Jack Huffman Remembers

My granddaddy James W. Huffman was a big man. He was strict, but also a friendly man. His kids listened to him, and us grandkids did to. I remember he drove a black 1937 Ford. We would go over there every Sunday evening when the watermelons were ripe. He had them laying there beside the house and would cut a couple big ones for us. For relaxation he would sit on the front porch in a big rocking chair and chew tobacco. On the farm they raised corn, oats, wheat and hay. They kept about 8 horses and a stallion. Granddaddy died after a stroke in 1950. He was in the hospital unconscious for about a week before he died. I remember seeing him in the hospital.

I remember Fannie, granddaddy’s second wife. She had a good personality and was really a talker. I also remember that she was a good cook. Granddaddy was the boss of the house.

I was about 21 before we moved to the farm in Stony Man. I was born at Ida. Dad and John Hoak built a grocery store in Ida and we lived upstairs. I was 3 weeks old when the store burned. There was a write up in the paper with headlines “Crying Baby Saves Family". I had the article, but can’t find it.

I was raised in Valleyburg across from granddaddy’s farm. I was about 7 years old when we got electricity. It was later when we had running water. I was a teenager before we got a television. On dad’s farm we had to do our chores. We did garden work, and fed hogs. I remember feeding the cattle when I was 7 or 8 years old. I helped to work horses too, jobs I could ride because I couldn’t handle the plow. Dad did some woodcraft in his later years. He made small pieces of furniture. The lumber came from Ida Hollow and the sawmill was on the farm.

I can remember when aunt Kathleen used to babysit us and she would always make me listen. I remember riding on the bus with her to the school in Luray. Daddy drove us to school in the bus he bought. It held about 20 people.



Molasses Making

Everyone raised their own sugar cane. I remember taking the horses to granddaddy's place before daylight on molasses day. I would ride one horse and lead another. The horses were used to pull the crusher that mashed the juice out of the cane. I remember granddaddy cooking molasses. He would stand there and skim off the top. It came down through a baffle, which is a wall or screen to deflect the flow of liquids. The juice started cooking up above and dropped in stages, then put in lard cans. Granddaddy had a reputation for being a good molasses maker, because he knew how to do it. I have a newspaper article about his molasses making.





Broom Making

I also remember granddaddy in the broom house making brooms. They raised broom corn on the farm to make the brooms. When the broom corn dried the seeds were removed. The machine pressed the broom corn and ran wire around the handle. They sewed the thread on by hand across the broom.

We had a Huckster business, which was to peddle or sell merchandise at bargain prices. We would drive to Washington, DC on Friday nights to sell chickens and eggs at the market on Saturday. Raymond Sours or Rufus Smith would drive the one and a half ton 1937 Chevrolet pickup truck. We would freeze in the winter because the heater in the truck didn’t work. We used a chicken plucker machine that cleaned the feathers from the chickens. We would pack the chickens in boxes of ice and have as many as 500 or more to sell. We would have 50 cases of eggs with 30 dozen each. The chickens sold for 35cents per pound and the eggs were 50 cents a dozen. Gas was 6 gallons for $1.00.

I remember going Bell Snickling when people dressed up in costumes and went to someone's house. They would have to guess who we were. We usually had refreshments afterwards.

I also remember Belling when the new groom had to ride on a rail or broom. I believe his new wife was pushed in a wheel barrow. Irene and I dodged them when we got married.

Robert (Johnny) stayed with us for awhile and went to school in Luray. I remember he used to ride old Dan the horse over to our house. One night after dark, when he was riding, Dan stumbled and fell. Dan got so staved up from his injury that he had to be put down. He was really old by this time.