Set Back

Mother was very fond of playing cards and learned as a child playing with her brothers.  The Leo Bernhardt clan was always been fond of playing the card game, Set Back.  With much work to be done on the farm, there was little time to enjoy such a passive past time, except for Sunday afternoons.  Of course, Sunday mornings were spent at St Paul’s since the Bernhardts were loyal Lutherans, however, on Sunday afternoon, which is traditionally a day of rest with no working, dancing, or card playing, Leo let the rules slip a little, and the boys and Ruth would sit down with their Father for a rousing game of Set Back.  Leo was known for his skill at bluffing.  His style of play belied the southern gentleman that he was.  The children vied to be his partner since he was seldom bested.  One child, however, was excluded from the game, for their chore was to sit on the porch to look out for the preacher lest the family be caught enjoying the Sabbath a little too vigorously.  The preacher was known to drop in unannounced at one of his parishioner’s homes for Sunday supper each week.  At first signs of dust from any vehicle cresting the hill, the cards would be swept away, hidden in the desk drawer, and an innocent discussion of the weather would ensue.

Memories of Ruth Brown Bernhardt Miller

As remembered by Elizabeth Gail Miller and Karen Miller McConnell

Carlyn Earnhardt Bernhardt Childhood Memories

I was born March 11, 1917 in Faith, North Carolina.  My parents were Hannah Hartman Earnhardt and John Earnhardt. My maiden name was Carlyn Louise Earnhardt.  My mother was reading a continued story in a magazine called The Home Comfort and there was a character in it named “Carlyn”.  She liked the story and the name so I got the name, Carlyn.  I was the third of seven children.  I had three brothers and three sisters. Our home was a two story bungalow type house located on Glover Road.
We had an ice box in the smokehouse.  The ice man would come one time each week and mother would buy a block of ice.  We seldom had “sodas” but the ice box was used to keep our milk and dairy products cold.  When my father was living we had our own electric power plant.  No one else around us had electric lights.  After Daddy died Mother was not able to keep up the light plant so we had to use kerosene lamps.  We were still using lamps when I started dating but we finally got electric lights.  Daddy was a building contractor.  The last house he worked on was the Wallace house near Rowan Memorial Hospital.

As told to Brenda Hoffner Bernhardt

Fresh Cake Right from the Oven

Ruth was known to get a little sassy at times. Once after Maggie, her mother had just taken the layers of a cake out of the hot wood fired oven, her daughter stooped to smell the fresh baked cake; exaggeratedly sticking her nose almost into the layer and with a big grin on her face exclaiming “ummmh”. At just that moment Ruth’s older brother Myron stepped into the kitchen and cuffed Ruth on the back of the head burying her face in the steaming cake. Ruth jumped back with a scream revealing her rosy red cheeks and nose covered in bits of hot yellow cake. Her mother, overtaken by laughter, but ever mindful of her position of authority, aimed a backhanded swing at her mischievous son, missing her target completely, and slamming her hand against the door jam, breaking her little finger.
Stories of Ruth Bernhardt Miller as remembered by her daughters, Liz Miller and Karen McConnell

Tainted Candy

Lonnie Cletus, son of Jacob Alphonso Bernhardt, used to attend a school house that was located on Webb road, down in a slight creek valley just before you reach the Lyerly’s residence. You can still see it from the road but it is just a skeleton of a building now and nearly covered up with vines and weeds – in fact, it looks like it is ready to collapse. At the time that this school was built, a small spring lay just north of the school house but it was not usable. All age levels attended this school but the older the boys were assigned to carry drinking water in buckets from the Webb’s place, a homestead about ½ mile up the path which included a small store. While they were on the water runs, the boys would buy candy for a few pennies and then carry it back to the school in a small bag (along with their water buckets, of course).


Grandpa liked to slip some of the girls candy that he had bought. One little boy, named Willie Hill, talked sort of like the Buckwheat character on the Little Rascals shows. Lots of his consonants sounded like “t”. Willie was jealous and whispered to my dad one day that if he didn’t share some of the candy with him, he was going to tell the teacher that the boys bought candy at the store and didn’t just go only to get water.

It didn’t take long for my dad to fix that scene. He took the wrappers off of some of his own Grandma’s chocolate-flavored Ex-lax and put it in a small brown paper bag. In the morning after the boys had gone for water and returned, Willie approached him and threatened dad again. So dad was extra generous this time and gave Willie the entire bag of “candy”.

When the class returned to the schoolhouse from recess, Willie asked the teacher to be excused. Confused, the teacher asked Willie why he needed to be excused because they just got back from the afternoon recess. Willie replied, “When you totta toe, you totta toe” (when you gotta go, you gotta go) and ran out the door. Last thing the students saw was Willie running with his pants half down going around the flag pole and heading for the woods. Dad said that Willie would not eat anything he was ever offered after that episode.

Story told to Stan Sebastian by Oleba Bernhardt Sebastian

Little Girl with a Fish Bowl

This story was told to Doris Elizabeth Faggart Gillon by her Grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Bernhardt Pense (5th child of John Crawford Bernhardt and Laura Elizabeth Davis) and her Mother Vera Elizabeth Pence. (Sarah was 10 years old when her mother, Laura Elizabeth Davis, died on the 22nd of March 1882).

When Sarah was a little girl her Mother was very sick. A large group of family and friends were gathered together in a downstairs family room. Suddenly a little girl dressed in a white gown and carrying a bowl of goldfish came down the stairs. She did not look or speak to anyone in the room, just walked through and on out the front door.

Some of the folks in the room got up and went out on the front porch looking for her but she had completely disappeared. Now this was in a remote area with nothing close by. When they couldn’t find her and went back in the house they found that Sarah’s Mother had just died.

My Grandmother and Mother always told us the little girl with the fish bowl was a token to the family that her Mother’s death was very near.

Mike the Mule made it through school, but didn't graduate!

Roy Bernhardt, son of Ira Leo, walked the 1.5 miles to school at the Yost one room school house for 4 years and then went to Granite Quarry School. A story that Dad would rather not be told is about Mike the mule. Not only did they use Mike around the farm but Roy would ride the mule. One weekend when he was in his early teens (old enough to know better) he was in Granite Quarry with Mike. On a dare, Roy rode Mike in one door, down the hall and out the other door of the school. Mike made it “through” school but never received a diploma.

As told to Ben Bernhardt

Fruit in the Pantry

In 1912 when J. C. Bernhardt passed away, his second wife Martha Jane, and his youngest son, my grandfather, Ira Leo were living at the homeplace. JC left no will, so the court distributed his property. An inventory of the house and property were made including many interesting items of the time such as a sythe, spinning wheel, wash pot and surveying tools. When all accounting was finished, most of the property went to the widow. This was due to the value placed on items in the inventory and the state ordered widow's portion.

The other brothers and sisters felt that the valuation of the inventory was way too low (and by looking at the inventory, which I have included, I would tend to agree.) The older brothers and sisters thinking that they were due more than the settlement said; went to the house and took what they thought was their fair share.

A law suit was filed by the children of JC and Laura Davis against the estate, stating the settlement was unfair because the property was undervalued. The case was heard and the ruling was that the inventory was a fair valuation of the property. The judge ordered the children of Laura Davis to return all property removed from the homeplace including the fruit taken from the pantry!

Apparently it was a pretty shameful incident in the family, because I have talked to no one of the next generation who had heard of the dispute. I discovered the story in the Estate Settlement papers. The family was able to put the dispute behind them, probably through the good will and good humor that runs in the family; because we are all still speaking to each other!

My grandfather Leo inherited the property from his mother Martha Jane. I have a number of the items included in the inventory still at the house today; except, I have looked and the fruit is all gone.

In honor of this momentous event in the family history I propose that this year at the reunion all the Leo family descendants bring fruit or vegetables to even up the distribution of property; and perhaps the rest of the family with their 'good will and good humor' could donate the food to Crisis Assistance.

Perhaps this will appease our ancestors and might become an annual tradition for the family!