James Harvey Smith

The above photograph is my 2nd Great Grandfather, James Harvey Smith. He was a descendant of Samuel M. Smyth, one of the first settlers in the Hurley area.

Grandpa Jim liked to farm and he always kept a mule even when he was unable to farm. Most of the land he farmed were on hill sides. The picture shows Grandpa with his mule and wagon. The wagon is filled with huge pumpkins and cushaws that he grew every year.

He was born at Hurley in the Lester's Fork section in 1885. He died in Richlands, VA in 1977.

Amanda Broyles
Hurley High School

Home Remedies

Blood from a black chicken cures shingles.

Turpentine will cure a corn on your foot.

If the seventh son blows in your mouth, it will cure the thrash.

Boil whiskey, ginger, and sugar and drink it to lower a fever.

Use Vaseline salve on your eye at night to cure a sty.

Mix sulfur and lard together for itching skin.

Boil oak bark and apply it to your skin for ring worms.

Use three drops of turpentine and a tablespoon of Castor oil to cure a stomach ache.

Vinegar, soda, and sugar mixed in water will help an upset stomach.

To keep hair from turning gray, use a tonic made of olive oil, sulphur, and vinegar.

Mix lemon and honey to cure a cough.

Rub vinegar on patches of poison to stop the itch.

Rub shoe polish on poison to dry it out.

For a headache, put spruce pine into boiling water, cool, then drink.

Boil a Mullen plant, mix it with honey to be used as a cough syrup.

For sores in your mouth, boil yellow root to make a tea.

Dandelion tea or water soaked watermelon seeds will cure bladder infections.

Vinegar was used for fainting, headaches, and as an antiseptic.

Mutton tallow rubbed on the chest and covered with a hot cloth might cure bronchitis and other colds.

A freshly cut onion will remove the burn of a bee sting.

Gun powder or turpentine would draw out the poison from a snake bite.

Mr. Doug Clevinger's History Classes
Hurley High School

Superstitions

Sweep under a girl's feet and she will never get married.

If your right hand itches, you are going to shake hands with a stranger.

If the bottom of your feet itches, you are going to walk on strange ground.

Dropping a comb while combing your hair is a sign of a coming disappointment.

Pick a dandelion that has gone to seed. Take a deep breath and blow the seeds into the wind. Count the seeds left on the stem and that will tell the number of children you will have.

It is bad luck to leave a house through a different door than the one used to come into the house.

If you dream of death, it is a sign of birth. If you dream of birth, it is a sign of death.

Dream of running and it is a sign of a big change in your life.

For good luck throughout the year, wear new clothes on Easter.

If your right eye twitches, there will soon be a birth in the family.

If your left eye twitches, there will be a death in the family.

A cricket in the house brings good luck.

If the first butterfly you see in the year is white, you will have good luck all year.

Three butterflies together mean good luck.

Evil spirits can not harm you if you stand inside a circle.

If a clock has not been working and suddenly chimes, there will be death.

If an owl comes to your house, someone who lives there is going to die.

If you walk under a horseshoe, you will have good luck.

Carrying an acorn will bring you good luck.

To protect yourself from witches, wear a blue bead.

If you say good-by to someone on a bridge, you will never see each other again.

Keep cats away from babies because they will "suck the breath" of the baby.

To drop a fork means a man is coming to visit.

Mr. Doug Clevinger's History Classes
Hurley High School