Lively spirits crash museum dinner party

Maude Morrison Helphenstine, portrayed by her granddaughter Ginny Reeves, shares some of the details of her life during the 4th Annual Dinner with the Departed.

The late October winds blew in some interesting spirits during a dinner party at the Fleming County Covered Bridge Museum last Friday evening.

The departed souls of Maude Morrison Helphenstine, Nancy Watts and her sister Georgia, Samuel Filson and Benjamin Northcott, decided to crash the party to give the guests a little history lesson.

Shortly after the meal, a little lady dressed in her Sunday best, appeared before them and introduced herself as Maude Morrison Helphenstine.

“Good evening. Some of you may remember me if you’ve read some of my poetry that I had published in various publications, or you may have given a contribution to the Goddard Graveyard Association, or you may have had some of my country ham at the 4-star restaurant, the Bon Ton. Some of my friends tell me I did ordinary things in an extraordinary way. My name is Maude Morrison Helphenstine. I was born near Goddard Kentucky in 1886 to Henry Clay Morrison and his wife Maggie Muse Morrison.

During the Civil War, preservation of the Union was the most important thing in our house. My father and several of my cousins and friends fought for the Union. Even though the war was officially over 21 years before I was born, the divided sentiments remained. The issue of slavery had affected our community for 20 years before the beginning of the war. Our Goddard Church was divided over the issue of slavery. Well, the Methodist Conferences said they were not going to get involved in this issue. But what they did do was divide the churches of the Methodist Episcopal into the ME North and ME South. Goddard was put in the ME South, that meant they were part of the Gray, and not the Blue that we were a part of! Our friends and family were so upset to the point that some of my Muse family, the Goddard’s, Plummer’s and Yazell’s, all packed up and moved to Rushville Indiana and started their own Goddard school, church and cemetery. And when they left, our church record book mysteriously disappeared. The new church book was replaced with only the members of the Grey recorded. Hmm, well what about us that supported the Union?

When I started school at the Oak Grove in Goddard on professor Hurst’s farm just off Wilder Loop, I still had to deal with issues of slavery. The little confederate boys would grab sticks and pretend they were guns and tried to intimidate poor little union girls like myself. My sisters and I would shutter every time we passed Mr. Jones field where several little Civil War skirmishes had taken place. I loved learning in our little one-room, ungraded, log school, which was part of the Common School movement at that time. Many students went to age 20 and there was only school five months of the year. However, there was a subscription school that you could pay to attend. My father would pay for me to go each summer where some teachers accepted whiskey or food as payment. I had some wonderful teachers at the Oak Grove School. My professor that taught me how to write influenced me the most. I was so excited that I passed the tests to graduate from the common schools that I decided to become a teacher. Now this was about the early 1900s and it was the change over from the Common School movement to the Normal School movement and high schools were springing up. Hillsboro, Elizaville and Flemingsburg all had a high school. It was around this time that the Flemingsburg Board of Education borrowed money from J.M. Plummer to build the new Goddard school next to the Goddard Church. I passed the teaching exam with flying colors. I asked my sister who was teaching at Blue Bank at the time and she thought since I had enjoyed the subscription schools I should start teaching there. She warned me what would happen if I had some students that would enjoy playing tricks on me like putting tacks in my seat or turning over the outhouse or the worse thing of all, putting skunk oil in my pocket while helping another student. I taught for three weeks, when low and behold if I didn’t come down with double pneumonia, then I had complications from that and was sick for three years and was not able to teach. I started doing some serious thinking. It wasn’t proper for a young lady who wasn’t married to teach, and I needed to get busy on my household skills. My mother taught me how to sew, cook and quilt. My father, who was having some major health issues from his war injuries, taught me how to run our 200-acre farm. In 1905 one of my dear friends, Maggie Hunter Gray, invited me to go to the Goddard Singing school which she was a member. The purpose of the singing school was to teach church members how to read music. Well, while I was there I met one of the most interesting men, Mr. Oscar Helphenstine. Oh man was he good looking with those big blue eyes. I went home to tell my parents about him, but my father had a fit. He said absolutely NOT HE IS A CONFEDERATE! Even though he may be a fine upstanding man, we will not allow our daughter to date anyone who is a confederate.

Well, I didn’t get to see Oscar very much, only at church. I was very disappointed. But on Jan. 3, 1909 my father passed away. At that time, it was custom to have the funeral at home. Oscar Helphenstine was the first person on the scene! He brought the most beautiful Hemlock wreath for me to put on the door. It was about that time that mother’s sister, aunt Belle came to live with us and she wasn’t exactly the easiest person to get along with. I had to take over the farm, take care of mother and aunt Belle. I hired a few hands to help, but I couldn’t stop thinking of Oscar. We started seeing each other a little more and he brought me this beautiful brooch that I have on tonight. My mother and aunt Belle were not happy and kept reminding me he was a confederate. On Dec. 21, 1916 Oscar and I boarded the train at Poplar Plains, and went to my aunts in Winchester, whose husband was a Methodist minister and got married. Our first son Robert Lee was born in 1918. World War 1 was brewing and in Sept. Oscar had to go to war. While he was at war I became involved in the women’s right to vote. I thought since we had to make all the decisions while our husbands were serving our country we should have a little say in our future. I also started writing more poetry. When he returned we had another little son, Clay, but sadly, he passed away two and a half years later in 1922. In that same year, J.J. Dickey, the editor of the paper wrote an article about the neglect of all the county cemeteries. My mother had always taught me to leave the world a better place. Oscar and I started to discuss the condition of the Goddard Cemetery. Weeds were all grown up around Joseph Goddard’s grave, tombstones were falling over, it was a mess. Something had to be done. Along with a few interested neighbors, we held a meeting and elected officers for the Goddard Graveyard Association. I served as president as long as I lived. The angels have told me that my son picked up the reins and served as president, and now my granddaughter, Dr. Fran Helphenstine serves on the board and helps Vernice and Edward Plummer keep the cemetery one of the best show places in Kentucky.

In the years that followed, I focused on my businesses. I advertised my Puerto Rican yams locally and in the Southern Farm Journal, I sold them by the thousands. I also raised hogs, sheep, turkeys and chickens. I had one of the first hand-operated egg incubators in the area and sold baby chicks to local farmers in the area. And because I was very particular how I cured my hams, the Bon Ton bought every ham I had, plus my asparagus.

My parents had imitated Thomas Jefferson’s model for having a large garden and orchards, this led to the neighbor ladies always wanting me to host dinners and the Goddard Methodist Church ministers wanting to have Sunday dinner with me.

In my spare time I kept submitting poetry to the Kentucky Farms Home Journal and other publications.

In 1940 my son Bobby Lee married Dixie Blair, they had two beautiful daughters that I dearly loved. They visited me frequently and I was able to teach them my love of nature. I taught them the names of trees, we listened to natures chorus, and we identified what we heard and what we saw. I relished these moments with them and have them in my poetry. In the meantime, I also pursued my hobby in genealogical research with Mary Pickett DeBell and Dr. William Talley. In 1942 World War 2 was in full swing. Oscar was registered, but luckily, he didn’t have to serve. However, the government asked for volunteers to raise hemp, so we said we would do it. One year was all I could stand. Not only did we have to report how many acres we had but we had to report how many seeds we had. It was quite an ordeal. Then my husband died in March of 1951, I was lost and so alone there on the farm. After a while I decided to pursue another dream that I had, to live on a horse farm. At age 65 I was hired to be a nanny and a cook. Several years later when I was a companion and a cook for another lady she had a friend that was an attorney and he helped me get my little book of poetry published.

As I have told you my two greatest legacy’s’ were my service in establishing the Goddard Cemetery Association and my poetry. My advice to all is always have goals and dreams, pursue them when the opportunity arises, be of service to your fellow man and leave the world a better place than you found it.

As Maude’s footsteps softly walked away, a loud thump, thump, thump, was heard as slowly but surely a lady dressed from head to toe in black attire made her way across the upstairs dining hall.

“Well I made it, didn’t want to come, sure don’t want to see any of you. You see when I died, I went to the afterlife and was standing in line, got up the gate and they said, where are you from, I said FLEMING COUNTY KENTUCKY, IF ITS ANY OF YOUR BUSINESS! They said we have a Fleming Countian here, and everyone started laughing, I thought maybe it was because no one from here had ever gotten in. They said please step to the right, so I did. They said, well we want to give you a warning. There is a little girl right now in Ewing named BRENDA PLUMMER, and she will grow up to be very nosy, she will pry into your life, so if you have any secrets, she will find them out. I’m here aren’t I?

I’m Georgia Watts, I was born April 24, 1894, to John T. and Anna Bateman Watts, in Mt. Carmel. My dad was a bricklayer. I had a sister named Nancy, who was a lot older than me, two years. I didn’t like her to be honest with you. We moved into town and rented the Dudley house where Jimmy Berry lives. He’s as nosy as…Brenda Plummer. He told her all about my life, which I tried to keep so private. We went on to move to Mt. Carmel Avenue and rented out rooms. My parents must have loved the name Mt. Carmel. I didn’t want to see anyone that lived in our house, so I never bothered with them. I went to public school, I graduated salutatorian. I went to Lexington to become a stenographer that was okay. But you see, I wanted to help my country, because at this time World War 1 was going on. I went to Washington D.C. to work for the government. I know you are already snickering because you think I was a spy. Well, if you know anything about spies, you know they don’t tell. I became so interested in the war effort that I became a stenographer with the Red Cross. My momma had a clipping that she cut out of the Flemingsburg paper that said, GEORGIA WATTS FIRST WOMAN TO GO OVER SEAS TO HELP WITH THE WAR EFFORT. She was so proud of me. I will tell you of one spy, oops I mean one government job I did. There was a typhoid fever outbreak during the war in Romania and they needed someone to get medicine and supplies to Romania. I volunteered. I would do anything for my country. I wrapped the medicine very carefully, had all the bottles secured, got down to the train station, and you know there wasn’t one boxcar available. I had to get these supplies to Romania, which was my job. I did something I had never done before, I FLIRTED. I flirted with that old train master, and you know what, he let me put those boxes on the top of the boxcar. That was nice of him, but I still didn’t like him. Then I wasn’t about to let them go off with my supplies. The train master said they’ll be fine, and I said are you serious, of course not! I showed a little leg, flirted a little bit more and he let me climb up on the top of that boxcar. I hung on as we went through crooked mountain trials, high ridges and dark tunnels. You can imagine how scary that was. But I got those supplies there, with everything intact. It even came out in the newspaper about my heroic adventure. After the armistice I went to Paris France and worked my government job and basically got to travel. I went to Rome, Athens Greece, Paris and finally back to Washington D.C.

I finally came home and after my parents had died my sister was living in my house, our house, she will tell you, but to me it was my house. I told her to get lost and moved her out. She went down the street to live somewhere. I really didn’t keep up with her. You people in Fleming County are just too friendly. I had this neighbor; she always thought I needed food for some reason. There she would stand on my door step, ringing my door bell with an apple pie in her hand, I didn’t want her pie, I didn’t’ want anything she had. So, she would get tired of ringing the doorbell and set her food down and go home. I wrote her a note that said, I DO NOT NEED CHARITY. She finally left me alone. That’s what I wanted…to be left alone. I did let Mrs. Irene Todd from the Farmer’s Bank come in. She would tell me about my finances. I trusted her, sort of. She would tell you I was frugal. Well, if one lump of coal on the fire is all you need all night, if that’s frugal I guess I was. I did live with someone, believe it or not. I had an African American servant named Carina. We got along peachy. She was deaf and mute. It was a wonderful arrangement. I would send her down to Bob Klee’s grocery for what I needed. There was Reverend Opal Helphenstine who would drive me down to the train station in Maysville when I would have to go back to Washington D.C. to work and she would pick me up when I returned, so I guess she was okay. I had a farm where Crestview Trailer Park is now. Well, I ran for Congress in 1960, didn’t win, never campaigned. I guess they weren’t ready for women to make laws; it wasn’t that I lost because of my charming personality. I died in 1972 at the age of 78, my sister got to live 10 more years and I guess she got the last laugh there. Boone Funeral Home took care of my arrangements. I didn’t want anyone looking at me while I was alive and sure didn’t want them looking at me dead. When they sold my estate, they were amazed at all the antiques I had. Now before I leave you I will tell you this. Not only did people think I was a spy, they also thought I was a witch. Can you believe that? I would go down to the post office at 4 a.m., what’s weird about that? One day I was out walking in my usual solid black outfit and a little boy was looking out the window. I heard him say mommy, mommy there is a witch outside. I stopped and looked up at him and then I heard his mother exclaim oh honey that’s not a witch that’s just old Georgia Watts. Well I wasn’t a witch, maybe I was a spy, but I did love my country. I will be perfectly honest, I would do anything for my country, you see, I would never “take a knee”, during the national anthem.

I have to leave now and don’t any of you try to follow me, because I don’t want to see you anymore, and if you’re from Fleming County, beware of Brenda Plummer.

Is she gone yet, you know who I’m talking about my sister Georgia, said the quaint little lady as she peeped around the corner. I really don’t want to run into her right now I want to have a nice visit with you all and tell you a little about my life with her interrupting or trying to get you to leave. My name is Nancy Watts and I’m Georgia’s older sister. I was born July 7, 1892. I was educated in the Fleming County Schools and graduated in 1911. There is a graduation picture right there on that shelf in front of you and my name is on there. Even though she was younger, Georgia also graduated the same year. In fact, she was the Salutatorian. She always did try to steal the limelight. You may have heard the saying, Georgia wanted to be the corpse at every funeral, and the baby at every christening. One thing you should know about me is I loved books and learning. I knew I wanted to be a teacher very early on. My first teaching job was a Tilton. One year Rushia Smith and I taught 98 pupils. Later I taught at Tunnel Hill and then I came to Flemingsburg. I remember in 1917 and 1918 I taught fifth graders. In fact, over the course of my career I taught all grades except for seventh. Now everybody knows that teaching won’t make you rich and always said that my pupils may have to put in pennies to bury me. But I loved being a teacher and would not change places with anyone. I am proud of the fact that I started the Home Economics department in Fleming County high school. I became a librarian in 1943 and I remained in that position until I retired. And I believe Mrs. Betty Dorsey took my place. Most of my students referred to me as Miss Nancy and since I didn’t have any children of my own, my students became my children. My books at the high school library were also like my children. And just like some children, some books were just a little bit naughty. Why that Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind, when he says frankly my dear I don’t give a…I took a black pen and I took care of those bad words. I’ve been told that I was a perfectionist, I just the library to be kept a certain way. I knew what it was like not to have access to a lot of books. I had lived through the depression and the wars, so every book was precious. My goodness having an overdue book was a sin. Students who didn’t return books on time were on my bad list. When I came in I found this book downstairs, it’s overdue, and Carla White you need to take this back to the library, I think Danny Lewis wants to check it out. Now as much as I loved teaching, it was my students that made it truly special. I tried to encourage them as much as possible. But there were some that I could just look in their eyes and see the potential. That little Virginia Helphenstine over there, well she was one of those, and I heard she became a librarian because of me and that is a high honor. I had her work in the library with me while she was in high school. I watched out for her and my other students. One of my highest honors was when I was voted Fleming County Teacher of the year in 1957. Now before you make up your mind that I didn’t have a life outside of teaching, I want you to know I was a busy lady both in and out of school. I was a member of the Presbyterian church and taught Sunday school, I was a deaconess a member of the Fleming County Garden club, the PTA, Delta Kappa Gamma Honorary Teachers Society, KEA, Ekea, Fleming County Teachers Association, Kentucky Libraries Association, School Libraries Association and Friends of the Library, so you see I had a very busy calendar. As for family I’m sorry to say that Georgia didn’t get along very well. As you may have heard after mother and daddy died, she retained ownership of the house. Georgia was just a little different, especially after working in Washington D.C. I think having to work all those years with secrets and in secret made her the way she is. After I retired I moved to Florida, it was sunny and warm, and I stayed active for years. I died April 3, 1981 in Bradenton, Florida.

It’s been real nice visiting with ya, and I’ve talked long enough. I also want to make sure I get out of here just in case Georgia comes back.

Following on the heels of Miss Nancy was gentleman who had come to tell about his past life.

Thank you all for allowing us to come in here in spirit tonight, a somber Benjamin Northcott said as he entered the room.

“Let me introduce myself, my name is Benjamin Northcott, now I spell my name with an O while some of my same relatives spell it, Northcutt. I was born in 1770 on Jan. 16. My parents came to the colonies from Virginia sometime before I was born. Our ancestors were from England and they were converted under the labors of the early Methodist preachers and soon became members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. So, I leaned from my family to become familiar with their teachings and I eventually became a Methodist Episcopal preacher. I was six years old when the Revolutionary War broke out between the states and the mother country. My father was a wig, so therefore he sided with the colonies and that’s where I got my great sense of patriotism. I received a passable education, learned to read and write legibly, and enough math to use in case I may need it as a business person. I lived in my father’s house until I was 19 years old. In 1789 there was great excitement and talk about the west and as a young man I had a great wanderlust for adventure and I had always dreamed about exploring Kentucky. It just so happened that there was a group of pioneers getting ready to go to Kentucky, so I decided I would join the militia to become one of the guards that would help defend the pioneers on their journey across the rugged and treacherous mountains. I had every intention of returning to North Carolina, but I found the land needed to be cleared and the pioneers needed food, so I became very skilled with my rifle and knew I would be needed to provide food. When I first came to Kentucky there was little interest in the subject of religion. Most of the settlers were skeptical of scripture, but still had respect for ministers, they just had a cold regard for the message of love and mercy. But you must understand, this was during a very savage time, there was much hardship in those days. After I was in Kentucky for about a year, I was converted by God, it wasn’t easy for me, I wrestled with this notion for hours and hours, but God seemed to have a plan for me, and that was a call to preach the gospel. After considerable examination I decided to join the Methodist demonization. Some people tried to discourage me, they told me there was no money to be made as a Methodist preacher. I became a circuit rider and traveled to preach, sometimes preaching as many as three sermons a day. In 1793 my health began to fail. On Christmas morning I was preaching during a service at daybreak when my vocal chords gave way and I had to give up my calling and I worried this would end my career since shortly after I also suffered from a hemorrhage of the lungs. It was six months after I gave up my work that I could speak above a whisper. My intentions in life were to remain unmarried, I thought since I had to travel so much, and the small income provided to me would be unfair to a wife and children. But with my voice challenges I decided to pursue a more secular life and began to see marriage in a different way. I met a young lady from Poplar Plains and we married in June 1794. After we married we settled in her hometown for a short while then purchased land near Hillsboro. But the land needed to be cleared and a cabin built. I was a poor man with health complications, so we had a very hard time in our early married years. My wife brought a small amount of money to the marriage that helped us through our hard times. I never forgot about preaching and after I fully recovered I became what you would call an evangelistic minister. I conducted many revival meetings including the one at Brick Union (Secret Crossing) and in Concord in Nicholas County that led to the “Great Revival of 1800” at Cane Ridge. My wife Jane became sick and was taken from me in 1799, we had three young daughters. I married my second wife, Martha Odell, whose father was also a Methodist preacher. Martha was a devoted wife, an excellent mother and stepmother. I was also elected magistrate, a position I held until I became the sheriff of Fleming County. I’m proud to say I was the father of 15 children, three with Jane and 12 with Martha. Later in life I became stricken with “shaking palsy”, and Dr. Armstrong had diagnosed me with cancer that affected my internal organs. I died on Jan. 13, 1854 at the age of 84. But I fought the good fight and I finished the race.”

The final departed soul to appear was the jaunty and robust spirit of a prominent landowner and former sheriff of Fleming County.

Well good evening to all of you. When your museum curator reached out to me a few weeks ago, I had no idea I would get to appear before you as the young, handsome form of myself. You see I am many years beyond the age I am tonight. If my wife Mary could see me tonight, I certainly believe she would be making eyes at me. My name is Samuel Filson. I was born in the year of 1757 in Chester County Pa.

In April of 1788 I enlisted as a Private in Captain Johnathan Morris’ Company. I eventually became a Sergeant and was wounded at the battle of Fort Pitt. In my life, I was one of the most prosperous and influential men in the county. I had a first cousin named John Filson, he traveled around the state, inquiring about the people and their locations, and eventually founded the Filson Club. My parents passed away when I was only the age of seven. I entered an apprenticeship with a hatter and found that work to be miserable. When I turned 16 I ran away and even went by the last name Blackburn for a time. After I left the army I settled in Virginia with my wife. I was given a land grant in the Miami Valley, which I refused, I gave my service to my country and I didn’t expect anything in return. My first wife passed away, but I remarried a beautiful young lady named Mary Cooper. Her father had died in war and her mother had remarried a Mr. Barnes, from this marriage my wife had a half-brother, his name was John Barnes and he later settled in Owingsville in Bath County where he still has many descendants living to this day. In 1805 Mary and I moved to Kentucky. We settled at a place called Fox Creek, near what is known today as the Ringo’s Mill community. Mary made sure to bring tons of furniture from Virginia, including corner cupboards. You can imagine how fun that was to haul on a horse and wagon. She also brought with her peonies and apple tree seedlings. We built a two-story log cabin, a meat shack and a shed and a milking stable. One of our favorite things to do after we became established was to entertain. Mary and I would host elaborate balls and dance parties. Sometimes these balls would last for two or three days, as long as we had enough wine.

After the revival at Cane Ridge, we built a church near our property for all the church members in our community. As sometimes happens some of the members began to have disagreements and mysteriously one night the church house was burned to the ground. We voted not to rebuild but we did erect a school. School was held for three months out of the year and was taught by a man named John Walton, who had a temper.

I was elected Sheriff of Fleming County in 1829. One incident that stands out in my mind as sheriff was when two black men and a white man had been convicted of murder. The two black men were pardoned because they had value as slaves. The white man however was condemned to death. I offered 40 dollars to anyone in the community who was willing to hang the condemned man. Unfortunately, no one took my offer. So, it was my duty to perform the first legal hanging in Fleming County. I stayed on as sheriff until my death in 1831.

My wife Mary is buried next to me and I hear there are now tall cedars in the area that can be seen for miles away. Mary and I loved Fleming County and we hope that all of you love it half as much as we did. I thank you for coming out tonight and I bid you all farewell.

Miss Georgia Watts, played by Lori Throckmorton, lets the dinner guests know that although she may or may not have been a spy, she certainly was not a witch. Photos by Tisha Thomas-Emmons.

Although fearful she may run into her sister, Nancy Watts, portrayed by Brenda Plummer, decided to join the other spirits to talk about her life and times as a devoted Fleming County Librarian.

Benjamin Northcutt, played by Daniel Suit, discusses the trials and tribulations of his journey into the wilderness of Kentucky and his time on earth as a “circuit riding preacher”.

Samuel Filson, played by Jacob Fritz, revealed how he and his family settled on Fox Creek and how they loved to host elaborate parties at their home. He also shared a few details about his time as sheriff of Fleming County.