Tag: William Hume Stith

Those Mean Old Newspapermen

My great grandfather, William Hume Stith, had a stroke that left him partially paralyzed and unable to work. Two years later, in 1900, he killed himself.

In those days newspapers didn’t publish obituaries. The only way dead people got their got their name in the paper was to get killed or die in some interesting way — or place.

His death became a "reader."
His death became a “reader.”

Nowadays newspapers are always on the lookout for what newspaper men and women call a “Hey, Martha!” story, a story everyone will want to read, to put on the front page, especially on Sundays. Apparently newspapers then were no different. Those mean old newspapermen made my great-grandfather a “reader” on a Sunday.

The headline, on page one of the Richmond paper, said: “Found Dead In An Outhouse.”

Coming Friday: Hgielar

You Know, Don’t You

Who would have thought that a letter written by my great grandfather 186 years ago would have survived.  And yet, there it was, in a drawer at the Virginia State Library in Richmond.  Bo and Mark, two of my sons, and I had gone there hunting for our roots.

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The letter

William Hume Stith, who was seven years old, had written a one-page letter, dated June 15, 1830, to his mother.  He had written in ink, perhaps with a quill.

“My Pa says I must write to you and in obedience to his orders I now sit down to do so,” William told his mother, whose maiden name was Rebecca Harris. He said he missed her and his brother, John, and he made a promise:

“I will endeavour [sic] to be as good as I can but you Know [sic] what little boys like me are.”

Coming Monday: More