THE LAREW FAMILY TREE
LA RUE is the
origin of our surname; it is a French word meaning “the Street.” I have found multiple spellings of the name
in early records; one factor is that the individual may have been illiterate
and the spelling is left up to the interpretation of the record keeper. Another factor is that spelling was more
haphazard, and the same person might spell their own name differently at
different times.
I do not know who
our immigrant ancestor was. I am
wondering if our ancestors were Huguenots – Protestant Christians, who came to
America to escape persecution from the Catholic church and the Catholic rulers
of France.
The earliest individual in my LAREW family tree is Frances LARREW (1753-?), but I know very little about him. He appears in the 1776 census of Maryland, p. 74:
Frederick County, North West Hundred
LARREW, Frances 23 (born- 1753)
Martha 31 (b- 1745)
Abraham 10 (b- 1766)
Elizabeth 8 (b- 1768)
James 6 (b- 1770)
George 3 (b- 1773)
John 6 mos. (b-1776)
George died in
1856 and was buried in the Larue Cemetery in Cocke County; there was a total of
11 graves; this may have been on George's property. In 1942, the remains were
removed and reinterred in the Union Cemetery by the Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA) for the formation of Douglas Reservoir. The TVA built dams and reservoirs to provide
electricity to the Tennessee Valley. The
Union Cemetery is now known as the Dutch Bottoms Baptist Church cemetery and is
located in Newport, TN. I don't recall how
I found the Dutch Bottoms Baptist Church Cemetery, but I wrote to the church
and 2 sisters who attended there were immensely helpful. One went to the cemetery and took photos of
the Larews buried there; the other was home-bound but quite computer literate
and she emailed the photos to me. They
even sent me a VHS tape (remember those?) of the graves. They informed me of the history of the
cemetery and the TVA reinterring remains that had to be moved for the
reservoirs. This was before I knew about
the Larue cemetery, so I had no idea where the original burials had taken
place. The TVA created a spreadsheet of
burials and I found that website just a few years ago.
 |
GEORGE LAREW |
 |
| SOPHIA LAREW Consort of GEORGE LAREW Died April 26, 1849 Aged 67Y, 4M, 22D |
James LAREW
(1814-1888), son of George and Sophia, married Elizabeth INMAN (1819-?) in 1843,
and they had 9 children; I am descended
from their 7th child, Charles Porter. There is a family story (I heard this from both my dad and my aunt Lois) that James had a son,
Dick Jack, by a Negro woman; he was born in 1862, but died as a child by
drowning in a swimming hole. James died
December 28, 1888.
James was living in Tennessee when the Civil War broke out. He joined the Confederate cause in July, 1861, serving in Company E, 27th Tennessee Infantry. I have his military record. He was captured at Missionary Ridge November 25, 1863, during the Battle of Chickamauga (Georgia); he was sent to Rock Island POW Camp in northwestern Illinois, on the Mississippi River. He took an Oath of Allegiance to the Union in March of 1864 and was released. He returned to Tennessee, living in the Newport area, where he shows up in the 1870 census. By the 1880 census, he had relocated to Walnut Grove, Greene County, Missouri.
 |
Missionary Ridge, Tennessee (Photo taken October 25, 2018) |
James and Elizabeth’s son, Charles Porter LAREW (1853-1937), was born May 4, in Knoxville, TN. He married Margaret Caroline DENBY on September 25, 1884. Charles’ brother Chilton married Margaret’s sister Anna. My Aunt Lois recalled that her grandfather Charles had a full beard. One day, when the family had gone to church, he came in late, having shaved off his beard.
Charles and Margaret had 10 children, 7 of whom lived to adulthood; I am
descended from their third child, first son, James Winfred LAREW. I am assuming James was named after his
grandfather; James Winfred was born June 4, 1888, in Greene County,
Missouri, his grandfather died the same year on December 28 in Dade County,
Missouri; hopefully, the elder James was able to meet his grandson James before
he passed away.
James Winfred LAREW (1888-1981), was my grandfather. He married Helen Esther VANHOOSER January 24,
1914. They had four children, Lois
Esther, Kermit Winfred, Marjorie Gail, and Georgia Juanita.
 |
|
Jim lived in Dade County, Missouri from 1914 until moving to Colorado in September of 1934. Jim's brother Hobart had married Helen's sister, Martha Golden LAREW, and they lived in Mt. Morrison (now called Morrison) in Jefferson County. Missouri was going through a drought, and Jim & Helen moved the family to Golden, Colorado; Gail, age 11 & Georgia, age 10, had a hard time leaving their friends; Kermit and Lois were already out of school; Kermit only attended half of ninth grade and quit school to help on the farm. Gail and Georgia attended Mt. Morrison school. Hobart & Golden were Nazarene; neighbors invited Jim & Helen to Fruitdale Baptist Church (now Clear Creek Baptist), where they attended regularly.
On a visit to Missouri for a LAREW reunion, I was able to drive to some
of the old homesteads with my two daughters, my three aunts, and my cousin
Kathy Hass. My three aunts amazed me
with their memory of locations. They
directed me right to their old schoolhouse – Carlock school – and to their Grandpa Charlie’s
place; the house was still visible in a thick grove of trees, but the land was being used to graze cattle. Across the
road was the farm where Jim and Helen raised their family. There was another family living on the land;
the only building left from Jim and Helen’s farm was the old barn. At the family reunion, Jim and Helen’s niece Elaine ROSS HILL, who had lived near them in Missouri,
recalled the time Jim bought his first car; he was so used to a team of horses,
when he approached the gate onto his property he said, "Whoa!" but
the car went right on through the gate!
She said he got plenty of ribbing about
that.
I don’t have many memories of my Grandpa prior to him living in a nursing home. I was born in 1957, and he went into the nursing home in 1965. I do, however, have very fond memories of family gatherings at Grandma Larew’s house
for Christmas and many other occasions.
There was always plenty of food and delicious desserts; Grandma’s
specialty was peach cobbler!
 |
Almost all of Jim & Helen Larew's family |
I would spend the night with my Grandma often, and we would enjoy several rounds of
games like Rack-o and Chinese Checkers.
We would pop popcorn – the old-fashioned way – on the stovetop. I recall one time I popped the corn and took
it off the fire and set it on the table, forgetting Grandma had a plastic
tablecloth over the top of her nice cloth one! Needless to say, it ruined the plastic table cloth and was probably not too good for the
pot either!
My grandma taught me how to embroider. My first project was two hot pads with kitty faces embroidered on them. I still have them; they were never finished into hot pads. One time, when I finished a project, I told Grandma that I was going to put it in my hope chest. She asked me what I was hoping for and I said, “A man!” She laughed so hard, it made me laugh, too. She had the best laugh, I can still picture her throwing her head back and laughing out loud. How her eyes would sparkle!
My dad and I would visit Grandma regularly on Sundays. Since my mom worked the night shift, she would
come home and go to bed. Whenever she
worked on a Saturday night/Sunday morning, my dad and I would go to church, go out
to lunch, and then, we would either visit his dad in the nursing home or visit
his mom at her house. If she had gotten
the Greenfield Vedette newspaper from Greenfield, Missouri, in the mail
she would tell him the news about any of our family or their former neighbors.
I remember listening to my dad and grandpa visit; Grandpa had hardening
of the arteries, a form of dementia. I
recall on one occasion Grandpa told my dad he had been visited by some family
member whose name I do not recall; I remember my dad telling his dad that person
had died years before. I sat there
wondering if someday I would have to have such conversations with my dad. My dad’s death certificate does list
Arteriosclerotic Heart Disease, so if my dad had lived longer, he may very well
have suffered from dementia like his dad.
My brother, Kermit Dean, is the only son of the only son of Jim and
Helen. He has changed the spelling of
his name to LaRew, to reflect the true French spelling. His son Darin has continued that spelling,
and I think that’s a great tribute to our ancestors.
 |
4 Generations of LaRew men |
I have been able to attend many Larew family reunions over the years, whether held in Missouri, Colorado or California. I have been privileged to receive several Bibles belonging to various ancestors, as well as other family treasures which I hold dear. My cousin Sue JONES HALL gifted me the 1891 Webster Dictionary that had belonged to Jim and Helen. It has been helpful to look up words I've come across in older documents. Sue just passed away July 22, 2020, Rest in Peace, dear cousin!
I have listened to many family stories,
sometimes embarrassing, sometimes humorous, but always told to share the
history of our family. When I used to
teach genealogy courses at the museum, I would always tell people, if they
didn’t want to find out about the skeletons in the family closet, they
shouldn’t do genealogical research, because we all have them, but they are part
of who we are.
I remember looking at my family history and noticing Grandma and Grandpa
Larew’s wedding date, January 24, 1914; I knew my dad was born January 30,
1916, and thought, boy, they really had Lois and Dad close together. Then I looked at Aunt Lois’s birthdate –
August 17, 1914. I called my mom and
said I had a question, that I must have a date wrong. I said, “Grandma and Grandpa Larew were married
January 24, 1914, right?” She just replied “Uh, huh,” but I could tell by her
tone she knew where I was headed with my question. She told me Grandma and Grandpa "had to" get
married. At the next family reunion I
took my boom-box cassette player/recorder and recorded interviews with
different relatives. I found I had a
great rapport with my dad’s cousin Elaine.
She was willing to talk about life in Missouri and the family. I asked her about Jim and Helen’s
wedding. She said, “I’ll tell you if you
turn that thing off!” So, of course, I
turned off the recorder; she recounted how Jim’s sister Theo caught them and
went and told. I’m sure then, a few
months later when it was clear Helen was expecting, a wedding was held post-haste! Jim's maternal grandfather, William A. Denby, performed the marriage ceremony, held at the home of Jim's sister and brother-in-law, Avice and Luther Hayter.
I remember Grandma and Grandpa Larew’s 50th wedding anniversary;
they lived in a house on Chase Street in Edgewater. That was not long before Grandpa was put in
the nursing home. I was told that Grandma
did not think they deserved a party, but her children convinced her to still
have it. It just shows it’s not the
mistakes we make in life that define who we are as a person, but our response
to those mistakes that reveals our true character. Jim and Helen had many years together;
Grandma loved Grandpa and missed him when he had to go to the nursing home and
then when he passed away. There are now
5 generations that have come from that union; I’m so thankful for them!
 |
|
NEXT: THE CHURCHWELL FAMILY TREE
Comments
Post a Comment