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Possession was taken and improvements began. In the bottom the growth was large sycamore trees-on the hill big oaks with some hickories. The sycamores were felled, cut in pieces, rolled together and burned and the land made ready for cultivation. On the high land oak trees were felled, cut to the proper length, hewn on two sides and built into houses for a residence and other purposes on a high hill that overlooked the bottoms. The residence was composed of four large rooms and was two stories in height. A stone chimney was built between the four rooms (two below and two above) with a fireplace in each. The roof was made of boards cut and split by hand and the interstices or cracks between the logs were filled by a mortar composed of earth, straw and lime. In addition to this most pretentious dwelling, other buildings were erected in close proximity,- houses for the negroes to live in, smoke house, kitchen, etc., etc. Everything seemed to be moving along happily and well; clearings were made, stables and fences built and improvements of a substantial character were to be seen on all sides; prosperity apparent everywhere. But, alas, after three years of unremitting toil and the endurance of hardships only known to the pioneer, there came the great flood of 1844, a flood of a magnitude hitherto unknown and which has never been equalled since. The creek (Big Creek) was not only big in name but big in fact. Practically all of the improvements made on the bottom lands were swept away, together with the ungathered and ungarnered crops.

This unfortunate disaster left the owner, the courageous master, practically where he began three

years before. In time this could have been righted by hard work, but there was a greater misfortune to follow a misfortune that could not be remedied. The waters of the great flood receded, but over the land that had been deluged there lurked the insidious, treacherous and deadly malaria. This hideous monster got within its coils both the master and the mistress — caught the devoted husband, the just and patient father, the considerate master, and the loving wife and mother. After weeks of pain and struggle, the master closed his eyes in death on the 8th of October, 1844. He was buried on the hill near the house he had built, and there for more than three quarters of a century his ashes have reposed. The wife and mother, after a long illness, finally recovered her health. The departure of the husband left the burden of family government, the new and strange home, the care of children, their support and education upon her who had been to him sweetheart and wife. This heavy burden she took and carried during a widowhood of forty-six years, with a courage and loving fidelity that justly entitled her to be crowned a "Spartan mother."

During the years of her widowhood she directed the work of the farm, provided for the comfort and education of her children as best she could with the meagre opportunity that the neighborhood furnished. One by one they married and left the "mother-nest" for homes of their own. Finally in the autumn of 1857, the youngest of her children, the writer of these notes, went to Bowling Green, Pike County, Missouri, to study law in the office of Hon. James Overton Broadhead. She was left on the farm with an

orphaned grandson and several slaves. Here she remained until after the Civil War when the slaves were made free, at which time she sold the farm and removed to Louisiana, Pike County, Missouri. She afterwards removed to Jonesburg, Montgomery County. Here she died on the 1st day of February, 1890, at the age of nearly ninety-six years.

All of her life she was possessed of great physical and mental strength. Within a few hours of her departure she was in full possession of her faculties and within that time gave minute directions as to her funeral. The following was taken from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat of February 2, 1890:

MRS. NANCY R. DYER

(Special dispatch to the Globe-Democrat)
Jonesburg, Missouri, February 2, 1890.-
At ten o'clock last night there died in this
place a woman who had lived to a remark-
able age-Mrs. Nancy R. Dyer, widow of
Hon. David Dyer, formerly of Henry
County, Virginia, at the age of 95 years, 8
months and 4 days. She was the mother
of twelve children-five sons and seven
daughters-seven of whom survive her, viz:
Capt. James C. Dyer, of Warrenton; Mrs.
Sallie A. Mason, Mrs. Jane Wyatt, Mrs.
Elizabeth Ball and Mrs. Matilda Foreman,
of this vicinity; Mrs. Louisa B. Carstarphen
and Col. D. P. Dyer, of St. Louis.

Mrs. Dyer came with her husband and
children to Missouri in 1841, and settled near
Troy, Lincoln County, Mo. Her husband
died three years later, leaving a large family.
She leaves surviving her seven children,

sixty-four grandchildren, 165 great-grand-
children and six very great-grandchildren, a
total of 242 descendants living. She sur-
vived five of her own children and thirty of
her grandchildren. The total descendants
living and dead of this aged woman are 277.
Mrs. Dyer possessed a mind of extraordi-
nary vigor, and up to the last moment of her
existence she was in full possession of her
faculties and gave the most minute direc-
tions as to the disposition of her remains and
the division of her effects. Her husband
was a soldier in the war of 1812, and served
subsequently with distinction in the House
of Delegates and Senate of the State of Vir-
ginia. Mrs. Dyer lived under the adminis-
tration of every President of the United
States from Washington to Benjamin
Harrison, and her life has therefore been co-
extensive with the establishment and growth
of the United States. She will be buried on
Tuesday next in the old family burying
ground in Lincoln County.

As above stated, she left surviving her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and very greatgrandchildren to the number of two hundred and forty-two. Prior to her death, thirty-five of her descendants had died. The grand total of descendants living and dead numbered two hundred and seventyseven. In all the years of her long life, she performed faithfully and well every duty imposed upon her.

"The greatest lives are those to duty wed,
Whose deeds both great and small are close-
knit strands of unbroken thread

Where love ennobles all."

This is not intended as an eulogium of father and mother, but as a brief recital of facts bearing upon two lives that were most happily joined together. They were God-fearing and God-loving Christian people, and tried hard to "do unto others as they would have others do unto them."

In early life each of them professed religion and became members of what was then and now known as "Primitive Baptists." They were consistent members of the church, and died in the faith. The old song so dear to them embodied in the refrain their belief and hope..

"And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story saved by Grace!"

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