by Focus
© 1999, all rights reserved
On December 21, in 1828 or 1829, Lee Cage and Charlotte Blakemore had their fourth child, Sallie Douglas Blakemore, in Somner County, Tennessee. A year or so after Sallie, came William Finley. Then came the twins, Fieldon Royston and Albert Matthew.
After the birth of the twins, Lee Cage packed up his wife and family and moved west, to a spot near Fayetteville, Arkansas. Charlotte gave birth to Elizabeth Rebecca there in 1835. Later Ann Eliza came along. Finally Sallie's youngest brother, James Essex, came into the world near Fayetteville in 1842.
Lee Cage ran a hotel and farmed. His hotel sat near the woods. To entertain his many children, Lee Cage built a swing, tying the ropes to the branch of a sturdy oak tree in the woods. One day, as the young twins swung happily back and forth, a dead tree fell. It hit the swing, and killed both little boys.
It was in Arkansas that Sallie met her man. At eighteen or nineteen years of age, on Dec. 16, 1847, Sallie married David Eason Lewis, son of Eason Lewis, in Washington County, Arkansas.
You couldn't see the Blakemore place too well from a distance. Nestled in a little valley in the Arkansas forest, trees hid it from view till you came around the curve in the trail, or stumbled into the clearing (depending on whether you approached from the east or the west). Then you saw the welcoming inn, the outbuildings, the home of a large, industrious, and growing family.
Thomas, the oldest boy at 14, helped his father cultivate the field, keeping weeds down so corn could grow. His father drove the ox, and guided the heavy plow. Thomas came behind him with the horse and the harrow. Jesse Lee, at 10, lacked the strength to handle a team. But his father said he could handle a hoe well enough, so he came third, chopping by hand those weeds that his father and brother missed. William Finley had just turned six, so he had a job now too. He provided water, for both man and beast, at regular intervals. Little Will took pride in hauling that water, but when he heard his little brothers running and playing freely in the woods behind him, he did feel some twinges of jealousy and regret.
At the house, Mary Lewis took charge, despite her youth. Mother was with child, and due any time. Mary handled the hotel, preparing meals, cleaning the rooms, doing the laundry. Her mother sat in the office, balancing the books, welcoming any new guests, and doing the mending. Mary gave her sister Sallie a variety of tasks. At eight years of age, Sallie complained a bit, but she knew the family depended on her.