My great grandma Sadie Maurey with my dad, year uncertain... Sarah Viola Buck married William Henry Maurey. Sadie & Billy lived in Oklahoma, among other places. I knew Great-grandma when I was a young girl.
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12/29/2000
The following ‘oral history’ was told to me by my maternal Grandma, Cecilia Trapp Scoles. I put it into writing when I was about 17 years old, probably in 1968. I repeat the story in third person, and slightly embellished dialect, though most dialectic spellings convey her pronunciations. She is Ceil in the story, and “10 year-old Ben,” is her brother. I read it back to her shortly after I wrote it as it is now written, and she truly loved it! Grandma was born in 1888, so she must have been about 13 years old at the time. She named the story herself. She called it: Charley was a troublesome ol’ horse. Yep, and he ran away, once. Let me tall ya ‘bout that time. It happened in Darbydale, Ohio. Folks called it “Little Pennsylvania” back then, in nineteen-ought-one. John Trapp was on his way home from a visit at his brother, Adam’s farm. John’s wife, Louise and three of his kids was with him in the buckboard. Charley was hitched up front, pullin’. The Trapp’s oldest boy, Ed, was along, ridin’ horseback on Ol’ Gin, another of the family’s horses. John pulled the wagon to a stop at the gate from Adam’s field. Two of John’s girls, Ceil and Donia, got down from the wagon to open the gate. The gate was hinged at the vertex of two fences that met at a forty-five degree angle. Well, them two girls was just about to open that gate, when the hol’back strap on the harness broke. Charley was headin’ downgrade, an’ the wagon rolled, and bumped his heels. Well, now, this spooked ol’ Charley and he lit out around that gate, and over them two fences! John and Louise got throw’d off the buckboard seat, but li’l ten year-old Ben stuck right to the wagon bed. Ed, ridin’ Ol’ Gin, seen all this commotion and hurried t’see if his folks was alright. John was okay, but Louise got a right smart cut just above her eye. Ed dug his heels inta Ol’ Gin, and rode inta town, fetchin’ after a doctor. Meantime, Ben was a-bumpin’ an’ a-bouncin’ in that ol’ wood wagon, when Charley come to another fence – a barb’ wire one, it was. Why, that ol’ horse lep’ that fence, too, but the wagon come unhitched an’ turnt over, throwin’ poor li’l Ben on toppa that sharp ol’ fence! Somebody musta told the Cummins family, who was neighbors to the Trapps, what’d happened, ‘cause they come out pretty soon in their wagon t’ help ‘em home. I reckon the doctor patched up Ben’s arm an’ chest after he sewed up Louise’s forehead. An’ don’t you know, that when John an’ his folks got home, that darned ol’ Charley was a-standing in the barnyard, just as contented as any horse could be! By Yvette Louise Maurey Higgins |
Mom's Family
This is Grandma Scoles with Mom and 4 of us kids. |
Friends
Put up pictures from special occasions, such as parties, weddings, and graduations. |
She's my mom's mother. To the right are two of Grandma's brothers, Great Uncle Walter - sometimes called Uncle 'Butch' - and Great Uncle Ben. They both lived at Grandma's house when I was a kid. Ben is the 10-year-old referred to in the Runnaway story above. I'm the tallest one of the kids. The other 3 are Billy, Annie & Mary.