Roxie: Daughter of the Mountains

Reece Kimsey Becky

Description

North Carolina, 1890Anticipation tempered by the uncertainty of her changing life swirl through Roxies heightened emotions. She is leaving her home and family in the North Carolina mountains to start married life in Georgia with her new husband. Crazy in love with Will, she still feels an aching conflict as she leaves her beloved family. Being her parents sixth daughter with a natural inclination towards the outdoors has made Roxie the family tom-boy and her Poppas steadfast helper. As much as she desires this future with Will in their tiny cabin nestled in the north Georgia mountains, she is well aware that arriving in the dead of winter presents its own problems. Still, overriding her joy or worries is an overwhelming homesickness. Wearied by the dawn to dust fight to eke out a sufficient life on this tiny spot of land, Roxie and Will discover much of their strength comes from leaning on each other and Wills sizeable family. But it is the generous providence of a loving God that sustains them the most. As days and years swell into a ceaseless flow of triumphs, backward steps, tears and joys, the love that binds them together stretches again and again to allow for every rough or unforeseen bend in their journey.A moving, inspiring novel, Roxie: Daughter of the Mountains shares the remarkable resilience of one womans spirit.

Sujets

• Historical fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Inspiring Voices
• Date de parution: 06 février 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781462405022
• Langue: English

Extrait

ROXIE: DAUGHTER OF THE MOUNTAINS
Becky Reece Kimsey
 
 


 
Copyright © 2013 Becky Reece Kimsey .
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
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Inspiring Voices
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ISBN: 978-1-4624-0503-9 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4624-0502-2 (e)
ISBN: 978-1-4624-0504-6 (hc)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013900943
 
Inspiring Voices rev. date: 2/05/2013
Contents
Acknowledgements : For Roxie, Daughter Of The Mountains
Chapter 1
1886---Roxie At Home With Mama And Poppa
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
1890---Roxie Takes A Husband
Chapter 5
Our Little Home In Union County
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Baby Joins The Family
Chapter 14
Owltown 1891
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Spring 1892
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
1894 Going Home To Macon County
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Winter 1895
Chapter 21
Barnbuilding 1895
Chapter 22
Fall 1899
Chapter 23
Winter 1902
Chapter 24
1903 Fall
Chapter 25
1905
Chapter 26
1908 A Sweet Summer With Sorrows!
Chapter 27
1909 Sad Losses And New Beginnings
Chapter 28
1910 Facing Changes
Chapter 29
Summer 1914
Chapter 30
Fall: 1917
Chapter 31
1918 At War
Chapter 32
Summer 1922
Chapter 33
April 8, 1924
Chapter 34
January 1929
Chapter 35
Fall 1935
Chapter 36
Sunday---December 31, 1939
 
 
Acknowledgements : For Roxie, Daughter of The Mountains
 
A thank you to Caroline R. Kimsey without whose meticulous genealogy work this book could not have happened. Our precious bond as sisters came through in All the generous encouragement and love!
For these who helped through this writing and into the publishing; either by their encouragement, constructive criticisms, assisting with my lack of computer skills or their consistent faith that it would come to fruition ----a huge thank you: Tammy Walker, Meg Mason, Ben Walker and Christy Kimsey.
Dennis Deitz gets a big recognition for his beautiful rendering of ‘Roxie and her mountains’ for the cover.
To Jean P. McCollum who did a fantastic, generous and time consuming job on the editing. You came through for me when I had no solution and earned my heartfelt and everlasting gratitude!
And finally a mention in memory of Alice Reece Hayes and Kate Reece Bradley, who through the years worked to record and preserve the Reece family history.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Chapter 1
1886---ROXIE AT HOME WITH MAMA AND POPPA
I should have brought my knitting, to work on while I’m waiting for Poppa to get back from hauling the wood down to the house. But it’s just too warm and beautiful to be doing such dreary work this afternoon. Sitting here on a freshly cut stump soaking in the scent of new-cut wood and basking in this soon-to-be-gone sunshine is the perfect way to spend this time. But a small nudge of guilt intrudes as I recollect Mama telling us to always use our time more wisely and our work will manage itself.
I wonder if Henley is helping Poppa unload and stack the wood or if Mama has let him skim by again and sent the girls to do the job. I know Mama was so worried about almost losing him when he was little, as they had little Avaline--while Poppa was gone to the war. And then later when I was only eight, baby Lydia had not lived past infancy. We know that it is not a good idea to mention these losses, because Mama will get that sad, lost look for days.
Poor Mama. She is such a good nurse and always there if any neighbor is sick or troubled. She’s had so much heartache herself but has never been one to complain. Mama always declares she has many more blessings than troubles.
Henley seems just not equipped for farm work, but then again Mama never pushes him to do what he isn’t inclined to do. Admittedly, in his quiet gentle way, he helps Poppa, as it is usually he who keeps all the harnesses oiled and mended and takes care of similar duties around the place. But I always leaned toward the belief that he would be stronger and healthier if he had to face up to more of the other responsibilities, instead of being encouraged to believe he will always be sickly and not hale and hardy. He has always been very finicky and delicate looking, and since he is Mama’s only boy, I guess even I can understand why she feels protective of him. Maybe because he is just younger than me, I feel inclined to see things different from Mama in this, but I can’t fathom what the future will hold.
Goodness knows, Poppa needs help, and often even I can’t help. I hate how hard he works with no one beside him. He never complains or seems to expect more, even though Mama has all us girls helping in the house and with garden chores. But then again if Henley helped Poppa, I wouldn’t have these days and times with Poppa. I do so love our work together and being outside. Henley has never displayed one iota of interest in things of that nature. I like taking the other end of the crosscut saw with Poppa teaching me just how to pull it so as not to bend it or put it in a bind. I feel very much needed and ever so close to Poppa, and we work smoothly together till each job is finished. It gives me a good deal of pleasure to hear Poppa brag that I’m his strong help and that anything others teach their sons, “My Roxie can do.”
Of course that’s not strictly true. Poppa forbids me to work with the ax most of the time, and when we are putting up hay in the summer, I can fork the hay into the wagon but not up and into the barn loft. My part is to fork it back to the farthest corners of the barn loft as Poppa tosses it up with his pitchfork. I’m pretty sure he and Mama have come to some sort of an agreement on what they think constitutes totally a man’s work and not good for a girl to be doing. Mama never hesitates to wade into the dirtiest of jobs when necessary, and she expects the same of us for the most part. But I can also see that she has set limits on what she wants her girls to be and do.
I think Mama made herself a promise while Poppa was gone during the war, when her help consisted mostly of what the Indian, “Old Struttin,” could give out of his own meager and difficult life. She would never want us to struggle in that way. I’ve heard her tell about trying to plant a garden after Struttin plowed it with Grandmother Addington’s mule and then for the most part single-handedly harvesting the vegetables and corn, wheat, hay and other things they must have to get through till another season.
Even though Struttin and some of her folk cut and hauled wood to the cabin for cooking and heat, often there was not enough split. She soon had to learn to chop wood to ensure that they would not freeze or go hungry. Jenny was almost seven when Poppa went to war and was an immense help to Mama. She and five-year-old Elizabeth could weed the garden, pick vegetables, and mind the babies. Jenny, Elizabeth and Callie were there through those difficult days, although Callie was too small to be scarred by the memories of such demanding times. They were precious company, but still Mama felt isolated, lonely, and afraid.
After a cold steady rain one spring evening with the milking and chores done, she and the girls had enjoyed a warm and hearty supper. She then put the bars over the door for the night. Always thankful that the last time Poppa was home he had added a bar across both the top and bottom of the kitchen and front doors, besides the one across the middle that had always secured the doors for the night. He had felt compelled to warn Mama of the many stories being told of deserters passing back through the country pillaging, stealing, raping, and in some cases killing--especially where women were isolated and without protection of a family or a weapon.
Poppa always had to take the gun and horse with him when he went back to the fighting. Not that a gun would have done her much good, since she was too small to handle it and had never been acquainted with the use of a gun. Poppa had impressed upon her the importance of keeping the ax inside the door at night because it was their only weapon. It was also important that it not be used as a weapon against them. Mama was very diligent about that.
That chilly evening she had read them a comforting passage in Psalms from the family Bible. They had prayed for protection for both themselves and Poppa, wherever he was. Mama always dreaded the nights and missed Poppa the most then, but something about this night disquieted her with a