Photo Graciously Submitted by Janis Garcia
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H. C. Chaffin was the son of Robert Lee & Dora Barton White Chaffin

H. C. Chaffin was born in Smith County in 1916 and died in 1982.

 

Go To Robert Chaffin Family Pictures

 

Geraldine “Jerri” Gillespie was the daughter of James and Margaret Jane

Henry Gillaspie. Jerri was born Oct. 14, 1916 died Aug. 4 2004.

 

Go To James Gillespie Family Pictures

 

The Obituary of Geraldine Gillespie Chaffin can be found on this website

 

Go To Geraldine Gillespie Chaffin Obituary

 

 

"Grandmother Remembers"

 

Transcribed from a book that was filled in by Geraldine "Jerri" Chaffin in 1990 (in the possession of her granddaughter, Janis Garcia).

 

My name is GERALDINE GILLESPIE CHAFFIN

 

My parents were MARGARET & JIMMIE GILLESPIE

 

My ancestors were Irish & Dutch.

 

My mother was born on October 5, 1886.

 

After my parents were married, they lived in Smith County, Tennessee.

 

For a living, my father farmed.

My mother was a homemaker.

 

The thing I remember most about my father is [that he was] nice, a very loving father. He always would wind the mantle clock on Sunday morning, [which was] fun to watch.

 

The thing I remember most about my mother is that she worked so hard. She took in washing and ironing to buy clothes for us.

 

I was born on 10-14-15 [wrong, it's 1916] in Horse Shoe Bend in Smith County, Tenn.

I was named Geraldine Gillespie because I guess that is what my parents wanted.

My family at the time consisted of Benton Gibbs (half brother), Lum, Elisha, Henrietta, a few died before and then along come me.

 

My happiest childhood memory is when someone would give me some clothes that they didn't want any more.

 

When I was little I wanted to become a missionary all my life. I have wanted to be a missionary and go to the foreign field and help others.

 

Some of the things I remember about school are playing outside and kicking cans, and I had a very nice teacher, Miss Era Allen.

We studied the 3 R's.

In school, I liked helping to dust the erasers and go to the spring and get water to drink and build a fire in the stove.

 

On Saturdays, I liked to help clean up the house or go and pick up walnuts, hickory nuts and wild grapes.

 

In the summer, when I wasn't in school, I helped my mother shell beans and can, wash clothes on a wash board, or make lye soap or hominy.

 

The house I lived in as a child was an old house. The cats come in any time they wanted to, and when it snowed in the winter it would snow through the cracks onto our bed.

 

My chores included: before we went to school we milked the cows, brought water from a spring, carried in wood for that day, fed the chickens, put a fire around the kettle to heat water to wash.

 

Before we had television for entertainment, we beat on a tub, sang and blowed in a bottle.

 

For snacks, I ate whatever I could eat.

 

I didn't have any money when I was growing up. My Daddy worked very hard for us to survive.

 

My parents were very strict about swearing, alcohol and cigarettes, and who we run around with.

 

The oldest relative I remember knowing was my mother's brother, Silas Henry [born in Monoville]. When he was born, my mother said you could put him in a coffee pot and close the lid [he was so small. They kept him in a small box on the open oven door, to keep him warm, until his body could keep itself warm].

 

Some of the games I played with my friends when I was little were:

Hide & Seek

Ball

Played house with broken pieces of old dishes.

I had only one doll; my half brother would buy me a china doll every Christmas; he had a job in Nashville.

Vernice and I would climb trees and throw corn cobs at one another.

Mostly, we had to work on the farm.

 

Some of the ways we celebrated holidays were:

Mostly we rested, for we had to work in the tobacco field and that was very hard work. On Thanksgiving we had a feast fit for a king.

 

The most exciting present I ever got was my first pair of slippers (I was 13 yrs.) that had a 1/2" heel. They were patent leather. I would shine them with a biscuit. I got a string of beads I liked very much.

 

A trip I'll always remember was a wagon trip we all took to go up to my mother's brothers. They had tall chestnut trees, and they had a persimmon tree that was just loaded. I ate so many of them and got so sick. The trip took a half day to go.

 

The funniest thing that ever happened to me was my uncle [Grover Henry] caught me once when I kept on teasing him and there was a rain barrel filled with water. He stuck my head down in the barrel.

 

When I was sick, my parents used to use all the old remedies on us. Castor oil (ick). I got the lice once in school and also the itch. My mother said "starve a fever and feed a cold" and that we did.

 

Something I'm really glad I did as a child is obey my parents, respect them and love them. I had a hard childhood but I enjoyed it very much.

 

The day I remember best from my childhood was the first day I went to school because there were things to do and little girls to play with.

 

I remember when:

a good salary was "zip"

an ice-cream cone cost .05

a  pound of sugar cost .07/lb.

a candy bar cost .05

a gallon of gas cost .12

a movie cost (had no movie)

a newspaper cost (had no newspaper)

a bus ride cost (had no buses)

a pair of shoes cost $1.98 (in 1920-21)

a dress cost (I never had a bought dress.)

a house cost  $1,100

a car cost $1,000

 

My first date was 1930 with H.C. Chaffin but my brother Vernice went along also. We walked and went to town, 5 miles one way.

 

My first kiss was 1931 with your Grandpa.

 

My first "big" purchased with my own money was:

II don't remember. I never had much money.

 

My first time away from home was at my uncle's house.

 

The first person I voted for in a presidential election was President [FD] Roosevelt.

 

My favorite toy as a child was a doll.

My favorite entertainment was whistling.

My favorite song was "Amazing Grace".

My favorite dessert was banana pudding.

My favorite outfit was: My husband bought the first new coat I ever owned.

My favorite book was "The Baby Ray Primer".

 

Your grandfather [H.C. Chaffin] was born in Monoville, Tenn.

We met as children and neighbors.

When I first saw him I thought "he is for me" and he was.

For dates, we used to just stay around the house or take a walk, we walked everywhere we went.

 

When we got married, I was 19 yrs. old and he was 19 yrs. old

We were married on 12-21-1934 in Kentucky.

The ceremony was performed before a justice of the peace with two witnesses.

After we married, we lived with my mother and dad for 3 months and then with his dad for a month and his dad died and we lived on there for a year and then moved to Bethpage, Tenn.

For a living your grandfather farmed a few years and then we moved to Nashville and on to Ohio on December 8, 1942.

I was a housewife when we moved to Ohio. I worked in a factory.

 

I'll never forget the time our house burned to the ground, July 15, 1938. We wasn't at home. Everything we owned burned up.

 

When I was little we didn't have some of the things we had today, such as drugs, bad water, cars, TV, telephone, killings, robberies, rude kids.

However, some of the things we had then which we don't have today were respect, manners, love.

 

Some of the things that only women used to do were:

quilt, make hominy and lye soap

 

Some of the things that only men used to do were:

build houses and barns, go hunting

 

Your grandfather would want you to remember him as a loving grandfather. He loved all of you kids very much. He wanted you to have a good life.

 

I hope you'll always remember me as a loving Grandma. I do love all of you all. I hope you can say I did a few things to help you along the way.

 

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