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His favorite pastime was playing Rummy (no money involved) with his sons-in-law or anyone else he could get to play.  There was always an old game table set up in the living room or on the large front porch, in the summertime, when family gathered at the home place. Papa loved baseball and listened to the games on the radio and later when TV came along he watched all the games. He seemed to always be amazed by the names of the players and would often comment that he had never heard that name before and wonder where he came from. He had a hard time playing Rummy and watching a game at the same time so if there was someone to play Rummy against him the game usually was turned off.

Ross married Jesse Mae Ervin on Tuesday, March 4, 1912 and they had seven daughters over the next twenty years. Jessie Mae was born on June 28, 1897 and was soon orphaned along with her oldest brother John, sister Lucy and brother Dave. Jessie was the baby of the family. She and her brother Dave were taken in by Tom and Harriett Isbell who raised them in Liberality Tennessee until they moved into a very nice home on the edge of town in Englewood, Tennessee. The Isbell family was evidently pretty well off because later they would give Jessie and her family a real nice house in Madisonville. The house in Englewood was recently torn down as it became dilapidated. (There are some pictures of that house around and we would love to post one here if you happen to have a copy you would be willing to share with us.)

Harriett and Tom Isbell allowed Jessie Mae and her husband Ross to choose among houses in Madisonville and Jessie chose a house on Henry Street which Tom and Harriett than gave to them. They both lived there until their deaths. They gave birth to their two youngest daughters, Jean and Nancy, in this house. After raising their girls there they helped to raise three grandchildren in the house. Darrell, Barbara and Peggy Cornett were each born in middle bedroom of this house and lived there after their father died.

It was a wonderful place to grow up and weekends there in the 40s and 50s meant, on a lot of occasions, the entire family including in-laws and all the grandchildren would gather for a lot of fun and good food. Jessie loved to cook and took pride in preparing plenty of good country food to eat.(The old home place on Henry Street was recently burnt to the ground.)

Jessie Mae raised seven daughters and was a faithful wife and loving Mother.  She was a wonderful cook and when she was only a teenager newly married she cooked for all the farm hands on her in-laws farm where she and Ross lived during their first years of marriage.

Jessie's brother-in-law Fred and his wife Della lived near the Will Joines farm and Jessie Mae and Della would get together and sew their children's clothes. Jessie Mae was a lifelong quilt maker and made many, many beautiful quilts.  Her daughter Harriette is also a wonderful quilt maker. Some of Jessie's priceless quilts are owned by daughters and granddaughters.

Jessie Mae helped deliver some of the children of Ira (Doc) and Lucy Henry. Mrs. Henry delivered some of Jessie's children. They were neighbors on Henry Street for years and one of Mrs. Henry's children was named Jesse Ross after Mama & Papa.

In the early 1950s Papa built a small neighborhood grocery store on Warren Street in Madisonville which he operated until he retired in the late 1960s. It was as much a place for people to hang out and drink cokes, eat a bologna and cheese sandwich and tell jokes as it was a grocery store. (BTW he would slice the bologna and cheese right there in front of you with a kitchen knife and allow you to tell him how thick you wanted each slice and what you wanted on it. He sold it by the pound and some would ask how much it weighed and if it was too much Papa had to slice him one a little thinner.) Although it was a small business most items were marked up only a penny or two so he could stay competitive with the larger stores in town. I remember some of the hard working people coming by and getting a few items and Papa would write it in a book and they would come by on payday and clear the bill. Sometimes a man who stopped in every day for months would get behind on his bill and as he walked home he would cross over to the other side of the street with his head down a little and pass on by and he wouldn’t stop in again until he was able to pay his bill and then he would be back in everyday again. I remember Papa hated it because they would spend cash at another store but not at his because they owed him money.

There's more to come on these two.

Family and friends are welcome to send more history, anecdotes, photos or comments!

Below is a Family Record from Jessie's Family Bible

Below is an update on the Family Bible record above. 01/24/2012