You can have V-8 performance – and gas economy, too!
An 85 h.p. Ford gave 24.92 miles per gallon in the annual official Gilmore-Yosemite road test, open to all cars. This was best mileage of all standard-equipped cars in this class!
You can have easy-handling – with big-car room and ride!
Everyone knows how easy it is to drive a Ford. But no one would know, til he gets in side, how big this Ford is in leg-room, seat-room, knee-room . . . nor what a thrillingly soft, steady, big-car ride it gives!
You can have low cost upkeep – and enjoy real fine-car features!
You shift gears on a Ford with the easy-acting type finger-tip shift used on costly cars. You get a semi-centrifugal clutch giving lower pedal pressure at shifting speeds, also typical of costly cars . . . to say nothing of the biggest hydraulic brakes ever used on a low-cost car. Your Ford Dealer’s ready and willing to trade . . . See him now!
You can have a FORD V-8 – and that’s what you’ll want when you try it!
I made a visit to the home place of four family generations just up the hill from Jessamine Creek spring sometime in the 1990s.
The camera I carried with me was disposable and, truthfully, might never have been processed to the light of day. (I believe I still have undeveloped Kodak 35mm rolls from my youth somewhere in my boxed packrat tendencies. The canister with lid tale-tale (but not always of the contents, iykyk.))
Fortunately, I took those pictures that day – long before the genealogy bug bit down or the common use of cellphones, for that matter. And, not long before the building was razed. It had fallen into disrepair and sadly is no more.
My memory of visits to the home I called “Uncle Johnny’s” began when a very young child. The more prevalent in memory are those visits with Cutters, my mother Phyllis’ mother. I may have visited Grandmother Mathews more often than I have memories but they followed my grandmother’s move into town when she sold the property to eldest child, her step-son John Shepherd Mathews. Johnny’s wife Nannie Katherine died way too young in September, 1974. He and their four daughters stayed on the farm. Cousin Susan is a sweet wealth of stories from her life on the farm.
This picture is the view at the back, and I believe an east-southeast-facing side of the house just above the kitchen. I THINK and my Dad will hopefully correct me when he reads this if not. A second-story bedroom above is where my cousin Angie and I had spent hours jumping out of a closet loft onto a bed.
At the time of this photo, the floor was strewn with remnants of the lives that had made this home along with leaves and other debris blown in from the outside through the missing window pane. Perhaps you can imagine pausing amongst the random relics, and glancing out an opening between peeling wallpaper and broken beams and witness the irony in its framing the exterior beauty of Kentucky blooming and a farmhouse in the distance.
If you came across Abandoned Kentucky (@Abandoned.ky), this would have been a perfect feature, had timing been different.
For several years in the late 1990s, two of my great-aunts – Aunt Vi and Aunt Hazel – resided at Royal Manor nursing home. It was designed as two long hallways like a letter “U” connected by central gathering, community spaces.
Down one corridor, my maternal grandmother’s elder sister had a room with a roommate, if I remember correctly. Hazel’s mind was strong and clear, her spirit mostly unsettled and her physical constraints dictated reliance on other people, whether in kindness and compassion or not. She knew what was up and was definitely not okay with it all.
Conversely, my paternal grandmother’s younger sister had a room to herself on the opposite Royal Manor corridor. She remained a sweet, pleasant spirit but drifted in and out of lucidity. We had deep conversations about far-distant memories. She could not tell me what or whether she had eaten that day. She did get manicures, apparently.
Here we are seated together on her bed. You can see the hospital nature of the bedframe along with the accent of “homelike” touches in a handmade afghan. Another contrast.
She was child-like as she worked to remove the gift wrap while emanating that giddy, expectant energy.
I remember one visit we sat side by side in rockers on the front porch and admired the sunset together. She talked of her home and that when she returned there someday soon, I should come visit. She would offer me things that she wanted to gift to me. She did not know that her home was packed away in a storage unit nearby and she would never be “going home” again.
Every so often, her body would shudder all over and she’d let out a moan, close her eyes for a moment. I do not know what her diagnosis was. Her pain was fleeting and repetitive, but I am not certain she remembered one to the next, really.
Viola died February 2000 and Hazel died in December 2000 that same year when I was living in New Jersey.
You might say educating is in my blood and these women were paramount in my own formation. Educators, living their Christian service and love instilled by the Shaker-educated youth of Martha Jane Bradshaw Corman, mother, and three of her daughters – Madeline, Viola & Fanny Dean. Two of the sisters taught school at the elementary and middle grades in northern Kentucky while the other, my grandmother, taught in one-room school houses throughout the Bluegrass region of Kentucky, specifically Jessamine County, with names like Sweet Home and Oak Hill.
Fully enjoying summers traveling, they invited the grandchildren-age generation of cousins on their annual summer trips across all these United States. The ORIGINAL aunt camp (*credit: S. C. Mathews – I see you Pebby). And, the original Ya-Ya’s, as we say in our family.
Photo: (left to right) Iva Madeline Corman, Martha Jane Bradshaw Corman, Viola Josephine Corman, and Fanny Dean Corman Mathews, my grandmother.
I remember visiting Frankenmuth, Michigan, as well as author and artist Gwen Frostic’s studio/visitor center in Benzonia. I have a beautiful collection of her work gifted to me, purchased by me and bequeathed to me through the estates’ transitions. It is on that trip with Aunt Vi & Aunt Madeline that I began with Christmas tree ornaments collecting as mementos from my travels.
It feels as though caring is woven in my DNA and was nurtured along by simply spending time with my great-aunts. My grandmother passed when I was in 4th grade living in Pittsburgh, PA, and my memories with her are fuzzy. When I look around my home, I pause to appreciate the things from my family, much of which ties back to them. Any artifact’s value perhaps felt priceless only to me, ultimately. It is the STORIES I crave and these hand-me-downs bring the memories and my soul to rejoice. I want to protect and preserve.
Maybe my heart’s call as service to others honors my ancestors, lives out in legacy. I can confirm I am a lifelong learner – and, most often the hard way. But, if it comes from the heart, is it ever wrong? Let me tell you, if you keep with these ancestry storylines I’m putting down – along the way, your heart will ache. Fair warning.
But, let’s first take a moment to reflect with some levity. Where my educators AT?!
Check out this excerpt from my WKU folk studies professor William Lynwood Montell’s 2011 publication, Tales from Kentucky One-Room School Teachers:
In 1872, the Kentucky State Legislature formally mandated its nine “Rules for Teachers”:
Teachers each day will fill lamps, trim the wicks and clean chimneys.
Each morning teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day’s session.
Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs to the individual taste of the pupils.
Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they attend church regularly.
After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or any other good books.
Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.
Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of his earnings for his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society.
Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good cause to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty.
The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty-five cents per week for his pay, providing the Board of Education approves.
Okay, with so much to unpack here, is it even possible? Take a moment. Read it again. Read it aloud to someone. I wonder how much of this was still codified when my grandmother was a one-room school house teacher almost 50 years later.
d. 1811 – Augusta County, Virginia (to be vetted further)
In the name of God (above) I William Mathews of the County of Augusta and State of Virginia, being weak in body and abilities but of perfect mind and memory, and calling to mind that it is appointed for all me once to die, do make this my last will and testament. First, I recommend my soul to God that gave it nothing doubting but I shall receive the same again by the power of Almighty God my body to the earth to be buried in a Christian like manner at the discretion of my Executor to be hereafter named and as touching such worldly estate as it hath pleased God to bless me with in this life, I do will and dispose of as followeth to wit. First, I will and bequeath to my dearly beloved wife one half of all my estate real and personal during her natural life and after her death to revert to my son and to his heirs as is hereafter to be mentioned. Second, to my daughter Jane Fulton or her heirs I leave one dollar. To my daughter Catherine or her heirs I leave one hundred pounds to be paid occasionally at the discretion of my executor. To my son Richard or his heirs I leave one dollar. To my son Joseph or his heirs I leave one dollar. To my son James or his heirs I leave one dollar. To my daughter Mary Rankin? or her heirs I leave… (page illegible). William or his heirs I leave one dollar. To my daughter Elizabeth Gains or her heirs I leave one hundred pounds to be paid by my executor. To my son John, I leave all the residue of my estate real and personal to him and his heirs for ever and I hereby appoint my son John sole executor to this my last will and testament hereby revoking all other wills and declare this to be my last will and testament. In testimony whereof I leave hereunto set my hand and seal this tenth day of January, one thousand seven hundred and ninety nine.
William Mathews
Sign’d Seal’d and pronounced in presence of: Alex Robertson, Wm Curry, Elj Robertson
At a Court held for Augusta County December the 23, 1811. This last will and testament of William Mathews was proved by the oaths of Alexander Robertson and William Curry, two of the witnesses thereto and ordered to be recorded and on the motion of John Mathews the executor named in the said will who made oath and together with John M. Estill and Francis ???? his securities entered into and acknowledged their bond in the penalty of $4,000 conditioned as the law directs certificate is granted him for obtaining a probate in due force.
Peste Jeste Seste?
Chesley Kinnney
that.Kentucky.girl
A 6th-generation Kentuckian on a journey to find out – follow along
born February 26, 1904, Wilmore, KY, died July 30, 1930, Kenton Co, KY. Buried Garland Brook Cemetery, Columbus, Bartholomew Co, IN, Sec. 50.
OBITUARY: YOUNG PASTOR VICTIM OF FEVER
Rev. Ira M. Corman, Erlanger, Dies in Covington Hospital
POPULAR WITH PEOPLE
Body Will Be Sent to Indiana Following Church Rites.
The Rev. Ira M. Corman
Funeral services for the Rev. Ira M. Corman, 26, pastor of Graves Avenue Church of Christ, Erlanger, Ky., who died Wednesday afternoon at Booth Memorial Hospital, Covington, were held Thursday afternoon at the church. The clergyman’s death was due to typhoid fever.
The Rev. William E. Sweeney, pastor of Broadway Christian Church, Lexington, assisted by the Rev. S. S. Lappin and Dr. Fred J. Gielow, conducted the services. The body was sent to Columbus, Ind., for interment.
The Rev. Mr. Corman had been in charge of the Erlanger church for six months and was popular with his congregation. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Vesta Corman.
The Rev. Mr. Corman was a student at Manhattan, Kan., and at the Cincinnati Bible Seminary, and preached for churches at Greenleaf and Morrowville, Kan., while a student at Manhattan. He had conducted six evangelical meetings.
Family library artifact, unknown publication name
Fanny Dean Corman, Martha Jane Bradshaw Corman, Ira Malcolm Corman
My paternal great-grandaunt – Mary Bell Bradshaw Murphy Settles
born 12 April 1867 Mercer County, KY – died 13 May 1953 Fayette County, KY
Lexington, Kentucky – Wednesday Afternoon, May 13, 1953
OBITUARY, 1953: Mrs. Mayme Belle (Bradshaw Murphy) Settles
SETTLES, Mrs. Mayme Belle, 85, of Midway, widow of Will Settles, died at 3:15 o’clock this morning at the home of a granddaughter, Mrs. William Lewis, 494 Sheridan drive, after an illness of two months.
A native of Mercer county, Mrs. Settle was a daughter of the late John T. and Fannie Bradshaw. She attended the Mercer county schools, and was a member of the Victory Christian church.
Besides Mrs. Lewis, she is survived by three sisters, Mrs. Susie Grant, Nicholasville; Mrs. Minnie Scanlon, Prineville, Ore., and Mrs. Martha Corman, Fort Mitchell; two brothers, Horace G. Bradshaw, Georgetown, and Will Bradshaw, Jessamine county; another granddaughter, Mrs. Kenneth Courtney, Midway, and three great-grandchildren.
The body was taken to the W. B. Milward mortuary, where services will be conducted at 11 a.m. Friday by the Rev. Sherman W. Swan, Midway. Burial will be in the Wilmore cemetery.
Bearers will be Lucien Bradshaw, Howard Bradshaw, Avon Bradshaw, Adrian Bradshaw, Howard Long and Elmo Baldwin.
While newspapers are struggling to survive as an industry, I’d like to take a moment to comment on the fact that I can recall the days when there was more than one newspaper edition in a day. I was young but I remember.
~ Other details I have learned ~
Ancestry.com and electronic resources helped me piece together more of her story to supplement the physical family artifacts I am organizing and preserving. An original manuscript and transcribed copies of my grandmother’s own narrative is chock full of her memories and reflections. This is a rich alchemy that swirls around me like the angels’ share or ether when I can piece together elements and bring ancestors’ stories to life.
Mary Bell was the third child and first female of eight children born to the Bradshaw parents, John T. & Fannie (a Murphy). Mary Bell “Mayme” was 16 years older than her youngest sister Susie. At 21 years old, Mayme married Daniel J. Murphy, Jr. in 1888 and over the next nine years birthed four children, only one of which lived beyond a decade.
Surber G Murphy (1889-1890) died in infancy.
Maudy May Murphy (1891-1899) died before age 10.
Florence Murphy (1893-1894) died in infancy.
Viola Murphy (1897-1928)
Family portrait on porch of unknown house, the Murphy family. Based on research revelations, I estimate this was taken circa 1898-1899. Seated: front, center Maudy May Murphy (lived fewer than 10 years), second row, mother Mary Bell Bradshaw Murphy, father Daniel J. Murphy, Jr. holding Viola Murphy (who was only 2 years old when Maudy May died). Standing: Susie “Mattie” Bradshaw and Martha Jane Bradshaw. Barely visible within this family portrait are layers and layers of grief behind those faces. And, a tragedy about to strike.
Certificate of Death, Commonwealth of Kentucky
Mary Bell, an 86-year old, twice-widowed housewife, died at 494 Sheridan Drive in Lexington, Fayette County 2:15 am on May 13, 1953, where she had been for two months. Her usual residence was in Midway, Woodford County. She’d had an operation in April by which she was diagnosed with carcinoma of the liver. There was no autopsy. The cause of death: carcinoma of liver. Interval between onset and death: 4 mons. She was buried in Wilmore Cemetery on May 15, 1953.
On another interesting genealogy note: Her sister-in-law, Eliza Jane Murphy, was married to Surber Corman and had two children before she died at 24 years old along with their unborn third child. Look for more about Eliza and Surber coming soon.
They don’t make ’em like they used to. That coat – Is it a heavy wool? What is the collar – fur? Details of the coat fastener fascinate me.
A single strand of pearls.
A woolen felt hat, perhaps. I can’t place the texture.
Have you ever wondered if you should have been born in a different era?
What catches your eye first? Her classic beauty, the direct gaze. One hand draped in a relaxed state while the other shaped as a relaxed fist. Feet somewhere between first and second position. Is the background a painted backdrop with a real, high-back chair?
I look forward to learning more about this woman and her connection to the family. She may have married a Corman and her maiden name Rhorer is listed among the earliest settlers of the county from the Morovian community, the United Brethren. The 1920 US Census shows her family lived near the Corman siblings enclave south of Nicholasville, Jessamine Co, KY. The Rhorer family cemetery is near the Corman family cemetery on Bethel Pike.
Oh, my Martha Jane. Her story will break your ever-loving heart. She lost her mom when she was five years old. She and her sister were raised by Shakers at Pleasant Hill, KY. Plucked suddenly from that idyllic, utopian children’s life to then carrying the weight of consummate caregiving for a family in crisis.
She was brought to apply all the learning of Shakers care full-time for the family of her eldest sister, Mary Bell Bradshaw Murphy. Martha was thirteen years younger than her sister, who needed help even before her mental breakdown.
Martha Jane broke off a romance after she was scorned by the mother of the man she loved. Martha Jane then married Surber Corman, a young widower with two small children after the recent tragic loss of their mother.
Martha Jane endured burying babies and children from more than one angle. She endured harsh conditions. And, her own tragic end is hard to conceive with the cause of death noted as “2nd & 3rd degree burns over 60% of her body,” according to the KY death certificate.
Traumas and taking on the yoke of someone’s tragedy lives in my DNA. I don’t need 23&Me to tell me that, even if they could. I can think of repeat experiences that fit that depiction.
More on Martha Jane Bradshaw in S1:E 23-E24-E25, coming later.
![[ARTIFACT] 1984: The Jessamine Journal, Thursday, October 18, 1984](https://thatkentuckygirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/screen-shot-2023-07-24-at-6.11.07-pm.png?w=89)
![[ARTIFACT] “Miss Ollie B Rhorer. Just a Pal in Old Kentucky.”](https://thatkentuckygirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/img_5431-1-edited.jpg?w=374)
POST CARD (side 1)
that Kentucky girl 