“And your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” Acts 2:17 (KJV)
Bart Childs, transcriber February 26, 2013
“The picture and note apparently came from Ottie (Duckett) Taylor (1901-1986). Callis Childs copied these and sent them to me (Bart Childs), January 2013. The original picture is a tintype. We have not yet compared the handwriting but I certainly believe this is Ottie’s.” (Relationships explained at the end.)
Ottie wrote:
The way I remember this picture.
She was Grandpa Childs’ sister. She lived many miles away—I don’t know where. She got sick, very sick. She wanted her brother.
Grandpa’s story. He dreamed one night she was calling for him. He went back to sleep & had the same dream. He got up and read his Bible. He knew where to find his scripture. It said you can be warned in dreams. (I don’t quote it exactly.) Anyway, it tells of premonitions, etc. The young has dreams, the older has visions. Then he went back to bed thinking “if I have it again I’ll get up and go to my sister.” It seems to me her name was Seady and Mama was named for her. Any way he had the same dream the third time.
He got up, saddled his horse & rode all night. The first thing she said was, “Did God warn you in a dream to come to me? I’ve prayed to him all night to warn you.” She died.
I’ve heard the story many times. When I was a little girl I’d get scared when he told it and think, “I’ll just not dream.” But as I grew older I did “Dream.” It was always of a cabin that Joe & I enjoyed.
paper too thin. finish on yellow.
[Nothing further provided by Bart or Callis.]
Ottie Ozella (Duckett) Taylor (1901-1986): daughter of Seady Tennessee Childs (1878-1918) and Selma Era Duckett (1872-1959). Author of the story. Lisa Childs (granddaughter of Orval Childs) has some of her correspondence with Floy (Turrentine) Childs (Orval’s wife), and at least once Ottie makes passing reference to dreams and visions, in asking after Ottie’s aunt/Orval’s mother Mellie (Duckett) Childs.
Grandpa Childs: Lewellen Moore (“Lewis”) Childs (1851-1915). His daughter Seady Tennesse (Childs) Duckett was Ottie’s mother.
Seady (Childs) Cook: Lewis’ sister. We don’t know much else about her (yet). She was born about 1845, shows up in the 1850 (Fayette County, Alabama), 1860 (Choctaw County, Mississippi) and 1870 (Monroe County, Arkansas) census with her parents. In 1870 (age 24), she is indexed as Seady Cook, suggesting a marriage to a Mr. Cook, who presumably died. We haven’t found her in the 1880 census, and it seems plausible that she could have died before 1878, when Ottie’s mother Seady was born.
Callis Childs: son of Vandiver Lafayette Childs (1914-1998), grandson of Vandiver Lafayette “Buster” Childs (1881-1914), great-grandson of Lewellen Moore Childs (1851-1915).
Bart Childs: son of Orval Allen Childs (1910-1998), grandson of Vandiver Lafayette “Buster” Childs (1881-1914), great-grandson of Lewellen Moore Childs (1851-1915).
Other speculation: Monroe County, where we have the last trace of Seady Cook, is in eastern Arkansas. Lewis had moved further west by 1877: He married Martha Tennessee Fite in Montgomery County, Arkansas in June 1877, and cleared land and built a cabin in Howard County in December 1877-January 1878. Even riding a very fast horse, he couldn’t have reached Monroe County by riding all night (150 to 200 miles). It may be that Seady died earlier (before he moved west) or that Seady had moved west as well.
Another of Lewis’ sisters, Louanna Tennessee (Childs) Shaw, had moved to Marble Township, Garland County (later Saline County), Arkansas (from Choctaw County, MS) by 1880. From Mount Ida to Marble Township is around 55 miles; 65 miles from Duckett to Marble Township. Their father (Thomas) is reported to have died about 1871, so Seady may have moved to Garland County to join her sister. (We could look for property records to substantiate or disprove these theories.)
Why was it important to Seady that Lewellen be at her death bed? Were her other siblings there? Lewellen had three siblings known to be living in 1880:
- John Henry Childs (1835-1904) stayed in Mississippi
- Louanna Tennessee (Childs) Shaw (1838-1923), moved from Choctaw County, MS to Garland County (later Saline County), AR between 1870 and 1880
- Amanda A. (Childs) Evans (1848-1915) stayed (and died) in Monroe County, AR after Lewellen moved west
I don’t know what happened to two other sisters:
- Susannah E Childs (born 1837) after the 1860 census, except that somebody said she married a Bobo, or
- Mary P Childs (born 1853) after the 1870 census.
Orval and Mac, Sr., both told me Llewelyn rode 20-something miles (to where, I’m unsure) through the night after the third time he had the dream. When he arrived, Seady was dying, and her husband met Llewelyn at the door when he arrived, exclaiming “Thank God you’re here. She’s been calling for you since early this afternoon.” She died shortly afterwards. I was under the distinct impression that Seady had moved west.
Shortly before her death when I was in 2nd grade, Mellie June Duckett Childs was a resident of Magnolia Manor nursing home, and the last few times Mac Sr. visited her, she insisted he was “Buster” (The first VL), although Mac never to my knowledge wore a moustache at any time.
Twenty miles is plausible – and since neither Bart nor I had ever heard the story, this is extra detail I’d never heard. A husband, huh? It would likely be a new(er) one – one not named Cook. Another clue!
I’ve only seen one photo of VL Childs (1881-1914), and he didn’t have a mustache in it. What was his mustache supposed to look like?
Also, one minor note: Mellie’s middle name was Mae. She had a niece, Mellie June (Duckett) Thornton. But you probably knew that.
Further on the mustache: I do have a photo of his father (LM Childs) with a mustache.
Mac says as he heard the story, Lewis was on the road, presumably selling from his wagon, when this incident happened. So he might well have not been at anybody’s home. He just left the wagon behind and took the horse and went.
I just found the marriage record in Seady’s media on the Childs Duckett ancestry.com tree. Trying to decipher the names used; looks like the groom is Mr. F.M. Light once and Mr. F.M. Lifht once. I suppose “Light” is more likely, being pronounceable. The bride is shown clearly as S.E. Cook; the 1860 census shows her as “Seda F.” Childs.
Mother- I found and put that record there this morning. It’s almost pure speculation on my part, given that the Cook he married is SE and not SF, and that he seems to have sprung forth full grown and then disappeared, leaving only a trace of somebody else named Light, born in Indiana, in Monroe County in 1880. I haven’t found him anywhere else except in that lone marriage record (and I only found it initially in familysearch.com).
I only found one candidate Cook in the 1860 census in Mississippi. And he died almost immediately in the Civil War. (I don’t think there were any other Cooks in the Monroe County census of 1870, but I could be wrong.) Maybe you can trace these Cooks backwards from 1930 – but what would be the link? She didn’t appear to have any children in the 1870 census – I guess it would be collateral.
Yeah, I just backtracked and found your posts, and my comment on the post re widow’s pension application. I forgot you’d found this candidate for the Cook person.