The Story of the Madden Family home - by Peggy Madden Harmann
There would be tales of great happiness and deep sorrow; tales of everyday life in this Appalachian holler known as Bill’s Creek.
My walls were raised in the early 1900’s, most likely by Joseph Thomas and his wife Laura Napier Thomas after their Christmas Eve wedding in 1900. Joe was a hardworking timberman and a dedicated father to his three daughters: Hannah, Levi and Dora.
Life was hard in Bill’s Creek – nothing came easily. The high mountains and rocky soil made hard work and long hours a normal way of life. No doubt Joseph cut and hauled the mighty trees from which my walls were made. I was a humble building – only two rooms, but this provided shelter to my beloved occupants.
Life progressed as normal – hard work and good fun. Joe would pack in food on his horse from neighboring community stores when needed to supplement our garden produce during the icy winters and humid summers. Joe didn’t know how to read or write, but he did know how to provide for his wife and daughters.
I watched as the girls grew into pretty young ladies and married. Hannah married a local boy, Dewey Hensley, in 1918. 13-year-old Levi married Elijah “Lige” Madden in 1914, and 15-year-old Dora married Lige’s cousin, George Madden, in 1921. I would later be a home to the families of Lige & Levi as well as George & Dora Madden.
Life had been quite happy within my walls… that is until July 7, 1926 – just three days after our country celebrated the 150th anniversary of freedom. On the street in front me, disaster struck. Tempers flared, shots were fired. When the smoke cleared, Joe lay dead in the street. Later that day the other gunman, Green Presley, died. Green was the brother of Joe’s sister-in-law, Millie Presley Thomas (wife of Samuel). Both Joe and Green were buried within three days on the mountain behind me.
The absence of funeral parlors on Bill’s Creek meant that many bodies were brought within my walls for the final visit of their family and friends. Normally, family would sit up through the night, sharing their memories as well as their sorrows. Three such sad evenings followed the deaths of Lige & Levi’s children. In 1918, 5-month-old Simon died of colitus. He was followed in death by
two-year-old Martha in 1932 and two-year-old Lawrence in 1933.
George and Dora expanded my walls, adding a kitchen, dining room and bedroom over the years. After some troublesome years, George and Dora were finally remarried right in my kitchen on July 12, 1936 by Baptist minister, Akles Wynn. Their 12-year-old daughter, Verna, witnessed the ceremony along with her 2nd cousin, Green Madden.
Ten months later, another daughter, Mona Ruth, was born in one of my bedrooms. Although only five years old at the time, brother Ed remembered being told to go play at the far end of the hog yard during this birth. What excitement within my walls – another generation of the Madden family entering the world!
As Joe’s wife, Laura, entered her fifties she contracted tuberculosis. This dreaded disease was running rampant through the mining camps and called for critical measures. Abiding by doctor’s orders, she was quarantined in one of my bedrooms – shut off from the rest of the family. Dora and Verna would leave food outside her door to avoid catching the disease. Eventually Laura recovered enough to return to a more normal life.
With his hard-earned wages from the Peabody mine, George decided to invest in something innovative – a shower! A bath house was build just behind me. There, George installed one of the first showers on Bill’s Creek! A later addition included an indoor restroom – what luxury!
I watched as the children grew up and headed to Michigan – the land of jobs away from the coal mines. Verna, Ruth, and Fay returned to Bill’s Creek. Ewell and Ed were frequent visitors over the years. My walls have since been filled with happy sounds of visiting children and grandchildren.
The garden spot once plowed by Grandpa Isaac Madden and his mule still flourishes. The bushes carefully tended by Dora are still in the yard. Verna has made sure I was kept in excellent condition throughout these later years. The cemetery on the mountain has grown to include other friends and family over the years. Many things have changed on Bill’s Creek – cars and four-wheelers have replaced the horses, telephones now ring and electric lights glow in place of oil lamps. One thing has not changed – I am still regarded as the homeplace of the Madden’s of Bill’s Creek.
Evan played in the barn built by his great great grandfather, Charlie Ramsey, who owned this land from about 1930 until he passed it on to his daughter, Betty Madden. I remember Granddaddy Charlie building the barn soon after the house was built in the late 1960's. My brother Randy Madden and later my son Joey have maintained it over the years. It is amazing how entering the barn takes me back to childhood and the times we played there and the animals that we had through the years - the pony Taffy, the pigs, goats, assorted birds including turkeys, guinea fowl, ducks, geese, peacocks, quail, easter egg chickens, Bantam (aggressive banty rooster), domineckers, and assorted others. A favorite game was to try to lock one another in the barn/stalls and then try to escape. I learned that i could crawl through the little adjoining doors (tiny doors for baby animals), then climb up the hay drop (what's the word for that area), then go through the loft and to the opposite row of stalls where I could work the lock loose. What adventures we had!
