We do not know the reason Hughie and Charlotte left Yancey co., NC about 1858 and brought their children across the Iron Mountain to Washington co., Va. It may have been the disagreements among their neighbors over the pending war or maybe there was an opportunity to find work in the logging or salt making operations in Virginia, but they came and made a home in Poor Valley along with several other families.
        Although the people in the valley had spent all the money they had saved from working in the timber cutting operations, they had dreams of clearing the land they had bought and having herds of cattle and flocks of sheep grazing on the mountain sides..
        Like the others, Hughie cleared some land and built a log cabin near a spring on his land and he soon had fields cleared to grow tobacco and corn. On Sundays  they attended the Brumley Gap Church which the neighborhood men had built of logs cut from their land..  Hughie led the singing in the little church and soon knew everyone in the valley. He soon learned that everyone, just as his family, were barely keeping food on the table..  Times were hard for everyone in Poor Valley. 
        One Sunday morning, before he started the singing, Hughie told of a dream he had the night before. 'It was Christmas Day and a deep snow had fallen in the valley. A man came up the road in a big wagon which was loaded with goods of all sorts, things they were in much need of. He stopped at each cabin and left the things each family needed most and when he reached the last house the wagon was emptied'. Everyone listened as Hughie recounted his dream and all agreed it would be wonderful if the dream came true but none had any hope that it would.
         During the Spring and Summer Hughie and the other settlers worked, clearing land, planting crops and cutting wood to sell to the saltworks for boiling salt brine. As fall approached, Hughie was looking forward to getting the crops in and cutting wood for the winter. That was when all the farmers gathered to help each other and talk about their dreams for the future when their lives would, hopefully, be better.
          One rainy day, Hughie was clearing some land on the side of Clinch Mountain when he stepped on a big rock and it suddenly began sliding down the hill. He grabbed a small tree but it slid along with him! The whole side of the hill was sliding toward the hollow below! When he finally stopped, he found himself trapped by a large rock lying on his leg and he couldn't move. He looked at the large pile of rocks and mud around him and wondered what he could do to free himself. He felt a terrible pain in his leg as if it might be broken so he began to yell for help, hoping some of his neighbors or his wife would hear him.. After what seemed like hours, he heard someone talking, it was Charlotte and one of the boys. When she saw he was trapped under the rock, she sent the boy to get the nearest neighbor while she tried to comfort Hughie.
          The neighbors came and pried the big rock off his leg and lifted him onto a horse drawn sled. The doctor came and set his leg and told him to not walk on it for several weeks.. He wouldn't be able to help the neighbors get the crops in and he became quite worried but they told him to do what the doctor said, they would handle their crops and his too.
          They not only brought his crops in but soon had a large pile of wood cut for winter, while Hughie recovered.
At last he was able to walk and soon was attending his farm chores and back to leading the singing at the little church.
One day, Hughie and one of the boys walked up to the mountain to the place where he was hurt and as he looked at the pile of rocks and dirt, he noticed some rocks which were different from the rest. He examined it and tried to remember where he had seen that type of rock before. Finally, it came to him, it was very similar to silver ore someone had brought out of the Unaka Mountains of Tennessee near Big Rock Creek in North Carolina. "Could it possibly be silver?" he thought. He carried a sample to the house and showed it to his wife who agreed that he should have it checked for silver..
          A few days later he took it to a silversmith in town and to his surprise, it really was silver! The silversmith told him how to smelt the ore and make it into bars and also told him he would buy it! Hughie hurried home and began gathering all the ore he could find and hauling it to the barn lot where he made piles of it.. After he had gathered all he could find, he built a furnace and began making silver bars.. A few days before Christmas he was finished and loaded all the bars on his horses to go to town.. True to his word, the silversmith bought all the silver and paid Hughie more money than he had ever had before. He didn't spend any of it but hurried home to tell Charlotte the good news. It was like a Dream Come True!
        They sat by the fireplace far into the night discussing what they might buy. Hughie wanted to buy some new song books for the church and Charlotte wanted a new 'store bought' dress to wear to church, the children needed shoes and the list went on and on.. Finally, they decided they really needed a new wagon for the farm and Charlotte needed a sewing machine. Those would be the first things they bought with their new found money.
        It was the day before Christmas they climbed on the horses and started the trip to town to make their purchases. The first stop was at Hagys Wagon Factory where they looked at every wagon before deciding on a big green and red one with a spring seat at the front of the big wagon bed.. Hughie hitched the horses to it and helped Charlotte into the seat. They still had plenty of money left so they drove to several stores and began making other purchases, a new sewing machine, clothes and shoes for the children, a new wash tub and board and many other items. As they started out of town, Hughie turned and looked at the big wagon bed and said, "There's still a lot of room yet!". Then he pulled the roll of money from his pocket and told Charlotte, " We still have plenty of money left and there's more where that came from!" Charlotte smiled, knowing what Hughies thoughts were and said, " Let's go by the stores again so we don't forget anything!"
         Hughie drove around Depot Square and they began loading the wagon with things they knew the neighbors needed.
It was dark and the snow had started falling when they reached home. Hughie backed the wagon into the barn and unhitched the horses.. Charlotte cooked a big supper while he did the farm chores and unloaded their things from the wagon. The children's eyes were all aglow as they tried on their new clothes and looked at the other things coming off the wagon. They had never seen so much new stuff at one time! Christmas Eve turned into Christmas Day before they finally went to bed after midnight.
        The snow had quietly fallen all night and the next morning it was over a foot deep and the valley looked like a Christmas card scene as Hughie hitched the horses to the wagon and started to the lower end of the settlement. Charlotte was riding beside him on the wagon seat as they visited each of their neighbors and delivered the gifts. Charlotte was a very good shopper because there was just enough to fill the needs of the last family before the big wagon was empty..
        When the winter snows melted, Hughie went to the mountain to get more silver ore but to his surprise there had been a bigger mountain slide and it had covered everything.. He dug for several days in search of ore but there was none to be found and finally he gave up and was thankful for what they had..
         Although he never found more silver, the people of Poor Valley never forgot Hughie's Dream and the best Christmas they ever had!  The End...............

   
Hugh Heral farm in Poor Valley, Va.