Recollections: Legends of Yesterday - The Jason Junior Miles Family
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This is a reprint of original articles by Hugh Woolley, a longtime resident and community leader of Graceville. Woolley published these articles in The Graceville News more than 20 years ago.
Originally published in the October 17 and November 14, 2002 editions of The Graceville News.
The Heritage Book is coming alive, several stories are coming in this month. Ruth Miles Alsobrooks brought me five stories about five Miles families. Thanks to Ruth, today I will devote my column to the family of Jason J. Miles and his wife Velma Lee Reeves and their nine children. I taught all (5) five boys in Ag and FFA. They were a good group to work with.
Submitted by Ruth Alsobrooks
Jason Junior Miles was born August 17, 1917, in Jackson County, Florida, where he has lived all of his life. Part of the log cabin he lived in is still standing today on Bentley Road. His parents are Jason David and Veleta (Austin) Miles. Veleta Miles was born in Geneva, Alabama and Veleta’s mother’s maiden name was Bridgam. Jason married Velma Lee Reeves November 1, 1936, in Jackson County, Florida. Jason and Velma had nine children of their own, so he had to be a big farmer. He farmed some of the four hundred acres, some was planted in pines, some for grazing cattle and some fish ponds. Jason put a diving board in one of the ponds, so the children could go swimming when they were through with the chores. He had raised a full ball team, so we had a big baseball game every Sunday at Jason’s house. Jason joined the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935. This was one way for Franklin D. Roosevelt to put (as Jason said) starving people to work; just so they could survive. The CCC men built roads and trails in the mountains in Cades Coves. He learned how to wash clothes and hang them on a barb wire fence. When he got out in 1936, his days of washing clothes were over, he married instead. The CCC Camp Jason was stationed at was Cades Cove, Tennessee. These Coves have a lot of pretty deer, birds, bears and almost anything that lives in the wilderness. Jason loved to talk about the old times and the boys in the Coves. Jason’s grandfather, Willoughby Miles, had a homestead on the back 160 acres of land Jason used to own. Jason’s son, Billy Joe Miles owns this land today.
Velma Lee Reeves was born on February 2, 1915, in Madrid, Houston County, Alabama. At the age of 5, she moved to Jackson County, Florida, in 1920, they moved next door to the Springhill Methodist Church with her parents Frank Andrew and LeElla Florida (Rodgers) Reeves. She was one of their twelve children. Her brothers and sisters were: Lee Andrew Reeves, Josephine Reeves Bruner, Thomas Jefferson Reeves, William Howard Reeves, Joseph Henry Reeves, Crawford Reeves and James Ray Reeves. There were more that died young, or at childbirth: Charlie, Lola May, Kathleen and a baby boy that was never named. Lee Andrew lived to be 91 years old. Jeff, Howard, Josephine, Joseph and Velma died in their eighties. Crawford and James are still living, just outside of Graceville today. Velma married Jason Junior Miles on November 1, 1936, in Jackson County, Florida at her father’s house. Velma and Jason bought four hundred acres of land in Jackson County, near Graceville and raised nine children of their own and a grandchild. Velma had a hard and busy life having to cook, clean the house, and keeping the washing caught up, plus running after all of those children, but she never complained because it didn’t do any good. There were fish ponds on the property, so every chance she got, you could see her going down to the ponds with her bait, pole, and bucket to bring her fish back in, because she most always caught fish. Velma’s mother died when she was just fourteen years old, so she helped her father raise her brother James, who was five years old at the time, plus keep the house and work some in the fields. She told a story one time, that her father gave her and her brothers some peanuts to plant, so they planted them alright. Some of the peanuts got planted and the rest got thrown in the creek and when the water went down the creek the peanuts had a chance to come up. As she was telling the story, she was laughing, but her father didn’t think it was funny.
When my brothers and sisters were little, we would go to Grandpa and Grandma Miles house. I remember them living in a log house that had a hallway down the center. Grandma and Grandpa slept in the room that had a fireplace and two double beds. Out in front of the house was a picket fence. As I look back on those good days at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, those were some of the best days of my life and I will never forget them. I only wish the log house was still standing.
The back porch was built around the well where the family drew the water they used. The well had a chute and the chute was also used as a cover for the well. When you pulled the chute to the side, you would use a bucket that was 2-3 feet long to draw water then you would sit the bucket on the chute. On the bottom of the bucket was a spring that would open up and the water would run down the chute into your wash pan, dish pan, etc. At the far end of the porch there was a wash stand which had a hole in one end for the wash pan to sit in, so it wouldn’t turn over and spill your water.
To the left of the back porch was what we called a smoke house or ice house with a dirt floor. There was a hole in the center of the dirt floor, with a fire being prepared to smoke the meat. My grandparents had dug a hole to bury the block ice, so it wouldn’t melt too fast. At the south end of the smokehouse was a bench with two wash tubs for washing clothes. I remember the gardenia bush blooming in the front yard. It was an odor that I will never forget, but a good smelling odor.
Grandpa would lean against the wall and spit his snuff in the yard. He lived to be 79 years old. He died January 31, 1968 in the Chattahoochee Nursing Home. His first wife, Elmedia Deese died July 20, 1914, giving birth to their first child. His second wife, Veleta Austin, lived a lot longer than my grandfather. Grandma Miles died May 23, 1984. My grandparents had ten children: Jason Junior, Robert Charles, Leslie Mae, Fanny Ray and Sara Nell. Deceased are: infant Danny, Fred, Winfred, and Charlie Wilson, who was killed when he was 21 years old, while riding a motorcycle near Graceville. My father took his brother Wilsons’ death very hard. In certain parts of the old log house, you could look through the floor and see the chickens playing under the house. Until today, I can still see my Grandpa leaning against the wall on the front porch, spitting his snuff out. I have made a lot of steps in that log house.
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