A Slone's Eye View of Knott

Log home of pioneer Slone family, built probably early 1800's A Slone's Eye View of Knott by COMMODORE SLONE According to legendary historical background , Caney Creek was first settled mainly by two families—Greasy Sparkman, father of Goff (Geof) who took a land patent on the head of Caney, and Little Granny Sizemore and Hi Slone her husband , who took residence lower down on Caney—below the mouth of Hollybush— near Hemp Patch. Little Granny seems to have been very prolific. In previous marriages she acquired three families of Stephenses, Halls, and Adkinses respectively before she married Hi Slone. Hi and Little Granny brought this assortment from somewhere in Virginia and turned them loose on Caney Creek, so named from the canes or reeds that grew abundantly on the creek banks. The four sets of children all took the name of Slone. Little Granny had only one son by Stevens and one by Hi and those two went back to Virginia. The Halls and Adkinses took over Caney Creek in the name of Slone. The Sparkmans were not so prolific; there are not so many left, but as for the Slones, you might safely say that anyone living on Caney Creek for any length of time is either a Slone or married to a Slone. 24 Making moonshine in Ole Ferginny They took up farming for a living, each having a fertile "cove" or a "bottom strip" for a corn "crap" and a garden to provide "sass". No one need go hungry and they seldom did. Some became quite wellto -do. There is a misconception that these settlers and their offspring were illiterates; but if illiteracy means being unable to read, write and do the fundamentals of arithmetic, this is not so. Nearly every one, whether he had attended school or not, had acquired these fundamentals. The Bible , the Blue Back Speller, the Old Third and Fifth McGuffy Reader were necessities in every home. The men were craftsmen as well as farmers. They made their own tables, chairs and bedsteads. Many called themselves coopers—they made "pickling barrels " for the housewives and liquor barrels for the distilleries. There was moonshining then as there is now, but it was just as illegal as now and probably frowned upon more so. Each man was his own architect, Ae designer of his own home, usually built of logs consisting of a big house with a "loft", a kitchen and dining room in back with a "dog run" between. The logs were "snaked" to the site with a mule or oxen and made ready or hewn to size with a broad ax; then a house raising was called and the neighbors came in to notch up the house. Often this house raising was followed by a square dance in the neighborhood or accompanied by a quilting party by the housewives of the neighborhood . The roof of the house was made of boards, i.e., shakes riven witíi a froe from white oak bolts. The floors were either puncheons or whipsawed boards handplaned and matched (jointed). 25 Three or four old style colonial type houses were built entirely of whipsawed lumber and are still in existence. These were two stories with an upper and a lower porch with usually an outside stairway . A whipsaw, a two-man rip, was similar to the "cross cut" with a narrow blade and about six feet long. The log was rolled on a saw pit and cut lengthwise into the desired size planks. The circular steam driven saw was introduced in the early 1900's. The first one I remember was owned by Uncle Dog Hall of Hollybush. My, what a wonder that was to me! Going back to my lineage of Little Granny's progeny, Billy Jaw Bone (her son and Hi's step son) was my great grandfather. You will note a tendency to nickname from Little Granny down to the present generation. We enjoy these names and no one is insulted by their use. I like to be called Summer—no offense at Straw Neck Summers. I hope we don't run out of nicknames. Billy Jaw Bones' male line of descendants were...