Anita Springs

Shortly after the Revolutionary War, Lt. John Russell of Henrico, VA received a sizable land grant for his services to the United States.  Receiving nearly 3,000 acres of land in what was to later become Oldham County, Russell moved his wife Hannah and their 12 children to the new frontier.  Russell discovered his property continued one prominent and important feature, five natural limestone springs.  The prominent spring was located ½ mile from the center of downtown LaGrange. These natural limestone springs became very popular vacation spots, attracting families throughout the country that would bring their families to Kentucky for extended visits.  While some would come for the “curative powers” of the clear spring waters, others came merely for a season of socializing. These springs also became popular for mixing drinks such as bourbon and branch. 

By 1854, the railroad was running through the city of LaGrange and small resorts were built to accompany the tourists who would flee large, mosquito infested cities like Louisville in the summer to find relief in the countryside with cool springs. It was during time that resorts, such as the Royal Inn in LaGrange, were so popular. 

In 1877 Dr. James Thornley Berry and his wife, Anita, bought 200 acres of the property that was formerly owned by Lt. John Russell that contained the prominent spring.  Berry named the property, Anita Springs, after his wife, and began bottling the mineral spring water. Since the L&N Railroad passed thorugh Anita Springs property, Dr. Berry could easily ship jugs of his bottled water to friends in Louisville. 

By 1903, demands for Dr. Berry’s mineral water increased so that he felt obliged to start the Anita Water Company.  He located his office at 721 S. 2^nd Street in Louisville. Within a matter of months after establishing his business, ill health forced him to turn operations over to Robt. Brooke, husband of Berry’s daughter, Anita Anderson Berry Brooke.

With Dr. Berry’s death in 1905, Brook made several changes in the company.  He moved the office to 210 Pearl St. and constructed a bottling plant at that location.  The new site took advantage of the Interurban Electric Railway whose tracks ran parallel to the L&N Railroad tracks on the Anita Springs property.  With the convenience of a platform built by the Interurban Electric Railway on Anita Springs property, workmen could transport large barrels of water from the spring to the on-site loading facility.  From here the cargo of water would travel to the plant entrance in Louisville was made by Coleman Bennett using a horse and wagon.  The Berry family continued to run Anita Water Company until 1918 when it was sold.

Thanksgiving Day Celebrations

Persimmon Pudding
Submitted by Elizabeth Cull and Jeanne Gibson

Many years ago, my Mother and Father would patiently wait for fall to arrive, which meant persimmons would be ripe. They always gathered containers and piled into their old Ford for the long journey all the way to Crestwood in Oldham County. They knew of a big old persimmon tree by the railroad tracks and the bank, where they could pick up plump, juicy persimmons. They carefully avoided all of the honeybees and gathered as many persimmons as they could, as their mouth watered in anticipation of the tasty cookies and pudding that were to come.
At home they would patiently rub the fruit with a big wooden spoon, pushing the pulp thru a colander. It took quiet a few to produce a cup of golden pulp. Usually they froze the pulp in one-cup portions in cottage cheese cartons for Thanksgiving and Christmas. This was a time before zip bags and plastic containers were available in stores.
On Thanksgiving Day, the wonderful aroma of spices, sugar and persimmons would permeate the house as the persimmon pudding baked in the oven. Late in the day, we’d enjoy warm pudding with fresh whipped cream- the finale of a delicious turkey dinner with all the trimmings.
This tradition continues until this day, although the family has scattered to California, Maryland, Texas, North Carolina ,Georgia and Arkansas. We always keep an eye out for persimmon trees as we visit friends and travel in the fall; it’s always a thrill when we discover one.

Persimmon Pudding

1 pint persimmon pulp
1 pint milk
2 eggs, separated
½ cup sugar
4 tablespoons melted butter
2 cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon soda
1 rounded teaspoon baking powder

Mix egg yolks, sugar and pulp together. In another bowl, sift flour, soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together. Beat egg whites until stiff. Add milk and flour mixture alternately to pulp mixture. Add melted butter and then fold in beaten egg whites. Pour into a greased 1 ½ quart casserole and bake 1 hour in a 325 F degree oven. Test with a toothpick until it comes out clean. As soon as the pudding comes from the oven, spoon immediately into a large bowl. Serve with whipped cream or orange sauce.

Amber Pie
Submitted by Cindy Jeffries Barr

This recipe came from my great-grandmother Sally Bett Smizer who was married to Hubbard Buckner Goodrich. They had a farm in Ballardsville. Sally wrote a social column for the Oldham Era from around the turn of the century up until the 1940s, when she passed away. This recipe is a family favorite that has been passed down. The name comes from the color of the pie. Because it is so rich and full of delicious calories, we now serve it as a special treat only twice a year, at Thanksgiving and at Christmas

Amber Pie
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
½ cup sweet cream
½ cup butter
1 cup blackberry jam
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in a little bit of water

Combine first 6 ingredients in a saucepan on top of the stove. Once this mixture is warm, slowly stir in cornstarch. Cook over medium heat until thick- do not boil. This can take 15 minutes or more. Pour into a baked pie crust and refrigerate.

Ripe Persimmon

An Example of a Kate Mathews Photograph

Kate Matthews, Accomplished Photographer (1870-1956)

 

 

Kate Matthews was one of the first, well-known women photographers in the country. During her lifetime, she printed hundreds of photographs and her work was shown in galleries and museums around the country, including New York’s Whitney Museum of Art and in permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

Kate spent most of her childhood and adult years in Pewee Valley, living in her family home  known as Clovercroft.  She was one of eight children born to Lucien and Charlotta Ann Matthews.  Most of her photographs center around people and places of the Pewee Valley community, befriending and photographing nearly everyone she ran across, including the town minstrel, Jim Felton, who often played for her, and Abe Parker, a laborer she would hire to pick up her trash.

She had whooping cough as a child that damaged her eyesight and rendered her fragile throughout her life.  She could not attend public school so she was tutored at home. Her father was a camera enthusiast and Kate became interested in all phases of his photography.  Her father, noting her interest, bought her first camera for her at 16 years of age.  It was a large, heavy box with a tripod, an extra fine lens and a case of glass plates, as big as a bread box.  Throughout her life she used this camera, developing and printing her own pictures, long after paper film became available.

In the early Pewee Valley days she had a cart and pony to help transport her camera and equipment.  Her work is characterized by a romanticized scene and she often had subjects poised and posed, many times reflecting earlier times.  Kate’s subjects ranged from the people and places in her neighborhood to staged tableaus of author Annie Fellows Johnston’s storybook characters from the Little Colonel series.  Johnston and Matthews were contemporaries who knew each other and their families.  It was Matthews who produced the “Little Colonel” postcards that are collector items today.

Lillian Bratcher, a cousin of Kate’s described her work in the following:  “As simple as that were all her masterpieces, as simple as light itself.  She saw beauty and even captured

 The Confederate Home in Pewee Valley was created to house veterans from the Civil War that served in the Confederate Army.

The Confederate Home

In 1901, the Kentucky State Legislature introduced an act to support a Confederate Home for veterans that had served in the Confederate army during the Civil War.  Many of these veterans had lost their families and finances during the reconstructive period.  In 1902, 40 acres in Pewee Valley that included the home of Villa Ridge was dedicated by Governor J. C. W. Beckham, as the Confederate Home of Kentucky and an infirmary was added a year later.  Gov. Beckham’s speech included the following:

“Kentucky must not be considered tardy and neglectful in making this provision for her gallant sons who followed the flag of the Confederacy; for it should be remembered that the soldier of the South, who passed through the terrible ordeal of the war and the far more terrible ordeal of the reconstruction, with his spirit tested in the fire of defeat and suffering, come through it all as a proud and independent American citizen.  He has asked nothing but the rights guaranteed him by the Constitution and the privilege of earning by his own brawn and brain an honest living, faithful to his obligations as a man and his duties as a citizen.”

By 1908 there were 348 veterans registered as living at the Confederate Home.  Additional land was purchased at the Pewee Valley Cemetery as a burial site for the veterans, many who had no living relatives, others who wanted to be buried with the men of whom they had served in battle.  Today there are 313 veterans buried at the Confederate Cemetery.

Many of the veterans had served under John Hunt Morgan, Lee Jackson and the fourth Kentucky Infantry, “Orphan Brigade”. The Confederate Home Messenger was a monthly publication for the veterans that gave accounts of war experiences as well as information about upcoming events and news from the Confederate Home.  The following is an account taken by Capt. Thompson of veteran Taylor McCoy who was a private in the Orphan Brigade and detailed as a sharp shooter.

“While occupying his position [Private McCoy] in the corps of sharp shooters, he had been shot at several times by an invisible foe. Screening himself from danger as best he could, he scanned with searching eyes the ground in front of him.  Looking higher he saw the top branches of a tree swaying gently back and forth. Ah! There was his foeman.  Looking through his telescopic sights, he located his man and fired.  A piercing cry and a boy fell from the treetop.  McCoy, unnerved, dropped to the ground, and when Major Heweitt ran to him, and asked him if he was hurt, he said, “No Major, I am not hurt, but I have killed a boy,” adding, “I did not come here, Major, to fight boys, but men.”  Truly has it been said: “The bravest are the tenderest.”

On March 25, 1920, a fire destroyed the main building and west wing of the infirmary. After major repairs from the fire, the Home was kept open until an Act approved by the state legislature, March 17, 1934, provided for the sale of the Pewee Valley property.  At that time there were 5 veterans left in the Home and they were removed to the Pewee Valley Sanatorium (which is now the location of the Friendship Manor Nursing Home).

Author of the Little Colonel Series, Annie Fellows Johnston

Most don’t realize that Oldham County Kentucky, was the backdrop for a popular children’s series of books in the early 20^th Century.  Annie Fellows Johnston was a celebrated author of children’s fiction form the 1890s until her death in 1931 and is best known for her “Little Colonel” novels centered around old Kentucky’s aristocracy, and in particular, one girl, Lloyd Sherman, who was nicknamed the “Little Colonel.

 It was while visiting her relatives, the Burges, in Pewee Valley (Oldham County, Kentucky) that Johnston met five-year-old Hattie Cochran and her grandfather, Colonel George Washington Weissinger, the inspirations for the characters Old Colonel Lloyd and Little Colonel Lloyd Sherman in her now classic first tale, The Little Colonel.  Published in 1895, the book proved so popular that more stories soon followed.  Though Johnston planned to complete the series several times, her fans compelled her to keep writing.  The last book in the series, The Little Colonel Stories, Part 2, was published just months before she died.  The series’ fame reached zenith in 1935 when Twentieth Century Fox released “The Little Colonel” film starring Shirley Temple and Lionel Barrymore.

  Many scenes in the “Little Colonel” stories take place in fictional Lloydsborough Valley-Johnston’s pseudonym for Pewee Valley.  And many of the characters, homes, businesses, and churches in the stories were based on real people and places in the charming little turn-of-the-century resort town where it seemed to the authoress as if all the world were on holiday.

            Johnston revealed some of her characters’ true identities in her autobiography, The Land of the Little Colonel. Others were mentioned in the forewords to her books and on “Little Colonel” promotional postcards.  The following letter, courtesy of the Filson Historical Society, is written by Hattie Cochran to Elizabeth Kathleen Hansborough divulging how Johnston wove real people, places and even pets into the “Little Colonel” stories.

July 17, 1907

Pewee Valley, Ky.

Dear Elizabeth:

I am the real Little Colonel though everything in the books are not true.

You ask is my home like Mrs. Johnston describes it, sorry to say it is not, though there is a real Locust not far from where I live, where my Grandfather, Colonel Weissinger used to stay.  Perhaps you know of Mr. Harry Weissinger who has a summer home in Shelbyville, he was my Grandfather’s brother.

All of the Waltons are real, and the Beeches, the name of their place, is right in Pewee.  Also the haunted house of Hartwell Hollow.

Mrs. Macintyre really Mrs. Craig lives opposite Mrs. Lawton, her daughter.  I suppose you know they are general Lawton’s family and Miss Allison or Miss Craig is my teacher.  She is just as lovely a character out of the stories as in.

The MacIntyre boys are the Culbertsons of Louisville and Rob Moore’s real name is Muir Semple.  He does not live in Pewee, but Oaklea is here and he often visits his cousin Anna Moore or Anna Muir.

Betty is real but I do not know her.

Mrs. Johnston has met girls like Eugenia and Joyce and thought she would use their characters in the books, of course you know everything in fiction cannot be true.

Phil is also fiction and so is Mary Ware.

Mom Beck is real and so was Fritz (her Scotch and Skye terrier) but is now dead.

The Little Colonel or the first book was practically the truest and all the others, some parts are true and others are not.

Perhaps you think I am grown but I am not, as I am only sixteen, though in the books she has made me much older.

Hoping you will not be disappointed in knowing the real truth.

Very Sincerely,

Hattie Cochran

  Tim Dixon, Korean War Veteran

In 2001, The Oldham County History Center joined with the Library of Congress and the AARP to begin a series of oral histories collected from veterans in our area.  Below is an excerpt from one of our oral histories transcribed by history center staff, Jan Jasper. 

The oral history interview was conducted by Paulette Carey and the recording operator was Shirley Orr.

The Veterans Oral history Project

Korean Veteran Tim Dixon

            Tim Dixon enlisted in the U. S. Army in November 1948.  Tim was from Cumberland, Ky. when he enlisted in the Army because jobs were scarce.  “The only job available would be in a coal mine, and I had seen what it would do to people, including my dad.  It made a seventy-five year old man out of a young man; breathing all that coal dust.  So I didn’t want any part of that coal mine and I dropped out of high school and joined the Army.”

            “I served in the Korean Conflict.  That’s what they called it – a conflict.  But to me it was an all-out war. My job was machine gunner in the Korean War.  We had 30 caliber machine guns and also a water tank on that.  In the winter time we had to use that and put antifreeze in there to keep our weapons from freezing up.    If it froze up, it wouldn’t fire.  I was in Korea 15 to 16 months; the tour of duty was one year.  We just couldn’t get enough replacements to fill in the ones who lost their lives. [There were] ..a lot of casualties, about 50,000 of them.”

            Tim recalled how his platoon operated. “Like I said, I was on machine guns.  A platoon consists of four squads and we had eight machine guns, four for the winter and four for the summer.  And we would lie down on a hill if we done took that hill from the Koreans, we’d lie down and dig in pretty close together.  And we had a real good laugh out of this.  Everything that the Koreans eat, they put garlic in it.  The main food is fish and rice and soybeans and garlic.  We would be in our foxholes at night and we had made up what to do if they tried to slip up on us. And they were good at it too.  They ate so much garlic that when they perspire, it would come out on their clothes.  We could smell them before we could see them.  Who ever smelled the garlic first passed it down the line.  When it got a little bit slow, we would just open up and fire the devil out of them and tell the count the next day.  I don’t think they ever figured out what happened to them.  The alert, and everything you know, was we would smell that garlic, we sure did.”

            Tim went on to say the food rations were minimal.  “What little food we did get was C-rations….. There are the times we were following the North Koreans so fast that we went off and left our supplies and we would have to wait.  Sometimes we need the ammunition and we couldn’t go forward; we didn’t have enough ammunition.  And we averaged one meal a day, I would say.  And the water was extremely important.  The only water we received came from a Navy ship, a de-salting ship.  They took the salt out of ocean water and had tanker trucks at the dock to haul it in to us, but you could only wait so long if you’re real thirsty. We crossed this one river and our sergeant told us, ‘Do not drink this water because there are dead bodies in there.’. Right in front of us, I seen this one dead soldier.  I was so thirsty; I just walked out holding my canteen in the water. I don’t want to die from thirst or die from a bullet. I filled that canteen up and took a drink of it and filled it back up and went about my business.  We had chlorine to put in it; chlorine to put in it to purify it.  You’re supposed to wait 24 hours to drink it.  I didn’t even use it.  You couldn’t drink the water if you put it in there.  It might have been ready in 24 hours, but my thirst was calling for it right now.”

            Tim received three Purple Hearts for injuries received during combat. “We were attacking this hill, and I guess I was holding my rifle up ready to fire at one of them  and a bullet hit me in the left wrist ricochet out and broke my wrist and they sent me back to Japan.  I was there about five or six weeks; I thought I was coming home.  But they said, ‘Naw, we are already short. It’s hard to get replacements.’  They couldn’t train them fast enough to come up to Korea and get killed. The second Purple I received, this Korean got awful close to me, and I don’t know how he did. He threw a hand grenade in and that shrapnel broke my legs.  This time I just went back to the MASH Unit.”  After that Dixon was ready to go home but his sergeant said he couldn’t leave until his replacement came.  “For the third time, I got wounded was with the artillery shell coming in.  I could hear it coming but I didn’t know where it would hit.  I was talking to our First Sergeant. At that time, that thing hit right between us and blew that sergeant half into in his back.  He died instantly.  They took my right hip off with a big piece of shrapnel and also a big piece under my arm.  I crawled quite a way and we had an Aide Station sitting back there the artillery couldn’t hit it.  ……  I was laying there with part of my pants gone, and I felt something wet in my shoe and it was my blood that filled my shoe up. I told the Medic, “You’d better come here.” I wasn’t in pain because they fill you with morphine. He said, “That’s no problem”. I told them, “I’m bleeding to death! You gotta get me outta here.”  And he looked me over and said, “Well, I’ll send you on the next flight out.” And so he did. And I got to Japan, and the Captain brought another Purple Heart.  I said, “I don’t need any more, I’ve already got two.”  He said, “Well, you’ve got three, now.” 

            Tim Dixon passed away on July 4, 2003.  His wife Rosa lives in LaGrange.  They have 4 children and 4 great-grandchildren.

U. S. Highway 42 was one of the most traveled routes in the United States because it was the connector between Cincinnati and Louisville before the Interstate 71 was opened in1970.  There were many road houses, motels and restaurants located along the Hwy. 42 corridor.  Chicken Trail Inn was a very popular restaurant noted for its delicious steaks and fried chicken.  The following is taken from

from the history center’s cookbook, History by Food: Stories and Recipes about the Food and Families of Oldham County, Kentucky which is on sale at the Oldham County History Center gift shop:

Chicken Trail Inn

            Anyone and everyone who lived in Oldham County during the 1940s through the 60s still remembers the great steaks (Rib Eye dinner @ $4!) served at Chicken Trail Inn.  The Roquefort Cheese Dressing is a classic- if you can just find someone to share it with (makes up a gallon!!!!)  The beautiful farm house with it’s inviting front porch is till standing (Located by The Bank and close to Hillcrest Elementary School on Hwy. 42.) 

            The restaurant was owned and operated by Ruth and Ted Heyser. Ruth Heyser was a long standing resident of Oldham County.  She was very active in her community and church.  She volunteered at the hospital and served on the Cooperative Extension Board.  She was a member of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels in 1971, helped organize the Crossroads Homemakers Club, and also supported and served for many years, senior citizens in LaGrange and Oldham County.  Ruth also owned a business for several years and taught ceramics at the Chicken Trail Inn.  Ruth was well known for her cooking and honored in April 1988 with a 2nd place win of the American Dairy Association with her pasta recipe, Noodles Southern Style.  She will always be remembered for her Barbecue Meatballs at large family gatherings.

            Ted Heyser was a native of Leitchfield, Kentucky.  Ted graduated from Jefferson School of Law and was a practicing attorney in Louisville for several years.  In 1942, he and Ruth  purchased a farm at Prospect and began the well-known “Chicken Trail Inn Restaurant” which they owned and operated they retired in  1969.  He was also a great lover of thoroughbred horses; which he bred, raised, and raced. 

Ruth Heyser’s Meatballs and Sauce

Meatballs

2 lbs ground beef

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal

1 cup cracker crumbs

2 eggs

½ cup chopped onion

½ teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons of salt

2 teaspoons of chili powder

Mix all ingredients together and shape into walnut size meatballs.  Can be frozen.

Sauce

2 cups ketchup

1 cup brown sugar

½ teaspoon liquid smoke

½ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ cup chopped onion

Mix sauce ingredients together.  Can be frozen.

When ready to use meatballs and sauce:

Mix meatballs and sauce together in a roaster.  Cook in 350 degree oven  for 45-60 minutes.

Chicken Trail Roquefort Cheese Dressing

1 ¾ cup Treasure Cave brand blue cheese (cut in small chunks)

About 10 drops of Tabasco sauce

About 10 drops of garlic juice

2 tablespoons of Worchester sauce

1 pint buttermilk

2 ounces apple cider vinegar

Mayonnaise

Stir first four ingredients gently until thoroughly mixed.  Do not beat!  Leave very lumpy.

Stir in gently the buttermilk and vinegar.  Gently fold in enough mayonnaise to make the mixture measure a gallon.

Better refrigerated three or four days before using

Dr. Stanton Bryan: Pioneer Physician

Mrs. Adelaide Bryan

Stanton Pierce Bryan was born in 1827, the son of Dr. Edmund and Lettie Pierce Bryan and had 14 siblings. Three of the 15 children followed their father’s profession and became medical doctors, Bryan being one of them. At 22, Dr. Stanton left his family home in Wayne County and traveled to Louisville in hopes of entering medical by earning money for his tuition teaching at a country school. He found a job in Oldhamsburg (now Skylight) for a summer term and there he met a student who would become his future wife, Adelaide Thomas. He was admitted to medical school for the season of 1851-52 and received his degree in medicine. He and Adelaide Thomas were married in 1853.
In January of 1854 Bryan took over the practice of Dr. Kellar in Brownsboro and was the practicing physician there for the next 40 years. The following are some stories and excerpts from diaries and stories from the Bryan’s experiences in Oldham County that were compiled by his granddaughter, Adelaide Bostick.
“On one dark night, Dr. Bryan was trying to reach a place somewhere near Buckner. He was riding, he thought, on the right trail when suddenly his horse stopped short and no amount of urging would induce him to take another step. There was nothing to do but to give him the reins. The animal immediately turned in the opposite direction, and finally their destination was reached. Next morning, the doctor went over the same ground and found that he had ridden to the very verge of a point where another step would have precipitated both horse and rider to probable destruction.”
The lack of dentists also expanded Bryan’s practice into dentistry and he took a special course in dentistry and fitted his office with full dental equipment. One of the doctor’s favorite stories was about a slow-spoken, old gentleman who announced to the doctor: “Doc, you know I’m a pore [sic] man and we can’t afford a mouthful of gold plugs like some; but I’m willing to do my part by my family, and I’ve told my three girls they can have one apiece.”
To further his education, Bryan took a trip to Europe for six months to attend lectures and clinics at a number of different hospitals from November 1856 to May 1857. The following are some letters written by wife, Adelaide to her husband in Europe about news from Brownsboro:

Feb. 21, 1857
(excerpt) Mrs. James Allen is sick, has the chills. They have not called a physician. Mrs. Allen says she wishes very much your were here and said I must tell you to come as quick as possible for her benefit. Feb. 22 (continuation of same letter) Josie has been right sick all day –has a severe cough, pain in her breast and side. I put a mustard plaster on her breast and have been giving her some cough drops you left. I have given her enough cough drops to vomit her and she has breathed easier since. I did not go to church today. Brother went. Cousin John Milton and his little girl took dinner with us and little Fannie had a chill. So you see we need you at home badly, yes very badly. Feb. 24th (still same letter) We are alone tonight. Brother (went to Westport) and has not gotten home and it is too dark and rainy to send for Mr. Caldwell. I am a little afraid to stay here without some gentleman in the house. However, I will try to be brave and not think of fear…Lou Carroway is very sick. Dr. James says she has Winter Fever. Cousin John Milton thinks she has pneumonia, and is talking about sending for some other physician—he is wishing very much you werer here.
March 23rd…..Tuesday evening I went up to Mrs.Bottorff’s on the omnibus and a rough ride we had. Bettie [infant daughter] was afraid of the cars and seemed badly frightened when they whistled. I have been gardening today, planted peas, radishes and lettuce and set my onions. Mr. Barrackman has promised to plant my Irish potatoes tomorrow. He broke up my garden while I was in Indiana.

Lucy Mary Jane Waters with Husband, Richard Waters

Before grocery stores were convenient ….
One of the oldest English families in the county is the Henshaw/Waters family that held the original land deed on Hermitage Farm on Hwy. 42 outside of Goshen. The family settled there in 1828 and sold the farm in 1936 to thoroughbred horse owner and breeder, Warner Jones. Some of the same family members also purchased Locust Grove in Louisville in the late 1800s and lived there for many years. The following is taken from a letter written by Elizabeth “Aunt Betty” Henshaw on Feb. 18, 1884 at Hermitage Farm, of items that she is sending to her sister, Lucy Mary Jane Henshaw Waters, who has just moved with her husband, Richard Waters, to Locust Grove in Louisville. George, that Elizabeth is referring to, is George Page, a slave that worked on the farm.. John (who is mentioned to be sick in this letter) is Lucy and Richard’s son. This letter is courtesy of a Water/Henshaw descendant, Lucy Waters Clausen.

Feb. 18, 1884
Sister Jane,
At last George has been after the fruit trees and has deposited them in the cellar for safe keeping and will be obliged to start from here when he goes tomorrow – so I will be sure to catch him- and I have gotten as many things ready to send by him, as I expect he can carry. All the eggs I sent are fresh laid – those in the old water bucket are the newest – have been laid since last Thursday. They are all packed in meal which will be good for use. I sent a box containing some of the large meat dishes that are “doing nothing” here and which I know you need. For you surely did not take anything with you and I know you have needed things to use for setting meat away in. I have at last “fished out” some of the crockery that I brought up here, among other things the plates . .so I sent you eight of those that have been used regularly on the table; those that are left, together with what I brought up here, give me an ample supply’ until I know John will be glad to have one of these to eat out of for he says your new plates “won’t hold as well as a saucer”. I also sent six of those great big plates because they are so handy to use for so many purposes. You will see that I have reserved the whitest and best of them and sent you the refuse of the lot and also white I only sent you six. I kept a whole dozen. In the box that has the bagging around it I sent your cucumber catsup, at least, as much of it as was not utterly spoilt – and I filled up the empty space around the jar with some jars of preserves for you left nearly the whole stock of preserves here and you know we do not need them. In this box I put an egg (tied up in paper) which was quite a curiosity to me. I boiled it so that it might not daub up the jars if it was broken. Lest you should be bothering about the kegs boxes and so on that I send the things in. I will just say that I have no use for them –there is plenty of some sort left so don’t send them back.
I hope to hear that John has gotten well: I have been very anxious to hear how he got along with his small pox or whatever he had. I forgot to say, I put three beef tongue in the box with the dishes right on top along side of your black pitcher and your little bowls and tin pan. The barrel of hams I sent will do to use, Edmund says, as he probed them all but be sure to get rid of them before the skippers hatch out in them or they will get into your new meat. I started to smoke this meat today. I am having what meat bags have found, washed and will send them to you another time. Good night, and God be with you.

Your affectionate sister
Elizabeth

The following is taken from tapes of Veterans Oral History Project in conjunction with the Library of Congress at the Oldham County History Center.  The interview was conducted on Ruth Lowry Lewis Murray, a Red Cross employee during WWII by Earl Orr on April 20, 2002 and transcribed by Jan Jasper.

Ruth was born on June 12, 1920 in Crestwood, KY , graduated from Crestwood High School and Transylvania University.  After graduation from Transylvania she did graduate study at Syracuse University in New York.  She joined the Red Cross overseas service in 1944 through January of 1946.  Ruth was sent to Calcutta at the Red Cross headquarters and then given her longterm assignment.

 “I was assigned to an Air Force Base known as the 305^th Air Service Command at a place called Ondal, India, where there were nearby bomber bases and First Air Commando Base which both of them had active duty in Burma and China and Southeast Asia. There were two American Red Cross Clubs already established on this Air Force Base.  I served in one of them along with four other women, Club Director and three staff assistants.  There were times when the Clubs had five women working in them.  We had in the Club - it was a large kind of stucco, thatched roof building, low flat one story building - known as Club 690, which was our APO number. That was the Post Office for over seas people, military as well, for our base. We had music, we had record players, and we had a game room, and we had a great big center lounge.  We scheduled ping pong tournaments.  There would be people who came through who were national ping pong champions and we’d schedule those.  We had contests between officers and enlisted men.  We had a canteen where we served hamburgers and doughnuts – famous dough nuts that the Red Cross is known for - probably some other food. …… Those kinds of activities, you know, as best we could.  We were often short. That whole Theater, China-Burma-India was the last on what we called ‘the pipeline’….  Most of the war material and supplies from this country to the service people went to the South Pacific and Europe, because those were the big military pushes.  So we were the last to get supplies, although we did get some, not just Red Cross, but military, too.”

On the base where Ruth worked they “repaired Air Force planes, the parachutes, and all kinds of equipment.  We had planes of all types: fighter planes, bomber planes, cargo planes that were brought to our base for repair, and we were in a large area that, as I said, had a bomb group, the Seventh Bomb Group.  They essentially had B-24 bombers that flew all over Southeast Asia and China Coast bombing.  Then we had the First Air Commandos that were the glider pilots that went in Burma behind enemy lines.  General Stilwell trained Chinese troops a bit north of our base. There were a lot of Chinese troops trained by the American military to fight in Burma.  You may have heard, or seen on TV, Merrill’s Marauders.  They did very rough fighting in Burma.  It was horrible, you know, their worst enemy was the snakes, bugs, ants, disease - malaria, dysentery, and Dengue fever – all the tropical diseases.  That killed a lot of Merrill’s Marauders that fought in the jungles in Burma.  They had just finished.  They were under a General named Merrill.  That’s why they were called Merrill’s Marauders.  They were asked to do - they were volunteers that were asked to do - some special fighting.  I think when they signed up; they didn’t think it would be that rough.  And they had just finished their campaign, essentially, when I got to India.  The nurses that took care of many of them said they were just almost like animals, our servicemen, because they had had it so rough.”

            Ruth left Calcutta on a troop ship in December, 1945 through the Suez Canal to the Atlantic Ocean to New York City on a ship with 3,300 on a very rough trip through the winter Atlantic Ocean storms.  There were nurses, enlisted men, officers and ex-prisoners of war on the ship.  “I’ll never forget, one woman with a little girl coming into New York harbor, and she was kind of bleary-eyed, but she said, “Isn’t this beautiful?”  She had been interned as a prisoner of war in Java, I believe, for years.  She looked at the Statue of Liberty and she said, “Isn’t it beautiful. I’ve come into this harbor many times too hung over to appreciate it, but I certainly do now. The Japanese were merciless, really, really cruel to their prisoners of war.  You’ve heard of the Bataan Death March, I’m sure?”