Kathleen's Stories

My mother is the last living child of James Wm Huffman 3-25-1877 to 10-23-1950. This is the first story she blessed us with in writing:

By Kathleen Huffman Atwood Dorraugh

I grew up on the James Huffman farm on Ida Road in Luray. When I was young I had to do the milking of the cows and take them out to pasture. I had to get up early to milk, then run the milk through the separator to get the cream. The extra milk would be fed to the pigs. On Saturdays Dad would take the cream and sell it at the Creamery in Luray. Also we had eggs from the chickens, to sell for groceries. Sometimes I would have to walk the cows over to Oscar Bauserman's for more pasture. Usually we turned down behind the house to go to the mountain and creek. I went to the creek a lot. My friends Helen and Annie Hoak would go along and we would play in the water and watch the snakes swim.

My Dad was a loving father. My mother died when I was 10 months old. ( see My Motherless Mom) My brothers and sister helped to raise me. Dad would make brooms, homemade molasses, raise watermelon and cantaloupes to sell. He would gather the melons and start out early to Hollow Run and sell them. If someone didn't have the money, he would give them one.

In the Fall of the year Dad would start making molasses. He would get up early and work late. The horses would pull the sugar cane press and the juice would come out into a barrel trough. Then it was transferred to the molasses house where it was cooked in a big vat pan over the fire. Dad would use a big skimmer and stand there about all day watching it and keeping the fire going. We would pack his lunch and take it to him. When the molasses was done it would run off into a lard can. A cheese cloth over a sieve would catch all the pieces of sugar cane. It was a very exciting day. People would come by and watch. Dad would also make molasses for other people.


As a child, I remember a laughing spell while at the dinner table. Ray said to go out on the porch until I cooled off. When I came back in I could hardly keep a straight face, but I lived through it.

There was a big spring house on the property next door. I would take anything (food, milk) over there that needed to be cold. It also had the best spring water for drinking. My Aunt Flora Varner lived there and we would look after her, get her groceries and mail. Dad would take her to church on Sundays and she would give him 25 or 50 cents for gas.

Well, as I got older I got boy crazy and wanted to get married. Dad said if you could find a man like Harry Atwood it would be okay. So I did and had 5 lovely kids that I am very proud of. When I was dating, the boy friend had to leave by 10 pm. Dad would knock his wooden cane on the floor and that meant it was time for the boy friend to leave.







When Lloyd and Louise got married, I would walk over there and help with the kids. One day the kids were upstairs on a back porch, which they used for a playhouse, and there was a big black snake beside Jack. I grabbed Jack and ran with him down the stairs. A neighbor killed the snake and boy was it a big one.

When Bertha and Fred lived on the Printz place, I would walk over there and help with the kids. I went there one day when Doug was a baby and he was in the play pen with a pan of molasses. Bertha would put him there while she milked, then give him a bath when she finished. When they bought the Huffman place, I would walk down there and help Bert with things. Then my aunt Flora got sick and Bert took her in. Well, that was more work so I pitched in an helped as much as I could.

I don't remember much about growing up with Glenn and Melvin. They left home and got work in Pennsylvania. I do remember that when Melvin came to visit he always brought Hershey bars from the Hershey plant where he worked.

My step mother Fannie, was old and crippled with her legs hurting so badly. I tried to help her all that I could. We didn't have running water in the house so we had an outhouse, using chamber pots at night. My job was pot maid to empty them every day. We had to carry water from a well near the porch. Even without running water and inside bathroom we grew up happy.

Dad took in a girl named Emma Yates to raise. She lived with us until she got married, then she moved to Overall, Virginia. We would drive down to see her sometimes.

My sister Edna died young, she married Paul Gochenour from Mauertown, Virginia. They never had children. She is buried at Mt. Zion cemetery beside my Mom and Dad.

My Dad's favorite medicine was caster oil. It didn't matter what the pain was, he poked caster oil in us. It was really hard to swallow. I also used caster oil on my children. They didn't like it either.

I remember one day there was a basketball game after school. I asked if I could stay and walk home and Dad said no. Well, I stayed anyway, when I got home he met me under the pear tree with a twig and he spanked me. I didn't do that anymore. When he said no he meant it.

One day Robert and I took some rotten eggs down to the creek and threw them in the water. I got on the bridge and my head started to spin and down the creek I went. I finally got hold of a big rock and crawled out. We had hens to set on eggs to hatch little chicks, but if all didn't hatch we would destroy them.

Dad had a riding horse named Dan. The boys would ride him to wherever they wanted to go and when they arrived there, they let Dan loose and he would come home.

I remember when I started to school in the old school house in Stony Man, we had a very old teacher. I spit out the window and she saw me. She washed my mouth out with homemade soap. I sure didn't like that. We called her old lady Biggerstaff. Finally I got promoted to Luray school. My brother Lloyd drove for a while, then Sam Short drove too.

I would go home sometimes with my aunt Essie Varner and spend the night. I would also spend time with uncle Charlie Spitler and aunt Ella Strickler. It was a change from home.

In October of 1950 my Dad came to my house to eat lunch with the farmhands who were helping to pick corn. This turned out to be the last time we shared a meal together. When he was driving home on Farmview Road just a short distance from my house he had a stroke that caused him to wreck his car. My neighbor brought him to my house and my husband Harry Atwood and my brother Harry Huffman drove Dad to his home on Ida Road. The next day he was taken to the hospital. He lived less than 2 weeks after his stroke. He died October 23, 1950 and is buried at Mt. Zion Church of the Brethren in Luray, beside my mother.