Ella Mae Venoy was born 29 Sep 1889 at Salt Rock, Cabell County, WV to Lewis Reckard Venoy and Hattie Lenora Baker.
Ella 'Ellie' Mae is living on Trace Creek road in the home of her parents at the age of 19 in the 1910 Census of Mccomas, Cabell, West Virginia, USA.
According to the West Virginia Archives and History Vital Records online, Ella Venoy marries Ernest R Beckett on 20 Oct 1910 in Cabell County, West Virginia. Ellie's age is listed as 19 being born in Cabell County, West Virginia. Ernest's age is 27 being born in Lincoln County, West Virginia. They were married for 58 years and never spent a day apart.
The next Census Ellie appears in is the 1920 Census of Grant, Cabell, West Virginia Street on Big Two Mile Creek and Mud River Road with her husband Ernest Becket and 5 children. See her husband's biography for all the children's names.
Ellie was a very quiet and sweet and loving person. We both shared a bedroom and even though most teenagers wanted their privacy I loved having grandma in my room. I loved having her living with us.
Grandma lived a hard life as I see it but back then that was how most families lived. Growing their food or raising cattle for their food. She baked, canned, gardened, harvested, and did everything to prepare and preserve what they got from the garden to put food on the table.
We cooked on a gas stove but Grandma when she was living at her home she and Grandpa cooked on a stove that used wood and coal to heat. She made the best meals on that stove and my mother Hattie would always help her cook. I can see where my mother learned to cook and miss her cooking.
Grandma sent the kids with mason jars of canned food to neighbors' houses to exchange for something she needed and the neighbor would switch out with what she had. The neighbors would do the same thing. if they needed canned apples for a pie or green beans for supper they would switch out something with Grandma for something she could use. All the neighbors back then did this.
When working in the gardens the kids would have to pick potato bugs off the potatoes with their hands and squish them with their fingers to make sure they were dead. They weren't allowed to stomped as they had to make sure they were alive to ruin their source of food.
Although they lead a hard life they appreciated what they had and they were a happy family. They believed in God and they attended church regularly. Enon Baptist Church was less then a mile below their home place. I don't know how they got to church as I never remember Ernest or Ellie ever driving. Mom would take them to their doctor appointments or take them when they got sick. Someone would pick up their medicines for them.
Grandma and Grandpa Beckett are both buried at Enon Cemetery with headstones that Amy (Stratton) Beckett made for them. Garnet Beckett is buried in Enon but none of the family knows where she is buried.