GROWING UP IN PISGAH

Pisgah is a small farming community in Morgan County, Illinois, about 8 miles Southeast of Jacksonville, the county seat. It is also the town where my grandpa and his family were born and raised. For many years my grandpa’s parents lived in this 2 story farmhouse located diagonally across highway 104 from the grain elevator, the most recognizable landmark in town.

The first time I saw this house was when I was a teenager and I drove my grandpa to a family reunion in nearby Jacksonville. He told me he grew up in that house as we passed it on the highway. I was too young at the time to be interested in family history, so I didn’t really ask any questions about it.

The next time I saw the house was after my grandpa passed away and I was going to our family reunion by myself. I was older now and I was very interested in learning more about where my grandpa’s family came from. I stopped in at the property and knocked to see if anyone was home. No one answered, so I looked around a bit and took some photos. I can’t describe to you how I felt standing on that property – the home where my grandpa was raised. I imagined him running around outside, playing with his siblings. It was a powerful feeling for me. I felt very close to my grandpa, even though he had been gone for several years by then.

I wanted to learn more about this home and how my grandpa grew up, so I contacted his sister, my Aunt Marjorie, and I asked her question after question about what it was like to grow up in Pisgah. She was very patient with me and answered all my questions, bless her heart! This is what she told me.

My great grandparents, Charlie and Josie Witham lived in the Pisgah home with their nine children, Aunt Myrtle, Aunt Mary, Uncle Hank, my grandpa (Tom), Uncle Ed, Uncle Warren, Aunt Marjorie, Aunt Betty, and Uncle Ray. I thought grandpa Charlie’s parents, Grandma Mary and Grandpa Francis Calvin, may have lived in the home, also, but they didn’t. They had a place of their own, a few miles away. To get to their house, you would get on the road South from the elevator and turn right at the first road. They lived a long ways back on the South side of the road. It was quite a distance away – too far to walk. Grandpa Charlie would hook up the horse and wagon to go to Grandma Mary and Grandpa Francis Calvin’s house. The kids would sit on bales of hay in the wagon for the trip.

My grandpa (Thomas Washington Witham) was born fourth out of the nine children. From my grandpa on, every one of Charlie and Josie Witham’s kids were born while they lived in that house in Pisgah. Aunt Marjorie is unsure about the rest, but she knows the last three kids were actually born IN THE HOUSE.

Pisgah was a small community of 50 people or less. The surrounding towns made fun of people from Pisgah because they considered them hicks. There was an elevator in town and a store with a porch. The store had a gas pump on the South end of the porch. On the North end of the porch, there was a bread box where the delivery man could deliver the bread in the wee hours of the morning. The bread box remained unlocked, but no one ever stole any bread from it. The man who ran the store lived upstairs. Today, the elevator is still standing, but the store has been torn down.

The Witham kids attended a one room schoolhouse in Pisgah called, ‘Science Hill School’. They walked to school or caught rides with neighbors who had cars. The neighbors driving by wouldn’t pass them up without giving them a ride. One day the teacher asked everyone in class what year they were born. Uncle Ray and Aunt Betty got a spanking for saying they were both born in the same year, 1926. Grandpa Charlie came to the school and told the teacher they WERE born in the same year. Aunt Betty was born in January and Uncle Ray was born in December. The teacher had to apologize. Aunt Marjorie said that even though Pisgah was a small town, they had a lot of kids in school. In the third grade, they had so many kids, they had to sit 2 kids in each seat.

Grandpa Charlie tenant farmed for a man named Albert Curry. They farmed wheat, beans, and corn. They had to shuck corn by hand. Aunt Marjorie said her brother, Uncle Hank, was the best shucker in all of Morgan County. They also raised chickens and had a cow to milk. They walked behind horses to plow their fields and even had a lawn mower that was pulled by horses. Albery Curry always gave them a few hogs to kill. The neighbors would all get together when it was time to do the butchering.

In the house, there were 3 bedrooms upstairs for the kids. Aunt Betty and Aunt Marjorie had the bedroom in the Southwest corner. The bigger, middle bedroom was shared by my grandpa Tom, Uncle Warren, and Uncle Raymond. The Northwest bedroom was shared by Uncle Ed and Uncle Hank (John Francis). Aunt Myrtle and Aunt Mary were already out of the house by this time, as they were the oldest. Downstairs, there was a kitchen, a dining room, a living room, and Grandma Josie and Grandpa Charlie’s bedroom. The kids normally slept 2 in a bed, but would sleep 3-4 in a bed to keep warm in the colder months. Uncle Ed remembered cracks in the house where the wind would blow through, but Aunt Marjorie doesn’t remember this. Everyone would line up behind the stove downstairs to keep warm when they had to.

There was no electricity in Pisgah when they were growing up. Aunt Marjorie said she was in high school before they got electricity. Grandpa Charlie had one gasoline lamp. When they did get electricity, they just had a bulb hanging from the ceiling. There were no lamps or light switches on the wall. When they got electricity, my grandpa, Tom Witham, bought Grandma Josie a washing machine. It was the old kind that had rollers and then you would hang your clothes to dry. In the Wintertime, you would hang them indoors. There was no indoor plumbing, so you had to use the outhouse when nature called.

For family entertainment, they would listen to the radio, especially the Grand Old Opry. This was in the 30’s. They would also listen to Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen, and an eerie show called, ‘Inner Sanctum’. It was a big deal when there was a Joe Lewis fight on the radio. Neighbors would come over to the house to listen to the fight. There was a small wind-powered generator on the roof to charge the battery for the radio. They would also talk or the boys would play cards on the dining room table. Uncle Hank Witham would sometimes swear when he threw away the wrong card. The first time Aunt Marjorie heard Uncle Hank swear, she got up and left.

Grandpa Charlie would get mad at the kids sometimes and say, “All you want to do is eat, sleep, and run somewhere.” The girls weren’t allowed to go anywhere. The boys could hitchhike to Jacksonville. At this period in time, the girls in the family had to wait on the men, so Aunt Marjorie and Aunt Betty washed a lot of the boys’ clothing, ironed their shirts, and polished their shoes, along with other chores, like carrying in water from the well.

Grandma Josie did most of the cooking when it came time for meals. The family always ate together, even breakfast. Grandma Josie sat at the head of the table. Grandpa Charlie sat in the first seat around the corner from her. They didn’t have enough chairs for everyone, so they used a bench that would seat 4-5 people. Since there was no electricity, leftovers were left in the middle of the table covered by a clean dish towel. They used to have Sunday dinners with the extended family, but they stopped doing that, I’m told, “because Grandpa Charlie’s sisters married democrats!!”

There were no presents at Christmastime because there was no money for them. However, everyone hung up a sock and they received an orange, some candy, some chocolate drops, and a bag of nuts. The kids at school told the Witham kids that they never got Christmas presents because they were mean. Grandma Josie said, no, it’s because we don’t have the money for them and told them there is no such thing as Santa Claus. The Witham kids then went back to school and told the kids that were teasing them that there’s no Santa. Aunt Marjorie told me that when Uncle Hank got big enough to work, he bought a celluloid doll for Aunt Betty and Aunt Marjorie for Christmas. He also bought presents for every little kid in Pisgah.

The family went to Union Baptist Church. The kids usually got a ride to church. Aunt Betty, Uncle Raymond, my Grandpa Tom, and Aunt Marjorie all became members of the Pisgah Baptist Church.

Growing up, the Withams had dogs as family pets. Aunt Marjorie remembers a black mutt named Dan, and a police dog. Before he passed away, Uncle Ray told me about another dog they had. Here is what he wrote me about the photo above: “The name of that little dog sitting on Dad’s lap is Pug. Someone dropped her off in Pisgah and she came to our house and stayed. Our whole family fell in love with her. She was a good rat dog.”

Aunt Marjorie also told me about another large family in Pisgah that they were friends with, The Myers family. She said there was a Myers friend for every Witham kid, it seemed. In fact, Harry Myers was a great friend of my grandpa’s. Harry married a lady name Nellie. Nellie’s first cousin was Annabelle Stucker, who became my grandpa’s first wife.

Before the depression, the Withams had a nice car and everything they needed. During the depression, like everyone else, they fell on hard times. They got their first car about a year before Aunt Marjorie started highschool, which was 1937. It was a 1934 Ford, so it must have been kind of new. They also owned a model T at one time, and later, a Model A. Aunt Marjorie remembers standing on the running boards of the Model T once while my grandpa drove it. She admits that wasn’t so bright, looking back on it. One day it was like they had everything they wanted. The next day, they had nothing because of the Depression. If you don’t know Aunt Marjorie, or if you’ve never spoken with her, then you may not know she’s a strong, independent lady. I’ve never heard her get overly emotional when speaking about anything except when she told me the following. She nearly started to cry. I could tell it affected her deeply. She told me that after the Depression hit, her dad had to work so hard to care for his family. It broke Aunt Marjorie’s heart to have to see him work that hard. He could have given up – maybe he even should have, she said, but he didn’t – he wouldn’t. He just kept working to feed and raise his family. I didn’t know my great-grandpa Charlie personally. He passed away before I was born, but he was a hard worker. He was a family man. He was not a quitter. He just pressed on and did what he had to do even when it tough – very tough! Doing the right thing isn’t always easy, but it’s always right! For that, I respect him greatly!

My family lived in this house until 1942 when they moved to Jacksonville. All 5 of the boys were gone in the service by then. Aunt Mary and her family later lived in the home again, so another generation of Withams were able to enjoy it. I’m not sure who lives in the house today, but I wish I were rich so I could buy it, restore it, and keep it in the family. Either way, I enjoy visiting it anytime I’m in the Pisgah area for a family reunion. To spend time in a place where my grandpa grew up almost 100 years ago is special! Thank you to Aunt Marjorie for sharing her memories with me and thank you to Charlene and Aunt Marjorie for sharing your photos with me!

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If you have any information to add to this page, please don’t hesitate to contact me: Mike@PisgahILHistory.com