other voices

We heard a lot of stories when we moved into this house, and now I have some pictures to go along with the stories. The original house last built in 1876, and before that the family lived in a cabin out near the big catalpa tree in the backyard. The original farm was eighty acres.

Last Easter Sunday a man knocked on our door and told us that he had grown up in this house. He was a foster child taken in to work on the farm. His mother was unmarried, and social services placed him with the family in this house. He spoke highly of them and was happy that they helped him maintain a relationship with his mother. He recently bought a neighboring house, and his birth mother will celebrate her seventy fifth birthday there.

The top picture shows our neighborhood without the modern road. In the middle is Lake Long Smith as an older woman. The middle right is from our front porch.  The bottom photo is from the sixties and shows the farm outbuildings that are now gone.

Below is a picture of Lake Long Smith, her father in law, and Lake's daughter Norma. I think this picture is from about 1935. Our house was built by the older gentleman. Many people have told us about Lake Long. She was born on a farm on Brooksfield Road about a mile away. Norma, the young girl, was well known by many of our neighbors. She sold the farm and died in February 2007 at the age of 81.