THE
CLARION, July 26, 1808
The
Story of Granny White
Communicated for The Clarion
From a Georgia Almanac
Communicated for The Clarion
From a Georgia Almanac
GRANNY WHITE
In the county of Davidson, about seven miles from Nashville in the state of
Tennessee, lives an old lady known in the neighborhood by the name of Granny
White. A gentleman of our acquaintance of unquestionable veracity was induced
to call at her house, from the appearance of ease and comfort, it some how or
other presented. He found the old lady to be remarkably neat, and apparently of
more than common industry – her house he found supplied abundantly with the
comforts of life, and observing upon her shelves thirty two clean and white
looking gourds, he inquired there use, and was informed by the old lady that
they were her milk vessels, and were the bell of vessels for milk and cream,
and had also another recommendation, that being raised by herself , the were
not expensive ones. And one question leading to another; the gentleman was
induced to enquire of the old lady how long she had lived at her present
residence, and the place of her nativity, when she gave him the following
account of herself. She said she was originally from North Carolina and resided
in the county of Stokes (or Surry, our informant could not recollect which)
till she was considerably upward of sixty years old, that a poor female friend of
hers then died, and left to her care and charge, two small children, these she
took home, and though she was exceedingly poor, the resolve to support and
bring up, and do the best by them she could. Not long after she had taken the
little helpless things she said, the Justices of the Inferior court of the
county came to her, and told her she must give security that the children
should not be expensive to the county, or that they would bind them out. She
then told the Justices she was so poor no person, she was sure would be her
security for the purpose they required, but that she would not consent to have
the children bound out, as she was determined, to bring them up herself. The
Justices repeated their applications and expressed their determination to the
old lady several times, till at length, merely to avoid their importunities,
she resolved to leave that part of the country; and finding a family moving to
Tennessee, she took her little all, consisting chiefly of a few __eaths, and at
the age of sixty-eight years, started unknown and unfriended to seek a new
residence. She soon discovered that the family she was with, was as poor, or if
possible, poorer than herself, but the old lady having been accustomed to knit
purses, was enabled by that employment to pay the way of herself and children,
and in a great measure to support the family with which she was traveling, till
they all reached the State of Tennessee. When there she obtained, the
permission of a gentleman, not far from where she now lives, to occupy a little
cabin on his land, which was so badly secured against wind and weather, that in
every hard rain her little hovel was nearly overflowed, it had no floor but the
ground and in wet weather she was obliged to make a fort of a bridge from the
fire place, to the place where she lodged, in order to pass tolerably dry from
one to the other. In this miserable place she resided two years, and when she
took possession of it, scarcely possessed an article of any value, except the
needle with which she knit purses, and this she constantly employed, and it so
happened that for all the purses that she knit she always found a ready market,
and of the avails of these, she was induced from necessity and inclination to
be frugal. After a while she was able to procure a pair of cards and a spinning
wheel, and of these she made good use, sometimes she said carded and sung, and
at times spun and cried, still determining to do the best for herself and her
little charge. By her carding, and spinning, and knitting purses, herself and
children were not only supported in comfort, but she began to look forward to
better times, and after a while she contracted for fifty acres of land for
which she was to pay three hundred dollars, and mortgaged the land to secure
the payment. This land she began to grub and clear with her own hands being
then upwards of seventy years old. Her industry in spinning and knitting purses
enabled her at times to hire some little assistance, with which and her own
labor, she soon had a tolerable piece of ground cleared, which she planter
herself and on which she made a little crop – her prospect now began to
brighten, her prosperity kept pace with her industry and her industry was in no
degree slackened by her prosperity. In a little time after the purchase of her
land, she got the house in which she now lives put up and covered in, and after
a time by her own labor, and other assistance, a considerable proportion of her
land was cleared, her house finished, and abundantly supplied with the
necessities of life. Her exertions and industry continued, and still continue
unremitted, and are attended with their usual and invariable reward – from
hiring she was at length enabled to purchase some assistance, and when out
informant saw the old lady a few months ago, she was then in the seventy-ninth
year of her age, had resided in Tennessee ten years, had a good house well
furnished, fifty acres of good land, a Negro man and woman, six head of horses,
eighteen head of cattle, a good flock of hogs, and had this year a crop of 100
barrels of corn, and other things in proportion, and the whole paid for, and
she entirely free from debt. She is well known in Nashville, and her credit for
anything she chooses to purchase there, is equal to any person in the
neighborhood, and Granny White, is universally esteemed and respected. The
children on whose account she was obliged to leave her former residence are now
nearly grown, and she told our informant, that by their attention and dutiful
behavior, they had amply compensated her for the trouble she had been at on
their account. The oldest, after he had acquired a tolerable English education
she had placed apprentice to a Saddler, and he had nearly learnt his trade
being now in his nineteenth year, the youngest was yet at school, and
everything about the old lady had the appearance of neatness, prosperity and
content. She said she had been uniform in the observance of one rule since she
left her native place, which was, every night before going to bed, after every
other business of the day was over, to knit one purse, this she said she never
omitted. These purses she formerly sold at 25 cents each, but latterly for 37 ½
cents, and she invariably found a market for all she made; she now keeps a
house of entertainment, where travelers after being comfortably refreshed, will
feel a pleasure in paying their worthy hostess her moderate charges.
The old lady seemed unable to divest herself of a spirit of refinement against
the North Carolina Justices, for what she called their cruelty in driving her
from home in her old age-- I have lately written to them said she, and informed
them of my present situation, and the situation of the children they were so
fearful of being burdened with, and I told them added she that I was now
blesses with a comfortable property and that if spared a few years longer, I
intended to return to North Carolina, when I hoped to be able to buy the whole
of them out.
From this account of Granny White which may be depended upon as we reflect two
important inferences are ____. The first is, that her industry and resolute
perservernce in our undertakings, difficulties and obstacles, __ be overcome
which appeared almost insurmountable – the second is, that those who have the
charge of orphans, and are resolved to do their duty by them, are often
blesses, and prospered in their exertions, in a manner to the world which may
appear singular and astonishing. No situation could scarcely have been more
unpromising, than that of an old woman of seventy, setting down in the woods in
a strange country to support herself and children by her industry, and very
little one could suppose could be accomplished by such a woman, when she
commenced the business of clearing land with her own hands for a plantation.
Her present situation however evidences what resolution and industry may
accomplish – it furnishes also an encouragement to persons under the most
distressing pecuniary misfortunes not to despair, but to seek relief in that
commendable perseverance which so signally distinguished and has so happily
rewarded the exertions of GRANNY WHITE.
This article was transcribed by Debie Oeser Cox.
Check back soon for additional info on Granny White.
Check back soon for additional info on Granny White.
My father was a little boy in 1924 or 1925 and his family traveled by wagon for a whole day to see Granny White for a Thanksgiving feast at her property on Granny White Pike, south of Nashville. He was Alvin Cecil Dale of the Hunter's Lane and Dickerson Pike area North of Nashville. His grandfather "Capy" Andrew Columbus Dale Purchased that Property in the 1860s and it is now the Dalemere (not sure of the name) Subdivision developed by Alvin's younger brother Oliver H. Dale in the 1960s and 1970. I am amazed at the industry of Granny White and remember my father being in awe of her hospitality to his family. Alice C. Dale-Thomason of Boulder, CO.
ReplyDeleteThe original Granny White died in about 1815. Perhaps your father went to some sort of re-enactment. I will if I can find anything that. Oliver Dale was my insurance agent for many years.
ReplyDeletei am so grateful for receiving this information. When I was working as a tour guide in Nashville, 1973-2004, I researched as much as I could find about Granny Lucinda White; and have since presented her in storytelling performances.
ReplyDeleteI did not have the rich and accurate details from this interview; and hope to rework Granny's story to align more with with this.
Very interesting. This is the first time I have seen an account of Granny White written in her lifetime. My family lived on Granny White Pike from 1805 until the early twentieth century. My great great great grandfather was executor of Granny White's will.
ReplyDeleteThis is my great grandmother 6xs removed my grandmother's maiden name is white.
ReplyDelete