Can I brag just a little bit about my Roanoke roots? Thanks. I knew you’d understand.
Here is an article that appeared in the Roanoke Times on July 3, 1954, the day before my great-grandfather, Timothy Preston Sisson, turned 100 years old. The article, besides being of interest to any of his living relatives and to those who like stories of human interest in general, also would be of interest to people who like to learn about the history of the Roanoke valley, as it has an interesting little tidbit about life in the valley as it was a century-and-a-half ago. I have corrected a few typos and added bold-type emphasis as well as a footnote and some additional information.
Shawsville Family Reunion To Be 100th Birthday Party
Princeton, W. Va., Resident Will Mark Anniversary Today at Gathering
PRINCETON, W. Va., July 3-Timothy Preston Sisson seated himself in a comfortable chair on his son’s farm just north of Princeton and rested for a few minutes this week.
“I’VE WORKED hard all my life and enjoyed it,” he said, “but I’m taking it easy so that I will be in shape for a trip to Shawsville, Va., on July 4.” On that date Sisson will celebrate his 100th birthday with a family reunion as part of the big event.
Lowery Bowling, clerk of the Mercer County Court, says that Sisson is the oldest living person in the county. He was born on July 4, 1854, in a little settlement of one store and five houses known as Big Lick, Va., and now named Roanoke.
Sisson was raised by his grandfather, Ludlow Sisson, who was born in England and settled near Natural Bridge in Virginia.1
“My grandfather was a John Wesley Methodist and a man of stern character,” Sisson explained. “He took me to church every Sunday as long as he lived and I’ve never quit going. For 30 years I was an active church worker and I preached for five years.”
Presently a member of the Church of the Nazarene in Princeton, Sisson still attends services often. On Friday, July 16, the Nazarene churches in Princeton, Athens and Bluefield will honor him with a birthday party at Glenwood Park. Singing, preaching and a good country dinner are planned.
The amazing inventions of science during the last 100 years have impressed Sisson, but the one that has left its mark was the stove. He remembers driving six miles with an uncle in a wagon to bring the first cooking stove into the neighborhood. All the cooking before that memorable day had been done in the fireplace.
Sisson remembers that most of the Confederate War activity in the neighborhood came as fights between deserters and the regular Confederate soldiers who were sent after them. All his relatives were members of the Confederate Army, one of them attaining the rank of colonel.
Recounting the romance leading up to his marriage, Sisson said he thought he’d never win his bride, the former Lucy Smith of Floyd County, Va. “We lived together for 71 years without a cross word being spoken,” he said. “Maybe it’s because I always minded her.”
Mrs. Sisson died in 1947 at the age of 91.
A FARM at Shawsville and trading in livestock and horses kept him busy while the couple raised nine children. Six children are still living.
“When I was 82, my son, Robert, made me give up farming; said I was too old,” Sisson continued. “Five years ago he bought this 370-acre farm and we moved here from Bluefield. I cleared most of the chinquapins and brush off the land. I was 95 then.”
Sisson related the events of his life as he rested in his chair. He’d just taken a pail of milk down to feed his pigs.
A lifelong Republican, Sisson has voted for 18 presidents of the United States beginning with Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876. He missed voting in last years presidential election because his change of residence had not been recorded with the county clerk.
When the family gathers at Shawsville Sunday, the old gentleman expects to see his other five children besides the youngest, Robert, with whom he lives. Twenty-six grandchildren, 54 great-grandchildren and seven great-great-grandchildren are also expected. He has never seen some of the great and great-great-grandchildren.
Sisson has never smoked or tasted alcohol in his life. He did take a chew of “old brown twisted tobacco once and became deathly sick.” He never tried it a second time.
HE HAS never been sick in his 100 years of active living, never used any medicine and has seen a doctor only twice for treatment of injuries. He believes he’s lived so long because he “has had a strong faith and belief in God which have kept him from worrying himself to death.” But he says he would not want to be starting life now and face it for 100 years.
“There’s too much confusion and uncertainty,” he says. “All the calm, easy-going days of the past are gone. They were the best.”
1 I don’t know where the “born in England” claim originated, but it can be proved beyond doubt by existing records that Ludlow Branham Sisson’s American ancestry goes back four generations at the very least and possibly even two more to Thomas Sisson, a London haberdasher who took the oath of allegiance to the crown in Jamestown, VA in 1624. Ludlow Sisson was born in Rockbridge Co., VA on Feb. 3, 1797.
Here’s a scanned image of the article. You can click on it for a larger view:
Actually my Roanoke roots go even deeper than this, as Ludlow Sisson’s father-in-law (my great-great-great-great-grandfather),
Mathias Grisso, settled near Back Creek on Sugarloaf Mountain some time in the late 1700’s. Ludlow’s father, Stanley Sisson, also secured a grant for property on Back Creek in the Starkey area in 1797. (Stanley moved on to Gallia Co., Ohio, some time between 1828 and 1830, though Ludlow stayed.)
That’s my mom’s side of the family. On my father’s side, my great-great-great-great-grandfather, John Broadwater, was born Feb. 28, 1788 on the property adjoining that of Samuel Harshbarger near the corner of present-day Hershberger & Plantation Roads.
There may be a few people in Roanoke who can claim local roots deeper than mine, but not very many I’d venture to say.
