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Home of Reuben Thomas May,
where he lived from about 1917 until 1937.
Photos courtesy of Eldon J. May &
Emilee Clevinger Jones
Quotes from Edna May Clevinger's memories of
the second reunion.
(Edna added notes in parentheses)
[notes added in brackets to help
clarify the story]
At the Second reunion John Thomas, Uncle
Dave and Aunt Marie's son, and I had our pictures taken on the rocks
where we went up the hill back of the house. Also Aunt Matilda and
her niece had their picture taken on the same rock. John and I had
our pictures taken on a rock at the foot of the hill going down to
the river on the left of the rocks on the hill. There was a lane
leading down to the river. The mountain was on the right hand of the
lane and the river ran on the left about 50 feet from lane. The swing
bridge was very long across Blain Creek. The Creek was 99 miles long
and required 100 miles to be called a river, so it was called Little
Blain. [This is a myth which is
repeated about a number of creeks in Eastern Kentucky, including
Johns Creek which flows through Pike and Floyd Counties].
If I remember correctly, the swing
bridge went into the trees a long way on each side of the creek. John
and I had pictures taken on the bridge on our way facing Uncle Tom's
side towards R.T. May's old home place. I also have a picture of Aunt
Lucille and some of us on the bridge. [Edna's
uncle, Tom May (b. 1905), was R.T. May's youngest child. He was
married to Lucille Muncy (b. 1908), so they were only a few years
older than Edna (b. 1915).]
Edna May and first cousin, John
Thomas May
The picture of the table was in the
front yard. [Not shown].
I was walking toward the house, the creek was across a big bottom at
my back. The walk led toward the lane leading to the swing bridge and
cheek where the picture of John and I was taken. The table was for
cakes, pies and other desserts. The food table was usually placed on
the end of this table toward the lane and bridge. The group picture
was taken just beyond the dessert and food tables. [A
group photo wasn't provided for this reunion. This may be a
reference to the group picture at the 1931
reunion.]
The house has two stories
with three large bedrooms upstairs where they had shuck mattresses on
the beds. These mattresses were made of corn shucks pup into bed
ticking. There were three large rooms downstairs, a hall and an
el-shaped back porch facing the cemetery and hill. The cliffs were on
the hill toward the back and front side of the house - the upper
right on the picture I have of the house. The hand-dug well was under
the trees to the lower left of the pictures. The house had two large
chimneys and large three-foot wide fireplaces in the two front rooms.
It had a front porch and porch swing on the right side facing the
house. Granddad owned hundreds of acres, big bottoms which led toward
the creek which flowed by the front of the house circling around and
down to the main road, where the mail boxes were located. Several
people lived along the creek on large farms between R.T. May's and
the main road, which we reached before we came to the town of Louisa.
It was located north of town.
The Mays and others that were buried on
the hill cemetery were moved somewhere around Big Blain. [The
farm was flooded in a 2,300 acre lake behind the Yatesville Dam in 1988
and now is part of a Kentucky State Park.] We went to
the May reunions several years. Moma only went to two. Mack Justice
went one year. He, John, Minnie and I went for a boat ride that year.
Aunt Mattie quarreled at us, afraid that we could have drowned. I
remember that John said, ". . . and I've known people sitting on
a park bench, sneeze and die."[NOTE:
Mack Justice {1909-1965} was the child of Dulcie's sister, Laura,
who drowned when he was an infant. He was reared by Crit and Dulcie
from the time he was about a year old.]
[The
following probably refers to the 1931
reunion, since Dulcie died in 1935..]
I remember that Moma [Dulcie
Adkins May] would go upstairs and have us talk to her
and make noise when the men were killing a lamb for cooking. They
didn't have refrigerators then, so they killed the lamb the day
before the big dinner. They hung the lamb in the large tree left of
the well back of the house. They put some food in the well with
buckets and rope [to keep it cool].
R.T. and Joanah [Edna's
grandparents] invited the neighbors to the Sunday and
Monday Labor day dinner. |
