SUMMERS COUNTY, W.Va. (Hinton News) – Over the years, I have met several distant cousins from all sides of my family on Facebook. Mainly because we share a mutual love for family history and old family photos. Some time ago, Carol Faddis-Jacobs and I crossed paths. We are cousins on the Thomas side of my very large family. Carol’s mother, Joann, was one of my Great Great Grandfather Fred Owen Thomas’s sisters. She lives in Florida.
A few years ago, she came to West Virginia, and we met at the Big Wheel in Alderson after chatting online for years prior. We are always sharing family stories and photos from that side of the family. Last month, she messaged me and said she was mailing me some photos that had been her mother’s.
One of which was this photo of my cousin Lota Skaggs. Lota and I are third cousins, but over the years, she became like a grandmother to me. Lota, Mom, and I were always “running the roads” when I was growing up. Ha. The photo is of Lota and her three children: John Skaggs, Thommy Skaggs, and Tammy Mounts.
The photo was taken at her grandparents’, John Harrison Harrah and Allie Falls Harrah’s home place on Kenneys Knob in Summers County. The view in this photo is simply spectacular! The farm was on the Snake Run side of Kenneys Knob, looking towards the Grassy Meadows area. This would have been taken around 1968 or so, based on the kids’ ages.
On a side note, Lota can remember after 58 years since this picture was taken that she purchased the blouse she was wearing in this photo at Alderson Store in Alderson. She bought it while working at Farmers Home Administrators, FHA in Lewisburg, WV. While I was growing up, Lota’s Aunt Neva Harrah, the last of her father’s people, lived on the farm and would have a cookout every year. Mom and I always intended to go, but never made it. After seeing this photo, I really regret it now.
