Covid Journal, Day 133: History of a Sellers Cabinet

 72 this morning, humid. The promise of a hot day ahead but the morning was cool enough to get my string-trimming and some weeding done. The gardens are looking good now that they've had some rain. First tomatoes coming in.

It began its life in a small country home on a high hill in Wetzel county, West Virginia. This is the story of the Sellers cabinet we recently restored. 

Rosa and Pendleton Miller owned a ridgetop farm, and ran an inn. Rosa's granddaughter told me that people would pull up in wagons and on horseback to get a meal, or to stay overnight. The inn wasn't like you might think--it was really the Miller's home, and meals were served in the kitchen, with a room to the side to house the overnight guests. This may have been during the time of a big oil and gas drilling boom so there would have been a good deal of traffic along the winding road.

The great-great-granddaughter of Rosa and Pendleton provided this memory with the above photo:

"These were my great great grand parents who owned the cabinet- Rosa and Pendleton Miller. My mom told me they actually ran a small bed and breakfast on their farm, Rosa would bake pies and sit them on the cabinet for the family and the tenants to eat. They had a cellar building, they stored their canned goods in downstairs and upstairs was used as lodging for people passing through,  they could park their horses and buggies and stay the night. 

I didn't know that about my grandparents farm. I spent much of my childhood with my mom's parents, my cousins and I would run through the old house, it's been there for over a hundred years. And I remember my grandma going to the cellar to get canned vegetables for dinner, I always loved the smell of the cellar lol." Kaitlyn Goudy

A description of the Silver Hill community in these early days is given on the WV Genweb website:

Silver Hill, WV

"Silver Hill is located about eighteen miles east of New Martinsville in Center District, on Laurel Run. It was settled in the year 1825 by James A. Wood. There are between fifty and sixty families living there now on the surrounding ridges and in the valleys. In the late 1800's and early 1900's there were over one hundred families in Silver Hill. This was due to the oil boom. At one time, there were two general stores, a blacksmith shop, a grist mill, a hotel, a speakeasy, an undertaker, a school, a barber and two churches.

In the 1850's, W. S. Swan was a store owner; in the 1880's E. P. Haught owned the store; in the 1900's Morris Rulong and Son, and Chris and Clarence Yeater had a store; in the 1920's and 30's Hinerman and Pyles, O. W. Yeater and Fred Adams. The store and Post Office were operated by Fred Adams. The building was large with a high ceiling and required a large pot bellied stove to take the chill off the air in the winter time. Saturdays in the winter months were the busiest time. The ladies came to bring butter and eggs to trade for staples for the family. The men came to get the mail, hear the latest news, and to swap some very tall tales. In the 1940's Herb and Dale Yeater owned the store. Herb Yeater ran the store and Post Office for twenty-one years and was the last store in Silver Hill in 1965. A new Silver Hill Volunteer Fire Department is now on the site where the store once stood.

Some of the men who ran a blacksmith shop were: G. W. Blatt, Geho and Harlan, Cecil "Butch" White and Bernard Myers. It was fascinating and a little scary to hear the hammer ringing on the anvil and see the sparks from the forge coming through the cracks of the wooden building. Some of the early doctors were: Dr. James Duffy; Dr. E. P. Haught, Dr. D. Walker Richmond; and Dr. Coffield was the last doctor out in here.

The grist mill was owned and operated by C. A. Ramsey and sons, Elmer and Ernie. A hotel was operated by W. J. Derrow. Tom Allen was the undertaker. In 1912 a flood washed his caskets away, some say as far as Paden City! Jasper Baker was the local shoe cobbler. "Daddy" Crawford operated the saw mill. Winning McFadden had a stonequarry on Johnson Ridge. Jehu Johnson ran a speakeasy.

William Smith was the barber. The barber shop was open only on Saturdays. Mr. Smith, who lived on Carney Run, came to cut hair and shave the customers. The means for heating the water for the "Sanitary Shaves" was an oil lamp placed in a nail keg with a wash pan of water on top. That pan of water was used all day. (So the story goes.)

Most of the families in the area are descendants of the early settlers. An old store ledger still exists dating 1890-1910 and contains over four hundred peoples' accounts who dealt with the Silver Hill store.

Some think Silver Hill got its name from the silver trees in the area."

Source: History of Wetzel County, West Virginia 1983

The Millers were a busy couple. They farmed, according to census records, and also had interest in several oil and gas wells. They ended up having eleven children.

The Sellers cabinet was new when Rosa bought it. I am not sure of the year of its purchase but believe it must have been around 1910, based on information I can find about similar cabinets. I try to picture her in her kitchen, bustling around making pies on a wood cookstove, children running in and out, guests pulling up outside, her husband in the hayfield or perhaps coming in for a piece of fresh bread. They must have had a good life; their marriage lasted 56 years, until Pendleton passed away. His very detailed will is online and lists bequests to all his children; his love and care for his wife and his offspring are evident in the words of the will. The farm remained in the family for some time. 

Rosa's obituary. This states that the couple actually had 13 children. So two must have passed away before Pendleton wrote his will

The cabinet was eventually stored away, as the great-granddaughter who inherited it had no room for it in her home. And so she decided to sell it, and we were the lucky buyers. We--Larry mostly--cleaned it up, re-glued a few drawers, repaired the bottom, painted where new paint was needed, replaced the tambour or roll-top door, replaced the casters so it rolls smoothly, and gave the exterior a good cleaning. That was all it needed to come back to life.

And now it will leave us to go it its new home with an owner who is thrilled to have it and the history behind it. That's the best part of what we do, connecting the right things with the right people.

Here are a few pictures of the cabinet's features:

The flour sifter.

Metal shelf

Little spice rack behind the tambour

The tambour Larry replaced. We will add two little knobs to open it before it leaves.

 

Inside the big lower door. The rack and the bottom tray both slide out. I still need to clean this up.

  

See that bottom space in this section? ...

It tilts out. I am guessing this is for sugar?

or bread?

A rarity--the cap on the bottom of the sifter is still there. These are hardly ever found.

  

Side view

Sources and places with interesting additional information:

Civil War letters from a man who lived near Silver Hill

Silver Hill Facebook page

WVGenWeb site

Pendleton Miller's will

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.