WILLIAM HENRY AND VIRGINIA ALICE(YATES)DACUS
Grandpa Dacus was a farmer. He did a lot of horse trading. He liked to hunt and fish. He and a neighbor went to the bottoms to hunt squirrel. They went in Grandpa's buggy. When they came home Grandma had a meal fixed for them. Grandpa asked the neighbor to "turn thanks" at the table. The neighbor looked at him and said, "You turn in".
Our home church at Honey Hill was built by donations and free labor. They hired Mr. Len Nash to paint it (he talked rough & bad language). Grandpa was up there as he finished painting. He said, "the church people built it with free labor & hired the Devil to paint it."
Grandpa was mischievious and Grandma was very modest. We were visitng there one night and sitting around talking. Grandpa was sitting next to her. He laid his leg across her lap and she pushed it off, her eyes flashing.
Our parents, (Ben and Viola Kitts) and Grandpa and Grandma Dacus and us kids had Christmas together. One year Papa and Grandpa got their wives a bed chamber for Christmas. They put some sticks of brown molasses candy in them & put the lids on...looked like they had used them.
Our mother (Elbert and Thelma's) didn't like for us to have fried pies made with butter & sugar, they were so rich. We would spend the night now & then with Grandma. She always saw that we had some butter & sugar pies!!
Once, Grandma was getting lunch ready for a church get-to-gether the next day. She stopped to milk the cow that night and the cow kicked the bucket over. It made her mad so she kicked the old cow and broke her big toe. She missed the big day.
Two of Grandma's boys slipped off and went fishing one Sunday afternoon and came home with a string of fish. They wanted her to cook them. She made them take them back & put them back in the creek. She told them they were not supposed to fish on Sunday.
Grandma was a good homemaker, good cook, and good mother. She taught penmanship in her younger days. They had a very happy home.
Our parents(Elbert and Thelma's) liked to entertain young people in their home. Dad liked to play the piano and sing for us songs like 'Little Brown Jug', 'Old Dan Tucker', 'Froggie went a Courting', 'Younder comes the Goslings', etc. He also did a thing he called, "The Wood Chuck Sermon". It was funny and sounded like an old time Baptist preacher.
They gave a tacky party for us young people. Momma said she would give a cake to the one who was dressed the tackiest. A boy won it. It looked so good with pretty icing. The cake inside was cornbread!!
They planned picnics for us. The place was on a huge tree stump in our back yard with a picnic lunch.
Momma taught Sunday School for the young boys class at Honey Hill. Dad served and was Sunday School Superindenant.
We had a family after and a very happy home.
The grandparents on Dad Kitts' side were deceased before Elbert was born.
These memories were written together by Thelma and Elbert Kitts in May of 1998, as they each recalled them. They are the children of F. B. and Viola (Dacus) Kitts and the grandchildren of William Henry and Virgina Dacus.
