Our Family Histories

Generation III- Marvin Chester Horton, Born June 6, 1897; Died January 24, 1964. Forsyth County, NC. Grandpa Horton was a tall heavy man who would have probably weighed over 300 pounds.  Being tall, he carried his weight well.  He had an accident when he was a young boy working with logs in the mountains and damaged his hip and legs.  He had managed to recover without much medical attention but walked with a heavy limp and always used crutches.  Sometimes he walked with one crutch and sometimes he used two crutches, according to how much pain he was feeling on that particular day.  He suffered his entire life with severe pain from the logging accident. He spoke loudly with a deep voice and could be heard over anyone else that was talking.  The corners of his mouth turned up in such a way that one would translate into a half-smile even when he was serious.   He chewed Brown’s Mule Tobacco and usually had some in his mouth with a few drops showing in the corners of his mouth. I always thought he was an intelligent man.  He was open to new ideas and would become interested in anything new or ideas which I had to talk about. Once he ordered a donkey from Sears and Roebuck, bought a camera and tried making pictures of children at events. He had no way to haul the donkey except in the back seat of his car, which he had won at a drawing at the Surry County Fair. It was a funny sight to see him driving down the road with the donkey looking out the back seat window.   He had a love for dogs, horses, friends and telling tall tales.  Married: Annie Myrtle Surratt, Born January 29, 1897; Died February 25, 1982.

Grandmother Horton was a kind, soft spoken lady with a raspy voice.  She was a devout Christian lady and attended Mount Carmel Baptist Church. She sat in the “a-men” corner, which was a section for older folks at the front of the church.  Sometimes she would let the grandchildren sit with her.   She enjoyed singing the old time hymns and could be heard singing in her kitchen most of the time when we grandchildren visited.  She made her own soap, scrubbed her clothes on a washboard and a hand wringer washing machine.  She was especially fond of her chickens.  Each one had a name and a special place in her heart.  She sold some of their eggs for extra money.  She would kill and fry the chickens for company but never ate one herself.  She raised her own hogs for meat.  On hog killing day, usually about the first of November she would work up the meat.  There were hams and shoulders that she would salt cure, hand grind her own sausage, render the fat from the “leftovers” to make “chitlens” and lard.  She was a wonderful cook.

Her vegetable garden was the envy of the ladies of the neighborhood as she would preserve hundreds of jars or vegetables and fruit.  She also dried apples for her wonderful fried apple pies. She kept a cow in a neighbor’s pasture close by.  She made her own butter, and sold milk to some of the neighbors.  There was no central heat in her house so her kitchen was heated with her cook stove.  She used little wood sticks which she chopped by herself.  Her sitting room had a warm morning heater that used wood and coal.  There was a larger coal stove in the living room, which she would heat up only for special company or the quilting ladies.  During the winter they would meet one day each week for an afternoon of quilting.  Most of the ladies bought feed bags for their animals that had designs on them.  The bags were made into dresses, shirts, etc., and the left over pieces would be used to piece together a quilt.