Summer of 2003

 

As I, at the age of 75, set down this mini-biography of my grandparents, I may be one of the few living family members who can recall Grandfather’s image and mannerisms. Sad as that is, it is the way of life as one generation passes on and others come after us. I am their eldest grandchild, their only grandson and, unfortunately, not one heralded for any great ability to recollect past events. Nevertheless, I will try. I have been greatly aided by records collected and shared by my cousins, particularly Susannah Goad Johnson, the only child of their only son, Howard. The grandchildren of “Gram” Goad have been having a wonderful time together this spring and summer researching Gram's past. We have looked at family pictures, recollections of stories told by Gram and Aunt Madlyn, from events of our own childhood with her, of family history from stories, from various books and articles in newspapers, from information on the Internet and from visits to villages where she lived.

 

I began this project last winter by first writing about Gram, whose story is now woven into this publication. She lived much longer into my life span because she was 16 years younger than her husband at their marriage and she lived to the ripe age of 89 whereas Grandfather died at age 73. When he died, in October of 1940, I was 12. Whenever I think of heroic people, I think of "Gram" Goad. What stands out in my mind is that "she went wherever she was most needed."

 

This is her story as we have been able to reconstruct it. We present this to you in tribute to her heroic and interesting life.

 

During the four years from 1934 until 1938 (while I was ages 6 – 10) Granddad Goad, "Gram," and their youngest daughter Helen, came to live in my father's home. When our mother died of a hemorrhage shortly after giving birth, they came to help care for my sister Barbara, my infant sister, Margie, and me.

 

Given those circumstances, most of my recollections of my maternal grandparents are of "Gram" as she was our primary care giver during those years, but I recall Granddad as being highly respected, quiet, well mannered, kind, and tall. I remember his handlebar mustache and his kind eyes. He was unassuming, and around us children "Gram" was in charge. He went alongwith her desires regarding our care, and he was always kind and gentle with us.

                                                                                    Chester C. Dodd, Jr.

 

 

Archibald Henry Goad was born in on April 2, 1867 in Greenup County, Kentucky in a small village named Hunnewell (or Hunnewell Furnace). The place is no longer a town, but is identified on the Kentucky Highway map in 2003 with a Highway Marker #1017 which shows the location five miles up KY 207 from US 60.

 

In the 1870 U. S. Census, Archibald Henry Goad is listed as aged 3. The 1880 US Census shows Granddad Goad's father, John, as age 46 and listed as an ore miner in Hunnewell, Kentucky. Both of his two sons, John Riley, age 15 and Archibald age 13 were listed as Ore Miners and attending school.

 

We have a gap in records of the life of granddad Archibald Goad from the 1880 census, when he was 13 years of age and residing in Hunnewell, Kentucky until his emergence in Flatwoods, West Virginia in 1897 when he was in his thirties. During that seventeen-year period, A.H. Goad finished school, and struck out on his own—or with his brothers, as they moved to Flatwoods, West Virginia to find employment (or adventure!) as lumbermen.

 

From what we have learned of the Iron Furnaces in Kentucky, we would surmise that Granddad Goad and his brothers saw a need to move into other areas to find employment as this was a time when Iron Furnaces like those in Hunnewell, KY were being shut down. We imagine that he may have spent much time cutting timber for the iron furnace back in Hunnewell, Kentucky and had perhaps learned much about the quality of timber and woodlands. The timbering industry also was changing greatly at that time with the advent of the portable "band saw". The West Virginia hills still had many acres of virgin timber and the demand for lumber in a growing country was tremendous. Our strong, astute grandfather and his brothers saw opportunities in the hills of West Virginia.

 

 

I can imagine "timber cruising" must have been rugged work—hiking through the woods, finding boundaries, examining trees, etc. A knowledge of tree species, the quality of the trees, and the difficulty companies would encounter in extracting the felled timber would all be factors in determining the value of tracts containing standing timber. It would take a rugged and intelligent man to tackle such a task. Some danger would also be involved, as wild animals were found in West Virginia woods in great abundance in the early 1900's. I can imagine it being a lonely life best suited to a single man willing to spend much time alone in the woods. Thus I expect that the young A. H. was a man of the wilds until he met "Bliss" in 1901, spending much of his time alone, roaming the wild West Virginia hills during his twenties and thirties.

 

Peggy Clise, mayor of Flatwoods and a Berry relative believes it may have been possible that the Goad brothers came to Flatwoods to work for the Fisher Berry Lumber Company. J.L. Fisher was a judge. He may have also been the John L. Fisher, guardian, on Arch and Bliss’ wedding license. And, he was also a neighbor of the Goads.

 

Winifred Bliss Stump was born on June 21, 1883 and raised in a rural unincorporated area of Central West Virginia called Stumptown. (The town is still there, on US Route 33) She had one sister, Arley, who was born on July 19, 1885.

 

After living in Stumptown, on Steer Creek in Gilmer County for years, Bliss’ parents moved their family to Flatwoods, in Braxton County. We do not know for sure when they moved, but it was prior to 1899. This was another isolated town but located on a railroad line.

 

Bliss’ father had lost his left arm in early childhood in a cane mill accident (and Gram said that he made up for it with tremendous strength in his right arm.) He took up the occupation of what was then called "a drummer." We would call him a traveling salesman today. Since there was a railroad terminal in Flatwoods and none in Stumptown, this may have been the reason for the move.

On July 31,1899, when Gram was only sixteen, Winfield Scott Stump died at age 43. Her sister, Arley, was only fourteen. Gram's mother, Mary Ellen (Stalnaker) Stump, grieved hard over her husband's death and the two young girls faced tragedy again two years later on February 28, 1901 when their mother died at age 43, leaving them alone.

 

Later that year, on July 18th, 1901 Bliss and Arch Goad were wed at McNutt's Switch which is an unincorporated town located on Route 19, halfway between Flatwoods and Sutton. He was 34 years of age, she 18.   On July 23 1902, the A. H. Goad's had a child named Camilla who died after five days of life and is buried in the grave beside Bliss' parents in the Flatwoods cemetery. Some time later Bliss had a miscarriage after four months of pregnancy.

 

Shortly after that Bliss and Arch moved to Kilmarnock, Virginia, located at the eastern edge of the Northern Neck of Virginia. Kilmarnock faces the Chesapeake Bay, with the Rappahannock River not far to the west. According to the Internet, mixed stands of pine and hardwood trees exist throughout the region, which may have explained the move.The move also may have been prompted by a move by one of A.H.’s brother to that area.

 

In Kilmarnock, Bliss became pregnant again, but returned to Buckhannon, WV to have their son, Howard in 1904 and then returned to Kilmarnock where Margaret was born in November of 1906.

Granddad seems to have owned a lumber mill in Kilmarnock and he may have had some bad times, as a receipt was found for payment on bankruptcy case of Goad Lumber in 1908.

 

In September of 1909 another daughter, Madlyn was born. Receipts were found for personal property taxes in 1909 and 1910 in Lancaster County, Va., and a receipt for six months rent, paid to the Farmers & Merchants Bank of Kilmarnock, VA. We have learned that there was a disastrous fire that struck Kilmarnock in 1909, which may have possibly had an impact on their business and their leaving the town.

 

Sometime around 1911 the family moved to Lewisburg, W. Va. This must have been an adventure! Aunt Madlyn, before her death, told of the move from stories which Gram related to her.   To get to their destination they loaded their possessions on a boat at Kilmarnock and sailed up the Chesapeake Bay to Baltimore and then reloaded them and traveled by train to Ronceverte, WV and reloaded them again and traveled by some means to Lewisburg. In 1911, Howard was a boy of 7, his sister, Margaret 5, and the youngest, Madlyn2.

 

To move that distance using three means of travel, boat, train, and vehicle, with all of their belongings and three small children would have been a real challenge, and the town to which they were moving was a place they had never been before.   Lewisburg is a beautiful town even today and the Goad family soon adapted to the new surroundings. Granddad Goad became a real estate businessman, buying and selling tracts of timber. The children became members of the Old Stone Church, a Presbyterian Church (one of the oldest in the area.)

 

Another family tragedy occurred in December of 1918 when Gram's only sibling, her sister Arley Scott Berry died of the flu. She was one of 675,000 American's who suffered the deadly effects of the flu that year, and of the 20,000,000 persons around the world. Arley was the mother of six children, one of whom (Ada) was only a year old at her death. Her son Luther Berry became a well-known banker in Clarksburg, WV.

 

During the period from 1913 until 1932, A. H. Goad was an active businessman, dealing in the purchase and sale of timberlands. Severalrecords in Greenbrier County show him involved in various businesses.

                                                                                                    

He is listed in 1918-19 as A. H. Goad and M. L. Dunbar Retail Lumber. In 1922 he was taxed as a partner in a firm named Goad & DeBarr. In 1925 he had a business card for Goad-Turner Lumber Company which dissolved in 1925, and then in 1926 timber from the Goad-DeBarr Lumber Company was sold for 1923 taxes.

Another company, Clear Fork Development Company had listed A.H. Goad as purchasing two tracts of timber in Blue Sulphur District of Greenbrier County in 1926. He is also listed in 1932 as purchasing property in Bliss’ name in Williamsburg District of Greenbrier County.

 

The family life must have been pleasant there in Lewisburg in those days. While living in Lewisburg they had another daughter, Helen, who was born in 1917 when Bliss was 34 and Arch was 53. The children grew up in Lewisburg and did well. Howard graduated from Lewisburg High School in 1925 and attended Greenbrier Military School. Margaret, graduated from Greenbrier High School, attended the Girls College there and took a job in a local bank.

 

 

Another home in Lewisburg, likely an earlier one than the white home shown before. Seated left to right are Howard, Margaret(?), Madlyn, Bliss and A.H.

 

The Story of Chet and Marge (Margaret)   One day a young bridge contractor named Chet Dodd and his brother, Ernest were walking down the streets of Lewisburg. As they strolled along, Chet spied a tall, beautiful auburn-haired young woman on the other side of the street and told his brother, "I'm going to marry that girl some day". Sure enough, young Margaret and Chet became acquainted and later married in the Goad residence on a cold early Saturday morning February 12, 1927 and he whisked her off to his home in Spencer, WV.

In the Ronceverte, WV newspaper on Feb. 20, 1927 there appeared the following in the "Married" column:

 

Mr. Chester Dodd, Jr. and Miss Margaret Goad were quietly married at the home of Mr. & Mrs. A. H. Goad in Lewisburg at 6 o'clock a.m. Saturday, February 12, 1927. Rev. J. E. Flow, D. D. officiating. The bride is the attractive daughter of Mr. & Mrs. A. H. Goad and is a graduate of the Lewisburg High School in the class of 1925. For a short while before her marriage she held a position in the Bank of Greenbrier. She is well known for her interest and activities in the young people's work in Old Stone Church. The groom is a son of Mr. & Mrs. C. C. Dodd of Sabula, Penna., and is the junior member of the Minns-Dodd Construction Company.

 

The great depression in America, which began in 1932, may have had a strong negative impact on grandfather Goad's timber business. We do not see any further records after 1932 of timber purchases or business activities for A. H. Goad in Greenbrier County records.

 

After their three older children had moved away from Lewisburg, Bliss and Arch joined two of their children in the busy little County seat of Spencer. Arch, joined a lumber mill that was a partnership, formed in 1937 between their son, Howard and their son-in-law, Chet. The mill, located on the Arnoldsburg Road in Spencer, first called the Cash Lumber Company, was later renamed the Spencer Lumber and Trading Company. Of course, by this time, say 1935, grandfather Goad was 68 years old.

I do recall, however, seeing Grandfather Goad active in the mill, overseeing the sawmill and the stacking of lumber. Howard was the general manager of the business, Chet was a silent partner as his business at that time was bridge building and he was gone from the scene much of the time.

 

Arch and Bliss still had teenage daughter, Helen, living at home. In a few years they had made a home in Spencer, which suited Bliss since she found the community was close enough to Stumptown that on occasion they could visit Gram's family in that area.

 

In the 1930's, it must have pleased Bliss to be living in Spencer where she could often see and visit with her son, Howard and his wife Nina and her daughter, Margaret, and her small children. Daughter Helen soon was popular in the schools and life was again pleasant. Then disaster!  Having had two children at home in Spencer, Margaret and Chet decided to have the third child delivered in a hospital in Charleston. From a letter addressed to Bliss from Margaret, she was having some problems in her pregnancy and decided to go to a hospital for delivery. It seemed a good thing to do, but it sure didn't work out well. Margaret died in a hospital bed of a hemorrhage after she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, whom they named Marjorie. Chet, with two small children, ages 6 and 2, plus a newbaby, managing a business which required him to be on the road much of the time, made a desperate plea to "Gram" to move into his home and care for the children. So Gram convinced her husband and her teenage daughter, Helen, to move into her son-in law’s home and care for their grandchildren.

 

They moved in June 1934 and stayed until June 1938, four years. It is difficult to imagine how traumatic this must have been for Gram, as well as for the teenager, Helen. Grandfather Goad was 67 at the time they moved in and was 71 when they moved out.  After four years of Gram caring for his family, Chet remarried—Martha Olson, a nurse from Montana. As a result, Gram, Arch and Helen moved from the Chet Dodd household into a house in downtown Spencer, not far from where their son, Howard, lived with his wife Nina (Petty) Goad.

 

The change was very traumatic for Gram, having raised the three Dodd children as her own for four years of their infancy, especially the baby, Marjorie. To be removed from them must have been devastating to Gram.

 

Grandfather Goad died on October 19, 1940; the death record shows the principal cause of death as Coronary Occlusion by Dr. C. W. Shafer. Cousin Susannah recalls a story she frequently heard which was that he had scratched himself with a rusty wire handle of a peach basket and got "blood poisoning."   Archibald Henry Goad lived a full and interesting life. He was a man of the woods, a devoted family man whose gentle, quiet ways, tall stature and full mustache make him remembered well and loved by many.

Gram never did have many possessions. She was a person who spent her entire life looking out for others. She did little complaining of her lot in life. Her walking pace in town was noticed by many as she would clip along on the sidewalks, head held high, a lovely smile for those she passed by. She was a ball of energy and a tireless worker who spent her life as a Christian woman. Winifred Bliss "Gram" Goad spent her last years being cared for in a rest home near Reedy, she died in the Gordon Hospital in Spencer on January 5, 1973 and is buried with her husband, Archibald Henry Goad in the Spencer Cemetery.