Grace's father, David W. Densmore, moved to the Jasper area sometime in the early 1900s. He bought 200 mountainous acres about four miles west of Jasper. It was called Densmore Mountain. 

There was a large log cabin on the property, a log barn, and a log crib. To reach the main road, which was almost a mile away, there were three branches to cross. In the winter, a car could not get through, so you walked. The property was beautiful with all kinds of fruit and nut trees and grape vines. The house had a large fireplace. They cooked on the fireplace in big iron pots and ovens. There was no electricity, so a box was kept in the spring to keep the milk cold.

After his first wife Clarissa's death, Dave married Emily Catherine Farriba, widow of Hyman Farriba. Dave and Emily married February 20, 1920. Their children were Grace born 1921, Cora born 1924, Fred Roy born 1928, infant girl, born and died 1932, and Mary, born and died 1933. Emily died one week after the birth of Mary.

Grace was only eleven years old, but the responsibility of caring for the younger children fell on her. Cora suffered epileptic seizures and Fred had polio when he was three or four years old. Grace had been helping her dad work in the fields for some time because her mother was not able. 

After her mother's death, Grace did all the cooking and sewing. She and her sister Cora would pick up walnuts and pick berries in the summer and sell them to the store to get money for cloth to make their clothes. 

They walked to Federal School except on rainy or snowy days when they stayed home. Lunch was taken to school in lard buckets with holes punched in the lids to keep them from sweating. Lunch consisted of biscuits, jelly, sausage, eggs, or whatever was on hand at home. Syrup was a plentiful commodity as they usually had 30 or 40 gallons to do them in the winter.

After Grace's grandfather's death in 1927, her father moved his family to the Four Mile area to take care of Grace's grandmother. After her grandmother died in 1931, they moved back to Jasper. About 1944, they moved near Nelson in Cherokee County.

Life was hard but the home was always filled with love.

--excerpt from "DAVID W. DENSMORE FAMILY", Pickens County Georgia Heritage 1853-1998, Walsworth Publishing Company, 2007, p. 188, article submitted by Elaine Gary, based on an interview with Grace Densmore.

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"Grace was born at home in Pickens County, Georgia; she never married. She cared for her sick father and brother, Fred, until they both died. She said to me she once had an opportunity to marry, but taking care of her father and brother was her first love."

--Ralph Edward Densmore

∼Grace had a family reunion at her residence every year on the first Sunday in October at 1:00 P.M. up until she died.

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Obituary:

Miss Grace Densmore, 83, of Ball Ground, Georgia, died Saturday, November 5, 2005, at Canton Nursing Center.

She was survived by nieces and nephews.

The funeral service was held 11 a.m. Monday, November 7, from the Chapel of Cagle Funeral Home with the Revs. Steve Chadwick and Barry Payne officiating. Interment followed in Four Mile Baptist Church Cemetery.

Pallbearers were Skipper, Jonathan and Stephen Densmore, Tim Alley, Johnny Free and Andy Hunt.

--www.caglefuneralhome.com

--Pickens County Progress, Jasper, Georgia, November 12, 2005.