The trip down to Kentucky would be the first time young Robert had left Detroit. The drive to Kentucky would be a adventure for Robert, although he felt some worry about his cousin George and his illness. George dying wasn’t a consideration for young Robert, as he didn’t know that death came to young people.

The departure from Detroit was great in the Model T Ford using MI 24 south toward Toledo, Ohio, a very industrial town. George saw great clouds of smoke coming from the foundries and the Overland Automobile Factory as well as huge lake freighters that delivered the iron ore to the Toledo docks from upper MI. From there they traveled south west across Ohio’s vast farm land and Robert, a city boy, saw corn growing taller than he was. His mom Ermie Newman Williams, who was born in Rochester KY, was the travel guide and schooled him about the crops growing as they passed by.

Nearing days' end they had made it to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Robert’s father Carl found a cozy overnight cabin. The cabins along the road usually rented for a dollar a night. They would almost always have a small oil stove in the middle and the farmer that owned the cabins would give you a wick to light the oil. It also wasn’t uncommon to find the cabin owner would have breakfast for you for twenty five cents, not much more if you were traveling with your family.

The next day heading over to Evansville, Idiana, dad (Robert) found it hard to stay in the seat of the bumpy Model T, not like the better roads from Detroit to Toledo. Still the trip was nice for a seven-year-old and he looked forward to the rest and lunch stops the state supplied for travelers. The stops only amounted to a picnic table, a shade tree, and a trash can; sometimes there would be a creek running along side of the road with fish, another odyssey for a seven year old city boy.

Arriving at Evansville Robert would get his first look at the Ohio River that was so important to his Williams ancestors needing river transportation to important cities like Paducah and Saint Louis or East to Louisville. His mother (Ermie) had lived on the Green river in Rochester, KY where steam boats would carry tobacco up the river to the Ohio, then ports East and West. A night in a Hotel at Evansville was also something new ,watching those boats going from lock to lock on the river.

Finally arriving at Providence the visit was saddened learning that young George was gravely ill, and him having a contagious illness , the visit with the Nances could be only on the front porch. The loss of any child with so much to look forward to is almost unbearable and George’s cousin Robert was learning that life wasn’t always fair and bad things can happen to people all ages. Still ,they all could share the unhappiness together and that was some comfort. Proud young George was named after his grandfather and great-grandfather . The Nance family were pioneers in Hopkins and Webster county since 1810.

The Nances lived in a very modest house on Baker Street in Providence and like many coal mining families they were just getting by. Only the coal mine owners and the bankers had much money in those coal mining towns. If a miner wanted to get ahead he might miss church on Sunday and earn a few more of those dusty coal mine dollars in the cold dark mine. This was 1923 and this Nance family was still recovering from a mining accident where George’s father (Robert Maynard Nance), had his arm cut off by a coal shaker. Since he was a very competent employee, the mining company gave Maynard a supervisory job. He would do pretty well after the accident, and in 1930 you can find him as a census taker as well as the supervisor of water and light in Providence. Visiting there in Providence my father (Robert) ,was able to watch the coal trains and mining operations his father (Carl) had been part of since childhood. He started working from age eight, after his father, Thomas Jackson Williams died there at a young age.

As things worked out Robert’s dad had some more time off from the Detroit Edison Company, so after wishing the Nance family a sorrowful goodbye, they continued on bumping down the road over to Drakesboro KY, where Robert’s mother Ermie Newman’s family lived. Knowing of the Williams impending visit, the Newman folks put together a family reunion, some coming from as far as Arizona. Also, as a grand coincidence, the town of Drakesboro was having their annual town fair, complete with games, hot dogs and a photographer. The Newmans took the advantage of the opportunity and hired the photographer to photograph them all at Grandma Sarah Craig Newmans house on Main Street, next door to her son Dr. Howard Newman’s home and office. We still have those photographs today. See photo.

After a nice visit in Drakesboro the Williams loaded up the Model T again and headed back up north. This time they spent another overnight in a hotel in Louisville on the Ohio River. There weren’t as many smokestacks, but instead tobacco drying sheds and tobacco barges on the river. It was another important Kentucky city for Robert to remember.

That trip for Robert was a good learning experience and he would tell the story over and over forgetting that we had heard it before. We didn’t mind because he was a good story teller and it would take us back to Providence KY, remembering young George Nance’s death.

Young George M. Nance's 1924 classmates at Providence High School dedicated a memorial page of their annual, The Providencia, to him.