Moses (Mosie) Honeycutt
There is so much to remember about Mosie Honeycutt, who in his elder years was known as "the man who lived by his gun," that is going to be hard to think and tell all that has been told just about his hunting career.
Honeycutt was one of those pioneers who would switch from one homestead to another, but not even one of the land holdings did he get converted into a prospering farm. He was a hunter, not a farmer, and favoring life of Daniel Boone when game life became a little scarce, he moved on to another much more wilderness place.
Indeed, he was one of those men who did wrestle with the wilderness and his trusty old flint-lock hog-rifle helped him to complete many a feat in conquering the wild animals after it looked as if all the odds at first was stacked against all his could-be accomplishments.
My great grandpa Honeycutt was more alert of the danger of the wild animals after he had a fight of life or death with a mad bear and he only had a short handled hoe to defend himself with that he was using to dig wild ginseng with. But he came out a winner, as he was victorious killing the bear with the hoe which he had to make every lick count before he could kill it and after then his gun was his constant companion, and for that reason he became to be known far and wide as a man and his gun.
He had a roaming disposition which remained with him as long as his health enabled him to get about and he was active and spry until he had passed his 90th birthday. He lived to be 94 years old.
The old timers here who have memories of Mr. Honeycutt is varied. One man said that he was a preacher who walked and carried his Bible and his gun. He was a real low speaker. Just a few friendly words to an angry dog would cause it to get friendly towards him.
He had a son Eason who had all his traits in the way of game hunting. I recall with my dad of meeting him once on a lonely mountain road far back in the reaches of Pate Creek area of Pigeon Roost. He was carrying a flint-lock hog-rifle on his shoulder that resembled the gun of his dad, which probably may of been it. He had a long beard like his dad always wore.
When Mosie Honeycutt was hunting with the old flint-lock hog-rifle, it was the latest in gun models. He loved his gun. When he even had a familly, they all largely lived on the meat of the wild animals that he killed. But he was not handy at fishing; hunting game with a gun was what he liked.
8/1/63
News From Pidgeon Roost By Harvey J. Miller Copyright 1974 by Harvey J. Miller
Published by The Foxfire Press Edited by Eliot Wigginton Volume 8, Number 4 (Winter 1974) of Foxfire Magazine.
Nathan Honeycutt
Garther Barnett of Pigeon Roost, accompanied by Dewey Hughes (not the son of Martha Honeycutt and J. Wesley Hughes), also of Pigeon Roost, reported to the writer that they visited the Honeycutt graveyard on Tuesday, October 26, and Mr. Barnett said that he had not been to that graveyard before within 18 years, which is located far on the mountainside at the farm known as the Nate Honeycutt place on Pigeon Roost. The graveyard is not far from the top of the mountain which on the other side is the Brummets Creek section.
There is no markers at any of the graves but just some initials and dates carved on the common soft kind of rocks used for head and foot stones.
The writer's great-great-grandfather, Mosie Honeycutt, was buried in that cemetery as well as many of our other ancestors.
Excerpt from 11/11/65 entry from News From Pidgeon Roost By Harvey J. Miller Copyright 1974 by Harvey J. Miller
Published by The Foxfire Press Edited by Eliot Wigginton Volume 8, Number 4 (Winter 1974) of Foxfire Magazine.
Nathan Honeycutt
Garther Barnett of Pigeon Roost, accompanied by Dewey Hughes (not the son of Martha Honeycutt and J. Wesley Hughes), also of Pigeon Roost, reported to the writer that they visited the Honeycutt graveyard on Tuesday, October 26, and Mr. Barnett said that he had not been to that graveyard before within 18 years, which is located far on the mountainside at the farm known as the Nate Honeycutt place on Pigeon Roost. The graveyard is not far from the top of the mountain which on the other side is the Brummets Creek section.
There is no markers at any of the graves but just some initials and dates carved on the common soft kind of rocks used for head and foot stones.
The writer's great-great-grandfather, Mosie Honeycutt, was buried in that cemetery as well as many of our other ancestors.
Excerpt from 11/11/65 entry from News From Pidgeon Roost By Harvey J. Miller Copyright 1974 by Harvey J. Miller
Published by The Foxfire Press Edited by Eliot Wigginton Volume 8, Number 4 (Winter 1974) of Foxfire Magazine.