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Note: Find A Grave Memorial# 57622697 Thank you, Dayna, for these memorials. I would appreciate it so very much if you would copy and paste the following on Uncle Jep's memorial page under Bios. This story has a lot of history about Uncle Jep and Dade County people. I love to see stories on memorial pages and this is a good one. I have many more about other people I can send you if you wouldn't mind posing them. Thank you so very much. I am going to make a copy of the article ???�*�*�.�??�.�*�*�??.��.�*�*�??�*�*�??�*�??�*�*�??? The following story was published in The Dade County Advocate, a local newspaper in Greenfield, Missouri, in the 1940s. Columnist, Walt Smith was the writer for the column "Reminiscing". Here is a story that he wrote about his uncle, Jasper Newton "Jep" Grant: �How rich we used to feel when rabbits were five cents each. We would go hunting and walk out of the timber by the big road when it was about time for Uncle Jep Grant to come by in the mail hack. He bought rabbits along his route, whatever Uncle Jep said the price was you could just bet your last dollar that�s what it was. After some time, postal regulations forbid the RFD carriers from buying anything along the route and how we missed walking out of the woods and flagging Uncle Jep down and selling what rabbits we had killed. He was the first carrier on Route 1 out of Everton north. This route gave him the privilege to travel through his old home part of Dade County down on Lynn branch. He usually ate his noon day lunch near his old home place on the banks of Lynn Branch at the crossing near Ralph Long�s mail box. We can see him eating there casting his eyes up the hill towards his parental home, no doubt re-living some very happy memories. Also he could see the spring from which they carried water from to the house, and it is running as ever out of a small cave. There was a very steep hill to carry the water up in getting to the old log house. The writer's mother (Martha Rowena Grant Smith) spent her girlhood days chasing up and down that hill and possibly carried water from the spring to the old log house her father Jordan Grant lived in, and partly raised the three boys and fine (five) girls. Then a kick from a horse with fatal results taken the father (Jordan Grant). Several years ago a well was dug near the home place. After getting down several feet most of the bottom dropped out of the well into a very large cave. Some one went down on a rope and cave was a very large one extending out under the house and no telling how much farther. We cannot recall any trip on the route that Uncle Jep missed on account of bad weather such as a deep snow. He traveled many a mile going over that route and yelled many a happy greeting to those in the field working near the road. Taking in consideration the roughness of the roads in those days, it is wonderful how those old time mail men held out. Made their trips and get in about usual time every evening. The writer lives on the tail end of Route 3 here in Iola (Kansas) and it is a long trip our mailman comes by at eleven and sometimes sooner. The good looking mail man on Route 1 out of Everton gets back from the trip about the time Uncle Jep used to be getting ready to head south to Lynn Branch, feed his horse and eat his noon lunch. It is interesting to see Charley Graves, Lon Lawrence, Uncle Jep and others we cannot recall now pull up to the post office. They were full of information as to how the crops looked. Then you could see Lindy Baker come driving up with the Dadeville hack. Having a load of most everything from a possum hide to coops of chickens and the road to Dadeville was not black top by a long shot. Lindy could tell you if old Sac River looked like fishing was good and that Sam Dicus was all OK and that he picked up a passel of stuff at the Ward Post Office which was operated to Orlena Hoover. Mr. Baker would be surprised to make the trip to Dadeville today and not go via Ward P.O. In speaking of a good looking RFD man we must not slight our good looking postmaster Geo. Barker. In fact Everton is blessed with male beauty. Take a glimpse at Doc Henry Carlock, Wiley Grisham, Mitt Jones and Bro. Crawford, Mt. Osenbaugh and Willie Booger and John Dimmitt does fairly well. They were plum pretty when young.� Compiled by Mary Fallwell Henderson, Contributor #47134508. Note from Mary: Walt Smith's full name was Jasper Henry Walter Smith, Find A Grave Memorial# 37810143. He was my great uncle and brother to my grandmother, Mary Olive "Ollie" Smith. Grandmother Ollie saved many of his articles by pasting them in a book so we could enjoy them generations later. ???�*�*�.�??�.�*�*�??.��.�*�*�??�*�*�??�*�??�*�*�???
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