My Father Loved Orlando

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by David Parmer with Ed Riffle

A Visit to Road Run

“Early on Saturday morning, my father would load up the old Ford, and with my father, Jack Riffle and my mother, Bernice (Knapp) Riffle, in the front seat and my sister Donnie and me in the rear seat, off we would go south on U. S. 19 from Clarksburg for an exciting visit to Orlando.”

“My father’s sister, Josie Beckner, or "Jose", as my father called her, lived with her husband, Bill Beckner, in a farm house near the mouth of Road Run. They were always welcoming and friendly, and Aunt Jose made biscuits every day.” Hot biscuits with country butter and jelly always finds a warm reception from a young boy, and Ed was no exception.

Ed Riffle was born in 1937 in Clarksburg. His father, Jackson Riffle, was employed at the Hazel Atlas Glass Plant. After a week of enduring hot furnaces full of molten glass and the clang of machinery making the pressed Depression glassware for which Hazel Atlas was famous, a time for leisure and quiet on Oil Creek rejuvenated the soul and settled the nerves. A visit to Uncle Bill’s and Aunt Jose’s was just the therapeutic dose of tonic needed by glass worker Jack. It also provided an opportunity for son Ed and Beckner cousin, Louie Mae, to scout for darting minnows and menacing crawdads in Oil Creek and roam the hills of the Oil Creek valley. Childhood memories are not forgotten, even with the passage of over a half century. Ed Riffle remembers well the visits by his family to the home of Bill and Josie Beckner.

Examples of Hazel-Atlas Depression Glass. Hazel-Atlas also made Atlas canning jars and a wide variety of every-day ware that is highly collectible today.

Goosepen Hill

The first bit of excitement on a visit to the Beckner home on Oil Creek was the thrill of traveling up and over Ryan’s Hill on Goosepen. The days of modern brakes were still well into the future and war-time shortages of auto parts made the Goosepen Hill into quite an adventure in an aging Ford. To get to the bottom of the hill and the gentler terrain of Three Lick always seemed quite an accomplishment and was the signal that the Beckner home was not far away. And there might also be a visit with Aunt Della Wymer’s family on Three Lick and with cousins Sonny and Sue. To Eddie Riffle, these visits during his youth were memorable.

Left: a view from Goosepen Road, photographed by Debbie Malek. Goosepen Road crosses the divide between the Oil Creek section of the Little Kanawha watershed on the south and east and the West Fork River watershed on the north.

The Beckner Home on Road Run

At the mouth of Road Run on Oil Creek, on the south bank and at the base of a large hill, sets the original home of John Fountain Posey. John Fountain, the son of Alfred F. Posey and Christina Murphy Posey, died in 1934, and the home fell into heirship and was rented out. Bill and Josie Beckner were the tenants for several years. Ed Riffle recalls his many visits to the Road Run home of his uncle and aunt. “When we visited, my father had to drive through Oil Creek to get to the house. When it was flooding, we had to park and walk across the railroad bridge.”
“There was no electricity or natural gas in Uncle Bill and Aunt Josie’s home. There was a fireplace in one room and a wood-burning stove in the kitchen. In the evening after the sun went down, everyone sat around an oil lamp in the dining/sitting room and talked until it was time for bed. When bed-time came, I went upstairs which was very dark to go to bed. One morning, Aunt Josie surprised me by frying a duck egg to go with hot biscuits for my breakfast.” Since there was no running water in the home, Ed recalls that drinking water was cranked from an open well in the back yard. “Aunt Josie was a good cook and before every meal, Uncle Bill returned thanks.”

Upper left: John Fountain Posey, the first owner of the Beckner home on Clover Fork at Road Run, is on the left and Josie's grandfather Stewart L. is on the Right in this detail from a photo of the funeral of Beham Henline in 1912.
Left: Louie Mae Beckner, in Oil Creek.
Right: The Beckners: Rosemary, Marvin, Bill, Ruby and Josephine holding child. Lambert and Louie May are in front of Ruby.

Bill and Josie Beckner lived in the Posey house at the mouth of Road Run until around the end of World War II when they moved to a house on Flint Bluff in Orlando. After Bill and Josie moved out of the Road Run home, Josie’s father, Charles Riffle, moved into this house and lived there a while before finally moving to the Three Lick farm owned by his son, Brownie Riffle, where he died in 1949.

Decoration Day

When they lived in Clarksburg Ed's family trekked to Orlando every Decoration Day. (We call it Memorial Day now.) In the mid-1900’s, the roads from Ohio, Michigan, Maryland and many other states were full of vehicles headed to West Virginia cemeteries during the latter days of May. “We always went to the cemetery at Orlando and the Posey Run cemetery. Aunt Jose had made the small red artificial flowers with green stems to be used for decorating the graves of family and friends. The flowers that she made looked just like the flowers in the story on the Orlando web page.” The Decoration Day journey to Orlando was like an 11th Commandment to family-reverent West Virginia-born factory workers from Akron, Canton, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and further.

The Bill Beckner Home on Flint Knob

The Bill Beckner home on Flint Knob was a big change from the home on Road Run. Not quite urban, living in Orlando was quite a bit different from the Road Run farm since it had electricity. However, that the Beckners were still in the country was evidenced by an outhouse and lack of running water. The home of the late Ollie Blake, this large two story house had front and back inside staircases with nice banisters, large rooms and high ceilings, according to Millie McNemar. She was a playmate of the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bill Byrne, both of whom taught school in the Orlando area, and were previous tenants of the house. Millie recalls the beautiful views that were available from the porch.

Right: Flint Knob and downtown Orlando from the Orlando Cemetery. Click to enlarge the photo and note the arrow is pointing to the Beckner household. Upwards, to the left is the Orlando School and further upwards to the left is the U.B. Church.

Ed Riffle continued to enjoy and look forward to his visits with Uncle Bill and Aunt Josie who now had a panoramic view of the town of Orlando. Ed’s last visit to the Flint Bluff home was in 1972, just prior to the deaths of Bill and Josie. Not long after his visit, he was at a church camp in Ohio when he received word of his Uncle Bill’s death and drove from Ohio and back on the same day for the funeral in the brick church. (When the Methodist Church and the United Brethren denomination merged into the United Methodist Church, Orlando's two congregations were merged into one congregation, and that congregation took over the vacant brick building that had housed St. Michael's Roman Catholic congregtion.)

Time to Reflect

Now at home and retired in Glasgow, Kentucky, Ed Riffle enjoys the memories of his visits to Orlando. His parents, Jack and Bernice Knapp Riffle, now are deceased, as are his Uncle Bill and Aunt Josie. It has been over thirty five years since his last visit to Orlando but the happy memories are still with him. Recently, Ed was elated to learn from his sister in Texas that Orlando reminiscences could be accessed through the web pages of Orlando Stone Soup. His sister happened to be a fellow church-goer with a friend whose husband, Bob Pumphrey, grew up on Goosepen and is an avid reader of the Orlando stories. It is indeed a small world.

Charles Lee Riffle, 1872-1949, Laid to Rest

by David Parmer and Ed Riffle

His grandson, Edgar Riffle, remembers the horse and wagon slowly ascending the steep hill to the Posey Cemetery. Despite the frozen and uneven terrain, the casket of Charles Riffle bounced but little on the way to his final resting space. The funeral service at the Orlando U. B. Church had been solemn and respectful and the small church was full of family and friends. On a cold day in February, 1949, Charles Riffle was laid to rest and joined his late wife, Donie Zeler (Blake) Riffle, who had died twelve years before.

Left: Donie Zella (Blake) Riffle and Charles Lee Riffle
Right: Young Eddy Riffle, about the time his grandfather died.

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A Wedding on Clover Fork

Donie (b. 1870) and Charles (b. 1872) were born and raised in the Oil Creek watershed. Donie was twenty and Charles was twenty-one in early September, 1891. That is when they were married by the Methodist Protestant preacher, the Rev. W. A. Law, at the home of Elizabeth (Sands) Blake Donaldson and her new husband James Donaldson. In the Protestant tradition of the time, folks generally married at home or in the minister's study. Sometimes it was the the home of the bride's parents, sometimes another's home. While we can't know exactly why Charles and Donie were married at the home of Elizabeth and James Donaldson, we do know that Elizabeth was a first cousin of Donie's mom and Charles Lee was a first cousin of Elizabeth's first husband, Thomas Blake. (Joseph Thomas "Thomas" Blake had died of typhoid fever seven years earlier. His widow, Elizabeth, and James Donaldson had been married about two years at the time of the wedding.)

Right: Charles and Donie's wedding certificate. Note that Doni is incorrectly named "Dianah" The facts about their wedding were taken from this form. Click on the certificate to enlarge it. .

Their Immigrant Ancestors

Charles Lee Riffle and Donie Z. Blake were descendants of the Riffles, Blakes, Ocheltrees and Williamses, who, with the Skinner/Poseys, were Oil Creek's earliest pioneers.

~~Doni's mother's family, the Ocheltrees, Williams and McCoys, were part of a Scots-Irish settlement in Greenbrier County.

~~Charles' father's family, the Riffles, were German immigrants. According to genealogist Don Norman, "Jacob Riffle was born in Germany about 1725 and died in Lewis County VA in 1816. He arrived at the port of Philadelphia, PA aboard the ship "Phoenix", John Mason commanding, August 28, 1750. Settlement of Jacob 's estate was recorded November 2, 1816 in Lewis County VA Will Book #1, p ages 2-4. He married Dorothy ------ in Harrison County VA about 1768. Dorothy was born about 1745 and died in Braxton County in 1817.

The History of Randolph County by Hu Maxwell written in 1898 says "Jacob Riffle was one of the first settlers in Randolph County. There is evidence that he was in the [Tygart] valley in 1772, and that he subsequently owned or had claim upon 300 acres of land on the creek named from him. . . The tradition is that he deserted from the Virginia Army during the French and Indian War and in his efforts to hide, he found his way into Tygart's Valley soon after the Pringles, also deserters, had made their camp in a hollow sycamore on the Buckhannon. He is said to have owned two slaves. His son's name was Jacob and he, probably accompanied by his father, moved to Braxton County at an early date." They settled in the Oil Creek/Salt Lick area of the LIttle Kanawha River.

~~ In addition to these two lines, Doni and Charles both descended also from an English mariner, Jasper Blake, through his great grandson Theophilus Blake, who set to pioneer farming with the Scots-Irish in Greenbrier County.

Charles's parents were Stewart/Steward Lewis Riffle and Abigail (Blake) Riffle, Charles’ father was known throughout Orlando as “Stewart L” and his mother was called "Abby."

Their Grandfathers & Great-Grandfathers

Charles' grandfather, that is, Abby's father John William Blake, died in the Civil War, in service to the Confederate States of America, according to Lee W Blake's monograph, "The Riffles and Blakes Back 7 Generations.

Charles' other grandfather, Stewart L.'s father, Jacob Isaac Riffle, left a very different legacy. Jacob had many children (perhaps as many as twenty) by two wives, Francena Blake and Matilda Riffle and allegedly many more “woods colts.” The descendants of Jacob are omnipresent throughout central West Virginia and all are, no doubt, keenly aware of the many stories about the “sire of the shire.

Above right: Stewart L. Riffle on the right with John Fountain Posey.
Left: John Jackson and Eliza (Ocheltree) Blake.

Doni's parents were John Jackson and Eliza (Ocheltree) Blake. Doni's great-great grandfather Alexander Ocheltree was was among the Protestant Scotsmen who were moved from Scotland to Northern Ireland because of their religious beliefs, and then came to America. Andrew settled in the Greenbrier area and married Elizabeth McCoy, another Scots-Irish immigrant. In 1778 Alexander was killed in the Indian battle at Donnely's Fort.

Their Children

Charles and Donie Zeler Riffle were the parents of seven children:
.. . Josie married Bill Beckner. Bill worked the tracks between Orlando and Burnsville, with Josie's cousin Patrick Newton "Newt" Blake (aka: Uncle Zeke).
. .. Della married Marion Wymer and they farmed on Three Lick.
. .. Vay Rene never married.
. . Homer Ellis married an Orlando girl, Pearl Barb.
. .. Dana Herbert married Wade Mick's daughter Nellie.
. .. Clarence “Brownie,” worked for the rail road and married Treecy Riffle from Boone County.
.. . Jackson Gilbert "Jack" worked at the Hazel-Atlas glass factory in Clarksburg. there he met his bride, Bernice Knapp from Doddridge County. The materials and photos in this entry belong to their son Ed.

Left: Doni with sons Brownie, Jack and Dana.
Above, right: Charles with Josie, Brownie, Dana, Ellis, Della, Jackson and Vay. Roy Brown has said this photo was taken at the mouth of grass run, facing up the holler. They are in side yard behind the log house that is now torn down. It was his 75 th.birthday, Nov. 1, 1948. He died Feb 5, 1949, 3 mo. later.

Charles' Life

Like most of his contemporaries, Charles was a farmer for most of his life. He never became wealthy from his agrarian pursuits, but provided food, clothing and shelter for his children. Except for a few years at McWhorter, Charles lived most of his life on farms in and around Orlando.

From his grandson Ed Riffle we know that, like most folks in the area, Charles Lee loved country music. Ed reports that his grandfather loved listening to country music from WJJD in Chicago and WCKY in Cincinnati, Ohio on an old battery-operated radio. Maybe it isn't surprising that Charles’ son, Clarence "Brownie," was known as an outstanding music-maker in the Orlando area and since Charles was descended from the musical line of John Burton "Johnnie B" Blake on both his father's and mother's sides.

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Right: daughter Josie (Riffle) Beckner is fixing her hair in front. Behind is the Posey Cemetery, where Charles and Donie were laid to rest.

Looking Backward

It has been sixty years since the horse and wagon climbed the hill to the Posey Run Cemetery to lay Charles Lee Riffle to rest beside his bride, Donie. Family who knew him in life are now old themselves. Memories have faded but the photographs of Charles and Donie return to their descendants a precious look at the life and times of their grandparents who loved the land of their births.

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Note 1: Donie Blake: What’s in a Name?

What did John Jackson Blake and Eliza (Ocheltree) Blake, name their daughter? Ed Riffle recalls that his aunt Josie Beckner said her mother’s name was Donnie Zellar. Grandson Clarence Riffle, Jr. stated in a newspaper article dated 1995 that her name was Donna Zellar. Her birth record has "Donzillia". The 1870 census has "Donzeller". Her marriage record has "Dianah". The newspaper account of her death in the Weston Independent said her name was “Donie Zeller.” In the obituary of Charles in the Weston Independent, her name was spelled “Donniee Zella.” Her tombstone in the Posey Cemetery simplifies it somewhat and reads “Donie Z. Riffle.” The official death certificate indicates that her middle name was “Zeler.” Charles was the informant for the spelling on her death certificate and perhaps his knowledge carries more weight than the other sources. Likewise, there is confusion about her date of birth and the date of her marriage. but if the tangled confusion could not be resolved during her lifetime by her family there is little hope for this writer to straighten it out.

The Soul in Humble Subjugation

by David Parmer

Elizabeth (Johns) Church, mother of Orlando's Ingabo (Church) Parmer, wrote the lines to the right in 1852, when she lived near Staunton in Pendleton County, Virginia. Elizabeth was 46 years old at the time and the mother of eight children. Her husband was 80(!) and our Ingabo, one of eight children, was eight years old.

Right: photostat of the Elizabeth's poem. Click on it to enlarge. A transcription is below.

Left: Map of the state Eliabeth lived in in 1852, showing (light green) Pendleton County where Elizabeth was raised and (pink) Wetzel County where her husband, William Church, was raised. Some time after the Civil War they moved to Lewis County (orange) The (yellow) heart is located over the Oil Creek watershed where their daughter Ingabo (Church) and David Parmer settled. Click on the map to enlarge it.

Elizabeth (Johns) Church lived her early life in the valleys of Pendleton and Highland Counties where many ancestors of Orlando folks lived before they moved westward to the Oil Creek Valley. She knew the simple life of agrarian pursuits and the strength and majesty of her God. Many years after her death, found among her papers, was a poem she had written, a testament to her faith and her love of the land of her birth. Elizabeth Johns was born about 1806. Her father William Johns died around the time she was born. He was a veteran of the Revolutionary War, having been drafted to serve, and was present at the siege of Yorktown. We don't know much about Elizabeth's mother, Sarah (Wood) Johns.

In 1828, at the age of 22, Elizabeth married William Clark Church who was 56 years of age. Elizabeth and her husband William lived on the Staunton Trail and during the Civil War there was "much shooting and fighting going on all around them", according to Elizabeth's 2great grandson Ed Wilson, who had heard the stories from his great-grandmother Ingabo (Church) Parmer.

Left: Elizabeth's daughter who settled in Confluence/Orlando, Ingabo (Church) Parmer
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The poem reveals a woman who finds reflection and fulfillment of her faith in in God in the hills and valleys of her Appalachian home.

Transcription of

Poem by Elizabeth Johns Church **

October 9, 1852

. . . . . The Soul in Humble Subjugation
‘Tis low down in that beautiful valley
Where love crowns the meek and the lonely
Where no storms of envy or folly
Can ‘ere roll their billows again.

The meek come in humble subjection
Can there find unshaken protection
The soft gales of cheering reflection
The mind soothed from sorrow and pain

This low vale is free from contention
no soul can dream of decension
Where no wild or eveal intention

Can find out this region of pease

‘Tis there there the Lord will deliver
And souls drink of that beautiful river
Where pease flows for ever and ever

And love and joy for ever increase

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There there where stormes have been driven

Shall move there bark in that beautiful haven

And there bask in the sun shine of heaven

And triumph in immanuels name

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Tis their their yonders bright glory

We’ll shout and sing and tell the glad story

And when we’v passed cold Jordan over quite

We’ll sing hallelujah to God and the Lamb

** This poem is tendered as it was written, without correction. -D. Parmer

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NOTE 1 by Donna Gloff:

Elizabeth (Johns) Church and her husband William Church lived in Lewis County in their later years. Through daughter Ingabo they were grandparents to six (at that time) Confluence children: George, David, Nathan, Dora, Rosa and Susie Parmer, and through them, great grandparents of many, many Orlando children.

The children of Ingabo Jamima (Church) Parmer 1842-1935 + David Parmer Abt 1812-?

1 George W. Parmer 1861-?

2 David William Parmer 1864-1936

. . . m. Barbara Zickefoose

3 Nathan Parmer 1871-1964

. . . m. Olive T. Skinner 1873-1941

4. Dora Jane Parmer 1883-?

. . . m. Matthias Veston Skinner 1875-1946

. . . m. James Skinner 1876-?

5. Rosa Parmer

. . . m. Mr. Church

6. Susie Parmer

. . . m. Mr. Lang

Left: Three of Elizabeth's granddaughters (Ingabo's daughters) who were raised on OIl Creek: Dora (Parmer) Skinner, Rosa (Parmer) Church, Susie (Parmer) Lang.

Right: Elizabeth's grandson (Ingabo's son) Nathan Parmer

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NOTE 2 by Donna Gloff:

William Clark Church, Elizabeth's husband and our Ingabo's father, had an interesting heritage. He was the son of an English Soldier and a Quaker girl. Following are two tellings of their story.

1. A transcription done in 1974 at the Fort Wayne, IN Library, transcriber unknown.

from the book History of Wetzel County West Virginia by J.C. McEldowney Jr.

Henry Church, better known as "Old Hundred" was born in Suffolk County, England in 1750. He came to this country a British soldier of the 63rd Light Infantry and served under Lord Cornwallis in the memorable campaign of 1791. He was captured by the troops under Lafayette and sent a prisoner to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He remained there until peace was declared in that place. He fell in love with a Quaker maiden, Miss Hannah Keine. She was born in the year of 1755. Henry Church lived to be 109 and h is wife 107. When the first excursion train ran over the B&O Railroad in 1852, it made a stop at the home of "Old Hundred" and among its passengers was an attache to the British Legation at Washington City, who was introduced to the old man as one of his countrymen, who sounded one of the martial airs of England. "Old Hundred" stood up as though his blood had been warmed with wine, and said, "I know it, I know it." He was loyal to his King for more than 100 years, about which time he took allegiance to the United States. The home of "Old Hundred" stood near Main Street at Hundred, and was constructed from logs. They had eight children, the youngest dying at 68, on which "Old Hundred" made the remark that they never did expect to raise her; that she had never been a healthy child.

2. by Ruth Hixenbaugh Jones, Great-great-great grandaughter of Henry and Hannah Church.
History of Wetzel County, West Virginia 1983:

HUNDRED

The people of this little town in Wetzel County located on U.S. 250 in t he West Virginia hills have the deepest respect for longevity. Our town w as named after a couple of pioneer centenarians who settled here before 1800. Henry Church (known as "Old Hundred") was born in Suffolk England on November 30, 1750 and died September 14, 1860, being 109 Years 9 months and 14 days old at the time of his death. His wife, Hannah Keine, was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1755 and died July 27, 1860 at the age of 106 years. They lived in blissful wedlock for 82 years.

Henry Church came to America as a soldier. After the Revolutionary War, he married a Quaker lady, Hannah Keine of Philadelphia, Pennsylvani a. To this union were born eight children. The family cleared the land and built a log cabin where the Bank of Hundred was built in 1906. This was the most prominent corner then and still is today. Henry and his wife gave the plot of ground known as the Hundred Cemetery to the community as a gift so they would be buried there. It is located behind the Hundred United Methodist Church. A new marker for their graves was purchased by Norval Throckmorton and Dr. J. S. Church in 1972 to be a lasting tribute to Henry Church and his wife, Hannah.

Henry Church came into the spotlight when the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was completedin 1852. The railway station that at one time was a busy place, no longer stands. In 1858 the company officials sent an observation tra in over the railroad to Wheeling. They wanted to take Henry Church and his wife to Wheeling but he said "No, I never did make a show of myself a nd I never will". From then on, the train conductors would point out the couple sometimes sitting on their porch and other times working in the fields, calling attention to their being the oldest couple in the State. Cassie (Church) Hixenbaugh tells when her great grandfather, Henry Church, was 100 years old, he jumped over a rail fence four feel high.

One Boy's View of Posey Run

As Seen by the Young Bobby Nicholson
By Bob Nicholson and David Parmer

My name is Bob Nicholson and I now live in Aromas, California. Although I have lived in Arizona and California most of my years, my eyes opened in this world on Posey Run in 1944. Or more precisely, I should say that I came to live on Posey Run when I was about six months old, after having been born at Gassaway and living briefly on Point Mountain in Webster County where my dad was a coal miner. I am the son of the late Hoy and Pearly (Stout) Nicholson. I probably am remembered on Posey Run and Orlando as Bobby Nicholson but as we get older the names of our youth fade into obscurity except to those who knew us when we were young. So remember me as either Bob or Bobby.
I have been interested in reading the stories about Orlando and particularly about Posey Run which was my home during my early years until I was fourteen years of age. The Posey Run school had already been closed and shuttered by the time I came along so I attended school at Orlando. As a result I came to know my contemporaries from the Orlando area as well.

I was fourteen years of age when my dad married Daisy Brown, daughter of Mae Brown, who was our neighbor on Posey Run. After my dad and Daisy married they moved to Phoenix, Arizona. My dad sold his farm to Harry Wilson who had lived on the Oil Creek Road near the home of Ray Fox. After my dad and Daisy moved to Arizona, I lived briefly with my mother Pearly and my step-father in Marlinton and then briefly with my aunt Mae Woods in Mogadore, Ohio before I joined my dad in Phoenix.

But, the memories I wish to share in this little story are about the folks I recall as neighbors when my family lived on Posey Run from 1944 to 1958.

The Mae Brown Family

I have mentioned Daisy Brown who married my dad and moved with him to Phoenix, Arizona in 1958. Daisy was the daughter of Mae Brown. Daisy’s dad, Thurman Brown, died in a car accident above Burnsville when Daisy was just a small child. One of Mae’s older daughters was Ruby Bee who was married to Fred "Sally" Bee and lived in Orlando. Ruby had two boys, Frank and Randall, who went to school with me in Orlando. Mae had five sons, George, Harold, Homer, Ralph, and Sherman, and besides Ruby, she had two other daughters, Daisy, who was my step-mother, and Ertha. Mae also had some older children who were considerably older than me. Their names were Ressie, Mavis, Edna, and John. Mae courted Fred Riffle for years but couldn’t seem to get Fred to “tie the knot.”

Right:Randall, Ertha and Franklin Brown

Allie and Rosie Posey

Two sisters, Allie and Rosie Posey, daughters of William Sanford and Sarah (Riffle) Posey, also were our neighbors on Posey Run. Allie had been married very briefly when she was young. Her only comment about her former husband was “He could deceive the very elect.” She had been divorced for such a long time that most people didn’t even know she had been married. I remember collecting money for flowers for the funeral for one of the sisters in the early 1950’s.

Grafton and Mary Riffle

Grafton Riffle also was a Posey Run neighbor. He was the grandson of William Taylor Riffle. Grafton’s wife Mary was from the Rocky Fork area which is just over the ridge from Posey Run. Grafton worked for the gas company.

Uncle Ordie and Lovie Nicholson

My dad’s brother, Ordie and his wife, Lovie (Sandy), also lived on Posey Run. Ordie was a coal miner as was my dad. Uncle Ordie and Aunt Lovie lived above [above means upstream] Grafton and Mary Riffle. Uncle Ordie later moved to Orlando and lived in the Worthy Hurst house on Flint Knob. I understand that he would carry a scythe from Orlando to Posey Run and cut filth and then walk back to Orlando to eat lunch and then walk back again. Uncle Ordie and Aunt Lovie didn’t have children but raised a girl named Ilonda who married one of Stanton Riffle’s boys.

Bobby Nicholson, pictured here with his 4-H Club at the Orlando School in 1956, is is the first on the left in the bottom row.

Jack Rogers

Jack Rogerslived just further up Posey Run from Uncle Ordie Nicholson. On some Saturdays my dad would cut hair in the house and sometimes Jack would come down for a haircut. On one Saturday when my dad was cutting Jack’s hair, I noticed that he had a large pistol in his coat pocket. I asked my dad about it afterward and he told me that Jack was the town cop in Burnsville.

Pat Conley

The last house on the run was the home of Pat Conley. Pat’s children were all older than me. One day I was at Pat’s haying with some of my family and others when he gave me a bag of marbles which he said had belonged to his son Lawrence who now lives around Youngstown. I think that Lawrence may have been in the Korea at the time. There was a brand new 1955 Chevy which belonged to him which was stored in the barn and was covered up with hay.

Right: Pat Conley

Hubert Riffle

The Hubert Riffle family lived on the eastern side of Oil Creek, just upstream from the home of Ray Fox. Ray’s son Carl was a classmate of mine at the Orlando school. Hubert, who was known as “Domineck,” and his wife had two children, Richard and Susie, who also were my classmates at the Orlando School. Richard liked to flex his biceps for his classmates so he was nicknamed “Sampy,” as in Sampson.

The Wilfong Family

Also on the eastern side of Oil Creek, almost straight across from the home of “Boss” Riffle who lived on the Oil Creek Road, lived the Wilfong family. There were several Wilfong children who had gone to the Orlando School, but they were all older than me. The youngest of the Wilfong children was Bob Wilfong. Most all of the Wilfong children were tall and had blonde hair.

Left: Bob Wilfong

“Boss” Riffle

“R. M. “Boss” Riffle lived in the second house toward Burnsville from the mouth of Oil Creek. “Boss” would cut our hay every year. In 1988 when I visited the Posey Run area, I visited Fred Riffle who was the son of “Boss” at the old home. I hadn’t seen him for twenty five years. We sat on the porch and talked about the olden days and watched the cars go up and down Oil Creek. As I mentioned earlier, Fred had courted Mae Brown for as long as I could remember. The night that “Boss” died, Mae came by our house at a late hour and knocked on the door and said, “Hoy, ‘Boss’ is dead.”

Right: Fred and his parents Idena and Boss Riffle

Road Run

Road Run flows into Oil Creek just above the mouth of Posey Run. For some poor excuse of a reason, the name of Road Run has been changed by the authorities in Sutton to “Happy Hollow.” I will continue to refer to it as Road Run and let the people in Sutton call it “Happy Hollow.”

When I was young I recall that the Strader, Conrad, and Flint families lived on Road Run. There may have been other families as well. Eugene Flint and Junior Strader who both lived on Road Run were my Orlando classmates.

Edith Stutler

The best peanut butter cookies I ever ate were made by Edith Stutler, the cook at the Orlando School. It would be nice if the cookie recipe were available. I’m sure that every school child from Orlando School who had the good fortune to eat one of Edith’s cookies would love to have the recipe.

[Bob, Edith's recipes were lost in the fire that destroyed the Allman house. ( Edith's daughter Jane Hawkins lived there at the time.) I'm checking with Edith's granddaughters to see if any of us have grandma's recipe.]

Right: Edith (Skinner) Stutler

Left: Marvin Brown with his mom Ruby (Beckner) Brown and his cousin Bill Beckner.

Marvin Brown

One of my best friends at the Orlando School was Marvin Brown, grandson of Bill Beckner. The Beckner family lived on Flint Knob.

Preacher England

I remember Pastor Byrl England of the U. B. Church in Orlando. His wife Irene was my Sunday School teacher. The Englands had three children who were my classmates at the Orlando School. The boy’s name was Eddie and the two girls were Sheila and Gwen.

Left: Edie and Sheila England

A Look Back

Many of the people I have mentioned in this little remembrance are deceased. My dad, Hoy Nicholson, died in 1996 at age 91. Although death has taken many of the people referenced in this offering, as I get older, most memories grow fonder. I enjoy thinking of the people I grew up with, played with, and fished with. All those memories are special to me.

Right: Bob Nicholson in Aromas, CA