My second cousin Ada Fralin was a remarkable woman for her time.  As a nine-year-old she lost her mom to cancer.  Being the only girl in the family with two brothers and a dad committed to farming, she assumed the tasks of an adult at a very young age.  She became the cook, did the washing and ironing, mending, made the men's work clothes, and kept the home for years before her brothers married. 

She was a model for my mother, who spent a winter with the family when she was recuperating from a respiratory illness at the age of seven and unable to attend school.  Ada taught her to sew, cook, and generally keep a home.  Along with the work there were plenty of fun times, as my mother told me years later. 

Ada would crank up the Ford and the two of them would take off for the 'store' where Ada bought supplies that were not available on the farm plus candy for Christine, my mom.  And it was nothing for them to go horseback riding. 

Unbeknownst to the rest of the family, Ada was corresponding with a retired WWI army doctor on the sly.  She would pick up her letters from the local post office and retire to the barn to enjoy them.  This was around the mid '20s that I am guessing the courtship began.

After some years the day arrived that Ada made a spring for it.  She eloped to marry her man!  This was not an easy operation. 

She arranged with a local friend (not sure who it was) to meet her either very early before daylight or late in the evening to take her to the 'motor' or as we would call it, the train.  From the city she rode to Baltimore, MD.  There she was united with her soon to be husband, Dr. McAdoo, who was trying to homestead in a farming community some miles outside Baltimore.  They together built a rough-type shelter over their heads that eventually became their home.   My mom and her siblings visited them many years later.  Ada raised chickens and a huge vegetable garden to help make ends meet.  And she cared for her husband as he became incapacitated years later.  Eventually she returned to the Virginia farm to her former life. 

One of her expressions that we remember her for is 'I been had'.  'I been had' that dress for a long time, she might remark.