Cora Virginia Nace Hunt

Six daughters of the Nace family of Lithia survived past infancy. In this 1902 picture, Ossie Belle Nace (1894-1987) stands beside her mother. The youngest, Zora William (1903-1988), wasn't yet born. In the back row, from left to right are Pearl (1890-1911), Blanche (1886-1983), Lucy (1885-197?), and Cora (1888-1945).

The W.R. Nace family of Lithia, VA

Cora Virginia Nace married Thomas Orren Hunt (1877-1965)—my mother always called him Uncle T.O.—and I think they lived in Boones Mill for a while—at least they did in 1908. Later, they moved to Botetourt County, where Cora was again close to her family. In the photo below, Cora is right;  her sister Blanche is left. T.O. is in front.

Blanche Ruble, Cora Hunt, T.O. Hunt

They had the following children:  

• Claude Nace Hunt 1907-1984 (m. Elizabeth Hurt)
• William Orren Hunt 1909-1968 (m. Lillian Gertrude Whorley)
• Pearl Dodd Hunt 1912-1995 (m. Boyd Conrad Whorley)
• Lucas Dennison Hunt 1905-1976 (m. Margaret Vaughan)
• Sulmana Elizabeth Hunt 1917-2011 (m. M. Carl Furman, Roy Hildebrand, Harry S. Woody)

Above are Cora's oldest boys, Claude and Bud (William), when they were little. Below are all five: Elizabeth, Den, Claude, Pearl, and Bud.

A later picture of Pearl and Elizabeth. . .

. . . and another of Elizabeth:

This picture of Elizabeth and her cousin Raymond Ruble was taken in 1927:

An older Claude:

Lawrence Ruble, Blanche's oldest son, lounges on the Ruble porch with his cousin Den Hunt (I now own the rocking chair that's behind them).

After Pearl was married to Boyd Whorley, she looked like this:

One source I found lists children of Pearl and Boyd Whorley as Doris (m. Dan Bailey), Kitty (m. Charles Mills), and Esther (m. John Steinmetz). However, on the back of this 1943 photo are written the names Tommy Whorley, Buddy Whorley, Cookie Whorley, Peggy Whorley, and Ginger Hunt. Are four of these children Pearl's? If not, what's the connection?

Children of Elizabeth and her third husband Harry S. Woody were Harriett P. Woody (b. 1937), Harry S. Woody Jr. (b. 1944), and Thomas L. Woody (b. 1947).

Aunt Cora died of stomach cancer on August 27, 1945—a few weeks before I was born. At least a year after her death, her husband placed this memorial in the Roanoke paper:

I can remember Uncle T.O. visiting my mother and sometimes writing her letters, which he always typed and which always began, "My dear good girl Alene." I don't remember ever meeting their children. 

According to Austin's Related Families of Botetourt County,  T.O. (the book has his middle name wrong) was from Richmond. Actually, he was from the Snow Creek area of Franklin County but lived in Norfolk later in life, probably with one of his sons.  Claude and Bud lived in Norfolk, and Den lived in Richmond. Uncle T.O. died in Richmond in January 1965, nine days after he'd fallen down a flight of stairs and suffered a head and neck injury. He was probably visiting Den when his accident occurred. He is buried beside Cora in Lithia Baptist Church.

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Blanche Ruble: Home and Children

All three of Blanche Nace Ruble's children—Howard Lawrence, Sulmana Alene, and William Raymond—went by their middle names. When the children were growing up, they lived in four different houses in the Rugby section of northwest Roanoke: 1105 Melrose Avenue (where Alene and Raymnd were born), 1005 Hanover Avenue, Staunton Avenue, and 1201 Watts Avenue. I don't know which was their first house—the one on Hanover or the one on Staunton.

I'm guessing the house in the first two pictures below was on Hanover.

Blanche with Lawrence, Alene, & baby Raymond

Blanche with toddler Raymond and Lawrence

Raymond on Hanover Avenue

Here's a photo of where they lived on Staunton Avenue. . .

. . . and here's the house on Watts Avenue that Grandaddy—Howard R. Ruble—had built sometime in the 1920s.

Below is the view from the back yard in 1931. I can remember looking out Grandma's kitchen window and seeing the Watts farm and Round Top (now called Round Hill) in the distance. The house pictured here belonged to a Mr. and Mrs. Bishop; trees blocked the view of the Bishop house by the time I looked out the window. When I was little, development hadn't yet started on Round Hill. Now it's covered with houses and I-581 runs thorough what used to be the Watts farm. Valley View Mall would now be visible, too.

I'm pretty sure the 1927 photo below was taken at the Watts Avenue home. (The fence was long gone by the time I was born.) My mother (Alene) would have been 14 and Lawrence would have been 17.

July 3, 1927

Grandma always had flowers at the side of the house on Watts Avenue. I remember seeing her water them with her leftover wash water in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

September 1930

She kept chickens below the house.

She also grew a large garden and did a lot of canning. This is her corn patch in 1932. She always wore a straw hat when she worked in her garden.

Grandma rode the bus to the city market a couple of times a week to buy meat and fresh produce (when it wasn't available from her large garden). In the 1948 photo below, she was on her way to the market. She always wore a hat and white gloves when she went to town.

Blanche Ruble: 1948 on Campbell Avenue, Roanoke

In the mid-1950s, my grandparents moved to a house on an acre lot in the Mount Pleasant section of Roanoke County. By the 1960s, they were back in Roanoke in a small house on Palm Avenue.

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The Ruble Connection

Despite having a lot of beaux, my grandmother married Howard R. Ruble. He was a railroad man and, her parents reasoned, could thus provide for her. Here's his picture:

He came from a large family. His parents, George William Ruble (known as William) and Margie Odell Caldwell, were likely kin, since William's mother was a Caldwell. Here's the page from the Ruble family bible:

The parents are listed first. Here's what it says:

• George William Ruble Born June 17, 1861
• Margie Odell Ruble Born February 25, 1866

G. William & Margie Ruble

Then their children are listed:

• Howard Rufus Ruble Born August 29, 1885
• Clara Edith Ruble Born February 25, 1887
• Leona Francis Ruble Born March 17, 1889
• Harry Leffel Ruble Born April 23, 1891
• Ruth Gladys Ruble Born March 10, 1896
• Taylor Everette Ruble Born October 15, 1893
• Rossie Faye Ruble Born April 9, 1899
• George Kenneth Ruble Born February 27, 1901
• Bertranse Ryland Ruble Born April 1, 1905
• Stuart Webster Ruble Born June 1, 1906
• Eugene Barber Ruble Born February 1, 1909

In pencil at the bottom of the page: "G.W. Ruble was married October 14, 1884."

A picture of Clara Edith Ruble Cronk, the oldest daughter:

Here's a picture of George William Ruble:

And here's a three generation picture taken of Howard and Blanche Ruble, their youngest child Raymond (William Raymond Ruble), and William and Margie Ruble. They're on the front porch of the house that Howard had built at 1201 Watts Avenue in Roanoke. The house was built in the 1920s and it looks fairly new here.

Sometimes Howard and his siblings got together. I'm not sure when or where this picture was taken. I think Howard is at the lower right:

I'm pretty sure this picture was taken at Aunt Leona's house in New Castle in August 1954. I know Aunt Leona had a small brick house with a picture window. Leona is in the center; Howard is at the right:

When I was little, Aunt Leona wrote down as much about our ancestors as she could remember and noted their relationship to me. Turns out my great-grandma (Margie Caldwell Ruble) was a  twin. I think she has a wrong date for Alexander Caldwell's birth; if he died in 1900 at 78, he'd have been born in 1822, not 1882:

UPDATES: It is likely that Caroline Surber was an aunt rather than a grandmother. Marcellus's father Henry Surber was married to a Margaret. However, a Caroline Surber lived near Henry Surber. In the 1850 census, Henry and Margaret are at household #33 and Caroline is listed as household #23. In 1860, Henry is #291 and Caroline is #297 in Craig County.

Alexander Caldwell would indeed have been born in 1822, not 1882, if he died in 1900 at 78. Alexander is buried in the Looney cemetery in Craig County. Marcella/Marcellus is buried in the Crawford Family Cemetery in New Castle. 

I don't know who "Aunt Mary Sue" is.

UPDATE: George William Ruble and his wife (called "Margaret Odella Caldwell" here) are buried in the Ruble Cemetery on Route 311 in Craig County, as are his parents James Ruble and Lavesta Caldwell Ruble. GPS coordinates are GPS: 37.565ºN, 80.224ºW. The list of Rubles and others buried there can be found here: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/craig/cemeteries/ruble02.txt.

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Blanche's Beaux

Here's how my grandmother, Blanche Nace Ruble, looked when she was 19.

Growing up in Lithia, she had plenty of beaux. Many of them gave her pictures of themselves. She kept those pictures all her life. When she was in her mid-90s and bedridden, she'd look at those pictures. Here they are:

Will Haymaker

Mike Fain

Edgar Booze

Alvin Lester

Sheron Walker

Some gave her more than one, such as Walton Dooley:

Peyton Waskey also gave her two. Doesn't he look like a distinguished gentleman?

She must have counted the Peake brothers among her favorite suitors. At least she has a lot of pictures of them, both separately and together. This picture of JA Peake is dated 1903:

Here's one of Arthur Peake:

And here are John and Arthur Peake together, though Arthur now has a moustache:

Then there's Eli Peake:

The three Peakes together:

Some of the photos were actually postcards, such as this one that has no name or message but was dated 1907:

This one is from Ronnie M, who did write a message on the back:

The postcard below, mailed in 1907 from Nola, WV, didn't have a picture or a signature. "YKW" must mean "you know who." At least the unidentified guy had a nice time at the box supper. But what is the "immediate anr" (immediate answer?) he's looking for? I wonder if he ever got it.

Some things will remain a mystery, I suppose.

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