MARY PERSON and the URQUHART FAMILY 1916 – 1964
Bertie
and
Prepared by
Molly
Urquhart
In reading old letters that
belonged to my aunt Katie - Kate Fenner Urquhart, (1916-1999) - I discovered a loving and enduring
relationship that she and her two brothers (Richard, now 86, and Bill, my
father) experienced with a very remarkable woman, Mary Person. Their lives were entwined for a half-century
with this
Since most of the history begins at the
Urquhart homeplace in Lewiston-Woodville, I begin with some basic
genealogy. The genealogy is followed by
a description of their lives in Lewiston-Woodville in the early 1900s. Finally, there are the letters that Katie and
Mary Person exchanged, revealing the bonds that connected them.
The last child born to Mary
and Burges Urquhart , in 1889, was Richard Alexander Urquhart, who married Kate
Nelson Fenner ** (“Mammy”) of
Lewis Thompson(built homeplace in 1840) m. 1833 Margaret Ann Cathcart Clark
Mary Bond Thompson m. 1871 Burges Urquhart *
ß
_ Richard Alexander Urquhart m. 1915 Kate
Nelson Fenner **_____________
ß ß ß
b.1916 b.1918
b.1921
Kate F. Urquhart Richard A.
Urquhart, Jr. William
Eaton Urquhart
m. Irving Herschbein 1985 m. Barbara Schroff 1945 m. Wilda Cummings 1944
ß
ß
RAU, III Albert
Fenner Tommy Barbara Patricia
Andy Molly Billy Liz
Kate
ß ß ß ß
ß
Margaret,
Ann Muffy, Jamie Jennie Pat, Katie Wayne, Landis Caty, Emily, Alex
* other children of Burges Urquhart
and Mary Bond Thompson were:
Lewis Thompson Urquhart, died at age 24 ruptured appendix
Martha Clark Urquhart (Pattie) m. Dr. Whitehead -> Lewis,
Joe Green, and Burgess
Margaret McKenzie Urquhart (Aunt Mog) m. Tom Griffin -> Margaret(Sittie) and
Tommy
Louise Hill Urquhart
m. Charles Griffin -> Charlie, Burges (Bird) , and Mary Bond
Mary Norfleet Urquhart (Mamie) died at 39 yrs.
Burges Urquhart (Uncle Buck), m. Emily Mizell -> Burges
(Book), Tom, Emily
Annie Whitmel Urquhart, died at 2 mo.
The Fenner
Family of Halifax , NC
Lillie Lee
Nelson (Big Mammy) m. 1883 Dixie Coddington Fenner in Halifax
ß ß ß
Elizabeth
Fenner
(Big Sister)
m. (Little Sister)
Howard Conrad m. Wallace Patterson
More information on the
Fenner Family can be found here:
http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=murquhar
The Fenner family lived in
This is a 1992 photograph of the Thompson-Urquhart homeplace
in
Map drawn by Vicki Paton.
This is a map of the
outbuildings on either side and behind the Thompson-Urquhart house referenced
in this document. The pink shaded
buildings no longer exist.
Burges Urquhart of
Southampton Co.,
.
Mary Bond Thompson Urquhart
at age 85, with all her grandchildren in 1925 in the front grove of the
homeplace.
The top left picture is of
Kate Nelson Fenner Urquhart (Mammy) with
her husband Alex and her mother, Lillie Lee Nelson (Big Mammy) circa 1947. The middle picture is of Kate, taken just
before her 1915 marriage; the top right is of her and her first child, Katie in
1916. The bottom picture is Kate Fenner
Urquhart, and her two sisters, taken in
The letters, for the most
part, are written by Mary Person (Mamie)
to Katie in New York City, long
after she’d raised Katie and her two brothers, Richard and Bill, from cradle to
adulthood, 1916 – 1938, in Woodville (now Lewiston-Woodville), NC. The family, soon after Mary’s arrival there in 1916, started calling her
MAMIE – perhaps after MAMIE URQUHART, Alex’ sister who died of tuberculosis in
1917 at the age of 39. These letters-
written between 1949 and 1964, when Mary Person (Mamie) died - demonstrate the
love and affection between a successful
Mamie was born
- Grandma Urquhart (Mary Bond Thompson Urquhart),
who was 66 years old when Mamie came and was soon to develop
dementia. “Uncle Buck” (Burges
Urquhart), Alex’ older brother,
lived there until 1920 when
he married Emily Mizell.
- Alex’ sister,
Margaret McKenzie Urquhart, (Sittie & Tommy’s mother), also
lived in the house until she married Tom Griffin in 1917.
- Another of Alex’ sisters, Mary Norfleet Urquhart
(also called Mamie) lived in the house until she died in 1917 of
tuberculosis.
- The second child of Alex and Kate, Richard,
was born in 1918; then Bill was born in 1921.
- In 1922, Kate’s mother, Lillie Nelson Fenner
(Big Mammy), came to live with the family after her husband died in
- At various times, Urquhart cousins from Virginia
and Fenner cousins from
So, much of the time , there were as many as
10 living in the house after Mamie came to work . As big as the house was,
there were many times that some of the ‘overflow’ slept in the ‘old office’
(see map). Not only was there a houseful of family to care for, but the neighborhood first cousins – twelve in
all - were constantly in and out of the house.
The family home was the center of incessant activity involving family
and friends. The house is still referred
to by the families in Woodville as the
“old home place”. When Richard and Katie
and Bill were growing up, all their dozen cousins in the neighborhood gathered
there to play, often honing their skills at countless baseball games in the
front grove. Mary Person never lacked
for people to look after, household chores to complete, or people to tend.
If Mamie didn’t have enough on her hands
caring for children and grandmothers, she often had to take care of Alex, who
was prone to bouts with the bottle. He
was a loving, brilliant, witty, and
extremely generous husband, father and
friend. But he was not especially given
to practical matters of commerce.
Financial quests often took a back seat to more pleasurable pursuits - hunting and the
sharing of a drink in the company of his many friends.
Mamie was a slender woman,
always full of energy, always smiling, never complaining about anything. Richard recalls that she always moved quickly
– maybe because there were not enough hours in the day to complete the care for
10+ people – and that she always had a most agreeable demeanor. She stayed with the family for 22 years,
until 1938. No one can imagine how
different life would have been without her daily presence there.
Mary Person lived in the servant’s quarters,
sometimes called the “cook’s house” on
the property, a two room house with a
chimney between the rooms that was built in 1840 for servants on the plantation. This structure still is standing – architectural historians have marveled at
how solid the house still is, with a
sound foundation of heart pine and cypress – one remarked that no termite would ever go near
that house! There were three other blacks that lived on the property, men that
helped Mamie with her chores – York, Roland Thompson, and Roland’s nephew,
Charlie. Roland and Charlie lived in
“Roland’s House”, a one room overseer’s house that still remains on the far
right corner on the back of the property.
All these men died or moved away, and chores they had performed then fell to Mamie. By this time, Mamie did all the cooking –
cooking was in the “old Kitchen” which
faced the back porch. Kitchens were
built separate from houses in the 1800s to protect the house in case of a
kitchen fire. There was no electricity
then, nor any running water, so she cooked in a big iron stove in the “old
kitchen” – see map. The water used for
cooking, bathing, and washing came from a well between the house and the “old
office”. As children, Billy, my
brother, and I used to play in the old
kitchen, climbing on the old stove.
Sadly, the kitchen was torn down in the early 1960s. Mamie learned to cook from Mammy (Kate Nelson
Fenner Urquhart). Mamie would cook all
the food in the “old kitchen” and bring it in the house to be served or stored
in the pantry ( now, the kitchen in the house) or the “ice box” , the
precursors to refrigerators. There is an
old pie safe (named Mrs. Wooten’s pie safe – a lady in the neighborhood named
Mrs. Wooten often brought baked goods to the family) at home that kept all the
pies and breads, kept in the pantry. It
had a screen on the doors to allow air in, but to keep flies out (it kept the
pies ‘safe’ from flies).
Alex was a consummate vegetable gardener, but
left the cooking to Mamie. “If Daddy
ever knew where the kitchen was, he stayed clear of it” recalls Richard of his
father. His garden was to the left of
Roland’s house, and his vegetables found
their way onto all the neighborhood tables.
Not only did Mamie cook 3
meals a day for – at times – ten or more people, she split the firewood
everyday for cooking and for heating the house.
She kept the house as clean as she could, considering the three children
were all running wild, in and out of the house all day long with all their
dozen cousins. Richard recalls that she
was an indulgent and loving caretaker, always catering to their whims. She always knew where everything was that
each child had misplaced. “Mamie, where’s
my beanshooter?” “Mamie, where’s my 4-10 shotgun?” “Where’s my baseball bat”,
Richard would often ask… somehow she always knew where everything was. Mammy often repeated “If you don’t have anything to give your
children, give them their way”. Both
Mammy and Alex - and Mamie
-shamelessly indulged all three of their
children. The family never had much
money for extras, and were struck quite hard during the Depression, but the
children never lacked food, warmth, or love. You’d think that all the indulgences
heaped on those children – with absolutely NO physical discipline ever – would
have generated spoiled and ungrateful children.
You only have to examine the lives of Katie, Richard and Bill to know
that the adults’ “spare the rod – spoil the child” philosophy yielded extraordinary children and adults.
Another of Mamie’s
responsibilities was to raise the chickens -
feed them, and gather the eggs from the henhouse. After the hens aged and quit laying eggs,
they became an evening meal. Then she had
to catch the chickens, kill them (wringing their necks was the way they killed
chickens then), pluck them, and cook
them for dinner. The chicken house was
directly behind the big house, to the left of Alex’ garden, parallel to
Roland’s house.
While Mamie raised the chickens, Big Mammy
raised turkeys and sold them to augment the household’s meager income. She also picked pecans for family use and for
sale. She was determined to help the
family, and contributed the annual $1,000 rent from the Halifax County Fenner
Farms. Having been the postmistress in
Halifax before moving to the Urquhart household, and having raised three
children of her own, she was not about to sit around the house and do nothing.
When Big Mammy moved to the
house in 1922, she and Katie shared a bedroom and became inseparable. Every Christmas until she died in 1999, Katie
put a wreath on her grandmother’s grave in the
In the early 1930s, Grandma
Urquhart (Mary Bond Thompson) started losing her memory and the family had to
hire another black lady, Lizzie Watson to stay with her constantly. It was a full time job, and just too much for Mamie alone, with all her
other responsibilities at the house.
Grandma Urquhart was a slight, but very physically spry woman, and
needed to be watched at all times for fear she would hurt herself or wander
away. She died in 1936 at the age of
89. There are many stories associated
with her declining mental faculties –one that stands out is her constantly
‘losing’ her glasses - invariably tucked under her dress sleeve!
Another of Mamie’s chores
included taking care of all dogs at the house.
There was always at least one dog there.
A particularly memorable one was a female red Irish Setter named “Kate
Dog” – adding another “Kate” to the family!
Kate Dog had a bobbed tail – for no apparent reason – an unusual
characteristic of an Irish Setter. Kate
Dog was the only dog that could hunt both turkeys and quail, two jobs requiring
two vastly different skills – a good quail dog has the job to locate the quail
on the ground, and “set” them to indicate to her hunter(s) just where they were
located. Kate Dog’s duties as a turkey hunter were to range far and wide – as
large as a mile in circumference – and then flush them, causing the turkeys to
scatter and fly away.
Dogs aren’t used for turkey hunting now, but
then they were. As a young boy, Richard
hunted often with Billy Thompson, his father’s first cousin. They’d
leave in the morning with a soda and a sandwich Mammy had made them of
sliced cornbread, a slab of butter, and
ham, along with some homemade fruitcake.
While Kate Dog was roaming the fields/woods on the
.
Mamie’s responsibilities
were not only for Kate Dog, but for raising all their puppies. Kate Dog was a notorious breeder, having many
and large litters of pups. Predictably,
all the men and boys did was hunt them!
The family also had a cow on
the property and Mamie was responsible for her feeding and milking .
It was a daily chore for her to provide milk for this large Urquhart
household. Mammy declared that the only
reason that Richard was still alive was the large amount of milk he drank
growing up – he, to this day, drinks three glasses daily.
Mamie was also involved in
the annual hog killings at home – always held between the end of November and
early January – the temperature had to be cold enough to keep the meat from
spoiling. It was a neighborhood ritual,
a rite of winter that was much anticipated by the whole community. The hog killing was gruesome, involving the
gutting and dismemberment of the hog – the meat was divided and provided the
most succulent food in anyone’s memory there.
There was always a vast supply of fresh pork, and Mamie had various
recipes that included pork – for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Mamie was
responsible for curing the hams and shoulders in the smokehouse. Curing a ham involved salting it heavily to
preserve it, then hanging it up on hooks in the smokehouse (no longer standing,
it was between “Roland’s house” and the
chicken house). They used hickory to smoke the hams – the hickory fire was
prepared in a hole in the smoke house and hickory smoke would infuse the hams,
and escape through the vents of the smokehouse.
For days, the sweet aroma of hickory smoke permeated the
neighborhood.
The hogs were raised across
the road at Uncle Buck’s (Burges Urquhart, brother to Alex) house. Tom Griffin once gave Richard and Bill each a
pig to raise, promising a $5.00 reward for their efforts. Their only responsibility to keep the pig
well fed and watered. Bill, preferring
play to $5.00, cajoled Richard into taking care of his pig!
Uncle Buck was the blacksmith of the family
and had a workbench under a huge oak tree between the old office and Roland’s
house. Even after he married Emily
Mizell in 1920 and moved out of the house (across the road to the W.W. Pugh
house), he continued to work at the home
place. He had his forge, bellows, hammer
and anvil there and supplied the horseshoes and whatever tools might be needed
for the family.
Adding to all her other
responsibilities, Mamie washed all of the clothes in the house at the
washhouse, located between the cellar and the icehouse. Though the cellar and icehouse still stand,
the washhouse does not. She’d wash all the clothes in a huge iron pot with
boiling water - gathered from the pump – and clean them with homemade soap, and
dry them on the clothesline. At some
point, Mamie was relieved of this chore, and a lady “uptown” (
Considering all of her
jobs –
laundry, picking up after children; cooking and feeding family, friends,
guests, cousins 3 meals/day; taking care of the chickens, the cow, cleaning,
splitting firewood, taking care of dogs
- Mamie was paid a ‘princely’ $5.00/month. Today’s equivalent would be around
$70/mo. Keep in mind, though, that she
had all her medical, housing, clothing, and food needs met by the family. Mamie was considered very fortunate – it was
an enviable position to be provided all these amenities. Jobs were scarce for all, especially the
uneducated poor. When Mamie left the
household in 1938 after 22 years with the family, the family continued to care
for her for the remainder of her life.
Richard sent her $5.00/month for the rest of her life, and Katie and
Bill also gave her money and visited her from time to time – Tillery was about
a 30 minute drive from Woodville and a 1.5 hour drive from
Mamie never drank or smoked,
never said an unkind word towards or about anyone, had no bad habits at all,
except for one – she had a snuff addiction.
Tuberose Snuff was Mamie’s brand, and when she ran out of her snuff, it
was mandatory that someone go ‘uptown’ to replenish her supply. Not tomorrow, but NOW! Snuff was considered a ‘medical necessity’,
and so was considered one of Mamie’s perks.
Mammy taught Mamie to read
and write. The letters will demonstrate
Mamie’s rudimentary skills, yet she never fails to communicate her basic
goodness and kindness, and her gratitude and love for all in her life.
Considering all of Mamie’s responsibilities, it is hard
to imagine that she had any time at all for a social life . Yet she did find time outside of the Urquhart
family for her other two passions: 1) her church work
and 2) her husband.
Mamie was as devoted to her
husband Peter Horton as she was to the Urquhart household. She’d met Peter soon after moving to
Woodville in 1916. Though no one ever saw him on the property, he lived in the
servant’s house with Mamie. Richard
speculated that he came to the house after dark and left before dawn. Peter Horton was a big, strapping man. He was a ‘man about town’, a ladies’ man who
caused Mamie much sadness with his other girlfriends. When he left Mamie, he
broke her heart. None of the family ever
forgave him for this.
Richard remembers Peter’s
mother, Riney Horton, who was the ‘roots and herb’ lady of the community. Richard had a wart once and Riney put a pin
in the wart, drew a drop of blood and put the blood on a corn kernel. She planted the kernel, and when it came up,
the wart dropped off Richard’s hand.
This is the sworn testimony of Richard Urquhart, Jr!
Mamie’s devotion to her
church, Weeping Mary Church, about a mile down the river road ( today, it still
has a large congregation at the same
location), was well known. She was very
active in the church and never missed a service. When the church had its ‘protracted meetings’
in August, the household had to do without her.
These protracted meetings didn’t last a few hours – they lasted all
week - they were much like revivals
today, except they were all day long!
It is difficult to imagine anything but discomfort in that church - down an unpaved dusty road, without fans or
air conditioning - in the hottest days of the year, all day, every day, for a
week every August.
In 1938, after her 22 years
of serving the many family members of the Urquhart household, Mamie’s
indispensable work came to an end. She
made a decision to leave. She felt she had to move far away from any memories
of Peter Horton; when Bill, the last child, left home, she left, too. All the family of the house had left – either
by death or having moved away - except Big Mammy and Kate and Alex. Though the family still needed her and wanted
her to stay on, Mamie’s work was done there, and she embarked on a new chapter
in her life. No one knows exactly when she moved to NYC, but it was likely she
moved shortly after leaving Woodville.
We do know that she moved to
Mamie had proven
as instrumental in the upbringing of Katie, Richard, and Bill as were
Mammy and Alec. The children’s lives
were a testament to a coordinated effort of Mammy and Alec and Mamie to raise
responsible, caring, and loving children.
None of them could imagine life without Mamie, and all were heartbroken
when she died in 1964. Katie, Richard,
and Bill, “her babies”, all loved her as much as she loved them. As she often repeated in her letters to
Katie, “no child of mine could ever treat me as good as you do”. She lived 67 years and never had
children. Bill went to her funeral at
the church in Spring Hill, and was among those who gave ‘testimonials’
Katie had moved from Winston
Salem to
Richard was the captain of a ship being built
in New York during WWII, and recalls that the winter of 1944/45 was the most
bitterly cold in history. Mamie lived in
an apartment that had barely adequate heat.
Worried about her welfare, he asked the welders, electricians, and sheet
metal workers on the ship to fashion a proper heater for Mamie. Eager to please their captain, these men got
to work. Soon, Mamie had quite an elaborate iron stove that was the envy of her
neighbors.
When Richard and Barbara married in NYC at St.
Patrick’s in 1945, they invited Mamie to
their wedding. She was so worried she
wouldn’t have the ‘proper clothes’ and fretted endlessly about that. Probably Katie bought her a pretty dress that
she’d feel comfortable in. She was so
proud to be at her ‘son’s wedding’ and Richard was no less proud to have her
there.
From Mamie’s letters to Kate, we know that she
was in Harlem until 1949, as that is the first letter she writes to Katie from
Tillery, NC. In that letter, she
indicates she will probably stay in Tillery and not return to NYC. She was 52
years old then, and came back home to work in the fields chopping cotton,
picking cotton, or stacking peanuts (for 2 pennies a stack), and working in
tobacco.
She lived on very little
income, and what little she had she gave to her church there in Spring
Hill. She was happy and content with
what little she had and was so grateful for any kindness shown to her by
letters, cards, gifts, or visits. In her
letters, he addressed Katie often as “My own dear daughter”, and never failed
to let her know how much she loved her and how grateful she was for her small
gifts she’d send her. Her simple, but full, life of working in the fields,
tending her flower and vegetable gardens, and going to church was quite enough
to sustain Mamie. She did have her faith
in God and her love of the church and her friends and family – black and white.
She married again – a man
named Frank Hill - soon after moving back to Spring Hill. He, according to her letters, was a good
husband. Her life from 1949 until her
death is 1964 was very difficult by today’s standards, yet there is not one
shred of complaint in her letters she writes to Katie. Towards the end of her life, she had a
number of health problems, diabetes and blindness among them. She’d continue to write to Katie, though she
couldn’t see what she was writing. Her
scratchy and almost illegible handwriting over the years mirror her failing
eyesight.
There are several amusing
references in her letters regarding her hope that Katie would marry. In these letters, Mamie was apparently
gravely concerned that Katie was still single, and suggested more than once that Katie should
find a nice man and marry him! Mamie
would have had to live 20 more years for that to happen - Katie married Irving
Herschbein in 1985. In one letter dated
1951, 34 years prior to their marriage,
Mamie very aptly portrays Irving in a letter to Katie: “I think of him
so often and I allway like him for your friend, for he was all way so nice and
all way was ready to help you out at all time”.
In this observation, and in many other affairs, Mary Person expressed a
wisdom that no amount of education could ever have provided her. Irving Herschbein was a gentleman’s
gentleman. And Mary Person was a lady
without equal.
MOST LETTERS ARE
FROM MAMIE (MARY PERSON HORTON HILL),
postmarked Tillery, NC TO KATE FENNER
URQUHART, 38 West 10th Street, NYC
from 1949 – 1964. One is to Bill
Urquhart just after his and Richard’s and Katie’s mother, Kate Nelson
Fenner Urquhart, died in 1956.
Bill now lived at the homeplace with his wife and children, and farmed
in Halifax County where he would see Mamie.
There are a few letters from Kate Urquhart to Mamie, showing her
successful efforts in helping Mamie get a reimbursement from a life insurance policy
she could no longer afford. Most of
Mamie’s spelling is left just as she wrote it. She used no punctuation, so I’ve added that
for clarity. Bold words are my comments.
9-14-1949
Tillery, NC postmark
Return address on envelope:
221 W. 123 St., NYC (her address when she lived in Harlem) She’d just recently moved back to Tillery
from NYC
My Dearest Daughter,
Just a few lines to let you
no I am still think of you and I am just think and wondering how you is make
out with out me these day. Well, I was
over to your mother house last Thursday and I had a nice time there with my 2
baby (Molly & Billy) the boy is my pick. He is so fat and pretty I just love to sit
and hold him and look at him. Miss Kate
had got a way to Chapel Hill so I didn’t see her again, so take care . I will see you next week if I can. One of my boy friend is beg me to marry him
and he is about to win me over. But I am
trying all I can to outtalk him but he is driving me mad. Tell me if I go back (
NYC) to please come back (Tillery) .
And my sister and brother don’t want me to go back either. They say I have lost too much weight. I need to stay in the country so I have to
deside if I do come back I will have to get me a steady job some job for 5 day
a week, but I will always help you when I can.
I am ask you to do me this favor.
Explain to Mrs. Charles and Mrs. Kays that I am very sorry but I wont be
back unless my mind changes. Thank you,
so long, Mary
February 13, 1950
Tillery , NC
My dear, just to say I got
your letter last Wednesday and I sent it off and today is Tuesday and it is
back and I am send you the letter I have to sign. Send them back soon as you check them over
because I really need some money now as this year was a short crop with
everybody so if I can get anything it will be a help to me. And I do thank you for everything you have
done and what you are still doing for me.
I hope some day I can help you some.
I had just came in from a funeral .
We kill 4 pigs last week. So take
care yourself and let me hear from you soon.
My best regards to all. Mary
_______________________________________________________
December 5, 1950
Tillery NC
With love to Miss Kate U.
My dearest Kate,
Just a few lines to let you
hear from me again. This leave me well
but not well in mind, but I hope you are well and is getting along well. I am glad you have someone to help you
out. Bill told me - I saw him 2 week ago I believed. It was he gave me and Jennie (Jennie , Sarah, and Mary are sisters, Tom
is their brother) a soda. I enjoyed
and I was very glad to see him. He was
very busily work for Mr. Ed Martin (had a general store in Tillery)
weighting peanut- everybody was well .
it is very sad around home, so many people dieing. My sister Sarah lost her husband a week last
Monday. Had a stroke and did never speak
again, then last Saturday AM the freight train kill another friend of us. Have not buried him yet. So this leave me very sad. Jennie daughter came home from Phila. To the
funeral. So listen,dear, have you spoke
to anyone about the insurance policy of mind?
Well, if you have not I am go send them for this month and after this I
want to drop it or sell it because I wont be able to keep it up any long. I am send them now for Dec. I no you wont have time to drive over to NJ
to the office on Saturday and see if you could sell it for me – you and your
friend in the car (IRVING).
Please let me hear from you at once and let me no what you can do about
it. I sure will appreciate any thing you
can do for me. My best regard to all the
girl and to everyone . I remain your
mother,
Mary Hill
January 11, 1951
Tillery, NC
My dear daughter,
Just to say I received your
letter and was very glad to hear from you and to no you was well and got home
all right. I got the registered return
receipt I will keep it. I am wait for
the policy so I can send it to you. But
it have not come back, not yet. But soon
as it come I will registered it to you.
So this leave me and Frank well and happy in the new year. I hope you much success In the New Year. My regard to all the girl and to your
boyfriend. I hope you and him are still
happy in the new year. I smile at
that. Listen dear, I hope you will
forgive me for not write you sooner but I was wait to see if I could get the
policies, so when I write I could sent it with my letter. So listen, the dishes came in good condition,
only one of the small dish was broke and it must was broke when they pack them
because I look in all the paper I and Jennie, but we couldnt find the piece
that was broke off. So it is 8 pieces of
everything. Sugar Dish didnt have any
top I guess it dont have one and listen dear, I cannot ever tell you how much I
do appreciate you for your wonderful thinking and for your thinking of give me
to help me set up my housekeeping.
Everywhere I look it is something you have give me or something that Ada
or somebody from NY. Everybody come to
my house say I look like I have been keeping house for years.. I am so proud of
you because you have made me feel
great. So take care yourself and look
for the policies (life insurance policies she needs to quit paying on). Just as soon as I get them. This leave me
very happy tonight.
Close with love,
Mary
_____________________________________________________________
January 25, 1951
Tillery, NC
My dear Miss Urquhart,
Just to say I am well only I
have been had a very bad sore throat and cold.
But I am better, but is still sit around in the house, but not in
bed. Otherwise I am all right. Frank had the bad cold first.. soon as he got
better I got it, so the x ray people was to Tillery so I took the Xray test
Saturday. I hope I will get a card that
I am all right like I did in New York.. so I hope you are well and is all
right. Listen, dear, I have at last got
the policy back Thursday pm. But I
didn’t get it off yet.
Today is the 25th and I am trying to get them off today if I
can – it is rain and I cant go out.
Frank is upset over one of his hog that he was go kill. He can’t find, t hink someone kill him so he
is look for him day by day, so I don’t
no when he will come back. Left
before I got up. Thank again for the
beautiful dishes.. they are so lovely.
So I hope you can see the insurence man soon as you can so I wont have
to pay for Feb. By 
March 22, 1951 Tillery NC
Mary P. Hill
My dearest Miss Urquhart,
Just a few lines to let you
hear from me. I am well and I hope you
and all the girls are all well. I have
been want to write you for along time but I was wait to hear from Mr. Gorman
and I got it Tuesday 20. And it was
wrote March 14 on my birthday so it was made out in 2 check, one for each
policy and one was made out for 22.33 and the other one for 44.65. For both of the policy I got $66.98 about 3
dollars less than you had figure it out o be the last time. I believe it was $69.00 dollar. No I am not dispointed I am so glad to get
it. I am very happy and I want to thank you from the
bottom of my heart, and I want to ask you want to accept something from me
because if it had not been for you I would never got a penny because I did not
no how to started about it. So I cannot
thank you enough for get it for me.
Again I want to thank you and your friend Ervin (Irv)
and his friend for help me out to.
You wrote me that they was go help you out. So I just can thank you like I want to. I only wish I could fly to NYC and help you
in your apartment and smile again. But
that is what I would like to do. This is
the first day of spring. It is cloudy
here. Listen, baby, I was looking for a
card from you or some of my children on the 14th (Mary’s birthday). This is the first time I believe I can
remmber not get something from my family.
It was very sad. I got a few
things – 2 birthday card that all. I
hope you are well so keep well and dont work to hard. I hope you will have a pleasant Easter. From Mother Mary P. Hill to my daughter, Miss
Kate F. Urquhart.
Ps. Give my best regard to
all
______________________________________________________
May 18, 1951
Mary P. Hill
Tillery, NC
My dearest daughter.
Just a few line to let you
hear from me. I am well and my husband
all so is well and I hope you are well and is doing fine. I have been working in my garden, flower
garden, and in my vege garden. My husband
is go starting chopping cotton today. I
don’t no how I will make out, but I will try to help him some morning and late
evening because I have not been on the farm in over 35 year or more, so I don’t know how it is going
to be with me. But I am here now so I
will have to make the best of it. Now are you coming home for 30 of May. Do, I hope to see you. I haven’t been over home not yet. I just don’t seem to go anywhere much. I guess you heard that they brought Eddie
Powell home about 3 weeks ago and buried him.
So much for that. How is you get
along with your work and ever thing. I
have been look to hear from you. Please write me and let me hear from you and
let me no how you is get along. I took a
long walk Sunday and I use my mother day present from you for the first
time. It was so pretty. So close with much love to you. God bless you and thank for everything you
did for me… by now. Love from Mary.
_______________________________________________________________
November 1, 1951
Tillery, NC
To my sweet baby
My dearest daughter,
I received the 2 wonderful
box today Thursday. They came Tuesday
,that what the notice was mark on it.
They came in good shape. Everything was nice, I can use everything I am
so proud of you. Just like my own very
own daughter. I cannot thank you like my heart desire. But thanks a million time for everthing. I will never forget you and maybe someday I
can do something in return for you.
Bless your heart. I hope you are
well and doing find …. Leave me well and
is ok, I an Frank finish pick cotton
Wed. He is well , send his regard. I was over home in September. Had a nice time, got a card from M___ Horton
last week. She invite me to come and
stay a week with her at Waverly, Va. She
don’t know I am married again. Someone
told her I was at Spring Hill that why she no I am at Tillery. Now how is everything with y ou. How is your job. Fine I hope.
Tell me, do Miss Maggie work with you.
Now if she do, give her my best regard and if you see Miss J Camball
give her my best regard. I work in Green
tobacco and in dry tobacco , and I shake peanut for my brother Tom . I an Jennie, we shake by the stack, 2 cent a
stack. I am make out pretty good. But when you keep house it all way need
something. I need some sheets now. My
niece, Jennies girl from Phila., send me a nice heavy bed spread for my wedding
gift. Better late than never. So take
care yourself, best regard to your friend. You no who I am talk about (Irv).
I just cannot ever spell his name but I think of him so often and I allway like him for your
friend, for he was all way so nice and all way was ready to help you out at all
time. So I must close now. I must say again thank you a million. I have just stop look at my things and try on
some of them and my slipper. I am so
proud of them. Good night and be
sweet. God bless you. From Mary.
________________________________________________________________
March 21, 1952
Tillery, NC
My dear daughter,
Just a few line to let you
hear from me in 1952. This leave me very
well and I hope you and all is well. I
have not seen Bill this year. How are
ever body and how are you doing and how is thing with you and is you coming
home for the 30th of May. I
want to see you now. It been a long time
now since I seen my baby. I did want to
come up this spring if I can. Frank say
if he have the money to spare on a trip for me he will give it to me. How is your mother and aunts and all. I am get along fine and is still happy as
ever. I have light electric now. I don’t mind iron now. I have just come from
the garden set out cabbage and onion. I
don’t have much new now it is very hot here now so take care until we see each
other.
From mother to daughter, bye
now
_______________________________________________________________
May 15, 1952
Tillery NC
My dear sweet daughter
Just to say I received your
lovely letter and was very glad to hear from you once more in life. Yes I was real worried I didn’t hear from you
this year so Bill came by a few week ago and I ask him where was you. He told me you was home February and you had
been very busily all year so I hope you wont be busily all your life. I hope you will find you a nice husband and
settle down. But be sure he is a
millionaire so he can take care of I and you both. . So I
hope you are real well - this leave us both very well. Both of my sister have been sick but thank
the Lord I have been up and going so far
as I can. I cannot tell you how much I
do appreciate. I call it my mother day
gift from you and it come in good time.
All way need something for a house.
Frank baby boy sent me 10 dollar for a Mother day gift. I thought it was so nice of him. He is work in Portsmouth, Va. In a
hospital. He is doing fine. He didn’t like New York. If you do come home the 29 and if you come in
your car if you have any old low heel slippers put in a box, and some old
stocking. Bring along and leave them at
Mr. Jones store with Mr. Marks when you pass by. Bill brought Mattie Grant Watson over about 2
week ago. She spent the day with me and
we had a good time. You are planning
some big trip September 5. I will be
praying for you - that must be the
honeymoon trip. Please tell me. All way glad to hear from you. Regard to the girls if you see any of
them. So long. Now see you if you come. Don’t forget my box number is PO Box
145. You had 114 and a man had my
letter. He could have keep it if he had
want to. But he went to Frank and ask
him wont that his wife name. I like to
lost my money you no, just by luck.
_______________________________________________________________
January 4, 1952
Tillery , NC
My dearest daughter,
Just a few lines to let you
hear from me. This leave me well and
still happy and enjoying fine and I hope these few lines will find you very
well and get along fine. I have been
want to write you ever since I got your letter Dec. 17. It was such a supprize to get such a big box
and I no it cost a lot of money because I had bought me some on that
Saturday. Each sheet cost me $2.77. Two sheets cost me $5.54 cent. And pillow cases 1.34. I had forgot I had mention to you about I
need some sheet and Frank had gave me some money to my surpprize, about 30 some
dollar to do my shop for Xmas, to get me some everyday slippers or some
boots. But I got to buy and I didn’t
think about shoes. I bought me some nise
kitchen curtains and some lace curtains for my room and a lot a little thing I
need. I was in town Saturday before Xmas
and I ask Mr. Ed Martin did you come home and he said he did not no, said Bill
said Miss Kate had gone to Raleigh and I didn’t no Rich address so I didn’t know where you
was. I thought if you come home you
would come to Tillery or I would go to Woodville and we could see each other
and I could see you and thank you face to face.
But I no you are home by now. I
had a nice Xmas and a Happy New Year and
I hope you had nice Happy New Year and Merry Xmas. How is everything with you? As this is Leap year, how about pose (propose)
to some nice guy.. How is all the
girl. Had a card from Miss Dent, said
she no I wouldnt see you be cause you was gone home and said she had been sick
and was gone a way on the weekend. I
hope she is back and is real well again.
Sorry I mist seen you this Xmas.
You know Kate I haven’t got any kids but I don’t think my own kid could
treat me any nice than you do and I will always appreciate you as my sweet daughter. I just cannot thank you enough. So long.
________________________________________________________
August 12, 1952
My dearest daughter,
Just to say hello and how
are you today. I received the box Monday
am. It was there Friday and my husband
got the card out and he didnt no it was a card to get out a box so he just
bring the card home so the warehouse agent don’t work on Saturday .. that why I
had to wait until Monday. So this leave
us both very well at present and I hope you are well and are not work to hard
in this heat. It is very hot here today
and we have had a lots of rain down here.
Well I don’t know how to thank you for all the nice thing you sent
me. Everything I can use - but
2 red saucer broke. Everything else came
in good condition. Jennie is still
suffering. She is here to my house
sleeping now. I am trying to rest a little
today. Expecting company from NY – Frank
son and his daughter from Portsmouth, Va. And I will have my hand full . My crop is very nice this year. Your time is now near for the 5th
of September. I do hope you will have a
grand time and please do take care yourself.
Let me hear from you whenever you have time. I have seen Bill since I was over there. I guess he is at the beach now. My best regard to Miss M and all that ask of
me. So take care yourself. God Bless you and thanks again, Mary.
___________________________________________________________
February 25, 1954
Tillery, NC
My dear Miss Urquhart
Just a few line to let you hear from me. For the first time this year, this leave me up and going but not so well. I have not seen Bill this year or heard from anyone over there and have not heard from you. I think I wrote you and thank you for everything so I hope you are well and doing fine. I am grow old and very for gettful but I still remember you as the oldest one of my children and the sweetest child in the world to me. I have been wont to write you for a long while. But I have not had any mind for doing nothing. When I saw you Thanksgiving I had just went to the Health Clinic at Halifax. I just fealt bad and I didn’t want to go to any doctor