The Eller Chronicles

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KIRBY LUKE ELLER OF ASHE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA

Lineage: Kirby Luke⁶ Eller ( Joseph L.⁵, Luke⁴, Jacob³, Peter², George Michael¹)

    "My father, Kirby Luke Eller is listed on page 133 of J. W. Hook's history of the Ellers, 1957 issue, and in the 1925 issue, page 113. My grandfather was Joseph L. Eller. He had two brothers, Aswell Peter and Hansford who were soldiers in the Confederate Army. They were listed in the latest edition of The Eller Chronicles along with many other veterans of that war. My grandfather died five years before I was born. That was March 191 1. I was born in February 1916.
    My great grandfather was Luke Eller who married Sarah King on March 27, 1829. They lived in Ashe County near where I was born. Luke's father was Jacob Eller, son of Peter, son of George Michael.
    I am enclosing a few pictures... and a biography of my father written by my great niece when she was at Appalachian State ... She is related to some of the Ashley's you met when you went to Ashe County after the death of "Miss" Gert Eller Waddell."

Ltr. from Kay⁷ L. Eller, Jr., 312 Anchor Drive, Greensboro, NC, 27410-5102.

A BIOGRAPHY OF KIRBY LUKE⁶ ELLER
Melissa Kay Kemp (Ashley)
July 5, 1984

    Kirby Luke Eller was born April 1, 1878 to Joseph Lafayette and Elizabeth Kirby Eller on a farm in Mill Creek section of Clifton Township in Ashe County, North Carolina. He was the second of five children born to Joseph and Bettie. This branch of the Eller family was descended from George Michael Eller who emigrated from Germany during the first half of the eighteenth century. His eldest son, Peter, settled in what is now Ashe County, and it is from Peter Eller that K. Luke Eller descended.
    Luke lived on Mill Creek most of his early life. He went to school at Solitude Academy (later called Ashland Academy), above Creston, N.C. The academy provided more education than did the regular schools of that area. It had a library of two-hundred and twenty-five volumes, five classrooms, a large auditorium, three recreation rooms, and a boarding house that contained twelve rooms. Families near the academy also boarded students. After Luke finished at Solitude he went to Lansing High School in Lansing, N.C. He boarded with Dr. Tom Jones. His room-mate was Charles Graybeal.
    After Luke Eller finished at Lansing he wanted to continue his education and become a lawyer. His mother, however, thought this was an unfitting profession. He returned home to farm, breed horses, and to help his father run their store.
    Their store, J. L. Eller and Son, sold such things as sugar, soap, nails, horseshoes, and some items of clothing. There was little money exchanged for goods in the store. People usually would take eggs, butter, chickens, etc., to barter for store goods. Joseph or Luke had to take these items to their supplier in North Wilkesboro once or twice a year to exchange them for store goods. The eggs and other diary products would not keep for six months so they were probably sold in the store.
    On March fourth, 1903, Luke Eller married a girl with whom he had attended school, Lula Evelyn Johnson. They set up housekeeping in a small house on Mill Creek. There they had their first son, Eugene Vaughn Eller, on May sixth, 1904, and their only daughter, Irene Louise Elizabeth Eller on May twelfth, 1907.

Luke Eller was a farmer all of his life but his primary occupation was as a mail carrier. He was appointed carrier for the Rural Free Delivery (RFD) route from Clifton Post Office in December 1905. His starting salary was $666 annually which classified his route as being between twenty-one and twenty-two miles long.
    In order to be closer to the Clifton Post Office and his mail route he moved his fancily off Mill Creek to a house located approximately one mile from the Clifton township. He purchased a large white farmhouse from William Eller in December 1907. It was here that Luke and Lula had their youngest two sons, Joseph Johnson Eller on February 10, 1912 and Kay L. Eller, Jr., on February 19, 1916.
    Luke started his mail route in the middle of a cold winter and he soon realized what his greatest problem would be -- staying warm, or at least less cold. He, of course, delivered the mail on horseback so there was no shelter from the wind, rain, and snow such as mail carriers have today. To help protect himself from the cold he wore a big horsehide coat. It really wasn't that warm but it broke the wind. On his feet he wore galoshes. On a day when freezing rain was falling he would freeze to the saddle and would need help dismounting.
    Luke Eller always took great care of the horses that he rode on his route. He kept two and alternated them in bad weather. One of these horses must have been nervous as it would jump at a sudden noise or something similar. This jumpiness probably once saved his life. Luke was riding along reading the paper when a log rolled off the bank above the road. The horse heard the noise and jumped sideways. The log hit the road where they would have been had the horse not jumped.
    On his route he had to "ford" the New River because there were no bridges. If the water was too high after a rain it was sometimes difficult to cross. When this happened he left his horse and crossed a swinging bridge. The family had a certain rock in the river they started watching when the river was rising after a heavy rain. If the water rose over the rock they started worrying that he would not be able to cross the river.
    Another small problem that Luke encountered was getting his lunch. He left before daybreak and did not return until after dark, so anything he took with him was cold or frozen, and he would have been very hungry if he had waited until he returned home to eat . Usually he would arrange with the family whose house he would pass about noon to buy his lunch. This was not always possible so he had to carry his lunch sometimes. One summer he passed about a mile and a half from his home around noon. His son, Kay, would take his lunch to him. Luke would give Kay a dime for walking this distance. His plans for lunch were often changed because of frequent route changes.
    He finally started using a car in the early thirties. The Eller's first car was a 1926 Model T Ford*. Vaughn first learned to drive. Luke's first attempts were not very successful. On one drive he was doing fine until he lost control and slid backwards down a bank, and hit the Flat Rock Dunkard Church. The car was fine but the church had several broken boards. He finally mastered driving and began to use the car on his route. "He could only use it during the summer months and not always then as the rural roads he traveled were unpaved and poorly maintained. Even in the late thirties when he drove Model A Fords he still had to go back to his horse in the most severe weather, There were times when the wheels on his car would freeze solid and it would take a blow torch to thaw them out.

K. Luke Eller took time off from his mail route for two known things. One was an attempt to sell insurance for Jefferson Standard Life. This was not a wise move and he soon realized it and went back to carrying the mail. The other thing was for farming. Around the month of June of each year he took his vacation to help put up the hay. He cut the hay himself most of the time, and he always stacked the hay himself He would get on the stack and the men helping would throw up the hay where he would arrange it properly. He did not trust the hired hands to do the stacking.
    In May 1941, after approximately 35 years of service, Kirby Luke Eller retired from the postal service at the age of sixty-three. He received one hundred dollars a month from his retirement fund. This increased a small amount in 1950.
    After his retirement he continued farming. In 1940 his son Kay started a gas and service station called Kay's Esso Service. The business sold some groceries but the main purpose was auto service. In May of 1942 Kay went to serve in the army during World War II, and Luke took over the store. He dropped the auto service and expanded the grocery business.
    Luke Eller was very interested in education. He spent many hours and all the money he could spare to consolidate the small area schools into one high school in the western part of Ashe County. Around 1926 this became a reality when New River High School came into being.
    He always regretted not going on to college so he did all that was possible to enable his children to continue their education. Vaughn and Irene both became teachers; Joe, a doctor; and Kay, a Social worker. He had hoped that one of his children would choose to become a lawyer. It was not until after his death that a member of his family did indeed become a lawyer. It was Joseph Johnson Eller, Jr., son of Dr. Joe Eller, that fulfilled the wishes of his grandfather.
    Kirby Luke was a leader in his community. Many came to him for advise or to borrow money. They wee never turned away. He was a leader in the Clifton Baptist Church as well as in establishing better education in western Ashe County. He was an honest and kind man who would do anything for his neighbors or a stranger.

Sources:

• Letter from Kay L. Eller, Jr., Jan. 1984.
• Hook, James W., George Michael Eller and Descendants of His in America, New Haven, Conn., 1957, pp. 130-134.
• Letter from Irene E. Graybeal, June, 1984.
• Interview with Irene E. Graybeal, July, 1984.
• Birth Certificates.
• Letter from the Fourth Assistant Post Master General to Post Master at Clifton, N.C., Dec. 5, 1905.
• Letter from the U.S. Civil Service Commission, June 19, 1941.
• Personal knowledge.

Kirby Luke and Lula Johnson Eller	Kirby Luke Eller, about 1928.	Joseph L and Betty Eller

Joseph Lafayett Eller	Joseph L. Eller family Portrait	Aswell Peter & Hansford Eller ??

Kirby Luke Eller		Sally King Eller

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