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The Virts
Families
It’s the summer
of 1975 and the phone rings at the home of Raymond Virts on the Long
Lane. For many homes this is a typical event that occurs several
times each day. For this Virts home it is the first time a phone has
ever rung in this house. You see a phone was one of those things
that is not necessary to sustain the quality of life that one needs
to survive.
Survive is what
typically represents the Virts families. Never asking for more than
what is needed, but giving more than is asked. The Virts families
that lived on the Long Lane are typical of the hardworking Virts
found everywhere.
James Marion
Virts' Family
The Long Lane is
a one and one-half mile dirt road in Western Loudoun County,
Virginia. About four miles west of Lovettsville and located at the
base of the East side of the Short Hill Mountain. It is here where
several Virts families made there home for more than 100 years. Back
to the times of James Marion Virts, the son of Eliza Virts and the
sixth generation of Wilhelm Wurtz. James took up permanent residence
in the mid 1800’s in a small one room log home located about
three-quarters of a mile from the end of the Long Lane in the Short
Hill Mountain. James owned and operated a small store on the Long
Lane for a few years before settling into farming.
James raised a
family of eight children. His sons Oscar Franklin and Elbert
Franklin and daughter Rose would also call the Long Lane their
permanent home.
Oscar married
Mary Catherine Mann and moved into a house that was located in the
woods behind the Woodland School located on George’s Mill Road.
Oscar will live here for a few years before returning to the Long
Lane to live on the Charlie Steven’s farm. The Steven’s farm is the
old Potterfield place were John Moberly the Confederate Soldier was
assassinated. I have heard my grandfather and uncles say when it
rained you could see Moberly’s blood stains in the barnyard where he
died.
Oscar remained
on the Steven’s’ farm until the 1920’s when he moved into a two-room
log cabin on a piece of property that he purchased located at the
end of the Long Lane at the base of the Short Hill Mountain. About
1924 he built a frame home on the site tearing down the old log
home. Many of the logs were used in construction of the buildings.
The frame home was what you might consider a “pre-fab home." Many of
the interior walls were from other homes that had been torn down.
The doors were also from other houses as well. The frame house still
stands today and this is were my mother lives. Five generations of
Virts have lived in that house dating back to my great-grandfather
James Marion.
By now it was
the late 1920’s and James Marion and his wife Mary Elisabeth Leigh
were living with Oscar. James divided up his household items amongst
the children and sold his place for $100. Mary died in 1926 and a
few years later James suffered a stroke. James died in 1933.
The 1940’s would
again bring tragedy to the her sixty-fifth birthday in 1942. Raymond
would be drafted in the army at the young age of 32 and be called
off to serve in Europe for almost two years during World War II.
The 30’s and
40’s would find Oscar and his family busy working on the Charlie
Steven’s farm and for Charlie Painter’s sawmill that was located in
the Chestnut Orchard right in front of Oscars’ home. The wood in
front of his home was called the Chestnut Orchard for all of the
chestnut trees that it contains. Today all of those trees are gone,
wiped out by the blight that occurred in the 40’s. There must have
been some big trees. I can remember seeing a chestnut tree stump
that existed when I was young that would have easily measured five
feet across.
My first
recollections of my grandfather were when I was about six years old.
I can vividly remember him taking his pocket knife and dipping his
Rose Bud snuff as he would set in his straight back Waterford Chair
by the kitchen window. He was a small man in size, about 5’9” and
maybe weighing 150 pounds. He had a full head of snow white hair. He
was tuff as nails and kept going until just a few weeks before he
died at the age of 89 on February 3, 1967. I can remember him
looking out that kitchen window two days before he died and said
“See the white horses down in the Chestnut Orchard." I guess he was
speaking of the angels coming to carry him home.
There was no
running water in that house I grew up in and still none to this day.
I have fetched a many pale of water from the spring that is about
one hundred yards from the house. Not only did we have to carry
water for human consumption but the hogs, chickens and the rest of
the animal needed water as well.
The hogs
provided the meat and the chickens provided the eggs that made up
our protein intake. Once in a while we would have one of the extra
roosters for Sunday dinner. Speaking of dinner, that was the mid-day
meal at my home. The evening meal was called supper. The mid-day
meal was also the biggest meal of the day not the evening meal. It
puzzled me for years why we called lunch dinner and dinner supper.
So I looked up the meaning of dinner and it clearly states that
dinner is the “largest meal of the day. ” Guess those old uneducated
Virts’ who did not know what a dictionary was, was right all along.
Education was
something that was rare in those days. I believe my Father and Uncle
Lester had the most. I remember my Uncle Theodore telling me that in
1909, the teacher at the local school brought him a speller and a
new slate to encourage him to go to school. Well, Theodore never did
go but he did keep that book and slate until his death.
The most
important thing back then was not education but putting food on the
table, and that meant work. I remember my father saying that my
grandfather would hire the older boys out to other farmers to help
thin corn for about twenty-five cents a day. You basically did what
ever was necessary to survive.
Until the early
1970’s the Long Lane had several Virts families. There Was Oscar
Virts, my grandfather who lived with his two sons Theodore Virts,
who was not married and my father, Raymond Virts who was married to
Mary Hackley. My mother was from the other side of Short Hill
Mountain over in Neersville, Virginia. My Uncle Lester married my
mother’s sister Lillie and my cousin Leroy, Uncle Elbert’s son also
married one of my mother’s sisters, Jessie. I can recall my father
talking about his dating of my mother walking back and forth across
the mountain at all hours of the night.
Also living on
the Long Lane was Oscar’s son Russell who was married to Ada Riley,
his daughter Jessie who was married to Walter Frye, his sister Rose
who was married to William “Bus” Everhart, who lived with two of
there three sons Stanley and Milford. William Everhart, Jr. lived in
Falls Church, Virginia. Milford was a part-time resident. He was
separated from his wife and lived here some of the time. Other times
he would be hitch hiking around the country. If was nothing for him
to disappear for months at a time. He would go over to Brunswick,
Maryland and jump on a freight train and go from there. Maybe end up
in Texas and work there for a while and then come back home.
There was his
Uncle Elbert, Oscar’s brother, who was married to Viola Riley. Uncle
Elbert lived with his daughter Catherine who was blind. She had been
blinded in the 1940’s form pesticide when she worked at the Loudoun
Orchard. Also living on the Long Lane was John (Robert Lesley) Virts,
uncle Elbert’s son. He lived with his daughter Elsie and Ruby. He
also had a son Tommy (Leo) but he had already left home by the time
I came along. You also had Mrs. Flossie (Everhart) Cooper, her son
Garland Cooper and his son’s Mike and Garland. Her other two
children Gilbert and Ludell lived in Brunswick, Maryland. Ms. Ray
Everhart and her brother Russell, they were siblings of Ms. Flossie
and Bus Everhart. They all were distant relatives of the Virts.
Oscar’s brother
Thomas William also lived on the Long Lane on the old Vincel
homestead. He died long before I was born. They tell me that I am
the spitting imagine of him.
Uncle Elbert was
the first to move away. In 1969 he had public sale of his most of
his household goods and sold his place. He bought a small home in
the town of Lovettsville. His son John would follow in about a year.
He would sell his farm to the same man that bought Uncles Elbert’s,
Mr. Buckley, and move to the town of Lovettsville. Mr. Buckley,
lived in Uncle Elbert’s place for a couple of years before it burned
down one night.
While these two
Virts families were leaving the Long Lane another was moving back to
his roots. Howard Gosnell, Jr. He was the son of Lillian Virts, who
was the daughter of Oscar. Howard bought a piece of land from Mr.
Buckley off the John Virts farm and built a house.
Today only my
Aunt Jessie and my mother remain. Jessie still lives in the same
house that she did with her husband. My mother still lives on the
home-place, but as I write this story it is up for sale. Uncle
Russell’s house sits empty, it is owned by his daughter Althea
Swartz. Aunt Rose’s house is also empty. Mr. Pipkin lives on the
John Virts farm. Mr. Motter bought the land that Uncle Elbert’s
house used to be on and built a new home. Mr. Theaurex owns Ms.
Flossie’s place and where Ms. Ray and Russell Everhart lived is
falling down. Mike Cooper still lives on the Long Lane in his
fathers home and William Everhart, Bus’s son moved back from Falls
Church and built a new home on his fathers place. His wife and
daughter live there now. When my uncle, Theodore, who was the last
male Virts still living on the Long Lane passed away in 1996 it was
as if an era came to an end.
Oscars Franklin
Virts’ Family
My father,
Raymond worked on a sawmill for Mr. William Painter for several
years. Besides running a sawmill, Mr. Painter built several houses
in Lovettsville and my father did finish carpenter work for him. My
father was a tall slim man, he favored his mother side of the
family. He was a meticulous neat person, who never threw anything
away. After he passed away I even found my grandfathers draft card
from 1903 neatly tucked away in a box, he was simply a pack rat. He
believed in preserving the land and not destroying it with
chemicals. I sincerely believed if he had his way he still would
have farmed with horses. He very dearly held to his roots and the
old ways.
My Uncle
Theodore worked on several farms as well as dug graves and took care
of the Mt. Olivet Church cemetery. He used to love to split wood. I
think he would split wood twenty-fours and day, 365 days a year if
he could. I think that is what kept him young all of those years.
Theodore was about 5’9” and weighed maybe 160 lb. He looked like the
Virts.
My Uncle Russell
lived across the road from us and he did a lot of work for Dr.
Mallory on his farm. He also dug graves and took care of the Mt.
Olivet Cemetery. Rarely would he miss a Sunday that did not open up
the church and turn the heat on in the winter for the congregation.
Regardless of the whether he would walk the two miles to the church
to insure this was done. He would go down to the church on Saturday
to clean it and every Sunday morning to open it up.
My Aunt Jessie
married Walter Frye and lived a quarter of a mile down the road from
us. They used to raise a lot of chickens to sell their eggs. Uncle
Walter also work on the railroad in Brunswick. He was hurt in an
accident in the early sixties and never did fully recover, but was
able to get up and around and did some of the work at home.
Aunt Goldie
married Benton Stone and by the time I came along she lived on the
Axline place on Axline road and then moved to Waterford. She did not
return back to the Long Lane until after her husband died, when she
came back to live with my aunt Jessie after Walter died.
Uncle Lester had
moved to Philomont by the time I was born. He was working on a dairy
farm there. He the moved to the Purcellville area and worked for
Gallahan Contracting until finally taking a job with the Virginia
Department of Highways in the early 1970s.
Aunt Lilly, died
before I was born so I do not remember her at all.
The Seasons
Spring would
mean the time to hunt for mushrooms. Morels, a sort of Christmas
tree shaped mushroom. They came in two colors, dark brown and ivory.
They grew for a few weeks in early spring usually in early April.
You could only find them in certain areas of the mountain and if the
whether conditions were just right.
Spring was also
time to plant the garden, and everyone had a huge garden. I remember
we would plant two hundred pounds of potatoes, over one-hundred
tomato plants, several kinds of beans, beets, carrots, peas, onions,
radish, lettuce, pumpkins and corn. We did not plant any exotic
vegetables, it was the ones that could be easily canned and put away
for winter. We also had strawberries that would be ready to pick
around Memorial day. We would make jelly out of them, we did not
have a freezer back then. In the spring you would begin to set your
hens to raise these years crop of chickens. We would rise between
forty and eighty every year, hoping that half would turn out to be
hens. The roosters would be killed or sold in the fall.
As spring lead
into early summer you would began to reap some of the benefits of
your labor in the garden, lettuce, radish and spring onions would
now be ready to eat. This was also the time to pick raspberries,
blackberries and huckleberries. Huckleberries, the look and taste
like blueberries except they are about half the size. They grow wild
in the mountain. All of these berries would be made into jam or
jelly. We also had cherry trees and they would be ready for harvest
around the 4th of July. They also would be turn into preserves or
canned, for later use in pies.
As summer
replaced spring you would reap the harvest of the garden canning
your corn, peas, carrots and beans. Some of the beans would be left
to dry and then picked and shelled from their hauls. Then they would
go through additional drying and finaly be put into white cotton
sacks and hung on the back porch for later consumption. Around late
July or early August you would dig the potatoes and if we were lucky
and had any extra we would sell them. We usually got about three to
five dollars for a bushel. In August we would pick peaches and
grapes. We had both white and concord grapes, again the would become
jelly. The peaches would be canned or turned into preserves.
Summer was the
time when you had to be careful of the poisonous snakes, especially
copperheads and rattle snakes. We never did see very many rattle
snakes, probably only four or five in my lifetime, but copper snakes
were plentiful every year. When you would gather the eggs you had
take a look in the nest first to make sure there was not a copper
snake in the nest. Summer would also bring other predators of
chickens as well. We always had our share of foxes, hawks and
bobcats to contend with. There was also the problem with bees.
Living in the country it seem that every building had plenty of
bee's nest. Summer also brought the call of the whippoorwill. They
would call out in the night along with the screech owl and the barn
owl. I have not heard the call of the whippoorwill in many years.
Other birds common in my youth such as the pheasant and the bobwhite
(quail) are very rarely seen anymore.
Another thing I
miss from not living in the mountain anymore is the sound of the
wind as it would roar through the mountain sounding like a speeding
freight train. I also love the sounds of thunderstorms with the rain
pounding down on the leaves of the trees. You could hear it as much
as a half-mile away, and it would slowly get louder as it
approached.
Fall was a busy
time of year. It was time to hunt Ginseng. That strange plant that
only grows in certain parts of the mountain. You would dig the root
of the plant after its berries would ripen in the fall. After
digging you would wash and let it dry until all the moisture content
was gone. You then would pack it up and send it off to a buyer in
Pennsylvania or Missouri, depending on who was giving the best
price. I was getting about $100 per pound. Fall also was the time to
get the winter fuel in, wood. You would fill the woodshed with the
wood you had cut and split last winter, that had dried and seasoned
all summer.
November was
butchering month for just about everyone. Each person would butcher
from two to fourteen hogs, depending on the size of your family.
Thanksgiving Day was always our day to butcher. You had to have a
set day each year to insure you had the proper help, since everyone
helped each other. I always enjoyed butchering for it was like a
family reunion that took place several times during the month of
November. There was always a friendly competition to see who had the
biggest hog. We always weighed them after they were dressed. I
remember one year we had one that weigh 450 lb. We would cure our
hams, shoulders and side meat. We made our own sugar cure. It
consisted of salt, pepper, brown sugar, black and red pepper and
salt peter. My mother would take the sausage either loose or stuffed
and fry it down then put it into jars and cover it with lard. The
ribs, and backbone would bw put in brine in big stone jars. Brine
was a mixture of water and salt. The formula was a simple one. To
insure you had enough salt in the water you simple would get a large
egg to float in the water. It always worked, never did have once
piece of meat to spoil. As I look back I am very happy that this is
a tradition that I still carry on. Sometimes I have a hard time
convincing my fourteen year old daughter of this, but hopefully
someday she will appreciate this dying art. I have tasted the store
bought sausage and ponhaus (scrapple), but it can not compare to
what is made at home.
As November
passed into December winter would begin to set in. Time to cut next
years supply of wood. Winter was tuff when I was growing up.
Sometimes you would be snowed in for a week or more. I can remember
many of a time having to walk to Lovettsville for milk and bread.
The highway department back then sometimes would not get the road
open for several days.
In the winter we
would trap animals fur their fur. When I was in my teens' furs were
bring pretty good prices. A raccoon would get as much as $20 and a
red fox would bring as much as $50. We also trapped skunks,
muskrats, minks, opossums and weasels. I used to sell my furs to Mr.
Wilt, he was also our mailman. So all I had to do was leave a note
in the mailbox and he would come by and pick them up. He also a trap
along his mail route. Winter was not a fun time, especially living
in an old house with only a wood stove for heat, no running water,
but you know we were sick very little with colds, and did not know
what an ear infection was. We survived to live another spring again.
The Long Lane
Today
Today all the Virts are gone from the
Long Lane. Uncle Elbert’s place burned down in the 70’s, Uncle
Russell’s place sits empty, my grandfather’s home was sold, torn
down an and replaced by a new home.
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