Nick Morris Diary Comments

by
Fred McCAleb

Nick Morris started his diary by telling what he was doing in 1890,
By telling who he had visited, by telling who had visited him, by
By telling who had died and he and William Ervin had made a coffin
For and dug the grave and telling that he went to Glen Allen Post
Office and got mail in evening and what he had fixed and repaired
And made. His best friends were Bird McCaleb and Bill Ervin. His
Place lay by the Morris graveyard and the patch of corn broke and
planted first generally in March was the one by the graveyard. He
went to church at Elm Where Virgil Randolph preached and to Berea
and to New River occasionally. Preacher Jim Wade preached at
Berea and Woods also. Holbrook at New river. He could build a
House, a barn, a hog pin, a chicken house, make additions to own
House, file a saw, adjust a grist mill rock, plow corn and cotton beds,
Haul manure, straw, and guano fertilizer from Glen Allen, work in
Lee and later Baccus stores, ride the roads and collect debts to them
And sometimes for doctors. In garden he planted greens, sweet
Potatoes, Irish potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers and many of the vegs
One could think of. He never seemed to lose much time unless it
Was pouring down rain. He made a note of the weather when it just
Came a shower or downpour. A downpour came once and washed
Away the Crow Bridge which he and Bill Ervin had built and that
Was payed for by county after approval by B. D. Kirkland who lived
Next door to us in West Fayette County. Nick Morris and Bill Ervin
Experimented with a telegraph machine. Nick built a water type of
Battery for power with a crank on it for charging I suppose. I never
Was sure where they got it working. But Nick said later on that he
Got a telegram but didn’t say who from. Nick farmed in several
Fields in bottom land. Birds bottom, McCulloughs, McCaleb bottom,
Etc. Some of these fields must have been 2 or 3 miles away. He
Always broke and listed land in rows like the old farmers did when I
Was young. Made wooden plow stocks, sharpened plows and sweeps
Later made a scrape to scrape rows of cotton and corn and sugar
Cane. He reported what cow fetched (had) calf and what her name
Was. He went to several log Rollins in the 1890s. Bird McCaleb had
Several. Nick and others had a few. I guess Bird kept his boys busy
Working. Bird went for mail often with Nick. Nick was a tax assess
Or or collector. He went to veterans of Civil War meetings in
Winfield and one or two farther away. He was on Jury duty for about
3 weeks once in Birmingham. He was called to some kind of duty
in Montgomery and got back to Birmingham same day on train which
was fastest transportation in those days. Nick often said he had the
headache after hard day. Had tooth ache and sometimes it got so bad
he had to have tooth pulled. Dentist broke one tooth trying to pull it
had to dope him with morphine and he was sick 3 or 4 days. They
never cleaned teeth back then but pulled when hurting He got a letter
from his Ma every week or two when he went to P.O. and until she
died about 1900. She rode train from North Al. about once a year to
see him. His wife died a year or two later. He only spent 1 or 2 days
making coffin, digging grave and burying and went right back to
work. Was at Sparks working on house. Mrs Sparks dies about 4th
day. Nick made coffin and buried her next day. Came back to work
on house next day evening. Many young children died in the 1890s.
Death didn’t seem to grieve and bother people as it does today. Nick
Didn’t seem to let it bother him. He was right back to work. He went
To Ervins at first and then to Atkins to get a hair cut. Bill Ervins shop
Was only about 1 mile
or less from my grandpa Jim McCaleb. It was only
About 1 ½ miles from Morris cemetery. Apparently Nick never
Mentioned grandpa. Bird McCaleb was only about 2 miles straight
Through. McCaleb bottom may have been at Tim McCaleb. Tim
Made many tomb stones for people back then. He was in old house
East of Berea church. Bird was grandpa’s well to do brother. The
Kind of houses they were building back then were log houses. After
Getting logs ready they would invite all neighbors in for a house
Raising. Nick and neighbors went to a few of them. By 1905 they
Were beginning to have weatherboarding of outside walls. Log
houses were warmer than weather boarded. The type of houses
generally bult consisted of two big log houses with hall in between
and porch or (piazza) in front and kitchen back of front room and
porch or little room behind 2nd room and if big house upstairs with
rooms for spinning and making clothes. Grandpa McCalebs had one
little window between 2 logs in which a pillow was stuffed when
cold. Kept shoe in which he had been lightning struck in Texas in
between 2 logs on front porch. It cost $200_300 to build a house
back then. Plus lots of work. There was a cellar for storing potatoes
underneath the house. A barrel filled with oak ashes for making lye
soap under drip of house. Nicks women folks washed the clothes
once a week in washpots outside heated with wood. Had two tubs,
one with hot water and one with cold for rinsing. Women stayed
busy most of time cooking, washing, hoeing in fields in summer and
telling what needed fixing. Went to Berea or Elm to church on most
of pretty Sundays. They also milked the cows. A busy lifestyle was
required all around. Nick could make wagon wheels, wagon beds,
coupling poles, spring seats and almost anything that broke he could
fix it. He bolted broken plow beams back together. He was a jack of
all trades at least until he was about 54 years old in 1905. He was be-
ginning to have more sickness and more teeth pulled by then. He
grew a tobacco patch each year. Didn’t say that he smoked or chewed
That may have effected his health. Dock Hollingsworth and wife
Jenny came to see Nick very often. Jenny was Nicks’ girl. They
Seemed to be very loyal to him at this time. He had another son and
Wife that also came often. He had visitors at least once or twice a
Week. He stayed with many other people when away from home. His
House seemed to be welcome to whoever came. Maybe that is what
Made him so famous and liked. Occasionally he walked to Fayette
And back. He went to all county elections. He and another person
Went to a train wreck near Glen Allen. He split rails for making
Pastures for livestock, split posts, sawed and split wood and stove
Wood, cut and rived boards to cover houses, hauled manure to
garden, and to fields and was most always hauling loads of fire
wood in fall and winter. He must have stayed warm in house. He
also sharpened axes and saws to cut the wood with the cross cut saw.
It took 2 men to pull the cross cut saw. Pulled easy if sharpened and
Teeth set correctly. Unset it pinched and pulled hard. I guess I have
Reported most every thing he did except the names of the ones that
Died and he and Ervin made coffins for. The cost of a coffin back
Then was about $20. Now it is $5000 or better. What a change. Nick
Said one graveyard was the McCaleb graveyard. That must have been
The Whitehead cemetery which is on a high hill on Whitehead property
About ¾ mile from Berea church. That is where Alexander McDonald
And wife and Hugh White McCaleb are buried with no markers on the
Grave. Also Alford and William and Tims girls and Johnsons and
McCaleb wifes are buried. Also a few Whirwheads there. Its on a hill
Nearer to heaven than anything around Berea and not accessible to
Modern transportation. Walk up a high wooded hill. Several young
McCalebs that died during Nicks time. Shannon McCaleb was mentioned
By Nick. Sorry my name recollection is about zero at this time. Its nice
To get old but hard on memory. Morris genealogy back to Nick
Hackworth and back to older Morris on that side are on pages 165 to 179 and with
many pople that died in the north of Hubbardville Fayette Co Al section in last
part of the 1890s till 1912. This should be interesting to Geraldine Moore and
Patsy Box Johnson. There were one or two McCalebs that married into the Morris
family. And Hugh’s boy John McCaleb married one of the Hackworth girls. This
is a very interesting book and I can see why Geraldine wanted it so bad. I am
glad she was able to get a copy from me before I conked out. Seemed like that
was a hard time to live.

Necrology (Deaths)

1891 June 14 Alfred C. McCaleb Great grandpa Fred McCaleb
1894 Feb 25 Frank McDonalds baby
April 24 Jerry Randolph
May 24 Mrs. Jane F. McCaleb
1895 April 20 Jenny Box
May 27 Shannon McCaleb in Whitehead cemetery
Oct 30 E. J. Tucker’s child burned to death
1896 June 22 Jim Smothers
Mar 11 Blys’s son died
Apr 30 George Smothers Killed by train
May 4 W. C. McCollum
May 18 Sim Tuckers son Wiley
June 1 Perry Whitehead child
Aug 18 Jane Whitehead
Sept 4 Sherman McCaleb
Sept 13 D.A. Williams
Sept 17 Jane Box
Dec 13 Mrs. Wade (preacher Jim Wade mother
1897 Jan 25 Mrs. Carsey
Feb 7 Virgil McDonald (Susan’s son)
Feb 18 Talitha Wood
Feb 26 McClenahans baby Burned
Mar 9 W. N. Guess
May 18 Tom Roberts child
June 13 Mrs Neville
June 15 James Gamble
Aug 13 Mrs Sparks
Aug 22 Mrs Lottie Hollingsworth
Sept 21 Dock Beasley
Sep 26 Sam Tucker
1898 Feb 5 Billy Moore’s baby
Feb 14 Caroline McCaleb
Mar 19 Alex Tidwell’s baby This one cousin of my mother
Apr 8 Bird McCaleb’s baby
Apr 14 Levi Marshall
Apr 26 Tilda Mills
July 18 Bud Lees wife Nora
July 24 Mrs Sam Clark
July 31 Mrs Tierce
Aug 1 Old Mrs Dodson
Aug 29 Jane McCaleb Alfred’s widow
Oct 13 Mary Ervine
1899 Apr 27 Columbus Johnson’s wife
May 6 John D Crow
May 20 Jimmy Mills
July 2 Andy McCaleb Great gp of Fred McCaleb
July 30 William Watson
Oct 18 Pollie Anthony
Oct 28 Fee Lees baby
Nov 14 Bud Tuckers baby
1900 Apr 25 Mrs Nan Tucker
Apr 26 Miss Alice Mills
June 15 Jacob McCaleb Jr
Sept 21 Mrs Sallie A. Morris
Dec 15 Jimmy Akins
1901 Mar 30 Bill Hollingsworth baby
June 11 Gov. Samford
Feb 25 Akins baby
June 27 Rosyons baby
July 16 Mrs Susan E.Morris
June 19 Jesse P Hutton In texas
Aug 9 Jimmy Dodson
Aug 19 Mrs Huey McCaleb Wife of gp McCaleb’s bro
Aug 21 Mrs J.W.R. Jones
Aug 15 Thomas Gilmore in Miss
Aug 22 Bob Logans baby Some kin to us
Aug 30 Bird McDonald some kin
Sep 14 Pres Willam McKinley
Apr 5 Bet Howard
Sep 22 Bud Hollingsworth baby
1901 Oct 19 Mrs Elijah Herren
Oct 3 Mrs Mary McCaleb died Comanche Tex
Nov 2 James McCaleb Sr one of first Hugh’s boys
Oct 29 Emma Tucker
Oct 29 Andy Eads daughter
Nov 11 Philo Herren
Nov 16 William Stewart
Nov 20 T. H. Reed
Nov 19 Hen Tucker’s boy
Oct 1 Mr. Welch
Dec 5 Dorcus McArthur
1902 Mar 19 Jno W. Musgrove
Jan 16 Mrs Stanford at Hitens place
Feb 3 Houston Baccus Died
Feb 18 Jesse Clark
Mar 20 Old Granny Oden Glen Allen
Apr 2 Green Harper
Apr 3 Editor Wilson
Apr 9 Wm A. Musgrove
Apr 11 Gen. Wade Hampton S.C.
Apr 12 Rev T DeWitt Talmadge
June 14 Charlie Romine
June 23 Miss John McWhirter
Oct 15 Mrs Josie Lewis Glen Allen
Nov 9 Miss Dena Akins
Oct 20 Mamie Speegle died home nr Falkville
Dec 24 Walter L. Phillips
1903 Mar 22 R.B. Logal Glen Allen
Mar 9 Mrs Jenny Phillips Wife W. L. Phillips
Apr 26 Mrs Josie Caddel At home
May 27 Major F. M. Caine Fayette
June 9 Charlie Beauchamp at home on little river
June 9 Nancy McCaleb at A.J. Mccalebs
June 12 Mrs Sexton At W.S. Clarks
June 17 Henry Hollingsworth’s child at home
June 18 Capt B.M. Long at Cardova
July 20 Pope Leon 13 at Rome Italy
July 22 Cassius M. Clay in Ky
Aug 24 Major Charles H. Smith (Bill Arp) Centersville Ga
Oct 22 Philetus Whitehead Killed by train Miss
Necrology (Deaths Continued)

1904 Jan 31 Ditch Johnson Married to g. McCaleb sister
May 12 Mrs Mandy Alridge
May 16 Phills Baby in Miss
Aug 18 W. P. Anthony
Nov 14 J. B. Smith
Nov J. S. Wood in Texas
Nov 24 Jas L. Lee In Glen Allen
Aug 17 Miles McCaleb
1905 Jan 24 Earl Jones at home
Mar 19 Mrs Nellie Mills at home of J.C. Akins
Apr 29 W.T. Mills at W.S. Clarks
June 19 Elisha Vickery at Winfield
June 17 Gen Maximo Gomez in Havana Cuba
July 1 Sec Of State John Hay
July 9 Little girl of W.J. Whitehead
Sep 1 Phill’s baby at Basha McCalebs
Sep 13 Mrs Sara Anthony
Oct 2 Grant Whiteheads baby died
May 21 Firn Whitehead
1906 Jan 16 Mrs Newman McCollum GGG grandma Fred
Jan 24 Mrs Margaret Morton
Jan 25 Gen Joseph Wheeler of Brooklyn N.Y
Mar 1 Walter Randolph
Mar 26 Willie Haney of Dora
Apr 28 Mrs Mary Hiten at home
Apr 28 Mrs Eppe Calahan at Carbon Hill
May 21 Mrs Jerusa Morris at her mothers
Oct 17 Mrs Jefferson Davis New York
Oct 15 Rev Sam Jones near Little Rock Ark.
Dec 7 Miss Sallie Hiten
1907 Sep 2 Aquilla Whitehead at her father Andrew McCaleb
Dec 11 Betty Crow at Home
Feb 7 John McDonalds baby
Mar 21 Columbus Johnson
June 11 Senator John T. Morgan Died Wash. D.C.
May 29 Mrs Ida McKinley died Canton China
July 27 Senator Edmond W. Pettus Hot Springs N.C.
1908 Feb 1 Mrs Wiley Perry
Necrology continued

1908 Mar 28 or 29 Mrs Trull of Winfield
Mar 30 Mrs Eliza Perry
Apr 4 Judge T.E. Goodman
May 9 Hassie Whitehead
May 4 Donnie McDonalds baby
May 10 Wheeler and Aquilla Whiteheads baby
May 28 Gen Stephen D. Lee of Vicksburg
June 17 Congressman A.A. Wiley of Hot Springs Va.
June 24 Grover Cleveland ex president
June 24 Miss Myrtie Lee Glen Allen
Aug 14 Susan McDonalds baby
1909 Feb 23 Boss Whitehead killed on Railroad
Mar 4 or 5 Ida Roby
Aug 12 Mrs Malissa McCollough
Dec 24 G. W. Box
Dec 25 Lorena Wakefield
1910 Jan 2 Jim Hiten
Jan 8 Mrs Eliza Hogan at Kansas
Jan 27 Mrs Brasher at John Davis
Feb 3 Mrs Emma Berrys baby
July 12 Alvy. J. Smith
Aug 31 J.T. Whiteheads baby
Nov 5 Jno T Hollingsworth girl killed by gin shafting
Dec 6 William F. McCaleb 10 pm
Dec 18 J. F. McDonald 7 am
Dec 20 Elma Morris 5 am
Dec 24 Jas. E. Mills 5 pm
1911 Aug 23 W. C. Nichols baby
Aug 25 W.H. McCollough
Dec 26 Patsy Whitehead
1912 June 29 L. F. Mills
Aug 10 Mrs Caroline McDonald 11 pm
Aug 19 Hughey Whitehead
Aug 20 Mrs Gilliland

Typed by Fred McCaleb This is all the deaths of other people he carried in this
Diary
He was 69 years old here and losing some zip.