What a wonderful outpouring of support that took place on August 2nd for the launch of Raney Days - The David G. Raney Family and Their Antebellum Home! The Raney House was alive with Raneys, Ovens, Porters, Coombs, visitors from afar, as well as friends that were near. The visitor traveling farthermost for the occasion was from California; a runner who had sped past early in the day came back in the afternoon to join the festivities and buy a book. A lovely lady (curator of a museum there) traveled from Thomasville, Georgia, to visit the Raney House and meet the Raney descendants. During the time that I signed books and Raney relatives drifted in and greeted one another, ice-cream and cake was served in the Carriage House out back of the Raney Museum. A celebration of Dr. John Gorrie's invention of the ice machine coincided with the book reveal and reunion. Ice-cream was being scooped at points throughout the town, so we baked a cake with a sugared print of the Raney Days book decorating it. Cake and ice-cream. It doesn't get better than that.
Raney Oven, fifth generation descendant of Frances Raney
Oven, met George Pettus Raney III, fourth
generation descendant of Judge George Raney. Mr. George Raney joked that
he'd heard of Ovens, but he'd never seen one! George Raney (who reminds
me of my Uncle Frank whom I loved dearly) was also delighted to see his nieces
Julie and Jennifer Byrom, daughters of his sister Sarah Frances Raney Byrom.
They live in the Panama City/Pensacola area.
 |
| Randy Oven and George P. Raney III |
Dorothy Porter Hill, daughter of Virginia Raney Porter,
brought Harriet Raney's wedding dress (1834) and a pink party dress. I went
online to learn how to properly display the vintage garments. Dot covered coat hangers with ribbon to protect
the dresses and wore white gloves as she handled them carefully. Several people commented, myself included, as
to how tiny the dresses were. Harriet was indeed petite! And, that little woman
gave birth to nine children! Dot also brought several pieces of silver
tableware that were engraved with DGR or
Raney. Two or three women told her that they had pieces from the same
set of silver. The question rose as to when the silver set had been divided and
who got what. Who knows, maybe someday the silver will come back to the Raney
House and be placed on the table with the Raney dishes. I hope so.
 |
| Detail of party dress |
 |
| Detail of wedding dress |
Elizabeth Lamar Porter, daughter of Virginia Raney Porter
married Chauncey Burr Coombs, a very, long time ago. The Coombs family
was well-represented at the book launch by Carolyn Coombs Dudley, her daughter
Karen Dudley Carrel and Karen's husband, David. Gracie Coombs Vaughn, sister of
Carolyn, and her husband Hoyt also attended the book signing and the dinner.
Gracie looked so pretty dressed in royal blue.
Due to a conflict in his schedule Joe Porter, son of G.
Rodman Porter, Jr., was unable to attend. Carolyn Raney Stoia and Dot
Porter Hill both expressed sadness because Joe wasn't there. Fortunately for
me, about two weeks prior to Aug. 2nd, Joe stopped by Raney House on
a Sunday afternoon. We sat and talked for an hour or more. He shared several
things that I did not know about the Porters, we toured the house, and had a
grand time getting to know one another.
Claire McCluskey brought her mother "Toto" (a
delightful lady who knows lots of family history), and her cousin Kit who lives
in California. Kit shared childhood memories that prompted nodding heads in
agreement as they remembered too.
Audra and Sabrina Oven, daughters of Buck Oven from
Tallahassee, came for the book signing and stayed for the dinner at Trinity
Episcopal Church. Buck was unable to attend, but he and his wife Betsy came to
Raney House a week before the reunion. They were in the area vacationing, so I
got to meet them and visit for an hour or two.
Buck was very helpful as I gathered photos and information for the book.
Both he and Betsy are delightful people.
I was glad to meet James (Speedy) Raney and his wife Susie. Speedy is the son
of Joseph Bartlett Raney. His cousins George P. Raney IV, Mark Stewart Raney,
and their sister Donna Nedelisky and her husband Darrell came from Ocala.
George III's other son Mike was away on a business trip. Mike and I email, and
I had mailed him a book. He is a super, super, nice fellow. Seemed please with
the book, but then he always has nice things to say.
The only branch of the Raney family not represented at the gathering
was that of Edward Jordan Raney. Edward married Helen Tonge and they lived in
Bainbridge, Georgia, later in South Carolina. Margaret Raney their
granddaughter, married F.W. Scheper and moved to SC. Several F.W.'s later lead
us to Bill Scheper, whose son is F.W. Scheper V. (Bill thinks that he is
really the VI. Seems there was a mix-up somewhere). The present day Schepers
have never been to Apalach, but plan to come very soon. Bill's schedule was
overloaded, and try as he may, he just could not swing a trip in time for the
reunion. Another of Edward Raney's descendants is Shula Rose Raney, daughter of
Gus Raney, who lives in Fort Lauderdale. I talked with her and sent a book. She
was unable to come to the reunion, but plans to visit Raney House soon (she
attended the original dedication of the house in 1979). I was ecstatic when she told me that she has
several paintings done by Edward's daughter-in-law, Von Etta Raney. She plans
to donate them to the Raney Museum in the near future. We have one of Von
Etta's paintings hanging above the mantle in the upstairs bedroom and it is
beautiful ( I'm no art critic, but I know good when I see it). Shula Rose, who
is also an artist, says that she has inherited her grandmother's talent.
Nancy Raney came from Arkansas to join her sister Carolyn
for a weekend in Apalach. The sisters spent Friday and Saturday catching up on
old times and meeting long-unseen relatives. They reunited with cousins,
uncles, and aunts. This was the first time that I had met Nancy, but Carolyn
and I have gotten to know one another as she has been so helpful throughout
the process of gathering information for
the book. She contributed numerous photos and documents, but more importantly
she encouraged me when I thought that maybe I had bitten off more than I could
chew. I hope that we are friends for a very long time.
 |
| Paula Raney, Carolyn Raney Stoia and Nancy Raney |
 |
| Nancy Raney, Mark Raney, and Jennifer Byrom excited about the book. |
 |
George Pettus Raney III and his wife Nell
|
A memory that I will cherish from that day is when late in
the afternoon, after the crowd had begun to thin out, several people pulled up
folding chairs, and gathered underneath the magnolia that shades the front
porch of Raney House. Nell Raney, Donna Nedelisky, and several others kicked
back, rested, and reminisced like folks used to do when front yards and porches
were social meccas. George Raney III and his son George IV sat on the bench
near the front door. The lingering few passed by sharing a friendly greeting,
shaking hands, or giving hugs. I wondered if possibly somehow, somewhere, David
and Harriet were aware that their children's, children's, children were comfortable
at the home that they had built so long ago. That night at the dinner, my
imagination once more took over as I looked upward to see if David, Harriet,
George Pettus the first, Edward, Virginia, and Frances were leaning over the
balconies of Heaven smiling as they proudly surveyed their legacy. If they
weren't I surely was. Smiling and proud, that is. Happy and fulfilled, I
treasured the moment. Months of research, writing, rewriting, haggling with
problems throughout the production of the book, emailing, telephoning, taking
notes and losing notes had finally culminated in an honest-to-goodness real
book. High fives and hallelujahs!!
Thank you David and Harriet for giving me a story to tell,
and thank you for wanting to hear their story.
 |
| Raney family descendants on the steps of the Raney House |
BTW- My warmest thanks go to Susan Clementson, Fran Edwards,
Linda Thompson for their hard work in planning and executing a lovely time for
all. And, to the AAHS for sponsoring this occasion. I couldn't have done my part without the help of my daughter Geni and my granddaughters, Lillie and Charlotte. - Sara McFerrin
No comments:
Post a Comment