This is a 1940s vintage photo of a birthday party at the old Elliott place up on Sycamore.
Eula Elliott says the birthday was for one of the cousins whose family would regularly visit Sycamore during the summer.
There are 7 more photos of this event. Follow this link to see the rest.
Edith Jane Reip was one of the 4 daughters of Frank Reip and Victoria Mace. She was a younger sister -- by 4 years -- to Goldie Reip Elliott.
Edith was born in Calhoun County in 1909. She lived in Calhoun and in Parkersburg, and died in 1973. The photo to the right is probably taken around 1970.
Here is another photo from among Maxine Elliott Mottice's loose photos. It is an older photo -- it appears to be from the early 1900s.
One of the photos in the loose group was of Jabez Elliott Jr., Bernard's grandfather. Might this photo be of one of his sons or other descendants?
This photo was found among Maxine Elliott Mottice's older family photos, and probably dates before the 1930s. The photo shown is a copy that was enlarged to 8'x10', which suggests that it was a valued photo.
If I had to hazard a guess as to who it is, I would say Maxine's grandmother -- Bernard Elliott's mother -- Arminda Hathaway. My reason for this guess is that there is a similar enlargement of her husband, John A. Elliott, although it appears to be from a different period in time.
An alternative guess would be Maxine's grandmother on her mother Goldie's side, Victoria Mace. this is a very dubious guess, however, and I don't have any justification for it other than it being a valued photo, which suggests a grandparent.
Still another reasonable other guess might be one of Bernard's sisters.
Goldie (or Golda, as it sometimes appears) Reip was the wife of Bernard Elliott. She died in childbirth on Dec. 16, 1938 at the age of 33 with her unborn son, Lewis. She and Bernard had four previous children: John Francis, Maxine, Pauline, and Nina Rose.
She was the daughter of Frank Reip and Victoria Mace. She was born in Calhoun County near the village of Orma on the West Fork. She grew up there at the Reip family home built by Frank Reip, just down over the hill from the Reip family cemetery.
She and Bernard were married on Oct. 27, 1926 in Grantsville. Relatively little is known about her since she died so young. She did, however, keep an extensive photo album (which can be viewed here) that reveals much of her friends and family.
The photo of her on the right is a formal portrait with color enhancement and is currently in the possession of her grand-daughter Michelle Boyce. Since it is a formal photo it is likely to have been taken in conjunction with a special occasion like graduation or her wedding, but there is no evidence of this on the photo.
The photo below is of her gravestone at Mt. Zion Cemetery.
View the Goldie Reip Photo Album here
This is the album in the possession of Nina (Elliott) Nicholas. It contains photos spanning an undetermined period of time, although presumably during Goldie's lifetime which was from 1905 to 1938. Some of the photos appear older, however.
Goldie was the daughter of Frank Reip and Victoria Mace. She was the oldest of 4 sisters. The others were Maud (b. 1907), Edith (1909), and Merl (1911). Photos in this album may include other members of her family. Her paternal aunts and uncles were Grover, Adam, Emma, William Howard, and Maud Alma. Their are also pictures of her grandmother, Luverna Ellen Downey, and also perhaps of her grandfather Peter Reip. Others who may appear in these pages are Peter's siblings' families. His brothers and sisters (Goldie's great aunts and uncles) included Alonza, David, Suzanne, Ira Grant, Gerutia Chenoweth, Elizabeth Jane, and Edith.
Goldie married Bernard Elliott, and there are -- not surprisingly -- lots of pictures of him in this album. As a consequence there may be pictures of his family here, too. His parents were John A. Elliott and Arminda Hathaway. Their children, besides Bernard, were Roxy, Alva, Watson, Oley, Millie, Florence, and Verna.
I would like to identify as many of the people in these photos as possible. If you recognize any of them, please let me know. But you might think someone "looks like" someone you know, or you recognize (or think you recognize) a location, or even if you disagree with any of my identifications, please let me know by contacting me at rmottice@msn.com.
abez Elliott, Jr. was the grandfather of Bernard Elliott. His grandfather was Henry Elliott, the earliest known ancestor of this Elliott clan.
Jabez Jr. was born Sept. 29, 1826 in Lewis Co., VA or Ritchie Co., WV, and died in 1917 in Calhoun Co., WV. He was married to Sarah Ann Johnson of Wood Co. on July 17, 1851. They had seven children:
John Anderson 1852-1937 (father of Bernard), who married Arminda Hathaway in 1877;
Charles Musgrave 1855-1914;
Linza Johnson 1858-1899;
Frances Harriett 1859-1937, who married Mr. Barr;
Izetta Matilda 1863-?, who married Mr. Sickel;
Columbus 1865-1935, who married Margaret;
Jasper Lafayett 1868-1950, who married Roseanna Stevens.
Jabez and Sarah Ann lived in Pine Creek, Calhoun Co. directly behind the Upper Pine Creek School. The photo on the right was evidently taken in 1912. On the back is written "Jabez Elliott, 86, Sept. 1826." Since he was 91 when he died, 86 must refer to the year the photo was taken which, if he was born in 1826 would be 1912.
The photo below is his headstone at the Mt. Zion Cemetery just south of Grantsville. His wife, Sarah, is buried beside him.
This photo is from the collection of Maxine Elliott Mottice, and portrays -- in all likelihood -- Jabez Elliott, Jr., his wife Sarah Ann Johnson, and their seven children; John Anderson, Charles Musgrave, Columbus, Linsey Johnson, Jasper Lafayett, Frances Harriet, and Izetta Matilda.
The only identification mark on the photo is that it was taken by the Gibson Studio in Morgantown.
The identity of the family is determined by the other photo of Jabez Elliott, and the similarity is too striking to ignore. In addition, the number of young people in the photo matches the number and gender of his children.
If this is indeed the Jabez Elliott, Jr. family, the date of the photo is prior to 1897 since that is when Sarah Ann died.
Jabez Elliott, Sr. is buried in the Ayres cemetery in Smithville, WV. According to an article by Edna Elliott Schartiger in a Calhoun Co. historical chronicle, his wife, Elizabeth Wigner, is also buried there but I have not been able to identify her grave.
The Ayres cemetery is at the southeast corner of the intersection of Rt. 47 and Rt. 16. It is accessible from Rt. 47, less than a quarter mile east of that intersection. As can be seen from this first photo which looks to the west (the hill in the background is across Rt. 16), the cemetery is fenced off within a cow pasture. In order to drive there, you must open the gate to the cow pasture and follow the car track back to the cemetery.
Jabez Elliott's grave is in the old section of the cemetery near the tree line along with a handful of other very old gravestones. His stone says that he served with the Virginia Militia in the War of 1812, as of course this part of WV would have been in VA at the time.
At the moment I have no information as to why he is buried in this particular cemetery, although records indicate that he and Elizabeth lived in Ritchie County where Smithville is located.
John Anderson Elliott was the oldest son of Jabez Elliott, Jr. and Sarah Ann Johnson and the father of Bernard Elliott. He was born Nov. 24, 1852 and died July 21, 1937.
He married Arminda Hathaway in 1877 and they had 9 children:
Alva, married Clara Haught;
Roxy, married Leeson Proudfoot;
Watson, unmarried;
Bernard, married Goldie Reip;
Oley, married Lura Parsons;
Florence, married Mallie Sturm;
Millie, married Mr. Price;
Verna, married McClellan (Clella) Haught.
John is buried at Mt. Zion Cemetery south of Grantsville, WV in Calhoun Co. Pictured below is his grave.
John Francis Elliott was the oldest child and only son of Bernard and Goldie Elliott. He was born in Grantsville in 1927.
He lived in Yonkers on Long Island most of his adult life. He was married to Bernice Grossman in 1956. The photo below is of him and Bernice in 1975.
He died in 2002.
Maxine Elliott Mottice was the second child and oldest daughter of Bernard and Goldie Elliott. She was born in Grantsville, WV in 1928 and lived there with her family on the south side on the hill overlooking the Little Kanawha River.
She and her family spent many happy times visiting Elliott relatives up at Sycamore and Reip relatives up on the West Fork. When her mother died -- when Maxine was 10 years old -- these trips became a welcome respite to an increasingly difficult life.
She graduated from Glenville State College in 1950 and married Robert N. Mottice in 1951. She taught elementary school for a year in Grantsville after her marriage. She and Bob moved to Elyria, Ohio after his graduation, and they stayed in Ohio the rest of their lives.
She died in 2006 in Ohio at the age of 77 from complications arising from heart disease and lyphoma of the spleen.
Maxine, Nina, and Pauline Elliott are picture in this photo from what is probably the mid-1940s. It is not clear where the picture was taken, but from the general location of the road and the hill in back could easily be up on Sycamore.
The woman standing between Maxine and Nina is, I believe, Aunt Lura -- wife of their Uncle Oley Elliott. If this is her, the picture may be taken at her and Uncle Oley's house on Sycamore.
In this photo are, front left to right: Nina Elliott (Bernard's daughter), Millie Elliott (Bernard's sister), Pauline Elliott (Bernard's daughter), and Maxine Elliott (Bernard's sister).
Back left to right are Bernard's brother Oley and his wife Lura Parsons Elliott, Bernard's second wife Minnie, and Bernard Elliott.
The time of this photo is likely to be the late 1940s since Maxine looks to be about college age. The location is surely Sycamore, and probably in front of Millie's house or perhaps Oley's house.
There are many similarities with this photo except for the time of year.
Nina Rose Elliott was the youngest child of Bernard and Goldie Elliott. She was born in 1932(?) in Grantsville.
She married Charles Nicholas and live in Harrisville, WV most of her life. She died in 2007.
The old Reip farm was the home of Goldie Reip Elliott. Built, according to family recollection, by either Goldie's father Frank Reip or grandfather Peter Reip, it was in an area south of Grantsville, WV known as "up on the West Fork." The West Fork (of the Kanawha River, I believe) passes through an area in southern Calhoun County along Rt. 16.
As late as the 1950s and 1960s it had the reputation of being a wild area with one section known as Bear Fork because black bear were common there. As a kid at this time, I can remember begging my family to take us up there when we visited the Elliotts and see the bears. We never did.
The old Reip home is up in this -- what used to be -- remote area. To get there, take Rt. 16 south of Arnoldsburg and at Orma, turn left on the appropriately named Left Fork road which follows the Left Fork river. Several miles down this road is Euclid (where the Vada Reip home is located -- see the last picture in this post). There, at Euclid -- which you should think of as a locational name rather than a town -- turn right across the river on to county road 11/3 (and what Google Maps also calls "Granny She" road) headed south. Within several hundred yards to the east (left) is a beautiful tiny valley and a narrow dirt lane leading up it. About a hundred yards up the track is where the Reip house stood.
The house, viewed in this picture from the lane, is no longer standing. It was torn down in the early 2000s and a new house built in its place by the owners, who are I believe descendants of Frank Reip's third wife, Ethel Barr Vannoy. See more photos of the house and grounds here.
My mother Maxine Elliott Mottice remembers visiting this house when she was a child. She recalls how difficult it was to reach since it was so remote. [Note: During the 1970s she and I attempted to get to the house one spring but were unsuccessful because there was no bridge crossing Left Hand and the water was too high to drive through. By the 1990s when we again attempted a visit, a bridge had been built and we were able to find the house easily. At that time we enjoyed the hospitality of the current owners as they allowed us to see the inside of the house. This was the first time my mother had been to the farm since before she was married.]
The house may have started out as a log cabin as there were massive hewn timbers atop the stone foundation. There was a large stone fireplace in the front room that heated the house. In back of the house was a fairly large barn that was used by Frank Reip (at least in part) for drying tobacco. My mother always referred to this as "the farm" and also remembers horses there. It is possible that one or more photos in the Goldie Reip Photo Album are taken here, and this one in particular.
The Reip cemetery sits atop a wooded hill overlooking the old Reip farm near Euclid, WV. 
It is a small cemetery containing only 2 generations of Reips -- Frank, father of Goldie Reip Elliott, and his father Peter, and their wives.
Access to the cemetery is from the foot of the lane leading to the farm. It is on the opposite side of the lane from the farm, and you have to walk along the lane while gradually climbing uphill in order to reach the cemetery. It is surrounding by a low chain link fence and is periodically cared for by some of the local descendants. Because of its somewhat difficult access, however, I have trimmed weeds several times I have been there, too. The photo shown here looks across the cemetery and down over the hill toward the foot of the lane. If you could see ninety degrees to the left of the angle from which this photo was taken you could see the farm house, which is directly below the hill. See more photos of the cemetery and the gravestones here.
Frank Reip died in 1953 and is buried along with his wife Victoria Mace, 1881-1921. Victoria was the mother of Goldie and her three sisters. Since Frank outlived Victoria by more than 30 years, he remarried twice after her death. I'm not aware of any children by these marriages and neither of his subsequent wives are buried in this cemetery.
Frank's parents, Peter Alexander Reip (1856-1929) and Luverna Ellen Downey (1855-1940), are also buried in this cemetery. Peter was born in Calhoun County (although I don't know exactly where) and Luverna was born in Gilmer County. Records indicate that they both died there in Euclid. I conclude from these facts and that no other children of Peter were buried here that either he and Frank built the farm house after Frank's siblings were grown, or that Frank built the farm hose by himself and Peter and Luverna lived with them in the last years of their lives. This would make the date of the farm house around the first or second decade of the 1900s.
This family photo was found in Maxine Elliott Mottice's loose photographs with no identification. It is possible that this is the family of one of her maternal aunt's. Goldi Reip had 3 sisters. Might this be the family of one of them?
On the other hand, the older gentleman in the middle looks an awful lot like one of the Fayette County cousins of the Elliotts who used to visit during the summer.
Sara Johnson Elliott was the wife of Jabez Elliott, Jr. She was the mother of seven children, including John A. Elliott father of Bernard Elliott.
Her grave, pictured here, is at the Mt. Zion Cemetery south of Grantsville. She is buried beside her husband, Jabez Elliott, Jr.
Obituary as recorded on Calhoun County GenWeb site (http://www.lindapages.com/calhoun/obits-oldfile.txt):
ELLIOTT, SARAH A.
7/18/1893
Sarah A. Elliott nee Johnson, the subject of this sketch, was born in Wood county, Va., now Ritchie, W. Va, on the 11th day of April, 1831, and departed this life July 3d, 1893, aged 62 years, 2 months and 22 days. On the 17th day of July, 1851, she was married to Jabez Elliot, and moved with him to the Little Kanawha river, and settled in what is now known as the Hardman Bend, moving a few years afterwards to Pine creek, her late home, where the flickering lamp of life was blown out, and a life that was spent in doing good was brought to a close.
It is not the intention of the sketch to speak of the merits or demerits of the deceased, suffice it to say that her faults were few and her virtues many. In early life she espoused the cause of Christianity and identified herself with the M. E. Church, South, and was a regular attendant on all of its means of grace, when her health would permit, having been an invalid for some years.She was an affectionate wife, a devoted mother and a good neighbor. She leaves a companion and several children to mourn their loss, but her eternal gain.
She was interred in the Mt. Zion cemetery by a host of sorrowing friends and relatives and her children weeping.
May they prepare to meet companion and mother in the great beyond, where no parting tear is ever shed. - A Friend
Watson Elliot, 1881-1976, was Bernard Elliott's older brother. He was affectionately known as "Uncle Watt," and was generous with his money. Nieces and nephews, as well as grand-nieces and grand-nephews can remember his frequent cash gifts.
He evidently left home fairly early as a young man and got into the horse business where he trained and raced horses for much of his life. Racing up and down the eastern seaboard, he was quite successful and was able to maintain a flamboyant lifestyle while moving in powerful social circles that included FBI head J. Edgar Hoover.
He named several of his horses in honor of his nieces, including Nina Rose and Bernice. One of his most successful horses was Tuscany Pomp. A partial photo gallery of his horses is here.
Uncle Watt suffered a stroke in the early 1960s, retired from racing, and came back to Sycamore where he lived in the Elliott homestead with Aunt Millie. He brought his big fancy black Buick with the red leather interior with him, and it was always a source of interest to visitors. He died in 1976 shortly after Aunt Millie.
This photo of Watson, Millie, and Bernard Elliott was probably taken in the mid-1960s. The location is Aunt Millie's house, which was the Elliott family home up on Sycamore Creek.
The photo is taken toward the front of the house, and the room is a sitting room entered from the front door which is barely seen to the right of Bernard. To the right of the photographer was a natural gas fireplace that stayed on all year long -- even in the hottest days of the summer, as I recall -- since it was attached to a gas line drawn from a well on the property.
The caption on this photo from the Goldie Reip Photo Album reads, "Ira Reip Family." But which Ira Reip family?
There was an Ira Grant Reip who was brother to Peter Reip and uncle to Frank Reip. This would make him 
great-uncle to Goldie. If this is a photo of his family, then it is a group of Goldie Reip's second cousins (Frank Reip's first cousins).
Ira Reip also had a son, Ira. If this photo is Ira Grant Reip's family,then his son, Ira, is probably in this picture. We know from other sources that Ira Grant Reip had 8 children -- exactly the number shown in this photo. There names were Dalton, Manfred, Lorna, Edna, Ira,Jesse, Ora, and Hobart.
But might the above photo be the family of Ira Reip, the son? Here is a photo of Ira and his brothers Dalton, Manfred, and Hobart when they are middle-aged. Are there any similarities?
(This photo courtesy of the Hur Herald)
And this next photo is of Dalton Reip and his wife Vada taken in 1933. Vada died in 2007(?), and they are both buried in the Chenoweth-Reip Cemetary on the West Fork.
(This photo courtesy of the Hur Herald)
*Update*
I found the original of this reprint in some of my mother's papers, and the caption on the back is "B.V. Elliott, Grantsville, WV." There is no date, but it is my mother's (Maxine Elliott Mottice) handwriting. This suggests that Bernard is the impish boy leaning on the back of the chair. The woman is presumably his mother and the girl his sister, but could easily be and aunt or cousin.
The location in Grantsville is a mystery, too. If this is at Bernard's childhood home, then it should be up on Sycamore. But if the location is Grantsville as the caption indicates, perhaps this is indeed an aunt and cousin, though I don't know who it might be.
**
This photo is a reprint or copy, and was found in Maxine Elliott Mottice's loose photos. The color appears to be enhanced, if not added completely in the refinishing process.
There is no indication of the identity of this family, and the house does not look familiar. Best guess is that is Bernard's aunt and cousin, though it is not clear which one.