University of Florida Tries to Muzzle Professors

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Last May a coalition of voting rights organizations filed suit against the state of Florida over a new set of voting regulations that had been signed into law by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.  The plaintiffs who brought the case argued that the new laws which, among other things, limited the number of drop boxes for casting ballots, made it more difficult to get a mail ballot, and prohibited non-poll workers from giving food or drinks to anyone waiting in line to vote, discriminate against voters of color and violate the Voting Rights Act.

Three professors at the University of Florida who specialize in voting rights, behavior, and election law, had agreed to testify as expert witnesses in the case, providing testimony in support of the suit and against the state.  As expert witnesses, they were to be paid for their services, and that required the three to notify the University so that it could determine if this extra work constituted a "conflict of interest" with the university, the primary employer of the three professors.  

Normally such approval is almost automatic - having people on staff whom the courts deem as experts makes the employing colleges and universities look good.  But this time the University of Florida chose to turn down the request, stating that because the university is a state actor, a suit against the state was not in the best interest of the school.

The University of Florida told three well respected professors that they could not exercise their free speech rights and testify in court.  In an email to one of the professors, a university official stated:  "Outside activities that may pose a conflict of interest to the executive branch of the State of Florida create a conflict for the University of Florida."    (The executive branch of the State of Florida is headed by Governor Ron DeSantis.)   Plaintiffs in the case now say they intend to ask if the governor's office was involved in the university's decision.

In its coverage of this story, National Public Radio (NPR) reported that the University of Florida has "strong ties" to DeSantis, and that the chair of the university's board of trustees is Mori Hosseini, an adviser to Desantis and a major Republican donor.

Predictably, the three professors are fighting the university's attempt to muzzle them.  They have a lawyer and will try to educate the state's premier educational institution on the finer points of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.  It should be an excellent learning experience not only for the University of Florida, but for the executive branch of the State of Florida as well.

Missouri School Boards' Association Bows to Political Pressure

 

by Pa Rock

Retired Missouri Educator

In a stunning display of political cowardice, the Missouri School Boards' Association this week forfeited its membership in the group's parent organization, the National School Boards' Association, for the stated reason that the Missouri chapter did not like the content of a letter that the national group sent to the Biden administration - a letter which encouraged the administration to take actions to protect local school board members from the dangerous effects of public hostility currently being expressed in some communities across the nation.  

The Missouri group chose to portray federal intervention to protect board members from violence and threats of violence as an affront to "local control."

The state school boards' association was undoubtedly influenced in its decision to cut ties with the national group by the political antics of at least two prominent Missouri GOP politicians.  Missouri's attorney general, Eric Schmitt, had joined with a few other state attorneys general in urging the US Justice Department to withdraw a memo advising the FBI to coordinate strategies regarding threats against educators, and Schmitt, using inflammatory language, also sent a personal letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland urging the Biden administration to "prioritize parents over school bureaucrats."

Right now there is a lot of political fire being directed toward school boards and their members over school policies related to COVID and a fear that the history of racial conflict in America will be taught in schools.  Much of that anger seems to be generated by GOP operatives, conservative news sources, and politically active right-wing religious groups.  Schmitt, who is running for the GOP nomination for the US Senate from Missouri, appears to be trying to profit politically off of the tense situation between some schools and some members of the public.

Missouri's junior US senator, Josh Hawley, also a Republican, has been riding astride that same political horse as Eric Schmitt.  Hawley has called on Merrick Garland to resign as US Attorney General, and he has praised the Missouri School Boards' Association for cutting ties with the national group.

The state school boards' associations of Pennsylvania and Ohio have also left the national group, and Florida says that it will no longer pay dues to the national group.

Some might reasonably argue that all of the brouhaha over the school board groups is just one more conservative ploy to destabilize and ultimately put an end to public education.

School board members are, at least in Missouri, unpaid local citizens who run in non-partisan elections to represent the community in the management of schools.   If groups are being organized as some adjunct operation of a national political movement to come into local communities and disrupt the work of local boards, then yes, law enforcement - at whatever level - needs to become involved and protect these good citizens who sit on local boards, and insure that they can do the work that they were elected to do in safety and free from fear and intimidation.

And while that may give rise to some political grandstanding, it will also ensure that the schools of the various states can function in an orderly manner without being stampeded into bad decisions through mob intimidation.  The way to  become a part of the process of guiding local schools is to run for school board positions, not to disrupt meetings and yell at unpaid public servants with threats like "We know where you live!"

By and large the members of America's school boards are selfless individuals who make great personal sacrifices to keep our schools open and functioning - and our kids learning.  School board members deserve far more respect than they are currently receiving - and that needs to change!    School board members are the local control, and when they are pushed aside by anarchy, local control will be lost.

Book-Burning Season Approaches in Texas

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Now that the state legislature in Texas has launched attacks on the reproductive rights of women in the state and made it almost impossible for poor women to receive an abortion or, in some cases, to even access reproductive education and medical care - and now that the governor of Texas has, through executive orders, placed poor children, those consigned to Texas public schools, at greater risk of contracting COVID and sharing it with their friends, teachers, and relatives, than children in many other states - now that all of that has been done in the name of "freedom," the state of Texas seems to be preparing to take another tact in its incessant attacks on the underclass.  The state appears to be laying the groundwork for a purge of books in the libraries of its public schools - one more way of insuring that the poor lack access to things that Amazon will hand deliver to the homes of the wealthy in mere hours.

Representative Matt Krause, a member of the Texas House - and a Republican, of course - is the Chair of the House Committee on General Investigations.  Last week Krause sent a letter, along with a sixteen-page list of 850 books, to every school district in the Lone Star state.  He wanted each district to inform him which of the 850 titles they had in their school libraries, how many copies of each of the books were on the shelves, and the amount of money that had been spent on each of those titles.

Rep. Krause has not yet tipped his hand and told the districts why he wants that information, but it is unlikely that he will use it to reward the districts for their forward thinking.  What seems far more likely is that the bonfires at next fall's homecomings will include books that the Republican elected official deems objectionable.

Rep. Krause is reportedly considering a primary run against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in 2022, and in blood-red Texas it will be hard for any Republican to get to the right of Paxton - but Matt Krause is apparently going to try.  And some of people who will suffer as these two right-wing zealots collide will be the children of Texas, the poor ones who might have standard pre-teen and teen questions about racism, sex, gender issues, or even suicide - because the thought police will have swooped in and purged their school libraries of trash like that.

And white Jesus will be in his Heaven - speaking English - and all will be right with the world!

Ancestor Archives: Thomas Meador (1758-1823) and Alice Dowell (1768-1826)

 

by Rocky Macy

Thomas MEADOR was born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1758, to Ambrose and Frances “Frankie” (HIX) MEADOR.  He married Alice DOWELL on January 9th, 1783.  Thomas MEADOR died between January 23, 1823, when his will was drawn up and signed, and June 16th, 1823, when his will was presented for probate in the Breckenridge County Court at Hardinsburg, Kentucky.  

Alice DOWELL was born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1768.  She died on October 6th, 1826, near Hardinsburg in Breckenridge County, Kentucky,

Thomas and Alice (DOWELL) MEADOR were my g-g-g-g-grandparents.

(The family surname of “Meador” is presented in various accounts and documents as  “Meadow,” “Meadows,” and even “Medder.”   “Meador” is the most common spelling and the one that was used in Thomas’s will and probate paperwork.)

Thomas and Alice had at least eight children:

• Margaret MEADOR  was born in Bedford County, Virginia, on September 14th, 1783.   She married Anderson WOOD on August 3rd, 1800.  Margaret passed away in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, on August 27th, 1852.
• Drucilla MEADOR  was born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1785.  She married William FAULKNER on October 29th, 1804.  Drucilla passed away before 1823.
• Mary MEADOR  (also called “Polly”) was born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1787.   She married John W. TABOR in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, on March 30th, 1819.  Mary passed away in 1856.
• Frances MEADOR  was born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1796.  She married Jacob CLEMMONS  in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, on December 9th, 1811.   Frances passed away in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, on March 19, 1880.
• Alcey MEADOR  was born in Bedford County, Virginia in 1800.  She married David SMITH in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, on December 24th, 1822.  Alcey passed away in 1833.
• Jubal MEADOR  was born in Bedford County, Virginia, on February 26th, 1800.  He married Elizabeth HANKS on May 10th, 1821.  Jubal passed away in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, in 1894.
• Thomas MEADOR  (my ancestor) was born in Bedford County, Virginia, on January 11th, 1805.   He married Sarah “Sallie” SNYDER in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, on December 30th, 1823.  Thomas passed away in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, on February 3rd, 1880.
• Rhoda MEADOR  was born in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, in 1808.  She married Israel JARED in Kentucky in 1827.  Rhoda passed away in Jasper County, Illinois, on August 1, 1874.

Thomas and Alice (DOWELL) MEADOR migrated from Bedford County, Virginia, to Breckenridge County, Kentucky - near the town of Hardinsburg - sometime between the birth of their seventh child, Thomas, in January of 1805, and their eighth and youngest child, Rhoda, in 1808.   The elder Thomas is listed on the 1810 census for Breckenridge County, Kentucky, as “Thomas MEADOWS,” the head of a household of eight free, white individuals - with no slaves noted.

The 1810 census entry for Thomas and his family included two males under 10:  Thomas (the younger), and perhaps a grandson belonging to either Margaret or Drucilla;  one male aged 10-15:  (Jubal); one male over 45:  Thomas (the elder);  two females under 10:  Rhoda and Alcey;  one female 10-15:  Frances;  and one female 26-44:  Alice.    The three oldest girls appear to have not been residing with the family in 1810.  Margaret and Drucilla were already married, and Mary would have been twenty-three-years-old and possibly residing elsewhere.

Jane MEADOR NEWTON and Wathena KENNEDY MILLER authored a book entitled “Descendants of Ambrose Meador.”  The volume contained 240 pages and was published on January 1st, 1988.  I have been unable to locate a copy of their work, but it is referenced extensively at Ancestry.com.   The following passage was included in multiple Ancestry accounts, and it appears to have been based on family records and stories:

“About 1806 Thomas Meador - son of Ambrose and Franky Hix Meador, and his family, along with other family members and relatives, came to Breckenridge County, KY.  The exact route they used to travel is not known.

“The trip was made in a covered wagon drawn by oxen.  There were two slaves who accompanied them on the journey across the wilderness trail.  Thomas settled one mile northeast of Hardinsburg, KY.

“The land Thomas Meador acquired consisted of several hundred acres.  It is not known whether he bought all the land, or whether it was the land grant given to him in Breckenridge County, KY, for services he rendered in the Revolutionary War.

“When Thomas and his family reached their new land in KY, they had to live in the covered wagons until a house could be built.   A site was selected near the center of the farm close to a spring of water.  Logs were cut and the house was soon under construction.  This was a large one-room log house with a huge fireplace made of fieldstones.   When the house was finished, land was cleared for crops and timber cut for a barn.  

“Thomas Meador was a hard worker, a tiller of the soil, as he wanted better things for his family.  His one dream was a large, colonial type house made of brick.  It was to have six rooms for the family, a basement for the slaves to live in, and the log room in back to be used for a kitchen.

“Near the site where the house was to be built, red clay was obtained for the bricks, made into the size desirable, and placed into an oven to bake.  The inside of the house was plastered with mortar made from sand, lime, and water.  The sand was hauled from a creek nearby which to this day bears the name of Meador Creek.  Both the interior and exterior was of southern-colonial architecture.  The restful lines, the steepness of the roof, the high narrow windows, the free-standing chimneys, the old house carried out the slave day traditions.

“It is not known if Thomas lived to see his dream come true.  He died sometime between 23 January and 16 June 1823, when his will was probated for the county court held for the County of Breckenridge in Hardinsburg, KY, 16 June 1823.   As one reads this will you would think he did see his dream come true.  While others say his youngest son, Thomas Meador, Jr., had the house built ca. 1825.

 

“A picture of the Meador Homestead was taken in the late 1930’s and the house was well over one hundred years old.   The family had retained ownership until ca. 1939-40 when the land was sold.  At this time a deed of right-of-way to the Meador Family Cemetery was obtained so any of the Meador family descendants can feel free to go to the cemetery at any time.

“There are many changes at the old homestead.  The house burned 1941-42, barns and other buildings are gone.  Only the family cemetery remains, where almost five generations of the family are buried.  The cedar tree that was planted in the cemetery by the two old slaves was the marker for their graves.  Other trees still towering toward Heaven is all that breaks the solitude of the dead buried in this little country graveyard.

“To our knowledge, the last Meador descendant buried in this cemetery was in 1947 when George T. Simmons was buried on 20 June 1947.  George T. Simmons was a great-great-grandson of Thomas Meador.

“Thomas Meador was in the Revolutionary War serving in General Nelson’s  Corps of Light Dragoons, VA McAlister Virginia Militia.   For this service of Thomas Meador, Mrs. Grace Lee Galloway, Henderson, KY, placed application for membership to the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and was accepted.  She descends through Jubal Meador, a son of Thomas Meador.”

Thomas MEADOR must have been ill or at least feeling his age (around 65) when he drew up signed his will on January 23rd of 1823 because he was deceased and the will filed for probate less than five months later.  That will, which was quite detailed, gives insight into Thomas’s character as well as to the customs of the times in which he lived.  It is on file with the Breckenridge County Clerk in Hardinsburg, Kentucky.  The will of Thomas MEADOR reads as follows:

“In the name of God Amen, I Thomas Meador of Breckinridge County and state of Kentucky being weak in body but of sound and perfect mind and memory, blessed be Almighty God for the same do make and publish this my last will and testament in manner and form following, that is to say, First, I give and devise to my eldest son Jubal Meador his heirs and assigns forever fifty acres of land situate lying and being in the county of Breckinridge and state of Kentucky and to be taken out of that part of my premises adjoining John Squires, John Harding, and Margaret Huston to have and to hold forever. I also give and bequeath to my beloved wife Ayley Meador all the balance of my land being 120 acres to have and to hold the same during her mortal life and at her death to belong to my youngest son Thomas Meador jr and his heirs forever. I also give and bequeath to my youngest daughter Rhoda Meador one bed and furniture and one cow. I do also give and bequeath to my five daughters Margaret Wood, Francis Clements, Mary Taber, Ayley Smith, and Rhoda Meador the sum of five dollars apiece. I also give and bequeath to William Faulkner one dollar and no more. I also give and bequeath to my beloved wife Ayley Meador one half of all my household furniture to have and to hold forever. And lastly as to the rest, residue and remainder of my personal estate, goods and chattel of what kind and nature______?. I give and bequeath to my said beloved wife Ayley Meador during her mortal life and at her death to belong to my youngest son Thomas Meador, jr and his heirs forever which said several legacies and sums of money I will and order shall be paid to the said respective legatees within twelve months after my decease and I hereby appoint my beloved wife Ayley Meador and Anderson Woods my son-in-law as executress and executor of this my last will and testament hereby revoking all former wills by me made. In the interest whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the twenty third day of January in the year of our Lord, eighteen hundred and twenty three, signed, sealed, published and declared by the above named Thomas Meador. Thomas McGill Samuel Jarvis John Squires Proved at court Mon the 16th of June, 1823.”

The majority of the estate went to the two sons, which was a common practice of the times, with the eldest, Jubal, receiving fifty acres of land outright, and the youngest, Thomas, (aged 18 at the time of his father’s death), apparently being tasked with looking after his mother, and upon her death receiving the house and 120 acres of land. 

The married daughters, who were expected to be looked after by their husbands, got five dollars each.   In addition to her five dollars, young Rhoda, who was fifteen, unmarried and still living at home, received a bed, some furniture, and a cow - presumably a dowry-of-sorts to help her attract a husband.  

William FAULKNER, the widowed spouse of Drucilla MEADOR who preceded her father in death, received a dollar - “and no more.”  And while FAULKNER was given his dollar and shown the door, another son-in-law, Anderson WOOD, apparently stood in high esteem with the deceased because he was named as a co-executor of Thomas’s will along with the widow, Alice (DOWELL) MEADOR.

Alice passed away three-and-a-half years after Thomas, on October 6th, 1826, at her home near Hardinsburg.  She was fifty-seven or fifty-eight-years-old at the time of her passing.  During her lifetime Alice had given birth to eight children and lived to watch all except one reach the age of adulthood.  (Rhoda was still just seventeen or eighteen at the time of her mother’s death - and would not marry until the following year.)  One daughter, Drucilla, had preceded her mother in death.

Thomas and Alice (DOWELL) MEADOR were rugged pioneers who moved five children across the Appalachian Mountains and into Kentucky in the early 1800’s - probably 1806.  Their two oldest daughters, Margaret and Drucilla, were already married when the family migrated to Kentucky, and their families also packed up and moved to the same location as their parents.  Family history indicates that a pair of slaves may have also been moved to Kentucky with the MEADOR family, though that is not borne out by the census of 1810.

Once in Kentucky, the family settled in firmly and became a noted part of the community.  They built one of the area’s finer homes that became a landmark. It was destroyed by a fire more than a century later in the 1940’s.

The MEADOR family left indelible trails across much of the United States, trails that all lead back to the hardy souls who struggled to drag their lives and possessions over the mountains and into the wilderness beyond.

Judicial Malarkey: No Victims in Rittenhouse Shooting, Just Rioters, Looters, and Arsonists

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

In a stunning display of pre-trial bias and prejudicial behavior, a Wisconsin county circuit judge yesterday decided that the prosecution in the upcoming trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, the armed teen who shot three individuals at an anti-police rally in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August of 2020, may not refer to those who were shot as "victims."  Two of Rittenhouse's whatever-they-were died, and the third suffered serious injuries.

The judge does not want the dead and wounded to be referred to as victims because he regards "victims" as a "loaded, loaded word."  The word might give jurors a negative view of the defendant, the teen who drove forty miles and crossed a state line in order to in order to insert himself and his AR-15-style rifle into a social protest.

Ironically, according to yesterday's on-line edition of USA Today, the judge will permit the defense lawyers to refer to the dead and wounded individuals as "looters, rioters, and arsonists" in open court.  Those terms must not be "loaded, loaded words."  None of the three people whom Rittenhouse shot were ever arrested or charged with looting, rioting, or setting fires.

The Rittenhouse trial is scheduled to begin on November 1st in Kenosha, Wisconsin, but it could conceivably be delayed if the kangaroos are late in arriving due to the backlog of container ships waiting to be unloaded on the West Coast.

Rolling Stone Shines a Light on the Usual Suspects

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Sunday Rolling Stone magazine published an article by Hunter Walker based on conversations that he has had with a pair of Trump rally organizers who appear to have been at the center of planning the rally on Capitol Hill on January 6th that preceded the attack on the US Capitol.  The magazine is also purporting to have verification of the material by another person who was involved with the planning of the rally - and all three sources have been cooperating with the congressional committee that is investigating the attack.

The meat of the Rolling Stone article centers on a list of seven members of Congress whom the organizers say were either involved directly in the planning of the rally, or were connected to the event through staff members involved in the planning.   The two individuals coming forth with this information appear to be particularly distressed that the it turned violent and that no one connected with the White House made an effort to intercede and stop the physical attack on the Capitol.

The seven Republican members of the House of Representatives who have been identified by the by the rally organizers are:  Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs of Arizona, Louis Gohmert of Texas, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, and Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina.  Gosar, in particular, is being singled out for having implied to the organizers of the rally that Trump would be covering any legal consequences for their actions with blanket pardons, something which never happened.  

Of the seven members named as having some connection to the planning of the day's events, three - Boebert, Cawthorn, and Greene - had been members of Congress for less than a week when the treachery of January 6th unfolded.

The House committee investigating the insurrection at the Capitol by American terrorists on January 6th has been apprised of this blockbuster revelation - and it is also being reported and detailed in credible American and international press outlets.  It's time for these seven members of Congress to be called before the committee and to submit their testimony, under oath, regarding any involvement that they had in connection with the events of that deadly and treasonous day.

Democracy demands a full accounting and appropriate justice.

Monday's Poetry: "Fall, leaves, fall"

 

by Pa Rock

Poetry Appreciator

Galloway Creek Nature Park is a forty-acre tract of land owned by the city of West Plains located about a quarter-of-a mile from my home.  Not only is it a pleasant walk to get to the park from my place, the park itself provides a scenic web of walking trails which weave through grassland exhibits, wooded areas, and across the creek (on bridges) in three locations.  It is a quiet and restful place, and a great venue for walking in nature.

Over the past few months the city has expanded the trail system. asphalted most of the trails, built flower beds, and planted new grass.   Galloway is becoming a true jewel in the city's park system.

I have been exploring the new hiking trails and recently came across a persimmon tree.  One lonely persimmon remained dangling on the small tree and it appeared almost ready to fall - a sure sign that we are deep into autumn.  The leaves, which are in the early stages of changing colors and falling to the ground, are also another sure sign that summer has departed and the cold winds of winter are not far away.

I will enjoy walking the winding trails of Galloway Park throughout the rest of autumn, and over the course of the winter I will drop by on the nicer days - and maybe on some that are not so nice.  I would like to see the little creek from the covered bridge when there is snow on the ground - and then perhaps enjoy a thermos of hot chocolate in the open-air pavilion.  

I appreciate the City of West Plains for the fine work that they are doing with the park system - and with the new solar farm!

Here are some thoughts by Emily Bronte as she observed the passing of autumn and looked forward to the drearier days of winter:

Fall, leaves, fall

by Emily Bronte

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;

Lengthen night and shorten day;

Every leaf speaks bliss to me

Fluttering from the autumn tree.

I shall smile when wreaths of snow

Blossom where the rose should grow;

I shall sing when night’s decay

Ushers in a drearier day.

The Buzzards of Bunn

 

by Pa Rock

Fan of Wildlife

Back in early 2014 just before I retired and left the desolate browns of Arizona for the beautiful greens of the Missouri Ozarks, I wrote about an invasion of feral chihuahuas in the the small community of Maryvale, an incorporated town that sits in about the fifth ring of Phoenix, somewhere out near Avondale and Goodyear.  

Maryvale is a relatively modest low-and-middle-income community in the massive Phoenix urban sprawl, a place with a low potential for making news - especially of the national variety.  But Maryvale began making the news when local authorities could not control the the ever-expanding, raging street gangs of hungry chihuahuas.  The feisty little warriors ran in packs (called "chatters") and were not only terrorizing locals, but were also posing a danger to young school children as well.

The little dog situation in Maryvale has apparently resolved itself during the intervening seven years, though I don't know how - nor do I want to know how, and today the news has shifted to buzzards, and they aren't in Maryvale.

The small town of Bunn in northeastern North Carolina has been dealing with an invasion of what the press refers to as "buzzards" for a year now.  The enormous black birds have literally taken over the town and perch - and poop and vomit - everywhere.    No one seems to know what brought the carrion-eaters into town, or, more importantly, how to make them leave.

(Feathered Facts:  In North America buzzards are considered to be vultures, but in the rest of the world they are thought of as hawks.  A group of flying vultures is known as a "kettle," and vultures resting in mass are commonly referred to as "a committee," and sometimes "a venue" or "a volt.")

One resident of Bunn was quoted in several press sources this past week as saying that she counted 58 of the big birds - also commonly referred to as "turkey vultures" - on the rooftops of her home and garage as well as on the fence around her property.  She said the birds peck at the bricks in her chimney and pull them loose.  The lady also said that the buzzards drive her dogs "insane."

There have been reports of other property damage caused by the buzzards - things like vents being pulled from rooftops and rain gutters being torn away from buildings.   In addition to homes and businesses, he buzzards also like to roost on the town's cell tower and public buildings - including the schools.

Students at the local high school built a propane cannon and fired it from the roof of the school last December in an effort to scare the birds away, and it worked temporarily, but they returned.  The cannon was apparently so loud that it was as upsetting to some of the residents as the birds.   The students at the school also hung buzzard effigies on the school building, but those did not discourage the birds from relaxing on the building's rooftop.

No one knows what brought the buzzards to Bunn, and right now no one knows how to make them go away.  They are protected by the federal Migratory Bird Act of 1918, so the locals can't just go on a frenzied shooting spree.    Some would also argue that since they feed on dead and rotting flesh, they pose little threat to livestock and domestic pets - so live and let live, and when they get hungry enough they will move on.

But for now the birds are staying.  Perhaps the buzzards know something that the locals don't.  Maybe they are gathering for a purpose.  Maybe there is a carrion calamity that is about to loose itself on the town of Bunn, and maybe Stephen King will tell us all about it!

Letters from a Living Dead Man

 

by Pa Rock

Reader

Elsa Barker was an American writer and poet living in Paris in 1912 when she inadvertently entered into a project - or crafted a con - that was to become a life-changing event for her.  According to her own accounting, the poet was sitting at her desk, pencil in hand, preparing to write when her hand suddenly began moving and writing without any conscious effort on her part to control the process.   She described the event this way:

"Yielding to impulse, my hand was seized as if from the outside, and a remarkable message of a personal nature came, followed by the signature 'X'."

The person controlling Elsa's arm claimed to be recently deceased and said he was exploring his new life on the "astral plain" of the afterlife.

It had been an incident of "automatic writing."  Barker shared the message with some friends in Paris who recognized the unique salutation on the letter as a symbol used by Judge David Patterson Hatch with whom they were acquainted in San Francisco, 6,000 miles away - and who was thought to still be living.  A few days later a letter arrived from San Francisco advising them that the judge had passed away.

Judge Hatch communicated through Elsa Barker for several years, and she eventually published all of his messages and letters in three volumes:  "Letters from a Living Dead Man," "War Letters from the Living Dead Man," and "Last Letters from the Living Dead Man."

The introductory book reaches from Judge Hatch's initial communications with Elsa Barker and across several months in time.  In that volume he described life on the astral plain, how the processes of living and dying work, and told her of many people whom he encountered in the afterlife.  The judge was very inquisitive and loved to share what he had learned, and he was also deeply philosophical.  The afterlife he described was neither a "heaven" nor a "hell," but he acknowledged a variety of heavens and hells exist that individuals design by their own thoughts and actions and to which they consign themselves.

The judge told the poet of a never-ending series of lives and afterlives in which a soul constantly travels back and forth between the objective earth and the more subjective astral plain.  He portrayed most people as living the same lives in their afterlives that they did when they were breathing and trudging along on Earth.  People live a life on Earth, they die and travel to the astral plain, and eventually they choose to go back to Earth and live another life, and they seem to have a certain amount of choice into where they wind up on each sojourn to Earth.  He told Elsa of a young teenage friend whom he had met on the astral plain.  The boy rushed back to Earth when his favorite teacher got married - because the boy, who had died young, wanted to return as one of her babies.

The judge explained that souls should have some personal growth as a result of all of the dying and returning, though some seem content to just tread water and not do much in the way of advancement.  The Judge was an ambitious soul who wanted to learn from all of his experiences.  He worked at remembering his past lives and in exploring his surroundings and meeting people on the astral plain.  He talked of some souls who tried to cling to the Earth and to be of assistance to those they left behind - and he encouraged souls departing Earth to not look back, but to move on into their next phase of existence.  

(According to Judge Hatch, many souls on the astral plane traveled frequently to the Earth as spirits, and they had the ability to travel from place to place on the earth instantaneously.  On one of his spiritual jaunts back to Earth, the judge transported himself to Japan to witness the coronation of the new emperor.)

He also talked about the souls of people who never believed in the afterlife.  He said they enter the afterlife in a state of deep sleep, something which may continue for thousands of years, or "ages."  The judge, by being inquisitive, managed to acquire a pair of mentors in the afterlife.  One he called the "Beautiful Being" and the other "The Teacher."  "The Teacher" was a thinly veiled representation of Jesus.  He convinced "The Teacher" to wake one of their comatose individuals and to introduce him to the afterlife - which the teacher did as a part of the judge's overall education.

The judge also talked about a hierarchy of souls, from the ordinary travelers. between the two worlds who show little in the way of advancement between lives, to the inquisitive, like himself, who constantly work at learning.  The inquisitive evolve into master souls and potentially even angels.

Judge Hatch proposed that the afterlife is somewhat like a vacation, a place for souls to rest, recoup, and perhaps even experience a certain amount of growth through dreams.  From there he segued to some thoughts on the way people waste their time and efforts on Earth:

"Perhaps on Earth you work too much - more than is really necessary.  The mass of needless things that you accumulate round you, the artificial wants that you create, the breakneck pace of your lives to provide all these things, seem to us absurd and rather pitiful.  Your political economy is mere child's play, your governments are cumbrous machines for doing the unnecessary, most of your work is useless, and your lives would be nearly futile if you did not suffer so much that your souls learn, though unwillingly, that most of their strivings are in vain."

As the first set of letters began drawing to a close, the Judge was preparing to go on a tour of the universe with the Beautiful Being to visit the other planets.

"Letters from a Living Dead Man" contains fifty-four epistles from Judge Hatch to Elsa Barker - and eventually to the rest of the world.   For the most part they are short, because the Judge was conscious of the need not to overwork the writing arm and hand of his willing stenographer.  The letters describe an afterlife that is neither Heaven nor Hell, has no mansions of gold nor sulfurous burning pits, but instead is more-or-less a calm continuation of the life that the person had been enduring before death.  There are exceptions, of course, for those who aren't seeking an afterlife and for those who push boundaries and try to experience intellectual growth wherever they happen to be residing - but for the remainder it is an abundance of rest, sleep, and dreaming.

And I have just scratched the surface of the wisdom that Judge Hatch shared through the hand of Elsa Barker.   Judge Hatch (or Elsa Barker) described an afterlife that is neither gilded nor tortuous, but is some acceptable extension of the life we already know - and a process that allows us unlimited chances to improve on mistakes that we have made in our past lives.  The astral plain awaits, not as a place to lust after or fear, but as a place to rest and grow before returning to Earth for another pass through life and another chance to do things right.

I found "Letters from a Living Dead Man" to be comforting and inspirational, neither of which I was expecting, and I suspect that I will soon read the other two volumes.    Elsa Barker may have been a cunning con-artist, though perhaps she was not, but whoever actually wrote this volume crafted an afterlife that I would not mind experiencing.

And that's why I read - to experience new things!

Ancestor Archives: David Granville Nutt (1797-1872) and Sarah Ann Landers (1807-1890)

 

by Rocky Macy

David Granville NUTT was born on December 15th, 1797, in Orange County, North Carolina, the son of David and Rachel (CATES) NUTT.  He married Sarah Ann LANDERS in the state of Tennessee in 1826.  David Granville NUTT died in Granbury, Hood County, Texas, on April 11th, 1872.

Sarah Ann LANDERS was born December 21st, 1807, in Bedford County, Tennessee, the daughter of Christopher and Phoebe (LEE) LANDERS.   She died on February 27th, 1890, in Hood County, Texas.

David Granville and Sarah Ann (LANDERS) NUTT were my g-g-g-g-grandparents.

David Granville NUTT migrated to Bedford County, Tennessee, at an early age.  According to information contained in Ancestry.com’s “Family Data Collection - Individual Records,” he married Sarah “Sally” Ann LANDERS, a native of Bedford County, in 1826.  At that time they would have already been the parents of four children:    Mary Ann NUTT (1822-1827),  Henry Lee NUTT (my ancestor) (1824-1899),  Jasper F. NUTT (1825-?), and  Robert L. NUTT (1825-1848).  Jasper and Robert may have been twins.

David and Sally had twelve more children in the years that followed:  Elizabeth Paralee NUTT (1827-1867),  Patty NUTT (1829-1843),  Phoebe Lee NUTT (1832-?),  Jesse Franklin NUTT (1833-1913),  Jacob NUTT (1835-1912),  John M. NUTT (1838-1865),  Abel N. NUTT (1839-1880),  Abram NUTT (1840-1850),  Sarah Ann NUTT (1841-1915),  Mary NUTT (1843-1843),  Susan Ann NUTT (a twin to Mary) (1843-1881),  and  David Lee NUTT (1848-1929).

The known spouses of the children of David and Sally are:  Henry Lee NUTT (Celana RUTLEDGE),  Elizabeth Paralee NUTT (Andrew Jackson WRIGHT),  Phoebe Lee NUTT (M.F. LANDERS), Abel N. NUTT (Indiana RYLIE), Susan Ann NUTT  (1. Henry A. LANDERS*, and  2.  Ray HOPPING),  and  David Lee NUTT (Susan A. GARLAND).

(*According to information contained in “The Lone Star State, author unknown, Lewis Publishing Co, Chicago, IL, 1896, Henry A. LANDERS was killed in the battle of Mansfield, Louisiana, in 1863.)  (Henry A. LANDERS was Susan’s cousin, the son of her mother’s brother, Abel LANDERS.)

The 1840 US census located David NUTT and his family in Bedford County, Tennessee.  It listed ten free white persons and no slaves.  Of the ten family members, two were males under the age of 5 (John and Abel), two were males ages 5-9 (Jesse Franklin and Jacob), one was a male aged 15-19 (Henry, Jasper, or Robert), and one was a male aged 40-49 (David).  Not captured by the census taker were two of the sons between the ages of 15-19.   (Jasper F. might possibly have been deceased.)  

The four females in the household of David and Sally NUTT in 1840 included one aged 5-9 (Phoebe Lee), two ages 10-14 (Elizabeth Paralee and Patty), and one aged 30-39 (Sarah Ann “Sally”).  There were no females left unaccounted for on that census.

The family of David Granville and Sarah Ann “Sally” (LANDERS) NUTT had migrated to Newton County, Missouri, by the time of the 1850 census.  “The Lone Star State,” cited above, said the move to Missouri occurred in 1844, and that once they were there the family bought land which was cultivated by the sons while David worked at his trade as a blacksmith.  Missouri land records reveal that he purchased 40 acres in Newton County in 1850 through the land office in Springfield.

The 1850 census showed the family residing in Van Buren Township of Newton County, Missouri.  Present in the household were David Nutt (aged 53), Sarah Ann Nutt (43), Jesse Nutt (15), Jacob Nutt (14), John Nutt (11), Abram Nutt (10), Susan Nutt (7), and David Nutt (2). Also present in the household were an older daughter, Elizabeth Wright (23), her husband (Andrew) Jackson Wright (22), and their son, George M. Wright (2).

(The oldest son, Henry Lee NUTT, was married to Celana RUTLEDGE sometime around 1850 and at the time of the census he was residing with his bride in the home of her parents, Thomas and Angeline (GRINDSTAFF) RUTLEDGE in Newton County, Missouri.)

According to the narrative on the NUTT family in ”The Lone Star State,” information which was undoubtedly provided by family members, Jesse F. NUTT moved to Texas in 1858 and located in Hood County. (It was actually Johnson County but became Hood after the Civil War.) His parents, David and Sally, followed the next year with four of their children:  Jacob, Abel, Susan L., and David Lee.  Upon arrival in Texas, David purchased a “small tract” of land located near what is now the city of Granbury.  (Today Granbury is less than forty miles southwest of the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex.)

(Also included in that family migration to Texas was Sally’s brother, Abel LANDERS, and his family.  Abel LANDERS had been a prominent politician in southwest Missouri having served three terms in the Missouri House from Newton County (1842, 1846, and 1852), as well as one term in the Missouri State Senate (1848).  At one time in Newton County he was also the county assessor, district road supervisor, and a justice of the peace.  The LANDERS family moved to Johnson (later Hood) County, Texas, in 1858, and soon after the Civil War Abel was serving there as a county judge.  As a county judge, Abel LANDERS helped to establish the town of Granbury, some of it on land that belonged to his relatives, the NUTTs.)

The 1860 census found the family of David and Sally residing in Johnson County (later Hood County), Texas, with a post office at Comanche Peak.  David's occupation was listed as a blacksmith.  Present in the household were David Nutt (aged 64), Sarah A. Nutt (55), Jacob Nutt (23), and Abel Nutt (21).  It is unclear where 12-year-old David Lee NUTT was during that census.

David and Sally have not been located on the 1870 census as of this time.  David died in Granbury, Texas, on April 11th, 1872, and is buried in Granbury.  “The Lone Star State” had this to say about the final years of David Granville NUTT:

“Subsequently he settled in Granbury, where he lived until his death, which occurred in 1872, when he attained the age of seventy-five years.   He was well advanced in life when he reached Texas, and until the end of his days he lived in retirement, cared for by his sons, who quickly became important business factors in the locality and highly prosperous men.”

The US census for 1880 found “Sallie” Nutt (aged 69) living in the home of her youngest son, D.L. (David Lee), (aged 32).  Also in the residence were David Lee’s wife, Sudie A. Nutt (25), children Mattie E. Nutt (6), Sallie L. Nutt (4), and Henry L. Nutt (2), and David Lee’s older brother, “Jake” Nutt (42).

Sarah Ann “Sally” LANDERS NUTT passed away on February 27th, 1890.  “The Lone Star State” had this to say about her:

“Mrs. Nutt departed this life in 1890, aged eighty-three years.   She was a lady of sterling Christian qualities and was an acceptable member of the Baptist Church.  She was the daughter of Christopher and Phoebe (Lee) Landers, who removed from Kentucky to Tennessee in the early settlement of that state.  The Lee family was originally from Virginia and tradition states was connected with the family of that name so distinguished in the affairs of the Old Dominion.”

At the time “The Lone Star State” history was published in 1896, it reported that only four of David and Sally’s children survived:  “Jesse F.; Jacob; Henry, who resides in Neosho, Missouri,; and D.L.”  The article listed the couple's deceased children as:  “Robert L.; Elizabeth P., wife of A.J. Wright; Mary, died unmarried; “Phoeba,” who was the wife of M.F.. Landers, Abel, Susan Ann, John M.; and an infant daughter (Mary), a twin to Susan Ann. 

David Granville NUTT migrated from North Carolina into Tennessee at a very young age.  When he was 46 and Sally was 36, in 1844, they loaded eleven children and all of their worldly possessions into wagons and headed for a new life in southwest Missouri.  While in Missouri they had one additional child.   Then, fifteen years later, when David was in his early sixties and Sally was in her fifties, they again packed up and moved  (this time with four children, the youngest of whom was ten) to the state of Texas, and that is where they finally ended their long and arduous journey through life..   

A pair of true pioneers had made their way across much of America and left a legion of descendants scattered along the way! Today their legacy lives and thrives across much of the United States and undoubtedly even further.

The Can Man

by Pa Rock

Roadside Walker

While Donald Trump is a "con man" and of absolutely no use to society - other than to serve as a bad example - I, myself, am a "can man" and at least serve as a minor benefit to those in the world around me. What a difference a vowel makes!

Most summers I have been a community nuisance fixture walking along the local roadways and picking up aluminum cans.  For a couple of summers there was a young adult male who also patrolled the area in search of aluminum.  He did his rounds of a bicycle, and we sort of informally divided the routes, but he quit his effort about the time the plague set in, and I did as well.  I didn't do much the past two summers - 2020 and 2021 - opting instead to stay closer to the house and get my 10,000 steps-a-day in walking about my yard - which is smaller than Rhode Island, though not by much.

On my rare trips to town I noticed that the ditches were starting to fill with all manner of trash, and that the aluminum can situation was ripe for some attention.  So over the past two days I have once again begun walking between the roadways and ditches picking up cans - and they are plentiful!  Yesterday I did such a good job of picking up and crushing cans with my tired old feet - and walking more than 3,300 steps in the  process - that this morning one of my nice neighbors left a beer can in my driveway as a reward for my efforts!

I have been collecting aluminum ever since moving here in March of 2014,  and I now have several big bags of crushed cans taking up space out in the barn.  I need to figure out how to tell when the price is right for selling, and then get rid of them.  I have a few places left to visit on my bucket list (Nantucket, Bermuda, Greece, Morocco, and anyplace in the Southern Hemisphere), and the can money would certainly help with travel expenses.

But for the time being I will just keep walking, picking up cans, and adding to my stash - and I wave at the neighbors as they whiz by tut-tutting about that poor old geezer who used to be a local school teacher but now has been reduced to picking up cans for a living.  They warn they children never to wind up like me - as they race on over to Walmart with the Trump stickers on their bumpers smirking back in self-righteous disapproval.

They collect their trash, and I collect mine.

Rabbit Holes

 

by Pa Rock

Survivor

I spent the better part of this morning sitting in my car and reading a book.  I was parked outside of my doctor's office waiting to be admitted for a regularly scheduled appointment, but an emergency arose which forced a delay in my appointment.  Fortunately I had my book de jour with me - I always do - and managed to keep myself enthralled until the doctor was ready to see me.

My doctor is great.  He is a young man of progressive thought and spirit, well educated, and attentive to the needs and concerns of his patients.  He is also a responsible citizen of the community.   When the COVID virus first began spreading, my doctor went before our city council and presented an impassioned plea for a city-wide mask mandate.  The council very courteously thanked him for coming and then promptly voted down his sage advice.

Today, between medical questions, we also chatted about the pandemic.  The doctor is still appalled at the amount of misinformation that is spreading locally.  He said that the people who won't wear masks or get vaccinated ARE NOT coming into the clinic seeking any sort of medical advice, and that they seem to be getting their information from non-medical sources.  (Hello, Facebook!). I told him that I live down the lane from several people of that mindset, and he smiled sadly and said, "I'll bet you do."  (And I will bet that he does, as well.  In this case ignorance seems to spread across socio-economic and class lines as fast as a . . . well, as fast as a rampant and deadly virus.)

I told the doctor that I have personally known two people who have died of COVID, and he quickly assured me that he has known considerably more than that.   I also groused about someone close to me who refuses to get vaccinated, and the good doctor looked me in the eye and said, "Rock, once you go down that rabbit hole, it's hard to ever crawl back out."

And that has stuck with me.  Those people who rushed to downplay commonsense safety procedures, many out of some twisted political fealty to Donald Trump, have now, like me, known people who have died, but they scurried down the rabbit hole is a rush of political righteousness and now are too entrenched in their fantasies - or are simply too embarrassed - to climb out and warm themselves in the bright light of reason.

If I have a question or a concern about my car, I will talk to a mechanic - and if I have a question about my health, I will consult a doctor - EVERY DAMNED TIME!  People who solicit or accept medical advice from social media, politicians, and crackpots put themselves at risk, and if they refuse to take basic safety precautions to combat a pandemic, they endanger themselves, their families, and everyone with whom they interact.  It is more than just neglect, it is intentional abusive treatment.

I refuse to put my neighbors at risk, and I wish they would climb out of their rabbit holes and show the same courtesy toward me.

Praise for Powell is Effusive, Except, of Course, from Trump

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

American soldier and statesman Colin Powell died yesterday from complications of COVID and cancer.  He was eighty-four.

Powell, a retired Army four-star general, severed two combat tours in Vietnam in the 1960's where he was wounded in action and also received the "Soldier's Medal" for helping to pull soldiers out of a burning helicopter.   Ronald Reagan elevated the soldier, Powell, into the political sphere when he named him as his National Security Adviser.  General Powell later served as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and finally, after retiring from the military, George W. Bush named Colin Powell as his Secretary of State.  It was in his role as Bush's Secretary of State where Powell's reputation suffered its first big setback after he gave information to the United Nations regarding Iraq's supposed possession of weapons of mass destruction, information that later proved to be wrong.

Colin Powell was one of only two people to have been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice, once by George H. W. Bush in 1991 and two years later by Bill Clinton.  

Powell, a self-declared Republican, broke with his party in 2008 and supported Barack Obama for president over fellow veteran John McCain.   He also did not support Donald Trump in either of his presidential runs, and said that he could "no longer be a Republican" after the Trump-inspired attack on the Capitol on January 6th of this year.

Yesterday Colin Powell died - and the praise for the soldier and statesman was quickly forthcoming and it was effusive.  Former President George W. Bush called Powell "a great public servant," while Bill and Hillary Clinton were a bit more unrestrained as they described Colin Powell as "a courageous soldier, a skilled commander, a dedicated diplomat, and a good and decent man."

Former President Barack Obama called Powell "an exemplary soldier and an exemplary patriot," and Joe Biden, the current president, said that Colin Powell was "a dear friend and patriot of unmatched honor and dignity."

And Jimmy Carter, who was president before Colin Powell rose to national prominence, had this to say about the man:

"Rosalynn and I join so many around the world in mourning the loss of General Colin Powell. A true patriot and public servant, we were honored to work beside him to strengthen communities in the United States, help resolve conflict in Haiti, and observe elections in Jamaica. His courage and integrity will be an inspiration for generations to come. We will keep his family in our prayers during this difficult time."

Those are the kind of remarks that the world should expect to hear from the leaders of a nation when someone of Colin Powell's stature passes away.   But it was not surprising when the only other living ex-president, Donald J. Trump, a ill-mannered narcissist with no regard for the feelings of others, took a different tact.  Here was Trump's classless thoughts on the matter:

"Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media.  Hope that happens to me someday. He was a classic RINO, if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!"

CNN credited that statement as proving that, with Trump, there is no bottom.

Monday's Poetry: "When the Frost is on the Punkin"

 

by Pa Rock

Poetry Appreciator

The temperature in my part of the Ozarks dipped into the forties last night and this morning there was the definite feel of autumn in the air.   Ralph came bounding out of the chicken coop at daylight and proceeded to wake the neighborhood, but the other young roosters and guineas thought that it was a good morning to sleep in, and it took Ralph about an hour to get them down from the rafters and out into the yard.

It's been quite awhile since I have featured any of the classic midwestern works of Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley in this space, and I thought today might be a good time to correct that omission.  Mr. Riley, whose prolific poetry spanned the the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was a master of observation and dialect, and the following poem, "When the Frost is on the Punkin" showcases his abilities in those areas.

So let's travel back to rural Indiana in the late 1800's and experience some on-the-ground color commentary about the onset of autumn - a time when the frost was on the pumpkin and the fodder was in the shock.

"When the Frost is on the Punkin"

by James Whitcomb Riley

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock,

And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin’ turkey-cock,

And the clackin’ of the guineys, and the cluckin’ of the hens,

And the rooster’s hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;

O, it’s then’s the times a feller is a-feelin’ at his best,

With the risin’ sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,

As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.

They’s something kindo’ harty-like about the atmusfere

When the heat of summer’s over and the coolin’ fall is here—

Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees,

And the mumble of the hummin’-birds and buzzin’ of the bees;

But the air’s so appetizin’; and the landscape through the haze

Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days

Is a pictur’ that no painter has the colorin’ to mock—

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.

The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,

And the raspin’ of the tangled leaves, as golden as the morn;

The stubble in the furries—kindo’ lonesome-like, but still

A-preachin’ sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill;

The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;

The hosses in theyr stalls below—the clover over-head!—

O, it sets my hart a-clickin’ like the tickin’ of a clock,

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock!

Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps

Is poured around the celler-floor in red and yeller heaps;

And your cider-makin’ ’s over, and your wimmern-folks is through

With their mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and saussage, too! ...

I don’t know how to tell it—but ef sich a thing could be

As the Angels wantin’ boardin’, and they’d call around on me—

I’d want to ’commodate ’em—all the whole-indurin’ flock—

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock!