This is the note I sent my sons with the poem and photo:
I found an additional photo from your dad's side of the family. This is a tin type of Elvira Rountree Terry. She would be your 4th great grandmother. Her father was Daniel Rountree and her grandfather was Captain Richardson Rountree, a Quaker who took up arms in the American Revolution. Both, her father and grandfather were extremely wealthy landowners in Edgefield County, SC. In her latter years, she suffered from macular degeneration (a hereditary blindness). Her daughter, Martha A. Terry, married Richard Stalnaker. Richard died while imprisoned as a POW at Point Lookout, MD during the Civil War. After the war, while moving to Florida, Martha died in a wagon accident. Their son, Thomas Jefferson Stalnaker (also called One-eyed Tom), had left Edgefield earlier to relocate to Fort White, FL with Martha's brothers.
Daniel, Elvira's dad, was an interesting character. One of the most interesting things is that, with all that wealth, the plantation exists no more, and I was told the tombstone was stolen years ago. I've been to where the plantation was located, but it's now all trees owned by a paper company.
Another interesting note is that two of Elvira's daughters, Martha and her sister, Elizabeth, married Stalnaker brothers.
Through the trees, haunting whispers come from the past,
Saying, "Nothing is forever. Things will not last."
The Rountree plantation was one of quite a grand scale,
Where all manner of living occupied every hill and dale.
Gone are the family, the house and all of the contents,
Along with the barns, the sheds, and even the fence.
The noises of those that lived days past are silent evermore,
As are the sounds associated with daily living and chores.
No one sits under the shade of an ancient oak tree,
Escaping the heat of summer and praying for a cool breeze.
There is no longer a table to set with dishes and silverware.
Alas, the table is gone and so is each and every chair.
Forever gone are the children's voices squealing in delight;
The laughter being replaced by sad stillness and quiet.
The kitchen is gone and no sweet smells permeate the air.
There are no busy hands that have apples and potatoes to pare.
Gone is the sound of horses galloping down the road
And wagons creaking while bearing their heavy load.
There is no longer the sound of a hammer hitting a nail,
Nor the thud as someone drops the wooden milking pail.
The sound of footfalls on the stairs are heard no more,
Nor are the noise of a child hurrying, causing the slam of a door.
All the sounds of the master, the family and the slaves
Have gone on, each and everyone, to their earthly graves.
There is no longer a fire crackling on a cold winter's night,
Nor candles and lanterns giving forth their glowing light.
The birds now build nests in the trees that weren't there when
The plantation was occupied by the Rountrees and their children.
Their sweat, their tears, their joys, their pain
And all their labors seem now to have been all in vain,
For the fields that existed once, are now covered in trees of pine,
Making even the boundaries nearly impossible to define.
Gone is the Rountree plantation, gone forever hence,
With only one's mind to provide a faint and fleeting glimpse.
The rain still quenches the same thirsty ground,
But gone forever are the people and all of their sounds.
The only remnant that for over a hundred years remained
Was a tombstone inscribed with Daniel Rountree's name.
As Daniel's bones rested, a thief of our modern age found
Daniel's tombstone that had been placed in the Rountree burying
ground.
So, now is gone that single remnant of him that had remained the
same,
The stone inscribed with Daniel Rountree's name.
Again through the trees, the haunting whispers come from the past,
Saying, "Nothing is forever. Things will not last."
Dedicated to Daniel and Fannie Nelson Rountree, and their descendants,
of Edgefield County, SC. Daniel, 1790-1871, was the son of Capt.
Richardson and Mary Mildred Hart Rountree.
It's almost Christmas. Lynn Basil is writing her last book about a secret entrance into the magical doll land of Sha Bebe that she loves so much. Bagannos have taken over the world! Lynn finally meets her dolls in real life. Can she write in a Secret
The familiar lament of dual-career parents raising children is, "I just can't do it all." The Libra Solution provides an alternative - a more satisfying and sustainable work and life approach - to the overwrought modern day norm.
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