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Stories and Conversations by Ruby Jewell Keyes Johnson
About ten years ago, two of my sisters, Jeanette Keyes Boman and Marilyn Keyes Armstrong and I went down to Ruby Jewell Keyes Johnson's house and spent the weekend with her. I took my tape recorder with me and recorded her stories and our conversations. I have tried to transcribe the tape and put it all down in this website.
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This is one of my favorite pictures.
This picture was taken right after my Grandparents, William Franklin Keyes, Sr. and Lyda May Bratcher were married. She died at the age of 20 form Complications of Childbirth. |
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Lyda May Bratcher Keyes
I remember the back yard also. Lyda Bratcher Keyes, Joseph's mother planted a Magnolia tree in the back yard and that tree lived for many, many years till Harvey decided to cut it down to plant cotton or corn or something there. But it was beautiful.
Joseph's mother died when he was two years old and he went to live with Grandpa JoBerry and Grandma Eliza Jane Keyes until he was nine years old. He was my playmate and I missed him so very much when they moved him to Louisiana. It broke my heart. I said, "Oh, I'll never see Joseph again." I was almost right. I didn't see Joseph for many, many years, only one time after he moved away. He came back to my Dad's funeral. He was a grown man at that time with a wife and a house full of kids. "Halelujah for Joseph".
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Eliza Jane McAlpin Keyes
Grandmother Eliza Jane Keyes’ yard was like a little Belingrath Garden. It was just beautiful. She worked in it a whole lot and she treasured that yard so much. She would take me and we would walk through the pathways in the yard. It wasn't like your yard or my yard now. It was little pathways all through her yard and she always had something pretty blooming on all of the pathways.
Their house was a long house and it had lightening rods on it at both ends. The kids used to say to me, "They're rich, they have lightening rods on their house." I didn't know what "rich" meant at that time and I don't think they did either. I think they heard their parents say that. But, they were not rich, they just had a real good living and they were very fine Christian people.
I remember the long porch they had. When I had Polio, my dad would take me down there and I couldn't walk. I befin to walk on my tiptoes. My dad would sit on the long porch with me and he would teach me to walk and put my heels down. Finally, I did get one down but I couldn't get the other one down. I remember that porch so well, because of that.
There were about 5 steps down from the house because the house was built up a little. Right in front of the house, the yard tapered off. I called it a rolling lawn. It was just beautiful. Down the walkway she had hedgerows on either side and she kept them cut so smoothly. When she got ready to sod her featherbeds, that was the place to put them. on the hedges.
She had plants of all kinds all through the garden. I guess she had most anything that you could name. She had a picket fence around the yard and outside the picket fence, she had a lot of Day Lilies. It looked like a thousand or more Day Lilies. Every inch of her yard was taken up with some kind of beautiful plant. She loved nature so much.
Eliza Jane also had this beautiful rose bush in the back yard. It smelled so sweet and it was the kind that you didn't have to spray or anything. But, I don't think you had to spray too many things back in those days anyway. After shee died I remember going back to the "Old Homeplace" with my mom and we would go in the backyard and we would gather a big bouquet of roses and take them home with me. I think I love flowers and plants as much as she did.
Then I remember the kitchen. It was off from the house. It was a big, big room with a wooden stove and a dirt floor with a Clay Oven. Grandmother Eliza Jane always kept a fire in the wooden Stove.
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Joseph AndTthe Apple Tree
We were over at Grandma's house one day and as we started out to play, Grandma said to Joseph, "Joseph, don't pick the apples off the tree, they are not quite ripe yet and there are plenty of apples on the ground. So, we went on out and Joseph did not pick the apples off of the tree. Instead, he took hold of the tree and shook it real hard till the ground was covered with apples.
Back in those days, little girls didn't wear pants, so I pulled up my little dress tail and I filled it full of apples. Joseph got a load of apples, and, there was someone else with us... I don't remember if it was my brother Vardaman or not. There was a branch nearby the house, so we went down and sat down on the edge of it and we ate so many apples till we got sick. So, anyway, Joseph didn't pick the apples off the tree, but he got them off just the same.
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Elizabeth Ann Sellers Keyes
Elizabeth Ann Sellers was the wife of Joseph Berry Keyes, Sr. She was born August 29, 1825 in Covington or Jones County, Mississippi. and died July 27, 1912. She was the daughter of John Sellers and Sarah Juriah McLemore and the granddaughter of Andrew M. Sellers. She is also the sister of Susan Aquilla Sellers.
Sarah Juriah McLemore was the daughter of Richard McLemore, born 1773 and Nancy Sellers.
In 1860 Joseph Berry Keyes was living in Covington County, Mississippi. Note: He is listed as Joseph B. in 1870. In 1850 he was listed as "JoBerry". He is buried in the Pine Grove Cemetery about 4 miles north of McGee, Mississippi. The grave is about midway of the cemetery toward the church. Elizabeth Ann is buried next to him.
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Joseph Berry Keyes, Jr.
Grandpa JoBerry Keyes was about the height of Frank Keyes. If you ever knew knew Frank Keyes' son, his youngest son, he was about the height of him and my brother, Ralph Keyes. My brothers were tall. Delton and Harvey were the tallest, but I think Ralph took after Grandpa Keyes.
Grandpa Keyes got sick. He had a bad tooth and went to the dentist. The dentist pulled it and told him that he needed to see another doctor. So, he went to see another doctor and that doctor found out that he had cancer of the mouth.
Grandpa Keyes was sick for quite a while, but I didn't know how sick at that particular time. Being a kid, I just didn't realize that he was that sick. When he died, they buried him over at Zion. I remember in the church, I was so sad, and I cried. I also cried when Grandma Keyes died. It just about broke my heart. I guess I must have cried when everybody died, because I died when our friends died and our relatives died. They were all real close to us, but Grandma and Grandpa Keyes were just very, very special people.
I remember when Grandma Keyes died. I didn't realize that she was sick eithrt. I always walked with her in the garden and she always showed me all the pretty plants. But I do remember when she died. Someone came and got mama and I went with her. We didn't go around the road. It was a road then, but is a highway now. We had a shortcut, where we went through the woods on a pathway. I think it must have been about a mile and we ran every step of the way.
Sometimes when someone would get sick or need help, they would have a big horn that they would blow or rang a big bell. They may have done this, but I don't know which. I remember running with my mama all the way. When we got to the house and we went up on the porch, and went in their bedroom, she was lying across the bed. That's all I remember, but she died. I remember that they carried her body over to Zion and buried her there.
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