Courting days at Old Piney Grove Church

If you look closely in several of these photographs, you can see the old Pine Grove Church in the background. Napolian A. Johnson, son of Stephen Johnson and Harriet Caroline Pierce, gave the land upon which the church was built. Needless to say, the Johnson family was (and is) closely associated with this church and populate the church's cemetery. Napolian, or "Uncle Poley" as he was known to many in his community, was born on January 29, 1858 and lived all his life in the Pine Grove area. He was married to Mary Lester, daughter of James Isham Lester and Sarah Gaither.

Uncle Poley's daughter, Omie, is pictured below with her beau and future husband, Alton Lee Kuykendall. The second photograph pictures another Johnson daughter, Arvilla, who married Porter Gainsville Dulaney, and the third photograph is of daughter Coster, who married Lynwood Wilemon. Finally, the last photograph is another picture of Omie and Alton Kuykendall, and behind the seated couple can clearly be seen the church with people milling around outside. Note that in the last two photographs, sisters have on the same dress. Their family was a family of eight sisters and one brother so you can imagine there was a lot of clothes-sharing going on.

Thanks must go out to Terry Wilemon for sharing the photographs with Don Dulaney, but most especially to Mary Dulaney who graciously helped Don identify the people in these photographs and others. Mrs. Mary, who is the widow of Clastel Dulaney and is 88 years old, has a remarkable memory and has been very, very helpful.

For more on this family, you can read these previous posts: Sharing Cousins, Funeral of Mary Lester Johnson, and Coster Johnson.