The Journey – Dan Winters
Decades – 1930’s
Dan Winters’ Life Story
I have created my life story to I can remember more of the details as I get older and events of my life will become harder to recall. This blog has been a big help to me to recall the past events of my life.
Most of the information is somewhat personal, however one of my relatives might become interested in the life of Dan Winters and how he started so poorly and yet did allow God to prosper me during the first 90 years of my life. I have always trusted the Lord to lead me, and I promised him that I would serve him all the days of my life. So help me God!
1930'
Childhood of Daniel E. Winters
Life began in Aracoma, which was located in Logan County, West Virginia on the 30th day of March 1933. I am told that my parents were hopeful that I would be born a girl as they already had a four-year-old son named Charles Thomas and a twenty-two-month-old son named Donald Ray. My father, Harold Edmond Winters was born Jan 17, 1909, and was 24 years of age when I was born. He was the third son of ten children born to John H. and Addie Robinson Winters. My mother was 21 years of age when I was born, and she was the fourth of ten children born to Charles Lane and Ota Farley Hale. I was born at green colored home on the curve of Route 10 at the lower end of Aracoma near community of West Logan.
My earliest childhood remembrance began after the birth of my sister, Nancy, who was born 27 months after me. At this time, our family was living three houses down the dirt alley from my grandparents on the riverbank in West Logan. I must have spent lots of time at Grandma Hales as I remember her house but do not remember our house. My father was working as a railway clerk for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, at their Peach Creek office, which was about one mile further down the Guyandotte River.
I remember attending church and my mother crying while praying at the altar.
My brother, Donald always seemed to know how to have lots of fun and liked to include me some of the time. One day my brother, Donald encouraged me to come and help him push my uncle John’s Ford car. We went out in front of the two-story wood frame home where the black Ford car was parked on the unpaved dirt street. The street was lined with wood homes that were situated about 8 to 10 feet from the edge of the area where the cars parked. A few of the small front yards were enclosed with a wood or wire fence, but most of the dirt yards flowed directly onto the dirt street. The house next-door was only a few feet away, it seems as if you could have reached your hand out and touched the person next-door if they would have stretched their hand toward you.
Preschool days
Donald told me to get behind the car and push while he held the driver’s door open to steer the car and push at the same time. The car began to move but his steering was not so good, so the electric pole was in the path of the car when it came to a sudden stop with a dent in the left front fender. Mom was very upset over the situation and told Donald and me to go upstairs and go to bed and Dad would deal with us when he came home from work. The next thing I recall was awaking from my sleep to find Donald taking a bath downstairs crying very loud with several women from the neighborhood looking on. I was very embarrassed for him to be naked in the tub and no privacy, but I didn’t see that as a good reason to be crying. I later understood that he had broken his arm and was getting cleaned up so he could go to the doctor or hospital. Earlier, when we had gone upstairs, he chooses not to go to bed, but to go out on the upstairs front porch and lay on the banister. There was a canvas awning that kept the rain from blowing in on the porch and as he fell from the banister, he pulled the canvas with him, which kept him from a more severe injury when he landed on the hard ground several feet below. That is all I recall of that situation when I was about three years of age.
Another day I was pushing the hanging swing on the front porch. My sister Nancy was about 3 years of age. The swing hit her on the chin, and she had to go to the doctor for stitches.
Another day the son of Ed Smith, who lived next door and was a teenager, was eating Ritz cracker directly from the box, after I watched him for some period of time he gave me the box with the last couple of crackers in it. Reflecting upon the situation I wonder if I annoyed him, being I was only three or so years old.
One day he and my uncles and older brothers were pumping up a car tire in front my grandparents’ home where we were living. I was 4 or 5 years old, and I thought I could manage the pump like they did. It looked simple enough to me to push down on the handle of the pump. Finally, they allowed me to try it. Much to my disappointment, I was not strong enough to force the handle down. I just never know what I can or cannot do until I try it.
A neighbor, Perk Christian, built a 4-wheel go-cart out of rough lumber and used wagon wheels. One person could push it around the neighborhood with another person riding in it. I was riding and he pushed it downhill very fast, and it turned over with me in it. The wreck resulted with my collarbone being broken. To the doctor I did go to get my arm placed in a cloth sling, hung around my neck.
Bad Andy
My brother Donald was two years older than me. It seems as if he was always getting into things. He and I liked to follow our big brother Tom and my uncle Bobby Hale and the other larger boys in the neighborhood. To scare us and cause us to depart from them and go home, they would tell us scary things. One of the favorite tales was concerning an old man who would walk up the riverbank and down the dirt street most every day. The man looked like a tramp and was always dirty. He carried a burlap potato sack over his shoulder. Our older friends called him “Bad Andy”. They would tell us that he picked up little boys and put them into his sack and carried them home with him. Any time they were tired of Donald or me, they would say “here comes Bad Andy and I am going to tell him to get you and carry you away in that sack”. That would always scare Donald and me and we would run home for safety, at once.
Our homes were directly on the edge of the Guyandotte River. Often after a heavy rain the river would rise as a result of the water draining quickly off the steep surrounding mountains. One day the river was approaching flood stage. As the river would rise a few feet one of the grown men would go out and move the floating rowboat to higher ground. Donald loved to be near the water although mom would warn him “don’t go near the rising flood waters, because you could get drowned.” Donald disobeyed and Mom threaten to report the event to Dad as soon as he came home from work. Later Mom called for Donald, but he had hidden under the living room couch; thus, could not be found. All the neighbors joined in an all-out search for the missing 5-year-old boy who may have drowned in the river. By the time someone discovered him Mom was too relieved to find him safe that she could not bring herself to whip him for disobeying.
Grandma Hale often kept a bushel of apples in the basement, to keep them cool. She would allow us to eat only one apple per day. I think the older boys would sneak some extras when they could. From time to time, she would inquire as to how the apples were disappearing. I did not understand then what was happening.
Dad builds home at Guyan Terrace
My grandfather John Winters, and my father Harold Winters purchased about 10 acres of hillside land six miles north of Logan in an area just south of Pecks Mill. They began to build each family a house on parcels of the land. Later Herbert Winters built his family a home on the parcel in between these two parcels. One day my father allowed me to join them as they went to work on the construction of the houses. On the way back home, Dad stopped at the Outside Inn and purchased him a beer and he brought me and my sister Nancy a piece of bubble gum. After we got home, I was chewing my gum and my mother inquired where I got it. I told her of the purchase of the gum and the beer. My dad got on to me for telling on him and the beer. He said that was why he brought me the gum, so I wouldn’t tell. It hurt my feeling, so I cried.
I recall starting to grade school at West Logan in September 1938 after I had turned five years old on March 30. My uncle Bobby and my two older brothers walked to school with me. I remember that one day a large boy, who was wearing glasses, challenged me in some kind of a fistfight. Since my brothers were with me, I was very brave and said lots of things. Such as, take off your glasses and let’s fight. I will really beat you up. etc. The boy did not do much fighting at that time. Later he was always trying to find me without my brothers, so he could beat me up. I was afraid and tried not to be caught out alone.
My dad injured his spine while working for the C&O Railroad. (insert)
In a few months dad finished construction of the small four-room house on the hillside located about one mile south of the Pecks Mill Bridge. The house was constructed out of very rough sawmill lumber. The siding was 1″ x 8″ unfinished boards. There were cracks between them, so he nailed 1″ x 3″ strips over the cracks on the outside. On the inside of the house, the cracks were covered with cardboard from grocery store cartons. Later newspapers were pasted over the cardboard. When money would be available wallpaper would be purchased and pasted over the newspaper. Plain white paper on the ceiling and designed paper on the wall. A border paper would be pasted at the top of the wall where the ceiling and wall meet.
The house had one bedroom, a living room with a large potbelly coal stove, a dining room that contained a bed for the boys. The kitchen had a coal stove with an oven and warming closets. There was a back porch where we kept the washbowl to wash our hands. A front porch was later partially closed in for a small bedroom for the boys. The outdoor toilet was about 30 feet behind the house and up the hill. This was a two-hole outhouse as it had a seat for two persons.
There was room for a chicken house, a pig pin, and two large gardens to raise vegetables. Dad and mom seemed to know all about farm life. They would grow plants in a hot bed, which was made from enriched dirt under glass. They would also grow lettuce in hot bed.
I was very proud of this home. It is the first time I could remember not living with Grandma Hale. My mother and dad were both very hard workers and wanted better things for their children.
We all worked at this new home. There was dirt to dig off the hillside behind the house to make room to walk around the house. The dirt would be loaded on a wheelbarrow and then dumped at the front edge of the leveled area. Eventually we had a front yard that was for an area of about 10 feet by 15 feet. Dad placed 55-gallon metal barrels at several places under the edge of the roof so the rainwater from the roof would run into the barrels. This water was used for laundry, bathing, and watering the garden plants.
Drinking water was carried from a spring about 1000 feet north of the house. The spring was inside Mr. Stevens’ cow pasture, so we had to watch for the cows and hope they did not mess up our drinking water. At the age of 5 and 6, I carried many a pail of water from this spring. A family of seven used quite an amount of water for cooking and drinking. Before long, Grandpa Winters had a 4″ deep well drilled next to his home. We then began to carry water from there, which was only about 400 feet south of our home. We would let the long metal cylinder down into the 4 ” well. It was very deep, perhaps over 100 feet. Then we would pull the rope thru the pulley until the cylinder was retrieved, full of the two gallons of water. It took two of us smaller children to be strong enough to pull the rope.
The house was located about 125 feet up the hillside from the road. Dad dug flat spots into the hillside and placed large flat rocks into the flat spot for steps. In spots where it was really steep, he would nail a long slender board or pole to the trees for a handrail to assist you in climbing the long stairs to our house.
We had a large hillside front yard with many locust trees on it. We would help dad place a circle of rocks around each tree. Then we would apply whitewash to the rocks and the bottom 36 inches of the trunk of the trees. The tree limbs had thorns on them so you could not climb them.
Cooking and heating were by coal fuel. Dad would buy a truckload of coal and they would dump it at the edge of the highway. This was route 10, and it had lots of traffic. The coal was right out to the edge of the highway, so we needed to pick it up and carry it up to the house as soon as possible.
Tom age 10, Donald age 8 and I age 6 would each have a bucket. Tom’s bucket was the largest and mine was the smallest. Each would fill his bucket with coal and carry it up the steps to the house. We would dump the coal onto the coal pile, underneath the front porch.
There was lots of work every day, raising vegetables in the two gardens. Something always needed planted, hoed, dug, or watered. Grass had to be cut with a hand cycle on the hilly front yard. The many large rocks and the many locust trees needed to be whitewashed. People would often comment about how pretty our yard looked with the whitewashed trees and rocks on the green grassy hillside.
Grandpa Winters also had a garden and a grape arbor behind his house next door. We would sometimes help ourselves to a pod of grapes when we were on our way to fetch a bucket of water.
About 20 feet from the Grandpa’s back door there was another building about 20 feet square. This building was referred to as the smoke house. Earlier generations had such a building where the men could go smoke, read and get away from the house awhile. No one smoked in my grandparents “smoke house”, however they filled it with all kinds of old clothing etc. that we referred to as rummage. We sometimes referred to this as the rummage house.
Pecks Mill School
When we moved to this home near Pecks Mill, I began attending the Mill Creek grade school to continue my first-grade education. Grades one thru six all met in one classroom. Each row of seats was for students of a different grade. The wooden seat was part of the desk of the student behind you. Each desk had an ink well and a grooved place for a pencil. Each student’s books were placed inside their desk directly above their knees.
One day I was writing on the chalkboard and my teacher came up behind me and slapped me on my backside with her hand. I had not heard her when she evidently told me to take my chair. This one lick spanking must have impressed me as I can still remember it 85 years later. That is the only time I can recall punishment in school.
When the older classmates disobeyed, the teacher would order another student to go into the nearby hillside and get a long limber tree branch about 4 feet long. She would take the disobedient one outside behind the schoolhouse and apply the switch several times. I never got one of these whippings.
The drinking water was carried in an open 2-gallon bucket and placed on a shelf in the back of the classroom. Each student was responsible to bring a jar or glass from home, which was for their own use, unless they wanted to drink directly from the one common metal drinking dipper that was placed into the bucket of water. I took a glass jar and placed on the shelf for my personal drinking. At the end of the school year, I took the glass home. The water was carried from a nearby mountain spring by one of the larger students. Later the school board sent our school a three-gallon water tank with a faucet on it. Then we could run the water directly into our glass without dipping our glass into the open bucket. We were proud of the new drinking tank.
Rest rooms were built of wood on the edge of the schoolyard next to the creek bank. The girl’s toilet was constructed about 10 feet from the boy’s toilet. Old newspapers or catalogs were used for toilet paper.
Recess was a very active time. Games included batting some kind of a soft ball, throwing a ball over the top of the school and saying, “Red Rover, Red Rover, send __(name)__ over.”
During recess while sitting out on the playground the older boys would tease me and the other first graders. One day they saw my underwear was the type little girls wore, so they really teased me that day. They told me I could not use the boys’ toilet, that I would have to use the girl’s toilet. I beat them with my little hard fist, but it didn’t hurt them. In those days, most of my clothing was handed down or previously owned. Most of it had been thoroughly worn by my older brothers before I grew into it.
Guyandotte River Bridge at Pecks Mill
We would walk about one mile to school each day. Tom my oldest brother was 10 and in the 5th grade. My brother, Donald was 8 and in the 3rd grade. We had to walk on the narrow bridge that crossed the Guyandotte River at Mill Creek. When large trucks would meet another vehicle, we would have to climb on the curb and hold close and tight to the side of the bridge as the two vehicles passed. It was always scary, as the cars would often miss you by only a few inches. As I looked down, I could see the river flowing swiftly about fifty feet below. I remember more than once Donald would climb and walk on top of the four feet high metal bridge guardrail. I was too afraid to do so and would beg him to get down before he fell into the river below. Needless to say, he never fell. Surely there was a guardian angel protecting us because of the prayers of our mother.
On a few occasions, we waded across the river on our way home from school. Where the rocky shoals began, the water was rather shallow in the summertime. The water was up to my waist and the rocks were slippery, so we had to be very careful where I placed my foot. I never did like crossing the water this way. The water was swift against my small body and it was hard to stand against the currents. Usually, one of my older brothers would hold my hand in the more difficult spots. In 2008 my cousin David Robinson reminded me that one summer he was visiting us, and we all waded the river, and he was scared for his life.
There was not much area on the shoulder of the highway No. 10 for walking, but somehow, we never got hit by any of the cars on the busily traveled roadway.
As I reminisce, I know my mother must have worried every day about the safety of her three sons walking to and from school, thru the rain and cold. I’m not sure she ever knew all the things we did.
On cold winter days, the water dripping from the rock cliffs would freeze into long icicles. On the way home from school, we would break the icicles and use them as swords to have friendly sword fights with one another. The icicles would freeze until they touched the ground. Some of the would become 8 or 10 feet long which made them too large and heavy for us small boys to handle.
My Uncle Herbert and Aunt Kathryn built a house and moved next door to us. Now there were three Winters’ families in a row on the hillside. The houses were about 150 feet apart. Herbert and his family lived in the center house, with my grandparents living next door to them. Dad and Uncle Herbert wanted a well, so they began digging by with a pick and shovel. When the hole was about 10 feet deep, they found a hard rock before they could find water. The three families carried drinking water from Grandpa Winters’ well.
My cousin Dickey attended school with me at Mill Creek; he was also in the first grade. He was three months older than me. I recall us standing around the old potbelly coal stove eating lunch on a cold day. Dickey had boiled eggs to eat this one-day. It seemed to me the other children liked his friendly attitude much more than me with my quiet attitude. My lunch was usually wrapped in a piece of newspaper and tied with some thread or string. Dickey somehow usually had his lunch in a brown paper bag.
My cousin Zetta did not attend Mill Creek School as she lived in the Justice Addition school district. However, she recalls attending our school for one Halloween event. My mother painted our little faces with black coal soot, so we looked like little Pygmies. Us cousins were very close and enjoyed being together.
My childhood memories of family were delightful. My mother showered her children with love and made each one of them feel special. The family was very involved in church and serving God. The children all joined their parents in working in the garden, maintaining the yard, and doing family chores. Work was a family activity.
First Job selling seeds
My first job away from the house was selling garden/flower seeds from door to door. Of course, most of my sales were to my grandparents and other relatives otherwise where I lived most the houses were as much as ½ mile apart so it took some walking. The seeds were from Morris Seed Company or Ferry Seed Company, and they would send us a prize if we sold the required amount. One year we choose the football as our prize. I remember my parents were gone to town and my brother Donald told me he knew where there was a football. I assume my mother had hidden it for safe keeping until Christmas. Donald and I passed the ball back and forth only about three times when it hit into one of the thorny Locus trees and lost all its air. We placed the deflated football back into its hiding place inside a crock churn in mother’s closet and did not disclose the situation to our parents.
My first jobs as a child selling seed
First Job selling seeds
My first job away from the house was selling garden/flower seeds from door to door. Of course, some of the houses were ½ mile apart so it took some walking. The seeds were from Morris Seed Company or Ferry Seed Company, and they would send us a prize if we sold the required amount. One year we choose the football as our prize. I remember my parents were gone to town and my brother Donald told me he knew where there was a football. I assume my mother had hidden it for safe keeping until Christmas. Donald and I passed the ball back and forth only about three times when it hit into one of the thorny Locus trees and lost all its air. We placed the deflated football back into its hiding place inside a crock churn in mother’s closet and did not disclose the situation to our parents.
Delivering newspapers door to door Age 6
Logan Banner (about 1940) (age 6-7)
Another job I had was selling and delivering the Logan Banner newspaper. My dad delivered the bundles of newspapers to the carrier at the various communities between Logan and Big Creek. He arranged for me to be the carrier for Pecks Mill area. The route began at the Pecks Grocery store, up the hill to the house by the cemetery, down across the highway and cross the railroad to Peck’s home, north up the railroad and cross the train trestle where Mill Creek flows into the Guyandotte river. Up the hill to the three houses then around the side of the mountain to the Mill Creek school house and the back to the grocery store. I recall, how I had a crush on the girl whose home was located on the ground next to the schoolhouse. As I walked by there, I would loudly sing a love song “Wahneta, my love for you will never, never die”. I only attended this Mill Creek school a couple of years before the school bus begin to pick us up at home and carry us to another school in Justice Addition.
I had between 8 and 15 customers. The scary part was walking the railroad when the big coal train would come by. They would pull as many as 50 to 100 cars of coal, and it would take them several minutes to clear the tracts so I could cross to the other side. I had to cross twice plus I had to walk the trestle. On a few occasions, I got tired of waiting and would walk the trestle next to the moving cars. The trestle was shaking, and I could look between the cross ties and see the flowing creek about 75 feet below. Yes, I was scared but I needed to be back to the store by the time my dad returned from Big Creek to carry me back home.
At the grocery store many coal miners stopped as customers on their way to or from work. If I could sell them a paper, I could keep the 5 cents. I would always ask; “Hey mister, want to buy a Banner today?” They liked for me to hold the paper up for them to read the headlines. Sometimes my little hands would tire from holding the paper up for them to make up their mind. Most times they would say “No, not today.” Sometimes I would make a sell and the nickel was my profit to keep. One day a road grader was parked out in front of the store and the tires had lots of road tar on them. The guys said they would give me a dime if I would clean the tire. I got me a stick ready to begin when they stopped me and laughed. Boy, am I glad they didn’t allow me to proceed.
History of Aracoma Church of God
HISTORY OF THE ARACOMA CHURCH OF GOD, by Mrs. Millard (Kittie) Cox, Page 37, 41, Chapter Thirteen.
(with some reformatting by Dan Winters May 16, 2024)
(picture)
On a memorable day in the year 1914, Sister Annie Snow, who lived up Guyan River at a camp called Earling (now called Taplin) several miles above Logan, heard of a colored woman who, while receiving a spiritual blessing, spoke in other tongues. Sister Snow was very much interested and went to visit the colored woman who told her about the baptism of the Holy Ghost. A little later Sister Snow received this wonderful experience according to Acts 2:4. It was through Sister Snow and Rev. S. H. May, another preacher who had received the baptism that a young man by the name of E. C. Clark first heard of Pentecost. He was soon saved and sanctified and baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire. He received such an apostolic zeal that he immediately went to Virginia to tell his people about it.
Then in September 1915 this same E. C. Clark, who is now editor and publisher of the Church of God Publishing House in Cleveland, Tenn., returned and preached the first Pentecostal sermon ever preached in Aracoma. Immediately after this a revival was conducted by Rev. Samuel Harrison May, who is now living in Los Angeles, Calif.
Services were first conducted in the Aracoma colored school. Later they moved to the white school. Then after being forbidden to use the schoolhouse, services were held in homes until they were able to erect a building. The first building was built on a lot donated by Mr. and Mrs. L.O. Cook.
Among the first to receive the Holy Ghost in Aracoma were Sister L. O. Cook, Sister O. A. McMullen, Siter John Smith (Grandma Smith), Sister Mollie Dingess Ferguson, Sister Maude Gartin and her husband, Brother and Sister Edgar Frye, Brother and Sister Creed Williams, Sister Deanie Ward, Uncle Charlie Dingess, and Sister Stella Godby.
Sister Fergueson received the blessing while stirring apple butter. She left the apple butter kettle and ran to tell her neighbors the Holy Ghost Himself speaking as she went.
We are told that when Rev. Edgar Frye received the baptism, many people saw flames of fire shoot out from his hands as he clapped them and praised God. Sister Frye had gone to her reward and Brothers Frye and daughter, Lilliam, are outstanding ministers in the Church of God in north West Virginia.
About this time Sister Maude Gartin healed of a cancer on her foot. After being prayed for she said, “I would not doubt the Lord enough to look at me foot.” When her foot was still sore the next day she said, “Old Satan, you just get away from here I know the Lord did heal me.” She was soon completely well. All the remainder of her life she trusted God, paid her tithes, and told us how the Church of God was the pillar and the ground of the truth.
When Sister Creed Williams was saved her husband did not like it and proceeded to have the whole church arrested. He said, “I don’t know what to have the preacher arrested for so I will have to go and find out. He went, became convinced that they were preaching the truth, got saved, and soon after received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
When we started to build on the riverbank back of the schoolhouse there were about ten that had received the baptism and several others who were saved, sanctified and seeking the baptism. Among the latter was Mrs. Lizzie Conley. After the building was finished, they had services every night. When they had no preacher, they met just the same and sang, testified, prayed, and rejoiced in the Lord. And how God did bless. Those were blessed Pentecostal days never to be forgotten.
In December of this same year Rev. E. C. Clark again visited us and preached on “The Great I Am”. It was in this service that Sister Lizzie Conley received the baptism. The first three words that she spoke, and the interpretation were “Te Ta Tune –I am come”. Sister Akie Harold and another girl also received the blessing at this time. On the 18th day of the following March at one o’clock in the morning, Kittie Conley, daughter of Sister Lizzie Conley, received the Holy Ghost. As soon as she got home, they had family prayer and four of her brothers and sisters were saved.
Shortly after this Brother Stroup held a revival, during which Marie McMullens, Maggie Munsey and several others received the baptism.
Brother Stroup invited delegates to attend a Pentecostal Conference in Kentucky. Brother Tom Moore and Brother Leo Ferguson were sent as delegates. They returned and reported that the body was to have a manual of guidance and was to be called the Pentecostal Church of Christ. Everything was accepted but the manual; they wanted the Bible as their only guide. They also did not like the name because they wanted to be called, “The Church of God” which was the name they found in the Bible. So, they did not become a member of this body.
The latter part of that same year Mrs. Ann Johnson of West Logan whose sister belonged to the Church of God at East Bank told Sister Lizzie Conley about Brother Rummler, who was the state overseer of the Church of God. They talked it over and decided to have him come and explain the church to them. So sometime early the next year Brother Rummler came and organized the church with 23 members. But there were several others along with me who were not yet ready to launch out. We had not had time to “try the spirits”. However, three months later when Brother Rummler returned, we having been shown in a dream that it was God’s will, united with the church.
Brother Clark then pastored the church with glorious success for a number of years working during the day and walking from 5 and 6 Holden, a distance of four miles to Aracoma. He had to walk the railroad track because the roads were muddy. There was a colored minister who also walked to Aracoma to preach to the colored people of another church, and they usually traveled together; but often he walked alone. And I have heard that he was stopped by highway robbers more than once. But God was with him and us. And many times, I have said I would walk ten miles to hear just one of these sermons again and often wonder if we will hear them rehearsed in glory.
We prayed for laborers for the harvest field and God called some that were already in the church and saved others and called them to preach. Among those called were Brother Oscar Carter, Brother B. E. Drummond, Brother Will Dalton, Brother Ezra Bowen. Sister McMullen and Sister Annie Snow. Brother Drummond conducted several successful revivals and encouraged souls, many of whom we expect to meet and talk with in glory.
Brother Will Dalton had no children of his own but reared about six orphan children and preached hundreds of sermons all over the district. He went about doing good, preaching the gospel to the poor in any place that they were able to get any kind of a building. He would preach and have Sunday school and get a church established until it would take care of a pastor and then he would move on to another place to scatter the seed of holiness. As a result, there are up and down the five branch roads leading out from Logan in the form of a great hand many souls who have had the seal of holiness planted in their hearts that will bring forth fruit in many places. It is really like a great foreign mission field because we have almost every nationality under heaven.
In one school room you will often find seven and eight different nationalities. Brother Dalton never grumbled. He lived good and went away to get his reward about three years ago. Little Sister Dalton lives in Aracoma and worships with us there and still says, “I tell you folks, it pays to serve God.”
Brother Ezra Bowen is now ill but fully trusting God. He has stood like the Old Rock of Gibraltar for the truth and holy living. He received the blessing about 1918 at home. And you never have to go out of the ranks of holiness or the Church of God to find Brother Bowen. He was deacon for a long time and has been a licensed minister in the Church o f God for a number of years. He has been pastoring at Switzer, Chapmanville, and Verdunville and was also district overseer for some time. He directed the district broadcast over WLOG last year. Besides all this he is a great prayer warrior and although he may now be inactive as a minister his voice on the wings of prayer can soar away to God and bring answers back to the four corners of the earth.
Sster McMullen, when we had no other preacher, would always lead our services. She always took care of the ministers. And the memory of her sweet holy life still lives on. Many precious souls were saved through the prayer meetings that she held in her home. She instituted the Penny March which was used to help build the new church and was later changed to Orphanage March and is now used in almost all the Churches of God. She also had children’s meetings which were later called Y. P. E. Some who attended these meetings were Lokie Texas, Eugene Hattfield, Beatrice Ellis, Maggie Munsey, Marie Vickers, Fonnie Conley, Fern Gartin, Carl Hicks, Harold, Ralph and Eugene Winters, and others. There were 25 or 30 in all.
Sister Annie Snow was the first white person to receive the Holy Ghost on Guyan River.
Some Sweet Spiritual Reminiscences
Many times, we would pray almost all day. People would come for miles to be in these daytime prayer meetings. The neighbors said we prayed until their houses would shake.
One time a party of us including Sister Lizzie Conley, Sister Snow and others went to Ethel on the train and walked over the mountain down Beech Fork to Sharples in a snow almost knee deep. We arrived there in time for service. Sister Snow took off her shoes and wrung the water out of them. put them back on and went to pray for a sick man who was healed that night. We stayed seven days and seven received the Holy Ghost and several were healed. We prayed for one woman who was sick. She was healed, received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and went with us to the next house to pray.
We went to every home in the camp every day and had prayer. One Baptist preacher received the Holy Ghost. When we came back, we came over Blair Mountain. There was no road, only a path. We had picked up long sticks as we came over the mountain to help us through the snow. We had to walk the 12 miles because we had missed the train. Someone said we looked like old patriarchs with our staff in our hands.
Dear Sister Talbert used to ride down from Verdunville on horseback and Sister Smith and her family would ride up from Snap Creek. Others came from different places. Brother Oscar Carter and Harry and H Erbert Carter walked down from Holden and Monaville. There was Sister Emma Taylor that was healed of mastoiditis after the doctor said she must have an operation. Others from Monaville were Sister Morris, Brother and Sister Vallance and Sister Cary. Those from Holden were Sister Lena Pack, Sister Adams, Brother and Sister Thompson.
Brother Frye and Brother J. T. Wyatt used to go after them in a truck. The few who owned cars used to go out up the hollows in different directions on Sunday morning and bring the folks into service. They would stay all day and were entertained by the saints who lived here and were taken home after service. We always stayed until two or three o’clock every Sunday and many times all day and on Fourth of July and all holidays we had service all day. Many times, when a seeker would get hungry to pray during the weekdays they would go to church, ring the bell and pretty soon a group of saints would gather, and we would hear the bell over in Slabtown and we would drop everything and go and pray with them. Several times we have gone three times in one day and would stay until two or three o’clock in the morning.
When anyone could get a place to hold service as many as could would go and often stay to or three days and nights to help in the revival. Now there are churches at Verdunville, Demsey Branch, 5 and 6 Holden, Whitman, Switzer, Barnabus, Malory, Lax, Kister, Wanda, Monclo, Jeffrey, and Chapmansville.
Among the first to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost at Chapmansville was dear old Sister Fowler. This was Mr. Carson Chapman’s grandmother and Sister Lona Vickers’ mother. The church at Chapmansville was built and the greater part of it was financed by Brother and Sister Robert Vickers. He was a great man of God. I like to place him alongside of Paul. One of the reasons I like to associate him with Paul is because he can tell you so much about Paul and his travels. He is a great Sunday school teacher. I believe Brother and Sister Vickers were instruments in the hands of God in establishing the work at Stone Branch. Too, where Sister Bledsoe has been clerk for so long and where Brother Tom Dalton has labored so much. Then on down to Ferrelsburg where Brother Drummond held a revival about 20 years ago. There is a Church of God. So, most of the work on Guyan River started from the seed that was sown in Aracoma in 1915 and 1916.
Some of the pastors at the Church of God in Aracoma were Brother E. C. Clark, who pastored about three different times and for a period of about seven years. During this time the power of God was with us in a marvelous way, many were healed of divers diseases and afflictions, we know God healed because we trusted Him alone. Sister Wells, who first heard of the church through the prayer meeting held in Sister McMullen’s home and is now a member of the Church of God in Huntington was healed f quinsy. Many were healed instantly of sick headaches, toothache, burns, measles, T.B. and other diseases which were not diagnosed by a physician but were often serious. We remember Grandma Smith was very ill and told us where she would like to be buried and made preparations to leave this world. The church prayed, taking turns, for several days and nights, some going to the church and some staying and praying with her. On Sunday night when we thought two hours was as long as she could stay with us the house was full of loved ones, friends and neighbors, many of whom were unbelievers. We fell to our knees for one more prayer and the Lord came down and touched her body and we all saw the change take place. She had changed from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. She had been immersed in the healing virtue of the Living So of the Living God, Who said, “By my stripes ye are healed”. Did His precious back bare those stripes in vain? He said, “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you can ask what you will and it shall be done,” and “I am the Lord that health thee”. He only said ask, and I will do it. So, He raised Sister Smith up and added about twenty-three years to her life and every time she got sick the Lord healed her. So when her work was finished He just sent for her and before anyone had time to pray she slipped away to be with Jesus.
The power of God was with us in many ways in discernment or spirits when the hidden things would be bought to light by the Holy Ghost and no one dared to go to church with sin in his heart. God was with us in interpretation of tongues. One woman said the Holy Ghost spoke and old her she was living in adultery, but no one knew but her and she did not tell it until long after the Holy Ghost has spoken. Men of other nationalities heard the Holy Ghost speak in their own language and they accepted Christ. We were often directed by the Spirit of God through the leading of the Holy Ghost and interpretation.
Once while Brother Clark was away over Sunday a man came and thought he would give us some new light. He was preaching a false doctorine and the power of God came upon Sister Peck and she was moved by the Spirit to the rostrum where she picked up the old family Bible lying on the stand, placed it on the floor and stood upon it with both feet and the Spirit said, “Stand on the Word”. Often God came down in the song service. I remember we were singing “Victory Ahead” and such singing I have never heard before of since. I believe Brother Harry Carter was song leader and Sister Hollie Zornes was organist. It seemed the heavenly choir sang with us and every voice sounded every note in unison. We use to all stand on the rostrum to sing. The rostrum was the full width of the church and it was full of singers, but everyone that sang that song, sang in the Spirit and the building was filled with the glory of God which appeared to many as a blue mist.
The glory of God was not only felt but seen many times. Balls of fire were seen over the building when the power of God was falling. There were seats all around the rostrum and if anyone sat farther back than the second seat a fear would be born in our hearts, and we would begin to pray secretly for him because we were afraid his experience was leaking out.
I remember one time after Sunday morning service Brother Clark was dismissing with prayer. We all stood for two hours by the clock, with every closed, prayed and praised God and enjoyed the rapturous ecstasy afforded by the mighty presence of the Holy Ghost. I can still feel some of the glory and sweet peace of God thrilling my soul today and that was a quarter of a century ago. O,Glory!
Brother Frye held a revival while acting as pastor during Brother Clark’s absence, and about 35 received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Brother Eugene E. Winters was among this number. He has been faithful all these years and has been preaching since he was about seventeen years old. He is now a Bishop in the Church of God and a member of the Mission Board.
Brother Frank Worley held the first revival after the Church of God was organized. This was about the time that Brother and Sister J. T. Wyatt, Sister Wells and about sixteen others were saved and about that many sanctified and baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Later Brother Rummler and Brother J. D. Tonialson came and conducted a revival. It was during this revival that Sister Recie Cox and several others received the blessing.
Sometime later Brother D. R. Moreland conducted a revival, this was about 1922. I think he baptized about 40 in water. He went on to Holden and conducted a revival and about 40 more were baptized. These were all members of the Church at Aracoma.
About this time we began to think about a new building. It was then that Sister McMullen asked for the Penny March to be applied on the new building. The first offering was about $5. They began to take pledges on the building and decided to build on the lot they had bought sometime before the Church of God was organized. Brother Clark was pastor and in charge of the work. When asked how high they thought it should be Brother Drummond said, “Well, I think it should be at least twenty feet high because David said we should leap as a hart and that would be fourteen feet and the average man is six feet tall.“ We all worked and prayed and gave.
Easter Sunday in 1923 we had the first service in the present building, but which was yet unfinished. We thought this building would hold our largest crowds but many times during these glorious district and state conventions and other special service they stood all around the building and once while Brother Sells was pastor and during a revival conducted by Brother J. L. Goins and his son, they said as many went away as there was inside. Brother Clark left us to become state overseer of West Virginia. This position he filled for several years and much of the success the church has enjoyed we attribute to the prayers.
Other pastors were Brother E. C. Smith, Brother Kerce, Brother Harmon, a precious man of God, and Brother and Sister Sells, who stayed with us about four years and during this time we had many great revivals. Some of the evangelists during this time were: Brother D. E. Moreland, who has conducted about five revivals in this local church. His daughters, Lorenna and Ellena, are both ministers in the Church of God now. Brother Moreland is a great man of God and I suppose not less than a hundred souls received the blessing during these five revivals. Brother J. L. Goins were here for a revival at least twice and entertained or largest crowds and many souls were blest.
Sister Helen Morrow preached the Word without fear or favor under the mighty anointing of the Holy Ghost and scores were saved and sanctified and baptized with the Holy Ghost during this time. There was Brother Ford and Barnett. Brther and Sister Sells and our board of deacons, consisting of Brother Harry Carter, Brother Will Dalton, and Brother Ezra Bowen, always got the best evangelist that could be secured, and much love and unity were felt in the church and the work of the Lord grew and greatly prospered. Brother Sells would scourge us and then Sister Sells would come along and pour in the oil and bind up the wounds. We were all heart-broken when they left us. It seemed we had lost both father and mother, and things would never be the same again.
Brother and Sister Paulk came to us and things did not collapse at all but continued to grow and Brother Paulk, being mighty in the scriptures, sowed seed that every once in a while, springs into life and we find that his influence still lives on in our midst. During this time three large Sunday school rooms were built under the church, and we had many good revivals. Brother Paulk left us to be state overseer of Michigan.
Brother Blackwood was our next pastor. He had abroad smile for everyone and through every adversity it was like sunshine after rain. He helped us much with our singing. He had a singing school which we were much in need of and he organized a quartet. During their stay with us the Y. P. E. grew by leaps and bounds and many young people were saved. Many Y. P. E.’s were organized over the district by the efforts of the young people from Aracoma. The young people of the Y. P. E. often visited and encouraged the older members. They were especially diligent in visiting and praying with the sick and many of what were considered incurable cases were healed.
Brother and Sister Blackwood left us and went to another field and Brother and Sister Paulk returned to be with us another year. We had during this year’s work a Bible study using Brother Lee’s book on Revelations. We enjoyed this very much and it was very profitable to us. We had discussions and ask questions which Brother Paulk could usually answer with the Word without even opening the Bible.
Brother Lemons came to us next a precious man of God full of wisdom and the power of the Holy Ghost. We had some good revivals during his pastorate and a number were saved and our heats were strengthened and the Church of God was bound together with the bond of love and we will never forget how he cherished the Church of God as a mother does her babe and how he loved the brethren and was so faithful to visit not only the church but the friends of the church and any who might be in need of help.
Then Brother Jenkins came to us and remained with us four years. It was during this time that the parsonage was built and paid for, and the concrete walk laid from the road to the church. Brother Luther Gartin, Brother Charlie Smith, Brother Herbert Carter and Brother Elbert Cox were deacons at this time.
Next, Brother Henry L. Marcum came to help us. He only stayed one year but did some wonderful preaching and made many friends for the church and encouraged and strengthen our hearts. One night our little son’s arm was dislocated at the wrist. This was the third time it had been dislocated and we were at church and called Brother Marcum to pray for him, which he did. The child kept crying and Brother Ben Hale insisted we take him to the hospital for an examination. He was taken to the hospital and examined but the doctor said, “There is nothing wrong with his wrist now”. And he has never had any trouble with it since. This was about six years ago. Brother Harcum left us to become state overseer of Missouri.
Our next pastor was Brother and Sister Fielden. During their stay we had many good Y. P. E. services and good revivals. The parsonage was redecorated inside and furnished.
In September 1939, Brother Carl R. Cook came and stayed with us four years and the church enjoyed successful revivals and many souls were saved and sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost and healed. One morning Brother Cook was called to pray for Sister Brock’s baby. It seemed there was no life at all in the child, some thought it dead. But after prayer the child sat up in its mother’s lap and smiled and was entirely healed. For which we give God the glory. A gas furnace was installed in the church. The church was redecorated. Brother Cook painted most of the woodwork himself. The basement was enlarged to make eight large Sunday school rooms. Many souls were added to the church having received the blessing and our hearts were encouraged and strengthened.
It was during this time that Brother William E. Winters was ordained a minister in the Church of God. Brother Cook went to the state convention and thought he would retire from the ministry because of failing health but was called to Beckley to pastor and church there. When we heard Brother Cook was leaving, we began to pray for God to send the man we needed for pastor and tried to be submissive to the will of God.
When we heard we might get Brother E. L. Miller and that he wore a beard we imagine that he was an old man with a long, white beard and we didn’t know whether we wanted an old man about 75 or 80 years old or not. He might be too feeble to take care of the church. But we were still praying, “Lord, thy will be done”. And while we were feeling this way about it the church where he was pastoring was crying and pleading and fasting and praying almost night and day for him. Brother Cook had told us he was the most intelligent man he had ever heard and that he had preached him to the altar. But I guess some of us were like doubting Thomas and had t see for ourselves.
Brother Miller and family arrived about the 15th of September 1943, and have been in our midst about nine months. He didn’t look anything like we imagined he would. And now I can’t find words to say what should be said, and what I would like to say, and what the church and people of this and surrounding communities all would like to have said about Brother Miller. I have heard some of the saints and some who never saw him but once say, “He looks and acts more like Jesus than anyone I ever saw in my life.”
As soon as he decided to stay, he began to work. Before we heard him preach, we saw him talking with some of the brothers and we wondered if he would always be that kind and gracious to all. But in these nine months he has never been too tired or sick or too busy to be just as gracious and kind and loving and tender toward the poorest and weakest, the proud and disdainful, the high and mighty or the outcast, the rich or poor the greatest or least in the church and community. He is always the same toward everyone.
And words could not be found that would express all that he has meant to our church and community. He goes day and night praying for the sick and attending prayer services and encouraging and praying in homes wherever he is called to go. He often does not ever know if he had eaten or not. Praying many times all night and last week they said he had only slept one night. (Now he did not tell me that, but I heard it from a reliable source.)
I might just as well stop now because if I used all the appreciative words in the English language, it could not convey to your minds how we all feel about Brother Miller or make you know what a great blessing he has been to anyone that has heard him or has even spoken to him. And we believe Jesus truly must be coming soon because He has done everything possible through this man’s preaching and teaching to get us ready for that great event. It has been one of the greatest years for the Church of God here that we have ever had.
(Notes added by Dan Winters May 16, 2024 – My grandparents were a part of this Aracoma History. Grandpa John H. Winters was song director, and the first director of the Y.P.E. for Logan County. Some of his children including my dad Harold E. Winters, were mentioned above – “Many precious souls were saved through the prayer meetings that she held in her home. She instituted the Penny March which was used to help build the new church and was later changed to Orphanage March and is now used in almost all the Churches of God. She also had children’s meetings which were later called Y. P. E. Some who attended these meetings were Lokie Texas, Eugene Hattfield, Beatrice Ellis, Maggie Munsey, Marie Vickers, Fonnie Conley, Fern Gartin, Carl Hicks, Harold, Ralph and Eugene Winters, and others. There were 25 or 30 in all.” )
Bernice Woodard at International offices in Cleveland told me the Y.P.E. records reflect this
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