TWO VIRGINIA HOMES
In the Fall of 1961 my husband, our daughter Carol, and I took Aunt Mary back
to Appomattox County for a visit to the homes of her childhood. We drove through
the little town of Pamplin and saw the home where they spent their entire childhood
but she did not want to stop there - perhaps the For Sale sign on the house which
was crowded with memories made her want to hurry on. We drove on for two or three
miles to Hixburg. There is a little store and a couple of houses there. We went
inside the store where we met the gracious Mrs. John Hix. Aunt Mary had a letter
with her from the present owner of Happy Valley (which he now calls River Circle)
advising her that she could visit the place at any time. Mrs. Hix said that he was
there only part of the year, so she called the overseer and asked him to let us in
the gate. We drove down the little, wooded road that leads to the river, and the
overseer's sons met us in a wagon and led us to the house. Immense boxwood are in
the front of the old house which faces the Appomattox. The largest pecan tree I
ever remember seeing was in the back yard and several "dependencies". Aunt Mary
was not up to visiting the graveyard where Jacob and Elizabeth and many other
members of the family lie, so we postponed that for another trip.
River Circle is now owned by Mr. Hans Van Nes Allen of Tulsa, Oklahoma. He
has restored the home to great beauty. I shall quote from a letter which his
secretary wrote to Aunt Mary on August 8, 1963. She sent Aunt Mary some colored
photographs of the home and of Jacob and Elizabeth's tombstones.
Mrs. D., I am sure you can understand Mr. Allen's devotion to your ancestors
home, but I wish to add that when he returned from Africa he found in River
Circle an attachment in which he has placed great love, and he really considers
you as "kin" since you are the only one he has contacted who has knowledge of
its origin.
How fortunate we are that he feels this way! I had to peek in the window
before going in, and saw a long table in the dining room set with pewter, as if
ready to serve our ancestors. As we entered the hall, we seemed to be in a hunting
lodge, as saddles were hung about. The living room, authentically furnished, had
ancient magazines casually laid on the table. The kitchen was rustic throughout,
until you looked behind the rustic boards and spied the modern appliances. I re-
member a collection of Indian bows and arrows upstairs.
Emotion crowded us as we realized that Jacob Woodson built this home about
1774 and that his ten children grew up there, some of whom married and moved to
Missouri, and some remained in the general area. Here Silas and Judith and our
grandfather and his two sisters lived, after Judith inherited it from her mother.
Americans of Gentle Birth, Vol. 1, p. 362, gives an account of Jacob Woodson and
then states: "His old home, Happy Valley, still stands in a good state of preser-
vation. Its rows of ancient boxwood and moss-covered wall enhancing its pictur-
esque beauty."
We drove back to Hixburg and then on a mile or so to the Gilliam home.
M.M. Both homes are on the Appomattox River, the Bigelow home being some two
or three miles from Pamplin. The Gilliam home was on the road from Farmville
to Appomattox Court House, along which General Lee retreated, and some eight
or nine miles from the Surrender Ground. Walker's Church, later called Hix-
burg, is on this road about a mile east of the Gilliam place. The river along
here is small and in hill country, but both places were picked where consider-
able bottom land opens up. Grandpa Gilliam built his home, but Happy Valley
was built by great grandfather Jacob Woodson. I think the Gilliam home must
have been built about 1839.
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The Gilliam home was built by Spencer Gilliam. It is now called Rosedale. As
we drove in the yard at the Gilliam home Aunt Mary told us where the garden used to
be. She said that the little house next door, which they called the "office", was
occupied by her grandparents, Spencer and Mary Elizabeth, part of the time when she
was a child, as Uncle Van Gilliam needed the larger house for his growing family.
Aunt Mary said she could still smell the ham cooking from the big house next door,
as she had loved to visit her grandmother in the office.
The present owner, Eugene Sears, came out of the house to see who these
curious visitors were who were investigating the yard and hadn't rung the doorbell.
He greeted Aunt Mary, was introduced to us, his cousins, and then called his lovely
wife, Annie Laura Gilliam Sears, who was also our cousin. Aunt Mary wanted to know
what happened to the huge boxwood that she remembered as a child, and 'Gene said
that after his father, Percy Sears inherited the house, he had them all cut down,
as "they didn't grow a crop." Annie Laura and 'Gene have done a wonderful job of
preserving the beauty and antiquity of the house, and one could well believe the
labor involved in restoring the floors and refinishing the antiques from their
families which filled the house and office. Annie Laura showed us the stick that
lies across the large bed in one of the bedrooms. It was used to make the huge
feather mattress lie smooth under its beautiful old spread. As we were leaving she
went back to the "office" and showed us a little china doll that belonged to "Miss
Elsie" who had given it to her as a child.
Henry Morton told me a story about the river near these two homes.
H.M. I have read many stories about wild pigeons in my life so I will tell
you one papa told me. Across the river from Happy Valley lies a high bluff which
was in his times covered with scrub oak trees. He says these pigeons came in such
vast quantities that farmers would take their wagons there at night, and with long
poles beat down pigeons in such quantities as to partly load their wagons. This
sounds fancy to us today, but last year I read an account reproduced from an old
story saying they would pass in such endless droves that it would darken the sun.
They are now extinct!
He also told me that he heard stories as a boy about the shad going up the
Appomattox River to spawn. Sometimes they were so numerous in the water that you
could have walked across the river on their backs, if they had been still.
M.M. The Gilliam home was left to Uncle Van Gilliam (Henry Evander). At his
death it went to his oldest son, Harry E. Gilliam. Later it was sold to E.
Percy Sears, son of Mother's sister, Columbia Ann (Aunt Colie). She was the
wife of Samuel D. Sears whose sister (Aunt Alice) was the wife of Uncle Van.
Percy Sears married Myrtle Gilliam, his double first cousin (Harry's sister).
At this date (1948) it is still owned and occupied by these two. They raised
a large family. Until World War II broke it up I had a standing order for
Percy to ship me all the old hams he could spare which were cured in the same
smoke house and by the same method as a hundred years ago.
Eugene Sears, the present owner of the Gilliam house, is the son of Percy
Sears.
Aunt Mary says that the smaller house next to Rosedale used to be a woodworking
shop and she is pretty sure that her daughter Frances' dining room table was built
in that shop.
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