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The story is told that Martha Ambrose first
married William Canady and had a daughter named Ellen. He
died and left her a widow. She then married James (Jim)
Franklin Arnold and had five children. They had a fruitful
life together.
Martha's second husband, Jim had to go off and
fight during the Civil War. When he got back home he
learned that a fugitive from the Confederate draft had been
hiding in the woods near their place and had frequently stolen
food from Martha's smokehouse. There were several men in
the neighborhood who had refused to go to war, and they ran off
and hid in order to escape war duty. The people as a whole
looked upon them with contempt., and called them "Buffaloes."
This one buffalo in particular stole food from the Arnold
farm while Jim was away at war.
One time Martha caught him in the act, and she
begged him not take all of her corn. She begged, "please
leave me a little corn to last until my husband gets home."
He told her to shut her mouth and go back in the house.
He took the last row of corn out of the field.
After the Civil War was over, the buffaloes
continued to hide out. When Jim Arnold came home and
learned what had happened, he went out into the woods to sit and
watch for this buffalo.
A nice rifle was all that he had brought back
from the war and he was going to use it. He kept going back
to this hiding spot for weeks trying to catch sight of the
scoundrel. Finally he gave up and decided to leave
retribution in the Lord's hands. He fired his primed rifle
shot into the closest pine tree. The pine tree died. When
Jim Arnold showed this to his boys later, he told them that they
should not harbor hatred or any desire for revenge in their
hearts.
Jim died, leaving Martha a widow again at fifty
years old. She married a sweet young man only twenty two
years old named Charlie Clifton. Some said he married her
for her money and property. Others said, she married him
for someone to cater to her needs and to take care of the farm.
Anyway, from the looks of things, they had a prosperous
family.
Story contributed by William A. Sellers, Jr. from GA,
9/2000
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