This is the church of my Great Grandfather Allen Taft Smith. I have a picture of him in a large crowd standing on the bank of the river at a baptismal ceremony held by his church. His son, my Granddaddy Smith, and my Grandmama Lena Rivers Pollock Smith are buried there. It is a pretty place. Aunt Vera Mae Smith Collins and her infant son Darrell are buried here, too. My Aunt Vera was not extravagant in her demonstrations of love, but she was consistent and dependable and you knew what you could expect of her. I remember the little things that she did. She never forgot a birthday. She gave me sixteen pennies taped to the inside of a birthday card for my sixteenth birthday. They were arranged in the shape of the number "16". She was very meticulous when it came to preparing collards. When she washed them she would inspect the leaves carefully and tear out any part of the leaf that had been bitten off by a caterpillar.
I remember that she loved to spend time with me and my little brother Keith. Grandma said that she had a special feeling for little boys because of the one she lost. She talked to us alot and told us things that she thought were important. She explained that the exclamations, "Gah", "Gosh", "Golly" were really derived from the exclamation "God!" and that even those words might be in a sense be a form of taking the name of God in vain. Anything she told us or shared with us was done in a loving way. She didn't belittle or embarrass anyone in the way she corrected. She was sweet and good. She died suddenly and young, at fifty something. It was a terrible loss for so many of us.
Grandma told me about the big dinners that she remembered going to under the oaks at Friendship Church. They had long tables covered with cakes and fried chicken and biscuits and corn and green beans and all of the good things grown by the people of the neighborhood.
The cemetary and church are at Davenport's Crossroads at the intersection of SR 1002 and Highway 41 a little north of Trenton. Stop in for a visit there some Sunday. The people there will welcome you. Tell them I told you so.
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Hello, my name is Myra Moore. My great-great-great grandparents were Allen Taft Smith and Celia C. Andrews Smith. My great-great grandparents were John Henry Smith and Bonita Davis Smith. My great- grandparents were Roland Buck and Lilian Pearl Smith Buck. My grandparents were J. C. Turbeville Sr. and Neta "Pearl" Buck Turbeville. I would love to know more about the family if you would like to share. My email is mjm1@suddenlink.net. Thank you and Merry Christmas!
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