March 30, 2020
Stories from his youth from Chuck Hinkle, Jr.
I have enjoyed the many varied stories and can relate to several.
My father and his family were from West Virginia. He grew up in Grafton and the surrounding area. During my youth, we would go on road trips from our home in Michigan in a Ford van. The engine sat between the two front seats. We had a mattress in the back with our camping gear. It held seven uncomfortably. There were fights over who got to sit on the engine. No seat belts.
Our travels usually included Grafton, Buckhannon, Webster, Phillipi, Thornton, Pruntytown, Evansville, and Elkins. My Dad preferred back roads. My mother did not. We ventured to see every relative in memory. We went to old homesteads….some were log cabins. Visited small family cemeteries in fields and big ones in the towns.
As an adult I have returned to seek out these old haunts to document the genealogy. Now I can’t find most of them. I just did not retain what was shown and told me. Especially, the location of the family graveyards. Research is wonderful nowadays but the web just doesn’t have records of the out-of-the way stuff.
My Great Grandparents (x3) were Job Hinkle and Margaret Hadden Jackson. Family lore has it that Margaret had a sword of her cousin Stonewall. Job’s son Cyrus did not like Stonewall and declared that no one would ever see it again. In that respect, he was a man of his word. My Grandmother said that Cyrus was a bit of a stinker. My Grandmother was a woman of her word.
Thanks to all! Chuck
Submitted by Chuck Hinkle, Jr.