Homes of Crayne Citizens III

Here are some more familiar homes you can see as you drive through Crayne.

Not too way from the  Allie and Vera Kirk home was the home of Allie's brother, Vernon "Bud" and Irene Kirk.

I believe this home must have been built around the same time as Allie's home, for Bud and Irene lived in Detroit, Michigan for a while.  Their children Kenneth and Linda were born in Michigan.  By 1942 they had moved back to Crayne, and their third child, Jim was born.  

After Bud died in 1989, Irene moved to Marion, and the house and farm were sold soon after.  This is the way the house looks today.  I don't know who owns it or lives there now.

Right in the heart of Crayne is my home.  My dad started building this home about 1947.  It was going to be for my grandmother, Ethel Brantley, Mom's mother.  She lived right next door and her home was the larger house, plenty big for our family of four.  When this house was started it had only 3 rooms, only the necessary rooms, kitchen, bedroom and a living room.

Somehow along the way, the plans were changed and Mom and Dad decided to keep the new house and over the years Daddy kept adding on the it, with large bathroom, family room, utility room, until in finally ended up with nine rooms.  It was a wonderful home to grow up in, as there was always room for our friends to visit.  This picture was made in 2004, and it looks the same all but the ice storm damaged the sugar maples in the yard and now  they are only tree trunks with some stubby limbs.  It's still my home.

Friend share memories

My childhood friend, Nancy Ellen Sutton Lynch, is a follower of my Crayne Blog.  She grew up on the Lilly Dale School Road.   She has a memory that is unbelievable about the people, places and things that took place while she was a child.  She shared some of these memories after she read the last two postings about the old homes.

From Nancy:

  "When I saw Mr. Allie and Mrs. Vera's house, I could hear her voice in the choir at church.  She sure was a singer and enjoyed it so much.  I think that she played the piano, too.  Mrs. Wilma Keeling was the regular one, but I'm sure Mrs. Vera was the back up player.

Miss Ida Ordway's home didn't look much different in the picture and when she lived in it.  One Halloween, some of the boys thought how funny it would be to scare Miss Ida.  Well, they were the ones that got the surprise.  She fired a rifle right over their heads.  When they took off running, they ended up running into a barbed wire fence.  So I'd say that Miss Ida got the last laugh."

Homes of Crayne Citizens

This old empty house was once the home of William "Bill" and Julia (Long) Ordway.  The house is located just a mile or more south of Crayne, almost directly across the road from the Allie and Vera Kirk home that is listed in the last article.

The history of when the house was built is not known for sure, but it is probably at least a hundred years old. Bill and Julia Ordway lived here until they died and then their daughter Ida Ordway lived here until she died Jan. 22, 1967.  The house has sat empty every since.  It has withstood wind, rain, snow, sleet, hail and still stands today .  This picture was made in the summer of 2008.

William Ordway was born Nov. 15, 1855 and died April 10, 1925.  His wife Julia was born July 8, 1859 and died Dec. 23, 1935.  They are all buried at the Crayne Cemetery.

Homes of Crayne citizens

Allie and Vera Kirk Home.  Located about a mile south of Crayne on Hwy. 641.  Their son, Maurie Huston Kirk, told me this house was built in 1941.  The basement was built with a team of mules and a scraper.  They mixed the concrete there at the house site and poured it.  

Vera died in 1995 and Allie continued to live in their family home until he passed away in 2001 at the age of 99.

The house sat empty until the summer of 2009 when Houston and Virginia's grandson, Matthew Systo moved into the house.  The home once again has family members occupying it's once empty rooms.  It's always good to see family members taking care of their old homeplace.

Our beloved Crayne Knobs

Crayne is nestled at the foot of the Crayne Knobs.  They have also been called the Twin Knobs, as they were so close together and as you can see from the picture, almost the same size and shape.  The shape has become somewhat distorted in the past years and they have been logged for timber and then the 2009 ice storm left the remaining timber in a sad shape.

These friendly knobs were wonderful to all the kids growing up in Crayne.  Several generations of families have had children that love to "go to the knobs" for a day of fun and adventure.  I've spend hours and hours here playing on the rocks, climbing looking for new hideouts, finding all kinds of wild ferns growing on the moss covered rocks, and standing on the top thinking we had conquered the world.   All seasons had fun times on the knobs or at the foot of them, for there were small ponds in the fields, and creeks that ran through the woods. When it would snow, me and brother Billie, would head for the knobs for tracking of animals.  What fun it was just to follow the rabbit tracks that were everywhere and around the streams would be other kinds of tracks that just ran on endlessly.

Childhood friends that I grew up with and played on the knobs with were Sheryl and Sandra Ferguson, Clinton Bigham, and Harold Cannon.  My faithful wonderful little dog, Bullet, always went with me too.  He and I made many trips just by ourselves, visiting this favorite childhood place to play and dream.

It has been a few years since I've made that long remembered walk to the Knobs.  They called for me  to come for a visit on a sunny Saturday afternoon in March of 1996.  I climbed to the top and looked out over my home of Crayne and it was as it always had been.  Below you could see the little village with the Crayne USA Presbyterian church in the center and the homes nestled all around.  A wonderful  peaceful site, and I must make that trip again - come springtime.

Crayne Cemetery

The Crayne Cemetery sits a top a gradual slopping hill.  You don't realize that you are this high up until you reach the cemetery and stand and look around at the country side.  It's a beautiful view from the top, no matter what season it is.

No document has been found that actually tells when the Crayne Cemetery was started or who gave the land for this purpose.  It has been said that the Spurlin Woodall family gave the land, but there is no deed at the Court House to document the fact.  It must have been done by the year 1900, for the first burial that is noted is Dec. 7, 1900 for Leona Tabor, an infant belonging to G. J. and Elressie Jennings Tabor.  Soon after this date, other burials started being here.

These are the steps leading up to the cemetery from the front entrance.  Several years ago the bank was lined with beautiful old Cedar Trees.  I hated to see them go since they had always been a part of the cemetery.  But it seems they had become rather tattered from the weather over the years and some thought they needed to cut down as limbs were always breaking off of them.  But the cemetery has never looked the same since they were cut down.

The cemetery holds many of the loved one from the Crayne community and surrounding area.  Many of the  old family names, that were so familiar years ago to the Crayne community, are all gone now.  The original family members all passed away and their children moved away to different places. 

The cemetery is home to Civil War Vet, David Brookshire, also the 1st Crittenden County young man to be killed in action in World War I, Ellis B. Ordway, son of William and Julia Long Ordway.  Killed July 26, 1918 in France.   There are other Veterans buried here also, put mostly just ordinary working folks who loved Crayne and never wanted to leave and if they did have to leave, wanted to come back for their last resting place in their hometown cemetery.

The Crayne Cemetery is lucky to have a local Cemetery Board who oversees the maintenance and care. of it.  On the 1st Saturday in June, for the past several years, they have a fish fry to raise funds to go into the account to help keep the Cemetery maintained.  

Remembering James Robert Dorroh

James Robert Dorroh passed away today, Jan. 15th.  He will be missed by all his friends and loved ones.  His presence will be missed in many areas of the community.  His spot in the Crayne Presbyterian Church will be empty and cannot be filled.  His shy smile and dry sense of humor will be missed by all that knew him.

James Robert loved his hometown of  Crayne, and thanks to him there is a  lot of history recorded about the early days of this little community.  He knew so much history about the people and the stores that used to be in the community.  We are lucky that he wrote several articles about his memories,  we are fortunate to have these. 

He would have been 84 on Feb. 11th of 2010.  The picture at the right is at the Crayne School Reunion this past August 2009.  He was sharing some of his school memories with the people that were there.  His memory was very sharp and clear.

All summer long I had meant to stop and visit with him, as I had some questions I wanted to talk to him about.  As happens so many times, I waited too long and now it's too late.  He is gone and the questions will remain unanswered.  I'll miss you James Robert and the community of Crayne will sadly miss you.  You were the heart behind Crayne Day.