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After James Tolliver Bobbitt, son of Tilman Bobbitt married,
he went to work on the farm of Rufus Bobbitt. Joseph Alderson
Bobbitt, son of James Tolliver and Matilda (Alderson) Bobbitt was
born in the home of Rufus Bobbitt, on December 31, 1858.
Rufus Bobbitt was a seriously religious man. He is said to
have believed in hard work, strict religious practices, and that
he liked people. He was frequently asked to speak to political
meetings and to congregations of the various churches in the
community. These traits influenced all of his children, and were
passed from one generation to the next. All of his children had
strong characters and delightful personalities.
In the spring of 1872, Rufus Bobbitt made one of his frequent
visits to Greenbrier county to see relatives. He was riding horse-
back. On the return trip, he was in a rain storm which caused him
to become ill from the dampness and cold of the rain. He had the
lung disease that caused the death of his first wife. His illness
developed into pneumonia and he died at his home on McMillians Creek.
He was only 46 years of age. With the possible exception of his
brother, Tolliver Bobbitt, he was the youngest son of John and
Permelia Bobbitt to be taken by death.
After the death of Rufus, Jane Bobbitt, his wife, and the
older children took care of the farm and the family duties. Jane
Bobbitt was respected and loved as if she were the real mother of
the children. In 1891, Newman Rader Bobbitt died of the fatal
lung disease, at the young age of 23. He was buried in the city
cemetery of Summersville, in Nicholas County.
Jane Bobbitt remarried. She became the wife of John H. Robinson of Muddlety. The Rufus Bobbitt farm was sold to his son
Alexander Bobbitt, who lived on the home place for many years. The
old family cemetery has been reclaimed by nature, but the monuments
of the family graves were moved to the Bobbitt cemetery in the
town of Summersville.
The children and grandchildren of Rufus Bobbitt lived and many married in the counties of Nicholas, Webster, and Clay.
the descendants live in these counties to this day.
The pictures we have of Rufus and Mary Elizabeth Bobbitt were
taken from the originals which were given to Lydia Ann (Bobbitt)
Gardner. She carefully cared for the photographs and left them to
her daughter Emma Gardner. In my search for photographs of Rufus
and his wife, I discovered that Emma Gardner had the pictures and
she gave the originals to me, for all of us to enjoy. Emma Gardner
also gave to me a pressed glass fruit dish which was used on the
table in the home of Mary Elizabeth and Rufus Bobbitt. The dish
has been identified as being made about 1826.
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