Testimony of Deborah K. Pritchett about her great-grandmother's horsehair trunk; how she came to hear of it and what she was able to learn about it:
There is a family story about papers that Anna Louise Brownlow (Dunn) Headrick kept, that have something of a mystery about them. My inference, from everything I have been able to find out by asking questions, is that they were papers of "witchcraft," a type of lore sometimes passed down in Appalachian families. (Only one person specifically said "witch"—Lewis "Buck" Headrick; no others ever put a name to the "papers" or to Anna's mysterious beliefs).
The verifiable facts are that the papers belonged to Anna and that they were burned. I have it straight from Rubye (Hammond) Burns, who burned them herself. She told me this as a kind of confession. She felt bad that "Pritchett"—my granny, Esther V. (Headrick) Pritchett—got blamed for the burning. Rubye (the day she talked to me) had slight misgivings, as the papers might belong to the family—that is, morally, maybe she ought to have left them for family, as they rightfully belonged to Anna's heirs. "But," Rubye said, "I opened that trunk and I saw those papers and I saw red! I couldn't believe that was in the house with my children. I couldn't stand the thought... so I burned them." (She had gone up to get something out of the trunk and inadvertently saw the papers.)
Rubye did not describe the papers. The only hint I got was that she kind of softened (in her regret) and said, "Some people believe in them old potions. Pritchett did. She used to drink from a jar of vinegar every day..." However, when I expressed regret and said I wish I could have seen the papers, just to know what was in them, Rubye's manner and tone changed. She stiffened up, got kind of embarrassed and defensive, and said, "Anybody can get books [about such things] in the library. If they want to read that [or if they're of a mind to]." She wouldn't meet my eye. So, clearly, Rubye, a retired school teacher, still considered these papers to be an evil and unmentionable thing. I had to change the subject—it had made her that uncomfortable. The only thing I could infer, from her attitude and the fact that one could find books in any library, is that she meant witchcraft.
The only other physical description I have is from Granny (Esther), who mentioned seeing the papers once, as a child. She said they were kept "in a horsehair trunk" and she "couldn't make no sense out of them—it was just numbers and circles around them." (My sister remembers, or speculates, that she said "names and numbers with circles around them").
Granny also told me that her mother (Anna) was somebody that "people came to her to be doctored," but she couldn't remember what they called her. I didn't want to ask leading questions, but when she still couldn't recall, I threw out a few words, but she said "no" to each: nurse, healer (I think I included midwife), and finally, cautiously, I tendered "witch-doctor?" (remembering Buck's claim of "witch," which I wouldn't have dared to ask, though neither I, nor Granny, was overly religious.
"NO!" she said, angrily. I didn't ask further. She tried a little longer, but could not recollect the term.
The reason I knew of the papers in the first place: Mother (Granny's daughter-in-law) always mentioned, derisively, that Buck and Lawrence were always running around trying to find "them old papers," and they all jumped on Granny (Esther), claiming she had the papers, and that in reality, "Horace" (Buck and Lawrence's father, Anna's son) would "burn them old papers as soon as he'd get his hand on one." (This story is inaccurate, except that she got the right branch of the family, the fact that some old papers existed, and the fact of the papers being burnt, correct. She knew nothing of the nature of the papers or why anyone would burn them—she just found the whole squabble to be amusing. Remember, Mother is an in-law and she despised Granny.)
So, the facts: Anna kept mysterious papers in a trunk (horsehair trunk, per Granny); the papers contained numbers, circles, possibly names, and "potions"; the papers (we all infer) should be considered morally evil and unmentionable to the ordinary person of even lax Christian upbringing; and the papers were burned—we now know, by Rubye Burns, who loved Esther, her sister-in-law; but feared the papers.
My further speculation is that the trunk passed down in this way: Anna died; the trunk probably passed to her eldest daughter, Alice (Headrick) Burns. Alice's daughter-in-law was Rubye (Hammond) Burns; and (known fact) Rubye and Slim lived with Alice and Ben Burns for a time. That accounts for the trunk's being in the house where Rubye and her children were staying.
I have recorded this story as faithfully as I know how. My quotes are paraphrased from my own memory. Mother's stories were from the late 1980s. The conversation with Granny was after that, in the late 1980s or very early 90s (prob. 1986-1989), when I first started my family tree; and my conversation with Rubye probably was in the late 1990s or early-to-mid 2000s—after her stroke and a number of years before she died. I'll try to remember to look up those dates.
My Testimony
Deborah K. Pritchett
Southern Muse
North Georgia Kin Blog Author
