AMANDA E. LOVE (1854 - 1944) I have been asked by friends of mine, both young and old, to write an essay of my life. I have faced so many troubles and trials in my life my mind is very scattered, and I'm not much scholar, but trust this will escape the waste basket. I was born in Hardin County Jan. 1, 1854, on the farm just above the mouth of Horse Creek. We lived at that time by Mr. Tom Seaman, the late Dr. Seaman's father. The house in which I was born is torn away and gone. My father's name was William Giles Frie. Mother's name was Isabelle Welch. They were married Jan. 22, 1853. I had three sisters and a brother, who have all passed on. I was the oldest child. In 1857 my father and Uncle Daniel Hurst moved to Arkansas with an oxen team. We drove during the day and at night we made camp. We spent a year in Ark., made a crop and loaded the oxen wagon and headed for Hardin County. On our return trip from Ark. I saw my first Indians. My mother loved very much to sing. At night when we camped mother would sign, and the Indians would come to camp to hear her sing. One thing I remember well, as we came from Ark. we would cook enough to have a lunch at noon as we went along. We children would want butter and biscuit and we could not buy butter at every camp. So we had no butter. And we were crying. To console us Aunt Elizabeth Hurst gave us cold grease on a biscuit for butter. When we arrived at the Tennessee River, we crossed on a flat boat. Granddaddy Frie met us at the river. He was wearing a claw hammer coat and a nine biler hat and riding horseback. This is my first remembrance of being at Savannah. That was in 1858. It was night, snowing and cold when we left Savannah to spend the night with granddaddy Frie. We used pine torches for light, as there was no coal oil at the time. Grandmother Frie rejoiced greatly that her prodigal son had returned, and had for our supper a half-bushel of baked sweet potatoes. In 1860 I saw my first jail house at Savannah. It had a picket fence and small cabins inside for the jailbirds. In 1861 the Civil War began. I was 7 years old. We were living at this time in Fork near Cravens Landing. The people were in such distress about the war, no one really knew what to do. The people's homes were destroyed. We were living in dread day and night. It grew from bad to worse. In 1862 my father joined the Navy, left mother and 4 children by ourselves to do the best we could. He enlisted on the Gunboat Tyler and went to Shiloh and fought in that bloody battle. How well I remember the Rebels coming to our home after Daddy was off on the gunboat. They were searching for weapons and anything they could use. They took our old straw beds and emptied the straw on the floor and left our house in a very disorderly condition, but we were happy to escape with our lives, for many were killed and many left homeless. One other event was the killing of Margaret Cash. She was in her home sitting by the fire knitting, (for we knit our socks at that time) and the Rebel came, shot her, killing her instantly. In 1862 my father was wounded and discharged. He came home but without any satisfaction for mother or her children. He was in such distress, for fear of meeting a Rebel. He had a hiding place near our home, but it was known only to mother. She would carry all his food to him at night. She always waited until all the children were asleep, then she went on her journey without any light. She also had our horses hid out, and carried them feed and water. Late one night it was snowing and father prevailed on mother to take the horses to shelter, for he thought it was such a rough night no Rebel would surely come, but yet daddy dared not come to the house. Mother finally consented to bring in the horses. When her rounds were completed and we were sitting around the fire, the Rebels came. Oh, what a soldier my mother was! They called for my father first of all, but my mother would not tell. He put his gun in her face and told her she would tell where his hiding place or die. But mother very calmly replied that she would die. And to our surprise he did not shoot but said, "I wish we had soldier like you." They raided our home and rode away on our horses. For two years I did not fee [text unclear]. So daddy's life was in such danger we decided to go north. We took our wearing clothes and bedding and left our home. We crossed the river and camped at Cravens Landing on the bank of the river just below the old Craven House. The Yankee cavalry was camped there also. We were waiting for the gunboats to take us north. The Rebels were camped on the other side of the river from us and each side would fire at the other. My grandmother, Betty Frie, was making the trip north with us and she had forgotten her deed and papers of importance, and left them all at home in the bureau, for all the furniture was left. She decided she would take Aunt Bam McDaniel with her and return home and get the papers. After she had been home and got the papers the Rebels watched them come to the river and start across. They began to fire on them but no shots hit them. Only grandmother's bonnet was full of bullet holes. We left there on the gunboats, landed at Paducah, but crossed to the Illinois side on the boat called the "Blue Bird" and went to Polk County, Ill. When we landed here I spent the first nickel in my life for candy. We stayed in Polk County for three years. In 1863 we made our first crop in Polk County with Ben Neely. In Jan. 26, 1864, my mother died, and I could not realize how I could live without her. She was buried near our home on a spot which she had sighted for a church house. She was the first buried there and it was the beginning of the Frie Cemetery in Polk Co., Ill. We made our second crop with Rube Hasting, and the third crop was made in the Ohio River bottom, or Big Survey, with Tom Todd. Grandmother Frie kept house for father until August 2, 1864. Father was married again to Delia Neely, a widow with one child. Her first husband was killed in the Yankee army. That was the first time in my life I ever wanted to die. When Aunt Balm McDaniel told me father was going to marry, I crawled under a wagon load of wheat straw, hoping I would die there before father returned with his second bride, but the Lord saw fit to spare me and for her to make us a good mother. It was in Illinois I saw my first "Shin Plaster." I found it in the wheat. Could not realize what it was, so I took it to father and to my surprise it was a 25¢ bill they called a "Shin Plaster." In 1865 the war ended and we came back to Hardin County. At that time I was 10 years old. We had nothing to start with when we came to Hardin County, and no one else had anything, but father managed for a yoke of oxen. We had no corn or hay, so he plowed them single, or one at a time while the other grazed on the grass. He used hickory bark plow lines, and when they became dry from the sunshine he would put them in the branch to soften them up. He always kept 2 pairs of lines. We did not starve but we worked hard and got hungry many times. Our super consisted of milk and bread. I had only 3 months schooling in my life. I studied the old Blue Back Speller, the only book I ever had, and learned to write on a slate. I did not know anything but work. At night each of us children filled our shoes with seed cotton and before we could retire we must pick all the seed from the cotton. Father carded it and then my sister Molly and myself spun it into thread. We spun the cotton at night, or when it rained, or came a day we could take off from the field. This thread was woven into cloth for our clothing. I was young, but I had to learn to weave. I wove all sorts of cloth, such as coverlids, counterpanes, geans, linsey, and blankets. The geans cloth was used for men?s clothing. We never knew what it was to buy yard goods. We wove all we wore. August 20, 1872, I married the man of my choice [William Henry Love]. I was 17 yrs. 8 mos. old when I married. In 1873 I took dinner with the first white woman that came to Hardin County, Aunt Sallie Brazelton. She lived where Adley McCasland now lives, in a log house, just she and her brother. She told me that day that she and her two brothers and two sisters came from Wales in 1816. She cooked dinner on the fireplace, for we had no stoves. For dinner whe had three pones of cornbread, cooked in skillet with lid, one large platter of fried eggs and coffee. Such a dinner. We enjoyed it very much. After dinner she took us to her smokehouse, showed us her [?] and trough and also her soap trough. They were made from a poplar log bursted open and cut out with a foot adz, with a plank fitted on top for a lid. We used such troughs as these for washing, which we did with a "battling stick." She had such a fine lot of pork sausage tied very neatly in corn shucks. To our union were born 14 children, 7 boys and 7 girls, with just one set of twins in the 14. All have passed away except 4, two boys and two girls. We were very happy with our children. In 1881 we moved to Perry Co., lived there 7 years, then moved back to Hardin Co. to stay with his father while he lived. He died on the 20th of March and left my husband's mother, and on March 20th, 11 years from that day she died. My father lived in Missouri and died Oct. 10th, 1896. He was buried in Dunkling Co., Mo. At the Friendship Church. Then in 1908, Oct. 16th, my husband was called away from me. No one can realize how I felt, only those who are left alone. I was left with 9 children and a big debt to pay. I worked at anything I could, but am thankful I was blest with health as I was. My next trouble was when my children began marrying. They married one by one until they were all gone. Then I kept house with my granddaughter for three years. She married and then I broke up housekeeping. So my troubles kept coming one at a time, till at last I have only four children left. I buried my oldest son, Pat Love, then in two years my baby boy was drowned, John A. Love, with Paul Hughes, July 8, 1939, at Pickwick Dam. No one knows, only those who have experienced the trouble. Then in 10 months another son, Brown Love, died May 3rd, 1940. They leave their wives and children just like I was left, when my husband died. But God has promised to be a father to the fatherless and widows and he hasn't promised something he won't do. I came through by the Lord being my refuge. I thank God for he has wonderfully blest me in my trials and undertakings. The time is drawing near when all will be over. I feel like I'll meet my Maker in peace. I am 87 years old, have 56 grandchildren and 42 great grandchildren. I have seen many dark hours. I have been trusting my Lord ever since 1873. I fear I haven't honored my Maker as I should, but no doubt, now I live nearer to God. He will call me sooner or later.

Amanda E. Love is my name.

111I have no home or station.

Tennessee is my dwelling place

111And Christ is my salvation.

When I am dead and gone,

111And all my bones are rotten,

I will with my Savior be,

111When I am all forgotten.