Julia Asher, Appomattox, Virginia, to Annie Maud Pollard, Winston-Salem NC, 1957

One of my strongest New Year's resolutions was to get together "The Family" and Hat Creek data and send it to you. My typing is extremely poor so I have been in the process of doing it for sometime. Had your visit not been such a breath taking surprise we could have given you worn copies of each when you were here to see us. Every now and then we make new copies but soon give them away or make notes on them which we do not care to part with. Although we are busy with the problems of life we keep digging and finding things of interest about the Irvins and other early Hat Creek settlers. Through an elderly gentleman from Kentucky who, by chance, stopped to visit me in search of Caldwell data, I got a book on the Irvins which contained a picture of John Irvin's grandson who left Campbell County (Hat Creek) in 1789 and went with his family to Kentucky. Three of John Irvin Sr.'s daughters married McElroys and went to Kentucky. From them descended many prominent people.

We appreciated your invitation to visit you last summer and should have enjoyed it a great deal, but one of the farm men was away and we hesitated to leave for the day. Our help is not dependable. Since you are a part of Hat Creek, I guess it is not out of place to comment on the tour which included Hat Creek last Spring. Since Hat Creek is a Community as well as a church, people throughout the community had a part in the celebration. Two basement Sunday School rooms in the church were fully furnished with furniture such as chairs, tables, desks, lounge, pictures, table ornaments and oddities and dishes from the community. So far as I know nothing less than a hundred years old. The twenty or more guides were descendants of people living at Hat Creek during the Revolution or before. O.C. [Orthodox Creek Elliotte, 1880-1972] gave me a drawing of Aunt Sue Payne [Susan Clark, 1812-1889, daughter of Paulette Clark and Mary Ann Irvin] which just made the room. He gave the picture to my sister and me to keep because "nobody else would care anything about it". We were amazed at the things that appeared from the various homes in a few days time. Hat Creek never boasted any silver and little china. I am enclosing "Fact and Fiction" which was prepared for the occasion. [pdf file

O.C. is pleased that you remembered him Christmas with the pictures. He has them on his desk. We hope you will come to see us again when we can talk more about Hat Creek, the Clarks and the Irvins.

Most Sincerely

Julia I. Asher