MAYFIELDS CORNER
By: Joe Mayfield
There are family names that all of us recall from our days growing up, in West Point it might have been Nesmith, in Cullman it might have been Fowler or Ponder, in Hanceville perhaps it was Burkart or Ashwander. These were people that were always helping with the school, or donating to a community project. They seemed to always be the first to help, not for self recognition, but because their hearts told them it would be the right thing to do. Today more and more people seem to be thinking of themselves first, and other people second, not so long ago it was different. During the 1950s the name Ashwander was known as either the bank president of Merchants Bank, Martz Ashwander, or one of the largest cotton producers in the Hanceville area, Marvin Ashwander.
The Ashwander’s ancestry goes all the way back to a small town in Switzerland, Speitz, about five miles from Fruetigan. Marvin Ashwander’s Grandfather, Maritz Ashwander, wed Miss Maria Rosia Trachel. The year was 1858.
They came to the United States, and started their family in Michigan. Their children were Paulina, George, Elizabeth, Mathilda, Johannes, (Marvin’s father, born August 17th, 1871) and George, all born in Michigan, the seventh child, Edward was born in Alabama in 1874. In 1874, there wasn’t a Lutheran church in Hanceville, so Ed’s mother walked from Hanceville to Cullman, carrying Ed, to have him Christened, and today people complain about having to get up early to go to church. The trip most likely was over what we now call a logging road, and it surely would have been a long walk.
When it was made known that John had planned to marry, his mother told him that he could have two of the rooms from their home place, because she didn’t need all the rooms she had. Logs were then cut and trimmed so to be as round as possible, then after the rooms were separated from the main house, logs were put under them, and they were pulled to their currant location using horses. While walking through the home, I was impressed with the magnitude of such an undertaking. John married Miss Eva Gibbs in 1896 The Gibbs family also a well known family in the early days of Hanceville, Eva’s sister, Miss Pearl Gibbs, owned the 5 & 10 store in the 50 and 60s. See the Gibbs family photograph which was made prior to 1896, as they stand in front of their home, which is still standing today. It is located on the west side of the street that goes behind the currant day city hall. (Also see John and Eva Ashwander wedding photograph.) In 1910 more rooms were added onto the present Ashwander home, along with an upstairs. The barn also was moved from the old home place so as to be near the present day home.
In 1922, John and Ed Ashwander, along with Ellis Ballard formed a strawberry association to get more berrys to market, John was the manager, and in one day they loaded 65 rail road box cars with strawberrys, and since the operation was successful, they formed a sweet potato association for the same purpose. The building that housed the potato business is still standing today. (The unpainted building next to what was once Camps Store in Stepville.)
In 1929, Miss Elva Ruth Jackson moved from Walter to Hanceville with her family. She had attended Walter Grade School which went only to the ninth grade. Ruth’s father, James Wyatt Jackson, 1888 to 1965, and mother, the former Miss Effie Trumman Allred, 1898 to 1983, moved into a house not far from the Ashwander home. Ruth had two brothers, Woody and Harold, and they were about the same age as Marvin Ashwander, so from time to time Ruth would see Marvin when he came to the Jackson home to visit her brothers. Having been taught the importance of behaving like a lady, she never really talked with Marvin until one day he invited her to a Winnie Roast at the Bethlehem Baptist Church, after that, they courted for four and a half years. On Jan. 2, 1937 Miss Elva Ruth Jackson became Mrs. Ruth Ashwander, and as the years passed they had two children, Sylvia Ann, now Sylvia Ann Lackey, and a son, Delmar Louis, now deceased. See picture of Marvin and Ruth Ashwander.
While talking with Ruth, she wanted to share a thought for the day: Let me grow lovely, growing old...so many fine things do, laces, and ivory, and gold, and sticks need not be new, and there is healing in old trees, old streets a glamour hold: Why may not I, as well as these, grow lovely while growing old?
Ruth is a timely resource of timeless truths, her smile still warm, and her commonsense tips on how to deal with what comes our way in life are priceless. Its a good feeling to be in the presence of someone that’s secured both happiness and character.
I remember deer hunting with Marvin, he had class and good taste, I’m proud he was my friend, I’m proud Ruth is my friend. Thank you Elva Ruth Ashwander.
Published in U S Legacies Magazine December 2005
- Log in to post comments