Come Go With Us Chapter 155

 

155.

Them two wasn’t sure what Lilly was talkin’ about.

Her land? What was that all about? This grove? This burial site? Was hers an’ hers alone?

“Why would they give this burial site to you? What purpose was there in that?” Ike asked.

Lilly sighed. “Bess, is all my distant kin like this? Or is it just the menfolk? Worries me about the future of our clan.”

Aunt Bess laughed.

Joe Henry grinned but knew he better keep quiet.

“Mostly the fellers, Cousin. Some of the women are right nimble minded. I understood as soon as you started explainin’ things to me when we spoke. Maybe you better start back a bit an’ take a good run at it.” Aunt Bess said as she continued to grin.

Lilly sighed. “Very well. Nels, take me back over to the spot where I was sittin’. Ike, you an Anita follow an’ sit where I can know where you are.”

With that Lilly had Nels turn an’ walk away.

Ike an’ Anita obediently followed.

Lilly sat with Nels’ help. She settled on a little rise in the grass.

Then she pointed to a spot just in front of her.

“Right there. Let me know when you’re settled.” she told them.

Ike an’ Anita sat down an’ settled cross legged.

“We’re sat.” Ike said, real obedient like.

“OK. This is for the addle-pated men-folk and kin-folk. Them’s mostly the same, I reckon.”

Aunt Bess an’ Joe Henry had followed an’ was sittin’ close by to address any questions the others might have.

They both chuckled at Lilly’s “addle-pated men-folk an’ kin-folk”.

“First of all, Daddy an’ Uncle Walter ended up ownin’ the land we been talkin’ to y’all about. Like Nels said, over two hundred acres. That was the best of the Carpenter land for farmin’ an’ such as that. The other members of Daddy’s family, Aunt Sally Ann, his brothers Uncle Gib an’ Uncle John, them three owned this part together.” Lilly told them.

Ike interrupted. “This part? The burial grounds?”

Lilly looked in his direction. She was givin’ him a blind stink eye, if they was such a thing.

He could tell she was a mite put off by his interruption.

“Sorry.” he said.

“Anyways, Aunt Sally Ann, Uncle Gib an’ Uncle John ended up ownin’ this part. This part ain’t got much in the way of tillable fields. There’s a meadow back yonder. Pretty good sized lake too, from what I been told. Lots of timber too. Now an’ again the family has select cut trees for land management an’ to sell. Sold a lot of them chestnut trees when the blight hit. Pays the taxes that way. One good tree might pay taxes for a year or two.”

“They all wanted to make sure I was took care of. As they got older, they all went together an’ gave their land to me. What’s left of it, that is.” Lilly told them.

“What’s left? What land?” Ike asked.

Lilly paused. “I’ll let that interruption go. They all got together an’ gave Uncle Walter an’ Daddy the portion of land we’ve been talkin’ about since they lived here. Farmed the land all their lives. The brothers an’ Aunt Sally Ann was given the rest. It was actually always two parcels. The first parcel was where Great Grandpappy David an’ Grandmammy Jane settled. However many grands they are. That’s what is ours. What Daddy an’ Uncle Walter got. The second parcel is mostly behind the parcel that was the original parcel. Y’all do know that David got a land grant just like the four brothers got, right?”

Ike nodded then spoke, “Yep. Aunt Bess told us about that. She showed up in the journals that each of the four brothers got five hundred acres in land grants. We saw that David Carpenter got more.”

“He did. He was a corporal in the Revolutionary War. He got seven hundred fifty acres. That’s the other parcel.” Lilly said.

Aunt Bess added, “That’s the land we was never able to find. We found no record of it in any of the journals me an’ Joe Henry worked through. Couldn’t find any mention of it in the journals Ike brought from Oklahoma either. We thought it was lost.”

Nels spoke up. “Nay. Never was lost. Just not as fertile an’ tillable as the home place land. Family’s owned it for generations. The state came through an’ took some for a road. Our Daddy, our Great Uncles an’ Aunt gave some smaller parcels to family members. Them families all sold them parcels to others an’ they’s out of the family ownership.

“Wow. How much is left?” Ike asked.

“There’s four hundred seventy one acres left. Four hundred seventy acres left that Aunt Sally Ann, Uncle Gib an’ Uncle John gave to me to help care for me if Daddy, Mama, Uncle Walter an’ Nels wasn’t able to take care of me. I was told to log it if I needed help with medical care an’ so on. They told me to sell the whole thing if I was in need.” Lilly said with a quiet voice.