at the Turn of the Century
| Life in Sperryville, Virginia, at the Turn of the Century |
|
| The following is a transcription of a letter from Carrie Lee Woodard Barham to her brother, Hayward Woodard, written over 100 years ago. The details within give us a poignant view of life in a small rural town in 1901 or 1902. |
Dear Brother,
I will try and write you a few lines to let you hear from me. I am not very well at this time and am very weak. Well, my health is very poor lately. I hope when these few lines comes to hand they may find you all well. Elmer, May and Mary are well and fat as pigs. May says tell you she can read everything in her first reader and write her name. Elmer says to tell you he is not old enough to go to school but he can learn his Sunday School lessons. They both go to Sunday School every Sunday. Miss Annie Wood is May's school teacher. They are going to have a fine commencement this Monday. Well, I am still living in Mrs. Swindler's office. There has been lots of sickness and deaths around here. Typhoid fever is just raging . Jet Menifee, Gilbert Compton, Cleveland Jefferson, Jim Estes little boy and Mrs. Swindler's cook, Ada Malkes, have all died lately. Two deaths in one day and, Elis Brown is just alive and lots more are very sick. Well, there has been a fine church built here and a new street opened and three new house put on it. It is powerful dry here. Most gardens need rain bad but mine doesn't because I haven't any. I am not sorry. This hot weather we can buy vegetables as cheap as we can raise them. I would like to come down and see you all this summer and bring the children. Tell Willie I think he might write to me Some time. I got one letter from you some time ago and you did not give me your address and I could not write until Mother wrote to Fannie and I got the address from her. Tell Mama to write. I think you all might write. I am up here by myself. Papa is staying at Mrs. (Miat, Muiat, ?) Woods. All the kids send their love to you all. Tell mama that my little girls are called the prettiest girls in town and Elmer is a mighty pretty boy. Love to all ? write real soon. Tell me where Isaiah is. Give my love to him and Will and tell them to write.
 |
 |
The above photographs are of Major Swindler's home and "office" in Sperryville, Virginia, taken in 2001. The Major's main residence, the photograph to the left, is on the right side of Main Street, facing south with the Woodward Road intersection immediately across the street. The small building in the photograph on the right was Carrie's residence at the time but had previously been the Major's medical office.
Carrie's Lee's husband, Benjamin Franklin Barham, bought the small building in the rear and to the right of the main house for $50 per year for two years. His daughter Mary remembers that he renovated the building himself. The "Office" has undergone considerable change since then with the roofed concrete porch and attached shed added later. The original entry door, still there but now unused, was on the right side and is not visible in this view.
The Thornton River, actually a rather small stream, is directly behind the building and one can easily see Carrie's son, Elmer, throwing Major Swindler's spare wooden leg into the water because he and his sisters were afraid of it. The Major lost a leg in the War Between the States and wore a wooden leg thereafter. He apparently forgot one of his spares, leaving it in the attic of the office where the children found it and threw it into the river.
We don't know how long Carrie lived in this small house but we do know her husband was not there with her for much of the time since he had to travel to find work. They moved to Washington a year later where their son, Daniel, was born on December 19th, 1903.
The individuals mentioned in the letter:
|
In memorium: Pete Estes passed away in 2006. He was a fine man. He will be missed. |
