Ollie Hamilton Hartley, Papa Hartley to me, was born in 1885 in Davidson County, North Carolina, only one of two boys in a large family. Because his dad had a big farm, he only got to go to school through third grade. Very early on, he learned all about hard work. When he married my grandmother, Iva Potts, in 1908, they lived on a farm in Davie County close to the Yadkin River in the Jerusalem area. Until the bridge across the river on Highway 64 was built in 1929, he and his father operated a ferry across the river between their two properties. After the ferry went out of business, his only source of income was farming, which he did anyway. He grew almost all of the food they ate and had cows, chickens, and pigs for meat. He never had a car, so my parents and others in the family took them to appointments and to visit family members. They lived in a fairly remote area, so without a telephone, their only source of getting help in an emergency was a big bell that hung on a pole in the back yard close to the kitchen. They also had a well close to the house with a communal dipper. Think about all of those germs!
Luckily, one of the neighbors took them to Jerusalem Baptist Church on Sundays and to the Wednesday evening prayer meetings. Papa was above all a good and kind and humble man, so he lived what he learned at church. He was quick to share his produce with others and also to help Mama out when she was not well.
I remember many Sunday afternoons spent sitting in the yard with him. Luckily, the adult ladies did all of the baking and cooking and did not want me “under foot,” as they called it. We would talk and visit, and sometimes he would take my hand and walk around the farm, and if it was an especially beautiful day, he would take me down to the river for a ride in his homemade wooden boat!
In my mind this minute I picture him in his signature bib overalls walking to the fields early in the morning followed by his faithful white dog, Fluffy.