Nancy Elizabeth Smith Dillard

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><script type="text/javascript" src="http://hb.lycos.com/hb.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ratings.lycos.com/ratings/lycosRating.js.php"></script> <script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[//><!]]></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://scripts.lycos.com/catman/init.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-start.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-middle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-end.js"></script> <noscript> <img src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/img/common/ot_noscript.gif?rand=614860" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  <iframe frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="728" height="90" src="http://ad.yieldmanager.com/st?ad_type=iframe&ad_size=728x90&section=209094"></iframe>  </noscript> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#6666FF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="09300760egblyg.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#330066" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>The Ozarks Dillard Family</b></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#CC3399" FACE="Times New Roman" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#3300FF" FACE="Times New Roman" >  </FONT><B> |     </b><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Ozarks Dillard Family"><U><B>home</b></U></A></div> <div> back to  <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="James Franklin Doc Dillard and Family"><U><B>James Franklin "Doc" Dillard and Family</b></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=193 BGCOLOR="#6633FF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mary Magdalene Dillard"><U>Mary Magdalene Dillard</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Doc Dillard"><U>"Doc" Dillard</U></A></div> <div> <B>Nancy Elizabeth Smith Dillard</b></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Children of Doc and Lizzie Dillard"><U>The Children of Doc and Lizzie Dillard</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B>From a letter to Lizzie dated  Dec. 24, 1917 from her cousin Bettie Lyons.</b></div> <div> My Dearest Lizzie;</div> <div>    I have just read your letter that you wrote to Aunt Mat.  You wanted to know if I was mad.  Dear Heart, that is the last feeling I would have toward you.  I, like yourself, have a lot to do for and then I hate to write so wretchedly bad that when I do have time to write, I just neglect to do it.</div> <div>    Well, this is Xmas eve. I wish you were here to spend Xmas with us. I would love to know just what you are doing tonight.  Having a Xmas tree for the youngsters, I suppose.  We used to have Xmas trees, but now all my youngsters have grown up.  My baby will soon be twenty one and I have no grandchildren.  so, we don't have a tree any more.</div> <div>    We wrapped and labeled all of our little gifts Saturday and Julia made candy yesterday, so we had no Xmas preparations for today so we did a little house cleaning.</div> <div>    We are still having beautiful weather.  The rains haven't begun yet, but we are wishing that they would so that stuff would go to growing for the stock.</div> <div>    Well dear, it's bedtime and I have to take a bath before I retire. I wanted to send you a little token of remembrance but it just seemd as though I couldn't get at it.  I am going to send you some Kodak pictures as soon as I get them developed.  Well, I will go to bed and finish this after Xmas.  Good night, sweet dreams. I wish you all a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.  XXXOOO</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> December 26</div> <div>    Well, Xmas is over once more.  Me and my family and Pa and Aunt Mat took dinner with Annie.  We all had a fine time, a big dinner and got quite a lot of presents.</div> <div>    I meant to get some Kodak pictures of us all yesterday to send you but it was cloudy all day so I couldn't get them.  Will try it again some other day.  Well, Lizzie, when I begin a letter, I am generally a week getting it finished.</div> <div>    I am going to Los Angeles again tomorrow.  I went last Wednesday but didn't get all my shopping done.  Well, dear heart, it's late so I must fly up for tonight- Good night.</div> <div>    P.S. I sold $13.59 worth of walnuts today that I've picked up since the pickers finished.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> December 28</div> <div>    Dear Lizzie- I will try to make a final finish of your letter tonight.</div> <div>    Lizzie, listen, why can't you come out to California this winter?  On now, don't you say you can't.  You can get some of your married children to keep house for you and you and Dock come out and spend the winter.  Please do.  Just think- it all goes in a lifetime and that's all the way you can ever see this country.  And, that alone is worth the trip.  Now, think it over and write soon and tell me you are coming.</div> <div>    I got a letter today from an old friend in Mo. that I have known for 30 years.  She and her husband were out to see us 2 years ago this winter.  She said she sure wished they were back here on a ranch.</div> <div>    We are still having beautiful weather.  No rains yet but we are good and ready for it.  When we have the rains here in the valley the big mountains get all covered and white with snow and the valley and foothills get all green and nice.  The most of our rain come in Jan. and Feb.  There are lots of people here that have grown up in sight of snow all their life, yet they never saw snow.</div> <div>    Well, I went to Los Angeles yesterday and did some more shopping.  I went with Julia and her friend.  We did our shopping then, in the afternoon, we went to visit a friend.  Came back to town about sundown.  Went to see two movies, then to supper.  so, it was 10:30 when we started home.  the roads were clear so we made the 20 miles in 40 minutes.</div> <div>    Dear Lizzie, I am glad that none of your boys have had to go to the training camp yet.  I have one that's gone, my oldest.  He was called the fourth of  Oct. to Camp Lewis, American Lake, Washington.  If  he could of gone to a camp here in his own country it wouldn't of been so bad.  The training is good.  Every boy in the good old U.S.A. needs a good military training.  But, oh, the possibility of them having to go to France.  Then my heart will break.  I have four boys and, if the war lasts, it will get them all for my baby will be 21 in April.</div> <div>    I have lived for nothing but my children for so long that it seems cruel for them to have to be called away like that.  But with the help of the Good Lord and the love of our country, I will do like thousands of other poor mothers- I will fight at home while they fight abroad.</div> <div>    Give my love to Dee and his family and to you and all your family.  And a thousand bushel(s) to you and Dock.  You will find this the most mixed-up letter you have ever read.  Please write soon and tell me you are coming out to see us.  With lots of love.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> I am always-</div> <div> Your cousin,</div> <div> Bettie Lyons</div> <div> Puente, Calif.</div> <div>    </div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#6633FF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Nancy Elizabeth Smith Dillard</b></div> <div> Born- July 12, 1867- Taney, Missouri (re: marriage license- obituary states    birthplace as  Freck, Arkansas)</div> <div> Married- September 15, 1881, Cassville, Barry County, Missouri</div> <div> Died- February 7, 1941- Mull, Arkansas</div> <div> Buried- De Soto Cemetery, just off  Rush Road, south of Yellville, Arkansas</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0a826cb0.jpg" border=0 width="294" height="459" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>  James "Frank" Dillard and Nancy Elizabeth Smith Dillard</div> <bR> <div>      The above picture was probably taken in the late 1930's.  Known by Lizzie to many family members and Bet by her husband, Nancy Elizabeth Smith Dillard married Doc on September 15, 1881.  She was only 14 years old at the time of her marriage.  In those days, it was not unusual for brides to be under 16.  Together, she and Doc raised 12 children to maturity.  Two of their children, Mary Demoia and Oscar died before they were 10 years of age.</div> <bR> <div>      Since Doc invited many over for meals, we have many testimonies that Lizzie was a very good cook, often cooking large meals not only for family members and visitors, but the workers at the sawmill and many guests who stayed with them.  Listening to folks talk of her, never a bad word has been said of her.  She must have been a very patient person to have raised so many children so well and taken care of so many neighbors, friends and passersby.</div> <bR> <div> The only recipe that can be attributed to Lizzie is a recipe for Lime Pickles</div> <div>      You will need 8 pounds of cucumbers, sliced in rings 1/2 inch; cover with water to which has been added 2 cups of slack lime.  Let soak for 24 hours.  Wash well.  soak in clear water; drain and let simmer slowly for 3 hours in 3 quarts of vinegar, 3 pounds of sugar, 2 tablespoons of salt and 1/3 box of pickling spice.</div> <bR> <div> An article submitted by Marian Burnes to the <I>Mountain Echo </I>relating to when she stayed with Doc and Lizzie while teaching school for the De Soto district<I> </I>tells much about Lizzie.  The following is an excerpt from that article.</div> <bR> <div>      "Nothing was very convenient back then.  There was a cistern on the back porch from which she (Lizzie) drew water and she cooked on a big, wood range.  She was a wonderful cook.  I especially remember some things she prepared.  she raised chickens and would fry them in a black iron skillet until nice and brown, drain off the fat, cover them with milk and simmer the chicken until tender.  It was delicious and the gravy was out of this world.</div> <bR> <div>      We took our lunches and she'd bake a plain layer cake and put a filling of sweet applesauce between the layers.  We liked it.</div> <bR> <div>      In the late summer she made the only grated cornbread I've ever eaten.  She took a syrup pail, split it down the seam, made a lot of nail holes in it to make a grater.  She nailed the piece of metal to a board, rough side up, took corn that was a bit too hard to cook but not dry enough to shell, grated it and made cornbread.  It was delicious and had a nutty flavor.</div> <bR> <div>      Mrs. Dillard also had a sense of humor.  One night, after we'd eaten supper, she, Bazze and I were sitting around the table talking.  The two mill hands, who were a grandson and nephew, had gone to bed and were asleep.  Bazze suggested she wake them up and tell them breakfast was ready.  She did.</div> <bR> <div>      They had just gotten to sleep and were hard to wake, but she finally succeeded.  Getting up, they stumbled out the back porch to the cistern, washed in that cold water and came back in the dining room.  Seeing the dirty dishes and supper food still on the table, they really looked disgusted and went back to bed.</div> <bR> <div>      Of course, we thought that was hilarious, but, as you would expect, they were not amused."</div> <bR> <div>      We have a wonderful set of  letters to Lizzie from her cousin, Bettie Lyons, who moved to California.  Her letters are wonderful to read and give many insights to the period of time they lived in.  Lizzie seems to have corresponded regularly with Bettie.  We could only wish we had the letters from Lizzie to Bettie to complete the picture.  We know some of what was happening here in Arkansas from Bettie's letters and they do make for very interesting reading.  </div> <bR> <div>      Lizzie kept much of her correspondence from family members and, thanks to her daughter-in-law, Faye ( Frank's wife), we still have them to enjoy.  I very much doubt she would have realized how treasured these letters would be to her descendants.</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>