Family History by Robert Monroe Fleming (Sr.)
Unidentified letter to Iva Fleming, Number 2
Transcribed by Robert M. Fleming Jr.
Dear Iva
Received both letters. yes you had scarlet fever the same time I had it so bad. Charlie had it bad to. but Frank & you & your papa had it light. but the Dr said you three would be just as safe as we were. as you were right there with us all the time. he said some had it light some harder than others. he said it was because you three had thin skins, fair. & Charlie & I had daker skin & thicker & hard to get it broke out on us. well I hope I wont have it as bad as I did.
I sent Florence the record of the songs. that will show you in the Nance H that Elizatbeth Nance first married a Richardson. then my grandfather William Long. this school will be out the 3rd of June. Alices the 17th. Iva I dont see how you got that letter of mine mixed up with McCormick. I didnt say any thing about them. it was my Father & Grandfather & Grandmother that lived in Ky & Tenn. Grandpa Jennings married Sally McMurtry. Her Father was a rich old planter. had lots of land & slaves & when grandma marrried he gave her 3 colored women & a lot of land. I think it joined grandpas. He had a large plantation. they lived in cabins at first. before they built the big house. there was a stone quary on the land. & all they had to do was to get the stones ready & build it. & they had so many darkys that it didnt cost much to build. gret grand pa Mc Murtry had a mill & lots of timber. they had a fire place in all the rooms up stairs & down. the stone was Tenn marble. but they called it granite. the land had never been surveyed. & when they did they run the line right between the house & barn. the house & part of the negroe cabins was in Tenn. & the barn & part of them was in Ky. those three colored women that grandma got all married & had large famelys. & grandma had 10 children, 9 boys and 1 girl. Uncle Lawson & Uncle Billy were married. & Jas name was John Martin. he was 23 when they moved to Ill. Uncle Jimmy 21, Uncle Tommy 19, Uncle Kenndy 17, Uncle Melvin 15, Aunt Jane 13, Uncle Franklin 11, Uncle Henry 9. that was their ages when they moved to Ill. & they couldnt have slaves there. So they gave each of them that weas married a piece of land. & built cabins. so they could make a living. then gave them all free papers but they would have gone with them if they could. for they thot so much of all of them. Pa always called one of them his black Mama. & grandma had never done a lick of work. not even to comb her hair. Pa helped his black Mama so much he had learned to cook. so he did the cooking. but grandma didnt live only 3 years. she grieved so about he colored people. they started a cemetary then in a mile of grandpas place. Uncle Billys wife & baby was the first to be buried there. the first of the Jennings. & grandma next. then Uncle Franklin. that was before I was born. & when I was 6 grandpa died. then Uncle Franklin. he was a young man then. when I was 8 my little brother died. then Uncle Kennedy. then several years after that your UncleOrvis lost their baby boy. then Uncle Tommie lost a boy 12. & a girl 9. & they were all buried there. & not one of them put up a stone. except Pa & Ma put up one.for Eddie. he was 3½ years old. Now I am coming to what I wanted to tell you.
Effie wrote to me last fall that when Titia was there in Ill last summer she went around & visited all the places we lived. & she & two of our cousins intended to go see this old cemetary. but it rained & some thing happened so they didnt go. but our cousin Byron & his wife Gl went one Sunday. & they wrote to Effie that there wasnt a sign of any of their graves. & they wouldnt have known but Eddies stone was there. but it had fallen over. now wasnt that awful?. to think of the way grandma had been raised & lived so long in that nice house. then to come back then. & to be forgotten. they had all the land they needed. but just wanted to go to a new land & new country. Grandpa McMurtry or Grandpa Jannings never whiped a slave. Pa said if any one did every body called them a poor white trash. & wouldnt have anything to do with them. I cant see why they didnt put up mnuments to thos graves. grandpa was well off for thos times. one of the finest farms in that part of the country. & Uncle Billy was well off. & Uncle Franklin left a nice farm. I cant think of any thing only carelessness. she said the whole cemetary had gone ro rack & ruin. Now I want you to remember that all this about that all this is about the Jennings. & McMurtrys. they had nothing to do with the McCormicks.
Why dont you look in the Nance History to find out things. No Mrs Moores mother was my mothers first cousin. Mrs Moores grandmother & mine were sisters. Mine was Elizabeth Nance & hers was Mary. called her Polly.her picture is in the History. and will tell all about it. & as for that letter I didnt tell you to go get it. I told you not to send Robert it. that I had forgotten all about it. & I didnt want you to send it down there. Unless it was worth sending.they dont read anything unless its first class stuff. & then they usely keep it & make a picture for themselves. Charles Chapin is in a big law suit now. he stole a play from a young man & put it on. & now he is suing him for $50000. he took the play for him to read. & he told him he couldnt do anything with it. then he put it on himself. & I read about another young man that did the same. & with another co. they kept it 3 days to read. & they wrote it off. & changed it a little. & changed the name. & one night one of the young mans friends came to get him to go with him to see the new play. said it was good so he went. & as soon as he saw it he said why I have seen that play before some place. but it wasnt long until he knew it was his. he tryed to get some thing out of them. but never did. & he gave warnings to. If they had a play to have it copy writed before they took it to any one. well my youngest daughter daughter Alice sent me a beautiful card & swell pare of black silk --? not completed.
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©2009 Robert M. Fleming Jr.
This page was last revised on 25 December 2009.