<em>Submitter’s note: This story was written by Genevra Irene “Chig” Derringer Owens, born Aug. 24, 1917, died Dec. 18, 2000.</em>

My great-grandfather, Jefferson Rariden, served in the Civil War (Union) as a private in Company H. 25th Regiment. He told of his beard freezing fast to the ground while sleeping and of the hungry soldiers stealing the grain from the horses. The horses had to be watched when they were fed, else they had no food.

My grandfather, John Rariden, worked most of his life with timber, which was plentiful. He made crossties for the railroad when it came through Brown County. Before that, he took his crossties to Morgantown on a wagon pulled by a team of horses. The Helmsburg road and many other roads were in the creek beds. Everyone raised big gardens and lots of potatoes. Game was plentiful and Grandfather hunted both for food and for pelts.

After the railroad came to Helmsburg in 1906 there were hacks — all horse-drawn — that took people to Nashville from the train station. My mother rode in these often.

My mother made all of her own clothing. Yard goods were very inexpensive. As a girl, my mother (Vinnie Derringer) drove a horse and buggy or else walked.

Baseball was the big game, with a real feud between Brown County and Morgantown.

Life was easier after the train (Illinois Central) came. One could ride to Bloomington for a circus or just there and back for fun.

Mother sang with Joshua Bond for funerals, or baptisms which were held in summer in the warm creek waters. There were dances in someone’s home or barn on Saturday nights.

My great-grandfather, James W. Derringer, was born in 1836 either in Wales or he was the son of an emigrant from Wales. He was a cabinetmaker in Bean Blossom, then called Georgetown. He was the undertaker and the justice of the peace. He was also a carpenter. He built the Long School on Oak Ridge Road and later taught at Long School. His mortuary was at Bean Blossom and he made all his coffins by hand.

My father (Rex Derringer) has told of going with his grandfather to haul the dead in a wagon and how scared he was.

When my great-grandfather became ill, he sold his business to a Mr. Allen who in turn sold it to Joshua Bond.

After his first wife died, my great-grandfather remarried and later was divorced. It was quite a scandal at that time.

The earliest thing I cam remember is riding with my grandfather, James Derringer, in his mule-drawn wagon, going home with him, and wearing a yellow dress with daisy embroidery. He teased me by saying that the daisies were really spiders! He was a great reader and had a large library which later burned. He shared his books with me. I loved him very much.

My father, Rex Derringer, worked for the railroad, when it first came, for several years. Later he worked for Cummins Engine Company in Columbus, Indiana. He had a broker’s real estate license and built and sold log cabins. My mother also held a real estate license and was the first woman to sell real estate in Brown County. My father shared his love for reading and working in wood with his father and grandfather.

Like my mother before me, I started school my first year in a one-room school on Owl Creek. I can remember the mud was so bad and I was so tiny that I would get my shoes stuck in the mud and have to wait for someone — my mother — to come and pull me out. All eight grades were in one room with one teacher.

My second year I went to Helmsburg School and rode a horse-pulled wagon, or sled when the snow was deep. Then I rode to school in an auto and finally a school bus.

I grew up in the Great Depression. No one had anything, so we didn’t feel badly about not having things. Everyone shared in the hill country, and everyone canned fruit and vegetables, raised a pig or two, and kept a cow. Altogether, it was a nice childhood. Everyone worked.

I married James Harry Owens in June 1935. James served in the Navy during World War II. He retired from Cummins Engine Company in Columbus after 42 years there. The same year he retired (1978) he ran for county commissioner (second district) and was elected for a four-year term. He ran again in 1982 and was re-elected. James passed away Nov. 22, 1984.

Jams was the son (the 10th child) of James S. Owens and Dora Henthorne Owens. He was born in 1916 at Belmont where his parents operated a grocery, sawmill, and timber business. He graduated from Nashville High School in 1934.

The Owens family came from Ireland and settled first in Ohio, then on to Brown County.

We have always been politically minded and lifelong Democrats, as were our families before us. It is mentioned in my great-grandfather’s obituary (James W. Derringer) that he was a dedicated Democrat.

I have served in various assorted jobs for the Democratic party: vice-chairman, secretary, committeeman and general worker. Also served on the advisory board to township trustees and was on the building committee for the Brown County Office Building, a trustee for the Oak Ridge Cemetery and served on the Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

<em>In 1984, Genevra was appointed to fill the vacancy her husband’s death created as county commissioner. She became the first woman to ever sit as a Brown County commissioner. Then two years later, she became the first woman elected to a commissioner seat in Brown County’s 150-year history. She served as commissioner until 1990. Genevra also helped form the Brown County Humane Society and was their first secretary. She was named a Sagamore of the Wabash in 1997.</em>
<p style="text-align: right"><em>Submitted by Pauline Hoover, Brown County Historical Society</em></p>