She was from the hills of KY and proud of it. She never liked to wears hoes or dress for guests and when important men came to call on herhus band, she usually disappeared rather than play hostess.
The story is told that when DW built the new house, the first inMoultr ie County with indoor plumbing, Laura made him build a newouthouse, to o. She refused to let anyone use a commode under thesame roof where s he cooked. Grandchildren told of spending summersthere working on the f arm but they always had to take showers in thebasement, via the outsid e basement door, before coming into the houseitself and they were neve r allowed in the front part of the houseunless they crawled across the c arpets.
Laura Belle was a wealthy woman in her own right, owning severalpieces o f property soley in her name:
1/25/1893 Sullivan, Moultrie Co, IL. Her father transferred someprop erty at E 1/2 SE S21 T14 R5 to her for $1 by warranty deed.
1900 Sullivan Twp, Moultrie Co, IL. She inherited 80 acres of theold h omestead at S3 T13 R5, along with $4400 in cash and securities,includ ing the note of A.B. Patterson.
2/28/1901 She bought land from Isaac and Kate E Hudson by warrantydee d for $9000. The land was situated at S 1/2 SE & NE SE S28 T14R5.
8/13/1904 She bought land from brother, Robert, located at W 1/2 SWS1 2 T14 R5 for $1000 by warranty deed.
11/11/1905 She transferred the north half of the SW quarter 12, 14, 5E ast to brother Robert for $1000.
2/27/1906 Cyrus and Caroline Arnold sold their land at E 1/2 NW S9T13 R 5, to Laura for $400 by warranty deed.
9/14/1906 Brother, Robert, transferred more land with the samecoordin ates to her by quit claim deed for $1.
9/20/1906 On this date she received another plot at the same locationf rom Flora A Hardy, also by quit claim deed, also for $1.
3/28/1911 Property she owned jointly with her husband was transferredt o her name soley by warranty deed, no money exchanging hands. Theplot w as located at SW S22 T14 R5.
11/21/1917 Laura received the following letter from attorney andbroth er-in-law which probably refers to the land they bought fromChenny wit h a loan from Elmer, neither of whom got their money :
"My dear Laura:
I am sending you a copy of a letter that I have written to Elmer. NowI d idn't like to write to Elmer, but the time has come when you andDan mu st do right in this matter. You seem to be afraid of Elmer;seem to be a fraid that if you will tell him or enter into anaccounting with him as t o Chin's land you will get into trouble.People don't generally get int o trouble doing right. As far as I amconcerned I am tired of seeing C hin's family suffer for thenecessaries of life with no possible chance o f relieving them. Ifany one has to take this land for Chin's life it w ould have been farbetter for Hill to have taken it than for Elmer to t ake it.
Now it will be easy for you and Chin and Dan and Elmer to determinehow m uch is back and how much has been paid and settle this matter.I have m en every few days talk to me about this that know about thematter, and t hey think it an outrage, and you can't afford to dootherwise in this m atter than to get busy with yourself.
Now you show this letter to Dan and show it to Chin too, and don'tfail i n this. You know I write letters to some of your people whodon't see f it to answer. I don't want an answer in this letter, butthe matter mu st not rest any longer as it is. You must do right notonly toward Chi n, but toward yourself and toward your brothers andsisters and towards C hin's children.
Very truly yours,
WR Huff"
Laura Belle also died of a heart attack.
Laura's funeral was held at the Christian Church, Sullivan, IL, Rev.Ba rnett oficiating. Songs sung during the services included: SomeTime W e'll Understand, City Four Square, and At the End of the LongRoad, whi ch was a solo.
