"Soldier's Sacrifice" Jesse Slaven

As everyone celebrated the history of Scott County yesterday at the Heritage Festival, it is also important to remember the sacrifice of our WWI soldiers who were in service one hundred years ago like Jesse Slaven. Slaven was born in Elva, a small community located in the Big South Fork in 1888. His parents were Charley Slaven and Sally Slaven. He answered the call of his country and left behind his wife Lillie Slaven. Jesse Slaven was killed in action on September 29, 1918, leaving his wife a widow. He was approximately 29 years old. Slaven was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Information and photograph taken from Jesse Slaven's FindAGrave profile

"Soldier's Sacrifice" Huffman Davis

This is a couple of days behind but this edition of Soldier's Sacrifice commemorates the death of Huffman Davis who passed away on September 22, 1917.  Davis was born in Winfield, Tennessee on May 10, 1891 to Henry Davis and Nancy Jane Chitwood Davis.  He died while on duty at Fort Thomas, Kentucky from a, "profuse hemorrhage from right lung, liver, and spleen as a result of gunshot wound" according to his death certificate.  This was most likely an accident that occurred while Davis was in training before he would have been deployed to Europe.  He was buried on this day in 1917 in the Ryan Cemetery in Winfield.

Information courtesy of Huffman Davis's death certificate, photo courtesy of findagrave.com

Fish Gig

This interesting three-tined fish gig was made by Charlie Blevins in his blacksmith shop.  Blevins was well known as a blacksmith in Scott County and learned the trade from his father Jacob.  This gig would have been attached to a handle and used as a spear for spearing fish or frogs.  Charlie's nephew Oscar, who lived in the Big South Fork was known to use a bow and arrow to spear fish as shown in the photograph.  Oscar once stated, "That's the way we done our fishing down here in the river.  I've killed many a fish with that spear and bow...a wagon wouldn't hold the fish we've killed with that."  Meat of all kinds would find it's way to the table for the people of Appalachia.  If you are interested to see more of Charlie Blevins' tools, the museum is in possession of the contents of his workshop.

Oscar Blevins is shown demonstrating how he speared fish in the Big South Fork.  Note the fish gig on the end of the arrow is similar to the one made by his uncle Charlie Blevins.

Information and photograph number 2 taken from Guns And Gunmaking Tools of  Southern Appalachia by John Rice Irwin.  Photograph 1 courtesy of the author.

Tintype Photograph

People today love taking pictures. Pictures can be taken anywhere using an iPhone or other device. It was not so easy one hundred years ago. This artifact of the week goes back to the earliest days of photography. The tintype photograph was developed before the American Civil War and differed from other forms of photography because the image was developed on a thin metal sheet. A metal plate was prepared for the photograph by dousing it in chemicals and then inserting it into the camera. The negative was produced on the metal and the positive was created by pouring chemicals on the plate. No copies could be made of the photograph because no separate negative was produced. Tintypes were durable and cheap to produce. The woman in the photograph is unidentified.

 Click on the video to see how a tintype was made:

 Information taken from Eastman Museum film featured here and Encyclopedia Britannica entry on tintype photography. 

Mason Jar

This item is related to the small crock that was featured last time. In 1810, Nicholas Appert invented a way to seal food inside glass jars using a vacuum seal. John Landis Mason patented the first screw top jar in 1858. Jars like these were fitted with a zinc cap and a rubber gasket that went around the neck to seal the jar. Canning with jars like this became popular in the Big South Fork area around the 1920s, making the small crocks and beeswax technique obsolete. Jars like these were good for holding any manner of contents. Notice that this jar has the November 30th, 1858 patent date for the Mason screw closure.

Information taken from https://www.freshpreserving.com/about-us.html