Lilla Gertrude Shelor Background

Lilla Gertrude Shelor was the oldest of Ellis and Hattie Webb Shelor’s nine children. At a young age, Lilla was expected to help with the house and the younger children. She remembered looking after her younger brother Sandy when she was too little to lift him out of his bed. She watched her siblings when Hattie was out in the fields with Ellis, working in the garden, or tending to the cow. As the years went by and more brothers were born, Hattie came to rely more and more on Lilla's help. Lilla was the only girl of the children, and although Hattie did know this responsibility was hard for Lilla, she believed she could handle it. After years of only boys, the ninth child was finally a girl, Marjorie Eloise. The boys would sometimes be a handful, and they would tease their big sister by not getting up to get ready for school. Although the boys teased
her, they loved their big sister, and thought of her as another mother.

During the 1800’s through the 1900’s people lived off their own land and provided their own resources. They farmed and grew crops that could feed their family and raised cows for milk, butter, and cornbread. The Shelor’s had nine children which allowed them to have more help with farming. Although they were big in size they lived off very little, living in only a two bedroom house. This was normal for this time period, it was viewed as simple and what most people wanted in life. A comfortable lifestyle where you had to work to get what you wanted but you also weren’t struggling. The father of the family provided income by working a day job, while the mother would tend to the farm chores, cook, and maintain the household. Children were expected to take on big responsibilities at a young age and were often working or playing outside. Family was the focus of this lifestyle and everyone contributed to help each other out.

Perhaps it's not important to remember the past, even when the present is often more than we can handle.
Yet, when looking back over the threads of all of these separate lives, you see the importance they hold and how each connect to create a web of simple existence. Ordinary people with ordinary lives, yet each was special. So special that it would be impossible to write a book that included them all. Each life continues to live on through memories passed down from generations, each experience unraveling the scene and background of its times. During war and peace, poverty and abundance, our ancestors passed down the strengths and weaknesses of themselves to us. Their life stories influenced us, and with that ,we are who we are because they were who they were. An understanding of their lives may never make ours easier, but by given an insight of their past, we are provided a stronger foundation to base ourselves upon. The web of humanity is continually woven, and as the pattern grows which each generation, so does our stories. Looking back can give us an idea of who we are and guide us to understand ourselves
more.