Montgomery Family Scandal

For those of you who have not heard, the Montgomery Family has been shaken to its core by a scandal. It is with sad news that I inform you that the great-great-great granddaughter of Lattie and Kate has posed topless.  Unfortunately these pictures have already been published before the family could hide the scandal.  The shamed family member is none other that Marlie Murray. Marlie's family includes father James Marcus Murray, grandfather James (Jim) Crawford Murray, great grandmother Vera Dell Crawford Murray, and great-great grandmother Mary Willie Lee Montgomery Crawford. 

Here is the official statement from the family. "We are deeply saddened by Marlie's lack of judgment and have made it very clear to her that the family has certain standards that we are required to live up to.  Marlie has given her word that no other topless photos will be taken in the future." 

After much debate, I have decided to go ahead and  post the picture so that if any family member comes across it, they can quickly take it out of circulation. 

Marlie is the blonde one standing in the chair. At least she was not the one on the book case

This ad ran in the May issue of Better Homes and Gardens and is also to appear in Country Living.  Picture provided by Jodie Hendon, Marlie's great aunt. 

Happy 5th Birthday Anslee

You have come a long way.

Anslee Elleen Copeland is the youngest granddaughter of Monte and Toni Crawford and youngest child of Kevin and Milicent Anslee Crawford Copeland. The name Anslee was created by Monte and Toni by squishing together Anson Lee Crawford’s name.
For those of you who do not know the story of Anslee, it really is a big deal that she is alive. Here is the before and after shots.

Anslee was born at 30 ½ weeks by emergency c-section. She had Hydrops Fetalis and was very sick. Quick medical lesson, hydrops is massive amounts of fluid built up on the body, usually caused by anemia. Something is usually wrong with the blood and the heart has to work extra hard to deliver enough oxygen to the body. Hydrops was more common prior to the 1970’s with mothers who were RH negative and the baby was RH positive. Now there is a drug to give to mothers to prevent hydrops and the cases of hydrops has dropped since then. In the US hydrops is not very common and Anslee was my doctor’s first hydrops baby since her residency.

So how did Anslee get hydrops. I was exposed to parvo virus, which is the virus that causes fifths disease in toddlers. Statistically I should have already been exposed to the virus and statistically even if I contracted the virus the chances of passing it on to Anslee were small. Statistics were not on our side. But statistically, Anslee should not have lived. Hydrops has a 60-90% mortality rate, so thank the Good Lord he does not follow statistics. Anslee spent 7 weeks in the NICU and came home just in time for her big brothers 3rd birthday.

So here is our precious miracle child that God blessed us with.

We love her very much and are blessed to have her in our lives. She has been a fighter from day one. She is sweet, caring, feisty, smart, hot tempered, opinionated and loving. She makes life interesting and does keep us entertained. I am not sure what God has planned for her, but I have to assume that it is something big.

By the way, I am now taking suggestions on how to handle such a wonderful child during the teenage years.

Happy Birthday Ila Jean!

Ila Jean Montgomery Stratton, the youngest daughter of Moddy Evertt Montgomery, celebrated her 87th birthday on March 21st. 

Pictures provided by Rita Young, Ila Jean's 3rd child.

From left to right: Marla Stratton (Roger's wife), Roger Stratton (Jean's youngest), Ila Jean, and Monte Stratton Wright (Jean's 2nd child)

Roger, Jean and Monte

Editor's note: First I hope all of this is correct, and second I have not had the privilege of meeting these beautiful people, but boy are those Montgomery genes strong.  And might I add that we age well!

Appleton Homecoming 2004

A photo entry provided by Jodi Hendon (daughter of Vera Dell Crawford Murray, 3rd child of Mary Willie Lee)

Cornerstone of Church and front of the church.

Don't ask Jodi about the matching shirts.

Don't you love a small town parade?

Confessions of a California Cop

The following story is provided by Carol Allen

I have to admit that I was one of the thieves who took mementos from the Appleton house some years ago. It was probably the last time I was in Appleton and I think it was about 2002 or 2003? Uncle Joe was with us and the old homestead was abandoned and in bad shape. My brother Jon discovered that they had tried to dig a basement which was unsuccessful and now full to the top with black stagnant water. Jon said they must have gotten into the water table and no doubt that hole was full of rats and snakes as well!
Well, the house looked sad and empty and we all peered into the windows from the front porch. I went around back and found a window already broken next to the back porch door. I reached in and opened the door and my burglary was complete. I was in. I walked to the front of the house through the country kitchen and noticed the floor was sagging in the middle! EEEK! To have fallen through into that black water still gives me the chills. I opened the front door and invited all the family in to visit for a spell.
Most of the house had been "updated" with paneling on the walls and new hollow doors where the old walls and doors once stood. I know the pastor and his wife probably worked very hard on the renovations and now the old house was strangely odd and quiet. But upstairs in a bedroom was an untouched area. The old plank door had been removed and replaced but the old door was leaning up against the wall-no doubt ready for the junk heap. I took out my handy Swiss army knife and a few screws later-the doorknob was removed and in my custody. I think this is the same room where an unidentified sister of mine peeled a large piece of wallpaper from the unpaneled wall. (There are rumors that she will write more on this later.)
By the time I left the scene of the crime, other thefts were taking place...someone took the well pulley from the porch, someone else took a piece of wallpaper and a piece of floor tile, and someone even backed up their vehicle and took a huge paving stone(s) from the walkway! (Editorial Note: I did not participate nor was I present at the burglary, but somehow I ended up with one of these stones. Hmmm!) Uncle Joe said that he remembers Lattie hauling those stones by oxcart from far, far away. I locked up the house and we fled the scene of the crime.
I still feel a little guilty at my leadership in this day but I knew that the items we pilfered meant nothing to the owners of the house. I wonder, does anybody even know if it is still standing and occupied or if the Kudzu vines have taken over and started bringing it down to the ground?
Well there, I have confessed. I will retire from my job in a few months so don't anybody get any ideas of turning me in to my superiors-they won't care as I am soon to be out the door-eastbound through the houses for the last time!

The 11th Montgomery Child

I have had a couple of inquires about an 11th Montgomery child. I knew there was an 11th child that died as an infant, but did not have any additional information. Carol Allen, the youngest of Scottie Hope, sent me the following story.


When my sister Kathleen and I were in Arkansas once, Uncle Joe told us the story. When my mother Scottie was about a year or two old, Kate was pregnant with her last child. Lattie's mother was having dementia problems and had come to live with the Montgomery household. They were living in Kibler and Lattie was working for a man who was raising horses. Joe drove us out there and located the spot where they lived but a barn off in the distance was all we could see. The field was waist high in tick and chigger laden weeds and Joe had to call Kathleen back from climbing the fence for a hike out there. This was where our mom had been born and Kathleen wanted to go see what she could find. Well, as I said, Scottie had been born while they lived there and now Kate was going to have her 11th child. One day, the grandmother was walking near the fire and fell into it. Kate jumped up and pulled her out, saving her life. Joe told me that the grandmother was not harmed but Janet remembers hearing that she was badly burned. Well, Kate went into labor and delivered a premature little boy named Buchanan. Uncle Joe said they called him a "blue baby" because he wasn't able to breathe correctly due to immature lungs. They made a bed for him out of a box and kept him near the stove to be warm. He only lived two weeks and is buried in the cemetery just outside of VanBuren on Kibler Road. This is the cemetery that is adjacent to where Arnold and Jean Stratton used to live. Uncle Joe said that years ago, Tim Burris went to the cemetery to try and locate the grave of our Uncle Buchanan. Tim was told that it was probably unmarked and that the records were burned a long time ago when the caretaker's building burned to the ground. Jean Stratton and I walked through the graves once and found the area where the dates on the stones would have matched the time, 1922 or so, but we didn't see any evidence of a Montgomery grave marker. The Montgomery clan moved back to Appleton when my mother was in her early teens and started living in the big house. Joe said they moved because the climate in the hills was better than the flatlands of Kibler. A doctor had built and owned the Montgomery house originally and I believe they lived there until Kate and then Lattie died.

Thanks for the story Carol, and if anyone has any additional information, send me an email, or post a comment.

The Old Homestead

Information provided by Bill Burris Sr.
The big house on the hill had a well-water pump on the front porch, used a large wood stove (with big tins filled with sugar cookies and home-made rolls for visiting grandchildren) and had a very long table with wooden benches along both sides in the oblong dining room. During the summer, the front of the house was covered by leaves from vines that grew up strings to the top of the second story. You could sleep out on the upper porch to keep cooler and look out through the leaves while concealed from outside view.
Long before Tom Crapper's commodes made it to Appleton, each of the four bedrooms at Lattie's and Kate's had a concealed “appurtenance.” That was a large white-enameled tin bucket that was used at night by the occupants then had to be dumped and washed out at daybreak. The older kids had that undesirable cleaning chore for years. The real outhouse – a two-room, two-hole facility – was what seemed like a long way down a path to the east and in the garden. It was equipped with the latest of toilet tissues (Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs) and bags of lime (with scoops) to be dumped down the holes to eat away the residue and kill vermin that otherwise would multiply there. Real bathrooms came to the home in a remodeling project after Lattie and Kate had passed on and the house became the home of the young Cumberland Presbyterian preacher and his family.
There are rumors that some of the cousins have “rescued” some “memorabilia” from the old homestead. I don’t know if Lattie and Kate would approved, but I am sure they would be happy to know that their family treasures their heritage.