by Cooper, Sara.

See previous entry: Little Home Histories, Part 85 -- Anecdotes Written by William G. Steer: The Boarding School Fire in 1910.

Florence Frame's great grandparents, Camm and Elizabeth Thomas, being dissatisfied with slave holding, moved from Georgia to Ohio, settling on Sandy Ridge, in Belmont County, on what was afterward known as the Thomas Hall farm. It was then a new and unimproved country. Selecting a spot near a good spring, they built a crude pole pen to live in that summer while building a more substantial log cabin. Most of the cooking was done outside. The father swang a piece of curved bark across one end of the pen for a cradle for the baby. The mother said it was the handiest cradle she ever had, as she could touch it while going about her work and keep it swinging. There were several older children, too.

When the cabin was almost finished, Elizabeth decided she did not want a puncheon floor, which was customary in those days. Hearing of two men on Captina Creek who had a pit saw, she rode horse back to see them about sawing out some boards for their floor. The men brought their saw with them to a place near the cabin. It was necessary to dig a pit, as one man must go below and the other above, to work the saw up and down to cut the boards. They would be a little rough but not as rough as the hewn puncheon floor.

Later, one of Camm and Elizabeth Thomas' sons, Hezekiah, married Increase Dennis, Florence Frame's grandmother. She was sent from New Jersey, when a young girl, to relatives in Ohio, and did not return. She was very efficient with her needle and when left a widow with four small children, she supported her family by the tailor trade. One year, with the help of one of her daughters, she made 103 suits and parts of suits, all the work being done by hand.

The children of Camm and Elizabeth Thomas were William, Abisha, Ashel (commonly called Asa), Hezekiah, Catherine, Henry Camm, Priscilla, Elizabeth, Camm, Rebecca, Ruth, and Cidney. Asa built the house still standing on the Thomas Hall farm.

In explanation of the fact that two bore the name of Camm, the first, Henry Camm, died in infancy and they evidently wished to keep the name going so gave it to a child born later. This was a custom in the family -- and possibly common to all in those days of large families and much infant mortality. As generations passed, however, it was noted that the second child so named usually died early also, and this gave rise to a sort of superstition, probably one reason for discontinuance of this practice.

The children of Hezekiah and Increase Dennis Thomas were Philip Mason, Eliza R., Phebe Dennis and Hezakiah. The last named died when a very small child.

Source: Written by: Sara Cooper and Lura Frame.

See next entry: Little Home Histories, Part 87 -- Samuel Walton.

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: Frame, Lura.

DATABASE: Fulltext eBooks: Copyright (c) 2002 The Pierian Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved
ENTRY NUMBER: EBK30013786

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