“Rogues,
Rascals and Rapscallions: The Family Black Sheep,” the title
of Judy Russell’s (The Legal
Genealogist) lecture caught my attention at the April 25, 2015,
Indiana Genealogical Society Conference in Terre Haute, Indiana. Among these
miscreants, Judy included three types: lawbreakers, deadbeats, and
philanderers. To Judy, “they’re much
more fun to research than the good guys.” She would enjoy my dad’s Uncle Jim. He was a philanderer.
Uncle
Jim was my paternal grandfather,
Clint Troutman’s brother, James Henry. Born 14 July
1880, during the summer following the deaths of three of his siblings, Jim was
the sixth child of Daniel and America Troutman. Maybe he brought renewed hope to his
parents. Yet, he seems to have inherited his mother’s
temper, which put him at odds with her often. According to family stories, he
left home at about age 14 to live with his sister Stelle, ten years older, and
her family because he could not get along with America. He must not have stayed
away, though, for he was enumerated with his parents in 1900, at age 20.[1]
 |
| James Henry Troutman, c. 1905. |
Jim
was a “retail merchant.”[5] In fact,
he owned and operated a country store at the T where Long Hollow Road meets the
Valley Road in Rich Valley, Smyth County, Virginia. It was one of those stores filled
with mixed odors of oiled hardwood floors, pickle barrels, tobacco, and possibly cakes made by Martha Hays. In the summer, you could pull a bottle
of iced Coka Cola out of a red cooler just inside the front screen door that banged
shut behind you. Loafers sat on a bench in the shade of the porch’s overhang,
jawed about the folks in the valley, and spit brown streams of tobacco juice into
the grass.
 |
| Uncle Jim and Aunt Susie Troutman on the porch of Jim's store, c. 1930. The child is Bernard Troutman, grandson of Jim's brother, John W. Troutman. |
Uncle Jim’s home stood across road from
the store; it’s still there, but not the store building. It was torn down about 10 years ago.
 |
| James H. Troutman home, across the Valley Road from his store, Rich Valley, Virginia, c. 1938. |
Dad
told me stories about happenings in the store and the house, but I'll save those for later. For now, I’ll focus
on Jim’s philandering. I’ve
already written in my previous post about Jim’s
affair with his widowed sister-in-law, which occurred about 1915. He had at
least one more affair that also produced a child—it’s impossible to know whether there were others that didn’t. The second affair was with a young woman named Edna
Neal, the servant girl’s sister.
[1] 1900 U.
S. census, Smyth County, Virginia, population schedule, Broadford Precinct,
enumeration district [ED] 84, sheet 1-B, dwelling 13, family 13, Dan Troutman
family, see Jim; digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com :
accessed 29 May 2015); NARA microfilm publication T623, roll 1528.
[2] 1910 U.
S. census, Smyth County, Virginia, population schedule, Broadford precinct,
enumeration district [ED] 88, p. 7-A, dwelling 124, family 140, James H. Troutman;
digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 May
2015); NARA microfilm publication T624,
roll 1649.
[3] 1900 U. S. census, Smyth County,
Virginia, population schedule, Broadford Precinct, enumeration district [ED]
84, sheet 12-B, dwelling 204, family 205, William Olinger, see Susie; digital
image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 May 2015);
NARA microfilm publication T623, roll 1728.
[4] 1910 U. S. census, Smyth Co., Va.,
pop. Sch., Broadford pct., ED 88, p. 7-A, dwell. 124, fam. 140, James H.
Troutman, see Gertrude Neal.
[5] 1910 U. S. census, Smyth Co., Va.,
pop. Sch., Broadford pct., ED 88, p. 7-A, dwell. 124, fam. 140, James H.
Troutman.
© 2015, by Z. T. Noble
© 2015, by Z. T. Noble
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