Carvell Family History IV, Tall Tales

Carvell Family Treasured Memories and Tall Tales Carvell Family History, Book IV

Written by the descendants of Robert Ammett and Cora Lee Ball Carvell Collected and compiled by Daphene Carvell Cope Edited and designed by Claudia Johnson Production assistants: Tiby Cope Ferguson, Sasha Dunavant & Danny Nichols

Tales from Frankie Hargrove Russell, daughter of Dana Carvell Hargrove The House before the Home Place According to various family members, the Carvell family owned land on both sides of the road at Minnow Branch.

The fishpond, the orchard and the meadow adjacent to the Minnow Branch Baptist Church were all property owned by my Grandpa, Ammett Carvell. Grandpa donated the land to build the church. All of this property is located across the road in front of Ammett’s new house (the “home place” as we know it). The branch across the road separated the land, and that parcel was later owned by someone else.

Mama told me that when she and Daddy married, Grandpa and Grandma Carvell were living across the branch in a two-story house on what we later came to know as “the Keeton place.”

I’ve heard Daddy tell that he would offer Aunt Annie help to get across the foot log. Her reply was, “No thanks, I will get two long sticks, one for each side, and I won’t fall in.” It worked.

Grandma had a cabinet located upstairs with her mother’s dishes stored away. One day they heard this awful commotion that sounded like every dish was breaking. They ran up the steps only to find dishes scattered about, and not one dish was broken. Not one. It scared them to death. What happened? The cabinet did not have a broken shelf. To this day no one knows.

Early Recollections My Mama, Dana, was 11 years old the day Sadie was born. She told of washing diapers in the cold branch. Uncle CL was three years old when Dana and Frank married. It was difficult for Dana to leave her siblings due to her helping care for them.

I recall Mama speaking of Grandpa’s parents (Bob and Julia) living with them, so maybe Grandpa’s house had burned, and they were living temporarily with his parents until his new house was complete. The house that Ammett rebuilt consisted of logs from an old church. After a time he covered the logs with a wood siding. Later when the granddaughter, Geraldeen Carvell Walls, purchased the property from Ammett, they again covered the exterior with a white siding. The family reunion was held at the old home place many years until it was sold to new owners in 1973.

I remember hearing Mama tell when her Grandmother Julia was sick and they were helping to care for her, Dana and Grandma went out on the front porch where there was a gate to enter the front yard with a hedge and a vine that made an archway. While they were sitting there on the porch, two angels came through the gate and hung there a few seconds. In just a short time Grandpa’s mother had died. They took that as a sign from heaven.

Perseverance My Grandparents had a beautiful family, and all of them were big cut-ups – always a crazy tale, totally off the wall. Most of us grandchildren are like that. I love to make people laugh. I am often asked if I ever have a serious moment. I totally refuse to let all the hurt in my life get me down. I lost my childhood sweetheart and husband of 23 years when he was only 42. My oldest son, Terry, had three children, two boys and one girl. We lost the oldest child, Tab, at 27 and his brother, Zach, at 12 to cystic fibrosis, a terminal, genetic disease carried by both parents. The lungs become covered with mucus. The pancreas doesn’t do its job either. Their lives consisted of breathing treatments, lots of medication and Frankie’s Family frequent hospital visits. The remaining members of my family are healthy. My son, Tim, passed away at the age of 46, on Jan. 28, 2011, with a broken heart. I am happy to share these great memories, and they are submitted with much love.

Big Slide Every grandchild remembers the big, tall gully behind Grandpa’s house. This was a great source of entertainment.

Red clay was terrific for sliding, especially when it was a little wet. Dana really stayed on my case. Just about all the seats of my underwear were stained with red clay. I tried to make sure I had a pair that was already stained so I could use them on Big Slide days when all the cousins were present.

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Green Apples This same bunch of grandchildren would sneak behind the garden and go down to the orchard to eat green apples. We knew when to eat them – not before June unless you wanted to pay the consequences. We operated in the same manner about the fishpond. We sneaked there too, and we really caught furor when we threw rocks and sticks in the pond.

Ghost in the Cellar A story that comes to mind and is often laughed about was told to me by my mother, Dana. It happened before I was born in the new house that Grandpa built, the “home place” as we know it. It was built after she and Dad married, so she never lived there. During the construction of the house, they placed a trap door in the front room bedroom-parlor. The purpose was to have a way to escape in the event of a fire and to allow access from the inside of the house down to the cellar during the cold winter months.

One day Dana walked to the home place for a visit. She noticed the cellar door was open. She knew that Annie and Sadie, her younger siblings still living at home, were inside the house. She also knew they were afraid of their own shadows, so she decided to play a little prank on the girls and entered the cellar, soon spotting an old guitar hanging on the wall. She then eased up the stairs, cracked open the trap door and began to strumming a tune on the old guitar while singing an awful song. She said those girls flew out of the house screaming, trying to find their mother. It almost frightened them to death. They just knew a ghost had them. Dana was scolded for that episode.

“Mama didn’t share in my sense of humor,” Dana admitted.

Doll Dresses As I mentioned earlier, Dana taught me to sew. Daphene and I spent many hours sewing doll clothes and making rag dolls. We dressed up clothes pins as dolls. All of the sewing was done on a pedal machine. Grandma was right in the middle of the design and work. We were called down by Grandpa for giggling, especially when he was listening to the radio. If we got scared, Grandma slept with us. She was such a good soul.

Pipe Tobacco Grandpa Carvell smoked a pipe. The tobacco he used was Country Gentleman, three bags for 25¢. He used kitchen matches to light his pipe. He sat in a wicker chair that was positioned right on the edge of the porch. He would strike a match on the metal of the worn-out chair arm, holding his pipe tightly between his lips as he continued talking and talking.

I watched in amazement holding my breath, thinking he was going to burn his fingers. When he did, he would say “Ah, pshaw” and shake his hand a little. He then started the process all over again with another match, telling the same story or a new one. This was repeated so many times, yet his pipe was seldom ever lit.

Pumpkin Seeds and Grass Fires We sneaked in the barn hayloft in the fall of the year where Grandma kept her pumpkin seeds drying on paper.

We ate a lot of them, and I don’t think that came as a surprise to grandmother. Another cousin, Martha, Uncle Dewey’s daughter, was also involved in many of our antics. One Sunday afternoon the four of us, Troy, Martha, Daphene and yours truly, climbed up to the top of a huge hill behind Grandpa’s barn. The hill was covered with about three feet of thick sage grass – very dry sage grass. I think you can see where I am going with this story. We were just looking for a little extra fun, no harm intended. We sat the brush on fire, and within seconds down the hill the fire raced straight toward Grandpa’s barn. Terror and panic gripped us.

If the barn burned we were all surly dead except possibly Daphene. She was smaller and could plead ignorance and maybe be found innocent. Only the Dear Lord in Heaven knew how frightened we were. Somehow, the fire burned itself out about 10 feet away from the barn. Oh, my goodness! You can never in your wildest imagination know the relief. We are all convinced to this day that our guardian angels had a tag team in place. They may have gotten their wings scorched that time.

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Mud Pies There were two sets of grandchildren. My brother CD was among the older group, and it wasn’t much difference in the age between some of Ammett’s children and the older grandchildren. There was a 13-year age difference between my brother and me.

I grew up with the second set of grandchildren. The older children of Uncle RA were closer to my age.

We spent a great deal of time together at our Grandparents’. Troy was two years younger than I, and there were four years between Daphene and me. We provided our own entertainment. Our playhouse was rather elaborate and quite spectacular, at least in our minds. We gathered field rock to make the outside walls. All of our furnishings were constructed out of bits of leftover lumber. Troy built great forts out of excess building materials.

He was Roy Rogers or Tonto.

We made gorgeous mud pies decorated with dog fennel blooms. We insisted that Troy taste them, and HE DID. One midmorning we looked up to see our darling grandmother, Cora, coming down across the meadow. She was wearing on her head a little white bonnet and as usual had on her snow-white cobble apron. She was carrying a tray of teacakes and a big pitcher of lemonade. She knocked on our playhouse door and pretended to be our next door neighbor. She sat on our homemade furniture and visited with us a spell. This is a priceless memory.

Building a Church The Minnow Branch Baptist Church was started by holding services in everyone’s front yard for about a year. It started at Frank and Dana’s house on my brother Carvell Dean’s 25th Birthday. He worked with Brother Coston, a preacher and also a carpenter, who inquired if the community had a church. Ammett donated the land to build the church. He also gave the dinner bell to be used in the steeple. All of Grandpa’s sons and son-in-laws gave $50 per family and away they went building on the church. Many other families gave, and anyone that knew how to drive a nail was there. All the others were go-fers. We had so many wonderful times there.

A big potbellied stove warmed the church in the winter, and hand-held fans provided by the funeral home kept us cool in the summertime. Aunt Eula Mae, Uncle Dewey’s wife, played the piano. We sang so loud. We were not too good, but we didn’t know it because we were so happy. It is a wonder our singing didn’t crack the windows.

Just about everyone in the community was a member there, but most of them are gone now. Christmas programs, Easter plays, Vacation Bible School, revivals and baptisms were held in the branch behind the church. I can’t forget to mention the singings and dinner on the ground. It was only fitting that Grandpa’s funeral be held at the Minnow Branch Church. Those times were so sweet, so wonderful and so long ago. The church is now 62 years old, and the building is 60 years old.

Be Polite Aunt Nora carried Troy for a visit to see Dr. Copeland. At that time many of the doctors had an office located in their home. She informed him prior to the visit that he had better not ask for something to eat. Troy looked up and spotted a big bowl of apples on top of the refrigerator. He told the doctor that he smelled apples but didn’t want one. Obviously, he left with one.

Leaf Raking There was a big rock wall surrounding Grandpa’s house. The driveway was about four feet lower. We worked diligently raking leaves to fill the long cavern along the driveway. Then we ran and jumped off the wall into the huge pile of leaves. This continued for hours on end. When we were finished, Grandpa burned the leaves on the spot. Now that I think back it was a pretty good system. He capitalized on child labor, and we had so much fun in the process. We were highly entertained. There weren’t TVs, computers or video games to keep us occupied. The fact of the matter was we didn’t have anything electronic. My grandparents were not rich, but they were comfortable. They had a nice home supplied with the basic needs. There was never a dull moment. Simply the best!

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The Stetson Grandpa wore a black Stetson felt hat, (no crease) in the top. The first thing he did in the morning sitting on the side of the bed – hat on. The last thing before he went to bed – hat off. He placed it on a nearby chair. Oh, to just walk that road and go to their house and relive those times would be so great, but now I am that senior citizen. I am 74 years old, 800 miles away, and all my grandchildren are grown and making their own memories coming to my house.

Grand Old Opry In Grandpa’s back yard he had fenced in an area approximately 10’ x 10’. It was well-secured with a lock on the gate and barbed wire around the top of the fence. It was called a Delco System, like a battery for a radio but much larger. He told all of us grandchildren not to touch the wire, warning, “It will kill you.” He didn’t even have electricity at the time, so it could not possibly have harmed us, but we were convinced it would kill us. You see, everyone loved to listen to the Grand Ole Opry. On Saturday night, my Grandparents’ yard was full of people listening to the radio, thanks to this big old scary Delco System.

Old Tales I lived close to Grandpa and Grandma’s house during the1940s and 50s when kids could walk a country road and parents didn’t need to worry. I went to their house two or three times a day. My Grandma cooked the best cabbage and teacakes in the world. I was always hoping she would offer me one because you just could not take one or even ask for one. My mother would have gotten my backside. Grandma would sit in the swing on the front porch, and I sat with her always asking her to tell me an old tale. Some of them were so spooky. She could tell a story so well I was afraid to turn around and look behind me! When Carylon came to visit, she wanted to go to Grandma’s to hear the old tales, too.

Cigar Swallowed One day CL dropped by for a visit at the home of his sister, Dana. Though he always, always smoked a cigar, he was not smoking one that day. He announced to Dana that he had decided to quite smoking. She expressed her delight and concern, saying, “CL those things can’t be good for you.”

“Oh, that is not my reason for quitting,” he informed her. “When I went to sleep last night, I thought I swallowed my cigar.”

Dana really got all torn up. “Don’t worry too much,” he comforted her. “I don’t think it was lit.”

Tales from Terry Carvell, son of Grady, and from Troy Carvell, son of RA Repo Men Terry and Troy Carvell worked with Grady and RA in the construction of dwellings, barns, etc. If there was any down time waiting for materials to be delivered, they built outhouses, as very few homes had indoor plumbing.

They received an order for an outhouse, so they delivered it and completed the task of getting it situated and in working order. RA was then ready to receive his wages for the project. RA was quoted many times as saying, “Don’t beat a man out of his labor. Try to do what is right and give a man a day’s work for a day’s pay.” He tried numerous times and very tactfully to be paid for his handiwork on the outhouse but to no avail. One Saturday morning RA instructed the crew to load up the tools. “Where we going, Unc?” Terry inquired of RA. “We’re going to repossess an outhouse,” RA responded. And they did.

Milk Cart Catastrophe Robert Ammett had a rather nice milk cart that the children were told not to play on. The temptation was just so great that they rolled the cart to the top of the big hill behind Ammett’s house to take a little ride, not anticipating how fast they would be traveling when they reached the bottom. Since there was no break mechanism to stop it, of course the cart was torn to pieces. According to their memory, this story did not have a good ending.

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Driven Up the Wall The Carvell Sr. staff when working on a job did not have time for nonsense. You were expected to do what you were told and not horse around. It seems that Troy was having one of his days of being quite annoying. He had been warned many times by his coworkers to “straighten up.” The crew finally reached a breaking point. Enough was enough, so they solved the problem and nailed him to the wall upside-down by his britches.

Mule Headed “I begged and begged,” Troy remembered, “until they finally cut me down.”

Robert Ammett assigned CL on a very tough task of plowing a field with an old mule, but he wasn’t performing the task suitable to Ammett, who said, “Boy you plow that mule the way I told you.”

CL spouted back, “Papa you know the old way. I know the new way.”

Seriously, how many ways can you plow with a mule?

Flaming Mule The Carvell children were taught by Ammett to take care of their animals. Dewey had an old mule that had acquired a bad case of lice and was miserable, so he painted the mule with gasoline to kill the critters. Meanwhile, someone struck a match and immediately the mule was engulfed into a roaring flame. The poor old mule was running crazy and headed straight for the hall of the barn. This was reason for real panic. Everyone was frantically chasing after the mule to head him off and get the barn door closed before the mule reached the barn. The episode was absolute chaos.

“The only thing that wasn’t blazing was a little spot on his tail,” Dewey told, with some remorse.

The poor old thing finally turned and ran into the branch. Kinda makes you feel real sad for the old mule.

Cigars and Cool Cars Each year CL purchased a brand new Mercury convertible. He had a beloved bulldog named Cheetah. The dog traveled with him everywhere. CL smoked cigars and was always well dressed. He picked up Troy in the beautiful, shiny car, and they cruised around with the top down – the bulldog in the backseat with Troy in the front seat, arm hanging out the window. They were cool, all three of them.

Cat on the Ceiling RA was commissioned to renovate an historic house in West Point, Tenn. It was a beautiful old house, and he went about the task in a CL was an attractive man who always had a nice car painstaking manner and with utmost care. RA always attracted the locals in the community. One old man in particular had a repetition of stretching the truth and had recently won a contest as to who could tell the biggest lie.

RA had just taken down some beaded ceiling boards from the front porch and laid the boards on ground to be sanded and painted. A very freak thing happened when a cat came running across the freshly painted boards with a dog chasing after. It was coming up a rain, and being pressed for time, RA instructed the crew to quickly nail the boards back up to the ceiling. They could later sand the boards and repaint them in the places where the tracks were.

In the meantime the old man paid them his daily visit, offering his opinions along with a daily inspection. This day he inquired of the imperfection on the ceiling. RA proceeded to tell him that a dog came running by and was chasing after a cat, and the cat ran up the wall over top of the ceiling upside down, and the dog came chasing right after, therefore making the tracks. The old man said, “Well you got me.” He left and didn’t come back. He was quoted at the local store as saying that man working on the house was “one up on me.”

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Tales from Daphene Carvell Cope, daughter of RA Carvell Fields Ablaze Troy, Daphene and Frankie Jean were playing in the Minnow Branch churchyard. They had worked all morning to construct a beautiful teepee. Someone suggested building a fire inside this new dwelling. What a great idea until everything started burning. Everything. The hay was freshly cut. The wind carried the cinders, and the fire crossed the road and progressed rapidly up the hill. All the dinner bells in the community started ringing. Everyone came running with wet tow sacks to stamp out the flames. Uncle Frank got the old horse and plowed around the hillside to prevent the fire from spreading. They finally extinguished the fire before it reached the woods. That was Really Big Trouble. Who could have anticipated such a thing could happen?

Annie Cora and Bascom had no children but loved their nieces and nephews like their own.

Party Line Annie Carvell Capley is fortunate to have survived a catastrophic event. You have heard the parents of old say, “Now when it is coming up a cloud don’t you be talking on the telephone.” Annie was involved in one of her long, drawn-out conversations when lightening ran in on the phone line. She was sitting perched on a stool and was knocked clean to the floor. That was quite a disaster. While she lay sprawled out on the floor, she came to the realization that the wallpaper was on fire. After that if Annie heard thunder in the next county, she would hang up.

Dishwater Stew Grady didn’t say much, but you could always tell that he was really thinking. The story is told about Grady coming home late one night. The lighting in the house was poor, but he smelled something good cooking on the wood stove. As boys are always, always hungry, he dipped up a big bowl of soup. When he got up the next morning he told Grandma how wonderful the soup tasted. Grandma was stunned.

“Dear me, Grady,” she said, alarmed. “I burned something yesterday and was soaking the pot on the stove top.”

Apparently dishwater did not kill him.

Good Stink Sadie lived in Columbia, Tenn., but visited her parents on Sunday at Minnow Branch, bringing gifts of candy and toys. The children looked forward to her visits. She gave out dimes and quarters to all the children, which was a lot of money. It seemed like Christmas. She was always pretty and smelled good. One of them told her she sure did “stink good.”

Construction Stories CL and RA worked together in the latter years when CL had become extremely hard of hearing. RA was the man to stand on the scaffold and call out the measurements. CL was responsible to cut the boards. RA repeatedly told him, “Now you cut those boards correct. I can’t stretch them, I don’t have a board stretcher.”

While they were constructing the house that RA built for himself at Marcella Falls, the next door neighbor dropped by to check on the project. She complemented them on how quickly they were progressing and inquired about the “rest” of the workers. She was shocked to be told that there were only two of them. She could hear them across the hollow every day talking so loudly to each other that she thought there was a large crew.

Wish Granted CL and RA were working on a huge log house that was near completion in Giles County when RA began to have unbearable pain. It was determined he had an aneurism. “Let me die working and with my shoes on,” he always said. He almost did. He lived two more weeks.

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Visiting the Aunts and Uncles When Grady and Nina hosted family gatherings, Nina always made an assortment of pies with the tallest meringue. She was a wonderful cook.

One of the most hospitable families and homes to visit was Uncle Dewey and Aunt Mae’s and the girls. I recall sitting in a child’s chair drinking coffee (mostly milk) and listening to the daytime stories on the radio. Aunt Eula Mae was a wonderful cook and made beautiful cakes. The lovely variety of cakes consisted of black walnut, chocolate, jam, orange and coconut. She also made delicious homemade candy. We played games. Aunt Mae played the piano. We made beautiful playhouses on the hill under a big tree. We played dress up. The daughters Geraldleen, Okaleen and Martha were so patient and so beautiful.

Another great place to visit was with Aunt Dana and Uncle Frank. She had a great sense of humor. One of the things she told me was if I ate too much, I would burst and the old Garfield, Tillman, Alma Lee and Mildred dog, Fuzzy, would have to clean me up. I was always scared that I would burst. She made real sweet tea with lemon and served it out of a rooster picture.

Troy, Frankie and I, in one of our escapades, one night placed an empty pocketbook in the middle of a dirt road and tied a string to the purse handle. We covered the string with Annie Cora dirt. We all hid in the corn patch next to the road and waited patiently for a car to come along. After a while, a car with black folks came driving by, and they stopped to retrieve the purse. Just as they reached for it, we pulled the string. It startled them, and they started screaming. For some reason we did not anticipate their reaction, and they almost frightened us to death. We just knew they were coming to get us. We ran like bandits through the corn patch tearing down corn stalks. I was the youngest. They had me by the hand dragging me. We were scratched and bleeding and terrified to come out of hiding. The next day Uncle Frank just didn’t know what happened to his corn! He was such a nice man, and everyone commented, “If anyone goes to heaven, it will be Frank Hargrove.”

Uncle Tonnie and Aunt Clara lived in Pulaski (town), and we loved going to their home. They had a big house and hosted numerous family gatherings. The food was great, and the kids had special treats.

Uncle Tonnie spoke softly and had an unusual laugh. I recall that Aunt Clara always drove a long, big, big car. Garfield and Tillman were older, and I thought they were so handsome. Alma was beautiful.

She was always tanned, and she had pretty legs. In my teen years, Alma would come to Lynnville and pick me up to spend the weekend with her and her husband, Buddy. Those were fond times that stand out in my memory.

Vera Carvell married Carvell Family Reunion, 1940s Walter Cross, and they Vera and two of her children lived in Bowling Green, Ky., for many years. The neighborhood consisted of homes with a style similar to that of row houses. A rock retaining wall had been constructed along the street. Each property owner had a green space.

Each home had been designed with a different façade and was very attractive. They all had beautiful lawns that were well-maintained.

Vera loved flowers, and when you approached their home, huge containers filled with gorgeous flowers were scattered about. Parking was on the street, and steps led to their home. Surprisingly, their entire lawn was concrete, both front and back. Walter provided a reasonable explanation, saying, “I don’t like to mow!” Not a bad idea if you can afford the concrete.

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Crutches and the Bathroom Grandpa (Ammett) Carvell used crutches when he got older. As a child if we became unruly or out of order, he would take his crutch and poke us. It was best to stay out of his reach and out of sight.

Martha Carvell Russell said she never remembered her Grandpa Carvell not being on crutches. He had crippling arthritis and gout, and he hollered when he had to move.

“His body when standing was one-fourth bent,” Martha said. “I never saw him standing straight. He really suffered.”

They did not have medication at the time to relieve him of his misery. Robert Ammett’s health had begun to decline, and he was struggling to stay mobile. It was becoming extremely difficult to take care of his daily needs.

Indoor plumbing did not exist in rural areas. His sons decided it was time to step up and install a bathroom in his house.

Directly in back of Ammett’s home was a hollow known as Jimmy Hollow. At the head of the hollow was a rather nice spring that ran out of the hillside. It was probably two miles to the mouth of the spring from Ammett’s house.

It was known far and near that the Carvell boys could do anything when it came to building. With their reputations at stake, they quickly assembled a delegation to work on the project. The plan was to install a shower and lavatory and create a commode. A hole was cut out of a chair and a slop jar was inserted. They hand dug a trench from the spring to the house to bury the pipes. The ditch ran the distance of the hollow. The pipes were inserted into the wall of the house to the shower. Thus, the task of getting water to the house had begun. The shower was constructed from sheets of tin for the sides and bottom. To give an example of the flow and the size of the stream of water, it was comparable to one’s little finger and ice cold.

They plumed a lavatory for the bathroom that measured approximately the size of a basketball. That lavatory, a family treasure, is located in the bathroom of Jackson Cope Ferguson, the great, great grandson of Ammett. For the first time ever, Ammett could slide onto a chair and into the shower and bathe. If they needed hot water, it was heated on the stove. A water heater wasn’t an option at the time. It was said by many that someone had to be rather tough to shower in the cold water. They also ran water into the kitchen. What a remarkable convenience for the time.

Auto Fear Both Alma and Frankie were told that when their parents, Dana and Tonnie, saw the first car driving by, it frightened the brother and sister so much that they ran faster than the car up the road to their home. They did not know what it was.

Family Feud When Garfield was in service he had invited a buddy to come home to Tennessee with him on furlough. He had convinced his buddy that his family was like the Hatfields and McCoys and that when they arrived they would have to choose sides and fight. The poor guy was worried and didn’t know what to expect. He was surprised to find Garfield’s family relatively normal.

Hauling One of the most beloved family stories really shows how these Carvell folks learned to be resourceful and flexible and work with what they had. The story is told that Dewey sold a cow and calf to his brother-in-law in Cornersville, Tenn. He committed to deliver the pair, but he did not have a vehicle that was adequate for the delivery. After considering his alternatives he decided to remove the back seat in his car and line it with straw. He rolled down the back windows and led the cow and calf inside his car. At that time cars were large inside, so the pair could ride rather comfortably and stick their heads out along the way. Dewey was set and on his way. He would laugh and tell that as he drove through Lynnville people were amazed. Daughter Martha recalled that after the delivery they drove the car down to the branch and cleaned it spotless, replaced the back seat and drove it to church on Sunday. This is just one more great example illustrated by Dewey. He achieved his objective and got the job done.

Another interesting and clever story concerning Dewey was his method of hauling hay. When it came time to transport his hay to the barn he tied 53 bales of hay on his car and moved along nicely with only a peephole to see how to drive. Can you imagine meeting him on the road? Rather clever don’t you think?

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Tales from Carylon Hargrove Brock, daughter of CD Hargrove, granddaughter of Dana Carvell Hargrove Wartime Romance Just a note of caution to the current generation: BEWARE when your children tell you they are going to the movies. Carvell Dean (CD), son of Frank and Dana, father of Carylon and the beloved nephew of the Carvell brothers, had gone with RA to California to find work.

Carylon’s mother Nellie Stofel, was 16 at the time. She accompanied Nora Carvell, RA’s wife, on the long train ride across country to join RA. She also helped with the care of the two small children. After they arrived in California, Nellie resided with Nora and RA. She took a job in which she was tasked with placing rivets into airplane wings at an airplane factory.

This was a terrible time for the nation. The women employed in the airplane plant were featured in newsreels and shown in movie theaters weekly as a public relations endeavor and moral booster. This also provided a way to keep the country informed as to what was being done in the U.S. to support our troops.

The kind of job Nellie had has now become famous, and those ladies are remembered as “Rosie the Riveter” or “Bomb Girls.”

CD lived with CL and his first wife, Louise, and worked in a defense plant. It wasn’t long until a courtship had developed between Nellie and CD. When the war ended they all returned to Tennessee. Nellie returned to her family home in Pulaski. CD returned to the home of his parents on Minnow Branch.

CD and Nellie On Christmas Eve he told his mother he was “going to the movies” with Nellie. That afternoon the couple boarded a Greyhound bus to Kentucky and got married. It was legal in that state to marry under age and without the parents’ consent. After they got married the newlyweds resided about a year in Nashville.

Dana said she stayed mad all her life because they sneaked off to get married, but she was able to forgive them a little when Carylon was born.

Plenty of Honey Once when Uncle RA was visiting he related that he had just robbed the beehives.

“Did you get much honey?” we inquired.

“Oh yes,” he replied. “There was so much honey in the hives that the honey ran down the hill. It ran so hard and so fast, it made a gully.”

The house was owned by Ammett’s g r a n d d a u g h t e r, Geraldleen (dewey’s daughter) from the time of her death until 1973.

Several generations of Carvell grandchildren have enjoyed playing in the little valley of Minnow Branch since the family settled in that area around 200 years ago, and for much of the 20th Century at the Homeplace.

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Tales from Alma Lee Carvell McKinney, daughter of Tonnie Carvell Lonesome Whistle CL had a Model A car with a rumble seat and very loud engine. Alma Lee, Geraldleen, Frankie and CD all decided to take a road trip. CD was learning to drive and was really trying to concentrate navigating the vehicle.

When they approached the railroad track at Riversburg, they could hear the sound of the train whistle. Every time they started to cross the track the train sounded louder. They paused to wait for the train a number of times. As it turned out it was CL. He had perfected a whistle to sound just like the one on a train.

Hard Times Daddy always laughed at one of CL’s tales. During the Great Depression, when food was so hard to come by, early one morning as CL hunted for squirrels, he nearly shot RA. He would have killed him if RA’s head hadn’t suddenly popped up. CL said RA had been fighting with a squirrel over a nut. Yep, those were tough times.

Thinking Pills Daddy (Tonnie) paid a visit to the doctor to report that he was having trouble thinking. The doctor prescribed him some medicine, which Daddy referred to as his smart pills.

Several days later I asked, “Dad, are you feeling and thinking better?”

“Yea,” he replied. “Do you know after taking my pills, I thought of something I haven’t thought of in 30 years.”

Escape from Plowing Alma Lee remembers visiting the home of her grandparents, Ammett and Cora Lee, at an early age. Annie Cora and CL were still living at home. Poor CL had the dismal task of plowing on top of a big hill with an old mule. As he worked along on what appeared to be a never-ending task he would sing to the top of his voice, “Oh if I only had the wings of a dove, I would fly, fly, fly away to a beautiful place, I would fly, fly, away.” Later in life he did fly, fly away from plowing with that old mule.

Collection Agent Tonnie and Clara owned numerous rental properties. Once when a tenant was delinquent, Clara had tried unsuccessfully to collect the past due rent. I told them, “Just let me go collect. I will get it or else!” I went bouncing up on the porch and told that woman I was there to collect the rent and she had better get the money and pay up or else. That big old burley woman came crashing through the screen door and whipped me all over the porch – even threw me down the steps. I was scratched and bleeding, and I jumped up like a whipped puppy and ran all the way home. I did not offer to collect the rent anymore, even if she never paid it.

Moved by the Spirit When Daddy and Uncle Dewey were young boys, they found a hawk with a broken wing. They built a cage, repaired the wing and began taking care of it until it could fly again. Nearby was a church were the local Negroes worshipped. They boys often slipped down there to listen to the singing, shouting and preaching from a hiding place. The sermon began every time with a plea from the preacher for God to send down his angels. The boys whitewashed the hawk, took it up to the church attic and waited for the preacher to say, “Lord send down your angels to walk with us.” The hawk was freed into the building, and the church emptied fast. They did not get a whipping but did have to attend church there until the revival services ended.

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Tonnie the Bobcat Hunter Tonnie, Alma, Tillman, Garfield, Louise and CL planned an overnight fishing trip to Pickwick Landing near Savannah, Tenn., on the backwaters of the Tennessee River. As they approached the site they came to a clearing where a beautiful spring flowed out of the hillside. A bobcat was getting a drink of water, but their arrival frightened it away. Someone in the group said, “What if that bobcat comes back here tonight?”

“Don’t worry. I will take my knife and cut him up,” CL spouted off.

"I will grab him by the tail and throw him in the river," Garfield bragged.

The delegation assembled the camp and headed to the river to be about the task of setting out the trout lines.

They left Tonnie behind with the ladies to mind the camp. While the group was away, he began to think of how boastful the guys were about the possibility of the return of the bobcat and what they were going to do. He retrieved an old fleece shirt from his pickup truck. He stuffed the shirt with leaves, sticks, etc., and hid it in the bushes. He tied a string to the shirt, formulating his plan. The group returned after dark when the only light to navigate by was the fire in the camp site. All retired for the night, and Tonnie, too, bedded down on his cot waiting until the time he thought everyone was nearly ready to drop off to asleep. He began to pull the string and make a racket in the bushes. Alma and Louise had been instructed to scream.

"Tonnie to the rescue," Alma said. “Daddy bravely ran into the bushes and started to fight and carry on. You have never seen such scrambling out of CL, Garfield and Tillman trying to get somewhere. I didn’t see any heroes helping Daddy.”

When they discovered what had happened, they wrestled and rolled Tonnie all over that hillside. He laughed about the incident the rest of his life.

Fried Pumpkin Blossoms Alma Lee said she spent many wonderful times visiting Aunt Eula Mae and Uncle Dewey and the three girls. She loved having so much fun with her cousins, since they were close in age. She was always treated so special. She remembered singing along as Aunt Mae played the piano.

One of the songs was about a beautiful red bird.

“It is so interesting how those tunes stick in your mind,” Alma observed.

In the fall they all visited the pumpkin patch and collected the pumpkin blooms. Aunt Mae made a special treat by battering and frying the blooms. They were delicious and quite a delicacy.

“I can still taste her pumpkin butter,” she said.

Carvell Family Reunion at the Homeplace, 1966

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Tales from Linda Carvell White, granddaughter of Tonnie Carvell Deaf Papa Carvell did not condone the use of alcohol. If he did partake it was only a nightcap or for medicinal purposes. There was an old man in the family that dropped by Papa’s house rather frequently. Papa had zero patience with the fellow because he stayed drunk most of the time. It absolutely infuriated him. Not only was the old man obnoxious, he’d lost his hearing to the point he couldn’t hear it thunder. Knowing this, Papa would say to him, “You are a stupid old man.” Sometimes he used other adjectives. The old man was constantly turning his hearing aid up and down and asking, “What Did You Say?” Of course Mama Carvell scolded Papa, saying, “Now, now, Tonnie, don’t you talk ugly to him and especially in front of those children.”

Crank CL told that times were so hard that they worked day and night in the fields. He said they never cut the tractor engine off. If a tire went flat, they changed it while it was still running. CL also told that starting the tractor required a crank. If the engine ever died, the neighbor across the creek was the only one who owned a crank. They swam across the creek borrowed the crank and swam back and returned it. Now that story is the truth.

Tales from Garfield Carvell, son of Tonnie Carvell

House Moving One day I looked out the office window and saw this awful commotion. I was intrigued as to what could be happening. Low and behold, before my very eyes appeared Uncle RA. He was moving this massive house right down the middle of the highway. Now, why did I let that surprise me? Those guys would attempt anything.

Making a Carpenter Kent spent lots of time with my dad, Tonnie, and my uncles, RA, Dewey and CL. They did a lot of my construction work. Kent made every step they made. They figured out a way to occupy Kent by drawing a line on scrap boards so Kent could drive nails along the line. Kent built his first house when he was only 16.

Tales from Kent Carvell, great nephew of Dewey Carvell Sweet Dreams Uncle Dewey told me about his serious surgery. He said, “When they put me to sleep I found myself riding on the wings of this huge butterfly, and we went up in to the heavens to see God. We soared everywhere, and it was so beautiful. I could see my grandson, Tommy, driving his 18-wheeler. It was wonderful, and I was having such a good time that I didn’t want to wake up, but I knew that butterfly was getting tired.

Tales from Sheila McKinney Wells, granddaughter of Tonnie Carvell My best memories of Papa Carvell are when we would go to the Bar X on weekends and he would tell us about a catamount that lived around there. It was big and mean and left tracks all around though no one could catch a glimpse of it. One night Lynn, Lesa, Kent, Harry and I were spending the night, and Papa had told a story about the catamount jumping in a buggy and snatching a baby from its mama’s arms, but we did not believe him. When we went to bed, Papa slipped outside and started howling. We all jumped into bed with Mama Carvell.

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Tales from Harry McKinney, grandson of Tonnie Carvell I was too young to remember much about Papa, but I remember he laughed a lot. I was about four or five years old, playing around while he was building a barbecue pit in the back yard. He picked up a little rock and a snake jumped out. I screamed and jumped all around, but Papa just stepped on the snake. He looked around at me and said, “Harry did you pee your pants?” I wish I could have had more time with him, but I did get to spend a lot of time with Uncle RA. He told me lots of wonderful stories about what a fine man he was. I hope I am a lot like him.

Tales from Roxie Carvell, daughter-in-law of Tonnie Carvell Grandsons When Garfield and I returned to Pulaski after he got out of the Air Force, Tonnie and Clara were so gracious to me. Tonnie wanted me to have whatever I needed or wanted. He always treated me special. Tonnie and I refinished furniture. He wasn’t as exacting as I was, but he didn’t mind getting off the layers of paint so I could do the tedious work.

Our first baby, Michael, passed away in infancy, and Tonnie was heartbroken over his passing. When Kent came along he was determined to not pay him any attention, but he became Kent’s biggest cheerleader. He thought “Kennybo” could do no wrong. He carried him on jobs. He also taught him to spit and occasionally to say bad words.

Tales from Tracy Carvell, grandson of Tonnie Carvell The Bar X Once when I was spending the night with Papa Carvell my grandmother summoned me to get out of bed to see what was in the back of the big old 1956 Desoto Papa drove.

To my surprise there were a couple of bottle-fed calves. Papa was on his way to the family farm, the Bar X, to deliver them.

He, like the rest of his brothers, showed no mercy on a vehicle. When the car had performed to his satisfaction, he ditched it at the farm. Kent and friends were hanging out at the Bar X, managed to get the old car started and drove it to town. There is a blank spot in this story (ask Kent) somehow the car got ditched in town in a nearby woods. Garfield retrieved the old car and restored it to its former glory. Lesa Sue drove the car to school. By the way, the color of the vehicle was Penny Pink.

Lynn Carvell Busby and Lesa Papa found some unusual shaped Carvell Odum at the Bar X Tonnie sparkling rocks on the Bar X farm. He told us kids that he had struck gold!

Well, it was fools gold. Kent and other family members own the farm these days, and they are all still trying to strike gold.

At the Bar X was a big red rooster that was really mean. For some unknown reason the roaster did not like Kent. All the kids could play in its presence and it didn’t bother them, but as soon as Kent showed up the old rooster would flog him. Kent was the oldest grandson and was a real pal to Papa. The last time it attempted to flog Kent, Papa caught that rooster and rung his head off, stuffed him in a pot of boiling water and served him up with dressing.

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Tales from Frankie Hargrove Russell, niece of CL Carvell During the time CL was in California he bought me a beautiful, delicate little locket when he received his first paycheck. I was three and thrilled to get a package in the mail, but Mother would not let me wear it for fear I would lose it. When I was in high school, I slipped it out of the house to wear. I am sad to say that I did lose it. I also received a cereal bowl as did the other children in the family. Inside was the nursery rhyme “Little Jack Horner.” I still have it today, and it is priceless.

Tales from Daphene Carvell Cope, niece of CL Carvell CL was generous and loved children. It was great to spend the night at their house. There was a long narrow galley kitchen with a Southwestern decor where we were served lots of good food. Aunt Louise wore red lipstick and rouge. She allowed me to use her dressing table to apply her makeup. Then I wore her jewelry, dressing gown and pink house slippers to make myself really beautiful. She had ornamental peppers on her front porch in a flower pot. They were so pretty and all different colors. Troy and I were instructed NOT to bother them, but we could not resist. Of course, they burned our hands and eyes, and we had our eyes washed out with milk to relieve the pain. CL and Aunt Louise spent every Christmas Eve with our family, as did Aunt Annie and Uncle Bascom and Aunt Sadie and Uncle Pat. One year CL brought us a scooter. Troy and I had never owned everything so grand.

We made about three rounds in the dining room before we crashed it into a corner cabinet and destroyed it.

Story printed in the Pulaski Citizen shortly after CL’s death.

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Tales from Lynn Carvell Busby, daughter of Tillman Carvell, granddaughter of Tonnie Carvell Naturally Fine Lynn was in Pulaski one day and happened to see Uncle Dewey. She commented as to how he was looking well.

“Most people don’t think I look or act my age,” he said, reminding her of his age.

Of course she agreed.

“I just can’t help it,” he told her, confiding the secret to his youthfulness.

Reminder to every woman on the planet: when someone tells you that you don’t look your age, Uncle Dewey gave us a great response.

Stubborn Mule Lynn laughed about RA telling her of having an old mule that was crazy and every time he tried to feed him the old mule would jump over the fence. He said he even tied a rope to an old tire.

That did not help with the problem at all. The mule would swing the tire with his head around and around and over the fence he would go. RA thought and thought on how to solve his problem.

“You know I jumped the fence and began feeding the mule on the wrong side,” he said, adding, “I did not have any more grief with him jumping the fence.”

Who could know if that was true?

Tales from Scott Carvell, Grandson of RA Dangerous Prank My first car was an old fix up, and I worked on it every free moment to make it a super model. I kept the hood raised on the vehicle and was continually repairing, replacing parts, racing the motor and etc. I lived next to R.A., and according to his theory, it was a complete waste of time messing with that old car. RA informed RA’s niece, Okaleen, adored Scott, "If I ever see you with the hood raised on my truck, I will shoot you." One him and Nora. She often afternoon just prior to RA coming home, Troy instructed Scott to go over to his loaded up her children and house and raise the hood on his truck and pretended to be working on it. It was drove to their home for a not wise to challenge or put him to a test. RA got out of his vehicle walked straight visit or stopped by a job site into the house and retrieved his pistol. He came out on the porch and started where he was working. shooting up into a nearby walnut tree. Those walnuts were falling, gun shots were ringing out as he emptied that pistol. I ran for my life, straight for home as fast as I could. Troy laughed, quoting me as saying, “That old man tried to kill me.”

Recollections of R. A., from Monica Carvell Sanders, daughter of RA Carvell

Monica

RA was near completion of his new home at Marcella Falls in Lawrence County, Tenn. The house was located between two large hills, providing a rather sizable bank on one side of the house. On the opposite side was a small creek that created a beautiful and peaceful setting.

Adding one row to the rock chimney was the only task that remained, so RA placed walk boards from the steep bank to the roof, making it safer to carry his mortar and heavy rocks. Since he only worked in his spare time, it took a while to finish the chimney. The goats quickly learned to use the walk boards. They would stand on top of the house greeting all visitors. This was especially mortifying when I had a date who was welcomed from the roof by goats. We looked like the Beverly Hillbillies!

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Tales from Thomas Brandon Walls Jr., son of Geraldleen, grandson of Dewey Carvell When I was five years old, we moved from Nashville, Tenn., to Minnow Branch Road, into a house where my great-granddaddy, Robert Ammett Carvell, had lived, which was located just above Minnow Branch Church. The land for the church had been donated

by Ammett, and my Granddaddy, Dewey, and his brothers built the church.

I was the only baby in my Granny and Granddaddy’s family for several years, and needless to say, I was one spoiled grandson and nephew. I remember in my childhood days I would stay with my Granddaddy while Mamma, Daddy and Granny worked at the Bake-Rite Bakery, which my parents owned in Pulaski. My Granddaddy and I would make apple cider, take it to town and peddle it out to the barbershops and other places we knew he could sell it. I still have the same cider mill we used to make the cider.

Some Saturdays we worked on Granddaddy’s place doing odd-andDewey, Eula Mae, Tommy Walls (top), end jobs. When it was dinnertime, Barry & Claudia Johnson, Christmas 1963. we would go to the barn, kill a chicken and go inside and fry it up and eat the whole thing with some biscuits and gravy. I was with Granddaddy one day when he stopped at the DX Gas Station in Pulaski to get gas. I sneaked in the gas station and bought my first pack of cigarettes without him knowing. When Daddy found out, I said, “Well, Daddy they are the same Salem cigarettes that you smoke.”

I know I got on my Granddaddy’s last nerve, but I also know we loved each other. I have so, so many memories of my Granny and Granddaddy just being side by side with them.

My Granddaddy was a carpenter who built many houses in Giles County. I had the privilege of helping him build my first house where I started my Dewey and Eula Mae, 1971, our last family. At present my daughter, Brandy, and her husband, Dwight, now live Christmas together before she died on Jan. 28, 1972, at work at the bakery. there with their family.

She died of a heart attack in his arms.

Granddaddy and I spent his 80th birthday at Huntspoint, N.Y. I drive a big truck, and I had a load of produce to haul to Huntsport. We were sitting on the docks in the market place, and I dropped off to sleep. When I woke up, Granddaddy was nowhere to be seen. I was scared to death, being that Huntsport is not a very safe place to be. I jumped up and went looking for him. I finally found him sitting in a small coffee shop in the market where he found somebody to talk to.

My grandparents were both hard-working people, and they loved their family. As hard as they worked, they loved their family that much more.

Tales from Martha Carvell Russell., daughter of Dewey Carvell Mother and Aunt Nora lived very near each other and spent a great deal of time together. They did canning and assisted each other in many ways. They were like sisters. When we all went blackberry picking (kids and all), Mother was very hard of hearing so Aunt Nora listened for snakes or any other harmful varmints. As always, the children were instructed to not eat the berries before they were washed. I kept complaining of being so sick, so Aunt Nora suggested Mother take me to the house, but before I got to the house I vomited up a perfect worm.

Aunt Nora said, “Martha that [worm] is your stomach ache.” Sure enough, it was. The moral of this story is to wash the berries before you eat them.

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Tales from Teresa Russell Manies, daughter of Martha Carvell Russell, granddaughter of Dewey Carvell Karesa This is but a few memories of many that I have of Granddaddy (Dewey) Carvell. I grew up in Nashville for the most part of my childhood. That being said, I spent mostly weekends and a few weeks of summer each year in Giles County. I could be found at either my Aunt Okaleen's or my Aunt Geraldleen's house spending time with my cousins. The early years found me nearly every Sunday at my Granny and Granddaddy's house on Minnow Branch. I was not particularly close to my Granddaddy in the sense that we didn't spend a ton of time together. He was usually always with the men and the boys in the family doing what men folk do. It wasn't until I married and had a family of my own that Granddaddy and I were able to spend more time together. When my twins were born he was thrilled. He would often say, "Karesa, I can't believe there's two of them." They fascinated him. He would often refer to them as" the boy and the little girl." As for Granddaddy calling me Karesa, he just was never able to pronounce my name as Teresa. I always found it endearing and love that memory of him. That was ours.

The Car Keys I remember after Granddaddy had moved in with my Aunt Geraldleen due to his declining health, my mother, Martha, and aunt asked me to come and talk to him about giving up his car keys, mostly because he had gotten where he could not drive well anymore and the potential for an accident was evident.

The four us sat down at the kitchen table as we so often did at Aunt Gene's to talk. The subject of him driving came up, and he said, "Karesa, they want me Dewey and Teresa to give up my keys and stop driving. They think I can't drive anymore. I'm not about to stop driving my car."

We sat there in silence for a moment, then I said, "Granddaddy, I think it's probably time that you stop driving.

You could have an accident and get hurt or hurt someone. You need to listen to Momma and Aunt Gene because they've got your best interest at heart." He got so mad at me and pushed away from the table and said, "Well, you can just go on home."

It wasn't funny, especially to Granddaddy, but I couldn't help but laugh. He had NEVER raised his voice to me that I could remember. He was just trying to hang on to what little independence he had left. Makes me sad now to think about it.

KFC Another comical remembrance was actually between my husband, Jeff, and Granddaddy. Again, as Granddaddy was now living with Aunt Gene, she and Momma were responsible for his diet and meals. They tried hard to do what the doctors would tell them concerning his sodium and other food restrictions. One day as my husband was driving down Highway 64, he came upon Granddaddy pulled over at the rest stop on the side of the road.

Thinking that something was wrong, he stopped. Little did he know he was "catching" Granddaddy having a Kentucky Fried Chicken feast. He had an entire bucket of chicken for himself. Jeff said, "Mr. Carvell, what are doing?"

Don't you know you don't need to be eating all of that?”

Granddaddy proceeded to tell Jeff of how my mother and aunt were "starving" him to death. Poor Granddaddy. He must have been really wanting some fried chicken that day.

Granny would cook one chicken for company and one for Grandaddy (Dewey). He would eat the entire chicken and literally suck the bones, not wasting a bite.

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Language of Love I suppose my absolute most favorite memory of my Granddaddy was something that happened just between us about a week before he passed. He'd had a pretty significant stroke and was now unable to speak. That was the saddest thing to me. My Granddaddy LOVED to talk. I've had a lot of hurtful things said to me through the years about just how much he loved talking.

Actually, Granddaddy had a big personality, and he enjoyed people. He only attended school through the third grade. Therefore, not being able to read or write to express himself, he enjoyed the gift of gab. Anyway, one evening as I had gone by the nursing home to visit I sat down on the bed with him. I was talking to him and he was listening. I noticed tears coming up in his eyes and I asked him what was wrong. He looked at me and formed his mouth without any sound he said, "I, I, I, love you." I said, "I know you love me Granddaddy...I love you too."

We both cried and I held his hand in mine. That was one of the most beautiful moments of my life. All the many years spent with my Granddaddy and hearing his voice, this one time I heard his heart. I miss my Granddaddy, and I think of him often. I know so many stories of how hard he worked for his family and how he expected his girls to do what was right. I know he wasn't perfect. None of us are. But I know he was perfect for me.

Tales from Doan, Tiby and Channing Cope, grandchildren of RA Carvell

Tree House Daphene’s children Doan, Tiby and Channing begged their grandfather to build them a tree house. RA finally gave in and constructed them a beautiful, massive two-story tree house complete with shudders, window boxes, gingerbread trim and a flight of stairs. It was truly something to behold. He had made it out of scrap lumber from an old building he had just torn down. He built it at his home in Ethridge, but it turned out to be real heavy and very tall, creating a moving problem, so he arranged for a trailer to transport the tree house to Leoma. Of course, it did not meet moving codes. The house was too tall to pass under traffic lights and electric lines. RA, as usual, figured out a way to solve his problem. He climbed on top of the tree house, and as they drove along the route, he maneuvered tree limbs and other obstacles.

When he passed through the city of Lawrenceburg, he used a forked stick to hold up the electric lines and move the traffic lights aside. He did not have a single permit from anyone to move the tree house. In his mind, he thought it was OK. He did in fact have a little red flag sticking out. What more did you need? He had traffic tied up in every direction, virtually shutting the traffic flow down.

When the Tennessee Highway Patrol arrived to investigate, they ask him, “Mr. Carvell what on earth are you doing?” He informed them he was moving a tree house and didn’t have but one more intersection to pass thru.

They let him proceed, even escorting him to Leoma. He could talk his way out of anything. That tree house was the talk of the town. In today’s world you would go to jail for such a thing.

RA & Nora

Tonnie & Clara

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Tales from Terry Pierce, son-in-law, and Troy Carvell, son, of RA RA was a workaholic and did not permit himself time for recreation. However, he had been subjected almost daily to so many deer hunting stories and brags of what a challenge it was to kill a deer. It had sparked his curiosity and also triggered his competitive nature. As far as he was concerned, it was not necessary to visit Pro Bass Shop before hunting.

He did not see the need to be armed with the latest and greatest. It seemed to him to be a great deal of hullabaloo, and he was a bit puzzled. He even implied that he didn’t think it could be so difficult hunting for deer. He made his request to the guys to plan a hunting trip, they scheduled a date and the time arrived for the big excursion.

Knowing that he was a novice we decided to have a little fun at his expense and challenge RA. We instructed him that he needed a few supplies such as bailing wire, his double barrel shotgun and a few other essentials. He was told to be ready and waiting at 3:30 a.m. the following day so they could arrive at their destination before dawn. When they reached a spot in the woods, RA questioned as to what to do next. I spotted a massive tree and instructed him to climb up to the first limb, at least 20 to 30 foot from the ground, to make his deer stand.

Never in my wildest imagination did I expect a man of his age or any age to climb straight up that huge tree. We exchanged looks, snickered a little bit and thought we had really pulled a fast one. RA walked straight to the tree and tied the bailing wire around his waist and the tree. He had his gun slung over his shoulder (just a note of interest the trigger of the gun was wired up some way in order for it not to fire). Within seconds he had wrapped his leg over the limb and sat purchased in the tree. We stood there in absolute amazement. He looked like he had Velcro attached to his hands and feet and would have put Spider Man to shame.

Troy said, “I found a tree I thought that I could climb and could hardly get up it and by morning it was bent to the ground.” Terry did the same. RA killed the only deer that trip.

The hunting expedition was considered to be very successful with RA, asking, “Is that all it is to it?”

Front: CL, Annie Cora, RA, Sadie, Eula Mae, Dewey, Tonnie, Grady Back: Nora, Marguerette, Pat, Bascom, Clara, Nina

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Tales from Claudia Johnson, daughter of Okaleen, granddaughter of Dewey Wrong words Granddaddy Carvell always got words mixed up, and we still laugh at some of the more memorable ones. Once he stepped on the tines of a rake left in the grass by some careless child. The handle popped up, whacked him on the head and as he told it “nearly knocked him conscious.” Another time he bought a big bottle of Dristan and was popping them to the point my mother, Okaleen, became concerned.

‘I didn’t know you were having sinus problems, Daddy,” she said.

“I’m not,” he answered, puzzled.

“Well, why are you taking so many Dristan?” Mama asked, aware that the product was made for congestion and sinus headaches.

“It said on TV that if you were having indigestion, you needed Dristan,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s helping my heartburn too much.”

Shiny Clean Sometimes when I would arrive at Granny’s and Granddaddy’s house before he would get home, he would come in and sing, “Who’s been here since I’ve been gone? A pretty little girl with a red dress on.” He would substitute red for the color of my dress. I now know that is an old folk song.

Granddaddy had a sink and special place for grooming out on the enclosed porch at the house on Minnow Branch. I can just see him shaving and applying aftershave, putting on his tie just so, shining up his shoes and leaving for church looking like a man with a million dollars. Granny’s hair was always perfect, and her dresses were stylish and custom fitted. She understood the value of accessorizing long before the fashion magazines. Her purse, heels, beads and clip-on earrings created a total package. Someone once said that Dewey and Eula at the house in Smith Hollow. They moved to my Grandparents always looked like they “just stepped out of a bandbox.” I Minnow Branch Christmas 1961. did not know what that was at the time, but when I see people who clearly have a confident pride in their appearance, I think of Granny and Granddaddy and the bandbox.

Cider Strainer Granddaddy made apple cider all of us grandkids just loved. One day I was watching him make it, and I saw some little worms falling into the cider press. Alarmed, I screamed, “What if I drink a glass with a worm?” He laughed and said, “Just strain it Granddaddy said the word through your teeth.” “straight” like it was spelled s-k-r-a-t-e. Often I say it on Mementoes purpose to my Daddy or my I am honored to own a few pieces of Carvell history. My mother cousins. They know without any passed down to me the beehive fogger and mask belonging to Robert explanation that it is a little Ammett and a kitchen apron belonging to Cora Lee. Before I moved homage to a man who had no to Cookeville in 2006, Uncle C.L. summoned me to his house for iced tea and conversation. I had no idea why. I soon found out that he had education but managed to provide a wonderful home and secure been following my writing and had clipped many of my articles from happy life to Granny, Geraldleen, The Pulaski Citizen to save. He said he felt he had come to know me from reading my work for eight years, and he wanted me to have the Okaleen and Martha. – Claudia family Bible. I was honored and touched. It was the last time I saw him, Johnson and it was a precious time with the last connection to my Granddaddy’s generation.

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Tales from Edward Johnson, son-in-law of Dewey, married to Okaleen Carvell for 43 years Land Fish One time RA and Mr. Carvell (Dewey) were telling fish tales, and RA was recalling a particularly big one they’d caught while fishing in the Tidwell Bottoms at Minnow Branch.

“You remember, Dewey,” he said. “We got him in that big brush pile.”

“Whoa, there RA,” Dewey cautioned. “Get back in the creek. I ain’t gonna agree with you if you’re in the field.”

Master Carpenter I worked with Mr. Carvell when Okaleen and I first got married, and later I worked with him on my house and my son’s. He never owned a table saw, just had a skill saw, but he did a good job. He made cabinets and everything and did some beautiful work. I learned a lot about building from him, and I’ve used what I learned all my life. He taught me his one good rule, and it is good advice for carpentry: If it’s level and it’s square, you can’t go wrong.

Believe It...or NOT RA told me that one time he had a car that was leaking gas and Mr. Carvell threw down a match behind him. He said it left a trail of fire all the way up the road. Sometimes RA liked to tell big tales.

Richard (Martha Carvell Russell’s husband) and I had been all over those hills in front of Mr. Carvell’s hunting birds. One day we saw RA as he headed up there to hunt rabbits. We warned him that there weren’t any rabbits there, and he would be just wasting his time. Later on we saw him, and he hadn’t got a thing.

“Didn’t see any rabbits, did you, RA?” we chided.

“Sure did,” he said, “but they were running so fast they were humming.”

Two Feet Short For many years Mr. Carvell worked with a retractable measuring tape. Sometime along the way one foot was torn off, so instead of buying a new one he just evened up the torn end and adjusted his measurements to accommodate. When my son started building his house in 1982, Mr. Carvell was 73 and already retired, but he agreed to work with Barry, who hadn’t even turned 20 yet. Barry had figured all the materials and the dimensions of the building so there would be no waste, and I volunteered to help evenings and weekends. Everything should have come out perfect, so after a while, Barry thought I was making mistakes when we kept having to trim the materials. Finally, Barry told Mr. Carvell he could not understand how he had miscalculated, since he had taken into account the missing foot. Then we looked at the tape. It started at 2’.

“What’s this?” Barry asked Mr. Carvell. “It starts at 2’, not 1’ like you said.”

“You knew that,” Mr. Carvell said. “You knew a foot was missing.”

“Grandaddy, if it starts at 2’, that means from 0-12” is 1’ missing and from 12-24” means 2’ are missing,” Barry said, waving the offending tape in front of Mr. Carvell, who sat in silence for a minute before he responded.

“Well,” he said, finally, “there are a whole lot of people in Giles County who have a lot smaller house than they think they do.”

Spark Plug Mr. Felix Zuccarello ran a garage at Campbellsville, and he told me this story many years after it happened. He said one day Grady came driving up with Mr. Ammett in their family car, a T Model, I believe. Grady asked Felix to take a look at it because something didn’t seem quite right about the way it was running. Felix checked under the hood, assessed the problem and leaned in to tell the Carvells his opinion.

“Well, Grady, I believe you have a spark plug missing,” Felix reported.

“Grady,” Ammett bellowed. “I told you to bring everything with you!”

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Tales from Timothy Carvell Walls, son of Geraldleen, grandson of Dewey Carvell Singing and Eating My mother was Geraldleen Carvell Walls. My father is Thomas Brandon Walls Sr. My brother and only sibling is Thomas (Tommy) Brandon Walls II. My Grandparents on my mothers’ side were Dewey and Eula Mae Owen Carvell.

I will start by telling memories of my grandmother, Eula Mae Carvell. I had the privilege of living directly across the small country road from Granny. She worked at the Bake-Rite Bakery in Pulaski, Tenn., for my mom and dad until she died in the bakery in 1972 when I was only about six years young.

My fondest memories of Granny would be of us trying to squeeze into her favorite small Dewey, Geraldleen arm chair side by side. She would comment how big I was getting even though I was very Martha, Okaleen small.

I also remember her preparing Sunday dinners for Momma, Aunt Okie, Aunt Martha and their husbands, Thomas, Edward and Richard, and their children Tommy, me, Claudia, Barry and Teresa. Granddaddy would ask grace, and we all ate while the adults led conversation and told of funny things that had happened.

We ate until we were stuffed. After dinner Granny would play the piano. Song after song she played, taking requests for what seemed like any song she had ever heard while others would sing along with her. It was beautiful singing. After everyone was content with Granny’s playing and singing she would bring out her accordion, and Aunt Martha would accompany with the piano. It always amazed me how she could squeeze that large air bag and mash those round organ keys with one hand while with the other hand played the ivory and black keys, sang and did all this without a book of any kind just from memory. I must say, she was a talented musician.

Making Cider Now for Granddaddy I really don’t know where to start for I spent a lot of time with him. It was a great benefit to live across the road from him. It was nice to catch an early ride home from the bakery rather than having to stay until Momma got done for it was usually pretty late in the evening. One of my best memories with him during my young childhood was making apple cider with his portable cider mill. After everyone gathered apples for eating or cooking we would make apple cider with the rest. The apples we used were mostly picked up off the ground and put into buckets. Granny sorted through them very slightly, only culling the very worst ones that we took to the hogs. Cousin Barry and I took time about turning the crank and putting the good apples that Granddaddy had sorted into the mill. It was fun watching those apples get ground up so easily and watching them fall Dewey and Tim into those wooden buckets with the vertical slots.

Our Grandaddy, Dewey, built The buckets were made with slots so that when we many beautiful and wellpressed the crushed apples in them, the juice could squeeze out. Once the constructed homes in Giles bucket was full of crushed apples, we moved it over under the press with the TCounty.

All his grandchildren handle on top to make it easier to turn and squeeze the juice out that fell on a admired him for his hard work. sloped wooden bed underneath, which funneled the juice down to a small Our Granny worked hard, also, groove on the end. This is where we caught the juice in clean buckets. The hogs and managed their money well. got the smashed apples, which they loved. Lastly, Granddaddy strained the juice Our mothers inherited those by pouring the juice through a linen handkerchief into plastic jugs he had saved traits from their parents, and from his milk. After refrigerating the cider it seemed like the best beverage in all five of us are not afraid of the world. Note: Don’t shake the jug before pouring a glass, for you could hard work. It is a legacy for disturb the mysterious settling in the bottom. which we are thankful.

Road Hazard One morning I was on my way to work and running a little late. Just ahead was this very slow-moving vehicle – a little purple dodge car pulling a huge trailer loaded with a 600 pound calf. I ask myself, “Who is that crazy man?” before I realized that crazy man was Granddaddy.

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Recollections of R. A., from Daphene Carvell Cope, daughter of RA Carvell Domesticity RA told everyone how lucky Nora was to get him. He said one night when they were courting he started to leave and was angry. He said, “Do you see that sapling growing over there on that hillside? Well, it will be a tree when I come back!” Nora said he was back the next Saturday night.

He often gave advice to other males. “Don’t ever sit down and your wife will not call on you to do something. When you stand up you look busy!”

RA kept misplacing his hairbrush, and with so many women in the house, it drove him nuts. One day he went to his shop, got a chain and an eyebolt, and chained his hairbrush to the vanity. When the memory fails, remember this solution.

He said many times when he died he had a direct pass into heaven, explaining, “I have lived with all these women and been tortured here on earth.”

RA had been in an accident and was incapacitated and unable to walk. As luck would have it, Monica also had emergency surgery at the same time.

This left RA to fend for himself. As he was preparing breakfast one morning and in his frustration he stated these are the worst sausages I have ever tasted. To everyone’s surprise, he had fried chocolate chip RA, Nora, Daphene, Luthene and Tammy, cookies. During this same period, he decided to wash his clothes and Tennessee Sesquicentennial 1959 grabbed what he thought to be washing powders. It turned out to be powdered milk. Needless to say, there was a great mess. RA was lacking in domestic experience.

RA always enjoyed his children, grandchildren, siblings and his extended family. It was incredible the people that visited their home. You never knew who was going to drop by. He invited any and everyone to their home. He could identify with any age, and stayed up on current events. He expected Nora and the girls to have something good to eat, and he would provide the entertainment. On the hillside next to his home he built a tree house and a swinging bridge and tied ropes in the trees so the kids could swing off the hill. He also built a swimming pool with water supplied from a nearby spring. Both winter and summer the temperature was the same about 50 degrees.

The kids didn’t care that they were chilled to the point of turning blue. The children played for hours damming up the branch. He enjoyed sitting on the porch drinking coffee and watching the kids play.

He was kind and would do anything for anyone, but he had rules: 1. stay out of his tool shop, 2. don’t get hurt (badly) and bleed a lot, 3. entertain yourself, 4. stay out of his face and 5. clean up your own mess.

Mosquitos When RA and the family lived and worked in Florida at the dairy farm at times the mosquito population was very bad. Everyone was intrigued and puzzled that they didn’t seem to bother him. He laughed and told them he was so tough when they bit him their stinger just broke off, and it broke their neck and they died. My daddy, THE TERMINATOR……

Philosopher One of RA’s famous sayings was, “There is a lot of difference in a town dog and a country dog. A country dog has a hard time surviving in the city. A city dog has a hard time living in the country.” He thought if this applied to dogs it certainly applied to people.

R.A. had a simple philosophy that he lived by: Don’t worry about the things you can’t do. Do what you can do!

Make certain you speak to old people, and do something good for somebody everyday.

When RA could not remember a person’s name he just called them Mr. Man, or Ma'am.

He often joked that with five women in the house, he had seen the news but had not heard it in 30 years.

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Carpentry RA was a great brickmason and had worked on hundreds of projects in his lifetime. He told the story that one day a man phoned him and requested a meeting. He said, "I had no idea what to expect." The man asked him to take a little ride, so they drove to a nearby cemetery! When they arrived, he said we got out of the truck and walked over to an open grave.

"I stood there staring down in the hole," he recalled, adding, “You didn’t surprise me much or find me speechless, but I was. The man commenced to ask if I would brick line his grave, the sides and the bottom and install a drain.”

RA stood there several minutes, thought about it, turned his cap around a few times and answered, “If you got enough money, I have enough time. So we traded.”

That is not all of the story, though. "I can’t find anyone to preach my funeral the way I want them to,” the fellow confessed, “so I am going to record and preach it myself." “Now that one got me,” RA said. “When he died, I have to admit that I was so curious I attended old Cicero’s funeral. Sure enough, he did preach his funeral, and there were lots of nice things said. I also went to the burial site just to see if my brickwork was still holding up.”

The moral of this story is if you want your funeral done a certain way, then make your own arrangements and preach the message yourself. Nora confirmed this story. Therefore, we can know that it is true.

RA constructed a beautiful cabin on the Pierce property adjacent to the current home of daughter, Tammy, and sonin-law, Terry Pierce. When the couple opened the Summertown Blue Grass Musical Park and Recreation Area, Terry asked RA if he was willing to use his prior experience of building stages and props to construct a stage and help with RA was known not only as a great carpenter, plans for a restaurant, RV parking and camping area. The he was respected and much in demand for Pierces have fond memories of RA working on the project. For his log home restoration and reuse work. the past 25 years, Terry has enjoyed enhancing the property by Many fine examples stand in the region. adding many amenities. Twice a year they celebrate by hosting a Blue Grass music festival with many other entertainers and fans from across the country.

Trolls He told the story that when he was a little boy and walked to school he had to cross a bridge. Someone told that a troll lived under the bridge. He said that every time he approached the bridge lightening could not catch him.

Eviction Notice RA owned rental property in Pulaski and was having great difficulty in getting a tenant to move out. He tried to be diplomatic with little success. He gathered his tools, went to the property and cut the power to the switch box. He removed the front door, took out the front windows and told the residents he was going to renovate the apartment.

Be mindful, it was very cold. The next day the tenant had vacated the property.

Who Shot J.R.?

RA loved westerns. He watched them repeatedly. It did not matter how many times he had seen them, he always said, “Oh, I have never seen this one.” When the TV series hit show Dallas was on he watched weekly with great enthusiasm. RA despised the character JR. One night the family walked in just before the program began to find RA with his shotgun across his lap. They got all upset and asked, “Daddy what on earth are you doing?” His response was, “I’m going to kill JR.” So, if you ever wondered who shot JR, well....

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Rooster Tales RA was sitting on his front porch chatting with his son-in-law. He asked the question, “Do you see that rooster? That is the meanest rooster you have ever seen. The other day a hawk flew over, picked the rooster up and placed him on that hill. That made the rooster really mad.”

Of course, the son-in-law asked what happened. RA told his son in law, “The rooster whipped the hawk and made him bring him back.”

Rooster continues…. Daughter Tammy and granddaughter Tiby were in a brand new Corvette on their way to town departing from the drive way and traveling rapidly. The prize rooster appeared from nowhere. They hit it and killed it graveyard dead. They were in shock and made a covenant to never tell what happened to the rooster as they destroyed the evidence. It was really heartbreaking to stand by and watch as RA grieved for his wonderful rooster.

The girls said he could only speculate, and he went to his grave never knowing what really occurred concerning the brilliant rooster.

Tribute to RA Carvell by great nephew Lance Carvell printed in Lawrence County newspaper after RA’s death 90

An Eye for an Eye RA had an old van he drove to work that advertised the Church of the Nazarene on the side. One day when all the grandchildren were together with their BB guns they decided to take target practice and shoot out the windows. That was not a good thing. He was really upset. When he tried to find out who did such a thing no one would tell. He told everyone to meet him in the back at the big rock picnic table, place their hands flat down and spread out their fingers.

He had his chopping ax. He said, “Now the first one to jerk back his fingers is guilty.” The little ones kept their fingers still, but the older ones jerked back. He immediately knew who the culprits were.

They had to work a long time to get the windows fixed.

About the Publisher and Coeditor, Carvell Family History, Book II & III Daphene Carvell Cope, Daughter of R. A. Carvell Several years ago it was suggested at the family reunion that a book on the Carvell history be compiled. Who better to embark on such an endeavor than our beloved mother, Daphene Carvell Cope? She had just retired from her job after years of service at the Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce and now had plenty of time. She eagerly assumed the responsibility with every intention of completing the project in a short period of time. Little did she know the task she had embarked upon was of epic proportion.

Of course, she delved into the project as she usually does with much love and great enthusiasm. This is just one of her traits that endears her to us and makes her so special. To her surprise and dismay, there was little or no information compiled concerning the Carvell family. After having checked the local library and found just a few newspaper articles, the records at the courthouse were to be dug out in fragments. Mother came to the realization that so many of her generation had deceased, and if information was not recorded, it was lost forever. The Carvells had already carved out their place in history. They were so interesting. They had such charisma. The next big challenge was how one gathers this information and ensures it is historically correct. Well, she quickly discovered not in her lifetime, unless she worked 24/7, could that be done alone. Immediately she began to contact family members for help with photos and any other information. Everyone was so cooperative and willing to share.

Someone directed her to cousin Claudia Johnson, granddaughter of Dewey Carvell. She is an experienced genealogist and published historian. What a terrific discovery! She is brilliant and so very talented. It seems that Claudia had been researching the subject for the past 10 years, and Daphene had lived the Carvell history for the last seven decades. A great partnership was formed.

We are proud of and grateful to our mother for launching this project.

Note of Appreciation I, Michael Doan Cope, was the firstborn of Mickey and Daphene Cope. I am married to Tiffany Taylor Cope, with whom I have two children, Taylor Michael Cope and Brady Doan Cope. My mother served as the Director of the Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce for 32 years. In doing so, she has been recognized as having served longer than any director of a Chamber of Commerce in the State of Tennessee. Her program of work in economic and community development was extremely successful. At her retirement dinner a large group of citizens, family and friends were present to celebrate this occasion. She received national honors for her work and dedication toward education. She was recognized by Governor Phil Bredesen for her outstanding accomplishments. She also received proclamations from the Tennessee House of Representatives, State Senate and from the Lawrenceburg City and Lawrence County Government. During her lifetime of work, she maintained her family and church obligations. She taught us the importance of family as was taught to her by her father, mother and previous generations. For this I am extremely proud. I wish to extend my appreciation to her for her diligent and dedicated efforts on research and construction of the Carvell Family History memoirs.

I, Tiby Cope Ferguson, am a direct descendent of the Carvell family. RA was my grandfather. Daphene is my mother. I am married to Kip Ferguson, and we have one son, Jackson Cope Ferguson. I was born Sept. 28, 1967, in Lawrence County, Tenn. Our family has lived in Lawrence County for the past 50 years. Our mother’s role and profession taught us to be involved and to be community minded. Each of my siblings continues to practice this philosophy, and we participate in various projects that make our community a better place to live, work and do business. Just to mention a few of these programs, they consist of continuing education, sports and the church. Sometimes I’d like to roll back the clock and return to my growing up years so I could make up times I didn’t thank my parents enough. I know they gave me all they could and I am well aware of all the work and worry that it took to raise us and just knowing that they were always there gave me a sense of belonging that carries me through rough spots in my life. My dad was a wonderful man and sadly missed. I love my mom much more than she can know. Thanks for the time and energy involved in the presentation of the Carvell Family History.

My name is Channing Cope, the third child born to Daphene and Mickey Cope on Oct. 11, 1970. I am married to Sarah Frisbie Cope, and we have one child, Cutler Brant Cope. The older I get the more I realize to be a good parent it takes a lot of heart and hard work. Even though it’s often left unsaid, I recognize what a great job our parents did and the generations before them. The entire family has been blessed. Thanks to our mother for the love, devotion and guidance to her children; especially, for the time and effort in the compilation of the Carvell Family History that has been recorded and will be handed down to other generations.

Tiby Ferguson, Doan Cope and Channing Cope

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Carvell Family Reunion at the Homeplace, 1966

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Carvell Family Reunion at the Homeplace, 1966

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Acknowledgements - Books II & III

We wish to thank each one of you who have contributed in any way to the compilation of this family history and apologize to anyone we have failed to list. It has been a monumental undertaking to track family members across the United States. God has smiled on the Carvell family, and we have prospered and multiplied over the years. It is impossible to include everyone in a work such as this because life goes on. As we contacted people for information and strove to make this as complete as possible people died, babies were born, couples married or divorced, etc.

This collection of family history is by no means intended to be the first or last word on our family. It is, however, intended to guide those who are interested in the right general direction.

Our family has relied on the senior members being present to share their stories. However, since they are no longer with us to tell grandchildren and great grandchildren these wonderful stories, it is our responsibility to capture them on paper and preserve them.

We hope you enjoy reading this book as much as we have enjoyed researching and writing it. We hope it will inspire the love of family and roots in you. We implore you to talk to your children and grandchildren and tell them the stories handed down through our family as well as your own stories and other stories that come to mind.

The Team

Publisher: Daphene Carvell Cope Coeditors: Daphene Carvell Cope & Claudia Kay Johnson Layout and Design: Claudia Kay Johnson, Sasha Dunavant, Danny Nichols Content Contribution and Technical Assistance: Channing Cope, Taylor Cope, Tiby Ferguson, Troy Carvell, Jayne Gay and Kent Carvell, Wanda Carvell Maib, Alma Lee McKinney, Garfield and Roxie Carvell, Terry and Martha Carvell, Steve and Judy Parker Eubank, Mildred Carvell Parker, Frankie Hargrove Russell, Martha Carvell Russell, Tommy and Tim Walls, the Family of CL Carvell, Carylon Hargrove Brock and Terry and Tammy Pierce.

Disclaimer: We apologize for any grammatical or punctuation errors, as there are bound to be many. If factual errors are found, we would appreciate being contacted and supplied with sufficient proof of the mistake so that in future printings, these errors are corrected.

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Ammett and Cora Carvell

Carvell Gathering

Bob and Julie Ann Carvell