the business of living. There were gardens to raise, animals to tend to, cows to milk, eggs to gather, wood to collect, hogs to butcher, blackberries to can, clothing to sew, quilts to make….. a never-ending list of things that had to be done. A later census indicates that Esther, Rachel, and Alta completed school through the 8th grade so Mandy’s children would spend at least part of the year attending a local one-room schoolhouse.
This is believed to be the one-room schoolhouse on Teges Creek in Clay County, Kentucky. If Mandy’s children did not attend this particular school, they likely attended an earlier version.
So life continued on until 1927. On Jan 8th of that year, Narm was seen by a physician for tuberculosis. Hearing that diagnosis must have sent a rush of ice water through the veins of Mandy and perhaps her older children. Tuberculosis had claimed many loved ones in Mandy’s family and now her Narm had it. Narm would die on March 19, 1927. He would be laid to rest on Mandy’s 33rd birthday on a wooded hillside in the Upper Sadler Cemetery not far from his home.
Upper Sadler Cemetery
Mandy was a young widow with 5 young children to raise. When Narm died; Esther was 13, John was 12, Rachel was 11, Alta was 5 and Fanny was 2. Mandy had a huge load to bear. I imagine that the older children would help their mother in every way they could. I have heard mentioned more than once how son John really tried to step into the shoes of the man of the house and was a real blessing to his mother and his family. He worked outside and would contribute money that he made to the support of his family. No matter their hardships, Mandy’s family still had a place to live. They knew how to raise a garden and tend to the animals. They would make it.
I can’t help but wonder if the thought of tuberculosis revisiting the family was ever-present in the back of Mandy’s mind. If it was, it did not debilitate Mandy. One of Mandy’s old neighbors, Ms. Vivian Murrell Middleton has told me that Mandy never seemed to worry about things. Perhaps she was just able to turn it over to God and let Him handle it. Perhaps she just had no choice and had to soldier on. However they managed to do it, Mandy and her family continued on without Narm as best they could.
They were probably just beginning to recover from Narm’s death when Mandy‘s world would be rocked again by the death of her mother Nancy Jane. I am uncertain of what Mandy’s mother died from or exactly when she died. I only know that she died sometime in 1928 at the age of 62 or 63.
The following year death proved once again that it did not discriminate due to age. Little Fanny came down with infantile paralysis accompanied by typhoid fever and would be attended by a physician on July 1, 1929. On Aug 28, 1929, her sister Esther informed the physician that little Fanny had died. Five-year-old Fanny was buried in the Upper Sadler Cemetery on the same forested hillside where her father lay.
And just as has been seen so many times before, the enormity of death was not capable of interfering long with the minutia of living. Somehow Mandy and her family rebounded and continued on. I cannot imagine the fortitude, faith…. whatever, that would allow a woman to lose a husband, a mother, and a child in roughly two and a half years and still manage to continue on without becoming bitter. I cannot imagine what it took, but my Ggma Mandy Moore Allen had it, whatever it was. I think that God held her hand.
Now during the 1920s, the telephone began showing up more and more in homes across the nation. The telephone had been patented two years before Mandy’s birth, but it did not become very available or affordable until decades later. Mandy’s family would not have a telephone while she lived on Teges and it would likely not be available in rural communities like Teges for years to come, but folks that lived in such areas had undoubtedly heard of the telephone and probably looked forward to having one.
In October of 1929, the stock market would crash leading to a Great Depression that would last from 1930-1942. Mandy’s family had their small farm. They knew how to tend animals, how to grow vegetables, how to forage in the forest, and how to hunt. They were probably not nearly as touched by the Great Depression as folks who lived in the cities and depended on jobs and cash to purchase their needs.
So Mandy’s family continued living their lives there on Teges. They did what had to be done in order to survive. Mandy, Esther, John, Rachel and Alta worked together to perform all of those tasks that would enable their survival. The 1930 census gives Mandy as the head of the household. Her occupation is given as laundress. Evidently, she had started taking in laundry in order to bring in some money, or perhaps to barter in exchange for the things that they could not raise. Her mother had done this same thing when her husband had died leaving her a widow. Doing laundry back during these times was a very arduous and time-consuming chore, but Mandy and her mother Nancy Jane did what had to be done. The family would probably receive ration coupons during this period, limiting the amount of sugar, coffee, and other commodities they could purchase. They may have not had as much of these commodities as before the Depression, but they would not go hungry.
John Allen and Mandy Moore Allen sitting; Rachel Allen,
Alta Allen and Esther Allen standing in back.
This 1930 census shows that the three older children had attended school in the past year. This census also shows another family that lives up the road a short piece from Mandy’s place. That was the Spurgeon Murrell family. The Murrells and the Allens became good friends and when time allowed, they would walk to each other’s homes to visit a bit. Emma Murrell was the mother of the family and Ms. Vivian Murrell Middleton who recently shared some of her memories with me was her daughter. Robert Murrell was the oldest child. Robert and Mandy’s son John would become good friends. They would go traipsing or riding a mule around the area together. Robert very well could’ve been present when John met his future wife Hortense Smith while making rounds to the neighboring churches. Back in those times, preachers would often preach in different churches. One week they might preach in one church and the next week in another. It might be a month or more before the preacher made it back to any certain church. Ms. Vivian said that when they went to church, they usually walked to the Corinth Baptist Church. We have several family members buried behind this church; Calvin Middleton, Columbus, and Maude King Middleton, Evan and Fannie Middleton Smith, Gordon Smith…..
Corinth Baptist Church
Rachel Allen and Alta Allen
Esther Allen in front; ??,
Rachel Allen and ?? in back
A class from Upper Teges Creek in 1940. Robert Murrell is in the row behind the kneeling boy, second boy from left. Alta Allen is the girl in the back row.
Robert Murrell and Loretta Nolen
The Allen and Murrell families became very close. Years later when John or Alta was in the area, they would try to stop by and see Emma Murrell’s family. I have heard Aunt Alta and my mom speak of the Murrell family and John Allen’s children have heard often of the Murrells, especially their father’s old running buddy “Little Robert” Murrell.
John Allen, Emma Gross Murrell and
Glenna Allen at Emma’s place on Teges
Franklin Delano Roosevelt would establish a program called the New Deal in the 30s. These programs were implemented from 1933-1938 and were designed to help families find work during the Great Depression. Mandy’s son John Allen would begin work for the CCC sometime in the mid to late thirties. CCC work would take John away from Teges to Harlan and Bell Counties, and locations in eastern Kentucky. John would live in a CCC barracks and would be involved in building roadways and cabins in the region. He would send back money each paycheck to help provide for Mandy and his siblings.
As the country was in the throes of the Depression, 1934 would bring the Dust Bowl to states out west. Dry conditions and years of improper farming practices accompanied by winds in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Colorado led to “black blizzards”. These dire conditions forced many to leave their homes behind. Those who remained behind would often become sick and even die from inhaling all of the wind-blown particles. This did not affect Mandy directly, but I am sure that it is another bit of bad news that weighed heavily on the entire nation.
Other bad news would spread across the world in 1937. Amelia Earhart, who had made the first solo flight by a woman across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932, disappeared while attempting such a flight across the Pacific. Her disappearance remains a mystery to this day.
In 1938, Mandy’s sister Mollie Moore McKinney died in nearby Jackson County two days before Mandy’s 44th birthday. I imagine that she would make the trip to Jackson County to attend her sister’s funeral. Just like with the death of her husband Narm, Mollie’s death would occur right before Mandy’s birthday. I can imagine that Mandy could have come to dread having another birthday.
We think this may be Mollie Moore McKinney
and Nancy Jane Moore Moore Arnold.
The 1940 census shows Mandy and her girls still living on Teges. Mandy’s son John Allen was not living on Teges for this census. He had enlisted in the US Army on January 13, 1940. By April 8th, John was at Fort Logan in Arapahoe, Colorado serving in the army. Census data shows that Mandy had a 6th-grade education. Each of her children had completed school through the 8th grade. I imagine that the local one-room schoolhouse probably taught through the 8th grade, so Mandy’s children probably obtained the best education available to them.
This census indicates something that I have never been aware of. There is a spot on the 1940 census that asks: “If not [at work for pay or profit in private or nonemergency Govt Work], was he at work on or assigned to public EMERGENCY WORK (WPA, NYA, CCC, etc) during the week of March 24-30? (Yes or no)” This box is marked no for Mandy, Esther, and Alta. However, it is marked yes for Rachel. Another box indicates that Rachel had worked 34 hours during this week in this capacity. I knew that Uncle John Allen had worked for the CCC sometime before he joined the army. He would contribute part of his pay to support his family on Teges. I had never known that Rachel worked in some capacity for one of these New Deal work programs!
Now somewhere along the way, Mandy’s daughter Rachel would meet a young man whose family also lived in Clay County on nearby Furnace/Furnish Branch. That young man was Boyd Nolen. Rachel and Boyd would fall in love and on October 26, 1940, the couple would marry. Rachel would leave Mandy’s home and move to nearby Furnish Branch just down the road from Boyd’s parents. Boyd and Rachel would give Mandy her first grandchild, Loretta Nolen in April of 1941. Rachel would bear nine children in less than ten years. Two sons would die as infants.
Map for the area where Mandy’s home, Rachel’s home,
Rachel’s in-laws’ homes are located
Boyd and Rachel Allen Nolen
After Rachel married and moved to Furnish Branch, Mandy had Esther and Alta still at home. Her son John would remain in the Army from January 13, 1940, through Aug 10, 1945.
WWII would begin in Asia in 1937 when the “Marco Polo Bridge Incident” led to war between Japan and China. It began in Europe when Germany invaded Poland in 1939. Britain and France would declare war on Germany two days after the invasion. The United States tried to stay only indirectly involved by assisting the Allies with supplies. That all changed with the attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. News of this attack stunned the nation, the world. The United States threw its hat into the ring and war was waged on two different fronts.
During his stint in the Army, John would travel to the Philippines and faraway places. A young man from the hollers of Eastern Kentucky would see parts of the world he probably would’ve never been able to see. He would not have been able to enjoy his visits, but he would see faraway and exotic places. I am sure that he carried many Kentucky prayers with him on his travels. Ms. Vivian says that Mandy was not a person prone to worry, but I am certain that she did send up many prayers for her son and others who served. Other young men in the neighborhood also served in WWII. Hiram Gross, Ray Barrett and Robert Moore are some names given to me by Ms. Vivian. I am sure that these young men were all in Mandy’s prayers.
John Allen
John Allen also worked on the Alaskan Highway while in the Army. This highway has been said to be one of the great engineering feats of the 20th century. Mandy’s son would take part in accomplishing this great feat. While in the Army, John would also send letters back home. Some of those letters would make it back to that girl named Hortense Smith whom he had met during his church rounds.
Alaska
John Allen during his Alaskan Highway
service in the Army, perhaps.
Now Alta and Esther would have been a great help to their mother. Brother John would continue to be a help by sending back some of his pay to provide monetary assistance to his family. This would have gone a long way in allowing the family to purchase from local general stores the things that they could not grow on the farm. They would have grown many beans, taters, sweet taters, tomatoes, cabbage, onions, corn, greens, probably some melons.
Mandy and her girls would have been able to gather nuts and blackberries from the wooded hillsides surrounding their home. A pear tree that was enjoyed by not only the family but by neighbors provided fruit that would be remembered years later by folks. They would collect wild plants from nature, both to eat and to use medicinally. They would tend a cow to provide fresh milk. Sweet homemade butter would be made from that milk’s cream. Their chickens would have provided eggs and the occasional chicken dinner. They would raise a hog to be slaughtered come cool weather in order to provide fresh pork meat and meat to be canned or cured for later.
Neighbors would often stagger the slaughtering of their hogs and share the meat. This allowed folks to enjoy fresh meat over a longer period of time. There was no electricity and thus no refrigerators and freezers at this time. Meat had to be eaten quickly or preserved in order to prevent spoilage. I imagine they may have even hunted squirrel, groundhogs or other wildlife to supplement their meat supply.
Mandy and her girls could provide many of their necessities through their efforts, but they would still need to purchase some items; flour, meal, salt, coffee, sugar, perhaps additional feed for their animals. For these things, the money John sent back would come in handy. The family could also barter for goods and services. A surplus of taters could be traded for a surplus of corn that their neighbors may have had.
Mandy’s family lived in the rather isolated little community of Teges, but the folks in this community had each other’s backs. When a neighbor needed help, neighbors were willing to help out. Everybody was pretty much in the same boat. They gave help when needed and they accepted help as necessary. Neighbors could become more like extended family than just folks who happened to live close to each other. Linda Barrett Combs has said that her father would plow Mandy’s garden for her. She would fry him up some of her hens’ eggs and have him in to eat before he left. She says that she has heard that Mandy was always good to the neighbors. She would invite the neighbor kids inside to listen to a battery-powered radio and she would often feed them while they were there. Linda’s dad had a mule and wagon and would use them to carry one of Mandy’s daughters to the cemetery on Sadler to bury. Blood may be thicker than water, but when unrelated folks are all facing similar adversities, that water can become pretty thick!
So Mandy, Esther, and Alta lived together on Teges. They did the chores that needed to be done, they visited the neighbors, they probably attended a local church when possible. Mandy’s daughter Rachel lived nearby with her family and I am sure that they would visit Rachel’s family when they could. I have heard that Esther loved children and doted on her nieces and nephews. I am certain that she must have enjoyed those visits. Neighborhood girls, friends of Esther and Alta, would often spend the night at the Allen home.
Ms. Vivian told me a story that her brother Robert had recalled to her in the past that probably occurred during this period. It seems that Mandy was in the barn milking the cow. The stalls in the barn were separated by half walls. Robert went to the barn in search of Mandy. He found her balanced over the stall wall struggling to get back to her feet. She had reached over the wall to get a bucket to feed the cow in as she milked and had gotten stuck. Robert came to her rescue! Ms. Vivian recalled this after I had told her a story of how years later, Alta, Mandy’s daughter had locked herself out of her house and tried to get back in through the only open window, the one over the kitchen sink. She had climbed up on a bale of straw to reach the high window and had gotten stuck, half in and half out. Fortunately, Johnnie and Donna Nolen happened to visit and rescued Mandy’s daughter, just as Robert Murrell had rescued Mandy herself all of those years before!
Sometime in 1944 or early 1945, Esther and Alta would travel to Ohio in search of work. Ms. Vivian Murrell Middleton recalled her brother Robert accompanying John, Esther, and Alta to Ohio, but John was still in the Army during this time so I am not sure how this fits in…if he was home on leave or what. Perhaps Alta and Esther went with Robert, a trusted family friend and John would join them later. I cannot say. I just know that Alta would meet her future husband, Olen Clarence (Bug) Cantrell in Ohio. They would marry on June 2, 1945. Unless they had a whirlwind courtship, I imagine Alta and Esther went to Ohio sometime in 1944 or very early 1945, at the latest.
Esther Allen, ?Ruth Landrum? and Alta Allen.
The back of this pic had this written on it:
The three meanest girls in Dayton
WWII brought challenges to the idea of reality, on the home front, as well as overseas. The internment of American citizens of Japanese descent into camps must have been mind-boggling to witness, particularly by folks who happened to know these folks personally. WWII brought other news that must have seemed almost unbelievable to the folks back home. News of the death of millions of innocent people in the Holocaust must have been difficult to comprehend.
The development of nuclear weapons would bring equally unbelievable news. The US government and other world governments had been working for a while on developing nuclear weapons. This research led to the development of the atomic bomb by the US and in 1945, the world would be shocked by the news that the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been devastated by nuclear bombs. These nuclear weapons were used to bring an end to the war, and they did, but not without paying a terrible price.
The War ended in Europe on May 8, 1945. On Aug 15, 1945, the Japanese surrendered. I am certain that Mandy was only one of many of the folks back home who would celebrate and eagerly await the return of their sons, brothers, fathers, husbands…. from the war.
John Allen’s stint in the Army ended in August of 1945. I imagine that he returned home to Teges after his service and was joyously welcomed home by his mother Mandy. When John returned from his Army stint, he would continue his courtship of Hortense Smith who lived in nearby Owsley County on Anglin Branch with her parents Dave and Nancy Middleton Smith. Hortense and John would marry on February 1, 1946, and after their marriage, John and his bride would go to Dayton, Ohio in search of work for John. Alta and Bug Cantrell lived in an apartment in the same building. They were working as the supers for the apartment.
Hortense Smith Allen and John Allen
John Allen and Hortense Smith Allen
Alta Allen Cantrell and Olen
Clarence "Bug" Cantrell
This left Mandy alone there on Teges Branch. Of course, her daughter Rachel’s family still lived nearby on Furnish Branch. Rachel would have another daughter Lola in ’42, another daughter Fanny in ’43 and a son Billy in ’44. Mandy’s grandson Gerald Dale would be born in June of ’45 but would die less than two months later. I imagine that Mandy would be present to comfort and support her daughter and her family during this sorrowful time.
Billy Nolen, Loretta Nolen holding Ronnie Nolen,
Fanny Nolen; Lola Nolen in back
Mandy would have no family remaining in her home, but she still had her neighbors. I am certain that she had many chores to do and she probably visited friends and Rachel’s family as possible. John, Esther, and Alta would return periodically from Ohio to visit their mother also. Rachel’s children would visit with Mandy too.
Now there is a vague story that Mandy may have married again, perhaps during this period of time to a man from nearby Jackson County. This man was named Mathias Tice Melton. Mandy’s sister Mollie and her brother Joby both lived in Jackson County. Mandy’s mother Nancy Jane had also lived in Jackson County prior to her death. Perhaps Mandy became acquainted with Tice Melton while visiting family. I cannot say. I do not know if Mandy was married to him or not. I have found no record of a marriage but some family members have heard of him. Ms. Vivian vaguely recalls the name but cannot remember anything about him. So this is another family mystery to add to our ever-growing collection of family mysteries.
Rachel’s children would call their own mother Mammy and they would call Mandy Mommy. They had a Mammy, a Mommy, and a Mamaw, their paternal Grandma Nancy Ann Chandler Nolen who lived near them on Furnish Branch. Mandy’s first grandchild Loretta Nolen Smith recalls spending the night with her Grandma Mandy. She recalls that her legs hurt very often when she was young. I guess they were what some would have called growing pains. She remembers spending the night and crying because her legs were hurting. Mandy or Mommy would massage Loretta’s legs until she could drift off to sleep.
Loretta also remembers once when she was at Mommy Mandy’s house. Mandy had her quilting frame pulled down from the ceiling where she kept it when not working on a quilt. Loretta was running around and around the quilting frame. Mandy kept saying, “Now Rett, don’t you make me stick my finger!” Well, just as though the idea had been planted in Rett’s brain, she bumped into the frame. After several warnings and as many bumps, Mandy pricked her finger. Rett got a whipping, but Loretta says that it was not a terrible whipping. I guess that it got the “point” across though.
Mandy Moore Allen holding Olen Nolen and Denny Cantrell
Billy Nolen, Ronnie Nolen and Fanny Nolen standing in front; Loretta Nolen holding Olen Nolen and Lola Nolen sitting on porch
Mandy’s daughter Alta began having children in 1946 with the birth of son Dale. Another son Dennis (Denny) was born in ’47 and a daughter Linda (Kookie) was born in ’48. Alta and her husband Bug Cantrell both worked outside the home. Perhaps initially, sister Esther would help watch her kids. Sometime in the mid to late 40s, the family would move from their small apartment on Maple Street to a small house in Drexel, Ohio, still in the Dayton area. They had a great babysitter while living in Drexel. From Drexel, the family would move into a house on Knox Avenue in Dayton. I am unsure of the dates, but these moves probably took place in the mid to late 40s.
Linda Kookie Cantrell in front; Dale Cantrell,
Esther Allen, Denny Cantrell and Gerald Allen
In around 1947 or 1948, Mandy would hear that dreaded word tuberculosis again. Daughter Esther would be diagnosed with TB. She would be admitted to Stillwater Sanatorium for Tuberculosis in Dayton, Ohio. Mandy’s son John would return to Teges to pick up Mandy and also to pick up Donald Smith, his wife Hortense’s ten-year-old brother from nearby Owsley County. Donald had fallen into the fire grate as a toddler and was going to stay with John and Hortense for 3-4 months while he had a couple surgeries on his eye.
Donald Smith
Stillwater Sanatorium
So Mandy left Teges to be able to visit with her sick daughter Esther and to live with her daughter Alta’s family. Donald Smith remembers riding with John and Mandy on the trip to Dayton. He says that he and Mandy both got carsick and sat in the back seat sharing the puke bucket on their ride to Dayton!
Donald also remembers riding along with John and Mandy when they went to visit Esther at Stillwater. He could not go up to visit Esther. Children were not allowed in hospitals or sanatoriums at this time. He remembers sitting in the car in the parking lot. He could see the window to Esther’s room and he saw her wave to him from her window. Esther’s niece Loretta Nolen remembers riding along with Alta and Mandy when they went to visit Esther also. She too remembers seeing Esther wave from her window. I cannot help but wonder if Esther, who loved children and doted on her nieces and nephews, had wistful thoughts of the children that she would never be able to have as she looked down at the boy and the girl in those cars.
Esther Allen
Mandy’s daughter Rachel’s family would move from Furnish Branch to the vacated home on Teges. Rachel’s sons Olen, Cecil, and Johnnie would all be born on Teges. Cecil would die as an infant. The Allen homeplace once again knew the joys and sorrows of a young family.
So Mandy now lived in Dayton, Ohio. Mandy helped Alta’s family with household chores and helped to care for her grandchildren. She once again raised young’ uns. Alta would begin her life in Dayton on Maple Street in the same apartment house as her brother John and his wife. John and Hortense would also begin having children; Gerald would be born in Dec of ’46; Sissy in ’49 and Glenna in ’53, all while the family lived on Maple Street. Alta’s family would live in a small house in Drexel after Maple Street, but by the time Mandy came to stay in Dayton, Alta’s family would have probably already moved to the home on Knox Avenue. Mandy would live with them there. Alta’s husband would purchase some land from a Mr. Wenger who lived nearby on Calumet Lane. Mr. Wenger owned several acres there and it stretched from Calumet Lane back to Maeder Ave. He sold a few acres to Bug on the Maeder side. This land was within walking distance of the Knox Avenue home. The family would use part of this land to plant a large garden. Mandy’s son John Allen would buy a few acres on Maeder adjacent to Bug and Alta’s land. John would gradually build a home on his land, but Bug and Alta would live on Knox and use their land only for a garden. Hortense’s sister Davilee Smith Sutherland would live with her husband Sherlock Sutherland in a house they had built on Maeder. The land John built on was right next to Hortense’s sister.
Hortense Smith Allen and
Patricia "Sissy" Allen Rex
So Mandy was now a fixture in her daughter Alta’s home and in the neighborhood. She would be called Granny by her Ohio grandkids. She would come to be known as Granny by all of the neighborhood children and many adults as well. As Alta’s kids got older they would make friends with the neighbors. These neighboring kids would often come over. Granny treated them the same as her own grandchildren. She expected them to listen and if they did not, she would discipline them just as she did her own grandchildren. Most of the kids seemed to grow to love and respect Granny just as though she was their real Granny. Often when she was sitting out on the porch with her own grandkids breaking beans from the nearby garden spot, the neighborhood kids would sit on the porch with them and break beans alongside them. I’m sure that some of those same kids were there on that same porch to share a slice of sweet juicy watermelon at times too.
Loretta Nolen, Johnnie Nolen,
Denny Cantrell, and Dale Cantrell
Granny would visit and be visited by her son John while she lived there on Knox with Alta’s family. She would ride with Alta or John to visit Esther. Sometimes Alta, her family, and Granny would load up into the car and head back to Teges to visit daughter Rachel, Boyd, and their children. Neighbors would also be visited during these trips, especially old friends like the Murrell family. I imagine that those visits were a pleasure to all involved. Granny’s grandchildren from Teges were likely very excited to see their Mommy again! When it was time for Aunt Alta, Uncle Bug, Mommy Mandy and their cousins to go, a few tears were probably shed.
Mandy and the rest of the family would return to Dayton after their visits. Their lives continued on until just before Christmas of 1950. The news would arrive of the death of Mandy’s daughter Rachel. On Dec 15 of that year, Rachel would succumb to the disease that had plagued the family so many times before, tuberculosis. She would be buried in the Upper Sadler cemetery. A neighbor, perhaps Linda Barrett Combs’ father would go to the Allen home place there on Teges. The pine box that held Rachel’s earthly remains would be loaded into Mr. Barrett’s mule-drawn wagon. It would be taken to the cemetery. There in the cold and drear of a winter’s day, Mandy’s daughter Rachel would be laid to rest close to graves of her father Narm and her sister Fanny. NOTE: Rachel’s death certificate provides the only recorded connection I have found between her mother Mandy and Tice Melton. Her mother’s name is given as Manda Melton.
Mandy would return to live on Teges after Rachel died to help son-in-law Boyd Nolen with her grandchildren. Her granddaughter Loretta Nolen Smith thinks that she stayed three or four months with the family, until the next spring. It may have been while she was staying with them that granddaughter Fanny remembers Granny/Mommy knocking her to the floor. Fanny thought Mommy was being mean to her. I asked Mom, Loretta Nolen Smith, if she recalled this. It was hard for me to imagine Granny being mean. Mom told me that Granny had pushed Fanny to the floor once. Fanny had been standing too close to the fireplace and her gown tail had caught on fire. Granny was putting her on the floor to roll it out. She may have saved Fanny’s life. Thankfully, Granny knew “Stop, drop and roll’ before it ever became popular.
Now, Mandy’s son-in-law Boyd was the finest person you could ever hope to meet when he wasn’t drinking. Many folks, including Ms. Vivian Murrell Middleton have recalled that he was a very good carpenter, at least when he didn’t drink. Boyd had a bit of a drinking problem though and he could get mean when he drank, at least when he was younger. I imagine that losing the woman he loved and having seven children to rear alone would only make drink even more attractive. He came home drinking one evening and got ornery. Loretta remembers Mommy Mandy hitting him over the head with the water dipper. Mandy could just not tolerate Boyd’s drinking. Soon after that, Bug and Alta would pick Mandy up and she would return to Dayton with them.
There was turmoil occurring on a much wider scale also. This period of time was known as the Cold War. There was a struggle between the communist governments of Asia and Eastern Europe and the governments of the free world. When communist North Korea encroached upon the territory of South Korea in 1950, fear of the spread of communism led to the Korean War. The war would last for three years and ended not in victory but in essentially a stalemate. I believe that Mandy’s neighbor, Emma Murrell’s boy Robert would serve in the Korean War. Kentucky soldiers would distinguish themselves during this war.
Mandy’s son-in-law Boyd would try to keep his family together there on Teges. Boyd had to go off to work and it would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible to keep the family of seven children together. When Rachel died those children ranged in age from not even ten months old to nine years old. The family moved to London in nearby Laurel County soon after Mandy left. Boyd’s parents now lived there in London and he would once again live close to them. Even with family close by, Boyd had to give up on his desire to keep everyone together. He hated to do it because he loved his children dearly, but he started arranging for family members to take in the children. He began writing letters to family members to find his children homes.
That is how Rachel and Boyd’s daughter Loretta and their son Johnnie would go to Ohio to live with Alta’s family there in Dayton. Johnnie was about two when they went, that would have been around 1952. Granny would have two more children to nurture and love there on Knox Avenue. So now there was Alta’s family of five, Granny and two additional children in the family. That little house there on Knox must have been pretty crowded. Loretta remembers that her bed was the couch. Quarters were cramped, but fortunately, there was ample room and love in Granny, Alta and Bug’s hearts. Alta and Bug’s kids seem to accept Loretta and Johnnie as pretty much new siblings.
Recent pic of Bug and Alta’s old Knox Ave home.
1953 would bring big changes. 1953 would not only signal the end of the Korean War, but it would also bring news of the development of the first polio vaccine by Jonas Salk. This vaccine would essentially bring the end of the threat of polio. Mandy’s daughter Fanny had died from infantile paralysis or polio back in 1929. I imagine that Mandy probably wistfully wished that this vaccine had been around back before Fanny had died. I also imagine that she celebrated with the rest of the world that this disease had finally been conquered.
And life on Knox continued on as normal until Mandy’s daughter Esther succumbed to tuberculosis that she had battled for years. Indeed she had stayed in the Stillwater Sanatorium for probably the last 5-6 years of her life. Esther died on April 23, 1953. Death probably represented freedom to her.
Esther had mentioned several times to her family that when she died, she wanted to be buried in a little cemetery on the hillside behind the home of their old and beloved neighbor Emma Murrell. John asked Emma if Esther could be buried there and she said yes. So Esther was buried behind Emma’s house rather than in Upper Sadler near her father Narm and her sisters Fanny and Rachel. Esther had told her brother that if she was buried close to Emma Murrell, she knew that as long as Emma was alive, she would never have briars growing on her grave. I imagine that Emma cared for her grave and the others in that little cemetery as long as she was able.
In 1954, a prominent court case would figure large in the national news. That case was Brown v. Board of Education. This court case would lead to the eventual dissolution of the idea of “separate but equal”. It would pave the way to desegregation. That road would not be short or without bumps along the way, but it was a start. The decision in this court case was definitely a good step in the right direction for African Americans.
Mandy and Alta’s family lived on Knox for several years. Life went on pretty much as usual in a household with 5 young kids. Loretta does remember one occasion that was dramatic enough to stick in her mind. Johnnie, who was probably around four years old was out on the porch with Granny and the other children. Johnnie had a big jawbreaker in his mouth. Somehow he got choked on it. He could not breathe and Loretta was certain that her baby brother would die. Granny saw that Johnnie was choking. She picked him up by his legs and as he hung upside down, she pounded his back until that jawbreaker flew out and went rolling across the porch. Once again, she had probably saved one of the Nolen children. Granny just seemed to know what to do, or more likely, she was just very open to God’s guidance in knowing what to do.
Clockwise from right front: Granny Mandy Moore Allen,
Dale Cantrell, Linda Kookie Cantrell,
Loretta Nolen, and Denny Cantrell.
Granny Mandy Moore Allen and Johnnie Nolen on Knox
Granny Mandy Moore Allen
Linda Kookie Cantrell and Granny Mandy Moore Allen
at the Cantrell’s Knox Avenue home
In 1955, Mandy would receive news of the death of her brother Joby in Kentucky. He would die from prostate cancer and would be buried in Salt Rock Cemetery in Jackson County, Kentucky, the same cemetery that sister Mollie had been buried in.
Joby and Annis Hobbs Moore
Joby Moore
Now Mandy’s son John was building a home for his family on his land on Maeder in Dayton, Ohio. He worked a full-time job at Delco and had to work on the house as time allowed. Several family members would help John in building his house. I suppose it was kind of like an old-fashioned house-raising but over a longer period of time because of time constraints with outside jobs.
Hortense’s brother Wallace Smith would move to Ohio in ’55. He would help John build his house. Sometime early in the building process, Vivian Murrell, the sister of John’s old buddy Robert and the daughter of Emma Murrell would go to Dayton to visit a cousin, Hiram Gross. Hiram would take Vivian to John’s house so she could visit her old neighbor. When they visited, the foundation was there and the subfloor was on the foundation, but the walls were not up. Hiram kidded John and said that he had come to his open house, but it seemed that he was too early. John told him that he reckoned he wasn’t a bit early. A house couldn’t be much more open than his was at that stage!
Hortense and Wallace’s younger brother Donald would move to Ohio looking for work after he graduated from high school in ’56. He would also work on John’s house with him. Donald has often said that the wind could never blow the roof off of John’s house because it had about more nails than wood!
Now somewhere along the way, Donald Smith met Mandy’s granddaughter Loretta. Remember, John Allen was Loretta’s uncle and John’s wife Hortense was Donald’s sister. Loretta would have visited her Uncle John’s family. She would have also been going often to Alta and Bug’s garden spot behind where John’s house was going up. Donald was working on John’s house with him. Loretta and Donald would have had ample opportunities to meet. They must have taken to each other because on December 21, 1957, the two would marry. Loretta would move out of Alta and Bug’s house to begin her new life with Don. Initially, Don and Loretta would live on First Street and then in a small trailer behind the home of Don’s sister Davilee Smith Sutherland and her family. Remember Davilee lived right next door to where John was building his house. Loretta would watch over Davilee and Sherlock’s children; Larry born in ’49 and Karyn Sue born in ’57 while they lived in the trailer. Before long, Don and Loretta would move to a little house they would rent on Knox Avenue, just a few houses up the road from where her brother Johnnie, Mandy, and Alta’s family still lived.
Donald and Loretta Nolen Smith
Larry Sutherland holding Karyn Sutherland
Davilee Smith Sutherland and Larry Sutherland; Davilee’s family
lived right next to John and Hortense Smith Allen
John and Hortense’s home on Maeder; Glenna Allen in front;
Gerald Allen and Patricia “Sissy” Allen in middle;
John Allen and Hortense Smith Allen in back
Loretta Nolen Smith and Patricia
"Sissy" Allen Rex
Donald Smith in John Allen’s side yard on Maeder.
Alta and Bug’s property is directly behind him
in the distance past Uncle John’s garden.
Mandy and Loretta were bound to visit often. Don and Loretta’s home was along the path that could’ve been taken by Mandy and the kids on their way to the garden spot on Maeder. The homes were just a couple hundred yards apart. I am sure that Loretta would still help Granny in the garden and with breaking the beans gathered there.
Now after Loretta and Don married, Don would often drive to Kentucky to pick up Billy, Ronnie, and Olen from the Kentucky Children’s home. This is where the boys had ended up. Their sister Fanny had a foster family in Lexington and she did not visit family in Dayton as often as the boys. Sister Lola would often spend time with other family members. Don and Loretta would have no money to spare and Don would often be working two jobs, but somehow he found time and money to pick the Nolen kids up on holidays and during the summer to bring them back to Dayton to visit.
So Mandy would see Rachel’s other children fairly often. Many family members lived within close walking distance of each other. I have heard stories of how the boys; Billy, Ronnie, Olen, Dale, Denny, and perhaps others would make rounds going from one house where they would eat and then move on to the next house where they would eat again. Then they would move on once more and eat even more. They would do this until they ran out of places to go! The homes they visited were not even far apart. They could’ve barely worked off a calorie getting from one place to the next. I imagine they played hard and long though. All of that food seemed to do them no harm.
The "Kennedy" Compound
336 Knox, Don and Loretta’s 1st Knox home; 320 Knox, Don and Loretta’s 2nd Knox home; 422 Knox, the Cantrell’s Knox home; 378 Maeder, the Allen home; the Sutherland’s home; the Cantrell’s Calumet home)
Mandy’s granddaughter Lola Nolen would marry Roscoe Walton in Jun of ’59. They would live in Hamilton, Ohio, only about 40 miles from Dayton. Roscoe and Lola would have a son William in Jan of 1960. William would be Mandy’s first great-grandchild. Mandy would have her first great-granddaughter in February of that same year when Loretta and Donald would have their first child April. Alta’s daughter Linda, known as Kookie by most folks who knew her, would tell Loretta that April was gonna be her baby. Indeed, Kookie would often walk up the street to see April. When April grew a little older and could walk, she would walk to Loretta and Don’s house and then take April back up the road to the Cantrell’s house on Knox. April would spend much time with Granny, Kookie, and the rest of the Cantrell household.
Granny Mandy Moore Allen and Lola Nolen
Walton visiting Don and Loretta’s at 336 Knox.
Lola Nolen Walton holding Debby Walton and Kathy Walton;
William Walton, Mandy’s first Great Grandchild
Granny Mandy Moore Allen holding her first
Great-Granddaughter April Smith
Donald Smith holding April Smith
April Smith at 336 Knox
Linda Kookie Cantrell holding April Smith;
Granny Mandy Moore Allen in the background;
Cantrell’s Knox home
Sometime during this timeframe, Mandy’s granddaughter Glenna Allen recalls Mandy spending Saturday nights with John’s family so that she could go to church with them come Sunday morning. Glenna also recalls that Granny and her son John both had a liking for a good hog’s head. Mandy would sometimes cook a hog’s head for her son, herself, and anyone else who wished to share. I don’t think that there were many takers though.
Mandy’s son John and his wife Hortense would give Granny another grandson with the birth of Darryl in June of 1960. Other great-grandchildren would follow. Loretta and Don would have a son David in February of 1962.
The fall before David was born, Don would purchase a little house just a couple houses up the street on Knox. It was a mere shell of a house and would require much work. Don would often be working two different jobs, so it would take him time to finish his home. The first year they lived in this home, David’s crib was next to the window. It snowed one night and the next morning there was a little pile of snow that had blown in through the cracks around the window into the corner of David’s crib. Don would place a sheet of plastic over the window and Loretta would pin a blanket on the side of the crib next to the window. Over time, Don made that empty shell into a beautiful little home. The family would live there until 1968.
Darryl Wayne Allen
Loretta Nolen Smith holding David Gayle Smith
Granny Mandy Moore Allen holding David Smith at 320 Knox
Sometime around this time, Mandy would move with Alta’s family to the house that Mr. Wenger had lived in on Calumet Lane. Mr. Wenger is the man who had sold Bug the land he used for a garden spot. A sewer system was being put in down Calumet. Homeowners had to pay so much for every foot of road frontage that their property had. Mr. Wenger could not afford to pay the fee because he had quite a bit of road frontage there on Calumet. He traded his home on Calumet to Bug for the home they lived in on Knox. So now Mandy lived on Calumet with her daughter’s family. The schools were different for Knox residents and Calumet residents. Grandson Johnnie would stay with his sister Loretta’s family on Knox until the school year ended so he could finish out the year in the same school. He would then join Granny and the Cantrell family on Calumet.
The Cold War would still be going on during this time. It would continue on until 1991. The two major participants in this war were the United States and the USSR. In 1962, tensions in this war came to an anxiety-producing face-off. The US discovered that the Soviet Union was sending nuclear missiles to Cuba. These missiles were within reach of American soil if they had reached Cuba. Remembering the devastation that had resulted from the atomic bomb drops on Hiroshima and Nagasaki put, not only Americans but the world on edge. President John F. Kennedy set up a naval blockade preventing the Soviet Union’s ships from reaching Cuba. For thirteen days, people across the globe must have sat on the edge of their seats praying for a peaceful resolution. Thankfully an agreement was reached and the weapons on Cuba were dismantled. Mandy and the world could breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Lola and Roscoe would have another child Kathy Lynn in May of ’62. Seasons of joy would be replaced by a season for sadness on October 13, 1963. Mandy’s first grandson Billy Nolen would be involved in an accident while driving an ice cream truck in Dayton, Ohio. Rachel and Boyd’s son would die from his injuries. He would be buried in Dayton Memorial Gardens.
Billy Nolen in the background;
David Smith in the foreground
The entire country would be rocked by death when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. Mandy and her family would see this scene televised over and over on the television screen. They would witness the swearing-in of Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson aboard a plane while widow Jackie Kennedy stood by his side wearing a suit spattered with President Kennedy’s blood. They would also watch JFK’s funeral being televised. They would have seen his young son salute the coffin of his father. They would watch the death of Camelot as televised on television.
Just as in the past, life went on. There were other grandbabies and now great-grandbabies that would be sharing Mandy’s attention. Lola and Roscoe would give Granny another great-granddaughter Deborah Kay in February of 1964. Lola and her husband Roscoe had a rather tumultuous marriage that eventually ended in divorce. A time or two, Lola would pack up her kids and go stay with her sister Loretta’s family. This would allow Mandy to see even more of Lola and her kids. There was lots of family in the area to visit, and it seems that visiting each other was a frequent occurrence.
In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed. This law outlawed all racial discrimination in employment, education, and all public places. This law did not totally prevent discrimination though. Folks, especially in the South, seemed determined to hold onto the past and worked to circumnavigate the law by any means possible. This lead to the rise of civil rights advocates such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Now the Cantrell’s home on Calumet had a few acres of land, an old chicken house, and an old barn. Of course, there was even more land now to the garden. The family would raise a big patch of corn. Loretta Nolen Smith remembers one time, Alta’s boys Dale and Denny, her brothers Olen and Johnnie, and some of the neighborhood boys thought they could go in the middle of that corn and smoke undetected. Granny saw a cloud of smoke rising from the corn. When the boys finished and returned to the house, Granny just asked them if they didn’t know that smoking was bad for them. They looked a bit surprised. I suppose they thought that Granny had eyes in the back of her head or something. They didn’t realize that all of those boys smoking cigarettes would cause quite a noticeable cloud and Granny knew that corn plants don’t smoke.
Olen Nolen, Ronnie Nolen, Johnnie Nolen, and Dale Cantrell;
some of the boys who made corn smoke!
Granny’s chicken coop on Calumet is in the background
Granny had a chicken house now too and she raised chickens. Her great-granddaughter April, that’s me, remembers when Granny would get in an order of baby chicks. I remember the anticipation of seeing those little fluffy chicks that were making such a huge cacophony of peeps inside the box they arrived in. I never connected those cute little fuzz balls with that delicious fried chicken Granny made! Her fried chicken was the best! When she made fried chicken, Granny would always wait until everyone else had gotten chicken before she would get any. She would always get the back, her “favorite” part.
Alta Allen Cantrell; Granny’s chicken coop and chickens
in the background; John Allen’s home and the garage can
be seen in the distance behind the truck.
The Vietnam War was going on in the 60s and on into the 70s. Granny would have many family members in the service during the war. Her grandsons, Dale and Denny Cantrell, her grandsons, Ronnie and Olen Nolen, Davilee’s son Larry Sutherland and several other boys would fight in Vietnam. I am certain that Granny would send up many prayers for them all.
Donna Nolen recently recalled a story to me that she had heard from Linda Kookie Cantrell. The events of that story probably happened sometime during this time frame. Kookie told Donna that one day she and Johnnie Nolen came walking into the kitchen to find Granny on the top of a stool reaching into the upper cabinets. Kookie and Johnnie asked her what in the world she was doing climbing up on that stool. Granny said that she was just cleaning out the cupboards. She told them that she had just had a glass of some really good orange juice that was in the fridge and it must have had some go power in it because she felt so good she had decided to clean out the cabinets. It seems that Granny had found a bottle of premixed screwdrivers in the fridge and had mistaken it for orange juice! Next time I need to clean house, I might just have to try me some of Granny’s go power OJ!
Clockwise from left; Kookie Cantrell, neighbor Tom Woosley,
Johnnie Nolen and Granny Mandy Moore Allen;
There’s some clean cabinets in the background!
Olen Bug Cantrell and Granny Mandy Moore Allen
In the kitchen on Calumet.
I remember Granny taking naps in the afternoons and I would usually lay down with her and take a nap too. My mom has told me that I never used to take a nap when I was young, but lying quietly with Granny when she napped somehow made a nap a thing worth taking
I remember that Granny had a big fruitcake tin full of medications. I was always in awe when she took that tin down from the top of the fridge and sat at the Formica kitchen table to take her medicine; how could one person take so many medicines! My mother Loretta has told me that Granny had had some kind of heart problem for most of her life. She would have weak spells where she would feel faint. I imagine that many of those medications in that tin may have been for her heart.
I remember sitting on the porch at Calumet in summer with Kookie, Uncle Johnnie, Dale, Denny, and others waiting for Granny to slice open a nice big juicy delicious watermelon with her big ol’ butcher knife. I remember sitting on that porch in the summer waiting for Uncle Bug or one of the boys to bring back a cold jug of root beer from the root beer stand up on Third Street. I remember sitting on that same porch in the swing with Kookie. She told me that Granny was more hers than mine. She was her Grandma, but she was only my great Grandma. I just thought that meant that I had it even better. Kookie was just a grandchild, but I was a great-grandchild!
On April 4, 1968, the civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. He was assassinated by the racist James Earl Ray as he stood on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. King’s funeral would be broadcast live on national television.
Looking back, I remember an idyllic childhood that I see as the “Kennedy Compound” days. It was like our family and extended family had our own corner, our own little piece of Heaven there in Dayton. I had parents, a sibling, Aunts, Uncles, Great Aunts, Great Uncles, Cousins of multiple kinds crawling out of the woodwork and I had my great-grandma Granny who I loved so, so, so dearly. I cannot remember anything bad about her. I have over time asked others if they remembered anything bad about her or had heard anyone voice such. No one has been able to tell me yes.
The only thing that I can remember that was bad about Granny was out of her control; she left me. I remember one day Granny got sick. Mom says that Granny called her and asked her to take her to the doctor. I didn’t know what was going on. I knew that Granny took medicine, but back then I somehow did not equate that with illness. I just found that huge tin of meds to be awe-inspiring. But that day she became ill, David and I were taken to Aunt Alta and Uncle Bug’s neighbors’ house. Mom asked Granny what was wrong as she drove her to the doctor, and Granny told her that she thought she was dying. Mom asked, “Granny, are you afraid?” She answered, “No, Rett, I am not afraid. I’m ready.” The doctor sent Granny on to the emergency room from his office.
I knew that something was happening to Granny, but I did not know what. I knew that everyone else except for my brother and I got to be with Granny. Children were not allowed in hospitals back then. I remember sitting there in a chair in Mrs. Cecil’s living room, feeling angry, hurt, confused…. Mrs. Cecil got me a glass of pop to drink while I sat there, but I could not drink it. I could only sit wanting my Granny to come back, but she didn’t come back. If love had been able to bring her back, she would’ve come home, but sometimes even love is not enough.
My Aunt Lola Nolen Walton Gatliff has recalled to me the day of Granny’s funeral. She remembers that my brother David Smith was told that he had to get ready to go to Granny’s funeral. He simply said that he was not going, he was gonna watch it on TV. MLK’s funeral had been televised not even three weeks prior to Granny’s death. I suppose that he thought that Granny’s funeral would be national news too.
I remember going to Granny’s funeral. I think that I was reasonably calm until they started singing. They sang In the Sweet By and By and I began to cry and I could not stop crying. I wanted my Granny there with me, not in the sweet by and by, but with me. I remember I kept saying over and over, I wanna go home! I wanna go home! I probably ruined Granny’s whole funeral. I didn’t mean to, but when my eight-year-old heart broke, it didn’t break quietly. I just knew that I wanted to go home. I imagine that I realized that Granny would not be there. I guess that I just didn’t wanna be where the dead Granny was. I wanted to be where at least she could live in my memories.
Granny Amanda Mandy Moore Allen died on April 22, 1968, at the age of 74. She was preceded in death by her parents George Moore and Nancy Jane Moore Moore Arnold. She was preceded in death by her husband Adoniram Narm Allen and three daughters; Fanny, Rachel, and Esther. She was preceded in death by three grandsons; Gerald Dale Nolen, Cecil Nolen, and Billy Nolen. Other family members preceded her in death, but I cannot name them all. She was survived by her daughter Alta (Olen Clarence “Bug”) Cantrell and her son John (Hortense Smith) Allen. She was survived by thirteen grandchildren; Gerald Allen, Patricia “Sissy” Allen, Glenna Allen, Darryl Allen, Loretta Nolen (Donald) Smith, Lola Nolen Walton, Fanny Nolen, Ronnie (Linda Igo) Nolen, Olen Nolen, Johnnie Nolen, Dale Cantrell, Dennis “Denny” Cantrell, and Linda “Kookie” Cantrell. She was survived by five great-grandchildren; April Smith, David Smith, William Walton, Kathy Walton and Debby Walton. She left many other family members to survive her. I cannot name them all. She also left many, many, many sweet memories for her survivors to cherish. Her grandson Johnnie Nolen left many sayings behind whrn he passed away. One of those sayings was heard after he tooted, “Better out than in!” Mom tells me that Uncle Johnnie got this saying from Granny. Granny has left behind a myriad and lasting legacy!
Granny was buried in the Dayton Memorial Gardens beside her Grandson Billy Nolen. They share a headstone. I just know that I love family reunions and one day I will get to be with my Granny and many, many more family members at the reunion of all reunions!
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