Weliever - Harry Manuel
Hary Manuel Weliever 24 Oct 1891 – 3 July 1982
“I am going to write my memoirs for two reasons. First to please my grandchildren and try to give them a better view of how life wa sin my youth and to recall many happy times and many old friends who have passed on. We older people are bound to live in the past and I have had a good and happy life.
I thank God for the many, many blessins I have enjoyed during my 90 years. My greatest blessing was my wife Gladys (Cox) who gave me 52 years of love and care as well as four fine children who gave me 15 find grandchildren who in turn gave me 20 fine great grandchildren and more to come. I use the term fine because I can think of no words to describe these kids better.
I always had a tendency to be dissatisfied with what I was doing and maybe make a bad deal which Gladys could have criticized me for but she just went ahead and got me back on the right track again. There was no other like her.
I was born in Darlington on the second street south of Main Street in a little house that stood just west of John Mullen’s residence. It was later remodeled and then moved about two blocks south. I don’t know who lives in it now but Nelda Carpenter live in it two or three years ago. My birthdate was Oct 24, 1891 and so far as I know I am the oldest living native born Darlingtonian. To me, there is no other town as good to live in. We moved in about a year to a little house that stood where Mr. Spears live son the first street south of Main Street, just south of Rykers Plumbing shop. We lived there until Dec 1902. It wa sonly about ½ square form our back door to Main Street and that was where we boyd were most of the time. If I don’t run out of will to write I will later write of some of my experiences as a kid on Main Street and try to get an insight of how the town was at that time.
In the Spring of 1902, Dad bout 5 acres just west of the IOOF Cemetery and built the house on it where the Fidler boy now lives. It wa sin very low ground so he hauled shale rock from Lye Creek for a foundation and full basement and then filled in the yard. When we firs tmoved into it we had to have a ladder to get in the front door. Dad had sold our home in town and agreed to give possession December 1, 1902 but the house was not completed so we moved into a big old two story house that stood on Main Street west of the railroad about where the Standar Oil tanks were. We were living there when Uncle Tise Chrisman & Ben Gillen were struck by a train killed at the Main Street crossing in January 1903. They wer ein the buggy driving an old blind mare. The train coming from the south hit the buggy square killing them both. It knocked the buggy loose from the old blind mare & she went wandering off up Main Street. There was a big snow on the ground and the prints where the men lay in the snow north of the crossing was red with blood until the snow thawed off. I remember we kids were afraid to pass it after night so had to stay at home which irked us quite a bit.
Note from Mary Lou Weliever – “This is all I have found of his memoirs. I don’t know if there is more. Anyone else have any?”