DANCYVILLE  UNITED  METHODIST  CHURCH

REMEMBERING  THE DANCYVILLE   COMMUNITY
Page  2

By  VAL  RUCKER  ROUTON

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Dear Buddy,

Thank you so much for your reply and valuing my Dancyville memories enough to preserve them. It was nice to get an update on your family.

Dancyville wasn’t just another rural village it was unusually unique in that all the families were so connected and loyal to each other. At your Aunt Mildred’s wedding everybody from Dancyville traveled to La Grange for the night wedding. Transportation in rural areas in those days, especially at night and dirt roads was limited - but they found ways to get there. I well remember my getting there. My father had gone to La Grange the day before for the rehearsal affair so I went the evening of the wedding, riding in a one seated "coupe" with my friend, Annie Marie Crawford, and her father, D. C. Crawford. ( Mr. Crawford in his 30’s and a very gregarious man, was the town’s "upcoming spokesman." He had the personality and nerve and "know how" to get things done. He is the one who helped my father get the new school - And he owned the town’s largest grocery store that his father managed for him along with farming and other interest - unfortunately he died a short time after Mildred’s wedding of appendectomy complications.) The night he drove Annie Marie and me to La Grange he drove rather fast (his usual trait) - We would hit dust holes and sometimes have to pull over to the side of the road in the "bottoms" (low places) to let on coming cars squeeze by. I remember being a little shocked one time when we were driving through a bottom (very dark and lots of trees) when Mr. D.C. stopped and checked the car pocket (near me) to check his loaded pistol. (My father never owned a gun and I had been taught to be afraid of all guns.) The rest of the drive I felt a little like I was in an armored tank!

You mentioned the Jones family that lived in the ante-bellum house by the cemetery. Mr., Jones’ daughter was "Alenne" and she had a Sunday afternoon visitor (when we lived there) and I believe he had "Jones" last name too (unrelated) - He was a small man who seemed to meet the requirements of her over protected father. I wonder if they ever married. Mr. Jones had a son "Gilliam" who had a business (maybe furniture store) in nearby Stanton, TN. He was also an undertaker in Stanton.

You mentioned "Pettus" - My father is a descendent of Col. Thomas Pettus of Williamsburg, VA. Do you think this might be the same family?

As a "side interest" of Dancyville, I remember some other families there.
The Joe Moore family - his wife "Miss Martha" and their 6 children. Dorothy, their oldest child was my age, who taught school many years and I believe compiled some Dancyville history. They lived next door to Key’s Grocery Store - in an old (interesting) house with a cook’s room in back. Sometimes we would go to the cook’s room and she would open an old trunk and show us pictures of her ancestors or other "treasurer" she had and share her "superstitions" with us. There were no windows in her room and when the door was closed her "superstitious" stories got pretty real - but we went back for more every chance.

The Moores were totally "children friendly." Every weekday afternoon a croquet set was set up in their front yard and that is where all the children and young people gathered to play croquet and visit. We took turns playing all afternoon - 15 or 20 people - Mr. Moore built seats around the trees. At the end of the afternoon he would bring several watermelons, cut them and pass the salt. Those afternoons were total "picnics." I don’t remember one single unpleasant minute those summer afternoons. We had jareberri? and jacks for alternative entertainment. It was our routine to clean up after lunch and head for the Moore’s front yard for croquet all afternoon. We had some pretty efficient croquet players by summer’s end.

The D. C. Crawford family lived next door to the Moores. They had a pretty ante-bellum house with a --------- house -

I noticed in the Commercial Appeal, some months ago Mrs. Crawford ("Miss Amy") had died at 102. She did not remarry after Mr. D.C. died. His father who lived with them, continued to run the grocery store. Her obituary listed only one (of 4) surviving children. I believe Anna Marie married a "Rhea" from Fayette County and a landowner near Joyners’ Camp Ground.

Another fine family was two sisters, "Miss Kit" Davis (? not sure of this name) , a widow, and her spinster sister, Hester Rawlings. They lived on a large farm about 1 ½ miles from Dancyville on Whiteville Highway. They had a house built around 1915 (modern in 1927.) They had lots of books and were great hostesses - and I guess they may have had more money than most of the other families. They were big financial supporters of the Dancyville Methodist Church.

Another interesting family was the Blacks. I do not know their connection to Dancyville - but even though "outsiders" they were embraced by all the families. Mr. Black was a professional dog trainer married to a stylish Canadian woman. They spent his working months of the year in Canada where he trained dogs, then with their three children spent the summer at their Dancyville home, located across the road from the Moores. They were a "breath" of another country. She was the only woman (I knew of) who had a full length fur coat! The first one I had ever seen. I had always seen coats with fur trim, but not one that was total fur! ( I guess I learned a lot more than I realized living in the tiny spot of Dancyville.)

The Dixon family was another known family. We got milk and butter from Miss Lillian Dixon (who lived across the road from your grandfather) and her house was So clean (I mean spotless) that the house almost felt hallowed. The bed with starched and ironed pillow cases on pillows that stood up on the headboard, were untouchable! The floors were so waxed they reflected like mirrors - She even had ironed cloths covering the milk churns! (I never sat down, the pillows in the chairs were too plumped) When I went to pick up the milk or butter.
Hugh (?) Dixon moved to Brownsville where he worked as a "demonstrator" (that’s what a car salesman was called) for the Chevrolet Agency. He is the one who sold my father our FIRST sedan - a green 1928 "closed in" (roll up windows) car. ( Our first was a T-Model and Mr. Malone could jump out of that T-Model when a sudden rain caught us out on a dirt road and jack up the wheels and get the chains on before we knew what was happening.) When we got the sedan it was like a limousine! We loved it and Malone preferred it to the T-Model too. Daddy never learned to drive the T-Model well, but he tried - so when Mr. Dixon brought the Chevrolet out and the sale was made, Then he took on teaching my father to drive it! And to learn in ONE lesson! He had my father sit beside him in the front seat while they drove 5 miles down the road to Daddy’s Church, "Taylor’s Chapel." Get the H in your mind - gear 1 start, gear 2 drive, gear 3 drive. left top of the H was reverse.

Then when they reached the church Mr. Dixon got out and said, "The car is yours, get under the wheel!" My poor father followed instructions and got under the wheel and drove 5 miles back to Dancyville under Mr. Dixon’s closest supervision - then Mr. Dixon said good-bye and the car was totally my fathers to drive. He never had another lesson, and I may add he never was a race car driver either - but a month later he undertook taking my mother and us children on a "vacation" to visit his elderly sister in Sebree, Kentucky. The car was still in warranty of not driving more than 25 miles per hour for the first 500 miles.

That trip was a "hoot" - We left Dancyville at sun up and at 25 miles per hour made it to McKenzie the first day. My father was stiff from nervousness - and we children were happy to follow instructions of best behavior. No unexpected outbursts so as to distract our father. In fact we thought we he was doing great. We spent the night in McKenzie then at sun up set out again for Sebree, Kentucky. He stopped at the foot of Grove Boulevard to point out Grove School. We made it fine until we reached the green river in Kentucky - where we had to ferry across. I’ll never forget the anxiety as my father braced himself to drive down the gravel hill to the ferry with the chain across the back of the ferry. I do not believe any of us in that car would have been surprised if the car had burst the chain and landed in the river. But to our greatest surprise everything went perfectly - we chugged across the river. Then my father gunned the car (first time ever) as we flew up the bank on the other side of the river. Our vacation turned out to be a family lifetime memory.

My mother got her own ideas that summer while my father was attending theology classes at Southwestern College. She got our friend, Mr. Vernon Rogers (Perry’s cousin) to teach her to drive the car. All the lessons were given in our long drive way as Daddy had instructed her to not let the car get out of the yard while he was gone (so none of the children would get run over.) He didn’t dream she had plans to drive herself as very few women drove in those days - but when Daddy got home she could drive better than he could. (She was a "sassy wife, with a permanent wave in her hair and able to drive a car - but that came in very handy!)

If you are interested in information about the other 3 churches and families of those churches, on the Dancyville Circuit when we were there I will give that information - of course your family was only involved in the Dancyville Church but all four of the churches involved together as a circuit so your grandfather had some business association (budget) with the other churches.

I think it is wonderful that you are gathering and storing your families history - it will be enjoyed by generations to come.

Sincerely,

Val Rucker Routon

9/28/07