Asenath Ann Bennett

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 1860, , Franklin, Virginia, USA
• Residence: 1870, Union Hall, Franklin, Virginia, USA; Post Office: Rocky Mount
• Residence: 1880, Union Hall, Franklin, Virginia, USA; Marital status: WidowedRelation to Head of House: Self

Asenath married John Otis "Otey" Perdue on 29 Jan 1840 in , Franklin, Virginia, USA. John (son of Jesse Perdue and Catherine Plybon) was born on 16 Sep 1810 in Rocky Mount, Franklin, Virginia, USA; died on 11 May 1877 in , Franklin, Virginia, USA; was buried in Glade Hill, Franklin, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 1880, Union Hall, Franklin, Virginia, USA; Marital status: MarriedRelation to Head of House: Son

Notes:

Bibliographical sketch of James Otey Perdue:

By: Jean Reece Hodges

1120 American History Dr., Minn. (?)

This Biography is of my great grandfather, James Oatey Perdue, who was born at Glade Hill, Franklin Co., VA on December 9, 1858. He was the sixth child of my great, great grandfather and great, great grandmother, John Perdue, born September 16, 1810, and Asenath Ann Bennett, born July 24, 1820. There were four boys and three girls in this family.

During my great grandfather's early boyhood, he had only one pair of shoes a year and these were homemade by my great, great grandfather. All the children's clothes were made from cloth that was handwoven. They raised the sheep then sheared them for the wool. It was then hand carded, washed and woven into the cloth for the boys' and girls' clothing. The women did all the weaving and knitting. Flax and cotton were grown on the farm, spun into thread and woven into cloth. Some of the cloth was dyed with dye made from Sumac berries, Cedar, Walnut hulls, and some barks. The cloth was cut and made by hand into clothing for the entire family. The pelts of bear, deer, and raccoon were tanned and used for the heavy clothing.

The furniture was hand made and crude. Most families had corded wood beds, stools, chairs, tables, wash stands, baby cribs, buckets, wood bowls and numerous other articles. Gourds and hard-shelled squash were used for drinking utensils.

There were no ovens for baking. Hoecakes were baked on the hot hearth, potatoes and corn were cooked in the hot ashes, iron racks were built into the back of the huge fireplaces for pots and kettles to hang on to cook other foods. All the pots and skillets were made of black cast iron that never wore out.

In great grandfather's very early days his family had no horses. Steers, or oxen as they were called, were used to till the land and draw the wagons and slides. The farm machinery was made at home or in the nearest blacksmith shop. Heavy wooden yokes were made to hitch the oxen together. The gear was made from skins that had been soaked, tanned, and made into leather.

My great grandfather lived with his parents, who were farmers until he was twenty years old. He then married Mary Hunt and to this union was born three girls. When the children were four, three, and one years of age, their mother died of tuberculosis, or consumption as it was called in that day. The father and little girls moved back into the home with his parents. A year later my great grandfather married Ida McBeth Preston, who was seventeen years old at that time. To this union, over a period of twenty years, nine children were born, five boys and four girls. My grandmother, who is now sixty four years old, was next to the youngest of these nine children and was named Goldie Eunice Perdue.

My great grandfather was a very hard worker and believed in every member of the family doing his share of the farm work. The outside work was done by my great grandfather and the five boys. The oldest girls and my great grandmother were kept busy by keeping the house, weaving, cooking, and carrying water from the spring, which was several hundred yards from the house. In great grandfather's later years there was a hand-dug well with a hand pump.

The home was heated with big fireplaces. The boys cut the wood off the farm land and hauled it in to the "wood pile." There it was sawed with a hand saw, pulled from each end by the strongest boys.

Every household made it own soap. All the scraps of meat, bones, and grease were saved throughout the year for soap making. Lye was obtained from the ashes which accumulated in the big fireplaces. They were placed in wood hoppers and water poured over them. The drippings were used for lye. This was mixed with the accumulated grease and bones, boiled until it was a thick paste then placed in shallow wooden boxes to cool and harden. It was then cut in cakes and stored for all the soap needs.

Plenty of wheat and corn was raised for bread. In the fall when the corn was gathered all the neighbors were invited in to a corn-shucking. The men husked the corn and the women came to help prepare a good meal for their men.

Plenty of potatoes and cabbage were raised for winter use and put up in dirt kilns so they would not freeze. apples were packed in straw in a tobacco curing barn and would keep all winter there. The women of the family canned fruit and vegetables and dried fruit for winter use.

Hogs were raised and at butchering time, the neighbors would help each other. This meat was placed in big boxes and covered with salt to preserve it.

Since sugar was difficult to obtain, great grandfather raised cane and made many gallons of molasses to use as a sweetener. Many delicious cookies and cakes could be made with molasses. In great grandfather's boyhood days a syrup was made from ripe persimmons that was used for a sweetener. In later years, a barrel of sugar was bought when the tobacco was marketed and this would be a years supply.

My great grandfather had very little schooling, but by manhood he was a very good scholar in many ways by observing and learning from experience.

By manhood, he could build a house with hewed logs and hand-cut boards and shingles. When a new barn was needed, he and the boys would cut the logs and haul them to the building site and would invite all the neighbors in for a barn raising. By night fall a new barn would be built and covered with hand-split shingles.

He encouraged all the children to get all the schooling available for them at the one-room log school house. Three of his elder daughters took advantage of what was offered and became school teachers.

My great grandfather was kind of a "jack-of-all-trades." He pulled teeth for the country people from miles around. Seldom was a week passed by that he didn't pull several teeth for men, women, and children. He was never paid anything for this service and if it hurt the patient very much, he left in 'huff' without even thanking him for his services.

He was also a jack-leg veterinarian, or a horse and cow doctor as he was called at that time. People for miles came for his aid when they had a sick horse or cow. For many years, every spring he traveled throughout the country to castrate animals for farmers. The word for this in great grandfather's day was "alter" the animal. He also operated on many, many female dogs so they could not have puppies. He seldom lost an animal from these operations.

Great grandfather had a log blacksmith shop where he made all his plows, hoes, shovels, wagons and many other items. He made his own horse shoes and shod his horses and mules and did a lot of this work for his neighbors.

Great grandfather was a firm and faithful believer of the Primitive Baptist religion and joined the church of his faith. In his later year, he would drive a horse drawn buggy twenty miles to church. His oldest brother William C. Perdue was a Primitive Baptist preacher for many years before his death.

I have been told that a stranger was never turned away from great grandfather's house empty handed. When he asked for food or a night's lodging, whatever was there to eat was divided with anyone in need.

My great grandfather has been gone for many years, but it is interesting to me to hear my grandmother talk of things that were told to her by my great grandfather of his early childhood and the years that followed.

((((end)))).

This article was re-typed by Ruth M. Austin on June 22, 2012 from a PDF copy of this article that was faded to the point it was difficult to read. RMA.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 1880, Union Hall, Franklin, Virginia, USA; Marital status: SingleRelation to Head of House: Daughter