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The Dismal Community
Nestled between the steep hills four miles north of Highway 70 in Liberty is the beautiful Dismal Valley. It is a serene peaceful valley with green hay fields, a variety of tree types, and a beautiful rolling creek. Take a journey into the past by reading a little history about this lovely community.
Some of the earliest settlers in this valley were James Yeargin born in Virginia 1799 and wife Edith Griffith born 1802. After marrying, they chose to live in the Henley Hollow area of Dismal on her family’s farm. Edith was the daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth Griffith. Jonathan’s log barn and house still stand in Henley Hollow. Lewis and Reba Fuson bought the farm in 1966 from John Smithson. Mr. Smithson was known to have lived in the area around 1940. The house has been remodeled but the old chimney, put together with mud is standing. The original log barn is enclosed by an addition, but one has only to open the entrance doors to see the perfection of the old log barn still standing.
Several of the Griffith family lay at rest up the hill under a large elm tree just a few yards from the house and barn. Although the stone markers have weathered and fallen, the Griffith name can still be seen. A rock fence lovingly placed there to protect the graves from animals grazing nearby surrounds the graveyard.
James and Edith Griffith Yeargin’s second child was a daughter named Talitha Yeargin. She married in 1849 Isaac (Ike) Cooper, born 1826 and died 1916. They lived in Alexandria until after the Civil War, where he was a wagon and cabinet-maker. After the war, they moved to a farm in the Dismal Community. Isaac donated the land and timber for Cooper’s Chapel Baptist Church in 1880. It was reported by Tom Cripps that church services were well attended many lasting a full day with people standing or sitting outside in the yard, with revivals lasting up to three weeks. He reported one time a neighbor’s dog (BoBo) followed the walkers to church and came right in the church and lay on the floor. This happened on multiple occasions enough so that the pastor commented on the dog being the most faithful member. Cooper’s Chapel is still an active church, as well as Fuller’s United Methodist Church. An earlier church had been started by Elder John Fite born 1758, ordained 1821. He started his ministry in Dismal at a seventeen-member church named Goshen with the help of Elder Bethel. The church dissolved in 1837. Then in 1879 Elder J.C. Brien began preaching in the community; as a result Cooper’s Chapel was built with Pastor Brien being the first pastor.
Other pastors are the following: J.H. Grime, J.R. Hearn, J.H. Vickers, William Simpson, W.E. Raike, A.C. Webb, J.F. McNabb, J.A. McCusky and Stephen Robinson. Elder Stephen Robinson born 1861 united with the Baptist joining Cooper’s Chapel in 1897 and ordained later that same year. Stephen Robinson was the grandfather of Bertha Carter, Lena Rhody, Truitt Robinson, Melodia Mathis, Robert Robinson, Lavelle Turner and Jessie Lee Vanatta and Issac Cooper was their great granddad on their mother’s side.
Elder J.A. McClusky baptized Stephen Robinson, and he later served as pastor of the following churches: Cooper’s 1897, Mt. Pleasant 1897, New Hope 1897, Sycamore 1898, Snow Hill 1900, and Dry Creek 1901. In 1901 he, with several elders and deacons, formed a council on Holmes’ Creek and constituted a church of eighteen members, called Elizabeth Chapel Baptist Church. The Cripps families from Dismal are members of Elizabeth Chapel Baptist Church, Smithville. God has certainly honored the efforts of these early pastors.
During World War II the United States Army held training maneuvers. These maneuvers were made to be realistic, firing blank ammunition and using sacks of flour for bombs. The farmers often found battle tanks set up in their cow pastures or front yards. Tom Cripps told a story of several young boys playing ball with him in a field when a plane set down which sent the boys to scatter. Reba Fuson reported seeing her mother fix meals for the soldiers and helping them in any way they could. It was reported that six soldiers were left over a week to guard a land mine with only rations. The community took care of these soldiers, as they could not leave their post. Many of the local farmers often volunteered to care and cook meals for the troop during these maneuvers. If they needed shelter the barn was generally offered.
Loften Rowland lived in the Dismal Community with his wife Sarah Frances Hale, married 1912. In 1943, one soldier wrote a kind note to the Rowland family. The note reflected the soldier’s sincere thanks for their kindness and friendliness during their time spent training in Dismal. The meals prepared for them and shelter provided by the Rowland’s hayloft reminded of the home they had all left behind to serve their country. The letter writer referred to the Rowlands fondly as Ma and Pa Rowland. Mr. Rowland died in 1966 and is buried in Salem Cemetery, Liberty.
Dismal has always been known as being a productive farming area with several branching hollows. Spring in Dismal means every farmer turns and plants their garden. Tom and Georgie Cripps are known in the valley for producing an impressive garden. The rows of plants are a wonder to see, as well as, the beans stuck perfectly with cane poles from the nearby creek. Jerald Cripps, Tom’s nephew, is following in his family’s footsteps with two garden spots again this year on his farm in Dismal.
The Dismal Community begins as you cross Dismal Bridge. The old one lane concrete bridge was built in 1936, being replaced in 2007 with a wonderful two-lane bridge. Dalton Cubbins and Willie Crook, as well as, the majority of able-bodied men in Dismal helped build the old bridge by manual labor with very little machinery. Dalton and Lottie Cubbins were life long neighbors of the Cripps family and are still missed in the valley. Mr. Dalton was known to be a good farmer and friend to all. Mrs. Lottie was a mild, sweet lady always willing to be neighborly to newcomers and friends.
The Smith Fork Creek has proved to be a wonderful source of food and water for this community, also producing many floods, covering hay fields and washing unwanted debris into the farmer’s fields. One of God’s natural beauties, Smith Fork Creek is still one of our most sought after attractions for recreation and baptismal services.
The history of Dismal is one of working the land. The majority of people that have lived in this area chose their farms close to the creek for easy access to water. Everyone in the family worked together to make sure the farm provided a living and food. As soon as you were old enough to help, chores were assigned, such as, early 4 a.m. cow milking, feeding the animals, or plowing the crops with a team of mules.
People here ate and preserved almost all their food. Hogs were killed, salted down and kept in the smokehouse. When you wanted bacon or ham in the morning you just went out to the old smokehouse and sliced off a slab. Vegetables were canned and kept in the cellar. Potatoes were harvested every summer and spread out in a shed for keeping until the winter months and then they were moved into the cellar for keeping. Life on the farm was hard work for everyone. It took long hours each summer farming the crops, mostly by hand, preserving them, and storing everything for food to get through the winter months.
A peddler would make a weekly visit into the neighborhood with items that could not be raised on the farm. People would pay with cash or exchange eggs or farm goods for items needed from the peddler. Exchanges of three-dozen eggs would get you some much wanted coffee, sugar, or milk. A block of ice for the ice chest would last a week and only cost fifteen cents. Aunt Georgie told me a story of when she and Uncle Tom married, she had made a list out for the peddler of items needed to start house keeping. The peddler, Mr. Jess Malone filled the list, but wouldn’t charge her any money. This was a great wedding gift for them.
Mr. Lindsey Johnson, Ms. Cardine Starnes’ dad, ran a little country store down the road. The store had everything you would need like the following: overalls, barbwire, thread, clothes, and food items. These little country stores would take cash or exchange goods from the farm. Most communities had these little stores, because traveling into the city was considered to be a big trip not taken unless needed.
Tobacco was a crop raised by many of the farmers in this area. The money from the sale would often make the yearly farm payment, as well as, assist the family with funds to get through another winter. Working a tobacco crop was a long process. Tobacco beds were sown, plants pulled, then planted, and worked during spring and summer. During the fall tobacco was cut and hung in the barn for curing. When the tobacco was cured it had to be handed and taken to the sale barns. Handing tobacco was a gummy sticky mess due to the tobacco juices, but it was good family time, as all the family usually worked the crop together.
My sister, Kathy, and I often handed tobacco as little children. We would hold the stalk up, grade each leaf and use the biggest and best one for tying the hand off. Kathy built a fire out of the hay in the barn one year to keep us warm during late fall handing. It took great effort to put out that fire, and we were both shaking in our boots over that mistake. Most lessons learned growing up on the farm was certainly learned the hard way.
Hay was another important crop for this community. The hay had to be cut, raked by hand, harvested onto a wagon, pulled up into the barn by mules and staked in the hay lofts for the farmer to pitch it our with hay forks to the stables below. Hay fields are everywhere around Dismal. Farmers are still producing what the animals’ need for their winter food, just with very expensive machinery instead of a good pair of mules.
The families were close with uncles, aunts, and cousins, children and grandparents all visiting weekly. Neighbors also visited and helped each other out when needed. Tom Cripps told the story of Lilly and Joe Curtis’ house catching on fire and all the neighbors coming to help fight the fire and get the animals out of the barn close by. The house burned down, but the Dismal Community came together to rebuild that family a house. Tom and Georgie Cripps live in that house today.
Our community has wonderful neighbors that wave as they pass by or stop by the gardens for a chat. We still help each other out when seeds are needed, equipment is down, sickness hits, or crops can be shared. Bobby Colvert is seen daily checking on his cattle and farms around this area. Eric and Paula Wineland are building a new house in the Wilson Hollow; we welcome them to the neighborhood. Glen Wilson and family, as well as, the Skylar Ellis family have lived many years in the hollows of Dismal, working and making a living off this land. Country music star Aaron Tippin with his family and musician Larry Nalley and wife Tammy have bought land in Dismal. It is not uncommon on any given day to see Aaron flying his plane, enjoying a sky view of this beautiful valley.
School was something you did when you could, but working on the farm came first. In 1883 Issac and Talitha Cooper donated land for a school. Twenty to thirty students attended Dismal School covering grades 1-8 with one or two teachers. The teachers in earlier times road their mules to school, later some had cars. It was a basic education with a Webster’s speller, McGuffey’s reader, a grammar book and a math book. Many lessons were learned through a chanting process. The pledge and Bible readings started ones day with the highlight being a lengthy recess, playing games like marbles, ant’ny-over, jump rope, whoop and hide, and fox chase to name a few. Lunch, prepared at home, would consist of a biscuit with fried potatoes or a hoecake brought in a little lunch pail. Lunchtime was generally taken during recess.
The bathroom was the thickest secluded wooded area available or a wooden out-house. Male and female areas were some distance away and were respected and kept private. Corporal punishment was with a switch or by standing with ones nose in a ring of chalk drawn by the teacher on the blackboard. No one was ever sent home or expelled for bad behavior. School was a welcome rest from the farm chores. It was reported by Tom Cripps that if you got into trouble at school, then you got in worse trouble at home, therefore there was not a lot of discipline needed at school.
Tom Cripps and Reba Fuson remembered several teachers at Dismal School they were the following: Howard Clayborn, Gladys Simpson, Mac Reynolds, Carine Starnes, Lena Rhody, and Frances Scott. Mr. Tommy Webb remembers Dismal School having a basketball team that attended local tournaments. Mrs. Reba remembered seeing the boys practice basketball to the left of the school’s entrance on a dirt court. Mrs. Reba said her first years at school lasted only seven months, and then as she got older they got up to nine months. Mrs. Lena Rhody, former Dismal teacher reported after the war there was some trouble getting certified teachers, so she taught on a permit. She was teacher, janitor, and morning fire builder. At revival times the teachers would let out school and walk the children to the church to attend daytime revival services. Occasionally, the Henley boys would bring their instruments to school and play them for entertainment.
There are several cemeteries in Dismal, most of which are family plots, like Griffiths and Prates. Dismal Cemetery is the largest cemetery in Dismal. It is the final resting spot for many folks that once lived in this valley. The following names can be found on many of the tombstones: Crooks, Rowlands, Hales, Turners, Neals, Drivers and many more. The tombstone of Thomas (Tommie) Hays, born 1889-1905 reads "shot from Ambush." He had a rival for his sweetheart and even though a trial was held no one was ever convicted of killing Tommie. The last person to be buried to date was Private First Class Billy Anderson, who gave his life during the present war in Afghanistan. This cemetery is a peaceful resting place atop a rolling piece of land to the right of the Alexandria to Dismal road.
The roads around Dismal have changed over the years. The old road followed along side the creek. Farmers back in the 1940’s offered the road supervisor, Lee Cantrell, land for a new road to be built only if it was developed away from the creek due to flooding. The road now is some distance from Smith Fork Creek, but occasionally the creek still floods covering many roads and bridges in this area.
John Colvert built Livie (1887-1974) and Pearl Elledge Cripps’ (1891-1977) house in 1940, as well as, the sawmill and icehouse. The Cripps’ married in August of 1911 and lived in the Dry Creek Community of Dowelltown. Daddy Cripps chose Dismal because it was such a beautiful, peaceful area with good farming land close to the creek. The farm is approximately 190 acres and was bought from John Turner. It is still an active working cattle, garden, and hay farm today owned by Jerald and Lisa Cripps. Mama and Daddy Cripps raised eleven children, while working the farm. Farming methods were so different back then. Imagine life in the 1940’s on Dismal. The family, all working together, using physical labor with limited tools, managed every crop.
The Cripps house had running water only in the kitchen and the one phone they had was on a party line, which allowed the neighbors to pick up on any conversation. The garden was not just a hobby, but also a necessity for the survival of the family. The Cripps women did as most back then, learned to cook from their mothers and grandmothers, with all food being prepared on a wood cook stove or coal if it was afforded. Courting a suitor was done by permission from the father with visitation in the parlor or family sitting room. Mrs. Reba reported when Lewis would come courting, he would ride his mule over from Helton, and they would sit in the family room together with the door open at all times. There was little time to sneak in a kiss. Saturday night entertainment came from a radio broadcast.
Everyone dressed conservatively in hand made cotton dresses or shirts. Most women wore bonnets and the men wore hats. Ironing was a daylong process and was often done on more than one day a week. The women quilted handmade quilts together. Laundry was done on rubbing boards, often using the broomstick handle to fish the clothes out of the boiling tubs. Later, some families used a wringer type washing machine that had to be filled with water and manually drained. The clothes had to be fed through a two wringers to squeeze out most of the water and then hung out to dry. Lye soap was made and used by most families using old meat fat, cooked for long periods of time in an open pot. Lye was added and stirred continuously. When the soap was the right thickness it was cooled and later cut with a butchers knife and stored on a shelf to use as needed.
Daddy Cripps’ house had a basement-like room called an "afraidy hole" because when they were afraid they went down there. Some farms had cellar areas for the same reason, and of course to store the canned vegetables. Although his grandson, Jerald Cripps has remodeled the house, it has retained many historical features such as the double fireplaces and entrance doors. A large front porch adorns the house welcoming family and friends to sit and rest, as the family did in past years from their day’s efforts. Daddy Cripps and Mama Cripps both lived to be eighty seven years old. Mama Cripps never had to be hospitalized a day in her life, and Daddy Cripps only a little over a week. There were several wonderful doctors, Dr. W.O. Mason and later Dr. D. Darrah, which came to Dismal to care for the sick.
The Dismal Community is a welcoming site to see at the end of each working day. Sitting on the porch, looking out at the land with all the amazing features gives one a true sense of God’s workmanship and wonderful blessings.
A special "thank you" goes out to Mr. Tommy Webb, local historian for his information on the early settlers, Mr. Robert Robinson for sharing interesting facts about the church history over a cup of coffee on my front porch, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Cripps and Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Fuson for allowing me to come into their homes for a wealth of knowledge about living on the creek as they have lived it for the past seventy years.
(Written by Lisa Cripps, as a special article for the Smithville Review, 2010.)
Some of the earliest settlers in this valley were James Yeargin born in Virginia 1799 and wife Edith Griffith born 1802. After marrying, they chose to live in the Henley Hollow area of Dismal on her family’s farm. Edith was the daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth Griffith. Jonathan’s log barn and house still stand in Henley Hollow. Lewis and Reba Fuson bought the farm in 1966 from John Smithson. Mr. Smithson was known to have lived in the area around 1940. The house has been remodeled but the old chimney, put together with mud is standing. The original log barn is enclosed by an addition, but one has only to open the entrance doors to see the perfection of the old log barn still standing.
Several of the Griffith family lay at rest up the hill under a large elm tree just a few yards from the house and barn. Although the stone markers have weathered and fallen, the Griffith name can still be seen. A rock fence lovingly placed there to protect the graves from animals grazing nearby surrounds the graveyard.
James and Edith Griffith Yeargin’s second child was a daughter named Talitha Yeargin. She married in 1849 Isaac (Ike) Cooper, born 1826 and died 1916. They lived in Alexandria until after the Civil War, where he was a wagon and cabinet-maker. After the war, they moved to a farm in the Dismal Community. Isaac donated the land and timber for Cooper’s Chapel Baptist Church in 1880. It was reported by Tom Cripps that church services were well attended many lasting a full day with people standing or sitting outside in the yard, with revivals lasting up to three weeks. He reported one time a neighbor’s dog (BoBo) followed the walkers to church and came right in the church and lay on the floor. This happened on multiple occasions enough so that the pastor commented on the dog being the most faithful member. Cooper’s Chapel is still an active church, as well as Fuller’s United Methodist Church. An earlier church had been started by Elder John Fite born 1758, ordained 1821. He started his ministry in Dismal at a seventeen-member church named Goshen with the help of Elder Bethel. The church dissolved in 1837. Then in 1879 Elder J.C. Brien began preaching in the community; as a result Cooper’s Chapel was built with Pastor Brien being the first pastor.
Other pastors are the following: J.H. Grime, J.R. Hearn, J.H. Vickers, William Simpson, W.E. Raike, A.C. Webb, J.F. McNabb, J.A. McCusky and Stephen Robinson. Elder Stephen Robinson born 1861 united with the Baptist joining Cooper’s Chapel in 1897 and ordained later that same year. Stephen Robinson was the grandfather of Bertha Carter, Lena Rhody, Truitt Robinson, Melodia Mathis, Robert Robinson, Lavelle Turner and Jessie Lee Vanatta and Issac Cooper was their great granddad on their mother’s side.
Elder J.A. McClusky baptized Stephen Robinson, and he later served as pastor of the following churches: Cooper’s 1897, Mt. Pleasant 1897, New Hope 1897, Sycamore 1898, Snow Hill 1900, and Dry Creek 1901. In 1901 he, with several elders and deacons, formed a council on Holmes’ Creek and constituted a church of eighteen members, called Elizabeth Chapel Baptist Church. The Cripps families from Dismal are members of Elizabeth Chapel Baptist Church, Smithville. God has certainly honored the efforts of these early pastors.
During World War II the United States Army held training maneuvers. These maneuvers were made to be realistic, firing blank ammunition and using sacks of flour for bombs. The farmers often found battle tanks set up in their cow pastures or front yards. Tom Cripps told a story of several young boys playing ball with him in a field when a plane set down which sent the boys to scatter. Reba Fuson reported seeing her mother fix meals for the soldiers and helping them in any way they could. It was reported that six soldiers were left over a week to guard a land mine with only rations. The community took care of these soldiers, as they could not leave their post. Many of the local farmers often volunteered to care and cook meals for the troop during these maneuvers. If they needed shelter the barn was generally offered.
Loften Rowland lived in the Dismal Community with his wife Sarah Frances Hale, married 1912. In 1943, one soldier wrote a kind note to the Rowland family. The note reflected the soldier’s sincere thanks for their kindness and friendliness during their time spent training in Dismal. The meals prepared for them and shelter provided by the Rowland’s hayloft reminded of the home they had all left behind to serve their country. The letter writer referred to the Rowlands fondly as Ma and Pa Rowland. Mr. Rowland died in 1966 and is buried in Salem Cemetery, Liberty.
Dismal has always been known as being a productive farming area with several branching hollows. Spring in Dismal means every farmer turns and plants their garden. Tom and Georgie Cripps are known in the valley for producing an impressive garden. The rows of plants are a wonder to see, as well as, the beans stuck perfectly with cane poles from the nearby creek. Jerald Cripps, Tom’s nephew, is following in his family’s footsteps with two garden spots again this year on his farm in Dismal.
The Dismal Community begins as you cross Dismal Bridge. The old one lane concrete bridge was built in 1936, being replaced in 2007 with a wonderful two-lane bridge. Dalton Cubbins and Willie Crook, as well as, the majority of able-bodied men in Dismal helped build the old bridge by manual labor with very little machinery. Dalton and Lottie Cubbins were life long neighbors of the Cripps family and are still missed in the valley. Mr. Dalton was known to be a good farmer and friend to all. Mrs. Lottie was a mild, sweet lady always willing to be neighborly to newcomers and friends.
The Smith Fork Creek has proved to be a wonderful source of food and water for this community, also producing many floods, covering hay fields and washing unwanted debris into the farmer’s fields. One of God’s natural beauties, Smith Fork Creek is still one of our most sought after attractions for recreation and baptismal services.
The history of Dismal is one of working the land. The majority of people that have lived in this area chose their farms close to the creek for easy access to water. Everyone in the family worked together to make sure the farm provided a living and food. As soon as you were old enough to help, chores were assigned, such as, early 4 a.m. cow milking, feeding the animals, or plowing the crops with a team of mules.
People here ate and preserved almost all their food. Hogs were killed, salted down and kept in the smokehouse. When you wanted bacon or ham in the morning you just went out to the old smokehouse and sliced off a slab. Vegetables were canned and kept in the cellar. Potatoes were harvested every summer and spread out in a shed for keeping until the winter months and then they were moved into the cellar for keeping. Life on the farm was hard work for everyone. It took long hours each summer farming the crops, mostly by hand, preserving them, and storing everything for food to get through the winter months.
A peddler would make a weekly visit into the neighborhood with items that could not be raised on the farm. People would pay with cash or exchange eggs or farm goods for items needed from the peddler. Exchanges of three-dozen eggs would get you some much wanted coffee, sugar, or milk. A block of ice for the ice chest would last a week and only cost fifteen cents. Aunt Georgie told me a story of when she and Uncle Tom married, she had made a list out for the peddler of items needed to start house keeping. The peddler, Mr. Jess Malone filled the list, but wouldn’t charge her any money. This was a great wedding gift for them.
Mr. Lindsey Johnson, Ms. Cardine Starnes’ dad, ran a little country store down the road. The store had everything you would need like the following: overalls, barbwire, thread, clothes, and food items. These little country stores would take cash or exchange goods from the farm. Most communities had these little stores, because traveling into the city was considered to be a big trip not taken unless needed.
Tobacco was a crop raised by many of the farmers in this area. The money from the sale would often make the yearly farm payment, as well as, assist the family with funds to get through another winter. Working a tobacco crop was a long process. Tobacco beds were sown, plants pulled, then planted, and worked during spring and summer. During the fall tobacco was cut and hung in the barn for curing. When the tobacco was cured it had to be handed and taken to the sale barns. Handing tobacco was a gummy sticky mess due to the tobacco juices, but it was good family time, as all the family usually worked the crop together.
My sister, Kathy, and I often handed tobacco as little children. We would hold the stalk up, grade each leaf and use the biggest and best one for tying the hand off. Kathy built a fire out of the hay in the barn one year to keep us warm during late fall handing. It took great effort to put out that fire, and we were both shaking in our boots over that mistake. Most lessons learned growing up on the farm was certainly learned the hard way.
Hay was another important crop for this community. The hay had to be cut, raked by hand, harvested onto a wagon, pulled up into the barn by mules and staked in the hay lofts for the farmer to pitch it our with hay forks to the stables below. Hay fields are everywhere around Dismal. Farmers are still producing what the animals’ need for their winter food, just with very expensive machinery instead of a good pair of mules.
The families were close with uncles, aunts, and cousins, children and grandparents all visiting weekly. Neighbors also visited and helped each other out when needed. Tom Cripps told the story of Lilly and Joe Curtis’ house catching on fire and all the neighbors coming to help fight the fire and get the animals out of the barn close by. The house burned down, but the Dismal Community came together to rebuild that family a house. Tom and Georgie Cripps live in that house today.
Our community has wonderful neighbors that wave as they pass by or stop by the gardens for a chat. We still help each other out when seeds are needed, equipment is down, sickness hits, or crops can be shared. Bobby Colvert is seen daily checking on his cattle and farms around this area. Eric and Paula Wineland are building a new house in the Wilson Hollow; we welcome them to the neighborhood. Glen Wilson and family, as well as, the Skylar Ellis family have lived many years in the hollows of Dismal, working and making a living off this land. Country music star Aaron Tippin with his family and musician Larry Nalley and wife Tammy have bought land in Dismal. It is not uncommon on any given day to see Aaron flying his plane, enjoying a sky view of this beautiful valley.
School was something you did when you could, but working on the farm came first. In 1883 Issac and Talitha Cooper donated land for a school. Twenty to thirty students attended Dismal School covering grades 1-8 with one or two teachers. The teachers in earlier times road their mules to school, later some had cars. It was a basic education with a Webster’s speller, McGuffey’s reader, a grammar book and a math book. Many lessons were learned through a chanting process. The pledge and Bible readings started ones day with the highlight being a lengthy recess, playing games like marbles, ant’ny-over, jump rope, whoop and hide, and fox chase to name a few. Lunch, prepared at home, would consist of a biscuit with fried potatoes or a hoecake brought in a little lunch pail. Lunchtime was generally taken during recess.
The bathroom was the thickest secluded wooded area available or a wooden out-house. Male and female areas were some distance away and were respected and kept private. Corporal punishment was with a switch or by standing with ones nose in a ring of chalk drawn by the teacher on the blackboard. No one was ever sent home or expelled for bad behavior. School was a welcome rest from the farm chores. It was reported by Tom Cripps that if you got into trouble at school, then you got in worse trouble at home, therefore there was not a lot of discipline needed at school.
Tom Cripps and Reba Fuson remembered several teachers at Dismal School they were the following: Howard Clayborn, Gladys Simpson, Mac Reynolds, Carine Starnes, Lena Rhody, and Frances Scott. Mr. Tommy Webb remembers Dismal School having a basketball team that attended local tournaments. Mrs. Reba remembered seeing the boys practice basketball to the left of the school’s entrance on a dirt court. Mrs. Reba said her first years at school lasted only seven months, and then as she got older they got up to nine months. Mrs. Lena Rhody, former Dismal teacher reported after the war there was some trouble getting certified teachers, so she taught on a permit. She was teacher, janitor, and morning fire builder. At revival times the teachers would let out school and walk the children to the church to attend daytime revival services. Occasionally, the Henley boys would bring their instruments to school and play them for entertainment.
There are several cemeteries in Dismal, most of which are family plots, like Griffiths and Prates. Dismal Cemetery is the largest cemetery in Dismal. It is the final resting spot for many folks that once lived in this valley. The following names can be found on many of the tombstones: Crooks, Rowlands, Hales, Turners, Neals, Drivers and many more. The tombstone of Thomas (Tommie) Hays, born 1889-1905 reads "shot from Ambush." He had a rival for his sweetheart and even though a trial was held no one was ever convicted of killing Tommie. The last person to be buried to date was Private First Class Billy Anderson, who gave his life during the present war in Afghanistan. This cemetery is a peaceful resting place atop a rolling piece of land to the right of the Alexandria to Dismal road.
The roads around Dismal have changed over the years. The old road followed along side the creek. Farmers back in the 1940’s offered the road supervisor, Lee Cantrell, land for a new road to be built only if it was developed away from the creek due to flooding. The road now is some distance from Smith Fork Creek, but occasionally the creek still floods covering many roads and bridges in this area.
John Colvert built Livie (1887-1974) and Pearl Elledge Cripps’ (1891-1977) house in 1940, as well as, the sawmill and icehouse. The Cripps’ married in August of 1911 and lived in the Dry Creek Community of Dowelltown. Daddy Cripps chose Dismal because it was such a beautiful, peaceful area with good farming land close to the creek. The farm is approximately 190 acres and was bought from John Turner. It is still an active working cattle, garden, and hay farm today owned by Jerald and Lisa Cripps. Mama and Daddy Cripps raised eleven children, while working the farm. Farming methods were so different back then. Imagine life in the 1940’s on Dismal. The family, all working together, using physical labor with limited tools, managed every crop.
The Cripps house had running water only in the kitchen and the one phone they had was on a party line, which allowed the neighbors to pick up on any conversation. The garden was not just a hobby, but also a necessity for the survival of the family. The Cripps women did as most back then, learned to cook from their mothers and grandmothers, with all food being prepared on a wood cook stove or coal if it was afforded. Courting a suitor was done by permission from the father with visitation in the parlor or family sitting room. Mrs. Reba reported when Lewis would come courting, he would ride his mule over from Helton, and they would sit in the family room together with the door open at all times. There was little time to sneak in a kiss. Saturday night entertainment came from a radio broadcast.
Everyone dressed conservatively in hand made cotton dresses or shirts. Most women wore bonnets and the men wore hats. Ironing was a daylong process and was often done on more than one day a week. The women quilted handmade quilts together. Laundry was done on rubbing boards, often using the broomstick handle to fish the clothes out of the boiling tubs. Later, some families used a wringer type washing machine that had to be filled with water and manually drained. The clothes had to be fed through a two wringers to squeeze out most of the water and then hung out to dry. Lye soap was made and used by most families using old meat fat, cooked for long periods of time in an open pot. Lye was added and stirred continuously. When the soap was the right thickness it was cooled and later cut with a butchers knife and stored on a shelf to use as needed.
Daddy Cripps’ house had a basement-like room called an "afraidy hole" because when they were afraid they went down there. Some farms had cellar areas for the same reason, and of course to store the canned vegetables. Although his grandson, Jerald Cripps has remodeled the house, it has retained many historical features such as the double fireplaces and entrance doors. A large front porch adorns the house welcoming family and friends to sit and rest, as the family did in past years from their day’s efforts. Daddy Cripps and Mama Cripps both lived to be eighty seven years old. Mama Cripps never had to be hospitalized a day in her life, and Daddy Cripps only a little over a week. There were several wonderful doctors, Dr. W.O. Mason and later Dr. D. Darrah, which came to Dismal to care for the sick.
The Dismal Community is a welcoming site to see at the end of each working day. Sitting on the porch, looking out at the land with all the amazing features gives one a true sense of God’s workmanship and wonderful blessings.
A special "thank you" goes out to Mr. Tommy Webb, local historian for his information on the early settlers, Mr. Robert Robinson for sharing interesting facts about the church history over a cup of coffee on my front porch, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Cripps and Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Fuson for allowing me to come into their homes for a wealth of knowledge about living on the creek as they have lived it for the past seventy years.
(Written by Lisa Cripps, as a special article for the Smithville Review, 2010.)