Creeker Biographies
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Roy & Sarah Caldwell Daniel
Roy and Sarah Caldwell Daniel were united in marriage on June 13, 1929. After trying for a while to start a family she was told she would never be able to have children. Years later, just before she died, my grandmother told us she wished she could see that doctors face now, for in fact she had given birth to 17 children in her marriage to my grandfather.The first of these 17, born in 1931, was Edker and the last was Dorothy, born in 1959. In between these two were 3 more boys, Will (1938), LeRoy (1942-1994) and Charles Caleb (1947) and 12 more girls. Mercedes was the first born daughter (1932) followed by Sarah Ellen (1934), Virginia (1935), Mollie (1937), Dora Jane (1941), Betty Jo (1944), Evelyn (1946-2001), Barbara Ann (1949), Melinda Lee (1950), Delilah Ruth (1951), Beulah Faye (1953) and Mary Magdaline (1954).
Roy and Sarah lived on a mountain just outside of Wallins on what is now Hwy. 119 and raised this large family. They were married to each other for amost 45 years when Sarah died at the young age of 59, which means she was only 14 at the time of their marriage. Theirs wasn't an easy life, but I know some now who envy what they had then. The children respected their parents, everyone worked and worked hard to see that food was put on the table for all.
Of these 17 children, the family has now grown to 175 actual family members. This doesn't count sons or daughters-in-laws, grandsons or granddaughters-in-law. Though there are many of these. These 175 blood members are the children and grandchildren of the 17 offspring of Roy and Sarah Caldwell Daniel. In our family we have just to mention a few, self employed business owners, nurses, teachers, school bus drivers, cable TV operators, factory workers, bank managers, architectural designers, restaurant management employees, college students, brick masons, accountants, laboratory technicians, iron workers, and many present and past members of the Armed Forces. Truthfully, there isn't much one of these Daniel Family Offspring couldn't do.
Every year during Labor Day Weekend, we all try to get together for a Family Reunion. For the past eight years we have been fortunate to have our reunions at the Camp O'Cumberlands on Hwy. 119. Before that we had them up on our mountain, at different homes, and sometimes we used the Fellowship Center in Wallins. But no matter where we have our reunions, there is always a large happy crowd. And the food is out of this world.
Sadly, we have lost several members of our family. Most recently was the death of Evelyn Daniel Stratton of Blue Creek, Ohio. Evelyn was diagnosed with cancer and lived for 48 days. She died at home on November 27, 2001. On May 17, 2000 Roxanne Reyna Baughman died in a car accident near Mt. Gilead Ohio where she lived. She was the daughter of Dora Jane Daniel Reyna McCarter. Before that we had a very tragic loss, two innocent babies still, Dustin and Chelsea Daniel died after being in a car accident near Harlan on June 10, 1998. They were the children of Charles Edward "Chuck" Daniel and the grandchildren of Charles Caleb Daniel. Another one of the 17 children who was the "first" to go was LeRoy Daniel. He died when the coal truck he was working on slipped and fell on top of him at the floodwall site in Harlan. This happened June 17, 1994. On May 9, 1992 we lost Daniel Allen Stratton, again due to a car accident, he was the son of Evelyn Daniel Stratton. Timothy Mark Daniel, son of LeRoy Daniel died as the result of a car accident on March 22, 1983 and his older brother Phillip had died on December 22, 1972 from complications after surgery on his appendix. We have had one stillborn child and have one who is mentally handicapped. Justina Joy Blanton, daughter of Betty Jo Daniel Blanton was born brain damaged and has been a resident of a nursing home since a very young age. Tarama Harris Caldwell lost a son when he was stillborn in September 1980, he was the grandson of Mollie Daniel.
Out of this large and loving family, there have been tragic deaths and unfortunate happenings, but they occur in every family, some no where near the size of ours. We are very fortunate and we know it. Our family continues to grow with the addition of 6 new babies in the year 2001. And I am sure we aren't finished yet.
My grandparents both died too young, as did all of the loved ones I have just written about in the above paragraph. But each and every one of these people lived lives where they were loved and knew it. And I for one am so very proud to be a member of this special group of people the Good Lord saw fit to send to Southeastern Kentucky to live and thrive in the mountains of Harlan County.
Ben Jones
When I was a lad growing up, my folks lived in Wallins Creek. I loved the surrounding hills and have many fond memories. We moved north in 1955 and left the mountains for good. I have been back only twice (when my Aunt Rebecca Honeycutt died, actually she was my mother's cousin, but I always knew her as "Aunt Becky", and again when my Aunt Bertha Bradford died). My boyhood pals were Gerald Baute, Rex Brigman and Bobby Lee. There were others whose names escape me.We did a lot of things hill boys do ... played wargames with BB guns, gathered nuts, picked wild berries, swam in the Cumberland River, played "hoops", baseball, kick the can, marbles, collected lead on the railroad tracks, fished, trapped, built dams and made sagegrass huts, slingshots, bow and arrows. We even made a flat bottom boat once that sunk. Many days were spent just roaming the hills and exploring nature.
Wallins Creek is the only place on earth I have ever found where you can actually "see" the rain coming. We use to let it "chase" us home and then we would sit on the porch and watch it pour down.
I especially remember Donald and Herbert Honeycutt and their parents Wilma and Hagen. Soft spoken and genuinely nice people ... and always nice to kids. We lived just down the hill from them and up above the Wallins Baptist Church.
My parents were Fannie and Rice Jones Sr. Brothers and sisters include: Robert K. Jones, Tom F. Jones, Rice Jones Jr., Martha Sue Jones (Monroe), Vernon H. Jones, Jim C. Jones, Betty G. Jones (Scherman), then me, Joyce A. Jones (Milliff), and Johnny E. Jones. Those in red have passed on.
There are many Aunts, Uncles and Cousins that either lived or got their starts in Wallins Creek. Most have moved away, but I'm sure there are still a few in Wallins Creek, or in the area.
I live in Vandalia, Ohio and am married to Christy Gerber (Jones). Christy is an RN and has a wonderful website at Nurses Are Angels. Our daughter, Lesley Ann Jones, graduated from Wright State University and works in the Dayton area. Matthew is a graduate of University of Cincinnati and is the owner of the largest woodworking plans company in the United States. His plans websites inlcude Creative Woodcraft Plans , Wooden Memories and Furniture Designs.
©Ben Jones. All Rights Reserved.