Whitley was thirteen, the baby barely two years old. Each boy, each
slave, Ann herself had certain duties that were well defined and Ann was
the head of the entire enterprize. They set to work gathering and
housing the corn crop. Better quarters for the slaves had to be built
and the log house erected for her and the boys.
Oct. 19, 1838 Ann Cavitt bought from Col. E. L. R. Wheelock 343 and
82/100 acres of land situated on the waters of Cedar Creek on the
Headright and League of ELR Wheelock, being a tract of land sold to her
by said Wheelock. There follows in the official record the description
of this parcel of land with the old-fashioned Calls of the metes and
bounds and the surveyor's name, A. W. Cooke, C.S.R.C., which we finally
figured out was not an academic degree but his alphabetical code for
County Surveyor for Robertson County. This instrument was witnessed by
Seth H. Bates, G. W. Cox and Warren Bingess of the Republic of Texas,
Robertson County. This information is found in Vol. T, Page 135 of Deed
Records of Robertson Co. Republic of Texas.
Cavitt Armstrong had started west as soon as news of his uncle Andrew's
death was received in the Tennessee home of William and Mary Cavitt
Armstrong.
The land bought from Col. Wheelock was being cleared, fenced and crops
planted for fall gathering. The buildings rose one by one through the
fine direction of Indian Bill whom the children called "Uncle Bill" and
to whom Andrew had given his deathbed commission, "Look after my boys as
Miss Ann directs you." Uncle Bill never once shirked or failed the
Cavitt family. He was a tower of strength for seven young boys who
needed the kindly firm hand of a man for guidance in a strange and
perilous land.
Whitley was still too young to take on the bossing of a gang of workmen
and with her sons and the slaves working side by side Ann felt there
might be a better feeling if she employed a white man and used neither
Uncle Bill nor the too-young Whitley for gang boss during the
preparation of the land and the erection of the buildings. With this in
mind, Ann employed for this job one of her neighbors, a man named
Marlin.
The land they planned putting into cultivation did not require turning
with a plow as it was loamy bottom land, loose and well pulverized. For
the purpose of planting they invented a device to be made from a pair of
wheels set one row apart on an axle. The two wheels without tires or
felloes(sic) had their spokes well sharpened. As the wheels were pulled
forward the sharpened spokes made equally spaced holes in the loose soil
into which seed was dropped by hand and covered by hoes being dragged
over the planted seed. Thus it was quick work for five boys to plant two
rows at a time and get the crops in faster than less ingenious people
found possible.
The five Cavitt boys old enough to work were no more fond of a long day
without some frolic than the next family's sons, and it was generally
Volney who proposed and often carried out some prank for the delight of
the whole work gang, brothers and colored boys alike. The Cavitt boys
who were so partial to Uncle Bill resented somewhat this interloper, Mr.
Marlin, and did not spare themselves pains to show it, especially when
his method of bossing was a deadly repetition of the command, "keep
busy, boys."
As the land was being cleared and the brush burned the one hour in the
work day in which they were all allowed rest was at noon when the lunch
was shared by all under the shade of a big tree.
One hot day after their meal of cornpones, bacon, blackeyed peas and
buttermilk was consumed, Mr. Marlin stretched himself on the ground to
rest more comfortably and was soon sound asleep. Volnoy, spying the
snoring figure of his enemy immediately devised a plan to amuse the
others in the group.
To test or "gentle" Mr. Marlin, Volnoy ran a piece of soft cloth over
the sleeper's hands, face, and neck. Seeing that this did not waken him,
the prankster smeared the older man's
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The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched.
It must be felt with the heart. Helen Keller
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Last Blue Promise...Poetry and Links
http://www.fortunecity.com/bally/meath/45/index.html
...It is in silence where music lies...
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Listowner CARRINGTON & CAVITT Surnames ICQ#1280761
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