The James Thomas Smith Family - Part 7

 

Della Catherine (Smith) Taylor

Born Nov 5, 1880 – Died Oct 17 1975

Md.  22 March 1913

and Husband 

Fleming Letcher Taylor

Born April 8, 1876 – Died March 6, 1960

         Della Catherine Smith, born 5 November 1880, was the daughter of James Thomas and Sarah (Sanders) Smith.  She married Fleming Letcher Taylor, March 22, 1913, at Select, Ohio County, Kentucky.  She was thirty-two and he was thirty-eight.  He was the son of James Martin Taylor and Kitty Ann Leach.

          This couple had four children:  two sons, Jewel D.;  Eldred S. Taylor; and two daughters, Evelyn Taylor and Valois Taylor.

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          Excerpt from Grandmother’s tape recording about Aunt Della’s family:

           “Della always got up and got breakfast, and always got up and built a fire in the fire place.  That little bitty thing.  And then she would come wake up everybody and tell them breakfast was ready.  She would have a great big bread pan full of buttermilk biscuits baked, and ham and eggs and all, and put them on the table.  She was an angel all her life.”

           Jerri: “And didn’t you say she got her buckets and went to milk?”  GM:  “Yes.”

          Jerri:  “How come she wound up with all the work?”

           Grandmother:  “I guess we…all the rest of us was kind of lazy.   (Laughter).   We had our chores, too, but not as many as she did.  But she never complained.” 

           Jerri:   “And did she do the washing? “

          Grandmother:  “Yes, but we all helped with that – but Della did the ironing.  I never ironed a thing in my life until I was married.  I didn’t know anything.  But we would carry the wood in and build a fire around the kettle, and keep the fire going, and carried her water to rinse in.  We had a big spring of water right there by the shade tree.

          “Della always done the ironing, and Ma did the sewing.  Everything was starched and ironed as slick as a ribbon, and Della was the one that done it.  And on them old flat irons, where they would get black on them.  GM:  Yes, but we helped.  But she did all the ironing.”

          Excerpt from Evelyn Elmore’s letter to me – July 25, 2010:

          “Yes, Mother was the oldest child and was named for Great Grandma Fidella (Porter) Sanders (and aunt Caddie Stinchfield – her name was Della Catherine (Smith) Taylor.

           (Actually she was named for both grandmothers – Fidella (Porter) Sanders and for Catherine “Kitty Ann” (Jenkins) Smith, I believe, which was the custom at the time.  The oldest daughters were usually named for their two grandmothers, and the oldest son was named for his two grandfathers).

          “Grandma Fidella came and got mother when she was born and kept her almost 2-1/2 years til Uncle Charley was born.  (She was spoiled – by her two uncles and the Sanders).  So they told Grandma to get Della’s (mother) clothes ready – Grandpa was coming to get her (so she could watch her Baby Brother and rock the cradle, if or when he cried.  She said Della kicked and screamed for Grandma Sanders as she was handed up to Grandpa Jimmy on a horse. So…Mother said she cared for each child as they came along.  Next was Aunt Lizzie – Bettie - (“Auntie” to us and Retha and Darrell).  Then Uncle Ellis, then Aunt Eva, then Aunt Ella and then Uncle Harb, (Ollie Perry died at four years old).  Then came Aunt Fannie Mae.

          “Mother got her horse and went to Select (pronounced SEE-lect per Grandmother Cox- JB) after grocery’s, etc.  Grandmother “Sarah” had typhoid fever – was in the parlor – away from the family.  She went into a coma for about two days and nights and Mrs. Raley would set by her bed day and night and take wet cotton and keep her lips damp – no response – and Grandpa was worried sick.  They would keep the children in the yard a lot.” 

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          Tape of July 22, 1978:  Grandmother: “I’ll tell you, your Aunt Della could cook biscuits.  Yes, she could, and my Aunt Josie could too.  Aunt Josie cooked like grandma.”

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          When we visited Ohio County in 1975, we visited Aunt Della. I never shall forget her.  She was a nursing home, and when my dad and I walked into her room, she held up her arms for a hug, and said, “Oh, Gilbert, I thought you would never come.”  She was so happy to see him and tears were in both their eyes.  (My dad was later to say that he wouldn’t take anything for that trip to Kentucky!)  The next month he bought a new station wagon and took my mother, his mother, and his three sisters, and they all went back together.  My grandmother said it was the first time she had ever been back home with all of her children.

          Aunt Della and grandmother had a nice visit, although Aunt Della died on the last morning of their visit.  They went by to tell her goodbye, only to learn that she had passed away during the night.  The girls (Eula Mae, Retha and Darrell) thought it best not to tell her for fear it would upset her so terribly and spoil the trip, so they waited until they got back to Summerfield to tell her.  And she accepted it very well as she was so thankful to have seen all her brothers and sisters once more – Uncle Harb, Uncle Ellis, Aunt Ella and Aunt Della, who ranged in age from 78 to 95.  Aunt Della was ninety five when she passed away.

Obituary was carried in The Ohio County, News, Thursday, October 23, 1975:

                                             Mrs. Della Taylor

 

BEAVER DAM – Mrs. Della Taylor, 94, died Friday, October 17, Ohio County Rest Home, Beaver Dam.

 

          Mrs. Taylor was born in Ohio County, November 5, 1880, and was a member of Bald Knob United Methodist Church.  Her husband, Letcher Taylor, preceded her in death in 1960. 

 

          Survivors include two daughters, Valois Shuffett and Evelyn Elmore, both of Louisville; eight grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; two brothers, Harb and Ellis Smith, both of Cromwell, and two sisters, Mrs. Ella Stewart, Cromwell, and Mrs. Eva Cox, Troup, Texas. 

 

          Funeral services were at 2 p.m., Sunday, October 19, at 2 p.m., Danks Funeral Home, with the Rev. Malcolm Couch, pastor of Liberty United Methodist Church, officiating.  Burial was in Liberty Church Cemetery.

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              "Letcher Taylor Dies at Age 83"                               

   "Letcher Taylor, 83, died at 3 a.m., Sunday at his home in the Mt. Pleasant community.  He was the son of Dow and Gabriella Ford Taylor.  He was a member of the Woodmen of the World.

 

    He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Della Smith Taylor; two daughters, Mrs. Evelyn Elmore and Mrs. Valois Shuffette, both of Louisville; two sons, Jewell Taylor, Beaver Dam; Eldred Taylor, Terre Haute, Ind., and nine grandchildren.

    Funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Monday at the Liberty Methodist Church, conducted by the pastor, Rev. William Perkins.  Burial was in the church cemetery. 

    Pallbearers were Kenneth Baize, Samuel Crowder, John Iler, Arthur Crabb, Charles Smith and Roy Stewart."

          Another obituary in The Ohio County News, Hartford, KY dated March 11, 1960, was almost identical to the one above,   However, it did mention that he was a native of Ohio County and that Casebier Funeral Home, Beaver Dam, was in charge of the arrangements.

           My dad remembered when he was about ten of riding his horse to his Uncle Letcher's grist mill to have corn ground for his grandfather, James Thomas Smith and Sarah (Sanders).  Letcher married their daughter, Della Catherine.

Della:   

Della and Letcher:

Thanks to Janice Brown.