by Doudna, Henry.

See previous entry: Little Home Histories, Part 62 -- Copy of a Letter to Margaret Bailey -- From Anna Sears.

A short account of some particulars of my past life, I thought it might be proper to relate for the encouragement of others in some such travail.

I may say by the account of my parents, that I was born in the County of Pitt in the state of North Carolina, within eleven miles of Pamlico Sound. I was raised in those parts where there was no preaching of the gospel, or scarcely a profession of any sort of persuasion, for at the buryings of the dead, some man that could read pretty well, used to take the Bible and read a chapter and then they covered up the corpse.

I well remember that when my grandfather John Knowis was buried, a man by the name of Jorden Shepherd read the sermon. Although I was only eight or nine years old, I well remember a great many words of the sermon as it was called, and I noticed his eyes as he read along. How he raised them off from the reading and turned them to the grave, which I thought was some profit or good to the dead as I noticed him doing it many times. I have thought of these things many times since, and have often wondered if he had lifted his eyes towards heaven, whether that would have had the same impact on me as it did to see him cast them to the grave.

I thought then that he did that for some good to the dead. Now it appears as plain to my view as it did then, though nothing but a child. I have heard say, "train up a child in the way that we want it to go and it will scarcely ever depart from it all."

My parents taught me better things. I have had to thank them many times for not allowing me to use any profane words or go to frolics or dancing -- although they were not clear of them themselves, especially on my father's part. He was brought up a sailor and without any education.

I have heard them say when he was married to my mother that he did not know his letters and never went to school a day in his life. Yet, before he died, it appeared that he knew the Scriptures throughout by heart.

James M. Round of Barnesville, Ohio, told me that he would not begrudge a vast sum if he could know and remember the scriptures as well as my father.

We lived in North Carolina awhile until the Revolutionary War. My father was drafted, and by consent of both my parents, he chose to hire (hire a replacement rather than go to the army himself). In the process, he paid away almost everything they possessed.

At length the war ended. Then sprang up some persuasions of Methodists and Baptists, whose meetings for worship I frequently attended. It did not appear to me that their mode and manner of worship and the ground work of their religion, did agree with the little manifestations that were revealed in me. There appeared something within me that told me to get a wide, well-rounded perspective on religions before I joined any. So I went on without accepting any specific religion until I was twenty years old.

By this time ,my parents heard of a settlement of Quakers, about sixty miles distant. By this time, they had heard some accounts of such people and had read some accounts of them in some books. My father took a journey out to see them, and when he came among them, he was very pleased with their comeliness and order.

He attended one of their meetings, which suited him so well that he came and made ready and moved within twelve miles of Contentny meeting house. My parents, brothers and sisters then became members.

Source: Written by: Henry Doudna and Contributed by: Mary J. Doudna, Barnesville, Ohio.

See next entry: Little Home Histories, Part 64 -- Anecdotes of Anna Doudna Sears and Henry Doudna.

For the table of contents and first entry in this series, please see: Little Home Histories, Part 01 -- Table of Contents and Introduction.

This entry is adapted from Little Home Histories in Our Early Homes, Belmont County, Ohio, which was published in 1942. Its publication was coordinated by Robert D. and Beulah Patten McDonald. This entry has been reedited for inclusion in the Pierian Press Fulltext eBooks database, and is included on the Stratton House Inn Website by special permission. This entry is licensed for use ONLY on this Website. It may be used for educational purposes and personal pleasure under fair-use provisions via this Website. Please note that the Stratton House Inn iteration of this entry does NOT include the subject headings assigned each chapter for use in the Fulltext eBooks database.

CO-AUTHOR: Doudna, Mary J.

DATABASE: Fulltext eBooks: Copyright (c) 2002 The Pierian Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved
ENTRY NUMBER: EBK30013763

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