About Aunt Pallie and Uncle Ras

Aunt Pallie and Uncle Ras

I often heard my Dad speak of Aunt Pallie Minerva Miller, who was married to
Erastus Theodore Moody. “Uncle Ras” Pallie and Ras lived in Jackson County, North Carolina, a very beautiful and scenic area.
My cousin Sally told me that Aunt Pallie had two of her children die when they were
Only tots. Baby Oscar died when he was two and a half of Scarlet fever, and a few years later his brother Henry was crawling on the floor when his clothing caught afire, while Uncle “Ras” was watching him. Aunt Pallie was outside milking the cow and I have heard that she never got over the baby’s burning death.
Aunt Pallie was an excellent cook and kept an immaculate house. She loved flowers and always had plenty of them around her which she tended lovingly. Uncle "Ras" had the hiccups for 90 days before he died. She fell into a deep depression after his death, probably partly owing to the loss of baby Henry in the burning death.
She had a nervous breakdown or was very depressed, and the family took her to the State Hospital at Morganton. Her daughters brought her home for a visit and she was afraid of going back there to the State Hospital. She said that she would kill herself before she went back there. They found her body in the river. Some say it was no accident! One colored woman had a dream of where the body would be found and it was found near there.