From the November 3, 1921 Skidmore News (Skidmore, Missouri), page 1:
Celebrated 81st Birthday.
The Maitland Herald of last week contained the following ‘write-up’ of the birthday party given at the W. T. Groves home near Maitland last Thursday, in honor of Mrs. Nancy Tate of Portland, Ore.:
On Thursday a large and interested company of relatives and friends gathered at the home of Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Groves, living two miles northeast of Maitland. The affair was in honor of Mrs. Nancy Tate, who on October 28 witnessed her 81st birthday.
Dinner was served from a large table spread on the lawn, and included everything that a dozen or more of the ladies in the company could devise, and one can readily imagine that the repast was most complete in every detail.
Mrs. Tate is now a resident of Portland, Ore. Her early life was spent in this locality when the country was virgin prairie. It has been about fifty years since she lived here. Her father, Andrew Brown, owned the land on which Graham is situated. It was he who started the town by giving away lots to induce tradesmen to settle there and form a sort of community center. Mrs. Tate’s husband (Rev. John W. Tate) died about thirty-five years ago at Walsenburg, Colo. He was a Christian minister, and had served the congregation at Graham, Mound City, Savannah, and other places in this part of Missouri for several years.
Mrs. Tate was the mother of nine children, three of whom are living. She has been back to Missouri visiting with the families of several nieces and will probably remain here until about the first of the year.
It is a rare treat indeed to visit with one whose experiences have been so varied and far-reaching. Mrs. Tate shows remarkable vitality for a person of her years, and her memory and faculties of observation are as keen and alert as they were possibly forty years ago.
Two interesting heirlooms were presented for the inspection of the guests at this reunion and birthday dinner. One was a pewter pitcher or tea pot, which on account of its long association with the family, is prized very highly. The possession of the piece of table ware has been traced back six generations, having been handed down from Wolf to Brooks, then to Yount and Brown and Tate, and is now the property of Mrs. Delia Masters of Skidmore. It has been the custom of the family for the possessor of this relic to bequeath it to her youngest daughter. Mrs. Tate having no daughters, gave the relic to Mrs. Masters, her youngest niece, sixteen years ago.
Another relic is an old blue bandana handkerchief which has been in the Brown family for over 100 years.
Soon after the dinner a group picture was taken.
Those permitted to share the joys of this occasion were:
Mrs. Nancy Tate, Portland, Ore.; Mrs. Martha Albright, Spring Branch, Neb.; Mrs. Susan Bagby, Skidmore; Mrs. Mary Groves, Maryville; Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Tarpley and daughter, Maryville; Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Wampler and son, Skidmore; Dr. and Mrs. M. M. Rhoades, Graham; Mrs. Dora Linville and children, Leland, Harvey, Hattie and Rinda, Skidmore; Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Groves, Skidmore; Mr. and Mrs. John Linville, Skidmore; Mr. and Mrs. George Suetterlin, Graham; Mr. and Mrs. Dallas Groves, Maitland; Mr. and Mrs. Don Groves, Maitland; Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Groves, Maitland; W. H. Hambaugh, Maitland.Such occasions are generally enlivened with a little pre-arranged fun, and some of the ladies served up a joke on Mr. Groves (excuse us — we meant to say “Tom” Groves, as he invariably corrects you on such formalities). Well, Mr. Groves — that is, Tom — doesn’t like carrots. He will hardly give his consent to have them raised in the Groves garden. One of the ladies (we’re not going to tell who) baked a carrot pie, disguised as pumpkin, and Mr. G — “Tom” ate half of it! And when he reads this it will be the first inkling of how he was fooled on pumpkin pie!
P. S. — Being a Kentuckian, we can’t understand how Tom Groves missed the sobriquet of “Col.” suh.