Noah Merlin Vess is the son of Andrew Logan Vess and Sinthia Conner. He was born in McDowell County, North Carolina on June 18, 1875. Noah spent a good portion of his life without sight, but it is my understanding that it didn’t stop him from living a long fulfilling life.

According to extensive genealogy research, Descendants of Andrew L. Vess, by Norman J. Davis Jr., Noah Vess had been married to Ollie Brown, daughter of Allen Brown and Sallie Harrelson and then to Artie Ella Mae Dalton, daughter of Bailey Dalton and Margaret Davis. He had a total of eight children.

Children with Ollie Brown:

Eskimo Stanley Vess – b. August 7, 1894
Sarah C. Vess – b. February 17, 1895
Allen Andrew Vess – b. February 1, 1897
Mary M. Vess – b. July 15, 1899
Kate Lou Vess – b. June 10, 1905

Children with Artie Ella Mae Dalton:

Media Ella Mae Vess – b. July 26, 1914
Rans Merlin Vess – b. November 15, 1916
Jimmy Guy Vess – b. Nov. 12, 1920

On March 3, 1958, Noah Merlin Vess died at the age of 82. He is buried next to Artie Ella Mae Dalton in Bethel United Methodist Church Cemetery, North Carolina.

Family Memory Of Noah Vess

Below is a memory shared with us by Ron Vess about his grandfather, Noah Merlin Vess.

“My mother and father told me Grandpa was sitting on his verandah after a hard days work watching the pinks and greys painted in the evening sky by the setting sun.  As the light faded, grandpa felt a bit dizzy and noticed his wasn’t seeing very clearly so he went to bed. When he woke next morning he was completely blind, not even able to distinguish any light at all, even the sun.

Doctors and operations followed without success.

As a child, I stayed overnight from time to time with grandpa from about age 7 until his death when I was age 9.  Summertimes were hardest as it gets dark about eleven there in the height of summer and grandpa wanted me to go to bed at eight.  I could hear the neighbour hood kids, all cousins, playing and laughing.  

The opposite side of the coin was getting up at four, in the dark.  Grandpa didn’t need lights.  I did!  He would make coffee then cook his breakfast when the stove was hot.  His breakfast was always the same.  He would place a packet of prepaid split rolls in the oven, place a cast iron skillet on the stove, sprinkle ground sausage patties in the skillet while feeling for cooking progress with his hands and the spitting fat.  He would break eggs into a bowl and mix them with with a fork.  When he gauged the sausage cooking to be properly advanced, he would pour in the eggs and mix until the scrambled eggs stiffed the mix. A wonderful breakfast was had by all!

Even now, the smell of frying sausage patties puts me back in the kitchen with grandpa.  Watching him cook with burns on his hands, healing scabs on his head from knocking into objects and marvelling at how amazingly blue were his eyes.  Robin egg blue.”