Grandma Rhoda

Rhoda Helen BAYSINGER (1856-1924) and James Thomas SEATON (1851-1925)

Grandma Wanda wrote a letter to her cousins asking about family memories this is another response:

Remembrances of
Acena SEATON REYMAN (1904-aft 1987)
Written 1987

I remember going with grandmother Rhoda [Helen BAYSINGING SEATON (1856-1924)] to gather eggs at the hen house. There was a large chicken snake in the hen house and she picked it up and snapped it’s head off.

One day grandmother Rhoda and I started to go to the orchard to get apples so mother could make a pie for supper. One the way we had to cross Greathouse Creek on stepping stones. Half way over she looked down and saw a fish on top of the water. She dipped her basket down and came up with a full basket, so we had fish instead of pie for supper. The mill had let some kind of oil get into the creek and the fish came up to breath.

In the spring and fall grandmother Rhoda would go into the fields and woods to gather plants. She used to make tea which she gave us if we were sick. Grandfather James [Thomas SEATON (1851-1925)] sold Indian Herb Pills, going about the county in a house and buggy. If Grandfather’s pills didn’t help us, grandmother would brew up a tea to give us. We didn’t need to see the doctor while grandmother lived. Howard and I would go with her but instead of learning from her what plants to gather and what they were used for , we ran about and played. I’ve always been sorry we did not pay more attention to her. She dried her plants in the summer kitchen. Some plants I do remember are -mullen, yellow root, dog fennel and smart weed.

The summer kitchen where grandmother Rhoda kept her plants was in the hills, either in English or Gantsburg. There was an old wood stove in the kitchen, there was a wood box behind the stove, grandfather always kept it full. I don’t remember him doing any kind of work except selling the Herb Pills. Grandmother made the best blackberry jelly and her biscuits were as big as a saucer. It only took one biscuit with butter and jelly to fill you up.

left: Edna Eula SEATON ROBERSON (1894-1961)

I spent a lot of time at grandmothers. Leora [May SEATON (1888-1962)], Eva [Lavadeth SEATON (1891-1978)], and Edna [Lula SEATON (1894-1961)] would come get me and I stayed with them several days. I was the first Seaton granddaughter. I was 5 when we moved to Mt. Carmel, Illinois. It was right after Bill [William Fielding ROBERSON (1888-1978)] and Eva’s wedding. I was the flower girl in the wedding.


left: Mary Ann DENBO ROBERSON (1857-1916)

One day grandmother Rhoda and I went to visit Mrs. Roberson [Mary Ann DENBO ROBERSON (1857-1916)] the mother of Bill, James and Rubin [Reuben Russell ROBERSON (1893-1959)], etc. While sitting in the kitchen a black snake crawled up the step from the cellar. I jumped on grandmothers lap and wouldn’t get down. Mrs. Roberson said the snake lived in the cellar. The cellar door was in the floor of the kitchen, they had a railing around it so they wouldn’t fall in. She said the snake also had the run of the kitchen and they didn’t have any trouble with mice.

I remember hearing about John Scott, the husband of Aunt Prudy [Prudence SEATON SCOTT (1848-1918)], shooting their cow. He came into the kitchen, got his gun and wnt out and shot the cow. He was mad because the cow would not give down her milk when he tried to milk her.

I remember going with Uncle Bill [William Fielding ROBERSON (1888-1978)] and Aunt Eva to English [Indiana] to visit with Aunt Anne. I was about 12 or 13 years old. Uncle Bill had just got his first car. A Model To Ford. We left right after breakfast and reached Aunt Anne’s in time for supper. It seems we took off on lanes instead of roads. Once we ended on top of a hill with nowhere to go. When we finally reached English, we had to ford a creek below the homestead. Aunt Eva told Bill he would get. Stuck but he said he would make it. About half way across, sure enough we were stuck. Bill had to wade across and go get a team of horsed to pull us out. I remember Aunt Anne had a rabbit and the best baked beans I’ve ever tasted.

While there we went to a revival at Tunnel Hill Church. Uncle Jim [James Washington ROBERSON (1875-1964)] hooked up the wagon, put hay in the bed with covers and we sat on the hay. Everyone took lanterns and they were used at the church for light.

Note from
Ernest [Lovedale] Henry (1917-)
Written 1987

My mother told me once that my Grandfather Albert Seaton [brother of James Thomas SEATON] went to Arkansas and farmed. He didn’t like it there or maybe he was homesick so he traded the farm for a team of horses and a wagon and come home, which I assumed was Grantsburg, Crawford Co. Indiana.

Since Mary Elizabeth (Riggle) Seaton [mother of Albert and James Thomas] was not in the 1870 census it may have been she went to Arkansas also.

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Snakes note: Garland Lee REASOR told his son they used to keep black snakes in the corn crib on the farm in English. The snakes were there to eat the mice.

Ancestry chain: JR, MRR, Grandma Wanda, Reuben Russell ROBERSON, Mary Ann DENBO - (Mrs Roberson)
Ancestry chain: CR, MRR, Grandma Wanda, Edna Lula SEATON, james Thomas SEATON & Rhoda Helen BAYSINGER- (grandfather James & grandma Rhoda)