Mother Vasta was just a little girl, 2 or 3 years old. She sat on a footstool made of tall tomato cans covered with a crazy patch top. This created a comfortable little seat for a small captivated child. She listened as her grandmother and other old Civil War widows retold the old stories of the Civil War. Grandma (Sarah Elkins) was five years old when the Civil War broke out in 1861. She was born in Obion County, Tennessee, to the daughter of James Darling. We do not know her name. Great Grandpa Darlings daughter (must mean Nancy?) died at the birth of Sarah L. Clements. The father left Sarah with her grandparents and went to northeast Arkansas. Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother Darling leave their home in Obion County, Tennessee on Sarah's First Birthday, November 26, 1856. They move to Sharp County Arkansas. Two other grandchildren are raised by the Darling grandparents. One was Jimmy Darling. The other child was a girl, and that is all we know. Sarah L. Clements met and married George William Elkins when she was fifteen years old. They had three children. One little girl died when she was about one year old. A boy lived to be about five years old before he died. This left Mary McAda Elkins, the mother of Vasta White, the only child. Vasta White's Great Great Grandpa Elkins was a full-blooded Cherokee Indian. he was a methodist circuit rider around Willow Springs, Missouri about 1845-1850. Great grandfather was already in the war when George enlisted. He was only 17 years old, but large for his age. He decided to leave the farm and family of two sisters, Mary and Martha and a young brother, Johnnie. They lived neighbors to the Jesse James family. (Jesse James was born on September 5, 1847 in Kearney, MO) The Jayhawkers and slackers would go around hanging the young men who they thought were 18 years old, when they themselves were slackers, stealing and robbing from whomever they pleased. The story goes that grandpa told his mother that he was going to the main road where the troops would be marching through. Sure enough, as he nears the road he can hear the clanging of the men's bayonets and the wagons. He joins up with them and to his surprise he finds that his father is with this unit. The father and son are now together, fighting side by side. They were taken prisoners near Cario, Illinois on the mighty Mississippi. As night falls, they make plans to escape, knowing full well they would be killed if taken to the island that lay between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. When they bed down and the guard gets to the other end of the line, they make their move. As they sneak through the darkness, one of them steps on a rotten limb. The noise alerts the guard and he fires his gun which alerts the other guards and they try to recapture them. They hid in the bushes and brambles until all was clear, then they made their way southwest toward Willow Springs, Missouri. The weathers was cold and blustery, and no food could be found for three days except a frozen pumpkin and one nubbin of corn. They came to an old friends house, who was a northerner. The family invites them in and the man goes down into the cellar and brings up a basket of apples. Great grandfather and grandfather ate apples until supper is ready. There was ham meat, cornbread, vegetables, a large supper. Grandfather ate too much. A small cabin was down in the field with a fireplace. The man takes bedding and wood to the cabin making the father and son comfortable. Great grandfather and Grandfather Elkins are warm and full for the first time in many days. The next morning great grandfather is sick from eating too much on an empty stomach. The weather is cold and a skiff of snow blankets the ground. The man encourages them to stay on in the cabin until the snow melts for fear that the soldiers could track them in the snow. Food is provided for them. When the snow melts, the men start toward home at Willow Springs. Here Great Grandfather Elkins died. Some say he starved to death, but we know that he probably ate too much on an empty stomach. He was in a weakened condition from the long hard battles and his imprisonment. He is buried at Willow Springs. A highway runs right over the springs that Grandmother Elkins herself had set out the willows to protect her milk and butter. Grandpa had put a rail fence around it to keep the livestock out. Two graves are said to be beside the spring. One is probably Great Grandfather Elkins. The story goes on a s Grandfather returns to the war. We don't know long it was before he was taken prisoner again, and this time he is taken to the dreaded island across the Mississippi. The conditions are horrible--starvation, dysentery and unattended battle wounds. The stench of rotting flesh attracted swarms of flies. Grandfather decides his only chance of survival is to swim the large Mississippi. One night the opportunity presented itself and he slipped off into the swift, muddy river. At this point it was said to be one mile wide. He swam hard until he reach midstream. Here he rested and let the current carry him one mile downstream. He found his way up the bank on the other side and worked his way toward home and family. When Grandpa George Elkins finally made his way back home, he found, to his surprise, that the Jayhawkers had taken over his farm. As he nears his own barn, six men are sitting there shucking and shelling his corn. He noticed six guns standing in one corner of the crib. With a casual "Howdy" he walks by as if not to notice anything unusual. As soon as possible, he begins to run. The Jayhawkers start out to follow him. A thin skiff of snow covered the ground. Soon Grandpa George entered a small stream and followed it to safety. As he ran along he noticed the footprints of an old rabbit hunter. The Jayhawkers though he was grandpa and shot and killed him. They returned to the homestead that the Elkin's had worked so hard to establish. But grandpa will return once more, as the story continues. Grandmother Elkins had taken the children to the safety of the Arkansas Ozarks around Salem and Hardy in Sharp and Stone counties. When word came to grandma that her son had been killed, it was just too much for the elderly brave mother and she died of a heart attack. The widows of the Civil War would make up a wagon train and go into Salem, Arkansas to get supplies. On one of these trips, the Yankees stopped the train and made the women give over their staples and money. One of the women gave the Mason sign and the commander made the men put everything back and see that the women had a safe trip. On one of these trips, Grandpa George Elkins met Sarah Louisiana Clements, the granddaughter of James Paul Darling. Sarah Clements was 15 years old when they marry. George Elkins and his brother Johnnie made a trip back to Willow Springs. The Jayhawkers were all seated at the supper table, and some of the furnishings were familiar to the men. When Grandma left, she could only take two wagon loads of furniture and supplies and one milk cow. The Jayhawkers were using the Elkins' home, barns and supplies. As the Jayhawkers are seated around the table for supper, the Elkins men set fire to the barn. As the intruders try to put out the fire at the barn, the Elkins set the house afire. Then they returned to Arkansas. Grandpa George Elkins became sick from exposure in the war and developed a lung disease. The doctor told them to travel. So grandpa and grandma and child, Mary McAda Elkins, along with Uncle Johnnie go north up around Aurora, Missouri. The weather turns bad as they make their way up a long steep hill and it starts to snow. As they start down the hill it begins to sleet and snow. The family stops at a farm house and ask for help. The man has a house and they move in. They are only there two or three days when grandpa died. No money and no way to get him back to Arkansas, so they buried him at Aurora, Missouri. Grandma Sarah L. Elkins and her brother-in-law Johnnie Elkins made their way back to Arkansas. Uncle Johnnie helped Granny raise Mary McAda until she met and married William Walker Rogers. Grandma Sarah made her home with them until her death. Great-Great Grandfather James Paul Darling - Born 6-2-1802. He was too old to serve in the war, but he spent many long hours helping the widow and orphans. The old wash kettle was moved from place to place as he helped with the making of molasses and lye soap. He and his wife raised three children who were cousins and his grandchildren. They were Sarah Clements, whose mother Nancy Darling Clements, died at her birth; Jimmie Darling and another child whose name we do not know. The Darlings were Scotch-Irish (Cumberland Presbyterian).
Dictated to Sarah White by Vasta White - 7-12-88.
