Continuing a Musical Tradition

For samples of music of the area see:
Aug '07 B & O Train Meets Amos Henline’s Cow
Dec '06 The Ballad of Eugene Butcher

by David Parmer

Mention has been made within this website of the musical proclivities of the Henline and Blake families of the Orlando area. The Blake family of the Clover Fork area produced many fine fiddlers, as have the Henlines of Orlando. The musical talents of Sarah (Blake) Singleton and Red Henline, both of whom had roots in the Orlando area, have been featured in Goldenseal Magazine, a publication of the State of West Virginia.

Above left is Donald Lambert, Jr. playing his grandfather Bruce Brannon's violin. To the left are his grandfather, his grandmother Olive (Henline) Brannon, his uncle and his mom Joyce Brannon.

The Amos Henline family was the subject of the story about the Buzzardtown Tongue Twisters on this website. One of the members of this group was Olive (Henline) Brannon, a gifted vocalist, who unfortunately died prematurely when she was but thirty two years of age. Olive was married to Bruce Brannon of Vadis in Lewis County who was also a talented musician in his own right. Bruce played violin in the Glenville State College Orchestra and from time to time joined the Buzzardtown Tongue Twisters in providing musical entertainment.

Bruce and Olive Henline Brannon were the parents of Joyce Carole Brannon, also a graduate of Glenville State College with a degree in music. While a student at Glenville State College, Joyce, a gifted pianist and vocalist, was a member of the college orchestra and the college choir. Joyce has taught music in the public schools of West Virginia and has continued her love of music in community choirs and in church music in the Richmond, Virginia area for many years. Joyce has passed her love of music to her son, Donald Lambert, now an officer with the Henrico County, Virginia Police Department. A talented violinist, Donald, has displayed his talents on the violin with community choral groups and churches in the Richmond area. When he was sixteen years of age, Donald was selected to tour Europe with a youth orchestra as a violinist. The instrument Donald played with the orchestra was the violin used by his grandfather, Bruce Brannon, while he was a member of the Glenville State College orchestra and the Buzzardtown Tongue Twisters. Later, Donald was a visiting violinist with the Richmond Choral Society and was featured in concert as a soloist playing “The Arkansas Traveler.”
Musical talents heard by an early generation in the Orlando area have continued to entertain lovers of music of this day throughout this country by the generations which have followed.

Memories of Mom

by Joyce Carole Brannon

My mother, Olive (Henline) Brannon, died when I was nine years old. My older brother, Robert, was just ten years of age. Although I knew what death was, I later realized that I was really too young to comprehend the significance of her death and the change in my life that my mother’s early death would bring to me and my brother.

My mother was born in Orlando in 1914 to Amos and Charlotte (Blake) Henline. Throughout her youth, my mother’s family lived on Oil Creek, just west of Orlando. My mother attended the Posey Run School and later graduated from Burnsville High School in 1933. My mother was the oldest child in the family which included four younger brothers.

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~ To the left above are mom & daughter, Olive and Joyce.

~ To the right is mom Olive (Henline) Brannon.
~ To the left are Dad & mom, Bruce and Olive, with Robert, Joyce and ?

~ To the left below is the author Joyce Carole Brannon at age 4.

After graduating from high school, my mother met her future husband, Bruce Brannon of Vadis in Lewis County. My parents met as the result of their love of music, they fell in love and married in 1935. My brother, Robert, was born in 1936 and I arrived exactly one year, one month, one week and one day later.
My father was an elementary school teacher in Lewis County. With each new school year and a teaching assignment at a different school, we moved nearly every year to another small town in Lewis County. My mother always cheerfully managed to make every place we lived feel like home. Memories of my mother stir within me to this very day, and have throughout my life.

When I was around four years of age at one of our many homes, a robin had built a nest in a tall hollow post in a rose thicket and was rearing little baby robins. A big blacksnake became aware of the baby robins and began to climb to the nest to take the hatchlings. My mother quickly went into the house and came back with a .22 rifle and shot the snake, saving the lives of the baby robins. I thought my mother was very brave.

Again, when I was about four years of age, when my father was teaching school on very hot days, my mother would fill a half-gallon Karo syrup bucket with ice and water and allow me to take it to Daddy’s school in the afternoon. He would allow me to remain at the school and I would walk home with him after school. This made me feel very special.

One new school year, we moved closer to Weston to a house on the side of a hill where we were able to have a cow. Her name was Peggy. My mother knew I loved cats and one day brought me a white kitty which I named Snow Flake, and my brother Robert was not forgotten and he got a white dog which he named Judy. I have loved animals all my life.

I will never forget the day that I embarrassed my mother. One day my mother arranged for several ladies to visit with her. While the ladies were visiting, I ran into the house in a panic and told my mother that our dog Judy was stuck to another dog. I did not know what was happening, but our little Judy sometime later gave birth to a litter of puppies. I can’t imagine how embarrassed my mother must have been.

I also remember clearly the night my mother met the mouse. My brother Robert started to school when he was five and generously brought home to me not only chicken pox but also whooping cough during his first year in school. When my brother and I had the whooping cough, we would start “whooping” after we went to bed. Our parents would get up and come to our room to give what relief they could. One night, as my brother and I were “whooping,” my mom came to our room to care for us. As my mom came into the room, the path of a scurrying mouse fell under mom’s foot. I don’t know who was most scared ---the mouse or my mom.

My mother always made me feel special. I started to school at Polk Creek when I was six. Each day my mom would braid my hair and put ribbons at the end of my pig tails to match whatever dress I was wearing. My mother made nearly all the clothes I wore with extra care so that I would always look feminine.

To the left are dresses Olive sewed for Joyce's dolls..

My mom taught me responsibility. During World War II, my dad decided that he could not support his family on a school teacher’s salary so he decided to go to Fairfield, Ohio to work as a painter at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Unable to go with him, my dad moved us to an apartment over the Kroger Store in Weston. Although we had a 1937 Chevrolet, my mother had never learned to drive. To earn a little extra income, my mom arranged for a part-time job, on night shift, at the hospital where she could walk to work. At this time, I had a little ceramic doll which had become broken. Mom let me go to the hospital with her one evening where someone mended my doll with tape. She also let me help carry a meal tray to a patient which made me feel like a “big” girl.

Robert disobeyed our mother. After we moved to Weston, Mom enrolled my brother and me at Weston Central Grade School. My mother instructed Robert to wait for me and to bring me home with him after school on that first day. But Robert went home without me. My mom had told me if I ever got lost to look for a policeman for help. I couldn’t find a policeman. I tried to find my way home after school and went as far as I could remember but became lost. I stood on a street corner and cried until a lady came along who knew me and took me home.

I remember Christmas. Daddy came home from work in Ohio on Christmas. Robert and I decided to stay up to watch for Santa. As we were hiding, watching for Santa, we saw our parents putting out the gifts under the Christmas tree.

Shortly after Christmas, my mother told us that we were going to Ohio to be with Daddy. My mother sold the Chevy, got rid of all the furniture and bought us all tickets to Ohio on the Greyhound bus. My mother had never been out of West Virginia during her entire life, but was brave enough to set out for Ohio with two children. It was a cold winter day when we arrived in Ohio and there was snow all over the ground. We walked through streets with rows of houses until we found the right house. When my dad opened the door, I think my mother said “Surprise.”

My mother and father were both musically talented. My mother had a lovely voice. My father played the violin and also sang. When we lived in Ohio both my mother and father sang in the community choir. Each time I sort through my collection of sheet music I run across my parents’ copy of “Ave Maria,” their favorite choir song. How they loved to sing.

By the time I was seven years old, my mother had passed her love of sewing to me and had taught me to embroider, cross stitch, and crochet. My memories include my mother’s care in a crocheted yellow purse and hat she made for me and a hat and purse made from red felt. How close I felt to her.

~Here are the pretty hat and purse sets Olive made for Joyce.

~ Olive also quilted. Two examples of her quilt work are shown below.1

I remember the excitement of a planned trip to see the Barnum and Bailey circus when we were living in Ohio. My most vivid memory however was not so pleasant. To signal the bus driver that we wanted off at the next stop near the circus, my mother pulled the cord for the stop. I quickly hopped off the bus, but before my mother could get off, the bus driver shut the door in her face and took off. I was standing there all alone and frightened. Imagine my relief when I saw my mother running down the street to me from the next bus stop.

Illness often visits those we love. At the age of seven, I really didn’t understand illness. When we were still in Ohio, my mother became ill. As we waited for the bus to visit the doctor, my mother suddenly ran behind a mailbox and vomited. She was so embarrassed and apologized to me saying that she didn’t want people to think she was intoxicated. I didn’t know what she meant, but I knew my mother was very sick.

Sometime in 1946, I sensed that something serious was wrong with my mother. My brother Robert and I were assigned additional household chores. Strangely, my mother stayed at home while my father took Robert and me to church. I remember however that she would curl my hair into long curls with a curling iron before I went to church.

Much of 1946, for whatever reason, I do not remember. However, my family left Ohio, packing what few possessions we owned in a small trailer, and returned to West Virginia to live with my dad’s mother, Grandma Brannon, at Vadis in Lewis County.

This period of my mother’s life had no happy memories for me. My Grandmother Brannon lived in a four room home with another granddaughter, Betty. There was no electricity, running water, nor indoor bathroom. My father and mother, and my brother and I slept in one room of my grandmother’s house. My mother and I shared her bed and my father and my brother slept on a sleeper sofa. When my mother had to get up at night to use the potty, I helped her so my dad could sleep.

Even though I had just turned eight years of age, I sensed soon after arriving at my grandmother’s home that my mother, brother and I were not really welcome guests. My grandmother was the complete opposite of my mother in the expression of love for family. My grandmother insisted that my brother be punished for the slightest infraction of conduct and berated my mother about her reluctance to do so, going even so far to compare my mother to “Josephine”, who I later learned was my grandmother’s other daughter-in-law, and mother of my cousin Betty, and who had been committed to Weston State Hospital.

Although but eight years of age, my grandmother insisted that I wash and dry the dishes, make beds and prepare my Daddy’s breakfast. Although I couldn’t understand my grandmother’s harsh rules, I did as I was told and never questioned her authority.

My mother had surgery at the hospital in Weston. After she came home her stomach would swell and Daddy would have to take her back to the doctor to have the fluid drained. My mother wanted me to go in with her for this procedure but Daddy wouldn’t allow it. My mother’s illness was still a puzzle to me. The doctor recommended that in order for my mother to eliminate the fluid which continued to form in her, she should drink beer. On the home way from the doctor’s office, Daddy stopped at Mertz’s store to buy beer. I could sense my mother’s reluctance to be seen there, let alone to actually drink a beer.

By December my mother was staying in bed most of the time. On the last day of school before Christmas we were given a few pieces of chocolate which I loved. I loved my mother more, so I took the chocolate home to her. Although she was weak, she was able to eat the chocolate and I was so glad.

I remember that December we put up the Christmas tree in the bedroom so my mother could see it. She seemed so pleased. My mother had not eaten for some while, but on December 22 she woke and asked if she could have some pickled beans. My cousin Betty helped her eat her final, simple meal. She enjoyed them so much. The next day my mother peacefully went to sleep.

I don’t remember much about my life for some time after my mother passed away. I recall going to school each day and hoping that my mother would be there when I got home from school. I began having spells of crying for no apparent reason and migraine headaches and I had no mother to comfort me. Time passed and I came to realize that my mother was gone and would not return.

As I look back and reflect upon memories of my mother I recall a mother – daughter talk as I sat on my mother’s fragile lap during her final days. My mother told me that some day that I would have children of my own. I asked how I would know when that time had come. She sweetly replied, “Oh, you will know.” She then told me that when she was gone she wanted me to have the watch that Daddy had given her the previous Christmas. I told her that I would never get the watch because she was never going to die. It pains me now to think of how my mother, with her daughter on her lap, must have longed for more time on this earth so that she could have shared a larger part of her life and love with me.

Mom's watch is pictured to the right.

I loved my mother and have missed her so much during my life. My memories of her are most keen on each Christmas Day when tears flow. Although sixty one years have passed since my mother’s early death, I still cry for her and for what I missed and I guess I always will. But I have memories of her which are precious to me to this day, to remind me of her goodness and the love she had for me.

Double click on the page to the left to enlarge it.

Following is a poem Joyce wrote for her mom in 1956

.Memories of Mom
At the end of a long lonely day,
The sky looks dark instead of blue.
Then my heart doesn't feel very gay,
And I sit and think about you.

Although you died when I was nine,
My thoughts are still of you.
I remember all our happy times,
And all the sad ones, too.

You took me on your lap one day,
And as I looked you in the eye.
I didn't dream that you would say
That you were going to die.

I guess I was just too young
To realize just what you meant.
But now you've gone away from us,
And my saddened heart is bent.

I know we'll meet again sometime,
And until that happy day,
I'll keep these memories of you, Mom
That only death could take away.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joyce Brannon 1954

To the left is the author, Joyce Carole Brannon.

1.The appliqued quilt is called "Little Drummer Boy and Sunbonnet Sue." Olive made it around 1935 for her first child, Robert Bruce Brannon. who was born March 20, 1936. She made it all by hand from cotton fabric and embroidered around the outline of most of each figure. The top was joined by pink and the back is blue.

Joyce's mom Olive, with Olive's brothers, were making music on the front porch of Charlie Knight's store in the 1930s. See the Jun '07 entry The Buzzardtown Tongue Twisters.

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Comments

comment 1 Donna Gloff

Such an heroic woman. Shot a snake, sewed beautiful, detailed clothing for her little girl, moved herself with her children to the unknown to be with her partner and make her family whole. In the too few years she had, it seems like Olive taught her daughter how to live and love in this world. Thanks, Joyce.

I notice from the Tongue Twisters entry that Olive's mom died at the age of 40 from nephritis. Olive was 24 at the time and she herself died just eight years later.

B & O Freight Train Meets Amos Henline’s Cow

An addition to the Jun '07 entry, The Buzzardtown Tongue Twisters
by David Parmer

Click to the left to hear Jackie (Henline) Bowser sing her dad's, Charlie Henline's, parody taken from real life on Oil Creek. Thanks to Jackie's cousin Joyce Brannon, the daughter of Charlie's talented sister Olive Mae (Henline) Brannon, for her encouragement & assistance in getting this recording.

On the Rails of the B & O Line1

The Story Behind the Song

When the railroad was put through the hardy little farming communities along Oil Creek/Clover Fork they were changed forever. Charlie Henline’s words, which he set to the tune of “On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine,"1 reflect something of life in this changed and changing community.
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To the right is Charles Heline, below left is Charles and his wife with their daughter Jackie, who is the singer in this recording of her dad's song.

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By the early part of the 20th century, many of the men had taken jobs with the railroad and other industries in the area but small farms still dotted the Oil Creek Valley. Families still grew feed for their animals, some grains and table vegetables. Farm animals, including cows, horses, mules, sheep, chickens, ducks, turkeys provided transportation or food for the dinner tables and could supplement their incomes.

The Amos Henline family lived about midway between Orlando and the mouth of Posey Run from the early 1910’s until around 1935. Amos worked at the Gowing Veneer Mill in Burnsville and later for the gas pumping station in Burnsville. Like many employees in those early days, Amos walked or rode a horse the three miles or so to work from his Oil Creek home. At home were his wife, the former Charlotte Blake, their oldest child, Olive Mae, and Olive's younger brothers, Jim, Charlie, “Jake” and “Pat.”

The family had the usual small farm, keeping chickens, ducks, and a milk cow to help feed this growing family. This small farm on which the Amos Henline family lived abutted upon the busy right of way of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad.

When farm animals escaped their fenced lots or fields and wandered onto the busy railroad tracks the animals invariably came out second best in collisions. Uncle Zeke 3 in the Buzzardtown News often reported on the deaths of farm animals which resulted from an untimely rendezvous with the cow-catcher of a fast moving freight or coal train. In his January 18, 1923 column Uncle Zeke mentioned that the southbound Passenger Train 35 killed a “bunch” of sheep belonging to J. F. Posey at the Orlando junction. Later the same year in October, Doc Henline’s favorite fox hound fell victim to a B & O train. Undoubtedly, many a lowly cat or chicken also fell under the wheels of a locomotive without even the barest mention by Uncle Zeke. In July 1924, a westbound double-header3 freight killed George Riffle’s only cow and Passenger Train 65 in June 1926 snuffed out the life of Pat Brennan’s cow.

Of course farm animals were not the only victims of rail traffic through Orlando. Many, many people died or were maimed by the trains.

~ In November 1936, Beulah McPherson, an Orlando area teacher, forgot to observe the cardinal rule to stop, look, and listen at railroad crossings, and failed the test with a B & O passenger train. To the right is young Miss McPherson.
~ Phebe (Posey) Riffle lost her arm but not her life one day in the 1940s. See the footnote about Phebe and her husband George "Short" Riffle in the Aug '07 entry About 'Coon Hunting.
Other stories of flesh vs. the iron horse can be found at

~ Feb '07 Death Rides the Rails Wayne Skinner & Roscoe McNemar
~ Dec '06 The Ballad of Eugene Butcher Gene Butcher
~ Nov '06 Another Death On The Rails Homer L. Skinner
~ Nov '06 Railroad Tragedies Warren McCauley

So, Amos Henline’s milk cow decided to take a stroll on the B & O Railroad line. Unfortunately the cow didn't know that a B & O freight train always has the right of way and the poor cow was milked and filleted at the same time. Charles Henline set the tale to music, and now, its history.

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The Musical Henline/Blake Family

Amos Henline's and Charlotte Blake's families were both noted musical families. Many musicians emerged from both branches of this family. Amos was a budding musician himself until a planer in the veneer mill at Burnsville removed his musical aspirations along with two fingers. His cousin, Red Henline, was champion fiddler. On Charlotte’s side, the members of the Blake family from Clover Fork were the premier pickers of the banjo, the strummers of the guitar and the coaxers of the fiddle strings from an early date. Charles, his brother James and his sister Olive formed a popular musical group known as the The Buzzardtown Tongue Twisters which began performing as early as 1932 when they entertained at the Charlie Knight Store in Orlando. At this time, Charles Henline was but 13 years of age, James was 14 and Olive was 18.

Footnotes

1. Charles Henline composed words to the tune by Harry Carroll, On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine. Original words to the song were written by Ballard McDonald.

2. Uncle Zeke was the pen name of Patrick N. Blake, born on Clover Fork, lived on Posey Run. Many of his articles and poems are published in this 'blog.

3. A "double header" was a coal train so heavily loaded that it required two engines to move it up the grade from Burnsville to the tunnel at Chapman.

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Below are cousins Jackie (Henline) Bowser (two photos on the left) and Joyce Brannon (two photos on the right), the daughters of two of the Buzzardtown Tonguetwisters, Charles Henline and Olive (Henline) Brannon.

The Buzzardtown Tongue Twisters

by David Parmer

To the left: Charlie Henline of the Buzzardtown Tongue Twisters and his sister Barbara Jean.

The crowd had

arrived early to

Frank McPherson’s wooden frame building at the western end of the Burnsville iron bridge. It was Saturday night and the building was already full of young adult couples, high school kids, and their country cousins from “up the river,” from Orlando, and Copen, and Hyre’s Run. There were far more people crowding the room than there were tables and chairs to accommodate the eager early comers. The door of the dance hall was open to Depot Street and late comers were lingering near the door looking for an opportunity to enter. .
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On the raised platform on the river side of the building, two lean and lanky young men in dark trousers and white shirts had set up their music stands and were whispering quietly with a small, thin angel-like young lady while they were looking at sheets of music. Appearing to agree on a common decision, the trio turned to face the anxious crowd. Olive, the vocalist, smiled, and looked to her brother Charlie who, tapping his toe, began strumming and fingering his guitar in a rhythmic cadenza which provided the “beat” of the tune. As Charlie neared the end of his “intro,” Olive looked to her brother James, with violin under his chin, who skillfully picked up the last note played by Charlie, and began echoing the same beat, with the same toe tapping, in slightly different notes. Charlie accompanied with subtle harmonious chords. As the crowd began to feel at one with the beat provided by the strings, Olive’s high soprano voice, crystal clear and lovely, came out of nowhere and joined the syncopated music filling the hall. Heads in the crowd swayed to and fro, dancers began taking the floor, and you could tell it was going to be a nice night of music.

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After over seventy years, Waitman Collins, now eighty-eight years of age and living in Grafton, vividly recalls, as if it were yesterday, the wonderful night of music of James, Charles and Olive Henline, who were known as the Buzzardtown Tongue Twisters.

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A Heritage of Music Making

Olive, James and Charles Henline were the first three children of Amos and Charlotte (Blake) Henline, and were born in 1914, 1918, and 1919, respectively. They enjoyed making music together during their lifetimes and entertaining friends and family- first on Posey Run, or Buzzardtown as Uncle Zeke1 called it, then in Burnsville where they moved in 1935, and later from Norfolk, Virginia to Cincinnati, Ohio.

To the left: Top row, Charlotte and Amos. middle row, Jake and Pat. Front row, Charlie, Olive and James.

Below, right: Amos' father John Columbus Henline. Click on this photo to see the detail.

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Their dad Amos Henline was born in Orlando in 1893, the son of John Columbus and Sarah (Godfrey) Henline. Amos was already fiddling at the age of 21 when an accident at work, in the veneering mill at Burnsville, took two fingers. Amos then found life-long employment at the Burnsville area operations of the Philadelphia Gas Company and its successor, The Equitable Gas Company.

The year before his accident, in 1913, Amos had married Charlotte Blake, the daughter of Charles V. and Olive (Scarff) Blake of Orlando. Amos and Charlotte began having children right away and over the next twenty three years, they became parents of Olive, James, Charles, Forrest "Jake", Claude "Pat" and Melloney. In later years younger brothers Jake and Pat joined Charlie and Jimmy on stage in Cincinnati.

Charlotte died in 1938, just before her fortieth birthday. Amos married Mable Posey and they had several more children, including Barbara Jean pictured at the top with Charlie, Olive Alice, who was born shortly after her sister Olive (Henline) Brannon died, and Belinda. .

To the left: Mable, Amos, Belinda and Olive Alice at Christmas.

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As the Bach family of Germany was noted for its musical heritage so the Blake family of Clover Fork is noted for its contribution to the musical heritage of the Oil Creek valley. One wag suggested that Blake children are born with fiddles in their hands. The Blake genes coursed through the veins of Amos and Charlotte's children and at a young age they began exhibiting a precocity for music.

~ Olive began singing with a remarkable voice at a very young age.

~ James, the next oldest child, and perhaps the most versatile of the Buzzardtown Tongue Twisters, was introduced to the violin at a very early age by his uncle Walter Blake,2 his mother’s brother, who played the fiddle from a very young age. James eventually mastered the guitar, mandolin, bass, and banjo, along with his ever-present fiddle.

~ Charles, the third child of Amos and Charlotte Henline, and recognized leader of the group, preferred the guitar, and became quite skilled in playing the instrument in his early teens.

Uncle Zeke noted as early as 1932 that the Buzzardtown Tongue Twisters entertained the Posey Run School with a musical program. That year, Charlie was thirteen and James fourteen years of age. The Buzzardtown Tongue Twisters also played for the Orlando School on several occasions and performed at dances in Burnsville. Waitman Collins remembers that the Buzzardtown Tongue Twisters would go anywhere to play their music. Eventually, the three Henline pickers and singers developed a repertoire of 262 songs, ranging over country and western, religious, Negro-related, novelty, and popular music of the day.

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Charlie's daughter Jackie (Henline) Bowser recalls that her father and her uncle James, while still teenagers, appeared on a West Virginia radio show with Homer and Jethro and fiddler Gary Blakeman. Their stepmother Mabel (Posey) Henline Eagle recalls that her stepsons James and Charlie gave performances on the radio in the Cincinnati area. Olive's daughter, Joyce Brannon, recently donated seven of her uncles’ records made in 1943 under the labels Wilcox-Gay and Philco to the West Virginia Archives and History in Charleston in order to preserve their legacy to music lovers.

From Posey Run to Burnsville

The Amos Henline family moved from Buzzardtown to Burnsville in December 1935. Charlie and Jammy were in high school and Olive married that year. It was a loss to Buzzardtown, as was noted by Uncle Zeke in his Buzzardtown News column. Uncle Zeke’s wife was the sister of Amos Henline’s mother so it also meant the loss of a nephew and his family. In addition, Uncle Zeke was sorry to see Olive move and to show his sense of loss he wrote to Olive a little poem

To Olive
There is a maid in our town,
A darling niece of mine.
She is so very blithe and gay.
Someone nicknamed her “Shine.”

She is so very kind and good,
You couldn’t help but love her.
I know you’d never if you could,
Praise someone else above her.

She is very young, and so discreet,
Most beautiful to behold.
She’s fair in form, in manner sweet,
She’s worth her weight in gold.

I hope that on judgment morn,
When all the saints shall rise,
That Olive in a spirit form
Will meet me in the skies.

Soon my days on earth will cease,
For I am growing weak.
But Olive, still you’ll be my niece
And I, your Uncle Zeke.
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Obviously touched by her Uncle Zeke’s sentiment and affection, Olive responded to Uncle Zeke’s tribute:

To My Uncle Zeke
There is a man in Buzzardtown,
Not handsome, so to speak.
For he is none other
Than my Uncle Zeke.

Some people think him funny,

And some don’t think him so.
But he seems to make friends,
So we’ll not count him slow.

I think him a jolly old fellow,
To me always the same.
And I shall always love him
As long as Zeke is his name.

I’ll remember that dear old face
And do for him all I can,
For to me he is always the same,
And is such a dear old man.

So may God bless and keep him
As good as he is today.

And may he not forget me
When he kneels down to pray.

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And now the friends of Buzzardtown
Join with me and speak,
That we shall always love him,
As long as he is Uncle Zeke.

Olive

Olive Henline graduated from Burnsville High School in 1933 and was chosen along with fellow seniors Mavis Bush, Louise Fletcher, Gwendolyn Martin and Gladys Tyo to present musical entertainment during the commencement ceremony. Olive added a sparkle to the eyes of all who knew her, was effervescent, and lit up the room with her lyrical soprano voice..

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In 1935, Olive married Bruce Brannon, a native of Gilmer County, a graduate of Glenville State Teacher’s College, a school teacher and most importantly, a musician. Bruce, while in high school, bought a violin 3 and taught himself to play by ear. After commencing college at Glenville, Bruce realized that he needed to learn the more formal aspects of music. Bruce inquired of Bertha Olsen, the college music teacher, for lessons. Miss Olsen bargained with Bruce and proposed that if he would join the college orchestra, she would give him tutorials on the violin. Eager for the opportunity, Bruce became a member of the college orchestra, and developed a love of classical music in addition to the “down home” music of the West Virginia hills.

Bruce often played with his brothers-in-law, James and Charles Henline, and Olive provided the sterling vocal arrangements in both informal family settings and at musical engagements throughout the central West Virginia area. The Henline siblings and their brother-in-law, Bruce Brannon also played under the name “BT Serenaders,” the “BT” of course standing for “Buzzardtown.”

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Olive (Henline) Brannon gave birth to two children, Robert in 1936 and Joyce Carole in 1937. A devoted mother, Olive’s life would be far too short, passing away in 1946 at the age of 32. Helen Jeffries remembers the Orlando community was much saddened by Olive’s untimely death. Olive, despite her terminal illness, managed to visit friends and relatives in the Orlando area to say her goodbyes. The name of Olive’s daughter, Joyce Carole, translates into “Joyful Song,” which is a fitting legacy to her mother.

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Left: Bruce and Olive with Joyce Carole and Robert. Click on this photo to see the detail.

Jimmy

James Henline, known as “Jimmy” to his family and friends, had health problems most of his life, and did not excel in traditional learning. Jimmy however was very adept in the field of electricity and a master of anything that had a sound board or plugged into an electrical outlet. Jimmy, at a young age, began a business in Burnsville repairing radios, and wiring homes when electricity was still in its infancy. Jimmy’s step-mother Mabel (Henline) Eagle recalls that in the 1930s Jimmy and Denver Barnett, an Orlando native living in Burnsville, rigged up a telegraph system between their respective homes in Burnsville and “dotted and dashed” each other to stay in touch. Mabel also recalls that Jimmy crafted a bass fiddle when he lived in the “Bottom” area of Burnsville but that it was unfortunately destroyed by the flood of 1943.

Right: Jimmy is playing the jew's harp with his brother, Charlie, on guitar.

In the late 1930s Jimmy left Burnsville and went to Norfolk, Virginia to work in a defense plant. He was married briefly to Wilma Dennison and when that union collapsed, Jimmy left Norfolk and went to Cincinnati to work near his brother and musical partner, Charlie. Jimmy opened a electrical business, J & J Electric, in the Cincinnati area and worked in the electrical field for the remainder of his life. Jimmy and Charlie continued their avocation of playing music in the Cincinnati area and frequently returned to their home in Burnsville with their fiddle and guitar on holidays and vacations to entertain the homefolks with music. .

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Charlie

Charlie Henline graduated from Burnsville High School in 1939. Charlie was selected by Autumn Amos as the drum major for the newly formed Burnville High School band. Charlie also played football for a rugged and successful Burnsville High School football team until a serious knee injury ended his gridiron career. Of course, this meant Charlie had more time for music. Charlie was not only a skillful guitar player but was also an excellent singer.

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To the left is Charlie as the BHS band's drum major.

To the right is Charlie's graduation picture.

Below, to the left, Charlie as an adult.

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Waitman Collins recalls that Charlie Henline, Andy Knight, Kenny Gifford and he would go out on the railroad tracks near the B & O trestle over the Little Kanawha River at night and sing songs “for the fun of it,” and would sometimes serenade Rhody Rollyson, a large lady who lived on the bank above the road near the trestle. After Rhody had been serenaded long enough, she would stand up on the porch and tell the boys that “It’s time for you bullfrogs to go home to bed.”

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Which Way To Cincinatti?

Waitman Collins also recalls that James and Charles Henline eventually settled in the Cincinnati area as a result of a mistake. Wanting to go to Charleston , they flagged a bus they thought was going to that city, but instead ended up in Cincinnati . Not having enough money to return, the brothers ended up settling permanently in the southwestern Ohio. However, Mabel Henline Eagle, Charlie’s stepmother, recalls it differently. Mabel recollects that after graduating from high school in 1939, Charlie and his friend Kenneth Gifford decided to go to Cincinnati for employment and that Jimmy joined them later when his marriage to Wilma Dennison ended.

Whatever the case, Charlie became employed by Sears Roebuck Company in Cincinnati as an appliance salesman and worked there his entire career. Of course, Charlie still played and taught others to play the guitar, and played musical engagements at social clubs, political rallies, private homes and anywhere else there was a need. Charlie often came back to West Virginia to visit family and friends in Burnsville and Orlando. Charlie’s guitar accompanied him everywhere he went and it was played every chance Charlie got to entertain a music-loving ear.

To the left, in the 1980s, Charlie is teaching a new generation of music makers. Click on this photo to see the detail.

Neither James nor Charlie Henline enjoyed good health as adults. Both brothers had several operations in their later years. Marlene Henline, wife of James, recalls that during their seven years of marriage her husband had eleven operations. Joyce Brannon was with her niece Jackie (Henline) Bowser when Charlie was entered into a nursing home after developing Alzheimer’s disease. This crippling disease however did not diminish Charlie’s love of music and he continued to play his guitar in the nursing home (when he wasn’t trying to escape) according to his niece, Joyce Brannon.

Charlie Henline died in 2001, joining his sister Olive, and his brother Jimmy who passed away in 1979. Thus came to an end the music of the Buzzardtown Tongue Twisters and BT Serenaders. Can’t you hear them singing from Charlie’s song book?

There are loved ones in the glory,
Whose dear forms you often miss;
When you close your earthly story,
Will you join them in their bliss.

Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, by and by.
Is a better home a-waiting
In the sky, in the sky? 4

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NOTES:

~ Go to Aug '07entry B & O Freight Train Meets Amos Henline’s Cow to hear a parody penned by Charlie and recently sung by his daughter Jackie.

~ Another Orlando group was the

Cole Brothers Band.

See theFeb '07 entry The Cole Brothers Band

Footnotes
1. Uncle Zeke, the Bard of Buzzardtown, has often been the source of stories on this website. His writings have enriched the preserved the history of Orlando and the surrounding area. "Uncle Zeke" is the pen name of Patrick Newton Blake (1867-1951) born on Clover Fork, made his home near the confluence of Posey Run and Oil Creek. For more on Uncle Zeke, see entries for December '06 Trouble At Uncle Zeek's House and October '06 Uncle Zeke From Buzzard Town
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2. Walter Blake was the brother of Charlotte Blake, the first wife of Amos Henline. Walter worked for the Philadelphia Gas Company. In mid-life, Walter sustained a broken neck and for the remainder of his life wore a metal back brace with a heavy rubber band attached to the back brace which looped over Walter’s forehead in order to hold his head erect. Boys of the area, referencing the rubber band type device, called Walter “Old Slingshot.” Walter was a member of another band referred to as the “Buzzardtown Hillbillies”. Sam Bragg was also a member of that band.

3. The violin bought by Bruce Brannon while in high school is now owned by his grandson, Donald L. Lambert, Jr., who is shown to the right playing his grandfather’s fiddle.

4. These words from the song, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” were writen by Ada Habershon.

Comments
comment 1 Joyce Brannon
Joyce Brannon, daughter of Olive (Henline) Brannon, is also musically talented. As a ten year old child she rode her bicycle six miles to Hurst, Gilmer County, to take piano lessons. Joyce Carole graduated from Glenville State College with a degree in Music and is a retired teacher in Richmond, Virginia.

Joyce Brannon is pictured to the left.

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Joyce tells us that her Uncle Charlie and a companion (Waitman Collins says it was Charlie’s brother, James), flagged down a Greyhound bus which they assumed was going to Charleston. The bus driver negotiated a fare with them and accepted what money they had for the ride. There was apparently no discussion about where the bus was heading and instead of Charleston the bus ended up in Cincinnati. Thus began the Henline exodus to Cincinnati. All four Henline brothers, Jake, Pat, Charlie and Jimmy (The four brothers are pictured to the right) ended up in Cincinnati eventually. After high school, Joyce, their niece, also migrated to Cincinnati for employment, but returned shortly afterward to commence college at Glenville State.

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comment 2 Jackie (Henline) Bowser (Charlie and Idella’s daughter)

When I was young my father would sit on the bed in the bedroom I shared with my sister Darlene, singing and playing the guitar. My mother in the next room would say “Charlie, let those girls go to sleep,” to which my father would reply, “They want to hear one more song.” . . .You know who wanted one last song.

To the right is Jackie with her parents Charlie and Idella Henline. Be sure to click on this photo to catch the detail.

comment 3

Amos Henline’s cousin, Earl “Red” Henline, son of Loyd and Virginia (Slaughter) Henline, was a noted fiddle player from a young age. He played with the Sons of the Pioneers, Vaughn Monroe, and competed on Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour. Earl was also state champion fiddler of five states. Earl "Red" Henline died in 1999 in Buckhannon. His story was recently told in the Goldenseal Magazine

Red and Theresa Henline are at the left.

comment 4 Jackie (Henline) Bowser
Dear David,

Thank you for all the work you've done and all of the wonderful memories. I was one of the blessed children who had a happy child hood. You brought back that joy. By the way I do know the tune to the "Amos Henline's Cow" song. You were right that wasn't a song that was performed for anyone except family. As children we heard it over and over again. At my Dad's funeral in March, 2001 a cousin from my Mom's side of the family came up to me and said what he remembered most about visiting our home was that people were always smiling. What a joy.

Thanks again. Blessings,

Jackie (Henline) Bowser

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Comment 5 . David Parmer

The author wishes to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of Joyce Carole Brannon in the writing of this article. Much of the information for this article originated with Joyce who also provided most of the photographic material. Without her encouragement and support this article would not have been possible.

Carole's photo is to the right.