Lula Florence Crum Lilly

I had the pleasure, last summer (1972), of visiting West Virginia, the town and county of Logan, where my parents grew up; and I think it is the most beautiful country that I have ever seen. I sometimes wonder why they ever left, and I know that my father especially, wanted to go back.

My mother, Lula Florence Crum, was born in a covered wagon, while the family was traveling in Missouri. Where they were going I do not know, but the next event I recall, was that they were living in Indiana, and Grandpa (Silas Perdue) Crum was operating a still. I can never remember mother (Lula) telling anything that she and her mother did, she seemed always to be with her father. One day as Grandpa was operating his still, and sampling his wares, he noticed Mother (who was then about two years old) draining the cup. He thought that a good joke, so he left a little taste in the cups for her. Of course, it didn't take many nips until she was sick. He carried her to the house until things settled down a bit.

I don't know how long they stayed in Indiana, but Mother recalled that the license on the still had expired and Grandpa went to town for a new one. Before leaving, he cautioned his father, who was living with him at the time, not to fire the still until he came back. Just as soon as her father was out of sight, her grandfather fired the still. Of course, the revenue officers came and closed the still. I wish I had asked more about these things, but it seems that operating a still without a license, was a very serious charge in those days, for Grandma (Letitia) Crum, sent her eldest son, Charlie, to worn Grandpa not to come home. Instead he returned to West Virginia, and later sent for the rest of the family.

Grandfather Crum was quite a Bible scholar. Mother said he was always reading the Bible, and I really believe he knew it from cover to cover.

I didn't know my grandparents very well, and I feel as though I have missed a lot. However, my grandma told me this story: They belonged to the Camelite Church, and the Mormons were camped close to their home. She had noticed Grandpa talking to them quite a bit, so she said, "Silas, stay away from those Mormons, no good can come of them." But by that time Grandpa was converted, and finally she saw the light also, and both joined the Church.

I can remember Grandpa wanting to tell a little gossip. She would say, "Now we ain't talking about our neighbors, but we a'er." I was a young girl then, rather a child, but I thought this was a cute way Grandma had of saying she was sorry for talking about her friends.

When the Crum family returned to West Virginia, they settled in Logan and Lincoln counties, and among the early settlers there, there was the Lilly family, who had settled on the Bluestone River in the early 1600s. There are still lots of Lillys in and around Beckley, West Virginia, a proud old family who came from France with William, the Conquerer, settled in England, and later came to America with Lord Baltimore.

Mother tells of when she was about ten years old, she and some other children were playing together, and my father, James Lilly, (who was ten years older than my mother), picked her up, and trotted her on his knee, and remarked to the others that this was the girl he was going to marry. And so he did, when she was about fifteen years old.

The following are remarks of Jesse Lilly concerning his parents and his oldest brother, Walter Lilly.

Nigh on to eighty-five years ago there was born to a very young and very inexperienced couple, a tawny haired and very curly haired baby boy. This all happened to James and Lula Florence Lilly. The locale was rural Logan County in West Virginia. Not daunted by youth and lack of experince or lack of funds, this young couple, along with two younger children born in the meantime, took leave of West Virginia and moved to Colorado, settling in Manassa. Walter grew to young manhood in the southern Colorado and the northern New Mexico areas.

One of Walter's prouder moments was to bring visiting Apache Indians to the house to grind their coffee on the family grinder. This about scared his mother out of her wits, but the Apaches meant no harm, and apparently Walter knew it......end.

Elsie continues: From this union seven children were born. Three; Walter, Wallace, and Maude were born in West Virginia. When Maude was small, they came west to Manassa, Colorado where Willard and Jesse were born. They then moved to New Mexico where Alfred and Elsie joined the family. My parents raised seven children of their own, and one grandson, Roy, of whom we are very proud. He is really like a younger brother to us.

We moved back to Colorado settling in Norwood, where the younger of us went to school. But all the while we lived in Norwood, my father talked about moving to Oregon. So in 1916 we packed our wagons, went back to New Mexico, on to Arizona, and finally in 1918 we came to Klamath Falls, Oregon.

My father's dreams had been fulfilled, and I really think that this seemed more like home to him and mother, than any they had previously been. Oregon has forests and hills, lots of greenery, and a similarity to their native West Virginia- especially Ashland, where they lived so many years.

They both passed away in 1952; Mother in April. And Dad in November, and are buried in a beautiful cemtetery in Ashland.

Reference

Wells, Ruth Crum (1974). Now and Then with Kropffs and Crums Boyd Done Skyline Printing Tucson, Arizona.

• Crum Family Genealogy Forum

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